Twice Owned and Lovin' it

Not to long ago I found these two great clay pots at a yard sale. They looked a little tired and worn. I figured with a little TLC and a can of spray paint that they'd be great for our diveway. As you enter down our gravel drive we have a long sidewalk that leads to our front door,It needed a little something to "welcome" our guest. I painted the clay pots a deep dark, texture brown to match our house. I found these beautiful mum's and purple foutain grass on sale at lowe's. The whole project cost me a little under $40.00, most of the money went to the plants. I think the newly revitalized pots look great!



My great yard sale find!


One of the two pots with their first coat of paint!



A up close of the newly planted flowers!



Now that's a much more welcoming entry!

Johnny Appleseed Celebrations!

We had a whole lot of fun celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday at our house! We started by reading the story of Johnny Appleseed and then finished with "How to make and apple pie and see the world." My daughter loves to read stories and do craft projects! She had a wonderful time making her Johnny Appleseed hat, of course a pot on his head is what he wore. Her apple print shirt was a big hit and finally the mini apple pies were delicious! what a fun Friday evening we had!! Hope you and your family were able to celebrate Johnny Appleseed day!


Ava's beautiful Apple print shirt!!


Ava making apple prints on her Johnny Appleseed hat!



Ava showing off her hat!


Ava making her mini apple pies!




Ava enjoying her pies! She is a great baker!

Christmas is almost here and so is our Secret Santa!

Join us for the Surprise Me! Secret Santa Gift Exchange

With Survey Junkie & Simply Stacie

Christmas 2010

I think this will be a lot of fun & I'm sure you'd enjoy it to!!



Surprise Me! Secret Santa Gift Exchange is a gift exchange/swap for bloggers. Each participating blog will be a Secret Santa & also receive a gift from a Secret Santa. There are No Sponsors for this event, it’s just like one big office party. After you receive your gift you can tell everyone all about it on your blog.

$15 gift(s) + shipping = $20.00

Each Secret Santa will spend $15 on their gift. This can be one item or multiple items that total $15. We want everyone to enjoy the swap and their gift so we have added category choices for you to choose from on the sign up. This way it helps the Secret Santa have an idea of what you like and so that everyone enjoys their gifts.

Sign up will be open for 2 weeks and will end on Wednesday October 6th.

Head to Simply Stacie @ simplystacie.net/surprise-me-secret-santa-gift-exchange/

The New Chandelier

Yes, you are right it doesn't take much to get me excited but I am in love with my new chandelier! The old light looked like it belonged in a bedroom. It sat flat on the ceiling and was very ugly! Luckily for me I found just the one I wanted on sale at Home Depot. I was a little worried bringing it home since that wasn't the next purchase on our list of things to buy for the house, but it was on there so doesn't that count? I came home with the chandelier and bravely told my husband about my purchase, he was excited that I was able to get it on sale. Unfortunately, with harvest still in full swing I wasn't sure when the Chandelier would get put up; I knew this wasn't a project I could do on my own. Luckily, the hubby found a little free time and Ta Da here it is:




I love it! I think it is just the right touch to our transforming dinning area. I am very excited that the ugly old light fixture is a thing of the past!

Crawdad festival 2010

The past two weekends have been very busy around our house, but loads of fun! I am so fortunate to have my parents so close and so involved with Ava. With my husband in harvest and working anywhere from 15-20 hours a day 6 days a week I needed some time to get a few things done around the house without a three year olds help! This past weekend Ava enjoyed some "Noni & Popi" time at the local Crawdad Festival or as Ava would say the "Crabdad Festival"! She had so much fun! Every year our local church puts on this wonderful family event. It is amazing, people come from all over to enjoy great music, food, games, and a few craft booths. I have say in my opinion crawdads, Yuck! Thank goodness there is all kinds of other foods available. I was sad to miss out on this years festival but the time I had was so needed. I accomplished so much and it took half the time without a little helper! I did manage to go out and join the festival for a bit, and then home it was. Ava had so much fun, she was asleep within five minutes of buckling her in her car seat. I know she was tired, she didn't even move when I took her out of the car and layed her on her bed. Two and a half hours later she finally woke up. A great weekend indeed!




Ava all smiles showing off her crawdad necklace at the Crawdad Festival!


Ava's beautiful butterfly painting


What a great family day full of music, great food, crafts, games, and great company!

Sunflowers everywhere!

These wonderful sunflowers were created by my great students. I love living & teaching in a small rural community. I have a very short commute to work and I enjoy my scenic drive through fields of sunflowers, rice, tomatoes, wheat, and much, much more. I believe that agriculture is a major part in our communities survival, I try to make an effort to teach my students about agriculture, focusing on at least one commodity a month. The students have really jumped in and become very engaged in their quest to learn about agriculture. Of course what fun would school be if we didn't have art, it helps to jazz up our classroom as well. This month we have been learning about rice and sunflowers. This past Friday we created these great sunflowers, I found a similar project from "The crafty Crow" and added my own twist. The center of the sunflower is made from Rice, which the students painted black, the petals are the students hand prints, and the stems are made from rolled up poster paper. I love they way the add a little fun to the hall of our schoolhouse! Stay tuned for next weeks art!

Crafts for a good cause!

Of course I put off till the last minute a few things and now I was in a rush. Stressed and needing inspiration I logged on to my blog and began searching for a few quick, easy, and cheap crafts. Ok, so maybe this wasn't such a great idea there was so much that I didn't know where to begin. Finally, after hours of searching I made a decision. These crafts needed to be ready to head to the California Women for Agriculture State convention. As an officer of our local chapter it wouldn't look good if I didn't donate, so crafting I began. Thanks to the inspiration from Jenn at Craft-O-Manaic (www.craftomanaic.blogspot.com) I quickly got to work on a Halloween Topiary tree and a Treat wreath. They were very quick, easy, and cheap! My daughter loved helping with the treat wreath, although I have to say there were a lot less tootsie rolls than we started with and they didn't end up on the wreath, hmmmm.... These crafts we a lot of fun, I highly recommend checking out Jenn's sight she has great Halloween craft ideas. Take a look at my creations, hopefully they will be a big hit at the State Convention!





The bottom of my topiary tree




A closeup of the top of my topiary tree




My finished project!




My "Treat" Wreath




Look at all that Candy! Ava and I had so much fun with the project!

New to Blogging. . . .Sorry!

Ok, so as many of you already know I am new to the whole blogging scene! I have found so many wonderful ideas from people all around the world. I love doing crafts, but it seemed that after having my daughter I fell off the craft wagon and lost my inspiration. Things were too crazy with a little one and working full time as a teacher. Luckily with the blogging I am getting back into crafting and loving it. I have recreated many crafts that I have found online from all sorts of bloggers. I am trying to figure this whole blogging out and for some reason I can't seem to figure out how to link to the bloggs in which I got my inspirations from. I want to say sorry to Jenn from Larson's Love for not linking your blog up to my last post. I loved your laundry room and thought that it would be great in mine as well. So if anyone can give me any tips on how to link blogs to my entries I would love the advice. As for Jenn thank you for all your great ideas that have inspired me to jump back into the crafting lifestyle.

xoxo
Kelli

A few crafts & and the Laundry room!

Here's a peek at our Laundry room. We put up bead borad, crown molding, and new baseboards. I started by making the curtains, then next I made the "wash" and "Dry" signs. I Picked the wooden signs up at Michael's then painted them antique white, stenciled in black, and finally brushed the edges in black as well. I am really into black and white or black and creame. I found the perfect ribbon to glue to my signs at Joanne's. Next we cut a piece of wood, routered the edges, painted it as well, and finally with the cricut I cut out the word "Laundry". I had the two stars and thought they would be pefect in the laundry room. and there you go, my new beautiful laundry room!



My Laundry room where loads of fun happen!



An up close view of one of my Labor day weekend crafts!

My Blue Room.... Peaceful!

This is the room without the gold carpet!


We have a huge window that looks out over out front yard and an absolutely beautiful view of the foothills!


Our love seat looks out the window at our beautiful view!



I have white drapes to add to the country beach theme. The other half of the room has a leather recliner & open space. I love space so I am not looking to fill it up but I do need to get to work on adding some wall decor!




In our new house we have a family room and a living room. I have wanted to have a soft blue room that was crisp, clean, and cozy for everyone to enjoy. With the purchase of our new home I finally was able to get my blue room. This room was carpeted with a very bright gold carpet and plain white walls. We began by tearing out the horrible carpet, then painted the walls "etched glass" by Martha Stewart, added white base boards and crown molding, and finally installed a ceiling fan. I still have a long way to go with decorating but I love hanging out in there. To me there is something about the blue that is so peaceful. I'm working towards decorating in a country beach theme. I am planning on doing a little more this weekend so I will continue to update you as my room evolves!

Thanks for stopping by!