Mingle Giveaway

I was honored to be asked by Stampington and Co. to review their newest publication, Mingle, and also to host a giveaway of the premier issue!  

If you know Stampington, you know that all their publications are great resources for all things artsy and craftsy. Well, this time, they've expanded their artistic inspiration to entertaining. The magazine focuses on throwing beautiful parties and gatherings, whether in large scale (such as a wedding) or small scale (such as an intimate family birthday celebration).

I'm not a huge entertainer myself- I tend to be more of a homebody and a recluse- ha ha! But even I was inspired by looking through this magazine. It made me want to put in the extra effort and be creative next time we have a family
get-together!

 
It also made me wish that I could re-plan my wedding, and make it so much prettier and more artistic!  But don't we all wish that several years later?

The thing I liked best about the magazine was the beautiful photography.  I have to admit that I haven't even had time to read all of the articles, but I've definitely had time to ooh and ahh over all the gorgeous photographs!

My favorite piece was about little Soul's breakfast birthday party.  But Cakies is a blog favorite of mine, so I was biased!

If you'd like a chance to win a copy of this wonderful magazine, just leave me a comment! 

Contest will be closed 10/16 at midnight.

And who knows, I may even throw in a few little vintage treasures for you as well (I'm doing some reorganizing, so who knows what I may find....!). 

I Just Don't Know If It Could Get Any Cuter...

Today's Little Vintage Style features what is I think my favorite vintage outfit of Avery's.  I was lucky enough to win a giveaway to Oliver's Forest a few weeks ago, and chose this outfit as my prize.  LOVE!!!

It just reminds me so much of the sort of outfits I've seen in photos of myself at this age.  And Avery loves kitties, so it's extra-special!

Since it's a little cool here, I added the tights.  And Avery added the dollar store wings we got last night!

And speaking of favorite things, here is a recent thrift find which I'm still just giddy over:

A little dolly changing table!  If you may remember, it's the same style as the changing table I used for Avery when she was tiny.  I mean, how perfect is that?

Funny enough, when I got home, I realized that it matches the dolly high chair we already have, as well as the doll bed next to it on the floor (I painted the wicker on that one an aqua color and added the vintage decal).   Um, that's a sign that I have too many doll pieces, when I don't even realize I already have the matching set!

And you just know how THRILLED I am to see this:

 

She's coming around, I can tell!

Check out the other vintage cuties and stylish kids here and here this week!  And I'm also linking up here for The Paper Mama photo challenge!

Stay tuned to the blog.  I will be hosting a giveaway within the next week for the new Stampington publication called "Mingle".  It's a great magazine full of artsy entertaining ideas!

I Think I'm Ready For a Support Group Now...

I need another vintage dollhouse like I need a hole in my head.  I mean, honestly!  (yes, those are three separate links...)  But I am just physically unable to pass one up if it's sweet and cheap!  Although this is one that I probably should have left at the store...

While it may look pretty cute now, there was a LOT of work to be done to this house!  There are holes drilled throughout which housed Christmas lights (maybe it was used as a holiday display?). The bottom floor walls are the same as I found them (tolerable for now), but the top floor walls and roof were covered in tacky country/cutesy 80's wallpaper and stickers.  And boy, did someone use some good glue to put it all on!  I spent hours scraping at it with a razor blade, and still didn't get it completely off.  But now, it's coming together.  I used some scrapbook paper to redo the upstairs walls, and will probably add some curtains as well.

The floors are as they came, and it's one of the things that sold me on the house!  Such cute pink and blue patterns!

And really, it does look so cute in the playroom, doesn't it? This house seems fairly durable, so I'm going to give it a go, and let the kids play with it. The boys' superheroes have checked it out, and hopefully Avery will find some fun with it as well.

And now, about furniture.... Strangely, as many dollhouses as I have, I really have almost no furniture! So I guess that will be my next task...!

A Mish-Mash...

This week's Little Vintage Style  features a dress I've already shown.  You may remember this sweet ensemble from Easter. 

 Well, we're moving from Easter to Halloween (the skeleton I picked up thrifting was the only way to get her to pose for some pictures!). 

 I used the dotted-swiss dress without the pinafore, then added modern leggings and some brighter accessories.

 If she wears vintage to preschool, I usually try to tone it down a bit, because I don't think that many people in Florida really "get" vintage, so I don't want her to stand out too much in her class!

It's crazy how much older she looks in these photos vs. the ones from Easter!  She looks like a little girl now- no more baby here!

 I took my free time yesterday (while Avery was in school for the morning) to do some painting!  Oh, I just love doing this kind of piece!  No rules, no photos to incorporate, just fun, fun, fun!

 I also did a piece in Noah's journal this week about learning to swim. 

I've really slacked off on doing pieces in the boys' journals, unfortunately.  I haven't done a piece for Riley for almost a year!  I'm kind of trying to decide whether I want to continue with them, or do them until they turn five (Riley's last piece was about turning five, and Noah will turn five next year).  While I love that we have these books, I don't enjoy working in them as much as I used to.  My style has changed, and I'd so much prefer to do fun pieces like the one above...

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud there.  Didn't mean to get all serious on you!

Hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of fall!  Here in Florida, we're just starting to have some really nice days, and I'm looking forward to being able to wear cardigans and jeans in a few weeks if I'm lucky! 

A Vintage Cutie & Some Vintage Goodies

This week's Little Vintage Style is brought to you courtesy of the bike racks in front of Target!  Please forgive the grainy photos, as I only had my phone with me at the time!

I've been waiting for this adorable little dress to fit for a while.  I just love it!  I am always a sucker for little pinafore ruffled sleeves.

 

Paired with thrifted denim shorts and navy sandals, and she's looking cute as can be!

 I found the time to do another spread in Avery's journal this week as well!

 I loved how this little paper doll had a flowered dress on, reminiscent of Avery's.

 I'm really happy with how the spread came out!  I'm getting my crafting mojo back, I think!

 Finally, I've been meaning to show you my "new" dolly wardrobe!

 I found this tucked into the corner of an antique shop last month, with a clearance sticker on it!  I wasn't sold on the outside, but when I opened it and saw the pink, it was a done deal!

It's the perfect place to hang all my vintage dolly dresses (when they aren't up on the wall, that is!)

It's Been a While

As I mentioned in this post, I've been feeling inspired to do art lately.  Finding the right time to be creative is a different story though.  I'm still trying to figure out my new schedule, with various kids at various schools at various times.  Although I've got more free time in the mornings, I've got less free time in the afternoons, and have all but lost the kids' nap-times due to school pick-ups.  Naptime used to be my best "art time".  So I'm doing some mental readjusting to determine when I'll have creative time.  I'm such a creature of habit that's it's taking me some time to get it all figured out!

Anyway, all that to say that I finally took some time to do a little piece in Avery's journal!

 

 Quite obviously, this is a piece about turning two!

I struggled the whole time working on this spread, trying to decide how to fill the empty spaces.  I did a few different things, then painted back over, not liking the results.  I tried the gray polka-dots as a last attempt, and I love them!  They're whimsical without being too cutesy, because of the neutral color.

Hopefully, you'll be seeing more artwork out of me now, especially after I get situated into a new routine!

Little Schoolgirl

My baby started preschool yesterday!  Just two days a week for 4 hours, but still.  Her birthday falls just two week before the cutoff, so I hesitated even signing her up, but I think she'll really enjoy it.  And her class is made up of almost all girls, so she'll get some great girly time in there to counteract all the boy time at our house!  I'll make a dolly-lover out of her yet, I tell ya!

Noah started Pre-K as well, which means I've got two mornings a week with no kids in the house!  Whatever shall I do with myself?!

I've been saving her vintage dress (thrifted) for just this occasion, because I thought it was such a perfect little "first day of school" outfit.  I'm so glad it fit at the right time!  Add her little ruffled socks and brown suede maryjanes (thrifted as well), and I was just dying over the cuteness!

Linking up with Little Vintage Style and Small Style this week. Hope over and see the other stylish kids!

"New" Coffee Table

Do you remember this photo from a few posts ago?  Now look at the photo below, and see if you can tell what's different....

 That's right!  I painted our table!  It was so glaring white before, so I changed it up a bit in order to blend with the room a little better.  The table was a $15 thrift store find from a couple months ago, but I just loved the lines of it, and knew it would suit our needs really well.

 I painted the bottom section a lavender/pinkish tone,

and the top a warm taupe-y color.

 I then went over the whole thing with sandpaper and an antiquing glaze.

So far it meets the approval of all those who use it on a daily basis!  After all, those little chairs wouldn't be there if we didn't want it to get some use!

I'm still working on the rest of the room- my next task is to find some fabric I like to replace our current drapes.  Once that's done, I'll show you the rest of the room!