“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…come further up, come further in!” ― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
We put another afternoon into our headboard. We’ve continued to adapt our plans as we’ve seen progress.
Today we cut the sky pieces.
We adjusted some of the cuts as the tight fit moved things around a little.
Josh sanded.
We realized we needed some supplies so we made a quick trip to Lowe’s for some Boiled Linseed Oil, sponges, and french cleats. As of right now, we’re considering using the french cleats as our mount to the wall.
Then it was time for some Boiled Linseed Oil. Man! That oil really transforms a piece of wood!
We will let this try and then possibly add some pyrography of stars and a moon to the sky. First I’m going to do some test designs on a piece of scrap wood.
When the oil dries completely, we plan to add stains to sky and peaks. Then when that dries we will add the finishes.
As we assembled this project we realized the amount of weight was going to be more than we anticipated. We plan to add a brace to the back and use french cleats for mounting as they distribute the weight of an object evenly across a wall.
I am really excited to see the finished product and get it on our wall. Our current headboard is not comfortable for sitting up, leaning, & reading in bed.
On a whim during lunch Josh and I decided to make a headboard. I have hated our current headboard since day one. It’s metal bars are not great for a lazy afternoon read and my pillows frequently slip through the bars. Yes, I realize #firstworldproblems.
So as we sat at Olive Garden for some delicious carbs, we plotted out our dream headboard.
Conveniently enough, Lowe’s is right next to Olive Garden. We left the restaurant, bellies full, and went shopping for wood!
Here is an example of our inspiration.
The plans became real as we walked out of Lowe’s with a truck bed of wood.
Got wood from Lowe’sPrepping border (in retrospect, I regret staining this now….we later sanded the whole project, including the border)
Plotting out designs, initial cuts, and safety first!
Making some headway
Stopping for the night. Still need to finish the sky, sand, and apply the finish. To stain or not to stain? That is the question.
This will be a short bullet point list of what we did on our trip with photos. I’ll keep updating the post throughout our trip so that everything is in one place.
Day 1: left church and drove to Black Forest State Park in Wisconsin. Couldn’t get our electricity to work so we slept in our camper with no power. 😂
Day 2:
Finished driving to Duluth. Found a man to help us with our electric problems. Met up with my parents and older brother.
Got some parts for our camper. Went and ate with family at Do North Pizzeria. Got settled into our campground Fond Du Lac.
We’re right on a canal. It’s gorgeous. My brother caught a GIANT Northern in two casts but we forgot a net. Tried to get it onto land but the 10lb line snapped. He got a way. 😒🐟🎣
We sat around the camp fire just chatting while Dad tried to catch the legendary fish.
My little brother came by after he got off work and we sat and chatted after Mom, Dad and Brother Josh left for the night.
Slept in our camper WITH air conditioning. 👏🏻
Day 3: First day to explore Duluth. Goals: Pier, Maritime Museum, tasty food… And we’ll see what else?
The weather wasn’t what we were planning or a expecting. So our plans changed some.
Uncle Louis Cafe: they make their own maple syrup! 🤤😋😘 Mom and I split a breakfast platter and Josh got these beautiful banana pancakes.
Great Lakes Aquarium: fish, waterfowl, and wildlife from the Great Lakes. Thoroughly enjoyed learning more about these big bodies of water that help our country flourish in ways we don’t even realize. Also, otters are cute.
Russ Kendall Smokehouse & Cheese & Northshore drive: while we were at breakfast a gentleman suggested this place. Wow! The restaurant wasn’t open but we bought some smoked fish and cheese and jelly from the store.
Beach by the French River (Ryan rd & scenic Northshore)
Grilling at the campground with family.
Day 4:
breakfast with family at the campsite. naps, reading, and fishing
Supply run to local Walmart
Supper & fire at my brother’s house
Day 5: rendezvous with Mom & Dad to get treats at a bakery (little bro works there)
Toured Glensheen
Lunch at Little Angie’s
Boating with family
Day 5: local sight seeing… Also… We bought a giant rooster and a knight. And then we got locked out of our camper and had to call a locksmith.
Boating & fishing
Day 6: drive home
It’s Sunday and we’ve unpacked. Freyja doesn’t like the giant rooster.
I’ll keep this post updated with different sewing projects I try.
Bags
Assorted bags I’ve made. Some for dice some, for wine bottles, some just for fun. I’m a novice when it comes to sewing. There’s imperfections but it was all a learning process.
Monsters
I learned to make little monster pillows. I had to name them because they were just too cute!
So we bought a rocking chair at The Original Treasure Mart in Kokomo, In. It was on their discount floor for about $50. The structure of the chair was amazing. The ONLY downfall was the weird orange cushions.
Rocking Chair before: This chair was down in my craft room for the longest time. Our dog Dexter made it his bed. Now it’s upstairs and cats make it their bed. We used blankets to cover the nasty orange look most days.
We decided to bring it home and research how to reupholster it.
I cannot tell you that this will be a DIY instructional because I am not certain i want you to copy my method. I kind of made things up as I went with the knowledge of some blogs and YouTube videos in the back of my head.
I ordered fabric through JoAnn’s. Real talk: This chair & this room is for a some-day baby. Nope, we aren’t pregnant right now… but that doesn’t mean I can’t plan and set up this room now. Right? So when I say I ordered fabric. I ORDERED A TON! Yep I got 10 yards of this fabric. This room is going to be full of this stuff!!!
Ignore my super dark & thick eyebrows…. I was experimenting with filling them in during COVID-19…. Side note: Did you know that some of their fabrics can be customized? I found a pattern that I loved but did not love the colors. I was able to customize the colors and choose the type of material. Then it was mailed to my home.
If you’ve read my About or paid any attention to my posts you may notice that we have a Great Dane named Freyja. Well… long story short she partially ripped up a king size mattress pad. Yeah, like a $200+ one. *Grumbles* the good news? I was able to cut that and use it as additional support of the nasty orange cushions.
Here’s a basic break down of what I did: (If you actually want instructions then check out this woman. She does this way prettier than me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2bxjaND1uE) Josh cut some plywood for me. I cut the foam. I stained the plywood. I laid out the roll of fabric, set the foam on it and made a plan for how much extra would be used to wrap the fabric around the cushion. I cut the fabric. I cut batting. I used spray adhesive to attach the batting to the fabric and then the batting to the foam. I stacked the orange cushion and plywood on top. I folded in the raw edges of fabric and stapled around the wood. Whooooo! It’s done.
Yes, this chair has imperfections. But DAMN! I love this rocking chair even more now that it has more cushion and better fabric. I can’t wait to make curtains to match. I may make a contrasting throw pillow to go with it.
Want to know more about this room? We are obviously making it into a nursery. The theme? Storybook/Whimsical forest. Think Hundred Acre wood meets Narnia meets Fangorn Forest. (Shout out to Tree Beard!)
This green room will slowly become a beautiful forest.
Here’s a silly video I took right after the room was painted. This is what we started with. Yes, I’m coy about my plans in the video. I wasn’t ready to blatantly say “We’re trying!”
Honestly, I didn’t want a nursery that was clearly “boy” or “girl.” I wanted it to have enough flexibility that our hopeful kiddos could make this space their own. Do they like fairies and flowers? Do they like nights and dragons? Do they like sweet woodland creatures? So much can happen in the imagination when you start with a forest.
We gathered things that we had already on hand that would prepare our little one for an adventure. Swords, a wizards staff, etc. Then I planned out some art I wanted to make which would incorporate some of my favorite quotes from books.
I still have quite a few more of these to make!
We bought some art at ComicCon last year that are some prints from David Wenzel, who did some art for The Hobbit. One is of Smaug sleeping on his pile of gold with Bilbo blending into the background and the other is of the shire.
Most recent walk through.Cool mirror we found at The Original Treasure Mart.
The room is continuing to develop and I can’t wait to show you more progress. But here’s where we are for now.
Prophetstown is a great example of Northern Indiana. This park is mostly Prairie with sporatic trees. There is an aquatic center, nature center, operating homestead and during special events they have living history type reenactments.
The campground is small but nice. The playgrounds are beautiful! This definitely is a great experience for families wanting some fun & history.
We have 2 dogs: Dexter (a Shih Tzu/Terrier mix), Freyja (a Great Dane). We have 5 cats: St Francis of Assisi (Franny), Martin Luther, Mary Magdalene (Maggie), St Hildegard of Bingen (Hilde), and Gomez. We also have 8 chickens.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for PPE increased, I took time to make masks. Thanks to generous donations of supplies and funds, I’ve been able to help many people. It started as just a plan to help essential workers and that expanded to any one needing masks.
Meriah J Tigner 