Weekend Wrap-Up @ TT&J

Just a quick note to remind everyone to head over to Tatertots & Jello and check out the weekend wrap-up party! Jen's is always the best!

Family Trees

I have to admit ~ I wasn't thinking about Father's Day {at all} when I first started this project. I was thinking about the big empty space on the wall in the half bath, and trying to figure out how to fill it. So I bought a big canvas...brought it home...and stared at it. I even bought paint ~ but had no idea what I was going to {do} with it. Stripes? Some other type of pattern? Hmmmm.... A tree? Trees. I'll do some trees. So I started painting the first tree....

And then it hit me...four trees, one for each member of our family! Cute! So I painted four tree trunks, limbs, etc....in varying sizes to represent the hubband, each of the tiny people, and myself. And {then} ~ a moment of brilliance (which doesn't happen often, so I have to celebrate it. ;) ). I'll have the kids use their {fingers} to make some of the leaves & we could give it to the hubband for Father's Day! {squeal!}

I used my finger to make some of my own leaves, too, then filled in the trees with more, brush-painted leaves.

It's not quite done yet. The hubband still needs to do some of the leaves on his tree, and then we'll hang it in the half bath to fill up that big empty wall.

Not too bad for a totally unplanned, {last-minute} Father's Day gift, right?

I'm linking up to a few places....so click on over & take a look-see at these fantabulous blogs!

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Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Lemonade Stand {Update}

The tiny people had their lemonade stand yesterday ~ Mommy was too {scatter-brained} to have everything ready to go the weekend before ~ and I just wanted to share the results with you all. We limited our time at the stand to 2 hours so the tiny people wouldn't lose interest and leave Mommy to do all the work...sitting outside under the tree alone... ;) In those 2 hours we had somewhere around 12 customers and we brought in $26.50.

I'm thrilled with the total! I really didn't know what to expect, and was hoping to break the $20 mark, so this is fantastic! Additionally, I agreed to match what they made, as did my mom and our {awesome} and incredibly sweet neighbor, Sue. SO....all told the tiny people will be donating $106 to the National Wildlife Federation! Incredible. I couldn't be more proud of my sweet girls.

If you have kids, and there is something you all feel strongly about ~ whether it's helping to clean up the oil spill in the gulf, finding a cure for Cancer, funding Autism research, or helping a local food pantry, I strongly suggest you get your kids involved and do something like this. We had the price listed on our sign, and set up an empty pitcher for donations. In the 2 hours we sat outside, only 2 people paid the minimum (50cents) for their lemonade ~ everyone else {donated} more. It was a truly incredible feeling.

See, it's true ~ it might be a great big world, but no one is too small to make a difference.

An Introduction

There's someone I'd like you all to meet.

For those of you who don't already know, this is Sarah Richardson ~ she is an interior designer based in Toronto, and the host of my new obsession {Sarah's House} on HGTV. On her show, we get to follow her through the entire process of finding a house, buying it, and completely renovating it from top to bottom. It's so much {fun} to watch. I watched her show a few times a season or so ago, but it was on at a funky time and I never could figure out when to find it consistently. This time around, I set my lovely DVR to record the whole series so I wouldn't miss a thing ~ and I'm sooo glad I did. Take a little peek for yourself...

(photos taken from HGTV's website)

Sarah is the type of girl who, in addition to having a completely {awesome} name ;), comes across as being very real, normal and down-to-earth. I like to pretend that she just moved in next door to me and has become my new BFF. ;) I should be so lucky. And her design partner, Tommy, is a RIOT. They use and mix fabrics in ways that are unique, fresh and completely {inspiring}.

After a marathon online viewing session of the 2nd season of Sarah's House, and the sleep deprivation that came with it, I'm seeing fabric pairings that I {ne-ver} would've seen or considered before, and I'm pushing myself to go a little further than I would've before. Can't wait to see where it leads!

You Might Just Get a 2-fer

Maybe... {If} I can get going on the project I have planned for today ~ we'll have to see how that goes.

For now, just wanted to share that I'm linking up the Blanche lamp to another party! This one is at somewhat simple ~ but I can't get the button to work for some reason, so there you go! Hope to see you all again later on today.

Just a Quick Note...

To let you know I'm linking up yesterday's post to a par-tay....




Head on over and check out the {ka-ton} of fun stuff Roeshel's blog (and her friends) has to share!

P.S. Old Peachy has been affectionately re-named Blanche. Rue (I actually thought her name was Ruma Clanahan rather than Rue McClanahan for the {longest} time) always was my favorite. :)

Meet Peachy

Check out this little beauty...



Doesn't it look like it should be sitting on Blanche Devereaux's bedside table in an episode of Golden Girls? It's such a lovely shade of 80's sitcom {peach} don't you think? And, hey, if any on you lovely reader people live in my area, you can swing on by the DAV thrift shop and, if you're quick and lucky, you might just be able to scoop up it's twin! Don't lie...I know you're tempted. ;)

Anyhoodle, peachy here is a glass lamp. Because I'm not well-acquainted with the use of spray paint (yet) I googled to get some tips on spray painting glass and the information I found suggested that I rough up the surface, either with sandpaper or with glass etching cream. Now, I realize that my blog title can be easily shortened to SNDR....which looks a lot like what might pass for "sander" on a {vanity} license plate....but this girl doesn't hand sand. It makes my teeth hurt. So off I went to Lowe's in search of etching cream. That went well. Lowe's dude said he'd never heard of such a thing, they don't carry it, and hey...if he were me he'd skip the sanding and use an all-purpose highly bonding spray paint primer that he knows adheres to ceramic tile, so why not glass too? Awesome. Works for me. And it did! A couple of coats of primer, and then I busted out the main event. Here she is all pretty...



I painted the base {espresso} and the color I used on the lamp is {paprika} ~ both in satin. Of course, peachy didn't come with a lampshade, so I had to make a trip to find one. I'm pretty happy with what I chose, and I think she looks nice sitting in the corner of my living room.



Happy, happy, happy! :)

A Different Kind of DIY

Lots of things on the go right now. I've got the bed/bench project that I'm going to be working on (come h-e-double-hockey-sticks or high water) this weekend, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that lovely dresser and where in the world I'm going to PUT it, I hit the thrift shop this afternoon & found a lamp in need of some spraypaint...and a shade. But my favorite of all the {DIY} projects on my plate is the one that involves the tiny people.

This weekend we're having a {lemonade stand} to raise money to help the animals that have been affected by the oil spill in the Gulf. The tiny people saw some of the pictures on the news ~ and then saw mama crying because of the pictures on the news ~ and so we had to have a difficult and not fun discussion about how we use too much oil....and so companies have to drill for the oil we need....and how this company did so without a plan for what they would do if something went really, really wrong....and that something {did} go really, really wrong....and it's a big ugly mess that is going to be very very hard to clean up.

The not quite as tiny person is 5 now, and it's the perfect age for teaching that, no matter how small you may be in this big big world, you {can} make a difference. SO....we're doing what we can to help by selling lemonade and rice krispy treats and hoping to raise a respectable amount of money (which will be matched by me, and by my mom, and by our {awesome} next door neighbor who absolutely loves the tiny people...and they her) to send to the National Wildlife Federation.

Wish us LUCK!

Even A {Blind} Squirrel...

Some people are born with a true {gift} for finding amazing deals. They score ridiculous deals on everything from toilet paper to tires, and manage to walk away from a garage sale or flea market with the exact item they set out to find...for half of what they were willing to spend.

I am not one of those people.

Which is why I'm so {thrilled} about my finds from last weekend. And by thrilled I mean that, truly, if you were anywhere in the great midwest there's a good chance that you actually {heard} me squeal in delight when I found this...

Even better?

Yep, you read that right...{$10}!!! An antique spindle bed for TEN BUCKS! I nearly wet my pants. The plan is to make a bench for my front porch (and maybe a 2nd bench for my mom's house). Mom is concerned that I maintain the integrity of the peices so that it can be used as a bed again down the road. She also doesn't think I should {paint} it, but hey...it's my ten bucks...and a painted former headboard being converted into a bench is far better than a broken up headboard going into a landfill or ~ heaven forbid ~ a fire pit.

And my good fortune didn't stop there. I also got my hands on this...

And the price on this one is a real stunner. It was {free} to a good home. :) WOO-HOO! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet ~ maybe a new stand for our television? Or I could put it in the guest room (in our basement) to hold the extra bed linens. Hmmm...

Can't wait to get going on these projects!