wood pallet to beach flag

So excited to share a new project! Our beach flag turned out so cute, well at least we think so : )
We came across a few free wood pallets, and well, we just could not pass them up!

I pulled the pallets apart - super awesome work out.  

Then I positioned them into the rectangular shape.  

Screwed the pieces together.

I grabbed my fabulous wood filler...

And then plugged the holes, followed by a quick sanding. 

  I wanted the finish to be rough so I did not put to much effort in to the sanding.

Just a quick photo of the underside, I screwed the horizontal pieces to two vertical pieces on the back. 

Then I taped off the flag...

Finished painting...

Peeled the painters tape...

Placed the sea stars...

And then hot glued those puppies on.  

TA DAAA!!!

Thank you for stopping by.
Meghan and Jessica

We are gearing up for Halloween here at Gracie J. and through all the madness I have been reflecting on last years costumes and thinking of what to do this year.  I am totally in love with our new witch costume and I can't wait to post pics of it!!!!!
Here are a couple of pictures from last year!  LOL, my precious spaghetti and meatballs : ) YUM!

And after an hour of trick or treating....

So, for now... what are you all doing for your "littles" for Halloween TWENTY THIRTEEN?!  Any ideas or inspirations? 

Thanks for stopping by!

 Meghan and Jessica

A Small Tribute - 5 generations

A small tribute and a reason to share one of the most beautiful photos I own.

I lived 30 years of my life with a great grandmother, Emma Isabel.  Three and a half years ago, Emma became a great great grandma to my son and year and a half ago, a great great grandma to my daughter.  My daughter, Casey, lived the first 15 months of her life as the fifth generation of "women" in my family.  Emma passed away after a long (nearly 100 years), beautiful life a couple of months ago.  I was smart enough to capture a sweet moment before her health began to deteriorate.

Casey, Jessica, Kathleen, Virginia, and Emma

Treasure your special family moments and for goodness sake, please take photos!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Stars and Stripes Shimmer Tutu

Here it is!!!!

We are so excited to finally post pictures of our 4th of July Tutu.  It is now available on our Etsy shop!!!

We will be posting more tutus very soon, as well as our patriotic scrap fabric skirt!!! Check out our site!!!!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Graduation Keepsakes....

So, a while ago I saw that there was a great gift idea to give to your own children that graduate from high school or college.  Someone kept the book, Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess, during their children's lives for teachers to sign.  The teachers were asked to write a little note in the book at the end of each school year to the children.  I thought this was such a great and thoughtful idea.  My son recently started a pre preschool and I wanted to start this tradition with his first "teacher."  I went to Barnes and Noble and was so excited to find this...

It is a Graduation Keepsake edition.  There is room in the back of the book for just the thing I was looking for!  Spaces for teachers and friends to write and a keepsake envelope.  Oh, it is so so cool.

I was so so happy with my finding that I purchased two books.  I wanted to make sure that I had one for each of my babies : ) I can't wait to start getting the book filled out.  It seems so far from now, but I am sure that when the time comes to give each kiddo their book it will seem like a blink of an eye of time from now.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Meghan and Jessica

Water Painting

It is raining in Santa Clarita today. First, I needed to think of something for the kiddos to do (3 1/2 and 17 months) that would keep them occupied for a while. I had an idea to make all the moms, grandmas and great grandmas Mother's Day cards. So I put the 3 1/2 year old to work ;). He started off by painting a large piece of paper with pink, red, purple and white paint. Then my 17 month old wanted to join in, and I did let her for a bit. Well, most of you know that handling two toddlers with paint is not so easy. So, I came up with water painting for the little and, voila!!! Busy for a half of an hour, that is what a call success!

Home Goods Hack

Oye!  I am so excited about these new frame/shadowbox finds from Home Goods.  Who doesn't love that place?
Okay, so I was rummaging through the store like I always do, hitting all of the clearance areas and I came across these beauties : )

They are super cute, right?  I just love the white distressed look and they are not too deep with hooks on the back to hang on the wall.  Oh, you see the red sticker, huh?  Take a closer look:

Yes, that is right people!!!! Three bucks a piece, they had to come home with me.  I knew what I would do with them.  I have been going through an aqua and beach-y decor love affair and these would fit right in.

I put these on my craft table in the garage and ran upstairs to get my burlap scrap bag.  I ripped out the weird bird nest/egg oddity and scraped out the remaining hot glue from both frames.  Like I mentioned above, I have a new accent color in the house which is aqua.  I could not decide whether to go with aqua sea star or white finger sea star.  So I put both in front of me to ponder while I hot glued the burlap to the inside of the frame.  

I just added glue to the corners of the inside of the frame and stretched while it dried for a few seconds.  Super easy, people!!! (See below)

 Here they are while I was deciding what color to use for the sea star

Once I was finished I added them to wall in my entry.  I think they mix well with the photo from our wedding day on the beach and a picture from our Caribbean honeymoon.

 I think they add just the right touch and it was all for under 10 bucks and 10 minutes!!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Anchor Project

So, this was a totally unexpected project!!!  I was testing out a new paint color that I recently purchased.  It is Island Oasis by Behr (Home Depot.)  I purchased it for a few projects that I am doing : )  

Okay, so I put a stick in the container to stir it and did not wipe the stick down because I wanted to stroke out the color on a extra piece of wood I had laying around.  (It happened to be from a ruler growth chart that I can't wait to share.)  So, there happened to be so much paint on the stick that I was able to cover the entire scrap piece of wood.  Onto the project...

I saw this cute anchor sign floating around on Pinterest just a bit ago... Here it is : )  The Etsy shop that sold it doesn't have anymore.  I suppose that I could have messaged her to make another but I had this awesomely painted piece of wood to work with. I got started and wrote out a quote (in the shape of an anchor) that I love that applies to my family.

It says, " Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."

Then, I started painting the words with a simple white craft paint from from Michael's.

Now, this is a complete departure from my normal craftiness. The reason being that I usually like clean lines and symmetry - this is far from clean lettering.  I have done the same style for so long that I wanted to try something like this, uneven, white, unfinished looking letters. I think it turned out pretty cute : )

My new love is aqua.  A friend of mine has been decorating her beautiful new home in the color and I have simply fallen in love with all things aqua.  She is awesome awesome awesome, check out her blog here.  This is the final project, I love how it turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, that is what I am talking about!  These are so yummy that I have to say it again, Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.  These are so fabulous that I am certain they will not let your chocolate needs down.  Okay okay, so now you are eager to try these right?  Do not go out to the store just yet...

You must also buy, Reese's Peanut Butter Chips!! So, now you have the ingredients.  I have only been able to find this cookie mix at Home Goods, it is by XO Baking Co.  I have not checked online, I am sure that you can find this mix rather easily.  I just don't want to know about it because I would have a never ending supply in my pantry - dangerous.  Plus, it is fun to dig around at Home Goods like a ravenous beast searching for my cookie mix : )

**PICTURE REMOVED**

Okay, I removed the picture - temporarily from this post.  Until I go to the store and take my own photo of the Reese's Peanut Butter Chip bag.  I just read a blog post from (I forgot), they were sued from using a photo from google images.  Yipes!

I am so happy that The Hershey Company has these little drops of divinity listed as an evaluated Gluten Free  food.  You can check out the list here.

Okay, so here are the cookies : ) I couldn't wait to share so I just took a picture with my phone and put it up for you to get inspired.  

Enjoy!

**Update**  I felt bad for not including a link so that you could find this mix easily.  So, I looked it up and the Xo Baking Co. website does not sell direct, but you can find thes mix on Amazon.  You're Welcome : )

Meghan and Jessica

Quaker Oats and Annie Sloan Paint

Oh my goodness, the flu has rampaged our homes!  Some projects have fallen way short of being finished, one of which was following through with Random Acts of Kindness week.  We will get that done a few days over the next few weeks.  Currently, Jessica is down with something that we are hoping is NOT the flu.  It is awful being sick with kids!  One thing that we did have time for over the last few days was going to the local antique shop.  The Country Antique Fair Mall in Santa Clarita is a great place to go if you are local and have not yet been.  Jessica has been looking for Quaker Oats memorabilia and scored big time over the weekend.  Take a look at what she found:

Also, at this wonderful place in "Awesometown" she found Annie Sloan paint.  One of the sellers has a whole collection of Chalk Paint and Waxes.  She has painted chips and small sample paint jars of all the paint.  So excited that we have a local retailer.  Check out the Annie Sloan website in the link above and see what great things you can do with a GREAT product.  

As much as we would like to write about our antiquing adventure, we must rest to get better.  Good evening!

Meghan and Jessica - thanks for stopping by!

Remember these?

A lot of road trips started with these :)
Thirsty Two!

random acts of kindness day 3

It appears that we are a day off in the RAOK endeavor.  That is okay, we will just keep plugging along.  I'm a mom, I get confused - it happens, A LOT : )

So today, try reaching out to someone that you haven't talked to in a while and wish them a Happy Valentine's Day.  Or, perhaps bring a treat to your co-workers or neighbor today.  No time to do something crafty, that is okay.  Pick some of those yummy Lofthouse brand cookies that everyone loves!!  And if you do have the time, try to make them yourself.  Here is a recipe that I found on Pinterest that claims to deliver Lofthouse cookie goodness it is from the thenovicechefblog.com.  I would love to try these and create a gluten free version that I can eat.  Yum.  If you do try the recipe please let us know how they turned out.

Also, Michaels craft stores are also participating in Random Acts of Kindness week with a little craft flare.  Check out their ideas at Michaels.com. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

Meghan and Jessica

Day 2 - Random Acts of Kindness.

I don't have a picture from Day 1.  My son wanted to go to our nearby park to leave a gift and there happened to be another kid there, go figure : )  So, Cash ran up to the kid and handed him the little bag with a toy and turned around and ran back to me.

This picture is from Day 2.  We just walked over to the park and left these rubber ducks. Cash had a hard time today.  He just loves rubber duckies.  We talked about it a little and he finally got distracted with something else and we moved on.  I understand that this is probably a hard subject for my three year old to grasp.  What makes me happy about doing this is the smile my little boy had on his face when he ran back after giving the other kid a present.  I hope he will always have memories of being kind and doing good in his life.  No matter how small the gesture, it makes you feel good to do good.

Thanks for stopping by.

Meghan and Jess

Random Acts of Kindness

Just saw that this is Random Acts of Kindness week and we are so motivated to participate at Gracie J.

Check out the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation website here.
There are tons of ideas on the website that really got us excited.  Here is the list of the no to low cost Random Acts of Kindness you can practice all week long!


February 11 - Smile at 10 strangers.
February 12 - Buy something for the person in line behind you.  (Starbucks?)
February 13 - Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while.
February 14 - Bring a treat to a neighbor or your co-workers. (Try a pinterest recipe you have been wanting to try like this one. Or bring some yummy Valentine's Day treats.)
February 15 - Donate your time or money to a local charity.
February 16 - Cook a healthy meal.
February 17 - Let someone go in front of you in line.

We just went to the store to get the supplies to make our kiddo friendly Random Acts of Kindness week! Stay tuned for more ideas and info!

**UPDATE**

So, for the kids to participate in Random Acts of Kindness week I took them to our local Target store and let him pick out 5 gifts.  He chose things that he liked and we had a long conversation about GIVING the items away.  Here is Cash picking out a toy.

He thought this plane was so cool.

And we attached these little notes to the baggies.  I was also careful to package the toys in clear bags so the bags didn't look suspicious.  I guess people can never be too careful.  

Let the giving begin.

Meghan and Jessica.

Party planning is in full swing

My daughters 1st birthday party is in just 4 weeks and I am in full swing panning mode!! Time to get everything in order and bring the creative ideas to life :-) Having an Alice in Wonderland theme party and can't wait to share the outcome when I am done. Hope you guys check back to see the completed event, it's going to be a blast!! Here's a little sneak peak at my little Abby (Alice tutu) :-)

Pretty in Purple TuTu

As we said before our supplies have arrived, we are excited to share another pretty tutu skirt in purple! Such a pretty little thing on a pretty little girl.
Check it out on Etsy... www.graciejboutique.etsy.com!

Supplies have arrived!!

I am so excited to tell you all that our supplies for Gracie J have arrived!!! I have been going crazy just thinking about all the the great things to be made and sold to all of our wonderful buyers. Worked on a few thinks today and I wanted to share a little sneak peak... We will have a lot of our sweet stuff on our etsy shop coming soon so please check us out. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Baby Food Pouches : /

This little one has never had problems with her food pouches. Today was different of course, we were in a hurry. I got out to get Casey and this is what I found. So much for trying to save time :)

Alice In Wonderland

Thrift shop finds to a fabulous Alice in wonderland party...

Alice In Wonderland

Okay, so it does take some time to thrift shop and find what you may need BUT it is well worth the time.  We found all kinds of great cups and saucers to paint and embellish.  Look at how wonderful they turned out : )
The book that you see above was hand made as a guest book for the guest of honor.  Every page was personalized for each guest and a place for them to write a special note to the birthday girl.  What a wonderful way for the guest of honor to remember a special day.
This party was for a 25th birthday and lover of everything Disney.  The party was later in the day with just enough daylight for dinner.  When the sun went down the music went up and the adult drinks were flowing.
Thanks for looking : )

Abby Grace and Casey J. sing and sign the day away.

Last week the girls started their first sing and sign class. We'll be sharing more and more about the babies signing progress in the next few weeks.
We believe that learning signs will help the girls communicate before their vocabularies take off. Did you know that American Sign Language (ASL) is acknowledged as a second language in the US?

Spiderman Pre Party

Gearing up to write and share about our party after this weekend.  All the party bags are tied and the ribbons are curled.  We need to go out tonight and pick up drinks and pay for food.  This Spiderman party is for a young man, Cash, who is turning 3.  Can't wait to share all the details and ideas for this party.

Hooray!  The first post of an exciting new adventure in blogging.  We are so excited to get all of our ideas and inspirations down in one place!