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falling

the last signs of fall...

we arrived back to TX after Thanksgiving to see the last signs of fall all around us! 

And aren't they beautiful signs?

We had a wonderful week with the kids and the in-laws.
On the itinerary: antiqueing, cooking, spending time with Sweets and her students,
and lots of visiting.

Here's Boo taking Az and Damien for a walk after Thanksgiving dinner at the Burke's. 

Thank you for the wonderful time and the great memories that were made!



my thanks...my gratefulness

Hi readers!  I am taking time from visiting my kids to give thanks for all the blessings our good LORD and Saviour has blessed us with.

While I take inventory on the daily blessings that God has granted, I am giving thanks for the year of blessings that my famil and I have received.

 

God has given me another year of great health, the ability to travel to see my kids, a job I love and a wonderful family.

I thank my good LORD for:

• my kids who are a constant inspiration to me
• Jacob for being so dog-gone talented but beyond that, his strength!  The love and kindness he shows to everyone but especially random strangers (you are such a wonderful man and I love your spirit!
• Sweets, I love your dedication for your profession and love you show your kids in class!  It was such a wonderful privilege for daddy n I to see you in action.  Thank you for caring for the little humans you are in charge of and the difference you are making in their lives!
• Landon, for being such a wonderful husband and hardworker. For the provisions you make for Sweets and you and the love that you have for one another.  Thank you for being a great son!
• Boo, for being a great husband and provider.  For always induging me in what I want and enjoy.  For the love you have for me and our kids and your never, never ending committment to make a difference in the young lives you touch weekly.  I love your commmitment to put an end to child abuse!
• For my family that I don't get to see as much as my heart desires, but that are in my thoughts and prayers each and everyday. 
• For the beautiful big family of friends that Boo and I have been blessed with.  You enrich our lives and are such a wonderful asset to who we are!

May God bless you this Thanksgiving and may we be mindful of

God's grace on us.

For HE is wonderful and giving.  Amen

Bubs...

Word is Bubs had a great solo show at the Strange Brew last night! 

He performed several of his new tunes which included the harmonica as well as the guitar!

Miss my baby and his beautiful music!  Can't wait to see him soon~



the Christmas wood plaque

I have been having my sweet friends over to do crafts and brunch on lovely Saturday's.  Mainly for the fellowship and hanging out since everyone is so busy and there's little time to just hang out and have fun.  I love being artsy and find that whether it's sewing, woodwork, painting, quilting, etc, it all helps me de-stress and it's very therapeutic!  I love zen!!! LOL

Some of the guidelines are keeping it simple, fun, quick and inexpensive, so the projects are under $10. This month I drew up a project that I thought would be easy and headed to Lowe's

(one of my other favorite stores)...

Here's the Christmas project!  Since several have asked what they were made out of and how...

well here it is!

I was initially going to use 2x4's but then found some lighter and more forgiving wood,

which also turned out to be cheaper and less time consuming to prep.

The boards ended up coming in a pack and is primarily used for wainscoting.  The wood was

light (in weight), smooth and grooved (so fit together) perfectly!

After calculating how much wood I would need, I purchased all the supplies

I would need and headed home.

I grabbed some newsprint from the recycle bin and drew out the pattern with my calculated size

 (30" at the widest 2 middle boards). 

Grabbed a pencil, my jigsaw, sander, and workmate and went to work.

See how beautiful the wood is?  I ♥ all the knots and patterns!

Sand lightly (that's what I meant by forgiving wood), it required very little sanding because it was so perfectly smooth already.

Here's the funny part!  I didn't want to go over the $10 rule I made for the cost of our projects.  So while I was at Lowe's looking for the trim to use to hold the 4 boards together, I didn't want to use wood thicker than 1/2" (because of weight and the price).  I remembered having a small stash of paint stirring sticks, so I came home and tried one out. It worked perfectly!  I headed back to Lowe's and asked the sweet man at the paint department how much they would cost if I got 14 of them...he said "take as many as you want!"

SCORE!

Here's the project with black accent (so when I paint later and sand) the black is revealed in parts.

I then put a light coat of creamy white acrylic paint, allowed to dry, then applied crackle (my friends new best friend), allowed to dry, then another light coat of creamy white. Wait for crackle to start it's awesome appearance!  Sand lightly around edges and surface, wipe off dust and now you're ready for the final touches.

I pre-ordered vinyl sheets (I've found that they're cheaper than at HL, Michael's, etc), I used my cricut to cut out the letters  in advance, (letters were a combination of cartridges). 

Apply the lettering to the board wherever you want, making sure to apply with light pressure.  Now the final touch was applying a light coat of "mod podge w/glitter"
(which I've discovered, is very hard to find).

This gave it a beautiful and very light irredescence that when the light hits it--
it adds just the right amount of sparkle!

That's it!  Quick, easy and inexpensive!

~

Items used:

Wainscoting Boards (came in 2"x4"x4')

1/2" wood screws
screwdriver

industrial size paint stirrers (they're thicker and about 24" long)

newspaper for pattern

electric sander

Folk Art acryclic paint (black and creamy white)

antiqueing medium

crackle medium

Mod Podge (hologram silver) glitter
Cricut

vinyl lettering and transfer paper

 

cost: $8.50 each

Pretty gosh darn cute and great Christmas gifts!

(Click here to see more related photos on one of the previous post)

 



 

sunshine and crafts

Blessed with wonderful friends is one of God's sweet rewards... and I am so thankful for this gift.  Today my sweet friends came over to do our Christmas craft. We started with brunch and then since God gave us a bonus---a beautiful sunshiny day, we got to play on the deck. 

The project was a wood craft with a special message..."Merry Christmas."

 

 

 

Didn't get pics of our lovely food for brunch but the menu included:
~

Egg Casserole w/fresh salsa
Southern Living Pecan Pie muffins
Cranberry bars
Broccoli Salad
Fresh Fruit
Wine Infused Pears
Fruit Slush
Sausage Bake
Pasta Salad
Italian Soda Mimosas

(See "DIY" project post)



I ♥ my Texas

I love traversing around Texas!  Especially with my best friends.  Thursday I drove to Bailey's Prairie and spent the night at one of my girlfriends new (and beautiful) home.  Early Friday morning we picked up one of the other girlfriends, made a stop at Sonic and headed to our beloved Nutcracker Market at Reliant.  I had not been back since we moved away 3 years ago.  We finally met up with the final bestie, so we could be on our way.  We had a blast, as you can see by the pics!

~NUTCRACKER MARKET~

 

guarding all of our purchases & exhausted

 

my SPECTACULAR purchase!

~TEXAS AT IT'S BEST~

where else but the Hill Country if you want to see wonderful TEXAS?

Made our way to our cabin in the woods in La Grange for the remainder of our trip and made our way to Roundtop, Fayetteville, Carmine, and lots of other small Texas towns with all their country charm!

 

 

 

 

~Sight Seeing~

 

 

 

As usual, we had a wonderful time, made terrific memories and spent more

treasured time together.  Love my girls!