I think it's back...

My creativeness that is...  As I said in the last post, it left me when the heat rolled in a month or so ago. It has been HOT and we have been traveling and then I was working, and then I was not working (more on that later)...  With all of that going on,  I have been so uninspired.  Well all of that has changed.  I no longer work at the sweatshop furniture store so it is time for me to kick it in gear.  I have been cleaning house and getting that back in order.  The yard is next but in the meantime, I will throw in a few painting projects.

Here is my baby steps back in to painting.  I have had this IKEA step stool for 5 years.  This is the most used piece of furniture in our house. Whenever I hear it being drug across the kitchen floor, I know the kids are up to something.

  It is one of the first things I bought for this house.  My brother in law put it together for me and I have had every intention of painting it back then.  Better late than never, I guess.

Love the new color.  Guess I should, I have painted my powder room, front door, a table and this stool in the same color and I still have over half a gallon left so stay tune for more of this color to come.

stamp of approval :-)

While I was in the garage puttering around, I came across some chairs I painted for a friend and she has never come to pick them up. Guess I will be making a delivery tomorrow.

Here is the before of the chairs.

and the after...

A little priming, painting, sanding and sealing and we have a whole new look.  She wants me to do 6 more chairs and 2 tables.  Wish me luck...

As Always, Karie

ps.. ignore my messy garage

Question...

I see all of you people in blogland still creating, painting and having a wee of a time crafting stuff...  Here is what I want to know...  WHERE THE HECK DO YOU ALL LIVE???  I live in Minnesota and this summer has been a tropical nightmare.  We have had nothing but rain and high temperatures for at least a month.  It is a steamy hot mess up here.  I haven't lifted a paintbrush or even stepped foot in my garage for a very long time.  It doesn't help that I work in a place that has little to no air conditioning so it is hot and sticky in there all day as well.  All I want to do when I get home from work is lay down in my nice cool basement and read a book.

Oh wait, what is that I see? Next weeks forecast calls for temps in the mid 70s.  Better start making my list now of things I would like to get caught up on cuz the garage door is going up and I will be back in business!

Praying for cooler weather,

Karie

Just saw this in my Facebook Friend's post thought I would share

it is NOT supposed to be this hot up here!

Oh so excited....

I work at a mall ~ hate this economy for making me work there~ anyway... The furniture store I work at is moving out at the end of the month.  They had people in today measuring for the new store that is going in to our current space and when I found out what it was I did that Dance of Joy right in the middle of our store.  Now my fellow employees are quite use to me breaking out in to a dance or song but the customers usually look at me a bit funny... again I digress...  The new store if going to be...

Gordman's

tried to be fancy and put their graphic here but that didn't work. I'm way too tired and it has been way to long of a day...

I love this store and it will be like having a little touch of home right up here in the land of lakes.  This store (when it use to be called Richmond Gordman) is where I use to get my school clothes.I even got my first pair of leg warmers there and the coolest purple gym bag on the planet.  Every time I go back home I have to stop by the one near my mom's house and see what's new.  They have a wonderful accessory selection.  I always find something that I can't live without.  The prices are amazing too.

So this was my Oh so happy news for the day!

As Always, Karie

Winkflash

My canvas of the kids came today.  I have a friend in Iowa who took pictures of my kids 2 summers ago at an old farm by her house.  She got some really great shots but I have not ordered any yet.  Well, when I saw that winkflash was having  40% off their canvases, I had to have one.  I adjusted the color of the picture on picnik ,my other new favorite website and this is the result.

My daughter thinks it is "embarrassing", but I think it is wonderful.

Thanks Ang for taking such a great picture of my kiddos.

I want to do something with this one, too.

Here is one of the 3 of us.

There are so many more to choose from.

Back to deciding which one and what to order, no rush though, it's only been 2 years...

As always, Karie

Great day...

As days have been going for me, this was a pretty good one!  I work at a furniture store and it is not always an ego boost for me.  It is REALLY hard to work straight commission and you can get really down on yourself if you have gone all day and not made one sale.  That was not the case today, I did an OK job in selling today.  It was by no means record setting but it wasn't a big fat goose egg either, so that was my first big good thing for the day.

My second big good thing was that I came home to a package that I ordered from my friend Jenny in California.  Jenny and I have know each other for longer than I will mention.  Her BFF and my BFF were cousins so we all hung out on occasion and had a lot of fun along the way. Thanks to Facebook we have reconnected.  She is now a proud owner of a wonderful company that makes soy candles, lotions, soaps and fragrances.  You can find her products at

J Bella Boutique.  Become a fan of hers on Facebook and you will see all the famous people she gets to meet, selling her products in LA.

Here is all my great loot.  I got a candle, of course, some soap and a fragrance.  LOVE THEM ALL!!!

The candle and soap are called Healing.

The little mini soap is called Zen Blossom.

The fragrance is one of her new ones called Bella Mia.

Check out her stuff and tell her Karie sent you.

My third great thing that happen today was my new friend, Amy made me a great necklace.  I met Amy through another friend.  She make wonderful jewelry.  You can check out her website at Little Fish Designs.

I had so much fun at her house tonight looking at all her creations.  She is an amazing person who juggles three little guys, a graphic design business, her jewelry making, a husband that builds custom motorcycles in their garage, and one BIG dog.  She is busy getting ready form the Junk Bonanza in September.  I can't wait to go to see her wears.

Here is my way cool necklace she made me.

Here is the closeup.  She put my kids initials on it.  So excited about this!

(excuse the quality of the pictures.  there was no light in my kitchen at we are in the middle of a thunder storm)

Guess I better call it a night. 

As always, Karie

The white table

This is what I have been working on this week.  You saw a preview of in on the pink table post but I will show a few more pictures.

We had a bit of an accident in the back of my truck on the way home from the thrift shop.  The table tipped over and sorta fell apart.  I scrubbed it down with Simply Green and glued it back together.

Here it is put back together and painted an antique white.

Here it is all finished.  I think it turned out pretty good.  My daughter said it's not her favorite...  humm what does she know... :-)

As always, Karie

Driving through Iowa

People joke with me about being from Iowa.  There is no place I would rather have grown up.  Yes, I must admit driving down I-35 is not like driving  through the Rockies but there is one thing my kids love to see...
Wind Turbines!  Especially my 5 year old.  He has a book that explains all the parts of this massive piece of machinery.  He likes to tell me all the parts and how they are made.  I think I have a little engineer on my hands.  I am glad this keeps them busy on our 6 hour drive back to see my parents.

Here is the scenery on our trip through Iowa on I-35.

Are we the only ones on this road???

Look at the bugs on my windshield eeww

More bugs, more wind turbines...

My next trip, I will have to take some pictures of the area of Iowa where I am from.  It truly is beautiful in the Loess Hills area of Iowa. 

As Always, Karie