School's out

Here's a new concept , last day of school photos they both seem so much more happy in these pictures , it really does feel like we just started this school year , it sure does fly by.

Happy dance..

School's finally out as you can you see how excited the girls are , we are kicking off day one with sleeping in late , that was heaven , and shopping , Mason has earned and saved this whole year and she is ready to spend it , on a shopping spree, wish me luck , this could be a long day .

Cheers to a happy summer break . We need it .

my "just beachy"

I recently ordered these beachy prints from Rusty Cricket on Etsy , I have been really looking forward to their arrival and I was so pleased when they arrived today .

I added them to this little spot by the stairs , it is such a nice pop of color and I think it really finishes this room off.

I must admit I smile when I look at this room , it is so fresh and welcoming casual and definitely "just beachy" , it is all coming together .

Birthday Party wear out!

The Candy party was a great sucess , all of Mason's good friends and lots of sweet treats were served, glad it went well but I am sure glad birthday's are over for the year, they have worn me out! Customized treat bags .

Swimming , hanging out presents and candy and more candy , that is all this party needed to make Mason's day .

I personally loved the chocolate covered strawberries , yummmm

Instead of a cake Mason requested cake pops like she saw on Bakerella , they turned out OK at best , I think I learned a lot , and I need to find edible pens if I ever try this again .

Mason's great sweet friends , peaceful too .

Sophie bought Mason the nicest purse , everyone loved it , apparently she won't let me borrow it.

A left out little sweetie , a few spilled beverages , one fall {for me chasing the dog out of the mud , which I fell in} , a couple of crazy hyper dogs {they must have been feeding off the energy} , and somehow one very badly burnt lamp shade that nearly went a blaze , all in a day .

Cheers for now !

Candy Themed Party

Here is my beautiful birthday girl , she is 12 today , isn't she lovely , I love her unique fashion sense , she is so much like I was at her age.

I am attempting the Bakerella happy face cake pops , can you tell this is a kids party or what , BTW these are not so easy ....

A few bags of cotton candy .

Mason layered her fave candies .

Making more marshmallow pops.

A project we threw in yesterday, I am determined to get the front walkways all completed as soon as possible. This is easy , with the exception of the cement mixing, next time we get at it we will rent a cement mixer. It will look great after we fill it in with sand and some mosses , I look forward to one material surface , FYI this is dirt cheap to do

Sophie's birthday breakfast request.

Happy Birthday to my baby girl

Sophie turns 9 today at 9:59 am , she 's dressed in her new birthday clothes and jumping for joy.

Yes I let my kids jump on the furniture , actually normally I don't but I do let Sophie stand on this table to see herself in the mirror above the sofa ....no one got hurt.

Hip hip horray ! Happy birthday Sophie , I love you SOOOOO much!!!

New addition

Isn't it purdy ?

It came in a plain brown box. That is how IKEA rolls , this is an Ektorp Jenny Lund style chair with white slipcover.

Moe checking it out.

It's covered in a lovely unbleached cotton.

I need to do a little ironing , I know.

I love it , I hope my husband likes it too , because we really didn't discuss it .

Lamp slipcover number two

Before lamp : grey and grey shade , it just felt out of place to me.

My after lamp makeover , I sprayed it aqua blue and created a new lamp slipcover .

It looks like I bought new lamps , even my husband approves. Now I just need to do something about that chair it's the wrong colour the wrong pattern , I have toyed with having it slipcovered , or slipcovering it myself {I don't have confidence in that }I don't want it to look hand done , sometimes a new addition is just the way to , it has been at least three years since I have bought a new piece for the house , after all my kijiji second hand makeovers and finds I think a small purchase may be in order.

Do you remember these invitation bags of candy for Mason's candy themed party , well we are officially counting the days only a few more left , I am so thrilled with the candy bar that is coming together , see at the bottom of this post.

Here is a picture of how my back facade looks today ,after two years of work , below is how it used to look , a little flat don't ya think?

Can you spot all the changes.

Before the shutters , looking a little blah now that it has shutters. So yes I did build the shutters from old left over fence boards , I scrubbed them down and then added a fresh coat of grey stain , the same stain I used on the shingles in the front and back of the house. Now my house has as much "curb appeal" as the front , maybe my back neighbours will let me design the backs of their houses too ... doubt they are so inclined , I know I am one of a kind , actually I am not , through blogging I have found there ARE others just like me.

I got those hinges I needed to make my freshly built shutters look more functional .

I ordered this lovely floral fabric from Tonic Living after seeing it here at Rambling Renovators.

Getting ready for another birthday party , the candy bar is turning out nicely, I should throw big people parties I love this stuff.

Shutters to add charm

I was two hinges short , I have never bought hinges singly , until now , I thought or assumed there were two in the package , there are always two , not this time, bummer .
What do you think ? was it a good move to add shutters to this window , to me it was calling for something more.

BBQ deck , a what ?

After re-building our little bbq deck I had to deal with a mess of mud, a patch that left a huge gap under the neighbours fence , they have the cutest puppy , which one of my dogs is obsessed and so curious of , so curious he scraped the skin next to his eye to raw , so I knew I had to deal with the gap , I edged the area with cement edgers and filled the space up with nutrient rich soil and a few easy growing perennials, grasses and a hosta's and clematis.
At the end of the day I took the old boards of the bbq deck and used them to create shutters.
*what the heck is a bbq deck , well it is a small left over bit of deck left over from our back door , from when we built our proper deck , it is off to the side of the yard , after building our deck we didn't feel there was room for a bbq on it , and it keeps the grease and mess and smoke well away from the house, it has turned out to be a great mistake. Would you think these are New or old shutters...

I love it Just before the sun goes down...

I enjoyed my Pretty green lanterns...

I treated myself to a Pina colada...after all my hard work. BBQ deck can be seen over there to the right with our hand me down Weber BBQ from my dad , it must be 11 years old and it is still rockin the bbq food .

Sky at dusk....

So here's the new patch of garden ...I look forward to how nice and full it will hopefully soon look because right now it looks sad , but it is better than a mud pit for sure.