Decisions, Decisions!

I need some help!

When I moved into my house, I had my living room arranged "the perfect way"......or so I thought! At Christmas, I had to rearrange the living room to accomodate the large tree in front of the picture window. I found I rather liked the new furniture arrangement. Soooo. I am posting a Pre-Christmas and a Post Christmas furniture arrangement and I would like everyone's opinions on which way they like it!

Pre-Christmas

Post-Christmas

What do you think? What should I do?

HELP!

ji

Naked

When I bought my house back in October of 2010, there was A LOT that I wanted to change. I very much focused on the inside and getting it up to where I wanted it to be. I definitely had ideas for the front and back yards, but I wanted to wait a year to see what plants and flowers were already exisiting. But ONE thing that bothered me most about my house were these three UGLY pine bushes right in front of the house.

Photo taken in Nov 2010

I would have removed them instantly, but there were other things more important on my to-do list. We had an absolutely beautiful weekend last weekend, so Fred decided it was time to get started on those bushes.....much to my delight :)

I snapped a before photo right before we started. If you noticed, last fall I trimmed the bush on the left. But the others have't been touched since I bought the house.

We just hooked a chain around the base of the bush, and put the pick-up in drive. I guess this is the redneck way :) Surprisingly, they came out rather easily.

The it took longer to haul the bushes to the dump than it did to remove them!

TADA! All done. I know it looks bare, but I have BIG plans for the front of the house. It shall look much better than those ungly A** bushes :)

And as to the title of my post, leave it to my lovely 5 year old neighbor Dominic. "Jerri's house suuuuurre looks naked"

Good day!
ji

From a Farm Shed to My New House: A Trash to Treasure Story

I found a dresser in my mom's junk shed on the farm....in the very back. If you know my mother (and her hoarding tendencies) you would know the challenge it was to get it out. At first glance, it looked ok. We figured could use a little wood glue and it would be good to go. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Taking it out of the shed, it starting falling apart, by the time we got it to the front porch, I was regretting ever even mentioning taking the dresser and fixing it up. There were only 2 of the 5 drawers that even stayed together, and even then, I don't think I could put anything in it without it falling apart. The frame was disenigrating and leaned to the back really bad. It was WAYYY past my abilities.

Before:

According to mom, this dresser was my Great Great Great Great Aunt Fannie's. In one of the drawer bottom we discovered that it was bought in March of 1916 for $8 in Chigaco at Freese and Son's Furniture. If you look closely, you can read the faint writing on the old drawer bottom.

I found a local man who was willing to take on the enormous task of putting the dresser back together. And it turned out great, if I say so!

Final product:

One of the things that really made me want to fix up this dresser what the very ornate carvings on every drawer, something you just don't find anymore in modern furniture:

I really loved how it turned out and I will treasure it forever.

The New Favorite Child (i.e. NOT me)

My brother and I got the bright idea to get my parents a puppy for Christmas. It's all Kayla's fault. She was getting a puppy and asked if we wanted one.

Who could turn down this little face...... Meet Jake!

We gave him to my parents over Thanksgiving, and to say it was a hit is putting it mildly. He has grown so much over the past couple of months, but here are some photos of the ornery little s&%t.

Love at first sight!

Yep...definitely dad's dog, he fell asleep behind the shi$$er!

Beccccccca.....I'm sleeeeeeeepy, leave me alone!

Sleepyhead

Nap time with dad

Poor cat....he didn't have a chance from day one.

So Grandma spoils me? So what?

Where is that sweet little darling puppy? He is no more!

I hope you enjoyed your introduction to Jake. I guess I don't have to fight Wilton for the role of "favorite" since neither one of us has a chance in He$$ since the puppy entered the picture.

Have a great day!
ji

My first Christmas......Sort of....

This year was my first Christmas in my new house. I think I went  a little overboard (so my checkbook tells me anyway). I bought a tree, tree decorations, craft items, garland, etc.

My first craft project (or should I say, MOM's project) was a tree skirt. I found a super cute burlap tree skirt on Etsy, but it was $125 dollars. WOW! So I promply emailed mom the photo and put in my request for assistance :) She spent $10 on burlap fabric and hours of cussing at the thickness and raveling. We now know why it was $125, but it turned out amazing!

This was my living room looking from the dining room. I decorated in red and gold. Notice the pretty tree skirt. I changed out the photos on the wall for xmas themed photos and hung garland and a wreath on the barnwood wall.

On the tv wall, I deocrated with a simple poinsetta plant and the handmade ceramic Santa Claus's that I inherited from my dear friend, Floretta, when she died. I smile every time I see them and remember the days when I used to help her decorate her house for Christmas.

In the entry way, I made some handmade decorations. In the corner I used 3 huge bulbs and ribbon to hang the bulbs from the ceiling. In the entry I used foam board, fabric and painted letters from Hobby Lobby to create the JOY artwork. I was impressed with how it turned out. It definitely filled up that empty space.

I put my tree directly in front of the picture window so you can even see it from the street. I wanted to do outdoor lights, but my budget did not allow, plus I am too dang picky and couldn't get what I wanted!!

This completes my wrap up of Christmas decorations!

ji

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!