Making a tutu!

Last week we went to get some family pics made for Father's Day. While we were waiting, we saw a little girl wearing the cutest tutu! My little girl just fell in love with it! I found myself doing what I always hated my mother doing...thinking "I can make that!" Well, I'd forgotten about that by the weekend since we just put our house up for sale. I've been running ragged all week from trying to get the house "in order." On Friday, for a little break, I decided to go over to GW and see what they had. Well, guess what I found? This:

Okay, so just the tule. I already had the ribbon, scissors and ruler. There were several yards here for only $2.99. When I saw it, I just scooped it up! What luck!

After picking my mom's brain on the best way to make one, I googled it and found this video.

E was so excited!!!


I began cutting the strips and she was making a very neat pile of them.


Her big brother even helped, too!

She ended up going to bed before I was done with it. But, the next morning it was waiting on her!




Since this was a thrifty find, I'm linking up to Rhoda's party! Go over and check other people's thrifty finds this weekend!

More thrifty finds...

It's Monday, so Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having her Thrifty Treasures party!

I hardly ever get to go to yard sales. I love finding a treasure, but let's face it, I like to sleep! I don't like to get up at the crack of dawn when I can sleep later since Hubby is home! I was invited to a church craft and garage sale, so I decided to go...at 10 am. My friend and I walked through the craft booths and were about to leave when a lady asked if we had been around back to the garage sale. Why no, we hadn't!

Here's what I found...

a roll of toile wrapping paper for $.25


an aqua vase for $.50


not sure what this is, but it is made out of wooden rulers. I thought it could hold something and just was one of those things that intrigued me and it was only $.25, so I bought it!

my favorite find...a beautiful globe for $5. Love this!!


I'm also including a pic of my thrifty find from the beach...a piece of wood that I picked up out of a trash pile that was actually on the beach.

I can't decide what I want to paint on it. I was thinking of painting "Dolberry Est. 2000." I 've seen some signs done like that that are cute. Or maybe a verse...I guess I need to decide where I'll hang it first and maybe that will give me some inspiration. Any ideas??

Since I'm visiting Rhoda's party, I just had to include this pic of a lamp redo that I showed you in this post. I learned that spray painting a fabric lampshade isn't a great idea because you the paint bleeds. At Rhoda's burlap party, I saw her burlap covered lampshades and that gave me an idea!! I cut the silk off the spraypainted shade I had and covered it with chocolate burlap I bought from Hobby Lobby. Okay, wait a minute....did I just say that I cut off silk...and replaced it with burlap? Yeah, I did. I think it looks just great!



I LOVE how you can see the texture of the burlap when the light is on. I think it may need a little trim around the top and bottom, so I'll keep an eye out for that, but for now...it works! Thanks for the great idea, Rhoda!

Visit Rhoda's site for more thrifty finds!

Time to breath

Last Friday, our vacation began. We dropped off the older two kids in AL at their grandparents' house and made our way south. We stopped in Auburn (War Eagle) for the weekend, where the Kris preached at church where he'd been youth minister at almost 10 years ago. What a sweet time it was so see old faces.


On Sunday afternoon, Kris, the baby and I left to meet the older kids and grandparents at the beach. We were able to stop off in Montgomery and see some old friends with an awesome story!! Last time we saw them ( about 8 years ago), they were divorced with two kids. They found us on Facebook a few months ago and they are remarried with 3 kids and one on the way. God has totally redeemed their marriage and their family! Every time I think about them, I am filled with awe at the power of our God and humility that so many times, I don't have faith that He CAN and WILL do things like this.

So...we made it to the beach just in time to eat at Doc's. Unpacked and of course headed to the pool before bed.

Our condo- Phoenix on the Bay

We spent the next two days at the pool.

The kids (especially the younger ones) really got worn out.

B fell asleep at the pool several days.

E fell asleep sitting straight up one night waiting to leave for dinner.

I think it was the third day we were there, K wanted us to take him on a Dolphin cruise. It was so much fun! Not sure what happened with these next few pics. For some reason, they are incredibly light. I'm sure any professional photographers out there wouldn't like them, but I think they have kind of a neat effect.

I found an old plank on this beach where the boat was docked that I brought home with me. It is grey and weathered. One end of it is straight from a saw cut, but the other end is jagged. I just love it. am going to paint something on it. Not sure what yet. But it was a treasure that will remind us of our trip.

The America II.

In the cabin awaiting departure of the "cruise."

The only pic of me taken on vacation. Can't believe I am even including it because it is so awful!

They even let K drive the boat!


We did see dolphins! About 25 of them, actually! It was incredible!

K and his granddad caught about 30 hermit crabs and 2 other crabs (blue crab, maybe??) like this one.

I desperately wanted to get some pics of B on the beach. Since he just turned 9 months, I thought it would be great to get some of him. Well, the only day we actually went to the beach, it rained. It was raining the whole time we were there, which was only about 15 minutes. I managed to get a few. Not exactly the expressions or clothing I was looking for, but cute still!

K had fun running free.

I know I included this pic of E in my last post, but I just have to again because I LOVE it!

Here's a few more random pics...

B smiling behind his paci.

K excited about eating, I mean catching rolls, at Lamberts.

And, I just love this pic of B trying to get to his big brother.

So, we had a great time...relaxing, eating and just taking time out of crazy life to just breath!

From the beaches of AL...

Here's a sneak peak of our week at the beach. We'll be returning Friday, so I will post more pics next week! I didn't have time to edit all the pics (I'm on vacation, remember??), so here are three of my faves!

Konnor on the Dolphin Cruise.

Brady at Lambert's after catching some rolls!

Emma on the beach trying to not get soaked by the rain.

Life is good at the beach...

Thrift store finds...

I'm joining Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures.

Here are some recent thrift store finds:

I found this cutting board for $1. I just love it's bun feet!! When I saw this, it reminded me of the ones that Giada DiLaurentis uses on FN. It's pretty scratched up, so I bought some mineral oil to season it with. It will look great on my counter and be functional, too!


I fell in love with this polka dot bottle from GW. It was $.99. I have green mums in it here, but I've also had cut roses from the yard in it. You only need a few stems to make it look really pretty!


I found these at GW also. I guess it was in a dot mood. Anyway, I thought these were just to die for. They are mugs, but are hollow all the way down into the vase. I'm not sure if they are really made to drink from or not. I've just been using them for decoration, which is totally worth the $.99 I paid for each of them.


Did you find any treasures out yard saling this weekend or at thrift stores? Well, whether you did or not, stop by Rhoda's and check out what other people found!