Finally Finished!

Finally... We have completed the hutch. You know the one.

 

A few issues continued to crop up as we neared the finish line... and it all comes back to my giant mess with the stain. Our new paint (the lovely Marshmallow by Glidden) seemed to be covering it beautifully. But then, after it had cured up nicely, we noticed pink streaks. The stain was still coming through! Silly us. So back to Home Depot we went to get the same paint color, but in a paint and primer in one mixture.

And voilà! A very pretty, finished hutch.

 

 

 

 

Remember the original to-do list for the hutch? Well, many of the things fell away. We decided that we didn't want to install lights. Also, we wanted to make the butcher block darker to make the contrast between the paint color pop more.

 

 

And instead of adding new tracks, I just used candle wax (from some old tea lights) and waxed up the tracks of the drawers. It is like a whole new set of drawers! No squeaking. No sticking. Just effortless gliding to open a drawer. And I was going to line the drawers with paper. But I couldn't figure out a design that I loved enough to install permanently. 

 

 

Well, we have no room in our current place for this piece. I love it. But we are trying to sell it. I don't want this to sit in our garage and waste away. If we sell it, the money will go towards our efforts for a house. If we don't, I hope it doesn't get too banged up in the garage because it will be going in our home. Anyone else have a piece of furniture that transformed and transformed and transformed some more??

Buttery Crust and Yummy Fruit

My best friend got married. I shared the engagement pictures of I took of them and a couples shower I helped host for them. Now, I want to share something I baked for her wedding. My beautiful friend, Lauren, wanted to have a whole lotta pies. Her man loves a good pie, so what better way to incorporate him and his loves than by having a pie bar?

I made about 2 dozen cherry and 2 dozen strawberry pops. They were so cute! And something super fun to make. You can make these as time intensive as you like. Make the crust, buy the crust. Make the filling, buy some preserves. Just cut out circles, fill about 1/4 inch from the edge, drop a sucker stick, put on top crust, crimp edges, apply egg wash, bake!

For display, I brought along an old box with some floral foam. To hide the foam, we but burlap over it. The bride made little cards that labeled each pie and said who made them. It was such a sweet little arrangement of treats. Grandparents made their signature pies. The guests ate them up. Seriously. The pies were GONE very quickly. And, as I expected, little hands enjoyed the pie pops.

At it again...





You are not in the twilight zone. I didn't sustain a brain injury that caused me to forget what I have shared with you. This project just keeps coming back around. I am talking about the hutch . I have talked about it here and here and here and here. I have shared our list... and now the plan with what we are actually going to do with it also keeps changing.

 

But for now, we knew it needed to be repainted... because of a certain situation where my clumsy self spilled stain. We picked another shade of white, but this one is a bit more crisp. It's called toasted marshmallow from Behr. I really like it. And funny story... I dropped the pain can, too. I was able to flip it back over before all of the paint spilled out, but the splash radius was huge. It got everywhere. Seriously, I cried. My sweet husband held me and told me over and over again that its ok. So I got to cleaning and apologizing. And when he saw I was ok, he told me I am no longer allowed to hold paints or stains or anything like that again.

As the hutch is finished and we decide what to do, I will definitely share. But I think whatever we decide, the furniture will be a beautiful piece.

Couples Stock the Pantry Shower

My best friend (remember her?) asked met to be her MOH. Huge honor. I was so thankful. Then, my mind went in to overdrive. I had to plan things. BIG things. First on the list - a bridal shower. It was so. much. fun. Here some details and some highlights from the day.

I ordered the invites from geldesign on Etsy. Loved working with Galen. She is super fast, very flexible, and wants the design to be exactly what you are looking for. Plus, she is very reasonably priced. These invites came with matching recipe cards that I showed you guys when I also shared the recipe card box I redid.

 

 

This tiny table came from my moms house. It greeted guests with a precious scale I picked up from a thrift store in town. The "guest book" was actually a plate with a pretty basket weave pattern on the edges that guests signed so Lauren could display it in her kitchen. Pictures of the couple were on each table. Flowers were in recycled bottles and wrapped in pretty paper. I made some wax paper poofs to round out the little decor touches.

 

  

Favors were green tea that I wrapped in some parchment paper envelopes I made with a heart cutout that said "love is brewing."

 

 





A game that had many guests scratching their heads was "Name the Herb" which also included 2 spices. The most head-scratching herb? That last one. It was chocolate mint.  The other 2 herbs were basil and cilantro. The 3 guests with the most correct picked an herb and took it home. The bride-to-be took the 2 spices (cinnamon and cumin).

 

Tables were decorated with white table clothes topped with brown kraft paper. More flowers in recycled bottled wrapped in pretty paper adorned the tables (and some more poofs). Pictures were everywhere. There were also little cards that had trivial questions about the couple (like where did he propose and what their favorite snacks were). It was a nice little thing for table conversation.

 

 

White balloons of different sizes were pinned above the gift table, just to serve as a fun little piece of interest. And look at that tablecloth! For the main tables (gifts and food), I put brown craft paper over lacey tablecloths. I think that was my favorite touch.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there are my second favorite touch - those big tissue paper poofs over the food table. Sweets and finger sandwiches with fruits and veggies were arranged on different platters and bowls on the table. Silverware was displayed in jars. Those 2 cookie jars held donut holes in 1 (for the groom-to-be and his love for donuts) and fortune cookies (to represent the proposal in China). Little chalkboard made an appearance in a few different places, but silly me was running around being a hostess so few photos were taken before people arrived. Sorry! I wish I would have captured a few more details for you guys.

 

I had a lot of fun planning it and am so grateful for the help of  the other bridesmaids. But truly, I just hope it was what she wanted. Love you, La!

Conscious Thankfulness

This season of my life makes me feel like I am on this ride I remember from the county fair. The one where the walls spin and spin and the force sucks you to the wall while the floor drops. There are moments that my mind is full of excitement and enjoyment, but then there is a point that I just want it to end and move on to the next ride.

Working nights is just not my thing. My body will only let me sleep in 4 hour increments now. Simple tasks of life take a lot more planning (like going to the grocery store, doctors appointments, and spending time with friends). I've had to be way more intentional with planning my time wisely.

The Mister and I have really been embracing the time we do have together. It is so difficult when days go by and we have only exchanged a couple short phone calls and a handful of text messages. At first, I would spend the moments thinking of how I hated that we didn't have more of them. But I have been consciously putting myself in a better place.

Instead of praying that the Lord just open the doors so that I can have a schedule that allows me to see my husband, I am trying to remember His goodness in this season by providing me with a job that I do enjoy, a husband who has an ocean of patience in this season with his sleep deprived wife, and some amazing women who go to His throne with me just asking that His timing and will be done in my life.

These pictures are from a picturesque day that represent me and The Mister so well.  He fishes. I read. And we just enjoy being together. Praise you, God, for this man, this season, and these difficult growing pains that I know are for my good.

Coffee and Champagne Couples Wedding Shower

 

 Yesterday I talked about my best friend and promised I would share photos from her couples shower. And I bet by the title you are thinking that today is the day. Well, I'm actually sharing another dear friend's shower I had the joy of co-hosting. Her name is Holly. She actually took the picture of us that I featured in this blog post.

 

We threw this little shindig at The Mister's and my apartment's clubhouse media room. There were only a dozen or so expected guests, so the size was just right. The other hostesses and I tried to keep it casually elegant and totally represent the couple. A chalkboard sign hung at the entrance to greet guests.





Here is the lovely couple. Aren't they adorable?!

 

He loves coffee and socializing with friends. She loves photography, simplicity, and delicious desserts. Both of their likes were intertwined throughout the décor. So please, take a peek at the pieces of the Coffee and Champagne Dessert Couples Wedding Shower!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

So many delicious desserts. And that awesome succulent in the frame? Yeah, The Mister and I made that. I will share the how to with you guys, so don't fret! It was a blast.

 

 

 

All the hostesses with the beautiful bride-to-be (but now she's married! Yay!).

I love all of these women. So. Much.

Fancy-ing up a Recipe Box

Ahhh... life. I haven't posted in a while because I am now working night shift.  Like true night shift- 7 pm to 7 am. My life has been a bit upside down and I think I've finally got it all sorted out and embraced (for now, at least). I've managed to squeeze some life out of my backwards schedule (which usually meant little sleep for a day or two) and completed a few projects. I want to share a quick and easy little update I did to a Good Will recipe box as a gift for my sweet best friend. You may recognize her (and her man) from this post of their engagement pictures I took last summer.

I have the amazing joy of being her MOH for her wedding that is less than 2 weeks away (yay!). So I hosted (alongside a couple bridesmaids) a couples shower for her and her groom-to-be. Here is the invite I ordered from this Etsy shop. It is gelDesign and they are phenomenal. Totally customizable designs and great customer service.

 

 

As you can see, it was stock the pantry shower. Included with the invite was a recipe card. Soooo... they needed a place to wrangle up all of these cards. And I had just the thing!

This is a cute little wooden recipe box. It was a great color, solid, and has beautiful dove tail corners. I originally got it for us, but never took the time to write out recipes on cards small enough for it. Thus, it was time for me to get busy making it perfect for my beautiful best friend.

The couple likes things rustic, earthy, and not-too-fussy- totally my jam. So I asked the hubs to give me a quick rundown on how to use his wood burning tool. I got a lot of safety info (which if you know my guy, you know he takes safety seriously) and then did a couple test runs. to get familiar with the right pressure and the right length of time to leave the tip in one spot to get the look I wanted. Then, I got to sketching. Here is what I came up with.

 

 

I was so nervous. Burning this box was scary for me. Wood etching isn't like painting. I could sand off something I didn't like it I painted it. After something is burned in, there is no going back. So, after a couple deep breaths and few dozen strokes of the etcher, I had this.

 

Love it!

 

After custom making a few organizers for the inside of the box and gluing some felt to the bottom- it was finished!

 

 

I think they liked it. What do you think?

 

 

More will be shared soon about the shower (and their wedding)!!