SNOW!!?!

I am trying to be grateful for snow...we need it.

Last year we had none and I whined.

We have it this year and I am whining.

Summer will come and I will whine about the heat, and wish we had snow.

Snow is great when you don't have to go out in it.

I use to love the snow but cannot seem to warm up this year.

I think my thermostat is broken.

But I do love this tree because all the wood peckers hang out at the suet bar.

I run to get my camera because the red-haired wood pecker was there and I was not fast enough.

All the bird feeders are empty. 

 We have hungry (and sometimes angry) birds. 

 It doesn't take them long to eat us out of house and home. 

Now I have to go out into the snow to pick up kids from school.

Three coats, two pair of gloves, hat, scarf and my mukluks later and I am off.

Then I see all the kids in shorts walking to or from school.

Is it my age?

We have been here long enough to be acclimated.

Or so I think. 

OK, now I am rambling because I want to avoid the inevitable.

To the outside I GO, then while I am dressed I might as well shovel the walks.

Did I say I LOVE snow yet?!?

Hoping you are warm,

Barb

Frozen Rain=Mess!!

Raining at 20 degrees equals a mess.

Just some photos from KSL.com this morning.

What a commute!

I-15 closed for about an hour. 

A Utah Highway Patrol Trooper also hit. 

Why I blog about this you ask?

The photo below is my brother. 

 I am a worrier (you all know I have gray hair at my young age!)

He was not involved in the accident but to know he is out there makes me nervous.

He is one of the liaisons for the UHP with the news media. 

It is a mess here in Salt Lake City.

Hoping all of you are safe and warm.

My hope for all of us today!!

Barb

 

No Scrap of Wood Left Behind Tutorial

Having been raised by parents who were raised during the end of the Great Depression and then WWII 

I was taught nothing should go to waste.

So no scrap of wood can be left behind after my Dad drops off a truck load of scrap lumber.

I have all these different sizes and thickness of wood so I tried to put my frozen brain to work and come up with an idea for these 2 x 3 inch pieces of wood.

Here it goes.

Sand the wood out in the garage with the temp at 7 degrees at noon one day.

(I did not last long out there.)

Tack cloth the wood free from frost and saw dust.

Paint the wood with Burnt Umber acrylic paint.

Let dry.

Paint roughly with Decoart Melon color or a pinkish color of your choice leaving the edges paint free giving it a primitive look.  You could also paint the wood first and then sand the edges and stain with an oil base stain but that meant going back out to the garage.

I did the simpler version avoiding the outside. 

Now with Decoart Country Red stencil some hearts here and there on the wood

I just wrote on the wood with a #2 pencil "Be Mine" and a heart to dot the letter I.

Now you can paint this black with a 10/0 liner brush or use a Sharpie Marker to do the lettering. 

Inside the house, using the Dremel, I drilled two holes at the top and then added rusty wire for a hanger.

I have all these fun keys so I used white organza ribbon to attach the key to the wire on this one.

Here is one with red organza ribbon with a different key attached.

I sprayed these with a clear coat finish and are now ready to give as a small gift.

I may even add these to my Etsy shop.

No sure how creative these are when you are freezing but I needed to paint and start using my brain for some creativity.

Hope you enjoy!

Barb

I used too...

...Love to cross-stitch.  

It was a favorite past time.  

It was my first love.  

When I was on bed rest during my pregnancies it was a life saver from boredom.

You could take it anywhere with you and stitch away!!

Then came kids and I found painting.

So a few years back I decided I was going to pick up cross stitching again for the amount of time I was spending in the car or waiting for kids at whatever activity they were at.

This is a bib for a friend of mine who's son is now 4...not sure it will fit any more.

This one I went to work on and found out I needed bifocals...I really am not that old!

May I remind you I have a 16 and 13 year old...OK, had them late in life.

This was immediately put on hold due to vanity.  

This one I did for my husband when we got married.

Luckily I did this one for my daughter before she grew out of dolls.

Do not have one for my son.

Found  a box with loads of supplies for cross stitching.

 I have been adding them to my Etsy shop in the Craft Supply/Destash section.  

Click HERE to see some of the listings.

Really!?!?  There must have been a good sale on all of this.  

You know us crafty types can never pass up a sale or have enough supplies.

But in my case, at present, just so many supplies and so little time.

If you happen to be interested in any of it drop me a line.

Hope you on the east coast are warm. 

 We are still in the single digits and my hands need to go warm up!

Enjoy your day,

Barb

My New Best Friend and a Winner!

It is 9:00 AM  and this is the temperature! 

This is my NEW best friend.  Love this little space heater at this very moment!

My space downstairs is the only room that is finished but it still is mighty cold down here.

You know it is cold when you finally clean your self-cleaning oven to warm the house, when two bubble coats are not enough and you can barely move your arms, and no one can hear you coming because you have so many layers of socks on!!!  Tried that one on my kids earlier!

It should hit a high of 12 today!

The winner of the Welcome (snow, freezing temps, rain, pain, etc.) Snowman Ornament is 

Darlene of Three "D" Style.

 I had my son draw a number out of the air on our way to school...well he looked at the temperature in the van and it said "3 degrees".

Thank you all for stopping by and leaving a comment and helping promote the fun!

Darlene I will contact you for your address.

I am headed up stairs to warm up a bit!!

Enjoy your day and stay WARM!

Barb

PROCRASTINATION....

I never use to procrastinate.

I used to try to be ahead of the curve, especially in school.

Just couldn't take the pressure of not having an assignment done.

But lately, procrastination is my middle and last name.

By the end of this month I have to have my 30 hours of  Continuing Education Units done for my Nursing licence.

I have had TWO years to do this.

By the end of this month I have to have my Utah State Income taxes paid.

Stopped keeping my records in June.

Now I get to play catch up.

By tomorrow I have to have two legal forms (affidavits) filled out for a friend of mine.

Need to do laundry, clean the house, organize my crazy craft area, etc. 

So if I can get a couple of these at least started I am hoping to reward myself by finishing this LOVE sign for Valentine's Day and possible list it in my Etsy shop. 

Then if I do a bit more and get ONE thing done I want to paint this little box.

I had a plan for it apparently at the front of last year but now I will probably do something different.

I noticed yesterday I did every little odd job I could think of not to have to do any of the above...STALLING!

On that note I will remind you of the giveaway I am having click HERE.

And if my life were not so boring I would try to think of more to tell you but I guess I will stop procrastinating and go do one thing so I can start painting!!

(I know none of you do this so do not think badly of me.)

Enjoy your day,

Barb

One of my favorite Ornaments plus a Giveaway

As we all know I had a difficult time getting into the swing of Christmas this year. 

I think it is true "the older I get, the slower I go" fits well here.

My plan this year is to have the Christmas Spirit in my heart all year long!

As I was putting the ornaments away I came to one of my favorites and it brought back so many memories that I thought I would share it with you.

My daughter was in kindergarten and my son was in pre-school at the time.

He was so proud to bring home this cute teddy bear ginger ornament he had made.  While he was proudly showing me what he had learned in school that day my daughter walked into the room and proceeded to bite off the leg of the ginger.  This almost caused my son to come un-done.  

How could this be happening...his first ornament for the tree and his sister has taken a bite out of it.

After calming him down we did a bit of glue and band aid surgery on the little guy.

Looking back I am not sure what was funnier the look on my daughter's face at the taste of the "cookie" or the sear desperation on my son's face at the demise of the teddy.

I LOVE this ornament!!

Now with the Spirit of Christmas running through my veins (better late then never) I will be having an ornament giveaway.

Because it has been so cold and snowy here, you could insert "Welcome"..snow, ice, below zero temps, cold, etc.with this ornament!

This is also one of my favorite ornaments: 

 

 This ornament is a rust cutout shape of a snowman holding a heart and with a Welcome banner on the top. It is then all wired together with rusty wire. It measures 6 x 7 inches. 

This is a design by Donna Malone and Kenna Reynolds and has been adapted to fit this size ornament. Glitter paint has been applied to the welcome banner and the stars. It has been sprayed with a non-toxic finishing coat. 

To enter this giveaway leave a comment on this post only.

Open to USA and Canadian friends...sorry postage is so high to ship to other friends.

Leave a way for me to contact you if you do not do blogger.

A name will be drawn on January 14, next Monday.

Thank you for reading about my favorite ornament and good luck on winning this one!

Enjoy,

Barb

A Holiday in Review....

I am not sure what my deal was this LAST year but I could not get it together.

We had a hard time getting the decorations out and up. 

Then it seemed as though time started to fly by especially once the kids were out of school.

I did get Christmas gifts bought, wrapped, delivered and even helped out Santa for about 2 minutes.

Had an extended family Christmas Eve Party and even got the Luminaries up to guide the way for the Christ child!!

So Christmas comes and it is snowing!!  A white Christmas!!

For Christmas dinner we had my brother, his wife and 3 kids from Texas here and my folks .

It was very enjoyable!

 On Boxing Day we went to my sisters and the kids had a blast sledding down the mountain to the south of their property. They were outside for more then 4 hours and try as I might we could not get them to even come in for hot chocolate.

A view from my sisters front window--bit snowy.  Coming home that night was a bit tricky with all the snow and mountain passes.

 

My folks ended up with sewer problems so that was a bit of a nightmare with all the extra guests.

Next freezing temperatures, hoping no pipes break, then came the sick kids and husband, YUCK.

My little niece and nephew into the Urgent Care for ear infections, but sewer and pipes at my folk's house are holding!  Good News!!

We had a great New Year's Eve Party at the local church hall to save the strain on my folk's house.

My son and husband went Curling at the Olympic Oval to help ring in the new year and I aimed for bed early. Did not happen!

 

But with all this I did get to see "Les Miserables" and "Lincoln".  Very rare for us to go see movies but these were in my opinion very good.  I did not even know the story line of "Les Miserables" so it was really a treat to see one man's humanity for others.

School started today and I am for sure not ready...neither are my kids and now everyone is sick again.  My son is home from school running a fever.  Yippee!!

 

But I have a good feeling about 2013! 

This year I will get it together!

(My only goal!)

Enjoy your day!

Barb