Sweet Cottage Sign

I’ve been admiring all the hand painted signs featured on many blogs.    They have inspired me to try my hand at painting one for myself.  

I have no talent whatsoever when it comes to handpainting or drawing.     So thanks to the many helpful comments on my last post, I decided the best way for me to transfer my words onto a board was to use graphite paper.

I got an old board out of my mom’s yard left by the estate sale people.    I figured if I messed it up, I wouldn’t be out anything.

So here’s the board in it’s raw stage:

How do ya’ll like my “workroom”?    (I have an old patio table just outside my laundry room and here’s where I do my painting, as you can tell from all the old paint colors on the file cabinet).

 

I had a little “try me” size of paint in “Milk” so that’s what I used to dry brush on the board.     

Before I sanded it, I decided I wanted to cover it a little more so I added another coat of “Milk” and then sanded it back in different areas.

     

I printed out “Guest Cottage” in two different fonts I liked, enlarged it on the computer, then printed it out and taped it together.   

Then I placed each page on my board, inserted the graphite paper underneath and traced over the words with a pencil. 

I filled in the word “Guest” with black craft paint….

…and then after tracing around the letters in “Cottage” with a black magic marker I decided not to paint it out for now.    I kinda like how it looks, what do you think?      I didn’t want to copy the sign I saw on another blog completely, so I left “Cottage” plain.

   

My guest room is getting a mini-makeover soon and I plan to use the “Guest Cottage” sign over the bed.     We are trading out the full size bed for a queen size mattress, I want to use an old mantle as my headboard and put the Guest Cottage sign over the mantle.     The black & cream toile bedding will stay the same and I’m bringing in a 3 corner cabinet for the TV.     Since I’m putting a bigger bed in there, I have to do away with some of the furniture in there but it’s pretty crowded right now so  I don’t mind getting rid of some “stuff”.

I’m making some progress in the never-ending saga of the sun room re-do.    Got one set of panels complete for one window, so now I only have 3 more pairs to do!     Still undecided on a wall color…….!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day.     We stayed home and didn’t go to the lake because it rained off and on all weekend.     My sister and her husband are coming to see mom this evening and we are all taking her out to dinner.

Have a great week!

Can Someone Help Me?

I have a question that I’m hoping someone can help me answer.   I’m sure everyone but me knows how to do this and I’m making it harder than it really is so here’s my problem:

How do I transfer an image from a piece of paper to wood?    I’ve seen some simple tutorials in blogland but can’t remember where.     I’ve also googled this and it seems there are several methods, the simplest being to rub the back of your image with a pencil and then placing it on the wood and tracing over the darkened image.    I’m sure you need to use some kind of tracing paper or carbon paper but for the life of me, I can’t seem to figure this out.      I’m stumped (or maybe stupid!)

Here’s why I need to know:    I have typed out a quote on the computer and enlarged it to the size I need, and taped the pages together for the proper size of my image.     I also have an old piece of wood I got out of my mom’s yard that I’ve dry brushed and distressed and I want to transfer those words I typed to the  piece of wood?    Make sense?

I’m a very visual person and I hate trying to follow directions.    So if anyone can give me a REAL SIMPLE way that I can do this, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Husband 1.0

I received this e-mail a few years ago and thought it was so cute.      Then someone sent it to me again and I was so glad because I could not find it on the internet.     Enjoy!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and Housecleaning simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First, keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command:   ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try  to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3 Update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources!)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.

These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.    You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.    We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!

I think all of us at one time or another have experienced at least one or more of the problems that “Desperate” encountered.

Off to the lake for Memorial Weekend.   Ya’ll be safe and I’ll be back next week.

Party Like It’s…..2010!

I know the REAL song is Party Like It’s 1999  (loved me some Prince back in the day).    But we did party at the twins 6th birthday party today.

SIL’s grandmother has a pool not far from where daughter and SIL live and she is very gracious about sharing the pool with all the kids and grandkids.    It was a beautiful day, VERY HUMID, but perfect weather for a swim party.      Next time I’ll wear my swim suit, no matter how I look in it!

I just wanted to share some pictures from today.   Hope you enjoy!

Jackson absolutely loves Sponge Bob so that’s the theme Shannon went with for the party and this cake turned out so cute

Ex-husband (weird I know - but we do get along 17 years after our divorce), son (middle) and my husband

The water slide is what son and DIL gave the twins.    It was a great hit at the party.    If anyone is interested,  I think they got it at Academy Sports.

Taylor ready to go down the slide

Jackson’s turn!

 

The “ladies” having a picnic

Granddaughters Taylor (left with floaties) and McKinley (arms around her legs)

My handsome son and DIL Jennifer (having a little boy in August….she hardly even looks pregnant)

Ex and our son

Shannon and her good friend Leigh…..now here’s a little story about Leigh and Shannon’s husband Don.    Back in high school Don and Leigh were good friends.     When their senior prom rolled around, Leigh and her boyfriend had just broke up and Don had asked a girl from another school to the prom.    Don said that Leigh could not possibly miss her senior prom so her got out of his date and took Leigh.     (Don’t worry about the other girl, they are all friends today).     And now Leigh and her husband have two darling little boys.    Taylor has a crush on the oldest son but she sometimes says the younger boy is her “boyfriend”!     They all live in the same neighborhood, kids go to school together, and all go to the same church.    Shannon and Leigh try to get together as often as they can for a girl’s night out (eating and sometime a Zumba class).   (Hey Leigh!)

Taylor and Jackson wanted Happy Birthday sung to them individually…..so we sang Happy Birthday twice!

Boy, they grow up too fast!      I sometimes wish I could stop time and keep them “little” just a bit longer.   

I’ve been busy with some family issues lately so I haven’t had a chance to start or finish any decorating projects.     We finally have a buyer for my mom’s house after  it has been on the market since September and we are having to do a good bit of work on the house to get the sale completed.     We are doing most of the work ourselves so we are stretched pretty thin right now.    Fingers crossed things go smoothly and we’re hoping to close on the house mid-June….just in time for mama’s 90th birthday!

Ya’ll have a great week!

Time Marches On

Friday, May 21st, my precious little twin grandbabies will turn 6!    This blows my mind as it seems like just yesterday they made their entrance into this big ol’ world.      After my daughter spent a week in the hospital awaiting their birth, they arrived kicking and screaming…..Taylor at 5:00 A.M. and Jackson quickly following at 5:02 A.M.

David and I have been overly involved (LOL) in their short lives since the beginning.     And while it’s  been so much fun seeing them turn from babies, to toddlers and now into “little people”, it also makes me sad to see them grow up, far too quickly as far as I’m concerned.

Two years ago at “graduation” to pre-K (in yellow raincoats)

Taylor all decked out in her Auburn smocked dress, sunglasses, purse and plastic necklace to go shopping with her mama and me

Taylor (Christmas 2008) just before riding on her float in the Christmas On The Coosa parade

Jackson and Taylor – she always likes to remind him she’s the “big” sister

Jackson making sure his hat is on right (this was during potty training days)

Me and David with all the grandchildren at the lake Christmas 2008 (looks like someone is not too happy having her picture taken!)

Taylor and Jackson spending the night with MiMi and Pop

"Graduation” 2009 from pre-K to kindegarten (not sure what’s up with Taylor’s cap but she wore it like this the entire ceremony)

Jackson making his speech at graduation

Happy family (Shannon, Taylor, Don and Jackson)

Pop and his “little man”

Pop and his most favorite girl in the whole wide world!

Miss Taylor giving someone “the look”

Oh, here’s our grand-dog Ruby (belongs to our son)

Lake 2008

Jackson loves the seadoo

My beautiful daughter and her babies

 

Last summer I took one child for a whole day before school started to do whatever they wanted to do…eating out, playing, buying MORE toys, etc.    Jackson is impatient for me to quit taking pictures so we can go get him a “twuck”

Taylor softball 2010

 

First day of school 2009 (Jackson)

First day of school 2009 (Taylor)

Time to go to “big school”….Taylor was not real sure she wanted her mommy to leave

Bye bye little man, I’ll see you at 3:00

Happy Birthday Taylor and Jackson!

We love you,

MiMi and Pop

Beautiful Beaches, No Oil In Sight!

Just a quick post from the beautiful beaches of Alabama.    As you can see, we saw  no oil coming on shore.   

Many locals have told us they feel that the media is making the story much worse than it is.    Don’t get me wrong, the oil slick/spill is a HUGE problem but we’ve been here two days and as you can see  in my pics, there is no oil on the shore nor any “tar balls” either.     One business is advertising to pay $10 for each tar ball!

           

If you are planning a trip to the beautiful beaches of Alabama, I’d encourage you to “come on down”.    Of course, you certainly want to follow the news about the oil slick but I don’t think you’ll have any problem with oil on the beaches.

Today we shopped and went sight-seeing.    I won’t even mention how a certain someone got us lost and refused to ask for directions.     Can you guess who I’m talking about?  (hint:   it’s not moi!)

Tomorrow we’ll spend most of the day on the beach and then tomorrow night we’re going to the Wharf and Guy Harvey’s!