A Merry, A Jolly Happy Halloween

 

{Vintage Post Cards—on line/bing}

And above all…

A SAFE Halloween!   {I’ll be seeing, treating scary, creepy things in the ER}

Fall Leaves and falling on knees!

 

 

A perfect afternoon to take pictures of our colorful

leaves from the second story of our home.

It was just late enough in the afternoon to capture the

sunshine as it peeked through the trees. 

I had taken the screen out of the window

to get a better photo.

And as usual, my three cats

came a  runnin’ to check things out!

Before I knew it, our Maine Coon,

Mattie (the one with NO FRONT claws)

makes a running LEAP through the open

window onto (thankfully) the sill and

jumped onto the porch roof.  

 

 

WOAH!  missing some traction kiddo? 

 

That’s better….the hind quarters still

have the tools to grip the shingles!  Still sliding

to your knees with the front legs though.

Mattie seems to be thinking… 

“Maybe if I walk sideways I can get across the roof.

Phew! a window sill to rest on.”   Don’t worry…

“I’m good!”

O.K. Mattie ( I cautiously tell him) ….come on back in.

Mattie!  (I’m being ignored)

Mattie!!       MATTIE!  (still being ignored)

 

(Mattie casually looks around, yawns

and then…)

“Oh all right!”

“Fine…

I’m coming  back in

BUT only because I WANTED

to anyways!”

 

  Suddenly, I was no longer

surrounded by my four legged

photo“crew”.  

Leaving me all alone to enjoy

a beautiful Autumn day…

and all the pretty leaves!

Oh no on the No. or Plan “C”

 

I was thrilled with the results of the painted

banners on the little chest of drawers!

Plan A was to stencil the numbers “one”

“two” and so on.  However, I didn’t have

the right size for the job.  So…Plan B

was created.

 

Using what I DID have on hand

were some rub ons and

number stickers.

At first I liked the look of

it all.  But then…

 

by the next morning, the numbers

were beginning to peel

off.   Not to mention it looked like the drawers

all were shouting “NO NO NO” !  {Ugh!}  Now what?

Ahhhh…Plan C.  I found some stencils at

Hobby Lobby and went to town!   Only…

 

the “paint” was not really paint at all.

It was regular ink.

{what I THOUGHT was stayz-on}

Looked nice right?    But….

 

it  smudged …real easy. In fact,

it came right off with a paper towel

and windex!  {great…now what?}

Another try with acrylic paint pen {that I tried to puddle

on a piece of paper and then brush it up with a stencil brush}

finally, brought the results I was hoping for.  

I need to touch up the white paint a bit.  Over all, not too bad

for my first {ummm…second or is it third?} try. 

Have a great weekend.  Happy Halloween!

Playing “Ketchup”

Trying to get caught up (ketchup) with my blogging!

Finishing a 64hr work week in our local ER has left me

sleeping long hrs (as many as I can get!)on my two days off

and hoping to stay in my “jammies” all day.

(but there’s always a ton of errands to do

on my days “off” (ha!).

So here are some of the things I have been doing

during my office/scrapbooking room make over!

Not finished…

still a work in progress.

 

      The old TWO layers of stripe wallpaper….

 

Gone!!   A “Coastal Blue” accent wall on either end of the room. 

And “Ocean Blue” walls run the length of the room.  

Ahhhhhh……..

peaceful!     {especially compared to this!}

A HUGE transformation from the nightmare-ish stripes!

It was even starting to give Angel nightmares!

Still have curtains to make…

got some AWesome material at JoAnne’s

…WITH the 50% coupon! {of course}

Next on my list was an old cardboard chest of drawers that my Mother used for her sewing cabinet.  I would guess…1950’s.  It’s been painted so many times that it’s probably the one thing that holds it together!   Another coat of paint…here it comes!

Painted the drawers the same accent blue as the end walls.

Love it!  Paint from Lowes.

Then on “Rhonna Designs” she has a whole blog of inspiration

and uplifting ideas…so…I thought I would try painting white

banners with each drawer numbered {like I’ve seen on Rhonna’s blog and  Pinterest}

 

    

Thanks to go ol’ painter’s tape, sealing the tape with the same blue paint…then…WHITE it out!

 

   

Ummmm…

I hope this works…I’ve never actually DONE this before.

Looks like a mess!

Whew!!!!

I HEART this!!!!  

And the lines are nice and crisp and clean!

  Relief!

Angel LOVES too!        

Next for some numbers….

 

But……I’m not sure these will work. I used rub-ons

and numbered stickers.

By the next morning, the stickers were starting to peal off.

I had planned to glaze them on.  Not sure I WANT to.  And…another glaring point I noticed about the “No.”….at a glance…it looked like a bunch of drawers repeating the word…

NO  NO  NO NO!…NO NO!!!! 

Hmmmmm…..that’s not very inspiring or positive atmosphere

to create is it?

Soooo….OFF with the “NO s”  and on to plan “B”.

{more on that later…I actually had to go up to plan “D”…or was it “E”?}

Well…for now all the buttons and bows are back in place on their shelf racks.  (I use old washed out Yankee Candle jars)

Angel puts her rub of approval on it!

More on the re-do in a couple of days.

(I’ve got another 13hr. shift at the ol’ER)

A day of REst… A day to REset?

 

Today, we took a wonderful day trip to  lake Hartwell.

The air was cool.  The family were all there

{my husband’s side}

to enjoy a day of fellowship,  hotdogs

and hamburgers! Because this lake is one of 5 lakes, they drain it every fall so the lower country doesn’t flood in the spring.

 

  The grill was started with kindling wood and leaves to “get it ready” until the person  that was bringing the charcoal arrived.

  I think in light of the cool breeze coming off the lake and it BEing FALL…and all staring up a fire…

was more a necessity to generate some kind of welcomed heat !

Ahhh….nice …warm…fire!  We stood around the fire with grateful hearts!

A little game of  Put-Put until the grilling was done.

This little Pup

DID NOT want to be confused with the “other”

hot dogs!  Besides he found his way into

this really neat sweatshirt…with a “Daddy

attached!!!”  This is Cherry and Tim’s newest addition.

“Mic” …he’s sooo cute!  He even comes with his own

boxer shorts!!!!!!!!

Every one called. Grace given… dig in!   {there is about 12 people out and about that are being called.}  “Let’s EAT!”

  

It was a great day.

A relaxing and re-connecting day.  And tomorrow?

Is {yet again!} another birthday!  Happy Birthday, Terry!

Time for some REdo!

 

I have tried…over many years now

{Umm ya…like seven}

to make my

study/ my office,/my scrapbooking and craft room

a pleasant place to…BE.   Despite the awful and somewhat

intimidating STRIPES that are ever present?  I mean, talk

about trying to “think outside the box” or “don’t worry about

staying within the lines” when one is surrounded in stripes?!

So, I tried pretty flowers.

Banners {home made, yes from House of 3}

Pretty rosettes…even put angels in the windows.

Didn’t matter.  Didn’t CHange the STRipes, nothing

BLENded with them.  Solution?   OFF WITH THE…Stripes!!!!

 

Say what??? My four legged childrenare wondering.

Yup!  Mamma’s got a brand new REdo!

After all, I had plenty of….help! {Oh brother…here we go again!  Where’s the catnip?}}    

     

Bye-Bye stripe wall paper!  (fabric softener really does make it come off easier! and it smell nice too) I spackled all of the holes in the wall from all the photos I’ve hung.  Then sanded it down.  

 

Picked out the paint.  (Not hard at all since I had already decided on the Coastal look)

 

I did learn something though, about caulking the seams of the ceiling and the wall BEFORE you paint.  NOT always a good idea. Since I have the dreaded  popcorn ceiling it’s hard to tape off the ceiling to get a clean line on your walls.  Not a problem, says I…because I have a GREAT way to GET that smooth line!  (unless you put the Duron-caulking on first)…ya…like I did.

You see, after the pain has dried, it (should be) a simple matter of taking a small ruler to run across the popcorn ceiling….causing part of the (NOt sorry to see you go) pilings to fall away and …

Voila!  You have “clean” lines! 

Except for one little problem.  Since the caulk was on BOTH the ceiling and the wall…that little ruler trick did NOT work!

So off it came, walls repainted.  Tape applied to wall and base boards painted.   Now it’s better.  Love the color.  And NO stripes!

More to come!