Deck the Halls and Windows and Walls

There are times that I come across a project or see something that I think is a great idea, yet I still have to do it my way, especially when we are not exactly close to such great places like Hobby Lobby and Michael's.  It was really no different for these projects.

 

These are clear plastic ornaments with glitter in them, when I first saw this they used a pledge floor wax, something I don't own and sure didn't want to buy just for this.  So I used Holloway House Floor Finish.

Seeing how I already expressed my theory that this stuff was like runny modge podge I figured why not give it a go.  Well as you can see it worked out pretty good.  I squirted enough of the floor finish in the ornament to coat the entire inside and then placed the ornament to drain the excess back into the bottle.  I then poured glitter into the ornament and gave it a gentle shake.  Left on counter to dry and there ya go! I love these lil' beauties mostly because I won't be wearing their glitter long after they are put away for the season.

We have plenty of stockings, and yet Santa doesn't seem to know where we live.  So making more seems a bit silly, but I needed something to put some fabric flowers on, so this was a good enough reason to make more stockings, right?  No you aren't alone, my husband doesn't really get my craft rationalizations either...These are hand sewn felt stockings made from sheets of felt purchased at Michael's.  The roses are hot glue, felt and twisted strips of fabric.  The lil' flowers are felt.  Embroidered initials using what else but embroidering thread.

 We live in an area now that is suppose to have LOTS and LOTS of snow, well we weren't getting what I was told we would and the forecasters couldn't get it right so we made our own. Old school paper snow flakes. We used copier paper cut in traditional snowflakes then placed them on laminating sheets and sprinkled glitter on them.  I LOVE glitter, I am NOT a fan of it's near permanent adhesion to faces and it's almost reproductive characteristics, so once again sealing it in a way where we can still enjoy it's beauty makes me a very happy person!  We hung 9 of these in the windows as if it would entice Mother Nature to bring us some real snow.

These are a tradition in our house, same clear plastic ornaments used as "memory ornaments" from fun trips or events of the year.  These have white sand from Florida and pure red dirt from Oklahoma, just two places I visited this year.

Our First Navy Nest

Our First Navy Nest

 

This cozy little nook has been changed from a "dining room" to the puppy nook, it's a great area to toss the mail, hang leashes and keys.  The pictures are 12x12 frames with 12x12 scrapbook pages with grayscale prints of our puppy girls placed in the middle! The baskets are your everyday rectangle storage baskets with ribbon tide towards the back to make it hang at a slight tilt.  I used a butter knife to push the ribbon between the tightly woven basket sides.

I love this wall, H & I wanted to do black, greys and white in our living room, but I needed a bit of color and character! Antique jars are filled with random finds such as wine bottle corks and game dice.  The photo is a fond place from home home, fits nicely in our new nest. Lack shelves from IKEA!!

Our beautiful grey bedroom!

 

The laundry closet!

Pinterest and Get No Rest

I am finally pinning away on Pinterest which has prompted me keep up with my projects a little better all so I can pin them to my own board, ha ha!!  So let the projects begin!

Bread Basket Warmers

These are made with rice and a kitchen towel. Why a kitchen towel? Well because I need these for Thanksgiving and Target doesn't sell fabric, oh what trouble I would be in if they did...Plus this fabric is good and thick and has a nice kitchen design.  I bought one small bag of long grain white rice split it in 2 then took the towel and cut it into fours, using the already sewn edges I replicated the cut edges to match. Sew 3 sides, fill with rice and sew final side.  Pop these in the microwave till hot and place in the bottom of a bread basket under the towel and there ya go, warm bread.  These can also be used to calm tense muscles or warm toes on a cold night!

♥ g 

To Post or Not to Post

There are certain days that I should not be allowed to express my opinion, therefore definitely not be allowed to blog. I haven't yet decided if this is one of those days or if I should just give my generally positive-happy-go-lucky self a pass to be bitchy and negative.

It is November here in our northern location and well frankly I'm already over it and we haven't even had snow. I miss our previous southern home, and finding myself even missing our previous mid-western home thanks to my distaste for the current "home". I knew that in this adventure we would probably end up in some places that I would have to be creative in remaining positive about, however yet again I'm having one of those days where nothing is coming to mind, just negative thoughts about the lack of sun, cold temps which are just getting colder and the wind that makes me want to curse like never before. I could say on a positive note that we haven't had to turn on our heater yet, but I am convinced that is due to Satan or some member of his family residing below us, most likely his dog, who irritates all of us, all hours of the day and night. We don't pay for our heat to begin with so there is no plus there. So the only thing I can find to be positive about is that it may be a few more weeks before we do have to turn it on, therefore until then the air will not become so dry that I will want to scrape my own skin off.

I have found entertainment in feeding the sweet squirrels and birds off of our deck. That is until I watched a greedy squirrel take off with a whole ear of corn and then later have an Alfred Hitchcock type bird slam into our window. I've resisted putting out anymore food until we have obtain proper food dispensers. Why can't the scary big black birds find food elsewhere? H found this humorous, claiming that I can't feed one without feeding them all. The puppy girls are quite confused as to why the outside animals seem to be getting more food than they are. I fear one of these days I'm going to end up with a squirrel in our house...

The positive side of me is sneaking in and telling me to take my whining butt to bed so I can start over tomorrow. I think I'll do just that, and not get out of bed until I can manage a better mood.

g

Recycled Wax

I go through a lot of Scentsy wax and every time I pour it in the trash I feel like I'm wasting it, so a friend suggested that I make candles out of it. Well, here is my first one. I bought mason jars and wicks at Michael's. I didn't buy the sticky things to hold the wick in place because I thought it was a waste of money and honestly, how hard can it be to get a wick to stay put with a little wax? Not very. After getting the wick in place I used a twix-it clip attached to the top of the wick to hold it in place while resting on top of the jar opening, this just keeps the wick centered while you pour more hot wax into the jar. I hear we should expect power outages this winter, so these may come in handy, and if not, they are pretty candles I may use next summer when we have dinner on the deck.

Plaster of Paris Roses

I can't exactly say what show it was, or that I was actually watching daytime television to start with, but I know it was on tv, I just caught a glimpse of it and overheard that they were dipping stuff into plaster of paris and it looked pretty cool. I think they were using plastic fruit, but I thought preserving my already fragile roses in the stuff might be even cooler...well not knowing what I was doing I just went for it. Bought the smallest industrial size bucket of plaster of paris and mixed it with water until I thought the mixture was thick enough to coat the roses but thin enough to let the definition of the petals show through. I dipped the dried (very dried roses) in the mix, rolled them around a bit then set them on paper towels. Left to dry over night this is what they looked like, I will perhaps make another mixture of thin plaster of paris and "paint" over any areas which the rose is showing through, or perhaps I won't I think they look pretty cool just as they are...

where have I been....

I see that it was April the last time I was here, and then again I've been there and and back a few times since then too. I would like to say that I have made it through boot camp, and my first cross country PCS but I think everyone knows that even IF I was the one who drove 1000 miles in a 26' Penske truck, that there were a lot of people along the way who helped. Before I start saying thank you and expressing how blessed I am let's back up and start with May.

H graduated in the beginning of May, the week leading up to PIR (Pass In Review) was like rush week all over, now for some of you I can see the eyebrow rising and wonder how in the world does the last week of Navy boot camp compare to a sorority rush week? Well I will tell you, the last "test" before H officially became a United States Sailor is a 12hr plus, overnight, no sleep test and the next morning when the test is completed there is a rather emotional ceremony and the Recruits who have passed are now Sailors. Later that afternoon they get to make the all important "I'm a Sailor" phone call. Waiting for that was like the night before bid day, waiting to find out if he passed was like waiting to see what house I was in. I happened to go suicide on my preference night (I only listed one sorority and they had to also pick me or I didn't pledge) so a lot like H it was do or die time. I finally heard from H and this was the first time I had HEARD his voice since the night he got to boot camp. What a moment. His sexy voice saying "well hello stranger..." was the best response to my hello I could have ever asked for. His spirits were high and so were mine, it was the best 17 minutes of my life, seriously. A few days later I was on my way to Chicago for his graduation/PIR.

PIR was awesome, well it wasn't at first. The division photos are before you are seated and guess who out of us four couldn't find H? Me. Guess who couldn't see H when his division marched into the drill hall? Me. Guess who was only about to cry because she COULDN'T see her husband? Me. It turns out I was so RIGHT in front of him that I couldn't see anything but the tip of his ear. His best friend leaned me over and I saw him grin, that was enough for me. The weekend was great and I was already feeling my devotion as a Navy wife, up at 0330 just to pick him up at 0500, so that we could then go back to sleep together for a few hours. Worth every moment of sleep that I didn't get all weekend.

I returned to Dallas and took my spring semester finals, what an insane semester. I came out with one A and four B's I was pleasantly surprised that I did so well with my finals to bring my grades up a letter in nearly all my classes. I was then facing boredom and wondering what I was going to do until I could move to Chicago. Three days into my "summer" I'm told I may need to move in a few days. Military roller coaster go upppppp. And yes in 3 days I was in my car with our two labs for my first 1000 miles. A few boring weeks in our new home with no household goods (HHG)brings us to June.

In a matter of 24hrs I was ready to get on a plane to Dallas to pick up a truck and start moving all of our stuff. I arrived in Dallas on a Friday, after some serious errand running, a crash course in driving a huge diesel beast and one serious IKEA trip and hours of loading up my "necessities" I had kept with me, I was on my way to the next stop Oklahoma. Saturday was spent loading more of out stuff into the beast and I was back on the road again. I arrived in Chicago Sunday evening. That was the craziest weekend I have had in a loooong time. And that was my first PCS move. I cried when I walked in the door, H hugged me and I realized then and there that there would be no more doubting myself or my ability to handle anything thrown at me.

Here we are in Chi Town! We've had our first deep dish Chicago style pizza, and we love it. We had our first "Navy family" dinner this past weekend, and that officially made this new place feel like home.

So a HUGE thank you to everyone who had even the smallest part in helping me get from there to here and back a few times. I am so very blessed and thankful for everyone God has placed in my life, old friends, family and new friends!

♥ g