our new house

The hubs and I just bought a 1922 craftsman 4 square. love it!

While it's got great bones, it also came with not so great 70's decor. hate it!

I plan to document the whole renovation as we do it. We plan to do most of the work ourselves.

Since we own two houses, the budget will be slim. Got to sell our old house as soon as we can.

The hard wood floors and beautiful stair case are covered in carpet. I'd like to choke the guy that used soooo many staples! That alone will take forever. Luckly we like projects.

We've both been sick with pneumonia since we closed 6 days ago so.. not much work going on yet.

We have had lots of time to make plans and pick out colors for most of the rooms. Guess it's good I like to paint! Now if I could get someone to pack up my old house... DON'T like packing.

hope you enjoy our BEFORE and AFTERS.

before and after

For christmas, I got a silhouette cameo!
Since then, I've been cutting up a storm.



Any hoo! I had a $2.00 small white tee-shirt in my stash, but it's cold here in Indiana!!


So...Enter an old well used long sleeved infant shirt.
(sorry I forgot before pics)


First I cut off the neck, sleeves and bottom hem. This is what it looks like now.

I then attached each in it's proper spot inside the white shirt.

My grandson LOVES tractors, so his Mimi ( that's me) just had to cut one out of flocked vinyl and iron it on the front of the newly designed shirt.

I also added his name ( which happens to be the name of a tractor co. in Indiana!) to the tractor. Soooo cute!

Another year has come and gone!

OLLIE IS 2!!

Oliver has yet to "request" his birthday cake, so....
I decided I should make him " The very hungry caterpillar" for his #2 birthday.
The cake was a BIG hit!
Happy Birthday Ollie

HOW TOMAKE YOUR OWN.
2 cake mixes, bunt cake pans , 1 large can white frosting. green,yellow,blue food coloring. red paste food dye.
yellow and green fruit roll ups ,gushers,1 green jelly bean,
1 black licorice stick
make 2 bunt cakes ( I used funfetti )
cut 1 in half for the top hump.
cut the leftover half, in half for the " neck and tail"
using the other cake , cut wedges to fill in to make the shape. " glue " with frosting.
for the head , slice several "straight" pieces and stack to make a round shape. " glue" together with matching frosting.

Using 3/4 of 1 large can of white frosting in a bowl and green,yellow and blue food color. start with green and frost several sections of the caterpillar in stripes.
then add yellow to the green frosting to for a different color, frost more stripes blending with the 1st green stripes. Finally add the blue to the frosting, changing the color once more and frost stripes blending them with the others. This will make the multi colored body.
With the rest of the white frosting add red PASTE food dye for a deep red face.
for the eyes I used yellow fruit roll ups cut in a oval shape topped off with green fruit roll ups cut into a bit smaller oval. For the nose I used a green jelly bean.
The antena is black licorice . The feet are gushers.
all the fruit candy was purchased in a mixed selection box.

invasion of THE ANGRY BIRDS

Here is the last cake till Dec.

Connor had a bowling party with his friends for his 6th birthday!

The Angry Birds were invited too.(They did not however bowl).

Here is my ATTEMPT @ the cake.

I think the kids LOVED it.

I Love you Buddy!

Connor is ALREADY 6!

For 6 years I've been making my oldest grandsons BIRTHDAY CAKE. Each year we try to out do the last. Connor puts in the order and I oblige. With the Craze of ANGRY BIRDS ,
a 6 year old boy and you got it an Angry Birds theme.

Connor's Kindergarten class endulged in a mecca of sugary delight! (sorry mom's). We made 28 angry bird and pig cupcakes. I did the prep,then put a picture in front of connor and this is what he made.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR



Thanks to Brooke for the great tutorial!

CAKE CAKE CAKE

Wow! I've been up to my ears in cake the past month.
First, I was honored to make my sister and new brother in-laws wedding cake for thier reception. They were married in Sedona Arizona and had a reception in thier home.
**(disclaimer)** I am not the CAKE BOSS!!

But I did have fun. Here is my effort.

Thanks Sis for trusting me with your cake.

All WET

Last week Oliver and Mimi went to the water park.
It was 104 with the heat index and we (I) needed to cool off.

Thinking Oliver would LOVE it (HE DID NOT!!!!)

I put on his suit and off we went

You can see he is much happier in the stroller and NOT in the water.

I love his white hair, BIG blue eyes and toothy smile!

ANGRY BIRDS

Since Connor starts all day Kindergarten in a couple weeks, I won't be sitting for him regularly any more. I wanted to do a fun craft project. I had purchased a white tee shirt on sale at
Hobby Lobby and I was "itching" do do SOMETHING with it.

After discussing it with Connor we decided to paint an angry bird on it!
I googled "angry birds coloring page" and printed his choice out on plain paper.
Then placing it under a piece of freezer paper I traced the complete design on the ROUGH side to make a iron on stencil.
I did all the cutting and ironing and Connor did the painting.
I think he was pleased with his craftiness and I was too.

getting rid of clutter one shoe at a time

Though some may like this "LOOK" I was getting tired of it!

I was trying to find a solution When I ran across a "shoe cabinet"

in a Japanese table book!
" Brilliant" I exclaimed!! Well not really but I wanted to!

Any way while shopping for one just the right size and price I scored this baby ( for only 27.00).

( in it's first life it was a corner tv cabinet). As usual I didn't get a real" before" pic. First the hubs added a matching bull nose to the three sides of the top that had been flat, took off the masonite back and side panels with ply-wood and trimmed it out.
It was then kilzed, painted out with old paint (Alabaster by Valspar) I'd used on another project, added new knobs.

Wanting a fun surprise I painted the inside THIS color!

(Spa blue by Decoart)
Now we have a shoe cozy!
What do you think?