My Front Door is Happy!

I have had a few Halloween Wreaths on my front door, 

but they always seem to look dated when I go to put

 them up the next season.

So, I once again, said that I was finished with crafting 

anything related to Halloween, and ended up making this wreath.

I bought a plain straw wreath and sprayed painted it black.

I made my festoon bunting
(see previous blog post titled : My version of orange and black to see how to make this,)

This vintage pumpkin head was on a broken body
 that I found at Hobby Lobby and got an extra 66 % off.
I then sawed the head off the body...
(No blood in involved in the dismemberment, but I did enjoy using a Hack saw!)

Here  is        "it's"        resting     place.

Time to get into character for the upcoming October 31st night!

Go Forth My Daughter and Serve

Dallas is going go on an LDS (Latter Day Saint) mission.

She came to this decision about 6 months ago.

Getting the letter.

sister kiss of excitement!

Dallas' good friend Jordan is going to the same mission.


Dallas opened her letter in front of 40 friends and family, the Swede and 
I were in California and were watching via SKYPE.

Her mission call is to Baltimore, Maryland.
She will leave in early March and will serve for 18 months.

I am so happy for her and especially that she will be in the USA.

Good As New

I love a project no matter what it is, I live in house that was built in 1994. 

That doesn't seem that long ago.. (especially when you are in your fifties!) but,

 it does have design elements that need an update occasionally.

Take for instance the below photos of the family room light/fan.

Bright gold chrome..and the 90's era of oak wood accent fan blades.

The cut glass was an elegant touch for a fan, not sure
 why people liked this sort of thing?

I have vaulted ceilings in this room 
so the fan is way up high.

I have wanted to UPDATE this fan for years and finally 
had looked at it enough in disgust and asked the "Swede" for his help.

I bought the new look that included 2 colors of 
spray paint and glass lamp shades seen below.

We disassembled the complete fixture and
sprayed the gold to a rustic brown.

The fan blades were easy...we just switched them over,
 on the upper side are the old oak ones.
This gave the a more updated look with lighter blades.

The total cost of this project was approx. $ 33.00 and our
time spent was about 6 hours.

Now the room feels more cozy and I am happy I didn't
 have to replace the fan.