I finally got those hideous vertical blinds removed from the living room. I gave maintenance a fake excuse to take them away. I mean Henry kind of played with them but mostly they were just ugly. Out came the curtains and one more thing got checked off my to-do list. These were in Henry's room in Utah but I like them here. And yes, its an IKEA duvet cover I bought at a yard sale for $2. 
So funny story about these chairs. I originally bought them at Target, they were on sale and after making Steve try out multiple options, we decided on these. Well funny thing. We couldn't get them into the car. We took everything out of the trunk, tried the back seat. No luck. So I had to drag them back into the store, I was sweaty from all our failed efforts and get a refund. So when I saw them at Lowe's (three blocks from my house) I bought them again and tied them to the trunk and prayed they would stay put. 
So this is Henry: sad that we can't go out on the deck. I had opened the sliding glass doors to take pictures and he tried to walk outside. I stopped him and a fit ensued. But then I hid behind the curtains and he laughed once he found me. Another reason why the curtains are way better than the blinds.
So I finished the table and three of the six chairs. They are in the house and while they still smell a little like paint, I love them. Henry is still sitting at his old chair since I didn't baby proof the other new ones but he doesn't seem to mind. Dinner at the table every night with plenty of room for pretty bowls of salad and platters of pasta.
Thought I would take a break from lantern hanging to show one of my many projects from this last week. With the table done and half the chairs done, my creative energy has come back. Working on one project for so long kind of drains me, like when you get all excited about reading a new book and half way through you lose steam and now you just need to finish it so you can move on to other things. Curse you, Henry James!
So when people ask me what I did over spring break I tell them I refinished a kitchen table. Doesn't sound like much but it has been hanging over me as a cloud for 3+ months, so its a pretty big deal. Tonight we're moving it into the apartment after Henry is asleep. Here is a sneak peek at all my hard work. Things learned:
Henry finds his book of choice. Sees me sitting near and brings it to me. Sometimes he is hindered by trying to crawl and holding it at the same time. He places his hand on the book and them tries to move it forward. This is less of a problem now that he walks.
He comes with deliberation. He wants to read that book. He usually comes with mouth open too.
Sometimes he is momentarily distracted by the tv but then he gets back on track. 
He loves Miss Viola Swamp. He will stare at her. I think he is intrigued by how odd she looks. Maybe he likes her exaggerated chin and moles. 
Then he wants to read it again. Currently Miss Nelson is hidden under the cushion of our ugly chair. Don't tell Henry. It will soon be joined by The Missing Dinosaur Bone and Tumble Bumble.
As a presidency we trekked the three hours to the mini temple in South Carolina. Boy am I going to be glad when our temple is up and running again. Though tiny, it was lovely and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Like my dress? I bought it at a thrift store for $1.20 and it was too short but had a generous hem to let out. We lunched in Columbia and I fell in love. I will be back to South Carolina.
Over Christmas break, Steve and I hit up the Tempe Public Library where I spotted Tim Gunn's new book, Gunn's Golden Rules. I loved his style book and thought this would be excellent as well. It is. It is full of humorous stories of the fashion world and backstage from Project Runway. More of an autobiography than a style book. I loved it. Tim is both engaging and astute. He demands a return to manners which I found fascinating.
I love style books. I devour them. I love reading them in B&N, finding them at the library and secretly perusing them at home. I don't think they are always well written but we'll call it a guilty pleasure. I am the same with home decor and DIY art books. Just check me out on goodreads. You'll see what I mean.
You will need:
Cut a square of crepe paper. You can eyeball this, don't waste your time trying to be perfect. You can also cut and fold 2-3 at a time once you get the hang of it, this speeds things up considerably.
Here is your square.
Fold square in half. Hamburger style.
Fold square in half again.
Fold square in half again but wedge style. Or ice cream cone style.
Round the top of your wedge with your scissors.
It should look like half a heart.
Open your paper and you should have 4 hearts that make a flat flower.
To achieve that three dimensional goodness that everyone is after these days (Yes, Hollywood. I'm talking to you.) Cut one and a half of the wedges out of the flower. Leave a small tab to make gluing easier.
Dab a little glue on the tab. And press to the neighboring petal.
See where they overlap? That is where you glued. And it should form a flower like a bowl instead of just a flat piece of crepe paper.
Ah isn't it pretty. You made that!
An extra step which adds more depth is to color the center with a darker marker. Here I used sharpie but for the lighter paper flowers I used washable markers and highlighters.
See, doesn't that look better?
Now go find some branches in your yard. Seriously, thanks for being so lazy maintenance people and piling them right behind my building!
Adhere to branches with a small bit of hot glue (not pictured.) I also looked at some flowering branches online to see how flowers naturally place themselves and tried to mimic that a bit. I also glued them on at different stages of openness to achieve that "oooh some are just starting to bloom look."
And now I have the month of April off so everyone can attend the Atlanta temple open house. Back to etsy and crafting I go.
Whenever I am taking pictures of pillows or tutorials, Henry insists on also being photographed. I guess it is my fault since I was constantly taking pictures of him when he was little. He's still little what am I talking about.
Cardboard Box = best toy ever!
Melinda requested to see the flowers. So here are the flowers. I made all these flowers, I know I'm insane. But when you're planning a relief society meeting and your decor budget is $0 and your theme is rustic spring and you have to make the gym feel not so cavernous, it just kind of happens. This is how I plan to use them in our living room. The rest will be given away to brighten other homes because as possesive as I am, not even I need 75 flower stems.
Tutorial to come! Not now though because I am not showering until I complete 4 loads of laundry and tackle all the house work I so happily cast aside on a normal day.
