Toddler Tiara

I searched high and low for a tiara that Ana could wear for her Princess Party. I found many that were over priced or that were just too "stiff" for a one year old. 

While visiting Michaels for a new frame, I came across some foam visors... some were sparkly... and I thought... "if only I could find a tiara made out of this material..."  I held it in my hands for a moment... held it sideways, backwards then upside down.

 Then I had a BRILLIANT idea! 

MAKE ONE FROM THIS VISOR!

 I bought a couple (they were only 67cents or so) so I could mess up a few times. 

I started by laying the visor flat against some plain white paper. I traced the visor arch.

I folded the paper in half, so that the peaks of the tiara would match on both sides. Then I cut it out.

Next I traced the peaks onto the visor itself. Then I used my "exacto" knife and cut out the peaks.

Oh... while in Michales I found some pearly stickers... I thought they would add some bling bling to the tiara. I just stuck one on each peak... hot glue wasn't necessarily needed, but I knew my daughter would try to eat the pearls off. The hot glue was extra precaution against a nibbling baby.

It took me maybe 5 minutes to do the whole thing. EASY! REALLY EASY! I am no crafty girl either!

You can read some of my other "crafty posts" HERE

Peek Into the Whipple Home

Our new home is lovely! We are so blessed! I am so proud of Daniel for working his way up at Walmart, so that we can live in this home! I have had a fun time decorating... funny thing about moving to a nice home-- all your old furniture suddenly looks really cruddy. 

Being on a tight budget, but using my frugal skills- I set out to improve our surroundings.

This red dresser was given away by my Aunt. Before it was red, it was a multi-colored mess... complete with an anarchy symbol and the lyrics to a popular Pop song. I sanded the dresser lightly and used two coats of spray paint and added new knobs. 

The dresser displays my Kitchen Aide mixer and many cook books. I am so proud of my mixer! Read my post here about how I came to own such a awesome appliance. The dresser also doubles as a "pantry"... it hides all of my canned foods! 

 I used chalkboard paint to re purpose a few serving trays. I posted a blog on "how-to" here. 

This is my favorite wall in my home! Over a year ago I won the "Family Rules" subway art sign from a blog give-away. A relative of mine makes them :) I kept the sign rolled away... praying God would lead us to a home where I could properly display the sign! When we looked at the house, before we decided to move in, I saw the brown wall and knew that my subway art sign would be perfect there!

To display the sign I needed a 20x30 frame... which are unique in size and aren't sold at Walmart... I had to go to Michaels. I waited till all of their frames were 40% off, and paired it with an in-store coupon for 20% off. I then imported a few of my favorite pictures from Facebook to the Target photo processing website... choosing the "black and white" feature. Then picking them up in the store. I then went to the Dollar Store... again... and picked up the necessary size frames for the pictures I just got developed.

You can visit Alexander Creative here on their Facebook page to get your own Subway art sign! They come in different colors and have a variety of sizes and sayings. They even come on a canvas! Currently a different blog is doing a give-away with Alexander Creative artwork... you should visit the Facebook page and enter! The link is HERE

AND---- we have a fireplace! AND it works too! I can't hardly wait for winter!!! Cozy! 

My new couch... don't mind the mess around it... Children DO live here also! Daniel got me a new couch for Mothers Day... he is a pretty swell guy!

Chalkboard Paint Fun!

I got this idea on Pinterest to use Chalkboard paint to decorate.

So I went to Lowe's and I found the paint near the spray paint. It was about $15! GAG! Lucky me... I had a 10% off coupon I picked up at the post office from the "change of address packets." You can get them any time... just walk in, they are laying around all over the place at the Post Office.

 I next visited the Dollar Tree and picked up the "silver" serving trays. They are fairly small and flimsy plastic.

 I added the first coat... waited about an hour, then added a second coat.

I let them dry an hour after the second coat. Then I used tacky stick to put them on the wall.

 I was stinkin impressed with myself, so I walked around the house looking for something else to paint with the chalkboard paint.

 I found this... thing... not sure if it is suppose to be a night stand or "ice box" or what. My Gramie gave it to my Mother... who gave it to me. We had kept the microwave on it in our old home... It is "well loved".

I had Daniel remove the hardware... not my choice, he said I should... whatever. I didn't even bother sanding it. I had enough sanding furniture for awhile. Read my post here about my two week sanding project. 

 This is after the first coat. The paint went far, but dried thinner then I thought it would.

 I used two coats... it looked pretty good. I thought I would keep it outside. It is now home to all of Eli's and Ana's outside art supplies! They LOVE IT!

Desk for the Generations

 I have this desk here. My Mother gave it to me and told me I can NEVER get rid of it. She said it has sentimental value and belonged to Great Grandma. SO I moved this desk with us when we moved. I stared at it in our garage and thought "well I don't want it in our house looking like that" all scratched up, dirty, with stickers. All the handles were broken as well. So I called my Grandma and asked her if I could fix it up. 

She said sure.

So I start sanding it... and about choke on the dust. It was green! I call my Grandma and she tells me that Great Grandma had put a vanish on it. I think "well that was like in the 40's... it is probably toxic and illegal to use now." SO I get out my tough Hello Kitty hankie and cover my face. Eli thought it was hilarious! I had to get someone to come over and watch the kids inside so they wouldn't breath it in. 

See the shinny varnish... it took two weeks to sand the whole thing down. Plus side-- 

my arms are super buff now!

 I started off using the sandpaper by hand. But it was taking SO LONG. My Aunt brought over her sander... which made it much easier! After it was sanded, I left it in the backyard so I could paint it the next day. Then we got the crazy summer rain! It poured and the desk got wet.

 I let it dry out, and Daniel sanded on it some more.

He then painted it for me! I was going to do it, but he just was a nice guy and did it for me. He used a Espresso Brown spray paint with a gloss finish. 

He went to Lowes and picked out some really nice handles and put them on too!

Then he hooked up my laptop and printer :) And took a picture for me! 

I emailed my Grandma and told her that I would like to know the story behind the desk. She emailed me back... now when I sit at the desk I think about her, sitting at the very same desk-- looking for her birth certificate, dreaming of the rest of her life. The following is her email to me... I thought it would be really neat to share!

Dear Sarah, I finally figured out how to use this new fangled thing! Here is the story of your desk as best as I can do in writing. I do better talking better then writing. Wish I had your talent.

We moved from Jerome Arizona to San Francisco in 1946 after we pulled up stakes and sold most all of our household furnishings. So when my folks bought the house, two bedroom one bath, we were in need of furnishings. Mom and Daddy bought some real inexpensive furniture and charged it. My Daddy was only earning one dollar an hour working driving public transportation in San Francisco.

That is how we got the desk which we needed for doing homework etc. Mommy kept bills and important papers in there. Which we were all aware of. When Bill and I decided to elope to Reno, this was July 1951. I thought maybe it would be good to have my birth certificate to prove I was 18. The reason we decided to elope for several reasons. One being Bill was expecting to be drafted any day. Plus my folks could not afford a wedding, plus my Mom was pretty sick in those days. Number one reason was that we loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We had planned on a small wedding in Jan 1952, but because of the draft threat, we decided "why wait"?

We talked about it, Bill and I, on a Sunday night after Church. We went and got the ring Wednesday, and that Friday we took the Greyhound bus to Reno. We got to Reno around 3 or 4am. We went to the Court House when they opened and they issued us a Marriage Certificate. We took a taxi over to the Assembly of God Church and got married by the Pastor there with his wife and an Evangelish as witness.

We then took a Greyhound bus home to San Francisco. We went to my parents home. Oh, before we left we each told our sister's, so that when we were missing they would know where we were. By the way, Joan (Bill's sister), told her Dad before we really left San Francisco. He called my Mom and said "you know what our crazy kids are doing"?. He then told her. Poor Mom and Dad were in shock!

Fourteen months later we started our brood of 5 kids, which has been a real blessing in our lives. Thank God for leading us to do the right thing in our lives even at that tender age when we tied the knot for a lifetime.
Love your Grandma