Celebrate!!

To all my friends and family:


Myspace Happy New Year Graphics
May the new year bring you everything that you are looking for.  I hope you all get to be with loved ones tonight.  Good riddance to 2011 and welcome, 2012.

Much love!

A card stock counter

Now that I have the layout of the bedroom pretty well done, I thought it was time to move onto the kitchen.  I needed to custom make a counter with a country sink and efficiency stove/oven.  Some years ago, a friend of mine had an apartment and the stove was only 18" wide, with only two burners.  I used this as my inspiration for the counter.

First, I used some plain copy paper to fold up a mock counter so I could see how things would fit.  I also drew on it to map out location and size of the sink, cabinets and oven.  I had to do a lot of thinking on how to make it and after deciding that wood would be far too complicated and take too long, I settled for Kris's way of doing things:

Behold, a counter made out of card stock, foam core board and carpenters glue. I didn't document any of it, because I honestly had no idea how it would turn out.  It needs a bit of sanding on the edges and some wood filler to clean up some of the gaps, but I think it turned out great!  

I am considering painting it a cottage blue and giving it white hardware and white counters.  I also think that the oven needs to be white enamel.  The open shelving will be hidden by a curtain-I already have predilled holes for a toothpick or slender dowel.  :)

It looks great when it is in the kitchen.  I can't wait to fill it with accessories!! Poke the pictures to see them better.  :)

What do you think?

A happy, though stressful, day...

I know some people would like to see some pictures from the wedding, so here they are. We had a really great time that day-even with the bumps in the road and the Bride being a bit cranky at the disorganization.  Weddings really would be a lot less stressful if people would listen and follow directions and if the the bride and groom didn't have to depend on others.  :)  Still, it was the happiest day of my life and I have never felt prettier or more like a princess. I was joined by several people that I hold dear in my heart, including Brae Oktober of otterine.com.  Yea!  And everything was made okay and righted when I got to see the way that James was looking at me when I walked down the aisle....like I had always imagined and always hoped that a man would look at me....  Enjoy the pictures!  I narrowed it down to 25 from 2000  :)

Our first dance was to Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon. We started
in a foxtrot and then had a grande finish.:)

After our quiet moment, he was doing my bustle.  The girls had gone inside to eat.

Bridal Party

Quiet moment for Mr and Mrs Bowen

"You said your vows so seriously."
"That's because I meant them, Wife."

Beautiful!  And look how cute my kids are!!!

Mr and Mrs Bowen

I have never seen him so happy.  :)

Getting a hug from Cayce

Getting a leer from Charlie

Congratulatory hugs from our son.

See his face? See his face?!?!

Me and the girls before.

Charlie looking quite dapper.  :)

Cayce was a tiny 007!  That purse next to him belongs to Brae.
He harassed her while she ate.  :)

Definitely overdone for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.

The ladies that kept my sanity together (minus my sister). From to right
Bri (Matron of Honor), Me (Bride, duh), Brae (aka Otterine, my twin PEA)
Kim (Bridesmaid) and Stefanie (Bridesmaid)

It's like the wind KNOWS when it needs to come mess up
your do!!

Moment of music to calm our nerves.. and to allow me time to
stop crying.

Daddy walking me down the aisle.

My parents welcoming James into the family

Hugs!!!

Hurrah!! They finally got married!!!

My dress was overly poofy.  :)

Music doesn't need to be audible for a couple to dance.  <3

Mini time Again!

I got through the wedding and Christmas and finally got some time to mini!  Hooray!  I have missed it so much.

Yesterday, I worked on the bedroom in the Orchid.  Painted and installed baseboards, redid the furniture, dressed the bed and threw in some accessories.  Today, I made some pillows for the window seat and trimmed up the window and unsightly areas.  Nice to be back at it again!

I love this shot alongside the bed.

Want a small country side table to the left of the bed, for a drink, place to set a book
and a pair of glasses.  

Going to put a small basket of linens under this side table.

Hamper will go to the right of this dresser.

This bed was fun to dress.  I made the mattress from directions
from Kris at 1inchminis

I can see cast off shoes and a pair of slippers living in this corner.

I plan on making something to go around the stair hole and a hamper needs to be made.  I am also going to get some shoes.... I want this house to be full of purchases and gifts from friends.  Pictures and such need to go up, too.  :)

Dum dum da dum

I GOT MARRIED TODAY!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

I have been missing in action since Halloween, it seems.  :)  But, there has been craziness trying to get the final things done for the wedding and I have been doing a bunch of Thanksgiving crafts with the boys.  Add on top of that the fact that Brae, probably unbeknownst to her at the time, introduced me to Pinterest.
         ******This post has been in the making since before Thanksgiving... give you all an idea as to how busy I am?

HOLY CRAP!!!  I love that site and it is probably a good thing that I didn't find it sooner.  We have already cranked out a bunch of things that we found from there, a few, even, for the wedding.

Every holiday, the boys and I do a lot of coloring, but they weren't really interested in doing that for Thanksgiving.  I guess, when you have colored one turkey you have colored them all.  HA!  I tried to find some other things for them to make and create.  I only got pictures of them working this one day though:

They made this turkey at playgroup:  It has thankful feathers.  :)  And it's adorable.

Charlie is thankful for dinosaurs, story time, E-y (Eli), Dad, Mom, stroller rides, Cayce and mashed potatoes.







Cayce is thankful for his family, friends, slippers, Charlie, Mommy and Daddy, happiness and I'll be darned if I didn't forget the last two...




Every year I do turkeys that track how much they have grown.  When they get a little older and can appreciate it, I will put them all out at once.  These construction paper ones are made by tracing their hands and feet.  The feet make up the body and the hands make up the tail.

These painted ones are their palms and thumbs painted brown, whilst their other fingers are in other various autumn colors.  This particular one is Cayce's.

The autumn tree is a finger painting that they did.  I painted the trunk for them and then let them go to town with them.  Too cute!!

Charlie's Autumn Tree Painting

Cayce's Tree and Charlie's Turkey. Poke to see better!!

.  There are two other turkeys that were made-  one is a hand print in a coloring picture and it sports the message "I made this turkey for everyone to see, that I am very grateful for how good God has been to me."  The other turkey, Cayce colored in and we made the feathers that tell the story of Thanksgiving.

We have also baked various pies and breads and I went to Cayce's very first at-school-Thanksgiving.  Eeeeep!!  So cute.  He made a little Indian/Pilgrim costume out of a paper bag.  I loved it!

Cookies Cayce made for Thanksgiving. Idea also from Pinterest!

I have taken a ton of things from Pinterest though.  Mostly for Christmas.  :)  Ideas for a few wreaths and a holiday painting, plus crayon art!  That was so much fun!

So here is the ball wreath made out of a wire hanger and about $5 worth of ornaments from the Dollar Tree.
I'll make a better one next year.  :)

Here is a painted frame with a bow and a few dangling ornaments left over from wedding decor. LOVE PINTEREST!!!

A few crayon arts.  One is for a very good friend of mine, for Christmas.  She loves giraffes.  :)  Yes, I made a picture of a giraffe out of melted crayon.  How cool am I?!?!?!

And probably my favorite thing taken from Pinterest is the pallet turned wall shelf.  I adore it.  It is so country and artsy at the same time.  Love. IT.

What else has been happening?  A lot of wedding stuff.  I will post on some of that stuff later this week.  We made some great decorations and favors.  I am currently working on the bridal party gifts, one of which is a set of personalized coasters.  :)

And then, on the side of all of that I have been working on a Christmas room box. No, I haven't finished the Orchid yet.  I am so ADD when it comes to crafting.  Ha!  Distracted by sparkly new things, all the time.

***Side note, I am listening to the Christmas music station here in Florida and Cayce totally just recognized the Charlie Brown song and attempted to do the Snoopy dance.  Yea.

So, this Christmas room box was created so that the lovely bright colored furniture I got from Brae would have a place to live. She sent them to me as a shower gift.  :)  Plus, we will have a post documenting the great fun we get to have decorating for Christmas!  And soon will begin the nights of going to see Christmas lights.

 Happy Holidays, everyone!