Lovely

This is my next door neighbors yard with little purple flowers all over it. They even mowed and I was so happy to see the flowers were still there. It looks like a lavender field. The trees belong to my neighbor's neighbors driveway. They are so beautiful. Spring has sprung.

Giveaway

Go to Create Studio to check it out!

I know. I'm weird.

I walked into my local Goodwill and saw this sign glowing at me as I approached the lamp section. Without hesitation, I unplugged it and put it in my cart and 10 bucks later it has since found it's way into our sitting room on the piano. I love all of the subway art and old signs now that you can create, but even better, mine lights up. And yes, it says "digital cameras". No sentimental meanings behind this except that I liked it and described it to my mom as an "antique sign". My dad who was visiting at the time rolled his eyes and said it's probably from the 90's. Adam just laughed when he saw it. I love it. What do you think?

Knock-Off Wood

After two friends of mine referred me to a great furniture design blog, Knock-Off Wood, I decided to check it out for a bench I've been wanting for our entryway. After finding this plan, I got right to work convincing Adam that we needed to get to work! :) And so we did...

And by the next day we had this!

Then, last Saturday morning it was seriously the prettiest day of the season so far with upper 70's and I spent every bit of it outside. First step was distressing the bench. This was not part of the original "knock-off" plan, but I like that look and I wanted it to match our front door with the same distressed look and stain. I have never used a chain before, but my sister told me once that chains are the best and wouldn't you know, I happened to have one lying around! I also used a hammer and nail for little worm holes, a screwdriver that I just raked down the board a few times and a sharp edged piece of hardware that I just dropped in random spots to dent up the board really good.
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Then I used the same polystain that we used for our door and applied with a sponge brush in one hand and an American flag in the other. My two-year-old kept asking me to hold it and yell, "American Flag! American Flag!" Ha ha. And so I did. :)

And here's what we have to show for it! I could not be happier! We bought a few things at the store when we purchased the lumber, so I'm not exactly sure how much it all cost but the whole bench was probably around $25.00.

Now, I have to rearrange that wall a bit behind it. Maybe with a bunch of pictures or mirrors I think.

Spring Mantel in the Sitting Room

Inspired by this mantle series by The Lettered Cottage I finally got a vision for our sitting room mantle. I took the first step by completely removing everything on the mantle except for the AK painting that you may remember back from this post.
Everything else came from stuff that I already had and after playing a while and mixing it up until it was just right, I came up with this!

Being Spring and Easter time, I knew I wanted to work my robin's eggs in there somewhere.

My honeysuckle bush is blooming out in our yard which has added to more than one bouqets around the house. I love bring it's scent inside.

One thing I learned from the mantle series is that you can never go wrong with papers and/or books. I had an old childhood Bible that was pretty tattered and another old yet New ;) Testament I had found in the attic here. So I put those in a tarnished silver bowl I picked up at Goodwill the other day along with a book Adam's grandfather wrote, Darkness is Light, and ta da! I'm done until summer when I get to re-decorate my mantle all over again.

Wildlife Cam

We have tracks. Big tracks. The kind of tracks you don't really feel comfortable with when their right outside your kitchen window. Dog? Cat? Wildcat? Coyote? (Cue the Jaws music). Now, mind you, I don't have mammoth hands or anything (I'm 5'2), but these are from no ordinary tabby cat. We have had a couple spotting's late at night, both Adam and I at separate times and we both witnessed a cat-like animal that ran away quickly but was stockier than a normal cat and low to the ground. It also did not have any distinguishable features like a raccoon would. Adam's grandparents were in town and picked us up a wildlife camera to mount and take pictures when it detects motion. All we have to do is plug in the USB card in the morning to see what it's discovered! Thanks guys!

We've heard there are hairy beasts around these parts...This one seems harmless.

This little guy can't be the match to our prints, but he did eat our little goodies we left out for the loch ness monster. PB&J and ham if you must know.


Not a match either...still on the lookout...we'll let you know.

Blank Canvas...or should I say Chalkboard?

I had this wall that needed something. After searching for a while and figuring out what to put on it, we finally got an idea! Art was too expensive for such a large space that even Craigslist or Etsy couldn't even compete with. But, of course, this time our inspiration came from Pottery Barn.
Adam just saw this chalkboard the other day in the PB catalog and mentioned how much he'd like something like that to put a family verse up and change it monthly. Well, that got me thinking about our space...and I had just read about this family below on This Young House who painted an entire wall with chalkboard paint. My hesitation with chalk anything has been the dust residue that is left behind, but I didn't mind it so much in this picture for some reason. It just looked old-school-house-y to me.

So, after a trip to Hobby Lobby and picking up a frame that was originally 217.00 and now 80% off and using some old chalkboard paint that we had from a previous project, boy do we have an eye-catching wall now!

*You can also make a frame using trim pieces, but Adam said with the $43.00 I spent, it would've been about the same in price (unless you have some leftover from a previous project) and plus the time it would've taken to build it.

**Are you trying to read what I wrote? My bats (think AA, not flying creatures) died as I was taking the close-up picture. I'll spare you searching for your bifocals and will write you the excerpt from my high school diary below. That's right. It's a diary entry. :) After flipping through my "usual" diary that I wrote in occasionally, I would be mortified to share with you any thought processes that came to my 14-17 year old mind. That is a FFEO (For Family's Eyes Only) because I know they will love me in spite of it...and I have been known to bring it on camping trips for good laughs in the motorhome. So, I will grace you with an excerpt of my journal that I took with me on my senior choir trip to Italy. I just loved every minute of it and I can remember every mental picture I took this night that I write of.

Today, we woke up and ate the same ol' breakfast. Last night was so beautiful! We went to the square and got my picture drawn. This park is the kind you see in the movies. Missy and I were sitting by the fountain looking at people in this outside restaurant called Cafe' Bernini. This place had couples dancing, men serenading, and other men walking around selling long stem roses. We listened to some choirs in the square sing and then we sang also. Anyway, today we went to the Vatican. Also, we went to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. I saw Peter's grave! Such long walks, but so worth it! I also saw the "Last Judgement" and...