Presto-Chango Chair

I already have a great chair in my Happy Place that I sit in when I scrap. I got it several months ago at a thrift store for $5. I painted it orange and re-covered the seat with some great fabric. Well, anytime that Lael sees me here working, she wants to come in and help. But we always have to drag in a chair from the kitchen. So, I have been on the lookout for another chair. As I was driving down the road the other day, I spy an old wooden chair on the sidewalk in front of a thrift store. I turn the car around, go in to ask them how much. Imagine my surprise when she says $1. Yes a single dollar! I was shocked, but started digging in my purse for some cash. I brought it home and the next day started working on it. I pulled off 4 layers of yucky fabric til I got to the original damask fabric that was probably very nice when it was put on decades ago! Todd was helping me at this point, and he was amazed at the craftsmanship and care of detail that went into the construction of this chair. He said it is probably worth some money. Of course that was before I painted it red, and applied a bit of flair to it!!! Anyway, Lael is now happy, she has a chair. But, it is actually more comfortable than my orange one, I think we should trade! Here is the before and after.

New Blog Look and promised pics

I was getting tired of the old look of my blog so I spent some time searching online yesterday for a new look.  I was originally thinking of going wintry, but the more I searched I thought, no I think an ‘almost spring’ look would be better – so here it is!  What do you think?

I did snap a few pictures, but the quality is not that great still.  I need to start a fund for a new camera!  Anyway, first up is the Altered Lunchbox I made for Catherine.  I still need to print the photos of all the guests and stick them to the other side of each of the cards – but you get the idea.  Next is the decorations.  I made the invitation, altered a candle, made a pennant, and candlelit paperbags to line our sidewalk.

I wanted to include the text of the invitation here since you cannot read it on the invites.  It is pretty clever if I do say so myself.  However, I cannot take complete credit for it – I found part of the text online on a Fourth of July invite.  Here it is:

We the people, of ______________ (The Anderson’s) in order to form a more perfect party, establish good will, insure memories, provide beer, hot dogs and other good things, promote a good time, and secure the blessings of friendship hereby invite you to a American Style Going Away Party for the Elfick family.

Another useless (but fun!) link

There is nothing more fun than a big ole sheet of bubble wrap laid out on the floor to jump around on.  No, I am not 5, I am actually closer to 35!  But, that is fun, I don’t care what you say, LOL!!  Anyway, here is an online version:
Go Jump on Some Bubble Wrap! Be sure to click Manic Mode!

LiteBrite Lollipop

I found this totally useless link online today. Do you have some time to waste? Are you jealous of my LiteBrite Lollipop? If so you can make one of your own, or something else (almost) as cool!
Create your own LiteBrite design!

Going Away party

I already wrote about the party a bit.  But, I did want to share some of the ways I used my scrapbooking supplies to make the party scrapfabulous!  The Elfick’s are a wonderful family.  They lived two houses down from in the corner of our cul-de-sac.  I miss them tremendously already!!!  Dominic is from Scotland and Catherine is from Australia.  They have been here in the US for a number of years, but the opportunity arose for Dom’s company to transfer them to Australia.  Catherine was ecstatic, of course – her country, her family and friends.  I cannot blame her at all!!!  Anyway, when we started talking about having a Going Away Party for them, I thought we should have an American theme party to send them off in style.  I had some small American flags in the attic, but that was about it for USA decor.  So, I set off searching at my fave stores, Target, Hobby Lobby and the $1 Store and Michael’s.  They actually had some, I was surprised.  But then as I was checking out with my red, white, blue napkins, drink stirrers, plates, paper lanterns etc the sales clerk asked if I was having an Inauguration Party – Ohhhhh!  Lightbulb moment!  That is why there were displays of USA themed decorations around!  Oh well, works for me and my needs.

I made the invitations, with the help of this digital kit from Scrapbook-Bytes.  Todd helped me with the pennant.  I bought one sheet of all the American themed scrapbook papers from my LSS.  I had about a dozen sheets or so.  I told him my plan, Cut as many triangles from each sheet as you can, glue them back to back if they were not double sided patterned paper, and then string them with some red fiber.  He was a champ – handled that one all on his own!  I covered a plain white candle with scrapbook paper scraps from the pennant and then wrapped some gold star wired garland around it.  The picture stinks, the light was bouncing off the glass globe and the glass pebbles.  I found some blue paper lunch sacks and used my star punch to punch a few stars in the bags.  I weighed them down with rocks and put a votive candle in them.  I used those and the small flags to line our sidewalk.  Again, the picture stinks – hard to get a picture of a bag lit from within by a votive candle when said candle keeps blowing out due to the wind.

I think that is it for decorations.  For the kids in attendance, I covered a folding table with butcher paper and set out crayons and playdough.  That kept them busy for a while.  I had also printed out copies of Patriotic Airplanes and Patriotic Pinwheels from Family Fun At some point they got tired of all my activities and moved on to the destruction of Lael’s bedroom. Oh well, they all had fun!

The other thing I made was a gift for Catherine and Dom. I used one of the lunchboxes that were so popular a few years back in the scrapbooking world. I altered it with some paper from my stash and then was totally stuck. It was like I was a first year scrapper, paralyzed by all my choices. I was opening boxes and drawers and folders looking for that perfect something for the front of the box. Finally, I found it – and it was not even something I made! It is a chipboard frame with a big “F” for friends and ribbon on it. It was made by my friend Liza and given to me years ago. I never found the perfect project to use it, til now! So, big thanks to Liza for that!! Then I cut a bunch of chipboard squares to fit inside and altered them, one side for notes and one side for pictures. Each guest was supposed to write a note to the Elfick’s, along with their contact info (email, addy, phone #), then Aimee took their picture. Each family unit had their own card. I thought this would be a wonderful way for the Elfick’s to keep in touch with all their friends here in the States.

Finally – the food and drinks.  I found some cute little mason jar mugs at the $1 Store and got a few of those for our guests.  I wasn’t sure if I would have enough glasses without breaking out my good crystal (which I really did not want to do!)  Plus, I thought that they fit the theme!  The signature drink I served was Carolina Ice Tea. Here’s the recipe:

Add alcohol and stir lightly. Pour in iced tea. Stir a few more times and serve.
It was actually tasty. I was kind of worried with that many liquors it would be way too strong, but the sweet tea was the perfect complement.

Food – there was so much! Before everyone arrived, I was looking at all the trays and platters and thought wow, we have lots of stuff leftover. That was so not the case! Practically everything was eaten! We had chicken fingers, shrimp, sausage balls, pigs in blanket, fruit, cheese ball with crackers, deviled eggs, Kahlua cake, flag cookie cake, Southern Caviar, buffalo chicken dip, Party mix, pretzels and nuts. People kept asking me about the Cheese Ball. So, here is the recipe for that:

Soften cream cheese. Add all ingredients except 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Chill, then shape into a ball and roll in pecans. Serve with crackers.
I didn’t have any pecans, so I just left them out and it tasted great. They just add a bit more crunch.

I think that is all I have to share.  It was fun, I would definitely love to host another party, but not a Going Away one for any more friends.  All of my neighbors MUST not move for many many years!

OK, will have to add photos later – can’t get them to work now. boo-hoo

New Haircut

I did it – after much deliberation and changing my mind.  I cut off about 8″ or so.  Well, not me personally – that would not be pretty at all!  Anyway, I don’t know why I was so nervous about it – it’s just hair, it will grow back!  I was thinking I had not had it cut short since the twins were born, but my friend Anna reminded me that I cut it when I was working at the preschool in Tuscaloosa.  I don’t think it was this short -but that was only 1.5 year ago.  My hair grows pretty fast.  So, I took a before pic and an after pic.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done a photo shoot for myself.  They are much more fun to do with the kids!!!

Day after Party

Last night was the Going Away party for the Elfick’s. It went really well, wonderful turn-out, we had 30 adults and 18 children. That is a true testament to the Elfick’s, great people who have a host of wonderful friends. They will definitely be missed! Everyone is starting to save $$ for a trip to Australia. I posted some pictures on my Facebook page – but I will share a couple here in another post with details about the party. But, first I wanted to share the destruction of Lael’s bedroom. I expected messy, I figured there would be plenty of toys to pick up after that many children are here to play. But, this room gives a whole new meaning to messy! Caeden’s room came through mostly ok, just a few toys here and there. On an unrelated note – it snowed here today! Nothing really sticking to the ground, but real snow!

Online Scrapbook Class

I was talking with Traci and Lynda the other day about a recurring nightmare we all share – we’re in school and we can’t open our lockers, can’t remember the combination. Crazy I know, we’ve all been out of school quite a while, some a bit longer than others {wink}. Anyway, it got me to thinking about being back in school. Plus one of my friends, Sheri is really going back to school. I’m so proud of her – she has started college! So, then today I am checking out the various blogs that I like to read in the mornings and find that Shimelle is offering a free mini class called “This Year“. For Christmas she offered a class called “Journal Your Christmas” that I really wanted to do, but just couldn’t get my act together enough to commit to it. So, now that the holiday craze has settled – I am going to do this class. I would love for my other scrapping buds to join me! Click here to get info!
Shimelle is also giving away some fab prizes like stamps, a kit, classes, and a GC to 2Peas to 7 lucky winnners. Gotta love prizes! This is an image from Shimelle that goes hand in hand with the class.

Cool graphic

This is a visual representation of the connections of all my friends on Facebook. It is cool to see how they all intersect and connect. I can see this turning into a scrapbook page. It was made by the Touchgraph application on Facebook.

Near Collison

Yesterday I went to the Girl Scout store to pick up the Daisy patches. Todd had called while I was in the store so I called him back after I got back in the van. I started driving and chatting (yes, I know – dangerous, but it’s not against the law here in AL) Anyway, I am driving down Hwy. 72 in the left lane at normal speed, about 50 or so. Traffic is normal for midmorning. All of sudden I realize that there is a small red car in my lane coming towards me! Ummm, wow – that’s weird – there’s a car coming toward me – IN MY LANE!!! All of this is processed in my head and through my mouth to Todd on the phone as I slam on the brakes and jerk the wheel to the left into the turn lane/median. Luckily it was empty at the time. The van runs up onto the concrete median at the end of the turn lane and I caught a glimpse of the car behind me swerve towards the right to avoid hitting me in the rear. The little old lady driving the red car? She just turns right in front of me and then turns left with the flow of traffic and continues on down 72 like nothing happened. I am stunned and just sit there for several minutes to collect my wits. Todd is talking and I am trying to explain what happened. Finally, he told me to just get back on the road and find a parking lot to park to call him back. I am still looking around for someone, hopefully a police officer who saw what happened.