Not as floppy....

Happy almost Friday!!
Ok, so remember my canvas painting that I considered a "flop" (btw, I totally appreciate how sweet all of you were that commented on that post. I know some of you said you liked it because you were trying to be nice, and others of you actually did like it. I also know that I can be my worst critic...I think we all tend to do that at times. Anyway, thanks for lifting me up friends. You rock).
Anyway, I still didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to paint. Hmmmmm.
First, I painted over the hot air balloon (sorry to those of you that actually liked it).
bye-bye balloon...

You can see that the glue I used to adhere the balloon basket is all clumpy and icky. Bummer. Because of this, I knew I had to get creative. I pass by this store window in Laguna Beach every day as I drive the kids to their swimming lessons and it just makes me feel happy :)

Doesn't it just make you smile!? It's like a recipe for happiness, I just love it!
Inspiration??? Inspiration!!

I ended up re-striping the right half of the canvas in kind of a funky way. Then, I printed out each letter on old book pages and used mod podge to stick them on to the canvas. It's kind of like chic serial killer art :)

I played with the text a bit so there would be some upper case, some lower case, and some different fonts. I hand drew the cloud, the sunshine, and the heart with a black sharpie which worked out great. You can't really tell in the below pic, but I added some red glitter glue to the heart for that extra somethin' somethin'.

My husband nicely pointed out to me that he didn't really "get it" because if the person is reading it, they are actually here.

True.

But I am taking it in a "here with us every day living our wonderful life" kind of way. Not necessarily HERE standing in our house at that moment. Are you with me on this?? He's wrong, right? Guys are always wrong!!  :)
I am definitely in love with the rainbowy-ness of the original shop window, but ended up going with a more neutral scheme for my living room. I think the finishing touch will be when I find (or make) a frame for it. I'm thinking shiny gold. Maybe teal. Not sure, hmmmmm. I'll show you the "after" shot to my "after" shot once it's framed :)
Do you like it?? Loathe it?? Are you like my sister in law and are not really a fan of "words as art in the home?" I like it, I'm happy, and I really do wish you were here (well, some of you anyway...ha ha)!

Bye :)

The final piece of her puzzle

It's official people!!!! Hayden now sleeps in a BIG girl bed (Sigh). Her room was almost complete as her "little" big girl room and the bed is the last piece of the puzzle. Here are some pics for ya :)

We got her the Jenny Lind head/foot board from target.com. Look at those dreamy spindles. This is the same style as her crib was so I was already a fan of this style. SO vintagy and girly! {LOVE} Oh, and I even ironed her new bed skirt. Pretty impressed with myself about that! Ha ha!

I looked all over for a vintage bed I could diy, but I couldn't find any that would work. Luckily Target had the Jenny Lind style head/foot board for a semi-affordable $150 (compared to $500 at Land of Nod). I'm pretty much in love with it!!!

And, because I like to "keep it real" from time to time on this blog:

I wouldn't click on the pic to zoom if I were you. Ha ha! She got to pick out her Hello Kitty sheets and she's a happy girl :)

See.......

And these are the rare moments I cherish. The quiet moments. The moments where I go walking around the quiet house trying to see what she's up to. Here she was reading books in her girly room.....quietly.

Ahhhh, life is sweet!

Ramblings and a FLOP!

LOOK at these beauties!!!

Our tomato plants are awesome!!!! If only I could make something magical out of them. The best I can do is use them in a salad, on a sandwich, or add them to sauce. That's about the extent of my skills in the kitchen :)

This is where the E.A.T ended up

Again, not that magical but it is what it is. Looking at it in these pictures, I should put the E.A.T below the memo board. But, the holes are already there and I.Am.LAZY!

Lastly, my Floppity FLOP.
Back story: I wanted to make some personalized wall art to hang over my fire place. It all started when I got a Michael's coupon for 50% off of a canvas. My wheels started spinning, and without a super clear idea of what I wanted to do, I just went for it. BAD idea.

Ready???  DON'T Laugh!!! (ok, you can laugh because you're laughing with me).
note: it isn't hung up because it is NOT staying here. NO way!

Ok. So, Hmmm....what should I paint? Hmmmm. I wanted something casual and personal and a bit less formal than the Eiffel Tower that currently hangs there.....hmmmm. Yep, that was what was going through my head. And then BAM,  I ended up with this flop. I have seen some awesome hot air balloon stuff on etsy lately and that was sort of my inspiration. It just didn't come together in the end. It looks super home done and is definitely not what I had in mind. As many of you know, large canvases aren't cheap. This one (with my coupon) ended up costing me $14. So, it must be re-worked into something fabulous! It must!!

I actually hesitated showing you this mess because I was a bit embarrassed. I took art class all 4 years in high school, and a bit in college too. I should have been able to paint something semi-decent. It looked so cool in my head but the reality just wasn't so. Here are some pics throughout the process

First I painted the whole canvas cream (same paint as my dining chairs)
Next, I drew on the hot air balloon shape with a pencil.
Then, I taped off some stripes and painted them on (with the same paint as the high boy).
At this point, it was looking a bit "nursery" but still had potential to be cool.

Next came the hot air balloon. I debated doing multi-colors and even thought about a chevron. I knew I wanted there to be a big gold R on it and then rest just "happened." Originally I wanted to attempt to sand the canvas with my sander after it had been painted to give it a really faded, weathered, and distressed look. Almost like an old piece of advertising or something.

NOTE: Paint does not sand off canvas like it does wood. It just doesn't. Information that would have been helpful to me before I attempted it. Ah well, what can ya do!?

I wanted there to be some unexpected mixed media elements to add texture and dimension. FLOP. After taking tons of time "weaving" strips of book pages into a basket..... it turned out looking LAME! grrrrrr. I mean, I like the look of the book pages, but just not in this way, on this painting.

I'm chuckling now, but I have to say, I was super grouchy when this project was over. Super grouchy!

Oh, and to add insult to injury, my last attempt to help this sad piece of "art" look cool. Nail heads. Yep, brassy nail heads. It is NOT easy to hammer nail heads in straight. NOT.AT.ALL!! Ha ha! Game over. I quit!

So this floppy piece of wall art it going to get a total overhaul and will hopefully turn into something cool. Fingers crossed (but no guarantees people).

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Happy Moan-day!!!

A new friend, some super fun, and a sneaky peak.

First on the sharing agenda today is some info about my new friend :)
Have you been to Erin's blog?? If not, run don't walk. She is awesome (and is a sucker for caned furniture like I am). Anyway, I am so excited because we got to meet in person today. Yay! She lives in North Carolina but was traveling through my neck of the woods so we planned to meet up. Earlier in the month she had a virtual yard sale on her blog and I purchased some of her {AMAZING} hand poured yummy smelling candles. She suggested that she hand deliver them to me since she would be traveling to SoCal and would practically be driving right by my town.  I quickly said yes and jumped at the opportunity. She is my first official blog friend turned real-life friend and I couldn't be happier with how our visit went. My sister and my kids came along too which was fun. We had a nice chat at a nearby Starbucks, and my new candles smell even better than I thought they would :)
We snapped a quick picture before we parted ways and I'm glad we did (and as you can see, she's nice and tall, and I'm a little shrimp).

She is beautiful, smart, funny, and very sweet! YAY for new friends!!!

Ok next, our SUPER big fun! The OC Fair! Woohoo!!!
I seriously love going to the fair every year. The food, the rides, the games, the people watching. It-is-AWESOMENESS!!!!! Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :)

(bumper cars)

(tea cups - barfy)

(bumper boats)

(barfy barf....not too sure what the name of this one is, but BARF).

And I can't forget to show you the large prize that is currently living in the garage because Noah is scared of it in his room when the lights are out. Ha ha! Can you say - Goodwill!!??

Again, I-LOVE-THE-OC FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
If only I remembered to take a picture of my super delicious crepe before I practically swallowed it whole. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Last but not least, a sneaky peak :)

Wondering what the heck I'm up to?? Come back in a day or so and hopefully there will be a reveal (unless it's a total flop).
Happy Friday people!!!

Happy Doilies

It seems like when it is the most inconvenient, I get the urge to craft. In this case, My hubby was working for 4 days in a row. It was just me and the kids for 4 whole days! Normally my mom would watch them at least one of those nights, but she had to work a ton too. My sis and I took the kids to the beach together which was tons of fun, but not really the ideal place to get crafty. Ha ha! Anyway, I managed to squeak out a craft that I think came out pretty cute. Wanna see??

O.k., I was debating between using white or beige linen-ish fabric. Ultimately I went with the beige. I cut my template out of card stock and got to work.

I traced my template on the fabric with pencil and used pinking shears to cut them out to eliminate fraying.

After my fabric pieces were cut, I gathered up my other supplies (iron, black fabric paint, foam brush, and paper doilies)

First step was to iron each piece so they were smooth.

Next, I folded down about an inch on the top and ironed it flat.

Now it was time to experiment with the paint. I have never done this before so I had no idea how it would turn out. I experimented with the placement of the doilies until I found out which placement I liked best. You just place the doily on the fabric, and dab on the paint using the foam brush. I also did a bit of paint outside the edge of the doily to get that cute lacey edge.





I let them sit over night and thought hard about what word I wanted my doilies to say. I plan on using this in my living room on my mantel so I wanted it to be meaningful. Hmmmmmmm. The next night (after the kids were in bed), round 2 of painting began.....while watching none other than Bachelor Pad. Awesome! I can feel my brain rotting as I watch it, but I don't care. I'm hooked!!!

As some of you know, I have recently started my adventures with sewing. Seriously people! Sewing.is.HARD!
Rebecca, if you are reading this, why does the backside of my fabric look like this?????????????

I originally wanted a red zig zag stitch across the top. I realized that I wanted to make sure I was sewing straight along the tab that I ironed flat so that I would have room to thread my twine through the top. Because of that, I decided to go with a straight stitch so I could sew it upside down. NOT!! (could you hear Wayne and Garth as I said that?). WHY DOES THE BACK SIDE OF MY STRAIGHT STITCH LOOK LIKE THAT??? WHY??? Arrrrrrg. Again, Sewing.is.HARD!

Plan B??? Hand stitch a running stitch with embroidery thread. Not my first vision, but I think it turned out alright. See!!

Here's a close-up for ya...

And the big picture :)

Cute?? Cute!!

When Josh works for multiple days in a row, I have a tendency to lose my patience with the kids a lot easier. I wanted this little bunting to remind me to be happy and really cherish the fact that my kids are happy, healthy, and full of energy. I know sometimes the 8 million questions Noah asks in a 20 minute period can seem exhausting. However, if I try to imagine what I might feel like if he wasn't able to ask them, my frustration instantly goes away. Perspective is the key. The key to being HAPPY! Every day is a gift and this bunting says it simply. HAPPY!

Watch this!!!!

My friend Kristin forwarded me this link with a little story and it gave me chills just watching it. take a a look.

A Flash Mob Dance Video was organized by Kim MacGregor. Kim created this as a tribute to her best friend Erika Heller who died of colon cancer last year at age 31. Each and every telephone conversation they ever had, Erika would end by telling Kim, "You're an amazing woman!" Well, Kim wanted to do something special to honour her friend and this is the result. It was filmed at the Toronto Eaton Centre after only one 6-hour rehearsal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcKvevod3k <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcKvevod3k>
Kim's goal is to reach 1,000,000 viewers - please help her reach her goal and pass this on to all the amazing women in your life.

Enjoy.

Seriously, amazing!!!

Where art and the ocean meet.

"Our home town is a special place, where art and the ocean meet.
Canyons and Lagoons, gardens in bloom, Welcome to Laguna Beach.

The lines above are from a song I used to sing in Elementary school chorus. I can't remember all the lyrics to the song, but the gist of it is that Laguna Beach is an amazing place to be. Understatement of the century people!!!

As some of you already know, I was born and raised in Laguna Beach California (aka Heaven on Earth). I currently live only a few miles from my sweet little home town but still find myself there often. Mostly going here:

The pictures above are of my all time favorite beach called Diver's Cove. It is BEAUTIFUL! It is one of those magical places where you feel like you are on a tropical island far far away from home. Crystal clear water, tide pools, palm trees, the works!! My sister and I took the kiddos there today and it was a great day! We took turns going in the water which is one of my favorite things to do. I think I was in there for a half hour today and it felt so refreshing and good, I can't even explain it. Josh has been at the fire station for the last 4 days in a row, so I was definitely in need of a refreshing break (thanks sis). Anyway, I just wanted to share these pictures of one of my favorite places on Earth :)

Oh yeah, and here's a couple pics of two of my favorite people on Earth :)

Happy happy Summer!!!