Working on Windows

Good morning. I hope you all had a good weekend. Looks as if some of you were very busy fixing up your TS finds. I love looking at all of them. I spent some of the weekend varnishing our new windows. We have half of them in and are trying to get them stained and varnished as we go. It got me thinking while I was working--I would love for you to post some pics of some of your favorite window treatments. Some of mine are going to need to be replaced and I would like to try something new. They can be ones you have come up with or copied from someone else. I can't wait to see them!!!!

My kitchen cupboards are still on hold until we get the outside of the house done. Hopefully another week or so. I would like to get them done before it gets too nice out to work on them.


I had to share a picture with you from this weekend. It was my 40th (yuck) birthday Saturday. This is what my son, age 10, made for me out of his Lego's. That and my daughter made me a cake, and I didn't have to fix supper. It was a pretty good day considering!!

So again, please post your window treatment photos so I can become inspired!! Thanks for stopping by. ~~Melissa

County Sampler Home Tour

I forgot to say that I received my Country Sampler Home Tour Edition yesterday. I just took a quick peek and it looks neat. Although, I wish it could be all more prim country homes instead of some of the others. It is better than last years. Can't wait to get a chance to really scour it!!! Bye~~Melissa

Extreme Makeover

Hi. I hope you all are doing well. We are in the middle of an extreme makeover. No, Ty and his crew are not here, but we do have an equally talented carpenter transforming our home. We decided it was time to remove the aluminum siding and change over to vinyl as well as replace the original windows. Our carpenter said we set a record on the number of windows he has replaced in a single house--26!!! This is one record we weren't thrilled about breaking. I wanted to post a few photos of the in progress work. These were taken as they were starting to remove the siding.

As you can tell, there is alot of work to do. I have been keeping busy following them around and cleaning up the messes inside. It has also put a halt to my kitchen cupboard painting for right now. Since the garage is full of their supplies, I don't have room to put the doors to paint. I have done the insides already. I don't want to do the trim inside while everyone is in and out either. I haven't been able to work on my TS finds either. My workbench is blocked!! So here I sit, with so much to do but unable to do it. Good thing I have all of these wonderful blogs to read. I have much catching up to do. We were with Internet service for 2 days. It is amazing how dependent we (I) become on the Internet!!

This is my latest TS find. I plan to make it a magnetic bulletin board. I bought it for only 50 cents. It looks as though it is already magnetic, but it isn't. Guess I'll have to invest in the paint to make it so. Also I'll paint the frame. It is a little warped so I hope it turns out. Oh, for 50 cents if it doesn't, it's okay. I guess I will go for now and try to find something I can do--before the next mess calls me to clean it up. Maybe I can find a fun new spring bunny to make, I put my snowmen away last week. I am officially done with winter!!!!! Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

Help With Painting Kitchen Cupboards

Hello!!! I am in need of some expert advice from all of you wonderfully talented ladies out there. I am in the process of painting my kitchen cupboards They have previously been painted with an oil base paint. I am now using a latex paint. When I contacted Old Century Colors, they told me I would need to mix the paint with a bonder to make it adhere better. I have done that and have painted the insides only to this point. The paint is dry, but I can take my nail and scrap new paint off. Is it just not cured yet? Have any of you had similiar situations? I could use any tips you may want to offer. I want to make sure it is going to work before I invest all this time. Have a wonderful day. ~~Melissa

Saturday Ramblings

Hello!! What a nice day we have been having. It is over 40 degrees, the sun was out for a little while, and I could see grass. It was brown grass, but better than snow. Green grass and flowers can't be far behind!!!

I just finished up one of the stitcheries that I was working on. It is from Moonchilds Primitives. I framed it in one of my garage sale make overs and hung it on the end of my kitchen cupboards. I am never sure whether to use the glass or not. I like how it keeps it cleaner, but not really wild about the glare. What do you do??

I am posting a picture of what I did with my kleenex box in the bathroom. I don't like that the boxes don't go at all and I didn't want to spend money on buying a cover. Not to mention that it is hard to find some size covers. Anyway, I was going through my

stash of garage sale items and found this box. It fits perfectly on the back of the toilet and there is still plenty of room for a candle next to it. Now the kleenexes are out and the box stays hidden. All for 25 cents!!!

I am trying to get myself psyched up to paint my kitchen cupboards. We painted them about 4 years ago. My husband did the majority of the work as he sprayed the doors to prevent brush marks. The paint we used was a really good paint. However, they don't make that color anymore and even with the formula we have for it, it looks different. It was an oil base. Anyway, we are also residing the house and getting all new windows--old farmhouse--gotta love that!!! So the windows in the kitchen and utility room will need to be painted to match the cupboards. We don't want the paint to look different, so I am going to use Old Century Cranberry and repaint them. Brush this time!!! I am just waiting on a bonding solution to mix with the paint to come in. Old Century said the new paint would stick better to the old with it. It sure sounded more fun before the paint arrived!! The color won't be much different that what we have now. You can see in the first picture behind the welcome stitchery. The bonding mixture is to be in on Tuesday. Can't wait:) I'll keep you up to date!!

Have a great day. Thanks for stopping by. ~~~Melissa

To "B" or Not To "B"

Hello, everyone. Hope you have had a good day so far. I am posting the results of my homework. Linda from Behind My Red Door challenged me to list some of my favorite things that begin with the letter B. I was a bit stumped at first but soon discovered that I had many. So here they are in no particular order, except of course, the first one!!

1.Bubba, Be, and Bo-nicknames. Bubba is Tim and he is 10. Be is Emily (middle) and she turned 13 the day this picture was taken. Bo is Alex and she is soon to be 15. They are a great blessing to our lives. Even when they drive me crazy!!

2. Bowls. Old wooden ones are my favorite but I also love yellowware and old blue ones.

3. Berries. I love how they brighten up any spot they are put into. These are in my bathroom and the candle makes a cozy night light.

4. Boxes. I love to find them at garage sales and auctions and fix them up for use either inside or out. This one may be put away soon. It isn't as cute now as it was in November. Before the yucky winter!!











5. Old Baskets!!!!
















4. Braided rugs. I looked a long time until I finally found this one. It seems they always throw in a color or two that I don't like. This one is perfect!!















5. Bowl Fillers. JoJo has claimed this one and doesn't like anything put into it!!

6. Burgundy and blue. My favorite prim colors.

7. Blogging--of course!!

8. Bulbs. Not only the ones that bring beautiful flowers each spring but the silicone ones that decorate all the corners of our home.

9. Boots--they keep my feet dry when I take the garbage out. Oh, how I wish for a garbage disposal this time of year.

10. Barns. I really like when they are all fixed up. The stories they could tell.

11. Ballet. My girls both take dance and while I prefer jazz and tap, I love the calmness of watching them dance.

12. Blankets. Who doesn't like to curl up in a warm blanket when it is freezing out!!

13. Bargains!!

Well, that is my list. I would love to see some of yours as well. If you would like a letter, please let me know. I need to go for now and take the girls to dance class. Have a great night. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Melissa

Happy February

Hello. I can't believe it has been a week already since I last posted. It seemed like every time I was going to come back and do it, something came up. Oh, well. You all know how that is. I have been busy with several projects in the last week. First, after seeing all the wonderful pictures of your beautiful, well organized, peaceful, relaxing "blog spaces", I looked around mine and went YUCK!!!! So I started in on organizing. I took all of my Create and Decorate-there were alot of them--and tore out the patterns that I really loved and filed them all by month. This freed up one entire filing cabinet drawer. Plus now I know exactly where to look. It might even be fun to look for patterns now. Plus, I shouldn't get too sidetracked.



After going through all of the other patterns I had and filing them under their respective season and/or craft type, I moved on to the scrapbook supplies. I sorted what I didn't want and will take them to church when we have our scrap days and see if anyone else would like them. I took all of the paper I had and put it into an old tool box that I picked up at a garage sale this summer. I fits perfectly under my crafting table and takes up less space than my previous storage solution-a rubbermaid container. Plus it looks way more prim. Then I added a crock beside my table to use as a trash can. Again, better than the old yucky can I had that was a misfit from another room. Once I get my room the way I would like, I will post some pictures. I hope the picture of the tool box doesn't show up more than once. I was having a little trouble with the adding photo feature!!


The next project I finally finished was the dance signs in my girls' rooms. DH hung them for us last night. They turned out pretty well. I will never again attempt a project like this. It did not go smoothly at all. All I can say is they are done!!! I used lettering from Uppercase Living, frames from Michaels, and duckcloth for the backing. The top one has black letters and frame with duckcloth that I painted white. The bottom one has chocolate brown letters, white frame, and the duckcloth in the natural color.

I also finished one of the stitcheries I was working on. I am in the process of painting the frame now and will post when it's done. I now have some homework to do. Linda from Behind My Red Door assigned me the letter B to list things that I love. I have really had to do some thinking. My next post will feature these items. There are actually alot more than what I thought.

Thanks for taking time to stop by. I truly appreciate it. Have a wonderful evening and take care.

Sorry for the long gap at the end of this post. Don't know what I did wrong.