candy canes

unfortunately, i again didn't make the junk jaunt.  lucky for me my wonderful mom loves to go. one of the things i wanted her to look for was old canes. i saw these & knew they would be a perfect addition to the greenery that i put in my wash tub.  greenery is about all the outdoor decorating i can do with the lovely ne winds. 

the canes were pretty easy to turn into candy canes.  burlap ribbon, red ribbon, & lots of hot glue.  when i was done, i had glue gun strings and burlap fuzz all over me.  

an early christmas gift

its been just as crazy this fall.  football that went RIGHT into basketball, dance, girl scouts...

this year we decided to brave the almost 14 hour car drive with 4 kids under 10 and go visit my sister in law for thanksgiving... in montana!  while i don't recommend the drive in the fall (i saw 38 live deer, 10 dead deer, 2 horse and 2 shooting stars on the way out alone) it was a great trip.  i went on a  local hike once we got there, enjoyed tons of good company, fellowship and food.  i was sad when we had to leave.  and since i knew that i wouldn't see the family again at christmas, i tried to get all my christmas gifts done to bring out there so that i didn't have to mail them.  TRIED is the key word.  i forgot to account for being gone for the week before we left.  but i did get half of them done.  that saved me a good chunk of postage.  especially this guy right here.  

when i was making my x's and hearts for valentines last year, inspiration struck that r would love a barn wood 'w'.  because i wanted to see her expression, i made her open it while we were out in mt.  she cant wait to get their basement finished so she can hang it up.  

look at that beautiful weathered wood detail!

back to the basement for me.  this elf needs to keep her butt in gear or the rest of the gifts wont get finished.

remember..... summer doesnt last forever

isn't summer supposed to be the nice slow life?  where you get to sit & just chill? not so for this momma.  we started the end of may with baseball & softball games on four nights a week.  the middle of may brought k here & softball games for her 2 nights a week, putting our normal games a week count at five, sometimes up to up to nine if we had a double header or a tournament.  i put a LOT of miles on.  & thank God that i have a super awesome husband and mom who helped get everyone where they needed to be.  one night we had activities in albion, spalding & pierce at pretty much the same time.  

that is the majority of why i haven't posted anything for such a long time.  & don't get me wrong.  i may complain a bit about all that running, but i wouldn't  trade it for the world.  after ball, we got in a few fun things (like a trip to the zoo, drive in movie & of course some camping) before it was time for k to go back to az & to think about school. 

it has been good having k with us for a month the past few summers.  she got to experience what its like to be the big sister instead of the baby.  the other kids have someone else to pester & give them advice.  i am really happy that she got to play softball here this summer. she made some friends & had a great time.  

since i am not there all the time to offer motherly advice i made her a book of quotes & words that i wanted her to remember & think about.  k can read thru it anytime she is down or upset.  or when she feels that her struggle will drown her.  

we both love winne the pooh

it was fun & trying to come up with different page layouts.  i think i had 50 quotes that i used.

i especially wanted k to know how loved she is. 

 i hope she loves it & thinks of her nebraska family when she reads it.

dresser redo's and a bed

 z didnt really have a good bed set.  when he moved down stairs, we got my a bed set from my sister.  it served its purpose, but i wanted something that he could eventually take with him....  some LONG distant day down the road.  i got a pretty good deal on these 2 dressers.  the top on 1 was a bit rough, but i thought i could maybe fix or paint it.  best part is they are real wood and pretty solid and sturdy. 

 apparently i didnt get very many before pictures.  but this is what the tall dresser looked like with a few drawers sanded and original.  there were some wood decals on the front of the smaller middle drawers that werent complete.  i ended taking them off (with a little muscle and a putty knife) so i had to sand all the drawer fronts.  at this point i wasnt sure if i wanted to try to fix the tops or paint them.  

but i liked the color that came out when i sanded, so paint the tops it was (i know i DONT paint wood.  this was a once in a handful of times it will probably ever happen to furniture) 

had i known how hard it can be to strip off veneer, i may have decided to fix the tops.  it was NOT fun.  took LOTS of muscle, a few different putty knives and a warm wet towel.  once i finally got all the veneer off, i did like the wood.  but i only stripped 1 top and i wasnt about to to the other, no matter how neat the wood underneath was.  

here are the drawers after i got them washed up.  beautiful color!!!

and the finished result!  i like the 2 tone wood from sanding the drawer fronts and just resealing the sides.  i did use a chalk paint fro the tops, but wanted a more rustic feel to them, so i used my palm sander to remove some of it.  

now you must be thinking i said i wanted z to have a bed set to take with him someday. but you have only mentioned dressers.... i had to have a headboard, foot board and frame made.  blake did an awesome job taking my ideas from pinterest and making it come true.  i love how the boards are all different widths.  and its very sturdy.  

guest room

don't get me wrong, i love my guest room.  but i REALLY miss little a:( 

she is awesome.  my 1st big girl.  everyone thought i was nuts when i said she was moving here.  but i knew in my mommy heart it was going to be fine.  and it was.  we both gained so much.  

me-a daughter & friend.  

her-knowledge, courage & faith in herself.  

but when she moved out, i knew it was time to repaint her room. 

(sorry little a-dad-maybe all of us-were tired of the pink) 

my talented father in law painted us this far off barn sunset picture.  it was the starting point for the room, drawing colors and a theme.  

 for christmas my uncle had given us all a photo of mom & papa's big red barn.  it was taken from up on a dirt road behind our house.  we used to play in there for hours when we were kids.  unfortunately mom had to burn it down, it just wasnt safe anymore.  but she did take some pictures as it was burning. 

i had gotten this cool old window a while ago.  but didn't have it when we were hanging stuff in the main living areas.  and i didn't know how to hang it when i was working on our room and i may have forgotten about it.  but i knew the perfect new home for it. 

the mirror came from one of the dressers in this room, but i never could figure out how it was supposed to attach.  then little a broke the frame.  so it hung out in the storage room for a while.  i had my father in law make a barn wood frame for it.  the table came from grandma bert's.  if any of you knew her, she is probably where i get my love for antiques from.  i had painted it (i know how could i???) but i stripped it back to it's original beauty.  

what time is it??? its time to craft!!!

i had a really hard time finding a clock for the craft room.  i wanted something big cause i had the wall space & so that it could be seen from anywhere in the room.  i was going to have a craft friend paint me something, but i couldn't even decide on what to have painted.  

but then i was looking for a whisper clock.  i have a thing with the tick, tick, tick of clocks.  i have been called captain hook before.  i cant sleep when i hear that tick.  when i was in the hospital after having z & p, i took the clock off the wall and covered it with crap to quiet the sound.  crazy i know.  

so when i was looking for the whisper clock i found those BIG family clocks.  and a light went off.  i could have the kids paint some pictures for me & use those as my numbers!  it was interesting trying to find the canvas' that didn't cost me an arm & a leg.

  then z didn't want to paint.  so it was just p & e.  then e got tired of painting...

i really love my clock.  art work with meaning.  i can look and see how both girls have grown with their art.  

baby doll clothes

my awesome friend talked me into making some doll clothes for her little girl.  miss a just loves the diaper bag and accessories i made for her a while back.  but she mom says she needed a few outfits to dress her babies in.  isnt that part of the fun?  changing the clothes.  i know i loved doing that.  

lucky for me miss has the same size baby as my girls.  i made 2 tops, a skirt, some pants and a dress.  

and if miss a is anything like my baby, we have to have a blankie to cover and wrap baby in.  hope you enjoy them miss a!

color quiet book

sorry for the photo overload, but this is just too cute to NOT share a picture of every page. 

t & two of my nieces were all born in the same year.  for some reason that makes me think that everything i do for one, i need to do for the other two.  i made each of them a doll.  and this year for their birthday's its going to be a dolly diaper bag & supplies & this color book.   

this is the cover.  

and the back. 

i loved making these for the girls.  i did have some pictures/patterns to follow, but for quite a few of the pages i ended up coming up with my own idea.  t loved playing with the ribbons & buttons on the pages.  

its supposed to be spring

i thought it was sping.  that's what the calendar says, and how its kinda felt for the past week or so.  but apparently mother nature has different ideas.

i would guess we around 6" of snow.  our poor ornamental apple tree always buds out and blooms early.  he wont look very pretty for the rest of the year.  

it was pretty windy last night and yet into this morning.  my snow covered shed. 

and our trees doing their job, stopping wind and creating drifts.  i miss my big tree line!!! i didnt notice the north winds unless it was blowing over 50 mph.

to help us think happy warm spring thoughts, i thought i better share my new bunting.  i used a little help from walmart with the carrots.  they were on a shorter hemp twine.  and i wanted some bunnies for easter. using glitter felt and buttons left over from b's baby shower, i sewed two bunnies together and then added the buttons.