Baseball Canvas

It’s no secret that we are a family of baseball fans. In particular, fans of the Detroit Tigers.  The love of baseball has run in my family for generations, and my husband grew up in the same environment.  I’ve been struggling with how to display some of that history in my son’s room recently. That was, until, I was exposed to Canvas People.

You may not believe this (I was skeptical at first myself), but they offer FREE 8x10 canvas prints of any digital picture you send them. So here’s what I did with my canvas.

I know that I could have easily chosen from dozens of family pictures, but I wanted something different. However, I wanted something very significant. We go to a number of Tigers’ games each year, and I took this picture last summer.

When I saw it in my picture file, it was a no-brainer. Note to self: When your husband is more excited about a canvas than you are, you’ve probably chosen well.

Once I had my inspiration, it was time to shop the house! Yee Hee! My husband has boxes upon boxes in the basement waiting for our basement to be finished. Confused yet?

We have TONS of signed baseballs, so I chose a few of the most meaningful ones to display. Jackson’s favorite (signed by an ‘84 pitching coach) takes center stage.

The only new items are the vintage-looking metal signs (my son’s initials) I bought at Hobby Lobby. They were only $3.00 each. Not bad, eh?

My favorite item is a Greyhound bus that my grandma gave to my son for Christmas a few years ago. I had no idea she even had it. She had it stored away from when she was a young teenager. Apparently, her and a friend were getting on “the new bus line in town”, and they were giving them to particular customers. I LOVE it, and I love the idea that she kept it stored away for so many years.

As we were cleaning out my grandparents’ home last summer, I found an old bat in their garage. I SO wish they would have had about 10 more. Don’t even ask how it’s hanging up there. Mostly on a wing and a prayer. Currently looking for a hanging system.

Here’s a little breakdown of everything I collected.  My husband’s brother did the carving for him when he was a little boy. It even has a little message on the back. How. cool.

I never would have imagined that one simple canvas would have spearheaded such a project, but I’m so pleased with the outcome. It became a way of merging our families’ love of baseball, and even if my son grows up hating baseball (he won’t if he knows what’s best for him), it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I should clarify that I “upgraded” to an 11x14 (a few dollars).  You’d be surprised what a difference it makes in size! I’m so happy that I’ve got to share the information. Who wouldn’t like to take advantage of this with the holidays coming up? Here’s the info (in case you still don’t believe what a good deal this is).

Show and Share Day

Projects are still in the works for me, but I've decided that I'm going to do all these things to my house.

I should be done with all of it by Monday (it's just bumping out a couple walls, installing a new staircase, building a new kitchen, etc.), so check back to see what I accomplish. Special thanks to Willow Decor for these GORGEOUS pictures! Everything on her blog--everything--is drool worthy!

What have YOU been up to?

It’s a Partay!

Awwwwwww Yeeeeeeeah. Look what we have here, folks! It’s time for the 3rd annual Handmade Holiday shindig. Okay, fine. So it used to be called “I Can Make That”, but I wanted something catchier. I decided, “I Can Change That.”

What is Handmade Holiday? It is the party to attend if you want to save money and/or give more personal gifts this season. The holidays can get expensive, and I know we’re looking for any way possible to still exchange thoughtful gifts without breaking the bank.

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• Have a great idea for an inexpensive gift?
• Want to share a foolproof recipe that you make for your neighbors?
• How about something thoughtful to pass out to your kids’ teachers this year?

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Then this party is calling your name—especially if your name happens to be Handmade Holiday. What are the chances?

Mark your calendars!

FYI---Thanks to a new modem, I can finally announce the winner of the Matthew Mead Holiday Book-azine!

Congratulations Kami at No Biggie

Send me an e-mail, and I’ll get you connected! Thanks for all your entries!

Yes. Michigan.

Last weekend, my husband and I somehow got rid of both of our kids for the whole day. What did we decide to do with our special (and rare) time together? Take the Nemesis on a date, of course.

He had never been to the “big beach” as we call it, so it was pretty fun watching him go nuts with excitement. And by nuts with excitement, I mean run 15 feet, stop to make sure we’re behind him, and repeat.

My brother has lived on California for 20 years, and when he came to visit us a couple summers ago, he kept saying, “I can’t get over how it looks just like the ocean.”

Since my husband is deathly afraid of sharks (It is at this point that he would quickly correct me and say I’m over-exaggerating), it’s nice that we have such a large body of water to swim in without him crying like a little girl if he goes out too far.

 

The best part about where we live? Exactly 38.2 minutes later, and we were here. This nature preserve/hiking trail is right down the road from us.

 

We took another rare (and awkward) opportunity to take some pictures of each other. If you squint your eyes and blur out the big girl in the middle, you’ll be able to appreciate the colors!

Of course, my idea of taking pictures, and my husband’s idea tend to vary quite a bit. Here’s his version of some nice pictures.

 

His senior picture pose. Oh, come onnnnnn…you know the one!

After several takes and a LOT of laughing, we got one of us together. I think the last time this happened, Seinfeld was the #1 show on television.

 

 

A big tree.  53 seconds later, my husband was climbing it, hitting his head on a branch, and getting his foot stuck in a hole. 67 seconds later I was peeing my pants from laughter.

Okay. So it’s a lot of pictures. But in a couple of months, we’ll be buried in some really cold white stuff.

 

Hopefully, these will serve as a reminder of why I love living in this state! I’ll let you know if it works.

BRB

If you've been following along on Twitter, you know that I've been stuck without internet for years. Okay, maybe not years. But it feels like it. I should be up and running by this evening.

I will say that not sitting on the computer all evening has allowed for some projects to finally get tackled. Notice I didn't say done. Close, but not quite there. Hopefully, I'll be back tonight with some good stuff to talk about!

Show and Share Day

If there was ever a giveaway to be excited about, this one is most certainly it. My friend Linda is the executive editor for Matthew Mead's Holiday with Matthew Mead. Hello! Is she too cool for me or what?

Matthew's holiday catalog is only sold on his website unless you link up here this week! One lucky linker will get an exclusive reserved copy of this fabulous holiday inspiration!

These pictures are just a sampling of the 144-page bookazine (that's a word, right?). I love that it highlights all different aspects of the holidays, and it shows you various styles to use. Above all, it's full of holiday ideas and inspiration.

In addition, the bookazine will feature the endearing Nie Nie. Many of us have been following her heartwrenching and heartwarming story, and I'm excited to see what the holidays are about for her family.

I could easily go on and on, but I think Matthew Mead, his website, and simply the photos in this post speak for themselves! Link up and win that bad boy!

It’s Halloween Time!

I’ve had parent/teacher conferences this week, so the homefront has suffered. Greatly. In an effort to post without having to post, I thought I’d show the project that I shared over at eighteen25 awhile ago. Enjoy!

Get it? It’s Halloween Time…my post is about a clock…if you put the two…ok. You get it. It’s not that funny.

I’ve had this clock sitting in my basement for 7.9 years. I guess it’s time to use it. Get it? Time to…alright. Enough.

The supplies you need to spookify a clock?

• Uhhhh…a clock
• I used my Silhouette machine for the webs, but I imagine you could even draw them freehand.
• Glitter spiders courtesy of Pier One (I know! Pier One?)
• Spray paint

Before you do anything else, make sure to lay your clock parts out in the order that you take them off and take a picture of it. Trust me on this one. You’ll refer to it once you want to put it back together.

I spray painted the clock with some primer (since the background was so dark) and white glossy paint. I found a cool looking spider web on my Silhouette program and had it cut them in various sizes on some black vinyl.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted some dimension to it, but I had no idea where I’d find the spiders. I literally stumbled upon them in the store, and they were exactly what I was looking for. I simply hot-glued the underside and stuck it onto the clock. Tip: I marked where the original numbers were on the clock on the back, so I would know where to place each spider.

My total spent? $3.00 on the spiders. Everything else I already had on hand. It was an easy project!

 

The only difficulty now if figuring out where I’m going to put it!

Ok. The Craft Room

I spent forEVer looking for a picture of my den “before”, but I could only find a couple of isolated shots. It all started with this desk.   I loved it, but it became useless once we purchased our laptop.

Once we sold it, I knew exactly what I wanted. A craftroom. Scratch that—I wanted an obnoxiously girly space just for me that no one could ruin with toys or camouflage gear.

It started with a table and a hutch. I refinished the hutch from my grandparents, and I painted the table to match. I was so happy to have a large workspace for all my hotglue, glitter, paint, and paper projects.

Well, after a few purchases, some creative resources, and some major elbow grease, I present you with---------the girl room.

 

I should have warned you about all the pictures. It’s the one room in my house that I didn’t worry about “showroom quality”. I wanted it to be pretty for me, but my main concern was function. You may notice that I’m still struggling with that just a bit.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a snapshot of all the projects I have yet to work on in here. The bench is priority #1. I’ve been looking. We just haven’t found each other yet.

I’m gonna show you the hutch side of the room. However, no making fun of me just yet. I’m still getting that area organized, but I couldn’t be happier with the amount of storage I now have.

If you have some catching up to do, you can read the other posts I’ve done on this leading up to the grand finale. The pegboard, dresser, hutch, lamp, and chair have all had their own moments.