Mod Podge Rocks and an Attempt at Gorilla Glue

In an attempt to get ready for Shanty2Chic's next blog party, I started experimenting with Gorilla Glue. This attempt didn't go as well as I hoped, but I did make a few repairs around the house with GG to get more practice.




Last weekend the girls were at Gigi & Grandpa's (Thank you!) and I had some time to do a few crafts. Instead of working on my list, Jordan put me to work with a few of her ideas.

The first was a V for her friends new baby - Vivianna. The nursery is pink and brown, so I decorated a white V from Hobby Lobby with cute pink/brown scrapbook paper. I bought the gloss Mod Podge instead of the matte, but I've been very pleased with how its turned out on a my projects.






Jordan's other project was to decorate her bulletin board in her office. I saw a demo of one on a blog last week and thought I could add some jazz to her board. I was hoping for this to be my Gorrila Glue project for Ashley & Whitney's blog, but it didn't work out. After consulting my favorite decorators, I found out that I should have used the Gorilla Super Glue instead of the original.


My first step was to paint the cork. I used Folk Art Coffee Bean. The cork is very absorbant so I had to use a thick layer.



After it dried, I lined the edge of the cork with ribbon. I used my hot glue gun in a thin line all the way around.


For the second ribbon, I was going to use Gorilla Glue to attach the ribbon to the metal frame of the bulletin board. Note: Gorilla Glue doesn't dry very fast and I'm not very patient. So, I scrapped the GG and went back to my trusty glue gun.

I covered the seams with buttons and that's it! I was done with the entire project in less than an hour.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It was a beautiful Saturday so there were 100s of people there!!! The girls were fairly cooperative and let me take over 100 pictures!

I'm guessing this pumpkin was 15 pounds or so!

Fed up with pictures, but still cute!

Some days I want to lock them up!

The Hello Kitty Crew

101 Dalmations

The Time of My Life

Monday was hands down one of the greatest nights of my life. I have said before that U2 is on my "bucket list" of things to do/see before I die. Granted right now, my list only has 2 things on it, but still... My wish was fulfilled!

They didn't disappoint either! I heard all of my favorite songs and my have shed a few tears of excitement!

The coolest thing was to see Bono and to know that he's a Christian. I always knew his music had references to his faith, but when you see him live, you can see him worshipping through his music. My favorite of the night was hearing him sing "I give my voice back to You" during Magnificent.

Jordan and I are in the red square on the picture. Our fantastic friend Billy who took us to the concert took this picture from his seats on the other side of the stadium.

Here are the lyrics to Magnificent---so cool!!

Magnificent

Oh, oh, magnificent

I was born, I was born

To be with you in this space and time

After that and ever after

I haven't had a clue only to break rhyme

This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born, I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up

And sing whatever song you wanted me to

I give you back my voice from the womb

My first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh

Magnificent, magnificent, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh

Magnificent, magnificent, magnificent

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!!!!