Adirondaks, Family, work things yadda yadda yadda

So just when it feels like July.....here it is almost over. Its been a whirlwind and here has what has been happening in my life.

Last year Tim decided to get a bunch of his old college buddies together for a reunion. So we rented a house in Lake Placid and hung out for a long weekend of fun, food and friends.
I've never actually been to the Adirondaks. I've driven past it on my way to Montreal but never really got to stop and admire the beauty. We climbed a mountain, did some lake swimming and went kayaking on Lake Placid.



I was a little worried going into this adventure, because I was going to be spending five days with people that I never met before. I'm always weird about meeting new people. To my surprise everyone was really nice and sweet, and they all laughed at my bad jokes! One of Tim's friends brought along his two-year-old and I don't what it is with young kids, but I think they always seem to know that I work with kids and they just gravitate towards me. So I had a shadow for a couple of days, her name was Priya and she was adorable.





On my way back I was in contact with my brother. He was also traveling along with my Dad and his dog, Rudy. The reason for the visit was my Dad's 60th birthday! He also was selling his house up here, so there was a bunch of stuff he had to take care of. Hence the three week visit. Yep, thats right you heard me, three weeks. It hasn't been that bad. They have been really good house guests! My house looks clean from power washing, that pesky back door is finally fixed and my Dad showed Tim how to tile so we have a nice new bathroom floor.



For his birthday celebration, we just cooked a whole bunch of food and kept it low key. Louisa and her daughter, Danielle came out. We had fun playing Clue, sharing stories and laughs. I'm so glad my Dad found someone with such a good heart.






On one of the days I had off and my Dad was running errands. Billy and I went to the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead. I always love good quality bro/sis time. Billy is one of my best friends and we always have a good time. We saw some purdy animals and sea creatures. My favorite is always the sea lions (because they remind me of my dog, Gyppers).




In the midst of all the craziness my friend Megan asked for some help making some decorations for her brother's literary themed wedding. I got a bunch of wood and used a stain called 'provincial' I love the look of it. Megan designed the signs, then we made a bunch of stencils, then spray painted them. They came out great and look so professional.

 

At the beginning of the month I lost a dear friend, Google Reader. Since then I've been making my rounds through a bunch of RSS reader options. I haven't found one I really liked until I came across Bloglovin. The U.I. is nice and clean and I can easily organize everything into folders. So go check it out and Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Iron Craft #14 - Vive La Iron Craft

Bastille day was on July 14 so this weeks Iron Craft challenge was all about France! It reminded me of our trip to Paris last year. I can't believe its been a year! It was truly amazing, the sights, the sounds and the smells! Oh so lovely. 

One thing that stood out were the street signs there. They are a brilliant blue with white letters so I was a little inspired by that to make a welcome (as the French say, Bienvenue) sign. It fits perfectly in our guest room which has an unintentional Parisian theme. Here is how it came out, what do you think?

Sand collage kids craft

 

This years Summer Reading Program theme is 'Dig into Reading!' so there has been lots of dirt and fun messes through out the summer so far. We had a bunch of colored sand in our craft closet so I came up with this idea of making some fantastic art with it. The technique is sort of similar to how you had glitter to crafts. This project was also great for our youngest patrons. There only so many music and movement programs you can do with 2 and 3 year olds, and I felt like our guys needed to get a little crafty. The kids that came really had a lot of fun with this project and a lot of older siblings joined in on the fun. There was even one father who was proud of his own sand collage masterpiece. Here is how you do this with your own group of kids!

Materials & Tools

• Colored Sand
• Salt/pepper shakers (I found mine at the Dollar Tree)
• Construction Paper
• Glue Sticks
• Clear contact paper (optional)
• Crayons (optional)

Instructions

• Fill salt/pepper shakers with different colors of sand
• Kids take the glue stick and 'draw' their shapes
• Kids take the salt/pepper shaker and sprinkle it over their picture. Shake picture over a scrap piece of paper (so the sand can be recycled)
• Kids can repeat the last step until they are satisfied with their picture
• When I did this craft, I put out crayons so that kids can add some more artistic flair to their picture
• Once they were completely done I stuck a piece of clear contact paper over the picture so it preserved the picture while also contained any loose pieces of sand

 

 

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Chalkboards - Craft Night

Last night was my monthly rendition of craft night at Crazy Beans. This time I was having trouble finding something that would work. There is a certain certeria for craft night, it has to look great with out being too complicated, supplies can't costs too much (otherwise i'd go broke!) and I try my best to make the craft gender neutral. I was discussing my little issue with one of my crafting confidants, Noelle. She makes some pretty amazing stuff and we've been meeting up for some crafternoons. Noelle sent me a link to a Beautiful Mess (one of my favorite blogs) and their tutorial for chalkboard paint. I looked and the tools and supplies and thought it would be perfect!

I gathered all of my supplies and needed to make a sample. I decided to make my sample a present for Callie, the owner and number one barrista extraordinare. There are always events going on at the Beans. She writes them all in sharpie on pieces of paper then tapes it to the counter. I thought maybe she needs something a little bigger and a bit more snazzy. I found some wood in the garage and decided to make her a chalk board weekly calendar. I used my trusty silhouette and printed out the letters and painted over it. It came out amazing I must say.

If you want to make your own chalkboards, then go on over to A Beautiful Mess for the complete tutorial. I used a different paint/grout ratio, however you get the same results, chalkboard perfection!

 

July is here...

It's official, Summer is here! So far its been crazy busy and this past week is no exception. Here is what I've been up to.... 

July 3rd was my niece's birthday! I can't believe she's already two years old. I was trying to figure out her gift. This kid has tons of toys and clothes so I wanted to get her something that was a little different. I came across this on pinterest and it looked so cool! Theres something about a tent that kids love for some reason. I used to transform my living room into a pillow fort frequently. Perhaps its the idea that its there own secret area. I enlisted the help of Tim (because he doesn't trust my clumsy hands with power tools) and we built the frame and used a twin sheet to cover the tent. I also made her a cute little card with some help from the old silhouette beauty. 

This week was the big 'merica holiday, Independence day. I did a fair amount of celebrating. I met up with my Mom at her friend's party and saw a truly epic fireworks show set to the music of War Hammer and ate lots of good food. For the actual holiday we hadn't made plans and were not sure what to do. I have had day off? I was flabbergasted, what to do with myself? Luckily my friend Laura invited us to the lake by her house. I was a little skeptical because growing up, Lake Panamoka had a pretty notorious reputation. However the lake it self was beautiful and we had a great time. We took Laura's canoe out and went around the lake. Joe even got some time basking in the sun.



Later in the day I had to break out my Dad's Willie Nelson shirt. For as long as I can remember my Dad always wore this shirt on 4th of July. When he moved to Florida and he was clearing out the closet he gave it to me. Even though it might smell like 1983 and he has a few mustard stains on it, I've kept up the tradition.

Frosted Vase

I've been in the house for almost a year already, can you believe it?! I'm haven't been sewing has much (sewing table has been under construction) However this time has allowed me to work on some home decor projects. I've been posting pictures here and there but this time around I present to you a nice a tutorial!!!!

A while back I bought a bunch of hurricane vases from the Dollar Tree. They were nice, but after sitting around for a while they needed some pizazz! I bought some frosted glass spray and decided to do some experimenting. I made a stencil out of contact paper, slapped it on there and gave it a good coat of frosted glass. My first attempt was a semi-failure. I learned that day that not all contact paper is created equal. I had used this old ugly wood print stuff we had lying around and it was really low quality type stuff and it reacted weirdly to the spray and crinkled up.

I broke out the good stuff and used some black contact paper I had. (F.Y.I. - this stuff is so versatile! its one of my favorite craft supplies!) Using the better quality contact paper did the trick and resulted in some fabulous new vases. 

Here are the steps I took to transform these vases and how you can to! 

Materials & Tools 

• Clear vases, candle holders (even old wine bottles) 
• Frosted Glass Spray (I used Rust-oleum)
• Contact paper (make sure its good quality) 
• Exacto Knife 

Instructions 

• Think of some sort of design. This can be a trick party, but luckily is tons of inspiration out there (scour the internet, check out a home decor store etc) 
• Once you have a design your happy with, trace it on the back of your contact paper and cut out with the exacto knife. If you are the lucky proud owner of a silhouette machine, just make your stencil on that. 
• Peel off your contact paper stencil and gently stick it to your vase
• Find a nice well ventilated area and place your vase on top of box. Spray a nice even coat and allow to dry 
• Drying times can depend on the type of frosted glass spray you purchase. I'd say give it at least 30 minutes. 
• Gently peel off the stencil to reveal your beautiful design