Some Changes & My Next Show

Happy Friday!
First, an apology. I told you all that I would be more frequent with my posts and here I am...um...2 weeks later (I hang my head in shame). There's been some big changes for us lately, the biggest of which is a new job. I have accepted a new, full-time position in my field of study, healthcare. It will be a rather big change for us considering I have been home with our two year old for the last year.  I will go with mixed feelings- excitement for the challenge and sadness for leaving my pumpkins. That first day will likely be brutal, leaving my sweet girl at daycare (sigh) but she will be ok, and so will I.

On another note, I am preparing for my next show at Urban Finds. It is next Friday, January 13th from 6-8pm and Saturday, January 14th from 9am-4pm. I will definitely have some posts coming up on all the goodies I plan to bring! After that show- it's up in the air. My prediction is that working full-time will be an adjustment so the furniture and posts will have to take a back seat until I re-learn how to do the working mom thing.

So stay tuned and thanks for your patience and understanding as I take on some new adventures!

Grain Sack Pillow

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!

I AM still alive, believe it or not. So, in my previous post I talked about doing my first show and mentioned that I wasn't very stressed or worried about getting things done. Well, that changed in a hurry! About the middle of last week I went into panic mode, other wise known as "don't go near mom/wife" mode. Ha! In all seriousness, I'm feeling pretty good now but still have a ways to go. Along the way I have also realized that what I intended to be a once a day, or every few days blog, hasn't really worked out that way. I'm still trying to decide what is appropriate and fitting for my life versus what will keep people interested and coming back. It's all such a balancing act and I certainly don't have it mastered yet.

On to the good stuff. I have been working on several of the key pieces for my booth which include a farm house table (built from scratch), a sheet music dresser and a hutch. I will definitely be posting those soon! In between the large projects I have been attempting to get all the "chum" together. (Chum=all the accessories to "pretty up" the booth. My husband and I were watching a reality show on flea markets once and that's what they called it. I had never heard it called that before but I thought it was funny.) Today's post is part of my chum.

Last year I bought a few grain sacks at a sale but wasn't sure what to do with them. Last week while digging through all of my crap valuable finds, I caught them out of the corner of my eye and decided they would be cute pillows! This one is from a place in Independence, Iowa ~ pretty cool. The letters are really faded so I apologize, the pictures stink. In person it is more legible.

On to the how to...
*Choose a pillow form. I bought a 14 x 14 pillow form at Joann's Fabric.

*Then cut the grain sack (it was pillow case shaped) to remove the back half. Laying the sack with letters up, measure the middle (side to side & up and down) and centered it on the pillow form (put the sack on top of the pillow). From there, leave an extra 1 inch on each side so you have room to sew. You can always trim excess later.

*Cut the sack to the size you need (allowing the 1 extra inch). You will also want to cut the same size piece for the backside of the pillow (we used the plain, backside of the grain sack).
*Important: flip the two grain sack pieces over to their backside (upside down, facing each other) and make sure the edges (of the 2 pieces) are evenly lined up. The picture/words should be on the inside  (inside out) when you sew it. You only want to sew around three sides. Otherwise you will have sewn it shut and can no longer stuff your pillow in..swear words will follow...yada, yada, yada.

*Sew around the three sides (my wonderful seamstress mother did it, although this is a really easy sew job), leaving the bottom or top open. Turn the grain sack "shell" right side up-now it should look like the pillow you want (before the pillow is in it). Stuff your pillow in, and then hand sew the remaining edge shut. Hand sewing it will give the cleanest final look.

In the case of this pillow, we thought it would be cute to have the four corners look a little different. So we cut the corners wider initially so that a long tail was left, and then when we (by 'we,' I mean my mom) sewed it we didn't sew the corners shut. After putting the pillow form in we tied the four corners in a knot. My mom did the planning on that piece of it, so I can't take credit. As I may have mentioned before, I was in panic mode and not interested in such details, but thank goodness she was.

That's it! Cute little pillow with minimal work.
Looking back, this was rather long winded. I apologize for that but what did you expect when I haven't blogged for a week?
Have a great turkey day with your family!
Until next time....

Photography & Photoshop Learning Curve

When I first started painting furniture I had no idea that it would lead to a blog, and then that the blog would necessitate learning about photography, cameras, picture editing,.... the list goes on. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE to learn new things but a little tidbit about me - I have this need to know everything right now. For some reason my mind does not accept that there is a learning curve. Nope- just the requirement to be an expert. At everything. Not so much that I know more than others, just that I have to be perfect at it before I think it's good enough. So how's that workin' out? Well... not so good, but I'm working on it.

We celebrated my middle daughter's 8th birthday last weekend and of course I took some pictures. I thought I would share some of the 'before' photoshop pictures and the 'after.' I still have much to learn. I don't quite have the eye for it yet. I can tell when an original picture is too dark but I still struggle with how much to lighten it, when to soften, when to sharpen, etc.. (Just a note so you don't think I'm a horrible & crazy parent: we usually do not allow them to wear makeup like this but we had a "Rocker Girl" themed party where they got their hair, nails and makeup done)

Birthday Girl

The first picture was ok but seemed a little dull and lifeless.

The hubs & our youngest

In the 'after' I should have tried to sharpen it even more. It's too blurry looking, and too dark but I love the timelessness that a black and white gives.

 

Our oldest, pretending to be a super model/rock star.

The bright light from below was actually the light streaming in from the kitchen window. My nieces were up on the counter trying to block it but I kind of like it. It's looks fun to me (professional photographers would likely disagree!). The only thing I changed in the 'after' was that I removed the outlet & lightened the overall picture just a little. Did you notice the outlet?

My youngest insisting on trying to do her own makeup.

I changed it to black and white and lightened it a little.

(Don't mind the horrid upholstery on the seat-it's in line for a change once we decide on fabric)

Finally, the birthday girl again. She was opening presents in this one.

In the second picture I changed the coloring up using free action sets from The Pioneer Woman. She has some wonderful photography lessons on her blog (and recipes, home schooling tips, home & gardening tips..she's basically wonder woman!!)

So those are some of my attempts at Photoshop. I'm looking to purchase a new camera as well but have a lot more research to do before making the move. I want something that I can grow into (so I don't want to buy another one a year from now), but don't want to overbuy. I'll keep you posted on what I decide.

Have a great week, and feel free to share your photography successes, mishaps or any other little tidbits you would like.

30 Days of Thankful

Simple as that. I will list some of the many things I am thankful for over the next 30 days. I will edit this post through the end of November.

Day 1: My children's love of reading. Such a simple, but important thing in our house.

Day 2: Sweatpants, cuddly blankets and comfort food (baby, it's cold outside!)

Day 3: My wonderful husband and the "me" time he encourages me to take in order to remain sane.

Love those few hours when I can get away and do whatever I please (which usually involves Michael's & Starbucks).

Day 4: Those rare moments when you catch your kids playing without being noticed.  

My two year old is very good at playing alone & I love to quietly watch her talking to her babies & making things up as she goes along, or my eight & nine year old dancing all crazy. So sweet and innocent.

Day 5: A change of pace. A change from your normal, daily routine.

Day 6: My perfectly imperfect family. Sometimes we're loud, we fight, we forget our manners...but it doesn't matter. We are together. We are healthy. And we love each other.

Day 7: The ability to change and grow. What if you reached a certain point and you could no longer change or grow. You couldn't improve, you couldn't lose or gain weight, you couldn't become a better person? How lucky we are, to be able to change the things we don't like about ourselves & our lives.

Day 8: Coupons. Today I am thankful for coupons, sales, deals, discounts, etc... We (my husband & I) often see who can find the best deals. The feeling of getting a great deal and rarely ever paying full price is, well, priceless.
Day 9: Electricity. We lost ours with the first snow of the season this morning. Not pleasant but thankfully, it was short lived.
Day 10: Good health. I take this for granted often, until I get sick or injured, then I remember how lucky I am to feel good 99% of the time.
Day 11: Sunshine. It's such a pick me up!
Day 12: Past & present military. I appreciate you all so very much, and all that you do for our country. You are all amazing. Thank you for preserving my freedom.
Day 13: Pictures. It's so much fun to look through them and reminisce and talk about family and friends.
Day 14: Forgiveness.  I hope you will forgive me for not keeping up this past week!

Day 15: My cell phone. That's all.

Day 16: Kids..all of them. So honest and sweet, they often bring you back to reality and re balance your perspective on things.
Day 17: My mommy. She's so talented, particularly with DIY, and always willing to help and teach me. Not to mention she is always, always there for any of us whenever we need it, and is a wonderful grandma to my kiddos. 
Day 18: Spray paint and Modge Podge. These two things are amazing. Love them! You will see why on the sheet music dresser that I will be showing you soon (idea from Miss Mustard Seed's blog).
Day 19: Sunday Funday. Probably not the traditional definition, but yesterday all of the family chipped in to help me get ready for my upcoming show. It was fun.
Day 20: Unexpected quality time. Related to the previous one, my daughter asked if she could help with some of my projects. Now usually, I admit, I'm anal and don't really want "help" on painting projects, however, this was just the primer so I thought it would be fun to let my middle child help. Not only did she do an awesome job but it gave us some time together AND I got to teach her some things about painting and DIY. Priceless.
Day 21: My amazing, handsome husband. Sorry ladies, I took the perfect one.. and no, you can't have him. Na-na-na-na-na-na. Really, I'm not sorry. Just happy and thankful that he's mine. :) 
Day 22: The US of A. I often think of how lucky we are to be able to walk outside without fear of being shot or bombed. I'm not afraid to send me kids to school for fear of getting caught in the cross-fire of a war outside my door. It may not be perfect, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else (ok, maybe Italy or France wouldn't be torture either). 
Day 23: "Do nothing" time.  So nice, even if rare.
Day 24: Eating everything you see without guilt day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Day 25: Family get togethers. Fun to hang out and catch up.
Day 26: Music. It can completely change my mood, provide an outlet and even confirm that I'm not the only one who faces challenges.
Day 27: Sleep. Oh how I love my sleep. Mmmmm....   
Day 28: Exercise. Never thought I would say that but it does make me feel more confident and helps to relieve stress. It's just getting to the gym that presents the problem. :)
Day 29: My Birthday. It's coming right up. I can't say that I love getting older, but isn't it so much fun to have a day out of the year that's all yours? Plus, you get away with a lot more (or doing a lot less, in my case). 
Day 30: You. It's true. I love my friends, family and even the others that I've never met that support me throughout my ventures. You provide support and encouragement when I'm feeling frustrated or down. Thank you so much! I hope that I can provide you with some ideas, inspiration or just a little comic relief from time to time.

I am also doing this activity with the kids, and trying to remind them of just how many things we have to be thankful for.
What are you thankful for and do you have any traditions that celebrate it?

Festive Fall Acorn Cookies

Hello my lovelies. This fall weather has me in the mood for Christmas shopping (half way done!) and baking. A little fact about me, I LOVE to bake. Probably relates to my wicked sweet tooth, regardless, I used to bake every week in high school and take the treats to the bank I worked at.

Anywho... my obsession with Pinterest led me to these adorable little acorn cookies.

So cute, right? And they are delicious! I'm not a huge peanut butter & chocolate fan but I really enjoyed these.

Now, I really, really hate when the original source is not listed on Pinterest, such was the case here. I even tried to search elsewhere, to no avail. So my apologies to the creator of these little cuties for not linking back.
So how do you make them? Easy peasy...
You need:
   -Snack size Nutter Butter
   -Mini, semi-sweet chocolate chips
   -Hershey's Kisses

Melt a 1/2 cup or so (I winged it) of the mini chocolate chips in the microwave, stopping to stir every 30 seconds. These melt quickly (and burn quickly) so don't skimp on this. Then you take some of the extra (whole) mini-chips, dip them in the chocolate and place them in the center of the Nutter Butter cookie.
 Just a tip: dipping them didn't work well for me because I couldn't grip them well. So instead, I used a toothpick, dipped it in the melted chocolate, spread it on the bottom of the mini-chip and then put it on the cookie.
I then refrigerated them to harden the chocolate. Next, unwrap the number of kisses you need and set aside. Reheat the chocolate to melt it again. It shouldn't take long. Finally, dip the kiss in the melted chocolate and stick it to the other side of the Nutter Butter (make sure the mini chip has hardened & is firmly stuck first, otherwise they will slide off). I placed them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper to dry. Put them back in the frig for 10 minutes to speed up the drying process if you wish.

Voila! Cute little snack with very little difficulty!

Painting a House & Other Things I Get Myself Into

Painting and priming and scrapping, oh my.
My, oh my, oh my. Have you ever offered to help (your mom, your friend, your grandpa's dentist..) with a project out of the goodness of your heart and then when you jump in it takes WAAAAY more energy and time than you expected? That's where I'm living <sigh>.

 Earlier this spring my mom mentioned that her house needed painted but that it would cost between $2,000-$3,000 (if I recall correctly). Years ago in high school, I painted our small, one-story, ranch house and therefore figured I could save her the $$ and do it myself (Note to self: think it through for a week..or month..before volunteering next time). On the contrary, this is a two-story with a walk out basement (3 story in the back) and steep, downward sloping sides (not so great for stabilizing an extension ladder).

Ok, enough of the whining and complaining and on to the details. I painted the front with a brush and flat sponge combo. That was time intensive! However, it seemed easier considering all of the windows I would have needed to cover if using a sprayer (it may have been that I will still scared of using the sprayer at this point). After that I got smart and used the sprayer as mentioned in this post. My little brother even helped!

Now on to the trim. When they say the devil is in the details, they weren't kidding (who is 'they' by the way?). The windows and trim were in desperate need of attention. When you got up close they looked like this.

Oh yes, and do you see the overspray on the window? That's where I was lazy lax on covering the windows properly when using the sprayer. I have no patience for prep work. It's a terrible habit, but I would rather go back with a razor blade and scrape off the paint than take the time to cover it all perfectly.

Back to the scraping. In order to do it properly (and avoid re-doing it next year) you will need to be thorough and scrape until you remove all loose pieces. In some places it is likely that you will be down to bare wood. Now, and this is important, you will need to prime the areas with bare wood with an oil based, exterior primer. This will keep the moisture from the snow and rain out and protect the window from rotting. Replacing rotting wood is no fun (which we also have to do on some windows)!  The scraping alone will take several days, particularly if you have a tall house requiring an extension ladder. You will also need to allow the primer to dry for a day or two prior to applying the top coat.

Can you tell where I have scrapped/painted/primed and where I haven't?

 I must have been falling over when taking this one (sorry).

I know it's hard to see if you aren't close, but I have completed everything on the front except the two peaks and the trim under the gutters (which need cleaned first). Getting the ladder up to the peaks has proved challenging, particularly with the little red tree there.

So if I am absent for a few more weeks days, you know where I am (behind the house, working on the windows you can't see from the street). Don't mind all the 'stuff' laying around, waiting to be put away for the winter (a girl can only do so much), as well as Bill, the dog, sneaking in to the picture. Did you see him in the one above, too?

On the flip side, I am so thankful for the abnormally warm weather! It has been beautiful and has allowed me to work on the windows much longer than would normally be possible in Iowa this time of year.

I would love to know, have you ever volunteered for something that turned into a much bigger job than you expected?

Steve Jobs Quote on Life

I hadn't planned to post anything tonight (or this morning..depends on how you want to look at it), but I saw this profound quote by Steve Jobs. Seems so obvious, but something many of us forget.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. ......Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

-Steve Jobs

I couldn't have said it better myself...

Florida vacation, life changes and some good ol' procrastination

Hey there, fellow blog fans.
First, I want to apologize for my absence! Oh my, it's been crazy around this house. A vacation to Disney with the kiddos, some life changes for my parents-requiring oh so much work on my part (but I'm so happy to help..I love my momma!), and some serious procrastination on my part. Please forgive me.

Maybe a picture of the happiest place on earth will help...

Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Our happy little family at Clearwater Beach.

This was our first trip as a family and it was great. However, I definitely needed a vacation from the vacation. It was exhausting! I can't even tell you. There are several things I would definitely do again and others that I would change next time. So in case you need some ideas, here they are:

Definitely DO:
-Plan ahead but allow flexibility (don't under estimate the toll it takes on everyone to spend a day (or 3) at the theme parks
-Rent a condo/hotel with your own kitchen (a washer/dryer is a definite plus too!) This saved us a ton of money. We then found a Wal-mart near by and bought most of our food/snacks for the week.
-Plan on a few "down" days between parks (lay by the pool, watch movies,...whatever your family enjoys)
-Consider the ages of your children and plan theme parks accordingly (Disney rides seemed more oriented for smaller children but the Princesses were a hit with all our girls; Universal was much more fun for our 9 year old)
-See the Harry Potter attraction...it is amazing. It is located at Universal Islands of Adventure (one of the Universal Studios parks..but different entrance/ticket than Universal Studios)
-Rent a car and drive to the ocean for a day or two. We drove to Clearwater, spent half the day there, and then drove down the coastline to check out a few different beaches. We also asked locals where to go for supper to get fresh seafood (we wanted something original, not a chain). Best.idea.ever.
-Shop around!!! We bought airline tickets & car rental through Allegiant and the condo via BookIt
-Consider the season/time of year that you are going. Is it peak season, off peak, etc.. This can really change the way you look at theme parks. We went during the slowest season(Sept) which was wonderful. 1. It was cheaper (love!) 2. Lines are much, much shorter (we waited an average of 10 minutes per ride & sometimes not at all). Downsides- had to take the kids out of school for a week and it was hot in early September.
-Relax and have fun!

Don't/Reconsider:
-Buy 5,6, or 7 days worth of theme parks ahead of time. You may change your mind. We did 3 days of parks and that was MORE than enough. The local Wal-mart had discounts and it worked out fine to buy them the day before we went to the parks.
-Go to theme parks for several days in a row...unless you are superhuman. It takes so much stamina to go all day and did I mention, it's HOT in Florida.
-Pack too much. The trip was relatively stress-free except for at airport security. Oh my. Getting a family of 5 through security (think 5 carry-ons, diaper bag, purse, liquids that must be taken out of the bags, removing shoes on the kids, stroller, car seat and kids running off). My anxiety level just went up thinking about it.

Ok, with all of that babbling, I hope that you got some good tips out of our experience. I'm so glad we went. With that, I will end with a few more photos and a promise that more furniture posts are coming soon!

 The Harry Potter castle and my two little wizards.

 Pier 60, Clearwater Beach, Fl

Bahama Bay Resort, Davenport, Fl (our condo)