Sheets Metal Trunk

So I think I can't start a post without saying, Sorry it has been awhile since I posted. Things have been a bit crazy lately. So first I'll give you a few updates.

As of the end of April, Andrew started working again. He sent out quite a few resumes and heard pretty much nothing from almost all of them. My company had been searching for an Internet Sales Manager for our KIA dealership and we decided that Andrew should give it a try. The weekly salary was a little higher than unemployment and then there is the monthly commission available which would make things better. His first month was slow but it wasn't his fault. Web leads have been down across the industry. This month has started out better and I have faith that he will do quite well. Pretty much what his job consists of is calling and emailing people who submit a lead online. He then tries to help people find the best deal and vehicle for their needs. Andrew sets an appointment for people to come in and then he sets them up with a salesman at the dealership. He gets a small commission for every appointment that shows and another slightly bigger one if that person buys a car. It is definitely not his dream job but it is keeping the bills paid. So if anybody is looking for a new KIA or a pre-owned vehicle in the Southeastern CT or RI area visit MichaelKIAofgroton.com and send my hubby a web lead.

Second, we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary last week. How have 3 years already gone by? What is even crazier is we have been together for 8 years and known each other for 11 years. So we went out for our anniversary and had brunch at the Mohegan Sun buffet and I won $50 on the penny slots. The food was so good! We then went and stopped in a few stores near our apartment to look around. We stopped in TJ Maxx and found a great trunk. We have been looking for a new chest/trunk to put at the end of the bed to store our sheets and pillow cases. Here are a few pictures of our old one.

It was a cheap, simple storage chest that I picked up at Ocean State Job Lot like 4 years ago. The back piece bows out when you close it and the lid doesn't close all the way. So we brought this lovely lady home.

While looking at it and then when Andrew was carrying it to the checkout we had a couple people tell us what a nice trunk it was. One woman said she thought it looked kind of like one of the ones from Restoration Hardware. I do love me some Restoration Hardware and this one was like 95% less. Here is one that I found on the RH site that looks kind of similar and cost $1,995.

I love that it has the trunk lid and space for our sheets and then has two drawers for pillow cases and other items. It is covered with aluminum and has little marks that remind me a bullet holes. Andrew thinks it looks a little Steampunk and I tend to agree. The trim is made of some kind of leather like material, probably fake, and wood. And here are some detail shots.

I wouldn't say that Steampunk is my most favorite style but I do like the mix of industrial rustic look with the old Victorian style of a steamer trunk. I think one day I'd love our bedroom to have a mix of Traditional, Rustic, and Industrial styles. This trunk will definitely supply the rustic and industrial looks. Here are some of the inspiration photos I have pinned on Pinterest for our Master Bedroom.

Source - Only links to homepage not actual image location.

I love the blue gray wall color with the white trim. I want to do some board and batten when we have our own house. Add in dark wood furniture and the whites and creams plus a touch of green. I also like the look and feel of this next picture.

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I like the rustic chandelier over the table and think it could look cool in a bedroom, too. Also it has the dark blue walls and all the white molding that I love. This last photo some people may find a little weird as a design inspiration photo. But the colors in this outfit work perfectly for the color scheme I want to use in the bedroom.

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The blue jeans represent the wall color. The brown purse and/or belt is for the color of the dressers and nightstands. The natural fiber color of the sweater would be great as a comforter or rug. The green could be sheets or even jut some fun little pops of color in the accessories. I think I want hardwood floors and maybe some kind of rug under the bed so when we get up we aren't stepping on the cold floor. We'll see how it all comes together, one day.

And now that this post has gone so long I think I'll finish it here. Do you like my new trunk? What do you guys do for storage? Dreaming of how you want a specific room to look?

Mother's Day Ponies & Peanut Butter

I spent several hours the morning of Mother's Day with my big baby. I went for a ride on Rhia and then got some great photos of the horses when we let them out for the first-time in a long time on the secondary pastures. They were in heaven with all the grass they could eat. So without further adieu, here are some happy pony photos.

Rhia looking pretty in her red halter - Watching Jimmy & Harriet finish the fences.

Rhia (Half Friesian) pigging out on yummy grass.

What are you looking at Mom?

Betty Boop (Quarter Horse) & Chammy (Morgan Horse) enjoying the Spring grass after a few rain storms.

Max (23 year old Morgan Horse) surrounded by Dandelions gone to seed.

Tuffy (Morgan Horse) always checking out what is going on around him.

Tuffy shaking out his mane.

Rhia & Max heads down in the tall grass.

With all the Dandelions gone to seed I figured I would try and get a nice detail shot of the puffs. I think it came out pretty good.

After I got back to the apartment and cleaned up we headed over to Andrew's Grandma's house for Mother's Day dinner with his grandparents and his Mom & her boyfriend. After we enjoyed some yummy lasagna, we headed over to my Mother-in-Law's house to watch the Bruins game. And of course laugh at one very goofy Maxwell. He really loves a Kong filled with peanut butter, sometimes he gets a little messy.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's day. I didn't get to see my mom because her and Dad are in New Orleans. Luckily, they weren't at the parade where the shooting happened on Monday. They have a way of always scheduling vacation over Mother's Day.

Spring Pinterest Challenge - Sisal Monogram

Yeah it is Pinterest Challenge time.

The Pinterest Challenge was started by Katie Bower of Bower Power and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love. It is not affiliated with Pinterest it is just a fun challenge to get us all off our pinning hinnys and start doing the things we actually pin.

My first Pinterest Challenge was the Winter edition. I made a Monkey Fist for the cat's to use as a toy.

I think it is currently hiding under the couch. You can read about how I made it Here. I have a few other projects that I've been meaning to do. One is to remove the torn-up carpet on the cat tower and wrap it with sisal rope. But I didn't want this blog to just be about cat related projects. So I took some time to sift through my pins on my Craft & Art boards. I found the below project.

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A large monogram wrapped in twine and decorated. I thought it was so pretty and I had most of the supplies on hand. I decided to use sisal instead of twine - though the twine probably would have been easier to use. The original pinner didn't have much of tutorial but that might be for two reasons.

1. There really isn't much to it. You take your letter and wrap the rope around it and glue it down.
2. There is so much glue that if you tried to take photos during each step your camera would be covered in glue. I was able to take some photos so you should be able to get the gist. 

Supplies:
Material to make your letter - I had a piece of Styrofoam hanging around
Box Cutter, Ruler & Sharpie - All to make your letter
Sisal Rope - Still had plenty on hand from the first Pinterest Challenge
Glue - White glue and super glue
Decoration - I used fake flower and a fabric butterfly
Rubber bands

Now here are a few tips

1. The original pinner said she use hot glue. I'm not sure how because from experience I've learned that hot glue melts Styrofoam. 
2. Super glue will also melt the Styrofoam - make sure you only use it to stick the rope to itself.
3. The rubber bands were a big help when it came to holding the ends of the rope down while the glue dried. White glue takes a while to dry.

Step 1: Creating your letter

You can do this a couple ways. Freehand, Stenciled or measure it out. Since I was making an M, it was relatively easy to measure it out. All I had to do was find the center and decide how wide I wanted the tops and the feet. Because of the size I was making the overall piece it was really easy when it came time to make the sides. The width of the ruler was perfect so I just used that to draw my lines.

Step 2: Cutting out your letter

This is a little tricky. The blade on my box cutter wasn't long enough to go all the way through. Also, make sure you have something underneath to protect your surface you are cutting on. I just used a piece of cardboard from the recycle bag. That's right Shock Top Apple Wheat, Yummm.

I also found that if you stick in the box cutter and pulled it to cut it kind of ripped the Styrofoam  It worked better if I did a jabbing/sawing motion. To cut all the way through I found a butter knife did the job perfectly. 

I may have also realized when I started cutting this that I probably should have waited to vacuum the house after doing this instead of before. Oops.

Step 3: Wrap It Up!

Front of my M

Back of my M - This doesn't have to look as good as the front.

Wrap the rope around a section of the letter without glue first. That way you can cut a length of rope and it makes it a bit easier when wrapping and gluing it to not have it attached you a big roll. Some people may like to put glue on the whole letter but I didn't think it was necessary. I only glued the ends. Make sure you wrap that rope tight. The blue and purple things are rubber bands that I used to hold the rope in place while the glue dried.

Wrap and Glue. Wrap, wrap, wrap.............wrap.......glue. I did mine in 5 1/2 sections. Each side, the center up to one side, then I filled in up to the other side and lastly the two feet. The ends require the most glue to hold where the rope coils around itself. 

Step 5: Decorate

I bought a sprig of fake flowers and another one with fabric butterflies. They were a dollar each at Dollar Tree. I also bought my white glue and super glue there. I cut the flowers down and tucked them in the corner made by the M and then added a butterfly. Then just add glue to hold everything in place. I had to let it dry upside down so the glue didn't drip all out.

If you want to you can cut a piece of rope and glue it to the back to create a hanger. Since our walls really suck I've been using a push pin and wedged it between the ropes on the back and that worked to hang it.

I also think it looks cute displayed on my Spring "Mantle". I made some fake nests with shredded paper that came in a basket. Then made some fabric flowers - I used the method found in both Ashley's (Attempts at Domestication) and Katie Bower's (Bower Power) tutorials. Add one of my favorite wedding photos, an owl and the My Town ornament of the sign at our wedding location and we have a great display. Plus it has all of my wedding colors - Sage, Ivory and Brown.

So did you take part in this Spring's Pinterest Challenge? Make sure you click over to the host's blogs and check out their projects as well as all the great projects everyone linked up.

• Emily from Sparkle meets Pop
• Renee from Red Bird Blue
• Sherry from Young House Love  
• Katie from Bower Power

The Colors, Duke, The Colors!

Yes,the title of this blog post is taken from that Popsicle commercial from the 90's. The good news - unlike Duke, the dog from the commercial, I'm not colorblind and I'm hoping you aren't either. Otherwise, you are going to miss out on the beauty of the photos in this post.

I've recently taken an interest in photographing flora. The bright colors of the Spring flowers and budding trees are just so beautiful. I've found some great shots in several different locations. Riding my horse at the barn, walking around our neighborhood and a trip around my mother's yard. Below is a collection of the pictures I have taken this Spring. I hope you enjoy their colors as much as I do.

Pink Tulips out front of the church near our apartment.

Apple Blossoms in the front yard of the school.

Black Walnut tree behind out house.

Even a weed such as a Dandelion can be pretty up close.

Pine cones from the giant Pine that was right our front of our apartment until this past Tuesday.

A lovely carpet of purple Creeping Phlox.

These were in my Mother's backyard. I'm not sure what they are. Anybody know?

Lovely Red Tulips - found on my neighborhood walk.

Scarlet O'Hara - One of my favorite flowers. This is a bush in my Mother's yard.

Bright green baby leaves on the tree behind our apartment.

Nothing like bright green baby leaves.

Weeping Cherry Tree in my Mother's front yard.

White Daffodil in the neighbors yard.

I start to say one is my favorite and then I look at the next one and change my mind. Which one is your favorite?