A Little Tuesday Tutorial

A little while back I stumbled onto to this little tutorial via Pinterest. Ah..happy little place that Pinterest is.

Source: sarahortega.com via Jaime on Pinterest

Do you Pinterest?

Anyhoo...after seeing this fab pic, I checked it out and then made my way to the dollar store and picked up the necessary supplies. Thankfully, I already had the super duper awesome E6000 glue.

Funny little side story:
In the process of things, while spray painting....I did something I did not realize until  few days later. Hard to explain, but I spray painted in the garage while our one and only car was still in it.( I know )I was too impatient to move it. I didn't think it would be a big deal, since I was just doing a little spray painting project...

Yeah, let's just say I noticed a strange oak pollen like film on our car. I mentioned to the Mr. how it seemed kinda late in the season for that, but went to get a car wash anyway....and....AND it was still there afterwards!

Uhoh...

I looked at my husband and wondered WHY the carwash didn't wash the pollen off....and then it hit me. OMGOSH!!! I.spray.painted.the.car.

Oh yes I did!

Clearly my spray painting skillz need a little help. Oy. Thankfully it really isn't noticeable unless you are sitting in the front passenger seat...ahem...

K, so, got the supplies and spray painted away, let dry, added another coat...let dry...you get the picture. Then I glued, waited overnight and VOILA!

Pretty little cake stand/goody serving/display stand of sorts. I love it. I love the yellow.

I am thinking I will mostly use them as decor above my kitchen cabinets that are rather bare since I painted them (really need to get a post done about that!) and then for the occasional craft show to display my wares.

So, tell me....do you have a spray painting story? Any kinda crafty mishap story? Please? Help me feel better.  K? Thanks.

Inspiration Workshop: Week 4

I'm linking up with Gussy for the Inspiration Workshop. This week is Spend The Day Playing!

Ahh...if I had a day to myself, hmm...how would I want to spend it?! It would be one of two ways...

One would be at the beach. With my family.

I love, love, love the beach. I just wished we lived closer...like, a lot closer! It's a good 5 hour trek to the nearest beach from where we live. Boo.

I would want to stay in a cute little beach cottage:

Source: housebeautiful.com via Jaime on Pinterest

Along with an ever so spiffy beach cruiser to ride around on. One for each of us.

Source: iheartshabbychic.blogspot.com via Jaime on Pinterest

And of course, plenty of time lounging on the deck or on the beach building sand castles would hit the spot.

Source: homedesignsites.com via Jaime on Pinterest

Oh the beach...how I love thee! And how I love that my son loves it just as much as I do. :)

But...since the beach is a farther distance and I actually have a little time to myself today, I would likely spend it going to my fave coffee house and having a coffee. Mmm.

Source: google.com via Tacky on Pinterest

Perhaps head to the library down the street after having a nice iced mocha (cause it's HOT outside, even in the mornings now..) and check out some books. Maybe ones on crafting or Russia...ya know, my two passions of late. ;)

Then head off thrifting...time to myself to look at things! Yay!

Source: ffffound.com via Jaime on Pinterest

Perhaps grab a pedicure with a friend? Yes, please! Could you imagine getting one here?! Love.

Source: None via Lily  {of opulence} on Pinterest

Then I am certain it would be time to pick up my kiddo from day camp....we'd probably hit the coffee house for a treat together and another iced coffee for mama...being that I would need an afternoon pick-up by then!

We'd head home and just chill together. Probably playing some Wii or reading a book. We love books.

Inspiration Workshop: Kitchens

I'm linking up to the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop



This weeks prompt was kitchens, which I love, because a great kitchen just makes my heart happy! And I am not one to think size matters when it comes to having a great kitchen. Not that I wouldn't mind a nice sized kitchen (mine is kinda on the small side), but thinking of my Gramms and her kitchen and the warmth she created...ah...happy memories!

I've been looking at all kinds of happy kitchen inspiration via Pinterest (of course!) and this one below I just love. I love the green chairs and yellow dishes...and I'm totally in love with white cabinets at the moment.

Source: goodhousekeeping.com via Jaime on Pinterest

I could totally see myself just sitting here and drinking coffee with my Gramms. I miss her so much...especially our almost daily coffee dates. Happy memories.

InstaFriday

I saw this a little while back on twitter by the fab Jeannett. Do you know her?! She's pretty awesome, I must say.



So, I'm linking up! My first week...pics from our recent trip to Russia. I know, they are from last week, but in all fairness I could not link up last week while still in country....why? Well, because it was an emotional week and I didn't always have internet access. So, there. ;)

We traveled several hours and 3 flights to get there. This is my son waiting for flight number two...across the Atlantic!

Once in country, there was plenty of beautiful scenery we saw while driving out past the city. There were many times I just wanted to stop and get out and capture more of it with something other than my iPhone, but there was not time to.

A market we stopped at on the way out of town the one day. Kinda like the Russian version of Walmart?

And surprise! Out in the parking lot of the market there was a man...with a TIGER! An actual real live tiger. Then, he brought out a lion...I didn't get a pic of the lion though. It was so odd just seeing them on the sidewalk and people just walking by like it was no biggie! Gee....why don't we have random tigers outside of our markets?!

Oh, and just past there we also saw a camel. A CAMEL! Just hanging outside some typical apartments in the city. Doesn't everyone have a pet camel?! No? Oh...well then...

A fairly typical building there. Plenty of construction was going on in one part of the city...this was just some of it.

Once out of the city, there was a cute little roadside stand of sorts we stopped at. Eggs, milk and such can be bought there. It was pretty fascinating. Very different than just buying eggs at the grocery here!

One of my favorite days there just also happened to be our 11 year wedding anniversary! That day we also got to stop by a local cafe in a village we were passing through. My son and I had crepes with jam (Yum!) and my husband had really good pelmeni (super yum!).

And eventually we had to start the journey (and three flights) home. My son brought a book along to read that I thought was pretty appropriate for the trip...especially since he is an official time traveler now! We went 16 hours ahead of our time zone...through several more time zones and back again....crazy.


So, that is it, little snapshots of our second trip to Russia. :)

Adoption Auction

:::UPDATE::: We traveled in late May and are still collecting items for the auction. Hoping to have it up SOON!:::

Okay....so, here we have it. Facing the unknown once again and starting back at square one. We are soon to travel on our second trip to Eastern Europe, but it will be a like a trip one all over again.

::if you're new here and interested in the auction and would like to know more about our story, check our our adoption blog over HERE::

It's hard. And, at the same time I have hope. There is a glimmer. There is a child there waiting for us. And all the while, this has been the most difficult journey of our lives. To experience such loss and at the same time such hope...not sure how to really put it into words. I don't think I can.

What I can do is put an auction together. And I want to say a HUGE Thank You to those of you who've offered items to donate to our auction. You have no idea how much this means to us. An unplanned third trip is not exactly what we EVER thought would be happening.

With this unplanned trip comes many unplanned adoption expenses. Mainly travel. Travel is a giant chunk of the adoption expenses. This is where the adoption auction comes in!

We are planning to have the auction up and running by late June/early July. If you are wanting to donate an item or gift certificate (or the like), please let us know! You can email me at Jaime(at)littlebirdcreations(dot)com.

We have some great items donated so far, so I am really looking forward to getting this up and running!

Please help us spread the word about it! The auction will be set up on this blog.

THANK YOU!!!

A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

As some of you have heard through twitter and facebook, my family received some devastating news this week. We were supposed to be traveling this week to go bring our daughter home from Russia.

This is not what will be happening. Instead of re-writing it all on this blog, please go HERE to learn more about what happened.

*********************
Obviously, we are stunned and in disbelief. At the same time, we are still invited to travel to meet another child.

This is the hard part. How does one mourn such a loss and at the same time be willing to open their heart to another child? I am still not sure how my heart will be capable of this. What I do know is that God has not said no and we are to continue down this path of adoption that He is leading us on.

That being said....

This will now require us to make an unplanned third trip to Russia. A trip that we are not at all financially prepared for. This means we absolutely cannot complete this adoption without more fundraising. And this trip could be coming more quickly than we realize.

This is where we need your help. We need you to help spread the word via twitter, facebook...whatever means possible about an online fundraiser we would like to put together. We need donations of items to raffle.

Are you willing to donate an item? Do you have an Etsy (or other handmade) shop that you would be willing to donate something from or a gift certificate?

Please let me know! Just email me at jaime(at)littlebirdcreations(dot)com if you are interested.

Thank you. Thank you all that have already been supporting us in prayer and your kind thoughts and encouragement. This is an extremely difficult time right now and we need your thoughts and prayers more than ever.

Bless you!

Just 203 To Go!

It's been a while since I have mentioned much about adoption fundraising, but this just might be my last post on it for a while. At least for our family. Yes, we plan to adopt again in the future, but right now we are focused on Songbird and the time is coming fast to when we finally get to bring her home.

Meanwhile....

We still have a puzzle to finish! I've mentioned it before and there are details about it HERE.

It's no secret that adoption can be costly. I haven't calculated it yet, but I'm pretty sure FedEx has received quite a chunk of it. Let's just say...sending paperwork over half way around the world (whether the size of a novel or just two documents) is pricey!

SO...if you don't mind helping to spread the word, we just have 203 pieces to go! We'd love to be able to finish it before we leave.

***Update: Now just 193 to go!***

ALSO....a little something extra for you! If you click above about the details, you will see that each piece can be sponsored for $5. I am also offering you another option! From now until May 12 (when LBC closes  shop until July) any purchase made at Little Bird will count towards finishing the puzzle! All you have to do is enter coupon code Songbird to receive 15% off your order and in the notes just tell me you'd like to be added to "the missing piece" to help finish the puzzle!

How does that sound?! Good? Hope so...I would love to be able to put as many names as possible to show our Songbird just how much so many care and love her.

Thank you and, if you would, please help spread the word around blog and twitterverse!