Finishing Day at the Zoo

Whew, it's been a day!  I made a trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday looking for ideas for ways of finishing some things.  I'm happy to report I found a ton of things, and decided today I really needed to buckle down and get some finishing done.    

First up is One Flag, One Land by Brenda Gervais.  While putting supplies from Hobby Lobby away yesterday, I stumbled across this antique frame my friend (and chosen sister) gifted me one of the times I was visiting her in NY.  I took the glass out (it was too dirty to really clean up) then laced the piece (stitched on 40 count Parchment) and gingerly placed it in the frame using small nails.  I was afraid to use my brad gun as it just seemed top fragile.  I felt like I was performing major surgery...haha.  But it's in it's new home and looks fabulous even if I do say so myself.  I truly love the way it looks!  

I have a box of unfinished things.  There are several patriotic finished pieces in there, but one I've always wanted to finish but was a little skittish about the finishing.  This is Happy Birthday, America! by Brenda Gervais.  It's stitched on 36 count Natural 2 over 2.  I tried searching back in my blog looking for when I finished stitching this piece and couldn't find it.  While at Hobby Lobby last night I found a set of nesting paper mache' boxes.  The directions said I needed a 4" diameter and 2" tall.  Well there were a 5", a 4" and a 3" diameter box in the set.  Yahoo!!  However the 4" diameter was also 4" tall.  So, I pulled up my big girl britches and sawed 2" off.  Whew...I think it worked...what do you think?  So I cut, I glued, I gathered and laced, attached the alphabet  fabric, the trim, and glued the whole thing together.  Is it perfect?  Certainly NOT, but does it look like a Birthday cake?  Maybe a little...haha.  Either way, I'm calling it a fully finished piece and already have it sitting on my mantle with pride.  

I also fully finished Snowman Freebie by Erin Elizabeth.  I had such a difficult time choosing trim and somehow I still think it needs something...so while I'm calling it finished, I might do something a little different later on.  This was stitched on 36 count Flax over two.  I used Red Velvet pom poms for trim.  

Whie I was in NY I found two adorable antique frames.  Today I sat down and sent pictures to Walgreens to have them printed out.  Then I cut them and placed them in the frames.  Awww...aren't they the sweetest?  Here they are displayed with a picture of Ben's graduation picture.

We had a sleep over with Little Miss Sassy Pants last Friday night.  As always she was so good, helped clean up after meals, helped fill up the air mattresses and then helped deflate and fold them up after we woke up.  We played several games, we watched a movie, and read some books.  All in all it was a fabulous time and I can't wait until we do it again.