I Finally Did It

I have seen gorgeous burlap bulletin boards all over blog land.  It has been on my to do list for a long time.  I found this frame at a thrift store a couple of months back and picked it up.

 I removed the backing and the lovely rooster pic. Gave the frame a dry brushing with white paint (forgot to take a pic).  I did not have cork board so I decided to use batting.  I have one I purchased years ago that is batting.

I I pulled the batting tight over the cardboard and hot glued it on.

 The front

 I laid down some burlap and repeated the process.

 Front side with burlap~I really should iron it but have I mentioned I hate ironing.

 It looked very plain when I put it in the frame so I decided to add some loveliness.  I used a fleur de lis stencil~I do not own a Cricut or Silhouette machine.  I then traced it using a paint pen.

 Not bad for the old fashioned way.

 BTW~Got this stencil for super cheap at Joann's today~only 97 cents.  I love clearance.

 Filled it in with the paint pen.  Love it.

 This is my little desk section in the kitchen.  I have wanted to add something to this area since we finished the kitchen.

Before:

 After:

I love how it turned out.  It covers the phone jack. There are some Real Simple accessories that I want to pick up at Target to complete this area but this is a great start.  It makes me very happy.

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Random Gibberish

On my nightstand:

I am loving this book and I've just started.  It draws you in from the very first page. It is not a book you can read quickly.  You will be compelled to reread words, sentences and paragraphs over and over again, so they may penetrate and sink into your soul.  I can not say enough about this amazing book.  Ann's writing is riveting.  

 One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp

Following Ann's book I have this on my list.  It is a recommendation from one of Ann's posts. 

 This has been on my to read list for some time.  I am hoping to fit it in this summer.

 I have been reading this off and on~trying to finish is before the new school year.  There are so many amazing ideas in this book.  Love it.

 This one is for my daughter~she would like me to sew her some skirts. She has a hard time finding skirts that are not too short or too long.  So she is enlisting my help.  She has more confidence in my sewing ability than I do.

 I am not a big fan of fleece but this book may change my mind.  It has some great patterns and ideas.  I requested it from our library but I'm not sure if I will give fleece a try.  

I made this for my hubby for Father's Day.  He loves Snickers.  I first saw it on Pinterest.  I do not have an account but it doesn't keep me from visiting.  I haven't jumped into the Pinterest pool because I do not have a Twitter or Facebook account.  I know~you all think I'm living under a rock but I have my reasons.  One of them is that I do not want to be sucked into the internet and not live.  I could definitely see that happening with me.  So for now I just peek in.

 I want to share a little more of my son's art work.  He works on his drawings everyday and he has new projects all the time.  He designates different sketch books for different interests.  

This is a picture he drew of a Sonic video game character.

Pencil first then outlined with marker.

 A scene from the Smallville tv show.

 Some layouts for one of his Sonic comic books.  He has written and illustrated quite a few of his own.  We have sent one in to Archie comics.  He doesn't like to send his original copies away so now I must email them to the company.

 Recently, he has started drawing portraits.  I am completely amazed by the talent he has.  He has had some formal art lessons but not in depth.  He is self taught.  He is also legally blind in his right eye.  It is so astounding that he can do such a impressive job.  This portrait is a singer from the band Metric, which he loves.  He drew it while watching a video of them singing.

Thank you for letting me brag. I am a proud mama of two amazing kids, who are both bigger than me. Although they've grown they'll always be my babies in my heart.

Window Treatments

Let me begin this post by saying that our bathroom is horrible.  I would love to gut it and redo it but it is our only bathroom.  I don't know what we would do without a bathroom.  There is also uncertainty about how much longer we will live here.  We live near an airport that wants to extend.  With that being said I try to do the best I can with what I have. 

This is the before photo.  Our neighborhood is congested so for privacy I keep traditional window treatments on this window.

These curtains had seen better days and were faded.  I wanted something new but couldn't find anything that I liked.  Many of the patterns I found were not my taste.

I found this bedsheet at the thrift store for $7.  It was a Waverly print.

 I used the previous curtains as a pattern and cut them out adding the seam allowances and space for the curtain rod.  This is the valance.

 My helpers~they're inside with me because it's raining again.

 Lower half of the curtains.

 I sewed them and it came out even.  I am always worried that I will make a mistake and one side will be longer than the other.  Thankfully these are perfect.  The lower half of the curtains with the black ribbon is the top of the flat sheet.  This made it easy because I did not have to hem this. 

 We have a small kennel area under the desk in the kitchen that we use for a kennel for our beagle.  She cannot be free at night because if she even senses a squirrel anywhere on our property she loses it.  She will scratch at doors and windows to try to get out and chase it.   If she is in the kennel she does not even react.  

It is too funny~she feels comfortable in here and although we intend it only for nighttime or while we are out we find her here often.  She has always like small spaces.  When she was getting bigger we purchased a larger bed for her and she curled up in one small corner, using less than half the bed.

 This little nook is convenient, no more big dog kennel in the way but it is an eye sore.

Solution:  tension rod and curtain.

 I used the left over fabric from the sheet.  On the left side is the top of the sheet with the black ribbon so I added a black ribbon down the right side of the sheet.  It was hemmed on two sides and I only hemmed one and made a pocket for the tension rod.  Now it isn't an eyesore.

I had to run out in the rain to snap some pictures of this little guy who visited our garden.

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Our Graduate

Our daughter has officially graduated from homeschooling.

We are so proud of her.  

She has worked hard and overcome some obstacles.

She is an amazing young woman.

She will be attending a local college in the fall.

Photo announcements.  We took the pictures in our backyard.  We were thrilled to find these graduation photo cards at Walmart.  

I am not a big fan of Walmart but was so happy with them.  

The photo cards were inserted in these cards I printed.

It is bittersweet to watch your baby becoming a young adult. 

I want to hold her under my wing and protect her from the difficult moments in this world.

But she needs to be free.

Free to follow her heart, use wisdom, pray for discernment.

Watching her grow~heart wrenching~praying for her future.

She will be pursuing a career in Nursing.  Her goal is to be a surgical nurse.

A Day at the Beach

The calendar says spring but the temps say summer.  We have been in the 90's for the last couple of days.  After some severe thunderstorms and downpours the temps are a little lower but we are still holding on to some humidity here.

The garden is quite happy with this warm up.  

These are the first strawberries we picked on Thursday.  From the looks of the plants there will be many more.  They are loaded!! These strawberries are so juicy and sweet.  Love them.

 This is our first week of no school.  We had quite a few appointments this week but what a difference when you don't have the daily school work.  I decided I would use this time to turn our home into a beach house.

I found this tray at Joannes and I love it.  Added the blue Ball canning jar, filled with shells and sand, and hydrangeas from our dear neighbors bush.

 Filled my little cloche with shells.  Love the colors of the shells.  Found these at Joanns too.  It was a great trip.  Wait until you see the best thing of all that I found there.

 I didn't like the dark candle that I had on the tray so I picked the tart warmer up at a discount store today. Fits perfectly with the theme.

 I also found this there.  It was only $3.99.  What a steal.  If you have a Christmas Tree Shop near you, you have to go.  I added the sand and candle.

The best find of the day was this fabric at Joanns.  It was on sale for about $11.00.  I love it and will be using it for window treatments in the living room.  Now I just need to pick a paint color and getting moving.  This color and pattern are gorgeous.  I am so happy that Joanns now carries these fabrics.  The one near us did not always have a good selection but they do now.  It was hard to choose just one fabric that I liked.  There were so many that caught my eye.  Wish I could have gotten them all.

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