Halloween is over...

Just wanted to share these memories of our Halloween 2011

Lady Gaga answered the door for Trick or Treaters

 The Boys showed off their new Oregon State shirts.

 Gage decided a long day of school was a reason to take a nap and not go Trick or Treating

 Our Chef Wyatt went Trick or Treating with his friends, Gregory, Valynn and Sadie and filled his kettle with candy. We all mugged his kettle when he got home.

The older the kids get the more I like to remember when they were little...

This year was so adorable..this is Janae with all her siblings, our 3 and her real Fathers 2 daughters

The cutest cowboys (and girl) I know!

This is the year they were Care Bears, they were so adorable!

We have had 103 Trick or Treaters and it is 9:35 and some are still coming. My kids are about to go to bed! But now that halloween is over you know what that means...I can start decorating for Christmas soon!

Halloween Kitty

I used to breed Silver Persians and we now have only one--born shortly after Chantel was born the two have been buddies all their lives. Big John loves his girl Chantel, and she loves him back. One of the things about persians is they will put up with just about anything.  Big John has put up with being dressed up in doll clothes all his life and now that Chantel is 13 things really haven't changed.

I hope that pumpkin isn't bad for cats because  Big John thinks it a delicious treat..

After a long day of Halloween adventure Big John just wants to cuddle up with his girl and go to sleep...

Happy Halloween!

A Scary Thought...

This for me is a scary thought. For me it is not 55 shopping days, it is 55 creating days (since I make most of my gifts) and so this is some long hours that I need to put in to be ready for this holiday I love so much. So I made this sign to remind myself, no more projects for myself for awhile..CONCENTRATE ON GIFTS!  Not to mention all the hours I need to set aside for decorating.  The good thing is I love the Christmas so it will all be a labor of love.

My Baby Boys are 12!

I can't believe it seems like yesterday that my boys were tiny little babies, then chubby little toddlers, and now they are almost teen age! Where does the time go? Today we celebrated their birthday.

Remembering...

Newly 12--Grandma and Grandpa came over today at 12:30--Gage was born at 12:35 and Wyatt was born at 1:05 twelve years ago.

Opening presents--still in PJ's (at our house if we are home we are usually in PJ's)

My precious birthday boy!

My Dad (otherwise known as Grampy Birt) with Lacie

My parents with their Great-Grand Dogs

Wyatt had his best 2 friends over to play games and hang out on his birthday

We always love the Oregon State gifts. Go Beavers!

Two yummy cupcakes for 2 very sweet boys!

Happy Birthday Gage and Wyatt!

Chalk Paint Coffee Table Project

I recently decided to change up my coffee table and I am so happy with the results! It has been about 3 years ago that I got this Ethan Allen coffee table at Goodwill for $15 and painted it white. Now I decided to add a bit of color to it with a paint I mixed and then do a lace treatment on it. I love it!

I mixed this blue color by mixing a sample of Martha's Aegean Blue and Valspar's Glass Green..then I added about a cup or two (I just eyeball it and try to do about 1/3) of Plaster of Paris.  I have been mixing the Plaster of Paris into my paint for about the last 2 weeks and I am so happy with the results! I have never used "real" chalk paint and so I don't have a way to compare..but my homemade chalk paint has a great texture and adheres beautifully.  I think it gives a thicker look than regular paint and has a more old look about it. Hard to explain.  I plan to keep doing this to my paint because I can't afford to buy the real stuff.  Someday I would like to get some just to see the difference though.

This is a paint sample I got  in the mistake section and made some chalk paint for a chair

Normally of course I have the drawers turned towards the couch but I wanted to show them off so turned it this way for the pictures.  One of the things I love about this coffee table is those drawers. The kids have one drawer for game controllers and stuff and I have one for dog brushes, nail files, all the little stuff you like to have on hand when watching TV.

Though it is a little hard to see in the photos I did a light spray over the lace this time..on the stool I did a couple coats. Also this lace is more delicate and I am really pleased how it turned out. I am going to put Varathane on it I think because the coffee table gets a lot of abuse. Normally I just put clear wax over it.  I may do a little distressing too..haven't decided yet.

If you didn't see my original post on the lace technique it is here Lace Technique

If anyone wants to try this and has questions feel free to e-mail me or leave a question in the comments and I'll get back to you. It is a really fun technique--my husband even thinks its cool (I'm lucky that way) and I would love to see other peoples results if they try it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Double Layer Pumpkin pie

I think my kids' favorite thing about fall is my Double Layer Pumpkin pie. It is a vintage recipe that has been stuck in my cookbook for years and occasionally my kids even talk me into making it in July! Last year my teen age nephew told me all he wanted for Christmas was one of my pies with just his name on it. This pie is a hit!

To my kids this is a little slice of heaven (actually Gage just had 2 slices)

As you can see it is about time to save this recipe before it becomes dust..so I thought I would post it here, share it with the world and have it in my blog book I plan to make at the end of the year.

This little setting was waiting for Chantel for her after school snack.

She was very happy to find this waiting for her!

Sensational Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

4 ounces Cream Cheese softened

1 T. milk or 1/2 and 1/2

1 T. sugar

1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip whipped topping

1 Graham cracker crust- ready made

1 cup cold milk or 1/2 and 1/2

2 packages (4 serving size) Jello vanilla flavor instant pudding and pie filling

1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix cream cheese, 1 T. milk and sugar in large bowl with wire whisk until smooth. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spread on bottom of crust.

Pour 1 cup milk into bowl. add pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 1 minute. (mixture will be thick) Stir in pumpkin and spices with wire whisk until well mixed. Spread over cream cheese layer. 

Refrigerate 4 hours or until set. Garnish with additional whipped topping, if desired. Store leftover pie in the refrigerator. Makes 8 serving.

Enjoy! (come on over Janae...I am trying to save you a piece!)

New Mirror

I was so thrilled when I found this mirror at my favorite place..Goodwill. I was so excited I had to immediately send a picture to Janae. She loved it too. You don't find this type of mirror very often at Goodwill--I had to have gotten there within minutes of it being put out.

This is how it looks now..now that I have painted it white, and made it all beautiful for my bedroom.  I think this mirror is very very old because the wood was almost falling apart and I am actually glad I painted it just to keep it all together! Though I have read that if it was truly old it would have a beveled mirror which it doesn't.  The mirror itself is extremely thick and heavy.

This is how it looked before I painted it..which I actually thought was quite pretty but I knew painting it white would make it fit in with my home much better. Also, I do believe the paint is helping it stay together.

I painted it with homemade chalk paint (which I will post about eventually, just still experimenting) and then I accented it with Rub n Buff.(in Spanish Copper my favorite Rub n Buff color).

I am really pleased with how pretty it looks in my bedroom.

New Grand Puppy

I just have to share...this is Lacie, my new Grand puppy. Janae and I drove 4 hours to pick her up last night so that Bella could have a sister. Though we sometimes babysit Bella, Janae and her boyfriend both work long hours and Janae hated for Bella to ever be left alone.  Bunny FuFu just hasn't been that good of company for her. So that is why she adopted Lacie. Lacie is a "teacup" pom..so though she is 4 months old she is just a wee little thing.

These are Chantels fingernails in the picture holding Lacie at 3:30 am when we got home. She just had to see her right away.

Janae looks tired but happy (again at 3:30 am) when she brought me home after our road trip to get Lacie

Uncle Wyatt waited until the next night to see her and he was so thrilled with her.

She is so cute--though she is losing her puppy coat right now

We are happy to have this new little one in our lives

I have been sick--actually had over a 100 degree temp when we went and got Lacie. I am starting to feel a little better but still have a 99 degree temp. I don't do well at being sick. I have too much to do. I am going to try and get some extra rest so I can get back to all my projects.

Lace Technique

I have a stool that a I use all the time due to the fact that I can't reach my upper cabinets. My brother gave it to me when he was in high school so I have always kept it. This is how it looked until yesterday..

A sad looking little stool, useful but sad.

Then I made some chalk paint (which I am thrilled about and will tell about in another post) and turned it blue.   Next to white, blue is the color that makes me happy.  Then after seeing the technique on Nate, I laid out some lace, put temporary glue on the back and than smoothed it out on the stool.

I used a piece of this very old lace, that has a little stretch to it

Then I sprayed painted over the lace with white, removed it, and had this beautiful little stepping stool.

I am so happy with this pretty little stool now...and I like this technique so much I am thinking of doing it on my coffee table.  Chantel woke up in the middle of the night and saw the stool and yawning said to me, "Well you must be pretty proud of that one" which is her 13 year old way  of saying she likes it.