A Mother's Heart

Au revoir!

Photo: Fanpop.com

I'm so excited I cannot stand myself--I'm off today for NINE DAYS in Belgium and France!  The best part?  This trip is a freebie for me, since I have a wonderful Mother-in-Law who is traveling for work and taking little old me along to keep her company!  I have shared this exciting news with tons of people and the most common response is a look of complete disbelief and/or suspicion, accompanied by the words, "Really?  You're going with your...Mother-in-Law?"  Like I just told them I am taking a 9-hour flight with my mortal enemy.  Yes!  She and I get along great!  She is sweet and generous, and her job is to BUY DIAMONDS!  What's not to like?

So, I'm excited.  But I am also scared.  I am leaving behind a 3 year-old and an 18 month-old, and an amazing husband who will be caring for them.  Nine days is by far the longest I have ever left any of them.  In fact, I never would leave them for that long except in the case of a free trip to Europe.  And it hurts my mother's heart.  I learned early on that as a mother, there really is no "vacation."  There's really no vacation if you take them with you; if you leave them behind you feel lost and lonely and distracted.  I am hoping that sensation gets better with time, so that when they are, say, in college I will be able to vacation in peace.  But for right now it's tough.  What's a Mom to do?

All I know to do is pray...for their safety and Hubs's peace of mind (I can't even imagine 9 days alone with them, and he's downright jolly about it)!  And for my own ability to truly relax and enjoy this break and all that comes with it.  And I will be skyping with them a few times--can't wait to see how that goes!

So I will miss you for the next week and a half and I am sure I will have a few stories upon my return.  Both mine and theirs...and maybe we'll do a few crafts when I get back too:)  See you then!

Autumn Art Tutorial

Thanks for coming back to see more of my spooky-ish Autumn artwork.  If you missed it in its natural environment, you can see it here.  I am calling this a tutorial, although its really just a description of what I did this time, and could easily be called a Not-torial because in some ways it is how NOT to do a project!  (I guess when you write blog posts late at night you come up with words like "not-torial."  But hey, you're still reading, or at least I can pretend you still are, so there).

First step was to tear out pages from an old book.  I used a book written in French because I am going to Belgium and France any day now and I cannot contain myself.  This was the first time I ripped up a book, and I hesitated, even though it was a book and I bought for a buck 15 years ago.  So I did some research on old Bakounine to determine whether this might be worth a read sometime.  I learned Bakounine was a Russian anarchist.  So I decided to rip up his book.  How's that for anarchy, Bak?  Hmmm???

After cutting out a piece of heavy poster board to the right size, I used Paper Mod-Podge to glue the pages on like bricks, and I also used a can of Diet Coke with Lime in a VT coozie, because I like to represent even when alone in my craft room.  Go Hokies!  Then I trimmed the excess off the edges.

By the way, if you look super closely you will see that every page number has a 5 in it, because 5 is my favorite number.  And because I love finding new ways to be wildly obsessive.

After I trimmed the edges I decided to "antique" the thing a bit more using my favorite technique--an caramel colored ink pad just brushed along the edges and lightly across the surface.

I really love Stampin' Up products and miss my little old SU rep--you know who you are!

To make my little crow, I looked at a silhouette from some free clipart site, and just kinda freehanded a similar shape onto the back of my scrapbook paper.  The thing is, if you draw on the back you can do it thousands of times and make all kinds of mistakes, and it doesn't matter. Cut her out and had a lovely plum damask crow.  Now that's something you don't hear every day!

Theirs and mine.

To make the "Autumn" I contemplated a number of techniques and boldly decided to take the most difficult, least efficient route.  I printed out the word "Autumn" on plain paper using Wordart so it would be an outline.  Then I used my Stampin' Up Versamarker, embossing powder in two colors, and my embossing heat tool to fill it in.

Then, in a fit of ridiculousness, I cut out each letter.  To do this you will need precision craft scissors, tons of patience, and loads of time.  I only had precision craft scissors, and they were dull.  So, no, I do not recommend this technique.  You could do something similar by using a stamp on colored paper, leaving your filled-in word on the white background, using your awesome Cricut or Silhouette machine, or probably a thousand other less ridiculous ways.  But I was determined to not give any more money to the craft store for this project, so I did it the hard way.

Similarly, I wanted a cute frame around the word, but stubbornly refused to just buy something from the embellishments aisle at the Lobby.  So I found a cute shape on a piece of scrapbook paper I already had and used that instead.

Finally I used a leaf stamp and more embossing on various papers to put my little leaves on there.  Attached everything with either Mod Podge or scrapbook adhesive.

And voila!  Fall art for my home.  Happy crafting, peeps!

Fall Nestival!

Well, Nesty Nesterson is at it again!  By the way, I am totally trademarking the word "nestival."  It cracks me up every time I read it.  I've been busy crafting, spraying, and arranging, and here's the result:

A bookshelf display that's in the same vein as my mantel and ledges, but a bit spookier to get us in the mood for the whole month of October Halloween.  I am quite proud of my scrappy little "Autumn" sign there...it was my first foray into tearing up books in the name of home decor, and I'm down.  And I love my little crow.  She looks slightly evil, but hey, all crows do, right?  Check in tomorrow for a tutorial on that baby.

I have been coveting all the wonderful dollar-store hurricanes I've seen out there in bloggyland, and was especially inspired by the ones Melissa at 320 Sycamore and Decorchick did.  I used the exact same supplies as they did, all from the Dollar Tree, but I did use Gorilla Glue a la Anne at Get Your Martha On.

Did you know Gorilla Glue comes in a white formula?  You did?  Of course you did, because I am the last human on earth to discover this fun little fact.  Anyhoo, I like that its a stronger than hot glue and super glue (both of which I tried and didn't pass the "I am going to shake this highly breakable object and see what happens" test).

Since I made the hurricanes a couple of weeks ago I have been filling them with all manner of things in a search for the perfect vase filler--and I am finally happy with what I've got here.  An altar candle surrounded by teeny-tiny acorns in one, and spooky botanicals in the other.  Also with acorns, because I am obviously obsessed.

What are those freaky things, you ask?  They are dried-up daylily stalks, spray-painted with ORB (oil-rubbed bronze) by Krylon.  By the way, I also used the ORB on the smaller candlesticks, which are brass and for which I paid $1 at a yard sale last Summer.  Don't look too close, they still need a second coat!

Hope you like my little vignette!  That reminds me, the Hubs claims that you can't use the word "vignette" to refer to an arrangement of objects.  He says it only refers to a picture of a scene.  Is that true?  And if it is, will you forgive me if I keep saying it anyway?  Vignette vignette vignette...



P.S.  I'm lovin' the Linkys at:

This Blessed Nest

And as of October 8th:

Keen Inspirations

Weekend Best Buys

{Edited to get all linky with it!  Look below the post to see where I am linking up!}

Hello my dears!

I hope you had a great weekend!  In spite of Biggest Boy getting sick this weekend and my dear friends having to cancel a visit because their little gal was sick too (no coincidence that we all just started preschool!), I managed to have an upbeat weekend...and thrifty weekend finds don't hurt!

Went antiquing with my friend Jessica, mostly to look for furniture for her, but I did find this little friend:

It is an antique Jim Beam bottle--Jess spied it in a pile of junk because of the color, which is perfection.  When you factor in the authentic "trademark" on the bottom, I just had to take it home. I really hesitated to spend $8, but turns out $8 isn't so bad--found the same one on ebay yesterday for $24.95!

Also picked up (actually asked Jessica to pick it up at a yard sale for me) this super-cute towel ring which I plan on using whenever I redecorate my powder room.  It was just $5 new, can you believe that?  You tell me which one is cuter:

Won't you please put me out of my misery?  Also, why am I in a powder room anyway?

Hello Gorgeous!

And check out this beautiful fabric:

I didn't bring this one home and now I have the opposite of Buyer's Remorse.  Passer-upper's remorse?

Last but not least, Jessica's steal of the day was this gorgeous chair for just $49!

It is in great condition with great lines, and I think she did a good thing by picking it up.  Now, can you picture it painted an antique white with a new fun fabric?  Or maybe a dark distressed wood with grain-sack upholstery?  I love it when possibilities get all endless like that.

The best buy of the weekend, though, was date night on Friday night.  One of our local bar/restaurants has a membership program that rewards you for trying different beers--when you try 200 different bottles you are rewarded with a $100 party.  My husband signed on four years ago and Friday night was his party--drinks and appetizers for free?!?!  That's my kind of deal!  Now do I thank my husband for drinking all that beer, or what?  I don't know, but I did have fun.

Here we are, RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!  Sorry about that, but its the only pic I got:)

P.S. I'm lovin' the Linkys at:

House of Grace

Kids-Eye View

About a year ago Biggest Boy got a digital camera as a gift from his grandparents.  He loves that it takes real pictures and I love that it keeps him occupied for hours on end.  What does the world look like when you're three years old?  Let's take some lessons from Biggest...

Lesson #1: Everyone is blurry.  Well, when you are constantly in motion, of course everyone is blurry!

Blurry Daddy

Blurry Mommy

Blurry LB

Lesson #2: The still-life is totally where it's at.

Tethered Puppy

On the Road Again

Candle with Salt, Pepper and Flonase

Lesson #3: When you're 40 inches tall, feet figure prominently in your daily life.

Your own feet...

...and Mom's feet...

...and even Mom's feet in her Birkenstocks.  My husband hates them.  And he bought them.  Love that man!

Lesson #4: Cats are easiest to photograph when trying to eat or sleep.  Also, they are crankiest at those times.

Lesson #5: Clouds are pretty!

Final lesson from a three-year-old's perspective: pictures taken while sitting on the potty are boring and, judging from the ones I deleted, not advisable.

What? I'm not cool?

Today I found myself singing the following lyrics in the car:

"All around in my hometown
They tryin' to track me down
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the sassing of a deputy...
I SAY
I sassed the sheriff
But I did not sass the deputy..."

You get the idea.  Also I was just rocking out to the Killers while I ordered my groceries online.  Because there is nothing as cool as making sure you ordered organic whole milk.

Sigh.  Indeed, I am no longer cool.  I wonder now if I ever was.  I still think I'm cool when I have the time (never) and the energy (rarely) to attempt a "style" (i.e. something that was cool within the last 3 years and has no stains).  I used to think my aviator sunglasses made me look cool, but then I broke them while assembling a Pack 'n' Play.

It's okay though.  I am totally willing to be the uncoolest ever if it means having the privilege of raising these boys.  And by "raising," I do mean rewriting all the best lyrics.  Sorry, Marley.