oh say can you seeeeeeee......

A few days back, I told you that Gene and I had our portraits taken by a local photographer. Well, I promised to share the outcome! I'm so pleased with how they turned out. I'm rarely like my own photo, but I was happy with how I looked in 95% of the photos. I can now complete that wedding album I've been wanting for 4 years now!

All photos by Laura Benitz Photography

This post has nothing to do with feathers

 

It's amazing how much your life can change in just a week or so.

So much has been going on here.  I've been super busy every single day.  Trying to keep up with editing at the same time (sometimes failing). I really can't give you all the details right now, but it will all make sense in a couple weeks.  So many interesting things to share with you.

I got my first smartphone ever this week, so be prepared to be instagramed.  It's kind of annoying isn't it? lol.  Maybe I could increase the annoying factor and blog from my phone.  Yes, yes.  This is possible.

But what is most important, is that we are smart, brave and are a force to be reckoned with.

Scary combination - if you're not on this team. ;)

These shoes were NOT made for walking

I haven't done a trash to treasure for a long time!!  I've not had anything cool to trash... I mean... treasure up. ;)

A few days ago, Gene and I drove to Wathena, KS and had our photos taken by the wonderful Laura Benitz.  When we got married, we didn't spend a lot on wedding photography, and while I'm not complaining because I knew what we were getting into, I am disappointed that I didn't ask for more portraits.  (I promise to share when we see them)

 

While trying to design our own album, I keep getting stuck because I don't have everything I really need to finish the album.

 

I've always wanted a pair of hand painted shoes, but they are pretty expensive.  Plus, even if I was willing to spend the money, the wait time for a pair was over a year.  I decided, "Hey I can paint!"

 

And it was all down hill from there.

 

I wanted a pair of white heels, but they seem almost impossible to find!  REALLY!  The best I could find was this black patent pair at Maurices for a grand total of $7.

I put on my thinking cap, and realized I could probably paint over the black and make white shoes.  If it didn't work, I'd be out a grand total of $7.00 and my time.

 

I started by putting some 100% acetone on a paper towel and trying to rub off the shininess of the leather.  It pretty much worked, it didn't take off as much as I thought, but it did take the sheen off.  I use this to take off my acrylic nails, so I already had some on hand.  If you don't, it only costs $3.00 for a huge bottle that will probably last a pretty long time.  No worries, acetone is Y3K compliant. :p

I then painted 2 coats of Gesso over the shoes.  I think my Gesso is a bit on the thick side, so it wasn't perfectly smooth, but I wasn't too worried about it.  $7.00 right?

I then pulled out some supplies out of my craft room.

 

Zig Millennium Pens - that I use when I paint sometimes

Delta Ceramcoat Paint - that I've had, I'm not kidding, around 20 years.  It's still good!!

 

I painted over the Gesso a coat of white acrylic paint.  You could use another brand if you like, I always liked ceramcoat because it was thick and good coverage.

 

After the paint dried, I used the zig pens to draw designs around the shoes.  I included things related to us, or our wedding day.  After all the line drawing was done, I used the red and the blue to fill in and give it some color.  I added accents of some sticky rhinestones.  Once it was dry, I sprayed them with Modge Podge Spray which only took a few minutes to dry.

 

Ta DA!  New shoes! 

 

 

 

I had a few pics taken of me with the shoes (then went back to flip flops cuz, damn, hard to walk in wet ground with those thing!).  I'll keep them of course, because now I have this awesome pair of shoes I can wear on our anniversary, or just for a fun night out!  They aren't perfect, but it was fun.  Took a lot longer than I expected too!

 

This project ended up costing me around $15 with new products I had to buy.  Not too bad considering that they cost $250-ish to have a pair painted for you.

 

Will I do a pair for you??

 

HELL

NO

 

Not even my sisters (love you).  If you want a pair, I suggest you brush up on your drawing skills or pop for someone else to do it for you! ;)

 

Oh, and good luck on finding those damn elusive white shoes.

 

Hello there, Porch you glad to see me?

 

So the porch is coming along nicely.  It's now possible to walk from one end to the other with my purdy new decking.  Boo kitty is very happy on his new addition in case you were wondering.

 

Something that I've been DYING to do for a while now, is to be able to cut off the edge of the decking where it hangs over and looks ragged and unfinished. 

 

We finally got to a point where we were able to snap a chalk line (that was nearly an arguement.  Shouldn't take 30 minutes to snap a damn chalk line), and cut off the excess.

 

It's amazing how much that changes the look of the entire deck!  It's beautiful, and smells great.

 

And speaking of smelling great, if you happen to work on a project that involves cedar, you should always wear breathing protection as the dust produced is toxic.  A couple times I forgot to put my mask on while cutting, and every time, I end up with a sore throat the next day.

 

 

 

Later, I'll tell you about my deck "accident".  It looks like the glass man beat the crap out of me.  

 

In other glass man news, Gene lost his job yesterday. :/   No worries, we have an emergency fund and a Plan B which has been in the works for a couple weeks because we felt it coming.

 

*we will be ok*

 

I'll let you know my super secret plan when it's all finished!

 

freeeeeedooooom!

 

I had this flowery post sort of written in my head about my "baby" turning 18 years old today, but today turned out to be one of the crappiest in recent history.  (More on that later).  We tried to make the best of the day.

 

However, instead I'll just say Happy Birthday to one of my favorite guys on the whole planet.  Remember this Tanner, there's a lot of things you can legally do now, but I'll still kick your ass if I catch you doing them.

 

Other than that, I love you dearly.

 

Happy Birthday "little one".

 

I'm now free to travel the world!!

Oh wait...

 

A conversation with my husband:

Me: I figured out what I want to do with the columns on the front porch.
Him: What now?
Me: You do this... then you do this.
Him: *Puzzled look*
Me: I saw this picture on the internet.
Him: QUIT LOOKING AT PICTURES ON THE INTERNET!

 

We decided to let our Labor Day weekend be a little more lax.  Went for a motorcycle ride out for dinner, laid around the house, sweltered a bit in the heat.  But mainly the heavy lifting on the porch addition we let go.

 

Mainly because the shingles we needed were on order so Gene got a reprieve.  The bad news is, he grossly under estimated how much he needed (tape measure anyone?) and I have to order again.

 

Who wants to place a bet that he cuts himself short on shingles AGAIN?

I'll take that bet. lol

 

So instead, we decided to work on the columns on the front deck.  Most ppl seem to be happy with the treated 4x4's, but oh no, not me!  I'll have nothing less than what pinterest tells me I want by golly.

 

This involves beefing up the 4x4's with more treated lumber, then cladding all that with solid cedar.

 

And then she swore.

a lot. 

amen.

 

I swear I haven't thought I was going to lose my shit more than while cutting the miters for those caps for the posts.  I wanted to give up, but my husband kept lying to me and telling me they were great and to keep going.  I have 3 done.

 

there are 9.

 

Hold me mommy.

 

 

After all that is done, the top half will be also clad with cedar making nice grand posts.

 

This champagne taste on a beer budget is getting the best of me I'm telling you.  We're over budget by like, a grand.

 

Budget schmuget.

 

Studio plans might change. :/  Not sure if I'm happy or sad or just annoyed.

 

Annoyed.  Going with Annoyed.