In Just One Year....

Recently I was asked to find some pictures from my own memory lane and it has put me in the mood to scavenge the files on my laptop for old pictures. I came across my file of Easter 2006 and I just can't believe how much each of my girls have changed in just ONE YEAR!

Look at my Avery Bug (she is on the left) how much younger she looked at 7 than she does at 8.

Little Masyn seemed so big at the time, but looking back she's pretty tiny!

Lastly, my itty bitty peanut baby Evelyn was just 2.5 months old...where has the time gone?!

In utter bewilderment over how much her family has grown~
Amelia

Nobody Is Swinging At My House Today

On a swing that is....from the ceilings is yet to be determined....

Last night and early this morning my home was hammered with rain and hail. I truly love a good storm so I enjoyed the raucous thunder and lightening into the very early hours of the morning. My only disappointment was that I had planned to go to a community wide garage sale today and it was cancelled due to the wide spread storms in our area. Alas...my bargain shopping excitement needs to be released somehow, maybe I will be able to sew during naptime....

The girls are not a bit sad about this, we're having lots of indoor fun...but there will be no going outside today. Tents have been built, we've danced on tables in the playroom, read a story, and even found time for an episode of "Little Einsteins." The swing set will be taking the day off....

As you can see it's a little wet right now.

Amelia

On The Heels Of My Pink Post....

Comes the picture of my newly purchased yellow heels. LOL, which I might let you all know I am eagerly waiting their arrival.

Does anyone really need yellow heels? It's highly unlikely, but I have to give credit to my late grandpa for my reason behind buying them. My grandpa's philosophy was that in life there are "wants" and "needs." He bought a Lincoln Navigator right after they came out and had personalized plates that read "A Want." As Paw-Paw would say now if he were here "yellow heels are probably just a "want" but sometimes it's good to get those."

Amelia

You'd Think This Girl Likes Pink or Something...

It's no secret, I adore the color pink. Most shades give me a since of femininity and happiness. I never realized until today though, that has carried over into many of my activities...

I'm counting now, all the pink items I have in my home...the number has gone well over 200 and I am now far too tired to count (the numbers get all mixed and blurred in my mind anytime after say...12 am).

Colors say a lot to me. I love the color pink obviously, but there aren't too many colors that I don't like. Yellow strikes my fancy lately, although it's not my best color to wear (hmm...neither is pink). I did however, just purchase on eBay some smashing yellow heels.

Navy that's another shade I love, but unlike pink and yellow, I wear a LOT of navy.

So back to pink... I'm not obsessed, I just gravitate toward the color. I noticed this today when I opened my pink dresser drawer to pick a movie to watch while sewing a bit....all of my movies are either (get ready...) pink or yellow (well some gold, but that's still yellow in my book)! So my interest was peeked...I began looking around as I cleaned my house, while sewing I noticed ALL my pink fabrics, and while driving I realized that I always look at pink flowers.

Who can tell me what is wrong with me? Does this color fixation mean something deep and profound? Or is it possible that because I have 3 girls I have just been inundated by PINK so often that I have developed a love for it?!?!?

Amelia

My "Doo's" Do

Move over Maddox, there is a new mohawk sporting baby in town....

Yesterday, in the grocery store a young guy went crazy over Evelyn's hair. He said "oh cool hair, that's so cute!" Not that we style her hair like a Cupie Doll on purpose, it just grows this way!

My sweet girls don't stand a chance, their cowlicks come straight from Daddy! They sure do draw out some intersting comments though...it's always interesting to go places.

And This Is Why I Call Myself SFB....

I'm asked all the time "how did you chose the name Sweet Feet Boutique?" The story isn't that interesting, really it's not even that clever...I just love feet. I love baby feet, other people's feet (within reason), and my own feet!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to squeeze in a pedicure while the girls took their afternoon nap. I thought I would share how I like to treat my feet right with all of you ~

Step 1: Make coffee

Step 2: Clean (who wants to touch dirty feet??) and soak

Step 3: Get out the goods, lotion, cuticle treatment, clippers, files, buffer (that's my favorite), polish remover to fix mistakes, and essential to a good pedicure is the toe separator.

Step 4: Drink some coffee

Step 5: Polish, not too thick but don't get streaky. It's best to use new nail polish, so I like to buy the cheap ones and toss them after a couple of months.

Step 6: Take a cotton ball and wrap a little bit around an Orange Glo Stick, use this to wipe away the little bits of extra polish that might have happened off the nail.

Step 7: Drink a bit more coffee while you let the coats of polish dry (amount of coats may vary).

Step 8: Rinse your coffee cup, I'm sure it's empty by now.

Step 9: Apply a GOOD top coat, this helps the polish last longer and look nice and shimmery.

Step 10: Sit back and read (or have another cup of coffee) while you let your toes dry!

Wishing you lots of chances to take care of those "Sweet Feet!"

Amelia

Hey, Knock Off That Whining!!!

An interesting and fun challenge I have been given by Daria is to STOP all complaining! I love this idea, that if we spread this tag game around lots of people will smile more and the world will be a bit more cheerful.

My part in the game (aside from stopping complaints) is to TAG someone else. So, I'm choosing to tag my new friend Kim of Olive Juice & Co.

A happy whine free evening to ALL!

Amelia

Sand Paper Strikes Again

The Victim: Garage sale jars purchased for $1.00

The Assailant: Medium Grade Sand Paper

The Result: To Be Announced Soon...(in picture form of course).

When I saw there I thought surely they would have been priced higher. Although it's not easy to tell from the pictures, these are some pretty large size flour-sugar jars on a rack. They are quite heavy and solid wood. I can't wait to spruce them up.

The After Life

I've typed this silly thing 3 times and everytime my laptop has said it was overheated and totally SHUT DOWN!

So you're lucky, you are all getting the "Cliff's Notes" version of the story here.

The studio is pretty much FINISHED! Thank you to all who encouraged me (friends and family), inspired me (Heather Bailey, thank you for the push!), To my LilyPlum girls (it wouldn't have happened without you girls cheering me on), and all the shops and garage sales who think things I love are trash.

My journey began when we bought this house, for over a year I've been aching to make my sewing room reflect my style and the style of Sweet Feet Boutique the brand...some place I could create and feel like I was at home doing so. I called my old room the sewing "cave" because I felt like a captive in that color at times. Pink is my favorite, so that's where I started, I painted the walls "Crabapple" (look Erica, I spelled it right!) pink, it turned out just as I wanted.

My desire was to keep it happy, light, and cheerful...so I have been adding various colors I like, it reminds me of Lily Pulitzer to tell you the truth, it's so vibrant.

All the pieces of furniture are from garage sales or antique shops (with the exception of the white book case behind the chaise lounge).

The huge cork board above my work table is my "inspiration board" which was a plain frame I nabbed at a garage sale for $3.00 and painted "Clear Turquoise" by Kilz brand paint in ONE coat, it transformed instantly.

"Trish" my little hanger stand is showcasing my favorite things, hangers that belonged to my Grandmother Jeanell and my mom Cheryl, I love them (and the hangers are cute too).

That's about all I have time to share this morning...thanks for the loving comments and all the compliments, you have truly blessed me, this project was fun but taxing to do in such a short time. Thanks for the boost!

Amelia

How Friends Are Made

I hope you can all take time at some point to look at the links of some people I've met and friends I have made on here. Not only through this blog, but eBay, and other message boards as well. There are so many neat sites out there and I am glad to share the ones I find.

These links can be found directly to the right under "Links I Like."

Distressed To A Pulp

Let me first express how much I am amazed by what one can do if only using a little imagination....

For instance, I purchased this dresser at a garage sale for $50.00 (I tried to get her down to $30.00 but the woman wouldn't budge...). It was green with a brown varnish top layer. I tossed color ideas around and then it just landed on my brain like fresh morning dew.....what about painting it pink and then bringing out that yummy green that's under the varnish. I gave it a good try and applied the tip from a friend of using soap between the two paints and then knocking it off after painting. This worked like a charm for the look I wanted...showing lots of the green.

I had to sand like the dickens to get it where I wanted it, super distressed and very dramatic. I was nervous, but I can't tell you all how pleased I am with the final outcome.

The last thing I did was change out the ugly brass drawer pulls and replace them with lovely pink depression glass pulls. My inner Barbie is coming alive in my pink studio, with pink furniture, and pink accessories..... *grin*

Garage Sale Anyone?

I was lucky enough to tag along with two PRO-Garage-Salers last Saturday and I found some neat pieces to accent my studio and a 3 drawer dresser that I will show you all soon...

Here were some of my spoils from Saturday, before they received some of my TLC...

A Little Kilz Goes A Long Way

Painting is therapeutic and fun for me, so redoing all these pieces for my studio has been great. The reward of having a space that I love makes it seem even more like playtime.

Wal-Mart might just hate me right now, I have been several times for more paint, more brushes, and anything I might need. I really like the Kilz brand paint they sell. Here I am showing some of the work I have done with a color called Clear Turquoise.

It never ceases to amaze me what a couple coats of paint can do....

Amelia

I Give!

Okay yes, here is the picture of me painting, I was hoping nobody would ask to see it, but I was wrong....

Someone To Watch Over Me

Matt was a dream and took care of the girls while I spent the day moving and painting in my sewing room. Everyone was busy playing in the playroom and possibly watching a bit of basketball (maybe...), and I was hard at work in my soon-to-be-studio....but don't fret!....I wasn't alone. Only a few minutes into my painting this friendly guy joined me. *Gasp* Yes, I spent the entire afternoon with this charming and terrifying red wasp. I'm going to call him "Charlie."

Enough For Everyone

Work that is! Yes, I put Avery to work too. Actually, she wanted to help...so it was more fun than anything else.

To Avery I assigned the job of painting my little iron clothes display thing (it really has no name, I should call her "Trish" from now on...). She did great taking "Trish" from bland ivory to gorgeous Pigtail Pink. I have a few more tricks to play on Trish in the next few days, but so far she is quite a cute little addition to my studio...

Spring Break or Spring Work???

As you may well know by now, my husband is a teacher and coach. Spring is his busiest season because of golf (coaching and playing). This week is Spring Break, or so we've been told.

Just like any good wife I've let him rest and tried to help him relax a bit....but that was earlier in the week. The last couple of days I have put this poor man to work as a mover, baby-sitter, and psychologist. *I love you Matt!* Of all the ways to spend his last couple of days off, he has allowed me to go full force in redecorating my sewing room to make it the studio I've been needing.

*** I must insert a HUGE thank you to my friends in LilyPlum for the motivation and Heather Bailey for the inspiration that one can have her cake and eat it too! ***

I'm journaling this both with photos and stories. I hope you enjoy this as much as I am...today has already afforded me much pleasure by saying "good-bye" to one wall of yucky mustard-baby-poo-colored-paint.

Can I Open My Eyes Now?

You might have noticed that I have been extremely quiet lately...actually entirely quiet! Sickness has run through my house like a wild fire looking for kerosene. I'm ready to peek out from behind my can of Lysol and see sunshine and laughter instead of sickness and tummy aches.

All three girls seem better today, but poor Matt isn't feeling well.

I took this sweet picture of Evelyn the day after she started to feel better. I just love it, she looks so content and strikingly beautiful if I do say so my mama-self. LOL

Hope this post finds you all in excellent health..it's a blessing and treasure!

Amelia