Custom Inspiration Board:Classic Carnival

As I told you last week I have been on a rather lengthy hiatus from my blog so I am just now getting to post this. {sorry Becca!}

About a month ago I won a Custom Inspiration Board from Becca at Birthday Girl. This was perfect timing for me because on March 20th we will be celebrating Monkey’s 2nd Birthday!

If you haven’t been to Birthday Girl, GO CHECK HER OUT! She has tons of great ideas for you. She has free printables, baby shower ideas and the cutest party ideas for you! For your next party, check her out.

This is what Becca came up with for my Classic Carnival Theme party! This will blow your mind. She is so talented and has really inspired me!

Party Ideas

Colors: bright primary colors (red, yellow, blue)

Setting: backyard afternoon party, casual food and activities set-up.

Decorations: lots of giant balloons, bunting banners over the booths and around the tables. if space allows, set up a 'big top' style tent by draping fabric over food area or just above the candy table.

food: hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, animal crackers, and a dessert station with cupcakes, lollipops, rock candy etc. also include a photo booth with dress up props, and face painting.

Activities: what's a carnival without chances to win a prize? give out tickets at the beginning of the party and have an assortment of games set up such as ring toss, milk bottle baseball, ping pong goldfish bowl toss, bobbing for apples etc. set up a wall of small dime store prizes and let the winners choose.

 Photo Credits

Row 1: invite via tiny prints; girl on ball via anthropologie; ballon man via most adorable...; cupcake table via martha stewart

Row 2: tickets via green wedding shoes; balloons via josh goleman; snow cones via martha stewart; candy buffet via amy atlas

Row 3: animal crackers and little clowns via kara's party ideas; ducks via ish and chi

Row 4: popcorn cupcakes via cake central; sweets via green wedding shoes; prizes via ish and chi; pinwheels via gigi & lulu

The invitations for Monkey’s party have been mailed. I will post the invitations tomorrow! Stay tuned for how this party unfolds…

I’m here

Wow, it feels good to be back on the computer! I know that is probably hard for people who work on a computer all day long to understand. I have not checked email since the first week in February! Does that even happen in our society anymore? Computers are used for everything and I haven’t even used one in so long!

This picture of me in 1982 sums up how I have felt this past month.

The reason for my lengthy-hiatus is that my Multiple Sclerosis decided to get wacky on me and relapse. Major bummer.

At the end of January I was feeling great and getting so much done. I literally woke up one morning and my arms were so tight that it hurt to move them.

I once read the only way you could describe this feeling to loved ones was to have them imagine what it would feel like to wrap an Ace bandage around their arms as tightly as they could and wear the bandage for 24 hours. That feeling would be what I have been experiencing.

On February 1st I went to my neurologist to see if he could “fix” me. He couldn’t. Typically, MS patients can get a steroid and start to feel better. I can not get steroids because of my bone condition. Again, bummer. The doctor told me that I was not getting enough sleep which caused my relapse.

I started sleeping more. Started feeling better and then on the 13th I laid down for a nap and woke up with my left arm felt dead and completely numb. Even to pick it up it felt like dead weight. Luckily I was still able to move it, it was just tiring to lift it and use it.

I always try to find humor in situations like this. That’s the only thing that you can do. One day I realized that I had been resting my arm on my hip bone when I was walking around and that was the only thing I found to help me. My hip bone.

Blogging isn’t the only area I have neglected. Try blow-drying your hair with this pain in your arm. {Not happening.} Household chores have also been difficult but thankfully my husband and family are very supportive and helpful.

Thank you for your kind emails and comments during my “vacation.” Hopefully I am back for good!! I have over 2,000+ feeds in my Reader so please be patient with me. I will get through all of them! Maybe yall can just hold off on blogging for the next week and give me time to catch up!! Ha, Ha.

Dresser Redo-Harlequin Pattern

I've been a busy bee. I took a little hiatus last week to recharge and now I am back and ready to play.

In 2003, I inherited this piece of furniture from my dear Auntie, mom's aunt.

It was originally painted blue. When I brought it to our home I did a quick, messy spray paint job on it and put it in my husband's closet for his dresser. There it sat for a couple of years until we moved into the home we are in now.

We did not need the dresser so it sat lonely in the garage looking sad and tired. And homely.
Until I realized that we did in fact need the dresser and the dresser needed me. I knew we would use it in a spare bedroom and  if there are a couple things you know about me, you know how I love me some harlequin painted furniture.

The first step was to remove the knobs and prime the dresser.

Next I painted it BEHR Cottage White and let it dry overnight.

I knew that I wanted a big harlequin design so I took dimensions and then went to this handy dandy harlequin/argyle calculator to figure out the measurements.

Instead of using a pencil to mark your lines, use chalk. Chalk is easy to paint over and you won't be able to see it once it's painted.

{I didn't take a picture of the dresser during this stage but I marked it just like I had marked the table.}

This dresser was much easier to paint since I was doing a large design and I only had to paint it one color. For the black I used BEHR Black Suede.

Once it dried I took my trusty Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze that my fellow Texas girls at Shanty2Chic recommend.I love this stuff. I just rub it on and rub it right off. It gives it that nice aged look.

I bought the crown knobs at Hobby Lobby when they were half off. I needed more color in them so I just dry brushed them with my craft paint.

 

Today's Creative Blog

Reinvented- Trash to Treasure Tuesday

Domestically Speaking Paint Party on Wednesday

May I have your attention...we have a winner!

Congratulations Amy at The Lemon Cottage!!

Yeah Amy!!!

Go by and congratulate Amy today! She will be receiving this beautiful baking dish from CSN!

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Thank you CSN for hosting my giveaway and THANK YOU so much for entering the giveaway! Thank you for coming and playing!

Power of Paint-Before and After of Master Bath

Paint is my friend. I believe in the power of paint. I embrace the changes and happiness it can bring.

When we bought this house in December 2008, the painted walls we inherited did not make me happy. At all.

BBD and I have always been the ones to paint the rooms in the homes we have owned. As you already know, in December of 2008, I was still suffering from the pain that comes with 2 broken vertebrate, I could not walk well, I was suffering from what I would later learn was Multiple Sclerosis, we had a 9 month old baby and my husband had just received a promotion, which meant a lot of traveling.

Having said all of this, we knew painting ourselves was not an option. But hello… I had to have it painted before we moved in. I knew if we didn’t paint BEFORE…it would be a long time before I would get my walls painted.

This is how serious I take my paint: We closed on our house December 5 which was a Friday. The painters were here bright and early Saturday morning. By the time the movers came on Monday morning to bring us our treasures, the only rooms the painters lacked painting were the game room, dining room and office.

{For cost purposes, we did not paint the 2 guest bedrooms,2 spare bathrooms or Monkey’s room. I will also add that I got an amazing deal because of all the business I had referred to our painter prior to this home being painted. He was a great guy to work with and we believed in him. I had used him to paint my 18' entrance at my old house and when I worked for the decorators we would share his name with clients.}

The before pictures below are from the website that listed our home. We actually didn’t have time to take good before pictures.  

Before:White ceilings, gray walls 

After: SW Camelback walls and ceiling

Before: Gray walls, white ceilings    

The closed door by the towels leads to our bedroom.

 

Can you see the difference in what paint can do for a room? Whether the colors I chose work for you or not, you can definitely see the difference in not only how the color changed the room but also the accessories.
The size of the mirror and the cabinets also stand out with paint contrast as well as the accessories. The counter height is 36” and the top of the mirror frame to the bottom of the frame is 62”.

While I love and appreciate all styles of decorating, I tend to decorate with warm colors.

My next project in this room will be to stain the mirror frame to make it look like a piece of furniture.

I will be linking up at:

Domestically Speaking

Blue Cricket Design


We are that family

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! The contest ends TONIGHT AT 10:00 p.m.

How I do birthdays: Themes

I love celebrating ANYTHING…but especially somebody’s birthday. It’s the one day that they get to have by themselves and it’s their special day.

My parents always made our birthdays a big, huge deal. In fact, somehow we were able to milk the whole month, not just the one day.

A somewhat common conversation among my sisters might sound like this:

{sister} It’s my birthday, I get to go first.

{me} No it’s not. Your birthday isn’t for 20 days!

{sister} Uh, hello! It’s ____{insert month}.

I’m a big fan of giving and celebrating birthdays with a theme. This actually started because Mrs. M and I were always the daughters/sisters to be in town when our family had a birthday to celebrate. Instead of buying a gift together like we had been, we just kind of started giving gifts that went together.

One year we decided Mom needed some stuff for her kitchen so we got pot holders, pans, and a set of dishes.

This was the first year Mrs. M was married on her birthday, it was her 29th birthday and it is on New Year’s Eve. I wanted to do something special for her. I also wanted to give her gifts that she could use, enjoy and not be off her wedding registry.

As I posted earlier, I made the Cookie Monster Cupcakes.

I loved the cupcakes long before they were ever made. I also knew that Mrs. M would because she is a baker and loves cupcakes!

Cupcakes would be the perfect theme and I knew just what to get her. I am a big fan of Etsy and I knew exactly what I wanted to get her. When I saw this apron, I knew it was perfect!

Isn’t it beautiful?!?! I found this at Bambino Amore:

Mrs. M is a classy, sophisticated and simple lady so I knew the black and white damask with the red would be perfect!

I also knew from being a follower at The TomKat Studio that Kim loves the Wilton 4 Tiered Dessert Tower. If it works for Kim then it will be good enough for Mrs. M.

 

I purchased the tower at Hobby Lobby. While I was there I found the perfect wrapping paper!

  

Don’t you just love this Royal paper? This would be so cute framed or decoupaged!
 
Can you guess which box the apron was in? It was just too perfect not to use for this! This paper would be great in a project too. Hmmm…I am getting inspired as I write about it!

Happy Birthday Mrs. M! I hope you enjoyed it! Now get in the kitchen and make some cupcakes!!

As you can see, it was so much fun planning her birthday with a cupcake theme.

Try it the next time you are giving presents to somebody! My Monkey is turning 2 years old in March. Stay tuned to see the theme of his party! It will be adorable and fun!

Office Makeover

Everybody needs a place in the house where they can retreat to. A place where they can work, relax or hide. In our house, my husband likes to retreat to “his office” as he calls it. This is also the place where I like to go, because of the computer.
When we bought this house in December 2008, the office was used as a graphic design studio for the lady of the house. It served it’s purpose for them.
I wish that I had a before picture of what the room looked like before I painted.
Just imagine white walls. And white ceilings. This room faces the front of the house. I love the crown molding and the plantation shutters. The French doors are also a nice feature.The room  was almost perfect. We however, needed storage. Lots of storage. I’m a reader. My husband needed closed storage where he could hide all of his files and binders for work.
And now presenting…THE OFFICEOne of my long-time friends’ brother made these for us. I came up with a design and he made magic happen. I seriously just told him what I wanted to look like, he measured and then some time later…the cabinets were installed!
The cabinets are not pink- the light just made it look funky. The workspace top is 11.5’ long and it is one piece. The cabinets were two boxes and then the shelves sat on top. It was a happy day when these were installed…
This is my collection of Alex C. McIntosh aka, Acee Blue Eagle art. Acee Blue Eagle was my great grandmother’s first cousin. The photographs are of him. One is is drawing and the second is him in his ceremonial attire. The glasses have his art on them. There is a set of Famous Oklahoma Indians and a set of Famous American Indians. The glasses were given at Knox Gas stations for every ten gallons of gas you purchased.This is my husband’s collection. They are McCormick decanters from the early-mid 1970’s. He collects the collegiate ones and as you can see he only has Rice, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, University of Texas and Southern Methodist University.

We are so happy to have it finished…finally! We do need to get some more accessories, chairs etc. for this room but for right now we are happy having a place for our books and a place to display our collections!
I will be linking up with Susan at BNOTP today!

Don’t forget to sign up for my giveaway!