Redo on the Redo Blog

Starting a blog at my age was a real learning experience. Still is.

After all, when you’ve been a homemaker and SAHM for, well, a very long time, you don’t exactly stay up to date on technology.

For the first few weeks of my new blogging life, my 14-year-old daughter attached the pictures. Finally I decided I would have to learn, regardless of how painful learning was. She let me “drive” the computer, and after two quick lessons, I got it.

I’ll never forget the first few times I tried to link one of my blog posts to a linky party. The little online form asked for the link address – that wasn’t hard, I copy and pasted it in.

There were over 400 "links" attached to this linky party. That's a whole lotta bloggers trying to party.

The next line asked for name. I thought they meant my name. Everything I made or redid was titled “Mary.”

Mary

I finally realized that everyone else was putting the “name” of what they had made, painted, whatever.

Spring wreath

Kitchen remodel

Not their first name. Are ya laughin’ yet?

Trying to attach a picture to these linky parties proved to be nearly impossible. Some of the parties accepted my pictures; some didn’t, claiming my megabites were too big. 

Megabites! Is this high school math, or what?!?! Me no likey.

I soon learned which parties would take my (obviously) huge photos, and I only linked to those.

One day, several months into blogging, someone gave a tutorial on downsizing pics.  Click, click, click, and I got it. Now I can post my pics on anyone’s linky party, megabites notwithstanding!

After you link to a blog linky party, showing what you’ve done that week (and not naming it Mary), you are then supposed to “grab the button” from their blog and post it on your own blog. 

                                                                                                  button

Trying to get someone’s button to add to my own blog post, showing that I’d joined his or her linky party – trauma! I’d click on the actual button, then come back to my blog and - nothing. I saw all those ridiculous letters in the box below the button on the linky party blog, but they meant nothing to me. I left ‘em alone.

Until the same blog tutor helped me understand about putting the letters in my blog post under HTML. They look like this:

<a href="http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ " target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Beyond The Picket Fence" src="http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq266/bec8257/button2.jpg%22/%3E%3C/a>

Voila. Linky button shows up on my blog. Sigh.

Living and learning in the fast lane, people – I’m getting there!

One night I called my friend Jennifer – desperately begging her to get help for me from her husband, who designs web pages by day. He, from the pity of his heart, glanced at my blog and gave me two words of advice.

Theme.

Organize.

I had no idea what he was talking about. I thanked them and quickly hung up, feeling very, very dumb.

One night, in complete despair, feeling like an old, overwhelmed woman, I removed every post from my blog. I destroyed my own blog. Blew it up, so to speak.

I know, crazy right?

But really, you shouldn’t overwhelm your elders. I speak on behalf of all of us. And I was truly overwhelmed.

A few days later, I missed my blog. I missed my posts. I felt very sad about my blog, now long gone. I wanted it back. Sniff.

Mr. Redo came through for me – he found most of my (deleted) posts somewhere out there in Internet land, having been cached (please, can we not go there?!). He pulled some of them back onto my empty blog and gave it a bit of life again.

During the short non-blog period, I realized what my friend’s husband meant when he said Theme.

I realized my blog (Looking Up) had the theme “answers to prayer.”

And that the posts I occasionally listed, about home décor, were an entirely different theme.

That’s when I spun off that information into a new blog I titled Redo 101.

Mr. Redo showed me how to “organize” my blog by adding “tab posts” which read across the top of my blog, just under the blog title. If someone wants to read about a recipe, they click “Cooking.” Or “Paint Redo” to see a lovely aqua table.

                                                    still love that aqua table :)

Organization! I got it! I was finally organized by subject within my blog!

Then I saw a blog post about beginning blogging and growing a blog. I emailed the blogger and shared my elderly struggles. What a dear. She e-mailed advice on general blogging topics, then looked over my blog and offered numerous ideas for improving the style, color, and location of items on my blog. I dutifully obeyed each of her instructions, and I agree that my blog looks better.

Leave it to me to have to “redo” a Redo blog.

So now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to my normal blogging theme. And buttons and links, pictures and stories, organization and all things blog related – oh my!

Any older smarter bloggers out there? Any hints you'd like to pass along?

Pottery Barn Redo

The Spring Pottery Barn catalog offers a really nice Easter display.

                                                      [Pottery Barn]

I fell in love with it, then added the cost of the individual items.

Pitcher   $99

Bunny    $29

Eggs      $19

Branch   $19

Which is roughly $170 USD

Yes, U.S. Dollars.

I don't think I paid $170. for my sofa. Well maybe, but just sayin'.

That's a whole lotta dollars which I was not willing to pass from my hand to Pottery Barn's hand.

I decided to rethink Pottery Barn's version and make my own display, using some of what I had along with a few things I bought using sales, coupons, and Penny's Cricut.

The bunny and tulip vase were some of my treasured yard sale finds from last Spring. Three dollars ($3) for the pair.

The pitcher is one I've had for several years, regularly changing what's in it to agree with the season. ($0)

Michael's provided the blossoms at 50% off regular price. ($12 for 4 stems)

Don't you just love a sale?

Almost as good as a yard sale.

And speaking of yard sales, when is the weather going to clear enough in central Virginia to allow us to hit up the big neighborhoods for their all-day drive-through shop-til-ya-drop sales?!?!

I digress.

JoAnn's had the eggs in a carton of various colors, again on a 50% sale. Eggs: $8.

And my niece Penny had the Cricut (there's rumors around my house that I may be getting one for my b-d in two weeks - stay posted!).

I liked the Happy Easter letters used by Pottery Barn, but there's another Easter saying I really love, so I typed it into the Cricut and out came this:

H E    I S    R I S E N

Already had the vinyl. $0.

Total cost : $23.

Yes, that's right, $23 USD.

Pottery Barn lost a sale and I saved $147.

Oh my, I do love a bargain.

And a beautiful Easter decoration.

My table is so lovely.

Mr. Bunny is happy.

And so am I.

What's the most you've saved on a house/decor project? I'd love to hear about it!

I'm sharing here:

Martha Stewart, Aqua, and Chocolate Cake

Don’t you just love chocolate? I've already admitted I'm addicted!

My friends and family know they should hide the M&Ms when I come over. But there’s often a beautiful bowl filled to the brim on their island or living room table. Thanks for sharing, girlfriends - you know who you are!

Last week I decided to make a chocolate cake.

Can we be real here? I just wanted to use my new aqua Martha Stewart measuring cups. Aren’t they lovely!

I think I mentioned that aqua is spreading through my house. Even into the kitchen!

So. I got out my mix, eggs, water, oil, pans – and my Pampered Chef mixing bowl. I don't own a lot of Pampered Chef, but what I have I love. The little white spatula is a Pampered Chef item, too. Quality cookware.

No, I am not a Pampered Chef representative, but if you have a party, please invite me. I really like their cookin' things!

You and I both know that baking a boxed mix does not call for dry measuring cups. I just got them out for the photo op. Aqua and chocolate - what a combination! 

Poppin' the bubbles. You can never pop them all. But I always try. Because they taught us to do so in Home Ec all those years ago, and I've never forgotten.

My girl E prefers white cake mix, while I prefer yellow. E won out this time.

All is not lost if a can of chocolate frosting is available. Gotta get that chocolate fix, right?

Here it is.  

Lovely cake. Lovely stand.

Yummy cake. 

We served some to friends who visited after church last Sunday. They liked it too.

It's all gone now!

But that's okay.

Because I'm making a Triple Chocolate Decadent cake today, to serve at the church banquet tonight. Ha!

For fun, I shared this at:

Spring Wreath

I've seen so many gorgeous wreaths all over Blogdom.

My favorite is this beauty from She's {kinda} Crafty, click the button to see the most gorgeous wreath. Go ahead, I'll wait for ya.

Wow, is that incredible, or what?!?!

Can I just say that I'm way over 39 and have never made a wreath?

In fact, I've never even thought of making a wreath.

But when you look at gorgeous wreaths other bloggers have made, you begin to get the wreath itch.

I saw this idea somewhere, before I began blogging or wreathing - but I loved the concept for Spring, so I used the idea as my basis.

And I want to give lots of credit to some friends who helped, because wrapping yarn around a 12" form took some time. It could have taken a village, but Beth, Jennifer, Penny, and I got 'er done. Guess that's almost a village, but anyway ...

I started by hot gluing one end of the yarn to what would become the back of the wreath. I then started wrapping the yarn around and around - and as I went, I paused occasionally to push the yarn close together for a tight fit.

Sometimes I had to pause - to cook dinner, homeschool the kids, all perfectly good things in and of themselves, but yes, things that interrupt crafting. When I paused, I stopped the yarn on the back of the form and hot glued it in place.

The little bird's nest is one my children found outside on the ground. We made sure it was on the ground because I'm real serious about mama birds and baby birds. So yeah, on the ground it was. They promised.

I've seen artificial bird nests about the same size at Michael's.

I found the stick on the ground, too, in my front yard. First I placed the stick on the wreath several ways until I found just the right angle, then I hot-glued it to the yarn.

Next I hot-glued the little bird onto the stick (and the yarn).

I've had several compliments on the little blue bird eggs. One person guessed what they are - gum balls. They are cute, aren't they. I used 3, my son chewed the rest of them. Little Redo always comes through for me.

The little bird came from Michaels with a coupon, of course!

Now I'm not saying that this particular bird would lay this particular color egg, but hey, it's a Spring wreath! As some wonderful blogger once said, "It doesn't have to be perfect."

Wish I knew who that was. She needs to get famous for that quote. If you're reading this, check in. You're a woman after my own heart!

Anyway, I had one sprig of Spring flowers from Michaels, which I cut with my wire cutters, then placed around the wreath to balance things. Attached a wired ribbon, tied in a bow, and hung it up.

So my very first ever wreath, my Spring wreath, is not perfect, but I'm pretty excited about it. Here's another view of the wreath, completing my Spring mantle.

Happy Spring!

I'm sharing my Spring wreath at:

Front Porch Column

My hubs helped me make this, and I’m proud of him. It's not the sort of thing he does every day.

I borrowed the idea for this from Shanty 2 Chic. She made three columns in varying sizes and set them in front of her fireplace. Hers showed the year they married.  They looked good. Real good. And I knew I wanted one.  Go check her's out here. 





She used a 4x4. I went to my favorite store, but the Lowe's man, it being his last day to work there and all, said the only 4x4’s Lowe's sells are salt treated, and one would have to let them sit for six months before painting.

I am not a woman who likes to wait. Especially not for six months. Not for a salt treated 4x4 to do whatever it is salt treated 4x4’s do to become paintable after six months.

However, the Lowe’s man suggested I combine two 2x4’s. They were not salt treated and would not have to wait. I was liking the idea. So he cut them the lengths I requested.

I bought the other pieces of lumber – gosh, I felt like such a woman, buying my own lumber – and had the Lowe’s man cut those to my specifications as well.

Then I wished the Lowe’s man good luck at his next job. And carried my cut-to-order wood to my van.

Hubs, not having heard of this project until the lumber arrived in our house, was interested but a little dubious.

I assured him that the two 2x4’s could be glued together with Gorilla Glue. Hubs looked doubtful but grabbed the glue, and sure ‘nuf, it worked.

Then I attempted to nail the bottom pieces to the (now) 4x4. Let’s just say my aim wasn’t too good. Pieces going in every which direction. Hubs kindly undid my damage and redid the job right. Top pieces and bottom pieces. Thanks, doll.

He also caulked the cracks between the two 2x4 pieces. What a guy.

I then primed.

And then painted the whole thing white.

During my recent Saturday Craft Party at Penny’s, we corralled the Cricut into cutting vinyl house numbers.

Don’t they look great on the column?

I'm just fascinated by that 9. Have you ever seen such a 9? Love.

My intent is to make this an outdoor column, like this:

Perhaps a flower atop? Which will die within three days of arriving at my non-green-thumb home. Don't you just love silk flowers? They live forever, no matter who is tending them.

But until I apply the “marine sealer,” making my column waterproof, it’ll sit in the house, like this:

Or this:

Yes, the daffodils have seen a better day. But I still swoon every. single. time. I see my aqua table (learn more here). Love!

Have you made anything from wood?

Or, better yet, do you own your own set of power tools?

Tell all.

I dream of owning my very own Dremel Three-in-One. Some day.

I was featured at:

Vinyl Letters Everywhere

My niece Penny owns a Cricut. She's such a nice person - M&Ms always available, and she shares her Cricut. You gotta love a girl like that!

We'd never used vinyl in the Cricut before, but I'd seen lots of crafts other bloggers completed using vinyl. So I spent time in Hobby Lobby learning about vinyl and how to use it.

We started with a clear jar and a white can. I requested a numeral "1" for my jar, and here it what it looks like now:

Great for storing cotton balls, and looking good too.

My daughter Elizabeth wanted her initials on the white can. Before she saw what vinyl could do, she planned to use markers ... but a trial makes a customer, and when Elizabeth saw my vinyl "1", she knew vinyl was for her, too. Love the way her initials turned out:

And just for fun, this little cutie on top:

Penny announced her plans to start saving for the trip she and her boys plan this summer. This seemed like a good place to start:

One of her boys is a huge history buff, so they'll be spending a week in the City of Brotherly Love, soaking up the past. We put in a little "seed money" to get things started.

We were definitely loving the vinyl. Can't wait to use it again. I could end up with vinyl letters all over my house.

Do you have a Cricut? If so, have you used vinyl to make designs? Share some of your ideas!



I'm sharing this at:

St. Patrick's deco

At the Saturday Afternoon Crafting Up party with my niece, Penny, we worked on some fun St. Patrick's Day ideas. Penny used flower pieces, green of course, to make this adorable pin:

She decided this year for St. Patrick's Day to wear this. Isn't it gorgeous? The "bling" in the center came from Pen's grandmother's sewing box - it's an old "diamond" button, which she hot glued into the flower's center. On back she attached a small circle of white felt with the pin, and she's all ready to celebrate on Thursday.

Meanwhile, I was busy punching circles from scrapbook paper. I made 15 circles in traditional St. Patrick's Day rainbow colors and attached them to a long piece of green ribbon.

We used the Cricut to spell out St. Patrick's Day, and here's how that turned out:

Our family is enjoying a little St. Patrick's Day welcome.

Thanks, Penny, for hosting our Crafting Up Saturday party!

I linked this post toToday's Creative Blog at http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Meadowbrook Farm Inspires Me

Have you visited Teresa at Meadowbrook Farm? Go there now. I will wait.

I love every single thing she does.
Do you swoon when you see such beauty?

Through Teresa, I have fallen hopelessly in love with aqua. And I painted my little worn foyer table - aqua.

I've put touches of aqua in my bathroom.

And my mantle.

The aqua is spreading, slowly, through the house.

Here's the story of my redo of the small foyer table.

Our foyer is narrow and of such a design that only a very narrow table could fit the space under this Plow and Hearth-type mirror. I found the mirror at my favorite ever Richmond store - Class and Trash. If you haven't been to Class and Trash, go quickly!

But our foyer looked drab in spite of the changes I'd made.

One Saturday night I went to Lowe's. Five minutes before they close. I had Meadowbrook Farm and aqua on my mind. Seeing an employee starting to clean up the paint aisle, I grabbed the first aqua paint swatch and asked her to mix a sample.

That tired lady wanted to go home! She printed the receipt and instructed me to pay for the sample at a nearby cash register while she mixed the paint.

Somehow I got out of the store just seconds past closing time. Whew.

A few days later, I put my foyer table on top of the dining room table. With a drop cloth beneath it, of course. The weather outside was not all that delightful, although I've heard that April (and perhaps March, too) showers bring May flowers.

So I was not complaining, just painting inside. And the dining room table, covered with a drop cloth, meant no stooping. Cuz that's important at my age. And because I never, ever exercise. Because I just. don't. want to.

I didn't bother to prime this little table because it was already roughed up. Which at one time I found charming for my little farmhouse in the burbs. Until I discovered Teresa and aqua.

The paint took right to the wood. My daughter liked this look for the shabby chic persona. Of course not quite finished, but you get the idea of letting a little brown hang out, right?

But I liked this look for the Meadowbrook Farm persona.

And then I found a few of my favorite things around the house and placed them on my new (gorgeous, if I do say so) foyer table.

Thanks, Teresa, for all your inspiring ideas. Drop in (from Wyoming) when you're in the area!

I'm linking this post to Skip to my Lou here: