Bathtub crayons = bain of my existence

Here's a little math equation for you:

"Washable?!"  Hardly.  Try "scrub-with-all-your-might."

And a certain someone - who admittedly can draw a decent cartoon of his children - is not exactly helping:

Colliding goodness

Note cards + ruffled fabric = my worlds colliding. 

I'm digging these note cards from Mandy's Yellow Corner!

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And if you have a moment to pop over to Mandy's blog, you won't be sorry.  Her creativity is amazing.

Now, onto the second chair...

With one chair down, I have the second, more complex one to complete. Having learned a few lessons from working on the red chair, I'm going to actually - ready? ready? - follow the rules on this one. I want this chair to be in a prominent part of the house so it really should be done right.

Over the weekend, I managed to sand this one down a bit but I have to really get in and re-work the sanding to get all the yuck out before priming.

It's still a big work-in-progress, and figuring out the creation of an upholstered seat as my next big step.

Hopefully, I'll have another chair update by next week otherwise this may go into the dark pit of the house, aka the basement, where furniture goes to die.

DIY chair refinishing

Remember this bad boy?

I sanded the chair outdoors which was a must since it got kind of messy to sand through about three coats of previously-applied paint:

After sanding, I applied two coats of spray-on primer which I didn't take a photo of.  I then sprayed several coats of red paint and was sure after a letting each coat dry for a bit of time to flip over the chair to get all the nooks and crannies:

And now, the final outcome!

I enjoyed working on the chair, and I learned a few things along the way:

• I skimped on sanding and I shouldn't have.  My impatience got the best of me and looking close-up, it's evident that I did a less-than-stellar job.  But someone else's "imperfect" is my "rustic."  And that's the story I'm sticking to.
• One can of spray paint was not enough even though the chair is child-size, so before I start in on an adult-size chair, I'll be sure to have at least two or three cans on-hand.
• I should have used a drop cloth.  While I didn't care about putting paint onto the grass because it's due to be mowed any day now, it was a royal pain to get random bits of grass out of the chair that stuck on while it was drying. 
• High-gloss paint was the right choice.  It might have been overkill, but I also applied a clear gloss varnish after the paint dried.  Can you blame me for liking shiny?

Ice cream, bonnets and red paint

While we do live in one of the original 13 colonies, it's not every day that we run into a woman with a bonnet and a cannon:

And as if you needed any explanation as to what happened to Griffin's brand-spankin'-new shirt:

In other weekend news, here's a preview of what I accomplished:

More on the chair tomorrow!

Will I finish the refinish?

You know how you're not supposed to name a stray animal or else you become attached?  This is kind of the same deal where I've already whole-heartedly decided the colors for these soon-to-be-refinished chairs, which now means I HAVE TO complete this project. 

Like now. 

Because I already have little "homes" for them mapped out in my head where they'll live.

I'll share with you some of my inspirations:

• Spring green cottage chairs via Centsational Girl
• Wood bench via Sanctuary Art
• And I seriously can't even choose just one super-awesome transformation from Life in the Fun Lane because it's all-inspiring.  Her work is quite amazing.

Happy holiday weekend, friends!

Primer is for sissies

Check out my latest $7 purchase:

I've been on a kick wanting to try refinishing a piece of furntiture and figured at $7 bucks from the local antique/junk store, it's worth the trial-and-most-likely-many-errors attempt.

Both chairs have cool little details:

But then again, I could be biting off way more than I can chew by having to fix the seat on one of them:

Fingers crossed, maybe it'll get done over the next week or so?  Despite my lack of rule-following I'll try to follow the basics, like sanding and priming prior to painting; but know that you'll be the first to hear of any follies.

Butterfly birthday invitation

I'm so pleased to share this butterfly birthday invitation using vibrant grape tones paired with pink, clementine and butter colors. 

Girly, but not over-the-top girly, wouldn't you agree?
Personal information has been modified for privacy.

Batteries not included

The following instructions on how to swaddle, put a hat on and hold a baby came with one of the toys Wavey received for her birthday:

Some days, I wish my kids came with multi-language instructions and could be easily transported on my wrist.

Birthday party recap

Confession without regret: I didn't take a lot of photos at Wavey's party this past weekend.  Sometimes I struggle with trying too hard to capture everything with my camera and then finding myself not enjoying the actual moment. 

This weekend, I enjoyed the party with friends and family without my camera (for the most part) but did capture a few funny moments, like how the kids were way more interested in the galvanized metal tub that kept water, juice boxes and themselves cool in the summer heat:

I'm really hoping these two end up marrying each other, but it's doubtful based on the look on Griff's face:

Wavey found it a super-treat to be offered cheesy chips, to which she went all-out until I caught her licking the inside of the bowl:

I did manage to assemble some favor bags to go with the pink/brown theme:

After several hours of hopping around in a bounce house, paired with sweltering temps, the kids got kind of "mehh" with each other after a bit:

In fact, Wavey confessed to us in the evening that she hit Abby while in the bounce house, but was on the fence if it was a punishable offense since Abby didn't rat her out or cry (apparently, there are levels of measurable hand-to-hand combat among five-year-olds).  Regardless, we were swift in our dismay for such behavior, and Wavey was prompted to write an apology:

Despite that minor mishap, it was a great day and now we're swimming in new toys.  Let the summer fun begin.

"Pom-poms." Say it with me.

Little known fact: I served a very brief stint as a cheerleader in college.  I'll blame it on my love for pom-poms.

I've been swimming in pink and brown tissue paper this week assembling decorative pom-poms to hang from an outdoor tent at Wavey's birthday party this weekend.  Martha has a decent DIY tissue paper pom-pom tutorial, but my own final product lacks the super-clean lines that only Martha and her employed minions can acheive. 

Photos of the party will be shared next week.  Rah! Rah! Rah!

Deliciously adorable

I have a deep appreciation for attention-to-detail and figured that I had seen it all...until I came across painted marshmallows by The Decorated Cookie via Lizard & Ladybug:

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I can't say that I would dare even try this because I have the attention span of a mosquito when it comes to these kind of things, but it does have a cute factor about it.

Beware what you wish for

Me to husband: "I'd really like a docking station to play music from my iPod."

Husband: "Do you have a preference?"

Me: "No preference, if you would just pick one up next time you're out, that would be great.  I just want something we can use when friends are over."

And then he comes home with this, seriously raving about how great the online reviews are on its sound quality:

Wow.  He really latched on to my line of "no preference" and got me good.

Forever our stuffies

We have a few favorite stuffies in our house, these being two which rank toward the top of the list:

One day, before they get worn too hard with love, I want to get a custom toy portrait created by the talented Jennifer Maher:

So cute, huh?  Now, to decide on which stuffy will make the cut.

I stand corrected

We attended Wavey's recital on Saturday evening and I have one thing to say today:  My name is Lelan...and I'm a dance mom.

Remember last week when I was saying how I didn't care for dance class?  I'm totally eating those words now because the end result at the recital was amazing, professional and the caliber of the entire studio was eye-opening.

Obviously, I was completely smitten by my own child's performance.  Her apathy all these months turned to enthusiasm on stage and she was hooked. 

And now I am, too.