Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas 2011

We had a fantastic holiday!  So much went on in such a short period of time...we travel this week yet, but I can actually take a few minutes to sit, blog, and relax.  And I can't wait for the "round 2" of craziness!!  (aka...the in-laws...house in the woods in the middle of nowhere...21 people!!!!!)

Our vacation days began with visitors from N. Carolina, who surprised us with an unexpected furry house guest. 
 "Waffles" was the quietest house guest EVER!  She slept all night in a lidded basket.  ~never made a peep~ 
 Christmas Eve started with a bang!  We exchanged our "family gifts" with the kids. We did it early this year. That way, they had something to do, while waiting for the afternoon festivities to begin.  I never in my life saw a kid scream SO LOUD over an $8 video game!!  If I would've known that, that would've been all we bought him!  :)

                                   (check out Elise's face in that one~  She was crackinggggggggg up!!!)


The kids were truly in SHOCK that they BOTH got guitars from mommy and daddy.  Real guitars!!  Let the tuning and lessons begin!
                                                                                                                                                                            
 

    what a natural!!!!                                    


 Then came the party at Gramma's house. Needless to say, it was full of laughs and lotsa, lotsa music!! 
                                (check out Santa, Elfie, and little baby Rudolph!)
                                 

                                           (this picture CRACKS ME UPPPPPPPPP!!)


The prep for Santa was complete....


...and finally Christmas morning

                          the smiles...
                          the shock!...
                          a little crafting...
                         1 of 4 homemade tech deck ramps...


Overall, we had a fantastic Christmas!!  I can't wait 'til tomorrow...another 4 days of hype!! 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Final pictures...

So I went back to Merge today to finish the tree branch.  Everyone at the worship service last week wrote on a tag....
....something that the Lord brings to you.... 
The tags made the wall project a bit more personal ~ not just "basic wall art."  You can read my previous post for more detail on that...
but anyway, I promised a picture of the completed project~ 

I think the most amazing part of the whole thing is that I hung them all straight, even, and equally spaced on the FIRST TRY! 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

project of the week...



I've been going to a new worship service Sunday mornings. 2 friends of mine lead it.  It's set up like a bible study with music...a very relaxed environment...a room filled with friends. 

Merge ministries got to be so well attended, that they needed to move locations.  So....they moved into a very large warehouse in town.  With hours of volunteer time, including electrical work, paint, sandblasting, drywalling, etc...the space is absolutely beautiful.  Exposed brick with large windows, hardwood floors, and natural wood pillars just screams to me!! 

Anyway, long story short, Merge asked me to help out with wall art.  ...to come up with ANY idea...  Ya know, it's really, really difficult to do that.  If someone gave me a "theme" or "color idea" that they wanted, it would be a bit more simple.  I think they were thinking they were being nice letting me do "whatever."  Phew!  What pressure!!  When I called to give him (Matt) a list of my ideas, his response was, "Sure sounds great!  They all sound great!  You just be creative!" 

Because the 2 main walls are about ... oh I don't know... 30-40 feet long, I knew whatever I did had to be big!  I recommended painting a large section of the one wall (between pillars) with magnetic chalkboard paint...that way they could list reminders, hang posters, doodle, or whatever on it.  And it wasn't very expensive to do.  (which is KEY!)
The other main wall, I decided to paint three 4-foot canvases. My inspiration came from the symbol for life.  The tree. 

The canvases turned out great.  Everyone was very complimentary.  I'll be taking picture of the space on Thursday, but for now...here are the pics from "the beginning." 


I simply spray painted the edges with black semi-gloss...
 ...then brushed the center in a cross-hatch pattern with copper metallic paint, called "copper penny." 
This color complimented the brick wall and hardwood floors beautifully...and the black tied in nicely with the chalkboard on the opposite side of the room...
 Don't you just love my wonderful workspace?  It's so handy and I love all the room I have (cough, cough)...
Again, Thursday I'll post pictures of the final product, hanging at the warehouse. 
Looking at these...I think I'm a wanna-be artist!! 

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

1st Annual Gingerbread House Party!


Making gingerbread houses is SO.MUCH.FUN!!!  Honestly, there's not a ton of prep...
*buy bulk candy at the grocery store, along with graham crackers and white icing (1 per child), marshmallows, chex cereal, and coconut.
*Foil-wrap cardboard.
*Add a "sawed-off" milk/o.j. carton to the foil-wrapped base, with tape.
*give everyone a butter knife to saw through the graham crackers to make them the size you need.  They actually "saw" and "cut" rather easily without breaking!





Now these are some happy kids!  I love living in a neighborhood that has lotsa kids!  Hopefully, when they're all grown, they'll say to their own kids, "When I was little, there was this lady that lived down the street, and every year at Christmas time..."