Category Archives: Inspiration Boards

I did IT!

Posted by Leanne on July 19, 2012 7 comments

breathe. keep calm and carry on. breathe.

I did something last night I have not done in….years. I’m talking like maybe 15 - 20 years. Ready for it??

I went on a bike ride BY MYSELF!!!!

Seriously friends, as sad as that is, it was amazing. I have the most adorable bike. It is a pinkish/lavenderish colored Norco Rio Vista, a beach cruiser, and when I ride, people call out “Nice Bike!!” It’s awesome. But usually I have little people with me, so I can’t truly enjoy the ride. But this week, the kids are at VBS (Vacation Bible School, at church) from 6:00 – 8:30. Our baby goes to bed at 7:00. And it suddenly dawned on me, I could do this! It was great, and a perfect ending to the day.

I also played around a bit with editing pictures on picmonkey.com. this is a seriously fun place to be. I’ve been complaining lately about posting with wordpress, and something that really annoys me is getting all the pictures onto the post… it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. So I’m trying to play with ways to make it easier and a bit more fun. And I put my blog’s name on the pics! (all the good blogs are doing it! ). Fun, right??

I had a really good day yesterday, and a really good day Monday. But Tuesday was not a good day. Although my headache was about a 3 on the scale-of-pain, sometimes it’s just the kind of headache that turns my emotions upside down. And it was a very hot day. And Anna was in a mood. It was a bad day. Hubby and I have also noticed something that has changed about me. I used to basically have a photogenic memory of everything in the house. I could remember where everything was. Even the most obscure item. Now I can’t remember where the keys were that I thought I had in my hands. I try to “talk” to myself when I do things now, like “I am putting Anna’s stuffed puppy in this box”, and at the end of the day, her and I will be ripping apart the house to find the stuffed puppy. When hubby find it, I’m like “right… now I remember talking myself through that”.

It’s frustrating, and it’s depressing. And it started when the headaches started.

Why am I like this? Is it because I have headaches and they distract me enough to keep me from remembering things they way I used to? Is it because I had just had my 3rd baby, and it’s my new “baby brain” that’s lasting a real long time? Is it because I have a beautiful but defiant 4-year-old redhead that can deplete me from all positive emotion in an instant? Am I just too busy with my 3 kids, a marriage, a dog, a life, and hobbies? Or is there something wrong with my head? My gut tells me I am just too distracted with life and everything in it, plus the headaches, to bother with the details. But it affects my daily life, so I want to get over it.

Oh well, I have my appointment with the neurologist today, we’ll see what his medical self has to say about it, my guess is he’ll tell me to slow down! …I’m not sure I know how to slow down! And this is why I love these signs, Keep Calm and Carry On. Maybe I should make a few more of these and hang them in every room!!

xo, Leanne

You can find these signs for sale on my For Sale page soon, just not today!

Family Rules Take Two!

Posted by Leanne on June 7, 2012 4 comments

After some sanding, a light coat of wax for protection, a big ta-da!

I was spoiled again yesterday… hubby took the day off, because our family was crazy busy in the morning… Jordan had a school field trip to the zoo, Anna had one to the trout hatchery, I had a specialist appointment, and the baby had her nap (with my mom sitting her)! Not knowing how my appointment would go (which went fine, I just now have to be scheduled for some dreaded tests!), we thought it best hubby stick around. So in the afternoon, we spoiled ourselves with a trip to Tanglebank nursery, and after picking up the kids, we headed back down to Lynden Washington. You all know how much I love Lynden! We hit up my favorite antique store, More Than Antiques, and went for a fabulous Mexican dinner at Marta’s Cucina. Fabulous. Even baby loved the rice and beans!

Do you remember the Family Rules sign I made some time back? I still love it, in fact it’s hanging above our TV… but it bothered me how small it was… I wanted to make one much, much, larger!!

My newer, MUCH larger, version!

I love this one!!

It all started with a large scrap of wood I found outside in hubby’s junk pile…

The Scrap piece of wood....

I painted the base of it a bright red, and on top of the red I painted a coat of graphite...

Family Rules Custom Wood Sign, Handpainted

I had created my fonts on picnic.com (boy, I still miss that site!), and then enlarged it on blockposter.com

I tried something a little different this time....instead of newspaper or pencil, I colored the back with yellow chalk...

...and then traced over the words to transfer the chalk onto the board...

it didn't transfer great, but it was good enough... beware though, the chalk makes it messy! Don't use this technique on a board you want to keep clean-looking!...

After some sanding, a light coat of wax for protection, a big ta-da!

What do you think? Do these look like the family rules you have for your family??

Thanks so much for reading! Have a fabulous Thursday!

xo, Leanne

sharing here:

The Shabby Creek Cottage: The Shabby Creek Cottage,

Sunshine!!

Posted by Leanne on May 15, 2012 20 comments

The weather here lately has been AMAZING!! A little shocking, but I have been LOVING it!! And because of that, I am going to write this post as quick as possible… I need to get outside and play with my girls, and do a little spray painting in between! (I know, spray painting!! I’ve never done it before, but I have the perfect project for it, so I’m going to give it a try!)

So enjoy this: You Are My Sunshine!! I am loving this buttery-smooth beauty!!

You are my Sunshine!

I first painted the board in white... then added Vaseline in the areas I wanted easily distressed.... then a coat of yellow (Martha Stewart's Cornbread)... when it was dry, I gave it a sanding, and love how the sanded areas blend together so smoothly...

... I had created the "stencil" on Picnic.com, before they closed their site... I used Blockposter.com to get the sizing I wanted, and printed it out on my printer...

... I had to play with the layout a bit to get it to fit perfectly....

... I used newspaper as my transfer method... lay down paper, place stencil on top, use ball point pen and trace the words... and it transfers like....

...magic!...

I used my Sharpie Paint Pen to paint the words in.... and ta-da!

You are my Sunshine!

If you are loving it, I have this exact one on hand for you right now! Check out my For Sale page if you are interested!

thanks so much for reading, and I hope you are having an awesome week!!

xo, Leanne

oh my, I just remembered I was going to blog about Mother’s Day!! LOL! I had a fabulous Mother’s Day weekend! I hope you did too? Maybe I’ll blog about it a bit tomorrow for you!

Partying at:

Aka Design

Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, At Home With K, Tip Junkie, Not Just A Housewife,

Fresh Farm Eggs For Sale!

Posted by Leanne on March 19, 2012 9 comments

I am so ready to show off these signs! Take a look at my newest creation! (beware, this post is going to be picture-heavy!

Farm Fresh Eggs!

My How-I-Did-It:

I made the sign templates on Picnik.com, and used blockposter.com to enlarge it, and printed it off on our computer. This is the picture of my creation on Picnik.com

After printing out the template, I placed it on the board, making sure it fit nice, and to get approval from my client.

I stained the border of the signs with Minwax's Dark Walnut Stain. My favorite way to do this so far is using a rag to wipe it on, and 5 minutes later, wiping the excess off with a clean rag.

I gave the board a coat of graphite, and then 2 coats of antique white, leaving the edges of each layer showing. I created the rough edges of the paint by using just a little paint on my brush, and dragging it, so the coverage wasn't solid.

this is how the edges looked, closer up...

when the paint was dry, it was time to get to the lettering... I taped newspaper down onto the board for the transfer method, laid the template over top, and used a ball-point pen to trace the lettering. The newspaper print transferred onto the board like magic!

I would like to hug Jill from I know the plans I Have For You (check out her blog later, it’s awesome!) for giving me the newspaper tip! I was sooo thankful while doing this project… it would have driven me nuts coloring the whole back of this template with pencil first! Thanks Jill!

Check out how well that worked! Yay!

Using my megga-fat Sharpie Paint Pen I picked up at Michael's with my 40% off coupon, I got to work!!

All painted! ...I took this picture as soon I was done painting the lettering, to email off to my client... I loved everything about it, except the edges looked a little too bold for my liking, so I later sanded those down like crazy...

I repeated the same process with the Farm Fresh Eggs Sign...

and Ta-da! ...I still needed to paint a chicken onto the Farm Eggs sign...

and (almost) done. I sanded what I felt needed to be sanded, and painted the rooster onto the other sign.... since these will be outdoor signs for their (very beautiful) farm I still need to add several layers of varnish for protection. I'm thinking 7 - 10 layers.

Farm Fresh Eggs!

What do you think? Did I pass my first custom Farm signs? As I mentioned, Shannon’s farm is beautiful, and the entry way for the driveway is stunning. These signs will be hanging on her white fence, and she has plans to plant fantastic flowers around them. I can’t wait to see the final display! I’ll be sure to take pictures!

Linked to: not just a housewife, aka design,

Amazing Grace Inspirational Wall Art

Posted by Leanne on March 5, 2012 25 comments

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I am a huge fan of Red Letter Words, and when she created her Hymn Collection, I was inspired to give it a try. I love old hymns and their powerful words, and at the top of my favorites is Amazing Grace.

: first I created my templates on Picnik.com….

: …I used the Joyful Juliana font… I then used blockposter.com to enlarge my templates, and printed it off from there…

: …because my pine boards I was using were 11″x18″, I needed to cut each word from my template, and fit it on my board…

: …but first I colored the backs of the sheets with pencil, for my transfer method…

: …after painting both boards with Graphite color paint, I let it dry and distressed the edges lightly…

: …I then taped each word onto the board… and placed it on my mantle for a day, so I could eye whether or not I like the placing of the words…

I then used my transfer method – tracing each word with a ball point pen, the pencil underneath transfers onto the board – and painted the words with 2 coats of white paint, using my Sharpie Paint Pen.

: I let the white paint dry….

: …sanded it lightly…

: …waxed it with clear and dark Annie Sloan wax….

: …attached a wire hangar on the back…

: and ta-da!

: …my dad said they look like blackboards written with chalk, and I agree… very cool!

What do you think?? Do you love them? I’d love to know what you think! These I am keeping on hand to sell at our Ladies Night school fundraiser in May… but if you LOVE them, check out my For Sale page!!

And by the way, you can still make me a comment that you are following me, in my post on my giveaway here, until tonight!

thanks for reading!!

xo, Leanne

I’m partying here! and here…Keeping It Simple, Making the World Cuter, Polly Want A Crafter, Oopsie Daisy, Not Just A Housewife, NiftyThrifty