Rain, rain - go away?

We have a few days of rain ahead of us here in South Western Ontario, so I sit looking out the window at the dull day filled with colorful leaves... it could be worse.

Besides the little black dress, every girl in this neck of the woods should own a fun pair of rain boots and a ridiculously big umbrella. I noted this while dropping the small mister off at school. I also noted that I do not own a little black dress... nor fun rain boots (well I did but the left one turned yellow in the sun... but that;s a sad tragic story for another day) I also don't have a big ass umbrella.  Not for lack of looking either folks! Or buying! I used to be afraid to open them in the store, because of the bad luck of course, so it was always a gamble. Now... after many wimpy purchases I stand next to the rack, check the vicinity for sales people who give dirty looks and push that button "click" POW! I swear I have flashes to Ralphie's mom from A Christmas Story every time... I'm sure I am about to put my eye out. They really should have adequate umbrella testing room. Moving on.... Etsy! 

Look at this cute hand painted baby from Sunshine and Drizzle on Etsy:

If that doesn't brighten your rainy day how about this adorable happy print from Michele Maule

This is just perfection... perfect for the entry! Don't you think? This is why I love Etsy... so much talent all collected and organized. It's like a flea market meets craft show meets antique shop... and all from the comfort of your own home.

Personally I don't mind the gloomy drizzle days.... it's the perfect excuse to wear silly boots, juggle a silly umbrella and fancy coffee and feel cute.

A lesson on crows?

Besides waking us up way too early and picking apart the garbage I don't know very much about crows. So like any other normal person I looked it up. Normal, of course, being the relative word here, and those who know me... be nice. : )

Apparently there are something like 40 species of crows, or ravens...  who knew? Besides, of course,   Wikipedia . They are also known to be rather intelligent, and in east Asia are considered a sign of luck.

A group of crows is called a murder. Creepy, no?

Maybe that is one of the reasons the raven has become a sort of distinct fall or Halloween decoration? Either way, I dig a glittered crow. Dont' you? Check out these magpies from Tinsel Trading Company.

Super cute right? Stay tuned my pretties... some fall/ Halloween decor ideas are on the way. The rain is putting a serious damper on my furniture re-painting right now, so it's time to switch gears.

The Never-Ending Side Table

A long time ago I decided I needed a side table or a night stand for the bedroom. So I purchased a little cheap thing that looked OK and did the job. Something like this one from Walmart:

Then after a few years, and a few forgotten water glasses, and baby bottles the table was looking a little bit rough and worn... and well.... cheap. So I thought about replacing it, but thought I might hold out for a new bedroom set instead. Then I realized that my 65 year old house was not built to hold a big bedroom set of today and we would never have the two-nightstand-queen bed-dresser-hutch combo that sort of defines "bedroom set".  So I decided to just work with what I had and try to make this table with the sad top shine again. I have a couple tables with these sad tops, I think it's because I am the only female in this house! Coasters are not indoor Frisbees. They are for preventing this:

There was an obstacle to making something out of this table... It's not real wood. So painting the top would be a challenge because it would only chip and flake like it did before. SO I went with something a little more durable, and water friendly. Tile.

I bought a 2 sheets of tile from the local home improvement store, some rubber cement

and a tub of ready to use grout (no mixing? yes please!) and went home to get creative.

Turns out tile requires patience and maybe even a ruler... I could locate neither. So I slapped on the sticky like I have never seen sticky cement and placed my tiles.... a little off kilter. Crud. Then I grabbed my handy rubber special grout float... basically a grout squoosher inner.

OK, OK... I used the letter N from my kids foam bath toy set. Same diff. ;)

Then I remembered I wanted to paint the table. Le Sigh. Should have done that BEFORE messing around with all that tile. So I covered up the tile, took this bad boy outside and spray, spray, spray. Wonderbar.

Then I determined that tile and  fake wood is an ugly edge and ran back to that old faithful home improvement store and got a length of fancy trim. My husband took it downstairs and cut all the pieces perfectly. Then my dad used some other kind of power tool to attach them all. Some day I will get over my fears of power saws and air tools.

All that work for a crappy cheap side table. (That I am not that in love with... it's still.... meh, I need more practice with tile... and perhaps patience would help. Oh while I am at it I would like the ability to start and finish a proect in one day or less. ha!)

Super Mario Birthday

A what? Super Mario you say? Well... that's just.... super.

*panic*

Why panic? I'm crafty. I can pull off a little Super Mario shindig... 2 days after returning from 2 weeks of vacation with a pile of laundry, no groceries, and a job to return to the day after. Sure. I'll just need a few supplies.

Luckily I had my sister and my husbands sister to pick up the slack for me and I just had a few details to rock out the night before... Speaking of rocking out, my sister-in-law made the most amazing cake for the small mister. The cake made the party... and was the only real "Super Mario" reference at all. Turns out all you need for a successful kids party is a bounce house and cool cake. My husband put up the bounce house and my sister-in-law created this:

Isn't she the craziest? I supplied the fuel (margaritas) and she went to town for hours... and for her first cake? Amazing! Thanks auntie!!

A few other things we made (I assisted with these guys!) Cupcakes baked into ice cream cones... the idea is for them to look like those little green pipes from the game... we added some "gold coins" and those flower things to the top, I think it worked.

My sister in law baked the star sugar cookies and then we had a little sugar cookie power icing happening at about 11pm. The two aunties and myself had these babies done in maybe 20minutes. I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

In the end we had one happy small mister Five Year Old. *faints* ... So I think we did pretty good!

The rest of the kids left with a little loot bag/ party favor I put together the morning of the party. Michael's had 2 cups for 75 cents - I filled each with a big balloon on an elastic, mini bubbles, glow bracelets and Super Mario gummy snacks and the loot bag staple: stickers. I think they looked great on the kids table!

Thanks for looking today!