Malan Family Reunion

For our Malan Family reunion, my Aunt Janice asked me to help with invites, name tags, decorations, and centerpieces. So I've been busily preparing for the even for a while now and this weekend, it finally arrived. I decided to try the spray painted tin cans for the centerpieces. I got the idea off of Pinterest       from this pin Spray Painted Cans. I ended up painting over 90 tin cans. {A big shout out to all my friends for helping track down 90+ cans!} 

Jenna and I went up a couple days before so we could have a birthday dinner with my mom. Then we went the next morning to help set up the hall. While I was getting ready to go, I noticed Jenna singing to a baby doll. She let me video her (miracle!), but as you will see, was less enthusiastic about me helping her with the words. 

 My ancestors helped to settle Ogden's east bench, so there is a Malan Ave, a mountain Malan's Peak, etc. still bearing our family name there. It's kind of cool. 

We mixed the cans with mason jars filled with rock salt and a candle, and then filled the cans with flowers and flags. I was pleased with how they turned out. 

Someone had hiked Malan's Peak and brought water down from the family's spring to serve at the reunion, which I thought was an awesome touch. 

My favorite part was getting a little time with my cousins. Aren't they beautiful? 

We were able to grab a family picture with some of the descendants of my grandparents.  The reunion was for all the descendants of my great-grandparents who at last count totaled well over 700. I would guess there were about 150 at todays reunion. 

And we got a picture of my Dad and all four of his sisters. I am not sure the last time they were all together. I though it was pretty special, especially when three out of the five of them have had some pretty serious heath issues over the last few years. 

Ruann, Emily, my Dad Randy, Janice, and Lisa

 For the decorations, Aunt Janice and I put together these posters about my great-grandpa Alexis Bartholomew Malan and great-grandma LaVeta Elfreda Andreason Malan. As well as one of them as a couple. They seemed like great people, plus he was a democrat which made me proud! 

The theme of the reunion was AB & Elfreda To The Rescue with a bit of a nautical feel. So the name tags included a life preserver with a picture of the 1 of the 13 children that you descended from. Here's mine: 

We also made a bunting banner with the theme title hanging from life preservers we made using styrofoam circles wrapped in fabric and rope. I loved how this turned out. 

After the reunion I got to see me niece, Maile for a little bit. 

I don't get to see her very often and I miss her terribly. Love you Miles! 

Jenna of course was an absolute champ on the flight home. She is just the best traveler and we could not be more grateful for that. I'm sure part of it is just that she has been doing it her whole life, but nonetheless. 

Yeah...I Sew...

I have no experience in sewing, I have taken no classes, and I have read/watched no tutorials. I pretty much wing and hope that it turns out okay. And if it doesn't, oh well. But this month I have had a lot of opportunity to hone my mad skillz. 

It started with bumper pads and a bed skirt for my dear friends nursery. I love how they turned out. Hope she does too!

I moved on to some curtains for our master bedroom. Jenna getting her hands on the scissors and slicing and dicing the fabric didn't deter me! I actually did use a tutorial on the curtains because I wanted to line them with black out fabric. I found a great one from House of the Hepworths. I learned each time. But I'm pleased with how they turned out 

And lastly, I made a quilt top for Jenna for a lap quilt. I love this! It turned out just how I wanted and now I just need to get it quilted....

The Hunt is Over

I have been searching and searching for a console table to go underneath our TV and have not been able to find anything I like that was less a grand. Well, after weeks of looking, we have VICTORY! and I am in love. We found this beauty at a garage sale last weekend and I'm thrilled. It has beautiful details, including the hardware. It's not too wide and had a lot of storage space, which I needed for our DVD collection. It has already been repainted but it's a grayish color that really wasn't going to work around in the room, so I decided to repaint and glaze. 

I also painted the brass hardware with Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint and then used Rub 'N Buff in Patina to give it that aged look. I then scrapped the wax and paint off along the edges so that the bronze would shine through. I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. 

I spray painted the unit with Rustoleum Heirloom White and then glazed with a custom brown glaze from Kwal that we used on our walls. The glaze is pretty subtle because I chose not to sand down the until to add to the aged look. I wanted it to stay pretty clean... 

...and I love it!