Grandkids~

Here are some photos of my two grandkids. Over the weekend I bought my grandaughter two wigs....yes, you read it correctly, wigs. She turned one month on March the 13th...and I was wanting to see her with long hair....so here she is in all her glory~ She didn't care to much for the dark hair........ I think she is in a "milk-coma" in this photo~Here she is working the reddish hair...... work it girl! Look down your nose at the world... you go girl~Here she is falling over-- she is only a month old lol~Lastly, my grandson shows his sister how to model... attitude, its all in the attitude~
he is such a HAM!! Here he is with a toy ladder stuck on his nose!Alright, alright... I'll stop :-P

Show and Tell~

Here is a small chest that I recently picked up for $4 bucks that I remade into a pirate chest for my grandson's upcoming Pirate Party that I host every year. Here is the before...... Here is the after....I've written two tutorials (with photos) on how to do the faux leather treatment on the outside of the trunk....and one on how I made over the inside of the pirate chest as well. If you've linked to my blog through "There is no place like Home" and wish to have more of a lookie-lou you can click "here" to enter~ You can view more Show and Tells here~

A little stepping stool...

that I made using a shallow wooden box that I picked up from a second hand store for $2 bucks. This (of course) is for my grandson to give him a little boost so he can climb into his toddler bed that I made for him awhile back ;-)I spray painted the box black and painted the two cars using acrylic paint and then used some clear gloss sealer over the top :-)

Chloe~

Here is my grandaugher Chloe minutes after being born....she is screaming for hair and makeup~ You have no idea how much that dark hair shocked me!! Here she is with that stuff they glob into the newborn babies eyes.... she smeared it all over her face and chest. She heard that stuff makes your skin youthful. Look at her casually striking a pose, she is such a diva~ Here is Chloe sitting in a blanket nest having her first bottle given to her from her nurse. The nurse only gave her half...she screamed for more. Thats my girl! Chloe fell asleep while trying to take off her hat because she just KNOWS it doesn't match her outfit. She was upset her bracelet didn't come in another color as well.... white is so last year~Chloe using her fathers finger as a cell phone. You never get good reception in hospitals. I think she is setting up a manny-peddy for tomorrow~Lastly, big brother Jonathan peeking in at his little "pet" sister. He took one look at her and called her a truck...a red truck~

Toddler Bed~

I puchased this vintage toddler bed off of craigslist for $40.00-- (this is the actual photo of the item I saw)I liked the lines of it and thought it would work perfectly for a toddler bed for my grandson. So, I got to work fixing it up to better suit his tastes. Cars baby-- its all about cars! Sooooooo, I sanded & painted it black and added some vinyl diamond plate wallpaper to the headboard and footboard. It is super shiny very thick and sticky backed like contact paper. It only came in a 5' roll....so I had to be very careful not to mess it up. I prayed not to mess it up-- it worked :-)
I puchased the wallpaper off of the internet from a very nice man named Charles who owns "The Wallpaper Company" Send him an email to tell him what your looking for-- he is very reasonable and super nice :-) Anywho...with the bed itself completed, I then made a bedskirt using black and white check fabric which I secured to the underside of the toddler bed by stitching loops in the ends of the elastic then just hooked onto small cup hooks for easy removal for washing.Here it is all finished and in his room. It looks like I need to smooth out an air bubble in the diamond plate headboard-- easy fix, I'll just rub it and it will come out :-) For some reason the foot board photographed dark, but it is that shiny diamond plate as well. In person it looks like its real metal, its cool! :-) I made a comforter using Disney Pixar Car fabric which I got at Walmart for only $4.44 a yard. I used a black fleece throw blanket for the backside of the comforter. The fleece throw was only $3.97 (at Walmart) you cannot even buy a yard of fleece that cheaply-- so really thats the way to go!! I made a matching pillowcase as well. (he doesn't sleep with a pillow yet) Here is a photo of my grandson driving one of his cars on his new bed...he is so funny~ I think it turned out really cute!

Princess Chloe~

My grandaughter (Princess) Chloe Rose is going to make her debut into this world on February the 13th~ I've begun getting things ready for her to have on hand for her big debut.

Her mothers royal robe and hat that she wore when she was a baby.Her small white-gold grown and star scepter is ready as well. Although she will hold no authority while holding this scepter, a child can never start to early in life in using those tools around her.... in any case, she can use it to smack her brother who refuses to be "Prince" Jonathan opting to be Pirate Jonathan instead~

Ho-ho-ho....

Merry Christmas~Here is my grandson being very leary of this fat ol' guy who is holding him..... he choose not to cry seeing how his reward was a candy cane lol.

A few of my favorite things...

my grandson.... here he is practicing opening a present~my new wreath that I've got on the back of my bathroom door instead of a towel... inconvenient, but worth it. I love how the ivy just spills from it~

My new jewelry.... My Auntie Marie had a family ring similar to this one---that I've spent the past 25 years looking for one that was similar. Although her ring was square with a REAL blue sapphire and with REAL diamonds surrounding it. This one is sterling silver and the "diamonds" are just cut work in the silver. But...I love it to pieces none the less! Blue sapphire is my birthstone :-) The whole set was only $27 dollars at Walmart. *I know, what a deal!*

Sara over at Thrifty Decor chick is hosting this holiday "Show us a few of your favorite things" event.

Waverly chair~

Well, I finally finished reupholstering the little chair for my grandson. This is how it looked when I picked it up for $3 bucks.... the structure is solid, so I figured it would stand up to just about anything a 15 month old could do to it. *Before photo*Here it is after I reupholstered it~ I used Waverly fabric that matches my house & my daughters house...lol. smart thinking huh. It could be deemed a bit "girlie" for a little boy, but it is going to be sitting in a "girlie" house so there you go! Makes total sense now doesn't it~ *after photo*

Nursery Horse~

I am in the process of spring cleaning & redecorating at my house. I painted my grandson's nursery (the one at my house) and I am putting in some new things to make it cheerful & fun. Here is a little vintage horse that I reupholstered today. I bought the horse at a yard sale about 6 months ago for only $2 bucks.

Here is the horse without its fabric. The piece was very well made. It has a wooden head and structure and is very sturdy...except for the tiny wheels that stick and makes it topple sometimes lol.

I used an old chenille bedspread that I picked up for $4 bucks at a resale store. I used white textured yarn for the mane and tail. I wrapped the yarn around a form (a piece of cardboard) and ran some glue down one edge and then laid a strip of fabric along that edge on top of the glue. Once the glue had dried I pulled the yarn off of the form (cardboard) and then I was able to sandwhich the yarn between the fabric pieces and just stitched it together. Here is the horse completed standing in front of the changing table (I also recently made a curtain for the changing table to hide all the clutter) I think it turned out cute :-)

Birthday wishes

We took our grandson (& his parents) to Gilroy Gardens in Gilroy, California for Jonathan's very first birthday. (his pirate party is in June) If you've never been you should check it out. It is a very low-key/calm amusement park geared toward very young children. There are lovely gardens throughout the park that will leave you breathless. We had a wonderful time :-)
Here are some funny photos of my grandson doing what he does best.... making his mom crazy and making his grandma laugh!
Taking off his hat.....

Mommy putting his hat back on....

and taking off his hat again....
dumb ol' hat for sale....really cheap!!!

Before & after...

here are some things that I'm going to be altering to look more "pirate-ish"... a girls gotta do something while she is feeling sick right?Here is the bottom half of a two story play structure that I'm going to be making into a pirate ship in my backyard. Can you see it? I can see it already!!!I couple of weeks ago we cut the ends open and added two large round landscaping posts to act as the ships "mast".... thats as far as we got lol. Time...I need more hours in the day! okokok... I just need to pull myself away from watching t.v./shopping/napping etc! LoL

Spring has sprung...

and has held me hostage outside! Here are some flowers that have sprung up from last years flower seeds....

Here is one of my peach trees blooming~

One of the neighborhood squirrels eating a moldy old orange. I guess they taste better than the ripe ones because he went to an awful lot of trouble to pick this one up and haul it up to the top of the fence lol. My grandson with a flower for his Mommy~ (he fell asleep in the car~)

Another one of my grandson playing with one of his cars on my sectional couch...lol. I am hopeful that I've gotten enough fresh air & sunshine because I've joined a new swap :-) and also, I'm wanting to work on an assembledged piece for next Monday's Mixed media Monday with the theme of "using the word "believe" one of my FaVoRiTe words~ Ohhhhhhh and I bought a new product that creates the look of sepia tones on papers etc. So I'm really jazzed about playing around with that as well. I guess I'll go poke around in my studio now :-)

Spring decorating/Mixed Media Monday~

Here is a little something that I'm going to have displayed for Spring... I made this piece for Mixed Media Monday using this weeks theme of: Purple & gold~ I used a snap shot of my grandson when he was 5 months old... (he is a big boy now at the tender age of 11 months) I love how he had his lips in this photo, I thought it looked like a little baby chick. Soooooo I made him into a golden baby chick sitting in a chocolate eggshell surrounded by grass & purple grapes~ I used yellow tissue paper and the blunt end of a thin paint brush to create each little feather cluster. I completely covered the body form (illustration board) front & back.
You can find more Spring decorating ideas at Kelli's place.

Free at Last~

Here is my 9 month old grandson doing an interpretive dance in honor of MLK.... here it is in all its glory~
I feel so repressed~
Free at last, free at last... Thank God Almighty, Free at last!

Show & Tell Friday~

Here is a recent photo of my grandson. He is now 2 months old. He is sooooooo funny. This kid can actually flirt! He raises his eyebrows... up and down, up and down..... then he bats his eyes and smiles~ Man-oh man it is sooooooooo funny! I don't think he does it to be funny because when you laugh at him... he gets kinda mad lol... but how on earth can you help but not laugh? I think I'm going to spend his childhood years covering up my face so he won't see me laughing at him all the time lol.


(Is it me? or does Friday seem to come around awfully fast? I was going to take photos of several different things so as to keep up the illusion of my greatness....but alas...I've had to give into my laziness and resort to an "already downloaded photo." lol)

Show and tell Friday is hosted by: http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/

Jonathan~

What a face. This is my grandson who turned one month old on May 12th. Smiling already you say?? Tis true. This little happy soul has been smiling since birth. Finally, we've captured in an actual photo what we've been seeing all along! lol He wouldn't smile big for the camera... so his mother had a stern talking to him and told him he better smile if he wanted a bottle of milk. Ta da!....huge smile! lol Bribery works like a charm~

Daisy loom blow-out

(if you googled "daisy loom blanket and thats how you found me.... if you want any of my instructions on how to use the daisy loom, just e-mail and ask me. I'd be happy to share my vintage pattern book instructions with anyone who wants them)

I blew out my daisy loom today. I was releasing a daisy I had just finished making and the entire thing fell apart. It was tragic. Fortunately I found all the pieces and glued the thing back together and reinforced it to continue making the 65 daisies that were needed to complete the latest crocheted blanket I'm making. So, with all those daisies finally finished I am delighted with myself :-) I've just got 27 more to sew on then its a done deal. I've called my mom and told her that I'll bring it out to her in two weeks thats the soonest I can make it out to her place~

Below is a picture of my new grandson Jonathan trying out his new vintage baby bassinet. I picked up this gem for only $5.00 at a yard sale. It was in the original paint color of beige, and it came with a mattress and a bumper pad along with a floor length skirt. Unfortunately it was a little to modern looking so I opted to redo the bumper and then I adhered some fabric to the sides of the bassinet. That along with spraying it white, I think it turned out beautifully~ I've even managed to create matching sheets (not shown in photo) life is sweet~