Charming

I bought this book a few years ago at Anthropologie. I have loved charm bracelets for a long time and when I saw this book I had to have it. Here is an excerpt from the synopsis of "Charmed Bracelets" over at barnesandnoble.com : "There is something oh so adorable about a charm bracelet. Is it the jingle and jangle when the wearer moves around, or the fact that you have to get up close and personal to ogle over each quirky little charm? Laden with fond remembrances, tiny figurines, and sweet forget-me-nots, a charm bracelet shows a woman’s history on her wrist." My Mom still talks about the charm bracelet she had as a young girl in the 1960's, a popular time for charm bracelets. Two of her favorite charms were a typewriter eraser and a bust of President Kennedy. She remembers all of her charms even though sadly she lost hers some years back. I wish I could have seen it. My grandmothers wore charm bracelets. I actually have one of my Mimi's. It includes a charm with her monogram and charms with pictures of my brother and I when we were little enclosed in glass with our birth dates engraved in silver on the back.

I received my first charm bracelet when I was 16 years old. My Mom and Dad gave it to me for Valentine's Day. What a treat! It had one charm on it, a heart with my monogram on one side and the date on the other, 2-14-92. I added to the bracelet for years. I would buy charms on trips or get them as gifts. It is such a joy to collect charms. It is so fun to tell others the meaning behind each charm and where it came from.

My First Charm Bracelet from Mom and Dad

The Brighton bracelet my husband gave me for Mother's Day. I fell in love with this bracelet because it reminded my a ladybug pin that belonged to my Mom and was worn by my Mimi when I was little (the lady bug pin is in the center). I wish the picture did it justice. It is amazing.

My latest purchase. It is made by a company called "Realities". I picked it up at Beall's Outlet for a mere $3.99! The original tag was still on it and read $50.00. I swear! I thought when I went to check out they were going to tell me there had been some mistake. It was definitely the bargain of the century for me. The suitcase with travel labels opens up and there is an enamel bikini, flip flops and sunglasses. The genie bottle opens, the globe spins, the hula girl has a chain link skirt that shakes, and the travel log (next to the globe) opens and has a place for two tiny photos. The details on this bracelet are unbelievable. I can't wait to wear it.

I hope I have inspired you to start a charm bracelet of your own. I have to warn you, it is addictive :) Have fun!

L is for Lilly and Lemonade

I thought I would share Lilly's latest letter creations. We scrapped alphabetical order. Now we just do whatever letters we want. I show her the letters and ask her which one she wants to do today and we do whichever letter she says. Of course when I showed her Q for queen and U for unicorn she wanted to do those! This age is so fun. I love watching her color, paint and glue and she loves glitter just like her momma.

Fabric Fruit

I have been whipping up some fabric fruit this week. I am making them to go in a basket on the center of my mother-in-laws dining room table. I am helping her do some decorating and I am going for a French country/folk artsy look with reds, golds, roosters, etc. I think these strawberries and pears will be a cute touch. I think I might attempt some apples too. We'll see how it goes. Sewing a spheres intimidates me a little. I sewed the fabric flowers in the background about 5 or 6 years ago. I have always liked them especially in the thrift store vase they are in. The beautiful doily was crocheted by my talented "Maw Maw Jean" (my husbands grandmother). I have quite a few of her creations and I love them all!

I found the patterns for the strawberry and pear in this book...

Check it out. It is a lovely book.

My Sewing...Room...Corner...6 Feet of Wall

Today I thought I would share with you the room where I sew and create. Usually my projects spill over into the kitchen at the table, but this room is where it starts.

The cabinet where my cans of supplies are was my Granny Dot's. She bought it when I was little and made me many beautiful things on it. My Granny is still alive and well and one of my biggest creative inspirations. Lilly has unscrewed all the knobs off the front and put them who knows where, so now I have an excuse to get new ones from Anthropologie (if you shop there, you know their knobs make you drool!) My Mom (my other big creative, sewing muse) has the sewing machine that was originally in the cabinet but I use it for storage. The cans on my "desk" are just tin cans covered in Martha Stewart contact paper from Kmart.

My mother-in-law gave me my machine for my birthday when I was pregnant. It has been a favorite gift. Over my machine, on the shelf, I keep some threads and a milk glass vase with bobbins in it. This is also where I display one of my most treasured pieces of art. It was done by one of my 1st graders (before I was a SAHM I was a teacher). She was such an amazing artist at a mere age 6. She drew me pictures all the time. One day I gave her a picture of my sewing machine (at the time it was an aqua Universal from the mid 1960's) and asked her to draw it. Well she went above and beyond and sketched a picture of me sewing on my Universal with her as my assistant. I can't get over the details. I love how she spelled "Sewing Area" phonetically. It is just an amazing picture. Here is a closer look at it...

I love my inspiration board. I add and subtract from it when I find new ideas and inspiration. There are several Anthropologie catalogue pictures up there. Does anyone else save every Anthro catalogue from every season and every year and cut pictures out and obsess over them?....No? ok. maybe its just me :)

Below is the guest room part of it. The bed was my great grandmothers. I made the curtains from a Ralph Lauren Sheet. My Granny Dot made the duvet with two RL sheets. The fabric hanging over the bed is a vintage table cloth I scored off ebay several years back. I adore the colors and the pattern. This room is so bright and fun. I love being in my little creative space. I still have some things I want to add but for now I am pretty happy with how it is turning out.

Hope you enoyed the tour! Ya'll come back now!

Letter Fun

It is too hot in Florida this time of year to go outside in the middle of the day so I have to keep Lilly entertained indoors (she has a limit of no more than 3 Blue's Clues in a day :). Today we made creatures out of the letters A, B, and C. Lilly kept asking for more so we did 3 letters. I want to have her eventually do all 26 and bind them into a book for her to keep. We got the idea from "No Time for Flashcards". I have a link to the site on my sidebar. If you have kids or teach kids and haven't checked this site out yet, you have to! It is the best. The projects are so simple, educational and fun for toddlers and preschoolers. There are book recommendations for each project and there are crafts for all of the holidays.

Summer Ruffle Blouse Remix

Alexis of My Mama Made It inspired me to do a remix of a long sleeve women's shirt. I headed to the thrift store and found this maternity shirt...no it was an accident and I just liked the print. Don't any of you get any ideas :) I hacked off the sleeves gave it a fitted, more feminine shape, made a coordinating ruffle (you know I have a ruffle obsession) and a skinny belt. I can't wait to wear it! I think this print is so summery. I love the olive, turquoise and orange together. It is such an unusual color combination but it works. This was such a fun project.

Faux Petticoat Skirt

Last year I made a little dress for Lilly out of this fabulous fabric my girlfren Critty gave me. The dress never fit Lilly right so I decided to chop off the top part and make a skirt out of it. I added 3 1/2 inch eyelet lace to the hem (it is a wide 2 inch hem). I attached it to the wrong side of the skirt about 2 inches (the same place as the original hem) above the bottom of the skirt so it has the effect of a lace petticoat sticking out underneath. I love the look of it. So girly, so Lilly!

Mother's Day Scrapbooks

I thought I would post some pictures of the scrapbooks I made for my mom and mother-in-law for mother's day. I know it was 2 months ago but sometimes it takes me a while to get it together. I used Sis Boom paper that I love and have been saving for something special (everything from Sis Boom takes my breath away). I love this paper so much that I was scared to cut it :) I am really into little scrapbooks now. I have always loved everything little and miniature. The pages are just so cute and quick to create and you can add so many little details. This week I am working on a dollhouse/bookshelf for Lilly. I can't wait to post it for you to see. I also hope to have some things on Etsy by next week. I will keep you posted and share my creations. Thanks for reading.

Cinderelly's Castle

A few weeks back my friend Heather asked me if I would be interested in painting a mural of a castle in her daughter Catie's room. I was so excited. It had been a while since I had painted a mural and I couldn't wait to get started. I went over to their house yesterday and spent they day painting. It was so much fun. I used the castle in Lilly's Disney Cinderelly (that's what Lilly calls her) book for inspiration.

I loved seeing Catie so excited about her new castle. She told me she is going to use it for a background in her plays and puppet shows :) How cute is that?!

Mermaids

I have had these mermaid embroidery patterns for a few years now and I have been dying to use them. I finally decided to make Lilly a little drawstring bag for her bathing suit and embroider a mermaid on it. I thought it would be perfect in her "mermaid bathroom".

While I was hanging out in the "Mermaid Bathroom", I decided to shoot some photos of it to share with ya'll. I made the shower curtain out of a Ralph Lauren sheet. I just used a grommet kit and added grommets to the top after I cut and hemmed it to the right size. The curtain rings are shabby chic from Target from years ago. The vintage bathing suit is something I always wanted in my bathroom. I found it in the perfect shade of pink with daisies at "La France" a vintage boutique here in Tampa. The tiny blue bathing suit in the shadow box was Lilly's first (also Skylar's first). I put it in a shadow box from TJMaxx and backed it in pink terry cloth. It is topped off with one of my favorite Mary Engelbreit Illustrations. I use tin beach pails to hold shampoo, bubble bath, and soaps.

This is a close up of the vanity. I found the ceramic boat at a yard sale. The intricate mermaid was a gift from my loving Critty eons ago. It has moved with me many times.

Hope you enjoyed a look inside one of my favorite rooms in the house. It is one of the few places I could go pink crazy. I will share some other areas of my home soon. Have a great rest of the week!

Lilly Sews!

Today was a very special day around here. Lilly, now 2 and a half, sewed for the first time. I have to say I am proud as punch :) She loves to watch me sew. She has been taking pieces of fabric and little pieces of thread that fall on the floor and pretending to sew. Since she is so interested I decided to let her give it a try. I put a little scrap between an emroidery hoop and gave her a needle threaded and knotted with pink embroidery floss. I showed her how to put the needle through and pull it out on the other side. She kept saying "up, down, up down" in her cheerful, enthusiastic voice. I took a couple of pictures and I will be saving that piece of embroidered fabric forever! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!