by Amy | Jun 27, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
So, I’ bet you are just dying to know how the patio is shaping up. Let me tell you. It’s great. I’m totally in love with it and cannot wait to have it done. But I’ll tell you this: There’s a reason last time I did this, it wasn’t alone. Patios are super heavy. Everything about them is hard and heavy. Digging, raking, carrying, dropping, loading, unloading, setting…On the upside, I’m getting a killer tan and my back and arms are looking fab.
Here’s the progress I’ve made. For starters, I stripped out the area and spray painted a boarder on the ground. Then I leveled the dirt…approximately. Next was my first trip to Menard’s for this project for sand and edgers. The sand was so heavy I had to bring it home in two trips.
I brought all the edgers home in one trip and sloppily set them around the boarder.
Next things got a little harder. {Like lifting all that wasn’t hard enough.} I set and leveled each edger. Once they were in place it was time to pour all that sand inside. You have to have some sand in there to lock your stones in place and give them a little cushion. Then I made a ghetto contraption to help me level out the sand {it’s that thing with the green board nailed to it.} It’s best to add a little red neck {literally, you should see my sun burn} to all your projects.
Then, it was time to bricks. Aren’t these gorgeous? They’re salvaged from a flood home in Minot. Which I think is pretty darn cool. Here’s the catch. I’m picking them up from said flood home and bringing them home myself. Doesn’t sound crazy yet, right? Just wait. You see, my car is a small SUV so it can only stand to carry a few hundred at a time. So I’ll be making several trips. On top of that, the bricks are just in a big pile, so I have to pick through and get the good ones…which is also a battle against mosquitoes. Oh yes, and my yard looks like this:
Park in the driveway, walk up those steps, then to the patio. It really blows. The upside is that once the bricks are up there they set in pretty easily. As I said, it’s just a whole lot of strenuous, manual labor. Oh well. I’ll just have to show you my arms later.
Oh yeah, and I’ll mention this too…I’m hoping the whole thing can be laid by next Wednesday so I can start adding furniture and finishes! That is, if I can haul all those bricks home. I just may have to bribe one of the high school boys from youth group to help me…we’ll see.
Amy
by Amy | Jun 26, 2013 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Let’s all say hello to a doubly adorable session! Ava and Aiden are twins that I recently had the pleasure of photographing. I’ve never shot two babies at once, so this was quite a treat. It was adorable how the crying stopped when they were moved closer together so they were touching. Probably because they spent nine cozy months together already. Just amazing.
As you can see, Miss Ava was wide eyed through most of the session…while her brother was sound asleep! Love those curious eyes.
I was lucky enough to also have the opportunity to capture Ava and Aiden’s first family photos. Both of their grandmothers were in town, so of course we got a few with babies and grammy. What a precious, growing family! Look for their full session on the facebook page next week.
Amy
by Amy | Jun 25, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
A few weeks ago I told you that I was going to try my hand at building some window boxes. I showed you a round up of good tutorials and inspiration. Now I’ve gone and done it…and I’m super please with how they turned out. Here’s an updated photo of the house. Getting cuter by the day!!
So…Let’s make a window box, shall we?
First of all, take a look at the finished product. I made two different versions. One with support brackets for my ultra big front window. The other without. The smaller version is only 23″ wide, so it really didn’t need extra support.
These were very easy to put together once I had the plan all laid out. {And trust me, I’m no carpenter.} They took about 30 minutes each {not including dry time}. I spent a total of $18 on supplies…which included the paint, screws and nails. Oh, and that was for all three boxes that I made. Pretty thrifty!
Here’s your shopping list:
Cedar fence posts
Wood glue
Primer
Exterior paint
1.5″ exterior grade nails
3″ decking screws
Here’s your tool list:
Circular or Table Saw
Drill
Drill bits
Hammer
Level
Here’s what you do:
1. First, you’ll need to know how big your boxes need to be. Measure the width of your window. Then you can do the math {I know, I hate math too…but it’s just a little bit.} You’ll need three pieces as wide as your window, and two scraps for the ends. Measure it out of your fence posts and make your cuts.
2. This is what your box will look like. Here are the pieces all laid out. You’ll be placing your long side pieces on top of the bottom piece. The edges attach flush to the bottom board and the edge pieces.
3. Run a bead of wood glue along the long edges of the bottom board and the end pieces {as shown here.}
4. Put your box together. If you have a vice or something you can use that to clamp everything in place. If you are cheap and ghetto like me you can use anything lying around the garage to hold it in place and put a little pressure on it. Now just wait a while for your glue to set.
Once your glue is giving a bit of hole flip the whole operation upside down. Pound in some nails along the bottom edges. This is what really holds it together, so don’t be stingy. Every 4″ or so is a good bet. Then add nails to the end pieces too.
While your box is flipped use your thickest drill bit to punch some drainage holes in the bottom. Every 6″ at least. You don’t want rotten roots.
Good job. If you are building a small box, stop here and skip down to the mounting instructions. If yours is pretty long, you’ll need some brackets.
1. I used the scrap ends of my fence posts and some scrap deck rails for these. But you can use any long skinny piece.
2. Measure your longer piece first. You’ll want the end of your fence post to attach down far enough that the top of your box will be flush with the top of your bracket. I laid the bracket pieces on the floor and the box across the top of them. I got the tops flush. Then I just drew a line and cut them.
3. Attach the fence ends to your long piece with two screws. You’ll need to pre-drill.
{For my box I made three of these.} Prime and paint everything.
Now for the part that was most intimidating to me…Mounting.
I made this special graphic for us. Let me dissect it.
First you’ll need to find some solid studs to drill into. There is a stud running down each side of a window. Usually one in the middle too.
Decide where the to of your box needs to be. For windows that open out {like this one} keep it 6-8″ below the window panes. For windows that open up you can mount the box right under the window trim. Measure down and mark the spot. Take one of your brackets and pre-drill a hole through near the top {about an inch or two down}. Then put a decking screw in to hold it in place. Repeat that on all three, using a level to make sure they are, well, level.
Now, drill a hole through the bottom of your bracket. Use your level to make sure they are straight. Put another decking screw in there.
Go get your box and place it across the brackets. Center it. Pre-drill and run a screw through the box into the bracket. The screws are long enough that they will run all the way into the house. Just press hard and it’ll go through your siding. If you have a brick house…you’ll need to ask someone else what to do, because I have no idea.
For the short boxes just screw the box into the house using 3″ screws. Make sure it’s level!
Once they are mounted, go ahead and fill and plant away. So cute!
Good work!
xo Amy
by Amy | Jun 21, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Faith, The Art of Living
Summertime tends to make me a bit nostalgic. It’s like Christmas to some extent. The smells, the trips, the food…they all remind me of happy times gone by. Being off of school, sleeping late, days at Lake Michigan, watermelon on the patio. I spend a lot of summer moments remembering being a child.
One annual summer event {that happens no matter what state I’m living in} is Vacation Bible School. I can remember a time when I didn’t even know what VBS stood for. Now, tens of years later, it’s just part of the summer time routine. Whether I can volunteer or not is usually hit or miss. Depending on my work schedule…and up until this year our summer moving schedule. But it’s always the same. Around the middle of June colorful signs appear in church lawns advertising a fun week themed around a beach, a ranch, pirates or an African safari. As you drive through town you can see kids throwing water balloons in the parking lots, getting sprayed down with hoses during some crazy relay race, and leaving churches with their hands full of amazing crafts.
This week wrapped up our VBS at First Baptist Minot. I helped out just the teensiest, tiniest bit. Coming by for only an hour or two each day. Just long enough to grab one of the snacks from the kitchen {ahh, church kitchens…} and snap a few photographs to document the occasion.
This year it got me thinking about the people who really influenced my faith as a child. People who took time out of their schedule to help me make crafts that my mom was sure to “love.” People who put on funny robes to tell me Bible stories and made up motions to catchy songs. I’ve been reflecting on the adults in my home church this week. Not only those who helped with VBS but the ones who taught my Sunday school classes, who directed our Children’s Choir, or who spent one Saturday each month with me at a club we called “Christian Critters.”
Now that I’m an adult I realize just how hard it can be to do those things. It’s not always fun, it’s not always convenient. Waking up early, clearing our plans, going to meetings, staying after church, showing up before church. It’s all work. And kids are not always on their best behavior, or openly grateful for your commitment. I know I didn’t always show my gratitude.
But the work of these men and women is priceless. The hard work of the adults in my childhood left memories that I still remember today, 20 years later. They are lessons that I teach children today, and I’ll teach my own children in the future. Children’s ministry volunteers cut and craft and pray and sing and dance. They create an atmosphere that allows children to learn and grow in faith. I have a vivid memory of my kid’s choir director, Sandy Metcalf, teaching us about the fruit of the spirit each week after we’d finished our songs. She gave each of us a little terracotta pot with some of that paper Easter basket grass in it. Then every week she’d give us one more fruit of the spirit. It was a little piece of construction paper cut in the shape of a fruit glued to a Popsicle stick. Each one had a label on it: Love, peace, kindness, gentleness, self control, patience, joy, goodness, faithfulness. In the end we all went home with a “garden.”
Take some time to reflect with me on the people who worked so hard to shape the faith you have today. We owe them our lives.
Amy
by Amy | Jun 20, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
You’ve seen “Christmas Vacation”, right? The one with Chevy Chase. Around my house it’s pretty much a holiday tradition to watch it at least once during the Christmas season.
In the movie Clark Griswold has a daydream about what he’ll do with his Christmas bonus. He looks out his frosty window and envisions his plain jane yard in an extravagant, ultra-improved way. It looks like this.
It’s a little blurry. This movie is from before the days of HD. And let’s not forget Cousin Eddie’s role in all of this.
This daydream plays out to the sweet sound of Bing Crosby singing his Christmas classic, “Mele Kalikimaka.”
I’ve been acting like Clark for months now. Staring out my window, longingly looking out at the snow/sleet/rain/mud covered yard. Anxiously waiting for the day when I could make my yard dreams come true.
I looked out and saw this:
For the average person, yard dreams may include a little landscaping. Some grass covering the spot where that shed came down. Come on. You guys know me better than that. I”m Amy Allender, for crying out loud. I looked out at that…and saw something like this:
A girl can dream, right? {Image from here.}
So it’s not going to be this extravagant. Not in the least. But I am putting in a patio. You see, our house is not huge and I love having people over. The summers in North Dakota are so very, very nice I figure I could add extra room and “rooms” by adding them outdoors. {We have a very nice yard.} So I said “Adios” to that ugly, rusty shed…and “Hello” to my Mele Kalikimaka moment.
I broke ground today. More later on what you can practically and rationally expect from this project. {And of course how I’m getting it done.} But for tonight I leave you with my vision. And a challenge to have your own Mele Kalikimaka moment. Have you been staring out your window? Take the plunge, make that daydream into more than a subscription to the “Jelly of the Month” club.
Amy
PS…watch my “Outdoor Living” board on Pinterest. It’s about to explode!!
by Amy | Jun 18, 2013 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects, the house
Did you know that I was formerly banned from hanging things on the walls of my house? Yes, me. The girl who can rip out a wall, tear up carpet, wire a light and texture dry wall. I can make over a room like the best on HGTV, but I was banned from putting nails in the walls. Sad, but true.
It started when I lived in Florida. I know some of you readers are friends from those days, so this story will probably ring a bell with you. Back in 2009 I was a newly wed, living in a new state and a cute rental house with my new husband. This was my first place outside of a college rental house I shared with my girlfriends down the street from our University’s village. Pretty big deal.
Like all newly wed girls I was pretty stoked over our wedding photos. I loved them and I wanted everyone who came into our house to know that we had had a wedding…and it was awesome. I wanted…a gallery wall.
I wish I had a photo of this undertaking. It was really something. Like most of my best work, I hit this project hard one evening when Derek wasn’t home. Unlike most of my best work…this was a pretty big fail.
I went in armed with a huge blank wall and a lot of photos and cute frames, but things really took a nasty turn. Here’s what went wrong:
1. My photos were TOO SMALL. At the time I had no concept of what size wall art should be. I printed a load of 4×6 and 5×7 photos {and just a couple 8×10’s} and expected them to look good strung up on my giant wall. What I ended up with was a messy looking display of things that you had to be right next to to view.
2. It was more vain than artistic. This gallery wall was dubbed by our friends {and ourselves} the “Wedding Wall.” Seriously, just photos of our wedding. Lots of them. It’s nice to have photos of yourself around, but a gallery wall is a home focal point. After a while I felt kind of weird about having so many pictures of us on display. I mean, we see ourselves all the time…A gallery wall should speak to who you are in a creative way, without becoming a shrine to you, you, you. **I’m not saying you shouldn’t include yourself on your wall. Just don’t overkill it like I did.**
3. This is the big one…I didn’t plan. I thought I could go in with a rough idea and come out with something Martha herself would envy. Wrong. The reality was I ended up hanging a frame, then hating it and moving it…and making another and another hole in the wall.
It was this second error that caused me to lose my hanging privileges. When it was time to move it looked like Al Capone himself had taken a tommy gun to our wall. There were so many, many holes. Derek and I had a pretty good laugh about that. Then he said I should probably run everything I wanted on the walls by him before any nails get hammered.
This ban was never officially lifted, but this summer Derek isn’t around and I really, really wanted another crack at the old gallery wall game. This time I was determined to do it right. It was like a Tosh.0 web-redemption. I got a second shot to do something trivial and meaningless right. And I’m happy to report that I succeeded. Here’s the secret:
PLANNING.
Go figure. One of my favorite high school teachers used to tell us that “Proper preparation prevents a poor performance.” {Bonus points to any Jimtown Jimmie that can name the author of that quote.} And boy was he right. I spent an evening looking at all my gallery options, then whittling it down to only the best. Once decided I traced the shape of everything I was going to hang on some cheap-o wrapping paper and played with my layout like so:
Once I was happy I carefully hammered a nail through the paper, took the paper off the wall and hung my frames.
I didn’t mis-nail once! I guess you could say I really “nailed” this one. Don’t even try to tell me that wasn’t a clever pun.
So here are my tips for being successful with your focal gallery wall.
1. Decide what you want to hang.
2. Keep a common theme. Go figure, my theme here is white…my favorite decorating color.
3. Be simple. Bigger and fewer is a good place to start. Lots of small frames can look crowded and cheap.
4. Be thrifty {that’s really a life tip.} I had my big prints made at Staples. They are printed on photo paper, then glued to foam core. Much cheaper than canvas prints and easy to switch out.
5. Put up things you love. While Derek is gone I love seeing a photo of us together on the wall. When he returns I may change it. Who knows. The other large print is of us hiking in Texas. Both remind me of happy times. I like happy. That empty oval will soon house a portrait of my cat. Don’t judge me.
6. Leave room to grow. You never know when you’ll want to add. Plan some space for future finds.
It feels so good to have my hanging privileges back!
Amy
by Amy | Jun 18, 2013 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
I cannot explain in words what a fun working weekend I had. I’ll have sneak peeks of everything up next week…but in the mean time I just couldn’t wait another minute to show you what I’ve been up to. I have a hard time picking a favorite, but here is one of my most loved from each session.
I shot a new born session for my friend Kim’s adorable twins! You remember that “Go Bananas” baby shower I threw in May? That was for these little ones. They are here…they are cute and they are tiny! Two little people in a suitcase. Eek! It’s just so precious!
A couple hours later I headed back out to capture some beautiful maternity images. Lauren and Ricky were a blast to work with. And to top it all off, they knew exactly what to do with their faces. You know what I mean? They are seriously beautiful people. No joke, no lie. Oh, and their pup isn’t too shabby either.
Sunday I had a day of rest, then this morning I was invited to capture my first ever homecoming! I’m going to write a whole post on it later, but for now I’ll just tell you that there is nothing like it. Seeing folks reunited after a deployment is pure magic.
More from these next week…and a DIY gallery wall tomorrow.
by Amy | Jun 14, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Hey all!
I have had such a fun, fun week. My family has been in town and we have been running all day seeing the North Dakota Practically Canada sights.
Highlights from our visit will be up here on the blog soon…but in the meantime, I want to give you a full project breakdown! Today we’ll be looking at my whole bedroom redo from start to finish. I’m going to give you all the details {even cost} on what I did to achieve this B&A.
Okay, so I don’t know how projects work at your house…but around here I like to keep costs down. Even if that means it takes a little more time to finish and I do a good chunk of work myself. (more…)
