tutorial: decorating a pot with jute

mother's day is right around the corner. and shortly after that the end of school.
wouldn't a pot filled with flowers be the perfect (and easy!) gift to give to the mother's and teachers in your life?
a plain pot will do just fine...but one with a little more character would be better.
ready? it's really simple. here we go:
what you'll need:
one clay pot
gardening jute (found in your gardening section in home depot or walmart.)
hot glue gun with glue ready to go.
first start with a glob of glue right under the lip of your clay pot.
this is your starting point.
put the end of your jute onto the glue.
now you are going to go around making a thin line with your hot glue around the base of your lip of the clay pot. (not too long of a line because you don't want it to cool)
drag your jute on top of the hot glue. press down a little. just don't burn yourself!
once you get around the whole pot, you will continue just slightly under the first row.
just like so.
continue till you get the look you want.

want another option?
what about polka dots.
yup make em like this:

take a dab of hot glue
place the end of your jute on the dab of hot glue.
twine around your start. just like the picture above.
all the while adding a tiny bit of glue to the outer side...
continue to twine around.
till you get the size you want. cut off the end and dab a tiny bit of glue to keep your end down. make as many polka dots you want.

these pots bring a little bit of spring to your decor. i've been having fun placing them all over my house.
so much, that i really don't want to give them away for mother's day or to the kid's teachers...so off to the garden section i go to buy some MORE so i can keep mine!
v and co loves her sponsors! AH i have these and they are totally on sale right now at burgundy buttons!
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not so shining moment

so i mentioned yesterday that we were going to be at the derby races.
we won.
um, like the whole thing.
our 8 year old placed 1st overall.
the 10 year old took 2nd in his den.
we did not handle it well.
we meaning the mister and i.

let me set up the story with our experience last year:

last year the husband had just gotten home from afghanistan. shortly after getting home we had the derby races to go to.
he was super busy being places and doing things out of state that he couldn't pay attention to the car till the day before the races.

we lost every single race.
not one was won.
my husband was crushed.
the then 9 year old was in tears.
we had the talk that every parent has with their kid when their kid feels bad about being the last one picked or coming in last. "they are all just stupid and next year we'll show them" "it doesn't matter if you win one or all or none...what matters is that we tried, we learned, we'll do it again."

and so we did. we learned what would make a car fast. like putting all the weight in the back. making it close to the ground. getting the judges drunk.

yet we were still confident that we would once again lose every race, and we would have to have the "we gave it our best" talk again... times 2.

now fast forward one year later:

husband to the kids: "okay so what are we going to do when dad's your cars lose?
kids already been prepped with the answer: "tell the winners good job and do NOT cry."
(husband mouths the response with the kids and convinces himself to do just the same)
husband: "that's right. and what happens if we lose every race?"
kids already been prepped with the answer: "we go get ice cream! and NOT cry."
husband: "RIGHT! ready to do this thing?!"
kids: "YEAH!"

and so the night began just like last years. the weighing in... the anticipation.
the husband turns to me and says "my hearts racing. this is so stupid. why am i so nervous?"
and the races began.
the eight year old's car won the first race.
we were so proud we won one. but we were pretty sure that we had probably gone up against the poor first years parents(like ourselves last year) who never had to do this sort of thing before, and we passed it off as luck.
but it kept winning. and our smiles slowly turned to gaping wide open mouths stuck there to catch bugs.
then the 10 year old's heat started...he went against the kid who ALWAYS wins every single year(dad's an engineer who creates his own pattens for the car industry). we gave it a run for it's money...and came in a really close second every time.
we looked at each other (the husband and i) and we smiled and turned back to the race.

long story short. by the end of it we got cocky. and i even may have trashed talked a 9 year old competitor and he in return said "oh is that your car? that's a nice car." i felt a little bad about trash talking after he was so nice. that 9 year old may have also been the husband's boss's kid.

our kids? they took the race well. they smiled and received their awards with grace.
my husband and i on the other hand were dancing around like fools with big ol grins on our face.

moral of the story....we're kind of competitive.
good thing everyone around us knows us enough to know we're not normally winners (in most things)...so they were sort of forgiving of our social awkwardness.




v and co loves her sponsors! i'm pinching pennies to get this from janey mac!

that time of the year again

nope not tax time...well, yes it's that too... did you get your's done? phew, we did too.
but that's not what i'm talking about.
i'm talking about DERBY RACING TIME. yes, that time of the year when the boys become men and the men become...boys.
sanding, shaping, grinding. painting, drawing, hotglueing. WD-40-ing, graphite powedering, and weighing in...yes it's this time of the year that makes my husband shake with excitement and fear...and bring my boys a hopeful dream of winning and a prayer of not being dead last every single race.
we have two of our three boys racing this year. they got to choose what their design,color and weight was. (the husband thought we should have a dukes of hazard horn put in the orange one)
this week was spent making these bad boys. and trying to create a few new patterns and tutorials.
my house is trashed, i've got spray paint all over my hands, and i've unpicked and re-sewn i don't know how many times.
the house and patterns will have to wait...as tonight is the night we take these cars out and watch through and peeking up behind half closed hands. just to breathe a sigh of relief as we watch our cars not be the slowest one every single time.
here's to not coming home a sore loser.


v and co loves her sponsors. i want this necklace from madison reece designs.

winner of what's your virtue giveaway

thank you all who entered the what's your virtue giveaway!
the random # generator picked # 437

rebekah said...

what a fun giveaway! i looove lipgloss :)

rebekah you are that # please contact me via email and give me your mailing address.

quite a few of you would of been greedy just like me and not shared. well, with the economy and all we need to all stock up you know. i totally get it.
next month we are back to giving away fabric.
we'll talk soon.

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