China Cabinet...

For awhile now (since we moved in) I have had my eye out for a china cabinet within my price range that would be the right size for our space...Well who would have guessed that the perfect china cabinet was sitting in my FIL's office....Not only were my in-laws generous enough to give me the china cabinet, but they also drove it the 7 plus hour drive to our house this week.

I popped some of my things in it already but still need to do some fluffing...I do love the country cottage feel it adds to our living space, plus it gives it a more finished look than it had before.

I am not sure it will stay this color, it may get painted white yet...I do know the hardware will get changed out for sure...and we are going to work on the glass in the side panels to see if we can remove the pattern.

I am ever so Thankful to my MIL for offering the cabinet as a solution to my search and my FIL for taking the time to bring it to me...LOVE YOU GUYS *hugs*

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Library Visit

Thursday was a busy day for us, which is why I am only now getting around to posting the photo's I took of lil Sara at the library yesterday while we were waiting for the Pre-Schoolers program to start...As you can see by the bag she is carrying, she was allowed to borrow her first book this week...Let's just see how willing she is to give it back next Thursday.

She thoroughly enjoyed the Pre-Schoolers program...They did lots of dancing excerises, singing along to songs in both English and Spanish...For the story they had 2 readers, Miss Wilma would read the page in English and then Miss Emma would read the same page but in Spanish...They also did a craft to bring home that was related to the story...She had a blast and can't wait to go again...

Anyone out there with little ones and looking for some thing to keep them busy, I strongly recommend checking out your local library to see what free programs are available...Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the best part of this program is that fact it is totally FREE.

Blessings Kelsie

Quick Free Pine Cone Ornament...

Tomorrow night I am heading to my first social function at our new church...It is the ladies Christmas party and ornament exchange, I really do not have the strength to face shopping for an ornament with Lil Sara...And anyway as we all know it is much more fun to make them :)

I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I borrowed it from the queen of shabby and pink fabulousness, Olivia @ Olivia's Romantic Home, though I did change it up a little from her tutorial...I spray painted my pine cones using "ballet slipper pink"...Once dry I sprayed them with spray on adhesive and then sprinkled it with silver glitter....I have a plate of them on my dining table for my center piece with some ribbon and faux greenery (will share center piece later this week)

Because I was making the ornament for someone else, I did not want to risk using hot glue to hold it together, I had a super small cup hook on hand so used pliers to close the opening to make it into a ring, I then screwed it into the top of the pine cone...tied some mini pearl strands and some 1/8th soft pink ribbon around the base of the ring...Threaded some shear 1/4inch white ribbon thru the ring and tied ends together to create a loop to hang the ornament on the tree with...I think it turned out really pretty...I hope whoever ends up with it tomorrow night agrees...Would you be happy if you received it?

Now if Sara would just take a nap I could work on creating a gift bag out of Christmas paper to put it in lol.

Blessings Kelsie

Easy to Make Paper Dolls - Updated

With the weather turning colder the need for new interesting indoor activities for the kiddies is now at hand...And lets face it, the more we can do that is FREE is the better...Lil Sara is too young to make her own, so I made these ones for her, but this is such a quick easy project that kids as young as 5 or 6 could easily do it themselves with just a little guidance.

Now go turn off the TV, gather the kids around the kitchen table and grab these few supplies.

Scissors

Spray Adhesive works best but a stick of glue would work in a pinch.
Cardboard for backing - I used black cardstock I had on hand, but you could use the cardboard from cereal boxes too.
And lastly...A magazine, Doll catalog (you can sign up for these online free I will list a couple of links at the bottom this post) or even photos printed from your computer...For the boys you could do farm animals or even machinary, trucks and cars, maybe if you have not thrown out those halloween costum catalogs yet you could find them some pirates or superheros.


Simply cut out the "dolls" spray the back of the images with adhesive (please use old newspaper under them to prevent making a big mess) then gently smooth them on to your cardboard backing...This will make them nice and stiff for hours of play...Make sure you get all the bubbles out...Then Carefully cut around figures leaving a 1/8th boarder and VIOLA paper dolls.

Paper Dolls

But where will these lovely dollies live I hear you ask??..Well that is easy.
Got an old decor magazine laying around??

Instant Doll House

You could take it one step father and cut out some of the funiture and repeat the glue/cutting step and make the dolls their own paper furnishings too.

But for now Sara is happy to just use my old magazines.

Sara's Dolls are all from the Ellowyne Wilde Collection...

You can visit the website and request a catalog here http://www.wildeimagination.com

I also love the Tonner Doll Company catalog but you do have to purchase those if not ordering a doll from them http://www.tonnerdirect.com/c-175-catalogs.aspx

And of course there is always Barbie...This site is for the Collector Dolls rather than your playline Barbies, but you can order a free catalog to enjoy these high end dolls too
http://www.barbiecollector.com

I made these smaller versions to fit into an envelope so that it will be easy to mail for a very special little girl in Australia..Shhhhh Don't tell her.

Kelsie...

PS: Please share pix of your dolls with me if you do make some. *grin*

More Homemade Fall Decor

The cooler weather has finally reached our patch of Florida and the leaves are now changing colors, though not as impressive as the states farther north, it is quite magical to watch it through the eyes of a 2 year old...


Her pure delight at chasing the leaves when they rain down from above as a gust of wind knocks them from trees...Her exploring the piles on the ground to see how many different colors and shapes she can find....So what do we do with all these lovely treasures she collected earlier in the week.

We glued some to a pieces of black card stock to make a lovely fall piece of artwork for Nanna and Poppa....

Alas she insisted on gluing some of the "sticky berries" to it so we could not easily mail it...But rest assured it will be here waiting for them when they arrive for the holidays...In the mean time I get to enjoy it on my fridge.

We also filled the little heart shaped birdcage with pretty yellow and red leaves...It was the finishing touch needed to complete our kitchen bar decorations.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Sunday...I am off to look for more indoor activities to keep lil Sara occupied during our first cold snap of the season...Too cold for her outdoors today.

Kelsie

Fall Decor - Homemade and Free

I am running a little behind this week for Show and Tell Friday, I had planned to share some great thrift store finds but they will just have to wait *wink* instead I am sharing what me and the girls put together this morning...


How pretty do these jars full of "prickly berries" look?...I was inspired yesterday by Olivia's Romantic Home blog (see my side bar for her link)...I do still intend to paint some pine cones...But Lil Sara and I got a little side tracked during our hunt for pine cones by these lovely spiky things (am sure someone will tell me what they are actually called lol) and came home with a red wagon full of both these and the pine cones.

If you look very closely they are different colors depending on how long since they fell from the tree...At first I thought we would be painting them also, but then once I noticed how pretty they are naturally.


I found some fall inspired fabric scraps in my sewing room add some green and brown ribbon, then suddenly 3 empty canning jars and some "prickly berries" are a fun start to my fall decor ...I grouped them all together on my kitchen bar with a birdhouse hand painted by lil Sara and a gorgeous black rooster I was supposed to send to my mum and recently found tucked away in a box...Oops sorry mum *grin*


A wider view of the kitchen bar...Notice I added some pine cones to my fruit basket that nests nicely under the heart shaped birdcage I found a few weeks back.


Close up of the pine cones and bird cage...On suggestion from Kari I am thinking I will be painting the birdcage hand rubbed bronze, which will match both my light fixtures and the kitchen hardware...I also want to add some wooden eggs to the cage....But that is a whole other project lol.


I balanced the other end of the kitchen bar with a wicker basket to "catch crap"... A dark wooden box for change and keys and hidden behind is the candle that is for now still decorated for spring lol...The candle is a must stay because of the frequency of power outages we have.

SO that's it, my fall decor...Oh I guess I should mention since I don't have a mantle the kitchen bar is my substitute.

Kelsie

Be sure to pop over to Cindy's for

What do you see?...It is all about the *RE*

It started 7yrs ago when hubby and his brother were doing a clean out and fixing to do a scrap metal run...(this is what car guys do when they are nagged enough about the "crap" around the yard...if you are lucky)

So BIL arrives with his contribution to the load, lo & behold he has a big ole Weber BBQ grill lid...Much to my hubbies horror I claim this and one of his many spare car rims.

I was like, look hunny a divine planter...
He was like, umm really??
I was like, yer YOU just got to paint it...

Fast Forward 7yrs later....Because yesterday it finally got painted lol

Not only is it really cute, add instant height and much needed eclectic cottage feel to the front garden....

But also much needed protection to the corner of the bed from the garden hose during watering.

Sharing today for