I Love Wikia!

Remember this?

A long while ago I heard about a web community called Wikia.

  "Wikia is a collaborative publishing platform that enables communities to discover, create and share content on any topic in any language."

"Wikia sites are written by community members that are passionate about subjects ranging from video games, TV shows and movies to food, fashion, and environmental sustainability."

Back in May I entered a craft contest at Wiki Easy Crafts with my windowpane turned to towel rack.

And....

I WON!!!!

I was so shocked when I got an email from Wikia telling me so!

Me...

 A WINNER!

GET OUT!!

I received my "Winner's Circle Loot" in the mail today.

{Squeal}

Look what was inside this wonderful red, white & blue box...

Three beautiful hardcover books

titled Paper + Craft by Monhee & Truman Cho,

Silhoutte Art by Vana Chupp,

and

Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart

as well as three bottles of Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint from Plaid

and

Shimmer Fabric Paint from Tulip.

Woot!  Woot!

{More Squealing}

I'm feeling all giddy!

I was so pumped up & excited that I ran an extra mile tonight in hopes to contain my excitement a bit.

Running extra didn't help...

it just made me sore

&

I'm still giddy.

Yippee doodles!

Thank you Christina for the lovely package!

Happy Monday!!

~Amy



I Have a Dilemma

So, I have a dilemma.

Years ago, Grumpie gave me this beautiful antique coffee table.

I adore the curvature of this amazing piece of furniture.

It has such a romantic feel to it.

I know many would question the thought of a piece of furniture as being romantic,

but to me this table oozes with romance.

 I have finally decided to refinish it. 

I thought that I had my plan all set as to what I wanted to do with it.

My original plan was to paint a few coats of this beautiful blue, then cover the blue with white paint.

After painting, I wanted to distress it by sanding/scuffing it up a bit  around the edges, legs & top so that the blue would pop through.

But, after painting the table blue, I have kind of fallen in love with it just being this blue shade.

Here is my true dilemma...

do I leave the table this shade of blue

 & scuff it up

or

 do I go ahead

 & cover with white paint

then scuff it up

or

do I paint a couple coats of white then blue again so that the table remains blue on the top coat 

& pops of white show through once I scuff it? 

I am so unsure of what I should do?

I think I am going to have to leave the coffee table as is & ponder over it  for a few days.

If any of you have any suggestions, I would so love to hear them.

Man, I can't stand being so indecisive!!!

Onto something way cool...

the wee ones & I picked our first bounty of green beans from our garden yesterday!!

We had them for dinner last night & they were so very tasty!

I just love knowing where our food is coming from

&

that it is safe for my wee ones.

 Happy Saturday!

~Amy

Baby M's Very First Birthday Bash

Baby M celebrated her very 1st  birthday last week & we had her very 1st birthday bash this past weekend.

I am a bit poky about getting the shin dig posted.

A little birthday recovery effort has been going on over here.

Then add my home being invaded by neighborhood kids & well,

my time for me, myself, and I gets put on the back burner.

The birthday bash was incredibly laid back & very small compared to past birthday gatherings that have taken place for my other two wee ones.

The color scheme of the birthday was pink, white, and baby blue.

Here are some photos of Baby M's sweet little birthday party.

Her attire:

1. A birthday skirt purchased by an amazing friend, who also happens to be my next door neighbor.

2. I purchased a onsie and appliqued the number 1 to it.

3.  I made her a flower hair clippie.

4.  I, also, made Baby M a party hat  made out of fabric and embellished with a tulle pom pom, an appliqued number 1, and a silk flower.

She looked flippin' ADORABLE!!

And, of course, I wasn't able to get a great shot from my camera & I am waiting for a couple of others to send me their photos.

For party food, I kept it pretty simple.

I made lemon flavored cake balls,

rice crispy treat pops in the shape of hearts,

chocolate cupcakes filled with homemade caramel or a mini candy bar & topped with a vanilla/almond butter cream.

I also made Baby M her own chocolate smash cake with a vanilla/almond butter cream frosting.

I made a watermelon punch which just consisted of pureed watermelon with ginger ale & some sugar. 

It looked so pretty, & of course, I have no pic of it when added to the table!

Duh!

( I had the husband make the adults a grown up drink using the punch.   Yummy!) 

We also had some watermelon slices, grapes, blueberries, chips & salsa.

Things that the birthday girl loves to eat.

For decorations, I was very frugal & "decorating on a dime" would be an understatement.

I draped mosquito netting that my mom gave to me after her return from a trip to Vietnam along one corner of our  pergola. 

It was so billowy & lovely!

And free!

 I also made mounds of ruffled streamers & covered the "rafters", table & Baby M's highchair with them.

The cost for the ruffle streamer loveliness cost $2.00!

The streamers were so easy & fun to make!

I just took some plain old, boring streamers, set my bobbin tension to it's highest  on my sewing machine & then placed two different colored streamers together & started sewing.

Presto!

Ruffle loveliness.

It's like magic happening before your eyes!

I  made a balloon banner with the cost of maybe $3.00 (idea taken from here),

tissue paper flowers all of $1.00,

and displayed some fresh baby blue hydrangea flowers that were given to me by one of my son's sweetest friends who happens to be our next door neighbor as well.

A long while back, a friend of mine gave me oodles & oodles of white fabric.

Cost of fabric=FREE!

So, I dyed a large piece of fabric baby blue & made a tablecloth for the table.

The cost for the dye...almost $3.00

Total cost for decorating=a whopping $9.00

We all anticipated CAKE TIME!

Because she tends to shovel her food with both her hands during meal times

we thought, without a doubt, that she would go NUTS with her cake.

Guess what?

B-O-R-I-N-G

Nada!

No face plant into the cake.

No two handing cake into her mouth.

No throwing it all about.

NOTHING!

Oh well....

We did get some cute pics of her trying to figure out how to eat the darn thing.

It was such a great little birthday party.

She had a blast & in the grand scheme of things, that is really all that matters.

Happy Thursday!

~Amy

I'll be linking up to some fab parties!

Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed

  It's 3am & I am bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Oh yippee doodles!  I have actually been wide awake since 1am  (what the heck!!!).  I think  getting 4 uninterrupted hours of sleep created more damage than good. Therefore, I have decided since sleep wasn't happening for me, that I would finally post something on this very neglected blog.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with oh so much fun. 
Let's see...

Baby M has been sick since last Wednesday with an ear infection that will not let up.  Her temperature has been sky rocketing & scaring me.  We have visited the doctor's office three times since last Friday and she is now on her second type of antibiotic.  I am hoping, fingers crossed, that this antibiotic actually works this time!

I loathe my wee ones taking a bunch of stuff that really isn't all that wonderful for their little bodies.

My Little Man N was sent home from school Tuesday morning because he barfed all over his classroom & himself. 

I bet the school janitor just loved getting that call from the teacher.

"Clean up in Grade 2.  8 year old has barfed all over the carpet."

Needless to say, not a whole lot of much needed time for me & my creative outlet.

I, however, did manage to accomplish a few simple things.

Some of my pics were taken during the evening, so I apologize for the blah-ness.



An Easter wreath for my front door.

I made this with cupcake liners, tissue paper, foam eggs & a foam wreath.
So simple. 
My 4 year old,  another lover of all things artsy-crafty, helped with this.
She had so much fun squishing the cupcake liners.

An Easter banner...

Little Bunny Foo Foo's strung with some plastic eggs.

A lamb created by using Sweet Little L's handprint.  I got the idea here on Crafts by Amanda. 

I now need to get Little Man N's and Baby M's handprint. 

Oh my gosh these pics are terrible!  Yikes!  I promise to take better ones during the day.

Now, a small intermission of all things crafty for cute girlie pics.

Cute Baby M...

A very cute 4 year old looking like something straight out of the 80's...

                          More sewing....

A headband with a felt flower made for Baby M to go with her Easter outfit...

And, finally, a handbag & coin purse set that I will be adding to my Etsy store...

I need to add some final touches to the handbag set.  Such as a detachable fabric flower.  I also want to add a wallet, key fob and, possibly, a cell phone pouch to make it a complete set. 

As I am trying to blog away, both my girls are up & that ends any and all fun in the bloggy world.

Happy Thursday!

~Amy

I will be linking up to some fab parties.