a new record

Arkanas set a new record.

Not just for the day or the month, but EVER.

116* F

And believe me, we felt it!

Going outside kind of hurts. We swim a lot. We stay inside a lot.

So, I will return after running away to Branson for the weekend, where it's cooler at an amazing 98* F!

Scrapbuster Fall Pillow!

We've been having fun!

This weekend we whipped up a few fall pillows! It was fun and easy following Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial!

I tried to use fall colors that also match my home. We used heat 'n bond (love that stuff now!) to attach the leaves. Then I sewed around the leaves and trunk.

And made a pillow backing!
It may be more of year-round pillow, I love it so much!

Miss M goes to VBS!

do you know what VBS is?

it's Vacation Bible School! And yes, I sent our little Miss M to VBS. She needed to get out of the house!

She went to VBS with her friends from school. The things she learned? 1) The head chef had a pet raccoon. 2) Celebrate God!

She had fun though and she's been singing fun songs ever since!

My Resurrected Chair!

I asked for a reading chair for my birthday when I was sixteen.

I was, excuse me, AM, such a nerd.

I got a white wicker chair with dusty blue cushions. I also got a matching headboard (cue Miss M's room)

It has traveled with me to Minnesota, Utah, and now here to Arkansas. It is in pretty good shape, but I felt like it looked like, well, a sixteen year old's chair.

So I took it to my Mom's garage. I scrubbed it down and sanded down a few spots where the paint had chipped off and branches (is that the right word?) had broken.

Then I primed it with grey spray paint. Lovely, isn't it? :)

I promise we're not done yet!

And then I painted it espresso brown!!

I am in love with it! It now fits in my living room! I recovered the dusty blue cushion with a dark blue crosshatch outdoor fabric and threw my trusty beautiful IKEA pillows on it to brighten it up! What do you think? (besides that I really really need a new camera-the iphone just doesn't always cut it!)

I also hung up my artwork (someone asked earlier and it's 38"x32") I love how it looks with the living room!

And here is one half of my living room! It actually looks like a room! Things match and go together! Who knew!

I love it! And now for curtains!!

Grace

I think, I just think, that my girls are enjoying having Aunt Grace in town for a bit.

I am too.

Girls Night In!

Last Saturday, the Tobler women went out to dinner. Our men were all out of town, busy or working, so we decided to go out too! After a lovely dinner at Bravo!, we had waaaay too much fun at Charming Charlie's (coming out with headbands and purses for all!) and Anthropologie (coming out with fun ideas of things to make "cheaper")

We decided crafting was in order. I picked up a few more colors of poly satin and showed the girls how to satin flower clips and bows!

At one point, my Dad came out and asked us not to burn down the house. Have no fear, it's still standing.

Jen has a wonderful mix of old vintage buttons to adorn our flowers.
I tried a new kind of flower last nigh-the pink one in the middle of the pink ones :) by cutting out several flower shapes, folding them up and glueing them to a felt circle. I love how it turned out! I also made bobby pins with smaller satin flowers (in the champagne color, below the pink flower) that were inspired by Anthropologie hair duds and I love them too! Small, simple, and elegant!
We were very productive! :) Thanks girls!!

It's art!

I have big lovely walls in my new apartment that were crying for something bigger than my little 8x10 color glossies!

My friend suggested I find some fabric that matches "my colors" and make my own!

So I did!

I found some wonderful upholstery fabric with big bright flowers in my favorite blues and reds and bought a yard during a great sale!

Then I picked up canvas stretcher bars and saved fifteen bucks and made my own canvas!

pic courtesy google

This is the point in my DIY project that I learned the important fact that Lulu is TERRIFIED of staple guns! She came running up to us, crying, "stop! don't do it, Grandma!" like we were going to sacrifice the innocent! We had to send her away to finish our project! My Mom and I then stapled the fabric to my stretcher bars.

It definitely took both of us to hold the fabric taut and use the staple gun!
But I am in LOVE!! (this is my mother's wall-I'll share again once it's hung in my own house)
I love the colors-they match my throw pillows on my couches and really will brighten up the room!