Vintage Wedding Colors

I realized I hadn't put any details about the wedding I am planning. Well, aside from the Vintage Part. As I said before in Painting on Ceramic: an experiment...  D'anna already had her colors picked out and paint samples in hand when I went over to her house to take pictures of her house, where she wants to have the wedding. She hands them to me and I immediately love the colors.

Soft Coral

Wasabi

So, I will be posting lots of tutorials with paint in these colors. FUN!!!


Funny story... I have these colors so stuck in my head because I am trying to come up with ideas for the wedding, that I was mixing polymer clay the other night, just mixing colors for fun to see what I could come up with and then I was going to braid them into my favorite bangles that I make. Low and behold, I had made a soft coral and a wasabi bracelet. Of course they had glitter in them, so it wasn't exact but they are really pretty together. Can't wait to see what I come up with (yes, I am my own cheerleader! GO ME!)

Painting on Ceramic: an experiment!

With D'anna and Andy's wedding coming up. Remember them? From here :Introducing the Bride and Groom!  We are starting to play around with the decorations and with her paint samples in hand she says can we paint this and hands me this:

Yeah, you probably had the same reaction I did. What the hell is that? Luckily, I said "what is that?" D said "I have had this for a while and haven't done anything with it because it is not my style. She said can we paint it and put a single flower in each spot for one of the tables?" My response, "why not, if you don't like it the way it is, then lets change it." Now, have I ever painted porcelain (I think that's what it is made of!), No I haven't. Do I know how its going to coat, or stick or peel? No. But whatever, An experiment! 

 I used Valspar in Soft Coral and a sponge brush for this. I thought it would give less streaks in the paint. 

So, First Coat...

I will say it was a little drippy, and I am glad I was using a sponge brush. It helped it stick.

Second Coat...

Don't you love the splattered pain, and the crayon in the back (I have kids, what do you want!)

It really did need the second coat. It made the blue under the paint completely disappear and smoothed out any drips. I just wish I had some flowers to see what it will look like for the wedding. Maybe I will add that later. Also, I am not sure I am done. I am thinking of putting polka dots all over it with her other color which is wasabi!! 

More to come!

Mommy Made Giveaway featuring a prize from ME!!!!

The sweet Maria from Mommy Made is hosting a giveaway!!! Lots of great prizes to be had including some of my polymer clay bracelets!!! Come enter and Win!!!

Mommy Made: Target And Coffee And Ad Spaces Oh My!: Target And Coffee And Ad Spaces Oh My! Yes, Oh my, Oh My! Today I have a GREAT giveaway that you do not want to miss out on! My "Mommy" ...

Weight loss update!

Small steps, people, small steps! 

So, This week has been amazing for me, and I am not usually one to toot my on horn!

Through the simplicity of portion control and exercise (shocking, I know!) I have managed to loose 5 pounds already!  We are lucky enough to have a walking track across the street from my house at my daughters school. I have been taking full advantage of it. I even got up this morning at 5 a.m. (yes, that is 5 a.m.) to go for a walk. It was really great! I forgot how alive I can feel after exercise! It makes my day so much better too! I am more alert (mentally and physically) and ready to go. I am REALLY sore, because my body is having to adjust from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one but every movement that makes my body shrieks with pain is a reminder of what I am trying to accomplish. As stupid as this sounds, it makes me feel prettier too! Its a great feeling. OK, I am done congratulating myself. Update next week!! 

Introducing the Bride and Groom

The "Vintage Wedding" that I have previous posted is going well. I will have tutorial coming tomorrow on some ideas we are toying with. But I realized I hadn't introduced the bride and groom. This is D'Anna and Andy.

Such a cute couple!

and oh so funny!!!

I may have D'Anna write a little post here telling me more about her and Andy. To be honest, she is a co-worker with my husband at Palm Harbor Homes in Bryan. She and I have gotten to be pretty good friends, and she knows how crafty I am so I told her I would help with the wedding as long as she didn't mind me posting everything we do. Its a fun project that we both benefit from. I look forward to how this turns out!! More to come!

Christmas in July

I should have posted this way earlier. I received my gift for the Christmas in July gift exchange, with happyhourprojects.com, earlier this week. So, Now I am. I swapped with Pam over at pam-thebestlaidplans.blogspot.com.  She was really sweet and sent me this wonderful gift. 

I love the M. So cute! I get a gift and supplies. Jackpot! Thanks again Pam!!!

Vintage Wedding!

 So, I have been a little lapse here lately. Haven't posted any good tutorials for a while. I am even skipping music of the week. But I do have news to share. My friend D'anna is getting married! Yeah! And...

I am going to play Wedding Planner! 

Scary!

Now, have I ever planned a wedding? No. The hubby and I were married by a JP. Do I personally want a wedding? I didn't used to, but now that I have been through two weddings in the last year and am now doing this one, I realized I missed out. Anyway, that is another post for a later time, if ever. 

So, D'anna is getting married to Andy and she wants to do it at their place, completely DIY and she knows that DIY is my thing, so she asked me to help, plus she knows I will do it practically for free because I can post about everything we are working on. She also thinks that I manage to keep four kids in line (do I?) so I can handle the day of the wedding and she doesn't have to. I can understand that!

So, she wants to do Vintage Wedding. Which I love. Its perfect for DIY too!! Here are a few ideas I have found that we are thinking about. 

We want to do this but maybe with lace, more feminine! Tutorial to come!

Love this!

Well, I am going out there today to take pictures and do a little planning. Wish me luck! Hopefully I don't screw it up and she never talks to me again.  Anyone have any suggestions!?! I am all ears!

Oh, and I will be posting tutorials throughout this process. Everything will be handmade, so get ready!

Our Reflection: Meet & Tweet Twitter Hop

I am joining in the blog hop over at Our Reflection! Go over there a meet new people.

<div align="center"><a href="http://our-reflection.blogspot.com/" title="Our Reflection "><img src="http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g383/_laurahernandez/MeetTweet-2.jpg" alt="Our Reflection " style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Our Reflection: Meet & Tweet Twitter Hop: I heart Thursdays! I love the opportunity to meet so many new friends. Last week we had a record breaking turnout with over 200 link...

It's Time!

OK, its time to put this out there. I am overweight and unhappy about it. 

Not that I should complain or be unhappy. I mean I am finally at a place in my life where we are (Dare I say it) stable financially, and by that I mean the bills are paid, foods on the table, and a roof is over our head and we have money left over. Not much, but we are finally at a really good point. The kids are happy and healthy. 

I love this picture!

However, I have not been taking care of myself and have been self-medicating with food for far too long. I wish I could say its baby weight, but Nevin is about to be two so that theory gets thrown out the window. Recently I have started being more aware of what I put in my mouth and we bought a scale this weekend. (I scream in horror!) 

So when I got on it I almost cried. No wait, I did cry. I don't know if I am comfortable putting the number on the screen, because then its like alcoholics anonymous. "Hi, My name is Leslie, and I am a fat ass!" Yes, I said that. Anyway, So I think I need to put it out into the universe (blog universe, but still a universe) that I am going to start chronicling my weight loss journey including what I ate each day. So far, for breakfast, I had a yogurt parfait and a diet coke. Oh, and a 5 hour energy drink, but I am not sure that has calories, guess I should check. So, I will let you know how the day goes. Oh, and I have started exercising too! If you have never tried them, The Leslie Sansone walking DVDs Rock!!Your walking but its great exercise, you even run a little! Its especially great on days you can't go outside for a walk (Its been raining here in College Station for like two weeks!). So to rap up: Eating Better! and Exercise!  That is All!

The Versatile blogger

I'm very happy to announce that I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Sara at City Girl gone County! Since I'm a small-and-growing blogger, I appreciate the recognition by other bloggers for the work I am doing. Thank you Sara! So very sweet!

In receiving this I am required to:

*Thank the blogger who nominated you for the award
*Include a link to their blog in you post, as well as the award  image
*Give 7 random facts about yourself
*Nominate 15 other deserving bloggers for the award
*Include links to the nominated bloggers' sites
*Let the other bloggers know that they have been nominated for the award.

------

Here's seven random facts about me:

- I went to college and studied Music Education for the first two years before I decided I did not want to be a high school choir director!
- I am scared of spiders
- I don't like to drive at night
- I have a tattoo of the Leo symbol on the small of my back, I want more!
- I hate cleaning the kitchen, luckily the hubby does most of it lucky me!
- I had three wrecks in my first year of driving (it said random!)
- I have 11 piercings in my ear and one in my nose.


The 15 bloggers I chose to nominate, in random order, are:

1. craft-o-maniac.com - Jenni
2. agapelovedesigns.com - Maria
3. happyhourprojects.com - Adrianne
4. anightowlblog.com - Kimberly
5. http://our-reflection.blogspot.com/ - Laura
6. Covered in Grace - brooke
7. Musings from a SAHM - Erika
8. Cheap Crafty Mama - Kate
9. thelifeofanotsoordinarywife.com - Melissa
10. The Grant Life - Kelly 
11. Finding my way in Texas - Jennifer
12. My Beautiful crazy life - Breanna
13. Paisley Boulevard - Colleen
14. Through the eyes of the Mrs. - Beth
15. Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby - Lena

The above bloggers not only create intriguing, helpful posts, but also contribute to helping other bloggers out. They are enthusiastic in the blogging world, and make the Texas blogging community exactly what it's supposed to be: a community. 

Congrats to those I nominated; I can't wait to hear your seven random facts!

Perfectly Posh!

I love getting the mail. I sign up for samples all the time. I love samples. What a great way to try out products for free, then go nuts and by a bunch!!! 

So, the very lovely Tiffany, a consultant for Perfectly Posh, was kind enough to send me some samples. It was even wrapped in this very cute paper. 

She sent a "chunk" of Hippie scrubber soap, patchouli vanilla flavored, Sugarfix sugar scrub, Hottie Patottie body lotion and Lemon rice body butter. First, all of them smelled amazing. 

 I have to be honest I am and have never been a big patchouli fan, despite my tree-hugger tendencies, but this stuff smells amazing. Then when I used it the lather was nice and fluffy and was strong enough on the lather to actually shave with it. It's is hard to find in a bar of soap for shaving, I am big on shaving cream, but this was perfect!

The SugarFIX is this sugar scrub, It was great too, Honestly, I wish I had had more of it. I scrubbed with it and my skin was so smooth and the sugar dissolved away into this great oil that really softened my skin.

Now, the Hottie Patottie, love the name. Smelled really good and kind of like brown sugar. I always say, you want to make a man drool, smell like cookies!

The Lemon rice body butter, was like Buttah! Sorry, I went Barbara Streisand for a minute! But it was really rich and stuck, in a good way. It didn't sweat off, really moisturizing, and did wonders for my elbows. 

So, Ladies or Gentleman (there are men's products too) go over to Tiffany's posh site and try some for yourself. I am going to get me some for it, these little things were such a tease!!!

Etsy Treasury

  'Chunky' by lesliemarquezdesigns

I love chunky. It says Wilma Flintstone! HA! Chunky can be super cute on a baby too!

Jade necklace with blac... lesliemarquezd... $15.00	Newborn Baby Girl Hat C... chloescrochetc... $35.00	20x15mm Flat Oval Chunk... BellasBeadHabi... $2.50
Chunky Merino Yarn AdelaideYarn $17.00	Great Gumballs Children... DaizyBugz $13.50	Oversized Hooded Infini... WellRavelled $44.00
Polymer clay gemstone n... lesliemarquezd... $12.00	30 inch. Shocking Pink ... 18items $4.50	Chunky turquoise Neckla... stylelovers $26.00
Baby Girl Hat Crochet C... HowCuteAreYou $18.50	50pcs Acrylic Chunky Li... Crushcrush $2.99	Chunky or Fine Pure Sil... RagsNTags $11.99
Gemstone Bead, Chunky, ... BeaconBeads $3.20	18mm Amethyst Faceted C... emass $35.00	Chunky Om 55mm Carved S... Indounik $4.20
PLUM SAPPHiRE / RuBY. M... gempalace $32.99

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Christmas in July week!

 Christmas in July! How much fun is that!! Well, one of my fellow bloggers Adrianne at Happy Hour Projects is having a huge giveaway and I am a part of it. I will be posting this week the lovely gift I will receive from the gift exchange that she is heading up as well. So, enter the giveaway and see what comes this week!!!

Today's giveaway is HUGE, with over $600 in prizes up for grabs from some amazing sponsors.  Check out these awesome prize packs - each of these are valued over $100!

Prize Pack #1 is available for US Shipping only.  $103 Value.

Wooden Name Puzzle in Primary or Pastel Colors from TLC Woodcrafters

"Every child is an artist" vinyl wall quote from Blissful & Domestic Vinyl Designs (10" x 23")

$10 Gift Card to Target from Live Laugh Rowe

$10 Gift Card to Hobby Lobby from 4 You With Love

$10 Gift Card to JoAnn Fabrics and one Coffee Cozy of winner's choice from Wait Til Your Father Gets Home

$15 Starbucks gift card from Happy Hour Projects

Prize Pack #2 is available for U.S. shipping only.  $101 Value.

Stencil of choice from Cutting Edge Stencils (up to $50 value)

One Bar of Lavender Shea Butter Soap and Shea Butter Lavender Lotion, handmade by Natural Garden Soaps

$10 Michael's Gift Card from Here Comes The Sun

Handmade Brooch by Bear Rabbit Bear Crafts

Random Mix of 4 Woven Bracelets from Happy Hour Projects

PrizePack #3 available to US & Canada.  $120 Value.

36" Hand-Blackened Brass Necklace with Mother of Pearl Accents by Tumblestone Handmakery

$20 Michael's Gift Card from The Painted Pear

Choice of Vinyl Chalkboard Labels from Ginger Snap Crafts

Item of Choice from Jessie Street Designs

Unfinished Wood Jewelry or Craft Item from Banglewood Crafts

Prize Pack #4 available to both US and Canada.  $100 Value.

Lowercase Ballroom Boogie Stamp Set

Jewelry Hammer

Bench Block 

24 metal stamping blanks (not pictured)

Everything you need to get started metal stamping

sponsored by ImpressArt Metal Stamps

Prize Pack #5 available to both US and Canada.  $103 Value.

Vintage Inspired Necklace from The Painted Pear

Choice of 2 Crochet Patterns from Petals To Picots

$15.00 Gift Card to Knit Picks from 4 You With Love

2 Crocheted Cloths and Michael's Gift Card (or Canadian equivalent) from Seven Alive All Livin' In A Double Wide

Fat Quarter Bag Pattern and 4 Made-to-order, Hand Stamped Fat Quarters from Homemade By Cameron

Initial Impressions Ty Pennington Fat Quarter Shop Bundle from Happy Hour Projects

Prize Pack #6 available to both US and Canada.  $102 Value.

Limited Edition Leaf Necklace with Orange Quartz Briolette and Sterling Silver Chain from StampCharm

Set of 3 Braided Polymer Clay Bracelets from Leslie Marquez Designs

Matching Mug Rug and Coffee Cozy from Finding My Way In Texas

$10 Starbucks Gift Card and Random Mix of 4 Woven Bracelets from Happy Hour Projects

WOW, right?

I know that rules are scary, but I have a few things to tell you about how this giveaway will run so that we are all on the same page.

There is just one Rafflecopter widget, one pool of names, a one-time shot to be entered to win one of the six prize packs.  I opted to run it just once to give everyone the best chance at everything available.  You don't have to keep coming back and entering new giveaways every day - but that means there are a LOT of optional ways to enter to maximize your chances.  Please don't get overwhelmed or feel as though you have to complete every entry task - but of course, the more tasks you complete, the better your odds.   So set aside some time to make the most of your chances of winning!

Only the #3, #4, #5, and #6 prize packs are available for shipping to both US and Canada.  If a Canadian winner is drawn for the #1 or #2 prize pack, they will be awarded the next numerical prize available.  Even though the #1 and #2 prize packs cannot be shipped outside the US, you may still complete the entry tasks for those sponsors if you wish!  That will still increase your odds of winning one of the other prize packs!

Facebook has an anti-spam system in place so that computers cannot auto-"like" pages.  The word "confirm" may appear on some entries - this is a random validator, ensuring that you are a real person and not a computer.  You must click "confirm" in order to like the page and for that entry to be valid.  Winners will be verified, so don't risk forfeiting your prize because you didn't click "confirm"!

A big thank you to these great prize sponsors!

Now, enter to win from through July 22!  If you can't make it through the tasks you want to do all at once, just come on back anytime this week.  (Giveaway ends on July 23 at 12:01 am EDT).  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturated Canary: Let's Talk...

Saturated Canary is the blog of a really talented artist, Krista. Her art is soooo cute and mesmerizing. I can't draw to save my life, I can draw enough to keep the kids happy when they ask me to draw something, but nothing like this. She is having a big week on her blog and on monday and tuesday will have a free download of one of her girls that she draws. I love her stuff. Can't wait till monday!! Check her out.

Saturated Canary: Let's Talk...:     I am really excited to kick off probably the most fun blog week ever on here:)!  I've done lots of planning to make CHA week extra ...

Under 300 Followers link Party!

 

Do you have under 300 followers? Well come join the party, meet some new peeps and gain some followers. I love this idea. I think as bloggers we put a lot of emphasis on getting followers and this is a great place to start. Especially for someone like me who, though I have had this blog for a while, is just getting into it. Man, is it addictive! 

Insanity Rules: 100 Facebook Fans Giveaway

One of my fellow texas bloggers is having a giveaway!! Win some awesome prizes!!!

Insanity Rules: 100 Facebook Fans Giveaway: Alright y'all here it is the day you've been waiting for. Okay maybe not but it's going to be great anyway. It's our 100 Facebook Fan giveaway.

Not enough coffee in my world!

OK, today is going to be one of those days where I can't drink enough coffee. 

Where is this and how do I get one?

I have a lot of days like this. I have come to realize that I put up a front on here and make it look like I have everything together. I make these fun projects, play with the kids and the hubby. But lets face it, most days I just want to rip my hair out or crawl back into bed and sleep for four days but that's not possible. Even on my days off, the minions are up by 7, notice I said "by" seven. Meaning, they are usually awake well before that. The minions have NO concept of "weekends" or "Summer." 

This never happens!

Man, I remember sleeping late during the summer when I was growing up. I am glad they have energy to be active but once in a while I would like them to let me sleep till 9. What's worse is my husband is a salesman and works EVERY Saturday. So, not only do I not get to sleep in on my day off, I am the only one taking care of all four of them ALL Day and they are a hand full. Sorry, I think I need more coffee and possibly a happy pill. 

Maybe it's just because its summer. I work 40 hours a week, my husband works closer to 60. We feel really guilty about not being able to be at home with the kids right now so i think we are trying to make up for it by being really busy and "having fun" every minute we aren't working. Its exhausting and overwhelming. I like to think that maybe I need a vacation but then I would need a vacation after that vacation to recover from Fun with four kids for a week! This came to mind.

Maybe me and the hubby need a weekend away. I want to go to the beach, but I don't think the kids would ever forgive us for going without them. Whatever, this is my life. I am so Tired.