Handmade Trash

My father-in-law, Leon is a darling man. His grandfathering skills are top-rate and the boys just adore him. On each of the boys first birthdays, their grandpa makes them a handmade wood rocking horse. The horse is an exact replica of a rocking horse from his own childhood.

With four boys, we now have 4 rocking horses in our home. Each is labeled with their own name. You can guarantee these beauties will be passed down to another generation.

I found this handmade wood chest at Goodwill on $1.00 day. I dropped it off at Kelly's and her daughter Emily kindly offered to carry it in. Kelly will turn this trash to treasure for sure.

The handmade touches Kelly has put in baby girl’s room remind me of cotton candy and pink lollipops. I can't believe I finally get a pink room!

From refinished furniture (click here, here and here to see what I'm talking about) to handmade décor, the nursery is sure to impress. Her and her Mr. Right have been painting all weekend. Kelly’s certain we can finish before the baby comes, but by the way these contractions keep feeling, I’m not to sure about that (wishful thinking).

Together, they primed and painted the brick wall in no time. By the way, notice the plate of cookies on the dresser. Cooking is where I make up for my lack of craftiness. I make a wicked homemade oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and we munched on them all day.

Reef and Mayer loved having them over.

These little boys played a day-long game of hide-n-seek in the closet.

I couldn't believe how long they stayed in there. Mayer didn't like it when I suggested he come out.

Sometimes the suspense of hide-n-seek is enough to keep it fun.

I’ve been pulling out goodies from the baby shower and wanted to showcase some of the homemade goodies.

I can’t wait to enjoy these gifts with baby Eden. Thank you to my sweet friends. I’m scheduled to be induced next Monday. It’s almost time.

Creating

We all have the desire to create; to make something special. It doesn’t matter what stage in life we are in. We want to make our world beautiful. We want to express ourselves.

When I was twelve I received my very fist latch work kit.

Do you remember these things?

Images found here.

Oh, how I loved working on my latch work rug. I’d stay up late, sitting in my bed with the radio on. It was exciting as the rows of latched yard finally took on a picture. I wanted to latch work all the time. I wanted to collect every kit available.

My boys have taken to their own expressions of art. I love watching them create; their confidence growing with every experience.

Over Christmas break, Chandler googled NBA team logos, printed them off and colored them in. Yesterday, we took them into the copy store to have them laminated.

Chandler wanted to nail them up on his wall, as is.

All day long, I watched as he went back to the wall in his room, looking over his artwork and talking about the teams with Payson.

Payson, my little chef, really got into making Valentines Day cookies.

He made a plate of decorated cookies for his Uncle Sam. What a sweet expression of love.

Mayer came home from school as a heart. He wore this most of the afternoon and loved the compliments.

Reef is always creating.

Actually, I have to hide the markers from him or I get more then I bargained for.

When I’m pregnant, I feel more creative than usual. Creating a child with God is like holding hands with the boss and maybe His creative energy flows through me more. I like the term “nesting.” It's a perfect word for a woman on the verge of having a baby. I have a timeline in my mind as to when I want to get things done because the clock's a' ticking. I’m working, always working on a project. My new manuscript Stories of a Some What Successful Junk Collector is coming along nicely. My goal is to write this manuscript full of humor, something my boys will read and laugh out loud too.

Unlike my other manuscript Colors of the Sea, an 84,000 word count book, Stories of a Some-what Successful Junk Collector is going to be around 30,000 words, something a bit more manageable. It makes it easier to write and I feel good-humored already.

Send Kelly and I your creative outlets. We'd love to see and post them on My Dear Trash.