Over the River and thru the Woods....To Grandmother's house we go!

Every year we make a trip to the Northwest to visit my Grandmother. Which is Great Grandmother to my children, and Great Great Grandmother to the my one Grandchild I have. They all refer to her as GGMA. And my Grandaughter calls her GGGMA, she thinks its a fun name and loves it! I always try to think of something special to bring my Grandmother. (She whome has all she could ever want) so needs nor wants anything else but to see all of her "lovely family". I thought it might be fun for all of us to show up in T-Shirts that said "Gramma Bound" on the front of them. After checking with all of my "adult" children and my husband to make certain that they were all on board with wearing the shirts I had planned to create, I decided to move forward with the plan! Boy did I ever! I was cutting, sewing, ironing and glueing! As with everything I do, I went to the extreme and I had fun doing it. The more I thought about the expression I could imagine on my Gramma's face, the more extreme I went. I made labels to place on the outside of each of the shirts at the back of the neck. They all had the family name on them as the "Brand", and a size. The size depended on male or female. I did VIKING for the guys(As most of them think they are, at least in my family), and TINY for the girls.(As we all we all want to be Tiny~right ladies?)And for my Grandaughter, I simply put ANGEL in her size. 

For the girls shirts , I cut the collars and edges of the sleeves off, then turned them inside out, and placed rhinestones in different spots. I also ironed "GB" on each of the sleeves of all of the shirts. I then put different quotes on each of the backs of the shirts. Such quotes as; "Grandmas don't just say "that's nice"---They roll back their eyes, throw up there hands and smile! OR "Grammas never run out of cookies or hugs" AND "Grandmothers~A wonderful mother with lots of paractice" As we arrived, my Grandmother as always,  waited with open arms wishing she'd had at least five more sets of arms to hug everyone at the same time! Once the dust had settled, she began to notice that we'd all had on the same shirts. "OH FOR HEAVENS SAKES " she says...And she rolled her eyes back and threw her hands in the air and laughed with tears! She was so overjoyed at all of her "Little walking~Greeting cards". Everytime another one would pass by her rocking chair she would say "Now what's yours say?" And back with the eyes and the hands in the air! Just love my Little Gramma!!

After seeing the joy and happiness the shirts brought to my Grandmother, I decided to make a few more shirts for my neice and nephew on my husbands side to wear when we all went to see his mother that same trip. Just as I had I thought, his mother was overjoyed as well and got to enjoy the shirts just as my Grandmother did. Whats even more glorious to this adventure, is that we got all the kids in a picture with my mother in law at one time. She never liked having her photo taken and the kids never seemed to be in the same place at the same time with her. But oddly, that particular summer we were successful! I say "oddly" because about a month later we lost my mother in law suddenly, and she had passed away. God Bless Her. When you see a chance and an opportunity or you have the desire to make something, no matter how big or small or how silly you or someone else may feel it is or what they think about it, do it! Because its so worth the efforts and the memories!

Old Brass Bed

This is my VERY FIRST BLOG, So I am not sure if I am doing this correctly and what exactly the "protocol" is for Blogging. But I find myself creating several different and unique things and I would like to share them with anyone who would like to read about them! So here goes.................. ~Old Brass Bed~

Many places they have what is called "Big Trash Day". This bed was in the family for many years, and after so much use at the family vacation home, it was time to retire it. Therefore it was disassembled and placed out back to be taken to the side of the road for that day to come.

 Well...You see, when I was a child, we didn't have much money so I grew up having to make do with what we had, as I'm certain many other people  have done the same. I had been wanting to begin a new spot in the yard for a garden.  I started thinking about that Old Brass Bed and how it was a shame to just throw it to the curb after all those years of dedication for providing a place for so many family members to sleep in. So I decided I would find another position for that bed to fill! Yes, in the yard! Not just as a part of the trash pile waiting to be picked up. But for it to now beautifully display my new garden. Just as I had suspected, that Old Brass Bed was more than willing to help out! As the week progressed I had made many trips up and down the road to go to town, when one day I noticed others beginning to place their "trash" by the side of the road and I stumbled across many other unwanted items that had been tossed. One of the piles caught my eye... I saw some old curtain rods. They were PERFECT as an addition to my little garden! Then of course, I couldn't stop there. I found an old window frame at another spot that already had 2 broken panes of glass, and hung it between two trees behind the bed. I planted some Clematis(which is a fast growing vine with a varity of colors-I chose purple). My hopes are that next year it will have grown all across the area  then it will completely disquise our hideous wood pile and trash cans. I have since then also seeded the surrounding area with grass. I anticipate for it to all be plush and  green with vibrant flowers in a matter of time! As this part of the country flourishings with foliage!

The Old Brass Bed!