the dump

i’ll be bringing you the tutorial on my diy entry table tomorrow.  today, let’s talk about the dump.

the big buzz in atlanta all last week (let me rephrase that)…the big buzz on billboards and tv ads in atlanta last week was that the dump was having their atlanta location grand opening this weekend.  luckily billy was willing to go over there with me.  i think he was pretty curious what all of the fuss was about. 

we headed over to lindberg on saturday around lunchtime.  i’m not sure whether it was the beautiful weather that brought everyone out or whether the dump really did generate that much traffic, but i swear it was like 5 o’clock rush hour while we were trying to get to that place.  it took us a while to find a parking space but we did and made it inside.  when we first walked in i was pretty excited.  i loved the gi-normous pendants that were hanging everywhere.

i guess the gi-normous chandeliers are in proportion to the complex.  i don’t know exactly how big it is but the complex itself is massive.  for those of you who haven’t been to it it’s in an old home depot building…and it takes up the whole building.

things were looking good as we started to walk along.  i saw quite a bit that i didn’t like but quite a bit that i did.  i wasn’t too impressed with the prices though.  i think i expected too much.  from the way they advertised i was thinking the prices were going to be dirt cheap.  in my opinion they weren’t even close to dirt cheap.  i think it’s probably one of those stores that’s hit or miss.  i did see a few pieces that were a good deal but they were few and far between.  there was also a mix of run-of-the-mill furniture and very cool pieces.

i wish i would have taken pictures of everything.  i mostly took pictures of things that i really liked.

the olive paint on the inside of the hutch above is so striking.

  there was a large selection of reclaimed wood pieces which i really liked.

   

everyone loves birds right now and i thought these canvas prints were so sweet.

most of the art on this wall wasn’t as great.

i really liked this bedding.

there was a huge rug section

yes the tag on that sofa does say $7995, and just so you can see how big that sofa really is…

i probably won’t be going back to the dump for a while, at least not until the newness wears off and the traffic dies down.

LiveJournal Tags: the dump,atlanta design stores,lindbergh

no sew entry table revealed

on saturday afternoon i finished my no sew entry table and i’m so excited about it.  our condo is really small, and it has an extra small entry hallway.  when i first moved in over three years ago i quickly realized that i needed to find some kind of small table to fit into the entryway.  i looked everywhere for a table with a depth of less than 10” and never found one in my price range.  my last resort was building my own table.  i headed to home depot and picked up a wood shelf, a few table legs, some stain and made my own table.  it looked pretty sad for the last three years until this weekend.

the table (shown above) was functional but that’s about all it was.  it definitely wasn’t something that you would expect to find in the entryway of a designer’s home.  after billy and i decided that we were going to take our house off of the market and stay in it for a while i knew it was time to give my cheap little table a facelift.  i had some pieces of a drop cloth left-over from a previous project so i used that for the fabric.  then i added new black fabric tape to give it a more decorative look.

here is how it looks after a little cosmetic surgery.  since the table is by the front door anytime i headed that way my dog sweetie thought she was getting to go for a walk. 

so much better than before.  i also have extra storage underneath the skirt.  {huge bonus!!}  the best part is that it was super cheap and easy.  the total cost of the skirt was only $25.00.  the total cost of the table (way back when) was approximately $30.  so for less than $60 i have a pretty good looking table.  can’t beat that.  stay tuned to hear how to make this super-easy table skirt.

LiveJournal Tags: our house,no sew side table

"Ruffle Your Stuff" Contest

Disney, over at Ruffles and Stuff is having a contest - it's called "Ruffle Your Stuff".  If you've ever checked out her blog, you know how she feels about ruffles and feminine details - she loves them!!  And so do I, so I really enjoy reading her blog!

From now through the beginning of April you can enter her contest.  Make something that includes ruffles (you can come up with your own idea or use a tutorial from her blog) - it can be sewn, but it doesn't have to be.  Click here to see some of the creations that have already been entered.

So for fun, I thought I would enter one of my latest ruffle dresses -

The Pink Spring Garden Round-Neck Ruffle Dress

This is a dress I am currently selling in my etsy shop.  This dress is SO fun - it is the most full, twirly dress that is perfect for any little girl.  The dress is made from designer Art Gallery fabrics and has three tiers of ruffles.

The back of the dress is closed with a coordinating fabric covered button.

The neck-line is accented with bright green piping that I think adds a lot of extra detail to the dress!

Finally, I just wanted to show you my new "The Cottage Mama" woven clothing labels.  I know I haven't mentioned much about my shop yet, but I am just starting to get some of my inventory on etsy for sale - so I will let you know when I've got a lot of things up there (www.thecottagemama.com).  I currently have a custom order for one of these ruffle dresses and I donated one of these dresses to a silent auction this past Saturday and it sold for $135!!

So if you have a ruffle creation, you should head over to "Ruffles and Stuff" and enter the "Ruffle Your Stuff" contest.  Or head over there if you just want to be inspired and check out all of the awesome frilly, ruffle creations!!

Elmo Dance 2nd Birthday Party!

Wow, this was a busy weekend!!  As you read in my previous post, this past Friday was my older daughter, Savannah's, 2nd birthday and on Saturday we had her big 2nd birthday bash - an Elmo Dance Party!  Savannah LOVES to dance and she LOVES Elmo, so why not combine them both into one great party!

We had a little over 50 people at her party - I know, totally excessive for a 2-year old, but we had to invite all of her playgroup buddies and parents (wouldn't have been the same without them!).  My in-laws (Gigi & Grumpy) graciously allowed us to host the party at their gorgeous home (The Cottage Home is a little small for that many people) and it worked out perfectly.

I thought I would share with you a few of the pictures from her party and some of my party ideas:

Invitations

These are the invites I made for Savannah's party.  I did two different variations of them because I couldn't decide which one I liked better.  I used cupcake liners and flattened them, printed out a birthday picture of Elmo and framed it with a card-stock frame cut-out.   I printed all of the party information on the inside of the card.

Party Favors

For the party favors we gave out balloons and I made rice-krispy treat pops.  I bought store-bought rice krispy treats from Costco - they came in three different varieties - ones with chocolate candies, chocolate drizzle, and double chocolate.  I then stuck multiple colored sticks into each rice-krispy treat.  To wrap them up, I put a clear bag over the top with an Elmo sticker and tied them with multi-colored grosgrain ribbon.  I think they looked pretty cute in the little basket!!

Party Food

We kept the party food really simple (50 people is a lot of people to feed!).  And my Mom and Pepo flew into town from Texas, so I wanted to be able to spend some quality time with them and not be cooking our brains out to get ready for the party.  My father-in-law grilled cheese burgers, we had a bunch of different varieties of chips, and had bagel dogs for the little kiddos.

We also had cups of layered goldfish and cheerios for the little ones (I call these kiddo parfaits).

As I have mentioned before, my husband is a home-brewer and makes his own beer and wine.  For Savannah's party he made a special beer (for the adults, of course) called "Elmo's Hoppy Birthday Red Ale".  It was AWESOME!!

We also served different sodas, sparkling cider (there were quite a few pregnant mama's there), wine, and more varieties of beer.

Decorations

On the front door we had a big poster of Elmo.  My friend Elizabeth drew these posters and my mother-in-law and I glittered them and added a glitter border.

Inside we had another large Elmo poster over the fireplace mantel with a "Happy Birthday" banner.  I also had a Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird Posters placed on the ledges of some of the huge windows (but with the back-light, I couldn't get any good pictures).  We also had a big poster of Oscar the Grouch on the huge trash can.

We just hung some Sesame Street cut-outs with ribbon from the dining room chandelier.

Another big Elmo on the door leading into the pantry.

We had balloons all over the place, but we tied a large bunch to a plant container to make a centerpiece on the huge kitchen island.

On the kitchen table, we had crayons and large sheets of butcher paper covering the whole table for the little ones to draw during the party.

I made a special "Elmo" dress for my daughter to wear to her party.  I knew I wanted to make her a dress, but I still wanted it to be girly and Elmo at the same time.  Let me tell you......that was kind of hard to come up with since Elmo is so red.  But when I received my huge order of Heather Bailey's "Nicey Jane" in the mail it clicked!!  I saw the red accents in some of the fabrics and this dress was born.

I created this Elmo applique using a picture of Elmo that I deconstructed to make it out of fabric.  I also changed Elmo's nose to pink instead of orange to tie it into the other fabrics.  I then hand embroidered it to the apron.

I love big pretty bows on little girls dresses and this one was just right!!  The apron is sewn to the dress so I didn't have to worry about it sliding around when Savannah was getting her dance on!

I used a decorative scallop stitch in red for the bottom hem and used polka-dot bias tape to complete the look.

I made a matching birthday hat in coordinating fabric with a big "2" on top.  To be honest, it didn't get worn much during the party, but it looks cute!

Party Pictures

Savannah loved having everyone sing to her.  I did not make the cake (I am NOT a baker!).  I love, love, love to cook, but baking is too precise for me.  So my mother-in-law ordered this cake with Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle from a local bakery.

Mmmmmmmm.......cake and ice cream!  We served little ice-cream cups with the cake which worked out really well and reduced the mess with 18 toddlers!  This is my Grandma (Savannah's GREAT Grandma) standing by her waiting for some cake.

Trying to sneak a little present before the party even started.........she was caught in the act!

Savannah and Matilda with their guys.  From left to right......Grumpy, Great-Grandpa Alex, and Pepo.  These men adore the girls and it is SO sweet to see them together!

Brett and his Dad (Grumpy).  Is my hubby a good sport or what?  He wore this big Elmo shirt during the whole party - way to go Brett!!

Savannah had a great time at her party and got lots of tutus, princess and dress up things - she was in heaven!

We had such a great time with all of our family and friends and were so glad everyone could join us to celebrate our little girl turning 2!!

Cottage Mama's Note:  I have listed a version of this Elmo dress in my etsy shop.  It is a custom order dress.  If you know anyone looking for a girly Elmo dress, send them to my etsy shop and I am happy to help them create something truly special for their little girl: www.thecottagemama.com

I will be listing many more items in the coming month......I'm just getting started!

suzanne kasler for ballard - very pretty stuff

the new ballard catalog came in the mail over the weekend.  i was so excited to see it because i knew that suzanne kasler had done the styling for many of the photos in this issue.  i’ve been loving the direction that ballard has been heading in for a while but i think in this issue they have it all right.  it seems as if they are getting away from a lot of the more country look and going to a more industrial/cottage style {my fave}.  suzanne kasler did an amazing job with styling one entire home for ballard.  house beautiful interviewed suzanne and part of that interview is in the catalog.  the rest can be found here.

my heart skipped a beat when i got to the picture below.  this is exactly what i would do to a home office for myself…if i had one.  i really think that everything about it is perfect.  i can’t wait until i have a home office one day. 

susanne kasler really did do a phenomenal job with styling for ballard.  looking at this issue is really almost like looking at a house beautiful magazine.  i can’t wait to see what they come up with next.  here are some other images from the issue for you to enjoy.  i thought i would tell you my favorite things about each of the photos.

photo #1: fave – chandelier (i can’t believe this chandy is only $299) and coffee table

photo #2: fave -  wall of shelves used to display every-day-ware.

photo #3: fave – pleated bedskirt and pink walls (i’m not a huge pink fan but i think i like it in this room because it’s such an unexpected color.)

all images – ballard catalog march 2010

LiveJournal Tags: ballard designs,house beautiful,susanne kasler