The Buffet That I Can't Let Go

A few posts ago I told you about a buffet that I took off of a co-workers hands.  I went back and forth on colors and finally went with my gut and chose an bright imperial red.  Red normally is not my go to color but I really wanted this piece to stand out because I was going to be putting it in my booth.

It took me two weekends to  finish it because I initially thought I would go white... It was cute but after I attempted to use a dark brown stain but it reminded me of a piece of 80's furniture. Not pleasant.

What made me finally go with my gut was a sale on drawer pulls at Hobby Lobby.   They were $1 each.  Geez.  Why don't they just give them away... I sat on the floor at HL for an hour playing with all of them and left the store with 35 knobs.  Yes.  35.

The buffet is now nestled in my booth until someone decides it's for them and their home.  Honestly, if it doesn't go for a while I am OK with that because it looks so dang pretty.

Kinsleys First Birthday Party

I worked on a first birthday party for Miss Kinsley all summer and the photos are finally available! Heather from Artistic Images by Heather captured the moment perfectly.  Everything turned out great.

I picked flowers from her grandparents yard and then a few from my neighbors the day of and arranged them in my ball jars for the tables.

The ribbon garland and pennants  were both ideas from Pinterest and we bought the highchair off of Craigslist from a lady in Denver.

The lemonade stand was a joint effort between her dad, Kevin, and myself.  He printed the plans off Pinterest and made it and then I painted it.

Miss Kinlseys great-grandmother made her cakes.  She flew them all the way from Georgia to Colorado.  We all know its hard to bake with this altitude!

Our friend Britney made the to-die-for chalkboard art.

Have I mentioned that I am becoming a pro when it comes to making party hats?  I used scrapbook paper and hot glue over pre-made party hats from The Dollar Tree.  Ribbon scraps from JoAnns were glued around the bottom edges and then I made poms poms for the top.

Saturday Finds 7/26/14

I had the Saturday off so Chad agreed to spend the day with me.  We ventured to Ault, Colorado.  There were several antique shops and a nice little cafe and ate some bacon.  Oink.

I found this Scotch Tape display in the back yard of one of the shops for $5. I'm torn on whether to leave it in the kitchen, it takes up a lot of counter space, or take it to my craft room and actually use it for tape and ribbon.

On the way home we pulled over to see what was going on at a garage sale... The tin trashcan had make offer so I did and snagged it for $3.  It was the ladies great grandfathers.  I won't resale this one.  It's in my office.

Later that afternoon Chad needed to go home to watch golf and I needed wanted to go junk some more. I had to make a u-turn when I saw a mess of crates at a sale in a random parking lot and I bought them all.  Yeah.  All.

They are from a factory in South Dakota that was closing and these were headed to the dump.

Today I cleaned the house and relaxed a bit.  I couldn't push my luck.  Yesterday was too awesome.  Have a fantastic week!
 

Saturday Finds 7/19/2014

Yard sale season is winding down so I have to start collecting like a mad woman!

And yes... that is a set of Fiestaware that I won't be selling.  It is nice and worn but I love it.  The vintage green and the chips make me happy.

DIY High Chair Garland for 1st Birthday

Go ahead and change my name to Busy.  First name Busy, last name Girl.  Busy Girl.  A friends daughter is turning 1 next month and needed some help with a few things.  Obviously, I don't turn down opportunities to get my craft on.

The first thing we made was  ribbon garland for Kinsleys high chair.  We picked a bunch of fabric at Hobby Lobby in the colors that her mom wanted to use for the party.  It might look like they don't match but that's ok!  There is so much going on with the garland you don't have time to focus on matchy matchy.  It's your opportunity to pull any and all  colors you ever imagined in on one big project! 

Chad and I then ripped the fabric into pieces and tied them to a rope...

... TaDa!

Total time approx 1 hour...

After searching high and low I finally found a high chair on Craigslist and painted it a nice light grey for photos...

Old Glory Antique Show 2014

It was last minute. I had two tickets but all of my friends were super busy and I was supposed to be moving into my antique booth.  Yes!! I finally did it!

I had some help throwing my things in my space on Friday night and took the car to Denver Saturday morning for lots of this and thats to fill the booth.

I thought I had enough goodies to fill my space but once we had it all in there it wasn't very much at all. Very bare. Below is a photo before...

I don't think the fair had as many booths and vendors as the previous years. Prices seemed higher and there was a lot of "new" merchandise.  I am all about mixing old with new but when I am going to an antique fair I want lots of bang for the little amount of bucks that I have. The vendors that were there were beautiful and I won't miss it. It will just take time to grow. I think if it was closet denver that would help with crowds and support. It's obviously not my place to judge. Just my observations.

I did meet someone that I follow on Instagram. That was worth the drive, KraftyKash. 

I bought some things from her and left for yard sales. I am sad to admit I did much better at the yard sales and came back home with a car load of junk. #junkyjunkgirl 

Junk bucket lists... 

Round Top

Junk Stock 

Long Beach Antique Market

Vintage Market Days NE Arkansas

Brimfield

Brooklynn Flea

Canton TX

127 Corridor Sale

A Mothers Day Bedroom Makeover

 Let me start by showing you a photo of my parents beach house. That's my mom out front.

Chad and I went home to see our moms for Mothers Day.  I had a busy week that week helping mine fix some things around their house.  The pipes busted in the house last winter and they didn't find out until 2 weeks after the water started sprayed the downstairs. 47,000 gallons of water later and  several visits scrubbing, cleaning, restoring the house is almost back to normal.

 A guy came in and tiled around her tub and I had a privacy bamboo blind cut at Lowes for the window above.  Obviously it is a work in process but a huge start!

Decorating for a Brunch on a Budget

The past few months I have been getting my share of practice in when it comes to party planning.  I will share bits and pieces the next few weeks when life slows down but today I really wanted to post some photos of the Panhellenic brunch that I had the honor of helping with yesterday.

The theme was "Envision."  A local Optometrist was  to speak.  I "envisioned" a speech about looking to into the future and envisioning where I want to be with my life in 5 years.  She ended up talking about dry eyes.

By the time I joined the committee they had already designed a cute little owl logo for the brunch.  I took that as a chance to go with a green and blue color scheme.

I had a $150 to play around with.   I wanted to make bright colored runners for the tables.  The tables were to be 6 foot rounds with white table cloths and then navy blue napkins.   Ikea used  to sell green and white striped fabric by the yard but our store didn't have any when I went to search for it.  I ended up at JoAnns fabrics and bought 10 yards of a waterproof utility fabric.  I honestly don't know the proper name to call that fabric.  Reusable grocery bags are made out of it. It cuts like butter and I didn't need to hem them.  It was 99 cent a yard after all of my coupons...score!

I ordered bulk flowers from Sams.  30 stems of blue hydrangeas and 40 stems of sunflowers yielded 9 small table arrangements and 2 large bouquets to give to the Panhellenic President and the speaker. Warning!  Tracking fresh flowers is not an easy task.  Especially if you have a deadline.  I pulled it off but I don't think I want to cut my delivery date the day before again.  I would give yourself at least 2 business days.  They looked a little wilted but water helped perk them up overnight. 

There were 6 scholarship candidates at the brunch.  I made each of them a set of monogrammed towels for their kitchens and then wrapped those in a clearance tissue paper from Target.

Our house was a hot mess the night before with everything strung out all of the kitchen but i think it was worth the effort.  Everything looked great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  I won a few raffle prizes that I am really excited about....

March Saturday Finds

I've been slow posting my Saturday Finds.  Sorry.

*If the lack of posts about my finds has caused you any sleep deprivation please contact your doctor. That's a problem.

This sweet little table was found at Goodwill.  I am going to guess it was originally from Target. I put it in our basement next to our sectional. It is very light weight.  I remember my parents having solid metal ones similar to this at their home that I may have to go back and take.  $2.50

 The chair below was $14.  I posted a similar one prior. They are set up in my office area.  One is for my computer space, one for my monogramming, and then I'm on a hunt for one for my couponing/writing area. Yes.  I have a desk dedicated to couponing.  Doesn't everyone?

This was a Sunday find at a local antique shop that I am so excited about... I am really into vintage arrows lately.  Garden and Gun sells them on their mercantile site here. My quiver and all of the arrows set us back $22.  Steal!

My Target Wallpaper Fail

I thought it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Last weekend I painted my laundry room a nice crisp Highland Terrier White by Benjamin Moore (its a new Pottery Barn selected color).  It's beautiful!  We had a dark grey on the walls before and the room felt dirty.  The new wall color makes it feel so much bigger and so much brighter.  It's a happier place.

The stars aligned on Sunday and Chad dropped me off at Target/mall in Boulder while he was going to fish.  I stood in Target looking at all of the peel and stick/ "re-positionable" wall paper choices... The home department manager offered me a discount to try the stuff.  I can't say no to a discount.  We all know that.

I decided on this one.  I carried it around for hours patiently waiting for Chad to return to take me home so I could get this stuff on the blank wall of my newly painted laundry room.

2 hours into the project and several arguments later Chad and I waved the white flag in defeat. The edges of the strips of paper didn't match up, there were bubbles everywhere, and there were dirty marks on it from where we tried to smooth it out with our hands.

Look really close to the bottom middle... do you see the bubbley mess???

It looked great for selfies but that was about it.  I took a couple and then ripped that mess off.  Target took it back no questions asked. Probably because I walked in with an armload of wall paper with a terrified look on my face.

Lesson of the day... leave wallpaper to the professionals. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.