The Making of a Stage

[Edit: turns out the voice bubbles in my pictures are a little blurry, so I'm adding the quotes beneath each photo.]

Lucy: I got an email from Mary today. Doc: Cool. What'd it say?

Lucy: She bought a hutch at Goodwill and asked me to turn it into a puppet stage. Doc: Rad.

Doc: I'll go ahead and nail in some extra supports so it's not so wobbly for her students.

Lucy: Awesome! I'll start sanding this brown paint off.

Lucy: Oh hey, Dad. Can you cut a 42" by 26" piece of thin wood for me? Dad: Of course. Anything for you, daughter.

Lucy: I'm going to paint that piece with chalkboard paint!

Lucy: Hmmm...and I think I'll paint the puppet stand green, just like my house!

Lucy: Heeeey, Mom.  Wanna sew a curtain? Mom: I'd love to!

Lucy: Thanks for all your help guys! Now all I have to do is put it all together!

Phew! Did you make it through all of that?

Ok, so my puppetry skills may be a little lacking, but the stage is cute, right?  As mentioned in the show, my friend Mary Elizabeth purchased the original hutch from a Goodwill. I'm not sure how much she paid for it, but I'm guessing it wasn't much.  Here's what it looked like when she brought it to me.

It looks brown, but that's not the stained wood you see. Instead, whoever used to own it decided to paint over the stain with brown paint. Who does that?

I didn't take any pictures as I went along, but here's another shot of the finished product.

Mary Elizabeth teaches music to all ages, and she's planning on using this in her classroom. I think her kids are going to love it!

As you can see from the back view, they have an extra shelf to store the puppets that are waiting "backstage."

Special thanks to my mom who played along with my crazy puppet show idea! It was super hot outside but she was still a good sport about holding up the puppets while I took pictures.

And, just for laughs, here's a shot of our puppy puppets.

Mary, I'm sorry it took me so long to get finished! But it's officially done and ready for you now.  Maybe you could show us all what a good puppet show is supposed to look like!

Typical Morning

Lately, Minnie has decided she does not want to be a good girl.  This does not make me, her momma, very happy. Her mischief occurs when I'm in the shower. She'll shred a roll of toilet paper, or dig through the garbage, or pull all the clothes of the laundry basket, or sometimes, she'll even have an accident on the carpet.

On this particular morning (the morning I finally decided to grab my camera), it was the bathroom garbage that she decided to peruse.

And then, no matter what it is she's done, she "hides" under the bed so I can't get on to her when I get out of the shower.

Bless her. I just don't have the heart to tell her I can still see her booty poking out.

And how am I supposed to get on to her when she keeps doing funny stuff like this? Seriously, it's every single time. Dig through the laundry; hide under the bed. Shred the toilet paper; hide under the bed. Have an accident; hide under the bed.  And every single time, she just can't get that long body of hers all the way hidden!

Poor thing. I just love her, even if she is ruining my carpet.

Polka Dot Trees

Everyone, meet Abby Kate.

Cute little thing, isn't she?

Abby is a two year old that just upgraded from a crib to a big-girl room.  Her mom, my supervisor at work, found her cute new bedding on sale at the Pottery Barn outlet and snatched it right up. The only problem? She needed something cute to hang above the bed.

That's where I came in.

The furniture that's in Abby's new big-girl room is a dark brown set that's been in the family.  Her mom was nervous that it wouldn't look like a little girl's room without white furniture.  I told her pink walls and a girly painting with her new bedding would make the dark brown furniture hardly even noticeable.  And I volunteered to do the girly painting.

I have to admit, I stole the idea for the painting from one  I saw in a friend's nursery. Her's was painted by her little sister and, since they didn't know the sex at the time, was not gender specific.

I love it and knew right away that I'd end up trying to copy it.  Who knew the opportunity would arise so soon?

So, back to Abby.  Her bedding was already purchased so I knew my color scheme. I took a pillow sham with me to JoAnn's and loaded up on craft paint. The canvases there were ridiculously expensive - $40 each! - so I decided to make my own out of wood. Much cheaper.

Here's how the canvases (I decided to do mine as a set of three) looked after the first night of painting. This is really my only "in progress" picture.

Just three bare trees in need of something to snazzy 'em up.

Skipping right along, here's the final product.

I think they turned out pretty cute!

So, off to Abby's room they went...

I like that they pop against the pink wall.  Abby's mom has ordered her a bright green toss pillow that's monogrammed with a pink "a" to go on her bed. I think it'll really help pull the green in on the bed.

And the good news is, I think Abby liked it!

She and her big sister, Kersten, enjoyed jumping on the bed and breaking in the new bedding.  This is the best I could do for a picture in between all the giggles.

Rumor has it that some green and white polka dot curtains have been purchased to finish off the room. I think it's perfect for a two year old!

Speech! Speech!

In a little over two weeks, I will be the matron of honor in a best friend's wedding. I'm honored that she asked me to be a part of her big day and am really looking forward to it. Except for one part: the speech. She told me this week that yes, I'd be asked to give a speech at the rehearsal and probably a toast at the actual wedding. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I have no idea what I'm going to say. Right now, all I can do is hope that I'm better at public speaking than this guy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1BXL5PyDak]

Sew Over

Have I told you that I've been doing a lot of sewing lately? Well, I have. I can officially check the "figure out how to use my sewing machine" resolution off my list. Last spring I volunteered to help out a couple of friends by sewing table linens for their upcoming weddings. I come from a family where every female owns a sewing machine and knows how to use it, so I can't imagine not having a mom/grandma/aunt that can sew something for you. So, of course I was very happy to be able to help. Plus, I thought it'd be great practice. After all, it's just straight lines, right?

My mom and I did lots of shopping and cut lots of fabric swatches before both brides-to-be settled on colors. We ordered the appropriate yardage and when it came in, it was time to get sewing!

Except, you don't start sewing right away.

Instead, you measure. And cut. And iron. And pin. And then, after you finally get to sew one edge, you might have to iron and pin again before you can finish sewing that edge. And the math! Now, I like numbers and all but when my mom started talking about how wide things should be and seam allowance and how to get the most out of our yards and yadda yadda yadda, things just got jumbled in my head.

But, I survived all the pre-work (barely, only tried to bail out once or twice) and finally got to the major sewing part. And you know, that part really was kinda fun. Once everything was lined up and ready to go, sewing those straight lines wasn't too bad. And I loved putting the pedal to the metal, so to speak.  Except most times, when I got going and things were really on a roll, that's when I'd look back and realize that the whole seam wasn't actually sewn together because I'd run out of thread on my bobbin. That darn bobbin! Gets you every time.

And now, finally, I can report that all the sewing is done! (Well, most of it.)

Over the last couple of months (but mostly the past two weeks), I have sewn:

12 - table runners out of fall-orange fabric 6 - fall-orange bistro table overlays 16 - table runners out of green/white fabric with deep purple trim 4 - green/white/purple bistro table overlays 1 - green/white/purple groom's cake table overlay

And over the past two weeks, my mom has sewn:

12 - goldish-greenish "poofs" to sit on top of fall-orange table runners 1 - goldish-greenish cake table overlay with fall-orange trim 2 - extra fall-orange table overlays 1 - green/white cake table overlay with deep purple trim

Still to do: one ring bearer pillow out of green and white fabric.

I know what you're thinking..."Wow, your mom rocks! I can't believe she helped you that much on something that you volunteered for!"  And you know what, I couldn't agree more. I have a pretty awesome mom.

And to say thank you, I just booked us two appointments at Gould's Spa for Saturday morning on October 9.  Did you see that, Mom? While all the men in the family are off on their trip doing boy things like fishing and golfing, you and I will be getting massages! Woo hoo!

For you readers: sorry, but I did not make you a spa appointment. BUT, I will take pictures of all these linens in action for you to see. You're welcome.