debor026

Once upon a time, a daddy built his girls a dollhouse. It was a very nice dollhouse, solidly built, with 8 rooms and a staircase. It had a front door and a garage door and a nice little patio. The house was lovingly painted in bright colors left over from building the real house. The dollhouse was played with often and was very happy. Years went by as the 3 girls grew. 2 more girls were added and all 5 of them had played with this house. The girls painted the house new colors. Some of the floors started to give way but were temporarily replaced with cardboard. They painted it again. And again. The garage door became stuck with layers of paint. The front door was lost and a replacement was stapled in place. Part of the roof came off, and only a hinge was left to remember where it had once been. It was painted again. More years went by and all of the girls were grown and gone. The house was moved to a storage area and forgotten. For several years the rains came and often s...

Little by little I am working on getting the boys' room together. Joe wants a red white and blue bedroom and the headboards were the first project for me to get it all kicked off. Next I need to get a couple gallons of Navy blue paint up but that will take a bit of time. :) Originally I intended to paint the headboards with a few more coats of paint, but the knots showing through is kind of cute. Would you fill it in? I keep going back and forth... I used the free plans for the reclaimed headboard from Ana White , though I modified my legs to be a little shorter. This only took about 4 hours to cut the wood and build TWO headboards (one for each boy) and a little more to paint. I had some wood already in the garage but I think would have had to spend about $25 total if I had bought it all. If I were to do it again I would have sanded the boards that go across the back on the edges before I put 'em together because I had to use a chisel to separate them a bit. Otherwise ...

I took Joe in today to see the eye doctor. There is a very good chance that he is going to be getting some glasses soon. He's a little worried but since it's mostly only for reading he thinks he can live with it, hehe. Since I am catching up with birthday parties, his is next in line. He opted for a at-home party with just family and thought he might like another army theme party (which I did last year too. that post is here ). I got the idea for the army tank cake from this site . I can't find the actual picture that I used but I'm sure it was from that site. The original had used black licorice to make wheel treads but, as cute as it looked, I couldn't get past the smell. :( In a more recent tradition I have started buying 2 dozen balloons for each child on their birthday. I asked that these be in camo-appropriate colors. Joe was quite excited but then he let the other kids take all but his camo balloon. We played pin the target on the monster. Joe really...

I realized today that a few of the kids' birthday parties were not yet shared here so I'll try to catch some of that up. This particular birthday party was in December so you'll see a few shots of the Christmas ornaments hanging from my light fixture (whoops). I try to come up with parties to match each child's personality, and Glenn is an artistic boy. So for his 8th birthday we had a "decorate your own cake" party. I made mini bundt cakes for each child and pre-frosted them and then covered the table with bowls of bulk candy and spoons so they could decorate however their hearts desired. I bought way too much candy but it was useful as treats for weeks after so that's ok. Some candy never actually made it onto the cakes (and they thought they were sneaky, hehe) but that's ok. None of the kids actually ate the entire thing anyway and we saved leftovers. The girls were the last to leave the table. They wanted to be sure their cakes were just righ...

I follow Jody Bergsma on Facebook. She is a watercolor artist whose work has been in every home I've lived in, well, ever (before I was old enough to remember). Her work was always in my mother's home and it is in my home now (and my sister's). Recently someone posted a quote to her Facebook page and I loved it. I knew I wanted it in my house somewhere and that night I started this project on a whim. When you come to the edge of all the light you have, And must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, Believe that one of two things will happen: Either there will be something solid for you to stand on, Or you will be taught how to fly. That alone I thought would be beautiful but then I remembered the state motto of Oregon, which I have long been in love with (not just because I grew up there), of Alis Volat Propriis , meaning She flies with her own wings . If ever I were to get a tattoo (and I'm still not sure if I have the nerve) that phrase is what I would u...

Joe wants a red, white and blue bedroom and he wants a flag in there somewhere. The headboards are built, hopefully I'll get the room painted this week and the new curtains will be another quick project. But I still needed a flag. I have a frame I bought at Target awhile back that will hold multiple layers of photos so the whole thing isn't just flat. While looking at it I remembered the flag project and decided to put em together. How about the blue and red layers on top and the white floating in back? Of course, since I'm a little obsessed with the Silhouette at the moment, I had to get that out. I wanted a simple star but the designs that came with it, I thought, didn't have one simple enough. I looked in the shop but didn't find one. Then, while looking at the star that did come with the machine I realized that I can break it apart and just use the piece I wanted. So I did that and then replicated it 49 more times. Since a friend was asking what the Sil...

This is not my photo. But it is a very familiar site. Our puppy is about 11 months old now and she is a little stinker who *really* likes DVD cases. And the kids' toys... And the garbage... And whatever was on the stove... And the couch... Twice we have come home to find she turned on the gas at some point during the day and our entire home was filled with the smell of gas. Yuck. We are picking up a dog from my sister soon and I hope having another younger dog around the house will mellow her out a little. I hope.

Anyone remember when I put the reeds on my bedroom wall? Well when I put that up I figured I could put a picture above the bed to cover that big seam. I bought a big white canvas and hung it up there to check the fit and then, well, left it there still in the plastic it came wrapped in for months. I was afraid. I have never painted on canvas. I've never painted on anything that big. And I had *zero* idea what I wanted to put up there anyway. After months and months of worry I finally decided to just jump in already. Whatever I came up with probably wouldn't be worse than plastic wrapped and blank, right? I put down that first bit of red and kinda freaked. It was so bright and against the white it was shocking for a minute. See? So different. But I've started and really I have no choice now so let's continue. Yes, that is a lot of red. I was getting kinda happy with it now though. I originally intended to do a few layers to make it more solid but after the f...