Easter Fun!

Since my creative juices are still recovering I thought it would be fun to share what we do as a family to celebrate Easter.
I have 3 kids, ages 17, 13, and 9. For many years now we have had a tradition of shooting our Easter eggs. I know, sounds strange. But we really do enjoy the fun of being together and we all love the outdoors.
During the week, we always color our eggs. Nothing fancy, of course. But we always do this as a family and enjoy dunking the little buggers.

Then we pray for good weather on Easter weekend and hopefully one of the days will be nice enough for a picnic. We have a little piece of property that is perfect for a picnic with a campfire. We roast hot dogs and smores. I make several salads and deserts we all love and then the fun begins. First off, is the Easter egg hunt. This makes a great spot for hiding the eggs with all the fallen logs.
The eggs are filled with candy but then there is one golden egg with cash. Of course, when the kids were little we could put $1 in the golden egg but now..... let's just say $1 just wouldn't cut it. (That's okay, we hand it out to them anyway. Might as well be in the egg.) Now that they are older they don't bawl when one gets the golden egg and they didn't. (Believe me, that did happen).
After the egg hunt, we get the colored eggs out and spread them out on the hill. And the shooting begins. My hubby gets in on the fun...
My oldest son is next....

Even I get in on the competition...

It gets competitive, everyone wants to be the best shot. Bragging rights, I guess. After they are all shot, the squirrels and birds clean up the mess. If weather permits we will fly kits or go for a 4-wheeler ride.
My family has always loved the outdoors and this is just a way for us to get out and enjoy a campfire and good family fun.
Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.

What fun family activities does your family enjoy during the Easter Holiday?

Back in the land of the living.

Oh my, what a week. I didn't think we were going to see the light again. My daughter, who is 17, has been so sick. I have never heard anyone HACK so bad. With a sore throat and stuffed head. Yes, I went to the doctor, twice, because she just couldn't get over it. Nothing they can do for this crud. It has been going on for 3 weeks now. And, of course, it has to run its course through the whole family so now my 13 year old son has it. I hope things are looking up now.
If I had any creative juices, they were all drained last week taking care of sick kids. I hope at some point my creativity will return.
Hope all of you are well and won't have to experience "The Crud". It sure hasn't been fun.

Spring Cleaning!

Okay, it is 47 degrees and the sun is shining. I am feeling some serious spring cleaning urges. I like to move my furniture around and vacuum under everything and dust and you know all that stuff. So I decided to start in my great room. This is how I have it now, think angles...These pictures were taken from the front entry looking in.

And this one from the dining area looking in..
I moved the sofa and found this...
Then the love seat....
Apparently, someone is eating in there and no one is suppose to... (I am actually really pleasantly surprised that it looked so good under there. Even though there was a chocolate chip and some other cracker looking thing.) I saved them for evidence for when the little kiddies get home. Ha Ha.
Anyway, now it looks like this, a little more squared off. From the dining area...
And from the entry...

Yea, I don't really like it this way. See from the entry and also the dining area you run right into the back of the couch and love seat. Not very welcoming is it. The angle way is my personal favorite so it will only last this way a few weeks or so. But, I know it is clean, right.
Now I'm off to find another room to spring clean.

What to do, what to do???

I have been pondering this for several months, 6 or 7 to be exact. I have this empty spot above the interior doors we put in when we built on this room. I'll show you the old side first. The side is my dining area....
These doors used to be patio doors that went out to a deck. Now, it goes to my new family room, which I LOVE! Anyway, on the other side, this is what it looks like...
But the doors are open most of the time, so it looks like this...
Now, this is the problem area....
I feel like I need something up there. My hubby does not. I bought this vinyl saying...
I thought it was the answer, but then, I saw this sign and bought it on a whim.
And that was about 7 months ago. I keep looking at it but nothing happens. What to do, what to do????

The trunk has landed!

I thought I would let you know where the trunk landed. After moving it to many different areas. It finally landed here...
I got so many great ideas from you, but nothing seemed to work in my house. So, after alot of moving it ended up under my sofa table behind the couch. I like it there. Until I find one or two other smaller trunks to set on top of it I think it has landed.
Happy First Day of Spring! I hope it is more springy at your house than it is at mine.

Picture wall

Well, we all them, I think. A picture wall full of pictures of our family. The problem I always have is, I just get it the way I want it and I have to add a new picture and it messes up the design you have on the wall. Or, this years pictures of your kids are vertical and next year you want the horizontal ones. Has this happened to you?
This is how I solved the problem. I made a long shelf from 1x4 pine. I think it is about 6ft long.
I used 2 1x4x6 pine boards, 5 wooden dowels, 7 ft of small decorative trim board and stain. As you can see I screwed the boards together in a "L" shape, added the trim to the top all along the edge to create a lip so your pictures won't fall off. I glued and used finish nails for this. Then drilled the holes for the dowels. There are five in my family so I did 5 dowels, glued those in with wood glue.

The shape of the shelf is just for character and I also routed the edges but you wouldn't have to do that either.
The frames I made but you could just buy them. I just wanted to make sure I could get into them easily so I could change the pictures often. These are just 4x6 snapshot size. My kids like to put the latest trip or adventure we have been on.
I just use some foam core cut to size for the back to hold the picture in and there is no glass. This makes it easy for anyone to change the picture with ease.

Don't mind the messy back!
This is so nice because this year I wanted to put more pictures of the kids up so I put more on the shelf and just overlapped the frames.

I love this look and if I need to add more or turn them to be horizontal I can!
You could do two shorter shelves and hang them staggered if you don't have room for one long one also.

More bathroom organization.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope you are all wearing green today. My son, who is still in elementary school, was not concerned about wearing green. He said all he had to do was put green marker on his hand. We were having trouble finding a green anything for him to wear.
I was inspired by Leanne @ Organizeyourstuffnow.blogspot.com. She was organizing her things in glass jars and put the glass jars on a tray. Love that look. Now look what I have my cotton balls and Q-tips in..

Yes, that is dust. It isn't really easy to dust, looks great doesn't it. Ha!
Leanne got her jars at a thrift store, I looked at my thrift store, nothing! I went to Walmart and found these two for $3 and $4. Not bad! I already had the mirror in my closet. Looks sooooo much better. Cleaner, and richer, right?

I know I need some more colorful towels, but ahhhhh I just love organizing, it goes right along with decorating, doesnt' it?

Help me please!

I was blessed to get a surprise this weekend. My dear mother-in-law gave me this trunk.

It was my husbands grandfathers. It has to be very old. It measures 3ft long, 20 inches wide, and 1ft high. The inside is not in good shape but the outside is in pretty good shape aside from the leather straps are missing that went around it and buckled. My very first thought was "coffee table" but it is only 1ft high. Now I don't know what to do with it, but I love it and want to use it somehow.
I need your help, please give me any ideas you have for what to do with it. I will appreciate any suggestions.

Award Winners!

Oh my, what a weekend. My husband and I decided to go to a bull sale in southern Utah on Saturday. Not a good idea. The winter storm of the year hit and we were on the road with many other crazy people who should have listened to the weatherman. I have lived in Utah all my life and I have never been on a road like that. Talk about white knuckles. Then of course, the time change. Gotta love that. Okay, I am finished moaning. On to the good news!
I have had a terrible time trying to pick seven blogs to give this wonderful award to. I have found so many I want to follow and love all of your ideas and creativity.
But, I have chosen these seven to receive the Beautiful Blogger Award:


Chirpintheforest.blogspot.com

Thehillsarelivin.blogspot.com

Whenagirlsgottagab.blogspot.com

Fancykimmie.blogspot.com

Twicelovely.blogspot.com

Cjcjordan.blogspot.com

Creativeinkansas.blogspot.com

Thank you to all who have visited my blog and especially those who are followers. I love your comments and it is so fun to hear from you.
I am still learning and I don't know how to make a link directly to their blog so please go visit them and enjoy their talents.

Thank you!

I have to say a "BIG" thank you to Nellie @ McCarthy Designs for giving me my very first blogging award. I appreciate Nellie so much. I am just getting started in the blogging world and have so appreciated her nice comments while following my blog. If you haven't been over to see her at McCarthy Designs you definitely need to. She is very talented.
As part of this award I am suppose to share seven things about myself.
Favorite Color: I love fall colors and it shows in the decor in my house.
Favorite Book: I really enjoyed the Twilight Series, didn't think I would because I usually don't enjoy anything unrealistic.
Favorite Movie: My all time favorite will always be Titanic, but I also loved Pearl Harbor.
Favorite Actor: Who else? George Clooney
Favorite Actress: Maybe, Sandra Bullock
Favorite Food: I'm not sure I have a favorite. I just love food. Mexican and Chinese.
Favorite Place I have visited: Mt. Rushmore

I will be passing this Beautiful Blogger Award on to seven deserving bloggers in the very near future. Stay tuned to see who they are.

Spring Front Door Decor

Well, you won't believe it but I did it! I dug, crawled, searched, panicked and all I found was this...
An old sign, with my favorite saying, 4 wooden flowers, a heart shaped wreath and some small dowels. I was really hoping for a wreath to put stuff on. Since I put my decor on my wall next to my door and not on my door it needs to be bigger so the little heart shaped wreath was not going to work. BUT! The creative juices started to flow and I went and got out my ribbon and my spring colored craft paints..
I took the sign and ran out to the garage, pulled out my miter saw that hasn't been used in a long, long while. Chopped that baby down to the size I wanted...
Sanded and sanded...
Back inside I went, because it was dang cold outside, and painted and painted. I also made leaves for the wooden flowers with some green ribbon like this...
Cut them in this shape and pinch the square end together, it kinda looked like a leaf. Then I just hot glued them in under the flowers.

Put it all together and "I (heart) Spring" is what I came up with...



I was surprised, I might even keep this. It's not what I had in mind for the front door but it is unique. I can also say "IT WAS FREE". You should try it, making something with only what you already have. Let me know how it turns out.

Spring inspiration

Hey everyone, I was just over visiting Birdie @ a chirp in the forest and I was inspired by her spring wreath. She just gathered things she had around the house and made a cute wreath for her door.
This is what my front door looks like...
Real springy hu? NOT! I guess I was waiting for the weather to inspire me. That could be a while. After visiting Birdie I decided that it would be a fun challenge for me, especially because I got rid of most (all) of my spring, Easter stuff last year. I'll do my best and let you know what I come up with. Stay tuned!

Cedar Post Candles

My dad brought me these, so I thought I would share them with you.
He had an old fence in the back of his property that he resently replaced. It was made from cedar posts. Of course, they were very old and grey from the weather. He cut them in sections and sanded. He went to Walmart and bought a box of a dozen votive cups with candles. Very inexpensive. They were 2 inches in diameter so he drilled holes in the top of each with a large 2 inch bit.
Then he sanded and sanded and put several coats of clear, Minwax semi-gloss sealer on them with a paint brush. And Wala!
I think they are so pretty. But I love wood and the colors and shapes.
Also, for me, its kinda fun to know they came from my old home, where I grew up.
But, I was thinking, you could do this with so many different things. Like, if your decor is more contemporary, you could use new 4x4 posts. They would have very straight lines. Or, you could use a pine tree post with bark or birch tree with bark. Anyway, just thought I would share my dad's new creation.


Linking to: Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
They have a great giveaway, go check it out!