it’s beginning to look a lot like…

 

… a working mother lives here!

Ha!  But I did finally bust out the Christmas décor this weekend, as you can tell from the blog header. 

I didn't make any new and amazing DIY creations, just put up the old stuff and called it good.  I changed things around a bit though and I like it…

Hmmm, I’ll give you one guess what colors I am digging again this year.  Red and green.  I HATED red and green for the longest time.  Last year I decided it was old fashioned and I love it still this year. 

We got to spend last weekend relaxing at my mom’s.  They have about a foot of snow so far, so we braved the cold and took the kids out like once…

 

I might have forgotten Susie didn’t have snow clothes yet.

Mark said his snowmobile ride was too slow and maybe grandma needed to take him on a ride.

Susie on the other hand…

No such complaint.

I am busting buns on my days off this week to finish up loose ends for the Dickens Fair.  I finished my bunting for my booth’s name today, “sew vintage”, with some help from little hands…

I went the cheap and easy route of pinning paper letters cut out from music books onto the gingham so that I wouldn’t be stuck with a “sew vintage” banner for ever.  I think I might repurpose it already for Christmas this year… that is if I can find another spot to cram in one last bunting!

I’ve got to go get a couple last supplies!  Later!

seriously random tidbit

 

Did you know this was possible?

I didn’t really either.  In my filing cabinet drawers-turned desk, instead of putting labels in the slots, I stuck little map papers in there.  It looks super cute.  Someday when I go to IKEA and they actually have my wood desk top, and I bring it home and set it up, I will show you.  =) 

Anyhoo…  Susie loves to get the papers out and have her way with them, which leaves them looking a little sad looking depressing.  I knew it was possible to flatten paper, as some friends once stole a crinkled family picture of ours and had it fixed and framed for us.  Now, I am guessing the iron would be a bad idea on a photograph (or maybe use a towel in between), but for this I thought I’d give it a try.  It worked!

I will now end this public service announcement that you will probably never need. 

more crafting and Dickens Fair info!

 

I have crafted up a few more items for my sale.  Remember when I made a pin cushion in a milkglass pedestal and said I would hunt for more to make pincushions for my sale?  Guess what I found, all at one thrift store…

And now they look like this.

 

Two linen ones and one vintage/modern.  Love them. 

Oh, yeah, I finally received my vendor information for the Dickens Fair.  There were some flyers in the packet for me to hand out so I am giving y’all the info virtually.  By the way, y’all is such a convenient contraction, everyone should use it.

 

The 25th Annual Dickens Fair

Over 90 craft vendors and children caroling!

coordinated by Lake Stevens School District

Saturday December 3, 2011

10am to 4pm

Held at Cavelero Mid High

8820 24th ST SE

Everett WA 98205

Admission Fee: One canned food item or monetary donation for the Lake Stevens Food Bank.

Vendors and staff are supposed to dress in Dickens era clothing, which I haven’t figured out yet what I am doing!  Ahh!  I will be at booth 39 along the East wall in the main room with the stage. 

I am so excited!  This week I have Wednesday and Friday off and will be crafting like a mad woman to get some more things ready.  My booth will be called “sew vintage” since many of my items are vintage finds combined somehow with fabric creations.  I will be selling DSLR camera strap covers, zippered pouches, teacup and other pin cushions, vintage pillowcase totes, burlap and vintage linen pillow covers and various vintage items that I have upcycled. 

I have some vintage items that I have not modified at all which I don’t think are allowed in the sale and those will end up in my Etsy shop afterward, along with any items that don’t sell at the Dickens Fair, so I’ll keep you posted on that.

It should be a fun way to jumpstart your Christmas shopping, so stop by Starbucks with a couple girlfriends and come check it out! 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint { THE AFTERS! }

 

So I did finally get a chance to paint my sideboard with my Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint a couple weeks ago.  Then I couldn’t bring myself to blog it cause I needed to distress and wax a little more.

The process went like this...

I did not sand or prime anything.

I painted one coat of Old Ochre chalk paint with a cheapo natural brush.  It was near midnight so I let it dry overnight.

I rubbed on one coat of clear wax the next day using an old onesie.

More than a week later I finally got a chance to do a little more distressing and touched up those spots with a little more wax.

DONE.

So happy with the results...

Now I admit, if this had been a nice, old piece of furniture with some detail and real quality craftsmanship, I would have gone the extra mile and done two coats of paint and a coat of clear, then a coat of dark wax to bring out the details.  That said, this is an Ikea piece.  No major details here, so I am just happy that it is no longer orange-pine and it does look like it has some age to it - it looks like I painted it like ten years ago!  Some people don’t like that look, but I do.  The first coat of paint was pretty good, and the minute I touched it with the wax, I was ooohing and ahhhing.  The wax really does give it the patina of age and depth.  And I only used clear!  I can't wait to get my hands on another project (I have three more to do) and give the dark wax a try.  By the way, if you wax a piece and decide it needs more paint: apply right over the wax!  So easy.  Also, I put my stuff back on it the same night - no tackiness for days like you get with latex or polyurethanes.

Cost?  I realize this stuff is a little spendy.  Okay, quite spendy.  But the paint goes far, so let's break it down.  This was a big buffet that I painted.  I did one coat, but let's consider I had done two... I only used about 1/4 of the quart of paint, so let's double it to half, which breaks down to about $20.  And I only used about 1/6 of the can of wax, which breaks down to about $4.  So I got the look I wanted on a whole buffet for $24.  I'm okay with that.  Also, these paints can be mixed to create other colors (I have seen formulas online), thickened by leaving the lid off, thinned into a wash by adding water, or changed by the use of clear or dark waxes, so you aren't stuck with one specific shade when you have paint left over.

I am totally happy with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and with the stockist where I purchased it, Bella Bungalow of Arlington WA.  Annie Sloan’s site will help you find a stockist, or person allowed to sell the paint, in your area.  And of course, as you know I am a teeny tiny blogger and was certainly not paid to give this opinion.

This leaves two little projects yet to do in my entry and I will have to share when the whole room is done.  Right now, it’s nose to the grindstone to get stuff done for my upcoming Dickens Fair!  By the way, I finally got my info and I will share that with you tomorrow!  Peace!

gift ideas { wrap bracelet }

 

Since I would like to make most of my gifts this year, I will be hunting high and low for good gift ideas so I think I will share them here when I come across them. 

A while back I made a wrap bracelet but I was rushing and using materials I had on hand and it wasn’t going to hold up.  So I remade it the right way this time…

I tried to take a picture of it on, which is tricky to do by yourself…

The proper materials are: beads of your choice, leather for the outer strands and an actual beading thread.  The strands kind of overlap and criss-cross when I wear it but of course they aren’t in the picture.  I thought it was a little long at first but I kind of like the way it slides up and down.  The next one I make I want it to wrap around 4 or 5 times.

This would make a great gift for anyone who is into fashion, as it is a knock off of an expensive Chen Lou version.  If you missed my first post, this is the tutorial I used.

scarf LOVE

I have loved scarves for a few years now, but never knew what to “do” with them and always felt a little too fluffy when I tried to wear them.  That didn’t stop me from buying more and more.  I kept thinking I needed a different color, pattern, fluffiness or length.

Does anyone else have the same problem(s) as me?  Hello?  Anyone?

Well, last week, somehow I found this video…

Wendy’s 25 ways to tie a scarf on YouTube

For some reason, seeing Wendy do the different styles step by step makes me feel confident that I did it right or something?  I might have been alone in my room watching this at 2 am while hubby was out of town, pausing, playing, pausing, playing and following the steps in front of my mirror.  Maybe.

Now that I know what to do with scarves, I have done about three different knots,  and worn scarves a total of 6 times this past week!   Yay scarves!

another wedding

 

Part of the reason I have been MIA the past few weeks was because I was frantically working to finish editing up some wedding pictures! 

We have been friends with the Waltz family since I was in first grade!  Karmin let me take the photos for her wedding, even though it was my first time ever shooting a wedding!  And at the end of this past summer, it was Hannah’s turn. 

Without a bunch of fluff, here are my favorites…

 

 

 

It was a lovely wedding, and I was happy with the pictures, even though we were super cramped on time.  Thanks, Hannah and Chad for letting me be a part of your big day!  I am honored that you entrusted an amateur like me with your special memories!  God bless you!

friday miscellany

 

I am so ready for the weekend.  I am still nagged by things I didn’t get done last weekend.  Wedding photos to finish up, curtains to make, house to clean, book shelves to line with paper, furniture painting to finish.  Yeah.  Among other things.  Oh, yeah, and working like a mad woman to finish a bunch of stuff for the Dickens Fair coming up the first Saturday in December.  That’s the kicker right there.

Anyway, I thought I would share some randomness. 

Mark played soccer this year and loved it!  But the poor little guy (not) was riding dirt bikes with dad on picture day.  What a rough life.  No problem – I happen to be a photographer for a company that does sports photography.  I took his picture another day at practice and had some prints made.  I also had these made…

Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen?  Mark saw them and started giggling like a little school girl.  And he doesn’t even know what baseball cards are.  I need to show him Ty’s old collection.  Still he was giddy to see himself on something like this.  Such a cool little idea, he can’t wait to pass them out to his grandmas and friends.  =)

Meanwhile the little lady has been up to all kinds of mischief…

See the pink all over her face?  She has seen me put powder on my face with a big brush and sometimes I put it on her to tickle her and be silly.  Well she must have decided to do it herself with some pink chalk.  It looked so funny in person.  Like a clown or mime or something.  I love that it was pink chalk too, so fitting.

One of our hens must have found some Wheaties out in the pasture, because man…

All I can say is “OW!”  Poor girl.  That wasn’t the only time, either.  We got ten new baby chicks, by the way.  Did I already tell you that?  Don’t worry, I didn’t take pictures of them.  Sharing my big-egg pictures is bad enough.  =)

We made some fall –L-eaves in homeschool for letter L the other day…

They were a pain.  After we adults basically made our own, we just let the kids cut out some plain ones and hung them together in the window.  The kiddos aren’t good enough with their scissors yet to do the inside part, or really make the wax paper exact enough.  They are pretty though, especially when the setting sun is coming in that window.  Thanks, Mom, for the crayon shavings!  You can have the rest back now, I never want to see them again.  ;)

So for the update on my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint?  Not done yet.  I think I just decided about an hour ago that I do need to distress it more.  So I will have to do that this weekend.  For now, here is what ONE coat of Old Ochre looks like with one coat of clear wax:

It truly does have a patina.  As soon as I put the wax on it took on an aged look.  I want to sand some of the places that would have been word if it was actually old and distress on the edges of the drawers more.  The nice thing about this paint and wax is that when you get done, if you don’t like your look you can put more paint and/or wax right over the top.  Crazy awesome.  So I’ll share when I get it all done.  =)

Have a wonderful Friday!  Godbless!

Regatta

 

Last weekend the hubby went out of town with the kids to do some tree work at my mom’s.  I couldn’t go because I had to work on Saturday.  But on Sunday, I had the kid-less opportunity to go to my friend’s rowing race.  I think it is called a ‘regatta’.

Anyway, it was one of those days I was not feeling so creative and I wondered if I should just leave the camera in the car.  I had told Sara I would take pictures though, and their usual photographer was not there, so I toughed it out.  And I’m glad I did.  I got home and was actually happy with some of the pictures…

Those are canoes, not the kind of boats my friend was racing, but I thought they were neat all lined up in the morning sun.  UW apparently rents them out.

Anyway, it wasn’t long after sunrise when the first teams started making their way down the lake, warming up on their way toward the starting line, and with the fog still lingering it was very dreamy…

The views were lovely.  We even got to see the Montlake bridge draw up…

 

The bridge drew up for two boats that didn’t even look that tall, and caused a big delay in the race starts… after some waiting, Sara and Rebecca finally raced past!…

We were along a narrow channel and that was the only part of the race we could really see.  Then we went and met them where they docked after the finish…

They ended up taking second, and would have placed first if not for a boat that was not following the rules of passing/getting passed.  Good job ladies!

It was a fun, relaxing day for me, hanging out with friends on the beautiful UW campus and it was nice to break out of my normal routine.  Again, nice job Sara and Rebecca!