A Pretty Little Corner Cabinet

I love corner cabinets....I'm sure I am not alone

I bought a pair of these corner cabinets at a yard sale for a steal.....

2 for $25.00

How could I go wrong?

My dining room has 2 corners....one on each side of the Atrium doors.

Perfect!  I thought.....

But I forgot that I had put an air conditioner in the wall on the other side of the doors.

Oh my....I went from ecstatic to deflated in a few short moments

So....after much angst I came up with a solution....not perfect, but a solution

I had these 2 shelves that were previously on either side of the doors.  

To balance out the room, I decided to put one shelf on top of the other,

since it would fit in the space next to the air conditioner....

Not perfect but I could live with it.

So with that solved, we proceeded to finish the one corner cabinet

I still have the other one in the basement, so at any time,

 I may rip out the air conditioner and put it somewhere else...

A lot of work but it may happen.

A light sanding and a good coat of primer

Move the whole operation inside because it started to rain...

All finished. 

 I used Benjamin Moore in Sebring White.  

It's a soft flat white with a grey green undertone.

The color is perfect

And I'm happy with the final results....for now

Some Beautiful Photography

My friend's daughter Kelly

 has a real talent for photography

Here is a sample of some of her photos...my favorites

Beautiful and vibrant color.....perfection in nature

Glorious....just Glorious

Happy....I want to lie down right here

The clarity and colors are striking....natures camouflage....Can you find the frogs?

You can see more of her photos..
 Check out her facebook page @

http://www.facebook.com/Kellyjohannaphotography

A Bible Verse Stencil Tutorial

Easy peasy stenciling

My sister wanted to stencil a Bible verse on her wall above a bay window in her kitchen.

Here is the wall

  So we set about figuring out the best way to do it.  

She gave it much thought and did lots of research on stencil websites etc.

Here are the words

We settled on a website called The Simple Stencil

Their website was the easiest to navigate and gave you all sorts of visual graphics about how it would look finished.  You could pick your wall color, your stencil paint color and your font, including how large and the spacing.  It really helped in visualizing what it would look like.

 Measuring the wall space was very important.  The website tells you how large the letters can be by the space you have given them.  I think our letters ended up being about 4.5" high.

 We chose a font called "Adorable"...it's the last one pictured here.

We did have one problem....when the stencil came, it wasn't a stencil at all, but vinyl lettering that you stick on the wall.  Apparently there was a place where you check off that you want a stencil and not vinyl lettering but we missed it.  Soooooo we emailed them and they were very nice, and agreed to take that one back and send the correct one....whew!!

 The Stencil comes in 3 layers....a backing sheet, a sticky vinyl sheet and a top paper sheet.

You need to tape the stencil to the wall at the top....don't forget to measure.

Then you flip up the whole thing, using the tape as a hinge and start to peel the backing down from the top and slowly start sticking it to the wall, using the tool they give you to smooth it out.

When you have the whole thing stuck on the wall, you can then start peeling off the front paper.

 Your stencil is now ready for paint.....well maybe a coffee break first!

We cut out the words Micah 6:8 before sticking the stencil because they were centered and we preferred them to be off to the right.  When the main stencil was finished we just went back and did the same procedure with the smaller stencil.

We practiced first on a cardboard box with the wall color and another stencil to

 figure out what texture we wanted. A dabbing motion worked best with the special stencil brush.  It took a few tries to perfect the look we wanted.

It was gung-ho from there!

The actual stenciling was the shortest part of the whole thing. 

 Before I could think about it, I was done. 

We used a cream color paint on the first coat and then a very light yellow on top of that,

 making sure not to apply it too heavily.  

We wanted some of the green wall color to show through and did not want it to look like

 a solid painted letter.  A light touch was used so it would appear soft.

We let the paint dry for an hour or so,  

(had more coffee....a very integral part of the operation)  

and then started peeling off the stencil.....

praying that the wall paint didn't come off with it....since it was quite sticky.

It came off beautifully.....pretty and clean!

It came out PERFECT!!!

Thank you Simple Stencil

I Actually Carved an Owl from a Rock

My friend Kathy & I saw this fabulous owl 
in a garden center and she fell in love with it.
It was very expensive and so she passed on it,
but kept talking about it and how much she loved it.

 Soooo....I thought "maybe I could make one"....

How hard could it be. 

It looked like a fairly simple design...

I could give it to her for Christmas....She would crack up!

So I got a rock

There just happened to be this stone and rock place near me and so after Church one Sunday we stopped in, and asked if I could buy a rock.  The man was so nice and helped me pick it out....climbed on the rock pile himself, so I wouldn't get hurt, and gave it to me for free

  Now I had to cut the bottom of the rock flat so it would stand up

Since I don't have a tile saw, I needed to cut it with a circular saw and a masonry blade.  All fine and good except I forgot that the rock was thicker than the saw blade

I needed a 7" masonry blade....well actually 2 of them but they are inexpensive at about $5.00 ea

Don't forget the safety glasses and the hammer & chisel were very useful

You have to make sure the rock is wet because the blade gets very hot.....and work in small time increments...like 5 minutes at a clip

                      

It actually went through the rock pretty easily but there was one thing I forgot.  The saw blade is not as deep as the rock so I had to work from all sides.  At the end, when I had cut as deep as the blade would allow, I had this lump in the middle....not so good

So my husband suggested that I cut lines in the lump and chisel them off....worked great.  The bottom was not as smooth as the Garden Centers owl but it would stand!   OK on to the next step!

 I printed out a photo of the Garden Center Owl and then proceeded to sketch something similar to it on the rock, allowing for the difference in the shapes of the rocks. 

It looked like a demented ghost....I got nervous!

But onward I would press, so I started with the Dremel.  What the heck....how bad could it be?  What had it cost me so far....$10.00 for blades and 2 weeks of cutting a rock off at the bottom in my spare time.

 The first layer came off quite easily but as I went deeper it took longer to make any progress.  I knew now that I would      not get that nice deep crater that made the eyes on the original owl.   Mabye it would come out like a demented ghost.....we'll see.

I kept at it, in my spare time, for several weeks....going through about 6 or 8 Dremel tips, but at about $3.00 each, it was affordable.  I would have gone through less but I broke two before realizing that it worked just as well even when you didn't press down with all your might.  Like my Dad used to tell me "let the tool do the work".  The old paint brush was great for brushing the dust and eye protection and a dust mask were necessary.

New dremel tip    -    Used dremel tip

There were many kinds of tips to choose from and towards the end I started finding

larger ones that lasted longer and went deeper. 

 Now it was time for the finishing touch - The eyes.  I scoured every bead store in a 50 mile radius and the best I could come up with was these lifesaver shaped black glass beads....so they would have to do.

I was happy with the final result......owl or demented ghost?   Owl I think

A little epoxy

Get him to lay level while the glue sets

And Here He Is......tada.....an Owl

 She was quite happy with her owl 

and knew it was made with lots of love

Merry Christmas Kathy!

ism's - Adorable Things Kids Say

When my kids were little, life was very busy. 

I would try to remember the adorable things they said, but much of it slipped away. 

I used to write things in their baby books once or twice a year,

but as time went by, several years got skipped.  

Then I would frantically try to catch up, 

sometimes writing things that spanned a few years. 

I didn't want those adorable things lost for my grandchildren,

so I made this box for easy access in writing things down.

I have four grand daughters, ages 4, 3, 2 & 1 and another grandchild on the way.

I think this box will eventually contain tons of wonderful memories.

I am thrilled that Ayla telling me not to forget her sticklips (chapstick) or

Kierslynn telling me all about how "time-out" works are priceless and will not be lost.

The box was easy enough to make. 

A can of spray paint on a wooden box from Michaels

along with some stick on embellishments,
but any recycled recipe box etc. will do. 

I used  Hallmark card software that I had installed on my computer to design  the cards.

I wish I had one of these....

when my oldest asked me if "Daddy & I really did that" while holding his head in his hands 

after finding out I was pregnant with my youngest

or

when my middle one broke out in song in a supermarket at 4 years old 

belting out a very loud version of

"Don't You Want Me Baby" by The Human League, to the shoppers delight

or

when my daughter wanted me to use the "Vice-a-vator" on her and I finally figured out 

she wanted me to get out the vaporizer to put in her room

There were so many more....

that are like wisps of memory now....

once in awhile one pops up in my mind, 

and when it does, I will write it down.