Did someone say Camping trip??

Sorry it's been a few weeks since my last post! We did a garage sale the weekend of the 18th and then this last wekend we went camping with my brother, his family and my parents and we had so much fun. We got back Sunday night and it has taken me a few days to re-coup! :0)

Boy, the kids wore themselves out playing with their cousins- that's my brothers two kids, Codi and Garrett with Sage and Chad.

We camped up on Green Mountain, which is only about an hour and a half or so from our house. The first day, we all rode our four wheelers to the top and were lucky enough to see this herd of wild horses. Most of them roam the Red Desert below and I'm pretty sure this herd lives up here year round. They didn't stick around too long and I was lucky to get this picture when I did....

When we rode around the backside of the mountain, we saw this little yearling hanging with some cattle....we really freaked him out and he let his curiousity get the best of him because you could really tell he wanted to run away but he wanted to check us out a little first. LOL.

One of the views from the top. You could see for miles and miles....

Thats my dad in the suspenders taking in the scenery. :0) I'm not sure what Craig is doing. LOL.

This was my favorite....this spot at the top is called Wild Horse Point Lookout. That's the start of the Red Desert below...

Our state flower: The Indian Paintbrush. It is so pretty and it was blooming EVERYWHERE there! I mean the were practically fields of them. Sage was bummed she couldn't pick them....we get in trouble with the state of we get caught plucking these babies.We even had our own private patch of wild strawberries right by our camper. They were small, but tasty! My little guy picked this tiny blossom just for me!

The second day we all drove out by the Oregon/Mormon trail area and hunted for agates and arrowheads. It was a lot of fun, but boy it was hot on the prairie! Whew! Luckily we didn't run into any rattlesnakes.

This is one of the landmarks along the Oregon Trail- called Split Rock. apparently when the emigrants were traveling, it could be seen for 3 days on their journey. Once they reached this point, it took them 6 days to reach South Pass City which is only about an hour and a half away....could you imagine that? Makes ya feel lucky we don't rely on covered wagon for transportation, eh? I think this area of the Sweetwater Valley is so pretty.

So that's been it lately. I haven't done any creating either. My mom had a bunch of her garage sale stuff stored in my craft room and now that her stuff is out, I have so much more room. I spent yesterday and today cleaning out and re-organizing, which it really needed. It was cool and rained all last night and all day today which really got me in the mood to start on Fall and Christmas stuff. There's something about the hot summer weather that makes it hard for me to get motivated to make Pumpkins and Candy canes. Ok, so I guess I'm trying to say the hot weather makes me lazy. LOL. I know the summertime does that to a lot of us! I'm waiting until I have a few things finished before I share my selling site, so stay tuned! :0)

Nine Years ago today.....

Boy, it sure doesn't seem like nine years have already gone by. I can still remember how hot it was in that church that day! Whew! Glad I opted for the sleeveless gown. LOL. Craig and I actually met our freshman year in college- I was getting my degree in Veterinary Technology and Craig a degree in Welding & Joining. We dated for two and a half years and then married in 2000. Our wedding present from Craig's side of the family was our honeymoon in Cancun which was so neat and probably the only time I'll ever get to do something like that. Oh, the memories....



I have to say that my signs have been well received! Since I have posted them here on my blog and also at the prim shoppe in town, I have taken quite a few orders for more of them, even though I don't have my selling site up yet, I don't mind at all- so if anyone see's something they are interested in, leave me a comment. I turned comment moderation on so that any new comments go right to my email, so your question won't be posted unless you want it to. Since working on those sign orders, I haven't had time to work on anything new to share. Maybe I will next week? :0)

There are signs everywhere!

Just thought I would pop in and show what I've been up to lately, and nope, its got nothing to do with the sewing machine...I've been painting these signs- and lots of them. I have 12 done so far, and all these will be going to the prim shoppe in town...a lot of friends don't know this, but this type of thing is actually how I started crafting about 7 years ago. I made signs like these and lots of tole painting, selling at local craft shows, and about 5 years ago is when I made my first doll. (And no way am I going to show you the first doll- it wasn't pretty! LOL) Don't get me wrong, I still love to make dolls, but sometimes it just feels good to switch gears and take a little break every once in a while......and the rest of them....the last two pics are showing a bit bright- the "white" in them is really a warm, prim cream color in person... They all range from 5 1/2" - 71/4" tall by 21"-52" in length with a sawtooth hanger or two on back. When my selling site is ready, I hope to make a few signs to put there as well as my fabric handmades....

Until next time! :0)

-Jody

What a beautiful Americana Giveaway.....

I just found this blog and had to share the news about this beautiful Americana Giveaway at Palmer Falls blog. Of course its obvious I love Americana and I know there are more fellow bloggers out there that do, too, so I wanted to spread the word! Hurry on over, she is drawing the winner on Saturday July 4th! :0)

Where does the Summer go?

Oh my gosh....can you believe it is nearly the fourth already and summer is half over with? Every summer it seems like it is so hectic, we never take the time to stop and pick the flowers.....but we made time to do just that last week. We took a drive up the mountain behind our house and stopped at the top so Sage could fill her basket with wild sunflowers.I had to share this old barn. This old ranch sits along the loop road at the top of the mountain and every time we drive up here I just stare at this old barn and wonder what it would have been like to live 100 years ago when this ranch was in its prime. Sure don't see beautiful old barns like this anymore- at least not around this area. On a creative note, I did finish the makeover on my milking stool. Its black- of course, LOL. I decided to do slight distressing and I think it turned out pretty darn great. :0) My coffee table may be a later project- it will be more time consuming so I probably won't get it done until later this summer when things slow down- but don't worry, I will be sure and share when its finished. I do have a few dolls to share also....These girls I made from one of Tonya's patterns and they have already arrived at their new homes.....each doll was actually a surprise gift for a few friends of mine that were going through some hard times and I wanted to be sure each friend got her goodie box before I posted the pic. Each girlfriend sent me such nice emails to thank me and one of whom is my 'neighbor' friend Joleen- she had the most touching post on her blog it just made me cry! I was so touched by their gratitude it really makes me want to do things like that more often- I still get that warm fuzzy feeling whenever I think about it. :0) Of course it will be a surprise when I strike again...hee hee....
I have been throwing around the idea of doing a selling blog or a picturetrail site to sell a few things. I'm not sure when I will have it ready, but I will be sure to post about it when its done and "open for business."

Well, I should get going and get something whipped up for dinner. Until next time! :0) -Jody

Some cool finds and a few makeovers....

Well, what do you know- two posts in a month. LOL....I'm feeling ambitious this week, what can I say?

I always love visiting other blogs and seeing what everyone is up to- especially the thrift shop/yard sale show-and-tell everyone shares. I had to giggle when I was visiting Char's blog today and she said she would rather have $50 to spend at the thrift shop than $100 at the mall- wow she really hit the nail on the head there- I couldn't have said it better! So with that being said, I wanted to share a few things I found today...Keep in mind that my thrift shops around here aren't what I really consider "thrifty" most of the time- they usually overprice stuff and I don't ever seem to find the neat prim stuff the other girls back East can. But today's T2T shopping I felt so lucky! First of all, the coffee table was only $5- solid wood and sturdy! It will be getting a makeover very soon. The dark spot underneath and to the left of the stool looks like someone had set something hot there and it scorched the wood pretty bad. The little milking stool was $1- the legs are a tad wobbly, but nothing a nail gun won't fix. It's not like I will actually be using it- after its makeover it will probably become a prop for my pictures or something I'm sure. The frame was only 20 cents. I'll either antique it more to tone down the blue color or paint it another color....we'll see.....the shutters were freebies and I'll tell you more about those in a minute....
This lamp was another exciting find, but I must tell you it wasn't a thrift shop find. It was actually a brand new candlestick lamp I found at Wal-Mart for $5. Its original color was bright white, but now it sports an Old Parchment (Delta-Ceramcoat) topcoat with a coat of black peeking out underneath where I distressed it. And yep, I did rub antiquing glaze over it and sprayed with a matte sealer. My flash makes it a lot brighter, but in person it is the most beautiful, warm light mustard color. We really needed new bedside lamps for our bedroom (I bought two and they both look identical so I'm only showing one) and I wasn't about to pay $100+ per lamp for something I could do myself. I ended up finding the shades at Piper Classics- even though they cost more than the actual lamps did ($20), I still saved money anyway.
Now about those "shutters". LOL. Can you believe they are not actually window shutters at all? A few years ago Sage moved from upstairs into the spare room in the basement and last year we remodeled her room- these were the bifold doors from her closet that we replaced. There were actually four, but I only wanted three- Craig helped me cut them in half and hinge them together to form a screen. They were bare, stained wood so all I had to do was paint and distress, antique and voila! I actually made it for a backdrop to take pics of my dolls or whatever else I'm selling. For years I was using the old weathered fence between our and our neighbor's house and it was so boring- plus if the weather wasn't cooperative I had to take pics inside and they didn't turn out as good. Now I can take "pretty" pics inside and out! Hee hee!

And here is my wagon with my petunias inside. That poor little wagon! I've had it for a few years now and came close to painting it is original red, but decided not to-I didn't want it to look brand new. So I left the faded red and using some white exterior latex paint by hand, I freshened the faded white lettering and symbol on the side. I really love it and those petunias are the kind that trail/vine, so later this summer they'll cascade down. We still need to get some mulch down in the flowerbed and yes, our deck need to be restained, doesn't it? LOL.This was another makeover I did last year. It's actually an old piece of reclaimed cedar siding. I bought it from a shoppe in town a few years ago and it originally said "Wash Room" on it. I lived with it for a year, but I never really liked it too much. I had been wanting to have something with the family name on it to hang by the front door and this old piece of wood was perfect for it. I painted black over the original cream color. I used some tin stars from another sign I have for templates and the lettering I did myself. I thought it turned out neat and wanted to share.... On another note, I apologize some of my pics aren't clickable for a full size viewand I don't know why that is....or how I can make them all clickable- if anyone knows why or if its something I'm doing wrong, please let me know! I am working on another doll, but it probably won't be listed on ebay.... Ebay sure isn't what it used to be- you used to be able to find ANYTHING on ebay and I have noticed it isn't the same anymore. A lot of sellers don't have anything listed and I know a lot have gone to Etsy and have had better luck. I've only bought things on Etsy and haven't tried it as a selling venue yet. Neither of my ebay dolls sold and I haven't decided if I should offer them here or take them to the shoppe in town. If I put them on my blog, the shipping is free (in the US only). Hopefully I'll be back in a few days with my next doll.....

Until next time! :0) -Jody

Denver Zoo/Aquarium pics and a few dolls to share...

We had such a blast on our trip to Denver. I had never been to a Zoo before and I had as much fun as the kids did. LOL. Here we are in front of the carousel at the zoo...Sage was being moody and wouldn't turn around for the pic.

This is one of my fav pics- I got "flashed" by this not so very shy octopus. LOL. I love my camera! I thought it took some great pics- especially considering most pics were taken through glass.Craig's sister Heidi and the kids posing on the Hippos.

I thought this lizard was neat sunbathing on his branch....

I love how vibrantly colored poison arrow frogs are....

These jellyfish were neat, too........Chad thought the penguins were cool- and they're his favorite animal anyway. And Sage was just totally enthralled with the lions....

At the aquarium they had some mantarays in a big pool and you could feed them minnows by hand- it was really neat. They would stick their heads out of the water and suck the minnow right out of your hand with their mouths- it felt really weird.....you have to feed them at the shallow end of the pool though- a lady that worked there said in the deeper end they have actually flung themselves out of the water and onto the floor because they get so excited for food. There were these little exotic birds at the zoo that drank nectar with their tongues. You could buy a little cup of nectar and get to feed them by hand....Sage thought that was so cool. I would share more, but I ended up taking over 400 pics that weekend, but thought this was enough for one post. LOL.

Well, nobody croak or anything, but I actually got my other doll done and both are listed on ebay now. You can take a peek at them *HERE* to see more pics and close-ups.

I used a pattern from Two Dancing Crows for the black Americana doll and patterns from Crabby Gabby for the Lady Liberty and Stitchin' Sew Prim for the torch and crown design. I thought they both turned out neat and just in time for the Fourth. Or if you're like me, leave it out all year.....everyday is Americana at my house. LOL. We have been doing a bit of landscaping in our front yard and I made a planter out of an old Radio Flyer wagon- I'll share in my next post since there were plenty of pics this time. Who knows, I may have another doll done by then. Until next time...... :0) -Jody

What I've been up to lately....

Maybe it would be easier to say what HAVEN"T I been up to lately. LOL. Sage stayed home from school on Wednesday with a tummy ache, and that night I noticed her eyes looked a little red, but she said they felt fine. Last week I already had an appt set up Thursday morning for the pains in her leg (which turned out to be just a bad case of growing pains- thank goodness nothing serious), he thought it (the eyes) was allergy related because at the time she had also been getting itchy little welts on her skin which went away with Benadryl. I took her to school on Friday and thank goodness her teacher told me while Sage had been gone from school quite a few other kids had pink eye. So I called the Dr and he went ahead and called in some eye drops. At the store Chad kept telling me his tummy hurt. When we got home, I was taking him out of his carseat and he got sick all over himself, the carseat and me. He feels a little better now, but we're laying pretty low this weekend. If he isn't better by Monday, we're going back to the Doctor's, or sooner if he starts running a fever.......Well, for the last week -up until a few days ago anyway- I have been up to my neck in naked- and mostly headless- doll bodies and parts as you can see a few in the works. A few in the pic are already done and going to a local prim shoppe in town. Right now I'm actually working on 4 more dolls- 3 are surprise gifts for someone (I can't say who because they might read my blog and I don't want to spoil it) and the 4th is another dolly for ebay.
You might remember this one I finished a while back- in January I think, but then it seemed like we had all sorts of stuff going on and I never got to list her on ebay since then. Well, I'm ready to list her, but I need to swap her "Americana Spring" tag out and make another that says "Americana Summer". I'm gonna wait until the other doll is done, too before she goes on ebay, but sorry no sneaky peeks of the new one. Hee hee! :0)

A few weeks ago, we needed to get away for a few days, so we took the kids and went on a spur of the moment type of trip to visit Craig's sister, Heidi in Denver. We had such a blast! We took the kids to the Denver Zoo and the Downtown Aquarium which was just as much fun for me as it was for the kids cuz I had never ever been to a zoo before, either. I ended up taking like 400+ pictures, so I need to get them loaded and edited on the computer before I can share a few with all of you! :0) I did get to meet Kathy of Kittredge Mercantile and see her shop in person as she is just outside of Denver. All I can say is WOW! Tons and tons of eye candy! Every room in her shop is filled to the brim with her wonderful handmades, antiques and vintage finds and collectibles as well as one room dedicated to reproduction iron pieces. Kathy is a hoot! I could have spent hours in there just to see everything and I did leave with a few little things, although I could have left with tons more if we weren't all crammed in Heide's little car. :0) Hee hee! I got the crow make-do, and old quilt pillow with a heart and a little quilt pinkeep.That crow make-do is BIG! I just love him! I put him on the shelf on that big wall in the front room and he is perfect there! I was sad I didn't get to meet Joleen on the way down- she was visiting her sister that weekend, but it was my fault- I didn't give her much notice because it was a last minute decision trip. Sorry Joleen! We'll be down again soon! :0)

I did promise a pic of our finished bathroom, so here it is. We went from pretty much gutting it like this:

and thisto this!It turned out so great! Well, it still has a few things missing- the piece of oak trim above the wainscoting by the toilet and a bit of wainscoting right next to the vanity there, but its minor and we'll get to it on Craig's next days off. The original vanity was really long with double sinks, which for us was a huge waste of counter space- so we opted for a shorter one which we bought unfinished,then stained and finished ourselves and cut the countertop longer to allow for a laundry hamper to be concealed behind the homespun curtain. And here is the view from the doorway in. That is actually an antique china cabinet of my moms which I am keeping for her- she's going though a really miserable divorce with the possibility of moving again and right now she doesn't have room for it at her place. So instead of putting it in storage, I'm using it to store our bathtowels. It's empty right now cuz we just moved it in here yesterday. The wall on that side is bare, I was waiting to decorate the walls until I got the cabinet in there. Hope you like our bathroom! Well, I should go and get some stuff done. I'll try to post some of our Denver pics this week sometime. :0)

Springtime remodeling pics...

Geez..it has already been a month since my last post. Well, so much for my best laid plans! LOL! Well, this post should be good and lengthy with lots of pics to share, so hopefully that will make up for it. Tee Hee! It seems I have been busier than ever since mid- Feb, though- and not craft related, darn it! We moved into our house 4 years ago this spring and the main bathroom and our front living room have been an ongoing remodeling project ever since- it was either lack of time, money, or the combination of both that kept us from getting more done on it. So Craig took some extra vacation time off work and we decided to use our tax return money and worked our tails off and it finally turned out so great! Lots of color! But I can't tell you how much fun it is trying to paint and stain and do all this with a 5 yr old and 2yr old trying to "help" and getting into everything! LOL! (I couldn't figure out how to make each pic "clickable" so you could see it bigger- only the first and last in this post will do that for some reason-if anyone knows how to change that-let me know!)Here are a few "before" pics of the front living room:
We took out all the baseboard heaters (there were originally five just in this room alone, can you believe it!) and replaced them with an energy efficient one with a fan under the bay window........about the area above the fireplace- there used to be a fake roof thingie that came down from the ceiling and jutted out from the wall- it even had rough wood shingles on it- yuck!

I never took any pics of it, but there used to be a wood burning stove insert with harvest gold tile that was falling off in pieces and a ledge that jutted out from the wall to sit on. Our house was built in 1980, so I'm sure it was all original to the house- as was the lovely popcorn texture on the ceilings which went bye-bye, too. We just opened up the whole area and put a coal stove in- which heats our house SO much better! There used to be 2 matching wood shelves on both sides which were nailed to the wall.....and now some "after" pics:
I am thrilled how it came out! The walls are a lot darker and look more textured in person- the camera flash tends to brighten everything. I did a basecoat of pale cream and then did a tea stain glaze wash over the top- I wanted kind of a light venetian plaster texture look and thought I did pretty good for my first time! Thanks so much to my new blogging friend Stacey, for all her help when I was getting started last month! Your help and emails were tremendously appreciated!
The big Americana doll hanging from the old ladder was one I made last year from a Crabby Gabby pattern- she didn't sell on eBay and I kept her for me- she's my very favorite doll I got to keep!
She sure is a big doll and this was the best place to display her I think. The other big doll on the pie safe is my second fav- another pattern of Heidi's (Crabby Gabby) .....she was another that didn't find a home on eBay and after the longest time, I finally found a place big enough to display her. The quilt bear in the chair and the one on the bench in the bay window I bought from Kathy at Kittredge Mercantile- she also painted the old scale on the pie safe and the tool carrier on the stove- which is not being used at the moment, so don't worry! LOL.
I guess I can't really say the job in this room is 100% finished, though- more like 99.9%..tee hee...we ran out of chair rail trim above the wainscoting and had to get more, so there is a tiny piece missing between the two windows in the pics- we just keep forgetting it. LOL.
I found an awesome early stencil design (thank you so much for your info Linda!) and stenciled with a dark khaki all around above the chair rail. I love it! We also replaced the sconces on both sides of the opening between the front room and dining room with candelabra fixtures that were approved for up to 60 watts. They look so much better than the original fixtures!
Hmmm...Not sure if I like the barn star on the big wall above the shelf....it looks too empty- I'm looking for a pretty antique quilt to hang but haven't found one that "speaks" to me yet. When I was posting this pic I just realized I had some miscellaneous stuff/junk on the bench of my little childs desk- oopsie! LOL. Too late to retake the pic today- I'll replace it later.
We are just finishing the bathroom still, so no peeks at it yet-hopefully I'll have pics to share in my next post. The entryway area is not quite finished yet- here is a "before" pic:
And an "in between" pic:Not really much different except the trim is off the doorway and I just started painting the walls a bit....I promise some pics when it is done....that'll be good for my next post...

I had meant to share this little punchneedle before, but the camera I had before would not have taken as good of a pic. (Another tax return goodie-I finally got my new camera! A Canon Rebel XSi- I LOVE it!!) I bought the pattern last spring from Country Stitches and started on it and got busy doing other things- I finally got it done this fall and I really love it! It was my very first punchneedle and I was surprised how easy and fun it actually was- really easy to do in the living room watching TV with the family. It's a lot like rug hooking from what I've heard and I would just love to give rug hooking a try-like I need more hobbies! LOL! Speaking of getting things done, I need to get off this computer! I just barely got to step foot in my craft room again and I have some local orders for some dolls I need to finish up- plus I'm helping my mom out again with some tough personal stuff going on again in her world so I should get going and get some stuff done. :0)