Dedicated to Jennifer (co-worker extraordinaire!!)

Yes, once again it has been a while since I have blogged, but I promise I have lots of goodies coming up for you to see. I have been busy this Christmas season creating all kinds of stuff.

Today's blog post is dedicated to my dear friend, Jennifer. She is one of the bestestest coworkers a girl could ask for. A while back, Jennifer came to me with an idea. She had a frame and a quote and she wanted to make a wall hanging to hang next to her wedding photos. Luckily she is a patient woman, cause it took me a while to get to it.

When I had some time to breathe after a whirl-wind Ocotber and beginning of November, I brought out her project and dusted it off. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE it when people give me free creative rein on projects? She just gave me the frame and the quote she wanted and said I could do what I want. (Picture me giddy with excitement!!)

Here is what I started with:

Now I could have just created the quote letters with vinyl and put them on the glass.....but if you know me, I had to do something extra special. So I decided I would etch a design on the glass first, then put the quote over it.

Here I have placed the vinyl template on the glass and applied the etching cream.

Here is what it looks like after I peeled away the template....never mind the fingerprints :P

Now the next few steps, I wasn't so good at photographing. I decided to do a two-toned text. Now, my machine will only cut out one color of vinyl at a time, so I was concerned about getting the letters lined up (I hate crooked and imperfect) so I created markers in each of the 4 corners and lined each color marker up. This ensured that the letters were spot on and the bottom of the text was all even. It worked like a charm. I then just peeled the markers off the corners. This next photo is the final result. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but have you ever tried taking pics of glass or mirror without a glare.

This one more accurately shows what it looks like on the wall. The etched designs shows up, but it is subtle enough that it doesn't take away from the quote.

This photo is taken with the flash and makes the etching appear more dominant. In actuality, it is not that distacting.

This has to be one of my favorite projects to date. It was simple, but very cute. I am happy to report both Jennifer and Doug loved it. It is always nice when my creations are enjoyed. Maybe one day, Jennifer will send me a photo when she gets it hung and I can share with everyone ***Hint, Hint :)

Later!!
ji



It's been awhile!

I haven't forgotten about you! It has been a super busy couple of months at work and I haven't got many projects done. But I have a few posts coming up!

I love fall! I have never had the space anywhere else to do fall decorations, but this year I had a ball with it. I did all outdoor decorations.

I have this awkward corner in front of my house. It has lava rocks (which I HATE!) and nothing else. I thought it would be pretty to put in a fall display. But I had to start by eliminating those hideous lava rocks. Boy did I not know what I was in for!!

I started removing them and little did I know, I cleaned out 1 garbage can and 2 5 gallon buckets full. That space is only a few square feet!!!

Luckily I work at a place that allows me certain priveleges :) We have a tree trimming crew and they kindly saved me some cedar/pine mulch....FOR FREE :)

The plan is that next spring I will move aside the mulch and plant flowers. Mulch=No weeding=Happy Jerri!

I decided I needed something to put the pumkpins in to display to their full potential. A coworker had given me an old wagon a couple months back so I thought that would work perfect. I use somecorn shucks in the bottom and set the pumpkins and gourds inside. TA-DA!

If you look closely, you can see that I have orange lights on the right porch railing. They look super cool lit up at night.

Total Cost:
$40-pumpkins
$0- mulch
$- corn stalks and shucks (thanks to Goossen Farms :))

See ya!

TV Debut

Most of you know that I work for the local electric cooperative, and as a part of that job, I coordinate a community health fair. This year I was intereviewed for tv.....and they actually aired it!!

It's totally true! The camera ads 10 lbs....or in my case 20. Ok, Ok....so I've gained a little weight....I will fess up!

Hope you had a great laugh. After my test this week, I should be getting back into the project mode and have more posts!

JB

Bedroom Reveal

After cleaning my house this weekend and having everything clean and put away, I took some photos of the house in its current state.

Today I am going to show you the master bedroom. Keep in mind, I have all of the work done, I just need to decorate. Problem is....I don't know what to do. I desperately need help. So if you have any creative ideas for me....send them my way!

Here are the "before" pics: Good thing I have some vision and can see beyond paint and and decor!!!

I started by ripping out the carpet and removing the wallpaper border:

Then came the not-so-fun part. PAINTING. I did have a little help. B came up from Okla and Kaci came over an afternoon to help me out.

I chose a steel grey/blue for the wall color. Its like a good pair of blue jeans, it matches anything :)

And now for the carpet! Some of the boyfriends buddies came up from Pueblo, Colo., to help out with tile and install the carpet! Thanks!!

And it's DONE!

And now for the finished product!! I chose mulitcolored floral patterned curtains (that my mommy made for me). The curtain rods were brass, leftover from years ago, I painted them silver and they look great. I already had the furniture and all of the bedding. Mom made the matching pillows.

I don't have a single thing on the walls. I can't decide what I want to do. As much as I love the curtains, a solid shade or something with a little less pattern would be easier to decorate with. It is such a loud pattern, I can't figure out what would look good on the walls. Any ideas?

Well, my lunch break is almost up, so ADIOS!

JB

My furry friends

I have several trees in my front yard. One of them is a walnut tree, therefore my FAVORITE furry creature is the squirrels. I haven't picked up ONE walnut yet this year. They just haul them off and hide them.

These squirrels really entertain me. I can sit and watch them forever. They make me laugh. Last week, this little guy was in the tree right outside my picture window so I snapped a few pics.

He is too cute!! On the last photo, look really close at the trunk of the tree!

See ya,

JB

Turquoise-aholic

Hello friends,
Sorry it has been a while since the last post, but I have been busy with work and other stuff, but I finished another project yesterday. I am especially proud of this one. I found it while hunting though an old grainery (which my idiot brother bulldozed and ruined my favorite treasure hunting place). Trust me....it didn't look like much. When he saw it, my dad asked "what the hell is that, and why in the hell are you taking that piece of junk home? Better yet, what the hell are you gonna do with it?" If you know my dad, it's even funnier to picture him saying that with his slow oklahoma drawl.

I did you a favor and cleaned it first. (Actually, I just forgot to take the "before" pic!) It was covered in 1/2 inch of dust and had at least 6 or 8 muddobbers nests on it. I had to be super careful because all of the deocrative scrollwork was crumbling. You have to keep in mind, this had probably been in that grainery for 60-80+ years. The mice, muddobber and critters had done a number to it. The back was chewed up pretty good.

This really was a mess. It is real wood and all of the fancy carving stuff was crumbling and came off really easy. I started off by giving it a good coat of primer to hold everything together and block the stains. I prefer Zinsser oil-based cover stain primer.

TADA!!! Here is the final result.

I painted it turquoise and dry-brushed some antiquing glaze on it to give it the old feel and bring out the details (although dad would ask me why in the hell did I paint it if I wanted it to look old!) I also added a cream matte and a peice of scrapbooking paper (which was difficult to install because the back portion had been chewed up by the critters, but painters tape is working for the time being!). Here is a close up of the detail work. SOO pretty!

This was a relatively simple project, but tedious at the beginning because I didn't want to lose all the beautiful detail work. I spent arund $4.75 on this project. I bought small craft bottles of turquoise and antiquing glaze at 1.50 apiece (half price). A mat for 1.25 (half price) and a piece of scrapbooking paper (.50). Not to bad for a custom piece of art.

I am hoping to finish another piece this weekend, so stay tuned for more posts!

JB

Mom's house

My parents built a beautiful new home about 2 years ago, and if any of you readers know my mother, she has ZERO, ZIP, NADA, NONE, NO artistic, decorating, or creative skills in her body.

So in addition to my house, the decorating in my parents house is also a work in progress. The living room and dining area a pretty much finished, the bedrooms and office need work.

They decided to have an accent stone wall(s) installed in the dining room and the living room. It is gorgous. (I have to credit mom for the idea of putting up the stone, so maybe she has .00000001 oz of creativeness)

I designed the layout of the house and consulted on most of the tile, fixtures, etc, but I was not actually present during construction. I can do a A LOT online :) Who knew? Mom would be in Lowe's or where ever and tell me what she liked and I would look it up online and tell her yes or no! I will credit her and dad with the choice of stone and brick, because I could not make the trip to OKC for that decision, but they did a great job.

Here is the completed house. Dad and I won and got the porch railing (mom didn't want it)! HA!

Here is the stone wall in the dining area

Here are a few shots of the inside at Christmastime. I'm working on the tv stand situation, but in my defense, he had just gotten the monstorous tv for Christmas when this photo was taken. It looked fine with the 24" tube tv!

My brother and I bought mom the clock on the wall years ago for Christmas. I purchased the star and had the family photo framed for mom's Christmas gift. i.e. I picked the decor out! Mom is not allowed to decorate without approval :)

For the dining room stone wall, I wanted something simple, but still reflected the western feel of the house. My Grampa Turner gave me some old ribbon barbed wire and I decided to make a wreath out of it. The wire has quite a history. Back in the day, my great, great grampa was assigned by the President to teach the Pawnee Indian tribe how to farm. Each family was give 160 acres and enough barbed wire to fence the property. This wire was from that time. I thought it was a neat story. Here is how the wreath turned out:

I wish I had a photo of the entire room, but I don't. This is very simple, but the simplicity of the room design really lets the individual elements show. Next time I head to OK, I will have to take some more photos.

I have another piece of the ribbon barbed wire that I plan on making myself a wreath like this one. Won't it look great on my barn door...... (SNEAK PEAK of my new living area!!!!)

See you next time!
ji

Graduation Posters

In the past couple of years, several people I work with have had children graduate from high school. Since I am the creative guru at work, they asked if I would design senior photo collages for them. Here are some example of my work:

It all started with Morgan.....

Then came all the rest....



I feel lucky to have a large format printer at work and an agreement with the boss. As long as people don't abuse the privelege, I am able to print large poster for them.

***** I am for hire, but I create all of these for free :)

ji

Bathroom Renovation

As promised, I am posting some after photos of the house. I will start with the bathroom because it is the only room in the house the is completed (for now….I still have a couple of changes in mind J)

As a reminder from the earlier post, here are a couple "before" shots of the bathroom. Notice the blue speckled tile. Classy!

We removed all of the tile. It went all the way around the bathroom.

In the shower, we replaced it with a simple white subway tile and new hardware.

The chandelier just wasn't working for me, so I replaced the light fixture as well.

The rest of the area was a little tougher because we had to patch the drywall and mud it because the when we removed the tile, chunks came out of the drywall. In the end, it was well worth it because it looks much more modern. See for yourself.

Most of the accessories came from my college trip to Honduras. I put sand and shells into jars and framed photos from the trip. The coke bottle is from Grampa Turner, and the vases and flower are from Hobby Lobby.

In the end, I removed all the tile, floor linolum, painted the walls/trim, plumbed for a shower, installed tile on the floor and walls, new shower/cabinet hardware, new light fixture replaced the subfloor (toilet had leaked and the floor was rotten), painted the cabinet black, put up floating shelves and a black framed mirror, and I'm sure there was more stuff here and there.

My goal is to replace the countertop, sink and faucet, but for now, the bathroom is marked as COMPLETE!