I've been a very naughty blogger.  Where have I been you ask?
Let me answer that question with a little ditty.  Once there was a girl.  This girl had a beautiful family and liked to take pictures of them.  Over the years she collected many, many photos. These photos ended up in a big box.  We're talking big box. Often the girl would attempt to "scrap book" said photos.  She would sit there with other ladies chatting and "scrap booking" for a couple hours and end up with one page done.  Who has that kind of time and patience?  This lovely girl decided that each page didn't need to be embellished with stickers and cut outs and such. She would let the pictures speak for themselves.  She decided to buy some nice leather photo albums.  10 in fact.  She would just slide the photos inside the waiting slots.  But...first she would have to organize the pictures that she had taken over the years in chronological order.  Sigh.


I've been around.  I've done stuff.  I've had a good time.  But I'm going to resist back tracking and just start anew.  I've got that big box to worry about and stuff.  That's enough for me.

Made with love and suckers!

Valentines for 25 1st graders.  Check!
 

(sorry about the poor picture quality)

Got the idea from HERE

xoxo

The renovation begins!

So My 40th Birthday is coming up.

 

 

In 51/2 weeks to be exact.

How did this happen?

Although thankfully a little wiser, I feel like that same girl at 17.  

Where did the time go?

All the other birthdays easily passed without any problems.  30 was a breeze.  I've never been one to care enough about my age to lie or worry about getting wrinkles early.

Why does this one feel different?  It seems that the closer it gets the more obsessed about it I get.  

Have I done everything I wanted to do "in my 30's"?  I know life doesn't end at 40 and I know that I've got maybe 1 or 2 (tee hee hee) good years left on this earth, but am I who I wanted to be yet? 

Am I on the path? 

I know I don't want to be fat and 40. 

(no offense to all my pleasantly plump and happy about it sistas)

I dreamed of being a "fit" young mom at 40.  Well "fit" I aint.  Fit left me at about 34.  Can I get it back?  Is there still time?  

What can I do with 5 1/2 weeks?

Well today was the first day of my  

"40 and fabulous" renovation. 

I'm exercising.

I'm eating well.

I'm reading.

I'm creating.

I'm trying to serve others.

I'm laughing.

I'm organizing.

I'm cleaning.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

By the way.....big blowout bash or quiet get together with those I'm closest to?  Whatdaya think?

xoxo

Love all around!

So what does one do with a 2x6 piece of wood?  I'll tell ya!

This!

and this

Besides a 2x6 board that I got at Lowes, here were my supplies:


Sandpaper
paint
mod podge
fabric
ribbon
wooden letters
hot glue
distressing ink

 

I first cut the wood to the desired length depending on how big your wooden letters or your pictures are.

I sanded the wood down a bit to get rid of any jagged edges.

For the "xo" blocks:

I painted the blocks red and the letters white and used some of the distressing ink on the edges.

I slightly sanded the painted blocks.

I cut some fabric a little smaller and mod podged it onto the front of the block.

When it was dry, I glued the letters onto the blocks with hot glue.

I tied a sweet bow and hot glued that onto the top of the block.

For the picture block:

I painted the block a layer of green paint and then a layer of black.  (I like the affect of the green showing through a little when I sand the blocks after painting)

I slightly sand the painted block.

I mod podged my picture of choice onto the block and added a layer of mod podge around the whole block.

When it was dry, I added a decorative handle and tied a ribbon on one side of the handle.

Cuteness right?

The picture of Christ I used was a photo that I had taken of a print I have from artist Liz Lemon Swindle

but you could use any picture you like.  I think I'll do a family photo next.

         I linked up HERE   

                

 

           XOXO

Valentine Topiaries

Saw THIS and decided to get some felt of my own and make these.

 

 Puts me in the mood for romance crafting!

Crumbs and the like

Ya know when you start cleaning and then you see dust and grime everywhere and you just cant stop?

 Yeah. Me too.  I'm stuck in a horrible grimey bubble and I can't seem to clean my way out.  I think I might be going crazy. 

I want some organization in this home.  I NEED IT!  Badly.  

It all started with the "cleaning out" of the pantry. I oh so innocently went to grab my store bought bread crumbs and couldn't find the darn things.  Look, I'm all for making my own but...why?  I knew I had them.  I looked on every shelf, behind every half open bag of chocolate chips and outdated bottle of dressing.  Something had to be done.  Darn it. I was gonna have to take every last item out and clean and then...put...everything.....back.  Ick. 

Here's the mess before I began.

It doesn't help that everything in the kitchen winds up in the pantry.  With 2 teenage boys constantly rummaging through there it's bound to be a mess.  Right?

Let me add that I just realized that a girl's pantry is pretty personal.  You can tell a lot about of family by their food stuffs.  Take for instance my pantry.   Someone might be trying to drop a few pounds by the look of all the slimfast products.  You might notice that we enjoy cuddling up by a fire with all the hot cocoa around.  The canned items might suggest that convenience is important to me.  All the cereal might tell you there are kids in the vicinity.  Hmmm.....interesting no?

Finished.  All Tidy. 

....For now.

 

What does your pantry say about you?

p.s.  Here is what I'm working on next.

Oh no you di 'nt!

xoxo

Here's to lots more!!

21 years ago today was a good day.

I married my best friend.

I liked him from the first moment I met him.

He made me laugh.  He made me happy.

We spent a lot of time together.

He went away for 2 years to do some very important work.  

This made me love him even more.

He came home and we decided to get married.

We've had a lot of adventures over the years. 

   We stuck together through those early 90'.  Fads, hair and all.

 

We learned new things and grew together.

We made a beautiful family.

I think he's pretty darn cool.

I love him more than words can express.  I would be lost without him.

So glad he's mine!

That poor old man

It's raining, it's pouring............you know the rest. 

I also don't think it's kind to make fun of that poor old man. So he snores a little.  Maybe he has a cold and because it's raining he can't get to the store to purchase the needed medications.  Maybe he doesn't have any breathe right strips.  He's old. Maybe he got his licensed revoked because of his age and he needs one of his adult kids to come and drive him to rite aid and they are just too busy with their own lives to care.  I mean he went to bed and bumped his head.  I don't want to even think about why he couldn't get up in the morning.  Let's just pretend that his alarm clock didn't go off. 

ANYWAY.........

It's raining and we've been hibernating in our nice dry warm home. 

The girls and I were getting a little stir crazy and needed something to do.  Perhaps something to make.  This "something to make" needed to involve supplies that we already had.....'cause I ain't going out in that weather. 

We decided to make Inspiration journals.  At least that's what I'm calling mine. 

All it took was some composition books, some decorative paper, some spray adhesive, some ribbon and a little hot glue and

VIOLA!

Now......

On to the Inspiration!!!

New again

We have a dining room.  We have a dining room table.  If we actually eat in the dining room we have to lug 2 more chairs in there so we can all fit around the table.  ugh! This room does not inspire me.  I don't sit in there and glory in my surroundings.  We don't often eat in the dining room.

That is until now!

I decided that  waiting around for a new table and chairs was not the route I wanted to go anymore.  I'm aging here people....I got dinners to make and people to feed.  I would take this matter into my own hands and re-do what I already had.

I got my inspiration HERE

It seemed simple enough.

I forgot to take a picture of the whole set before...but here is the table as I began the sanding process.

I only sanded the top of the table.

I just made sure to sand off anything "shiny".

Painting the chairs was the hardest part.  All those legs and rounded edges.  After letting the first coat dry, I actually went back 2 more times and touched up all the areas I missed.  It's amazing what one can miss.  I think those glorious paint fumes were starting to get to me.

After all the painting was done I roughed up the edges with my trusty medium grade block sander.

I then applied an oil based polyurethane to the top of the table only. More delicious fumes for my brain.

Here is the finished project.

I went with the hubby to JoAnn's and after looking and looking and changing my mind and then changing my mind again right before the cutting table I chose some fabric to re-cover the chairs.

My sweet hubs also made me a bench.  Yea! More seating.

I also painted the side table.

Now I need a beatiful centerpiece for my "new" table.

Any ideas?

Well helloooooooooo there!
I would like to apologize to my faithful readers...
(that means you Sara and Kimmy)....for this little blogging break.
Don't fret, I'll be back before you know it posting lovely pictures, delicious recipes, beautiful craft projects and wonderful stories of yesteryear.
Until then I thought I'd share Dylan's latest photography session entitled .."emotions".


I have a feeling the teenage years are gonna get interesting!