Another reason to thank the thrift store gods....

The thrift store gods have smiled upon me and I am happy.....I can't find the before picture anywhere, but it was a gold mirror. Sixty-nine cents later, it was mine.

I painted the frame white and spray-painted chalkboard paint on the mirror, then rubbed a little brown paint to age it.....

I LOVE IT!

It's the perfect addition to my window!

Thank you thrift store gods.....you make me so happy for so little cash!

Bella the China hutch turned shabby chic!

OK! Do you remember this beautiful china hutch that I stole from my good friend, Craig? Yep! $50.00 for this beauty! She sat in the garage for a long time....my husband offered to haul her away several times. I began to wonder if I would ever get to her. The east coast weather is so hard to work with sometimes. The minute humidity hits, I am toast for being able to paint, since I have to do it all outside. But, the weekend of Labor Day dawned beautiful and I was ready! So, here she is before........

And here she is now!!!!!

I loved her beautiful lines from the very beginning. I loved her curves.....

I had a vision....I just needed time and good weather! Some people told me not to take off the front glass area, but I needed the open space for books and such.

Now she has a fresh coat of paint and looks like a million dollars in her new white frock!

I was going to keep those beautiful knobs, but when I found these....well, every girl needs some BLING!

Eleanor, the princess, told me that her favorite part is the beautiful sparkly knobs!

Now they match the beds I finished...

The back is just some polka dot fabric I glued to the back and it added so much!

The best thing was I got rid of all sorts of toys and such they don't play with. Now our room is clean and fun and girly and shabby chic!

Next up, chandelier!

Flowers make me happy

I can't exactly tell you when I started creating with flowers. I remember helping my aunt Sandy Butler do weddings as a girl and loving the designs she came up with. I remember the smell of the flowers at funerals and weddings. I guess it all just evolves.....

I've downloaded some random pictures of flowers I have done in the last year or so....no particular order, just things I have been asked to do or created on my own....

Women's Conference 2010 for the Oakton Stake. We did a French theme and made a cafe table of yummy french pastries and some carnations to look like a cafe. The serving table had French "stuff" grouped together.

Oakton Women's Conference 2009 - it was awesome! I loved decorating for this conference! I did daisies and butterflies and on a shoestring budget came up with this....

Yes, I hung those balls from the ceiling! It was amazing! There were big butterflies mixed in with the flower balls...

This was the pulpit in the chapel...
Headbands for babies who are adorable and grow up too fast.....
And headbands for little girls who love to be pretty....
Flowers for all occasions.....
Flowers make me happy and my daughter, Eleanor, loves them also!
Sometimes I have to make flowers for sad occasions, but I love to show them how much they are loved....

These were for a special primary meeting we had with the former General Primary President, Sister Lant...


More funeral flowers for a dear friend....

Stake Conference Flowers are some of my favorite.... I get to do whatever I want and create beautiful arrangements to show my Heavenly Father how grateful I am for my talents....

Take time to smell the roses!!!

When George Washington came to our house.....

Meet George Washington, the first president of the United States of America.

George is dressed in his finery for the Presidential Showcase sponsored by the Flint Hill School third graders. His attire is hand sewn by a commissioned seamstress in the Northern Virginia area. He specifically chose this attire to represent himself at this event.

His wig is made from the finest white yarn available at the local markets. Hand rolled and with special stabilizers to give him the utmost comfort and stylish appearance.

Linen britches, linen vest, an ascot and a navy blue long coat with brass buttons truly represent his status as our first President.

As you can tell, he is pleased with his seamstress and is ready to showcase himself at the event.

His constituents were there to cheer him on in the Presidential showcase!

Thanks George for visiting us!

The Invention Convention

Every year the fifth graders put on an invention convention. They learn about early civilization and how inventions were started to make our lives easier. Each student comes up with an idea to make life easier, draws up plans, purchases materials, writes a journal entry about it and makes a display board and the invention. They are supposed to do this as much on their own as possible.

Xander's idea was a music bag that would hold his flute and piccolo and music so he doesn't have to have three different bags, which is what he currently does. I am really proud of him! Aside from a few technical issues mom had to tweek for him, he did it pretty much on his own. The biggest challenge is that is has to be a new design. It cannot already exist. They had to do research on the internet to find similar ideas or see if it was already invented. There are flute/piccolo bags, but not like this one! We designed our own style and added things that the other ones did not have.

Most of his friends came up with very simple ideas that took a few minutes to make. Most were additions to things already invented, a lot were pretty simple to assemble. I know some were hard, like Xander's but not very many!

Here's the finished backpack:

We decided to make the backpack out of all recycled materials. We took a backpack his aunt's had used in high school and cut it up. Then we took those recyclable bags you get at the stores. I had some cool zebra print ones that he really liked. We rummaged through my sewing supplies and came up with all sorts of stuff to accent the bag. It is pretty eclectic, but he loves it and it is definitely "green!"

Sewing was actually the hardest because we have a simple sewing machine, not a commercial grade monster that can sew through several layers.

He had to document each step of the way with pictures and journal entries...

At this house, no project is complete without a bowl of popcorn....

Putting the final touches on....

Ah, yes! And what musician or preteen can live without their iPod!

We made a special pocket for the iPod...

And recycled a part of the old backpack to make the cord hole.....

Here's the side pocket with the pencil holder....

The cleaning rod....

He worked so hard on it and I am so proud of him! He is really happy with his invention and plans on using it as soon as the convention is over next week!

Great Job Xander!!!!!