I love me some spray paint

The only thing is I don't really have any place to spray paint indoors. I decided to paint indoors. Holy FUMES. Yeah that was a mistake but I did get the look that I wanted without having to wait till it warms up enough to spray paint outside.

I'm happy I went ahead and painted these vases, they were with me for a long time in their brown and blue state and not only was I sick of them but now that they are white they brighten up the space. I'm not sure how it would work if I didn't prime them first, didn't want to find out.

Just waiting now for the weather to warm up enough, I have a pile of other things that would look great painted.

Junkin' Finds

I swore that I would go junkin' before the summer ended come hell or high water. So it was good for me that my friends mom had a garage sale and I scored on this huge wicker basket/hamper for $2.00.  I probably got the friend discount but everything counts. She had a ton of other stuff but I got there at 4 which for junkin' is like don't even bother. It's the perfect size for all of Ari's toys - we outgrew the small basket that was previously used for toys. A quick coat of white and silver spray paint makes it a bit less country.

I also picked up two ceramic planters and a bottle with a cork top. I will use the bottle for storing the loose sea salt that is currently sitting in a plastic bag. The planters,  at first I wanted to plant some moss in them but with winter coming and the air being very dry in our house it might be hard to keep moss green and fresh. Maybe some maidenhead ferns for the bathroom?

Planters $3.00 each, bottle .72¢, hamper $2.00, left over spray paint free. All in all I think I came away very well on my one junkin' trip.

Ohh here is a good tip, if you need to clean a bottle and don't have a bottle cleaner, fill it with dry rice some dish soap and water and shake it around. The rice will get in all the corners and edges and clean it. Works great on baby bottles with milk that is a bit stuck on. 

Phew what a summer!

If the rest of the year keeps going at the rate that it's been going I'm going to crap out. We have had one hell of a summer with the storms and the subsequent water and roof damage and then ensuing repairs. Also not mentioning the weather has made keeping a pool from turning green a living nightmare. These are the type of summers that I regret that we ever had a pool and not a pool man to keep it clean. And to think that we have actually used the pool a total of 2.5 times, and that being generous. Plus trying to get the remodel done in time for the kids' birthday party has also put a little pressure on.

So I'll post the before and afters of the remod some other time. I wanted to focus on the birthday party in this post. I just want to preface this as "I'm crazy". I have always wanted to make a cutesy little party for the poopsie, with banner flags and decorations that wasn't dependent on streamers bought from a store. So I started this year extra early that I would get everything I wanted to get done way before hand and not omit anything.

I wanted to do the paper tissue poof balls and I wanted to do cake balls and I also wanted to make her a keepsake cake topper. All while also cleaning after a remodel and cooking a majority of the food AND worry about bad weather that would make all my party planning caput.

This year we weren't going to throw her a huge party, it was only going to be the grandparents and our sibling with a few of my girlfriends with their kids, which isn't that huge considering we've had 60 plus birthday parties in the past.

Crazy is as crazy does - I actually accomplished the tasks I set before me. Although I have to admit a few people came to help to get it all done. Especially my friend Janice who I need to take out for dinner with everything that she helped me with.


But with no further ado..... as my poopsie says TADA!

I made waaaay more than in this pic but with everything going on I took this pic a day later after they were mostly gone. Boy were these good. Time consuming but good. My brothers' sweet girlfriend Iza made her  red velvet cake from scratch - no box mix here baby. I mixed it with cream cheese frosting and dipped them into dark cocoa. S'cuse me while I wipe the drool from my mouth, they were delicious. Everyone kept sneaking one, which I don't know why they needed to sneak they were out for everyone to eat, maybe cuz they tasted so decadent? 

And then there were the pom poms that I did the day before. They were supposed to hang outdoors but the rain was coming down pretty hard so we swapped that idea, instead to decorate inside.

I had the whole first floor covered, and the kids took some home at the end of the night.  

Last but definitely not least the craft that took me the longest to make was her cake topper. I figure we can reuse this every year maybe I'll change the dress out.  This topper took me about a week to make, it was the first time I made it so I was figuring out the way to get the head on the glue to use paint, dry paint again. Phew. I have to say it was worth it, I plan on making more for some friends and maybe with practice it will take less time to make, and look a bit more finished.