Tuesday’s Display Chain, photos

I’m a day late (well, that’s not unusual now is it?)
Misi over at http://1890gablehousemusings.blogspot.com/ host’s a Tuesday Display Chain and this weeks theme is:  “A Crafting Secret Exposed”

My contribution this week is using Brown Paste Shoe Polish.
I had some faux pumpkins I purchased at JoAnn’s a few years ago and they were extremely yellow orange and bright so this past Fall I got out my trusty wax shoe polish and gave them a good rub down.

The two of them left not done, right finished

All finished and displayed

I hope you learned something new from this display chain this week…I know I have after reading everyone else’s tips.

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On Sunday we received our CD from church of our granddaughters confirmation from a couple weeks ago…goodness the photographer took some fun shots…he just kept clicking and although lots of them are silly we enjoyed looking at them.

 

No, I wasn’t smelling her flower – the photographer said something funny to Emily and she cracked up and it was infectious
 

This is the picture that will be going in the church directory…we have finally joined a church we like!!!!

Brett’s family

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I have a difficult time growing flowers because of the neighbors Black Walnut trees (there is something in them that kills many, many plants and food bearing plants).
So last year I bought some Marsh Marigolds – said they can grow almost anywhere especially in shade which is all we have.  They were very tiny last year but this past month they exploded…I wasn’t sure about the growth but they spread and that’s perfectly fine because we can’t seem to grown much else.  I love yellow and these have a very delicate flower

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Last Saturday we stopped at a consignment place in town here and she had some ‘new’ items for sale – one being this Americana table square.  I like the quality of it and it’s even quilted. Not sure where it’s going to find a home at but probably in the screen room.

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Please check out Lori at http://farmhousenotforgotten.blogspot.com/ and read about how some people are pirating our designs and patterns…she along with some others are trying to put a stop to this…it’s just not fair to those of us that are trying to make an honest living from our craft.
If you would care to grab this button and put it on your blog and websites it would be so helpful. 

 
Thanks for visiting and till next time be happy and stay safe

Karen

 

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Bubble Boy!

My daughter took this picture when we were visiting my parents last week.  It makes me feel like spring!

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For the Sun Room

No, it’s not MY sun room; I don’t have one!  But I got to have the fun of helping—in a very small way—to decorate one, and that’s almost as good, right?

Lisa asked me to make one of my “You are my sunshine” canvases for her sunroom.  She believes in the motto, “Go big or go home!”

Although I had only ever made this one in an 11 x 14” size, she wanted a 24 x 30” size.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

However, I’m even happier that she sent me a picture of it in it’s new home.

OK, so I lied before. 

Just helping to decorate a sun room is not at all as good as having your own!  <sigh>  Isn’t it a lovely space?

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I love to make signs and canvases!  Please e-mail redhenhome@gmail.com if I can make one for you!

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Linking up here:
 

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Someday Crafts
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	Domestically Speaking
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri

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Timeless

I love it when people are happy with the stuff I send them 

Angie, from Knick of Time, won my latest giveaway for a beadboard sign.  Angie has an amazing collection of old clocks that she displays on her piano, and drawing on that love, she chose the word “Timeless” for her very own beadboard sign.  I *love* it when people choose something that has special meaning to them!

I was ornery and didn’t send Angie a picture of the sign ahead of time—I wanted her to be surprised when she opened the package!

Here’s what it looked like in my house…

…but today she posted about it in hers!

I love it!  What do you think??

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P.S. If you want to see more of Angie’s great collections and projects, be sure to visit her at Knick of Time.

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P.P.S.  I love to make signs and canvases! Please e-mail redhenhome@gmail.com if I can make one for you!

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P.P.P.S.  I’ve had a couple of inquiries as to what happened with my ill-fated table purchase, but they have come from readers who are “no-reply” bloggers!  To those who asked—the store would NOT give me my money back.  So I had a LOT of store credit stashed away, waiting for the day I find something fabulous!  I hope it comes soon!!

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Linking up here:
 

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Someday Crafts
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	Domestically Speaking
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri

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Earth Day Activities

If you love to garden, you probably have a greater appreciation for and sense of responsibility to the Earth we all share.  Earth Day falls on April 22nd this year and every year, so after you finish your taxes (ugh), take some time to perform one Earth friendly task in honor of the big blue marble.

These days kids are pretty ecologically aware, but you can still bring home some important

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Just a fun day!

Not a lot going on in my world right now…rather quiet and that’s perfectly okay.
Sometimes I have so much going on it overwhelms me.

I have been taking time to finish up my existing orders and then it’s designing time.  Yeah….can’t wait to have the time to create.

Oh I have to tell you – I was asked by Patti Leitzel  from Porch Sitting Time and Brickhouse Crafts Primitives in Millersburg, PA to carry my products.
She received a large box of them on Thursday and replied back that she loved them…THANK YOU PATTI…good luck selling.

Thursday was a play day here…we had our youngest grandson Aidan and Emily and Joe…it was one loud and busy day to put it mildly…Aidan did nothing but run, jump, play and laugh – but that is GOOD…never seen that little guy cry!
So I will leave you with just a few photos…nothing else to report on.

Naturally at almost 4 years old they have to be their own person…remember last weeks post??  So he walks in with his Camo coat and sunglasses

Before they went outside to play they did some ‘food prep’ play – Aidan was the grill master. Notice the gloves?  This is another one of his ‘THINGS’ of late.  He wears his brown gloves whenever he can (he’s such a silly fun boy)
The two rooms were a total mess but at least they were playing…not whining about what to do.

 
We had lunch and then went outside for some fresh air and bike and scooter riding.

 
 
 

 
 
 
So there was our Thursday…full of fun and laughs the whole day.
Aidan got a hold of my camera and took lots of pictures…this one is a fun one – Emily and I decided to do some cheesy smiles for him…he’s always say ‘say cheese’ even if he’s getting his picture taken.
Emily and I were going to plan a luncheon for her 8th grade graduation that I’m giving her and a few of her friends that are graduating with her in June…but there was just no quiet time available.  Next time…then I’ll share with you what we came up with. 

He got one of Lola but I think he had the zoom on so you can see it’s very blurry

And then the ‘hmmmm’ shot of gram – with his finger over the lens – which was most of the time.

And his play grill…he sure does make me giggle
 

Has anyone found a good on-line photo program?  Picnik is not going to be anymore after the end of April and I will miss it so much for the collage feature it has – especially for our blog headers.

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll be seeing you around blog-land
KAREN

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More Office Planning

I seem to have a new hobby…and that’s playing with Better Homes & Gardens’ “Arrange-a-Room” program!

It’s a pretty fun little program.  You can select a basic room shape from a few standard options, and then click and drag “corners” to match the shape of your room.

Next you can add furniture to your room, choosing from a wide variety of standard pieces for living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, offices, etc.

You can also alter the dimensions of the furniture you choose, and then you can even change colors (to some extent).

I am still working on the front-room-to-office project (more about that here and here).  Here are a few of the furniture arrangements I have been playing with:

The room isn’t exactly square, but that’s pretty much the shape of the workable space I have (and it’s really closer to 11’4” x 10’, but arranging those walls with a touch pad is a little tricky).  Imagine that the walkway is on the left side (not pictured), with the stair wall to the left of that.  The front door would be adjacent to the bottom left corner of this diagram.

In this arrangement, the desk (big white thing) has to butt up against the corner.  The big brown thing is an old card catalog that I have, and the little brown chair is one of my vintage folding chairs.  The smaller white thing is a low chest I have stashed in my garage.  It would actually sit under the window (I can’t get the window feature to work on the room planner), and could be painted and/or dressed up with some cushions or pillows.  I have a neat old wood-frame chair (in the garage, of course) that needs to be refinished and recovered that could go next to that (see, I’m trying to work with what I have).

In this next arrangement, the desk goes against the outside wall of the house.  I think I like the fact that you wouldn’t walk in the front door and be staring at a computer monitor!  I also think I could get away with displaying both of my folding wooden chairs this way.  The two accent chairs could be a problem—since I don’t have two easy chairs—but I kind of like this look as well.  But what do you think?  Too many chairs?

So combining elements from the previous two arrangements, you get the look above.  My guess is that that is what I’ll start with, but with no promises that it will stay that way!

What do you think?  Does it look like it will work?

So…exactly where am I on this project? 

Well, the good news is that I own all the furniture except for the desk and the rug. 

The bad news is that the chair, the bench/chest, and the card catalog all need some refinish work! 

I am NOT going to tackle building the 9-foot desk (which will look something like this)…

… but I have found a local shop that will do it for me at a good price.  Tomorrow (I hope) I am going to go there to finalize the plans and pay a deposit (I love my tax refund)!

I am going to have to figure out how to get a DSL hook-up in that room (it’s the only room in the house without a phone jack!), and I need to see if I’m going to have to move an electrical outlet.  If I do—and I end up calling an electrician for that job—I may see about getting the room wired for an overhead light!  I *love* the idea of a chandelier in there…but my dear husband says,

“Just another light fixture for me to bump my head on.”

Men…they have no vision.

How about YOU?  Can YOU share my vision??

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