Projects, Peonies, and a Special Birthday

Life is so busy...but busy is good. Every now and then I sneak in a little project and that makes me happy. Recently I saw a painted lavender pitcher that was from Pinterest posted on Facebook. I decided to make my own vase version of it. I am no artist but I still think it turned out pretty cute!

It is so fun that so many things are blooming this time of year. The gardens are bountiful! One thing I am really loving right now is the pink Peonies. They are one of my favorite flowers.

 One of my Peony bushes has the largest blooms--almost of the size of a plate!

Everyone alway say my favorite rose (Wildeve) looks like a Peony and the photo below shows it is true.

The rose is in the middle.

Yesterday was my great nieces first birthday. What a fun time! I love first birthdays. I always had BIG first birthday parties for our kids.

The birthday girl (Amia) looked like a princess in her birthday dress.

We took Jax with us (my nephew from another side of the family) and he had a great time! It is rare that he gets to be the big kid.

There were 3 cakes--and so many presents. Amia looks so happy her with her Daddy.

I think she was overwhelmed with all the presents! Her Mama helped her open them.

I got her the cradle--I made all the bedding. Janae got her a doll to go in it.

Jax thought that he should get the pony. When we left he actually tried to carry it away.

I love these pictures of Janae and Chantel with Amia.

After we left the party we had to stop by at Goodwill. They live about 45 minutes away from us so it is a Goodwill we don't get to too often.

There was this little pink piano that Jax would have played for an hour if I would have let him. We didn't get it because it was $39.99 but now I am thinking that is really not that bad of a price. It is so cute! I am thinking maybe my unborn Grandchildren need this piano. I told Amia's Grandma about it and I think she may go see if it is still there. :)

I did get this cute little birdhouse looking church. I think it is so cute and I kind of collect these type of things.

It looks great on my desk--which I still just adore!

Have almost finished one more project this week. Just need to distress and wax it now.  It started out looking like this...

Now it looks like this...

I have become quite confident now in my painting skills after 5 years of practice.  I am hoping to be able to sell some things as a way to help out with the bills around here and still be able to care for my disabled son, Gage. Wish me luck!

On this Memorial Day weekend I am reminded how lucky we all are to have people who protect us and keep us safe...so we can do things like paint and go to birthday parties!

Thanks for visiting!

A favor to ask...

My daughter (Janae) just became a finalist in a contest which would help her win $1000 for her favorite rescue-- Displaced Pets. They are a small rescue but they save a lot of dogs. It is where she adopted Lilly.

The video is adorable. You can view it here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0COcpJdx0A&feature=youtu.be

Here is the link on Facebook where you can vote...just like this link to vote

 

https://www.facebook.com/INSTINCT/posts/10152248961733022 

 

Thank you so much! I will let you know if she wins. I sure hope she does because Displaced Pets does a lot of great work

Garden Stroll

I like to remember what was blooming when so I thought I would snap a few photos of how the flowers are looking in the middle of May.

My daughter Chantel brought me home a beautiful huge basket from school. Each Horticulture student got to pick a basket from what was leftover from the plant sale.

I love it! I am a huge fan of hanging baskets.

I love my roses too!

I love to bring my roses in the house too :)

Every day brings me things blooming in the gardens..

One of my favorite area in my front deck. I am pretty lucky with potted plants--they do well for me! Can't wait until these grow huge!

Janae is taking after her Mom (me) and her view out her front door is beautiful!

Yesterday was 91 degrees and I (believe it or not) enjoyed it :) But today is 85 degrees and muggy--I am not liking that. I have decided I don't mind the heat but I hate it when it is muggy.

To end this post--I have a handful of projects I need to get too. My husband bought me the piece below--I know it is a gossip bench--but I am wondering how old? I am thinking maybe 1950's? I am hoping I can make it beautiful :)!

Thanks for visiting!

It's nice to be loved..

I had a wonderful Mother's day weekend and I hope all you Mother's did too. It is nice to have a special day to be reminded that you are loved and appreciated.

On Mother's day my oldest (Janae) took me out for Mexican food and to the movie "Heaven is for real"--it was a great movie and dinner was delicious. So fun to have a night out! She also bought me a gift certificate to a Annie Sloan chalk paint stockist in an neighboring town that I didn't know existed. I am very excited to go visit that shop...and have money to spend! Janae always spoils me!

I woke up in the morning of Mother's day to the kids cleaning house and making me these cup cakes.

 Chantel said it took her forever to spell out the words in little candy pearls. What sweet kids I have.

My very thoughtful Dad bought me roses with a note that said he and my Mom are so proud of the Mother I am. Very touching.

It went on to say that he had bought me his favorite red and white rose and then my Mother told him I don't like red and so he went back and bought me pink.

So I got double the roses! Mom's always know what you like :)

My husband bought me a beautiful Clematis for the yard and even said he would plant it for me.

On Mothers day I also of course went to see my own Mother- my Mother in law- and Grandma. I wish I would have taken pictures! Mother's day was also my Dad's birthday--so a big weekend for our family!

This weekend I also got to go to a lifetime friends wedding (we have known each other since we were 2). Hadn't seen her in years and was so happy to see how happy she is and meet her new husband (who has to be one of the world's nicest guys--immediately felt like I had known him forever). So enjoyed seeing her parents too. Some people it just doesn't matter how many years go by of not seeing each other there is a bond there that is like they are family. It was such a lovely celebration.

Another fun event of the weekend was the Doggie dash--where we raised money for the Oregon Humane Society. It was such a fun event--I heard there was 4000 dogs there! I didn't see one dog fight either. It was so fun!

There were people and dogs as far as the eye could see!

We met one of Janae's Facebook friends there that she had never met in real life..and so we did the 2.5 mile walk with 9 Poms (4 being Janae's and 5 belonging to her friend). Janae's friend was so nice--we really enjoyed walking with her and her fur kids.

We had a fun time! The dogs were so good--I think they were nervous about all the big dogs around. :) We got a lot of attention from other doggie dashers with all those Poms walking together!

How was your Mother's day weekend? Just wonderful I hope :)

Thanks for visiting!

My Favorite Remake So Far

As I have said many times I love being able to turn something not so pretty into something beautiful and I am just "tickled pink" over my latest remake.

I have shown you this desk before. When I bought it at Goodwill for $9.99 the worker reminded me there are no returns on furniture. I think he thought I was totally nuts. The chair has been in my garage for years and to me just looks like the perfect match to the desk. I had a vision for this poor broken (and chewed by a dog) desk and my vision came to life.

Don't you just love it when visions come to life?

This was not an easy project. Jerry had to make a piece to fix the broken drawer--thank goodness for handy husbands! The desk was filthy so it was a big job just to clean it. It took me 3 days of painting. The weather wasn't cooperating (too cold for paint to dry) and so I moved my dining table out and my project into the dining room. I really was anxious to work on this desk!

I knew this piece was going to bleed through the paint and boy was I right. I was glad I knew to use Zinsser primer. After that was the fun part--using Annie Sloan chalk paint in Pure White and Antoinette.

Once again I painted the upholstery and I love how it looks. I was pleased with how nice the stripes turned out too!

I had fun putting stripes on the top and the very bottom of the desk too.

Thank goodness for Edgelock technology--the lines came out perfectly!

I also did some crackle on the drawers--I have always loved the cracked paint look.

I added an applique which I added a little color to and love how it looks.

The sun hitting the glass knobs I added make it look like they light up!

I just couldn't be more happy with it!

I feel really blessed to have such pretty things on my Kool Aide budget :)

Another thing I am feeling blessed about is the 2nd birthday of our cats. Those of you that have been following my blog for awhile will remember the kittens we rescued at 10 days old and bottlefed.

It seems like yesterday they looked like this...

and now they are two! Time flies!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Phoebe and Fez! Also to their brother and sister who live with Janae...Levi and Lulu :)

 

I don't know how Janae gets them to keep their birthday hats on--lol

I am almost done with my outdoor living space so soon I will share the whole area with you. I just love spending time out there.

Thanks for visiting!