Visit to the Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest is a magical place for children here in Salem Oregon. It is an amusement park and more with a fairy tale theme. Because of the Oregon weather, the park is only open from the end of March to the end of September. Closing day was this past Sunday and that is when we went.

I enjoyed Enchanted Forest as a child and now get to enjoy taking my kids. Some activities they loved and wanted to do over and over, others they were scared of, and many made their inquisitive minds want to explore.

Some of the exhibits are to look at, most are to interact with, and all are intriguing to young children. Above they are making a marionette dance and my daughter is noticing the "big bad wolf" from Little Red Riding Hood.

While we ate lunch we watched a water show with colorful lights and music. It is amazing how entertaining that is to a 2 year-old! It was a fun day and we can't wait until next year to do it again.

A New Line in My Shop

I am very excited to announce a new line in my Etsy shop. Last week I introduced a new line of One-of-a-Kind (OOAK) small drawer sets. They are so much fun to make!

I currently have 3 of these in my shop and will be adding more soon. I am working on them now!

I selected these because of their multiple uses and because of their quality. A lot of newly-made wood products are light-weight, come apart and are simply cheap. I found these drawer sets to be well made and I search through dozens to find the ones with the even drawers, knobs... So you can know that each one is hand-selected before I even begin work on it.

Uses for these great pieces are virtually endless. They can go in a bedroom for holding jewelry, a little girls room for hair accessories, an office for supplies: tags, tape, staples, paperclips or a studio for a number of supplies: sewing notions, stamps, beads...

I start by sanding every surface of the drawers and the base. I then paint the entire piece white, then adhere decorative paper to the top and sides, sanding the edges for a finished edge. I then paint the drawers (usually) to coordinate with the paper on the top and sides. Finally I paint and attach wood bead or ball legs to the bottom.

Shabby Chic Room Inspiration

I love looking through magazines and on the internet for beautiful home interiors, especially shabby chic (my favorite). I find the pictures inspiring for creating new pieces for my shop, but they are also very inspiring for creating a new room or space. I hope you find these beautiful pictures as inspiring as I do. Find tips below for creating or enhancing your own shabby chic space.


Must-haves of shabby chic design: 1) distressed furniture, 2) slipcovers, 3) florals, 4) old rugs, 5) mismatched pieces.

Keep colors muted: a lot of white or cream with pastels. Combine patterns and colors.



Be creative! Repurpose a chair to use as a side table or old vintage suitcases or an antique trunk for a coffee table. Use your imagination.

*Some tips adapted from about.com.

Video of My Craft Fair Set-Up

We're all curious of people's craft fair set-ups. Here's mine from a fair about 2 weeks ago. It was outdoors and we were allowed to set up wherever we wanted and take up as much space as we wanted. I tried to keep colors muted and consistent. I think it turned out well for my first craft fair! Enjoy. (That's my son playing in the background.)

Our Local Minor League Baseball Champions!

We spent the summer hosting 2 players of our local minor league baseball team and last night they became NW League Champions! It was a tied game to the end! They won 2-1 in the 13th inning! It was the longest, nail-biting game I have ever witnessed - very exciting.

The stadium became a second home for us and our kids who loved going to the games, playing, seeing the guys, and eating baseball snacks (peanuts are my favorite). In this picture my son is talking to the pitching coach - no doubt letting him know how he could do his job better. Gotta love kids!

We are very sad that baseball season is over as we will miss the fun at the games, seeing our "baseball friends", and mostly we will miss our players who we had to say goodbye to today. Looking forward to next year!

My Latest Project

So I found this great hardwood chair at our local Habitat For Humanity ReStore. If you don't have a ReStore near you, it is where people donate furniture and building supplies (paint and nails to doors and light fixtures) and all of the proceeds from sales go to fund Habitat for Humanity.




So they were having a sale and I bought this chair which I thought might be teak and was told was probably mahogany. Either way it was a great chair for our patio that I paid $9.00 after the discount. It was solid which is the most important when looking for a piece to redo. It did need some work as you can see from this "Before" picture.


So I wiped it down, sanded it, wiped it down again, then stained it with a dark stain to match the other dark brown furniture on our patio. *Time-saving tip: Use stain with a protective sealant in it to avoid having to do twice as much work. In the end I am very happy with this chair I will have for years to come for $9.00 that went to a great cause.

New Color Added to My Shop

So the focus of my store when I opened in December 2008 was on black and white pieces. I slowly got my feet wet in the color realm with a light sage green, then pink (inspired by my daughter). I love blue, so I added two different shades of blue which have been popular and also a creamy white. I have been wanting to add yellow for awhile. I love yellow and white together, so I just needed to find the right yellow. Introducing the newest color in my shop...



So I listed the toolbox yesterday and it already sold. I put up a shelf in the same yellow today and will be working on more yellow pieces among the other colors.



I let the pieces themselves determine the color I use most of the time. I look at them and imagine what color would suit them best. I knew that toolbox had to be yellow and the great curves of the little shelf I thought would pair wonderfully with the yellow as well. Let me know what you think!

1st ShabbyNChic Blog Giveaway Winner...

The Winner of my FIRST blog giveaway is Mia from Estonia. She won this shabby chic wall hanging valued at over $17.00. Thank you all for entering the giveaway and keep checking back for future giveaways as I have more planned. Congratulations Mia!