A Craft Project....and a Nod to Tennis Love

How about a fun craft project to get the week started? It is one that anyone can do. Need proof-My girlfriends and I did this one on our beach trip for our craft night. The Funky Monkey was our inspiration. We had seen these cute buckets at the gift shop when we were on a trip together in Meridian, Mississippi.

The buckets cost $20.00 each at the FM and came with a monogram, but we figured we could do it cheaper, and it would be a great beach trip craft project. My friend Boss ordered all the buckets (with the exception of mine) from an online site-www.bucket-outlet.com

The buckets they ordered were about five dollars, eight with tax, shipping and handling.

I had already picked up my bucket on clearance from my local Old Time Pottery for $4.99.

Mine was painted and had a sticker on it, which I removed and spray painted with my preferred color... a shade of turquoise/robin's egg blue. It's my favorite color. It reminds me of the ocean in Cozumel.

To make things simple Boss ordered their buckets already painted, ready for them to be monogrammed. We ordered our monograms from blogger, Bama Belle. Belle had a few sizes of vinyl monograms to choose from, we chose the 5 inch for our buckets. The process of applying the monogram was simple, just peel and stick, then rub the monogram with the back of a butter knife. You can read more about the process here, when I applied one to my galvanized tub.

I think our buckets turned out cute! I believe I will paint some black or white polka dots on my bucket.

The buckets can be used in so many ways, aside from making sand castles, such as serving food (I'd line the bucket), for organizing, for arrangements, a chiller for wine or drinks, a great cady for picnic items, a creative gift/Easter basket, to hold a candle for outdoors-even for displaying utensils. Remember this idea from Country Living Magazine....

Cute. As. Pie.

My friends, High Mae and Diva, are going to make some and fill them with fun items for their teacher end of the year gifts.
It was such an easy project. It would even be a good craft idea for kids, as summer will be here soon enough and I know we all like to find creative ways for our children to spend their time. Besides-it's fun to do-together!

On a completely different topic, on Monday and Tuesday of last week I was in Mobile cheering on my son, Bama, and his tennis team who were competing in the state tournament. As a team we placed 3rd place overall with 45 points. These are the most points ever scored at the tournament in our high school history! Last year we tied for 3rd place with 29 points.

Participants: John Flaniken (senior), Connor Portwood (senior), Brock Bellsnyder (senior), Andy Bridgewater (junior), Jim Flaniken (sophomore), and Peyton Davis (freshman) all gave incredible performances and all advanced into the second day. (We had two other varsity boys that attended the trip, although they did not compete, they lended to the laughs and fun. Not to mention a great source of entertainment for my youngest son, J Smooth.).

A BIG congratulations to state champions John and Jim Flaniken. They won state at number 1 doubles....defeating Gadsden City first round, Vestavia second round, Mtn.Brook in the semis, and Northridge in the finals in 3 sets 6-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-6 (7-5). ~very exciting win!
In addition, during regular season play, they won the Austin High Tournament (first time in school history), 2nd in The Shelby county tournament, 2nd in the sectional tournament, and 3rd in STATE!

I am really proud of these boys and their Coach, so I had to give them a shout out. This season is especially sentimental to me, as it is my son's last year to be on the team, and the Coach announced after the tournament that she is pregnant and is moving at the end of the school year. Lots of exciting changes in store for everyone.

Thanks for allowing me a moment to brag on my Bama and "the boys".

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to catch up!