A Week in Review.......My Thoughts

Well our wonderful Red Wings didn't win last night but I honestly think they weren't hungry enough. They always play wonderful but they didn't seem to have their hearts in it. Maybe that's just what I saw though. I believe the Penguins played an incredibly awesome game and they truly deserve the Stanley Cup. If we had won of course I would have been proud but I must say that I would have felt true sadness for the Penguins since they seems to care so much more. Maybe the Wings need to take a rest for a few years in the playoffs and then when they earn the honor of playing in the Finals again they will again be the Red Wings I've come to know and love and be enthusiastic and focused. They are great guys and I hate to see anyone ever loose. Congratulations Penguins!!!! Job well done.

I wanted to share a sweet picture of the little yearling we had visit our salt lick this past weekend at our house in Kalkaska, Michigan. This little one was just precious to watch.....so innocent but then also so observant and smart. We love our vacation home in the woods. Nature is everywhere and who could ask for more!

I have alot to accomplish today and tomorrow. Cleaning and all those usual chores plus a light bit of gardening, fertilizing and the ongoing privacy fence construction. We went to the store to buy the 4"x4" post and then began the construction. We already have the other lumber for the fence. We have to make the 8' panels in one piece because we are installing the fence right inside the lot line on one of our neighbors sides. They aren't the best folks to talk with about installing a fence and expecting them to be positive and supportive so we need to do the best we can to solve the situation....that's by putting it inside the already existing chain link fence that is there now. Those panels are quite heavy but after we make and install 11 of them we can construct the rest of the fence the usual way. I am staining the neighbors side of the panels before we install and then I can stain our inside all at once.

This is a picture of a partially made panel. We are going to round the corners slightly (hence the white templates in the corner) and then attach them to the 4" x 4" posts. It should look very neat and clean and give us the privacy we so badly need. I've decided 6 foot privacy fences make awesome neighbors!

Enjoy your weekend.... I'm off the make more fence panels with Tom.

Darlene

I'm Back :-)

Wow it seems like it's been forever since I've posted. I was trying to decide on a replacement digital camera. I found one I like so I'm back!

My hubby and I have been busy making our garden fence. We have to keep out those dogs or we won't be eating any wonderful tomatoes this summer. We created a picket pattern and then cut each board out individually. These are a couple pics of the fence unstained.

We will be re-staining our two decks this summer (it truly needs it with these harsh Michigan winters) so we decided to use the same cedar color as our exhisiting decks on this new garden fence. It's a very nice rich color. I just love how it came out. Now I can begin the planting :-)

I also told you I would post a pic of the card I painted when I had a camera.

Here it is.....

I used black embossing powder for the "happy birthday"and acrylic paint for the daisy flower design.

I also put a strip of white paper on the inside bottom of the card that I had embossed with my Big Kick. It came out very pretty!

Enjoy your week!

Darlene

It's BOO-tiful because it's finished!

As promised...here are the final steps to completing this Halloween altered item. Thanks to The Paper Store for their original design.

The beginning steps for this project are listed in the previous blog posting :-)

Step 6: I made my own fence out of chipboard. You can also buy this fence at a local craft store if you so choose. The fence slats measure 3/8" wide by 2 1/4" tall. I just made a pattern and traced 12 slats for the front and cut them out individually. Wrap pieces of thin wire around each slat for desired effect. You can also make some slats a bit crooked for a spooky look if you prefer.

Step 7: Paint the front of each fence set (4 slats per set) and let dry. I only did one coat because I wanted to distress it and make it look old.
Step 8: I also added a bit of silver/blue metallic wax to certain areas of the fence for an aged look.
Step 9: Use your sandpaper and distress some areas so it looks weathered.
This is the final result.
Step 10: Glue your chipboard letters spelling BOO onto a patterned paper of your choice. Let dry, cut out and distress the edges with sandpaper and Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger.

Step 11: Choose a scroll or flourish stamp and stamp areas of each letter with black ink.

Step 12: Cut raffia and ribbon to size (leave enough to tie a knot at each end when dry). Put glue across the BACK center line of the front 3 pieces of cardstock. Press down and then apply glue to the remaining pieces of cardstock and attach. You are basically sandwiching the raffia/ribbon between those cardstock pieces. Leave about 1/2" in between each square. Weight down with a cool iron or other heavy object and let dry.

The final arrangement should look like this. Just a reminder.....remember if you have the center pattern reversed as I did then make sure you have kept the same arrangement when you glue.

Step 13: Once your "sandwich" has totally dried, sand the edges a bit to give it a rustic look. I also tore a few top layers of the chipboard to really grunge it up. Glue your fence and any embellishments you have made onto each of the 3 sections of the FRONT of this project. I made a small pumpkin by embossing and chalking some color onto the origial stamped image. I glued him onto the center section.

The final project looks like this....

This is what I did with the back center section....

This is a closeup of the left panel.

I hope you enjoy making one of these for your home. I plan on changing the look for the Christmas holiday too. I think this can be a very versatile little project. Use it for baby, pets, birthdays or even add a few more panels to spell out a longer word.

Have a great day!