framed!

Okay, so many weeks/months ago my mom surprised me with some awesome treasures from my grandma's attic (thanks mom and grandma)!  She went to Indiana for a weekend to visit with my grandparents, and they cleaned out the biggest coolest attic you've ever dreamed of.  I have such great memories playing in that attic, dressing up with old clothes, hide and seek and so many other fun things happened in there.  That's where a lot of imagination and adventure took place...tons of fun with cousins and sisters!  The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the attic is dressing up like elderly people:).  My cousins, sisters and I used to dress up in the old clothes and hats from the attic and walk around hunched over with canes.  We would scwinch our faces up and use an old powder puff to make wrinkles on our faces.  We found old glasses and shawls and had a BLAST!  It doesn't sound like much fun now, but I remember doing that a lot!  So, back to my surprise...my mom brought me several old OLD frames from the attic.  She knows I love vintage pieces and she said they had planned to throw them away, but she thought of me.  I'm so glad she did.  I fell in love with these frames at first sight.  Dusty, crackly, falling apart old frames.  LOVE THEM!  I spent some time cleaning them up, painting and distressing some of them, but a few I left just as they were, in all of their vintage loveliness!  Then I simply added my photos, glass to some of them, mattes to others, backing and hooks.  They are such an awesome addition to our home.  What I love the most about them is their history.  These are pieces from my great-grandparents, great aunt Clara and my grandparents homes.  My mom remembered the "pink" frame from her house growing up.  I just love that some of that history is now hanging on my walls with photos of my children in them.  Call me sentimental, there's just something about that history.
Here are some before and some afters...

Just took pics of 2 before

Okay, so this frame came from craigslist, not my grandma's attic.  It started out gold and BOLD.  It was a framed mirror and is seriously humongous!  It was very ornate and shiny when I found it!  This was my first experience painting/distressing/redoing a frame.  My friend Aja walked me through the process and I've clearly taken a liking to it:).  I payed $40 for the mirror on craigslist, and with a few extra bucks for paint it's transformed into something I love! 

Here are a few other projects I've completed lately...

{Dresser}

This dresser was Dallas' as a kiddo.  I love using it because it was from his childhood, and I love not having to buy things like dressers!  He was forest green when we inherited him 7 years ago, but since then he's been cream, red and now this great blue/green that I picked up on the $5 mis-tint rack at home depot.  It was a lot brighter when I put it on, but toned down quite a bit through the distressing/staining process.  You'll recognize the color from the frames I redid above:). 

I was really pleased with this addition to the nursery.  I got the pulls and knobs on ebay years ago, but I think they were Restoration Hardware and I payed around $30 for 15 of them (there's another ugly dresser hiding in the garage waiting for his turn)!

I love how the red came through in the distressing.  I'm a sucker for that kind of character.  

{Pillows}

You may or may not know that I am a fabric junkie!  I LOVE fabric...vintage fabric, swatches, remnants...I love finding art through fabric!  I'm really loving Amy Butler's designs lately.  I am always finding small pieces of fabric that I like, typically only large enough to make a quilt square or a pillow, so that's what I'm making.  Here are a few of the many pillows I've made lately...

{Curtains}

Thankfully I purchased a bagillion yards of a linen-like fabric a few years ago for a whopping .50 cents a yard.  This was when we lived at our old house, and I just couldn't seem to get rid of the stuff.  It was never ending!  I gave several yards away to a friend and still had enough left over to make curtains for two giant window in my living room.  Gotta love the price tag on these!  

{wine rack}

So, technically I can't take credit for this one.  It's not even a recent project, but it's one of my faves!  I REALLY wanted the Pottery Barn wine rack a few years ago, but didn't want to pay the ridiculous  amount of $$$ for it. Well, Dallas made this one for me that summer when I was in IL.  I just love it, and it's one of my favorite pieces in my house to this day!  $20 for the wood and stain! Thanks Dal!  

Other news...

Rhett is putting his hand on this side of his face and quickly uncovering it saying "teet a too", which translates to "peek a boo!" He's getting way too big too fast!  

Rhett is also saying thank "da doo" and "ha".... for those of you who don't speak 'baby', this is thank you and hot!  Yay, he's learning so much.  I remember this stage with Jude, it all just starts happening so fast!  

My Aunt Sue and Uncle Mike came through town on Friday with my cousin Andy and his wife Natalie.  I hadn't seen Andy since 2003, and he had obviously never met my boys.  It was so great to visit with them and give them a short break on their road trip from Kenosha Wisconsin to Enid, OK!  I love family! 

Today we had a surprise 88th Birthday party for Dallas' grandpa.  Many of his family members from New Mexico were here, so my boys got to meet several of them for the first time too.  What a great family weekend!