Making Silhouettes

Have you noticed all of the silhouettes in decorating magazines lately? I can remember making one for myself back in elementary school & always thought they were really cool. When I was decorating my new dining room, I decided I wanted to try and make some of my kiddos.














I got inspired to tackle the task when I saw these at Target on clearance & thought they'd be perfect for the frames. Can't beat $2.48 for a double matted frame! Although they were sealed with glued paper on the back, I just ripped it off & peeled away the photograph. It was a little tricky to do it without ruining the matting, but I just did it very slowly.

Next, I took pictures of the girls. I made sure to keep put them in the same spot and the same distance away from the camera. Then I cut out their silhouettes from the printed photos, traced it on thick black paper, and cut it out carefully. One little snip in the wrong place and you can take away from your child's distinct shape.

After that, I glued the black silhouettes onto while paper & framed it! It only cost $1 in paper and $7.50 in frames.

I love the look of all of them in the room. They're simple, but classy. It's amazing how it captures my little girls' unique faces.

A Visit From the Pislor Power Tour

Yesterday we had a great visit with Gramma & her two sisters, Aunt Janet & Aunt Jeanne. They're on their "Pislor Power Tour" and made a stop at our house on their way from Tennessee to New Jersey. It was FABULOUS to see them! My girls think it's really special that there are three sisters in their family just like ours. Every morning for a week they've been asking when they're coming :0). Notice the fancy hairsytles? They were nice enough to let the girls doll them up in their salon! What a fun visit!

Here's Sadie with Aunt Jeanne. Aunt Jeanne is the one who made all of the girls their special quilts when they were born. Sadie has hers hanging on her wall.

Here's Minky the Monkey and Sadie. When Gramma & Aunt Jeanne came to watch the girls a few years ago, Minky came along, too! They were so happy to be reunited :0).

And here's Gramma cuddling with her girls :0). We're so glad they could come to see us!

Tryin' Out Some Felt Art

Over the past few weeks, I've been sprucing up Elise's room to make it more big girl and less little girl....excuse me while I wipe a tear away. She used to have lots of fairies and pink & yellow. She said she wanted blue and animals. Hmmm.... I had to figure out how to add that w/out spending a lot of $! So...I got her a new turquoise quilt (marked down at Target to $10!!), a sparkly rug to match (on clearance at TJ Maxx for $10), new sheets (couldn't resist at $5!), a turquoise ribbon to hang her mirror ($2), new lime green sheer curtains ($5 a piece), and a new art piece which ended up costing $5. It's amazing what a difference it makes when you add a new color to a room. Before her room was warm and cozy, but lacking pizazz. Now with the blue, it adds dimension and a nice pop of happy!

Anyway...back to the art. Elise really wanted me to paint some animals on her wall, but I thought, "She's not going to like this in a few years!" So...I decided to take the canvas that used to hang on her wall w/ fairy fabric on it and put an animal on it. Here's how I did it:

1. I covered it in a blue & white polka dot fabric to add more blue in the room.

2. I had to decide which animal I would put on it and how to do it. She initially wanted a squirrel, but I wasn't so sure that would look right with all of the flowery things in her room. Thankfully, she decided on an owl!

3. Looked online for owl graphics and chose one to duplicate on paper.

4. Decided to make the owl out of felt (I already had tons of scraps to work with which made it FREE!)

5. Drew the owl on paper...made it symetrical by folding the shapes and trimming them. Cut out the shapes that I wanted to be different colors

6. Traced the shapes onto the felt colors. I chose colors already in her room.

7. Cut them out, layed them out how I wanted, and glued!

I think it turned out cute and Elise loves it, but I'm really thinking it needs a frame.

Hmmm...not sure I'll get to that right away :0). For now, it'll do!

Time With One~

When you have multiple children, time with one is so precious. Anabelle & Elise have been in school now for two weeks and although I truly miss them during the day, I've been enjoying the time I can spend alone with Sadie. The other day after preschool, we sat on the porch to eat lunch and sew a princess craft together. In this quiet moment with her, I was able to sit and observe her without interruptions. I was able to notice the way her head curves when she's concentrating,

the way her little hands move together,

and the careful, gentle, yet serious way she works.

I'm SO grateful for the time I can spend with her and for the time I was able to spend alone with my other girls when they were preschoolers. I'm so blessed to be able to stay at home with them.

Time with my children is a gift and time alone with them is a treasure.

Craigslist Score!!!!

A month or so ago, I had a few minutes to spare and hopped on Craigslist to see what was out there. I didn't see much in the way of furniture (I'm always looking for a super cheap deal), so I checked out the free section & this is what I saw!

Okay...you may be thinking, "That looks like junk!" but look at the lines of it! I've been wanting to replace the very uncomfortable rockers on my front porch & I thought these would be perfect! The bonus was that they were located in Brandermill! Yahoo!

So that morning after a trip to the Pocahontas State Park pool, I told my exhausted kids that we had to take a little detour before heading home. "Awwwwww!" was all I heard, but I kept on driving. I may have been speeding a little because I was worried the chairs were going to be gone!

After a few twists & turns through Brandermill, I saw them sitting next to a dumpster at the end of a driveway. It sounds weird, but I think I heard angels singing as I approached them :0). Yes...they looked like junk, but I knew they had potential! I checked to make sure they were sturdy and (despite the flakes of rust) they seemed solid. As I put them in the car, I wondered how long ago it had been since I got my last tetnus shot!

So after getting them home & I had to wait a few days to work on them...you know...three kids home for the summer :0). In the evening on day 3, I battled the mosquitos & got to work. The first step was cleaning. There was dirt & mold galore. I just got some soapy water & a rag and scrubbed. This was not fun!

The next day, I began sanding w/ some medium & fine sandpaper. Again...not fun! I was worried about sanding because of all the rust dust flying through the air, so I had the kids stay away. It took A LOT of sanding to get this job done! I was tempted to stop a few times, but I've learned...a well prepared piece will look the best in the end.

The next day, I wiped down the chairs to make sure there wasn't any dust left & got out the spray. I chose a metallic gray/brown color made by Rustoleum. I wanted to do something that made it look store bought & a lot of patio furniture now has little flecks of color to it. Before painting though, I sprayed the rusted spots with a good Rustoleum primer, just to be sure the paint would stick. the painting step also took a while because I had to make sure I got all of the sides of the iron work. I also had to run back to the store to get another can of paint. Why don't I learn & buy two??? Again...trying to be thrifty. Here's one chair after a coat of the paint.

After letting it dry all day, VIOLA! I also scored two cushions from Lowes at their end-of-the-summer clearance sale. They ended up being $12 a piece.

I loved how they turned out, but it needed a little something else. I had a few pillows from the rockers and threw them on. Not bad! In the end, I spent $24 in cushions and $7.50 in paint, so the total came to $15.75 per chair. Score!!!

A Tissue Free Back-to-School!

This year we were all smiles on the first day of school...even MOM!!!! It was a little weird getting the kids ready this morning without having to hide the tears. I kept thinking...what's wrong with me??? I had a few teary moments last week when I'd tiptoe into their rooms while they were sleeping & look back on how quickly they've grown. I don't know about you, but when I watch my children sleep, if I look really hard, I can see those sweet baby faces. It reminds me of when I'd sit in the dark and hold them in my arms.
One night this summer I couldn't sleep, so I crawled into bed with each one of my girls and cuddled for a while. It made me think of that book, I'll Love You Forever...I can never read that book without crying!!!
Despite that one night, this year I knew they were all ready for school to start and we didn't have any big milestones, so I was happy. It was nice to watch them go and be joyful about their new adventure. Next year will probably be another story!!! I just don't know how I'm going to put my little Sadie on that bus without balling like a baby. We'll see!~

Mama's Spa

So today was the last day of the summer that just us girls would be together. I thought it would be fun to celebrate this time with a trip to Mama's Spa! After attending Anabelle & Elise's school open house, we came home and set up my bathroom as a spa. Anabelle took care of removing the bath toys (yes, they still have toys in our bathroom), got out our super fluffy towels, and lined up the nail polishes. I got the cd player, some relaxing music, and placed a few candles around. As soon as I filled up the tub with some yummy smelling bubbles, I gave them their robes and welcomed them in. I told them it was a whispering only area, too :0). They soaked their footies for a while and I offered them some reading material. They turned down the picture books and wanted mom's magazines. I think Sadie looked a Southern Living for a total of 10 seconds! After a bit, Mama exfoliated their feet! At first they were all giggles and then their eyes began to glaze over. They liked it! Notice the look on Sadie. Once I got to everyone, they came out of the tub for some more massage with stress relieving lotion. Again...the glaze...it was hilarious!

They each picked out their favorite color combinations and the painting began. 60 toes and fingers later...they felt oh so pretty! I hope they enjoyed it...Mama actually got a cramp in her leg from sitting on the floor for an hour pampering her girls :0).

The Black Hole

So it seems as though we have a black hole in our house. This morning I told Elise & Anabelle to try on their sneakers just to make sure they fit before school starts next week. I bought them big last spring, so they would fit this fall, but I didn't want PE day to sneak up on us and find that their sneakers were too tight. Right now I'm all about making the first week of school a smooth transition :0). So...they ran downstairs to our garage where we keep all the shoes and screamed..."They aren't here!!"

"What do you mean?" I shout back.

"They're not here!" (I should have expected that response).

So I go to investigate and both sets of sneakers are no where to be found. I began my sneaker search certain that they would be in one of the roller skate buckets, ball buckets, or soccer buckets in the garage...nothing. Then I began looking under beds, closets, toy bins...still nothing. After TWO HOURS of searching every square inch including the crawl space...seriously...nothing! How does this happen??? We had them the last week of school and then when summer hit, they were all about their flip flops & Crocs. We just didn't think about them until now. I almost lost my mind this morning looking for them (the bickering in the background didn't help). I had to lock myself in the bathroom just to calm down & put things in perspective. It's only $$40-$50, but it's the point. Where could they have gone???

We've lost other things in the past year including a two matching coats and two hand held games. Notice a pattern here???

I think I'll stop looking for the lost items and start looking for The Black Hole!