Whendi's Bears

Bathroom Vanity Project !!!

2008-05-14T09:41:00.006-05:00

As promised...I have some pictures to show you of our master bathroom vanity project that my husband did. My gosh it came out really beautiful...better than I had pictured.

We were at an antique show over the winter and had found this really nice old oak dresser in a booth....the dimensions were a perfect fit for that spot!!! The dresser was in perfect shape and the top even had that barrel or bump out to fit a sink on top. So we just had to buy it.....I think I got a bargain....it only cost me $165. We had been looking in the stores for vanities that had that old antique dresser look but those prices started at $300....so we decided we would keep looking for an antique dresser and fix it ourselves. Well after a couple years....TAH DAH...we finally found one!

We purchased the vessal sink and faucet at the hardware store. Plus new lighting but that was it.
He put a coat of that really heavy epoxy stuff (like on bar tops) onto the top of the dresser so that there will be no chance of water stains ruining the wood surface.
Each of the drawers had to be revamped and cut out so that they were funtional because of the plumbing that had to be put down inside it. Now all the drawers can be opened and you can store things inside them.

The mirror was given to us by my MIL. It is sooooooo heavy. It's one of those old gesso gold gilded frames.......just awesome and goes perfect with the theme of old victorian bath. Our master bathroom has really high vaulted ceilings and behind that plant is my walk in closet on the otherside of that 3/4 wall. My husband had that wonderful old shelf that he got from one of his contracting jobs and he cut it down to fit the space.

The only major thing we have to finish is the shower. Plus put trim and switchplates......but it's almost done...it's just like having a half bath.....with 4 people (2 being teenage daughters) we really needed an extra sink & toilet in the house!!! Just can't wait unil we get that shower done....seems I'm always the last one in the shower and I end up with the COLD WATER!!!

Hardwood Floor Project

2008-05-06T09:06:00.010-05:00

The finished project......

The beginning......

(The Before floors....this is dining area and living area with stairs going to finished walkout basement... we have an open floor plan......piles of wood waiting to be installed)

Oh YES!! We FINALLY got our hardwood floors completed.....it only took 5 years but they are done and I love them! You see, we have been remodeling our house for the better part of 8 years now. We have been living "under construction" for quite some time. We have had just plywood down for years......And now with the floors finally done, it makes me feel like I actually live in a house again! My last 2 projects left to do on the house is the kitchen (which will probably be another 5 years) and the masterbath shower. (I must show you the masterbath vanity....that finally got finished as well!) But first the Flooring project.......

(This is the other side of the room looking out to the back yard)

We started out with buying recycled barn beams made of red oak wood. The beams came off of a 100 yr old barn from Pennsylvania. There is a company here in our small town that does this. They get the old barn beams and bring them back to the sawmill and cut them into floorboards.

Here is when we were halfway done putting down the wood.

(Here's my little Molly-cat wondering what the heck is going on. The wood floor is butted up against my kitchen floor tile...she is sitting where the table goes)

(Libby, my golden retriever, happily enjoying all the activity)

And TA -DAH! Finally sanded and finished!!

Once we get it all together with furniture I will post some more pictures.

We have been working on a few more major projects so I'll blog about that soon.... Things are always chaios in our house!

First Prom ....

2008-04-29T11:12:00.008-05:00

and probably 3 more to go!!! Help !!!

(This was taken in front of my house)

(This was taken at one of her friends houses....aaahhhh aren't they just so beautiful...YOUTH! )

How they grow up! Just last year she did her 8th grade dance and this year she was asked to attend the prom with one of her friends (which happens to be in the 11th grade....she happens to have alot of older friends now because she is on the varsity school sports teams).....I almost didn't let her go ..... but she went with a bunch of friends and they all had a great time! I don't want to be called a "helicopter parent" but it's hard not to be that protecting parent...just hope that I have taught them 'right from wrong' and they make the correct choices.

And here is older sister....shorty :) ...... making sure she sees her baby sister off. My oldest was asked to go to the Ball! Which is the end of May......oh dear Jesus, give me strength!!!!

Iron Chef Meagher ....HA !

2008-04-24T11:44:00.004-05:00

Well my gal-pals in The Eclectic Artisans group convinced me to blog about my 'mishap' to the world ..... this is what I call "my idiotisms" (is that a word?) ......and yes, we all have them on occasion...mine just seem to be more often than others.

My Tuesday started out just like any other day...boring yet chaotic.....you see I gave my husband a brand new set of kitchen knives for his birthday last week and I have been dying to try them out.......well, in a nutshell this is how I posted to my gal-pals what happened to me:

Oh dear god....the dang finger finally stopped bleeding. This is what happened: saw leftover meat in frig, thought of dog instead of trashcan, spied new knives, got cocky and thought..kewl..I'm a real chef, cut finger, pain, cried, cursed, bandaged with wads of papertowels and sports wrap tape, debate doc or no doc, nawwwwww, said if after my horse chores the blood didn't seep thru bandage...I'm good. Saw no blood thru bandage, chores VERY hard with 1 friggin hand, went to work, pain, throb, miserable, check on finger 6 hrs later, took massive bandage off........RE-RIPPED OPEN the wound!!!! WAAAAAA, blood, pain, cried, cursed, debate doc or no doc, ran finger under cold water for 20 mins and almost passed out lightheaded, finger went numb from cold, held over head for 1 hr, dried blood all over finger but stopped, didn't want to put another bandage on, soooo I left it all ugly with blood, had to pickup daughter and take to Dicks for new track shoes, went with bloody finger and all.....got lots of stares! Who cares, it stopped bleeding! Lady comes over to me and says in store, "would you like a bandaid?", I chuckled and said "oh no thank you, they only make it worse".....strange look from lady shaking head as she is walking away... :0 , got cleats, went home and cleaned up finger gingerly, announced to hubby (holding up finger) that I am not a chef and would need him to cook all dinners from now on !!!!!!

You guessed it.....I almost whacked my finger off!! See picture of "REAL CHEF" above and how I was suppose to TUCK my fingertips over and down. Hmmmmm, you know next time I try out those fancy shmancy (and SHARP) knives ......fingers down baby!

Honored & Thrilled !!!

2008-04-15T10:52:00.006-05:00

To once again be awarded one of the Top Traditional Artisans in America, from the Early American Life Magazine. It is an honor and I am thrilled to bits :) This will be my 5th consecutive year to receive the honor!

I was chosen from a panel of experts - curators from such prestigious institutions as the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, American Folk Art Museum, Shelburne Museum, Mount Vernon, Historic Hudson Valley, Heritage Center of Lancaster County, Museum Of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Old Sturbridge Village, Shaker Museum and Library and Strawbery Banke Museum as well as antiques dealers, independent scholars, and professional instructors...WOW! I was selected because I work with traditional tools and use traditional techniques to make my folk art pieces. Also, I showed mastery of the art form, heritage techniques, and workmanship, according to the judges. They looked for authentic design and workmanship as well as use of period tools, skills and materials that were part of the American culture. A trade that few new people choose to learn and master and that the goal of the Directory is to help preserve traditional handcrafts, part of our culture that is rapidly being lost in the digital age.

All the artists that have received the award will be featured in the Directory section in the upcoming August issue out on newstands in late June. Can't wait to get my copy!

I'm just going to be floating on a cloud for days and days........

The Show Is OPEN !!

2008-04-07T09:20:00.004-05:00

Come on in...the first webshow for The Eclectic Artisans has opened. There are lots of very talented artists in this group and you should see some of the pieces they have to offer....just FABULOUS! So if you get a chance, check it out at The Eclectic Artisans Webshow

Here are my pieces that I made for the show.....each are one of a kind.
I love how this piece came out. I have a rabbit that can hang inside an altered antique frame. I found this fabulous pink & cream stripe chippy painted wood frame and added the old vintage newsprint to the inside and a wire hook so the rabbit can hang....she can also be taken off and displayed elsewhere. I am going to have to find some more old frames to make another, cuz I like the way this turned out.This is my jumbo size 15" ellyfont. He is made with half pink & half cream hand dyed mohair.....he came out really old looking, all frumpy and saggy :) --- kinda how I feel on somedays! I made him this really great hat. I added an old pink cloth covered button to the center of an old silk flower and put it on a wire into the top of the hat. So Whimsical --- and perfect old Springtime colors too. Spring is ALMOST here in the North East....temps are rising and the snow is almost all gone in my yard. Which means probably next weekend I will be cleaning up the yard.

Things I Collect....Part I

2008-03-28T10:34:00.009-05:00

I thought I would share with you some of the things I love to collect. Just about everybody collects something or another. Mine happens to be really old looking things. My family & friends really don't get WHY I collect old stuff. Things they throw away or store in an attic because they have no interest in it.....THOSE are the things I most like to collect.

These are just a few things I have surrounding me in my studio. I will try to go through my house and put all my collections together over the next couple weeks. Although my house is a total disaster as we are FINALLY putting in hardwood floors....I'll blog about that another time.

My favorite things I collect are vintage shoes, doll trunks, luggage, quilts, tins, xmas ornaments, toys, dolls & bears.....to name just a few.... :)

I think I may actually have about 15 pairs of old vintage childrens shoes & a couple pairs of old womens shoes .... I will try to gather them up and show you. What I would really like is an old glass front cabinet to display them all in.....hmmmmm I think another project is necessary...I still have a few old vintage windows that I could use as the doors.

I love the old mercury garland balls and old christmas ornaments. I also use them on my bears.

One of my vintage log cabin quilts that hangs on the wall above my metal cutting/work table. I like to collect the black color quilts. I have 3 black log cabin quilts and lots of other vintage quilts that I will have to show you next time. Oh, and you can see a couple of my old tins there. I actually use those tins....I store old lace and trims for using on my bears.

Happy Collecting!

A "tell me" Tag.....

2008-03-24T12:22:00.003-05:00

I have been tagged by sweet Angie from Love The Prim Look .... to tell you about how I came up with my business name Whendi's Bears. Well, that it quite simple to answer...my name is Wendy and I make bears....BUT I wanted to add a bit of a twist to it so I misspelled my name so that it still sounds like it but looks different. I like to do that with my pieces that I make too, can't you tell? Wabbit, Jak Rabut, Ellyfont, Bull Dawg.... keeps it fun and whimsical!

Introducing a NEW DESIGN.........

2008-03-19T07:57:00.008-05:00

The Boston Terrier Dawg !!

I had so much fun making this design. He was a close cousin to the bull dawg I had already designed, with the fat head and short snout..... I basically changed up his ears because the Boston Terrier has erect long 'bat like' ears. And this is what I ended up with.....I'm really pleased at how he turned out. He's on ebay now in case you want to see more pics and details.

He did take a bit longer to make than a regular bull dawg because I had to hand tint his blackish markings on his entire back, sides of head and both ears as well as the sides of his arms.....trying to make him look like my inspiration picture below, yet capture that whimsical quirky style I love so much......

And this picture was my inspiration dog.

There are so many different breeds of dogs to choose from.....perhaps my next design will be a dog with a long skinny snout and really droopy ears like this guy .......ooooohhhh sooooo adorable.....what a face ...makes you just want to reach out and give him a great big huggles and lots of kisses and talk in that high pitched baby talk.......yes, You know exactly what I'm talking about !! :)

Happy St Patricks Day !

2008-03-17T08:48:00.002-05:00

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go.

****

"May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again,

May God hold you

In the palm of his hand."

****

May you find your pot O'gold at the end of the rainbow!

Ellyfont & Circus Dog

2008-03-05T15:49:00.008-05:00

Just finished up one of my Jumbo size Ellyfonts and spied in my little collection of vintage toys....this fab old black stuffed scottie dog. I thought...how cute would that be if they were a circus set! I loved the look of the black color matched with the old gold, blues and reds on the Ellyfont! So, I said...."Punch, you need a little Buddie to play with!" ..... So I added a circus ruff around the dogs neck and gave him a bottle cap pin I made...and wah la..... (drum roll) introducing the great Punch & Buddie......they will perform the most amazing circus tricks of all time......

The pair is now available on ebay in case you want to see more details.............

Easter is Coming....

2008-02-28T17:24:00.006-05:00

Well, I have been trying to work a little bit on Spring & Easter pieces...but it sure is hard to get into the essence of the season when it is 5 degrees and snowing here where I live! We won't see any sign of Spring until late May or early June! No kidding.

Meantime, I thought I would share my latest piece I just finished up. I love the way this batch of mohair came out...the old pink almost salmon color.... I only have a little bit more of that color ...I sure hope I can reproduce it again. For all of you stuck here in the North East with me... .... try to stay warm :)

Collectors are Artists Too!

2008-02-20T18:47:00.012-05:00

I was given the pleasure of receiving an email from one of my wonderful collectors the other day and I wanted to share a bit of "her art" with you. She so graciously gave me a little glimpse into what she does in her world....way across the pond.....in the UK. And what a delightful and beautiful job she does.... restoring those old and antique Rocking Horses!

She says that this one is just getting started......can't wait to see the finished results! Way to Go Mary!

Her latest Rocking horse restoration - there's another 4 waiting in the wings in various states of disrepair. This one is "Whistler", named after her favourite artist, is about 1880, 40" high with stand and very rare. When she striped him down his joints were covered in layers of old news paper, some of the print was legible. He needed new ears and eyebrows and finding the correct shape took a lot of detective work as reference material is rare. Whistler is resting now for a few months whilst his gesso cures then the fun bit starts - painting and deciding the colour for his mane, tail and tack.

And so it is ....that if you collect .... then you probably also do some sort of art! :) ....feel free to drop me a note and share your art ....I love to see what others are making or doing.....and I'll try to post here for all to see. Or if you have a collection you would like to share too!

Just Clownin' Around

2008-02-15T16:08:00.004-05:00

Just finished up another one-of-a-kind piece and thought I would share. I never can get enough of the circus and clowns....as you can tell it is my most favorite art subject.....oh, and the old aquas & reds are just fab too! I have heard alot of people tell me that they are afraid of clowns and that it goes back to their childhood or from some of those horror movies! I guess I'm just a huge fan of the old colors & graphics and I love to incorporate those in my pieces.

I have him listed on ebay today in case you want to see more details. Have a great weekend. One of my daughters is still playing basketball....school sectionals....first game is tonight.....hope she does well.

Trivia Tuesday !

2008-02-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

OK--- since I have no noteworthy news to report, I thought it would be fun to blog some trivia today. This was pretty cool and interesting to me, so I am passing it along. Never under estimate how truly intelligent you really are!

Believe it or not, you can read this....so go ahead....give it try!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

----

Flower Power !

2008-02-06T12:34:00.000-05:00

Here is my new design for my Spring Collection!

These came out so great and very unique. I have had this idea in my head for sometime now and finally got them completed. I have done them with Ellyfont, Dawg, Bear and Wabbit heads with all different color aged fabric petals. The weathered pots are all aged and chippy painted from papier mache...but because I weighted them they really feel like an old clay pot!

They are so fun and whimsical.....hope they make you smile :)

Boys Will Be Boys!

2008-01-27T14:29:00.000-05:00

Along with raising 2 teenage daughters, which is a handful in itself, some of you might not know that I also raise and care for 3 boys! Well, not your normal teen boys..... but three sometimes troublemaking boy horses or geldings as we horse folk call them.

I took a couple pictures of them the other day when I made them stay inside in the warm and dry barn because the weather was too nasty to turn them outside. They were not very happy with Mom for leaving them inside....they love to go out!

This is Cody & Garret. Cody (13yrs old aka-Perfection Par Bar) is the palomino peeking from the back and Garret (16 yrs old and the leader aka-Can Hope) is the front and of course middle stall. He needs to be in control of the other two.

And this is Jack (7 yrs old aka-Poco Lil Red), my big baby.

Garret and Jack just checking me out wondering, "What the Heck, Mom, are ya gonna let us out or what?".....Nope I say, Guys.....it's really nasty outside and I don't want you out in minus zero degree temps with winchill..........

And right before my eyes, (don't know how I got the picture),baby Jack decides he is gonna try to open Garret's stall door and try to escape! That Little Stinker! BOYS!

I promise I will blog more about the boys, I'll just need to carry my camera more often to get pics of them.....!

These were taken about 3 yrs ago when my girls still were interested in "boy horses" now they are interested in "boys"!!! Kaylee, my oldest, riding Cody in a show. And Ellen, my youngest riding Garret in a show.

SHHHH....A New Design COMING SOON!

2008-01-23T11:48:00.000-05:00

I have been really busy in my studio these past weeks. I have been working on a new design that will be very very unique and sure to put a great big smile on your face when you see them!

I can't wait for their debut so I am just giving you a teeny-tiny sneek peek of what to expect.

This one is my prototype so I have some tweeking to make before I share them with you...... Stay tuned .... hopefully I'll get them finished up to show & sell on The Primitive Gathering on February 1st !

A Valentine Update....come take a peek!

2008-01-17T12:18:00.000-05:00

Phew! I just updated the American-Folk-Art.com website with a little Valentine Collection of one-of-a-kind pieces all ready for adoption :) I just love all these small splashes of colors together.....oh so romantic and shabby!

I used some of that awesome vintage lace that I found a few months back, a picture of it shown under my vintage goodies posts, for their collars and stitched an old blue cotton ribbon to it for extra color. I made little collage/assemblage aged heart-shaped glass embelishments for each of them too! I found these little heart-shaped glass ornaments awhile ago and they are perfect for putting tiny trinkets inside.....like vintage buttons, old scraps of fabric, lace or ribbon, old dried rosebuds and even collage art! I put all of that inside this little ornament and then aged the glass a bit so it was not totally clear.....and they really came out nice.

What Up Dude ?

2008-01-11T08:37:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I told you that I received my very first brand new cell phone for Christmas this year from my family. Not an expensive one...but still pretty cool features that I never had before. It was a total surprise to me because I was the one that got the hand-me-down phone when the rest of them got a new one.

Well, my last phone was so old that it still had the pull up antenna and did not flip open, the face was exposed.....you know, so every time I had it turned on and stored in my purse .....it would randomly dial a phone number because the numbers would touch the purse when you moved, same thing would happen if you had it in your pocket too........sometimes I would hear this tiny voice coming from my purse or pocket......."HELLO, HELLO anybody there?" .... talk about freak me out!

Well, now that I have text message....too cool...don't know how I lived without that feature.......I no longer have to worry about randomly dialing somebody.... but worse..... I don't know the text message lingo !! AAK!

My kids think it's funny that they can send me stuff like:

8 letAs , 3 wrds , 1 meanN LUVU
We w%d B amazN 2gethr !
S yr dad a terrorist ? cause ~:o yr da bomb !
Meetg u wz f8. Bcuming ur pal wz my choiC. but fallN Nluv with u waz Byond my ctrl.

And when I text back it takes me so long to type something that I say......DANG, making the phone call would have been alot easier!

And now for the translation from above:

eight letters, three words, one meaning, I LOVE YOU
we would be amazing together!
Is your Dad a terrorist? Because baby you are the bomb!
meeting you was fate. becoming your friend was my choice but falling in love with you was beyond my control

Well time for me to get back to work so you all av a gr8 dy!

Oh My Gosh...Valentines Day already!

2008-01-03T18:35:00.000-05:00

Yup, as you probably know, it is time for the artists to start making their Valentine pieces....you say....OH MY but we just put Christmas decorations away and swept up all the dead fallen needles from the tree and celebrated the beginning of a New Year...Valentines Day? Yup...Valentines Day. As an artist or retailer for that matter, you always try to stay ahead of the season otherwise, it would be too late and that day would have already passed.....soooo taking my own advice...I thought I would share with you my first Valentines piece of the year....."My Valentine Sweetheart Ellyfont"... I'm going to be putting her on ebay today in case you want to see more details....

Had A Merry Christmas

2007-12-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

Our tree on Christmas morning

I hope everybody had a joyous and wonderful Christmas. It got so crazy and hectic those last few days leading up to the big day.....I'm kinda glad that it's over. Our Christmas was wonderful this year. Each year we have my parents over for Christmas Eve dinner and then Christmas day dinner is spent with my in-laws. Thankfully our families live within 1/2 hr drives. I couldn't imagine adding the headaches of long travels to see family.....Hat off to all of you who do it!!!

I should add that the girls really liked the cork boards we made them....yeah.... I have to say that me & my husband worked on those until late Christmas Eve but we finally got them finished and we totally surprised them both. I was totally surprised with a new cell phone...OMG...they actually gave me a new cell phone! I'm always the one who got the leftover cell phone when they got new ones.....hahaha...I used to joke about it all the time.....my old phone was so old that you had to pop up the antenna for better reception...no kidding! But my most favorite gift of all was a card that my girls gave me. They each wrote a heartfelt beautiful message to me that actually brought tears to my eyes it was so sweet!

Can you believe another year has past? Time really does fly by. We are almost into a New Year with many new hopes and dreams, new friends to meet and old friends to cherish....I wish you a very Happy & Safe New Years !

The Corkboard Projects Almost Done !

2007-12-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

OK, I have some pictures of my "work in progress" ..... I have all 32 cork tiles covered with fabric and I just arranged them on the fiberboard and put the wood trim around the edges to get an idea of what the finished pieces will look like. Nothing is glued down yet but I'm almost done!!! Phew!

Here is #1 blue/pink/white 4x4 corkboard...........

Here are the various tiles and colors..... I even added colorful cool ribbon to a couple of the tiles so that you could slide papers under the ribbon instead of putting a pin hole in the paper.

Here is #2 lime green/aqua/purple 4x4 corkboard.................
One of the tiles I added a "pocket", so that you could put, like, a heavier card or small booklet into it.

It really wasn't that hard to make...(although I may be saying this a bit premature cuz I don't even have the dang thing glued and finished yet.. haha)....but the possiblities are endless.
I'm even thinking about taking the girls old corkboards and covering them for my studio.

Here is the project details in case anybody wants to give it a try.
To make 1 very large 4ft x 4ft corkboard:

4x4 fiberboard (not plywood, it would be too heavy on the wall) - got at home depot -- approx $10
Adhesive / liquid nails - at home depot - approx $3
wood trim pre-painted white - at home depot - approx $15
4x4 cork (1/4" thick) - http://www.mantoncork.com/ - approx $45
3 - 30"x40" foamboards - got at local art supply store or I seen them at office supply stores too.
(I needed to cut the foam board to put under the corkboard cuz the cork was not thick enough...when you put a pushpin in the cork it would hit the fiberboard ...so I needed to add another layer so the pin would hold) approx $15
various fabrics ( I only got 1/2 yrds of each color) - approx $9

other tools needed;

utility knife - (to cut the cork and the foam boards)
hot glue (to put the cork and foam board squares together)
a regular office stapler - (to staple the fabric to the squares)

So my cost looks to be about $100 per cork board......the same size 4x4 corkboard in PBTeen is a whopping $500 !!! It's not going to be the most perfect one that you can buy, but since it's just going to get all covered up with photos and papers ....heck, it'll work.....now I can take that extra saved money and go to their most favorite clothes store in the mall....Abercrombie & Fitch...ugh....don't get me going on those PRICES!!! Now if only I could figure out a way to make those jeans!! hahaha

11 days left.....oh no!

2007-12-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

It's getting closer to Christmas.....do you have all your shopping done???? If you're anything like me, you're about halfway done now.... and the pressure is on to get them all purchased (or MADE).....forget about wrapping...that's usually done Christmas Eve Day here in my studio!

I still have a couple huge christmas projects that I am still making for my girls.....duh, what was I thinking! If you have teenage kids then you know how much they WANT a PBTEEN bedroom....but everything in the catalog costs way too much money. They both want this cool bulletin board that you pick and choose different "tiles" ....the tiles consist of fabric covered corkboard, or a pegboard, or chalkboard...you choose and put together the final design ...
Here is a sample of one from the catalog.

Well, the price on one of these babies runs around $300.....needless to say they are not getting the one in the catalog....but,silly me, decided that I could MAKE them these wall tile bulletin boards....what was I thinking!
I'm making them each a giant 4ft x 4ft bulletin board for their rooms for Christmas...each board will have 16 tiles. Each tile will be covered with a fabric square or maybe a couple just painted...

So, I had my husband buy & cut an 8x4 fiberboard in half, so that each bulletin board will be 4x4. I then purchased a huge piece of corkboard 8x4 size. I then proceeded to cut all (32) 11"x 11" corkboard squares plus I have to add foam board to the back of the cork cuz the cork is not thick enough..ugh! So far, I have managed to cover only 6 tiles all in pieces of cool fabrics that will match their rooms........... only 26 more to go! We bought the adhesive (to glue the tiles on the fiberboard) and then white wood trim for around the hole piece. I am going to have to try to finish up the tiles this weekend, and maybe even get the whole thing put together.....I'll be sure to take pictures and post once they are completed.

I know it will all be worth it because my girls definately know that I will not buy them one from the catalog ..... so they should be really surprised on Christmas morning.........that is....if I can get these babies done by then!

Let It SNOW....Let It SNOW...Let It SNOW

2007-12-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

Well, It has arrived in my neck of the woods.....Snow that is! I was hoping it would hold off for a bit longer but I suppose it's definately going to be a white Christmas this year. I took some pics of my views from my back yard....thought I would share with you...

Here are my "boys" enjoying breakfast....

and a view of the road I live on....