HOT Sun & Tattered Roses

What do we do when it is 

104 degrees out and too hot 

for pretty much anything else ?

We make a gazillion 

tattered roses because

they dry in about 5 minutes :)

The HOT sun comes in very

handy for drying stuff fast!

The poor hydrangea blooms in

the background are on 

their last leg ~ It 

is funny to me when in 

blog world I am seeing

some people just now

picking peonies and

my hydrangeas are almost

dried on the bush ~

We will be tea staining
the world tomorrow 
and our backyard will 
look like a big giant
drying rack :)
 

Precious Newborn Baby

We have taken the last

few days off to welcome

my daughter, Kristin

and her husband James' 

baby boy ~

 ~

Isaac James

He weighs 7.7 pounds

 and is 19 inches long ~

He is one week old today ❤ 

He is pretty much
as precious as 
life can get!

Isaac and his mommy Kristin ~

Dried Hydrangeas Quest Continues .....

It is only a few days

later and my hydrangeas

are already dry ~

I decided to put them 

in vases and go pick 

another bundle~

Truly I cannot say 

which "stage" of

flower on the bush dried

the best because they

all literally dried

differently ~

They did not keep their

color very well but

I like them anyway ~

The real dark pink ones

dried a darker purple 

which is so interesting to me ~

Here are pictures of

how they look now ~

I am not thinking I learned

a whole lot about when to 

pick the flowers and 

where to dry them but

at least some of them

are not all shriveled up
and I have bouquets all
over my house ~ ❤

 

My Drying Hydrangeas Quest ....

Who needs curtains

when you have a valance

of hydrangeas ?

I am totally on a mission

this year to figure out

how to dry hydrangeas~

This is my attempt

today ~ Actually these

bouquets are cut at different

times of the bloom to

see which timing is the best ~

I LOVE how the colors are

all so different ~

The bright pink are from 

a completely different

plant but all the others

are from the same one ~

Next year I am going to

have some blue ones ~

This picture is some

I dryed in a vase of water ~

They were bright pink when

I cut them and they dried

kind of shriveled and not

really how I want them ~

These are some I cut at

a later time of the bloom

and put in water to see if 

that makes a difference ~

So far they are not dry but

I am curious how they

turn out in comparison to 

the hanging ones ~ 

Pretty soon every curtain

rod in my living room is going

have hydrangeas hanging 

from them ~ 

I am thinking I kind

of love them!! I hope they

keep the different colors ~

Vintage Petite Place Card Holders

Today is another creating 

day waiting for Isaac's arrival ~

In our anticipation,

we dug out some vintage medicine bottles 
and created these place card holders!

We love them :)

The Creative Muse

The very best part of

having a website is

getting to create!!

It is so much fun to

pile lace and stuff all

over the table and "play" ~

This is just a couple of

pictures of what we

have been working on while

we wait for Kristin's baby to

be born ~ 2 more days

until the due date !!

Photo Transfer to Wood Tutorial

Kristin and I have been busy busy with our website

 the last couple of weeks!!

But ... in between the busyness there are

babies coming very soon!! 

 Kristin's baby boy, Isaac's room, is

in a vintage airplane theme ~ She wanted

to use one of her husband, James' photographs,

but wanted it to look old ~

This is a quick step by step but

you can get more detailed instructions on her

family blog ~

First we got the picture laser printed at

Staples in a 20x30 inch size ~

Then we went to Home Depot and had them cut

a piece of wood in to 2 pieces 10 x30 inches ~

Place the 2 pieces of wood side by side

( we attached it together at the end but

you can do that step ahead of time )~

Then brush on Acrylic Gel Medium

and spread pretty generously ~

Place your paper with the image face down

and smooth out  ~

We had a couple of wrinkles and actually it

ended up adding to the vintage look ~

 

Let it sit overnight ~
 Then dampen the paper with

a wet cloth ~

When the paper looks wet rub with your fingers and the paper kind of rolls off ~

Kristin cracked me up because her fingers

didn't have finger prints or something because

she was having issues with this step ~

You can keep dampening the paper when it dries out
 until it is

all rubbed off ~ Some of the paper was left

 and it ended up grabbing the stain and looked good ~

Next Kristin stained over the entire piece ~
 Then she sanded the edges
 and rubbed the edges with 

Pigment ink with a sponge ~

 

Lastly we waxed it with Annie Sloan clear wax

but you can also use Mod Podge to seal it ~

After it dried the wood was attached together 

on the back with metal flat brackets ~

The whole project cost less than $30 ~

It turned out great and looks awesome

in Isaac's room !!!