Weekend in Review

No spray paint was involved and besides organizing them, no glue guns were used either. However, it was a busy weekend! In an effort to give a “holla!” to all the hard-working women out there (can you tell I’ve been listening to a lot of Beyonce this weekend?), I thought I’d share a little picture tour of my accomplishments.

Two kinds of people will appreciate this picture. 1. Anyone who lives in Michigan—no more boots! 2. Anyone who fights the daily war with shoes.

Just pretend this picture’s obvious. I washed rugs this weekend. I hate washing rugs. It’s a little disenchanting because now that means I have to tackle the floor underneath them, but at least that part is done.

I spent no less than three Beyonce songs (told ya) and two Justin Bieber songs (don’t judge) turning this…

into this… More to come on this one.

There was a lot of this over the weekend. Why, exactly, did we think it would be such a great idea to have some land?

When summerizing the deck, my husband found this adorable little bird’s nest.

Well, I guess little is a relative term here. It’s not the first time, though. Remember??

What are the kids doing while we’re slaving away? This. Don’t ask.

Hopefully your weekend was as productive, yet more normal than ours! Orrrr…maybe you’re like us and this is normal.

Loss

I've often spoken of my dear grandparents and my unexplainable love for them. My grandmother passed away this morning, and I'm absolutely heartbroken.

I grew up living in the same neighborhood as them, and my childhood memories are filled with enough love to last lifetimes. My family is very small which undoubtedly makes us very close. 

I'll be taking a few days off to be with them--especially my dear grandfather who is now a widow after 65 years of unfaltering love.

If only we could all be so lucky, right?

Brooch Magnets

Some time ago I had written that my grandparents moved in with my mom and told me they wanted me to take anything valuable.  Being the sentimental sap that I am, I quickly took anything and everything that had meaning to me--namely, my grandmother’s brooches.

I thought it was such a personal item that I would cherish for years. Her brooches and my grandfather’s collection of fedora hats have always intrigued me. It’s a tangible reminder of a more formal time period that doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

                     

           

Trying to figure out what to do with them/how to display them/how to do them justice, I simply did nothing for months. But THEN…I came up with an idea.

Why not turn this little $7.00 beauty into a framing piece for the brooches, yet still be reminded of my grandmother while using them? Brilliant, Chris.

Want a tutorial? Good “cause I’m gonna give one. I went to Lowes and purchased a piece of sheet metal in the plumbing department. I laid the frame backing over it and cut the measurements with a utility knife. They have fancy schmancy scissors that cut sheet metal, but I used an old pair of scissors I had around the house. It worked perfectly.

It was a scary moment, but I took some wire cutters and cut the backs off of each pin. No going back now.

They offer a wide variety of magnets in craft stores, but NONE of them work like the ones below. Trust me—I’ve wasted some money figuring that out. These babies are strong! I glued them on with some E-6000 glue. Also very strong!

Spray painting the sheet metal black helps the brooches show off their color better (I think), and it turned out beautifully.

Another treasure that came with me was my grandmother’s recipe box. It’s full of hand-written family recipes, and I just love it! There’s just something about hand-written items.

I paired it with a couple of my favorite pictures of them called it good. I love neutrals, but the color in this project has me smitten.

The moral of this story? Don’t be afraid to show off family treasures in a non-traditional way. I think about how long these beauties remained hidden simply because I wasn’t thinking “out of the box”, and it’s so disappointing. So go forth and rethink those heirlooms that have been stored away for too long.

The Pinecone Hunt=The Pinecone Wreath

• Me: Hey guys, who wants to go on a pinecone hunt with me?
• 8 year old: Yeah!!! Come on, everyone! Let’s go on a family pinecone hunt! (Yes, she really did say that.)
• 11 year old: Ehhh, I think I’ll just stay in here.

It’s official. 11 years old is apparently the age in which our annual pinecone hunt is no longer worthy enough to get my son to go with us. Never fear. He went. With some persuasion.

It’s at this time of year, that I find myself once again on the prowl for some free, natural items to decorate with. Thank goodness for our backyard. 

While my daughter daintily carried her basket and picked the “perfect” cones, this is how my son decided to hunt.

Even my husband decided to get in on the search. Notice his vice grip. Poor little cone was probably screaming for dear life!

And then there’s the Nemesis. He kept catching deer scent, so he was running around all over the place. This is the only picture I have. And it’s of his butt.

Luckily, the hunt proved very plentiful for us! My husband kept saying, “Isn’t that enough?” Poor guy. So naive.

Well. Wanna see how I did it? Here we go. First of all…I gathered a lot of pinecones. :)

I had a styrofoam wreath in my basement (yes, really) that I decided to use. I think it was about $5.00. I spray painted it brown so it wouldn’t show through as much when the pinecones went on. I couldn’t find my dark brown paint, but I would recommend that in the future.

At first, I tried to place the pinecones in some sort of pattern, but it really didn’t work out for me. I basically placed them on one at a time and squished them into some sort of fit.

I worried about the top first, then I plugged the cones onto the exterior and interior sides.

 Once it was all done, I went back with some tiny pinecones and filled in some gaps that I thought showed too much.

While it only cost me $5.00 to make, I’ll admit it took me a while to do. I’d say it took 3 episodes of General Hospital and a half a Lions’ football game. Yes, that’s how I think.

Oh, and a ton of glue sticks. Like, literally a ton. I guess you can imagine how heavy this wreath is then.

This is a sneak peek of the fall mantle. I’ll be back later to show the rest!

Baseball Canvas

It’s no secret that we are a family of baseball fans. In particular, fans of the Detroit Tigers.  The love of baseball has run in my family for generations, and my husband grew up in the same environment.  I’ve been struggling with how to display some of that history in my son’s room recently. That was, until, I was exposed to Canvas People.

You may not believe this (I was skeptical at first myself), but they offer FREE 8x10 canvas prints of any digital picture you send them. So here’s what I did with my canvas.

I know that I could have easily chosen from dozens of family pictures, but I wanted something different. However, I wanted something very significant. We go to a number of Tigers’ games each year, and I took this picture last summer.

When I saw it in my picture file, it was a no-brainer. Note to self: When your husband is more excited about a canvas than you are, you’ve probably chosen well.

Once I had my inspiration, it was time to shop the house! Yee Hee! My husband has boxes upon boxes in the basement waiting for our basement to be finished. Confused yet?

We have TONS of signed baseballs, so I chose a few of the most meaningful ones to display. Jackson’s favorite (signed by an ‘84 pitching coach) takes center stage.

The only new items are the vintage-looking metal signs (my son’s initials) I bought at Hobby Lobby. They were only $3.00 each. Not bad, eh?

My favorite item is a Greyhound bus that my grandma gave to my son for Christmas a few years ago. I had no idea she even had it. She had it stored away from when she was a young teenager. Apparently, her and a friend were getting on “the new bus line in town”, and they were giving them to particular customers. I LOVE it, and I love the idea that she kept it stored away for so many years.

As we were cleaning out my grandparents’ home last summer, I found an old bat in their garage. I SO wish they would have had about 10 more. Don’t even ask how it’s hanging up there. Mostly on a wing and a prayer. Currently looking for a hanging system.

Here’s a little breakdown of everything I collected.  My husband’s brother did the carving for him when he was a little boy. It even has a little message on the back. How. cool.

I never would have imagined that one simple canvas would have spearheaded such a project, but I’m so pleased with the outcome. It became a way of merging our families’ love of baseball, and even if my son grows up hating baseball (he won’t if he knows what’s best for him), it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I should clarify that I “upgraded” to an 11x14 (a few dollars).  You’d be surprised what a difference it makes in size! I’m so happy that I’ve got to share the information. Who wouldn’t like to take advantage of this with the holidays coming up? Here’s the info (in case you still don’t believe what a good deal this is).

Yes. Michigan.

Last weekend, my husband and I somehow got rid of both of our kids for the whole day. What did we decide to do with our special (and rare) time together? Take the Nemesis on a date, of course.

He had never been to the “big beach” as we call it, so it was pretty fun watching him go nuts with excitement. And by nuts with excitement, I mean run 15 feet, stop to make sure we’re behind him, and repeat.

My brother has lived on California for 20 years, and when he came to visit us a couple summers ago, he kept saying, “I can’t get over how it looks just like the ocean.”

Since my husband is deathly afraid of sharks (It is at this point that he would quickly correct me and say I’m over-exaggerating), it’s nice that we have such a large body of water to swim in without him crying like a little girl if he goes out too far.

 

The best part about where we live? Exactly 38.2 minutes later, and we were here. This nature preserve/hiking trail is right down the road from us.

 

We took another rare (and awkward) opportunity to take some pictures of each other. If you squint your eyes and blur out the big girl in the middle, you’ll be able to appreciate the colors!

Of course, my idea of taking pictures, and my husband’s idea tend to vary quite a bit. Here’s his version of some nice pictures.

 

His senior picture pose. Oh, come onnnnnn…you know the one!

After several takes and a LOT of laughing, we got one of us together. I think the last time this happened, Seinfeld was the #1 show on television.

 

 

A big tree.  53 seconds later, my husband was climbing it, hitting his head on a branch, and getting his foot stuck in a hole. 67 seconds later I was peeing my pants from laughter.

Okay. So it’s a lot of pictures. But in a couple of months, we’ll be buried in some really cold white stuff.

 

Hopefully, these will serve as a reminder of why I love living in this state! I’ll let you know if it works.