Refinished kitchen Table

When we moved to Texas we didn't have a kitchen table so we went weeks without having one... and if you've never not had a table it can be a pain. I found myself standing a lot more and not thoroughly enjoying the meals I made. 

 As we searched high and low for a table I found my dream table at place called Star Furniture. Unfortunately the price was a little too high for us 1600. Yikes. wasn't about to fork out that much for something I know would get mangled with kids to come. So my search continued. Until I found this beauty on craigslist.

I love white/cream colored furniture. So this is how I transformed this old piece into a brand new one.

I sanded the chairs with 220 grit just enough to take off the finish. make sure to wipe off twice to get rid of all debris. Then add your primer (I used Kilz oil-based) it doesnt need to be perfect just make sure not to leave drip marks. Sand again to get a smooth surface. Make sure to clean your brush immediately if using oil-based.. it will ruin your brush if you don't. I recommend buying Mineral spirits and alcohol to remove paint from brushes. Read the Directions on your paint clearly. I then mixed a satin blue with sparkling lake turquoise color and put a light coat on the chairs. After that dried I sanded lightly again to get a smooth surface. Next I used just an off white paint. I did 2-3 coats. Sanding in between each coat. I distressed more heavily on certain parts to get that aged look and for the blue to show through. You can't really see the blue in the pictures but its there.  I also added to the chairs  minwax stain to produce yet another aged effect. Just simply apply with brush and wipe away with lint free rag. The finish I used a polyester semi-gloss. As reupholstering the chairs: 

I removed the hideous seat covers and added new ones. I learned the hard way and had to make two transactions on the foam. I didn't measure correctly the first time so they ended up being too small. Lesson learned always ask someone to check your measurements. Even with all the purchases I made to redo the table and chairs it still cost so much less than buying my dream one. And I actually love this one more. 

As for the table I should have left it the way it was but I started sanding without thinking and created huge dent marks and sanding marks so I had to sand it all the way down to the wood and stain it again. The stain had too much red in it but I still like it.. maybe in a few years i'll redo it to the stain I like. 

 Here's the complete finished project!!  

Halloween Party

Last year if you remember, I had planned a Halloween party for friends and Family and even planned it a week before halloween so I wouldn't have the chance of delivering on my party... but that whole plan did not work out because little Calvin decided to come early but I can't say he crashed my party because well he is much more important, I was just sad i couldn't use my clever costume... This year however I was determined to have a Halloween party. It was Calvin's Halloween Birthday Party. We invited a couple friends and fam.

 Calvin and Hobbes with mr. Snowman who melted away at work. 

Here are a few pictures of the dinner.

I made 123 chocolate cake and put them in jars as well.

We went trick or treating with aunt Becky and her kids. Calvin got quite a selection of candy and a nasty fever that night. He's been sick for month now. Poor guy. There is only one thing I like about him being sick and that's I get lots of snuggling time with my little guy which doesn't happen very often.

Halloween a very favorite holiday

I love Halloween since the day I can remember. . . I guess my mom made me love it so with all the fun activities we would do, the creative costumes we always wore and of course the Halloween dinner was divine! Here are just a few things I LOVE. What do you love about Halloween?

1. Dressing up
2. Eating candy -- chocolate
3. Anything pumpkin-- carving pumpkins, pumpkin desserts, decorating pumpkins etc.
4. Telling ghost stories
5. Spooky Halloween dinner
6. Carmel apples
7. Carmel's
8. Trick or treatin oh wait im too old for that
9. Halloween parties
10. The leaves start changing colors -- really missing that here in houston.

So here are a few Halloween crafts I did for my lack of Halloween decor. They are simple but cute.

1. I traced a bat pattern onto a piece of paper and then transferred to construction paper.

Vase pumpkin. Painted it orange. The top I used a paper plate punched a hole through it and put a stick and leaves I found outside. Glued construction paper for the face.

Crepe paper flower bouquet and wreath tutorial

Supplies: crepe paper, elmers glue, tape, black tape, hanger, cardboard

Flowers: Fold crepe paper like pic above. Then glue onto piece of wire from hanger (can be as long or short as you like it) Roll to make center of flower. showed in next photo. 

Gather the end of crepe paper at the bottom and make it bunch up.

Keep wrapping around don't make it too tight. You'll get the hang of it after a few tries.

Once you made it how big you want it tape the end to the wire. Tape the whole wire with black tape to hide the wire.

For the wreath:

bunch up on the bottom when desired size is met. 

Cut off the end and glue it to your piece of cardboard. Mine was kind of uneven but I wanted it that way. Simple but looks pretty. (sorry for the bad quality of photos)

Happy Halloween! Can't wait to see everyone's costumes and parties. 

My sister is doing a project party on her blog.. so share what you've done and grab her button so everyone else can be inspired. 

One Years Old and Family Photos

Calvin turned the big 1 yesterday and wow can I tell you how weird it felt... I can't believe that a year has already gone by and so much has happened in just one year.  A few weeks ago Calvin and I had some fun taking pictures in our backyard. He is quite the poser and i was eating up every moment of it. And i took so many and they all turned out so cute that I couldn't help but post them all -- i have way to hard of time choosing just a couple. 

I can't tell you how much I love this boy of mine. I'm bias but I just think I have the cutest boy in town. 

Calvin's year one embarked many fun adventures and new discoveries. 

Was born at momma's end of school battle

Had his first Christmas in Utah

Could lift his head up at 2 weeks

Hated being on his belly

Started sitting up at 5 months

First road trip to St. George

Gave kisses 4 months and still does

Lived in 3 different homes

started crawling 10 months

Moved to Texas

says and waves hi and bye

sings la la la

signs more/food

crawls up the stairs

His favorite toys are plastic spoon and his gas relief bottle or mini tub of toothpaste

loves to read, dance and eat

Favorite foods: any fruit, ice cream, grilled cheese, bread + jam, cooked carrots

Favorite book: llama llama

Loves to be with people especially mommy and daddy

I sure love my cute boy! It has been one eventful and fun year. can't wait for more memories with you.

We celebrated by getting him a red wagon and the best part is that it was free. We had dinner with some friends and ate some yummy apple cheesecake bars = Heavenly.. I'll have to post this on the cooking blog. 

I planned his party for this upcoming sat because his cousin (that lives here) has the same bday as him but sadly everyone but one family I invited couldn't make it to the party... how crazy is that. ha so we are just doing a dinner, cake and ice cream on Sunday to celebrate 

 Here are the Family Photos we took in the summer awhile back I said I would post them. well here they are.