Busy Times

Perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration, I am not busy, but occupied with the day to day tasks of raising my two boys, taking care of the two cats and dog, and husband.  We are finally getting potty trained with colb so that has been nice to have one less creature to clean up after.  Joshua I 6 months  already   and is starting to be more independent and content watching Colby and the animals around.  With his growing dependence I have been able to spend some time on sewing, cooking and crafting.  

Happy Creating to you!

Desk refinished

Well I finished up the desk a few weeks ago.  i stenciled on the top with tan paint then stained and finished it.  I took my inspiration from this picture: 

 http://www.domesticimperfection.com/2012/05/paisley-stenciled-table/

I am just struggling to find a spot in the house for it...but I am sure we will find the right spot soon...sorry about the quality of pictures, the IPad doesn't take the best pictures...

Antique school desk

After a long hiatus I have returned once gain. My little man is now  two and a half and our newest little little man is four months old and growing fast.  With the two boys I have had a hard time finding "me time" for creating and visiting garage sales.  Finally on the way home from getting groceries we topped at a great sale.  There were several old frames I am kicking myself for not getting, but alas I was just out of practice.  I did pick up a antique wood and cast iron school desk for ten dollars.  I have been working on it some but I am having issues with the staining not being even so I am going to try and get some toner to even out the finish.  Until next time...enjoy

This Little Man...

This little man has been keeping me very busy.  He's been crawling around so much and getting into everything-cupboards, pots, pans, Tupperware, and closets now.  I realize that I could train him to leave those alone, but he loves to explore and I don't want to limit his explorations to his toy bin.  This in turn leaves me cleaning up behind his whirl wind.  We're also working on remodeling our 90's kitchen and this includes painting the whole main level.  I've got the colors narrowed down to a general brown gray, here's our top four contenders. 

They are from the left:  Brown TeePee, Pony Tail, Earthy Cane, and Reclaimed.  We have really tall ceilings so I'm leaning towards the darker one or maybe a few shades lighter than Reclaimed on the far right.  I'm pretty sure that anything would be better than 'desert rose'.  Decisions decisions.  The next big decision:  go to the transportation museum with Colby today or work on putting the garden in...hmmm. 

Cork Board Redo with Map

 I got this cork board from my mom and it has been hanging boringly on our wall by our dining room.  I was waiting for some inspiration to hit me, and finally, yesterday I was struck.  I frequently visit the paint and wall paper section of Menards and I saw these dry erase maps.  The downside was they were 20 dollars, but I think it was worth it.  I had to trim down the sides a bit to fit in the frame and used a credit card to smooth it out.  If I don't like it I can always peel it up and stick it to a wall somewhere.  Pretty fun and we can write messages to each other on it.  

Adventures

Little man has been discovering so many things lately.  We took him to a beach the second week in March, it was 80 degrees and there was still ice floating in the lake.  Crazy.  I'm looking forward to exploring more parks with him in tow.  I've been in a bit of a craft funk lately, but right now I'm trying to do some maintenance projects that have been neglected.  We're also in the process of updating our kitchen which is quite exciting-minus the price tag.  Best of luck with your projects-and my promise to you-I will get back on the craft horse.  Until next time-enjoy the little things

T-shirt Rug!

Well, I finally finished my t-shirt rug for Colby's room.  It is about 3 feet by 2 feet and contains at least 12 different shirts.  It was quite the time consuming process, but once I got the knack of it latch hooking was a good activity while watching tv.  I was doing my darnedest not to start another project until I finished the rug so that is part of the reason I haven't been posting much.  The other part is that March felt like summer and when I wasn't feeding the babe, we were outside playing. 

Basically I cut all my t-shirts into really long strips, then cut those balls of yarn into little strips about 4 inches long, and then I latch hooked them onto the rug backing I picked up at JoAnns, and then I gave the rug a hair cut so all the ends were even-which worked much better than when I try to cut my own bangs.   Any who, good luck to those that attempt this it takes a lot of time and a lot of t-shirts. 

***Tips*** use all cotton t-shirts because they form a nice curl when pulled.  Also I found latch hooking in a diagonal pattern was faster than hooking them on horizontally.  If you go to church garage sales I have found that the last few hours they let you fill a whole bag of clothes for a few dollars-or maybe this is just for me since I always look a bit disheveled carrying Colby around on my hip.  Anywho, good luck***