NO SEW! Front Door Decor

I'm sad to say that I procrastinated about doing this forever.

I try to avoid getting my sewing machine out.

Because of that I have avoided doing this project for a few months.

I finally decided that instead of avoiding then why not just do it "no sew"!

Yay.

 

Let's get right to it then.

 

You will need:

1. Fabric

2. Freezer Paper

3. A dowel rod

4. Paint

5. Hot glue

6. Twine or Ribbon

 

I did a simple design on my computer and printed it out.

(I use this program to design everything)

Then I lay my freezer paper over it and traced it with a pencil.

Use a razor or exacto knife to cut your stencil.

Remember that you are using the inside of the stencil and not the pieces you cut out so be very careful as you cut!

 

 

Ignore the stained rug and the toes peeking out and move forward...

 

Cut out your burlap and iron smooth.

 

 

Fold over your edges and iron them, then hot glue them down.

 

 

Center your freezer paper stencil on the burlap and iron on good.

Make sure you get all the tiny, pointy pieces ironed in the correct positions.

 

 

Blot on your paint.

Try not to brush it on since this may result in pushing paint under the edges of the stencil.

 

 

Wrap the burlap (or whatever fabric you chose) around your dowel rod.

Yes, I stained my dowel rod.

I'm fancy like that.

Glue the bajeebers out of it.

 

Go ahead and wrap some twine or ribbon around the dowel rod now.

Good job.

 

You should have something like this now...

 

 

 

 

I'm not a Fall person.

I'm strictly a Spring & Summer person.

I'm trying to embrace it though.

 This is me.

Embracing it.

Yay.

Gli Speciali di Casa Chic Feature

A few months back I was very honored and excited to be contacted from the Italian Magazine

 Gli Speciali di Casa Chic.

I got to work with a lovely lady there by the name of Annarita who did an amazing job of making our house look magazine worthy.

 

I did copy and paste everything into Google so that I could translate to english and see what was said.

It was all good stuff:-)

Annarita tried to send me a few copies through the mail so that I could have them as souvenir's.

Alas...

I received an empty envelope instead since fedex couldn't see to it that they arrived safely.

If any of you over in Europe ever see a copy then email me and I would LOVE to reimburse you any expense to have it shipped over!

Anyway it was a fun experience and I thank Annarita for her patience and her immense talent!

Thank you!

P.S. I also saw this little shout out over on Apartment Therapy that I thought was cool! 

Just Hanging With My Friend Mosquito

Life is all smiles that is interspersed with a very sour frown as a lime is thrown into the mix.

I've been given a lime for the last week in the form on hives.

Love 'em.

Can't stop scratching them.

Would love for them to leave me alone.

Meanwhile we've continued to pick away at our back yard.

Molding it into something that doesn't resemble a construction site is not an overnight job.

We have ground that needs broken up and sodded.

 

We have fences that needed to be replanted into the ground.

We have dangerous bolts sticking up out of the ground, awaiting a new diving board.

We have broken gates from so much use and from rotten wood.

We have blank, ugly patches of ground that need to be reseeded.
We also have tree's that need trimming.
Flower beds that need to be put in.
Mulch that needs to be spread.
And so on...

 

Luckily we have some knee biters that are more than willing to lend...

...something.

If nothing else a smile and some know-it-all instructions since they've apparently done this all before:-)

What about you?

Got any summer projects to keep you busy?

Pool Redo - DAY 14 FINAL!!

Did you think I would ever share the rest of our pool redo adventure?

I wasn't so sure myself.

Losing my camera battery charger really set me back.

I had actually hopped on the computer to find a new one when a stray apple core on the floor caught my eye.

(My kids eat apples like candy. Not so great at getting the remains in the trash)

While I was down on the floor I took a look around to see what else I could do down there.

I decided to do a casual sweep with my hand under the sofa.

Vwaaallaa!

My battery charger.

Yay.

Okay, now lets get right to it.

That pretty much sums it up right there.

The safety fence really puts a damper on the first picture.

The safety fence really needs to go back up so it can damper any future pictures as well.

Let's go to Day 14 and see what happened shall we?

The pool chemical guy showed up to get things started.

Starting up a freshly plastered pool can be a tricky thing.

Or so I'm told.

The good news was that the pump ran like a champ!

(Proud of you man!)

The bad news was that I went out there to take a look-see and noticed water gushing up from the ground.

In my world that's never a good thing.

Apparently it wasn't a good thing in our contractors world either.

A pipe to the pool had gotten busted during the concrete phase of the redo.

It was fixed in a jiffy though.

Keep in mind that the main reason we went ahead and had all of this done was because it was tied in to our family room flooding.

Imagine our disappointment when our family room flooded again last week!

Our contractor is a champ though and they came back again to fix it.

Apparently whoever built the addition on our house did not do any kind of vapor/moisture barrier anywhere.

So far so good now.

Let us all keep fingers and toes crossed.

We still have lots to do in the backyard.

I am proud of Derek for already getting that fence fixed

Next up is some tree trimming.

Some shoveling dirt around.

Some grass growing.

Some flowerbed making....

Most of all, some enjoying our "new" pool.

Pool Redo - DAY 13

I would like to say that we are coming to the end of this chapter.

Alas, it is not so...

Work day 13 fell on a Sunday and they opted to continue working since the weather was good.

I took the kids and we went to Bible study while Derek stayed home.

He managed to snap one photo of the shoes they used to stand in the pool without messing up their freshly applied... stuff.

Can't think of what it's called right now.

You can see the vivid blue in the background.

Ahhhh.

By the time I got home that day, it was dark and the pool was a quarter full of fresh water.

I knew the next day would be the turning on of the pump.

My fingernails would have been nubbins if I was a fingernail biter.

I'm not.

You should see my toenails though.

I do yoga.

Joke people.

Joke.

So by now you wise and smart ones may be wondering why the chapter is not almost completed.
You may be pleading with me to PLEASE COMPLETE THE SWASHBUCKLING CHAPTER!
I don't curse.
Swashbuckling is not a curse word but I used it here to convey great distress.

Let's just say...
Day 14 has trials in store, but it's today's trials that have me trying to adjust the buckles to my straitjacket.

Until then...

Pool Redo - DAY 12

Don't you hate it when you're in a great post groove and your 10 month old smacks the keyboard.

Amazing how it erased everything I had typed with one smack.

So Day 12 saw us peering down the tunnel and seeing light we stepped out onto the tracks.

We felt fairly certain that the train had already run us over several times during our pool redo and would now leave us be.

Wee bumps they say..

HA! Then what in tarnation are these train track marks on my calves?!

 During the pool redo these were are travesties:

 Our microwave quit.

Our dryer (still is) started taking small, really just tasting each of my favorite particles of clothing.

Nothing so bad. Just a small hole here, a large hole there, a rust spot and a button gone...

Dryer, you're bound for a better place as soon as I find time to interview your replacement.

We had to have an extra 18,000 or so square feet of concrete poured. (perhaps a slight exaggeration)

We found out it would cost $600+ to have our safety fence reinstalled.

Our wood fence in the back fell over during heavy rains.

Derek got sick twice and either cracked or bruised a rib playing softball.

(why are those balls not soft?)

The pool pump randomly turned on and dry ran for who knows how long.

I dropped my laptop on the tile removing my last two years of computer life and all photos.

 Our family room flooded again. (before Mastic Fantastic was applied)

Beau was diagnosed with 5 cavities. (we decided to just pull everything and start over. not)

Our van started acting up, making me take it to the local van doctor who then charged me smartly if not kindly.

Can I stop now?

 Thank you.
We are happy and healthy.
 (besides the train track marks)
I couldn't ask for more.

So the guys that do the resurfacing are the same ones that did the rock work and tile.

They have a funny sort of schedule.

They come to work around 2pm or so and work til dark.

It would seam to me that if you started earlier then you might get more work done.

What do I know though?

They did have to start with a very full, green, smelly pool.

They used generators though and had it drained in about 2 hours.

I then saw them with shovels, mucking out the bottom of the pool.

It was pretty bad down there.

So this was just the first layer of stuff.

They rolled it on with paint rollers then left it to dry overnight.

We are so close to the end that it's scary eh?

I wish.

Unfortunately the end is still not in sight for us.

The pool may be done but oh the mess!

Until day 13....

(I listed some more signs in my Etsy store!)

Pool Redo - DAY 11

As you can well imagine, we are waaay past day 11 now.

But we must catch up.

Mustn't we?

(where should the comma go in that word? I couldn't figure it out.)

Day 11 was a mastic kind of day.

"A wha?"

You ask.

"Mastic."

 I gently repeat to you.

Not plastic.

Not fantastic.

Just plain ol' mastic.

Say it with me now!

Boooorrrrinnnggg!

Yes our fence DID fall over the day before! Yay for more work!

I quite agree except for one thing...

I was ready to go rambo (huh?) on our contractor before they did this.

Okay not really.

BUT.

It looked purty awful before the mastic was applied.

There were huge gaps between the decking and the stone.

There was foam (they put it between the decking and stone while they poured concrete) sticking up and folded over.

Frankly I was thinking that my 3 year old could have done better.

Maaaasssstttiiiccc!

Yes!

I heard it in a sing-songy voice as well!

So mastic is kinda like caulk but much more durable and waterproof.

They slop it in there and then pour sand over it so it looks right smart.

 

This was actually just the first layer of mastic.

They added more later so that it was all flush.

Pretty Mastic Fantastic eh?

Okay, fine.

I was just trying to make mastic sound like more fun than algebra.

Whatever.

Oh, see how the decking looks like it has acne? 

Well that's my ham hock salt doing its magic!

The more you spray it and stuff, the more the salt starts to make its little worm holes.

In about 5 years we won't have a lick of concrete left!

(get it? Lick. Heh)

Well that's not exactly true.

The salt just licks up the spots that it was sitting on.

Makes it not so slippery.

(for those that were puzzling about why we would want worm holes in our brand new concrete.)

Come back soon for more pool redo 101!

Pool Redo - DAY 10

Are we there YET??!!
Ha.

You ever hear that question?

Shoot, I remember asking that question.

These days I often wonder how in heavens name my mom did not burrow under the mountain of laundry we kept handy and hide out so that she didn't lose her mind.

I asked her that very question the other day.

Still no answer.

So pertaining to the pool..

YES, we are almost there!

Our contractor said that they hope to finish this week.

Now come on kids!

That wasn't so bad now was it?

Ever watch Anne of Green Gables? She had "Katie" her window friend. That's Beau standing on top of the car talking to "Nathan his fence friend".

So (LOTS OF) concrete all hard and ready for walking.

On a side note: we had more square feet of concrete poured than the complete square feet of our last home.

I say..
HA!

That's plumb crazy!

So moving on.

I am pretty much a people pleaser.

I hate to make waves.

Don't like to make people upset.

I am starting to make an exception though.

The mesh fence we had installed a few years ago has been a lifesaver.

Literally.

The folks (shall I name them?) that put it in assured us that they would reinstall it for free when we asked about that 2 years ago.

(knowing that we would someday need to have our pool redone)

They just gave me a quote of over $600 to reinstall it.

This makes me sad.

This also makes me slightly mad.

Trying to work on that mad part.

Our kids safety is very important to us, so we will have the fence reinstalled.

Umm, not sure when.

Probably when I stop being mad.

Yeah, let's go with that answer.

French drains all sloping for a good bucket catch system.

(just made that up)

When I got rich one time I said this:

"I would like to have an all stone Decking!"

Then I got poor and I said this:

"Umm, perhaps I will have a salt finish concrete Decking!"

(I yell out the word "Decking" just to sound important)

Salt finished concrete goes like this...

Ya pour the concrete.

It starts to dry.

Ya sprinkle large kernel size salt on it.

I am thankful for my salt finished concrete.

Now I can just throw a ham hock out there and smear it around.

It comes back perfectly salted.

Marvelous.

Anyone want to take a dip?

Pool Redo - DAY 9

Day 9.

Ahhhh.

The realization of how much work will be left to do after they are done sets in.

Grass and weeds to be killed.

Grass and weeds to be grown.

Flowers to plant.

Edging that will need to be replaced.

Fences and gates fixed..

You don't want to see the whole list.

Come to think of it, neither do I.

The rest of the forms were set in place and all the rebar completed.

It looks like we are hosting a boy scouts camping trip for mice.

To those of you who have never seen the guts of concrete, these little tents support the rebar and keep it off the ground.

Nifty.

They charged us $25 a tent so we told them to double up.

We're loaded.

(note to the gullible: that was a joke)

I spent an hour or so sweeping the patio that evening.

They were so kind to clean up the pile I made.

I hope I don't get billed for that...

Looks like concrete tiiimmmmeee!

I have to say that I don't think I'll be sad to see this adventure end.

Having 1-15 men in my backyard every day puts a kink in my daily routines.

Ha.

I have no routines.

(except for iced coffee. Yup, evvvvery day!)

Been taking more walks just to let myself and the boys out for a while.

When we're kenneled too long we start to bite and devour each other.

Fresh air is good.

We can let our tongues hang out and our tails wag.

Until Day 10....

(by the way, today was day 10. Will share tomorrow)

Pool Redo - DAY 8

Yes I am way behind.

Pardon me.

Yesterday was one of those days that I wish not to repeat.

There was no time to post.

Here we are on WORK DAY 8.

Not to be confused with just 8 days working.

We are actually at 2 weeks and one day as of today (Friday March 16) since they started.

They put all the pipes in for the french drains.

This took a good portion on the day since they were getting them just so.

Rebar was added in preparation for concrete.

It's fun to see progress and get a better idea what things will look like.

Discovered that I will need much plants for my flower bed.

I can't wait though.

The above shot shows where they added a sitting area beside the pool.

It used to be about 3 feet wide max.

Ah-ha! A never before seen shot of my house!

Now you see where they continued the french drains around the corner of the house.
They discovered that whoever did the concrete before had pored it up over the brick.
That is one of the reasons water came in over on this side.

You can get just a small glimpse of the mess of my yard and patio here.
Yay.

I was up late last night and before heading to bed I decided to make sure the boys toys were picked up outside since they are poring concrete today.
As I stepped outside I heard a strange noise.
I'm not sure how long this noise had been going on.
Our pool pump was running.
Dry running.
The only thing I can figure out is that our timer is an old one and it sometimes does strange things.
Like randomly turn the pool pump on.
We won't be able to tell if it damaged the pump until we can run it for real.
*sigh*
I will try and post again later to catch up!