Catching up Part IV: Projects

I told my mom the other day that I think that I need to retire from work because it is really getting in the way of all of my projects! :) I do LOVE my job, but I would much rather be at home working in my little garden, sewing, arranging flowers, or crafting! The past few weeks I have been able to squeeze in both work and fun crafting projects!

One of the projects I have been working on is creating a photo gallery wall.
From what I have read about decorating, it is important to match scale, and this wall totally doesn't! It's a large empty wall with a tiny little mirror:

 I knew that it needed to change, but I just had to find the time and the right stuff to make it work! If you want to hear a long story about mats and frames from Big Lots, I have a story to tell! Basically, I found 11"x14" mats for a $1 and same size gold frames for $1.50!!! It was a dream come true for this deal seeker! :) I had in mind to do 6, but they only had 5, so I came up with plan B...
Before:

 After: (I love the pictures because they are all from my trip to the Grand Canyon! Such fun memories!). This definitely fills up the space on the wall better than before!

My next project idea came from a blog that I love to read. She made this monogrammed pillow for her daughter's room:

I knew that I was hosting a wedding shower at my house last Saturday, so instead of being sensible and just buying something off of her registry, I decided that I needed to MAKE her gifts! Crazy me! :) I did have a blast, and loved how they turned out, it was just a bit of a time commitment!

Work in progress:

 My first time to try pom-pom fringe, but it turned out great!

 Finished product!

 The other project I wanted to do for them was their married monogram with alphabet photographs. I did a 5"x7" in the middle, and 4"x6" on each side:

 I framed their wedding invitation with some grey chevron scrap book paper as the mat:

 Found these cute little ramekins majorly on sale for $0.50 each! So, I got 6 of them, put them in a cute box...

 And printed out my favorite recipe on card stock paper (complete with pictures which I happened to have from another blog post that I did!)

 The shower went well...got these pretty flowers and put together an arrangement...

 Had some yummy food and mimosa bar:

 Some of the ladies:

 Group pic:

Catching up Part III: Graduation Tea

My baby sister is about to graduate, and I am so very proud of her. I keep telling her that I am so proud of her graduating from elementary school and heading to middle school...denial can be a great thing! :) In all seriousness, I honestly can't believe she is about to finish high school and move off to college. Where have the years gone?

The ladies from my parent's church hosted a Graduation Tea for Kathryn and her dear friend Mary Lou who happen to be graduating at the same time! They have been friends since they were babies, so it was a special time of celebrating their lives and God's faithfulness!

 The mothers presenting them with a dozen white roses:

 The candidates for graduation:

Catching up Part II: Photo Shoot

While the children were in town, Ivey wanted me to take some more pictures of Elaine Mae in her baptism gown, so we got up one morning, went outside and took these.

I ordered this monogramed baby bracelet for her to wear when she was baptized, but it didn't come in time, so we were glad to at least capture it in pictures after the fact!

 Love those sweet little hands:

Catching up Part I: The Aquarium

I have a lot to blog about, but it has been difficult to find the time to do it. Back during the end of April/first of May, Ivey and the children came to visit for a few days while Tom was at a conference in NC. A few months ago, I told Thomas that I wanted to take him to the Aquarium, and he has not forgotten! Every time I would see him he would ask me when we were going, so I knew when they came to visit, I would need to make good on my word!

We had a great time! Both of the children really enjoyed seeing the beauty of God's creation.

 Looking at the sea horses:

 I just loved seeing Thomas take it all in!

 It made me so happy to see him enthralled by the creation around him!

 Kathryn was able to leave school a little early and meet us there. Thomas was very excited to have "Auntie Tat" join us!

 Having fun in the big mirrors:

 Auntie Tat:

 Even little EM loved it!

 What a great time!

 Thomas loves trains, so we took him to see this big one, which he said looked like "Percy" from the Thomas the Train series:

 Playing on the train:

I am so thankful for the opportunity to create memories with my little man. We will definitely treasure this time together!

Lately....

What have I have been up to lately? A whole lot! :) It's a busy season of life right now, but I am having fun! In addition to work and finishing up co-teaching two college courses, I have a full life! Here's some of the fun I have been having!

We had a huge Kids Expo in town where thousands of children showed up to see various vendors and meet some famous people from Disney shows! Our department put on a teddy bear clinic where we could help children "play doctor" and introduce them to medical equipment in a fun way!

 We had teddy bears with casts and medical equipment (syringes, x-rays, stethoscopes) that the children could play with as they pretended to be the doctor!

 We decided that a fun activity would be to do little finger casts out of plaster that they could take home and decorate as finger puppets. This pic is a little blurry, but I am showing off the examples (this was the calm before the storm of thousands of children!)

 The children seemed to love our booth!

 See the finger cast? By the end of the day, we were all so worn out from talking and casting thousands of little fingers!

 Apparently, I had not had enough fun in one day so I decided to go hear a bluegrass band who was playing an outdoor concert downtown. I had been standing from 9am-7pm, so I thought that I would just relax at the concert, but ended up standing right in front of the stage the whole time! The band was great and really interactive with the crowd. After it was over, I ended up meeting one of the band members, and he signed my CD!

 I have had several projects going as well! Have you ever heard of a clothing line called Matilda Jane? It's really cute stuff, but quite pricey too! I decided to try making something for my little niece that was similar in style to THIS little dress. I found a pattern and some fun fabric:

 And made this little dress! I love how it turned out!

 My other project last week was planting a garden. I really don't have a good place for a garden, but I was determined to make something work!

  My back yard is very shady, so I didn't have much to work with. We had a tree cut down last fall, so there is one tiny little patch that gets some sun, and I took advantage of it! I took this area:

 And turned it into a little garden that is about 4'x6' It's pretty small, but big enough for me to get my gardening "fix." :)

 I also found some containers for the deck so that I can grow some herbs and lettuce on the deck.

 This first plants to go it...5 tomato plants! Can't wait to get some more variety in my little garden!