On a New Adventure

Yes, I can tell you for certain, that the kids rolled their eyes when I told them this recently.  I believe Emily said something like, "Really Mom, you don't think you do enough already?"

Of course, my response was smirky, "Well, no really, I like doing lots of different things!"

While I love all the different things I do, I truly enjoy trying new things, especially things I'm passionate about. Being creative,  re-purposing furniture, decorating our home, and sharing my exploits here on the blog are all things that make me happy.  But,  I was kind of missing interaction with real, actual people. :)

Sooo, recently I went to a home sales party, hosted a party and then decided to become a consultant with a direct sales company that helps make cooking easier and in my opinion, better. (I'm not allowed to say the name, mention products, etc on my blog because of some legal mumbo jumbo.) Irregardless, this company seemed to be a good fit for me, because one other thing I'm really passionate about is cooking and good food!!

My first show was this past Sunday afternoon and it went really well. The guests and I had a lot of fun.  The food was really, really good.

I learned some things to try and do differently, but overall it was a success. :) And most of that success was due to my dear friend and hostess for the day, Carrie. 

And yes, she does pretty much have my dream kitchen!  Cream cabinets, wood floors, my favorite marble. It is just so beautiful. I should go back and photograph it and share it here.  Her home is so warm, welcoming and so vibrant.

I have at least 3 parties scheduled for March! Whoo hoo! Working toward a earning a free product I know our whole family will enjoy and hoping will become a tradition for our after church lunch on Sunday afternoons. ;)

So there it is in a nutshell. I was kind of worried before my first show that I'd get really nervous. I didn't at all.  I think I totally forgot all those years I taught scrapbooking classes.  It's just like that but with kitchen gadgets and food, instead of crafting gadgets and paper! Ha!

Happy Mardi Gras!!

Over the weekend, Richard and I cooked Pastalaya (For the non-Louisianians that's jambalaya made with pasta instead of rice.)  for about 80 people at our church for a Sr. High youth group fund raiser.

I had been fretting over and planning for this for quite a while. Probably has some thing to do with why I didn't post much last week.  I wish I could say it came out exactly as I had planned but the crowd loved it and so it was good.  I was happy to do it and would do it again, given what I learned this time. :)

Now on to and the real point of this post.  Since it was the weekend before Mardi Gras the hall was mildly decorated in a Mardi Gras theme.  I offered to bring some beads and a few decorations I had.  Before running out the door the day of, I grabbed some glass canisters and filled them with beads I had in the attic.  Once I got home with them I figured I might as well throw together a Mardi Gras mantle.

I think what I love most are the photos of the kids.   Miles in his costume, when he participated in my mother-in-laws krewe and Emily at a first grade parade.   Not sure the palette backdrop for the mantle is working for me, but it had to use it since I have to cover an outlet in order to hang a wreath.

Just before I left the grocery store today, I went looking for a King Cake.  I didn't see any and was pretty bummed.  Then, I noticed a lady waiting at the bakery counter and realized the baker was icing a King Cake!  We had a nice visit and wished each other Happy Mardi Gras! It was so nice to run into a fellow Louisianian! (Obviously, I could have made a King Cake, but I had already planned a dessert for tonight since we have company.)

And just for grins, here is my Gallery Wall decked out for Valentines day.  (That Gallery wall post gets the most amazing traffic thanks to a linky party at the Inspired Room.)

On a whim, I replaced the "D" that is usually there, with this heart and decided this is a great way to seasonalize our Gallery Wall.  I'll be doing that more with each holiday!

Happy Mardi Gras y'all!!!

Birthday recap

Over the weekend (which started early since the kids didn't have school on Friday) we celebrated Emily's 13th birthday!

Thanks to Pinterest she had some great ideas on what she wanted at her party.  She found this cupcake via the one and only Bakerella.

I have a good friend who makes the most amazing cupcakes and asked her if she would help me pull this off. Here's how ours turned out.

Emily decided not to have the sugar cookie fries and instead have a Candy Bar.  I made a pennant banner with my scrapbooking supplies and used glass ware I had around the house.  I think it came out pretty cute.  They definitely enjoyed it. :)

Before the cupcakes and the candy though, I took Emily and her friends to Five Guys.  She didn't want to go all out with the "theme party" because obviously, that's "really lame". ;)

They humored me with this photo.

 It was a fun birthday party/sleepover. 

On Sunday, her actual birthday, our Sunday School class had a pot luck lunch.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to embarrass her by having our whole Sunday School class sing happy birthday to her.  Priceless. :)

In progress...

I wish I had something to share today.  I have several projects "in progress".  A chair makeover and some pillows. Both are going well. :)

I hope to finish them this week, but it might not happen because Emily turns thirteen this week!! Yikes, another teenager!!

I will be putting on my party planner hat for the next day or so. Admittedly, the planning is not too involved though because she did not want invitations or decorations.  But setting up a craft and some fairly amazing cupcakes are definitely in order.   There is a funny story to share here, but I think I better get permission to share it. ;)  Let's just say I misinterpreted sarcasm for reality and things could have gone embarrassingly wrong for Emily.

I was super flattered to have the palette tray featured at Savvy Southern Style this week. How cool is that? Be sure to go check out her Wow us Wednesday party!

I also about flipped when I saw this at Shimille's blog! She did a great little feature on GCD Studios' new scrapbook paper lines and the booth at CHA.

So this is a line called Splendor.  I really do love it. It's definitely one of my favorites. And I really was happy with the layout I created using it. It's the one on the bottom left.  Only problem is when you look at it closer....

Yeah, that's right, I misspelled the title!! The horrors, totally embarrassing, I know!! 

I did discover I spelled it wrong before the show started, but not until after I mailed it off to California!  I called Heidi and asked her to fix it if she was able, but she figured most people wouldn't notice. It's flattering that Shimelle wanted to give her readers, "a closer look at all that pretty".  But amazingly embarrassing too! I was kind of hoping the layout would go unnoticed.

I can't wait to get that layout back and fix that title!!!! 

Just keeping it real around here. ;)

Pallet Tray v2.0

As you might recall I built a tray using a pallet this fall.  Click here to read the post with the complete directions, because honestly now I can't remember exactly how I did it. ;)

About a month ago I got the a new Pottery Barn Catalog, and saw this tray in it.  It made me realize my rustic tray could use a few improvements to really make it sing.

So I set out to add some more details to my pallet tray. An upgrade if you will.

I started by making a pilot hole about where I wanted the cut/notch to be, then attaching a hole cutter to my drill I made a big semi circle.  (I'm pretty certain it's a door knob hole maker.)

When I finished with the hole cutter this is what it looked like.

I then took my jigsaw and cut the points off so that it was more smooth.

Next, I took a very deep breath and started on the handle holes. I really had no idea what I was doing or what I was going to end up with.  I guess I should have done a little research. ;)

Here you will notice where I drew out the shape and made pilot holes.

Here's a lesson learned and a good tip.  Make your pilot holes a little bigger, if possible with a larger bit and right at the edge of the round part of your handle.  It's really hard to force the jigsaw into make that tight turn. If I had done this, I'm fairly certain I would have had more perfect looking handles holes.

But I'm really okay with it as it is, it's a rustic tray right?

Here are some finished photos.  I'm still not 100% happy with the styling.  It's a work in progress.

These simple updates definitely make it look more like a tray and less like a crate. :)

And I do hope to slip cover or reupholster this ottoman soon.  I'm so over this color.

I loved being re-inspired to make an updated version of my free pallet tray!  Palette Tray v2.0, pretty cool.

Sharing here.

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