{phfr} Happy Solemnity!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

 I had this material cut to make a second pillowcase dress for Cupcake and decided on Tuesday to go ahead and sew it. She wore the first one at the graduation party we hosted for my niece and it looked super cute. This one should make a fun birthday dress for this almost 2 year old. How did that happen? It has pinks and purples, moons and roses! The fabrics all came from my "quilties past" stash. Score!

{happy}

For years now, I have been changing our mantle to suit the liturgical celebrations of the month. Well, I got tired of that. I moved our liturgical celebration paraphernalia over to the little altar area we have set up in our dry bar and searched around the house for a more permanent mantle display. I've aways liked those "house rules" that you frequently see online. This short, light weight canvas was at a local store. The "Blessed" letters we already had along with the candle stand and the three white pitchers from IKEA. I found the peacock candle on sale at Pier One when I was there to return a picture frame and the silk flowers came from Hobby Lobby when they had a 50% off floral event!

It's hard to tell because of the angle, but the colors in the flowers compliment the blue-green, dark purple and off white in the "tapestry" over the mantle. This was actually a pillow that the big kids loved when they were little. Something was spilled on it once and I opened up a seam, removed the pillow form, washed it and hung it up to dry. After that, I decided to hang it over the mantle. Even though this room is more like a den,  we usually use it as playroom and this darling little jungle animal "tapestry" adds to the whimsy.

{funny}

 "I can go for a ride, Momma?"

"Why am I not moving?" 
AKA...put the camera down, Mom!
Actually, her big brother came to her rescue and pushed her around... until they lost a wheel. Darn hubcaps!

{real}

So, I mentioned that we hosted a graduation party and this was the only picture I took. Those M&M's were the colors of the invitation and the decorations, so let your imagination fill in the rest. I meant to take some pics before everyone arrived, but a last minute bean crisis got in the way of those plans. I had decided on a Taco/Taco Salad Bar set up for the food and had started some black beans in the crockpot at 6:30am. At 3:30pm they were still firm!!! Not crunchy, but way too firm to serve. Thankfully, I had taken my Granny's advice to always keep some extra cans of Bush's Best on hand. We heated them up on the stove and then dumped them into the recently evacuated crockpot right before the guest of honor arrived. Whew! I know. You were as horrified as I was. I'll give you a minute to recover from my harrowing experience. Who says pretty blogs can't get nitty gritty, sometimes! ; )

This is a little picture I drew for the honoree. I was inspired by Melissa's daughter's graduation announcement but I'm not a professional artist and needed something fast so this is what I came up with. A few of her favorite things.... My sweet niece has two orange cats that she loves (one is hiding), has taught herself the guitar and some Korean (in anticipation of visiting there someday). Her current favorite book is The Blue Castle {affiliate link} and according to her mom, the early reader More Spaghetti, I Say {affiliate link} is the book that turned her on to reading! Congratulations, Kitten! We are so proud of you.