Harvest Subway Art

I love all of this art Popping up everywhere. So I was excited to get my hand in this Fall Art.

The first thing I did was to paint a piece of 17X30 plywood cut at LOWE'S for free!, the First layer

was painted Brown I then Used this Great Aged/Peeling paint technique Tutorial from      BrassyApple 

I have access to a Cricut so I Cut up several words to be used as a stencil to make the different words, If you do not have access to a cutting machine, you can print the words on a computer and use an  x-acto knife with a cutting mat to cut out your words, Make sure to use Cardstock, I used all those random colored papers I would never use on other projects. I then used a stencil brush, But honestly I think it might have been easier to trace the letters then paint inside the lines with a paint brush which is what I did with the glittered letters.

(I used good old fashioned school glue for the Glitter)

 

French inspired Hutch

I picked up this hutch at goodwill for $25 I liked the curves, I am re doing my daughters bedroom and thought it might make the perfect piece for her.

I decided not to strip this piece and just sand which later became a HUGE regret, I primed the inside before painting it Gold. I used a spray paint my sister had 5 cans of this Berry color that she decided not to use  which was perfect for her.

 

 

You need to check out the Painters Pyramids, I put under them under the Hutch before I spray painted.  I LOVE THEM they are my new Favorite tool. I found them on www.thediyclub.com 

 

http://thediyclub.com/sponsoraffiliate-product-pages/rockler/ 

I let my daughter help paint the metallic gold on to the edging she did a great job. We also changed the knobs, I used some that I pulled off another dresser and Painted them as well. The metal decorative pieces I picked up a little while ago on clearance for 2/$1.00 they were perfect for my project.

  

The small glass pieces were broken so I am trying to decide what I am going to put in there so keep watching……

The wonderful land of Photographers

When I first started decorating I would go to the store and try to pick out the perfect pictures for my wall that would express my style I found it difficult I would bring home a picture or some type of wall hanging and while they were nice they did not bring me as much joy to look at as pictures of my girls, at that point I decided that Photographs were an investment. a priority.  I did not have a lot of money so I started taking pictures or would find those free 8X10 coupons to have my children photographed, this has evolved after a while I realized I was not a fan of the POSY pictures they made my kids cry and I felt stressed so I l would bring the girls and direct the photographer that if they were crying I wanted those pictures, if they were crawling take a picture of that,I would bring them French fries, make sure they had a nap and schedual accordingly later I realized that instead of dressing my girls in pinks and purples that I needed to match them to how I wanted to decorate the room the picture was going to be in.  I love it so much more sometimes I will sit on my couch and just smile at the art sitting before me.

  I am very lucky to have the most talented  photographer friends in my life. 

These 2 Woman came and Photographed this shoot

My Best Friend Tara (http://www.tmcustomportraits.com/) is a Photographer We have so much fun coming up with the next crazy thing in my head she has been taking pictures for many years. We push each other hard which has been wonderful she helped me set up this photo shoot. She is opening the doors to a new photography Studio In Oregon City on Main Street We painted it yesterday its beautiful. Congratulations Tara!

My Good  Friend Scarlette (http://www.byscarlette.com/)  Who helped push me to start this Blog. She and I have gotten to know each other this year it is so fun to have a friend who has these amazing ideas to share. She is very creative and knows how to get what she wants :) Scarlette entered some of her pictures from the Wonderland shoot into a local magazine and it mad e front cover so now we are Famous. This has been so fun to see everywhere.

The Wonderland Birthday Girl

We got Lucky ONE of our guest brought this beautiful rabbit to share at the party it was the perfect detail for our photo shoot!             

Wonderland Birthday Party Plan Part 2

      

For all of my Girls 10th Birthday Party I have a photographer come to their parties, I think when you spend hours getting ready for a party why not have it photographed right? For my oldest daughters Birthday we had a pampering night complete with Avocado Mask with my 2nd daughter I wanted to do something differently she has such a different personality and I wanted them to feel unique and special, I was telling a friend that i was planning a party for my daughter I remember at 10 being so excited it is such a magical age you get to be double digits for heaven sakes right :) I was explaining that I felt like 10 was an age when I felt you start to brace who you are a little a coming of age thing, she thought the new movie Alice in Wonderland represented that. How Alice stood up for her self, She embraced the fact that she was different, she fought what was not right……. I Loved it so the planning began I immediately called Amanda Moss from http://confectionsofasugarholic.blogspot.com/ to discuss my ideas for a cake She lives in Bend Oregon and is an amazing Cake artist, I have to admit that I did not put the cake together like it was supposed to be (Sorry!) But it has been the center of all Envy and sooooo Delicious- I am off Dairy but could not resist a slice YUM! I then called my 2 photographer friends and explained what I wanted to do if they wanted to use it as a set I would put in a little more effort other wise I would just do it at home. They both loved my idea so the plan was set.

The Party:

The invite: 

We’re late! we’re late for an important date! Our Queen of hearts !0th Birthday “No wonder we’re late! Why this watch is exactly TWO months shy” a very merry un-birthday Tea Party Thursday Aug 12th Down the rabbit hole Begin at the beginning and go to the end then stop. Four in the afternoon wear your wonderland best RSVP ………(cut off for privacy :) I got this idea from Simply Natural Events

The guest list:

This was hard I new we were doing a photo shoot and felt smaller numbers would be best so she invited her cousins and just a few friends. We have so many kids in our neighborhood and church class so it was decided to just keep it simple.  Usually we have birthdays there Even birthdays and they are aloud to invite as many guest as they are old 10 = 10 guest (except when they are in Kindergartners because Kindergartners get there feelings hurt the most when they are not invited to a party so that’s a free for all)

The Food:

We ate Pizza, Pink Lemonade then ate yummy cookies and a delicious cake for dessert.

The Activities:

 

The girls showed up in their Wonderland best (I was thrilled that they ended up all Matching- Complete with the guest that showed up as the mad Hatter) I made the party girl her dress.  The older girls gave everyone a makeover and styled there Hair while they watched The New Alice in Wonderland and ate Pizza. We then hopped in the car and drove to my friends house who just happens to have a forest off to the side of her back yard Were I set up the perfect Tea Party this is when the photo shoot started  and the girls got to eat the delicious treats I loved the Clock cookies my Sister Jodie Made for me and also the Mushrooms they were awesome I wish I would have gotten a better picture of that. The girls then went and played Croquet (I wanted to have Pink Flamingos next to the hoops but could not find any for a reasonable price)  

The Decor:

I have to admit I am a frugal girl it may look like I spent a lot of money but mostly I spent a lot of time and energy gathering and preparing the party The most exhausting parting was hiking the stuff into the forest. I found a couple boards in the forest and had the girls paint this and that on them then nailed them to a tree I borrowed the banner from a friend and the rest of the decor was gathered from mine and my sisters houses, My friend Sarah just happened to have antique Alice in Wonderland books that made my day. I rented white chairs 6 of them for $12.00 I wanted to find cool miss match chairs but this was 2nd choice We felt it would look better in pictures for them to be uniform.

The Party Favors:   

         

The party girl made each girl a crown since we knew we would not have time at the party. Last year after Christmas I bought a package of keys for .20, I decided to stick them on these cool bottles we found for 1.00  on clearance at the local craft store and gave them to each girl (I am not a big fan of candy or crap I have to throw away in 2 days- So I clearance shop for parties)