Halloween Costume Party

This year the Kuhn-Clark household hosted thier first, hopefully annual, Halloween Costume Party.  The invitations specified the party started at 7:30, so what do us townies do?  Throw a chivalry and arrive at 7 instead!  I had never heard of a chivalry before, and when it was described to me (when a couple get married you show up at their house banging pots and pans) it made no sense whatsoever, but when in Baldwin...

We stealthily drove up to their house and gathered (there were about 9 of us involved) and then ran around with various noisy items and were met by a confused Kathleen on the deck.

A photo of the Wicked Witch and Scarecrow with their host gift:

Part of the chivalry team, 2 nuns, a priest and a monk:

 Tourists from the front:

 Tourists from the back:

 Eric, also known as Captain Stubing:

 Traci and Toby, a bathtub and a potty:

It was a fun event that involved great food, some shots with friends, and topped the night off with American Idol-version karoke. 

More Typography

This was my first attempt at a typography painting, given as a hostess gift for a costume party we attended this year.  Not too shabby!

An autumn-inspired typography board currently hanging in our kitchen.

I've got 2 more in the works, one for my studio and one as a gift.  I love that each one is different and personal.

Table Runner - Part Two

This will be short and sweet as all the photos I took have been "accidentally" deleted off our camera.  The recipient did enjoy her present though!

Table Runner - Part One

Working on a belated birthday gift for a girlfriend.  She requested something "seasonal" and so here we go!  The first stop was Joann's for fabric.  Could spend hours there coming up with different fabric combos and thinking of other projects to made.  But this time stayed with the mission at hand, and in order to keep the time in check I brought Lucy with :)





I've used this pattern book, A Star for all Seasons, a few times for other gifts, it's very easy to follow.

  


Whenever Max hears the sewing machine running he immediately comes in and wants to help.  He's actually very good at putting pins back in the pin cushion!





Squaring the star blocks.




A pile of star blocks ready for the next step.



I'm hoping Part Two of this post will be a finished product.  Right now I'm assemby-lining the borders and the top will be complete!

What are you making these days?

Typography Take One

I've been seeing various forms of typography word art all over the internet world and wanted to take a stab at it.  I had a remnant black canvas sitting in storage and a Cricut collecting dust, so Saturday night I got a wild hair to go for it!

Supplies used:  black craft paint, canvas, clear glue, paper, Cricut machine, and the fabulous Modge Podge.

I wanted to create a kind of family values sign to hang up on the photo wall, so I thought of some words and went to town cutting in different sizes.  I was limited to the two cartridges of fonts I have (standard George and a Disney font).  I had a couple cream/black papers to use up that kind of coordinated the whole thing.

Here's a photo of the gluing process - very sticky business that glue!

After gluing down all the words in the form I liked, I did a couple coats of Modge Podge to secure it all down.  First time I've ever used Modge Podge, can you believe it?  Certainly won't be the last either!

It now resides on our photo wall.

Now my crafty mind's abuzz with all the possibilities - handpainted stencils on wood, holiday themed phrases, favorite Biblical passages, homemade gifts...

TDC Inspiration - Candy Corn

I've been in the fall decorating mood and when I saw this post from Sarah, I thought super-easy, super-cute and super-cheap.  I haven't broken out the hot glue gun in years and now that it's out, I have many ideas!  I'm thinkin' a window wreath for every occassion - gumdrops or peppermints for Christmas, conversation hearts for Valentine's day...

Anyway, this project should have been super-cheap but I had NO coupons for Joann's when the inspiration hit and foam is rarely on sale.  (I have heard that the dollar store sells faux wreaths, note to self for next time!)  And I'm thinkin' for even more cheapness to buy the holiday candy during the post-holiday sale (as long as I want to wait until next year to display it).

Here are a couple shots of the pre-display candy corn goodness:

I used a TON of glue gun sticks for the wreath.  That puppy is secure!  I didn't have any fabulous ribbon to hang it from so I dug through my fabric scraps and found these black remnants, sewed them into a very long strip, measured how long I wanted it to hang, cut and sewed the 2 ends together to make a secure "loop".  This now adorns our kitchen window and I love it!  (Photo coming soon)

I am determined to not break out the 3 buckets of Halloween decor until October 1st, so things will fill up more in a week or so.!

Kitchen Transition - Before and After

Our kitchen has transitioned over the past 6 years.  It has always been a perfectly good kitchen, but I had visions of what my "dream kitchen" would look like.  Adding a bit of farmhouse charm to a new-ish construction house is quite an undertaking, but not impossible if you have a vision and are related to the man(woman) power!

Since moving in in 2005 we have added hardwood flooring, granite countertops and tile surround (fall/winter 2007), new appliances in 2010, painted twice, leading up to Labor Day 2011 weekend when the biggest, least expensive yet most labor intensive, most dramatic change to the house to-date, project started.

Island color: Sherwin Williams "Lemon Verbena"

All other cabinetry: Sherwin Williams "Summer White"
Hardware: Martha Stewart "soft iron"

Ceiling: White beadboard

Labor: Lovestrands Inc.



Details:  Highly recommend using all oil-based primers and paints (and you'll need a good gallon of mineral spirits for the cleanup).  During this project I had pink eye twice.  Apparently no longer a childhood ailment.  Thankfully we perservered with lots of elbow grease coming in from across the yard.  In all, this project took two weeks to complete.  The island took one weekend, we spent the next week removing the rest of the doors/hardware, and a week of sanding/priming/painting.  Oil-based paints take a good day to dry and you'll need a couple coats on each side of the doors. 





Kitchen before.

  



Kitchen during - sanded and ready for priming.

  



Father and son sanding team.

  


Almost there - bases painted and ready for doors!

 


Kitchen after.

 

Some day we will figure out our DSLR camera and take the kind of pictures you see on websites, but one thing at a time.