A Bench Makeover

I scored this bench at a yard sale for $5! I didn't know what I was going to do with it right away, but everyone is soooo into the distressed furniture look, so I thought I would give it a try. The technique itself was actually pretty simple, and I do like the way it looks, but I definitly don't think I'm going to distress every piece of furniture I re-do. So here it is before: First I just sanded it down, but didn't worry if I didn't get every little dent out (I mean, it is supposed to look old and a little beat up). Then I put my first coat on. I used American Accents, java bean. It looks kind of purple in the can, but goes on more like a brownish stain. I let that completely dry before rubbing my candle on the areas I wanted distressed. Then it was my first coat of antique white. Between each coat of white, I rubbed off the wax, and applied a new layer of wax before the next coat. That way I didn't get a thick layer of paint before I tried to rub the wax off. I think it took 4 coats of the anitque white. I rubbed off the last of the wax, then lightly sanded it for even more distressing.

And this was what I got! Like I said, I do like it, but probably won't be doing much of it. I need to do a coat of Minwax Wipe on Poly, and then it will be finished. But I'm toying with the idea of putting a big "G" on top of it, so I haven't put the finish on yet.

Here it is from the top. There's no distressing on top. That's how I wanted it. It's long enough though to put our entire last name on it. What do you think? I'm entering this in Kimba's DIY day on Thursday, so look for it there! http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/

The Leaves Are Turning

Fall, oh how I love Fall! I love my sweaters and jeans, my Uggs and knee highs, my scarves and poofy jacket, hot chocolate and hot soup....okay most of that usually comes in winter. But when I see the leaves turning colors, I know we're just one step away from that cold weather!

Decopodge Fun!

I have a new love, yes, it's decopodge! One little project, and I'm hooked! Decopodge is a sealant/glue. I did a very simple tester project to start out with. Here's what I used: Just a bit of paper that caught my eye, spray adhesive, decopodge, ribbon and, of course, my little bottle I bought at a yard sale for 10 cents. All I did was cut out some paper, sprayed the back with the spray adhesive, then stuck it to the bottle. I waited for it to dry, then painted the decopodge over the paper with a small wide-tipped paint brush. It dried pretty fast, then I just tied the ribbon on around the top, filled it with water and stuck in a flower I cut from my garden. Here's what I got....

A little flower vase to sit in my window! I ended up giving it to a friend of mine. For some reason or another, I always give away flowers in little vases. Pretty cool, right? :)

Photoshop Experiment Continued...

Just a picture I took with my camera and then photoshoped. Cool, but it took FOREVER!

Photoshop Experiment Note

The picture below is pretty small. Click on the image to see it bigger, it's much better. :)

Photoshop Experiment

Here's a picture I took of Chase while we were camping up at Antelope Lake last July. I thought I would get a little creative with it and photoshop it. I have a nice program but have been very intimidated by it. It's very involved! This is the first picture I've come up with that, I think, looks somewhat decent. Just a little sharpening, color change, and I enhanced Chase's eyes and the rippleing water around him. Isn't he handsome?!?! I love my little man!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kids. Chase started the 2nd grade, and Bella started kindergarten. Everything went smoothly for about 10 minutes. I got Chase to his class, met his teacher, and we saw lots of people we knew from outside of school. Then it was off to Bella's classroom. Immediatly she knew something was not right. She kept telling me to stay with her. When it was time for me to leave she got upset, but I figured another few minutes and she would be okay. The next time I went to leave she really got upset. She started crying, so I decided to stay a little longer. Two other kids were crying, and eventually their moms decided to leave while they were in hysterics. I didn't think that would be my child. I finally decided to just leave, weather or not Bella wanted me to go, I was just done. She would not let go of me! She's never held onto me that tight! It was horrible! The teacher had to hold onto her while I walked away. I never felt so bad! So yeah, it was a little rocky, to say the least. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. She is still pretty young, so I guess that is to be expected. On a different note, my friend told me something today that made my heart sink! She has 5 kids and all but 1 are now in school. So little Ben said to his mom (very gloomily), as his brothers and sisters went off to school, "I guess it's just you, me and Bella." His mom didn't have the heart to tell him that Bella would no longer be at playgroups. Bella is the biggest pain, but I miss her already, and so does little Benny. :(

Something exciting! By accident, Copper and Koda have decided to make babies! What I mean by accident is, we had no idea that Koda was even in heat. So we'll have little beagle puppies in just a few short weeks. And if it's planned right, they should be ready about 10 days before Christmas!! How perfect did that work out?! I can tell that the kids are going to be upset when we sell them. Chase is already asking if we can keep one.

Bella had her second ballet class today. We should know by wednesday if she's going to do ballet or hip hop. Lots going on, and I'm sure much more to report soon! Stay tuned....

Summer Recap

We did a lot this summer!! I had an amazing time, and I know my family did as well! First we had a long overdue visit from my dad. The kids had a blast with my dad (all the presents he brought for them helped *wink*) and they were sad to see him go. But we were able to get one last pic in before he left. Notice that neither my dad or Chase wanted in on the picture, but a forced picture is better than none. :)

Bella learned to hoola-hoop really well!! It was so much fun to watch her learn. Also, Chase learned to ride his bike without any training wheels! He did have one little accident, but what is childhood without a few scrapes?

We of course made time for our precious guns. We went target shooting with some friends and had a blast...without the kids, of course.

We went to the lake a lot! Chase caught a fish and so did our friends' kid, Ben. What a lunker!

This pic of Garrett and I was the end of July, at Antelope Lake. We went camping for 3 days. The boys went fishing and of course we all went to the lake for a swim.

And then....well let's just say I went on strike. You should see the pics I didn't post! The house was a mess!!!! But fortunatly, everyone pitched in to clean.

I am looking forward to a great school year! I hope I don't have to work. I am looking forward to getting lots of stuff done around the house while everyone is gone, but we'll see how that goes. Also an update on Bella's ear piercing: Garrett was slightly upset, but only because he wanted to be there when she got it done. He's over it now, and I think he's looking forward to to the kids starting school as well. We'll have a lot more time alone together than we've had in over seven years! Yay for us!

My Brave Girl

My friend and I took the kids to Wal Mart today to pick up a few things. While we were there I decided to get Bella's ears pierced. Garrett and I had been talking about it for a while now, and Bella has been wanting to do it. I don't really think she knew how it worked, but I think I preferred it that way. She looked really nervous for a second but it was so quick I don't think she had any time to change her mind. Her friend Maggie helped her pick out some cute heart earrings and she loves 'em!! I'm so glad I didn't get her ears pierced when she was a baby, I think it's a lot more fun when they make the decision on their own! That aside, Garrett doesn't know about it yet. He is due home any second now, and I hope he's not mad that I did it without him. :O Also, today was our last playgroup. The kids start school on Monday, so I'll be going to "coffee" from now on. Still don't know what I'm going to do. I'm sure I'll be busy as I've got Bella doing dance classes. Not sure if she's going to do ballet, jazz or hip hop, but either way it should be lots of fun!

Summer's Almost Over

I am very excited for school to start! I will definitly miss my babies, but I am excited to see what life will be like without my kids for several hours a day. I know that eventually I will be getting a job. We can't afford not to, but I definitly intend on taking at least a couple of weeks, if not a month or two to myself, and then decide what to do. All my friends are stay at home moms too, so I will always have them to hang out with. I guess we'll have to do coffee more often than one day a week. I can't really call it playgroup anymore because I won't have any little people to contribute to the group, so I'm going to just say coffee from now on. I am babysitting on monday, coffee on tuesday, babysitting again on wednesday, and then cleaning houses on thursday and friday. Busy week ahead, but not too busy to shop for my latest makeover project. Depending on how expensive it will be, it may need to wait 'til next month, but I am so excited to get started on it!

Movie and Mojito Night

This week I decided to spice up "movie and mojito night". Inspired by an article in one of the blogs I follow I decided on something easy and fun for even the kids to do.

I started with a few simple ingredients I have around the house. Pansys, mint leaves, blueberries, ice cube trays and, of course, water. I actually let the kids fill the trays. I knew they'd have a good time doing it. Also, if you're wondering, pansys are an edible flower (thanks for double checking on google for me honey).

The kids filled the trays with the flowers, mint, and blueberries. I filled them with water and put them in the freezer for a few hours. I then transferred them to a ziploc bag (saves lots of space). I enjoyed them in my mojitos AND the kids loved them in their soda!

Boat Wine Rack

So, for some reason or another, I always get hand-me-down furniture. Don't get me wrong, I love 'em, but they always need a little TLC before they come in the house. Last year Garrett's grandma gave us a boat shaped wine rack. It was actually pretty decent, but VERY bland. It came in the house right away, but I always knew that I would need to re-do it. Well, inspired by my friend April, I decided it was time. All I did was stain the wood, and paint the sides, and what I got was a whole new piece! I love it, and can't wait 'til my next re-do project!

I took the whole thing apart and sanded it. Stained the wood, then painted the sides. Put the whole thing back together and viola! Definitly not as easy as it sounds. I actually ran into about a million problems with this thing. But luckily I have a very handy husband! Putting it back together was probably the hardest part, but I managed, and like I said, I am very happy with the results!

So what do you think? I guess I just need to stock it with some wine now. :)