YOU'RE GOING TO WANT ONE OF THESE! {Bicycle Memo Wheel}

My parents came up with the coolest idea, and I reaped the benefits!  I've mentioned before that they maintain a large booth space at a local vintage/antique mall , so they are always coming up with great finds and ways to re-purpose and reinvent items. Several weeks ago I was at their house and Mom showed me this cool bike wheel that Dad had painted turquoise and mounted on a wooden disc. I told them how neat I though it was and knew they planned to put it in the booth.  Then, for  my birthday party   they had this gold one hung up to display 40 cards that everyone wrote to describe me.  They surprised me by letting me take that one home!  (I thought it was just to hold the cards and then would be moving on to the booth.  How'd they know I wanted one? :) Here's how they put it together: Dad used a block of wood cut into a circle and drilled two "reverse keyhole" pockets in the back. Then he drilled a hole slightly s......

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A LITTLE BACK DOOR FUN {& my paint color}

So how was your holiday weekend?  We enjoyed a pretty big dose of doing NOTHING but hanging out, swimming, watching movies, and playing games.  Just what we all needed. Before I show you my fun surprise for the day, I wanted to give a HUGE Thank You! to Carmel of Our Fifth House .  She used her post on Friday to showcase my new black doors.  You know they had been on my list of things to do for over a year, but seeing Carmel's completed black sliding doors gave me the push I needed to finish mine!   I showed you her living room a few weeks ago, I just love her fearless use of bold color and mix of interesting accessories.  If you're not familiar with her blog, visit her  here .  Just make sure you're ready to sit and stay for a while, you're going to love what you see! When I painted my interior doors black recently, I couldn't resist having a bit of fun with the most used door in our home, the back door that leads to the garage.......

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PAINT AN ACCENT PANEL WALL

First of all, all of the credit for this design goes to Emily at Jones Design Company.   After seeing her "Painted Wallpaper" office over a year ago, I stored the idea away in my brain knowing that I wanted to do the same someday. I finally found the perfect spot! This is a paneled area over a built in desk in the office that I'm in the process of overhauling.  I painted it dark, the same color as the ceiling, which is "Wrought Iron" by Martha Stewart.  After staring at it for several days, I decided it needed a little something to take it up a notch! I'm not posting a full tutorial, just showing a few photos of how the wall progressed. This is the point where I was REALLY wishing I was finished!  Just keep painting, just keep painting... I used this paint, and I love how it seems to light up and shimmer just a bit.  The color is Pure Gold.  Total cost for this project: less than $1.50-one lit......

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INDIAN TACOS

My mom fixed one of my favorite meals for my birthday party.  Actually, it's just about everyone's favorite.  Emily even requested Indian Tacos last month on the Fourth of July, but we stuck with good old hamburgers and hot dogs that day. While on a mission trip in New Mexico years ago, my mom received this recipe from a Creek Indian lady, so she learned from a pro! Here's the recipe for the Fry Bread: Indian Taco Fry Bread 4 cups flour 1 Tablespoon baking powder (fresh!) 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 1 Tablespoon shortening-cut in 2 Tablespoons milk Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Add 1 cup warm water (more or less) until dough is soft-not sticky.  Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth.  Try not to add too much flour as that will make the bread tough.  Let dough rest for at least 15 minutes (Mom just turns her bowl upside down and covers the dough with it while it's resting.).   While dough is......

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IT'S MY PARTY...AND WHAT WAS IN THE BOX

Thank you so much for all of my thoughtful birthday wishes!  Our weekend was busy.  A sweet group of friends took me to breakfast a few days before my birthday, and then on my birthday my hubby -he's the best!- and I enjoyed a long breakfast and a bit of shopping before all of the partying got kicked off.  When the kids came home from school we opened the first round of presents and then headed to my parents' home for a big family shin-dig.   I know you've been on pins and needles all weekend, so here's my big gift!   My sewing machine is ancient.  While a workhorse, it basically just sews straight or zig-zag seams.  I've always thought it would be great to have a machine that would do some fancier stitching and monogramming, although those are usually in the many thousands of dollars range.  Ray shopped around all by himself and found this good, reasonable alternative that should be great for some special projects here and there.  I......

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