Traveling Gypsy

Ok so this winter/spring I was like a traveling gypsy! I loved every minute of it. The only unfortunate thing is I lost touch with my blogging life among other things. My house is a crazy mess. But, now I am home to stay until at least the beginning of June. Well...except for the weekends...travel soccer with our 12 year old has us pretty much on the go.

Since I have not spent much time in my craft room or even at home for that matter, I wanted to at least share some of the fun trips I was fortunate enough to take this winter. All of which were in the snow. Haha. I know lots of you will think I am crazy and wonder why on earth I didn't go at least once to the beach. But my family has become very fond of our vacations to the mountains. And I guess we figure the hot, humid weather will be upon us soon enough.

Firs,t just after Christmas we headed to Big Sky, Montana. Where our dear friends from Memphis, Lisa and Jane, joined us. And my daughter, Megan, brought along her friend, Andi. 

We had a perfect week. I am finally healthy and strong again and was able 

to enjoy the slopes with my sweet family and friends.

Next Tim and I headed to Vail, CO for a few days. The conditions this year at Vail were great. We even got about 23 inches of snow while we were there. After last years conditions I didn't care to ever go back. But Tim had a continuing education out there...and well, I couldn't say no. So glad I went. It was such a good time and I learned to really enjoy Vail. My cousins, Susan and Barb, came to ski with us for the day. I also was able to visit with my childhood friend who I have not seen in 20+ years, Whylly. She grew up spending her summers on Great Pond in Maine with me. She and her husband have a place in Vail. And they happened to be there when we were. We joined them for dinner one evening.

 Whylly, her sister, Lisa, my sister, Linda and my twin brother, Scott, 

made lots of lifetime memories together.

It was so fun to see her! XOXO

We went home for a couple weeks and then packed our bags and headed back to Big Sky! 

This time my older brother, Chet and his fiance, Debbie went with us. 

Again the skiing was perfect as was the company.

We have had little time together and I loved connecting with my brother again and Debbie too!

I had such a good time getting to know Debbie better. It was nice to have her one on one.

My extended family knows her well as they have had lots of time together. 

I have not been so fortunate. But this trip was the perfect solution. 

I will be happy to have her as my sister in law, but I am happier to have her as my friend!

ok not done yet...home for 10 days...then back to the slopes for spring break.

This time we headed for Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

We were joined by two families. Our condo was fabulous as was the weather.

It was very warm and sunny which I love. But it made for a little ice in the morning and slush in the afternoon. We did not let it slow us down much. We had a great time anyway!

and...one last trip...we were home for only a day and a half this time and Megan and I headed to Memphis to see this sweet little face!! amongst others :)

All the babes of Memphis are precious and we had a great time visiting!

We of course did lots of fun shopping and then Lisa, Jane, Megan and I headed for Nashville.

There we went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw Deacon from the show Nashville...:) <3 <3

So that believe it or not is it. And believe it or not that is the short version! :)

So it was an eventful winter/spring!

But I am glad to be home!! Time to get all those projects started!

And just clean up the house!

Blessings - Sara

Pull Up A Chair

I am back...I have enjoyed my break from the computer, 

but have missed my blog!

And yours too!! :)

I decided that I would not put the added stress of 

keeping up with all my technology over the holidays on my shoulders.

 Hence the break.  

I knew that Christmas would be bittersweet this year

 as on Christmas day last year we lost my Dad to a sudden heart attack. 

So I decided that I would not stress myself out over all the things that didn't get done this year.

And believe me there were a lot of things! :/

Some of my decorating didn't get done,

 some of my shopping didn't get done, 

my Christmas cards didn't get done,

I did very little painting or creating,

(except a special gift for my siblings and a lamp for my daughter, 

which I will show you in a later post)

and I did no blogging...

So I tried my best to forget all that and embrace the season.

While I am never sure how much embracing I have done, I did get through the season. 

And knowing how difficult the first Christmas without my Dad might be,

this year I am happy to say that I just made it to the other side! :)

Now, I will spend the next week taking the Christmas decorations down that I did get up.

But...I am going to have a little Christmas of my own. 

I am going to leave my sweet little Nativity set out where I can constantly be reminded

of the Reason for the Season. 

Embracing, Beholding, Worshiping and Praising!

Christmas is everyday...right?! 

So, while so many are done with it, 

I am going to turn on my Christmas music this week, 

(in my nice quiet house, kids are back in school)

and celebrate the Birth of our Sweet Savior! <3 

I do want to share with you this project that I completed late November...

I think I paid 28$ for this not so attractive chair...

My Littlest Biggest Fan

My youngest and littlest, is one of my biggest fans!

He is continually encouraging me. :)

He recently asked me if I would paint him a picture of a MOOSE

We love moose in our house...I guess because we spend a lot of time

in both Maine and Montana 

where these funny looking creatures are frequently seen. 

I love how perfectly imperfect they are. 

I love all the bumps in their nose and head and all along their back.

It reminds me that we are all perfectly imperfect 

and that it is all our "bumps" that make us so perfectly unique! :)

As I was almost finished with the project...

Shades For The Birds

Providing some shade for the birds...

I bought these lamps from Target...

Don't you love Target?! They have the cutest things. 

Some of the housewares they have for the holiday season are adorable!!

I go in Target with the intention of buying just one thing...

it never works! 

By the time I get to the checkout my bill is quickly approaching the 100$ mark.

Sometimes I tell myself to just stay away from there! :)

Loved the lamps...I picked them up for some where around 25 or 30$

I don't really remember, I bought them a while back.

I wanted a tall slender base but, the shade was not what I was after...

So I ran into Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon

 and picked up a couple of those adhesive lamp shades they have.

I think they were around 12$ but I used my coupon so I got them for around 7$.

I had to go in 2 separate days 

because they will only let you use one coupon per day

which is kind of a pain...but I needed two shades.

Also, in case all you Hobby Lobby frequent shoppers didn't know
you can pull up your 40% off coupon on your phone and use it that way.
When I learned this, I was thrilled,
seeing as how I was always forgetting my printed coupon at home.

Back to my shades...so I cut out some birds from wool
and hand stitched them onto my fabric
 with a simple running stitch.

I used some basic embroidery stitches to create the branches

and I was ready to put them on the shades.
I am not an expert in this area, so the embroidery is far from perfect.
But sometimes I think that is the beauty of a project like this.
It makes it uniquely our own.

I had bought some really cute trim 

which was probably the part of my project that I spent the most on.

I sewed the bottom pleated ribbon on

and after turning the edges under the top edge of the shade 

I glued the top piece of trim on.

This part was all a little more difficult than I expected.

Seeing as how I should have added an extra inch to all sides of my fabric.

They were a little too small for the shades so I had to alter them a little.

But we live and learn...right?!

And I finally got them right...I love the way they turned out.

I think I probably spent a little over 120$, tops, for both lamps 

by the time I had the fabric, trim, shades and the lamp base.

But I have seen lamps like these 

in cute designer boutiques for 150$ a piece at least.

The lamps I wanted to purchase for this space were 200$ a piece.

And maybe they were prettier than mine, but mine are a close second.

So I am pleased! :)

Now I need a cute window treatment for that window! :)

This week I have been working on cleaning out some closets, drawers and the garage.

My furnace room had these 

six bags of crap (for lack of a better word) in there.  

That is a lot of stuff crammed into a small space.

Well now you could eat off the floor in there, it is so clean! :)

We have a dumpster coming to the house this next week 

for the rebuilding and remaking of our back deck.

I am taking full advantage of that dumpster while it is here!

And getting rid of more...crap. haha

Have a great weekend!

Blessings - Sara

Linking up to:

THREE MANGO SEEDS

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Painted PINK Passion

I scored this cute bedside table for only 40$

I had wanted to replace my daughter's bedside table for a while now.

She just had one of those round pressed board tables that had a fabric table cloth over the top.

It was in horrible shape, and the table cloth was filthy.

I could have scrubbed for a month of Sundays,

and it would never have been even slightly clean.

Unfortunately, I used a white fabric that at one time was pretty darn cute.

Not so much now. :/

So I dove into my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint that I had recently purchased.

Mixed a little Old White with some Emperor's Silk

and came up with the perfect shade of pink for her bedroom.

I painted the table Old White first.

Over that my concoction of what I will call PINK Passion...

Then sanded back a little and waxed...

The final result...

Finished!!

PINK :)

Don't you love PINK!

And it only seems appropriate with it being Breast Cancer Awareness month.

My good friend Hope created these beautiful PINK charms 

for Breast Cancer Awareness...

You can find more of her creative work at 

http://vintage-whimsy.blogspot.com/

Hope is one of the nicest girls I know and she is equally talented!

Full of inspiration and encouragement!!

Looking forward to the weeks ahead...

I have purchased a few more pieces of junk/antique furniture for a song...

and can't wait to get started.

Don't know exactly how I am going to paint these...haha :)

This little table will also be for Megan's room.
I forgot to take a before picture...ugh.
So I have already started to paint it, as you can see.

Thanks to my good friend Angee, once again, I got the perfect piece for this project.

Megan needed a little table next to her dressing mirror, 

but it could not stick out into the room too far.

I am going to paint it PINK and green.

It is tiny...but the perfect size for her to put her makeup in.

I have put a little extra time into Megan's room lately as she is already a Junior...

and I can not believe starting to think about college. 

Maybe before she actually leaves home I will be able to call her room done...haha.

She has the typical teenage room 

with pictures of friends stuck on any and all the extra wall space.

And of course a poster of the ever so handsome Luke Bryan!!

It is not the kind of room that would be in your latest addition of House Beautiful

but it is HER room, and hopefully when she has flown the coop

a room she will want to come home to.

Isn't that all that a mother really wants...

for her children to want to come home!!

Blessings -

Sara

Feeling Blue

Oh...not that kind of blue :(

Ok well maybe a little. Only because I have been so busy that my blog

has gone on the back burner a bit. Ugh! :(

I have missed you all.  Hopefully the coming week will be better.

I have not even had time to really do any fun creative projects.

But...I did finally bust out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 

Thanks to my sweet friend Angee's encouragement!

So this is what I meant by blue...

This past Friday my boys had the day off for Fall Break 

and two of my bestest friends and their boys came over to spend the afternoon.

With a little push from Angee, I opened up my cans of paint.

We really had no clue what we were going to do. 

So we found this little table in the basement that I have had for 

a very long time...maybe 10 years or so.

Always with the intention of painting it...

I had even started it a couple of times. 

I had tried several colors.

But not liking any of the results I was getting, I put it down,

throwing it in the Unfinished Projects by Sara pile.

In this house we call that UPS. 

So UPS had made yet another delivery, adding to my growing heap.

Praise the Lord, my heap has one less item in it. 

I don't have any before pictures and actually,

 after taking an ASCP class today with four of my most fun friends ever,

I am going to work on it a little more.

However, it could be called "done", so I am happy to say it is no longer an UPS. :)

This paint is forgiving, fast, fun and fabulous!

If you have not tried it, I would totally encourage you to give it a try.

Here are some pictures of my table now that it is "done"...

I apologize for the quality of them...I took them from my cell phone.

I definitely need to perfect my technique, but I love my little table.

And after having it in my basement for the past ten years or so

I am thrilled to have it in my family room

 so that when we start a fire I have a place to set down my hot tea :)

That just makes me happy!!

Today, my friends and I had the best time taking this ASCP class 

and I am so excited to put what I learned to good use.

I am walking around my house wondering what I can paint next :)

I hope I don't end up painting the dog...or my friend Kim's sunglasses. Hehe!

( I put that in there just for you Kim - XOXO)

Mary, Kari and I made a pit stop at the junk/antique store after getting back from our class.

Kari scored a couple of great items to use her new paint on.

She already has a drop cloth on the driveway with her first project ready to go.

Can't wait to see her results!!

I guess I had better get busy!

I'll be back with more soon...I have lot's of painting to do!! :)...

amongst a few other things I have in that UPS pile.

Blessings - Sara

One more note...

THANK YOU so much to all my new followers 

and for everyone's sweet comments on my previous posts!

They did not go unnoticed.  Life just got a little too crazy!!

But a good kind of crazy because it was all about my kids :)

Festive Fall Kitchen Towel

Just a quick post to show you a quick project 

I did this morning. 

We have a crazy weekend ahead of us,

so I will get back to you with some detailed instructions

at the beginning of the week. 

I printed my graphic out on some iron on transfer paper 

and got out the iron.

My cute graphic came from The Graphics Fairy.

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2011/08/vintage-halloween-clip-art-bat-with.html

Which as many of you know has a great selection of clip art 

for all your creative needs! :)

I plan to make some more of these...

maybe for gifts at Christmas.

They would make great hostess gifts!

It was fun and easy to do.

Anyone with a semi-steady hand and a sewing machine can do this.

It is just straight line sewing

VERY EASY! 

My fabrics came from Hobby Lobby and some things I had on hand.

I picked some cute trims and that's it!

It added just the right touch to my kitchen...

Here is a touch of my fall scape in my kitchen...

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

I will be back with those detailed instructions after all our craziness.

It is raining here and the temperatures are dropping...bbbrrrr. :)

I love the cold though, so I am a happy camper.

Bundling up by the fire tonight! YAY!

Maybe even roasting a marshmallow or two :)

Blessings - Sara

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