creative little daisy

because I have much to say

because it brings me a lot of joy

because it has had a positive impact on my life

because it is always right there, in the back of my mind...

just a few of the reasons I can't let this quiet little blog of mine go.

So, here I am, after another long silence. Wondering if anyone still visits. Especially with the recent demise of google reader.

Anyone out there?

Hello : )

I'm still here. Sitting on my porch this morning in soggy North Carolina. Boy, it's been a wet summer in my little corner of the world. It's nearly noon in the middle of July in North Carolina and I'm on my front porch wearing a sweater. What???

I've been spending lots of time, here on the porch. Rocking and thinking. Sometimes accompanied by my favorite little 5 year old, sometimes just me.

I love my porch. The house I lived in for part of my growing up years had a big front porch. It was my great-grandmother's house. We lived there with her because she had Alzheimer's disease. It was my great-grandmother, my granny, my mom, my sister and my granny's brother all living in this house.

I have such fond memories of that house and that porch, probably because it was the only time in my life that my mom was there and was going to be there. She wasn't going to be gone for days or weeks or months. She wasn't going to be in a hospital or another state because of drugs. She was off drugs and was there when I went to bed and there when I woke up. She had to nearly die to get to that place and it only lasted a few years before she would die from lung disease, but for that brief time of my life, it was good. For once, to let down that heavy burden I'd always been dragging around. The worry, the shame, the fear, the anger, the disappointment, all wrapped up in one heavy bundle, it got really heavy sometimes. So, for those couple of years that I was able to put that bundle away, it was a good place to be. Time spent on that porch with my mom and my granny, my sister and whoever else happened to be over, those were good times. 

I knew when I had my own house, it had to have a porch. Maybe to me it was a tangible representation of that treasured feeling of security I felt. That security that my family was together and at peace.

I do a lot praying on this porch of mine. A great deal of self analysis and soul searching as well. Things haven't fallen right into the place I sort of always expected they would. Not in a bad way, really, just not what seemed to be the natural progression of life in the little dream I'd dreamed. I sit here and pray for God to help me be at peace for what is not and what may never be. 

Mostly though, my prayers are of gratitude. Things may not be just like I'd hope they would be, but they are pretty darn good, none the less. I'm so undeserving of the blessings I've been given, how can I be anything but grateful?

How is the summer shaping up for you, my friends?

 

She's definitely a country girl

Bayleigh and I were planting some flowers this morning and this is the song she kept singing over and over. Oh my!

 

On spring and other things

I've been spending lots of time here, on the back porch and it's pretty darn wonderful. I wish it could be spring for 8 months of the year. Not 12, just 8. Yes in my ideal weather world, we would have mostly spring. I also love fall so I'd like about 3 months of fall. And just so things don't get too boring I'd take half a month of summer and half winter.

I know with the winter much of the country has endured, I have absolutely no right to complain about anything weather related, so I'll stop.

The first stretch of warm days sends me straight to the garden center, usually just like a kid in a candy store. It's taken me a long time, but I think I've finally accepted that I'm lazy when it comes to caring for flowers. This year I practiced great restraint and only bought a few blooms, opting instead for super easy, super hardy asparagus fern and sweet potato vine. No matter how hot it gets and how much I ignore them, these two plants never let me down.

I also wanted to do some sort of container herb garden. Home Depot had herbs and vegetable plants on sale, 5 pots (3"?) for $10. I came home with rosemary, parsley, cilantro, and a basil variety and got busy searching pinterest for herb garden ideas.

(The Vintage Wren)

Man, I love pinterest!  And galvanized pails. 

I gathered up several that I had around the house and in the shed.

I drilled holes in the bottoms, and along the bottom of the sides of all my pots.

I took these photos with my phone and they look like they have a soft filter applied. Nope, it's just pollen on the lens. Nothing is safe. Achoo!

An upside down flower pot placed in the large tub helps to elevate the second pail and also to save on the amount of potting soil needed. 

Then I just added potting soil and placed my herbs with plenty of space left for growth. I also scattered some seeds in the open spaces, to extend the life of my little herb garden. Along with the herbs, I used a couple of the sweet potato vines for some trailing interest.

I think I'll search pinterest one more time for some cute plant marker ideas to replace those not so cute plastic guys.

I can't wait to start snipping my herbs for all the gourmet meals I cook. (Wink)

As long as we're in the backyard, let me show you one more thing.

My last post, I mentioned Lola, the chihuahua mix I rescued from beside the road. I'm pretty sure someone had abandoned her, but not before abusing her. She's very skiddish around most men, especially Mitch. She's terrified of him and since he's never given her reason to fear him, I think he must remind her of someone who did.

Anyway, Lola took about one day to make herself right at home. She loves it here, but she's also a bit of a roamer. Our backyard is fenced in, but the slats are spaced so that she could walk right through. She could and she did every chance she got, running like the wind through the hood. We tried lining the inside of the fence with some plastic chicken wire type material. She would root underneath or just push it down and go over the top, so I could only let her out on a leash.

Then I happened upon this picture on pinterest.

Wha...? Kind of crazy huh? No, I didn't get this for her, but I did search for similar, less dangerous looking options and came across the Puppy Bumper.

Genius I tell ya'!

Lola and I are in love with her Puppy Bumper.

In love! She can roam freely around inside the fence and I don't have to be right there with her every minute.  She tested it out pretty vigorously to begin with.

She gave it her all, trying to get through, over under.... no luck. She wasn't going anywhere. Ha! Now that she's used to it, she will poke her head out to look around, but doesn't really try to squeeze through anymore. She goes nuts when she sees it and knows it means she gets to go out. It doesn't seem in the least bothersome to her and she hasn't tried to bite or scratch it off.  It was 25 bucks and worth every dollar!

I have in no way been compensated to say that. The Puppy Bumper folks have no idea I exist, but Lola and I are so glad I found them!

 

Sweet little blog of mine, why do I neglect you so?

I have have so many fascinating things I would love to talk about. Like...

• My cat's hyperactive thyroid
• Making pompoms out of yarn
• Spring (did you hear that NC? enough with the cold, it's SPRING!)
• Bayleigh. I Never run out of Bayleigh stories, like the time I said son of a gun, and she asked if I meant son of a #@$&*. Yes she did.
• I can't remember if I introduced you to Lola. Did I? A chihuahua mix I found abandoned beside the road.
• Early menopause. Oh joy!
• Trying to learn new makeup strategies for a face that isn't as young as it once was. 
• Pillowcase dresses. So sweet aren't they?
• Our pending induction into the club of jobless folks. The plant where Mitch has worked for the past 26 years is closing in a couple of months. Oh my!
• Some of my new favorite things.

See,  just that quick I came up with ten potential blog posts. I have absolutely no excuse. Where shall I start, the starving cat or menopause? Job loss or stray dog? Foul mouthed four-year-old? You tell me, what are you just dying to hear about?

I'm not a fan of airing your dirty laundry online...

 

But,

If you are to fully appreciate what I've done in my laundry room, I have to come clean with the before.

The untouched, unedited, unstyled (snort) before.

Who knew you could cram so much fun in one tiny room? An even bigger mystery is how all that fun was actually contained in that room once it was all unleashed upon my kitchen.

OK, so the ottoman wasn't in the laundry room, that's a story for another day.

Crappy cell phone pic

The horror just keeps growing. Speaking of growing, look what was growing under my dryer. Ewwwww! Apparently my house is filthy. And I'm a lazy painter.

Enough. I can't take anymore.

Not an official AFTER, an almost after. I still have a few things to do, but I'm no good at waiting. I want to replace the cheerful florescent fixture and I still have to put extenders on the outlets so I can replace the covers. I will add some color in the way of artwork, but even unfinished, it's miles better than before.

The white vinyl floor isn't my favorite, but it's practical and probably won't be getting changed anytime soon. I want to cover the stippled ceiling with more wood planks, eventually.

It's a tiny room, 9' x 5' at the widest point. The pantry closet in the kitchen juts out into this room so the entry point is only as wide at the doorway. Because of that, I took the door down years ago to gain a few extra inches. In a room this tiny, every little bit helps.

I'm super proud of this little project, one, because it was on a tiny budget, and two, I did 98% of the work myself. I did need Mitch for a little heavy lifting. Getting that shelf up with the dryer back in place would have been the death of me. He also helped with the planking once it got over my head, just because holding those 8 foot planks and the nailer and keeping the spacing even all over my head was pretty awkward.

I had the wood for the planks cut at Lowe's. The guy working in the lumber department that evening was less than excited about making the cuts. I say this not to reflect negatively on Lowe's, I've have cuts made several times before without problem, but this fellow, he didn't want to be bothered. I share this only to say, even though based on reading other blogs, getting as many cuts as you want for whatever project you have is no prob. Just get the guys at the big box store to do it for you. It isn't always that smooth going. At first this gentleman ignored us, then  he said he thought he heard someone say the saw wasn't working. Another associate overheard and corrected him, assuring him it was working just fine. When I told him what I wanted cut, he shook his head and said that was project cuts and they don't do those. To make a long story short, he eventually made the cuts, but not before I consulted with my nephew who is a manager in the plumbing section. All that to say, they may not be happy about it, and you may have to pay a little for the cuts, but for me it was worth it.

I used 4' x 8' sheets of hardboard. It was on the isle with the molding and is cheap. Less than $8 a sheet. I had it cut into 6" x 8' planks.

If I were to do this again, I would not use the same product. It was easy to work with because it's super thin and light, making it easy to handle alone, but because it's a pressed material, not wood, the edges can get messy, for lack of a better work. It's a pressed product so the cut edges aren't perfectly smooth making the vertical seams more obvious. I think a plywood product would have sanded smoothly making the seams less noticeable. I attached them planks to the wall with a brad nailer from Harbor Freight.

I made the cuts around the outlets with a jig saw.

I used nickels to keep even spacing between the planks.

Another hindsight moment came with painting. If I do this again, I will at the very least prime the edges of the boards. It aint easy to get paint in those little grooves.

What worked for me was getting a lot of paint on my brush and kind of squishing it into the cracks then smoothing it out with a tiny brush. This one happened to be a brush that came with eyebrow powder. Hey, use what you got, right?

Squishing (very technical terminology)

Smoothing

One coat of primer, two coats of semi-gloss latex paint.

With this wall nearly complete, next up was the wall behind the machines.  I had a couple of laundry rooms pinned that I seemed similar in size to mine and provided great inspiration.

(View Along The Way)

Dreamy, right? That light? Her husband built that.

(Mini Manor Blog)

More dreaminess.

With my room being just about 5 feet wide, if I placed the cabinet in the center of the room, the shelves on either side would be really narrow, so I opted to go to one side. I liked the idea of the hanging bar, but decided it would feel too crowded, since the ceilings are only 8' high.

The cabinet was stolen from the attic room. It's not being used now and I can get a replacement. I told you this is a budget makeover folks. Besides the paint and wood for the planks, everything else was scrounged from the garage.

In the photo above, I used a strip of thin decorative molding to hide the edge of the MDF shelf. It was a little puny looking to me, so I ripped it off and added a 1x3 pine board to give the look of thick chunky shelves.

I also added a second shelf as you can see. I got slack about taking photos, too busy cutting and nailing.

Then came caulking. Caulk is just the cherry on top and makes everything look so much more finished. It hides all kinds of flaws.

Look at this cabinet before caulk.

And after.

The wall behind the machines was painted Tuxedo Tie by Valspar in flat. Once the shelves were up, I felt like it needed something. I decided to paint the area inside the shelves with chalkboard paint. I had a can in the garage, but when I opened it, the paint was nearly solid. Not to be deterred, I made my own.

I used the Tuxedo Tie and calcium carbonate, that yes, I happened to have on hand. I bought it months ago to make my own chalk paint, but knew it could also be used for chalkboard paint. Is there a difference?

I ordered mine from Amazon.

The ratio I used was about 3 teaspoons in 1/3 cup of paint. Then stir, stir, stir. I used a smooth foam roller and painted on a couple coats of my homemade chalkboard paint.

Then had fun writing myself a happy little message. Nobody else is going to be working in here.

I don't think it wall make me love doing laundry,  just maybe enjoy the view a bit more.

 

When life hands you lemons,

 

...use them to make a sliding door.

What? Never heard that one before?

So, what had happened wuz, I painstakingly stripped yellow, then blue, then black paint off my front door and storm door. I stripped, and sanded. Stripped and sanded, then stained and sealed. When the it was time to replace the storm door, I realized I got a little crazy with the palm sander and scratched the glass. A lot. ?? How did that happen? I cleaned and cleaned and hoping the swirly marks all over was residue from the polyurethane. No such luck. The glass was ruined. Lemons folks. Tart, bitter lemons.

Or was it?

I've had a bit of a fascination with sliding barn doors lately and I'm not alone. Search Pinterest for sliding doors and see how many you'll find.

(House*Tweaking)

I think this is the door that began my fascination. Lovely, right? I love everything about this picture, and the door is just the cherry on top.

Do you see some sliding door lemonade coming?

Yep, I just had to convince Mitch the perfect use for this otherwise ruined door would be to frost the glass and use it as a sliding door in the dining room. It wasn't an easy argument, but in the end I brought him over to my way of thinking. Next, I had to convince him how we would go about accomplishing this task.

I studied lots and lots of sliding doors. Most used barn door hardware, which can be pricey. When I am trying to convince Mitch that we need to do something, one of the first arguing points needs to be that we can do it on the cheap. Pricey barn door hardware would not get me lemonade, I mean a sliding door. I need cheap and relatively easy.

This proved to be exactly what I needed.

My door is very similar to this, without the dividers.

This is the only before picture I could find. This door is in the dining room and leads to the stairway to the attic room. It had not been painted yet in this pic. Just a plain, boring interior door.

And now...

I still need to frost the glass. I have some frosted window film ordered. It will be easier and less messy than doing the spray on stuff.

For the hardware, I bought  72" sliding closet door hardware from Lowe's. It was around $15.00. In the tutorial I linked to, she said the hardware they used was double and her husband split it and just used half. The track I purchased was also a double track, but made in one solid piece. I forgot to get a pic, but here's one from the Lowe's site.

Mitch cut off one of the tracks using an angle grinder.

We painted the track flat black and attached it to the underside of a stained 2x6 board.

He mounted L brackets along with the track at either end to keep the door from sliding right off the track.

The bolt you see in the 2x6 is just decorative. The board is mounted into wall studs with 3" wood screws. Mitch counter-sunk the screws and put the bolts in the hole covering the screw head. Purely decorative to add to the industrial look. To make it look a little more like the barn door sliders, we purchased a $2.00 fence hinge and Mitch split it and mounted it on the door just beneath the sliding mechanism. Again, completely decorative and non functioning. It was also spray painted flat black.

Mitch removed the trim from around the door frame, the door stop trim. No idea what it's called, but you know, the piece that keeps the door from being a swinging door. Anyway, he removed that and put 1x6 pine in the frame to give it a finished look, and once I prime and paint it will. 

To keep the door from swinging out away from the wall, he drilled an L bracket into the floor.

I made a little sock out of felt to go over the L bracket so that the door would slide smoothly. All Mitch's idea. Once I showed him what I wanted, he was the project leader and made sliding door lemonade  from my scratched up lemon of a storm door.

 

 

Happy New Year

Christmas has come and gone without a visit to this little neglected place. I think about it often, blogging that is. There was a time when my camera was never far from reach, when blog posts were constantly being composed in my head. Time marches on and life brings changes. I don't want to give up this space, but I also tire of hearing myself apologize for my absence. I have to stop staying away for so long, jumping back in is so awkward.

Oh well, I've been doing awkward most of my life, it's nothing new.  I'll just jump right in with my awkward self.

Since we last chatted, Casey came home from a nine month deployment.

A little explanation of the sign-  Any time anyone enters my house, the dogs go bananas, barking like mad. Casey thinks it's funny to bust through the door loudly, so as to really get them wound up and then shout "shut the front door" in his deepest, loudest Marine voice. Bayleigh thinks its hysterical, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that in her welcome home sign. She loved it!

Having him home was the best Christmas gift any of us could wish for.

I didn't make any of my gifts this year, and it was nice not to have that extra added pressure. I did most of my shopping online. I did get a little creative with my gift wrapping thanks to pinterest.

I had pinned this image (above) from Callaoo Soup, then pretty much copied her lovely idea.

I cut the "monograms" out of wrapping paper from years past and the little name tags using my Silhouette.

We had a lovely, laid back Christmas, everyone under one roof. We all spent Christmas Eve at Alyssa's apartment so that we could watch Bayleigh open her Santa gifts. I have to say, it was really nice to open gifts and spend quality time with family, then go home for a nap. All the paper and boxes were for someone else to worry about. There are perks to this empty nest thing. For Christmas, I got Lowe's gift cards, a new jig saw, and a table saw. Isn't that funny? I'm terrified of the table saw, but also thrilled to have it. As soon as it warms up a little I'm going to work up the courage to use it. Pray I keep all my fingers and toes. Yes toes, I told you I'm awkward.

So tell me, what was the highlight of your holiday season?

 

 

 

 

My rustic and sparkly mantel

I was proud to get my tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but I've been slower getting the mantel decorated. I knew I wanted to make a sign and finally got around to gettin 'er dun yesterday.

O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas hymn, so I used my Silhouette to cut out the letters and nativity silhouette and used the vinyl as a stencil.

The star was made from some trim strips. I couldn't find any thin strips of wood in the garage, but I did have some plastic lattice trim. I sanded it down and wiped on some stain. I hot glued the strips into a star shape and wrapped some twine around the joints. Easy-peasy rustic star.

To balance things out I made a simple and rustic tree.

I just cut graduating lengths of wood from some rough stakes.  Since they were stakes, the end was already cut to a point. I just glued the "limbs" on the base with wood glue.

Since I like a little chic with my shabby, I brought in some sparkle with mercury glass and twinkle lights.

Completely unrelated cute dog shot

Linking this up over at The Lettered Cottage Mantel Decorating Party.

 

Winner, Winner!

Mindy is winner of the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition! Congratulations to Mindy and I apologize for not announcing the winner sooner. Strep throat came to visit just after Thanksgiving and put a slight kink in my plans. I didn't have strep, Bayleigh did, but she is such a sick little girl when she has strep (which is somewhat frequently). I spent the past several days just being Nana and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope you were able to take advantage of some of the great deals at Silhouette America.  If you've wanted a craft cutter, now is the time to get one. Do what I did, buy yourself one while they are at such a great deal and call it a Christmas present. If you already have one be sure to stock up on vinyl and supplies. The Black Friday deals last until this Friday, November 30, so there's still time!

Not sure what you would do with a craft cutter like the Silhouette Cameo or the new Portrait? Check out Silhouette's Pinterest page.

I personally want to try to make an Advent Calendar this year and there are some great examples.

My Christmas tree is up but I still need to decorate the mantel, I have a few ideas up my sleeve that involve my Silhouette.

Black Friday Specials from Silhouette

Good morning and a happy Black Friday to you! Have you braved the insane crowds to get that deal? As much as I love a good bargain, I'm just not that brave.

If you are like me, and prefer to get your shop on while in the comfort of your own home, I have some great deals for your from Silhouette.  To get your discount, shop here and use the promo code Autum. And that's Autum without an N!    

 1 Silhouette Portrait™ for $179.99!!

 

Have you seen the new Silhouette Portrait?

 

If you have no idea what the Silhouette Cameo or Portrait are, they are electronic cutting tools.  They connect to your computer just like a printer, but instead of printing designs it cuts them with a small blade. You’ll get access to all of the fonts on your PC plus the thousands of designs found in the Online Store and with the new Silhouette Studio Designer Edition, you have the freedom of importing your own designs, making the crafting possibilities endless!

Wondering why you would need such a tool? Check out Silhouette America's pinterest boards.

Here are all the details. Shop here and enter Autum as the promo code to get:

1 Silhouette CAMEO® plus 1 copy of Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition (MSRP $349.98) for $229.99

1 Silhouette Portrait™ for $179.99

or if you already own one of the cutters, be sure to take advantage of the 40% off sale on supplies!

40 percent off at silhouetteamerica.com That includes your vinyl and supplies!

When I purchased my Silhouette SD, I waited till Black Friday to get the discount, (after multiple failed attempts at winning one) and it has to be one of my most useful crafting tools. I LOVE my Silhouette and I always stock up on supplies when the deals are this good! 

(Offer only valid at silhouetteamerica.com. Expires November 30, 2012. Rain checks not available.

% discount excludes Silhouette CAMEO®, Silhouette Portrait™, downloads, download cards, subscriptions, and gift cards).

disclosure: I have partnered up with Silhouette America to bring you the latest promotions. I am compensated with product, but all opinions shared about this product are my own.