Guest Book for a Friends's Daughter

front of album

One of the daughter's of one of my best friend's is getting married next month. I made her this guest book. It turned out good I think. Her wedding is King Ranch style with rhinestones and burlap. All the bridesmaids are wearing boots and it should be really nice. I am helping with the decorating and some of the other projects for the reception too. Looking forward to the event.

inside front cover

 Album is wrapped in white satin and burlap is wrapped around front and back covers near the spine. I added pearl sprays and hydrangea flowers with rhinestone centers to the front of the album. To the inside cover I added a little card with a to and from to commemorate the occasion.

pen holder attached to album

The pen holder it attached to the back inside of the album. I wrapped jute around the holder to hide some cutting on the satin. Worked out great!

Finds From Canton

I went to Canton this past Saturday and had a blast by myself! Found just about everything I was looking for especially the most important item on my list. It is pictured below.

 

I found this cool chair for my bedroom. The back is shorter than a normal chair so I thought it was unusual. Already had the seat covered in the writing material I wanted. All I had to do was bring it home and set it in the room. Perfect!!

This was my prize!!! I have been looking for a fireplace surround mantel for a long time. I want to make a headboard  out of it. All the ones I have seen were way to expensive. I mean hundreds of dollars! I hit the jack pot with this one!

It was made in the 1800's and is from a home in St. Louis. I will have some work to do on it. Sanding, painting, distressing and then sealing but that is OK by me.

I love it!!

Chihuly Exhibit

I attended the Chihuly Nights Exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum http://www.dallasarboretum.org/ last Saturday afternoon with a friend for my birthday. It was fabulous! We did not see it at night which I heard was great, but what we did see I would not have wanted to miss for the world. The evening sun was setting on several of the pieces and it was just beautiful.

It is amazing how the art is created. I did check out several youtube videos on Dale Chihuly the artist. http://www.chihuly.com/ They were wonderful. Definitely go research him. I t is so hard to believe it's all made from glass!

Inside the DeGolyer House is wonderful too. I did not get a lot of photos there but they had beautiful nativities from all over the world displayed inside. Here are the few I got photos of.

Happy New Year

Hope everyone has a great year!!

Happy Birthday to Me Last Friday

 Last Friday was my birthday. I received lots of well wishes on Facebook and from my family. Grateful for another year!! Terrible picture of me and Duke though. Can hardly see him even after I fixed it in Photoshop. LOL

My husband knows I love Gerber Daises so he got me these.

My friend Mary gave me this wonderful chocolate chocolate chip bunt cake! It was so good! And packaged so cute.

My friend Carla took me to see the Chilhuly exhibit at the Arboretum on Saturday. More photos to follow on another day. This is the last weekend to be able to see it. It was so pretty! So amazing!

New Bed and Linens

I took down my black metal canopy bed and bought a new bed frame. Still looking for a headboard I like. Want a fireplace surround but have not found one I could afford yet. LOL I already had the framed mirror on the wall so I left it up. Sorta makes for a headboard in the meantime.

 

close-up of bed

Christmas Eve I finished a bed skirt to extend down to the floor. The ruffled one wasn't long enough since I raised the bed up. I used the selvage edge of the material around the bottom. I thought it gave a nice look. Plus I only had to hem the top which is always a plus, especially when the fabric you use is slippery and wants to move all over the place when sewing.

Yesterday, I finished this pillow using the same material as the bed skirt. I coffee dyed the small lace trim and the ruffled one to give a vintage look. I definitely am not a sewer like my Mom and Grandmother, but I did all right!

House Mouse Card January 2013 and Some Art

 Here is the January 2013 card for House Mouse. He is starting the year off right eating a donut with sprinkles!

side view of house bezel

I took an online solder course to learn how to do this cool texture. http://vintiquitiesworkshop.blogspot.com/ Thespeona McLaughlin is the teacher and if you can take the class I highly recommend it. She shows you how to make bezels, use ice resin and how to do the texture. Plus wire wrapping.

front view of house bezel

 This is just a sample that I was playing with but I really liked the texture and I added a button inside but filled the bezel up with the ice resin. Thespeona doesn't fill over the rhinestones, she only fills up to them. She thinks the resin dulls the rhinestones. I ended up with some bubbles in my resin but I was just playing around so it's not that big of a deal on this piece.

 A friend of mine has been playing around with joint compound on hard cradle boards. So I tried my hand at it this week. These two pieces are for my Mother-in-Law and my Husband. My Father-in-Law passed away in June this year so I thought they would like pieces done with his pictures. He was in the army and stationed in Germany. That is where he met my Mother-in-Law. She is German and my Husband was born there. The piece below is for him and his Father is holding him as a baby.