Oh my goodness I kind
of feel like we have fallen
off the face of
blog world lately ~
This has been such a fun
summer with a new baby
in June and a new
baby in August ~
What precious precious
blessings they are!
Our family came from
California to meet
the babies ~ We have
made some wonderful memories!
While family was here
Kristin and I did a
little creating ~
Here are some of the
new things that
we added to the
Vintage & Handmade Category ~
We are on a roll!
Chat with you soon!
Kristin and I have been busy busy with our website
the last couple of weeks!!
But ... in between the busyness there are
babies coming very soon!!
Kristin's baby boy, Isaac's room, is
in a vintage airplane theme ~ She wanted
to use one of her husband, James' photographs,
but wanted it to look old ~
This is a quick step by step but
you can get more detailed instructions on her
family blog ~
First we got the picture laser printed at
Staples in a 20x30 inch size ~
Then we went to Home Depot and had them cut
a piece of wood in to 2 pieces 10 x30 inches ~
Place the 2 pieces of wood side by side
( we attached it together at the end but
you can do that step ahead of time )~
Then brush on Acrylic Gel Medium
and spread pretty generously ~
Place your paper with the image face down
and smooth out ~
We had a couple of wrinkles and actually it
ended up adding to the vintage look ~
Let it sit overnight ~
Then dampen the paper with
a wet cloth ~
When the paper looks wet rub with your fingers and the paper kind of rolls off ~
Kristin cracked me up because her fingers
didn't have finger prints or something because
she was having issues with this step ~
You can keep dampening the paper when it dries out
until it is
all rubbed off ~ Some of the paper was left
and it ended up grabbing the stain and looked good ~
Next Kristin stained over the entire piece ~
Then she sanded the edges
and rubbed the edges with
Pigment ink with a sponge ~
Lastly we waxed it with Annie Sloan clear wax
but you can also use Mod Podge to seal it ~
After it dried the wood was attached together
on the back with metal flat brackets ~
The whole project cost less than $30 ~
It turned out great and looks awesome
in Isaac's room !!!
Today I got all of the
lace out of my flea market
shopping cart and got
busy tea dying it ~
The hot sun today was
perfect for drying the
lace fast :)
I needed a good drying
rack though and
remembered this ladder
in my yard ~
It worked perfect!!
The rungs gave alot
of area to drape the
lace over ~
After it was dry
and ironed I got busy
creating the bottles in
the picture above for
a shop in San Diego ~
My very favorite
part of what I do is
the creating part ❤
I am so excited to carry
Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine
on my website!!
It has been one of my very
favorites and is now more
affordable than it ever has
been~
If you have never seen one before...
the pictures are GORGEOUS,
the articles are so good and it
does not have any advertisements,
which is great !
You can get them in our shop
for $19 including shipping ~
Just click here to go there ~
My website reopening was
a total blessing! It was busy and
was fun to be creating and getting
caught up and in the groove again ~
I have had a website for about 8 years
and have never closed ~ It was a good
thing to catch my breath for a few
weeks ~
I have sold out of alot but will
continue to restock as I create!
{and visit my favorite antique stores }
Those are the best part of
having a website!
Here are more pictures of some of the
things that we had on reopening ~
I am really still alive even
though it has been forever since
I have done a blog post :)
Life has been crazy the last few
months with my preggie girls ~
{Steph is 20 weeks & Kristin is 29 weeks }
Stephanie, my youngest daughter, is
20 weeks and has hyperemesis which
is crazy over the top morning sickness ~
She was literally in bed for 3 months
and in the hospital 4 times ~ She had
a subcutaneous pump in her stomach
for most of that time which
helps with the nausea ~
It was a good day when she could
just talk and smile ~
Needless to say my focus has changed
to my girls ❤
The pump came out a couple of weeks
ago and she actually can do things now
which pretty much is a total blessing
and an answer to many prayers ~
Last weekend we
flew to California for
our annual girls trip with my mom,
sister and niece ~ We just spend the
time shopping and laughing alot :)
{me, Steph, my niece Chelsey, sister
Kim and mom Sue standing...
Kristin was not in this picture :( }
{the shoe dilemma ~ I am not sure why it was a dilemma though since they were only $5 hehe! }
{Chelsey and Steph...bestest friends }
Sometimes life as we know
it stops and what is really important
becomes loud and clear ~
I have been asked if you can
stamp the blank charm
frames that are on my website ~
As a matter of fact I was going
to show you what they look like stamped
pretty soon .... but, I figured it was a good
time now since someone else just
emailed me :)
Here is a sample of what they
look like ~
This particular charm blank in
silver is sold out but I have
it in gold and alot of different
ones available here for a great price ~
Have fun stamping!!
Life has been craziness the last 2 months
with some family things that have
taken my attention ~
Times like these completely make me
realize what truly are
the most important things !
On another subject though ......
So I kind of freaked out a bit when I heard
Picnik is closing !! Oh my goodness !!
I am a total computer
goofball and learn my thing
to do on my computer and
once I get it that is it .....
don't throw new stuff in there
because my brain freezes!!
I have been using Picnik since
the beginning of Picnik
( however long that is ) and now
I have been trying to teach
myself how to do my photos in
Photoshop Elements ~
I have been doing the pictures with
the frame thing forever ~
and now they are frame-less .........
which I kinda like !
I am all about a clean look and it makes
my website look less cluttered ~
Haha.... you wouldn't know that I don't have
a drop of A type personality
in my body by that statement!
Anyway today I added more things to my website
and am trying to transition my brain and website
over to Photoshop Elements pictures ~
I am going to kind of miss the
collage thing though !!
Does anyone know how to do collages with
anything else besides Picnik ?
My sister and niece have
been visiting me in Texas for
the last week ~ They live in California
and so we try and go back and forth
as much as we can ~
We hit the road shopping all week
starting with Canton's First Monday
{never can get enough junk!! }
Then as much shopping and
crafting as we could squeeze in ~
It was really cold and rainy most
of the time so we spent one day in
front of the fireplace watching movies
and Chelsey ( my niece ) taught
us all to crochet ~
{below is my daughter Stephanie and above
is a good friend Bethany, my niece Chelsey and
daughter Kristin }
Kristin added a rose and I just
love it !!
One day we decided to go
to the Gaylord Texan Hotel because
it is just gorgeous at Christmas ~
{ my sister Kim & I }
{my niece Chelsey, sister Kim, son in law James
daughters Kristin & Stephanie }
It is always fun to have them come
visit and sad when they leave!
I miss my family in California like crazy!!
I guess it is time for us to take
a trip there again soon ~
I had an awesome Canton
day on Wednesday finding
some Farmhouse goodness!!
I was totally on the hunt
for rusty and galvanized ~
Haha!! Can you tell...
Here are some of the things
that I found and are listed
on my website ~
There is also some vintage ticking
that is being washed
and a bunch of other things that
need cleaned and worked on ~
I want to go back sooo bad already!
I am kind of obsessed with treasure
hunting there!
I need to get out my paint
and work on some step ladders
~
Thank you for stopping by!
{added later }....all clean and
smelling good!
I am lost deep in the depths
of cleaning my studio ~
I figured since I had a trail from
the door to my sewing machine
and to my computer that it was
time to clean and destash like
craziness!!
I have so much stuff that I think
I might use to create with ....
Stuff to do photo vignettes with ....
and just stuff I am not sure why with ~
Anyway ... so I have been pulling things
out and trying to list stuff in
my flea market category that I won't use
anymore ~ And also taking a bunch to
the thrift store that I don't feel
like listing because I am over it ~
These pictures are to make you all
feel really good about yourself and
to keep me accountable to finish ~
I am such a candidate for
Where Women Create aren't I ~ Hahaha !!
Alrighty I am back to burying myself
in "STUFF" ~
Update #1
I need a gazillion plastic bins !!
Update #2 ~ 8:08 p.m.
Oh my gosh I can see the floor ~
I need to stop and spend time with my hubby
but just maybe it will be done in
ohhhhh about a week !