Celebrate Carrie Bachelorette Style

My cousin Carrie is getting married at the end of August so this month has been full of fun wedding events! A couple of weekends ago was her bachelorette shower. We started the day in my parents backyard. We ate lunch, cooled off in the pool and had her lingerie shower. I was in charge of decorations for all of this part. The colors were black, hot pink and silver so I made my main focus the drink table. I had a left over black paper table cloth from Ella's dance party. I always have to see the product before it actually happens (a dress rehearsal is what I like to call it) so I had laid out the table cloth at my house the week before. Sweet McKenna ripped it into in a matter of minutes. So I began brainstorming. I was trying to think of a way to not spend money. Which always ends up in spending more money than before. I should have known. I had this white Crate and Barrel table cloth that I had tried to dye pink stripes months ago. It didn't turn out so good. So the girls and I had been using it as a drop cloth for painting projects. It was basically splattered painted in a rainbow of colors. Long story short, I painted it with chalkboard paint and then polka dotted it with silver screen printing paint.  I know the chalkboard paint on a tablecloth sounds so random. A good friend of mine was actually telling me about how chalk paint is good to paint on cloth furniture so my mind went to chalkboard paint. Found out later that chalk paint is a totally different thing. I tried writing on it with chalk and it wouldn't come off. So basically the chalkboard paint has no purpose, just a little blonde mistake on my part:) It was pretty stiff so I heat pressed the whole thing which smoothed it out a bit. So to sum up my "trying to save money on a table cloth" project, I ended up spending more money than it cost to just buy another paper table cloth. But at least I have a fun table cloth to use anytime now!

I made all the bunting from tissue paper. And you know it's not a party without matching shirts.


I kept the front sweet and simple with CelebrateCarrie and totally copied Lindsay for the back design. 

During Amy's lingerie shower, Brittany had THE cutest gift presentation ever! I couldn't get over it and couldn't wait to copy it. You take an empty Kleenex box and wrap it in wrapping paper. Leave the opening open.

Then buy 10-15 pairs of panties. Tie them together with ribbon. 

Put them all in Kleenex box and have the last pair sticking out of Kleenex box like a tissue. Then cover that with two pieces of tissue paper.

When the bride to be opens it she will first pull out tissue paper. Then she will start to pull the first pair of panties and it will just keep going and going! It's so fun!

Happy Bachelorette Carrie! We can't wait for the big day!

friends, tables and chairs...oh my!

Nothing too exciting to blog about, just some random happenings and what not. 

Bob used some of his vacation time at the end of October and took a week off. It was wonderful! We didn't go on vacation anywhere, we just stayed home and loved every minute of having Bob here with us. By the end of the first day Bob had told me more than once that I had too many projects. So true but I think I like it that way. Some days I do wish I had hours and hours of uninterrupted craft time so I could actually finish one, but don't we all...

I don't think I actually finished any of my ongoing projects while Bob had the week off but we did get a couple things accomplished. The table we had been using in our kitchen was way too big for the area and it drove me kinda crazy. Bob told me to start looking on Craigs list for something smaller and I stumbled upon this little table and four chairs that sounded like the perfect size. Bob went out to make the deal and bring it home. You can never really tell what you are gonna get from a craigs list picture...

Turns out the top of the table was not really wood. It was like the tables that used to be in my school cafeterias, rubber molding around the edges and all. So, I decided to paint the top white to match the chairs and legs. But of course the whites didn't match...

So then I thought WWKD (what would kristen do) and I busted out the chalk board paint! I love the way it turned out and Ella loves getting to color all over her kitchen table.

How small is this table?! We cracked up when we saw just how tiny it was but it is so great to be able to walk around in the kitchen now. It teaches good manners too, when we all eat dinner it's elbows down or else you bump elbows with your neighbor. 

Here is a pic of our old table that was too big. I guess I should have started with this pic, I'm kinda going backwards. Anyways, the highchair we had been using for Kenna attached to the table because we didn't have any room for the standing one.

With the big table gone, we brought back in the wooden highchair we had used with Ella. Speaking of projects that never get finished, this highchair should top the list. I originally bought it in raw wood when I was pregnant with Ella. We have these orange and pink striped bar stools that I wanted to match the high chair to so I hauled one of the huge bar stools to a paint store when I was prego with Ella to get the paints matched. The highchair stayed raw wood until Ella was almost one, and by then I had only gotten the orange color painted on it. I never got around to the pink stripes and now those cute bar stools are in our attic at this house because there is no room for them. I guess the moral of that story is that Bob is right, I have too many projects. 

Of course the second Bob brought the highchair in the house I had the immediate urge to finish this 4 year project and add the pink stripes. Only to find out that we left the pink paint in our old house in lubbock... So I mixed up about 10 different paint colors I had for screen printing and taped off a few stripes on the top of highchair. 

Then I ran an electric sander over it. I think I can say I'm finally done with this project.

Other things that happen when dad doesn't have work is lots of fun outside time and super cool tea parties.

Tea party fort designed by dad himself.

 In other exciting news, we had some VERY fun visitors come stay with us this weekend! Jordan, Brittany and Cooper!

I didn't get very many pictures (brittany has some very cute ones on her camera that I will have to share later) but it was just the best weekend. We cracked up at McKenna constantly attacking Cooper with kisses and Ella couldn't get enough of Jordan and Brittany.

I bought these chalk markers from Hobby Lobby that Brittany and Ella had fun with.

A little tip if you ever use these chalk markers is that they don't completely come off like normal chalk does. I had to use the magic eraser (my go to for many things) to clean the table, but it all wiped off very fast with it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Chalkboard Paint Crazy

And when I say crazy, I mean crazy.  It just hit me and I really ran with it.

Hard.

At about 4:30 yesterday I up and decided now would be the time to paint my kitchen with chalkboard paint.  I have wanted to do it for a while now, but I don't know what came over me.  Maybe that I had gone like 12 hours without a new project or that my kids were actually napping or that the color in my kitchen finally grossed me out enough that I had to never see it again- I don't know.

But I did it.

And I LOVE IT!

(don't judge my clutter.  I am a refrigerator decor hoarder)
and so do the kids.

Then we took that chalkboard paint and used it to paint some pumpkins.

They got pretty into that too.


Very into painting. Serious face.

They weren't the prettiest pumpkins around, but they were efficiently painted.

and terribly decorated.  I know.  I am not an artist. (as if that was in question)

and my mother in law got me two of these fantastic chalk boards when she went to round top

(Do y'all want lessons on how to be an amazing artist? clearly I should give them)
and now I am painting my chairs...

I may need an intervention.
at least its not chalkboard paint :)

lazy days...

We have been having our fair share of lazy days over here. The main reason we have been stuck inside the house is because of my healing process from the c-section but also because it has been so dang cold outside! Who would want to leave the house?!

We have made lots of pallets and watched movie after movie. I'm not complaining:) I love me a good lazy day.

Brittany and I even got a little crafty too.

The island in our kitchen is still raw wood on top. It will one day have butcher block on it but until then we came up with a great idea. We spray painted it with chalkboard paint! 

It's the perfect place for grocery lists, reminders, and funny notes to the roommates. Ella has been loving it too. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!