Just wanted to share some pics of family and friends this Halloween. This is always a fun time of year for us. Hope it was a fun and safe for you as well. :-)

Exterior House Painting

I got started on painting the other three sides of the house at 7am today. My fingers were frozen. Had to be in the 40's or somethng like that. It's going to be a long process since the hardy siding seems to soak up paint causing us to have to put two coats on. What I finished today was the bottom half of one end of the house, the parts that I could reach with the ladder without falling off, and the back porch. Only the yellow tho. We decided to work on one color at a time. When all of the main color is finished then we will go back and start on the cookie cream trim. Not much to tell right now but I will keep you guys posted on our progress and of course there will be pics.

Second attempt at a crochet rug

Practice makes perfect so I thought I would try my hand at another crochet rug. This time I'm making my yarn out of old t-shirts. I cut them into half inch strips and stretched them, tied them end to end, and rolled them in a ball so it would be easier to handle when crocheting. I managed to get four lines done with the amount to t-shirt yarn I was able to make from the old t-shirts on hand. Needless-to-say, I'm on the hunt for super duper cheap thrift store or even free t-shirts so I can finish this project. Here are pics of what it currently looks like. I'll post more when it's completed.

Chandelier Bird Feeder

I had it in my mind that I wanted to make a candle chandelier for the bathroom but while I was looking for an interesting design to duplicate I came across a bird feeder that I just fell in love with. It was made out of an old chandelier light.

During one of my many visits to the thrift store, I came across this old black hanging chandelier type light. It was bent in some places and the arms were loose and swinging back and forth. For a $1.49 I decided it was worth a try. I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed carrying it under my arm. I was getting strange looks from other people in the store. Needless to say, it did look like it needed to be thrown away.

When I got home I took it apart, completely. Took out all of the electrical wires and hardware and put it back together again making sure all of the nuts and bolts were as tight as they could get. The original color was black and it seemed to me that was a depressing color to put in the yard or garden so I bought a spray paint at Lowe's called Ocean Breeze. It's kind of a bluish green color that I though would be visually pleasing. So here is the final result. I don't have any birdseed right now so I just put stale bread in it for the time being. I'm very pleased with the outcome and will be looking for more hanging lights to make a few more to put up around the yard.

Burlap Coffee Bag rug

The wonderful thing about being a night owl is that I feel like I'm stealing a few extra hours out of the day to complete projects. My floors are feeling naked since there isn't one rug on them at the moment and with the colder weather coming on quickly, I believe it's time to start dressing them up. I found this design http://creativebabies.typepad.com/crafty_life/2008/12/wool-throw-rug.html for a rug using a burlap coffee bag and fell in love with it. I wanted a longer runner type of rug for the kitchen so as I settled in at 11:30p.m. with a low budget movie and began to work on my rug. Here's how I did it....

First: I cut the seams off of the side of the bag so I could open it in order to make a runner style rug. I left the seams on the ends.

Second: I ironed out all of the wrinkles and creases.

Third: I took red jute webbing and folded it top to bottom and pinned it in place.

Fourth: I do not own a sewing machine as of yet (on my Christmas list) so I had to sew this by hand. Wasn't too bad...I was able to complete by the time the corny movie was over.

Fifth: I then ironed the edges down just to make it look more finished and neat.

(I will be purchasing a non skid mat to go under my rug just to be on the safe side)

I Love Love Love it.........

Kudzu Killer

Today was the beginning of actual work on my future garden. The kudzu has been cut down but there is still a ton of work to do. There is a web of vines on the ground that have to come up before I can till the earth. That's what I started on today...pulling up the kudzu vines. A half gallon of sweat and two blisters later...I got the first layer scratched off. This is without a doubt a work in progress. More posts to follow as I make baby steps to getting the ground ready for next spring's vegetable garden.

My favorite artist

Gabriel Ricks...my favorite artist of all time. I just wanted to drop in and say a few lines about how wonderful I think his paintings are. He's a young, fresh, up-and-coming artist that I am sure, without a shadow of a doubt, will be well known in the art world at some point in the future real soon. If your interested in seeing more of his art...drop me a line. He's also a friend of mine and will be more than happy to hook ya up. :-)

DIY homemade metal polish

I thought I would try my hand at making a metal polish to clean up a pair of oil lamps I found at a yard sale. I used this recipe http://pancakesandfrenchfries.com/2010/09/nontoxic-homemade-brass-polish/. I didn't have white vinegar so I used the brownish kind I did have. I don't think it's works as well as the white. My lamps are not spotless but they do look like they have been cleaned. I'll be giving it another shot when I'm able to pick up a bottle of the white stuff. Here are before and afters. All in all, I believe the diy homemade metal polish works fabulous as long as you have the ingredients.

Laundry Room

I got tired of looking at the yuckyole laundry room everyday so I started painting it last night around 9:30ish. I know, I know...9:30ish??? When I get an idea in my head, I can't rest until it's been implemented. So here is the before and afters of it. I used what I had so it's nothing fancy but at least it's clean and somewhat prettier. :-)

In The Beginning......

The house was a mess. Everything needed to be painted, replaced, or cleaned before we could even think about moving in. I lost sleep, skipped meals, and worked under extreme conditions since there was no air conditioning in the house when we start renovations and it was in the middle of summer. With persistence and perseverance the work got done. All the painting, laying floor tiles, replacing doors with walls and building a new front porch was completed in a matter of months. I did most of the work myself since I was the only one in the family that didn't have to work full time since I'm attending school and had more "free" time to get this stuff finished. There is still a lot of work to be done as of yet. I will take you with me while I make renovations, build furniture, repair stuff, and start my first vegetable garden. Any tips or advise on anything I do will be welcomed with great appreciation. I am not a pro at any of this. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I've done this type of work on my own. I do research before starting a project, sometimes it turns out beautiful and other times I have to start over from scratch because I flubbed it up with my lack of experience. Here are a few pics of some things I've made or done on the house so far.

My Furry Babies

Let me introduce to you my four legged furry babies. Azreal, Abby, Diesel, and Oscar. I see these cute little critters as babies and can't resist bringing them home with me(much to my husband's dismay). They don't do much of anything except eat and sleep but they are ALWAYS there when I need comfort or a listening ear. They are not prejudice or judge me for what I look like that day or what type of mood I might be in at the time. My babies always come running with excitement to greet me. They are my emotional rock that keeps me stable and calm when no one else is around.