A Father's Day Craft

I wanted to decorate the seasonal tree and do something special this year for Father's Day.  But what the heck can you do?  I figured why not Google 'Father's Day crafts'....apparently most men wear ties or get ties for this occasion so there are a lot of crafts centered around that.  Mark is NOT a tie man.  So I just decided to try my own ideas.  I went with the Father's Day Wreath.  Nothing fancy and you might of seen the idea on here before for another holiday.

I used: a wire coat hanger shaped into a circle, 4 coordinating fabrics and a ribbon to match, some yarn, mini clothes pins and printable letters from Shanty Chic.

 

I cut the fabric into strips about 5 inches long and maybe 3/4 inches wide.  Honestly I didn't measure anything.  Just cut and figured what the heck.  Then I tied the various strips of fabric on to the wire coat hanger, covering the entire thing.  The I cut the ribbon into 5 inch long strips and tied those on as well.  I used two small pieces of yarn long enough to go from one side of the wreath to another.  One over top of the other.  I printed out #1 DAD and cut them out.  Finally I placed them on the yarn with the mini pins.  I picked up the pins way back at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. 

And that is IT.  DONE!  Easy.  Right?!  Finished product below.  You can see a few of the ribbon pieces in this picture. 

The seasonal tree is a mixture of regular ornaments and ornaments that remind us of DAD.  Fishing ornaments, a mini wine bottle or two, a fire truck (my dad and Tommy and Christy's dad were volunteer firemen), a few ornaments with tractors....you get the idea.  You can use whatever makes you think of your dad!  Pick his favorite color, pick ornaments for his favorite sports teams, use mini picture frames with pictures of DAD.....have fun with it. 

I like how the tree and the wreath turned out.  One of my goals this year was to put something up for the special DAD's that are in my life and the kid's lives....mission complete :-)

Monday Love

Finding old friends

Finding a new friends

Watching a Twilight 5K finish

The Tough Mudder take II was a wash out, again!  Tropical storm Andrea flooded the course and for safety reasons the race was cancelled!  We'll transfer again and get this race DONE but it was a huge let down.  Good thing we had a great friend come to town to help put a smile back on our faces.  A friend I have not seen in years.  We were asked if we were sisters a few times....just like way back when :-)

The view from the office today.

I started my orientation to my new job today.  Amazing group of people with such a strong history of commitment to community!  My kind of place!  Hope you had a great weekend and Monday is being kind to you.

The Semi-Make Over

So yesterday you saw my kitchen and the change I put it through.  I told you I also updated a few looks in the rest of the house and would share them today...so here you go.........

New mirror for the entry

New couch

New bookshelf

Same table (since Christmas)

Just changed the setting

An ALMOST new kitchen/Why I've been away

When Mark and I moved in together I bet he had NO idea what he was getting himself into!  I like changing my "space" and I like DIY type projects.  Actually I don't really like DIY as much as I like saving my money and doing what I can myself and leaving the harder projects to the pros ;-)  I've been checking out blogs, on line articles and asking my friends lots of questions about painting cabinets...because our needed a new look.  They were in fairly good shape but they just looked old and out dated and made the kitchen seem dark.  I changed the counters the first year I lived here but that didn't fix the dark look...I painted the walls and then had the walls re-painted (thanks little sister) but that didn't fix the darkness...The floors came next and still the kitchen was not what I wanted.  I knew it was the cabinets but I didn't want to have to paint those suckers.  Finally after much talk and me dragging my feet for over a year I decided what-the-heck.  I had the time off so I might as well get it done and over with!

Found an old picture of the DARK cabinets

First I removed all the doors, sanded and cleaned all of our doors, primed them, painted them, covered them with a sealer and finally Mark rehung them for me.  This process took a couple weeks total.  That was due to the fact that 1.  You can't prime or paint but so many coats in one day.   2.  I was still working part time so had to actually go do that.   3.  We ARE the Busy Bryants so life didn't stop just because I threw our kitchen into chaos. 

A couple things I will just put out there...I used Kilz Premium primer on everything that I was going to paint, I used Behr paint from Home Depot but a Sherwin Williams color (Alabaster) for my paint and I covered everything finally with many (many) coats of Deft Aerosol Sealer.  I used the same door handles as before but did change the hinges.  The hinges ended up being the part I called Mark in on ;-)

For the final thing I did add a new piece to the kitchen...a center cart for more storage.  Already had one but it was smaller/darker.

During the chaos

After :-)

There are still a few things that will get changed.  Like a new sink, a back splash, and stainless steel fridge/stove to match the microwave and dishwasher.  But I'm in no rush to tackle those things just yet!  Since the kitchen was getting so much attention the rest of the house felt neglected.  So I did a few minor things to change up the rest of the house.  I'll share that tomorrow. 

Where in the world?

Bet you've been wondering where in the world we've been?  Or maybe you haven't!  The Busy Bryants have been busy but it's not really because we've been anywhere.  We've been busy doing the end of the school year stuff and working on a few house projects. 

At one point THIS was the kitchen

Happy to say....they kitchen is done!

There has been time for crafting........

And I planted a fairy garden :)

Now that the major projects are done....time to start new ones....hahahahah.  Just kidding.  Nothing major in the works for now.  So I should be back to some normally scheduled blogging starting this week.  Hope the summer is treating you well!