Seeing Double

 Seeing double...or deja vu? This has been a really odd week. I can not do so many of the things I love for different reasons. My car could not get an appointment in the shop until next Monday so, I am home alone...lol. And, I not only don't have any new craft ideas but I also don't have a lot of supplies for special items. I always have the basics but it is hard to come up with any ideas just using paint, twine, glue sticks, glitter, etc.

So, this is where I would usually head outdoors as there is always something needing to be done in the garden. But, this week it has been brutally hot and I am not supposed to be in the sun or get over heated for awhile.

And so, once again, desperate times called for desperate measures. I found myself roaming the rooms looking for any ideas of something to do to keep me busy...and then, I saw it. When I bought the spindles to make Uncle Sam, I bought two. I was thinking ahead to maybe my grand daughter wanting to make one or even further ahead to making a witch. So, when I saw the spindle, I realized that I could make another Uncle Sam. But, I didn't want them to look too much alike.

If you remember the post of the first Uncle Sam, I had cut out a section of the spindles because he was taller then I wanted. Luckily for me, I had not thrown out those extra sections and I figured, what came out can certainly go back in. And so, with my trusty wood glue and a spot of hot glue to give it an immediate bond, I put it back together. I honestly believe that you could build a house with just wood glue. Once it dries, it is bonded forever!

Then, it is just a matter of painting...

...hitting it with some antique gel, distressing and coffee staining the cotton balls for hair. I also rigged up another hat this time using cardboard (not corrugated) cut into circles and glued together for the brim and another TP roll covered with card stock and with a piece of thin wood as the top. And, this time I added a bit of white tinsel. I also used a white paint pen to draw on some stars...so much easier than painting.

When all of that is dry, it is a simple matter of adding the eyes, buttons, hair and beard. I didn't want to use anything printed on this guy but his hat needed something so I made a tiny "messy" bow using 4th of July ribbon and red and blue shaggy yarns.

So this guy kept me busy yesterday...what's on for today? I haven't decided yet. We are supposed to get some much needed rain this afternoon - although every time I check the forecast, the rain window gets smaller and smaller - so, maybe I will use it as a rainy, movie day and catch up on some of my favorites on Netflix or Amazon. We shall see where the day takes me! The way things are going, I might be decorating for the 4th of July much sooner than I had planned. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.

Merry 4th of Valentine's Day!!

 It finally happened!!! We were able to gather every single one of our family members together for the first time in almost a year! We have missed so many holidays together not to mention big celebrations such as graduations, birthdays, new dogs, etc.

The fun started this past weekend when daughter #1 arrived on Friday from St. Pete and her daughters arrived from Tallahassee. We went out for a wonderful lunch, off to the grocery store and then home where daughter #3 and two of her kiddos were waiting for us.

I will admit right up front that I was having so much fun that I not only didn't take many pictures but I also didn't request any "all family" or "all grand kid" pictures. The house was full. There were a lot of people not to mention dogs and even a friend. Everyone was off doing fun things and talking and catching up and I decided to let them do that and not make this holiday as formal as I would generally like. Also, it was kind of weird celebrating Christmas when my house was full of spring decor. At one point in the planning, I thought about getting all of my Christmas stuff out but, since May does not bring the same temperatures as December and that would be a huge, HOT undertaking, I vetoed that idea quickly. I then decided on just a nod to Christmas but apparently my grand daughters had other ideas and decided that we should celebrate every holiday we have missed together this past year. Unbeknownst to me, they went out to my garage and found all sorts of seasonal decor and had it all over the place. I wish I had taken pictures of all of the signs and centerpieces, but this one little picture might at least help set the scene. 

We decided to just do a nod to a tree as well, so the kids got going on that.

We had a good laugh at the presents as they have been waiting so long that many of them were covered in dust! Lol

My youngest grand daughter loves to bake...and she does a darn good job of it...so she made a batch of rolled cookies and we all helped decorate them. We didn't drag out any of the decorating tips so we did the best we could with spoons and butter knives. They may not be as gorgeous as some we've done but they sure tasted just as good. Even better maybe because who expects a Christmas cookie in May?

So here is a random batch of pictures that I have. If you look closely, I think everyone is accounted for. Definitely not our best faces forward but this weekend was just all about family, fun and love!

The week leading up to this was busy in so many ways...not the least my being invited to an award ceremony for my oldest grand son where he received a Trinity Catholic H.S. Distinguished Student award. I am so proud of the special young man that he is!

So that brings me to this week where I am waiting to see if we can find out why my car decides that it doesn't want to start every now and then. Hopefully it will be an easy fix and I will be out and about again soon. Until then, I'm staying pretty close to home. Not much exciting in the forecast but if I come up with something, you'll be the first to know. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Desperate Times...

...call for desperate measures. Is this the favorite thing I have ever done? No. Is it even in the top 10? 20? No. But, it did provide me the crafty time that I so enjoy so it is not a total fail!

I almost always have a hard time finding new craft ideas that I want to do for the 4th of July. I have been crafting for so long that I have already done most of the ideas that come down the pike and finding something new is just hard. And so, when I saw what one of the blogs I follow was making with what they called a "spindle" Uncle Sam, I thought it was different and not so "cutesy" and that I might give it a try.

I found out two things. My Lowes does not carry the "spindle" she used and, in reality, it is not a spindle but a furniture leg...at least in my store. Once I found the closest thing I could find, I grabbed it up and thought I could work with it. But, when I got it home and actually started thinking about the placement of his different parts, I thought it was just too big! By the time I got a hat on this guy, he would have been just too tall to fit into any of the shelves I was considering.

And so, out came my trusty miter saw once again and I cut one of the sections out and glued it back together.

I had all of my supplies on the table in the sunroom and found that I would do a step, head out to the garden for a few hours, come back in and do another little something...and so on. In all of that, I didn't take many pictures but, it is basically a painting project with a few other little things along the way.

The hat that I had seen was made from cardboard and a TP holder. I am not a fan of seeing the side of cardboard on craft projects so I was going to buy a wood round to use as the brim. Except, my HL was out of them. I decided to buy a painted round shape and thought I was lucky to have found the perfect size...except that now that I have it all together, I think it is too large. I have it glued together with just a drop of hot glue just in case I happen upon the right sized disc.

The painted disc I used was made up of two thin discs so I pried them apart. I used the one for the brim and I cut small rounds out of the other to use as the top of the hat on the TP holder. I am also not a fan of seeing the "wrap" of the TP roll once it is painted so I covered the roll with card stock before I painted it.

Once he was painted, I sanded him a bit to distress and then wiped him down with my antiquing gel.

Since I wanted the vintage look, I dipped some cotton balls into coffee and spread them out to dry.

Then it was a simple matter of two black dots for eyes and the cotton balls glued on as hair, mustache and beard. I also put a bit of silver tinsel around the hat. At this point I was almost wishing that I had cut down the TP roll because that hat is just so tall. I found a free download, printed it out and glued it on the hat to break up the height a little.

Like I said, he is certainly not my favorite but, when I discovered that he does fit on the very large shelf of the TV armoire - a shelf that is hard for me to fill because small things just get lost on it - I am a bit happier with him. We'll see how I finish off this shelf soon.

I woke up to rain this morning but it is beautiful out there now so I am off to see what else I can get off of my list. Stay safe and stay tuned. 

So I have an update! As I was walking past my Uncle Sam just now, that mustache just didn't look right. I googled Uncle Sam images and almost everyone I found did NOT have a mustache. When I searched on Pinterest, some of the wood ones did have a mustache but, I decided to err on the side of the vintage images and get rid of the stache! Luckily, it was a simple task of just pulling it down to the beard. Ah...so much better! Lol Now I will be able to sleep tonight! 

Spring, Spring...

...beautiful spring! After a few days of rain-which, by the way, brought the MOST beautiful lushness to my lawn and gardens-we are having picture perfect spring weather and I am trying to take advantage of every minute of it. I have been out most of the morning doing weeding and trimming and thought I would give myself a bit of a break before heading back out to get it all picked up and out to the street.

Let's take a look at this year's family room before I share my day from yesterday.

I love how the basket, flowers and hat mimic the bicycle decor from the metal sign.

You can always tell when a decor isn't my favorite because I never have much to say about it. As much as I love spring, the chance to use old garden decor and just the mostly green colors, spring is still not one of my favorite decorating themes. I always feel as if something just isn't quite right...that being said, this year it will be one of the decors that will be up the longest due to our early Easter, so I guess I better get used to it.

Now for my yesterday. My oldest grand son was in the district track and field playoffs down at the Villages Charter H.S. It is a gorgeous campus and their sports facilities are beautiful. And, to top it off, the weather was picture perfect-not a cloud in the sky and cool temperatures. It was a day you wish could go on for a very long time.

My brother, sister-in-law and I went down with Harrison because both my daughter and son-in-law had meetings they could not get out of. Harrison is pretty new to the track and field team so I too am new at how these things play out. Harrison does discus and shot put and they are done on the fields instead of on the track area. We were able to sit comfortably, thank goodness, because there is a lot of warm up and then many tiers with a number of boys in each one and they each get four tries. That is about all I know and I'm not even sure that's all correct. Lol

In any case, he is good at discus but not great so we were just happy with how well he did. He is better at shot put and was #1 for awhile and then slipped to #4 (which would have come with an invite to regionals) until the very LAST throw of the day when another boy's shot put went a centimeter farther. I think he would have like to have gone on but I also think he was very proud of himself for how well he did with his short time of coaching and practice. Everyone better watch out next year! Lol

So that was my fun and games for the week. I'm hoping to use today and the rest of the weekend to finish up some of the outside chores and then it will be time to plan for our "Christmas" visit next weekend...and then, I'm heading out of town with daughter #1 for a few weeks so, I will have lots to share. Stay safe and stay tuned.