You Capture...Feet

Hello everyone. I am joining in a new link party this week. It is called You Capture. The theme this week is FEET. Hmmmmm. I had a hard time with this one. I don't normally take pics of feet. Do you? I once met a guy who really like feet. I bet he has some good photos to share!

So....I looked back through my files and found a picture of thing 3 in his B-day suit. I cropped out the "suit" and am posting just the feet. Here ya go.

This little guy is always trying to get into something. At this particular moment, he had already made his way into the water fountain and drenched himself. Thus, the birthday suit.

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend.

Outdoor Room

Howdy yall. Welcome to the mansion. I am now the proud owner of an "outdoor room." AKA enclosed porch. Here is a pic of what our back porch looked like when the previous owners lived in our "mansion."
Can you say, "YUCK?" I sure can, "YUCK!" Well, after searching the web and finding this inspiration photo.... I really liked the wood design on the bottom of the porch. I also really wanted a space that would be screened. We have lots of pesty bugs down here in the swamp!

I had no sooner spoke my desire to have such an outdoor space, when Aunt Kathleen, Super Aunt, offered her services. She also offered Uncle Charlie's services. They are both great wood workers and can manage a saw much better than anyone actually living in the "mansion." Well, they arrived and the work began. First we had a frame...
Then the fancy woodwork began. Lots of miter cuts involved in that.... After screen, paint, and a cute door we have this...

Isn't it fabulous? Can't wait to make faces at all of those crazy bugs wanting in my new outdoor room.

Now, for those of you who live in quarters...When I did live in quarters (13 years of them) I always had some sort of covered patio situation. This was either in the back or the front of the house. You could construct a frame and do a similar outdoor room or you could use sheets of lattice to create an enclosed space. I know! You are saying, "But we can't alter our quarters like that." Horse Pucky. I have altered every housing I have ever lived in. I just made sure that my alterations were gone when I cleared.

A big thank you to Aunt Kathleen (super aunt) and Uncle Charlie (her sidekick) for all of their hard work and planning.

I am linking this post to

DIY at A Soft Place To Land.

Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow.

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Thing 2 Swings

Hello everyone. Welcome to the mansion. It is time again for the I Heart Faces photo challenge. This week is dramatic B/W.


Thing 2 is deep in thought on the new tire swing. Who knows what is going on in that mind of his. Hope it is something wonderful.

View From The Road

It is time for the Monochrome Weekend.

Well...I am sending in a sepia pic this weekend. This is my neighbor's yard. Gorgeous. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thing 3 In Thought

Hello to everyone. It is time again for the I Heart Faces photo challenge. This week's challenge is based on angles. Here is my submission for the week....

This is thing 3 contemplating his next move on the playground. Deep thoughts for such a little guy.

Beige Wash

Hello everyone. Welcome to the mansion today.

I have mentioned before, several times, that I live in a "cave" house. By "cave" I mean DARK. When we moved in, the walls, floors, and ceilings were all dark wood planks. Husband loved it, I did not. So...I have SLOWLY but surely changed the dark to less dark.

One of the ways I tried to key down the dark was to beige wash a few walls. I put one part paint to three parts water and stirred it up real good. Then, I brushed it on the boards and quickly wiped it off. This gave me a much less dark wooden wall. You can still see the grain, but no brown. See.....
Ahhhh. So much easier on the eyes. The finished product came out like this...

This process of "washing" was super easy and free. I used the paint that I had from painting other parts of the house.

Well....I must not be the only one with the "washing" idea. I pulled my new copy of House Beautiful out of the mailbox, and what do you know? There on the cover was a wonderful room with paint "wash" all over it. See.....

So...pretty.

I have been thinking of how you could accomplish this look if you live in quarters. Here are my thoughts...You could nail up one by eights or something like that and wash them. Then, when you move out, just pull down the boards. This would leave some holes to fill, but that is nothing new. You could also put up 4 by 8 paneling and do the wash on it. This would leave less holes. Not as attractive, but an option. I have actually lived in quarters that had half wall paneling already up. I could have washed that. Wish I would have thought of it then.

There you have it. "Washed" walls. Hope you enjoyed the pics and the info. Come back again when you get a chance.

Head on over to The Shades of Pink for more Room A Month ideas.

Check out Between Naps on the Porch for great Metamorphosis.

Look to A Silly Little Sparrow for other Tuesday Toots.

It's Talented Tuesday at My frugal Family.

Laura

Monochrome Weekly...Walking on Glass

Hello everyone. Welcome to the mansion. It is time again for the Monochrome Weekly Event.

This is my entry this week. I took a picture of some little mirrors strung out on the table and then put a picture of my kiddos on one of the mirrors.

Walking on Glass!

And there you have it. "Walk" on over to Monochrome Weekly to see all of the wonderful photos.

Poke Me, I'm Done!

Hello ladies. Welcome to the mansion.

So...do you ever need a little gift for a crafty friend? How about a pretty little teacup pin cushion? See......
This particular nifty gifty cost about a whopping BUCK! Now that is what I call a steal of a deal. This is what you do...
First, find yourself a cute coffee or teacup for almost nothing

Next, cut a circle of fabric 8-10 inches in diameter. (depending on the size of your cup) Lay it flat. Put a big blob of polyfill on top of the fabric. Then, place a metal dish scrubber on the polyfill. (you can get these 3 for a dollar at the dollar store) Now, you will need to sew some big stiches around the outside of the circle to gather the circle into a ball. OK. Now you are ready to hot glue the ball into the cute little cup. Just squeeze a bunch of glue into the cup and press the fluff ball into the glue. Add a few little pearl head pins and some ribbon, and walaaaaa....thrifty nifty gifty DONE! Just to recap...here is all you will need.

Thanks for stopping by the mansion today. Hope you can take this idea and tuck it away for future use.

Stop by Today's Creative Blog for super crafty ideas.

And, click on over to A Picture is Worth 1000 Words for trash to treasure.

Jump For Joy

Hello everyone. Welcome to the mansion this fine evening. It is time for the
I heart faces weekly pic. This week's theme is JUMP FOR JOY!

My entry is Thing 2 jumping after his wooden sword. Hark....it's Thing 2.

So Close You Can Touch It!

Hello everyone. Welcome to the manison. It is time for the

Monochrome Weekly Theme.
This is a great link up where you share your favorite black and white or sepia photos. It is wonderful. Here is my entry for this week....

Spring is so close you can touch it!

Grosgrain All Around

Hi everyone. Welcome to the mansion. I wanted to share a quick and easy decorating idea with you all today. As it is a frugal decor idea, I am linking up to a new blog that I found...Finding Fabulous. There you will find tons of frugal ideas for Frugalicious Friday.

Grosgrain ribbon all around your room!

Our walls are really tall in this house. I keep trying to think of ways to break them up in the different rooms. On one of our trips to see the in laws, I noticed that my mother in law's "decorator" had attached grosgrain ribbon to the tops and bottoms of the walls in her kitchen. It looked great. The professional had secured the ribbon with wallpaper glue and the professional had charged a great deal of money to do the job. I am "anti-glue" and "anti great deal of money!" So, I promptly bought some grosgrain ribbon at Hobby Lobby (50% off) and got myself a jug of liquid starch. I LOVE liquid starch.

This is what I did with it...
It is difficult to take photos of a large portion of the walls at one time...sorry. But, I starched the strips of ribbon to the tops and bottoms of the walls. I left two inches of painted wall above the ribbon which is also two inches wide.

Here are some on the bottoms of the walls...



And one more top...



The key to success with this project is to buy your ribbon in one long piece. ( so you can cut the exact length of each wall) After you cut your wall length of ribbon, dunk the entire piece into the liquid starch. Then, stick it to the wall. Smooth the ribbon out with a sponge. Wipe off the excess starch. After the starch is dry you can clean up the wall with a damp sponge.

When you get tired of the ribbon border, just pull it off. Wipe the walls with a damp sponge, and it is like it was never there. NOTE: don't do this on flat paint....it doesn't clean up like satin or semi does.

And that is that. I have also seen this done in a little girl's room with wide pink grosgrain ribbon around the center of the room. Cute!!!

For other DIY wonders...visit A Soft Place To Land.

You can also see some super metamorphosis ideas at...Between Naps On The Porch.

Toot YOUR horn over at ...Silly Little Sparrow.

Yall have a great day.


Laura