DIY Shabby Chic Bird Cage

One day I was in Joann's and saw this:

I fell in love with the idea but knew I wanted to do it a bit differently. 
By the way, Joann's has a ton of craft ideas both in store and on their site. Check it out!!

This is what I used along with some cardboard and scrap fabric. 
I found the birds at The Dollar Tree and that great scrap fabric ribbon at Hancock's. 

Step 1

I cut 2 pieces of cardboard and hot glued them together.
Then I wrapped the pieces in the scrap fabric and hot glued it down.


Step 2

Next, I hot glued a piece of ribbon at the end of the floral wire and wrapped it up, hot gluing the end as well. 
I did that to about 5 pieces of the floral wire. 


Step 3

I inserted 2 pieces of the wrapped floral wire into the cardboard.
Then I hot glued one bird to the bottom of the cage.
Next, I took clear thread and tied it to the other bird. After that, I tied it to the top of the cage.


Step 4

Then I inserted the rest of the wrapped wire.

Next, I hot glued the scrap ribbon along the bottom of the cage.

I then took a different color scrap ribbon, twisted it and glued it around the outside of the middle of the cage.

Lastly, I took a small flower and hot glued it to the top. 

ALL DONE!!!! A sweet, shabby chic bird cage!!!! Perfect addition to your spring home decor. 

So, what do you think???

I know, I know... The blog title says sewing and schooling but I love a little crafting, too!!! I'll be getting back to sewing tutorials VERY shortly. I have a few ideas that I want to try out for Cailey and Colin. 

HAVE FUN CRAFTING!!!!!

Funny Friday - April 2015

                      Funny Friday, April 2015

Today’s post is this month’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.

Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by The Bergham’s Life Chronicles 

1. Be on the lookout for Peter Pumpkineater!

2. I don't know, I just feel a bit deflated lately.

3. I'm going to try out for the Pumpkin King's throne. I think I have a shot!

4. I was an extra in Sir Mix-A-Lot's video.

5. Have a mammogram they said. You will go back to normal they said....

Click on the links below and let some other bloggers make you smile:

Baking In A Tornado

Someone Else’s Genius

Confessions of a part-time working mom

The Momisodes

Sanity Waiting to Happen

Spatulas on Parade

Juicebox Confession

Stacy Sews and Schools

People Don’t Eat Enough Fudge

The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

Follow me home

Measurements of Merriment 

Fly on the Wall - April 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 15 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

 Baking In A Tornado

 Spatulas on Parade

 Follow me home

 Menopausal Mother

 Stacy Sews and Schools

 Battered Hope

 Just A Little Nutty

 The Momisodes

 Someone Else’s Genius

 Disneyland in Kentucky

 Searching for Sanity

 Sanity Waiting to Happen

 The Sadder But Wiser Girl

 Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

 Juicebox Confession  


At Our House:

Me
The Hubby
Jacob (our 21 yr old son)
Joshua (our 19 yr old son)
Deanna (our 18 yr old daughter)
Cailey (our 11 yr old daughter)
Colin (our 8 yr old son)
TJ (Jacob's friend that lives here)

Oh, my... It has been an extremely long month here at our house. 

Let's start with the day of the last Fly post. 

While many of you were reading Fly posts we were here -

We went to the symphony. Oh, it was just AWESOME!!! The building itself was gorgeous!! 
The music just might have moved me to tears. It had been soooo long since I had heard live orchestra music!!!
Cailey, Colin, Deanna and I just LOVED it. We are trying to talk The Hubby into getting us tickets for the Looney Tunes performance!! :)

The next day was Cailey's birthday party.

We had a few friends over for cake, ice cream and FUN!!!!! 

Later on that day, The Hubby brought Cailey and Colin surprise birthday gifts.

DUCKS!!!!!!!

Cailey's thinks that Cailey is its mommy. It follows her all over the place. SO CUTE! They aren't very little now but still very cute. ;) 

The NEXT day was free museum day!!! (Well, the day of Cailey's party was, too, but we were too busy.) So, we hit two local museums. 

Our first stop was the Poe Museum. Deanna was in heaven!!!! 

It was so cool even Cailey and Colin enjoyed it. 

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pics of the actual displays. 
It is housed in 4 different buildings, one of which is the oldest house in the city! How cool!!!! 
The gardens were beautiful, too.
They even had a scavenger hunt for skeleton parts set up for the kids! LOL 
We all succumbed to the gift shop. ;) Colin got a raven finger puppet, Cailey a quill, Deanna a stuffed Poe, and me a funeral fan. 

Then we hit The Museum of the Confederacy. That's when we found out that it wasn't free, only the White House of the Confederacy was. That's OK. We explored the gift shop while waiting on our tour time. And once again we just had to buy something!! I got postcards, Cailey got a paddle ball set with civil war info on it, and Colin got a harmonica.

The tour was fascinating!!! If you want to learn about an extraordinary woman, look up Varina Davis!  

After that we had a fairly boring week. 

My birthday came and went. I did manage to find a couple of great deals for my birthday. I went into Godiva for my monthly free piece of chocolate only to discover that I had a $10 birthday coupon! WOO HOO!!! Then I went to Yankee Candle and stocked up on $1 tarts AND I had a $5 coupon! 

Then we had Colin's birthday party on the weekend. 

Once again we had friends over for cake, ice cream and FUN!!!!! 

And that's the last fun day we've had. 

Early on the morning of Colin's actual birthday, 3 am to be exact, I woke up to find him on the couch gasping for breath. A short time later we were at the ER. He had an extreme asthmatic episode, his first ever. It was the scariest time of my life. To read the full story, see last week's Use Your Words post. 

Here is a picture of Colin on his actual birthday. Deanna is giving him cuddles. 

He spent that day in a regular room, it wasn't until 5am the next morning that he was rushed into PICU. 

He spent a total of 6 days in the hospital, 4 of those in PICU.

He went in on his birthday and came home on Easter. 

This was Easter morning. The Easter Bunny brought him 2 baskets!!! 

We never got to color our eggs or make bunny butt cupcakes or rice treat chicks. Thankfully the nurses set up an Easter Egg hunt for Colin and another child that was on the pediatric floor. He found the golden egg and won a stuffed bunny. 

I learned how much my older children have grown and how much they really love each other. I wouldn't have made it through those 6 days without Jacob, Joshua and Deanna. They were there for Colin, Cailey and me.

It has been a very long road.

I have been having horrible nightmares. I wish they would stop. 

Colin should be on his breathing treatments as needed now but we haven't been able to move him to that yet. Right now he is getting them every 8 hours. Hoping that we can move him to every 12 before the end of the weekend. If not, it's off to the doc we go, again.

It has been sooooo hard to keep him in and his activity levels down. 

This was his first time out to play since the whole thing happened. 

2 things - 

 1-The boy loved his vest treatments (it is wrapped around his middle and filled with air, it then shakes like an off balanced washing machine during a spin cycle). He cracked up all the respiratory therapists! He would make silly noises through the whole thing! It got to where we (including the nurses) would ask him for favorites.

 2- He loves sponge baths and tried to talk me into giving him them at home. 

OH! And would you believe, his first night home from the hospital and Deanna wakes up at 2am puking! YILES!!!! She had a 24 hour bug. 

Then I ended up with some terrible respiratory bug. 

Thankfully Colin hasn't caught either of those things!! Although, I have to wonder if I didn't catch that bug from him. It was vicious and could possibly have been the culprit behind his sudden asthma attack along with the nasty allergies. 

So, please, bear with me. I will be back to blogging full time soonish. Right now I am focusing all my energy into taking care of my little guy and seeing how things will be for him in the future. 

The Scariest Time of My Life - Use Your Words - April 2015

If you've been following my blog (or any of the others in this challenge) then you know how this works. Each month we are given a set of words from another blogger that we are to use in a post. We never know who will have our words until we read the posts on Friday. 
Usually I have a intro up here that explains the Use Your Words posts, links to all the other bloggers and a list of my words. Then I use the words (all the words) in my post. 
I am doing this one a bit differently. I will use all the words that I was given and I will link to all the other bloggers but first I want to tell you what happened to my youngest son, Colin, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 31st, his 8th birthday. 
After that I will use my words and share the links. 


I woke up that morning around 3 am. Colin had fallen asleep on the couch. When I walked into the living room, I could see that he was struggling to breathe. I woke him up and attempted to check him out to figure out what was going on. 
He had been having allergy issues since Saturday (the day of his birthday party) but nothing too serious. Now he couldn't breathe and was running a fever. 
That was the single most frightening thing I have ever seen in my life.
A short time later we were in the ER.  X-rays and blood work, IVs and breathing treatments. The next thing I know, he was being admitting to the pediatric floor. They say it's possibly pneumonia but they aren't sure. Hours later they determine that is in fact NOT pneumonia. It was the sudden onset of an extreme asthmatic episode due to allergies and/or a virus. 
He was given steroids, fluids, breathing treatments, oxygen, and Singulair. He seemed to start to do better.
Until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. 
His blood oxygen level started to drop drastically. He was struggling to breathe even harder. 
He was rushed to PICU. He was put on continuous breathing treatments. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. 
He was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. 
He was given magnesium to help his lungs on top of all the other stuff. 

Horrifying
Terrifying
Scary

No, none of those words are bad enough. 

I don't have the words to tell you exactly how terrifying all of this was. The words just don't exist. 
If I could have taken it all on myself, I would have in less than a heart beat. If I could have cut off my arm to have it all stop, again, in less than a heart beat. 

He spent 4 days in PICU and 2 days in a regular room, at total of 6 days in the hospital. 
There were days that he wasn't allowed to eat. Then he had to go on a liquid diet. When he was finally allowed to eat, he definitely made up for it. 

He went in on his 8th birthday and was released on Easter.

It has been a very long, slow road, but he is getting SO MUCH better. 

He is now on breathing treatments every 6 hours. I am so thankful. I keep finding myself crying big, grateful tears. 

We have no idea how he will be in the future. We will just have to watch him and see. Will he have more attacks? Will he grow out of it? Will he be able to run and play like he did before? We have no idea. We aren't even sure of what really set it all off but we believe it was a mix of allergies and a virus. 

I am so very proud of him. He never once complained. He never once whined. He was so very brave, so very strong, so very sweet. What a precious boy he is. I am so proud to be his mother, so honored. 

I am also proud of my other 4 children. They were all amazing through the whole thing. Deanna stayed at the hospital with me every night so I wouldn't be alone. Jacob and Joshua took turns visiting with and entertaining Colin. They would stay for hours. Sweet Cailey was understanding about why I couldn't be home with her. We managed to sneak her in for a few minutes to ease her mind. She had been beside herself with worry. 

I have amazing children that love each other very much. I am so thankful, so proud of all of them. 

I want to thank all the nurses that took such great care of Colin. They really went above and beyond. 
One of the nurses even ordered him an extra grilled cheese sandwich. That act alone placed her in Colin's good graces forever!
There was an extra Easter basket and an Easter egg hunt. Colin found the golden egg and won a stuffed bunny. He was so proud. 


Now, I am ready to use my words. Now, I can start to heal my frightened heart, even if only by a tiny bit. How do I do that? I hug my kids tighter and longer. Try not to take a single second for granted. I suck it up and try to find a reason to laugh. I have a lot of reasons to smile already, 5 to be exact. 

I hope you all forgive me for the way I am using my words. I just couldn't do anything else without telling this first. 

Your words are:

letter ~ bucket ~ honey ~ what happened? ~ pain ~ lost in translation

They were submitted by: Climaxed 

Letter

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Bucket

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Honey

click the pic for photo credit



What Happened?

click the pic for photo credit



Pain


click the pic for photo credit



Lost in Translation

click the pic for photo credit

             

Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:

 Baking In A Tornado

 Spatulas on Parade

 The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

 The Momisodes

 Southern Belle Charm

 Confessions of a part-time working mom

 Someone Else’s Genius

 Stacy Sews and Schools

 Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

 Searching for Sanity

 Climaxed

 Eileen’s Perpetually Busy

 Juicebox Confession

 Battered Hope

Secret Subject Swap - April 2015

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week, 15 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

 Baking In A Tornado

 The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

 Spatulas on Parade

 Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

 The Momisodes

 More Than Cheese and Beer

 Southern Belle Charm

 Confessions of a part-time working mom

 The Lieber Family

 Someone Else’s Genius

 Climaxed

 Stacy Sews and Schools

 Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

 Searching for Sanity

 Silence of the Mom


My subject is Have you ever been an April Fool? Tell a real or fictional story about a time you were played for a fool. It was submitted by The Lieber Family . 

Here goes:

I am one of those awkward, introvert types, so there are really too many feeling foolish storied to tell. I usually feel foolish at least once every day! 

So.... Umm... Yeah... I have DEFINITELY been made to feel foolish... On several occasions, actually...

Here are two of them because that's about all the humiliation I can take. ;)

Fool #1 

When Colin was a baby Deanna had a Chou Chou doll. It was about the same size he was (after a few months). One day I left all the kids home with The Hubby while I went to the doctor. 

I guess they heard be pull into the driveway because when I walked in everyone was at the top of the stairs.

The Hubby started to walk down the stairs with "Colin" in his arms. A few steps down he stumbled and dropped "Colin". 

OMG! I nearly had a heart attack on the spot. I remember screaming and running forward to try to catch "Colin". 

Then I realized it was only a doll. 

I could have killed The Hubby. Really, the only reason he's alive is that I don't look good in orange. 

He went so far as taking a Sharpie and coloring in the doll's hair to look like Colin's. 

Fool #2

I'm not sure if I've told this one before or not... Just bear with me if you've heard it. 

One day The Hubby starts to go off outside to shoot his gun. Nothing unusual in that. He did it all the time when we lived out in the country.

Then I hear him shoot. Same ol', same ol'. 

Deanna starts yelling that he shot his gun and now he's lying on the ground!

I jump up and run outside, calling his name and asking if he is OK. 

The Hubby leans up on one arm and I see blood all over his torso. 

I scream, turn around, and start running for the house to call 911. 

Then I hear him laughing and calling my name. 

It was fake blood. 

I burst into tears. 

He and Deanna set the whole thing up. He said he wanted to know how I would react in an emergency. 

Once again, he is only alive because I look bad in orange.

I am still reallllllly mad at him for both of those incidents. I don't think I will ever get over them.

Don't forget to check out all the amazing bloggers participating this month!!!!