aubrey is 3!

 I was so busy on her birthday with her party preparations, so I picked her up an easy bake (microwave) cake set.

 I tried to get some shots of her on her actually birthday, but she is by far my worst client!

 Opening up grandma and grandpas presents!

 Today Jared asked her if she was a silly monkey . . . she said silly rooster. Exactly!

 The party - I made way too many things, and ran out of time and space, but it was a success!

This morning before church I finally got a smiling shot of her!

 

This week seems to be the week of funny quotes from Aubrey:

"my bum is freaking out" - we definitely had a bath that night! (not sure where she got that).

I asked her to pick something up (a few times) to which she replied: " I will, I will, ok sweetie?"

I didn't realize how much I called her sweetheart and sweetie!

and yesterday after a lot of talk about her birthday tomorrow, she said: "I feel more old" and lifted her hands up and reached for the ceiling and said "I'm growing taller".

She's definitely picking up on what people say around her!

Toad stool

 

I saw this cute tutorial on making a toad stool top for a stool here on Pinterest.

I wanted to be able to take mine off, so I made an elastic cover instead using the same idea.

frame finally finished!

 

 I finally painted the 6 paned window. It was too dull against the brown wall, so I painted it with some orange paint, lightly. Then added some white school glue to a few spots (to crackle it), then painted it roughly with white paint. The few glue spots crackled and I sanded the edges to distress it further.

Party planning

 

 I made a special trip to go downtown to pick up a few party needs. I had to pick up some things from Sur la Table and then I came across Daiso in Westlake Center. It's a Japanese dollar store ($1.50 or more). I was very happy to find some lanterns, ribbon and some gingham envelopes I'm going to use for placemats, for super cheap! They also had some really cute baking things, like fancy paper cups and wrappers. They also have a lot of dishes

 

Here are a few photos from their site of what they have. I didn't notice the picnic basket at the store or I would have picked some up!

too cheap?

I can't find any chevron patterned fabric in the stores hear anywhere. I found some in some etsy shops but I didn't want to pay the price or shipping so I tried to make my own. Now, you can make it easier then this if you buy striped fabric, cut in strips on the bias and flip every other strip vertically and sew them all together. (if you're a good sewer and can match up all the lines).

Instead I found a chevron pattern online, printed it off then traced it onto freezer paper, painstakingly cut it out and ironed it onto my fabric (wax side down).

Then I got excited, because at the craft store I found some spray fabric paint which I thought would be easier. It wasn't. It didn't work and made a mess on my fabric which I had to cut off later.

I switched to a non-fabric plain acrylic white paint and sponge painted the whole thing.

I'm not planning on taking the pillow case off or washing it, so I hope the paint holds up.

I had to cut off two lines and I was left with just the right size to fit my pillow.

There was still a little seepage in a couple spots, but from far away it looks ok.

It's the same material I used for the lampshades.

lamp makeover

 

I bought these lamps and I love them, but now my room is too dark and needs some light and colour. Everything is brown. So I decided to spray paint the base with gloss white.

 

Then I put fabric over over the shade to add some colour and I like the blue and green together now.

Halloween costume

 

 Aubrey has been really interested in horses and sits on us then says "giddy up girl" so I thought it would be fun and not too hard to make her a cowgirl costume for Halloween this year.

 

 I just updated her boots with some felt spurs.

 

I made the vest and skirt out of felt. I just need a cowboy hat. I made one out of felt but it's too small and I can't be bothered to remake it! I also thought of making a wig out of yarn and putting it in two braids, but we'll just see if I want to put that much effort into it. She might just change her mind come Halloween, and not wear any of it!

Wallace Falls

September 20th, we drove about an hour away to Wallace Falls and went for a hike. It took about 1hr and 40 mins to hike up to the middle of the 3 falls (which was the largest) as Aubrey needed to be carried on and off. It was a beautiful park and a nice day.

The river at the bottom of the falls - start of the hike.

Coaxing Aubrey along, we stopped for a rest.

Crossing over the river on a little bridge.

Almost at the lower falls we stop at a clearing in the trees with a bit of a view.

We finally made it. Here is the lower falls and you can see just off in the distance the middle falls.

There was a covered picnic area at the lower falls were we stopped for a snack and noticed a lot of busy chipmunks scurrying around for food. We gave this one an almond so it would sit still long enough for a photo. (you're not suppose to feed the wild are you?).

Not too much further up was the middle falls - the largest of the 3. The 3rd falls weren't that much further but we were running short on time as I had to be back home for something. Jared carried Aubrey all the way back down as she was exhausted by that point. It only took us 40 mins to go down and Aubrey fell asleep in Jared's arms the last 20 mins - in the cradle position! His arms were sore!