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So as I stated in my last post we are backdoor people.  We never you our front door it comes straight in to our living room.  We use the back door which comes off the garage and a 3 season porch.  Not only is it the entrance most used by everybody it is also stairwell to our basement area and area where our kids coats hang so it is a high traffic area. We live in a rental house built in the 50's and it is full of charm.  We have the best landlord-friend you could ask for.  She lets us update and make things pretty.  Here is a before photo!

Blah !!!

Not only is it blah, it is dated and the border is scratched and peeling all over. 

So what is a girl to do?????

She needs to hand her 8 year old a scrapper and tell him he gets to do some "Man work" with Mommy!  

Yes, he loved helping me.  We saturated the border with window cleaner, peeled off the vinyl top layer.  Then we sprayed the paper and glue layers with window cleaner again and let it sit for about 5 minutes. 

 It took us about 30 minutes to get it off and another 10 minutes to clean up.  

Woo Hoo!  Wall border is gone... Thank goodness! 

As you can see the wall is really dingy.

Now we need to get a fresh coat of paint on this! 

Have some really cute ideas to make this area more functional too.  Thinking a bigger coat rack and a dry erase board for all the fun school stuff I need to keep track of. Maybe wall pockets for all the papers the kids bring home.  Maybe a few frames to show case all the art work they make.

More to come later :) 

Pinterest Freak!!

I have become a Pinterest freak, yup I admit it I think I need a 12 step program.  But, honestly you can't go wrong with lots of do it yourself craft projects, home improvement ideas, and cooking ideas on the cheap.  I am getting spring fever which for me means giving the house a huge overhaul.  I like to do a super clean and then I like to re-arrange and re-do and plain old freshen up a few things around here.  Blame it on these loooooong crappy Michigan winters.  It is April 20th today and yes we had snow this morning.  Ugh!  So I have been not looking out the window and pretending we really are in the midst of spring.  These are some of the cool things I have been up to! 

I made this the night before the bombings at The Boston Marathon.

My 10 year old princess said to me the night of the bombing "Mom this is very appropriate today."  

So sad that we live in such a fallen world.

I made this pretty little wreath last week at a "Mommy and Me Craft Day" at our church.  I am going to be re-doing our entrance/stairway which is the main way we come into our home.  We never use the front door.  We are backdoor kinda people.  More to come on that project later.  For this I used a foam wreath and wrapped it in chenille yarn and then added handmade flowers.  Love them I also added the welcome banner made on the Cricut.  The banner is stuck on with stick pins so I can decide later.  

The princess made these projects on our craft day. 

She took a canvas painted the back ground and then cut out and layered flowers.  This was a craft idea found on Pinterest too :)  

Back to pinning :) 

A Little Bit of Summer Sweetness

So, a friend of mine gave me a great deal on her own organic sweet corn.  So exciting, I googled how to freeze it so we can have that wonderful sweet corn this winter when we are sick of snow and need a little bit of summer sweetness.  It was so easy!

1. Shuck 2 dozen ears of corn
2. Blanch them for 5 minutes in boiling water
3. Quickly cool them in ice water bath for about 5 minutes
4. Laid them out on a clean bath towel to dry for a few minutes

5. Stripped sliced the kernels from the cob with a really cool pampered chef tool! Pampered Chef Kernel Cutter
6.  Then bagged them into freezer bags, I  made 2 1/2 cup portions. ( I got 7 bags from 2 dozen ears)
7. Freeze!

So excited, I ordered another 2 dozen ears to freeze tomorrow.  AS thi si my first year doing this I am not sure how much I will need for my family.  So next year I might do more or less...but so far this learning as I go new lifestyle is so much fun!

Life has changed so much....

Since I started this blog I have changed so much..  I took a "class" through my church called "Apples of Gold" about 18 months ago and it has inspired me in so many ways.  Not only in my relationship with God but as my role as a wife and mother.  I learned so many things and it awakened so many hearts desires as well.  It is my job to take care of my husband, children and home...and you know what it is awesome to have that as my job.  God, wants me to do these things and in this era we are told that woman are supposed to not want that role.  But, I know it is o.k. for me work outside the home and to be a homemaker too.  I know that it is is right because of how I feel, and how things "have fallen in to place."  The people God has placed on my path have helped me so much and the changes I have seen in my home are amazing.
    I started making small changes in my life, making more meals not from a box, skipping the fast food.  Then I started doing things like making "freezer meals"  where I made meals ahead of time and froze them.  Then I taught myself how to can.  Yes, I can.  I love it.  Last year I was gifted a large amount of organic cucumbers one weekend while my husband was away.  I read a few blogs and wham I made 3 batches of pickles....they are awesome.  Since then, we bought a freezer and I have frozen all sorts of local, farm fresh organic produce.  I can't wait for this winter when I do not have to buy all the canned goods and frozen vegetables.  I have been loving every minute of this transformation.  There is such a good feeling that comes over you when you are "putting up" vegetables and foods for your family.   Yes, I still enjoy scrapbooking, and I will blog about that too, but I will also have lots of focus on my family life and my journey.

It has been months since I have had time to log in here....The good news is I have been scrapbooking like a mad woman. the bad news I have not blogged. My family has had so many bouts with sickness for months that I have just let time get away from me. I left work early today and completed 6 pages today. My challenge today was to not use any CTMH products. Do not get me wrong CTMH is my favorite company and I buy faithfully every single month from them....but I have an absolute ton of other products that I really need to start using....so I amde 6 pages and not one piece of CTMH paper was used.

Epic fail!

So my experiment has failed. I was already not able to keep up I have missed the past two weeks. But, in my own defense I have had bronchitis and was on 4 major meds. My husband has pneumonia and is sick too. I am finally feeling better after 6+ weeks of being sick.
I did accomplish a few scrap booking related tasks.

1. I had a 4 1/2 inch stack of completed pages that I never actually put in albums. 2 years worth of pages. Sad I know. I hate actually organizing them.They are all now in albums and we can enjoy them.
   
2. I downloaded approx. 40 fonts for my journaling onto the computer.
3. I have now printed all of my fall pictures, and have a blank memory card!
4. I have also organized a crop this next weekend for a good cause.

Sooooo I figure next weekend I will get alot done and I will make up for my epic fail!

Maybe I will be back with a post later, all this talking about scrapping has made me want to get started!

Weekly Challenge #2 =Tonka Time!

My weekly challenge: Use scraps & sew on the page! Done! I made a page called Tonka Time! I used the remains of my favorite paper pack EVER from CTMH, it is called "Tinkering"....it is no longer available...sniff :(

I sewed a random border around the inner border. I am not much of a sticker girl anymore, but I had authentic Tonka stickers that were just screaming to get on the page. Jacob was happy with the results, and that Mommy gave him the whole rest of the sheet of stickers.