My boyz

I just had to share this picture of the loves of my life :)

My new sign

My dad does construction for work... and with that he comes upon lots of demolition of porches, closets, kitchens and baths. Well I would probably barf if i had an idea of the kinds of things he has hauled to the junk yard.... for ex... old porch posts... cabinets... and knottty pine boards. He just DOESNT think about saving any of it. SO i told him to save pine boards... this one was a closet shelf! but it was nice and big... so I whipped up this sign the other day while my lil boy was napping... hope you can see my lil pine branch painting in the corner???

Redo bowl

THis is how my ugly halloween bowl redo turned out
..much better than I thought it would! I scratched it up really good and beat on it for awhile... painted it all black and then dry brushed it a cream color... stained it and it actually looks OLD! hooray! :)
I like my honkin jingle bell in there with some real greens...I had to wear ugly Christmas attire to get it for half off! SO i got two:)

Thrift Finds

Some good will finds I plan to work on this week...I have been on the
major look out for some BOWLS! The one with the star is particle wood made I believe... but the other one is a maple... and im tempted to leave it as it... except it looks too "new"... so I think Im gonna have to beat on it and play around with it until I can get the aged antique bowl look I want! The sign will get repainted and the tote... i might just try to remove all the handpainting iwth acetone....i will post the turn outs!

Christmas Crafting

This is what I gave to our Tuesday evening Bible study group as a lil Christmas gifts ... just for fun bc I thought it looked so yummy!
Its peppermint cocoa and I thought it was rather tasty for homemade cocoa ! I was bummed though because I wanted to put it in mason jars and layer the ingredients... but my husband couldnt find mason jar lids at the store when he was in town! (guess they are seasonal??) Maybe Ill have to start saving jelly jars with the lids for next year (FREE !:))
Anyways if you want to try to make these I thought I would share... because getting FREE ideas and recipes is the BEST!
Peppermint Cocoa:
2 cups non fat dry powdered milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powdere (not sweetened)
1/2 cup non dairy creamer
2 dashes salt
4 crushed candy canes (leave a bit chunky so you can see the colors!... theyll melt down)
Then you add about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup (preference thing) mix to one cup hot water OR milk. Of course ya gotta MIX the peppermint in first :) I thought itd be fun to try with marshmallows or mini morsels as well???? (Half of this recipe filled up a 2 cup mason jar)

Oh man! I cant believe how TINY he is in these pics!

I miss those days when he napped all day!!!! BIG TIME... however I quite enjoy sleeping through the night now!

My little boy is 10 months old today!!!!

I can hardly believe it....

he is into EVERYTHING.

Yesterday he got into my house plants 3 times... dirt in his mouth, on the floor, on his hands!

It makes me wonder if a little girl would be like this ??

His favorite book is "Pat the Bunny" and he sits and "reads" it by himself often... staring at each page and turnin to the next... its so cute. He says "Da Da" and "All done!"... but it sounds more like "aaahhh duh!". He loves grahm crackers and gold fishes and banana cereal. His top 2 teeth are pushing on through! He is standing on his own... and every now and then will try to take a step! Oh Lordy help us all! :)

My lil chenille snowmen tucked inside a old graniteware bowl I found on our property in an old chicken coup.

The cupboard was a total SAVE... i bought it for 100$ at a antique store.... but it was in BAD shape... I tried to strip it years ago with NO luck and painted it a country blue (it was going into a americana room in my apt at the time). My brother and father BEGGED me to throw it out... as they got SICK of hauling this monster everytime i moved! (moved 6 times in 7 years! haha) and now I finally painted it Black and repainted the beadboard and aged it all.... the contents on the shelves are not to my liking yet.... but I was just too anxious to put something in there! :)

Had to post this picture to show the HIDEOUS bunny bread box that now is my CHRISTMAS box
Oh and the peg rack and sconces turned out to be really cute redos as well

I have made a quilt for about every season except CHRISTmas for this ladder in my living room... but I found this unfinished flannel folk art one... and it had some red and green in it.... so finished or not... its going up! :) (Ill get to it SOMEDAY! )

xmas box

This has gotta be one of my favorite redo projects EVER.... it was a 2 dollar bread box with the ugliest bunnies painted on it... I just sanded , painted and distressed and stained it.... and now I stuff it full for the seasons.

The Lil gingerbread man was a recipe I tried out with nothing but spices and applesauce and he smells JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS!

I chopped up one of our pine trees for the greenery! I forgot how POKEY those things are! But it was worth it I think.