Crafty May Days

Rearranging objects in our home is one of my favorite past-times. In the last 3 days Telia and I have given our home decor a proverbial swirlie:

Mix Up #1 - We needed a picture frame stand to display a framed photograph of Aeden on our shelf... ...so we fashioned this sweet stand from 2 coat hangers from our front closet. A pair of wire cutting needle nose pliers coupled with a little wire and determination and "wahLLAH!": A PICTURE FRAME STAND.


















Mix Up #2 - We recently purchased a pathos (read as unkillable houseplant) for a $1.75, but needed a sweet pot to display it. I searched high and low only to find out our most suitable small white pot was being used by Telia to house our pens, pencils, scissors, phone rechargers, keys, pacifiers, receipts, etc. on our kitchen counter. Like a black hole transporting our clutter to another dimension. Not wanting to disrupt her precarious physics experiment I settled for a small clear glass vase Telia had found by our dumpster a few months ago. Problem: vase is clear and doesn't match our shelf. Solution: find left over spray paint and coat inside of the vase. It makes it look like a ceramic with a really thick clear glaze, sort of like a reverse glass painting. I am proud of the finished product.
































Mix Up #3 - I'm going to be honest. I really, really wanted to buy white frames with mats to display Telia's photography and Aeden's portraits, but funds are tight. Sometimes that is what drives me to DIY. So, after digging around in boxes I wrangled up the picture frames you see below. Originally, they were all black or brown. So I painted them with some old high gloss white the previous home owner left in the garage. Then I arranged them into a montage as pleasing to my eyes as I could make. Now we just need to take out some of those old wedding pics...




















Mix Up #4 - While in Bethel I picked up this sweet poster (International Migratory Bird Day 2009), but came home to find that I didn't have a frame to house it. Some of you who have been to our house may have already seen this, but I love to use brown paper grocery bags to make poor man picture mats. Since the poster is dark brown, and the wall is blue I figured it would work especially well in this case.


















Mix Up #5 - Telia's annual bucket garden!!! The farmers market is bustling again where we love to buy new plant starts for a dollar. Yesterday we bought a few beefsteak tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green peppers, basil, oregano and chives. Potting soil is $2 for each 40lb bag. Pickle buckets were free from Zingerman's Deli. I used a 1/4" drill bit to make about 30 holes in the bottom of each bucket for proper drainage. If you choose to make a bucket garden from pickle buckets, be sure to wash them out thoroughly. The smell CAN linger.

In addition to these mash ups we've made an awesome strawberry-rhubarb basket weave pie, returned our old expensive rug with a stylish jute rug for half the price and hung the mirror by the back door.

Three Years and still in Love

Today marks the three year anniversary of knowing Ben Anderson. I thought that I would like to share how we met. Well, three years ago to date, it was a Saturday. I had worked all day at my Dad's Great Harvest ( I love Great Harvest Bread) and that night, at the last minute, decided to go to the Saturday session of our Stake Conference. I was excited to go because I had been living in Utah and had just come home for the summer and wanted to see long lost friends that I hadn't seen for a while. So my mom and I went, showing up a little late but at least we went. As I listened to Sister Stacy (my friends mother), I noticed a handsome man walked in with another girl. And I knew it was him. A week earlier I had met a really nice woman, Darlene Anderson in my Dad's store and she said that she had a son that she wanted to set us up or have us get together and talk about Hiking, Camping and fun stuff we both enjoyed. She has known our family for years. Both of our fathers have served in Stake Callings together, my father taught Ben's younger sister in Seminary and his father taught my older brother in Seminary. Small World! So, when Ben walked in, I asked my mom and she said that that was The Ben Anderson. Oh, wow, but he was with another girl so I tried not to think about him. After the conference, there were so many people I wanted to talk to so I made my rounds getting reacquainted with friends. However, I began to notice that "Ben" was trying to come and talk to me. So I proceeded to move along talking to everyone else but "Ben." Finally I could tell he was getting discouraged and might be giving up. So I walked past him and his friend who I knew. Course being the lady that I am, I said hi to his friend Kyle, but not to "Ben" ( I was so mean!). Then I walked into the foyer to start up another conversation with another friend. When out of the door he came and walked right up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Ben Anderson. I think we are supposed to know each other." Wow, alright. Then he said, "I would like to take you out. It is a PLANNED date that is PAYED for and we will be PAIRED off." OK, I thought. I was really tired but He is so dreamy so I said, "Yes." That night he took me on our first date to see the new movie at the time, "The Da Vinci Code" and we shared a soda. Then later we went to the Meinzer's home to play some Pool. I beat him in a game of pool, not that that is really important information, but the important thing is that I knew I could really like this guy. Well the rest is pretty much history. I saw him on Monday where we went out again and then talked forever. That night is when I knew that I could spend eternity with him. So we went on dating every night that week. That weekend I took him to my brother Zach's home who lived in the bay area at the time with his 4 beautiful children and that was when I knew I would marry him. There is our little story. I love you Ben and am so glad you were persistant that first day we met, three years ago today!!

California and Virginia City