Getting all sorts of artsy!

This past weekend Josh and I made our own piece of art…

I don’t really know what to call it… a headboard? artwork? a wall-hanging? recycling?

Anyways… you see the finished product and decide.

 

We like it!

 

The specifics…

1. We took some old boards from our recent garage clean out and room renos and found pieces that we saw “potential” in. (5 to be exact)

2. Then Josh sawed, de-nailed and sanded said pieces…

3. Then he braced and nailed them (according to his wife’s specifications) all together.

4. Once the boards were nailed together he gave them a light coating of white paint. (Ultra Bright White…. Behr….. it’s what we had)

5. Then we let it dry.

6. Then the boards got another sanding.

7. Then…. (this is the part where I finally put my efforts to work) I printed out the font I wanted and made my “saying” and then cut them out on contact paper.  (This is a moment where I was regretting my recent selling of my CRICUT…. oh well… )

8. At first I thought I would stencil my letters…. but that was a FAIL and thankfully plan B worked. I traced my letters and then went and painted them in.

8. Once the letters were dry…. we sanded again… lightly sanding over the letters.

9. And the final creative step….. my new best friend….. BRIWAX! (Love that stuff) I gave the boards a good coating of the magic.

10. And finally it was back to Josh… to figure out how to properly secure this beast to the wall so that we don’t have 40 pounds crashing on our heads one terrible night.

and… TA-DA!

There you have it…. “Art” by…

Mr. & Mrs. Nelson.

 

 

And just in case you were wondering…. Total cost for this project… ZERO! Gotta love it!

Pictures taken with my iphone.

What are sisters for?

We’ve been working on some house stuff.

  When I say “some” I mean pretty much every spare minute we have lately has been devoted to something home related.

Today I roped my sister into the home “sprucing up” madness. I took full advantage of her one day off a week and also her degree in art and gave her the task of painting a tree above Leah’s crib. She did not disappoint!

She worked all day!

( I did give her a bathroom break around 3:00. (And I allowed her to eat lunch.) )

Really though she was a very task oriented lady and worked on it from morning til evening….. standing. My back was aching just watching. (Cause that was all I was doing…. watching.)

I will say that I helped…. for a total of 5 minutes before I realized this was an artistic task better left to the expert and more importantly someone with more patience than me.

I knew by the end of the day that Josh would have had the task of repainting the wall this evening if I had been the “artist” in charge. He is not doing any painting tonight and is a happy man.

Cause I can say….

I LOVE IT!

So… Thanks, Donna, for for a beautiful piece of art! (and also putting up with your sister’s craziness.)

You are one amazing aunt and definitely an incredible sister!

 

P. S. We are still deciding if it needs a bird….

P.S.S. …. and if it is decided that it does….

…..Donna will be taking care of any critter making as well.

Daddy Dates and Anna-isms

Right now my girls are on a “daddy date.” They have been so excited for this special time with their favorite guy.

(As in asking me every 15 minutes… “Is it time to go on our daddy date yet?”)

Josh is keeping me updated on their fun via text…

I think they are having a good time!

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On another note…

Our Anna girl has been a constant quotable personality…

these are just a few of the thoughts she’s verbalized in the last few days….

 

While sitting on the bean bag in our living room Anna quickly got up and ran to her room. She came back with her doll, plopped it down on the bean bag and sat on it. I being slightly curious, (not very typical for her to SIT on her doll) said…

“Anna! What are you doing?”

She replied very matter-of-factly…

“She’s my egg!”

 

Anna is my early riser lately. She is usually my early morning wake up call.

So on Monday she climbed up into our bed and said with excitement (too much for pre-6 a.m.)…

“Mommy!!! My heart is beating!!!!” (Followed by a HUGE smile.)

All I could do was hold up my hand for a high five and smile back!

Today, Anna was asked to go put something away in Josh’s and my bedroom. When she came out of the room she said…

“Mommy! That room smells just like Daddy!”

She took a deep sigh.

I asked her later if smelling like daddy was a good smell or bad smell…

She replied…

“Good.” (And smiled )

I told her I remember my daddy’s smell when I was little and it was good too. I think that’s what safety smells like.  

And the final Anna-ism for tonight is…

Josh just sent this text to me…

(The setting is a baseball game.)

Anna: “Daddy, does God say it’s ok to steal bases?”

Daddy: “Yes, cause it’s in the rules of baseball.”

Camping…

This past weekend we went camping with our fellowship group from church….

the kids must think that rolling in the dirt is a requirement while camping. When we got home after 3 1/2 days in nature… we first showered the kids and washed them thoroughly… then, immediately, made them soak in the tub and there was still a ring after all the water drained. Gross!

But dirty kids = happy kids.

Day 1: after being on site for a total of about 3 hours!

Notice disheveled hair and dirty kissers. I didn’t fight it. We were just one big dirty mess the ENTIRE TIME!

Our friends brought their two dogs and Micah was FAST friends with them both. He was all over them, showering them with affection…. kisses, hugs and climbing all over them. Thankfully they were willing to amuse him.

Micah… the dog whisperer.

The highlight of the trip for our girls was the 72 hours plus of friends,friends, friends. They were constantly on the go always with a buddy by their side.

 

We came home Sunday and on Monday morning when Anna climbed up in bed with me she said… “I wish we were waking up to say ‘good morning’ to our friends today and still camping.”

Mommy was thinking… “Thank you Jesus for my soft bed… and please, Lord let Anna go back to sleep for a bit !”

 

Slight difference in perspective.

Getting the facts straight….

Ok so here’s a conversation for the books…

 

Mommy-  “Anna, do you need to go potty?”

Anna- “ No, I just got a wooshie cushion.”

Mommy- “ A “wooshie cushion”?!?!? You mean a “wedgie”? ( Said with a slightly caught off guard chuckle.)

Anna- “Yah, a wooshie.”

Bekah- “ She means a whoopee cushion!” ( Then turns to look at her sister) “Anna!!! A whoopee cushion means you have to toot!” ( Laughing uncontrollably.)

Mommy- “ No it doesn’t!!! That doesn’t meant that! A whoopee cushion is something you sit on!” (laughing too) “ Why are we having this conversation!?!? This isn’t very lady like.”

Laughter and giggles are had by all.

Just a normal day at home. Always lessons being learned.

My Dresser Re-do…

We are in the middle of some “changes”… trying to make room for our Leah girl to arrive.

( Changes? Another post…another time)

One of the things we need is more clothing space…

Josh and I found this dresser at a local thrift/ antique store and spent 30 dollars for it and it’s matching nightstand. (Maybe pictures of nightstand also at another time… blame laziness.)

It’s appeal? It’s narrowness… we need something skinny but still with space. (Modern furniture is SO bulky! Not made for my 1955 house.) It had 8 drawers! It was kinda funky. Pretty darn cheap. And when I saw it… I instantly thought of what I could make it.  And as a side note…I liked the knobs… which I didn’t end up using on the actual dresser, but I have plans for them.

It’s negatives… I am pretty sure it was used as an ash tray for 40 plus years!IT STUNK! It’s color came from, mostly from exposure to second hand smoke.

WARNING:

Second hand smoke kills furniture, people!

 

So first things first…. Baking soda and dryer sheets! Like…. LOTS!!!!! I poured baking soda in the drawers and lined them with dryer sheets and set this baby out in the sun for several days to bake (at least most of) it’s odor away.

 

And then on a HOT July day… I got my sanding/ painting/ staining attire on, had my honey rig up a space of shade and extensions chords... and began sanding the HECK outa this thing and it’s little nightstand buddy.

I didn’t leave an inch un- blasted!

Sanding also helped kill lingering odors…

Bekah was my partner in upcycling.

My arms were sooooo sore when I went to bed that night. I think I whined quite a bit about “my shoulders, my back, my legs, my neck, my arms, my fingers, my feet…..” ( you get the picture…. )

After sanding and wiping clean… I got out some aggression and literally beat it with random items… screwdrivers, bolts hung on twine, keys…. whatever worked to make a ding or scratch. 

Then…

I painted it a very sloppy coat of white… and let it dry…. (mostly ……………………… patience is not my strongest virtue.) Then I painted it a very sloppy coat of mustard yellow…. and let that dry…

and then smothered it with the MAGIC that is

(I used the Dark Brown)

 

I am not kidding… when I was done with the first coat, I wandered around looking for other things I could brown up with this stuff!

 

Here is the dresser after the first day and first coat of Briwax.

After hemming and hawing and thinking… I decided to go a little darker and so I  sanded (lightly this time…. actually truth be told… Josh sanded it ,for the most part, this time…. I was having post traumatic stress thinking about my aching arms and back after the last sanding) and gave it one more coating of Briwax.

And TA-DA!

Here is my final product.

I will maybe post more pictures with it in it’s final spot and with some do-das on top. But I must say I am pleased, genuinely pleased.

It’s the right size, the right shade, price and It’s me.

So there you have it… furniture upcycling by yours truly.

Hmmmm…. now what else can I Briwax?

Just a spoonful…

… of wonderfulness!

Last Friday the girls and I went with my parents, sister and brother-in-law to Mary Poppins! (Josh was on Micah duty.)

 

We loved it! I will say… “Step-in-time” was our favorite number! 

Grandpa and Grandma treated the girls to some very special gifts… A Mary Poppins doll and “real” Mary Poppins umbrella!  

Anna loved it and tried so hard to keep her eyes open for every minute. ( It wasn’t over til well after 10pm) She made it though without falling asleep and could talk of nothing else for the next day or two.

Rebekah had a GIANT grin on her face the entire time! She clapped and cheered at every opportunity! She loved any chance to participate and was wide eyed til performance end! Any experience she has had with theater from school plays to Broadway she loves it all! And this is her new “go-to-pose.” I have to ask her specifically for her “regular Rebekah” face.  

Cause other wise I get this…

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a memorable evening! It was a jolly-holiday kind of outing, indeed!

And thanks to my sis for her getting us such awesome tickets at a great deal!