Trash to treasure

Some of my very favorite past time activities is thrift store shopping and up cycling my treasures. I found these cute wall plaques. I immediately saw there potential and had to have them to hang on my front porch.

I love to dry brush just about anything with texture...so these were perfect. Plus, they were already painted black...bonus!!! I almost always start with a black base.

I just happen to be painting my bedroom and had some paint left over. It it is a dark tan on my walls but, it appears much lighter here on the black. I do this so that my next layer of paint will show up better. Next I start layering different shades of red to give it more depth and dimension. Finally, I lightly brush them with a little bit of gold.

So, about 15 minutes later this is what I have. I really liked these when they were just plain black but, I love the way the color makes them pop.

Here they are on the porch. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I'm not sure about the placement though. I definitely need some plants and furniture on my porch to balance things out. It is all a work in progress but, I'm having so much fun.

Our House

We did it! We finally bought a house. We found this adorable cottage style house. It needs a little updating and a lot of love but, it has a lot of potential! I'm so excited about making this cute house the home of our dreams. Any suggestions would be fabulous. We will be doing all the work ourselves a little bit at a time...unless we become independently wealthy in the near future lol. I will be posting more pics as projects ensue.

In a futile attempt to resuscitate this blog I decided to post an update. I have been so bad. I have a million reasons why I have been neglectful...my graphics card died on my desktop, I didn't have updated pics to post, I lost my camera, I didn't have batteries in my camera, life happened, etc.... The list is endless. However, the painful truth of the matter is....I've been lazy! There you have it! I said it! The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem...right? So fellow bloggers I will do my best to nurture my blog in hopes that it will bloom into something funny, helpful, and beautiful...even if it is only for my enjoyment. If you happen upon my blog and like it too then all the better. I hope you'll leave a comment.

T'was The Wednesday Before Christmas

We've been struggling a bit since we moved abruptly in August. Partly because we were very happy where we were. However, we felt strongly that we were supposed to move. We fought what we wanted to do and did what we were suppose to do. That being said, at times it has felt like we jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. My in-laws have been struggling even more than I could have imagined and we have been trying to help them as much as possible...which hasn't been much since it took Sam several months (yes, months) to find a good job. With the holidays approaching life in general seemed like a cruel joke. We teased that the kids were going to get I.O.U.s for Christmas. The sad part is we really weren't teasing. We tried to focus on the true meaning of Christmas instead of the commercialized materialistic meaning of Christmas that we are all bombarded with. All the while I worried. Sam started his new job the end of November but, the way pay periods fell we didn't know until a few days before Christmas whether we would be able to have gifts for our children. The Wednesday before Christmas my father-in-law finds wrapped Christmas presents on our front porch. I came down stairs that morning to find gifts under the tree for my children and a card for Sam and me. I open the Christmas card made out to Sam and Holly to find a precious handmade card with a beautiful heartfelt Christmas wish and "We love you"; there was no signature. Enclosed was a generous monetary gift that left me humbled, grateful, and emotional. I have NO idea who was responsible for this very thoughtful and loving gift...I like to think of them as angels. I can tell you that I felt the true love of Christ that day. These angels were commissioned by my Heavenly Father to deliver a message to me. The message being that my Savior is aware of my worries and trials. He is mindful of me and He loves me. This too shall pass and I will be stronger for it. If I am faithful everything will work out as He has planned for me in His time. I still don't know who delivered those gifts but, the spiritual gift they gave me was much greater than the tangible gifts. They have strengthened my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and for that I am forever grateful.