Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all those still living on earth and heaven above. 

Today, even though it was Mother's Day, it was my only real day off work this week, so I spent the day doing laundry, baking a cake and making pork and sauerkraut for dinner. Mr H's mother came over and ate with us. 

Dishes are all finished, laundry all put away and Mr H has taken his mother home. It is now time for me to sit and relax the rest of the evening. 

The above picture is of flowers I picked from the garden this morning and my cake ready to be eaten for dessert! 

My boys were not able to be with me today. My youngest is several states away, although he did call and wish me Happy Mother's Day and my oldest son is treating my DIL to a Happy Mother's Day. 

Enjoy what is left of your weekend! 

Shabby License Plates Finished!

Well, I finished the license plates. Wish I had more!!! These were fun to do. I would like to have different states to work with. 

I do think if I do this again, I will spray paint the plates instead of brush paint. Plus, I would like to get plates that have dark numbers instead of yellow. When I sanded the paint to shabby them up, the yellow came through. I would rather the numbers be darker with the pink paint, like the motorcycle license below. 

I then got some graphics off Pinterest, printed them out and decoupaged them onto the plates. Then I sprayed the entire thing with a clear sealer. Lastly, I tied twine to them for hanging. 

So simple to do. I like these because they are different and not too time consuming especially if you have several to do at one time. 

I hope you enjoyed my shabby license plates! 

Just to note, this is not an original idea of mine. I got the idea off Pinterest, like most of my ideas come from...

Old License Plate Repurpose & Old Farm House Window!

If you check out my Pinterest Page under the DIY/Repurpose board, you will see what I am trying to attempt here. 

Mr H had some old license plates piling up in the garage and said I could have them to do with whatever I wanted! So I went to my Pinterest board and found the perfect project. Paint them pink, distress them and add some cute decals. Right now they are in the drying stage of the second coat. I will check tomorrow if they need a third, if not, I will sand some of the edges to give a shabby/distressed look and then decoupage some graphics on them. Then I will take some twine of lace/trim through the top holes so they can be hung. 

This is an old motorcycle plate. The top left, by the hole is a bit ripped, but I will figure out what to do. I may need to use some E6000 to mend it. I probably should have done it before I painted. I will check it out tomorrow. 

Yesterday, Mr H came home with this old wooden farm house window for me! Check out my Pinterest board under window panes and you may just find what I am going to do... I will reveal when it is finished. This one will take me a week or two to accomplish as I am busy with work and need a nice sunny day outside to work on part of it. Plus I need to get a wood plank and look for some old small shelf like brackets. I know I have some somewhere. 

So that is what is happening here. I have a long 10 hour shift at work tomorrow and then another 8 hours work on Saturday at my job, so I won't be online too much, just when I need to sit and take a break! Sunday is Mother's Day and I will have a little tribute here on the blog for my own mother. 

My To Do List....And Some Congratulations To Family Members....

Lots to do!!! As soon as the wind calms down, I have some painting to do. Most of it is spray painting. Some of it is projects that require me to get find some wood pallets and wood in general. I also have my big project of making a potting table out of wood pallets. I just need to bring them home from work. 

Also on the list, is planting some of the annuals I purchased yesterday. I will do that a bit later in the morning after the sun warms things up a bit and I get my first load of laundry hung out. 

Next on the list is mulch. As you can see some of the flower bed needs a new coating of mulch. It also needs to be edged. I am sure we know someone who has an edger. 

When I finish planting the annuals, I will be planting these giant dahlia bulbs. I am so excited for these babies. 

Not a good picture, but I planted a cherry tomato plant yesterday. I need to get a small tomato cage to put around it yet. I did sprinkle some crushed egg shells while transplanting. Hopefully that will help the maters! 

My carrots are coming up nicely, I will need to thin them out today as well.

Lots to do today and I am thankful for that. I resisted the urge to go to garage sales this morning. I have so much to do on my craft list that I really should work on these projects before bringing more into the house. 

Now on to the congratulations portion of this post.... After a roller coaster of 2012, 2013 looks to be promising for our family... so many achievements just this month for my family members....

Later this evening, we are heading out to watch my little sister graduate from college. She has been going to night classes for the past - I don't know how many years - to acquire her BA degree that corresponds with her job. I am so proud of her. She worked full time, went to night classes, married, went through the process of losing her (our) mother last Christmas, just bought her first house....she has been through a lot and has persevered despite everything else happening in her life at such a young age of 28. I feel for her in many ways, even though she seems to have it all. She is a beautiful woman, has a great husband, a great job.... but the things I feel her pain for are the hidden ones.... mom's not there to see her new home, to see her graduate tonight, to be there when she has her first baby......those are the things that you don't really see on the outside, but know she is feeling the pain inside. 

My sister and brother in law

My sweet sister and her husband. 

Congratulations! You have earned this degree and worked so hard to get it! 

Next on my list is to congratulate my brother in law. 

My brother and brother in law

Last weekend, my brother in law (on the right), was ordained as a pastor in the ELCA Lutheran Church. Unfortunately Mr H and I were unable to attend his ordination but were happy that it was all recorded and I could watch it on my computer. Pastor Matt has been wanting this for a very long time and patiently waited for his time to come and not only did he get into a church locally where he and my brother live, but at the exact church where my brother is the Cantor of the church. 

Once again, not to bring up a sad note, but I know my mom would have been so very proud of Matt. My sister and my dad drove up north to be there for him. One thing I know for sure is that my mom loved Matt like he was her own son. She was so proud of the two of them and their accomplishments in life. We used to talk in length about them and well, if you knew my mom, whenever she talked about any of her children, she always smiled and you could see in her eyes the love she felt for all of us.... her own children and her extended family. My mother knew and lived the true meaning of unconditional love....

Enough of that...

Congratulations Matt! 

Pastor Matt that is! 

Job Well Done! 

A Beautiful Day Here In Amish Country!!!

My sage has returned from last summer! It is growing so nicely. 

These chives have been in a pot for the past (I think) at least 7 years. Every year they come back and look and taste as well as the year before. I love coming out the garden to clip some fresh chives to add to potato salads, potatoes, butter, sour cream, meat dishes in general....love it. 

Just a sample of some of the tulips I have growing here. Love this peachy color. 

My newly purchased patio container raspberries and blueberries as well as my Provence lavender. 

My make shift potting table until I build my own. I have the instructions to make one out of pallets and I just need to get the pallets so I can get started. I need my painting table back.... 

My berry plants - one repotted and the other waiting to be repotted. 

Love the concrete leaf bird feeders. I acquired this one from a friend for Christmas.

In about 3 more weeks, this will be filled with more herbs. I need to replace the ones that did not make it 

I am so excited about this photo. If you look close enough, you can see little sprouts. They are carrots! I am experimenting planting them in a large tub. Will keep you posted how they turn out! 

Some little daffodils from the garden. In the background is my yarrow coming up nicely. 

Love the crimson color tulips. 

Another view of the concrete bird feeder. No seeds in it yet, need to make a run to the store and get seed so the bird feeders will  all be filled. 

The laundry is hanging on the line, the lavender needs planted, I need to go to the grocery store and I am keeping my sweet granddaughter overnight tonight and am picking her up at 4pm. So I also need to think about dinner for the three of us tonight. Lots happening here on the homestead. I love having Fridays off...I seem to get so much accomplished. 

Have a happy weekend! 

Revisiting Last Summer's Garden

I am SOOO ready to get gardening! I just wish the weather would cooperate! I have been going through last years photos of the garden and thought I would share them on here. I will be making some changes to this years garden, but I just want to remember how last year looked and how and where I want the changes. 

My herb ladder. I bought this ladder last spring at a garage sale for a pretty cheap price. It was already painted in these bold colors and I have debated whether or not I want to repaint it, but think I will keep it as is for this year. I keep this in the corner area where I grow my herbs. It sets right outside my sun room windows. I may change up the pots to either galvanized or clay. Since clay pots dry out so quickly, I may just place the existing pots inside the clay pots or galvanized pots. 

This picture was taken early in the season, and I had some hyacinth bean vine growing up the back of the ladder. I may change that up this year as it interfered with the fennel that grows to the right of the ladder (you can't see it in this photo). It became to entangled and was a mess. So I may think of something else to grow up back of the ladder. 

This crate also holds herbs. This will stay the same. Most of the herbs in this crate will remain the same, although I will re pot the herbs in clay pots. There is soil in the crate as some herbs are sown directly into the soil as well. 

My strawberry basket. I will be dismantling this basket as it is falling apart. I will replant the strawberries into another container, although I am not sure which type yet. 

Sadly, during last fall's hurricane weather, this bench was destroyed beyond repair. It no longer exists and I am on the look for a single bed frame to make a new bench. I loved how it just set right in the middle of this garden bed and with all the new perennials I have growing in there, it would look so cute with a new bench. 

This old crate held my tomato plants. I am not going to plant tomatoes in there this year. I am thinking of maybe some white geraniums instead. I am going to plant tomatoes in another container this year and it will only be grape or cherry tomatoes. 

This is another ladder I have in the garden. This will be filled with terra cotta planters filled with annuals like geraniums. 

This old strawberry planter was filled with impatiens and a large begonia on top. It filled out so nicely over the summer and I will be doing this again. I may switch out the colors from white and red to white and pink flower. 

This is my shade garden area. This will basically remain the same except I want to get two large fern planters to place in the rocking chairs. The chairs have no seats and I want to fit the planters into the seat portions. I love using the old chicken feeders to plant impatiens in and will do so again as well. 

These photos are only two portions of the gardens I have. I have the front two gardens - one directly in front of the house and one down by the corner of the property that has split rail fencing bordering it.

Then there are the two side gardens - one on the north side and one on the south side. The south facing side will be planted with lavender that I am going to buy at work as the perennials are on sale right now 3 for $12 and I am going to get 3 large containers of lavender. The north side of the house I am not sure yet what I want to do there. 

A couple of perennials I want to buy yet are hydrangeas and peonies. They will more than likely go in the front gardens. The colors in the front are more of a white/pink/orange. I added the orange as I do like the orange and pink together. White will just be peppered here and there. This is the same for the front corner garden bed. I want a large hydrangea down there to balance out with a bush that is there and we just can't get that sucker pulled out of the ground without destroying the split rail fence. Not worth the bother, I just want to balance out the "weight".

Oh and one last thing. I need a new butterfly bush. The storm also took that sucker right out the ground! That was located on the one corner of the sun room (outside of course). 

I figured it was time to get my garden plans ready as once May hits, I will be non stop with that. Most of my craft inventory is complete as if I continue to make too many more items, I will just be overloaded! I have some craft items to complete, but other than that I will focus on garden type crafts. I am working on my wire bending technique to make my wire hanging glass bottles for summer decor in the garden or sun room! 

Speaking of being overloaded with crafts, I also need to get some craft shows going and watch the local papers for vendors needed. Time to get these things going! I also will be very seriously looking into starting an online Etsy shop. That will be very new to me and I need to figure it all out. 

An Experiment & Some Canning Jar Fun

This is my experiment. I seen these at my work, and wanted to try my hand at it myself. So much a novice I am, and I know my curly's need to be a bit rounder...blah blah blah....This was just an experiment. I took some pliable wire and just wrapped and wrapped around a small glass jar. I may make several more of these, of course they will be much more professional looking, but I do like them. I have silk roses in the glass jar right now, but am looking to put some air plants in them instead. I need to purchase some from my work. 

I hurried with this craft as I have to be at work in a couple of hours and still have the laundry to finish, shower and just get there! Anyway, just showing a preview of my newest craft adventure.I will straighten the wires out at a later date when I make more of these. I have several small glass jars that this will work with. The ones I have seen are done with hand blown glass, but that is not up my alley, but vintage small glass containers are and I can do it! 

My other project this morning was to fit chicken wire into the lids of the vintage Ball glass jars and one Atlas Mason Jar. These will just be for personal use to set around the sunroom and house filled with fresh flowers once they all start blooming! I have some tulips and daffodils that will be soon be in bloom.

Some other upcoming crafts will be with license plates (that Mr H found cleaning out the garage and so nicely gave to me for craft use) as well as more yardstick style crafts and frames with chicken wire. 

Now off to put those clean sheets on the bed and get ready for work

I owe I owe so off to work I go!!!

My Clipboard Finishes

I think it was last weekend when I was out at the garage sales and found these clipboards. No they are not vintage obviously, but that doesn't matter. They still serve their purpose. 

I did some crackle painting, then deco-pauged a music sheet on and added some trim to the edges. I then took some fabric tacks and hammered them in and zig zagged cording to make a combination clipboard/photo holder. 

It doesn't show in the pictures, but the very top of the clipboards have a little hanger that pops up so these can be hung on a nail! 

Just a little close up of one of the corners. 

The photos I used are of me! HAHA! These were taken the Christmas of 1966. I was four years old. One is the night before with my cookies and milk for Santa and the other is Christmas morning with all my presents. 

These are also of me. The top one I am posing with two boys who I have no idea who they are and I figure to be around 3 years old. The bottom picture is dated 1964, so I know I was two in that one. I am with a neighbor boy that lived near my grandmothers house. His name was Pauly. As a matter of fact, sometime in the next year or so of this picture, Pauly and I sort of ran off and were found at the local elementary school covered in chocolate. Not sure where we got the chocolate or how it all happened, I just know my mom used to tell the story of how me and Pauly Bean ran away together when we were three years old. 

Shabby Chic Projects and Spring Home Decor!

I painted some small sized clothespins and added some of the new silk rose buds I purchased last week at the garage sales I went to. 

I love the peachy roses! 

I need to buy some magnets to place on the back so they can be hung on metal surfaces. 

I finally put away the Easter decor and redecorated the livingroom. 

The mantle is a combo of galvanized objects, home made chalkboard, my newly painted vases and other simple decor I found around the house. 

The hearth holds Sweet Melody's wicker bench seat as well as her picture and other items. 

On the coffee table sets an old too carrier I bought last year at a garage sale for I think only $2. I put my newly painted vase ( painted with the looking glass spray) and Sweet Melody's chalkboard and chalk. Whenever she comes over, she likes to chalk on her chalkboard! 

I made this wreath last year. I love all the lace and buttons! 

Just a little vignette on the mantle.

A closer look of the left side of the mantle.  

Then over to the right side of the mantle. Just a small note - see that picture on the far right? That is me! When my Uncle was in Vietnam, he was shot in the arm. He spent his recovery time in a hospital in Italy. My mother sent him a picture of me and had some Italian painter named G. Govi, paint it. The original picture is on the lower left of the framed picture.  

Another view. In a couple of weeks, all of the carpet will be torn out and replaced with Pergo flooring. We have the flooring piled in the garage. When that is finished, the dark paneling will be replaced with  either drywall or new paint. I want to room to be lighter and brighter. Right now, it is very country primitive throughout the house. It was built in the 1970's. Time for a redo! 

A shot of the center of the mantle. 

These ferns were from my mother's funeral. I left them dry out naturally and placed them in the galvanized bucket. The picture below is of our entire family (minus my Marine son - he was deployed at the time and minus my sweet granddaughter - she stayed with her mothers family while we were all cruising to Bermuda!) The photo was taken aboard the ship. My mother wanted a family picture. This was only taken 6 months before she passed away. Boy do I miss her. I have my moments and lately I have had a few, where I just miss her so bad. My thoughts go back to the morning right before she passed away at the Hospice Center. The tears just roll down my face. Sometimes here in the past month or so, it really has gotten to me. I guess reality is hitting me in the face that she is never coming back. Does it ever get any better? Sorry to end this post on such a whiney note. Just seeing that picture here in front of me while I type gets to me. I see it every day here at home, but seeing it here.........I wish I could just step back in time, into that picture..... and give my mom a great big hug!