Church Picnic

Our annual church picnic was yesterday. We actually had gorgeous weather for it - it was wonderful, sitting under the covered pavilion. The breeze felt almost like an air conditioner when it blew by! Just wanted to share a few pictures from the day....

Eli eating a cupcake.

On the hayride. With his obsession love of cars/trucks/things with wheels, he loved riding on the hay tractor!

Eli actually wanted to ride the pony. Last week at Clay's restaurant, he wanted nothing to do with that little pony. Ah, the mind and will of a toddler!

Greedy little goats.

Checking out the chickens.

hello goat.

Action shot coming down the ramp!

Finally Used Chalkboard Paint

I've heard and seen people using chalkboard paint, and decided to try it out. I saw a framed chalkboard on http://www.nester.com/, she had written something on it and had it as part of her wall decor. I had a white framed bulletin board that I never use, it just hangs there in my laundry room, so decided to use that for my project.

Forgot to take a "before" picture, but, it was just white - I spray painted it with Heirloom white, because I wanted it to be slightly off-white, not bright white, to match my dining room-turned-play-room. I didn't tape it off, because I knew I'd be painting the cork.

Used the chalkboard paint on the cork. I wasn't sure how the cork would respond to the paint, but it didn't appear to be soaking up excessive amounts of paint. Don't you like how I used my husband's textbooks from grad school as anchors for my paint tarp?

Here it is all finished up. It doesn't erase as smoothly as I'd like, and that could be because I painted it on, well, cork. But it will do - heck, the frame was free so didn't hurt to try it out! I'm imagining myself keeping it near my computer work space, and putting inspiring messages and Bible verses on it. Since I'm in that room quite a bit, thought I could use a little more inspiration in there.

I also painted the top of Eli's little child sized table. Quickly ran a piece of sandpaper over the top, and slapped the paint on there. Didn't take an after picture, so you'll just have to use your imagination and think of how it would look with a black top!

Chalkboard paint really is the coolest product! Who knows what else I'll be inspired to make with it!

Shhh...it's a surprise!

I made something for my sister for her birthday, and I'm not giving it to her until this weekend - but I'm too impatient to wait to blog about it till after Sunday!! So here goes. I follow this awesome blog called http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/, I highly recommend checking it out. It's a set of sisters who I think live in Texas somewhere, but they are always making things, and giving tutorials about them. So, I need to credit their blog for this idea!

I bought a little set of fabric fat quarters from Stampin' Up (a scrapbook company that actually was selling fabric pieces a couple of months ago, not sure if they do this all the time or was just a special). The fabric totally reminded me of my sister, who is a seamstress; I wanted to make her something functional, not just a dorky little pillow or something (about all I can do with my limited sewing skills). I'm not that great at sewing, but I can use a glue gun!!!

Here's the fabric. I love how the top piece has a little girl with the letters next to hear labeling the pattern pieces. The second piece of material has lines that are actually different stitches.

I bought this frame at Hobby Lobby half price; it has a back, I just removed it for the picture. I like buying already made frames, as opposed to the open back frames, because I don't like having to deal with making my own back for it.

I chose this frame because I liked the details around the edges. I was not, however, a fan of the color of the frame. The Shanty sisters spray paint everything, so I was inspired.....

...to use Rustoleum's Heirloom White for a nice, off-white look. Totally changed the look of the frame. I love it.

I bought a piece of galvanized metal from Home Depot (it was right in the plumbing section, just as they said!). I traced the glass from the frame onto the metal. Used gloves while using my tin snips to cut it out, because this stuff is sharp.

I hadn't used a hot glue gun in YEARS. I'm not sure I can make a fingerprint now, because I feel like I burned off all the ridges on my fingers as I glued this thing. Anyway, I stretched the fabric tight and glued it down. I actually had to peel it off and re-glue it, I learned it's best to get one side glued down, then pull as tight as you can on the other side to make the whole thing really taut.

I bought little round magnets, and covered different sized buttons with the fabric (using the glue gun), as well as adding the little chenille trim around them (also came from Stampin' Up and matched the fabric). At first, I put some cotton under the material, thinking it would be cute and puffy - but, not so much. Didn't look good at all. So the material is glued straight to the button, and I think looks good.

Ready to see the finished product? Just popped that piece of metal into the frame, but the back on, and....

Here it is! I figured she can put pictures on it (and rotate them out), hang lists, coupons, whatever. I'm not sure if the colors totally match her house, but, she could always put it in her sewing room too! (Notice I used one of Grace's pictures I took from her 16th birthday. Thought I might print some of those out for her, since her pictures tend to live IN her computer).

Can't wait to give it to her! I'm now inspired to keep making more projects (and ignore housework!!!)

Mother's Day

We just did a simple Mother's Day celebration on Sunday, since the weekend had been FULL from Doug's birthday bash. I did manage to get a few pictures though! We just went to my mom's house late in the afternoon to visit with family and have dessert.

hee hee my mom and me.

Me and my Sugar Pie. Booger Boo. Pooter Pie. Bubba Bear. Love Bug. Just a few of the random names I call my little guy!!

Eli and cousin Collin.

Laura and Collin. Grace was off on an excursion so couldn't be there that afternoon.

We love trying to get goofy pictures!

Doug's 40th Birthday Extravaganza

I started brainstorming a month ago or so about what to do for Doug's big 40th birthday. I really wanted to do it up special. Once I finally made reservations, I called his boss and made sure he could have the day off from work. I had a collage poster made (from Costco, soooo cheap and looks great, will definitely do that again!) of various pictures of Doug from birth through current date. I made sure the poster was delivered to a co-worker that happens to live in Katy, so that when Doug arrived at work on his birthday, the poster would already be taped to his office door.

On his actual birthday, Doug was moaning about having to go into work; it took all I had not to smirk or blurt out, "but you have the day off!" Couldn't mess up The Plan! We (Eli and I) had to drive him into work that morning, as his car was still in the Kroger parking lot (where he parks to take vanpool) from Thursday. After we dropped him off, I spun into motion! Got home, showered, finished packing up Eli, our stuff, the dog's stuff....got everybody into the car. Boy those dogs sure do stink when you are trapped with them in a small enclosed space! Got Eli safely transferred to my sister-in-law's van with all his stuff, and they were off. Drove the dogs and their stuff down to Mom's house and dropped them off. Then off to Doug's work!

Called a co-worker from the lobby to escort me upstairs (also arranged ahead of time). It was awesome seeing Doug's face as I peeked around the corner into his office and said, "Pack it up! You've got the day off and we've got plans!"

Got in the car, and headed to Galveston!

We ate a really nice lunch and then browsed around shops.

Me, being a complete dork and trying on vintage hats in an antique store.

Taking a break with Doug's favorite beverage.

Doug in the elevator at the Hilton! (my short lens on my camera is broken, just had the zoom for the weekend, which makes for interesting pictures!) After browsing the Strand for a while, we went and checked into the Hilton, where we took naps (yes, we're OLD). We then cleaned up and drove to Kemah for our dinner cruise, with a murder mystery themed entertainment!

Our cruise ship. Do you see the white line on that pole? That is the Ike Line, showing how high the water got during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Everywhere in Galveston we would see these little plaques indicating how high the water had risen.

We were able to buy a package of mardi gras beads, and during the first part of the cruise, the boat gets really close to the Kemah Boardwalk, and you can throw your beads to the folks on the boardwalk.

Set the timer and took a picture actually before the cruise started, but this picture got out of order when I was loading them.

Surprise, surprise, I volunteered to have a speaking role in the murder mystery enterainment during the cruise! It was really fun. We drove back to the Hilton after the cruise. Saturday morning, Doug had an hour long massage scheduled through the Spa at the San Luis Resort (right next to the Hilton) and I had a pedicure. We drove back to Houston and went antiquing in the Heights area. Doug and I both really like antiquing. We ended up buying Eli a few things at a kid's resale shop. That evening, we met our families and a few friends at Clay's Restaurant, where I had a section reserved for us. I had ordered his cake earlier in the week, and my sister in law picked it up for us and made sure it was there at the restuarant.

Doug and his parents.

I didn't want the "over the hill" theme, and came up with the idea to use an owl and have it say, "Not older, just wiser!"

Friends from church and Doug's sister's family.

David and long-time friend Teresa.

Sweet little thing was soooo happy to see us! This is the first time we had both spent the night away from him. He did just fine at his Aunt Laura's -although, sleeping through the night sounded a little like it was an adventure for his sweet Aunt, but they made it!

I love this picture of my brother holding Eli's hand and walking him down to feed more animals. Since David lives north of Dallas, Eli doesn't get to see him as often as his other uncles and aunts.

More family at the restaurant.

Teresa and Cheryl. Teresa is actually the one that introduced Doug and I.

My sister in law and niece!

cute family pic.

Love this pic of my brother in law and nephew.

And last but not least, my mom and sister.

Wow, just typing all that makes me tired! It was a really fun, and exhausting, weekend. I sure hope Doug felt celebrated! I'm sure he did. Since we just had our five year anniversary, and Mother's Day was the next day, we sorta tied all our celebrations into this one weekend. Now our bank account needs a break from celebrating too!