These are the ugliest owls…

ever!  My mom had these owl bookends at her house for as long as I can remember.  They used to be solid white and I don’t know why I can’t remember to take BEFORE pictures lately, but believe me these were just vintage ugly.  Grace has wanted them for a while now and I hoped she would forget about them each time we were at my mom’s house.  But no…last time she went for a visit, she made certain that she brought these home.  I asked Rob if they are uglier now that I painted them or before…I do think these might be the ugliest bookends ever made.  It would be fun for people to post uglier ones and we could have a competition!

But here they are.  I painted them and they really don’t look good, but Grace’s wanted them pink and so I tried to snazz them up a bit.  I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder!

Update on the Johnson Family

I know that typically I only post on this blog about my crafts, etc.  Well, our dear sweet friends, who still live in  Arkansas (where Rob and I used to live), are in need of prayer.  And since I have more readers on this site than our family personal one, I thought I would add this here.  You can read about Robbie’s accident and all the updates on Stacey’s blog.  Please check it out.  By the way, she’s also very crafty, so you’ll enjoy catching up on her projects.

Blue bird…do you love pink?

The second birdhouse is now complete. I had so much fun making and painting both of these. I do love pink and I hope birds do too. I read somewhere that birds are drawn to certain colors…so I don’t know if any of them like pink, but it’s a favorite around here.

School Daze

I’m so excited about this school desk for Grace. We have officially decided to homeschool this year…or I guess I should say God decided for us through several circumstances that were out of our control. He has been working in our lives and hearts to get us to this point for the past several months and so now we are embracing the new opportunity. Well, a few weeks ago, I was in Somerset with my mom and we headed over to her Goodwill store. I was really there looking for old sheets for Grace’s rag rug that I am making for her room. You might remember that from an old post on here. Anyway, I saw this old wooden table and I really thought it had potential. I so wish I had taken BEFORE pictures of it. But, I didn’t and so you’ll have to just trust me that it was in need of some TLC. I paid $9 for it at Goodwill so you can kind of imagine how it looked. I have sanded and primed and painted and sanded and varnished and anyway, spent a good amount of time turning it into a school desk for Grace to use this year. I am so pleased with how it has turned out. I think she will look very good while getting her education this year!

A bird in the hand…

is worth two in a bush?  I never understood what that saying meant…but anyway, maybe we’ll have a bird in our birdhouse! This is my very first birdhouse.  I’m proud of it because I built it completely on my own.  I didn’t even use a kit for it. I actually went and bought the wood and then measured out the plans and did it all.  I got the free “how to plans” from a Lowes website.  They were easy to follow and understand and I am very pleased with how it looks.  I am working on another one. It’s actually put together, but not completely painted.

It was a lot of fun to make using my new band saw (thanks Bobby) and my nail gun (thanks Rob).  Power tools are fun.

Home Sweet Playhome

So I didn’t post anything new during June. It was a super busy month that just flew by. I really can’t believe that it’s gone. Summer is half over and it really feels like it just began. During the month of June we went to Laguna Beach for a week, to a wedding in Alabama where we used to live (stayed for a week), visited friends outside Atlanta, had VBS at church and put up a new picket fence around the backyard. So, you can see why I didn’t get a chance to post anything.

But…I managed to squeeze in some projects around here. We have these two sheds out back that I have wanted to fix up. I have looked at numerous garden magazine to get ideas. One of the sheds we have decided to turn into a little playhouse for Grace and Sam. Here are a few pictures of the progress so far. Its not finished, but it’s getting better. This first picture was taken last year when we first bought the house. I’m very excited how things are progressing. The flowers have a long way to go and that is just not my gift! But I’m trying to give them more time to see if they are going to survive. The concrete blocks (which are the steps) were the first things I painted. I think they turned out really nice. I just spray painted them solid pink and then added the dots and flowers with acrylic paints and then covered them with a few good coats of polyurethane. Easy and inexpensive!

The sign I made out of a scrap piece of plywood that I had here. I painted it using the paint from the door and then distressed it with sandpaper. I added the beads on the wire for a little extra touch and then coated it with polyurethane. Again…easy and inexpensive! I’ll keep you posted as I add more.

My baby boy is 2!

Grace said it best yesterday when she announced, “we have a two year old in the house now.” We sure do. My baby is growing up. Too fast. Today was his birthday party. Just had to post a picture here.

And the rag rug is growing…. slowly but surely. I love the addition of the yellow with pink flowers. I think it really brings something out in the rug. I still have a long way to go though if I am going to make it big enough to cover most of Grace’s floor. But last week my mom and I went to the goodwill in her town and I bought some king size bed sheets for $3. One of them I am going to dye because it was white. I’m not sure what color to dye it just yet. I still have a little pink fabric left that I am going to start next and see how far I get with that. Then I can decide about what color I need to add, etc. I am kind of building the color scheme as I go. It’s trial and error for sure.

I totally stole this idea from a magazine recently.  I would be “correct” and reference the magazine, but I can’t remember which one I saw it in and honestly I don’t have time to go back and hunt it up.  But since I did a little of my own technique to it, I think it will be ok.  Aren’t these cute?  I mean, they are regular binder clips.  In the magazine article I saw, they were covered in fabric.  In order to do that you had to put fusing on the back of the fabric and then get some super strength glue to attach them.  That sounded like way too much work and a trip to the store for fusing and glue.  So, I thought, you know I wonder if decorative craft paper (the kind used for scrapbooking) and mod podge work as well.  So, last week while waiting for paint to dry on those teacher pots, I tried it.  It took no time to do all of these and I think they turned out just as cute as the fabric ones…but took a lot less time I’m sure.  I cut one piece as a “pattern” and then cut all the other papers to the same size to make it really quick.  Then just decoupaged them on.  They look cute on my work desk in an old mason jar.

I finished all four of my window boxes…except for painting them.  Still no idea what color to do… But that’s ok because they have to dry for a couple of more days before I can paint them anyway.  I still have to get some brackets too, to hang them up.  That’s probably going to be the hardest job of all because they are HEAVY.  I post pictures as soon as I get them up and get flowers in them!

But since school is out and the kids are all in my business all the time, it might be a while before those pictures make it on here….but I still love my babies like crazy!  Here’s the reason…look at my crazy sweet wonderful crew!

Saddle up!

Ohhhh.  It’s 10:37 as I begin to write and I am taking a break from painting the bathroom.  My mom has the kids tonight so I thought I should take advantage of it and do some projects around the house.  All afternoon I cleaned out sheds and went through old clothes and reorganized.  It was a very productive day.  Then, Rob and I took a short trip to Lowe’s to price fencing material (wow!) and I decided to get some more wood to make another window box.  Came home and built that.  So, at 9:30 tonight I started sanding the bathroom walls.

I am crazy!  I took the wallpaper off months ago and just have not been motivated to tackle this project.  I knew it would be a biggie.  I think I started a little late tonight.  But after nearly an hour of sanding and then cleaning, I was ready to begin painting.  I bought this paint..it’s an oatmeal/tan/beige color called saddle back when we still live in AR.  And I never got around to using it to paint my bathroom there.  It had never even been opened, so I thought if it was still good, it’s time to use this stuff up.  I have rolled on one coat so far and now it is drying.  I have all the cutting in to and that will be a big project too.  So, tonight I might be up half the night.  Because I intend to get this done and cleaned up before I go to bed.  We’ll see.  I’m not a young chicken like I used to be.

But bye-bye 1980 velvet wallpaper!

Teacher gifts

The teacher gifts are finished! Thankfully the weather cooperated today for me to get the final clear coat on them. After school Grace planted these flowers that we picked up at the store and we are all set to give these to her teachers tomorrow. I think they turned out very cute. Now, if I could ever find the time to make some for my house! If we decide to homeschool next year, then maybe I will make a teacher gift for myself. But probably not.