We are Co-Hosting a Link Party!!

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Welcome to the Merry Monday Link Party #76

Hello and welcome to the first time we are cohosting a link party! Hooray! We are excited to be working with all of these fellow hostesses and hope that you will head over to their blogs to support them. Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you enjoy the party!

Announcements:

  • Blogger Opportunity! If you like to bake, have awesome dessert recipes, and want to help host a party….sign up for the 2015 Ultimate Cookies & Goodies Party. 2015 Ultimate Cookies & Goodies Virtual Party Sidebar Blogger Opp pic
  • It’s the week of the Halloween Spooktacular Link Party! Have a Halloween craft, DIY project, costume tutorial, fun party recipe? Share it on the 2015 Halloween Spooktacular Link Party! Open until October 29th.

Halloween Spooktacular Link Party

  • Party Theme Features (not everyone will be featured) –
    • Share Fall Desserts on the October 25 party to be featured on the Nov 1st party.
  • Two new guest hosts for the next two weeks! You’ll be seen on 13 blogs!

Meet the hosts of Merry MondayMerry Monday Hosts

Welcome our Co-Host

Meet Ruthie of Refashionably Late, one of our new Co-Hosts for the next two weeks.

Ruthie & Lucy

My name is Ruthie, I was born and raised in the Midwest.  I met the man of my dreams in Nashville, TN and decided to follow him back home to California.  First came love, then came marriage, then came the baby in the baby carriage.  We have a beautiful little girl named Lucy.  My husband got a new job when Lucy was 2 months old and we packed up and moved half way across the country to Minnesota, back to my homeland.  We bought a house that needed a little TLC, so here I am!  I created this blog to share my journey of home ownership and my passion for furniture restoration.  While creating my dream home I also love to spend time with my family, sing barbershop and teach littles about music!

Welcome our Co-Host

 Meet Lauren & Pamela of Home on the Corner, two of our new Co-Hosts for the next two weeks.

homeonthecorner4

Hello! We are Lauren and Pam Smith, a mother/daughter blogger duo who love to create together. Pamela is a wife, mom, teacher, organizer,and crafter.  I love to decorate my home in a beachy, but neutral style, finding things at thrift stores and garage sales, and then making them my own.  I like creating and scrap-booking.  Our family is dog crazy (we have three) and likes to travel, especially to the beach where I can collect more seashells!  My style is always evolving and I enjoying trying new things in my home.   Lauren is a college student whose dream is to be an animal physical therapist.  I enjoy sipping on Carmel Apple Spice drinks from Starbucks or Pink Star smoothies from Jamba Juice.  Pink paint always seems to stay on my hands and the Eiffel Tower continues to decorate my bedroom.  I have too much fabric in my closet and not enough time to use all of it.  We hope you will come by and pay us a visit!

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How to Correctly Write Recipes for your Blog ~Mama’s High Strung

 HOST PICKS

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Special Fall Side Dishes & Dessert Recipes

It’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving!!! The most wonderful food holiday of the year!!We are celebrating with a few of our fantastic recipe Posts!

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Follow our Merry Monday Link Party Board and find the best of the party!

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Help grow this party by displaying this button on your sidebar or party page!

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If you were featured, grab a STAR button and place it on your blog!

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Party Rules – Please read!

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Let’s get the Merry Monday party started!

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Thanks for joining us!

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Sunshine and Blessings

Corner News-October 22, 2015

I can’t believe it’s Friday and time for Corner News! I’m not ready!!! I’ve been helping out my friend at the shelter get ready for Saturdays Bark in the Park, plus it is my little (almost) 3 years old great niece’s birthday this weekend and I am trying to make something special for her too! I had a great time last week playing hide-n-seek with her. You know, she tells you where to hide and then comes to find you?! Ha! I miss those days!

In other Valley Animal Haven Animal Shelter news…

Remember when I told you the shelter was in a competition? The results of the HomeAgain Helps “Shelter of the Year” contest are in AND Valley Animal Haven is officially a Runner-Up in our very first National Competition. We will receive $2,500 cash, a new computer, a new IPad, and an assortment of medical supplies from Merck Animal Health. Yippee!!! This is so awesome! Valley Animal Haven is such a small shelter and just starting out, so this is so amazing! The infirmary is going to be completed plus a cat building. This has been such a great year, I can’t wait to see what next year brings!

I am going to dress up as Mary Poppins for Halloween next week. Here is my inspiration…

Mary Poppins

All I need is the carpet bag and I am set!

I also told you about the hedgehog pumpkin I did a few years ago. I believe it came from a Martha Stewart idea. Here she is!

Hedghog Pumpkin

Isn’t she adorable!

hedgehog pumpkin halloween

The lights actually look like quills in the dark…

hedgehog pumpkin in the dark

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Sunshine and Blessings

Wooden Drawer Front “GATHER’ Sign

Wooden Gather Sign Title

Hello all! Are you all ready for Halloween? My preschoolers are sooo excited! I think I hear every day what they are going to dress up as. We have a different type of dress-up day each day next week, so it should be fun and crazy! I am going as Mary Poppins, but most of the kids didn’t know who she was. Luckily I found a book and read it to them so they won’t be completely confused!

I am posting again today since Lauren has been too busy with mid-terms to get anything done. I am not real pleased with the result of the project, but since I had to get it done quick, I will just go with it!

I had this wooden drawer front sitting in my shed for awhile now and decided I needed to do something with it. I have been wanting to make a sign for awhile, so figured this would be a good piece for it.

Drawer Front Beginning

I filled in the holes with spackle because I didn’t have any wood putty. I let that dry and then put on several coats of Minwax Wood Finish. I wanted it to be pretty dark, so I put on several coats and didn’t wipe too much off in between.

Drawer Front Spackling

I like how the grain of the wood really shows up!

Wood Drawer Front Varnished

Now for my sign. I wanted to use the word ‘Gather.’ I found a font I liked on Microsoft Word and printed in out on my printer.I used a font called ‘Easy Rider.’

Wooden Drawer Gather Sign Printout

After printing out the size I wanted, I scribbled pencil all over the back of the paper. (Don’t mind the ‘G’ and the ‘a’-my printer decided not to print out the ‘t’, so I had to print again. Can’t waste paper!)

Wood Gather Sign Pencil Markings

Then I put the paper, face up, on the board, placing it where I wanted it to be. Then I traced the letters with a pencil, pressing down hard. I was able to get the outline of my word.

Wood Drawer Front Sign Etching

Next I traced it with a paint pen and then filled in the letters with white paint.

Wood Gather Sign Apple Barrel Paint

Wood Gather Sign Paint

I traced outside the letter with black, but after it was done, I wasn’t sure I liked it. I did some sanding on it and then added an antiquing wax over the whole thing.

Wooden Gather Sign

Still not sure about the outline, but since I needed to get it done for this post, it will have to do. Maybe I can work on it a little more later.

Wood Drawer Front Gather Sign

Wooden Drawer Front Gather Sign

This is what I am most excited about for the holidays-gathering together with family and friends! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Sunshine and Blessings

Home Depot Pumpkin Box Do-It-Herself Workshop

Can you believe we are already more than halfway through October? Wow! It just doesn’t seem possible! I have some good news to share before moving on to my project. We have been asked to co-host Merry Monday Link Party over at Kolb Korner! Yeah! We will co-host on October 25 and Nov. 1. I’m sure you will be hearing much more about it in future posts!! Now on to this project!

Lauren showed you her black cat last week, so I figured I better show you my pumpkin too. It did sit for a little while until I figured out what to do with it. Here it is the night we worked on it at Home Depot.
pumpkin box

And Lauren’s cat.

cat box

I finally had the time to finish mine! First I painted it a dark grey. This was the paint from Haley’s room. I am trying to use some of the stuff I already have, rather than going out to buy more.

Home Depot Pumpkin Painting

Here it is finished with the grey.

Home Depot Pumpkin Grey Paint

Next, I painted a lighter grey over the top using a technique called dry painting. I put just a little bit of light grey on my brush and lightly go over the dark grey. I even brush some off on newspaper before applying to the project.

Home Depot Pumpkin Dry Brush Paint Brush

Here is the first bit of dry brushing done on the box part of the pumpkin.

Home Depot Pumpkin Dry Brushed

It’s all painted! I sanded over it a bit after it was dry to rough it up a little.

Home Depot Pumpkin Finished

I am going to keep it in the house for now and I was able to add a few items to it for display. If I had it outside, I would add some wax or varnish to protect it.

Home Depot Pumpkin Display

Home Depot Pumpkin Blanket and Books

This workshop was really fun! I had never been to one before and it was a great way to learn some basic skills. I am not compensated by Home Depot, I just thought this was a great girls night out. You can check the Home Depot website for workshops happening in your area. If you get a chance to go, have fun!

Sunshine and Blessings

Corner News-October 16, 2015

Welcome to the Corner News!  In the past two weeks, I have been working, going to school, and working…yeah!

But, mom and I did do something fun last night.  It was another Do-It-Herself at Home Depot.  So…we took a pre-project selfie.

home depot selfie

Then, we found out that we weren’t going to be making the mosaic mirror that we thought we would be making…DISAPPOINTED!  I was really looking forward to making a mirror and making it my own.  But alas, we had to settle with a blanket ladder.  It was extremely simple and something that I didn’t need (not like I needed the mirror either).  But nonetheless, we stayed for the project.

There were quite a few problems.  First, there were only two drills that people could use.  Second, said drills stripped the screws that we were given.  Third, we were given nails.  And fourth, most of my nails ended up like this.

bent nail

URGH!  But, with a lot of help from my mom, and a few other friends who joined us, we were able to complete the blanket ladder.  Mine is the one of the left, mom’s is on the right.

blanket ladders

They still need to be painted, but they are done essentially.  I don’t know what I will paint mine…maybe pink?  Hopefully next month, it is a better project and it is more organized.

So that was the most exciting thing that happened these past two weeks.  Hope you have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday!

sparkle