Chicken Wire Frame

I found this idea to make a chicken wire frame on pinterest, so last Saturday our little family set out on a search at yard sales for a nice wooden frame for a good price. Well I actually found a contender at Goodwill at the very end of our quest. I will save the before picture for the end (it makes me laugh!) Here is the finished frame:

I started by removing the "art" out of the frame, then sanded primed and painted it a nice yellow.

We found chicken wire at Lowe's and spray painted it using a dark brown Rustoleum paint to make it stand out more against the wall.

I mixed brown acrylic paint with a gel medium, then rubbed a small amount of it onto the edges with a rag to give it a more aged look. I don't know if those were the appropriate materials to use, but it was what I had on hand.

I then used my handy staple gun to staple the chicken wire to the frame.

Now I use it to display sewing projects.

(A little sneak peak of what is coming to the shop)

While I was working on this project I was thinking about this verse:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!

2 Corintians 5:17

It reminds me of how Christ can make a change in our lives and make use of what we may consider useless.

Quite the find, right?

Breanna thought it was very pretty to begin with!

A master makeover

After 3 years of living in our house we finally got around to painting our master bedroom. I wanted to create a focal wall behind our bed and just mentioned the idea of wallpaper. Craig thought I was crazy and the more I thought about it, the more I remembered the condo we owned in Fresno where we stripped EVERY room of the 70s wallpaper. Nope, wallpaper was not an option. After searching the web I found stencils that gave the look of wallpaper and ordered this one:

Rabat large stencil

Warning: The website states that stenciling is "Easy, Fast & Fun!" Umm, lets say "Tedious, takes several days (with kids), but beautiful."

We are very happy with the result!

We painted the trey ceiling the darker grey in the stencil and the walls the lighter grey.

The ultimate compliment is that Craig keeps saying that it feels like we have a fancy hotel room.

A fancy hotel room where our daughter does the wake up calls.

I am thankful that he goes along with all of my crazy projects!

Santa Barbara

About a month ago, we took a fantastic vacation to Santa Barbara with my family. Well we took about a thousand photos, so it was hard to narrow down which ones to post, which is probably why is took me so long to do this post. The weather was perfect, the views were awesome and it was so much fun spending some relaxing time with the family.

On this trip Bre got over her fear of the water, both in the ocean and pool. She never got further in the water than in this picture, but that is a huge improvement to the screaming and crying of the past.

My kids dug for hours in the sand. Ian even didn't eat TOO much.

The rental house had a gorgeous pool and we spent hours in the water.

Did I mention the awesome views..hee hee.

Mom & Dad got some R & R

Alex & Ian became closer buds and had fun playing together.

A trip to the zoo is always a must.

S'mores around the firepit.

The aquarium on the wharf. Perfect for our little kids.

We had a nice diner out on the wharf.

My childhood friend, Stacey, came and took pictures of us. She lives in the Ventura area now, so it worked out perfectly.

Stacey did a great job...I love how they turned out in spite of the crying babies!

I can't wait till our next trip back. Craig would really like to retire here, but I wonder how many jobs we would have to work to make that happen...just a dream I guess!