Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Please VOTE for SARAH!



Sarah has been home from Russia for 10 years and on her 11th Birthday we took a few pictures...







 
You can click on the picture above to vote!






Hello Lakeshore Cottage Living friends! My daughter's picture has made it to the voting stages of the Joint Council's annual photo contest. I would be so honored if you would pop over and vote for SARAH. The competition is tough......and all of the children are just beautiful. Thank you so much in advance. You DO NOT have to register your email or anything like that and I would be delighted if you would share this on your facebook, website, blog pages as well!
 
May 19th will be her 10 year anniversary HOME. She really, really wants to be the winner. 
Thank you!
 
Hope you are all doing well...life is busy, life is SWEET.
 
XO, Kristine

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Kisses for a QUARTER

 
After scouring the internet for ideas for Valentine's cards for my kids, I
came up empty handed for my little one.  I wanted to include our new golden retriever puppy because they are a pair and decided that kisses were the best theme because that is what they do...give kisses!  So, the idea
 
"Kisses for a QUARTER"
was born.
 
And yes, I will be gluing/taping a quarter to each Valentine card on the little black emblem in the bottom corner.
 
What are your ideas for Valentine's cards?
 
I used PicMonkey to do free editing on this picture after uploading it to their site.  They have really cute Valentine's graphics...and like I said...many FREE options available.  Go check it out for yourself!
 
XOXO,
Kristine
 
I'm linking up to Wow Us Wednesdays!


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Oh my...it's been a while...


 
Hello.  I don't know if anyone still checks in here but I wanted to pop in and tell you that life has been so busy and well...once you get away from blogging and realize how much time is spent here...it's very hard to just return with a full heart and dive right back in.  I did want to post though and wish you all a wonderful holiday season and let you know that I will be posting a few Christmas decor pictures on my Facebook page.  You are welcome to follow my page and check it all out. You can find the link in my sidebar. Merry Christmas to all of you! 

XOXO, Kristine

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Peppa Pig Tea Party

My littlest one just turned 4 and we celebrated her Birthday today with 7 of her friends and lots of family. Many of the Moms stayed for the party too which was wonderful and of course I put them all to work! ;)  My oldest son told me today "Mom, if we had the President over for supper you would give him a job to do while he was at our house".  I thought that was kind of funny!  He is so right. 

 Peppa Pig is a little Piggy who lives in the UK and she hasn't made much of herself here in the US yet, so finding items for the party was a little tricky.  My daughter fell in love with her via Nick Jr. 

Hope you enjoy all of the pictures...


 White cake with buttercream frosting..um, yes please...
the little teacup and teapot on the cake are from
an antique playset.

My little one got Peppa and
her little brother George for her birthday
and
each little girl got to have a Peppa Pig of her very own to take home. 

Isn't Peppa cute?!

oink!


I placed a little chipboard initial on each tag so the girls could keep track of their Peppa Pigs during the party.  We couldn't have a bunch of pigs running amuck now could we?

 Fresh roses from the garden...in a teapot of course.














 These bowls were great to help hold the
little plush bums upright.


Pink lemonade too. 


 We played a game that involved each of the girls being blindfolded with part of Peppa's body..an eye, her tail, an arm, etc. and they had to put Peppa together.
Here is Peppa BEFORE.  I cut her out of construction paper and glued her to a piece of foam board that I purchased at our local discount store.
I used tape on all of the parts that would be taken off and placed back on (like pin the tail on the donkey) and that way each girl could stick her part on Peppa's body form.

other than the eyes, they didn't do too bad...no worries, we put the little Piggy back together again. 

After the party, we headed
outside to take a few pictures. 




Peppa and George joined us.







 It was a very fine party indeed.

Happy Birthday to my little darling.

Love, Mommy

Looking for Peppa Pig items yourself?

You can find the stuffed plush HERE.
and I ordered the little outfit which included
the bow, another bow that you can pin onto a shirt or jacket or use however you like, the shirt and tutu from a very lovely lady on Etsy:
Jilly's Mom Made That!

**If you like the outfit and you follow Lakeshore Cottage Living, you can go over to
 Jilly's Mom Made That
on Etsy and if you order something, simply enter COTTAGE LIVING at checkout and get 20% off of your order!**

I'm linking up to these fun parties:

It's OVerflowing




Monday, April 2, 2012

Double Pink Knockout Roses and a Thank You!








They've started blooming like crazy!  and it makes me so happy to see them every morning out my windows.  These roses are on one side of the fence and on the other I planted salvia, coreopsis, nepeta (Walker's Low) catmint and white oriental lily bulbs.  I can't wait for it to all mature and fill in.

I have been so busy with the kids lately.  There has been a lot going on.  My daughter competed in the State Gymnastics Meet and took 1st place overall which was very exciting.  We had to work the meet and were busy with that all last weekend.  I am also working on a Children's Easter Program for church and trying to keep my very active almost 4 year old busy...planning her party too!  Should be fun.  I'll be back soon with more garden pictures.  I sprayed for poison ivy today and will soon be cleaning out that flower bed and replacing much of the dead stumps and bushes there.  Yardwork is a lot of work but it is so therapeutic to me!  I am enjoying my time outside right now...
our weather has been amazing. 

Also, I just want to say that I was seriously BLOWN AWAY by all of the comments and features of my girls' room. 
Thank you all so very much!

I'm linking up to:




I hope you will go over and see all of the beautiful spring projects!

Talk to you all soon,

Kristine

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

And the WINNER of the Cutting Edge Stencil is.....

Natalie of



Natalie, I will be emailing you very soon.

*Natalie was chosen by Random Generator.*

A HUGE THANK YOU
to all of you who entered my giveaway.

All of your comments made me smile and smile and smile again.  This was so fun I may have to do another one...hmmmm.  Well, we'll see.

XO,
Kristine

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Kitchen Reveal: Before and After...A Second Showing

Wanted to share my kitchen renovation with:




This is how we found the kitchen  

AT CLOSING:
002
004


AND…….after the renovations:



113114 115 116 117  120   123 124 125 127 126 128 129  133 135  oops…a few water spots on the ol’ faucet!  keeping it real…lol 
 143 
Thank you so much for stopping by! 
I would love to hear what you think. 
I will give you some details:
Paint is Sherwin Williams: Samovar Silver
Trim is Sherwin Williams:  Shoji White
Shelves on brick wall: Custom made by trim carpenter (I drew what I wanted and they whipped them out in not time...can you believe it?!  Really talented guys)
Refrigerator:  Samsung Counter Depth french door...LOVE IT!
Dishwasher:  New Kitchenaid model...LOVE IT!
And the microwave is an LG.  It was the largest they had.  I chose to put it down low so the kids could reach it easier to help with cooking... ;)  they eat a lot. lol
And it is off the counter that way.
Cabinets:  Rustic Oak
Floor:  4 inch red oak with knots - I think they said grade 1??
Countertops: Granite-giallo ornamental
Backsplash: Tumbled marble subway tiles
Knobs and drawer pulls- Cool Knobs and Pulls-ordered online

My kitchen definitely looks a little more "lived in" now with a few papers and lunch boxes scattered here and there.  I don't know if it will ever be as clean as it was in these pictures again LOL.
*sigh*

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Spring Has Sprung In My Girls' Room: A Reveal and a GIVEAWAY!

Well, I have been busy around here trying to finish another room so that I can give you something original to look at.  

I owe  a BIG thanks to

**This GIVEAWAY has ended and a winner has been chosen**

for asking me to help them with a Giveaway.  They have been very patient with me and it was just the push I needed to get the girls' room finally finished this past weekend.  So without further ado...my girls' room...





 My Step-Mom, Peggy, made the curtains, bed ruffles, throw pillows with each of the girl's names and the duvet covers.  She is so talented.  Love all the details that she put on the pillows and bedding, don't you?



 The quilts, round pillows and pillow shams are 
Cynthia Rowley from TJ Maxx.
 The antique kitten pictures are so special.  This one was given to my MIL when she turned 9 years old.  I found another one from the same artist in our local antique mall.  You can see it below...
This is the stencil I  chose for the room.  It is the Allium Grande.  I painted the stem myself with a sponge brush.  This was so easy to do...it took me about 20 minutes for each allium.   I think they add a lot to the room.  I used tape, acrylic paint and a sponge brush.


The paper lanterns in the corner of the room are from Hobby Lobby.



Love this little Penelope Peapod...do you have one of these? 
Every little girl needs one...



 Here is the other kitten print.
Yes, that is a little grasshopper on the glass.



 A few of our Russian treasures.




So what do you think?
 



I am linking up to these fun blog parties this week!




Weekend Bloggy Reading
Photobucket


It's Overflowing