I did the project with my 6 year old.  I was in charge of putting the bands of gold and checkerboard duct tape on and I was the master of the hot glue gun.  My little guy was in charge of painting the checkerboard start area and the lines on the road.  He also made the little checkerboard flag and told me where to put the hot glue for the cars.  When we were all done, he painted his name across the front.  This looks elaborate, but it’s so easy!  The duct tape was a life-saver because it makes it look more “designed” than it is, and really fills it in and drives the theme home.  I LOVE DUCT TAPE for kids crafts.  No harder than stickers on a shoebox, really.  We just painted the box, put tape on it, and hot glued the cars down.  The gold trophies on top were from the birthday department at walmart.  SO simple and very inexpensive.  I mainly used stuff I had around the house.

I admit it’s a little over the top for a Valentine box.  It sort of took on a life of it’s own as we had more ideas as we went along.  But oh my goodness, it was fun!  And he is so excited about his Valentine box!  Even my 9 year old, who is way too old for this kind of thing, was inspired to do something cool for his valentine box.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon!

I’ve had this fun girl in the shop for a while, but she was wearing a pale yellow pinafore.  Does she look familiar? When I was redoing the website, I used her in the banner above.  She needed to be brighter, so I changed her little outfit to this happy orange and pink.  I liked it, so I’m offering her this way too, in the etsy shop now.  I hope you and yours have a great weekend!

I have been super inspired by Miss Mustard Seed lately.  So when I was at the local thrift store and found this chair for $4.95, I figured I didn’t have much to lose.  So I swiped that sucker up with great expectations, schlepped it home with great excitement, then deposited it in the garage, for months, much to my husband’s great irritation.

But a few weeks ago, I got the guts up to try my hand at what seemed like a very overwhelming project.  First, I pumped up my confidence by reading reupholstery tutorials on Miss Mustard Seed and from others I found through Pinterest.  I sucked it up and got busy.  The trick to a project like this is to just go step by step, one thing at a time, focusing on the task at hand and not get overwhelmed by thinking about all the steps ahead of you.  Just put one foot in front of the other and GO!  YOU CAN DO THIS.  This was not skill, this was just labor!  Now, professional upholsterers certainly do have wonderful skills.  I DO NOT!  I have a stapler and a glue gun, though, and that was all I needed.  Check out the transformation:

The fruits of my labor!

I’ll be adding the “AFTER” photo to all my other house photos, which you can see any time by clicking over there on the right, under the puppy “In The Know” section.  Click on “Photos Of My House“.

I also added a new print to my etsy shop.  It’s the little girl on the elephant in the new logo.  She’s such a happy, sassy girl! I love her hair, and… oops!  She lost a shoe!

I am so excited to finally be able to tell you that my house and art are featured in the Spring 2012 issue of Romantic Country Magazine.  Here is the cover (not my house on the cover).  It’s on newsstands now.  I’ve heard it’s at Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble and lots of other places.

There is an article featuring photos of my kitchen, living room, my bedroom, and the baby’s room, as well as a tutorial on the cake topper boxes.  The article is 6 pages long!  There is also a whole other separate page in the “Make It Yourself” section explaining how to make the Sweetheart banner below:

This is beyond exciting for me.  The wonderful Gridley & Graves Photographers saw a photo of my kitchen somewhere on the web, tracked me down and sent me an email about a year ago asking if I would be interested in possibly having my house photographed by them and featured in a national magazine.  Uhm, YEAH I would!  They came out about 2 weeks after I had surgery on my spine last April.  It was a crazy couple of weeks to get ready!  They spent about 11 hours at my house, and let me tell you, they were wonderful.  This talented pair worked around my kids and bustling house without so much as a sideways glance.  They were cheerful and warm and put me at ease.  You must check out their website and see some of the shows that Gary’s work has been featured in recently, as well as other shoots they’ve done for dozens of magazines.  Thank you, Gary and Anne, for being so kind and making this such a fun experience for me and my family.

I also have to tell you that the editor of Romantic Country, Mary Forsell, was so much fun to work with!  She is funny, smart and talented, a writer who has authored several books on home, garden, and design.  She’s amazing.  Mary made this exciting and easy.

I think it’s just so cool that someone saw photos that I put out on my blog or flickr and traveled across the country to tiny little Tuttle, Oklahoma to photograph my humble little house.  You just never know who is going to see what you put out there on the World Wide Web!

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of this fantastic magazine.  This particular issue is really good with lots of soft colors and a fresh, spring palette.  It’s just around the corner… I can feel the thaw coming on!

Happy New Year, friends.  May this year be filled with surprise blessings for each of us.

Here’s another step-by-step line drawing that I did for my kiddo’s third grade class.  Feel free to print it off for your kiddo or their class!  CLICK HERE for the “let’s draw Santa” post.

Merry Christmas!

I think every gingerbread house should have a 1980s C3PO action figure, as well as Lego Palpatine, Lego Eskimo, and Lego Random Guy.  Don’t you?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, my friends.  I am doing a little learn to draw class once a 9-weeks for my kiddo’s third grade class.  Here is the one we’re doing next.  It’s Santa… step-by-step.  Please feel free to print it off and have fun with your kiddos, learning to draw Santa.

It’s been a crazy week around here.  My mother was hospitalized and put on a ventilator on Saturday.  We almost lost her.  But lots of prayers and medicine and within 5 days she was breathing on her own and eating chocolate pudding!  God is good and I have so very much to be thankful for this and every year.

In much less important news, I have new Christmas cards and tags in my etsy shop. To say thank you and kick off the shopping season, I’m offering 20% off all etsy orders from now until the end of the month.  The coupon code is thankyou20 .

…and may all your Christmases be white.

New Snowy print in the shop now!  I’m already in the mood for Christmas.  After school starts, I try to hang with Halloween, but Christmas is constantly beckoning me!  I love the winter wonderland of a snowy day.  The kids playing until their noses and fingers are nearly frozen, then coming inside for hot chocolate and dry mittens and socks, then right back out again…  this is why kids are not fat.  I, on the other hand, am fat because I sit inside a warm, cozy house and LOOK at all the people running around outside!