A Crushing Blow........

My husband is a musician. Quite an accomplished one at that.

He plays any stringed instrument with ease and in a way that makes other musicians jealous

and it all started with a guitar.

A Gibson guitar. A 1958 Gibson. The one he learned on.

The one that his Father gave to him.

It all ends very tragically.

You see, last Saturday night, he was at a church

helping with a monthly singing.

He left his guitar up on the stage, and a

wonderful woman going up to play the violin stumbled.

And you guessed it, she fell on his guitar.

Cracking the face of it and ruining the case.

Ugh.

 

Yes, the guitar is very valuable...in the thousands of dollars,

but the real tragedy is that it is so very precious to him.

 

His reaction is that it is only a material possession and no one was hurt in the accident.

I completely agree with him, but morn the

injury to the Gibson.

 

I guess that I wish that it would have not happened at all, but it did. And now we simply wait for the Gibson company to get back with him on the repairs.

And life goes on. And being a musician, he does have

other guitars to use until his favorite is repaired.

But none will be the same as the one that he

learned on, was blessed with by his father

and holds such a precious place in his heart.

 



Thinking Easter Table Plans

I am already planning my Easter Table.

Does that shock you? No? I thought not.

I am, if nothing else, a planner.

So, here are a few inspiration pictures

from which I will find ideas, and

run with those ideas, putting my own

little spin on them, probably way out of the

box in which they were presented,

and make them my own.

Gaze upon these lovely pictures and drool,

as I did, and dream of what you could make of them!

 

Yes, I know, this is a Christmas photo, but ohhhhhh what a lovely home made chandelier I could come up with to hang above my Easter Table!!

 

Photo From Coodinately Yours

I am in love with the apothecary jar.

And I have the eggs I would use already!

 

From 'I love everything beautiful'

I am not going to use pink dishes, but the pink tulips are too die for!!!

 

I believe that a white and olive green table dressing with pink tulips and apothecary jars filled with lovely things to gaze upon, lit by the hanging candle chandelier would just make me smile for days!!



Tools Of Choice

I wanted to share with you the tools that I use all the time for

most of the projects that I do for our home and this blog.

In our basement, my husband has a room.

A very special room, filled with "man toys".

I really like his toys....alot.

So I thought I would show them off for you.

I REALLY like this room. Did I already say that?

Does that make me a tool geek? I accept it.

Take a peek into my geekyness.

I use the table saw often,

it is so much easier than hand sawing for sure!

I almost feel like I am having an affair with this saw.

 It is the newest toy in the shop and I used it for the first time

making the prints I wrote about yesterday.

It has taken the place of the old, smaller chop saw.

 

Here is the saw in which I have had the affair on.

It seems so sweet and small and it has been very easy to replace.

I am so sorry little saw.

I have loved you with all my heart, but I am officially breaking up with you.

I really am sorry, but not enough to keep me from loving another.

And of course, the drill. What girl could be complete without at least a 14 volt drill?

Not me....it completes me. 



Picture Mounting

During a visit last year to New Orleans I snapped a couple of pictures on Canal Street. I had them made into 12x18 size prints and stuck them away for a project that I wanted to do.

Well this past week was project finishing time.

I wanted them to mimic canvases so I knew the course of action to be taken. I did show you a project a while ago on my blog which you can find here:http://inpayne-paula.blogspot.com/2012/07/craft-night-at-our-house.html

 

We had some wood left from our built ins and it was 12 inches wide....saaweet!



 I cut two planks to the correct length and then painted the edges with black paint.

 Next, on the back of each I marked two inches down

 and dead center (6 inches) to be used as the "hanger" for the prints.

 I then found an appropriate drill bit,

 and drilled on the "spot" at an angle so that when hung, it will not fall off of the nail when children run thru the house and rattle the walls, which would NEVER happen at my house...aahem.

 Next, time to "mount" the print to the boards.

Mod Podge to the rescue, and remember, it smells sooooooooooooooooo bad, so be ready!

 Generous with the mod podge on the board. A plastic, flat tool of some kind (credit card will work well) to smooth out the picture on the mod podge is needed.

I allowed it to dry over night and then applied mod podge over the print for 2 reasons.

1) to seal the picture

2) to give it the "look" of canvas, which can be achieved with a foam brush. I personally love that look, but if you do not, eliminate the top coat of mod podge and leave it simply the print. 

 You can see from the photo below how the print is off the wall and does mimic a canvas look.

If you choose white (flat) paint on the edges, it will look even more like a canvas, but I choose the black based on the colors in the pictures.

In the picture above, you can see the texture that the foam brush left on the photo...kind of giving it an antiquesque (that is a word in my vocab!) canvas look. 

 

Be brave! If you try this and dislike it, it is only a picture that can be re-printed. I spent only two fifty for each print for the size that I choose.

So for 5 bucks, I now have on my wall two very large pictures that I personally love (as does my husband)and it only took about an hour total of my time!



Picture Prettiness....Simple Joy

I got out my camera yesterday.

(It has been much to long...but no one is judging me, right?)

Snapped a few pictures of a couple of the

flowers that were in my bouquet which

was given to me on Valentines Day.

(Yes, I REALLY have a keeper hubby!)

So pretty that I just wanted to save their

beauty for a bit longer.

And now you will get to share in the beauty

right along with me!

(non-photo shopped photos - love my 50mm lense)

 

 

Thank you for sharing in my simple joy!

 



We Have Found Wood!!!

Well, my Husband has.

He bravely went where no one ever goes,

into my Mom's garage. True Story.

He dug threw the falling roof debris and found

a few lovely aged 2x8 boards that have been

around for a very long time.

They will soon be  a new mantle for our fireplace.

Something old, attached to my family,

now found and soon to be re-purposed for

 something beautiful.

Lenton Challenge

I have a challenge for all those whom are giving something up for Lent.

 

I personally keep these things between my Lord and Myself, as I feel "sacrificing" should be.

(I don't think we truly sacrifice a lot in this day and age as others before us did)

 

BUT, my challenge to all who "put it out there" for all to know is:

 

If you are giving up something that cost you money, i.e. soda, food, events, hobbies, etc.,

put the money aside that you would have spent on that cappuccino, or food or whatever, and at the end of the season, DONATE that $100 or how ever much you saved by not doing what you gave up and give it to a local homeless shelter or St. Judes or a Missionary or your local Hope Life Center, or to a needy family.

You get the picture.

 

After all, when our Lord sacrificed His life, it was not for HIS gain, but ours! He gave it away for our lives to be eternally with Him.

 

Let's follow His example.

Girl Friends!

I got to spend my Tuesday night with friends.

Eating (of course!) making cards for Valentines Day

and making fun Valentine Crafts.

I took my camera along and snapped a few

pictures of the lovely ladies I was with

and one guy....his name is Henry

He had to get to know all of us for a bit

before he settled down.

And then we all got busy with the task at hand.

 

 

 

 

 

And it...

just won't...

come off!!

And yes, we all laughed A LOT!

 

 

 

 

It was a great night, filled with fun, laughter,

girl friends and love.