Second Birthday Party Project #5 ~ Gift

Here is the fifth and final project for The Boss' Second Birthday Party! (Thought I better post it before she turns three...jk).

One of my biggest pet peeves are houses that look like Toys R Us threw up in their living room.  There are a few reasons for this but the biggest is that the space no longer belongs to the family but the children and linked to this are all knids of other issues such as greed, entitlement ect.  Since The Boss is spoiled by family and friends Mr. D and I try to focus on one main gift rather than buying her everything in sight.  Don't get me wrong, we spoil her all the time (she loves Starbucks as much as her Mommy) but we are trying to teach her to enjoy what she has.

Last year it was her kitchen seen here, she LOVED it.  This year I really wanted to add a table for her to server her "guests".  While it took a little convincing Mr. D eventually saw the benefit in it and since then we have enjoyed many "romantic dinners" of coffee and soup served by an all too eager two year old waitress!

I purchased this table on Kijiji for $25.  We sanded and painted it to co-ordinate with The Boss' room.

We sanded and primed it first since it had a varnish on it.

I took The Boss to her room to get dressed and Mr. D brought out her table...she instantly knew what to do.  I think it was love at first sight.    She wasted no time at all.

We then took the table to her bedroom where she hosted her first tea party...and Mr. D again found himself wrapped right around her finger.  He swore he would NEVER sit at a little table drinking tea...

Looks pretty comfortable here to me.  Dad of the year, and the happiest two year old in town!

Linking up here:

Sugar and Dots
Domestically Speaking

Back to School

Back to School....

We are not yet in this season of life,
but many others are.
In Canada the kids don't go back to school until after Labour Day,
hence why we are a little behind on this.
One of the projects the not for profit I work for does
is a back pack program.
Since we are really trying to teach The Boss to love others,
we thought this was a great project for us to get involved with.

We "adopted" our students and went out to fill their bags.
We selected students a few years older than The Boss,
so she would be interested in picking things out for them.

 

The Boss was all too excited to help.
We had to continue to reminder her these items weren't for her,
even if the princess back pack would be her first choice too.
While it was stressful battling the back to school crowd,
it was a great time to show love to others in our community,
and remind ourselves how blessed we are.

Happy Back to School!

Wedding DIY

The word DIY has nearly put wedding planners and wedding decorators out of business.  Why pay for something you can do yourself? I love all the creative ideas that are taking your average wedding to a creative and romantic expression of the bride and groom.  This weekend my cousin married his sweet bride and while I appreciated every single DIY they included there was one person who took this concept to a new level...my Mom!

Like every good Auntie she started shopping for and planning her outfit for their big day the moment she found out they were engaged.  She started with a cute dress but when it came to shoes and accessories she started wishing she just wore something she already had.  (Fashion Faux pas... don't be the Auntie recycling dresses at your nephew's wedding...just kidding!  New accessories can bring new life to any outfit).   Anyway, she finally secured shoes, nail polish and jewelry but she could not find a purse that would work...enter wedding DIY!

My Mom fashioned a new purse from one of her grandmother's old purses and a pillow case she no longer uses on a toss cushion.  She explained her plan to me as I drove home from work one day and my response was "I'll be there in 5".  Not sure which was the greatest draw, my extreme respect and excitement for her creative genius OR my extreme uncertainty of whether she would be able to pull it off.

She started with her old purse and her pillow case.   We planned her attach and she drew cutting lines about an inch from the purse to allow sewing room.

She cut along the lines then sent it home with her favourite daughter (me...) to sew the rounded edge, connecting the front and the back of the purse.

She then hand stitched gathers into the purse tucking her stitches under the gold clasp of the purse.  (Not my project so I don't have pictures of this)

Next thing I knew she is ready to go.  Look at this beauty?  To say I was impressed is an understatement.

 What a wonderful weekend as a family celebrating the extension and the growth of our family.  Speaking of DIY's one of our favourite parts of the wedding we were at was the photo area.  Even Granny (she's 87) got in on the fun!

Another fun "DIY" if you will,  was when my cousin and I showed up rocking matching sock buns.  Not a word of a lie, our hubby's had no idea until we told them, that we had socks in our hair.  For some reason they thought it was gross...we were hot until we told them!

Congrats Robyn and Joel!  Thanks for giving us a reason to get dressed up and spend time as a family!  We had lots of fun being part of your day!

Linking up here:

Sugar and Dots

I'm Here...

The past few months I have been MIA...I do apologize.  It is not for a lack of projects, I think actually the opposite.  I changed jobs and it's the summer!  I feel like we pack, dump and re-pack.  In between all our adventures I try and pack in as many projects on my list as I can.  Don't get me wrong, it's been a fantastic summer but I have definitely been missing posting and following other projects online.  I am back, best I can be anyway.  So stick around to see the final project for The Boss' birthday, our dining room transformation and some office renovations at my new job!

~Weekend wedding with my love~