NEW WAY OF DISTRESSING!

I have been distressing some furniture here lately, coffee tables, rockers, glider rockers and end tables.  For the most part, I have used the same process for all of them, sanding, painting with a flat paint, wiping it down and then sealing them with a linseed oil because I wanted it to have a sealer on them but didn't want it to be shiny cause I wanted it to have a farmhouse old use look.  Well I tried this on a glider rocker that I had painted and it went horribly wrong.  What happened, you ask?

Well I tried doing the same process but I wanted to use a glossy paint so this glider rocker would be a little different and all the furniture wouldn't look the same.

This was the chair before I started working on it.  It was just a typical glider rocker that I had from when the kids where born.  It had blue cushions.

I didn't take a picture of the mess I made, I guess I should have but I was frustrated and didn't think about it.  The process was, I sanded it so the paint would adhere to it.  I wiped it down with a soft cloth and then used 2 cans of glossy black paint from Lowes.  Their generic brand .99 each.  Once I did this I used a sheet of the bendable sand paper and distressed it.  It looked pretty good so I then decided to add the linseed oil.  Big Mistake! I'm guessing where the glossy has a sealer or shinny consistency it wouldn't let the oil soak into the wood.  It was sticky!!!  I mean like GUM! Yuck!

It reminds me of the trick where u put nasty stuff on a pair of binoculars and leave it for a person to give them raccoon eyes, buhahaha! Let someone sit in this chair and get up with stripes.. LOL

Anyways, I said well gotta go back to the drawing board.  So I bought a can of Acetone from Lowes. 

I took a old wash cloth and started wiping down the chair to get the gummy mess off.  The more I wiped the more I liked the way the wood was looking old.  So I wiped and wiped it. Once I took most of the sticky off I sanded over it a little and then resprayed in a few places where it took off to much.  I ended up really liking the way it looked in the end so I didn't go back with any flat paint.  I never thought about painting it and then using acetone to strip it down to give it a distressed look.  

I puchased painters slip covers from Walmart.  They are around 17 each and I have used them to cover 3 different chair projects.  So I spent around 15 bucks on this project.  

This is a couple of pictures of other projects that I distressed earlier, but I did it the other way that I mentioned at the top.  I used flat paint and used the linseed oil to seal them.  I liked the way they turned out also.  These are the supplies I used for most of the projects.

First before and after is a end table I have had for years. 

 Sanded and ready for paint

Sanded after paint

 Coat of flat black on top and then sanded to distress.

 

This is the finished product.  You can see the arm of the lazy boy chair that was teal blue, yes teal that I recovered with the painters slip cloth that come from Walmart that I mentioned above. 

Another Project is my moms rocker that she rocked us in as baby's.  I wanted to incorporate that in my projects because it was Green... 

 This is when I started it. I had already sanded right much on it by the time I remembered to take a picture.  

I had painted it flat black and sanded it down, then painted it again.  

This chair had some old cushions, I also recovered those with slip cloth. This slip cloth has covered everything and it was only 17 Bucks!

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OVERWHELMED?

Do you ever feel like "Yes the world is spinning, and Yes I know this, but my world is spinning around, forwards, backwards, and upside down!" This is the way mine gets sometimes.  Between homeschooling my kids, crafts, group, church, and just daily chores and activities I think OK it needs to slow down just a second.  I start to notice so many changes in myself when I give way to these things and loose my focus on God.  Once the enemy has us in his web of business we loose that still calmness that God gives us and the next thing I know I'm crying to my husband saying, "I can't get it all done, or how did I get so out of wack?" (poor guy) Cause believe me I can be a nut case A LOT!

So every time I get like this, somehow, someway, God will whisper to me, Hayley, its time to slow down.  Step Back just a second.  I was so blessed last week with being able to go to Charleston, SC for my 15 year anniversary.

It was such a awesome trip! For the first time in 15 years we were able to go and spend time together, more than 24hrs!! YAY! It was a much needed trip to help me restore myself.  It was expensive which I wasn't exactly happy about, but I will never forget it and we made wonderful memories.  Sometimes we need time like this to restore, but during the daily walk of life you can't just take off and go to another state.  

God wants us to know that we need to come to him for our quiet, rest, and restoration.  

Let me tell you about how when you are toned into our Fabulous Lord and how he works things out! 

On the way to Charleston it poured down rain! I mean it gushed all the way there... 

By the time we got there my husband was exhausted from the drive. We had pulled over at least 3 times because it was coming down so hard we couldn't see to drive.  This makes me nervous because 2 things was running through my mind.

  1. I don't like it when I can't take the wheel myself and he was driving and I had to trust he was gonna drive the best he could.

 2. I haven't made any plans for my kids if something happens to me and him at the same time!! So like where would they go? Who would raise them?  AH!!!!! 

So instead of being a Co-Captain and driving him crazy, I just opened my bible to Psalm and come across this scripture.  

Talking about Good! Our God IS that large, that AWESOME.  At the time I didn't know why I was doing this particular one.  That's how God does, I will study it, draw it and then sometimes a week to 2 weeks later all that you have fed yourself in God's word comes back!!! This is why it says Put on the Full Armor of God.  Fill up your barns with his food so that when the drought comes you have something in your Food Bank!!!

Anyways, back to my scripture, it is from Psalm 56:8-11

Your have kept count of my tossings,

put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your book?

Then my enemies will turn back

in the day when I call.

This I know, that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord whose word I praise, 

in God I trust, I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Isn't this Awesome!!!! I read this and then I do what I always do I google pictures of eyes and tears and then just start sketching to see how it's gonna turn out.  Other than the fact that I was uptight and God knew at that moment I needed to have something else on my mind so that I could relax and know he had everything under control..  But then once I got home and the week started back up and things start to get crazy, I realized that its not just for a stressful ride to the coast, its for daily walking. 

 He knows our tossings, he puts our TEARS in his bottle... Do you hear this???? He knows how many hairs we have, he catches our tears!!!! How can you not love our creator? How can people believe there is no GOD??? He loves us so so much! So back to my 2 things I was worried about. 

1. I wanted to take the wheel in the van!  

Well God says let me take the wheel its to heavy, and strong and you need to let me drive.

2. I don't know who will take care of (the kids) basically my family? 

God says if I can catch your tears in my bottle I think "I've Got This!" 

This morning when it occurred to me how Magnificent he is and how he has worked out all these things in my head just since the drive down to S.C. the song came on by Meredith Andrews. 

The main part of the song is this. 

AFTER ALL,

1. your are Constant

2. you are always Good

3. you are Sovereign 

and Not for A Moment did you forsake me!

There really isn't much more to say after that.  I urge you, if you are reading this and haven't made a decision to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, please get with someone knowledgeable that can help guide you and make that decision! It's the most important thing you can do in this life.  He can give you Restoration that a trip, vacation, money, none of these things can do.  He will give you Peace unlike any other. 

He will catch all your Tears!

WE ARE HEALED!

There isn't much that needs to be said about this post.  I think the verse in Isaiah 53:5 says it all.  I absolutely love bible journaling and I think this is one of my favorites.  Thank goodness for the cross, thank goodness for his grace that he gives us every day as we rise!  The Lord is so good to us with what he blesses us with every single day.  He heals us every day because we are all sinners asking for his mercy on a daily basis if you walk with him!

DISTRESS ON THE CHEAP! 5 BUCKS FOR MY TABLE!

I have really enjoyed doing all these house projects because it helps put my brain in the place of happiness..... Yes my kids and hubby do that but sometimes you need this little me time inside yourself especially when you are home all day with 4 kids and homeschooling them... Can I get a Amen Madea?!    O yes, I get that someone may call the PO, PO over here if mama don't get a little quiet time in her head sometimes... LOL
  So anyway, I have taken to redoing the house into a more of a farmhouse style instead of rustic because for 1. it actually is a farmhouse and second because I just really like the style.  So good enough, I found a old coffee table that someone was going to through away.... AHHHH did you hear the angels sing... FREE love those 4 little letters! I had to do some wood working on it cause it was in pretty bad shape, but once I put my little touches to it I was very tickled at how it turned out.

This is the table when I first got it.  It was missing a drawer on one side, had these little shell looking things that I didn't like and it needed a good sanding.

So I just did a rough coat sanding, nothing major.

With a little hand sander.

Next I popped off the shells, they were attached with nails from a nail gun, this took like two seconds.  Then I sanded where they were so stains wouldn't show through.  I had left over Plywood from my shiplap wall... (I'm telling you, this stuff is awesome..if you are the least bit crafty you will use every inch of this stuff and not waste a bit!  I decided I wanted to cover the hole where the drawer was but wanted it to look like that on each side.  Now the plywood is sharpe on the edges and I wanted it to look soft like a real drawer, so I used the little dremel tool and sanded down the edges so it would look real... then I stained them grey and attached them with a nail gun.  

I did this on both sides.

I wanted the black distress to show through the top and since I was out of black spray flat I used some old black chalk board paint from my sons room, cause I didn't need much.  

Then I painted over that with gray paint from my bedroom. lol, I said it was cheap, and I already had all this stuff at the house.  

Once all the grey and white white was painted I used a soft sandpaper and distressed it in the areas that I liked... I also took a soft rag and coated with boiled linseed oil to give it a protective coat. 

 Next I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased some cute knobs that were 50 percent off which was 2.50 a piece to make them look like real drawers, used my husbands drill and made little holes for these.  I thought it was a cute final touch!

I was tickled with how it turned out.  My coffee table that was 5 bucks!!

JOURNALING FROM THE HEART......ESPECIALLY WHEN BEING ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY

When I come onto my blog sometimes I just sit here holding my hands on the keys wandering how to start.  I ponder and think, I don't want to start another one with "Well, this happened" or "So this was next," you get my drift.  But sometimes I think where do I begin? Where do I start?
But then there are those other times when I'm just doing something simple like standing in the shower and it comes to me and I can't wait to rush to get done with my nightly chores so I can get something down.

I love bible journaling it has been such a enjoyment for me to use art or pictures to help me retain scripture.  Its really really hard for me to remember verses and where they are located in the bible and the artwork helps me to retain it, I have talked about that in a previous post.  There are ones that touch my heart so deeply or mean a lot and I want them to be added to my "armor" of scripture that I'm learning so I will have them in my heart when the enemy attacks.

Today, I'm writing about Isaiah 1:18, though our sins make us scarlet, you makes us white as snow!
This is an amazing thing for me.  To know that no matter how far I have strayed or things I've done, God sent Jesus his only son to pay the ultimate sacrifice for me.... crabby, frustrated, complaining about this and that, me!

I've learned at the ripe ol age of 38 that time waits for no one.  Things, people, come and go.  Seasons of life change and you must change with it.  You don't have a choice.  People especially don't stay the same, friends, family all the above, we can't help it.  We have situations and circumstances in our lives that make us change.
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Two of the biggest lessons I have learned!! That I will take with me always. 

 Did you know that its easier to be mad at someone than to forgive them?
 Did you also know that its easier to be mean to someone than treat them with kindness when they have hurt or wronged you?


These two things I have experience from both sides.  I have been on the giving and the receiving end of both of these 2 lessons.  But fact is, its really hard to love a mean person, and its hard to forgive when you don't feel like you are in the wrong.

 I was listening to a pastor once that said we as a human tend to tell other people when we are comforting them that, "Hey you have the right to feel this way!"  Or you have the right to feel angry!  Because as humans we want to decide what is right and what is wrong in a situation.

 Something I have also learned is that it is possible for 2 people to see a "right" in the way they are thinking about something and for them to disagree on a subject.   All in all is that, "Is there anyone on this Earth, that you can think of, that had more of a reason to Exert his right, than Jesus?" Did he sin? NO   Did he do anything wrong to deserve what he got?  NO

He out of anyone, that had the right, to Exert his RIGHTS! But he Didn't, did he?  He went to the cross for us all.  I have had to tell myself this over, over, and over again.  When I get angry with anything, the kids, my husband,  or my family, I have to say, I don't have the right to stay angry, mad or frustrated because we are all sinners trying to do our best.

So I say all this to say, forgive often, love often, don't hold grudges, try your best to live as peaceful and humbly as you can.  This is very hard, cause the Enemy wants us squirming and stranded.  But I can promise you, holding on to anger, bitterness, malice, its way heavier than humbly handing it over to God and saying this is to big for me.  Please take this God, because I can't carry this heavy load of frustration anymore.  Thank you God for not exerting your right and carrying all our sins to the cross, so we could fly away like a bird and be washed white as snow!

XOXOXO

DISTRESSED SHIPLAP LOOKING WALL

You know what I really love about Pinterest?  Well besides that fact that your brain can go into this place where you dream you have all this really awesome stuff!

Its the fact that everything is good, no seriously each and every person can have their on taste and you are not judged. You have your own boards and your own styles and its ok to like what "you" want to like.  I have had this really neat thing to happen to me in the last 6 to 8mths.  I have found myself.  Like when I say found myself, I mean that I have never really had a specific taste.  My mom is a great homemaker, my mother-in-law has good taste too.  Lots of people in my family do also.  But it always seems like I have just been lost in the middle.  I would like things that one would do and mix it with something else that I would see at one of the other houses.  I never really said, "Oh this is the style I like and I"m going with it!"  Part of it is because I haven't really focused on it because I have been tending to 4 growing children for 13 years and the focus has for sure been 100 percent on them and not on the mama.

So anyways, I feel like after taking much time and looking though my boards and also watching the show "Fixer Upper" I have finally found a style and taste that I love! So one room at a time I have been changing it to make it match how I would like it look.  The only downer to this process is that I'm not rich like they are on the show so I have to do it with hammy down stuff or look on pinterest to try and find a cheaper way of doing things. A couple of weeks back I had a blog entry on my distressed wall with old boards that my dad had from a box that come off the farm.  Today the wall that I'm writing about I didn't have any old boards so I went  to Lowes hardware and had them to cut me some boards out of some white plywood.  It was around 35.00 for a 4X8 sheet.  I had to have 2 boards. This was my only expense in this project because I was gonna use all the other stuff I had from previous projects to complete it.  

I wish I had taken a picture of all the boards I had gotten at Lowes.  The 4X8 sheet made a lot of boards because I told the guy that run the saw at Lowes that I wanted them cut 4" wide.  The first 3 cuts where free then the rest of the cuts are .25 each. It wasn't very much and the boards are straight and even.  My wall was just a little under 4 feet wide so I only had to cut off a couple inches off each board.

Tools I used:

circular saw

nail gun with air compressor

Vaseline

small Dremel tool (round sander on the end)

grey stain

white flat paint
level

First board, use a stud finder to make sure you have the nails with the nail gun in the right place. Once I found them I drew straight lines up the wall so I would know where they are every time. 

Next Use a Level to make sure your boards are level before laying the rest of the boards.  I only had to do this once. 

I checked both ends, and the middle.

Of course I always have helpers when I'm working.  

This is to show how I used a jig saw and cut out the squares for the electric sockets. 

This was the hard part for me because I'm not a carpenter by any stretch.  It was getting around the steps. I cut out a small square with the circular saw, then used a Dremel tool with a round sander on the end to make it smooth.  This took me awhile because I had never done it before. 

Another thing I didn't figure for was the fancy crown molding at the top. Oh my Word, Can you say pain in the neck!!!! It took for ever using that small sanding tool to make it all go together.  But I was very proud of how it finished.  ***Key Point I didn't think about that at the top when I started my project.  So make sure you look at your wall before you start something like this to make sure you can maneuver around what ever you have on that wall.

Once I finished the wall, I did the same method I did here. (that tells about the stain, Vaseline method for the distressed look to come through. Once you do that, you paint over with flat white paint.  I used 2 coats. 

You lightly sand in the areas you want the distressed look to appear. 

So this is the finished project! I had a old lantern that I took the oil part out of a used a battery light to put on the inside.  I purchased the large metal K at "of course" Hobby Lobby.

This is a up close because the long picture you really loose how pretty the distressed part is.  Its hard to tell from the bottom pictures.

This is with little light on in the lantern.

This is with the light on.

NEW CHICKEN FEEDERS

We have been looking for the last several months at chicken feeders.  All kinds, plastic, metal, barrels, square containers.  My brother and I both like having chickens for our kids to tend to, play with and take care of.  So he and I had been sharing pictures back and forth of all kinds of feeders that we had run into that would be the most practical for our coops.  We finally ran across one that I really really liked.  So today my husband and I went to Lowes and bought some of the largest PVC pipe that you could find put it together and used bendable wire strips to mount it to the side of the coop.  We also used caps for the tops to keep the food dry.
We are gonna build a small shed to come off the side of the coop so they can stand and eat and drink without being in the weather and it will also keep the food in the end of the pipe dry.