Travel Tuesday...Giverny...again!

My sister & BIL have come home from their trip around France. And being the best sister in the world she brought me home a few pieces of my favorite place...Giverny!! I know I already posted about Monets home & garden, but I just had to share it a little more :)

Something I wish I had picked up when I was there last time was the paper house I saw in the gift shop. She brought me one home!! I had so much fun putting it together last night & just had to show you.......

The front porch

Monets children at one of the doors.

If you look carfully you can see Monet working on a painting at the top of the steps :)

Here's my photo of what the front porch looks like now....

But the best thing she brought home for me? This book....

It's filled with the all the history of how Monet came to live there & how the garden was started.

Here he is standing on one of the newly built bridges this garden is so famous for.

Heres a view of that same bridge when I last visited a few years back.....

This book not only shares the history, but also the garden layout & flowers that are in each area. And since my husbands a Landscape Designer, I bet you can guess what I have planned for him to recreate in one corner of our yard!! I've wanted my own little Giverny ever since we bought this house. I think this just might be the summer to start it :D

If you want to see more of the amazing gardens please visit the last post I did on Giverny :)

Memories......

Going through some old photos, I found a few of our favorites!!

The day we brought Lucy home!!

She was so tiny...here she is in my daughter's Barbie bed!!

And to be fair...my oldest (just 2 1/2 at the time!) tried out a few of Lucys things too !!

She's now 9 & Lucy is now 7. Time is going by way too fast!!

Feels like yesterday :)

Random Hearts Thursday

The first heart I found this week was when I was painting a project. Right there on the drop cloth was a little heart! White spray paint every where but that one spot :)

A close up view.....

Yesterday while making ice cream cones for an after dinner treat, I spotted this heart on the box.

Right there in the word "joy" :D

Please check out more random hearts from around the world!

Thrifty Thursday....Chair redo

Want a cheap way to recover a chair? Use a sweater! I’ve always wanted an excuse to felt a wool sweater so this was the perfect project to try it out. This is a super cheap way to repurpose. With summer on the way, the thrift store had all their sweaters on clearance & I was able to pick this sweater up for just 99 cents! And the chair….$1.

First to felt the sweater, I placed it in a pillow case & washed it in hot water. Then I hung it to dry. Next I painted the chair black to match the rest of our dinning set. I then removed the wood base from the chair & stapled some left over batting to it.

Then stretching the sweater over the batting I began to staple it on top of the batting.

Once secured, I then cut away the extra fabric.

Next I screwed the seat back on to the chair frame & done!

I needed some extra chairs for my daughters upcoming birthday party & this works perfect! If I don’t need it any more I can always donate it back….looking better then when it left the store the first time :)

Travel Tuesday.....1840's Farm & Inn

Though this travel Tuesday won't take us a very far distance in miles, we do get to travel back in time a bit!

This Sunday my Aunt Barb & Uncle Steve invited us to join them at Garfield Farm for the “Rare Breeds Show”. The main reason for going to this show? Getting to be there when they picked out baby chickens for their farm!

Everyone gathering around to see all the babies!

Getting them out & ready to go home....

In the box & ready for the car ride!

Awww....so cute :)

The girls were so excited to see all the baby chicks. And knowing that some of them were going to go home to Aunt Barb & Uncle Steve's farm was the most exciting part!
We’ve been talking about having our own urban coop. This is just adding fuel to the fire : ) Maybe next year we’ll have a few of our own! Have you seen some of these backyard coops?

And this last one.......

WOW!

Its fun to dream :D

Sunday's best .... Peeling paint

Although I have some work ahead of me.......

I realized upclose.....

it's still kind of pretty....

even as it sits to be repainted....

Guess what's on my to do list this Sunday ?

Go check out more "Sundays Best"

Carnival Birthday Party!

Addys 6th Bday party is coming up! I can’t believe how much time has flown by. I’m in the mist of planning & crafting things for her up coming party. I thought it’d be fun to share some of the fun things we did for her party last year. We had a “carnival”! Perfect for turning 5. It worked out great for being able to invite the whole preschool class. Both boys & girls loved it!

**DISCLAIMER** This is before I started blogging, so unfortunately most of the photos were taken with a cell phone or by others ! ( too hard to run the party & take the pics) But at least I have some to share!

We decided to have the party in our basement (I‘ll post about that redo later!). Its basically the kids space so it worked out well.

First the invites to set the theme. I bought the carnival cards at Oriental Trading Co.

They are actually supposed to be frames. I decided to print the invite & glue them to the photo spot.  Now for my carni help….

I bought red tshirts & iron on letters to create matching shirts for all us “helpers” . Complete with hat & apron! Lots of typical carnival games…

Photo booth……

The tattoo booth was a hit! Always a line there!

And of course there was a magic show at lunch! (performed by my older daughter & her friend) ……

One side of the ping pong table was for magic & the other was for lunch.....

At the end, everyone got to turn in their tickets for prizes & pick up their take home bag!!

She had such a great time!

I can’t wait for this years party - “Pinkalicious Princess party” …details to come!

 

Thrifty Thursday....Hand Towel Apron

I had to come up with a gift for my daughters best friends birthday party. So we went shopping for ideas. But nothing was just right. She & my daughter love to help bake. We bought a mixing bowl, found a great cookie cookbook & we headed home for me to make her a cute new apron!

This was the simplest apron to make. It’s made from a hand towel & left over fabric !!

Lay out the hand towel & top it with about 3 inches wide fabric & the length needed that will allow you to tie it around your waist.

Back of towel

Front of towel

Make sure to leave enough extra to fold over to hem. Pin down and sew.

Now make a pocket for the front. First cut a square, then hem the top of it.

Then pin down the square with the ruff edges in & sew!

Your done!

I made the fabric straps long enough to tie around someone my daughters size.....

as well as my own size.....

That way if her mom wants to borrow it she can :)

Then we filled the mixing bowl with the cook book, spoons,

some fun candy themed lip gloss & nail polish (just for fun!), and the apron.

My daughter was so excited to give it to her & I hear her friend love it !

Now I want to make one of my own! I love how practical a hand towel is for an apron

 & how cute it turned out :D