Treasure Hunting

You may have read where I mentioned some fun shopping last weekend in Arkansas. I didn't have a lot of time to shop, but I was able to squeeze in a few places and find a few treasures.

My first stop was to a wonderful shop called Coming Home. It's owned by a mother/daughter team who are very talented with home decor and antiques. I actually worked there with them for five years--until my first child was born. I loved it: all of the wonderful *pretties* to work with, doing displays, helping customers (at least the nice ones-ha!). Of course, all the *girls* that I worked with made it so much fun! So....I always have to pop in when I'm in town to say "hi" and check out all of the awesome stuff!

This time I found:

1. These really cool black leather wall "L" shelves in the clearance room. They were just what I needed for a certain spot in our family room. Wait till you see how they turned out!

(just ignore the mess in the background--I was more excited about my new shelves than I was about cleaning up the aftermath of our trip)

2. Next I found these adorable bird prints. They're reproductions, but they have the most curious Singer Sewing Machine logos on them. I wonder why--does anyone know?

3. This store sells Old World Christmas ornaments which I ADORE!! I picked up a few of those, too, because apparently I can never have enough of Christmas stuff.

Clara with the Nutcracker for the Princess

a turtle for Mr. B

a pair of chickadees in a nest for Vince & me

4. Next we hit the local Michael's (we don't have one where we live). First I found this gorgeous Martha Stewart wrapping paper on clearance ($1 a roll!!). I love to keep a good stash of wrapping paper, so I snap it up whenever I find it on clearance.

5. Then I found some small greenery picks that I've been looking for. I have a little plan for them.6. Finally, I found these bronze pots on clearance. I also have a little plan for these. It involves those leather shelves you saw above.

7. My sister and I also hit a few antique shops. I saw lots of good stuff, but the only things that I sprung for were some vintage books. I found an adorable copy of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew and three Hardy Boys books that I needed for my collection and a Hardys Boys Detective Handbook--it's so cute, I've never seen one before!

Well, that's it for the treasure hunt for now. Soon I'll show you what I've done with some of the above treasures:)

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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