My own Shanty 2 Chic

***I didn't finish the project that I was hoping for, so I'm reposting this one. I can't wait to see everyone's projects for this fun party! I'm so proud to claim Ashley & Whitney as my crafty cousins!!***

The other night, I was mulling over my project list and decided instead of buying a lampshade for Landrie's room, why don't I just decorate the one she has.


Here's the before. Cute, but not right for Landrie's brightly colored room.



I started by painting the shade yellow using acryllic craft paint. After I was finished painting, I started playing around with ribbon and tulle. I decided to wrap the tulle all around at the seams of the lamp shade. I did it in one continuous piece.


After that, it was still missing something, so I cut smaller pieces of tulle and tied knots around the top. I was going to leave the beading on the shade, but wanted more color. I cut it off and then used hot glue to place buttons all around the edges. I fought against using a particular pattern with the buttons and I love how it turned out.

Now I can cross one more thing off my list! Slowly but surely, my crafts are coming together!

Here's the updated list:

1. the girls' kitchen is still not complete! Ugh! I WILL finish it this week!
2. shutter cabinets for the girls' bathroom
3. shutters turned into a bulletin board or a towel rack - still TBD
4. empty frames painted black and hung in living room
5. my dumpster dive chairs - one is painted, but needs fabric for a cushion and the other is still in its horrid state - not sure where I want it to go
6. need a purple lampshade for Karsyn's room
7. need a pink lampshade for Landrie's room
8. window treatment in living room (have a plan just need the tools)
9. pillows for new couches
10. the big K finished for the frame wall

Sweet Landrie Turns 6!

Landrie took this picture herself! Pretty good, huh?!

I can't hardly believe that this girl is 6 years old! It seems like she was just born yesterday! Here's 6 things about Landrie:

1. Landrie is 48 inches tall and weighs about 40 lbs.
2. She's now lost 2 teeth!
3. Landrie loves sweets! She would choose a piece of Lolly's cherry candy or a chocolate kiss over any food any day!
4. Landrie loves going to school. She claims her favorite thing is recess, but I know she loves it all since she pretends to be Mrs. Bennett all the time.
5. She's a "closet" performer. She loves to sing, dance, and pretend as long as no one is watching. If you acknowledge it, she clams up or gets mad at you for smiling at her.
6. Her imaginary brothers are Nick, Joe & Kevin Jonas! She talks to them on the phone and they sometimes come to Daddy's football games with us.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! No matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby!!!

Blog Party!!

My crafty cousins are gaining popularity every day and NEXT Thursday, they are hosting their first Blog Party/Giveaway. Get your crafting started and document the process on your blog!

Don't miss it!

Snaggle Tooth

Landrie lost her 2nd tooth tonight, just 6 days shy of her 6th birthday. She is a true snaggle tooth right now. She didn't lose the other bottom center tooth, she lost one over from that! At this rate, she's going to be entirely toothless by Christmas! Her big teeth are taking forever to come in!

She came home from school today with it VERY loose. Tonight right before bed, she told me it was really loose again, so I insisted on pulling it. We lost the first one with a chicken nugget and I didn't want her swallowing another. She was very hesitant to have it pulled, but once I got it out, she couldn't have been more excited.

I'm glad this Tooth Fairy only brings quarters or we'd be broke quick!

More Inspiration

I cheated and added this stool to the top of my craft list. I bought it Saturday at the Warehouse ArtChix monthly sale. These girls are SO talented...I love going to see their ideas and taking inspiration from them. Sandra saved this cute little stool for someone else to craft and it was perfect for my favorite little helpers!





I lightly sanded the top of the stool since I knew that I wanted to Mod Podge the top. I then painted the edges of the top with my FREE Glidden paint in Onyx Black Eggshell.


I painted to coats around all of the visable areas and then used Mod Podge to add the leopard paper on top. I then used some paper towel to "sponge" black around the edges to make it blend together.

2 coats of Poly-cryllic and here you go!!!

I think it turned out so cute! The girls are so excited to use it to help me in the kitchen. It would also make a handy time out stool IF my girls ever needed a time out! Haha!

I've added this to Twice Remembered - Make Your Monday's blog party. Check it out for other great projects and transformations!

For Gigi

A self-portrait by Landrie

Karsyn dancing along to Dancing with the Stars

Landrie's 1st Project

We are 4 weeks into school! Time has really flown by! Landrie loves school which makes it easy on momma to drop her off every day. She had her first project due this week - About Me. We've planned for 2 weeks what we would put on it. It's a "gingerbread" style cut out that we were supposed to decorate with her favorite things.

Landrie picked out everything to go on the project. I did the cutting, gluing and "fluffing". Here's the finished project:



Landrie was so excited about it! I just hope that it's as cute (OK - cuter) than her classmates. That's terrible, isn't it? Oh well...just being honest!

Fun Labor Day

We had a great day off today! After Landrie being sick for 2 days, I was really looking forward to getting out of the house. We went to the first high school game at Cowboys Stadium! Lamar was working at the game and ended up on the sidelines helping with the defense!

We sat on the 50 yard line and I was blown away by the big screen!! It was a fun game and WE WON - 42-21!!!

After the game, we rested up and then went to dinner at Chick-fil-A for our FREE sandwich! It was super busy and the one we went to was out of sandwiches, so we got nuggets instead. While we were eating, Landrie lost her first tooth!! We're pretty sure she swallowed it, which really disappointed her, but we left a note for the tooth fairy so she wouldn't forget to come.

The Tooth Fairy is bringing her 4 quarters. I didn't want to put them loose under her pillow, so she's getting a cute package!

I'm a little sad to see her lose her teeth. We'll have to take lots of pictures before the big ones come in!!!

Finished Projects

Last night, I had a fun craft night with Jordan and Steph. Basically, they watched me while I worked, but at least I got some things done.

Here's the updated list:

1. the girls' kitchen is still not complete! Ugh! I WILL finish it this week!
2. shutter cabinets for the girls' bathroom
3. shutters turned into a bulletin board or a towel rack - still TBD
4. empty frames painted black and hung in living room
5. my dumpster dive chairs - one is painted, but needs fabric for a cushion and the other is still in its horrid state - not sure where I want it to go
6. need a purple lampshade for Karsyn's room
7. need a pink lampshade for Landrie's room
8. window treatment in living room (have a plan just need the tools)
9. pillows for new couches
10. the big K finished for the frame wall

I've had a big empty space on the wall for a while. I used my FREE Glidden paint and spent $10 on frames and $9 for the K. Total cost for this project is $20ish!! The copper paint and the leopard paper really tie together the brown and black in the living room. I'm really pleased with the way these turned out!

Karsyn's First Day

Karsyn started school on Tuesday. She went back to St. Timothy this year and has Ms. Jill again, so it was a very easy transition. She'll be going Tuesday, Thursday and Friday so it will be a nice break for Lolly.

Silly girls eating breakfast!

Posing at home - she wouldn't look at the camera since the sun was so bright.

Happy Girl ready to walk in with her lunch box.

In her room




Karsyn had a great first day! I'm so glad that both of the girls are so happy at school! It makes for one happy momma!!!!

Progress Report

These girls were asleep by 8 tonight, so look what I did:

The girls' kitchen is complete and in Karsyn's room. She'll be thrilled to wake up to it tomorrow!!!

I also painted the first coat of black paint on my frames for the living room. I will have those finished and hung up by Thursday.

This list making publicly really has helped so far!

Project List - for Lolly

I am a creative person. I am organized - most of the time. I am a procrasinator. I like to put fun before house work. These things are not all necessarily bad, but can be quite annoying...especially to my mom and my husband!

I have started many projects this summer, but my follow through is not great. My garage is currently crowded with several things that need finishing. So to call myself out -- here's a list of what needs to be finished (in no particular order):

1. the girls' kitchen is still not complete! Ugh! I WILL finish it this week!
2. shutter cabinets for the girls' bathroom
3. shutters turned into a bulletin board or a towel rack - still TBD
4. empty frames painted black and hung in living room
5. my dumpster dive chairs - one is painted, but needs fabric for a cushion and the other is still in its horrid state - not sure where I want it to go
6. need a purple lampshade for Karsyn's room
7. need a pink lampshade for Landrie's room
8. window treatment in living room (have a plan just need the tools)
9. pillows for new couches

I'm sure there's more to the list, but hopefully I can knock some of this off first. I know you will keep my honest, Lolly!

To remember later on...

We've all had a great first week of school!

Lamar's transition to his new school went smoothly and he even got a 14-0 win on Thursday night! Off to a great start there!

Landrie loved her first week of Kindergarten. By Wednesday, she wanted to walk in on her own, but I wasn't ready yet. I dropped her off at the circle on Friday and nearly cried leaving her. Leaving her to walk in on her own was harder than the first day for me. I'm so glad though that she's confident enough to go in by herself and she loves school!

Landrie insisted on my taking her picture on the 2nd and 3rd days of school. I used my phone, so the quality isn't great.

Day 2

Day 3




Landrie was exhausted by Friday. We took a road trip to see Lamar's brother's football team and she crashed out!

Karsyn had a great week with Lolly and got to meet her teachers on Thursday. Her first day is Tuesday. It's hard to believe we'll be doing the Kindergarten thing with her in just 2 short years. I'm sure she'll want to walk herself in on the first day -- Miss Independent!

My first week went well too! After 6 years at the same school, I finally feel like I have the hang of it.

We're looking forward to another great week and some exciting football on Friday and Monday! Bell plays Lamar's old school on Friday night and then we get to go to the Cowboys Stadium Monday as Trinity plays there! It should be lots of fun!

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the first day of school with lots of changes for us this year. Lamar and Landrie both started at new schools.

Karsyn was a very supportive little sister and had a fun Lolly day too. Her first day is not until next Tuesday.

Last night, Lolly gave Landrie a very special angel necklace to wear her first day of school. When I went to check on her before bed, she told me that she prayed to God that he would send His angels to protect her. What a sweet, sweet start to an awesome kindergarten year. I'm so glad she knows who is in her corner.

Landrie also wore her special heart ring from Gigi today. She loved having special things from Gigi and Lolly on her special day!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Pops and his Girls!

This is Pops the Monkey. His tag reads:

You always seem so big and strong
And you teach us what's right and wrong
You look at me with such pride, too
Pops, you love me and I love you!

Could that be any more perfect?

Happy Birthday Pops! We love you!!!