The Season Has Begun!

When I was last with you, I left you with this image and told you it was a hint of something to come...really not much of a hint but, oh well-lol. Those of you that follow this blog know that I LOVE crafting...and wooden signs! And so, when I can find the time to do either-or better yet, both in one-I am hitting the ground running!

I was so excited to get going on this sign that I had seen on Pinterest that I actually forgot to document the steps but, they are really pretty easy. First I found a piece of wood in my garage that was almost EXACTLY the size I wanted. I trimmed it a bit and then I painted it all a very dark gray after which I painted over that in a chalky white finish.

I found it the easiest to cut a piece of brown kraft paper the same size as the wood and then just pencil out the words. The hardest part of this thing was making the wording kind of asymmetrical. I am a very symmetrical person and normally would have all of these letters line up just so. That being said, the sign I was copying replicating was a bit wonky and I liked it. It is always easier to do something not perfect because then your mistakes don't show up as much-except for me. In the end I'm glad I made myself do it and I'm almost satisfied with how my writing turned out.

In any case, once I had the proper size, I taped the kraft paper to the wood and went over the lettering with a ball point pen and lots of pressure. If I still had carbon paper, I would have used it but this worked out fine.

I then lifted the paper and went over the impression with a Sharpie. I probably could have used a paint pen and been done after this step, but I actually enjoy hand painting the letters. And, it gave me the leeway to make parts of the letters more or less bold.

Then, I always prefer to "distress" my wooden signs-another way to lessen any obvious flaws-lol. Unfortunately, I ran out of sand paper so this sign will get some more distressing after my next trip to Lowes. Then, all I did was add two sawtooth hangers and up it went.

I love it and I love sitting in bed reading at night with this glow around me. I'm apparently ALL about the ambience-lol!

I tried to get a picture of my dresser but the window light reflecting made it almost impossible. I just added a few of the Santas I have made over the years, some of my husband's and my childhood Christmas pictures and the little frame I made with two of my mom's old Christmas scatter pins-do they even call them that anymore?

 
Just managed to get that all done in the nick of time to get picked up and head off to the Kirby Family Farm in nearby Williston. They have a Christmas train and light festival and even though it is "no Disney" , the kids had fun and we had some photo ops.

I couldn't hear what she was saying but I'll bet she is telling Santa how it is always "their fault"!

So the holiday fun has begun! I've got a few more things up my sleeve this week and I am about ready to show you how the rest of the house looks. I'll be back soon. Stay tuned.

Almost There!

Now that I am finally getting back into some sort of a routine, I thought I'd better get you caught up before all of the holiday fun stuff gets me out of routine yet again.

Thanksgiving week proved to be a super busy but fun one for me! Daughter #1 and grand daughter #4 arrived on Saturday and then we were gradually joined by all of the rest of the family during the week.

On Sunday, many of us headed to St. Augustine where grand daughter #3 is a freshman at Flagler College. We started out by touring the campus and her dorm. This is one beautiful college! The main buildings were once the prestigious Ponce De Leon Hotel and the architecture is breath-taking!

This is just a portion of the main lobby.

Here we are at the end of the hall leading to Morgan's dorm room.

If you look up you see this gorgeous ceiling and if you look down, you see the lobby.

This is just a small portion of the beautiful dining room.

After so much oohing and aahing, we were hungry so we were off to "Prohibition Kitchen" for lunch. Here's our crazy end of the table.

Once our bellies were full, we were off to the Lightner Museum for the Downton Abbey exhibit. There were lots of Downton enthusiasts in our group but even those who weren't enjoyed everything the museum had to offer.

Morgan and I enjoyed being in such good company and...

...Olivia and Harrison enjoyed a respite in the old Hotel Alcazar baths.

Just a bit of the collection of Tiffany glass.

The Downton exhibit was beautiful. The dresses were exquisite. It is hard to believe that people actually dressed like this every night for dinner.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Hudson's 10th birthday. All he wanted was a small carrot cake and for everyone in town to come over and make Christmas cookies...and so we did.

On Thanksgiving we all headed to my brother and sister-in-law's house for Thanksgiving and a nod to my brother's ?? birthday and then on Friday we had a celebration of my husband's life. It was a day full of family, shared memories, photographs, momentos, lots of special food, music, games, etc. It was exactly as he would have wanted! I don't know what I would have done without this group!

And, an added bonus was that we all got to meet our newest addition to the family, Caitlin's puppy Dakota.

As a part of the "it takes a village to raise Nana" theory, Elton went out and got me a Christmas tree and he and Todd wrestled the thing into the house. It is huge-just like I like-and, it is finally decorated so the Christmas posts will be coming soon.

And, I'm giving you a sneak peek and hint at what is to come for my bedroom!

Can't wait to share more but that will have to wait because I am off to the Kirby Farm with Jen and kids for a ride on their Christmas Train and fun in their village tonight. I'm sure pictures of that will follow soon as well. Stay tuned.

Playing Catch-up!

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I have been super busy and having a lot of fun but I realized that I haven't even posted the rest of my Thanksgiving decor and Thanksgiving 2017 is already over. But, to help me when I do this all again next year, I am posting them today. I hope you will bear with me!

I think all of that is pretty self explanatory. I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner but we have had a busy week! Daughter #1 and Olivia arrived last Saturday and since then we have been to St. Augustine, celebrated Hud's birthday, been to Gainesville for Thanksgiving where all of the rest of the gang caught up with us, had a "celebration of life" gathering for my husband, celebrated my brother's birthday, watched the Gator/FSU game and began my Christmas tree decorating. Of course there are stories and pictures attached to all of those so you know I will be back. Stay tuned!