Decisions: Arranging Pictures on the Wall...

Decisions.

I am not good at them.

For example:

when faced with getting new base cupboards for our kitchen,

I had to choose drawer pulls.

What an overwhelming selection of drawer pulls there are!

How do people decide?

How do indecisive people like myself decide?

So I printed up all my favorites,

cut them out...

and narrowed it down to two that I liked best.

I took a look at the price difference,

and when I found that the darker ones were not only on sale,

but a sale on top of that one,

I made my decision and saved about $40.

 

$40 here,

$40 there...

it adds up.

It took some time and ink to print/cut out the paper "pulls"

but I think it was worth it to help a visually-needy person like me decide.

On to my recent dilemma:

My living room is almost complete with it's renovation.

(A recent yard sale find was the oriental rug.
It looks like it wasn't even used.
Yay for yard sales!!)

I am very happy with the way the whole living room has come together.

But there is one wall.

I had used it for a school wall,

but we never seemed to stay in this room to do school,

so I painted the top half a lighter shade of the same green on the living room wall

by just adding some white to it.

I looked for too long through blogs and magazines for ideas for this wall.

There are "farming" scenes and elements all around the living room,

so I thought this might be a good wall to hang our aerial view photos of

our farm

and

the farmette where we lived the first five years of our marriage.

I purchased two small Currier and Ives farm scenes at a discount at an antique store

because the frames were damaged.

I just repainted them (and their mats red),

as well as all of the other frames so that they would look like a more cohesive grouping.

I also had the farm scene that I painted that would be nice in this grouping.

I saw these plastic flowers for $.50 at a yard sale.

They were pink and blue and yellow,

but I turned them all into red.

 The plaque was also a yard sale find repainted.

My predicament was:

how to place all these things on the wall.

I read about cutting paper to replicate picture sizes/shapes and hanging them on the wall

to try arranging.

But I decided to just lay them out right on the floor in front of the wall instead:

 I finally decided on this arrangement:

 I have to say,

it is nice to have pictures on the wall again

instead of maps and children's school work.

Now I have a busy refrigerator.

I feel like,...

...well,

 like I like being in my living room.

It's a nice feeling.

Linking up to:

Kellyskornerblog.com

Funkyjunkinteriors.net
Missmustardseed.com
Betweennapsontheporch.net 

Homesteadrevival.blogspot.com

Stepping Up to the Chalk Board.

A couple weeks ago,

a blogger I enjoy reading named

Miss Mustardseed showed a chalkboard she had done:

Missmustardseed.com

and stated that she had tried it because of a woman named

Dana Tanamachi.

(If you click on Dana's name, you can see some of her amazing work)

Incredible!

Who would of thought one could be so talented on a chalkboard!

Needless to say,

I wanted to try...

to a MUCH smaller extent,

of course.

I knew a large project of this type might render me bald by the time I was done,

or fingernail-less.

 

I had this cow picture I used in my fall decorations,

 and decided to use the back of it.

 After painting two coats of the chalkboard paint on it...

I borrowed my daughter's school ruler

and began a much harder adventure than I had imagined.

I sketched an image I'd found from the Graphics Fairy,

Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

and experimented with some different lettering ideas.

I have to tell you,

I had to get up and leave it a couple times

and come back another day or two when I was feeling fresh again.

I got some advice

(thanks, Mom)

that it needed some color,

so here is my minimal attempt at being an artsy school teacher.

My miniature version was a fun experiment,

 and I have a very high regard for chalkboard artists now.

 Sometimes it's fun to challenge oneself and take a chance at something new.

I learned that some things are much harder than they seem:

I think I'll stick to paints.

Have you tried anything challenging lately?

To be amazed and see

Dana Tanamachi in action,

>click on this link to see a video.<

Linking up to:

Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com: Brag-Monday
Betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com: Metamorphosis Monday
Astrollthrulife.blogspot.com
Not Just a Housewife - Show Me What Ya Got
Themodestmomblog.com
Blue Cricket Designs
Sugar Bee Crafts
Tip Junkie
Today's Creative Blog
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Home Stories a to z 
 Far Above Rubies: Domestically Divine 
Hip Homeschool Moms: Hip Homeschool Hop 

Tip Me Tuesday - Tip Junkie

Tabletop Tuesday - A Stroll Thru Life

Chalk board Wall and Glass Calender: Finding the Laughter.

Sometimes, it is hard being mother, teacher, and friend to my kids.

 (Schoolroom before this wall was painted.)

Growing up at a camp,

I got to work in various positions,

one being a cabin supervisor,

whicn I never much enjoyed.

I was shy:

I don't like to lead people around, make decisions,

and have a  hard time prioritizing or making timing judgments

(a fancy way of saying I'm always late).

I dread confrontation.

Supervising ten pre-teen/ teenage girls from the city,

when you're as niave and young as I was,

also being a teen from a much different world than they,

I spent my days doing those things listed above

that I so disliked.

 (After being painted with chalkboard paint on the bottom,

and a purplish gray hue on the top.)

I prefer to laugh, to have fun, to be creative and guide rather than teach.

I loved working on the horse farm,

in the kitchen,

in the craft room.

There's plenty of room for fun in those positions.

A mom has the necessary position of filling

lots of different roles,

often at the same time, balancing it all

so that it doesn't come tumbling down like a house of cards.

It's tricky and quickly can turn stressful,

especially when the mother has a hard enough time

going to town with her own shirt being turned right-side-out.

Add to this the role of teacher

to a child who says she doesn't like school,

no matter how you try to make it fun and creative,

and it makes for furrowed brows,

heavy sighs,

and sour expressions.

I often feel like I've taken on the role of camp supervisor
in a full time position.

Some days I have to remind myself

that a smile will relax the muscles in my jaws.

 (Framed glass calendar needed some change.)

But I don't want it to be this way.

I want our home to be bubbling with laughter.

I just need to find out where it is sometimes.

But this year, as Violet has gotten older,

I think we've grown to understand each other better.

We're finding a place that I like much more.

 

(Paris Grey chalk paint,

clear and brown wax.)

 She has initiative and tries to go the extra mile for people.
She's learned pretty well how to control her attitudes
often better than I do.

She's also come to the age
where we actually think a lot of the same things
are fun...


and funny.

(Orange paper background will be fun for fall;

we can change it to winter paper when winter arrives.)

Last night Levi began his usual episode.

He is quiet and a daydreamer by day,

but something happens when we all head up to the bedrooms:

I'm not sure if the quiet from us all being tired

sets his brain surging and his jaw muscles loose,

but he goes into full discourse about chambered nautiluses,

arctic squid,

and the spiders in the barn.

His speech and vocabulary during these lectures is hilarious

because it is almost book language,

larger words in full sentences,

dictated in a monotone reading voice.

He demands an audience,

and, 

if he thinks his dialog is being ignored

by the father behind the Lancaster Farming Newspaper,

or the mother collapsed across the bed trying to find a second wind,

he will repeat, verbatim, whatever paragraph he's just recited.

Tonight I flopped onto Violet's bed,

disappearing from Levi's continuous verbiage.

He had found his way onto our bed with a favorite book,

and his dad was the recipient of the discussion of it.

My farmer decided he'd better get a shower before sleep overtook him,

leaving Levi alone in our room.

Levi, however, was not done with his daily talk.

"Tonight the spider did not want the cricket when I gave it to him.

He scrambled from his hole,

touched the cricket,

and then scurried back to hide in his hole.

Suddenly he changed his mind,

raced from his hole,

snatched that cricket,

and disappeared back inside of his hole to enjoy his hearty supper."

I peered over at Violet, wondering if this talk emerging from my room

was meant for us,

or for the father who had now turned on the shower.

(We love Levi so dearly,
and his prattle just makes his personality

even sweeter.)

She and I grinned,

knowing what would come next.

Levi repeated his tale,

again from his perch on my bed:

"Tonight the spider did not want the cricket when I gave it to him.

He scrambled from his hole,

touched the cricket,

and then scurried back to hide in his hole.

Suddenly he changed his mind,

raced from his hole,

snatched that cricket,

and disappeared back inside of his hole to enjoy his hearty supper."

 

Violet and I looked at each other

and giggled.

And, again, about a minute later with increased volume,
the story came out.

A pause followed this third telling.

Then we heard feet hit the floor,

the expected pattering of them going toward the hallway,

and then four precise knocks on the bathroom door.

"What?  Who is that?"  we heard from within.

I then quietly stated to Violet

in my best Levi imitation,

"Tonight the spider did not want the cricket when I gave it to him.

He scrambled from his hole..."

as I continued in his story,

we heard Levi join me,

as if he was taking my cues from off-stage.

Violet and I burst into laughter.

At Levi's conclusion,

we heard the Farmer on the other side of the bathroom door ask,

"Is that you, Levi,

I didn't hear you.

What did you say?"

Now practically rolling on the bed,
Violet and I were lost in hilarity.

And it felt good.
It was shared and fun.


I felt like a friend.

Linking up to:

Shades of Amber