Christmas Chalk Art

I can't believe I'm still posting about Christmas after it has passed.  In my last minute forgetfulness I got my chalk board done on my door.  I did get it done before Christmas but just forgot to mention it along with this wonderful new book on chalk lettering that I wanted to share with everyone.  If you got an Amazon gift card this year for Christmas, you might want to consider purchasing The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering.

You can check out my chalkboard the year before on last year's Christmas post.

I made a few changes with the help of this book:

You can find The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering on Valerie's blog or

on Amazon.  I suggest you check out her blog if you love chalk art like I do and then you should also check out her Etsy shop.  This book is so unique because there is a place on the inside covers of the book to practice your lettering.

I'm much happier with this years chalk lettering on my door.  What do you think?

Merry Christmas From Our Crazy Family

My Crazy family:

Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner, but things are a little crazy around here.  Our family had a great Christmas and I hope you all did as well.  

A dear customer and friend sent us this sweet ornament and I received it right before Christmas.  Thanks so much again Joyce!  It really touched our hearts.  Have a Happy New Year!

Christmas Memories Pillow

Last Christmas I took an old family photo of my brothers and sister with Santa and had it put on a pillow for my mom and sister for Christmas.  I loved them so much that I ordered one for myself!

It's taken from this old photo:

It's too late to order for this year I'm sure, but you can get one by submitting the image you want to use at fineartamerica.com.  

They print the design on both sides.  This makes a very special gift for a loved one any time of the year!

Decking the Halls in 2015

This old house has always been so much fun to decorate for Christmas.  From the day I picked up my first paint brush and started painting village scenes, I dreamed of owning an older home and the Lord blessed us as caretakers of this one.

There are always things that have to be repaired and replaced.  Just ask our friend Luke Woods who put in our new heating and cooling system a few days ago about how much fun he had working on this old place. He had to climb

 a ladder to the third floor to put in a ductless wall unit that we decided to add.  Poor guy had to figure out how to use both hands and still hang on to the ladder.  Scary!  Thankfully he survived the ordeal and now it's warm and cozy inside. 

I kind of get goose bumps when I think of the history and the families who celebrated Christmas in this house.

Stockings were hung by the front door with care.  I sure hope Santa has his key.

I'm ready for some wassail, family, and friends to arrive!

Why is it the older I get the less worried I am about getting my shopping done?   I just want the joy and blessing of the season to wash over me and remind me daily of the true meaning of Christmas.  

Our New Hardwood Floor

We are so very happy with our new floors in our family room, t.v. room, lodge room.  I call it the t.v. room and Rick calls it his lodge room.  I should have cleaned the glass on the stove door before taking that picture.  That's my sweet girl, Jersey, who decided to photo bomb at the last second.  She really doesn't like to have her picture taken.

The dogs aren't sure they like the new floors.  They seemed to prefer the warmth of the grungy old berber carpet.  They do have cozy dog beds though.

The floors have 3 different size boards and are more rustic than they appear in these pictures.

My favorite part of this old house is the fireplace. I was so excited to hang our new stockings that I bought when we were in Colorado this summer.  When we first moved into this house, I was bent over cleaning the hearth and raised up hitting my head on the corner of that stone mantel.  It nearly knocked me out!

My new curtains came for this room yesterday.  The cords on the old ones that raised and lowered them had rotted from the sun and no longer function.  I'm crossing my fingers that I like how the new curtains look once they are up.  I may have to order a bamboo blind for that door window that I forgot about!

A Christmas Mystery

This little license plate with the name Ethel West age14 on it was nailed upside down over a hole in our old wood floor.  Check out my last blog post to see the photo of the tin on the floor.  When the guys tore out the old floor they took it out with the rest of the wood to haul it off.  The other day when Rick was cleaning up all the leaves in the yard he found a piece of tin on the ground and realized where it came from.  Ethel did not want to leave our/her home.   The license plate never made it to the truck of rubble that was being hauled to the dump.  

If you look closely you can see the year 1959 embossed below her age.
That would make Ethel 70 years old now.  I'm going to search to see if we can find her.  I strung some string through the holes and placed it on our Christmas tree.

You can see her license plate right in the center of the tree.

I'll share more of our new flooring soon, but I've still got more decorating to do.

I had to put off my Christmas decorations until the new floor was in.  We also had a new heating and cooling unit put in before it gets cold here in the midwest.  Our weather has been unusually warm for this time of year.  How is the weather in your area?

Lodge Room Flooring Makeover

While everyone out there in blogland is busy sharing their Christmas decorations this is what is happening in our house.  

The carpet is out and the guys came today to remove this nasty original hardwood flooring.  There were several boards that were going to have to be replaced if we were going to refinish it. 

Damaged flooring from the old radiators....

Tin nailed over holes in the floor and a couple boards had dry rot....

This is what was under the hardwood flooring.  I really didn't think it would be running diagonally.   Maybe I'm weird, but I kind of like it.  The new hardwood flooring will be put down tomorrow.  I can't wait!

 It's a little tough to decorate for Christmas when you have two rooms piled into one.  My family isn't happy that I'm talking about painting over the stenciling in this room.  I've had it for almost 15 years and I'm pretty tired of the grapevines.  I'll show you the finished floors soon!