The Crafting Bonanza and Other Updates

A lot has happened in the last few weeks since I've posted! It's crazy how quickly time flies. One of my best friends from college got married this weekend to a super nice guy at this beautiful venue near Orlando. Now they're honeymooning at Disneyland and not gonna lie, B and I are a little jealous about that part.

Pavilion on the Lake in Tavares, Florida, where my friend got married. It was beautiful! Image via venues.puffnstuff.com

I've been busy working on lots of orders and projects! I really need to get better at learning to balance my crafting/production time and my blogging time.

I LOVE paper flowers and I know I want to do them for my wedding, so when my bride Stacey asked me to experiment with making giant paper roses, I figured it was as good a time as any to jump in to that. I love how my first one came out and I love the medium! I used the Green Wedding Shoes tutorial and the Martha Stewart flower template.

My first attempt at a paper rose! Via my Instagram.

It really has been a crafting marathon bonanza at my house these past few weeks. In addition to paper flowers, I made boutonnières for a groom in Canada. I love how they turned out!

Thrifting to Decorate My Kitchen: The Corner Cabinet and the Girl Scout Fiestaware

When I was house hunting, I wanted built-ins.  Oh my goodness, did I want built-ins. I craved cute little fold down ironing boards and bookcases and cute corner hutches.  One of the main things on my house wish list was one of those cute wood scroll things above the sink that were so popular in 50s kitchens and seem to be ripped out constantly on those awful remodeling shows.  Alas, when I found the right house for me, while it did have the original wood cabinets that I so desperately wanted and a nice built-in bookcase in the living room, there was not a cute scroll-y thing in sight.  

A few months ago, my mother and I were at an estate sale (we do love a good estate sale) and I saw this corner hutch.  All the fun scroll work I could handle, plus it looks like something that could have feasibly been built into my 1947 house. It had a few coats of old flaking paint on it, but a fresh paint job and it’s good as new.  Here it is mid-paint job:

personal photo

Around the same time, I scored an awesome stash of Fiestaware at a Girl Scout fundraiser garage sale.  My mom had gone to the garage sale before me and told me that I had to go back.  They had Fiestaware... cheap.  We got there just as they were closing and luckily, they reopened just for us.  There was tons of Fiestaware, much of it brand new and never used.  I scored all of this awesome stuff for about $25.  Super exciting.

And here is my new corner hutch with a piece or two of Fiestaware, some awesome family pieces also by Homer Laughlin, a few other pieces, and my (fake) raven lurking at the top.

Obviously, it’s not totally done looking, but it’s well on its way.  This corner was the catch all for a long time, so to get it to this point is a victory.