yes, my house is aqua...

Did you ever [temporarily] forget that you live a small rural community, with traditional little houses painted white, tan, or grey? Where even a yellow house is a bold move? Only to drive home and see the 2" swatch of color you chose is now the entire side of your house? No? It's only me that thinks beach houses can exist in the midwest [hours from a lake, let alone the ocean]?

This summer our house underwent a transformation from unnoticeable to unmistakable. The house has received mixed reviews - but we get quite a few compliments and people seem to think it 'looks like me.' [hopefully this does not mean I look like a 2 story aqua house]

These are just a few of the before and afters I took. We had the front porch completely ripped off and rebuilt to look like the original. [on a funny note - at the 'porch ripped off stage' one of our neighbors shared how nice the house was looking... hmm wonder how bad the house looked before :]

We only intended to replace the floor, but apparently the two bricks serving as a 'foundation' do not meet current construction standards. It was fun to see the porch come back to life!

It may be worth noting that the 'before' pictures were taken after our house was power-washed - so we the paint was definitely in need of a new coat, but not as bad as in these pictures.

Lookey, lookey - no more suicide door! The former owners ripped a decaying balcony off the house. So for years we have been living with a door to nowhere.

We are enjoying our porch - as is Miss Sophie :D {new cushions for our wicker furniture made with my 60cent/yard home dec fabric courtesy of JoAnn's moving sale!}

up on the roof top...

Looks like no snow again today, I am still hoping against hope for a white Christmas and NOT the rainy-green one that is predicted. Oh well, the inside of the house is still lookin' pretty cheery. Last year Derrick and I started making these little 'putz' houses. The history of putz houses is really neat, I'll leave explaining it to the experts.

We like working on them - he is the architect, tracing the house outlines and wielding an exacto knife, and I am the decorator adding all the little embellishments and glitter. They are incredibly time consuming for such a little house. This year I put them on our 'hutch' (well, it's a cupboard with shelves above it, kinda like a hutch).


Looking through the window of this house, you can see a picture of my mom as a little girl sitting next to their tree with a Christmas village nestled underneath.


My little hand-dyed trees worked out beautifully! I use vellum for the windows - I think it lets the perfect amount of light through.


This year we made time to put together three houses - two for others and one to add to our little collection. (the one in the picture above lives with us now :)

"A merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night..."

o christmas tree...

Nothing says kitchy-vintage Christmas like a pink bottle brush tree! I recently decided to deck out the house using bunches of these little trees. A couple of thrift stores and an antique mall later, I realized that my dream of finding vintage trees was not going to come true. I looked online and favorited a few on etsy, bid on one on ebay... my thirst for little trees was not satisfied. Then it happened, I found a tutorial for dying your own trees! A quick trip to Pat Catans and I was home with nearly 75 trees of all sizes (up to 5" of course).

It is really a pretty easy process: remove the wooden bases from the trees, let sit in a bleach & water bath. RINSE WELL. Dip in dye (I just used Rit powder dyes - you only need a little dye and a very short dip to get LOTS of color!)

These trees are made by limiting the amount of time you leave your little green trees in the bleach bath. I think it really gives them a vintage flavor, it's as if they have been around so long they faded. It might be neat to try a bleach bath after dying.

These trees are just bleached - no dye needed for some frosty white trees!

We thought that the pink ones almost looked like candy!

I may have some of these up on my etsy soon... check back :)
ALSO: I will be participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day - so stay tuned!

crooked house...

Last weekend I did a little experimenting with wonky houses. I am playing around with the idea of making one of these house blocks the center block in my wonky log cabin quilt. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions! This one is made from fabric scraps (not the fabrics used in my quilt).

I machine quilted the block and turned it into a fun beach bag. I need to hang this tote somewhere that I will see it during the impending cold winter days.

falling...

Football games, the fair, hoodies, colorful leaves - it's fall! I'm sure I will soon be ready for warm summer afternoons, but for now I enjoy chilly mornings perfect for snuggling up with my favorite quilt. I have a few fall-ish projects that have been in the works.

Derrick and I have returned to the task of home-making; making little paper houses that is. I really enjoy creating 'putz' houses for Christmas - you know all those little cardboard houses you find at flea markets for under your tree? We tested out a spooky fall variation - what do you think?
I like the bat, he adds some whimsy; and the pumpkins are painted pebbles (why buy when you can create :) The base is matte board covered with real dried leaves. There is a circle punched in the back of the house the perfect size for a little Christmas light - the windows are made of vellum so it gives off a spooky glow!

They are quite the time consuming little buggers, we enjoy being together with our faithful partners, Mulder & Scully. (sadly, we have just requested the FINAL season from the library - just one more season of our favorite conspiracy theorists...)

Also on the seasonal end of things, a little stuffed turkey, not for consumption, please.

I was in the card making mood for a while and created a few, these little owls were just too cute to pass up. I think they make great little notes for any fall occasion.

note: all of these items have just debuted in my etsy shop (it's fall over there now too!). check it out if you get a chance.