Our First Christmas in the Cabin

I'm so stinkin' excited about Christmas this year.  I've never decorated before Thanksgiving, but this year we have already!  But, with the cost of gas for our heat (we've never had a big gas tank to fill and had no idea how costly it was!!!), we had to work with an itty bitty budget.  That meant a lot of DIY decorations.

This has been a busy time of year for the Commonwealth of KY... meaning, I'm living out of hotel rooms across the state training folks.  Last week, I decided I'm not letting that keep me from having my decorations ready to put up on the weekend.  So, I turned my hotel room into Santa's little workshop.  Here are a few things I made:

String Ornaments

 I wanted to make these ornaments I've seen a million times on Pinterest.  I finally got the chance in my hotel room.  

It started with a balloon and string.  I wrapped the string all over in all directions, coated with glue, and hung them up to dry.  A day later, I popped the balloon and pulled it out using tweezers.

I love the way they turned out and how they look on my "un-Christmas" tree in the dining room.  

Marble Tree

I bought a Styrofoam cone at the Dollar Tree.  And, picked up a box of marbles and a glass candlestick while I was there, too.  Add some hot glue in the mix and tadaa!     

      

 This one doesn't take much instruction!  Easy Peezy!  And, I think it turned out great. :)  I am loving my Dollar Tree decor this year.



I have a whole lot of other projects I've been working on and will be posting them soon!


Here's a sneak peek...

Amanda & Katherine's Home Renovation First Attempt

It's been so long since I've posted on here, I've nearly forgotten how!  But, after this last week, I couldn't NOT post.  All my hours of watching DIY shows and extreme Pinterest obsession have paid off.  I couldn't wait to share the results!

Let me get you up to speed first.  I love my full-time job- the last blog post was when I was switching.  I couldn't be happier with my new training position.  I am on the road A LOT, though.  That's taken some time away from crafting, cooking, and other hobbies.  On top of that, I started teaching part-time at Kentucky State University.  Love that too, but I've not had time for anything else!

On top of that, we've moved!  I really miss my friends & my boys' friends (that had become family), but I really love my new house.  And, I love that it puts me closer to my Mom & Dad and the rest of my family.  

That brings me to this past week.  My parents own a house about a 1/2 an hour from my house.  My sister lives in it now, but they're planning to put it up for sale soon.  Mom & Dad, even though retired, are far busier than I could even pretend to be.  After 30+ years of fostering children in Ohio, they still have a full-house (I have a brother at home, a niece they're helping care for, and they have 4 foster kids), in addition to coordinating/directing the food pantry for the community.  They've not had any time to work on their "Grayson Estates."

For the past couple of months, I've tried to go help "fix-up" rooms on weekends.  That usually entails some cleaning and painting with Dad and Shane, sometimes Katherine & Will when they're not at work, and my boys (on rare occasions)- and Mom when she's not chasing kiddos.  Last weekend, we cleaned and painted another bedroom when Dad talked about how he didn't know what to do about that kitchen.  "The counter tops are just so ugly... what can we do that won't break the bank?"

Now, originally, I thought my parents life-story should be sent to one of those "fixer-upper" reality shows, but I get too much of that "I'll do it myself" attitude from my daddy.  Instead, I talked them into letting me experiment.  My argument was that perhaps I could re-do the counters for cheap.  And, if I messed it up, they weren't out anything because they were thinking of replacing them anyway! 

So, I burned up some of that flex time from traveling for work- called in a couple of days for a "remodeling vacation" and crashed their house for a kitchen renovation.  Luckily, my little sister was all on-aboard with my plan and worked her butt off along with me.  Here's what we did:

This was the first day when I arrived.  My very first "before" picture of the kitchen.

Yes...it looks cluttered.  We all had been there working over the weekend, and while Katherine had cleaned all the dishes and swept her floor, having that many people in your house leaves it a tad bit cluttered :)  While she was at work, I de-cluttered and covered everything in plastic and paper that I didn't want ruined, (i.e., tiled backsplash Dad put in, sink, oven, and hardwood floors).

See what Dad was talking about?  Ugly, yellow, dated and gross!  (And, about to be gone!!!)  After I had everything taped off and cleaned, I sanded.  And, sanded, and sanded.  And, then I sanded some more.  I was pretty sure my arms would fall off before Katherine got home from work.  She would walk in and find me laying there in her (clean) kitchen floor with my arms laying somewhere along the sanded ugly counter.  Instead, I was able to use them to put on two coats of primer.

 

This is the one and only picture I sent Mom.  She didn't know I was there and had no idea what it was... I mean, she is blind and it was a little picture on her phone.  When Dad got home and she showed it to him, he knew immediately and I started getting texts to send pictures to her iPad so she could see.  I declined.  I wanted it to be a surprise.  (My mistake... not sending pictures brought Dad to the house the next day.)  But, I digress... I think the kitchen was already looking better with just primer!  I was thrilled with just this much!  And, since I had to wait 2 hours between primer coats, I found the laundry room in desperate need of TLC.  Dad & Shane had started tearing down wallpaper, but left before they finished.  So, I headed in there to work in between primer applications.  

Nice, right?  This is when my sister came home.  We worked HOURS ripping down wallpaper.  This is her.  She's thrilled to come home from work to work even harder:

Together, we did some damage to that poor little laundry room.  Then, she bought us pizza and I headed home, only to return in the morning.  My final coat of primer needed to set over night before I added the "stone" paint.  And,  had to wait a couple of hours in between each application of paint.  Also, I underestimated so Katherine had to make a run to Lowe's for me on her way home to grab more.  Again, I could not be more pleased with the "stone" spray paint effect.  So long ugly yellow!

In addition to stripping the wallpaper in the laundry room, we pulled down wallpaper in the kitchen, too.  And, I picked up some paint for the walls for added activities while waiting between spray paint applications.  (Just so Katherine wouldn't be bored. LOL)  After about 3 applications of "stone" spray paint, the polyurethane applications began.  It was pretty stinky in there!  

When Dad showed up, he was in shock!  He could not believe the difference.  We gave him a few minutes to take it all in, and then put him to work building a little cabinet over the water heater.  (We like to call it the water heater garage, but Katherine doesn't.)

After painting everything, fresh white gloss paint on the cabinets, new paint on the walls in both kitchen & laundry room, new paint on the little wooden shelf I picked up at Goodwill, heck... I even painted the refrigerator and painted the pantry door with chalkboard paint- the whole place looked and smelled new.  

Refrigerator Before

 Refrigerator After- w/ Pantry Chalkboard Door

Mom kept texting and asking for pictures, but we told her she couldn't see until we were finished.  Here are the grand finale pics we did send:

 

And, lastly, a collage of the NEW KITCHEN

 So, now Katherine and I are going to start our own home renovations hit show.  That is... after we get a month or so to recoup-orate from our first attempt!

Charcoal of Trees

I just realized that I haven't posted my charcoal piece that now hangs above the couch!  I worked on it a while back.  It's inspired from a project I found on Pinterest... big surprise there!  Anyway, the original project said to send a print of your favorite photograph to an office supply store to be printed as an 
"Engineer's Print."  I did that.  But, mine didn't turn out :(  The original poster didn't say anything about picture size and how minimal pixels would come out distorted.  I got a blurry blob from Staples.  

It wasn't all bad though!  From comparing my blob to the original on my desktop, I was able to guess at where the tree trunks would be.  And, from there, I used charcoal to pencil in outlines of what should have been trees.  The grey pixels made excellent leaves and background.  Surprisingly, I think I'm even more pleased with the outcome than if it would have printed great to begin with!

Here's my finished project:

And, here's the original I used to guess from:

transition

Sometimes it seems like all of life is just one big ol' transition after another.  But, that's not necessarily a bad thing!  Sometimes, it's just scary.  But, also exciting!  


I have officially started my countdown to my last day at the office where I've worked for 7 years.  It's a bittersweet countdown!  I am so excited to start with my new team and in my new position.  But, I am really going to miss the people I've come to love.  And, the job I love.  I am 100% certain that the last 7 years have served as the building block for this next chapter I'm about to begin.  For that, I am so very happy.  
  
For the next week or so, I'll be spending as much time as I can with some of those I'm going to miss the most.  Starting with my outing this afternoon to Keeneland.  I had a great time with some Fayette KWP folks. 

And...I can't wait to blog about how things are going in the next few weeks!  

Winter Vacation: Trees in South Carolina

We made home safely a few hours ago.  I just couldn't wait to get on here and talk about my trip.  It was such a relaxing (and much needed) get-away to one of the most beautiful places this side of Heaven, I'm sure!  If you've never visited the "lowcountry" islands of SC, please do!  It's like taking a step back in time... a true reflection of God's beauty.  As a family, we have vacationed in the mountains, at lakes, and at the beach. Yet, I have never had an experience like this past week at Edisto Island, with trips to James Island, Johns Island, and Hunting Island.  I'm going to share some of my pictures, but trust me- they do not do justice to these spectacular places!

I took these on the first day we arrived on Edisto Beach.  Our condo was located on the marsh side of the island, but near the corner where the river and ocean met.  The only stores on the island were a convenient/gas station, 2 locally owned craft/gift shops, and a Piggly Wiggly.   

To say it is a small island would be a great understatement.  To me, this only added to the charm.  

The locals have worked very hard to maintain the laid-back, quiet town living of the island.  And, in January, you can walk along the beach for hours and have the only footprints in the sand!  

Hi, my name's Amanda and I'm a tree-aholic.  I LOVE trees.  And, I certainly got my fix this week!  The live oaks growing down in coastal South Carolina amazed me.  The first picture here was taken on Jungle Road, Edisto Island.  The second (my favorite of all my pictures) was taken on Botany Bay Road, just past the Allen AME Church and Cemetery.  And, the third oak was on Eddington Beach Road.  Every where I looked, I saw trees I wanted to photograph.  But, after 330 pictures, I thought about slowing down.

But, then we went to Johns Island...

This is "Angel Oak."  She is beautiful!  And, she is magnificent!

She is 300-400 years old.  65 ft. high, 25.5 ft around, and provides 17,000 sq. ft. of shade.

I love this tree!!!  I took many, many pictures. 

These were a few more of my favorite trees.  In all my visits to the beach, I had never seen trees growing in the water.  (I know, it's the little things that get me!)  I fell in love with the beach and trees at Botany Bay.

Apparently, it's custom to hang some of the pretty shells in the trees. 

 As to not disrespect their custom, I had a great time decorating beach trees with seashells.

I promise to tell about more of my vacation than about the trees.  

This is odd, but one of Mom's favorite pictures.  I have to admit, it's one of mine too.

I took this while on one of our "tree hunting" trips.  It was on Point of Pines Road.  I had just finished reading the history of the island (And I'm Glad: An Oral History of Edisto Island), and this house gave me a chill.  We passed it on the way up the road and Mom said, "We need a picture of that!"  I told her I was just thinking the same thing.  And, it turned out to be one of our favorites.  

I'm sure you'll hear more about the history of this place, as I am still so excited about the experience!

The beach was lovely!  And, I'll have more pictures :)

I also have enough drift wood from the beach to make a cool little project, so I'll post some pics of that as it goes.  But, for now, I'm thankful to have made it home safely with some time to spend with my boys... this was my first vacation without them in FOREVER and I've missed them terribly.

I am very thankful that I was blessed with wonderful weather, gorgeous scenery,  history lessons, safe travel, and quality time with my mom and dad.  They are the world's greatest.

Scrapbook Paper Wall Art

The Harrison household has been under the weather.  I haven't felt well enough to do a lot of projects this past week.  And, I've tried to devote any time I felt well to taking care of my loves who have also been ill.  So, not much to post about!  

I did just finish some super delicious and high calorie Lemon Drop cupcakes.  Will is in a weight loss contest with his employees.  He asked if I could help him out by making a big fat fattening cupcake for each of his competitors.  I'm not sure that it's cheating, but I sure do feel guilty!  He says it's all just part of the competition.  He and I were good, we didn't try them.  David and his friend, Joey, said the were really good, though.  Wishing Will all kinds of luck with his weight loss.  And, hoping I benefit from his drive.

Oh, there was one other little project I finished over the weekend... my wall art for the bedroom.  I found some absolutely beautiful scrapbook paper in colors that compliment the decor of my room.  I've seen tons of  different pins on Pinterest for making wall art out of scrapbook paper, so I gave it a try.  

Here's the close up of each paper:

I glued each sheet to cardboard.  I've seen blogs suggesting you use canvas, shoe box lids, and foam.  The boys had friends over Friday night leaving me with empty pizza boxes.  Cleaned them up and glued scrapbook paper them.

This is what they look like side by side on my wall:

Very inexpensive and I like how it turned out!  I'd like to add a second row.  I'm sure I'll have another opportunity with our Friday night pizza routine.

Hope you all have had a very blessed weekend!

Paper Rose Wreath

I took another picture of the paper rose wreath with Will's phone.  It takes better pictures :)

It has taken me what seems like FOREVER, but I finally finished my paper roses to make a wreath for above the bed.  The funny thing... after I finished, I wanted it for the fireplace in the living room and had to make another, more simply designed one, for the bed.

                                             

This is how it started.  I bought an old book at Goodwill for 50 cents, tore out 3 pages at a time and cut them into spirals.  Then, I rolled them up to look like roses (starting with outside of the spiral and rolling inward), and glued them on a foam wreath.  IT TAKES SO MANY ROSES!

This is the finished product hanging on the fire place.

  I put it there just to see how it looked and then decided it should stay.

When I still needed something for above the bed, I decided on a much more simple design.  One rose was all that I needed to roll for this one (instead of rolling roses every night for a week).  Cone shapes are much easier to make.  And, I think it's kinda cute, too!

The rest of my weekend has been spent taking down Christmas decorations, cleaning house, and trying to pass this crazy kidney stone.  Hoping it's gone soon!!!