It's Fri-YAY again!

 Sometimes the days go slowly but the weeks always seem to go quickly...not sure how that happens but...in any case, it is Friday again and it has been a busy week. We have had six lacrosse games this week-two for the boys and FOUR for the girls-after tonight. The girls last game is in Tallahassee and they are so tired. I'm pretty sure this should be a game to forfeit as they will be playing an established team who hasn't had anywhere near as much "play" this week but, that probably won't happen. I haven't done anything more than observe and cheer but I am exhausted and will be missing this game tonight. My daughter will be going so she will keep me in the know. The boys also have a game tonight that I will be missing so I actually have a night off...wish I could say the same for the day but it is time to face the music and catch up a bit on my cleaning. Since we are supposed to hit over 90 degrees today, most of my catching up will be inside! I've already vacuumed and cleaned all of the stainless and hard surfaces in the kitchen. There is so much more to accomplish before I can actually yell Fri-YAY but, as they say, the longest journey begins with a single step. Lol And, there is always tomorrow!

I think I just have the porch and bathrooms to show you and our Easter tour will be over so let's go.

I still need to get back to the garden center and get a few more spring plants but, for now, this will do. It is so hot right now that I think anything I put here will just burn off quickly no matter how much I water. We are supposed to get some cooler temps again next week-can't happen soon enough for me! Summer heat is NOT my friend! Lol

I love that little metal sign that I found in the "Secret Garden" area of Winter Park so many years ago. It really is so pretty. I probably should find a spot for it inside as it kind of goes un-noticed out here. Hmmmm

Moving into the guest bath. I changed up a few things in there this year but kept the shelves as the area for most of my vintage stuff. I really love those things but the colors just don't work for me in other parts of the house.

I'm actually loving that $Tree lantern-$5 from the Plus store- here on the counter. I think I started it there in February for Valentine's Day and have just changed out the color of the candle since. It might become something that I will continue to do because it is one less thing to change and store in between uses. I'm trying to find more things like that to make my swaps just a bit easier. As long as I have candles and candle rings, this one will be a no brainer. And, it lights every night which gives the bathroom a pretty glow.

I saw more of those lanterns the other day so I grabbed one in old gold and another black so you will probably be seeing them soon. I have actually already added the gold one to the TV unit in the family room where so much of my other gold has ended up this year

I love that "bunny egg" and I think I like it better in here than in the dining room where it was last year. I think it goes well with the bunny couple that I haven't used for a few years because I didn't know where to put them. So happy they have found a home.

And, I'm sure you get tired of hearing it but, just a nod in the main bath.

So that is the house for Easter this year. In all honesty, right before I came here, I was trying to do another Easter craft that I saw and liked. I actually just saw the image. It was free and filled all of my "loves"-dapper bunny family, lots of script and postage stamps and cancellations. It was a free download so I downloaded it but, the original was 10"X10" so it wouldn't print on a standard 8.5X11" without losing a lot of what I love. Luckily, I know how to change the size and decided to go with 8.5X8.5. I even found an 11X11 round of wood that it would have been perfect on and was getting super excited about all of the possibilities for embellishing it until...no matter how many ways I tried to resize-and it did-when it went to the printer, it went back to its original size and cut off what I loved. I'm not sure why that happened but the next time I see one of my "IT people"-aka grands-I will see if we can get to the bottom of it.

A lot of pictures were taken this week but, honestly, they all kind of look alike so I'm just going to throw out a sampling. I love the large team banners that hang at the stadium. They have the team banner and then individual seniors below. Hard to believe that next year we will have another senior!

This is my grand daughter's oldest friend. They were actually born in the same hospital in Lakeland hours apart. The families didn't know each other there but had mutual friends and it was serendipity when they both moved to Ocala and only live a few blocks apart. She goes to another high school here in town and we were playing them tonight. It is actually the team my grand daughter played on last year because her school didn't have a girls' lacrosse team. So, they are all just friends and it was a fun night getting to see friends old and new.

And what a beautiful sky!

And, make note of the mascots. They are actually students who are doing this to earn some of their volunteer hours. Grand daughter #5 has wanted to be a mascot for years-before they even actually had them-so she is beyond excited that she will have her chance next week at a softball game. It would almost be worth going to that game just to see that but I find baseball and softball kind of slow and boring so we shall see. Lol

Sure hope she gets the costume on the right because, honestly, the face of the guy on the left is just plain scary!! Lol

So that is it for today. I'm going to get back to my list and see how much I can get done before I decide to call it and relax and enjoy my Fri-YAY. Not sure when I'll be back. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Happy Day!

 Today is the only day this week without a lacrosse game so I decided that even with all of the other things on my list, today would be a crafting day. Most of the other stuff involves cleaning and I am always ready to push that stuff farther down the list! Lol

I knew I was going to try my hand at the cross and I knew I really wasn't sure where I was going to go with it so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to play around before making any final decisions.

And, as soon as I decided that, I was at the miter saw cutting another piece of the fence slat-didn't give myself any time for that decision. And, since I had some leftover pieces of paint stir sticks, the "putting together" part was easy. I always use wood glue and then some thin nails. Of course, this being a fence slat and not a piece of finishing wood, the sides aren't totally even nor are the thicknesses of the pieces. I was pretty sure I was using scrapbook paper over the wood so I didn't care as much as I would have if I had just been painting or staining it. The paper would cover a multitude of sins. Sorry about the sun and shadows but it was too pretty to move.

Then I painted the edges of the wood with a lavender chalk paint and got the paper on. There was a bit if a bulge where I slightly overlapped the paper but I knew I could cover it with the embellishments so I really wasn't all that bothered by it.

I gave the edges of the hymn a rough tear and then used my distressing ink to grunge up the edges and over all of the page.

Next I started playing around with spacing and decided I wanted to add a crown of thorns so I pulled out the "Tumbling Tower" blocks from the $Tree to use as risers so the crown could go behind the cross and some rusty wire to actually make the crown.

I used the ModPodge bottle as my shape for the crown.

Then I glued the cross pieces together, added some hot glue to the crown and got it in place and then glued on the "risers" and got the cross and the hymn onto the background.

I made a small bow from some coffee stained muslin and gauze and then took a small piece of the muslin and stamped on my word so that I could have a tag. My initial thought was to just use the muslin but I decided that it needed a pop of lavender up on the cross so I backed it with a small scrap of cardstock. I had all sorts of flowers out and played around with a lot of different configurations but this is where I landed after also adding some reindeer moss.

At this point I grabbed some lunch so I could be away from it for a bit to see how I felt when I came back...and, when I did, I decided that I like it just as it is-maybe a bit more distressing but that will be easy enough to do at any time.

Of course, then came the question of "where will I put it?". This piece is pretty big and the largest shelves I have are in the family room so that would make the most sense-except for the fact that that room is done in oranges and greens and there is really no place for the lavender. And so, I walked around and around as I so often do until out of default, I landed here. And, I think I like it. I am going to add a stand to the bunny who has been here and it will go up on top of the corner cupboard in the living room and the rabbit that was there will go on the bottom shelf of the couch table-musical "homes" for all. Lol

So, unless I see something else coming down the pike for Easter that will probably do it for this year. That being said, I really never anticipated doing this one so we shall see but I think I will be moving on to spring-which I can do once I clean up from this project. When I'm not sure what I really want to do with a craft, it seems as if EVERY craft supply I own comes out and cleaning up takes a pretty long time-hence the reason I like to have a totally clear day before I start a project like this.

We had a fantastic boys' lacrosse game last night. We won handily against a hometown rivel so those victories are all the sweeter! The girls' played a scrimmage game against a girls' team from England who are here visiting. They all sat together during the boys' game and seemed to make fast friends! There was so much giggling and hugging going on and, of course, now grand daughter #5 wants to spend her summer in London. Lol No pictures to share yet because they're still on my daughter's phone.

Off to start the clean up process but I'll be back to finish our tour. Stay safe and stay tuned.