Give Thanks

 

I'm still so happy we put the stone around our fireplace! I just love it!

I decided I wanted to make a banner for Thanksgiving to help show it off.

I made this banner using a paper packet called Felicity from Close To My Heart. I'm not sure how long I've had it now, but it's about time I cut it! Lol You won't believe what I used to make the base of the pennants. I used the chipboard from a 3 ring binder that was broken. I'm sure you've seen what a binder looks like once it's worn out. The plastic exterior "breaks" and starts to tear. Well inside is really heavy weight chipboard. So next time you have one that is worn out, pull out the chipboard and make something new with it. It would be perfect for things like boxes.

 

I used rust colored glitter on chipboard for the words Give Thanks. I just love all the colors in nature during fall. Such beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, greens and of course my favorite color brown. I try to take a week of vacation every year in November to begin making my Christmas cards and gifts. It also gives me a chance to get a really good cleaning done before family joins us for Thanksgiving dinner. For me making cards is a wonderful way to relax and express my love for the people I make them for.  I'm not sure anyone other than us card makers know just how much time can be involved in the card making process.  But I believe they know it's special because it was handmade just for them.

I hope you have the most wondeful Thanksgiving!

And that you can take time to reflect on all you are thankful for!

I'd like to share this with Really Reasonable Ribbon, Simon Says Stamp, The Sisterhood Of Crafters, 

 Pixie Dust Studio, Divas By Design, For Fun Challenges, Word Art Wednesday,  and Tatertots and Jello.

Who Is Marking Your Life?

 

Several years ago I received this postcard in the mail. I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to save it for something special. It's kinda a deep thought "Who is marking your Life?"

The back of the postcard says "Tattoos have been around for thousands of years. No matter your view of tats, we all have marks on our souls because of what someone has said or done to us. They feel permanent and we allow them to define us. But what if we listened to what God has to say about us instead of others? Because all of us have been marked by someone. Who is marking your life?"

It's so true. No matter what we look like it's what is on the inside that counts. It's about what we do with our lives that matters. I hope during my lifetime I will leave a good lasting impression on another human being. Especially my little man, Parker!

 

I want to share another beautiful quote with you.

 

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

― Mother Teresa

 

Well this concludes my deep thoughts for today. Well maybe :)

Anyhow I made this picture with the Hanging Decorations Stampotique Designers Challenge in mind. I'd also like to share this with Artistic Inspirations, and Eureka Stamps.

Bathroom Mirror Updates

Here's another glamour shot picture that was used in marketing our our when it was for sale.

And another great picture. Don't they just scream buy me. LOL!

Well at least you can see the giant corner tub, his and her vanities, and tile floor. There was no mention of the shower or separate toilet room. But do we really want to talk about that part. Maybe in a later post when the shower is tiled ;) Oh but look closely at the pictures, the curling irons are left plugged in just sitting on the counters. Isn't that brilliant.

Yes, we had to replace the counter top to get rid of the horrible burn marks.

 

Ok, so I did not exactly take the best before pictures, but you can see that lovely 1980's look on the mirror. Really!?! This house is not that old to have put a mirrored frame up.

So they had to come down. Chad used a damp towel and an iron to loosen the adhesive backed foam tape. Then slowly pried each mirror piece off using a hand trowel. We scrapped the rest of the foam tape off with a razor blade. As soon as that was done it was time to build and hang new frames.

It feels so much brighter and cleaner to me with the white frames around the mirrors. I love that the frames are separate on the mirror. It feels like they are hung in place. It simply looks better too because the counters are at 2 different heights. Now I need find a chair to sit and put on my war paint in the mornings.

I am so much happier with our bathroom now!

The next thing I have in mind is to rip out the shower stall, tile it, and put on a glass door.

I'm sure that project will take me a while to talk Chad into :)

I'm sharing this mirror makeover with The Stuff Of Success, and Tatertots and Jello.

Stone Fireplace Makeover

Even though this picture is not in focus it was actually used to market our home for sale. Yes, seriously! It does however give a hint that is has 9 foot ceilings, full length windows, hardwood floors and gas fireplace. I am not an expert in real estate by any means but it still baffles me that all the benefits were never mentioned and the photographs were crappy. I guess since I am a HGTV addict, I think when homes are on the market the pictures should be like glamour shots highlighting it's best features.

Here's a close up of the cheap boring tile. Really? Fake mosaic tile? It looked ok I guess.

But I had something better in mind :)

Bye Bye tile!

Chad removed all the tile. I think he likes the demo part the best. Chad had to cut out a small section of the base of the wood surround so the hearthstones could slide under it easily. Next he stapled a metal lathe into place.

Then he coated it in mortar. The blue painters tape on the floor marks out the area for the new hearthstones. The rest of the tape was used to make cleanup easier if mortar fell on the metal edge of the fireplace.

Voila!

Can you believe it's the same fireplace!?!

Stacking the stones in place was like a giant puzzle. Not Chad's favorite part by any means. I heard a lot of profanity during this step. lol

I just love the fireplace now. It has such a strong presence and feels like it should have always been like this. Painting the walls a warm beige certainly helps the fireplace stand out now too. LOVE IT!

After all it has a craftsman feel to it with the wood, brick and stone. It seemed like the stone needed to be carried in from the outside.

I'm linking this up to The Stuff of Success, and Tatertots and Jello.

Geek Is Chic

 

I recently was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Scrapbook Modern. Jason was kind enough to send me some items from Imaginisce called Geek Is Chic. It is just the cutest set of school theme paper and embellishments. Since is is starting to get cooler and we spend more time indoors having a box of Kleenex is a must. So I decided to make a tissue box holder and matching card for Parker's 1st grade teacher. I added a few bright paperclips on the card. The "hello" stamp came from Stampin' Up! a very long time ago. I stamped it on a left over snip it of paper and stapled in place. I used Mod Podge to glue everything in place on the house. Hopefully it will give a layer of protection against all the little hands that will need a tissue this winter.

 

I thought I would share this with Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT, Through The Craftroom Door, Tuesday Alchemy, Papertake Weekly, Loves Rubberstamps and Anything Goes.