playing catch up!

Oh my goodness, my blog has been neglected this week!  It has been very busy around here, all in a good way.  Because I'm feeling lazy, here's what I've been up to this week (in no particular order):

• Children sick with lingering stomach bug & out of school
• Board meeting (and all the accompanying preparation) at school
• Two days filled with volunteering at our church preschool holiday fundraiser
• A day trip to Gainesville with my MIL to go the the amazing Marketplace
• Painting my entire bedroom (just a wee task, of course!)
• Tiling roofs of birdhouses for classroom art project (trying to remove E-600 from my hands still)
• attending friends' championship football games

And of course, the usual:  carpool, laundry, house cleaning, cooking (sort of), homework, etc.

And, biggest of all, I hosted a Shutterfly House Party yesterday!!

If you know me in "real" life, you know I'm a Shutterfly nut.  Bordering on obsessed with photo books.  I make them for everything ~ everyday life, holidays, gifts, thank-you's, teacher's christmas, grandparents, calendars, etc.  

So a couple of months ago, I got an email from Shutterfly asking if I was interested in hosting a Shutterfly House Party.  Intrigued, I said yes, but also assumed that they had sent the email to all of their account holders.

Then I got a link to the application.  Ok, I thought, no big deal.  But it was a big deal!  It took me about 30 minutes to fill it out!  But I did it, and then heard back that I had been accepted to host.  Again, I assumed they accepted anyone who filled out the application.  Not so!

So I was thrilled about it.  Here is how it went, again in no particular order.

• I decorated with fall flowers, photo books & ribbon wreaths (which were the guest's party favors)
• Friends arrived with their laptops, having uploaded their photos to Shutterfly previously
• We gathered and I shared a sampling of the gazillion books I've done
• We got started making a book, as I walked everyone through the process step-by-step
• I even learned some things!!  And several friends finished books!
• We took a break for lunch, and dove into some Wright Gourmet goodness (if you've never been there, you are seriously missing out).  We finished with some of their lemonade cake, strawberry cupcakes & chocolate cupcakes.  Yum.  Wright's is family owned & operated by wonderful people, and they even deliver!  It has been a favorite of mine for my whole life.
• We got back to work and enjoyed every minute of it.
• I was tired :)
• **  If you'd like me to include the tutorial I did for photo books, let me know & I'll post it.  But it is kind of long, so I don't want to post it if no one wants to see it!

So, here are some photos from the day.  I didn't actually take any during the party, as I was busy teaching!

The highlight of the day for my boys was that one of my friends brought her sons, two of my boys oldest & dearest friends, with her!  These boys are much like brothers but since this family moved over the summer, we haven't seen them much.  When Dana's boys got out of the car, there was much hugging, jumping up & down, screaming and general rejoicing.  Happiness!

I would love to host another Shutterfly party again ~ if you would be interested in coming & learning how to make photo books, would you let me know?  This party was supported by Shutterfly, so all the guests got a free hardcover book that they design, discounts for additional orders & some free holiday cards.  However, I could do this again just for *fun* so let me know if you would be interested!  The only limitation on number of guests is space for laptops :)

Last but certainly not least...

We are 7 shy of 300 followers here at A Few Good Pieces!  I continue to be amazed by your support, encouragement, ideas, suggestions & the things you share with me through this blog.  I have made so many new friends here (no less than 12 of you who emailed me this week to make sure I was ok in my absence ~ thanks!), and it is just a happy place for me.  I want to celebrate 300 with another fun giveaway, so if you have any ideas let me know!!!

Love to you all!  Hope you are enjoying the gorgeous weekend as much as we are!

Kathie

chameleon

Have you ever had a piece that had several lives?  It just kept changing?  Such is the case with these mirrors.

I'll take you back to the beginning...

In the beginning, there was this.

I primed them.

And painted & distressed them.  And they sat.

Then a dear friend saw them & loved them.  Only she wanted them in the same color as the Aegean Blue Dresser (here's a reminder)

I aim to please, so this is what I did.

And I think they look fabulous!

And, funny thing ~ since my friend 'claimed' them I've had two other people try to buy them.  But not a single taker before that :)

Don't forget, if you're local, the Holiday Shopping Spree is Wednesday & Thursday of this week.  I'll be there in the role of "Elf" (aka helper/go-fer/volunteer!) and I would love to see you!

Thanks!
Kathie

Linking to:
Stories of a House Project Diaries
Hooking Up with House of Hepworths
Blue Cricket Design's Show & Tell Wednesday
Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party
Primitive & Proper's Piece of Work Wednesday
Sassy Sites Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Beyond the Picket Fence Under $100 linky party

Holiday Shopping Spree!

I would like to take a moment to share with you my favorite Holiday Shopping Event ~ the Holiday Shopping Spree at our church, St. Luke's Presbyterian Church in Dunwoody.

The HSS is put on by the preschool, St. Luke's Little Saints (SLLS).  Both of my children attended SLLS from the time they were toddlers until they reached Kindergarten.  It is an amazing, loving, faith-filled place.

The HSS benefits the preschool but it also benefits YOU!   The vendors that Miss Carol so carefully selects represent a huge variety of of goods.  There are frames, jewelry, hand made children's clothing, aprons, soaps, magnetic boards, hand knitted items... you name it, if it is special and can be hand~made, it is there.

In addition, there is a bake sale & a frozen casserole sale.  These are homemade and go quickly, so if you are interested, you'll need to be there in the morning to scoop them up :)

I would love to see you all there!!
Thanks!
Kathie

fun with red

I don't have a lot of 'before' pictures of this set, because I was really at a loss regarding what to do with it all.

Have you ever looked around and seen a bunch of totally unrelated & different pieces of furniture?  That was how I felt about this group.  But what unites pieces of furniture better than paint?

The bed started like this, and it was so cute in red that I couldn't resist giving it some friends.

Just a note about the color:  the red in the picture above is much more accurate than the red in the 'after' pictures.  Not sure why?!

When I paired this red chair with the brown & white geo-key fabric (same fabric I just used on my dining room chairs) I knew it was meant to be.  In my mind, I see this set going to a little boy's room.

 This table was something I bought at Goodwill ~ it was topless when I bought it for $2.99.  So I stained a piece of scrap wood & my sweet husband attached it to the table and added some trim to finish it.  The corners where you can see raw wood.... I promise you couldn't see this in real life!  But after seeing the pictures, I went back & sanded, then painted those corners again.

I love how it turned out, and it is such a testament to what paint can do!

Thanks for coming by!
Kathie

dining room lamps

 I've been wanting to replace the lamps on my sideboard for quite some time ~ ever since I got my new sideboard, the ones I had just seemed too little.

Here are the lamps & dresser I had before I got my new sideboard.  The gorgeous piece you see over the dresser is a hand-hooked rug that my mother-in-law made for me.  All of the wool was dyed specifically for the piece, and she took on the ship (quite a difficult design) simply because I asked her to.  I love it and I really love her!

 I found these lamps at the Goodwill for $6.99 each.  They are perfect, just not as-is.

Do you see the stereo cabinet in the background?  Still...... Not..... Finished.

On a happier note, back to the lamps!

I primed them, sprayed them dark glossy brown & added new shades.

This is after the first coat of brown.  As you can see they needed two coats.

I also added new finials.  They are  braided rope circles.

Love them!

Thanks for coming by!  What have you spraypainted lately?!
Kathie

Linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Stories of a House Project Diaries
Sassy Sites Trash to Treasure Tuesdays