Finished Projects

I finally finished my picture frames and kitchen table and thought I would share the finished products. Last night we framed the pictures and hung the picture frames in the Living Room. I think they turned out great and I love the pictures!

Here are some pictures of the kitchen table. I still want Travis to stain the top darker. I'll just add that to his mile long "honey-do" list!

This week has been pretty crummy. Claire got hand, foot, and mouth this week starting on Tuesday and she is still covered in a rash and blisters. I'm going stir crazy and the boys are too, but I can't get out with her and don't see an end in sight. We did get to go to the doctor this morning for Cooper's 4 year shots. That's always fun!!! We were supposed to go to Corpus on Monday to visit a good friend, but had to cancel because my friend, Christina is pregnant and can't be exposed to hand, foot, and mouth or anyone who has had it or been exposed because of the potential harm to the baby. I'm really bummed because we've been trying to get together all summer. The good news is that next Saturday we leave for our big family vacation with my family! We are all so excited to get away and have some fun and leave our worries behind! The boys keep asking me if it's time to pack yet. They already have their backpacks full of stuff for the airplane. Silly boys!

It's a Pirate Party!

Yesterday we celebrated Cooper's 4th birthday a little bit early with a Pirate party! We had so much fun and I think all the kids had a great time. This was Cooper's first real birthday party and he was so excited! Here's a picture of the dessert table full of sweet treats.

The cupcakes:

The pirate hat cake. I found this in a Family Fun magazine a few months ago and thought it was so cute. It was really easy to put together as well. I think it turned out pretty good!

The invites I found at Target!

The birthday boy

Uncle Lynn found a spot on the float and I don't think he ever got off!

Claire got in on the swimming action!

Spiderman showed up too!

Uncle Mark loving on Kelsey's littlest girl, Macie.

Our littlest pirate!

I had a treasure hunt for all the kids. The all got a pirate bandana, eye patch, and a sword to help them on their hunt! Her is Shelby showing off her gear.

All of our pirates ready for their treasure hunt! Aaarrrr!!!

Listening intently for their next clue.

They finally got to where the treasure was buried and got to dig for the treasure chest.

Spotting the treasure chest.

Time for some birthday cake!

Love this little boy!

Chip showing off his best pirate face!

Grandma and two of her little pirates!

Loving his cake!

Aaarrrr! CAKE!

Opening presents with his buddy, Jackson!

Tomas

Cooper loving all the attention and presents!

Of course there has to be a tractor somewhere in there!

So glad Ross and Shelby were in town and could come to the party!

Latest Projects

I follow several design blogs, most of them do-it-yourself type blogs. I love getting ideas for our house from them. I've been hearing a ton about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and how much everyone loves it for different projects. I had several painting projects that I have been meaning to tackle for sometime, so I decided to give it a whirl! The past couple of weeks I've been working on three different projects with the paint and I love how they have turned out. Here are some before and after pictures of my little projects:

I've been painting our kitchen table. I don't have a great before picture, but you can see the bench that Claire is holding onto in the picture.

I used Annie's Old White. This picture is from the middle of the process after I painted and was working onwaxing the benches.

After pictures show the distressing and dark wax I put on the bench. I want Travis to stain the tops of the benches a little darker. I'm still working on the table and I will put a picture of the finished product on the blog after I finish. I'm going to try and finish it up tonight or tomorrow.

My next project was a curvy white mirror I found at Goodwill before we moved from Houston. It had found a spot in the Master Bedroom, but it needed to be repainted. I absolutely love how the mirror turned out. It looks very aged and worn- just my style! I don't have any before pictures, but it was just a plain white mirror. Here are the afters:

The next project I've been working on is a pair of old picture frames. My mom and dad thought I was crazy when I bought these at my most recent Canton trip. My dad, in typical Larry Fleming fashion, told me that someone was missing their long lost ancestors. Whatever, dad!

Before:
During the painting process. You can see the entire mirror frame on the outside of the picture frame.

After distressing and applying the dark wax. I love how they turned out. I've ordered some family pics to put in them for our living room. I'll post pics once I get the pictures framed.