House Projects

 The past few weekends there have been some wonderful estate sales in our area. I found a few items and was able to refurbish them.

Project #1 Dresser

I paid 15$ for this little dresser. I sanded it down and painted it a sage green color. I also took off the handles and spray painted them black.

My cat really enjoyed when I took out the drawers he thought it was a great hiding spot

Finished product. I have an alcove in my hallway and it has a small built in desk. We don't use the desk so I tucked it in there to store items.

Project #2 Nightstand:
I found this white nightstand for 60$. It was in great shape and what white. I painted it the same color as the dresser.

It was 110 outside the day I was painting so I decided to paint inside

Project #3 Wall Display

At one of the estate sales I went to I found some old yucky gold picture frames. I bought all three for 10$. I took them apart and painted them. I turned one into a chalkboard, one into a dry erase message board and one into a picture holder with chicken wire.

Project #4 Spindle Bed Frame

 I found this amazing bed frame and purchased it for 15$. It needed some sanding and I had to stain it. It also didn't come with bed rails or the boards that hold up the mattress. Growing up I had a bed just like this in white and I loved it.

I love spending time fixing things up and re purposing them. I spent 100$ total at estate sales this summer and 45$ at Lowes buying wood, paint and other supplies. It is so exciting to complete four projects for around 150$.

~Chelsea

Summer Garden

This year my garden has doubled in size. We added three more raised beds. This year I am growing almost everything from seeds and have used mostly heirloom seeds. In April I planted asparagus, potatoes and lettuce. I started tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and squash indoors and planted them as soon as the weather was warmer.

We have been making salsa using our tomatoes, cilantro and peppers. I have only planted a few squash plants and it has been growing faster than I can give it away. Last week I also planted pumpkins. My hope is that they are ready for Halloween.

I ordered potatoes online. When they arrived I left them in a box for a few weeks so they could grow "eyes".

This year all the seeds I started indoors in eggshells. I saw some people doing this on Pinterest and it worked very well.

Potatoes

Asparagus

Butternut squash

Butternut sqaush

Tomatoes and Marigolds

Sunflowers

~Chelsea

Jewlery

The past few weeks I have been making jewelry like a mad woman! In April I went to a gem show and purchased a TON of beads and crystals. I had been too busy to do anything with them until now. I have used up at least half of them already. Here are some of my latest creations. You can also find them on Etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/CurlyQJewels).

Here are some of the crystals I bought at a gem show

These three necklaces are available on my Etsy shop.

Off to make more jewelry!

~Chelsea

Summer Vacation and Class Projects

The past few weeks I have been catching up on everything around our house. I even came across pictures of some fun projects we did in class. I know they are a little late but better late than never.

For Saint Patrick's Day the kiddos painted their hands to create leprechauns. Once they dried they created hats for them and drew faces.

For Easter the kiddos created bunnies. They used crayons and watercolors.

Using paper towel rolls my class created their own totem pole.

Using a template I found on Teachers Pay Teachers my students used oreos to learn about the phases of the moon.

The last week of school the class created memory books. They put writing samples and artwork in them.

The last month of school always goes by so fast!

~Chelsea

Cutting Hay and Feeding Cows

The past few weeks have been very warm and dry. On Sunday we woke up and it was "cold" and cloudy out. We didn't get any rain but we did enjoy pretending like it was cold again. We spent the day cutting hay and I would take the occasional break to hang out with with our cows as they watched from the fence. Before you know it March will be over and hay season will officially start.

~Chelsea

Penguins

This week we learned all about penguins. It was wonderful! First the kiddos read the story, Penguin Chick. We also watched some penguin cams and the kiddos loved to watch and hear them. Then we wrote and typed up penguin reports. On Friday they painted and created a penguin scene. I love how they turned out.

~Chelsea

Saint Patrick's Day Decor

Since Valentine's Day is over I need to decorate my door for the next holiday. I didn't want to spend any money on decorations so I looked around and used what I had. I had a cute door hanger I was given that is a  leprechaun lady. I needed some sort of garland to hang at the top of the door. Another teacher at my school had made a garland from scrapbook paper and used it in her classroom. I decided I could do that.

Here are the steps for a very simple and low cost garland.

Supplies:

White thread

Sewing machine

Cricut machine or large paper cutter for the holes

card stock ( I used left over scrap book paper)

Step one: cut out circles to use

Step two: add circles through the sewing machine one at a time. 

Step three: done and ready to hang up

Now I need to go rewrite my chalkboard too!

~Chelsea

Trees in Bloom!

It is an exciting time of year around my house. All of my fruit trees are in bloom. We have been lucky with warm and beautiful weather so that all the trees will be pollinated.

Apricot tree in bloom

All of our daffodils have been blooming

Apricots just about ready to pop!

Its really starting to feel like springtime.

~Chelsea

Jewelry Designs

This week I have been enjoying time off from school for our February Break. For the past few years I have been designing, making and selling jewelry. This week I needed to update my jewelry at the stores I sell at and even made a bunch of new pieces.

I made a bunch of necklaces with conchos I had purchased in Las Vegas

Here is some of the jewelry I put together this week. I had fun working with turquoise, pink and blue stones.

~Chelsea

Happy New Year!

The past few days I have been busy catching up on as much as I can before I go back to school on Monday. Each day this week we have been working calves which is a blast but hard work. It has been very cold this week and each morning there has been frost. Each day we wouldn't start working calves until around 10 am. when it was a little warmer. This gave me time each morning to work on a project or two around the house.

This morning there was a beautiful sunrise and  you can see some of the frost still on the grass.

Last week I made a picture holder out of a few supplies I had around the house. I had a piece of barn wood and three clothes pins. I painted the clothes pins white and hot glued them onto the board. I have been wanting to make a chalk board for a while. I finally gave up and bought one from a friend who makes them. 

On New Years Eve we were so tired from working all day. I ended up making chili and we stayed home and put Christmas away. The next day I was ready to decorate for the next holiday. I hung up my Valentine's Day decor even if it is a little early.

I had a wonderful two weeks off and and am looking forward to all the wonderful things 2015 has in store for us!

~Chelsea