Finishing Touches: Fill me up, Buttercup

Our family took a trip to OKC a couple weekends ago, and if you've read my Lipstick & Pearls column, you know it wasn't one of my favorite vacations...except for the last day.

On Sunday, our family drove into Edmond to surprise dear friends Jeremy and Amy Jordan who are the pastoral couple at Memorial Road Mennonite Brethren Church. It was amazing to hear Jeremy preach for the first time, and even more wonderful was having the opportunity to spend the afternoon with their family at their lovely home in Edmond.

Those precious moments redeemed our vacation and filled me up, so to speak. Do you have friends like that? Ones that spending an afternoon in fellowship with can re-energize your outlook? I'm thankful for several friends like that.

Not only was I re-filled by our conversation, I was also inspired by the Jordan's home. If you don't know Amy, she is a graphic designer/artist over at Delightful Distractions, on top of being an amazing mama to 5! And her home is adorable. She lives in a traditional ranch, but has found creative, beautiful ways to add that ever-important character and charm into her family's space.

So when I got home from vacation, I was motivated to tackle a project. But which one? My want-to-do list seems to be ever-growing the longer I live in our space. (Which has been two years now...can you believe it? Time sure does fly, and that milestone means I have an almost-2-year-old! Crazy!)

I've been itching to try my hand at something new...re-upholstery. So that's what I decided to go for:

It's getting a coat of paint, plus new upholstery. But it's turning into a long process when I work bits and pieces at a time. Right now the frame is done, but I'm busy hand-covering each of the buttons. It's not hard, but it takes some time...

In light of that, I took a break from that project yesterday to do something else. Not because I am tired of it (I'm not!), but because I had promised my sweet G that when the chair was done, we could make Barbie clothes together. Since it was so hot yesterday, and because the chair is taking longer than anticipated, we made Barbie clothes. (Something I'd never done without the presence of my own mom.)

It was fun...albeit, I did get frustrated about mid-afternoon, at which time we went to the pool. I used this tutorial for the dresses/skirt/shirt, though the tutorial was modified for Staci and Skipper, and I winged it with the mermaid tails.

I love fabric, so these two projects have made me happy. And I'm going to keep using the motivation while I have it (thanks again Amy and Jeremy!). Stay tuned for the aftermath of the chair experiment! 

Anyone else trying something new?