Sweet Surprise

It is so fun to connect with old friends through Facebook. It was such a fun surprise when one of my best childhood friends sent me a package. I always get excited when there's a package on the front porch!

I love this pillow that belonged to her Grandmother...and I didn't have this book "At Home With White" that is just filled with decorating I love. My friend Nancy told me these things were all me. She is so right :)

Each page is just beautiful...

I am definitely at home with white! Who couldn't love the cutwork on this pillow...

 ..I will treasure it always!  Thank you so much Nancy!

I will end this post with yet another adorable photo of the newest member of our family ..Janae's little Bentley.

Thanks for visiting!

New Baby

What is more precious than a new baby? I could not be more adoring of my new little Grand pom-puppy, Bentley.

I mean honestly, I think our whole family is on cute overload.

 

When Janae sent me this photo I had no doubt which puppy she wanted and that we were about to go on a road trip.

When Janae saw him for the first time it was love at first sight.

We were surprised to find out he was only 6 weeks old, too young in our opinion to leave his mother. But the mother dog only weighs 4 lbs and had 5 puppies so the vet thought they should be weaned early. Good thing Janae is very good at knowing how to take care of this sweet baby.

Wyatt went with us and he adored all the pups and the 3 of us had so much fun visiting with these adorable pups.

Chantel has been sick for a week..but I think this little guy helps her to feel better. 

Today he got to meet his Great Grandparents too.

He is a lucky little boy, with 2 sisters that will take good care of him!

What a doll he is!

He is chewing on everything! I looked at the puppy chew toys and couldn't find anything I thought he would really like. But then I looked in the human baby section and found some chewing beads I thought he might like. Janae says he has been chewing on them so I am glad. :)

Janae is going to have her hands full with potty training and everything that goes along with a new baby....

..but he is so worth it!

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Happy Birthday Walter!

In our house we love all creatures great and small...and we celebrate their birthdays!

Walter (Chantel's hamster, or her son as she calls him) is now 1 year old. That is quite a milestone for a hamster.

Chantel spent the morning decorating the house for the big party.

The birthday boy (otherwise known as the birhday boy) got a brand new house for his birthday.

A couple of Chantel's friends got here and Walter looked on as they made him a cake.

Then the girls did some dancing while the cake cooked.

Our dog Daisy sat on the couch and watched.

Then they decorated the cake. They are typical teenagers--they are always on the phone.

 

Singing to Walter before he blows out is candle.

Then more pictures with Walter.

Hershey (Wyatt's hamster) was an honored guest,

Another of Chantel's friends was a little late  but I am sure Walter was quite happy she was able to come.

Happy Birthday Walter! (...and many more...)

Thanks for stopping by our party post :)

Got Wings?

Got wings? I do! It was like Christmas all over again yesterday when I got a couple packages in the mail.

I found both these wings and the crown candle holder from The Bella Cottage. I love that place, and was so delighted when I saw these wings and crown! I was able to get them with Christmas money from my parents. Thanks Dad and Mom!

The wings were gold when I got them--I thought I might be okay with the gold but then decided white is always better for me.

I like it a lot better white..though the gold is pretty too. I think angel wings should always be white. What do you think?

The wings are made of wood and metal--they have so much texture and shabbiness to them--I adore them! You know how there are decorations you have that you know after a couple years you will be taking to Goodwill...and then other things you plan to love forever. I plan for my Grandchildren to inherit these someday!

 

I painted them with chalkpaint and distressed them with rub n buff.

I love how they turned out! Took like 15 minutes for the color transformation. Worth it :)

The other thing that made it seem like Christmas was some items I got using my Etsy gift certificate from Janae.

Stay tuned for the awesome project I plan to make with these!

Aren't these milk glass knobs the prettiest color?!

In closing I wanted to add this sweet picture of my feline babies. They are 8.5 months old now. I always tell Chantel and Wyatt I wish they would get along as well as Phoebe and Fez do. They are such a sweet addition to our family--they were meant to be ours. Such sweet kitties.

Thanks for visiting!

Chippy Paint Experiments

I told myself I couldn't do any projects until the Christmas decorations were put away but after getting the mantle and tree put away I decided I deserved a little creative time. I have been really wanting to create a chippy paint look to my fence board projects.

I posted the other day about the old fence board table runner and box that my husband was nice enough to make for me...

I wanted to give it a little white chippy paint..kinda beachy look. I wasn't sure exactly what to do but thought I would try milk paint.

Well, I liked the milk paint--but don't think this was the right paint for the project. I realized after researching it more that milk paint really shines when using it on a shiny finish--that is when it distresses naturally. These old fence boards totally soak up the paint. So I looked online and decided to try the Vaseline method.

So I smeared some Vaseline around on the wood.

Then I painted the milk paint on..

As it dried I cold see where the Vaseline part was crackling...

After the paint was dry I took a paper towel and just wiped off the paint where the Vaseline was.

After wiping it off though I realized it was too stripy...and part of the reason was because as I brushed on the paint it kind of made the stripes. So I used my finger and fixed it best I could..and it looks so much better. 

 

 With my favorite ruffled runner on it I thought it looked quite beachy pretty!

 

 So I thought about it and realized the best thing to do would be use the Vaseline and then spray paint over it. Then I wouldn't be "dragging" the Vaseline with the paint brush. Gotta love good ole spray paint!

 

 

The box turned out just like I wanted it too! I really like the Vaseline and spray paint technique. Now I want my husband to make me another box, a little smaller, because I have some ideas to make it really shabby chic pretty. Stay tuned! I know this very distressed look isn't for everyone, but I really love it on at least a few items in my house. It looks like it has a story to tell--which I am sure these old fence boards could tell many stories!

So I was quite satisfied with myself with my chippy project. That gave me the urge to clean the carpets because when I have something new and pretty I like the house to be all spotlessly clean around it.

The boys piled on the couch, along with the dogs and a bunch of blankets while I shampooed the carpets.

As I usually always do I had extra children this weekend. Chantel's friend Alyshea was our guest. The girls did "Just Dance" for over 3 hours. If I just had their energy I would be skinny!

Well--I guess I should get back to organizing/putting away the Christmas decorations...the chippy paint thing was just so much more fun :) I look forward to working with Milk Paint again as I found it to be easy to mix and I think on the right project it would be perfect! My cousin Trinity took a milk paint class this weekend and I think it would have been so fun if we could have taken that class together! She lives in California but I am thinking she should move to Oregon. :)

I hope everyone had fun and creative weekends!

Thanks for visiting!

Projects to do

I have had the creative bug so bad the last couple weeks. Every year after the holidays I seem to be anxious to get back to crafting. The problem is I told myself I have to get all the holiday stuff down and organized because I can do any projects. The organized part is the problem--I want to take Christmas decorations that haven't been used for awhile to Goodwill and everything else put together into their rubbermaid containers and labeled. Ugh. Not my idea of fun.

So what is my idea of fun is making projects out of fence boards!

I had my husband make this wooden table runner out of fence boards.

 

He also made me a box to go with it.

 

 

I have ordered a sample of Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint. I am hoping it works well on this project. I am hoping it turns out chippy but am afraid that this old wood may really soak up the paint. Maybe I should put a little vaseline on it or something...any ideas?  I figure it may take some trail and error to get the look I want. I have ideas to add appliques and little glass knob feet to the box. This is going to be so cute! I hope.

Then for a couple months now I have been wanting to cover these light covers I got for my dining chandelier.

I have planned to add fabric and ruffles and I think it will look so pretty!

Then after looking for several months I finally found a floor lamp for my livingroom. I had a corner that needs light.

As you can imagine this is not how I plan for it to look when I am done. I fell in love with a lampshade at Ikea and I am hoping to make it look something like this---

Wish me luck!

So unfortunately I am not the only one in the family with a creative bug. My husband and kids made this kitty condo for Phoebe and Fez...

They don't understand why I don't think it goes with my decorating. They think it is very shabby chic. Phoebe and Fez better enjoy it while they can--because I am not going to be able to handle not sticking this out in the recycling for too long. :)

So does anybody else have the creative bug right now?

Thanks for visiting!