when God steps in

Hello!!!!  We're back:)  It was such an amazing week.  I was homesick, really homesick and didn't even know it.  Everything about Illinois was so amazingly beautiful.  I truly made the most of the week and savored every second.  One of the most memorable things I did this week involved my daddy.

For the past year my dad has been mentioning a mural for his shed.  When he came to our house last Fall he sat at the kitchen table and sketched out just what he wanted.  He told me all the details....over and over again.  He bought a metal truck at Hobby Lobby several years ago and had a vision to see it driving down an old country road with grass between the lanes.  He wanted a red barn, a windmill, a split rail fence, a mailbox with their name on it...a bunny!  Too funny.

For Father's day I thought that would be the perfect gift. 

It was a really hot and windy day to be painting outside in a shed.  Really HOT!  The wind was whipping my hair in my face, and my dad decided to plop down in a lawn chair and watch me THE WHOLE TIME.  I begged him to leave, but if you know my dad you know he's stubborn to the core.  There was no moving him;) 

He didn't talk...just watched.  EEEEK!  I don't work that way.  For one thing I always have a slight panic attack when I paint.  I'm a fly by the seat of my pants artist...and this was important to him.  I wanted it to be really special.  Having him watch me was nervewracking.  I sent him on little errands to find me a bobby pin and to bring me sweet tea;)  And slowly stroke by stroke the painting started to take shape. 

I always marvel at how God steps in.  I had to go back into the house for something and I more or less pleaded with him to help me and I swear he sketched it out.  His hand was on those brushes!!  It turned out so much better than I could have dreamed.  The truck looked like it was meant to be there.  It blessed him down to his toes.  It will always be a day that I remember.  My Heavenly daddy workin' it out for me and my earthly daddy cheering me on...beaming with pride.  Does it get any better than that!   

Have a blessed day.

631.  wide open spaces

632.  lemon squares

633.  antiquing with my peeps

634.  a beautiful momento for my dad

635.  barns!!!

636.  the porch with the perfect view

637.  the finished bathroom

638.  Lori and Marylynn

639.  feeling missed by honey

journey girl

I really don't like doing murals.  There is an insecure process that I go through every time.  First the agony of oh no my work is going to be on someone's wall and they will have it in their face BIG...every day.  Then I have the "I don't have a clue what in the world I'm doing" stage.  Why in the world did I act like I did??  Then the dread of actually starting the project, and finally in the middle...when it looks it's worst...I want to run away.  I actually want to just cry and run. 

I've figured it out though.  I'm not a journey girl.  That's horrible to say because that's where we are most of the time.  I really don't like the messy in between parts.  I like it when the big picture is in focus and all the edges are smoothed out and I can actually tell it's going to be alright. 

Sorry for the blurry picture.  This is where my day was spent...on this ledge.  Praying pleading with God that it would look okay in the end.  That I wouldn't fall off and kill myself.

My neighbor Tammy wanted a Scandinavian fishing village.  She gave me lots of brochures...with perfect beautiful pictures of Sweden and Copenhagen.  I was freaking out a little inside thinking ummmm that's a little outside my comfort zone. 

My style is whimsy...childlike.  Not perfect or realistic.  I kept stressing that...trying to manage expectations.

Turns out in the end I liked it.  She liked it.  All was well...whew!!!!

Why do I freak?  How do I learn to trust myself...trust God??   In the end I was covered in paint.  My back was killing me and I was totally exhausted....probably from all the fretting;)  But once again the result was good.  Maybe someday I'll actually learn to enjoy the journey...nah! 

Have a blessed day.

My "Studio"

I found these cute clothe letters at the General Store this week. I had a coupon on account of it being my birthday month and I just had to use it right?? Anyway they were just what I needed to spruce up my "studio" wall:)

{Before}

{After}

We are going to add some track lighting above my table, so I can see better. This area is in the basement of our house. There is a window but we only get afternoon sun. So I think more lighting will help alot!

My storage. These bookshelves were in Little Chick's room and they were just too big and black, so I moved them to the basement and they were a perfect solution to hide all of my crafting stuff.

I've shown this before. I got this bench at a flea market years ago. It was sooo ugly. I found this pillow at Anthropology and knew I had to redo the bench to match. I sewed the cushion and it's reversible. It is really cute now. I just love it.

Have a blessed day.

Jungle love

It's been a while since I've shared any art, so I thought I'd pull up a mural I did a few years ago. My neighbor Michelle had me do a Jungle theme for her son's room.
Her son wanted a snake, monkey and toucan. So we hunted through some books for some ideas and voila! I love the monkey.
Not as thrilled with the toucan, but apparently that's what they look like:)



Have a great day!!

Little Chick's Happy Place

{Before}

Well here it is the big reveal!! I've been waiting patiently all winter for the inspiration to come for my little chick's room. I told her last year when we did big chick's room that she was next and well...up until now I didn't know what to do. Then it hit me! I love my "be happy" bowl, why not base the room on the bowl? So I did and it turned out really cute.
Here is the final product. It was many projects in one. I had to repaint the walls, sew the bedding, refinish and decoupage the bed and then finish with the mural flowers and wipe board...whew makes me tired just thinking about it!!

Here is the "happy" cloud over her bed. This is very appropriate for my little chick. She needs reminding of this on a daily basis:)

I'm very proud of the bedding. I already had the purple sheets and had made the polka dots shams previously, so I just sewed a new duvet, king size sham and little orange pillow. I'm not a master seamstress so I always marvel that I can actually pull off a sewing project. With God's help all things are possible right?

The bed was given to us when my husband's grandmother passed away. It is really old and rickety and we will probably have to replace it before too long, so I antiqued it and then added scrapbook paper to give it an unusual shabby kind of look...I Love it now!

Big chick got a chalkboard wall, but I wanted to do something different in little chick's room. So I opted for the dry erase board.

It took several coats to get it this good, and it's not perfect. Hopefully it will work good when we try it out. It has to cure for a few days. So if you have any questions about it I'll let you know.

This little table was also given to us. It used to be an old fashioned school desk. I actually painted it years ago, but it goes perfectly in her little corner for a side table.

My husband was a real trooper putting furniture together for me this weekend. He is in the tax business and right now he is hardly ever home, so this was a real labor of love. We got these bookshelves at IKEA for $60! I am probably going to decoupage the backs of them because I think it's too much black. I'll have to show the end result when I'm finished.

And finally this is her new dresser (IKEA). Another labor of love from my honey. The butterfly painting was the first piece of art I ever did at my local art class. I've mentioned before I love butterflies. Thank heavens for little girl's rooms to decorate:) I still have to add pretty things to the top of her dresser and a lamp but overall the room is pretty much complete. Boy when the inspiration hits...watch out!!!

Have a blessed day!

My first Mural

Not long after we moved to Minnesota I got involved a little at my daughters' preschool and they asked me to do a mural for them. It was my first one!! I was so nervous. But it was on a volunteer basis and the walls were a blank canvas, so what did I have to lose.
I got my inspiration from children's books and just jumped in.
It was great practice for me and now every time I walk in the doors it feels sunny and cheery. It makes me smile knowing I did that!!

Closet Murals part 2

The pig and cow are in my little chick's room. It's super cute. The two pigs or hippos (I can't decide which they look like) in the basket are flying over her clothes:)

The mural above is in big chick's room. It was inspired from a t-shirt. She has a real flowered "tiara" on her head that we got at the Renaissance Festival and then I hot glued some little flower beads on her dress. She's really cute.

Closet Murals part 1

We have really big closets in our house. It's nice because it provides a perfect canvas for me to play with paints. Last year I decided to "decorate" all of our closets. The mural above is in my closet. I was inspired again by Bella Pilar. I just love her funky style, of course mine has it's own flair.
The mermaid is in our toy closet located under the staircase in the basement. She is floating in the blue ocean. Closets are a great place to put a mural, so you never get tired of looking at them.

Big Chick's Room

A while back I redid big chick's room. We did it like a makeover show. She slept in her sister's room and I painted away for almost a week and then we did a big reveal. It was fun and she loved the results.
The old iron bed was mine when I was a little girl. I repainted it and distressed it a little with bronze glaze. I sewed the duvet cover to match a quilt I found at TJ Maxx.

The bookshelves were really ugly wooden laminate. I just lightly sanded and painted them white and then glazed them. They look so much better.
I matched her vanity with the pink on the wall and then below we did a funky black chalkboard wall. If you have ever worked with this paint before you know what a chore that was. It's really thick and messy. But that is probably my favorite part of the room redo.