Another Pallet Project (Number 67) Go Cougars!

 So, after making the Texas flag/scripture pallet project , I decided that it was too much fun not to do another one. This time I had to tear apart the pallet myself (Ok, I had some help, but still...) and I learned why people stop making these things after just one. Oh, they are a BEAR to take apart!
But, so much fun to paint. This time I did a BYU one for my son's room. It was pretty easy. I was going to stain it a little, but I liked it how it was, so I left it.

We decided to just prop it up on top of his book shelf (these are also a bear to hang on the wall) and I think that's where it will stay.

And that reminds me... I still need to blog about the bookcase.

Pallet Art (project numba 66)

Some women from my church got together at someone's house recently for a craft day.
It. Was. Awesome.

I haven't been able to do so much since I have so many kids.
Just stating the obvious.

So, it was a blast getting my craft on. Especially at someone's else's house. I didn't have to get all the stuff ready or do much cleaning up. And I have such cool friends who were just happy to visit and hold my baby while I painted.

2 of my friends had gotten all the pallets ready ahead of time (I know, you wish you had friends like mine!)
The plan was to make a stylized American flag. Like these:

Of course, I can never follow directions, I had to do my own thing.

I had seen this great idea on pinterest of putting a scripture verse on it. I asked my son what his favorite scripture was.

"Luke 24"
"Which verse?"
"All of them. It's really good."

um... I just chose one I liked that was a lot shorter.  And he liked it too, so whew!

I also saw that this same person had nailed a metal star to a pallet and I liked how that looked too. I figured that if we could do an American flag, why not a Texas state flag (I'd already make my son a Texas flag quilt!)
But I was wanting to do turquoise, lime green, and orange instead of red, white, and navy blue.
So, this was what I came up with instead:

And I love it.

And I really want to do another craft day.
Like tomorrow.

 So... that's as far as I got on this post last summer, but today I am trying to wrap up all my 2014 projects that I didn't post about, so I'm happy to say that this is what it looks like now, hanging on my sons wall.

Hmm... I forgot to pull back and take a picture of the whole room. But you get the idea.

Bride and Groom Stockings (project 65)

In the sibling gift exchange for my husbands side of the family, we got the name of his brother who just got married this summer. So, I made these stockings for them.

I'm totally loving them, and there is even a part of me (a very, very small part) that thinks a Christmas wedding would be so fun. 

 The groom stocking was a little more work, you can almost see the lapel in the photo below. If I ever make another one, I might not choose velvet. There were some things I loved about velvet, and some things I didn't. It was a first time sewing with it for me.

 It was perfect looking lying on my table, but I wasn't loving the way it hung. But who cares, no one's looking at the groom, right? They're just looking at the bride! And she turned out beautiful!!

(P.S. I'm scheduling this to post after Thanksgiving, so hopefully they will have opened them by then and I can tell you their reaction)

Also, I made some stockings last year that you can see here and some other ones here.

Purple Owl themed baby girl Shower

I threw a double baby shower for two friends having babies at right about the same time! Although one of them decided to wait until the birth to find out what she was having, they both ended up having girls.

So, I think the shower theme was totally appropriate!

I cheated by buying the printable stuff on Etsy, and it was worth it! So cute, and so easily pulls everything together!

With the purple theme, I did grape kool Aid mixed with Sprite, but it was the water bottles that were the most popular. The labels for those were so cute!

We had a luncheon, so there were a lot of lunch foods. One of the mothers-to-be can't eat gluten, so most of the crackers, cupcakes, cookies, etc. were gluten free.

But not these cute owl cake pops!... A friend made these and they turned out absolutely beautiful!!

I also had jars of purple candy, kind of like a candy bar, but it was on the same table as all the rest of the food.

I made purple cotton candy and put them in snow cone holders. I had found these cool egg holders in the Easter clearance and since they were purple, they worked perfectly for the party!

Thanksgiving Banner (project 64)

These days it seems like it's impossible to get any projects done. 

im. poss. ible.

BUT, once in awhile a miracle happens and I actually begin and finish and project.

This time, it even happened all on the same day.

It started when I went to play group. It was an unusual day for west Texas. 

It was raining.

Just a little bit, but it gave us a chance to use our new umbrellas. (at least for something besides shade) I was surprised to arrive at the park and not find a single other person.

No one else from our really large group was there.

I thought it was good to let my kids experience rain, especially since we hardly ever get any.

I can't imagine a childhood where you never get wet playing in the rain.

I must be the only mom who feels that way.

After about a half an hour, I got a text from one of the mom's saying that due to the weather, we would have playgroup at her house.

So, I went there and there was only her and one other mom. We let the kids play, and I noticed that she had this really cute thanksgiving banner hanging up. 

I looked at it closer and realized that it was all made out of paper. 

Holiday paper. Tied together with jute, and various fall colored ribbons tied in between. 

I realized that I had all the supplies for it at home. I had even contemplated throwing out all my holiday paper the week before since I know I'll never actually finish another scrapbook in my lifetime.

So, I threw the idea at the other moms, ran home and got all my supplies and and we made these banners while the kids played.

Best. Playgroup. Ever.

These aren't very good pictures, but I'd never post anything if I had to have good pictures first.

A close up. I even used my fancy scissors and inker for the edges. It's nice to actually use some of these supplies I've held onto... just waiting for a rainy day...

"Ready To Pop" pink baby shower

A good friend of mine had a surprise pregnancy... at 41!

She had not saved any babies items from her other 2 kids, so of course, she needed a baby shower!

I was happy to throw it for her, and even happier to have a lot of help!

 A friend from her work had given her a "baby shower in a basket" kit as a gift. She handed it over to me, and I used it! It gave me a perfect theme to do- pink, and "ready to pop!" (that's what the pendant banner says, but it's a little hard to read...)
The kit included crepe paper, so I was trying to think of a creative way to use it.
I had taken my kids to a birthday party earlier in the week, and the mom had used multiple colors of crepe paper in a rainbow pattern like this, so I decided to alternate the light pink and dark pink.

 I loved how it turned out and will definitely do it again. It helps to cover the mirror, which I like. If it was February instead of October, I would have left it up. I did the balloons to go with the "pop" theme.

 Also carrying over the "pop" theme, we did a popcorn bar. I know two of those are empty- I took the pictures before the person bringing them arrived. They were really pretty pink colored pop corn.

(please ignore the staples, I was finishing it the night before... and I was tired!)

Since we did pink lemonaide in the drink dispenser, these were used as prizes for the games.

 Someone also brought a cake that went in the center... I hope someone remembered to take a picture of it!

 I somehow didn't get any pictures of the other room where we ate dinner. We had a few crockpots of soup, rolls, and salad, and all ate around my newly refinished kitchen table (post coming soon) and outside since it was so nice.
I made a cute diaper cake for the center piece... too bad y'all don't get to see it!

 

I was so glad when someone suggested taking a big group picture! What a fun memory!

Front Door Makeover (project 63)

On Memorial Day my husband took my oldest 4 kids camping. I stayed home with the baby. Because a 13 month old is a nightmare on a camping trip!
So, I took advantage of it, and got a lot done here!
I finally pained my front door.
I've had the paint since last summer...
when I went to visit my brother and he and his wife had painted all the doors to their house and shed this awesome color of blue! they gave me the rest of their paint!
So, I've been planning on it for awhile, and finally had a day without kids running in and out the door so I could do it!
Here's the before:

It seems like taping and prepping take the most time.

I put this primer that is for dark paint on. Something was seriously wrong with it. It was way too runny and thin and caused more problems than anything.

But, I love how it turned out. I just can't seem to get a good picture of it because we have way. too. much. sunshine here.

 Well, my husband didn't like it. But I do. I think it needs some more bright colors out there with it. Maybe some bright colored pots with bright flowers.
Maybe it will grow on him. After all, it does make our house quite different from all the other beige blahs in our neighborhood, and he is always complaining about having a house the same as everyone else's.