Inside Projects

Well, I start my new job on the 29th of this month.  I am pretty excited about it, but I am sure I will still worry about my little man.  Between us ladies or maybe I should say “us Moms” don’t you feel like no one can do as good of a job raising your children?  Don’t get me wrong….. I think my hubby is an outstanding Dad, but sometimes I just feel like I am the only one that can make my little guy happy and safe.  That is totally not the case at all, but that is how I feel.  Why do I feel that way?  Anyway, it will be a difficult day for me heading back into the working world, but I am going to embrace it with all that I have and try my best to be strong.  Oh my….. I can’t talk about it for too long or else I start to get emotional (lol).  Silly ~ huh?

So, with my start date around the corner, I have been tackling alot of indoor projects.  I finished painting my family room and even stenciled the walls myself.  During my last post, I shared just a small peek of my stenciling, but today I thought I would share some more.  I even changed some things around and decided to give a few of my prim things a rest.  So, without further delay I say we take a look at my newly painted family room.

So, what do you all think?  Like I had mentioned…… I changed things around a bit and added new things and decided to give old things a rest.  There are still a few areas that need work, but they are coming along.

There is one area that I KNOW needs improvement and that will be coming real soon.  I suppose I could give you a little hint if you are interested.  Here is the hint……….

So, do you have any ideas?  What do you think it could be?  Well, once those changes are made then I will be sure to post pictures again.  Stay Tuned!!  Hope you are excited because I know that I am.

Speaking of indoor projects.  I bought myself a dehydrator at Wal-Mart the other week. 

I thought it would be great to dry some oranges and use them on my Christmas tree this year.  Not only could I use them on my tree, but I could make some garlands too.  I just love how they turned out.

I just love the look and they will look even better on my tree when Christmas rolls around.  Here is a garland that I made.  I thought they looked great next to my dried green beans and okra.

Well, that is all that I have to share with you today.  Hope you all are enjoying some indoor projects as well.

Many Blessings Always ~ Lisa

 

Before & After

Do you all remember this piece?  It belongs to my Mom and she wanted me to paint it.  She wanted it red to match her couch and chair in her family room.  Here is the BEFORE picture.

Well, I found the perfect color and painted it a little while back.  I just remembered that I promised that I would share after pictures and I never did.  So, here is the AFTER picture of her cupboard that I painted for her.

I decided to give it the two tone look and after seeing the picture, I am glad that I did.  I changed the gold knob to a wood knob and then gave it 2 coats of paint.  Yep, I think Mom did a great job decorating it.  It looks beautiful and it matches her furniture perfectly.

Until Next Time ~ Blessings, Lisa

Missing in Action ~ Where are you? News to Share with you…

I have so much to share, but really have no idea where to start.  I haven’t been around blog land in awhile due to so many things happening in my life at once.  I am recovering from yet another round of bronchitis and laryngitis.  This round was pretty bad because I was without my voice for 3 days.  Talk about difficult.  I love talking so when I don’t have my voice, it makes it quite difficult.  My hubby on the other hand was probably enjoying it (lol).  The doctor put me on prednisone (steroids) and a nasty antibiotic that has made me so nauseated and sick.  The medicine works great for my chronic bronchitis, but the steroids create some nasty side effects.  I have been hot and sweaty, down right evil and eating everything in the house that I can lay my hands on.  It is just a really hard drug for me to be on.  I just hate how it makes me feel.  I am definitely NOT a mean or evil person my any means, but when I am on that stuff, I find myself snapping at my poor hubby and just going off for no reason.  So….. after today, I have decided to stop both meds and get back to my normal jovial self.  Trust me……. I have missed being myself.

I also thought that I would take this moment to let you all know about a very important announcement.  Nope, I am not pregnant, but I am set to start a new job at the end of this month.  It was a hard decision, but I am sure that it is the right move.  I spent alot of time with God, I prayed alot and I searched my heart and after alot of soul searching, I decided to head back to work.  I have enjoyed being a stay at home Mom for almost 4 years and I couldn’t be happier and more blessed that I had the opportunity, but I am sure that this is the right step for me and my family.  With the way that the economy is today, I am positive that this is the right move.  Cameron is enjoying school, he loves going and seeing his friends and I think that he will fit in perfectly with the daycare as well.  Talk about pulling on your heart strings!!  I can’t imagine him being in the care of someone else other then me, but I need to trust God and pray that he will stay safe.  He does wonderfully at school and I think he will be just fine.  LOL ~ Yep, I sit here and type this post and my eyes fill up with tears.  It has been such a hard decision for me.  I can’t believe that I will be going back to work!!  I am excited about the job…… don’t get me wrong there, but I am also a bit nervous.  Heck, I worked for over 10 years with one job, quit to stay home with my son and now I am heading back into the working world.  What is a Mom to do?  I guess I will make money and buy prims (hahahaha).

What else has been happening in my life?  Oh, all sorts of stuff.  I have been busy making changes to my home and finishing alot of unfinished stuff before I start my new job.  If you have followed my blog for awhile then you probably remember me painting my entry way and hallway not too long ago.  Well, I decided to carry that same color into my family room and it turned out great.  I feel like I have been going 180 mph while on these steroids so I took advantage of that energy and painted and stenciled.  Yep, I did it all with a little help from my hubby.  I can’t really say that I would be interested in stenciling again anytime soon, but I am definitely pleased with the way it turned out.    Here is a peek.

Do you remember what my walls use to look like?  They were painted a mustard color called Buckskin Pony.  I absolutely loved the color, but since there was one wall painted and stenciled coming into my family room…..well, it just didn’t look finished.  So, now it looks complete and boy oh boy does it ever give it a different look.  It brightened up the room that is for sure, but it brightened it up in a good way.  The stencil that I ended up doing just kinda softened it and with all my prims….. it looks good.  I did make some changes here and there as to where I put my prims and those pics will be coming soon.  So stay tuned!!

Until Next Time ~ Blessings, Lisa

Simple Goods Show ~ Part 2

If you haven’t already seen Part 1 of my Simple Goods post then be sure to check it out.  My weekend was absolutely wonderful.  I was able to do alot of fun stuff and meet so many great gals.  Do I plan on going back?  Oh yes… every chance I get, I will definitely go back.  It was worth the hour and half drive.  There were vendors outside and tons of them inside.  The crowd was heavy and hectic, but it was worth it.  I ended up with alot of goodies and I thought I would share some pictures with you.  So….. are you ready to see my primitive wares that I found?  Let’s first of all stop by and take a look at the items that I purchased from Cabin in the Woods.  I absolutely loved this vendor.  They had so many cute things to look at and I of course went home with some of them.  Here they are ladies.  The first thing that I picked up was this cute little mouse.  I don’t normally like mice, but I thought he was too cute.  Trust me….. he will be the only mouse that I will ever let in my house (lol).

I also bought these beans.  I loved the look of them.  Definitely prim looking.  I put them on this rack, but they won’t be staying there.  It was just for picture purposes (lol).

They had plenty of other great items to pick from.  They had some sweet potatoes that looked very neat, more dried beans, oranges, apples and lots of other great primitives.  I was loving her booth.

My next stop was Arnett’s Country Store.  I saw plenty of stuff at this booth, but ended up only buying some stockings.  I was loving the Santa’s, but wasn’t real sure where I would put another one (lol).  Here are my stockings.  I went with the striped ones, but she also had plain red stockings as well.  I bought 3 of these.  Aren’t they great?  I might end up coffee staining them a little bit more…. I like them just a tad bit darker then these.

My next stop was Lizzie’s Cabin Primitives.  Her items were amazing and I must say that my Mom and I walked around her booth several times.  We spent quite a bit there and the best news about her booth was that she took credit cards (lol).  Not many vendors took credit cards so it was either cash or check.  Here is what I found at Lizzie’s Cabin.

I absolutely loved her covered books.  I plan on putting these on my school desk.

I also bought these other items.

Don’t you just love those greens beans?  I want to try to make a special jar for those beans.  Once I am done with it then I will let you know and of course post pics. 

So, what do you think of my pheasant?  I absolutely loved him when I saw him and now I just need to figure out where I am going to hang him.

I also wanted to show you these cute prim necklaces that Sandy Schutt gave me.  It was the first time I met Sandy yesterday and to be honest, it was like I had known her forever.  She was just so sweet and so thoughtful.  Not only did she bring these for me, but she also brought some for my Mom as well.  How sweet is that?  I just thought it was so nice of her to think of us.  Thank you Sandy!!

I loved my primitive doll necklace, but I think my favorite had to be my primitive bowl necklace.  I love antique bowls so this was right up my alley (lol).

Aren’t they great?  So, as you can see, I had a great weekend.  I was able to share it with my Mom, my hubby, my son and lots of prim friends.  It was indeed a wonderful weekend.  If you weren’t able to make it to this one then be sure to mark your calendar for April or next year around this time.  I am sure you won’t leave empty handed and of course you will be glad you joined us.  Hope you all have a blessed week.  I will be posting pics of my Mom’s refrigerator cover sometime this week.  I just need to let the weather get a bit warmer then I can stain it and get it inside.  It is a beauty!!  Keep watching!!

Until Next Time ~ Blessings, Lisa

An Amazing Weekend ~ North Shore Primitives & Simple Goods ~ Part 1

My amazing weekend started out on Friday.  I was set to go and work at North Shore Primitives and arrived around 9am.  I took some more pictures of her shop and then made myself familiar with the warehouse portion of her store.  Yep, I must say that even the warehouse is nice (lol).  Vickie had so many trees, wreaths, greenery, handmade items and the list goes on.  The door opened at 10:00 am and once those doors opened, the customers came rushing in.  I was running here, there and everywhere.  It was literally on my feet from 9am-6pm.  I went to sit in my car and go home and by the time I got home, I could barely move. 

It was great being able to help out the customers, give them advice as to what would look great with what and of course do all the running for them (lol).  I can’t even remember how many times I was running back to the warehouse, but it was good exercise.  I met alot of great people and had several prim gals come up to me, introduce themselves and tell me that they always follow me and my blog.  I was so happy to hear that and to meet so many wonderful gals.  I must say that it feels great knowing that there are so many people that follow my blog and enjoy hearing from me.  You never really know that what you are doing interests people until they tell you.  So, I guess you could say that I get a passing grade (lol).  Here are a few pics from North Shore Primitives Open House.  Be sure to click on her shop name to check out all of the pics that I added to her site.  There is plenty to see and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Isn’t her shop just beautiful?  I thought that they had it so beautifully decorated and her handmade items were prim perfect.  I absolutely fell head over heels in love with that Santa.  The thing I loved about him was that he was pudgy (short & plump).  Isn’t every Santa that you have ever seen been pudgy?  I have seen plenty of prim Santa’s, but I don’t recall seeing any pudgy ones.  Yep, he was by far my favorite and I told myself that if he was still there by the end of the day then I would buy him and take him home with me.  Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be because another gal picked him up from the table and walked toward the counter with him.  Trust me when I say I was watching every move as my poor Santa went home with someone else.  Yep, it was indeed a very sad moment for me.  I kept thinking that this lady that took my Santa would feel guilty for spending so much money and come back with my pudgy little Santa, but I never saw that happen (sniff, sniff, tear, tear).  I guess I can just hope and pray that he is happy in his new home and is being well treated (lol).

Today was an exceptionally fun day as well.  My hubby took my Mom and I to the Simple Goods Show in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  Cameron went along of course and caught the eyes of many prim friends.  Several of the gals walked up to my husband and asked where I was and of course my husband said “Over there somewhere.”  You gotta love how men give directions (lol).  I once again had several ladies come up to me and introduce themselves as followers of my blog.  I was thrilled to see so many prim gals….. some that I had met before (Karen @ My Colonial Home, Kris @ Simply Prim, Stacey @ Farm Wife Primitives) and tons and tons of other gals that I met for the first time today.  Have you ever noticed that even though you meet these prim gals for the first time that you already feel like you have known them forever?!?  I love that about “primitive girlfriends”.  I met so many new people today, but I literally felt like I could sit and spend the whole weekend with them.  It is indeed a wonderful feeling.  Nothing better!!

So, are you all ready to see some pictures of The Simple Goods Show?  I wasn’t sure if we could take any pictures inside so I just took a few of the outside.  Now…… sit back and look at all of these pictures and imagine it getting better and better around every corner.  There were tons of vendors and tons of customers.  It was crazy busy, but as the day went along, it started to thin out.  We stayed for several hours and left with plenty of bags.  Here are the pictures of the outside.

Alot of you might remember me asking several of you where I might find some long dipper gourds.  Well, as I was walking up to the building….. I started to go crazy because right there before my eyes were several dipper gourds.  They had looooong ones, medium and small and I wanted one of each (lol).  I went through her gourds and found 3 that I thought would look great on my front door.  Here are the 3 gourds that I ended up bringing home.

Goodness….. I never knew I looked like Vanna White (lol).  Just kidding.  Don’t you just love my gourds?!?  I can hardly wait to get them up on my door.  Once they are hung up then I will be sure to share a picture with you.  Keep Watching!  I also bought a few other things as well.  The gourds came from Mill St. Mercantile and I must say that this was one of my favorite vendors.  I absolutely loved her stuff.  Here are a few pics of some more items that I bought from her.

This is actually an old gourd that she made into a bowl.  Isn’t it just so neat?  I love these two areas of this gourd.  Can’t get anymore prim then this if you ask me for my opinion.

I also bought this ladle and it was made out of an old gourd as well and a stick.  I just thought they were neat pieces!!

That is all that I bought from Mill St. Mercantile.  There was plenty more from where that came from, but the only drawback is that most of the vendors didn’t take credit cards.  So, if you plan on going in April or next year then you better take lots of cash or lots of checks.

Well, as much as I would like to share more of my goodies, it will have to wait til tomorrow.  I am worn out for this evening, but trust me….. I will be back here tomorrow blogging about the rest of my goodies.  Please do come back because I always look forward to seeing your smiling faces.

Until Next Time ~ Blessings Always!