Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Moments that make me SMILE......

Eating ice cream at the park on Sunday afternoons.....


Scribbling with sidewalk chalk.......


Push-ups with Daddy K......


Having no fear whatsoever.....


Flip Flops and Baby Dolls.......


Eyes that I will forever be jealous of......


The way Julia communicates......



The cheek to cheek squeeze.......




ummm....Excuse me little boy.....are you proposing to my ONE YEAR OLD???......


The Max Update........

Day 2 with the collar...Max is thinking, "seriously!!...and how long do you expect me to wear this thing....???


Max with his Granny Knee-Highs on.....(go ahead and laugh)  We had no other choice....he seemed to find a way around the collar to lick.....Who knew beyond all that hair he has tiny little chicken legs!!


We are happy to say that today is his first day without the collar....and with lots of hugs from Julia, he feels much much better!!  


Monday, June 27, 2011

Chalkboard Paint!!!.....where have you been all my life???

Chalkboard paint seems to be the new thing these days, and because I REFUSE to be left out, I have decided to join the fun!!   I have learned that you can literally apply chalkboard paint to any surface!  For Example.....

Here we have a picture frame, a globe, and (who would have thought) A room divider!!



This is a door, turned sideways!!  They painted the recessed panels with the chalkboard paint!!  How creative!!  I love that it is displayed as a piece of art but still has important function!!  



Here they have taken a WHOLE wall, and painted it with chalkboard paint!!!  This would be a little kid's dream!!!


Now that I've gotten you all worked up with chalkboard possibilities, we are taking it a notch down.....For today's project, I have decided to start small!  I wanted to make something that both Julia and I could enjoy!...I have decided to create chalkboard building blocks, with a side of decoupage!!  :)  I always like to give my projects a little twist!!  (Here is a sneak peak of the end result)......


Supplies for this project.....blocks, chalkboard paint, chalk, scrapbook paper, and modpodge.

Step ONE:  Find your blocks!  I was walking through T J Max one day and found these on the clearance rack.  ($2.00 - I couldn't pass up that deal)



Step TWO:   Paint the blocks with your chalkboard paint......
I had a do a few layers to cover up the letters that were already on the blocks, but no worries, the paint dries really fast!


Step THREE:  Decoupage scrapbook paper onto one side of each block!  Feel free to do more if you want!  I simply tore out a square of scrapbook paper and used the modpodge to glue it down.  I then put a thin layer of modpodge over the top to seal it well!

The scrapbook paper adds just enough interest, so you don't have just plain 'ol solid color blocks!


And that's it!!!......Now it's time to put these to good use!!  First, I let Jules have her fun...

look at that concentration!!!  I love it!




lets see how high we can stack them, then draw on them!! 





You can use them as learning tools......




or, just for cute sayings......




this is my personal favorite!!  :)




Now, with a lot of convincing (fingers crossed,) maybe this could be my next project........

An entire playroom!!! ohhhh...Jules would love it!!!  (I think I would love it more!!)   Now, I know this is quite a leap from building blocks to an entire playroom...but who knows...maybe Daddy K will go for it!!  :)


What interesting things have you created with Chalkboard paint lately.....??


(To see the parties I'm linking up to go here.....)



Thursday, June 23, 2011

Off to the Vet we go.......

This is how our morning began.........


Julia and Max sitting in the back seat of Daddy K's Truck.....and while this picture may look super cute...we are actually on the way to the vet!....NOT for a checkup!!.....What happened you may ask??.....




Well.....This was Max last night.....after Day 3 of LICKING NON STOP on his back leg!!.....We have no idea what is irritating it, but as you can see we have a sock on it, and it is wrapped up in a towel to hopefully stop the licking!......poor thing!...He is consoling himself with Julia's "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book!  



Soooo.....300 dollars worth of antibiotics and a few tears later....we have this......
yes!!  It's the dreaded plastic collar!!  (Go ahead and laugh!!  We sure have!!)  He has to wear this until our next check-up on Saturday!!!  Max seems to have gotten a skin infection!  It looks and sounds terrible, however it is quite common in retriever mixes!!

This will be an interesting few days!!!  I'll keep you updated!!  :)


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Wire Words.....??

Yep, that's right....Wire Words.....While browsing on pinterest last week, I found a few super cool images.....








First of all, I love art made of words, and second I love art with textures!!   I don't think these look toooo intimidating...so let's give it a whirl.....I am going to attempt our last name wrapped with twine!!...here we go!!

Supplies:  Wire, twine, scissors

(You can choose what size (thickness) wire you work with.  I used a thin wire so it was easily moldable….you could use a thick wire, however you may need strong pliers to help create your curves.)

Step One:  Figure out what word you will create…and in my case, do a little sketch so you have a visual…..I decided to do our last name… “The Cummings”  Please Note….If you have two words you need to make sure they link together! 





Step Two: (this was just an experiment)  I wanted to see how easily I could mold the letters.  So I unwrapped a good bit of wire and started creating my words…..

(you can see the letters are pretty loose looking...kinda whimsical!  This is just to get an idea of where we are headed!)



Step Three:  Because it would be very difficult to wrap your twine around already sculpted letters, I have chosen a much easier route…..you can either unwrap the letters you just made or, you can start with new wire….(I started with new wire) Estimate how much wire you may need to make your letters.  It’s okay if you don’t pull out enough to start with, you can always add more!   Start wrapping your wire with the twine...wrap and wrap and wrap….Because my wire was very thin, I had to wrap more twine around it to get the thickness I wanted! 





Step Four:  When you are finished wrapping , you will be left with a very long length of twine wrapped wire!
(notice how some areas are wrapped thicker and looser than others.  This will add some interest to the art!)



Step Five:  Use your newly wrapped wire to create your words.  Since I used the very thin wire, my words were easily moldable.  I could work with each letter, bending them, or curving them to get the exact look I wanted.  (if you start creating your words and you realize you are short on wire that’s okay.  Just grab more wire….twist the ends together to extend your length, continue wrapping it with twine, then finish spelling your words.





Step Six: Locate the letters that need a little adjustment. You may have a few letters that look really loose, or just don’t connect the way you were thinking….For example, see my “h”… since I had to make several loops to create the “h”, the wire doesn’t lay exactly how I wanted….(see below)




Step Seven:  This is easily fixable…. Take a tiny piece of twine and tie your letters down.  Whatever pieces you want to lay flat on top of each other…just tie them together. (does that make sense)  See my new “h” below….




Step Eight:  Now that you have finished your wire art, you need to find a place to display it!  Honestly, I had no idea where I wanted to hang this!  I just walked around the house until I found a spot that could use this super cute personal detail….and I landed in the kitchen!.....I hung this piece of beauty  on the wall under our cabinets!  I feel like it adds a little something to this blank space on the wall!!





Now....If you wanted to get really creative with your wire words you could do something like this!!.....

Let's see what you can come up with!!  


To see the parties I'm linking to go HERE!!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Consignment Love + Daddy Love = The Perfect Weekend!!

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a civic center…..all you can see is a big blur of color, millions of racks of clothes, tables upon tables of toys, rows upon rows of highchairs, strollers, cribs, and carseats!  Anything your kids could possible need is surrounding you at the best price ever!  Welcome to the JBF!  Just Between Friends; the largest kids consignment sale I have ever shopped!

When I was introduced to this sale, I immediately fell in love! Call me crazy, but I'm a sucker for these kinds of things.....I don’t mind spending hours digging until I find the cutest outfit, or the perfect book!  It makes me happy!.... it's my "Me Time".....it keeps me sane! 

The JBF only comes around 3 times a year, so I’ve now learned you should be prepared!  Don’t you dare enter that place without a plan!!  If you do, you will go in and never come out!!  I feel like I am an experienced JBFer these days!  I make a list of what I need….i know exactly where to go…and as I’m heading to the checkout line I may mosey through a few random isles!  That is the way to a successful consignment shopping experience!  Let me show you a few of my lucky finds……

A radio flyer wagon....$20!!
Yes, it's a little used, but who cares!!  We will definitely put some mileage on this bad boy!!



Ladybug Step Stool......$4!!
1. Julia LOVES ladybugs!!  2. She tries to climb on EVERYTHING!  I'm hoping this will help reduce the amount of tumbles she has therefore minimizing the boo-boos  3. Yes, it's chipped up a little, but it's nothing black paint can't fix!



TuTu Dress.....$10
OMG!!!  This is my personal favorite!!  I can see it now.....Fairy princess for Halloween! squuueeeee!!!  or we can just play dress up!!  


Those were just a few highlights of everything that was purchased!  Clearly the wagon was Julia's favorite!......

You know it's a winner when she claps!


next, we had to ride the wagon and smell all the flowers....


(it's hard to get a 1 yr old to smile on command!)


Next up.....Father's Day!!

These are the steps to having a great Father's Day!.....

STEP ONE.....jump on top of Daddy (after waking him up from a nap)...squeeze him as tight as possible....and tell him (in whatever babble language you speak) how he is the best dad in the whole wide world!!!



STEP TWO...give him a surprise Daddy basket with all of his favorite things....




STEP THREE......give more hugs!!  (again, i can't get her to smile or look at me when the camera is around) 

I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT FATHER'S DAY!!


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Exciting Things......

A Crafty Soiree!!....Have you heard of it??  It's the place to go to link up the crafts you've made and/or see what others are making in the blogosphere these days!!  Katie at Katie's Nesting Spot is featuring my Decoupage Art on todays post!!  I am one of 3 lucky ladies being featured!!  If you have a few extra minutes, go take a peek....and maybe even add a crafty link!!  


Thank you Katie for having me on today!!