What Have I Been Up To Lately?

This is what I have been up to lately.

I finally pulled the trigger and started reupholstering the two wing back chairs in the dining room.  I feel certain that I have read all the tutorials ever written in blogland and watch all the videos on YouTube.  I have even read a book or two on the subject.  However, I have been very afraid to begin.  What if I can't do it?  What if I start and then cannot finish it?  What if the chair is ugly?  Ugh!!

Then I jump in with both feet and just started.  I heeded the advice of many and took pictures as I took the chair apart and then I labeled and numbered each piece of fabric. 

In my opinion, taking the chair apart was much harder and labor intensive than putting it back together again.  Don't get me wrong, there have been some tricky parts.  For example, I had no idea how to do the bottom front corners of the chair.  The original fabric had seams sewn in the corners.  I tried to match it but my seams did not match.  If any one has any suggestions for me, please let me know.  Here is my first attempt.

I did try it again, but I did it my way.  I will try to get pictures of that later.  It may not be the correct way to do the corners, but again, please leave suggestions in your comments or email me.  I will be ever so grateful.

This was my stopping point last weekend.  I ran out of fabric and there was this big football game on Saturday night.  You might have heard about it, especially if you love SEC football. :)

I hope to finish the chair this weekend!  There are tons of tutorial out there and I will list a few at the end of the post.


Thanks for stopping by!
Our Southern Nest


Reupholstery Links:


The Creative Maven


DIY Upholstery Supply Video


Modest Maven

Country Living Fair Atlanta 2011

This weekend we went to the Country Living Fair in Stone Mountain.  This was my first time to go to the fair and I was so excited!  I had read many blogs about the fair last year and couldn't wait to see it all for myself.

It was a beautiful day and there were many in attendance.  I will have to say I was somewhat disappointed.  I saw many things that I loved, but nothing I just absolutely had to have that day.(There was the tunic that got away because I hesitated. :()   I also thought that I had seen many of the things before either in stores or on blog land.  My favorite part of the fair was the creative displays the vendors came up with to show their wares. 

However, I am so glad that I went and I am looking forward to next year!  Here are a few of my favorites from the fair.

Hueology-Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Let me just say that I love Pinterest!  A friend of mine introduced me to it this summer, and I have spent countless hours searching, admiring and dreaming of projects ever since.  This morning,as I browsed Pinterest,I found the most wonderful blog.  If you are a fan of Annie Sloan chalk paint (and I know you are) you must go check out Hueology.  MJ and Trish are the women behind Hueology and they have done some pretty amazing projects. 

Here are a two of my favorites  projects from their blog.

They have a great color chart with an explainations of each shade.  Click HERE to view it!

The girls also teach classes from beginner to advanced and a few special projects inbetween.  If you are in the Summerfield, North Carolina area you should go see them!

If you would like to see more photos of their work, you can find them on HERE on Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Southern Nest

Yo Ho, Yo Ho...A Pirate Turns 3!

Today is our little one's 3rd birthday.  Last night we celebrated with a pirate bash for the Captain.  Everyone came in their pirate or princess best and enjoyed lots of pirate games.  We walked the plank, dug for treasure, and we even had a pirate tattoo parlor.  We had a wonderful time and I am very thankful for all of our friends who came to help us celebrate.  I will apologize in advance for so many pictures, but please be sure to scroll down to see the cake!

This is what greeted our guest as they arrived to the party.

I decorated our courtyard in red and black.  You might recognize this concept from last year's Halloween decorations.  I changed the colors from orange and black to red and black and viola!  You have a pirate party!  To see the Halloween version, please click here!

I do apologize for some of my pictures.  I was running out of time and did not have the food on the table.  I had every intention of having it perfect for the blog, but what can you do?!  The Peg Leg were chicken wings, and the Cannonballs were sausage balls.  I got the recipe for the sausage ball here and they were delicious!!!

I asked my neighbor's daughter and her friend to help me out with the party.  They were in charge of the tattoo parlor and games in general.  They were a HUGE help!  Thanks Girls!!

The big kids and little kids had a great time with the beanbag toss game!

They also had a great time digging for buried treasure.  The children search for pirate Silly Bandz, gold coins, diamond rings, beads, and pirate earrings.  I purchased these items from Amazon, Century Novelty and Oriental Trading.

Here are a couple of pirates walking the plank!

My dear friend, Lorraine, made his pirate outfit for this occasion!  Isn't he cute?!  Below are some more cuties who wore their pirate or princess best!

The true star of the show, besides the birthday boy, was this awesome cake.  My beautiful and obviously talented friend, Bonne, made it for us.  The pictures do not do this cake justice.  I wanted to cry while I was cutting it because it was just too pretty.  Let me tell you one thing though.  As good as the cake looks, it tasted even better!  Yes, I know you probably think that isn't possible, but it is.  The cake was amazing!!  The top two tiers were a moist, chocolate cake, and the bottom tier was a white almond cake. 

Bonne has a blog dedicated to her cake creations.  Please check out Fondantopia to see her work!  If you live in the Atlanta area, you should contact her for your next celebration.  Be sure to tell her I sent you!

You can see that the little ones could not wait to get a slice of the pirate cake.  Everyone wanted the pirate ship!

I reused some of my Halloween and Mardi Gras decorations to the kids table.  The candelabras were purchased for Halloween a few years ago, and I put a few Mardi Gras beads and doubloons on the table for the children to wear.

I wish I had pictures of the courtyard at night!  It was beautiful when the sun went down.  I had so much fun putting the party together.  I will be completely honest and tell you that I did not do everything I had intended.  If I had more time, each child would have had a treasure map to follow to each activity.  We would have stamped their map after they completed each activity and they would have been given a prize.  I had also planned to do an art project with them, but they were having so much fun playing that I decided not to do it.  However, I feel like I must share this with you so you will know that I am not perfect.  The important thing is that our little one had a great birthday with his friends, and I had a wonderful time hanging out with mine!  It was a wonderful day!

If you have not found Pinterest.com by now you need to check it out.  I created a board just for this party.  It was a huge help in giving me ideas and keeping me organized.  Click here to see my board!

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Southern Nest

PS-  I am linking this party to the following sites: