I know this is a little late, but I was just so busy laying out on Monday!! 🙂  We are home from the beach, and I will do a post later in the week with some pictures of our time in Florida and my gorgeous bride of a sister!

You know Mondays are 50% off day at my local thrift store.  The boys and I love to wander around there and see what things we can refurbish or use to craft and bring old things new life!  One day I found this lamp.  It cost me under $3.00.  I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a new lampshade for it and I did!  I read a few blogs about it, and it really is a simple process!!

I was so excited once I finished it!  I plugged it in…and it so didn’t look right!  You could ‘see through’ the black fabric.  It needed something done on the inside of the shade, so it didn’t give as much light.  I cut and collaged tiny pieces of paper all over the inside-to give it a textured look.  That didn’t work.  I pulled out my handy black paint and painted those pieces of paper and-voila!  It worked!  There are some ‘extra’ glue spots on the backside, but overall I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Love this couple!!  In just a few short hours we will be heading to the beach for their wedding, and a few short days later-they will be getting married!  So excited to see these two tie the knot!!  I know my sis, Annie, and I are different in a lot of ways, but I am crazy about her.  There is a bond unlike anything else with a sister, and I can’t wait to stand next to her on Friday!  She has been through so much in the last few years-and deserves pure bliss!!  This week will be so much fun!  Caleb is the ring bearer-which hopefully goes smoothly!!  I’ll post some pictures when we get back!  Love you all and talk to you next week!

Don’t these two look like they would be great friends!?!  You might remember my first try at this pair from my Toys and Toys post.  I am trying to perfect these two, so I can start assembly lining them for my craft show in September.  Some of my thoughts on the pair are:

1.  The major changes for Sam the owl were: he has a head (separate from his body) and he gained wings!  I absolutely love him, but want to try again!  I want to make his head a little bigger and try to conceal where I sealed him up a little better.

2.  One of the major changes from Pammy for this doll is her face.  I used embroidery floss and buttons to give her a simpler more playful look.  She also can hold her head up!  Pammy had a more wobbly head.  I think the biggest change of all is that her dress is also her body!  I didn’t have to sew her clothes!  She was much easier and I just love her!  I think the next time I am gonna try to make her a little smaller and make her limbs a little more proportionate.  Caleb lovingly said that this doll looked like his beloved Emily.  I thought that was the cutest thing, so this line of dolls is going to be named after my best friend, Emily Morgan.

Details:  Please view my store, edstitches, to see more pictures of Sam.  Sam (about 22″ tall) is $22.00.  Emily (about 22″ tall) is $20.00.

Do you remember my Wild Rumpus painting?  You can check it out here.  Well, this week I shipped off that beloved painting!  I was so sad to see it go, but I am trusting the new owners will throughly enjoy it!  After I painted that piece, my awesome brother-in-law, Mike, hired me to paint this…

I have never seen the movie, so it was a little hard to get into.  There were many moments where I didn’t know what it “needed” next.  I would have it sit on my work space (as featured in the last picture), so I would see it through out the day and be able to think about it.  I am so pleased with how it turned!!!

***Ha ha please excuse my workspace mess!!  There are usually parts of different projects all over it, so it makes it hard to work on any one project!!!