The Adventurous One

My daughter will soon be 20 years old.  She's the adventurous one 

                                       

The bilingual one, the musical and fun one...

And now she has left for a study abroad program in Nicaragua.

We will have limited communication for the next four months- no cell phone, no laptop- but hopefully an occasional email from the university she'll be attending.  I have no idea what incredible adventures she will be part of... All I know right now is that sometimes, even when you know it's what's best for your children, it's hard to let go.  And that's all I have to say about that.  Love, Kelly

Painting French Color

 My favorite type of furniture to paint is French.

And lately, I’ve been having some fun with color

Although not French, remember my yellow dresser from last week?

It sold down at Qcumberz, so I thought I’d do another one.

Instead of a school bus yellow, I painted this one more a canary yellow.

I also finished this vintage French provincial. 

Robin’s egg blue seemed to fit it well.

I’m super eclectic in my own home décor, so I tend to push that philosophy on my furniture pieces.

I also write every other Friday on the ANWA (American Night Writers Association) blog.  ANWA is a national writer's group for LDS women.  I have been a member for several years and have blogged about their conferences.  Many famous author's are members of ANWA, so this is a great group of women. To read my current blog post, click here.
Linking up to:

The Lost Contact

A note to the counselor:

Dear Honey,

     I was up late last night, writing and when you woke this morning, I didn’t hear you.  For such a large man, you move really quiet.  You wake earlier then me most mornings and never turn on a light or open the blinds.  You move in the dark, searching in your drawer for matching socks, then in the closet for your belt left on yesterday’s pants laid over the hamper.  I usually hear you just as your about to leave, as you tip toe past the bed to the door.  I roll over, whispering “I love you” and you gently kiss me before you leave for work.

But halfway through your morning routine, you lost your contact; your expensive contacts because you have such bad eyesight, you can’t wear disposable lenses. 

You searched the entire bathroom floor, thinking it may have dropped there. Then you took the plumbing in the sink apart, certain it had fallen down the drain.

With sleepy eyes and barely awake, I offered to help you. You suggested I may still be tired and encouraged me back into bed, but I wanted to help.  We looked for a few more minutes, but you were in a hurry.  With your glasses on, you conceded.  The battle of the missing contact had been lost.

Later you called, discouraged and suggested you would need to order a new pair of contacts.

Still, I had hope.  Maybe, I could find it.

Later in the day, I walked into the bathroom and couldn’t believe what I saw.  There on the floor, plain as day was your contact staring back at me.  How I saw it, I'm not sure!

I picked it up, giddy with joy. I couldn’t wait to tell you the good news, when a humbling feeling came over me.  It was a feeling of love . . . for you.

Because you do so much for me.

You come home every day with a smile.

You make me smoothies.

You keep the pool immaculate.

You remind me when I have a dentist appointment.

You read to our children.

You take the car in for maintenance.

And so much more.

Most importantly, you love me.

Your contact on my finger meant I had done something special for you, but I was humbled because finding your contact was a reminder I could never keep up with all you do for me.
Linking up to:

Summer Fun & the Haboob

Looking for what to entertain themselves, the boys have been stacking cups.

and having competitions on who can stack the highest.

Eden tries her own version of playing with cups.

This summer I've had very little time for thrifting, but I did find this amazing dresser last week for $95.

(Here it is at Qcumberz, the shop)

I could tell by the wood and finish it was expensive.  Inside the drawer, was this label.

I looked up the manufacturer here and found out this dresser sells new for $2,000.

I don't want to paint this piece because the wood is just gorgeous.

The counselor buys another dresser for me to paint.  Most men bring their wife home flowers, but I like myself a beautiful dresser even more.

I paint it my best-selling color; black with silver fixtures.

The counselor moves dressers from one part of the carport back into the garage because 

. . . of a little dust.

Image found here.

Image found here.

The latest haboob rainstorm really ran a number on a few pieces of furniture that I had left outside, but the counselor pulled them into the garage as fast as he could.

Now today, it's time to dust things off and get back to work.
Linking up to:

Finally Yellow!

Long, long ago, before I ever painted dressers, I saw this picture on someone's blog.

(I lost the photo credit, sorry)

I gasped.

Pure beauty and I loved it.

Back then I wasn't a dresser painter or a furniture re-doer, so I just sat and drooled.

Bright colors were just becoming the thing, but yellow.  

This was a bold move.

A few months later, I took the risk.  I tried painting my first dresser.

Since then, I've painted dressers almost every color out there.

For resale, I know which colors sell best, but I finally wanted to try yellow.

I had to live my dream!

Not knowing if yellow is still a hot commodity or not, as an artist I just had to try.

So, here's to you yellow.

Let's see if you sell.

Love Sign Tutorials

I've had a few comments asking for tutorials on the love quote

                                       

love sign and

 love bird sign

 

These are all made using the same technique so I thought I'd combine them into one post.  First you need rough sawn fence boards- If you've been following My Dear Trash for a while you've seen some of the different variations I've done of the love sign...

Here the boards were painted white, the love is in red with a dark glaze for distressing

For this love sign I chose cedar rough sawn fence boards because I loved the natural color and I didn't need to paint the wood. Sometimes I like to use the thin boards (red and white love sign) and sometimes I like to use the thick.  Once you have your boards decide how big you want it to be.  I usually take the height and double it for the width- I just use my eye as a proportion gauge.  Most of my signs are between 3 and 4 feet wide.  Cut your boards to the desired width and secure them together using furring strips like this...

Now your'e ready for paint in whatever background color you like.  Next is the image.  For the Love signs I used mistral font and printed "Love" on a transparency.  The bird image is one you can purchase from stockphoto (just google bird and branch silhouette) and the love quote is an image I created in word processing.  You'll need to purchase ink jet transparencies so you can run it right through your personal printer.  I then use an overhead to project the image onto the boards.  Trace in pencil or chalk and then paint, using a small brush.  Sand the entire project, which will soften the paint, including the edges and apply dark briwax to the entire surface to add that aged look.  If you don't have an overhead projector, create your image and save it as a jpeg.  You can then download your jpeg image to blockposter.com and blow it up to the desired size- it will print on your printer as individual pages that you can tape together.  I would then use carbon paper under the image, trace the image onto your wood and then fill in with paint.  These signs are so versatile and make great statement pieces in a room or at an event.  Let me know if you have any questions and send pictures if you make one of your own.  Love, Kelly.

Back from the Mountains . . .

. . . and we look a bit grungy, but we're happy.  We spent as much time as possible outside in the mountains or at the park or playing in any water we could find, including lots of rain. 

There was rain everyday 

and after the rain, the sky looked like this

and this

and this

When I see a sky like this, I remind my kids how much Jesus loves them.

Because I know He does.

The best part of the trip to Flagstaff?

Watching it through my daughter's eyes.

Let me have her tell you about our trip.

Eden's Diary 

(written by her mother)

My brother's hike faster then me,

 but I can catch up.

I want to throw rocks 

like Mayer.

and my other brothers.

Payson shows me how to spit on a black beetle bug.

He's cool like that.

I swing

while Reef climbs

and Mayer skates

and Payson rides the scooter.

Later, they all play UNO.

I wait.

And wait.

How long are they going to play this game?

Finally Reef wins, but he's only four?

Anyway, we walk to the skate park

and I ride the scooter with my dad

and my mom let's Reef have a turn too.

When it rains, we play at the library.

and have a puppet show.

My Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

and we play too.

The next day we go to the bookstore.

I want to scale the walls of the bookstore like my brothers do,

but my mom won't let me.

Am I to just watch them have all the fun?

Not me!