Hello Weekend!

I'm happy to report that the end of the week has made an improvement over the middle of the week! And I'm happy that it's Friday and that the weekend should be sunny and warm! I love spring and the sun and that it gets warm during the day and cool at night. It could be spring all year round in my book.

While it was so beautiful out yesterday afternoon I worked on my little photo canvas project. You see, I've been trying to figure out what the heck to do on this huge wall ~

something that won't cost me a small fortune. I finally decided on a square of 9 photos, 3 across and 3 down (think Brady Bunch opening scene). So I had the picture you can see sitting on the staircase printed 20 x 30 and put it in a frame, remember I thought this wall was huge. Well, by the time you put a frame around a 20 x 30 print, it's pretty much huge when you want to put 9 of them on the wall. So, project went on hold until I could figure out a plan B.

Then I saw this idea, on a coupon web-site of all places, and can't believe that I didn't think of this before, taking a canvas, painting the edges and the putting a photo on top. Perfect!! I'd have canvas prints all over my house if they were not so darned expensive! Canvases were on sale last week at Michael's for 40% off + there was another coupon that could actually be stacked with the sale for an addition 40% off. So for about $1.50 a canvas I figured this would be the time to do this little project. Plus it's spring and I need a change around here! So I uploaded 5 pictures that I knew I wanted to use to Costco and wanted to get started.


After a little painting and some spray adhesive . . . this is the finished product . . . I'm loving it!



Need to do 4 more, but I not sure that I have the pictures I want to use, I want them all to be pretty recent so I may be looking for an occasion to get the perfect ones I want to use. The best part is that this whole project probably will cost about $75.00, which is a lot less than I figured I was going to have to spend if I was framing them all.

Now to convince my husband that they must be hung this weekend!

I'm gearing up to do Ali's Week in the Life Project next week. Ali, and a lot of other people, including my sis, spent this week documenting their everyday life through photos and words. I was going to do it this week also but Monday came and I just didn't feel quiet together enough to pull it off and decided it didn't matter that I didn't do it the same week as everyone else, in fact, I could spend the week looking at the way so many of my favorite people are documenting their weeks and get some ideas for myself next week. So I'm gearing up and excited to get started.

Off to go relax a bit before bed . . . and to try to put behind me all of the work stuff that keeps bringing me down, just when I thought my work situation couldn't get worse, it did, but I'm going to work hard to not let it consume my weekend . . . it's just not worth it.

Rice Bags . . .

where have they been all my life? I had never heard of them until recently when Mom got one from a friend, she raved about how great it was and then her friend made me one too! oooohhhh, it was heavenly, the one night I actually got to use it, which happened to be the night that I had that bad bad toothache, it felt so good. Somehow Meghan figured out how great they were too, I think Mimi had a little something to do with that, so now she is using mine EVERY night. And I know that if I go in and take it when I go to bed she will notice and she will wake me up looking for it. Oh, and to make matters worse she comes into my room sometime between 3am & 5 am asking me to heat up her rice bag. uugghhhhh . . .

So, I decided I needed to make myself my own rice bag, I stopped at Wal-Mart and got some brown flannel fabric and some really cute brown with pink polk-a-dot material, not flannel but too cute to pass up, and it matches my scrapbook room! I unburied my sewing machine from the corner and dusted it off, I've actually had it for many many years but it looks brand new since it doesn't get much use, anyone who knows me well knows that I don't sew much, I much prefer glue or staples if I need things to stick together! I do believe that there is a great sewing gene somewhere deep within me, my grandmother was a great seamstress, she made me cute little dresses all the time when I was a little girl. I remember sewing with her on many occasions, making potholders mostly I think, and I made a patchwork pillow, which I still have (big surprise I know) it looks gross as ever, but I'll never throw it away.

Wow, that sure got off track. Anyway, out came the sewing machine, the kids were quite interested in seeing what mom was going to do with this machine, I warned them not to expect much, (if you saw the shorts I made in junior high you'd totally understand, right mom?!)


Surprisingly, I actually cut out and whipped out some rice bags, I was so impressed that I actually remembered how to make a bobbin and thread my sewing machine. I made a longish one so that I could put it around my neck and then I had this idea to make a smaller one to use for my feet. My feet are always freezing, so, as I sit and type this my feet are resting on a very cute, brown & pink polk-a-dot rice bag!