Pirate Party for Stone!

Happy Birthday to my little man! I cannot believe a year has passed since I met my precious little boy. Stone has provided more joy to our home and our hearts and he is such fun! Since he has no say this year, I chose a Pirate Party them for his first birthday. I didn't do it nearly as cute as all the birthday party ideas I've seen on-line, but it worked for us and I'm happy with how it turned out!

 We greeted our guests with this sign I made from a wooden rail thingie and a leftover piece of thing wood in the garage. I Mod-Podged circles of pirate-y things cut out of scrapbook paper and the ribbon made the finishing touch.

The adorable invitation made by Ashley Dorroh McAlister. I mounted it on scrapbooking paper and framed it in a frame I painted. (Frames from yard sale $.50 each)

Cake by Trendy Wendy Cakes, it turned out awesome! She is so creative! Love the faux "wood-grain" in the fondant!

The pictures turned out kind of dark, but I made the banners from ribbon and scrapbooking paper cut into triangles. The ones outside on the wrought iron fence around the pool matched and I felt these were easier than sewing them from fabric.

We covered our kitchen island with burlap and this fun striped tablecloth (clearance at Target after 4th of July, perfect for a pirate theme!). Micah (age 10) made this foam pirate ship from a kit my mother bought at a consignment sale. 4 hours later we had our centerpiece!

The drink table area. Its amazing how fun this Robin's Egg blue goes with the red! I love it!

He still refuses to talk, but the expression Stone had on his face throughout the party told us that he enjoyed his first birthday!

Cute Canisters

I found these fun canisters at a yard sale this summer for just $3 for the set! They were in great condition but were grimy and dirty from being in someone else's kitchen plus they were WHITE and stood out too much in my kitchen with my creams and off-white accents:

So naturally I grabbed some of Gary's pliers and vice-grips from the garage and went to town dissecting and cleaning the nastiness:

 Then I spray-painted the canisters with Ivy Green gloss spray paint (Wal-Mart) and let it dry thoroughly, though patience is certainly NOT my strength.
I put them back together and think they look great against my burnt orange kitchen walls! I love the copper spoons!

Can't wait to put sugar in one of them and leave the rest empty forever because I'm not sure what to put in canisters! I'm serious. Flour? What else? Oh well, at least they look cute!

Opa's Magazine Rack

Sometime within the past year, my Opa gave Gary 2 old wooden magazine racks/holders and said "If you can fix these, they're yours". Get this: Opa made the magazine racks in the 8th grade!!! They were his very first woodworking project (as all of his family and friends know, just the first of MANY woodworking projects over his lifetime, most of which became gifts for us and others such as this garbage can:

I painted and distressed this to match better in my kitchen, being very careful to leave his personal stamp from the inside of the lid).

But back to the magazine racks.....

Gary and his handy self was able to fix the magazine racks to make them as good as new. We gave one to my parents and the other one we kept:

The wood was chipped from storage and some of the original stain was coming off (I mean, it was made and stained in 1943 or 1944 so I'd say it held up pretty well!) so I painted it with white oil-based Kilz and then white spray paint and added my own personal touch with ribbons to the handle. I could not be happier with it:

Isn't it adorable?? 

It looks perfect in the girl's upstairs bathroom with their fun blues and pinks! Here are more pics from their bathroom:

Opa also made the blow-dryer/straightener (back when everyone had curling irons for our bangs rather than straighteners, oh yes...) hanging on the wall and I painted and polka-dotted it to match. The lamp was $3 on clearance at Kirklands.

I bought this vanity from a high school friend, Dana Owens Smith, for $25 and took the broken mirror off the top part and painted and distressed it. The knobs are from Hobby Lobby. The polka dot shower curtains and towels, etc. are all from Target. But I pulled another of the same exact shower curtain out of a trash heap on the curb this morning while going to yard sales so I'll probably use it to cover a cute stool for the vanity if I ever find one.

So here is Opa's magazine rack, updated to get plenty of use by my sweet daughters in their bathroom! I wrote a few notes on the bottom with a Sharpie so years from now, when someone is trying to figure out why the heck I painted everything and made it different, they will know it is special because it came from him. 

More to come!