Decorating for Fall!

It's so fun to decorate for Fall.  This year, I was hoping that by decorating earlier, it would stop being 95 degrees outside (didn't work).  My neighbor Tonya and I have been having fun getting ideas from blogs and recreating them ourselves.  Oh the trouble a couple crafty stay-at-home moms can get into when blog hopping.  Here are some of the things we created.

Fabric covered pumpkins

from the 36th Avenue

DIY Apothecary Jars

by Design DNA

Burplap Wreath

inspired by

Craftiholics Anonymous

Tonya's wreath turned out much cuter (maybe I should run down the street and take pictures).  Her idea came from this bubble wreath tutorial.

 The best part is that these crafts were done rather frugally as we found most of the supplies at the dollar store or Goodwill.  Now where is that Fall weather?

A Worthy Cause

Where did the last month go?  Time has been flying by with Cubbies, Bible study, birthdays, birthdays, birthdays, and a little weekend away to the coast.  We've been having a great time this fall.  

I wanted to tell about this wonderful ministry that my friend shared with me at Bible study.  We have been praying for her niece, Abigail who was diagnosed with leukemia this summer.  Another one of Abigail's aunts started this ministry where they collect "bling for balding babies" and they give it to kids going through chemo.  Abigail delivers some of them herself.  Isn't she a cutie?  Check out the website.

Abigail's Bling for Balding Beauties

If anyone wants to get involved, she is collecting headbands (comfy ones), beanies or hats. I know some of you are pretty talented at that kind of thing!  This of course tugs at my heart, because I remember how important it was for my brother Jason to have fun hats when he went bald from chemo.  And side note...these families are in Visalia!

I see a little silhouette..

 I found a fun and easy project while blog hopping at 4am.  That was after completing 3 days of Bible study (my body reacts strangely to caffeine....I was WIDE awake!)  You can find the tutorial on creating digital silhouettes here.  It does require having photoshop.  I have a very old version, but the instructions still worked.  

I used Microsoft Publisher to make the collage as I am not that familiar with photoshop (I wish I was!).  

The collage now has new spot on our mantel.

Can I keep the kids this little for a while?

Chicken Wire Frame

I found this idea to make a chicken wire frame on pinterest, so last Saturday our little family set out on a search at yard sales for a nice wooden frame for a good price. Well I actually found a contender at Goodwill at the very end of our quest. I will save the before picture for the end (it makes me laugh!) Here is the finished frame:

I started by removing the "art" out of the frame, then sanded primed and painted it a nice yellow.

We found chicken wire at Lowe's and spray painted it using a dark brown Rustoleum paint to make it stand out more against the wall.

I mixed brown acrylic paint with a gel medium, then rubbed a small amount of it onto the edges with a rag to give it a more aged look. I don't know if those were the appropriate materials to use, but it was what I had on hand.

I then used my handy staple gun to staple the chicken wire to the frame.

Now I use it to display sewing projects.

(A little sneak peak of what is coming to the shop)

While I was working on this project I was thinking about this verse:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!

2 Corintians 5:17

It reminds me of how Christ can make a change in our lives and make use of what we may consider useless.

Quite the find, right?

Breanna thought it was very pretty to begin with!

A master makeover

After 3 years of living in our house we finally got around to painting our master bedroom. I wanted to create a focal wall behind our bed and just mentioned the idea of wallpaper. Craig thought I was crazy and the more I thought about it, the more I remembered the condo we owned in Fresno where we stripped EVERY room of the 70s wallpaper. Nope, wallpaper was not an option. After searching the web I found stencils that gave the look of wallpaper and ordered this one:

Rabat large stencil

Warning: The website states that stenciling is "Easy, Fast & Fun!" Umm, lets say "Tedious, takes several days (with kids), but beautiful."

We are very happy with the result!

We painted the trey ceiling the darker grey in the stencil and the walls the lighter grey.

The ultimate compliment is that Craig keeps saying that it feels like we have a fancy hotel room.

A fancy hotel room where our daughter does the wake up calls.

I am thankful that he goes along with all of my crazy projects!

Santa Barbara

About a month ago, we took a fantastic vacation to Santa Barbara with my family. Well we took about a thousand photos, so it was hard to narrow down which ones to post, which is probably why is took me so long to do this post. The weather was perfect, the views were awesome and it was so much fun spending some relaxing time with the family.

On this trip Bre got over her fear of the water, both in the ocean and pool. She never got further in the water than in this picture, but that is a huge improvement to the screaming and crying of the past.

My kids dug for hours in the sand. Ian even didn't eat TOO much.

The rental house had a gorgeous pool and we spent hours in the water.

Did I mention the awesome views..hee hee.

Mom & Dad got some R & R

Alex & Ian became closer buds and had fun playing together.

A trip to the zoo is always a must.

S'mores around the firepit.

The aquarium on the wharf. Perfect for our little kids.

We had a nice diner out on the wharf.

My childhood friend, Stacey, came and took pictures of us. She lives in the Ventura area now, so it worked out perfectly.

Stacey did a great job...I love how they turned out in spite of the crying babies!

I can't wait till our next trip back. Craig would really like to retire here, but I wonder how many jobs we would have to work to make that happen...just a dream I guess!

Three of a kind

Mom found a darling pattern for the girls during a visit to the Cotton Ball in Morro Bay. We went to Strawberry patches to pick out fabric and found a perfect Riley Blake fabric that would be cute for the 4th of July. I volunteered to make the shirts (mom has a longer to-do list than me!) and then realized the shirts have a pintucked sleeve and serged edges - of which neither of us had equipment for. Long story short, this project motivated mom to buy a serger and pintuck foot. It reminded me of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" kind of thing (or maybe I just have been reading that book alot lately).

The pattern is the "Olivia Top" by Pink Fig. I liked that the pattern went from infant to big girl sizes. By the way, you don't have to have a serged edge, but its a but more bulky without.

I just love this line up. Each girl is 2 1/2 years apart from the next.

The pintucks in the sleeves add a cute little detail.

Don't they look darling? They were all dressed up to go to dinner on the wharf in Santa Barbara. Well worth the effort!