Prim Crafts: January 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Aunt Dee Dee's blog is back....

And she's having a giveaway!

Click HERE to go over an sign up.

She'll be adding items as she goes!

Don't miss out~

Blessings,

Jean

Sorry Ladies~ it's fixed.

Don't know how it happened but the link works now.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Home Improving....

Hi Blog Friends,

WARNING LONG POST!

As promised, this post is some of the home improvements I've been working on since Christmas.

With the new year ringing in, I just could not stand the thought of another year living with walls I could not stand!

You see, this old farmhouse is covered with paneling on the walls because the old plaster and lath walls underneath are crumbled, cracked and in disrepair. I've threatened to tear down the paneling and try to fix the old plaster, but that would open a whole can of worms I don't think I could handle.

When I moved in 5 yrs ago, I put wallpaper on the walls in the living room and at that point was pretty happy. But as time went on, like most of you, I got very tired of the look and wanted a change.

Well, I did not want wallpaper again, I wanted smooth walls to paint. I know there is a type of wallpaper out there that was paintable, but it's still wallpaper!!

I had watched a show a little over a year ago, which showed how to turn paneling into wall board that could be painted. It looked like it was a lot of hard work and did not really believe it would work.

After many days of contemplation.......

I thought what the heck.... just do it! It can't turn out any worse that what it is now!

So I removed all the wallpaper off the living room.

See the blue paper in this picture below.

Of course I did not think to take before pics.

Here's the living room walls after days of scraping, filling in all the paneling grooves, sanding and painting.

The paint color is called Natural~ put out by Lowes.

It's a paint and primer in one.

I think the best paint I've used thus far.

It only took 2 coats to cover up a dark brown paneling!

It looks so nice next to the white trim.

I moved the pie safe into the living room from the dining room so I could put my hutch/apothecary in the dining room.

I was so pleased with the way the living room walls turned out that I did the same thing to the dining room walls.

See the paneling grooves on the walls and the stark white paint too boot .

Another before of the dining room.

And the after pictures, below.

Same paint color as the living room.

Excuse the messy cabinet~ It's my bf's and I'm not aloud to touch it~ it's his own filling system.lol.

And my beloved hutch standing proudly in the dining room.

right now it's holding all my craft patterns. Eventually I want to make a pattern cupboard to hold them so I can get some of my treasures out of storage.

Now I want to do the 3 bedrooms and the hall/ stairway. Then I'll tackle the bath.

I figure one or two rooms a month, I'll be done by summer....maybe.

I'm still playing with the wall decorations and have been promised a new sofa and chair for the living room. Fingers crossed!

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I want to thank you all for the sweet comments and well wishes for my Lil' Snoopy.

He is improving each day with taking the antibiotics.

I also ordered some homeopathic meds my SIL Amy recommended. Thanks Amy!

They came on Saturday and I've been giving them to him since.

He has some spunk back in his step and a sparkle in his eyes.

I'm hopeful we can get his gallbladder healed and him back to feeling better again.

Prayers are the most powerful thing we have, so please keep him in prayer.

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I have lots of crafts I'm working on and the gourds are coming along nicely.

I hope to share them with you soon.

Oh and I will be hosting a giveaway in February~ so keep a lookout for it!

Have a great week blog friends!

Sorry for being so long winded~ I don't do that too much....

Blessings,

Jean

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Gourds and Snoopy

Hi Blog Friends!

What a change in temps!! Babe' it's COLD outside.

So, today I'm working on turning gourds into Easter baskets.

Last summer I planted some gourd seeds in hopes they would grow, so I could dry them and make some baskets. Well I got a boat load of the gourds, but the drying process did not go as well and many of the gourds are of no use.

Below are all I could salvage.......

I've cut the tops off and am in the process of cleaning and deciding if I'll age them a bit.

Then drill and add some rusty wire for the handles.

The hardest part was cutting the tops off. Gave my wrists quite the workout.

Last night I had to rush Lil' Snoopy to the vets again.

He kept acting like he was in pain, then started vomiting again.

For those who don't know~ about six months ago he was diagnosed with liver disease.

Well, last night I pleaded to have the vet do a sonogram on him, but the problem was I did not have $250 to pay for it. I'd already paid over $900 in the last few months for tests and meds. Well, the tech was so nice, and had such compassion, she did it for me with a charge of only $37 bucks. Thank you God.

Well, the test shows his liver is fine!!! But his gallbladder is twice its size and one of the main glands is inflamed. They gave him another antibiotic and pain meds and told me they'd call sometime today to let me know what I will have to do next. If the gallbladder doesn't heal itself, I'll have to have it removed. They said it runs around $2000 for the surgery. I love my Lil' Snoopy and would do anything for him, but have no idea how I'll be paying for this surgery if needed.

If you could say just a lil' prayer for him, we would both appreciate it.

Has anyone else had a dog with a gallbladder problem? I'd love to know what to expect.

Thank you for stopping by today ~

I'll be posting about the improvements of our home soon.

Blessings ~ Jean