Dear Sis,

I didn’t take enough pictures during my visit. Maybe you can fill in the gaps.

June 23rd

Your bathroom with a blue sink, toilet, and tub, and pink wall paper has made me bonkers since I first stepped foot in your home. As usual, I forgot to take before photos, but here are the after shots:

Scraping the wallpaper boarder at the top of the wall and in the middle of the wall went better than I expected. No damage to the paint underneath! The stencil boarder I replaced it with matches the fixtures perfectly. So do the towels, shower curtain, cup, and soap dispenser. I love that we were able to use one of great grandma’s oil paintings! The custom wreath I made to go over the toilet fills the wall space nicely without looking too busy. The new mirror adds shape and style. We were not able to swap out the light fixture, but turning it to point upward instead of down made the space feel more open! The tiny touches of replacing the rusty floor vent and the ill matching cabinet handles really pulled everything together for a polished fresh feel. I love this makeover on a budget! It’s one of my favorites so far:)

June 24th

I spent most of the making a five tiered sprinkle filled candy cake, but we squeezed in a family photo session before bedtime:)

The photo has a totally different vibe than the rest, but it is good too:)

June 25th

Eve’s Fourth Birthday Party

I’ve made many cakes, but this is arguably the most challenging one despite it’s simplistic exterior. This is a five layer chocolate cake. The center portion of the four bottom layers were removed and made into the two little cakes. The center was thin lined with a coating of candy melt so that the sprinkle filled center wouldn’t clump after exposure to the moist cake. It took several hours of melting, pouring, and setting to form the perfect well for our sprinkle and Sixlet filled cake. The fifth layer of cake was placed above the welled layers and frosted over to hide the surprise contents.

We made a mess in the dining room, but the kids absolutely went nuts for the cake that drops candy everywhere when cut:)

The girls matching dresses were so stinking cute!

I don’t have any photos from the piñata. Maybe you can add some. I would also love to see some pictures of the completed dining room and sewing room that I helped decorate during the visit.

Thanks for a wonderful visit!

Love,

b

Dear Sis,

We’ve been on vacation for about three weeks, so I’ve backdated the segments of our adventures to their respective places in our recent timeline. I hope you enjoy this photo journal:)

June 17th

We arrived at Great and Pop’s in the late afternoon. We visited their neighbors who have a train display right in their yard! 

Afterward, we met Gran and Dave at a local outdoor diner for supper.

June 18th

Grandma put us to work! We installed lighting under her microwave so her stovetop is nice and bright.

For anyone with a dark kitchen area, these LED strips are super easy to install and plug directly into a wall outlet!

I was then tasked with fitting a curtain to the narrow window by the front door.  We ordered some magnetic curtain rods on Amazon. I did have to take the old sheer that was hanging home to refashion it into a proper window treatment. But the completed curtain image fits in the timeline best here:)

The last Grandma project is also out of sequence because I made it at your house and gave it to her at Eve’s birthday party, but again, it makes the most sense here. Grandma saw a sign with this quote in a Dairy Queen bathroom two years ago and has been asking me where she can find one to buy every time I visit. This time she had a photo and everything, so I decided to just make one:)

Photos from Cousin April’s Wedding

Papa Jeff brought bubbles!

Cousin Laura’s daughter Aubry is only a few months younger than William. All the little cousins got along so well! William feels like he made a new friends:)

Trey, Aubry, Chase, and William

July 19th & 20th

William has been asking to go camping for over a year. It’s wonderful that we finally went, even if it was just for one night. It was fun to be back at our old stomping ground… Raccoon Creek State Park. Next year I think the kids will be old enough for a whole weekend!

Our hike to Frankfort Mineral Springs was also a success!

Our Pennsylvania was short, sweet, and action packed!

Love,

b