Very first I need to get a small, uncomfortable item of business out of the way. I'm a little nervous about handling it appropriately, and hope I do not offend or hurt anybody.
Yesterday I linked up (for the first time) to a popular blog party I had seen floating around, without actually reading the blog first. I unintentionally linked to a post that had a number of profanities in it. Although I believe that everyone has a right to say whatever they want on their blog, I wouldn't intentionally direct any of my readers to a post with this content. I try to keep my blog clean, and try hard to represent well the things I believe in. I have girls in my Young Women organization at church who have access to my blog, as well as family and friends whom I know wouldn't appreciate such content, and I really want to apologize if my blog led anyone to a post they might not appreciate reading.
In no way am I trying to insult this blog author, or any of my blog friends who link up to this party. Please don't take it that way. I just really felt a responsibility to apologize for my negligence in making sure the content I directed my readers to was appropriate for each of my different readers.
Whew! Now that that's out of the way...on to the fun stuff! Yesterday I went shopping with my mom to score some supplies for an adorable Valentine project I saw from Michelle. Hobby Lobby has all their 12x12 papers and paper packs 50% off! SCORE! So I got an adorable Valentine's paper pack so we could make THESE!
These are for Cowgirl's and Pixies's classmates at school. Aren't they Ca-UTE!?! Go here for detailed insturctions! They were not very time-consuming, and my girls really could practically do them all on their own.
The hardest part for them was picking out the papers they wanted to use out of the fabulous paper pack!
Monkey's contribution was to eat the suckers.
Pixie was very intent on folding her papers as evenly as possible!
Here Cowgirl is inking the edges of the paper.
Next they glued on their hearts...
Yesterday I linked up (for the first time) to a popular blog party I had seen floating around, without actually reading the blog first. I unintentionally linked to a post that had a number of profanities in it. Although I believe that everyone has a right to say whatever they want on their blog, I wouldn't intentionally direct any of my readers to a post with this content. I try to keep my blog clean, and try hard to represent well the things I believe in. I have girls in my Young Women organization at church who have access to my blog, as well as family and friends whom I know wouldn't appreciate such content, and I really want to apologize if my blog led anyone to a post they might not appreciate reading.
In no way am I trying to insult this blog author, or any of my blog friends who link up to this party. Please don't take it that way. I just really felt a responsibility to apologize for my negligence in making sure the content I directed my readers to was appropriate for each of my different readers.
Whew! Now that that's out of the way...on to the fun stuff! Yesterday I went shopping with my mom to score some supplies for an adorable Valentine project I saw from Michelle. Hobby Lobby has all their 12x12 papers and paper packs 50% off! SCORE! So I got an adorable Valentine's paper pack so we could make THESE!
These are for Cowgirl's and Pixies's classmates at school. Aren't they Ca-UTE!?! Go here for detailed insturctions! They were not very time-consuming, and my girls really could practically do them all on their own.
The hardest part for them was picking out the papers they wanted to use out of the fabulous paper pack!
Monkey's contribution was to eat the suckers.
Pixie was very intent on folding her papers as evenly as possible!
Here Cowgirl is inking the edges of the paper.
Next they glued on their hearts...And after securing them to the suckers with some ribbon...VOILA!!!
Pretty adorable, right? They just signed their names on the back, and now their classmates will know that they appreciate them enough to make their Valentines by hand!
Now if you're here for the fabulous Amanda's Decorating Dilemmas Party...you may have noticed the, shall we call it "vintage" table my girls were working at.
This is the dining set from my parent's cabin that was built in the 70's. We inherited it when they sold the cabin. And don't get me wrong, we're VERY grateful. But I would LOVE some ideas on what I could do to update the look of this thing.
Here's a closer look. The top is that hard, formica? I think. And the legs are aluminum.
The chairs also have aluminum legs and back, and then this berber type upholstering. These may also be from the early 80's. I'm not sure.
So c'mon all you furniture make-over experts! Start suggesting already!!!
Pretty adorable, right? They just signed their names on the back, and now their classmates will know that they appreciate them enough to make their Valentines by hand!Now if you're here for the fabulous Amanda's Decorating Dilemmas Party...you may have noticed the, shall we call it "vintage" table my girls were working at.
This is the dining set from my parent's cabin that was built in the 70's. We inherited it when they sold the cabin. And don't get me wrong, we're VERY grateful. But I would LOVE some ideas on what I could do to update the look of this thing.
Here's a closer look. The top is that hard, formica? I think. And the legs are aluminum.
The chairs also have aluminum legs and back, and then this berber type upholstering. These may also be from the early 80's. I'm not sure.
So c'mon all you furniture make-over experts! Start suggesting already!!!
Comments
Don't worry about linking up to a post riddled with bad words...if people are like me, they're lazy and they didn't check it out!
:)
Love the Valentines! We are doing handmade this year and I can't wait to show those off too! :)
It looks like the table has gold trim, yes? I would spray paint (if the table is formica, use the Rustoleum spray paint for Plastic. It works great!) it either black or white. If you're really bold you could do a fun color too!
The chairs -- unscrew the seat bottom and the backing (if the backing doesn't come out, just cover with an old towel or sheet and tape it up good) and spray paint your choice of color (if you're doing white on the table, black on the chairs might be cute and vice versa!)
For the upholstery, go pick a really great upholstery fabric. Make sure you get the thicker fabric for durability. The seat will be easy. Just wrap carefully around the cushion and staple gun to the back. You'll have to take some time with the corners to get them to look right (lots of stretching and stapling)
For the backing, same idea but wrap your fabric over the top of the piece and then staple at the bottom down in the crease as much as you can to hide the staples.
Show us after pics! Good luck!
I'm all for spray painting the table and chairs - but I think the shape really gives away their "vintage" age ;) I'd think about making short slipcovers for the chairs to disguise the shape, plus they'd be easy to wash which is always a plus when you've got kids.
I'm not sure what your style is, but a chocolate brown paint and slipcovers sewn from drop cloths would be really sweet :)
Pottery Barn used to have slipcovers like these http://www.potterybarn.com/products/napa-slipcovers-select-items/?pkey=cdining-chair-cushion-slipcovers but they had a nice pleat at the bottom, I'm picturing something like this.
~Amanda
I guess all that to say - I am sure no one was offended by your linking to that site - but it is refreshing that you are mindful of your words (and links!)
I absolutely love the Valentine's. I can't wait till my son is old enough to work on them - and I hope wants to ;-)
I think recovering those cushions (dark, patterned fabric would probably show less wear?) would be the easiest and first fix. I'm sure that Google would have all sorts of tips on how to prime/spray paint Formica. Personally, I'd stick with white b/c it would be easy to cover up later. Even just covering the gold would be helpful.
I bet changing out your blinds for some long/wide curtain panels that can close to cover the window would help too. I got a big big drop cloth at WM for less than $20. :)
Thanks for linking up, friend!!
LOVE the valentines! Again...me, LAZY. Ring Pops with the stickers on them for all! Kinda sad too, since I'm a room mom. Should maybe be a little more, shall we say, motivated? Nope!
If I had any talent when it came to furniture, I would throw in my two cents. But, I don't, so I'll just say "good luck" and I can't wait to see what you decide to do!
Now your dining set is a tough one. It's going to be hard to really disguise the era because of the design. But you could sure improve it with paint and changing the fabric on the chairs.
I have no clue what you could do to the table and chairs to update them. Good luck with that!
And the table, yeah I have no idea :)
Cute Valentine's project. Your girls look like they are having a lot of fun!
Second, you are such a good mom for making Valentine's with the kids. I went to Wal-Mart.
Third, I'm also liking the idea of painting the table, but I like the slipcover idea for the chairs.
Can't wait to see what you do!
Good luck, and be sure to post whatever you do!
Cute Valentines, and I am so sorry to hear that Turkey, er, Monkey, ate them.