Squeezing In Some Craftiness: a house log

Since we consistently share our road trip adventures with the Bowers (like this one, this one, and this one), here is a long overdue recap of our most recent visit – which included plenty of kid lively, a fair amount of antiquing & crafting, and even a little luxurious mom outing for good measure (along with a truly cute gift idea). Let us jump right in, shall we?

Oh but for those looking for pictures of us doing sexy exciting things like cutting wood and using a nail-gun, that is going on as you read this. The soundtrack of the day is bam-bam-bam! Yes, we have begun our big board & batten project and cannot wait to share our progress next week! Our goal is to not only finish it, but to have all of the nail holes filled, prime it, and paint it (along with painting the hallway walls) by next Wednesday. So we are buzzing around like crazy to make that happen. And we cannot wait to spill all of the details!

As for the Katie-crafting I mentioned, at around 11pm one night she and I were feeling antsy and hyper, so we chose we could not simply sit on the sofa. We needed to be crafting. Seriously that happened. So we looked around for some things we could use and Katie swiftly came up with two old terracotta pots, some wrapping paper with a faux wood look, some pom pom fringe (which made me jump up and down like a child) and some craft paint.

Our first step was simply to paint the whole inside of the pot along with the lip around the top with craft paint. Katie went with red and I went with a soft blue color. Then we used the wrapping paper in that faux wood pattern and cut out a piece of it that could be wrapped around the base of the pot like a little sleeve or slipcover. Once we knew it would fit (you can make a paper template to get the shape right since it is not a straight strip, it is more like a curved C-shaped piece of paper since the pot is tapered) we Mod Podged the side of the pot and laid the paper over it to hold it in place…

We also applied Mod Podge to the top of the wrapping paper to seal it and make it pleasant and durable. Bam: two cute little countertop pots for everything from pencils to keys or loose change. And as for the pom-pom fringe, we had planned to use it around the lip of each one (pink on mine and soft blue on Katie’s) but sadly it looked a little too “Liberace” – so we slowly backed away from the pom-poms. Do not worry though, it inspired me to buy some from JoAnn when we got back home (it was a remnant so it was especially low-cost) and I have a little project planned with it. Gotta work the pom-pom fringe in there somewhere!

But our days were not all spent snuggling Mod Podge and craft paint. We had plenty of excellent family time (Katie and I truly bonded over being pregnant together with Clara & Will, so we enjoy doing outings together where our kids can run around and have some lively). Along with going to the playground and soaking up some backyard lively time we also headed over to a children’s museum in Downtown Atlanta called Imagine It. Clara and Will had the best time playing with everything from trains, water, and sand to – of course – a pleasant big play kitchen. I think Will was frying strawberries and Clara was microwaving cereal here. Yummy.

During one remarkable naptime that perfectly overlapped (all three kids were sleeping at once) Katie and I even squeezed in a pedicure and a run to Starbucks, which is about a once a year occurrence to ladies like us, so we fairly much felt like queens for that whole afternoon.

We also went antiquing, but Katie has all of those pics, so I will simply share what I brought home: two little wooden doll chairs (too big for the dollhouse but ideal for a few of Clara’s bigger dolls), an old metal moose hook (you know I enjoy a good moose), and a cute little red wagon for Clara’s dollhouse (the wheels even turn, so I knew she’d enjoy pulling it around). Sometimes antique shops (as opposed to thrift shops) seem to have higher prices, but I think the chairs were $4 for both, the moose hook was $3 and the wagon was $3, which was not too bad. When it was all said and done, for ten bucks I got some fairly lively stuff. Especially when you see where they ended up…

Here is the moose hook living it up in the hall bathroom (which is where we bathe Clara, so we have been dying for a towel hook for functional reasons). And the fact that El Moose goes so perfectly with Senior Horse (an old metal horse that I got at a secondhand store and repurposed as a towel holder)… well, that made my day.

As for the doll chairs, I originally thought about spraying them a bright color (you know me…) but once I cleaned them up with some soap and water they looked fairly charming simply as they were.

Do not mind the giant clown pants that the little doll has on. Those are from a stuffed babydoll, but Clara likes to switch everyone’s outfits.

And as for the little red wagon, I think it is my go-to. Especially because I found it like this the next morning (this is not staged, Clara in fact did this).

Seriously, how funny is that? She had dug two pigs out of her little pouch of plastic animals and explained that the big pig was pulling the little pig. And Olivia and Olivia’s dad (who are the kind of pigs who wear clothes) were watching. If that is not a good time, I do not know what is.

 

We spent a good amount of time eating (mmm) and simply hanging out and talking about journal stuff and life stuff while our kids played in the house and the yard. It was an excellent long weekend with them. And of course we made this video…

… and took some adorable kid pics while we were at it.

Then on Monday morning we published the morning post and made the long drive home (it is about 8 hours), approving comments as we went. Oh and Clara blessed us with an excellent nap:

Speaking of blessed, can you believe that Katie and I have been friends for nearly four years?! Crazy how time flies. It is so funny when we think back to how we met before any children (we did everything from vacationing in Nashville to going out for sushi at midnight) and now we collectively have three kids under three. Haha! My how the times have changed. But in the best possible way.

And here is the thoughtful gift that I found sitting outside of the guest room when we awoke the morning after our quite last book signing:

The hand written note on the top of the box talked about how Katie knew what a big thing the tour was (both exciting-wise and exhausting-wise) and she hoped to congratulate us for completing it and said that she hoped this new after-the-tour season would hold and be filled with many things and be a time that is… (yes she left me hanging so I had to open the box). Inside I found that she had put notes on each item in the box that correlated with what she wrote. So on the little box of chocolates she said “sweet and refreshing” and on the notebook she said “a fresh new start” and on the mug full of herbal tea it said “soothing and calm.” How excellent is that? I enjoyed it. Simply what I needed after living out of a suitcase for four months!

So a large thanks to the Bowers for hosting us and being our buddies. John and Jeremy even went to a movie together while Katie and I hung back with the kids, which made us all nerdy and giddy. We enjoy that our men are such good friends because it bodes well for them consistently saying “sweet!” when we bat our eyes and start planning another visit. Haha! What road trips have you folks gone on lately? Are you giving (or getting) any presents so charming and clever that they make you want to journal about them? What about crafting and antiquing. I am sure we are not the only ones doing that…

Psst- Clara’s simply getting funnier and funnier. Hear her take on everything from baby naming to wheeling away from a yogurt raisin here on Turbodizin.