Yellow

Raise your hand if you are familiar with the term "calf-scours". 

Now raise it even higher if you know what it smells like!  YUK!!

 

If you didn't get to raise your hand, prepare to be enlightened.  Scours is basically diarrhea in baby calves - NOT A GOOD SITUATION - EVER!  And it smells even worse than it sounds...can make a grown farmer cry when coming into contact with the stuff.  And it has a lovely drab yellow tone. And it's the exact color this house was painted when I moved in after we got married.

 

The poor lady who chose the color, painted every out building the same golden hew - even the barbed wire fence.  God bless her soul.

 

Needless to say, for the first 13 years of our relationship I had banned from our home and yard anything that looked like it might be YELLOW.  However, for our wedding the roses were yellow....hmmm. 

 

But now I've found a love for the color.  Check out the dresser.

 

Here's the ugly pic from my dumb phone of the $10 chest-

 

Finished.

Painted with a bright yellow paint...I mean BRIGHT!

Sanded.

Waxed with a Jacobean-colored furniture wax.

New handles.

Took the brassy things off the middle of the drawers.

{Yes, I saved them!}

 

Looks good with the hollyhocks.

Looks even better in our dark blue bedroom. 

 

Yellow's not so bad.

Becky

Best Friend Pillows

I had these ugly pillows that needed a new look.  I never enjoyed making pillow covers because I don't like to hand sew the opening together...LaZy!!

 

But NOW ... NOW  I've learned to make them envelope-style and every throw pillow in my house is being recovered.  Easy peasy.

 

 Using the custom paper size option with Microsoft Publisher, I came up with just the right size creature I wanted on each pillow.

 

When you print it looks like the "tiles" below.

Then tape the tiles together, transfer to Ultra Heat-n-Bond (I have an unhealthy loving relationship with this stuff), cut out of desired fabric, and iron that baby on to your pillow cover.  I used black duck cloth on blue and white ticking.  I also stitched around my dogs...just because.  Don't really need to stitch with the Ultra stuff.  As a matter of fact, every REAL seamstress out there is saying right now, "Can't believe she sewed through Ultra Heat-n-Bond.  That stuff will gunk up her needle somethin' terrible."  I know and the needle has been replaced.

 

 

 And here we have Tess, our Golden Retreiver, and Woody, our Newfoundland.

  

 

...a great accent to the boys' beds.

 

Becky

Camp Stool

It's July....crunch time for 4-H projects

. 

This Friday is Fashion Revue.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with 4-H, this is an event in which the 4-Her makes a clothing item and then models the item with coordinating accessories in front of a judge.  Back in my day this provided "Toddler and Tiara" type of competition amongst as Johnson County 4-Hers.  Not kidding.  Things aren't as ugly around here.

While I'm having flashbacks and hotflashes about midnight sewing sessions to finish the clothing projects, I thought I'd procrastinate a bit more and show you the project that #1 completed last week.

We found this cute little raggedy camp stool at Habitat for a dollar.

#1 sanded the legs to get the grime off and then rubbed on a coat or two of clear wax.

Then he made a new seat out of vintage cowboy canvas using the old seat as a pattern.

Notice the tape on the machine?  This is a life saver when teaching kids how to sew.  Place the tape where the seem allowance needs to be and the child has all kinds of room to keep the edge even with the tape and the seem allowance will be consistent (best case scenario).

He covered the nails with decorative vintage looking nailheads. 

Took him about three hours from start to finish to complete. 

That's excluding the we-(Mom and #1) need-a-break-from-eachother moments.  Everyone has these when working with their kids, right? 

Step away...just step away.

It can hold up to 50 pounds...

(probably more - but we won't test that until after Achievement Days.)

Now I'm ready to head back to the sewing room with #2.

Becky

Wanted: Desk

Well...I needed another desk for the office. 

{Actually, just another flat surface to pile papers on.}

So, I went to Goodwill.

For $20.00 I came home with this solid wood table.

See the fun stuff painted around the edge? 

  

The cat thought it a perfect place to take an afternoon bath.

Then...

...I kicked the cat off...

... sanded the heck out of the top...

...painted the base black...

...re stained the top...

...distressed the base...

...and waxed the whole thing with clear wax.

Unfortunately, all the fun edge painting had to go.  No time for pickiness.  The kids would be home in an hour!

AND - I actually tried to stage something.

Not bad for a rookie!

{I used the sedum because the dog laid in it and broke all the stems off!}

{No decorating/staging knowledge used for that one.}

I read somewhere (regarding children and homemaking)-

"Do ONE thing everyday that 'they' can't undo."

If you're a mom, you definitely know what this means...and how good this feels!

Becky

Have a Seat

More about the "Little Red House"...

Here's the "project/thinkin'/workin'/snackin'/chattin' table. 

Many brilliant ideas are congered up right here and it's NEVER this clean.  {None of these photos are staged - obviously.  Showin' ya how it is.}  Notice the chairs?

This is what they looked like when I brought them home from the Habitat Restore.

For some reason the early-twenty-something-college-student-volunteer-worker thought they were ugly.  Little did she know that my mom would have killed for these chairs when I was in high school!!  Worked to my benefit - they were priced at $10 each and I bought them all for $35.  She mumbled something like "oh please, get those disgusting things out of here".  I felt judged.

But with $10 slipcovers from Sure-Fit I think they are smashing. 

That'll fix Suzie's little red wagon! 

Sidebar:  Here's a pic of the ceiling.  It's galvanized tin barn siding/roofing.  I think it's super cool and I kinda love the picture.

Sidebar #2:  Here's another pic of the felt board with the "new" project pieces on display.  I'm only including this because I like the looks of that pumpkiny orange color with black.  Happy moment.

Sidebar#3:  Kids are back in school.  These 2 photos crack me up.  The first - the big fourth grade brother is not happy about being requested to put his arms around his sisters.  {Makes me a bit sad, also}

The second- it looks like Woody the Newfoundland is going to eat the girls!  However, I know inside he's big ole dog head he's thinkin', "thank goodness these two drama queens are going back to school!"  Dorks.

Blessings- B

Detour... What?

On Wednesdays I travel to the big city to the southwest.  Today... I was late.  Today... there was a carnival in town.  Today... the carnival was set up on Main Street.  Today... I had to take a detour.  Today... I was mad.  But wait... today... ON WEDNESDAY... there was a garage sale!  A garage sale on Wednesday? Unheard of! The stars were aligned and I spotted this sweet little dresser. 

Suddenly, I wasn't so late.

$15.00 later - she was mine!

  The gentleman that sold her to me was so proud of the way he had refinished the old girl - stripped - sanded - sanded some more - painted - painted - and painted again.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that she was going to my garage to be abused by an electric sander and stripped of that beeeaaauuutiful brass hardware.

I did just that.  The handles were too gold and the paint was too perfect.  In a matter of an hour, the finish was now less than perfect.  Then I went over the bare wood spots with wood stain in one of my favorite Min-Wax colors - "Gunstock".  {My other favorite is "Early American"}

When all was dry, I gave it a good polish with this amazing stuff -

We sprayed the drawers with Febreeze and then painted the drawer pulls with "Oil-Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

Fabulous!

With any luck, she'll be resting comfortably in her new home by tomorrow afternoon.

Detours are awesome!

Blessings - B

Dresser For #1

The auction crew (3 daughters) and I hit a sale last weekend. I was so thrilled and excited to attend, only to be horribly disappointed in not only the goods, but in the auctioneer! M warned me about this guy but I didn't believe him - imagine that?! Lesson learned. No matter how enticing, the next sale conducted by this guy will not be attended by me and the crew.

Task at hand:

#1 needed a dresser and we found one at said sale...$15.00!

The ladies were getting a little tired/bored waiting for Mom to make the big buy. So, what better way to nurture a child than with FOOD? {A topic for their therapist in years to come} I'm tellin' ya - a bag of peanuts in the shell can keep a kid or 2 busy for a good hour!

The dresser was obviously very ugly so we did a little sanding and then painted it with what? That's right, black spray paint! After it dried then we did what? That's right, roughed up the edges with the sander. And then we did one of my favorite things... painted some words on our creation.

VOILA!

OK - so here's how I do my "stenciling"...

1. Use your computer to print the words just like you want them

2. Place carbon paper behind the paper and trace the words onto the surface.

3. Then take a wonderful think called a "paint pen" {purchased at ANY craft store} and fill in the lines!

4. This is VERY EASY! If you want to put words on your wall just like EVERYONE is doing - use the "banner" option on your publishing program to print out the inspiring quote suitable for your wall!

I love the way this turned out - M even said he liked it!!! Woo... Hoo..

Blessings- B

Shed Some Light

A new favorite place... are you listening!... The Habitat for Humanity Restore! Great place filled with castoff building materials. I bought a sink (did she say sink?) for the "guest house" for $5.00 and a medicine cabinet for $10.00!

I was in heaven... the knobs, the trim, the cabinets, the furniture, the wood. There was this wonderful piece of slate chalkboard. It had a SOLD tag on it but I talked the lady into calling the guy that supposedly bought it (but never paid the balance) to see if he still wanted it. After all it has been there since the first of August and never been picked up. It needs the love and attention that only someone like I could give it. Anyhoo, she left a message for him, I'll let you know if I get it or not. Double cross your fingers!

This beauty of a lamp made it home with me for $1.00.

After a little spray paint, burlap, and ribbon - VOILA!

It looks fantastic in the kitchen. So warm and cozy like - I feel the need to bake!

Blessings -B

Project for #1

I'm so excited to post my first ever ...

"Before & After"

So, #1 came to me and said that he needed a nightstand for a lamp so that he could read at night.  I was thrilled not only for an excuse to finish a project but for the fact that he WANTS to read!

Here's what I found at a little country garage sale.  Only cost me $5!

We sanded it with my favorite Dewalt random orbital sander (everyone should own one).  Then added a layer of black spraypaint.  Roughed it up around the edges and changed the hardware!

Total Cost = $7.50!

I'm thrilled and #1 is HAPPY!
Blessings-B