Introducing Poppy’s Garden November 9, 2012

I finally did it! Poppy’s Garden is finally here!

I’ve always loved vintage artwork, from fruit crates to seed packets, they’ve always inspired me creatively.  So I put my idea on illustration board using watercolor and created a set of notecards. I’m calling this set The Veggie Collection! There are three designs – Carrots, Onions and Cucumbers, 12 total cards in each set. The cards are 4.25″ x 5.5″ and I’m pretty excited about it!

If you purchased some at the Holiday Splendor show this weekend in Kearney, leave me a comment and let me know how you like them! My brain is FULL of more creations just waiting to be put to paper!

Smiles!

Megan

Creative Day. . . Finally! July 29, 2012

It’s finally coming back, slowly but surely the creative juices are flowing again!  Everybody celebrate!

I’ve had a lot of little things in my house that needed fixing and one really big thing and I finally found an awesome handyman, Mark, because they were all things that myself nor Brian wanted to tackle.  And I found these guys. . .

Ugh! My house was built in 1959, I’m not sure when the basement got finished but when it did, they plugged the basement drain and put carpet over it. So what that means is, the only way to scrape all the roots out from that 50 year old maple in the sewer line is to go through the vent all the way on the roof of the house. Unfortunately this doesn’t allow much leverage and this year the guys couldn’t get through all the roots so we had to put clean outs in.

Just another thing to add to that list we all keep. . . In My Next House. . . Rich and his team at Midwest Plumbing and Drain were incredible, they were very thorough, got everything cleaned out, used the camera to show us the clean line when they were done, and cleaned everything up as best they could. I recommend them to anyone.

Now I have a crap ton (ha!) of yard work to figure out! I didn’t like those bushes they had to take out any way!

So while we were supervising the progress all day I decided to go a little crazy with the spray paint and get some projects done. I’m SO THANKFUL the creative bug has hit me again!  I don’t even know what you call these, they are wood and I think they are used in baseboards or molding. Not sure.  But I made something pretty cool out of them!

And these are a couple of thrift store treasures I thought I would transform! I’m really digging the teal and orange that is so popular right now.

I just liked this photo, this is my work table and I love all the paint and scratches all over it!

So didn’t those boards turn out cute?  I did a little white wash over the spray paint. I’ve had these knobs forever, purchased at Hobby Lobby.

This will look great on the wall of a beach house, don’t you think?

I’ve also been doing some illustration, just for fun, these are my inspiration. I absolutely love vintage seed packets and vintage fruit crate art. I love the simplicity of the composition and bold colors and contrast in the illustration.

And I absolutely love drawing and painting again!  What do you think? I like how it turned out, may try something a little different with the background on my next vegetable.

What other vegetables do you think I should paint?

Hope your creative juices are flowing too!

Smiles,

Megan

Hiking at Neale Woods June 4, 2012

With over 600 acres of conserved forest and prairie land as well as over 9 miles of dirt trails, Neale Woods has become one of our favorite places to hike.

Located just north of Omaha up in the hills, you would never guess you are just minutes from the city when hiking around Neale Woods.

It’s a beautiful mix of prairie and forest, this is by far my favorite photo from the hike.  What do you think? My photography skills are slowly improving, at least I think so!

Shout out to Team Cocktail!

You will see and hear Woodpeckers up high in the sky. . .

and dainty little Dutchman’s Breeches growing low on the forest floor.

If you’re in the area, Neale Woods is a must, even if you just go enjoy the sunset while perched on a bench!

Where’s your most favorite place to hike?

Smiles!

Megan

Introducing the Headoord! May 21, 2012

My sister has been coming up with a lot of projects for me lately and I’m loving it! We were out junking the other weekend and she said she wanted a headboard and I said I have a door you can use and she was instantly sold!! So we created this Saturday and hung it on Sunday!

Clean it up Kate!

I got this door and an old screen door for $10 at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore so one of them was free, I just can’t remember which! This one was marked $1.00 on the tag but also had $10 written on it, so we’re going to say it was $10.

She wanted gray, but we couldn’t find gray spray paint but we could find gray spray paint PRIMER so we used that and it worked great. One can was about $5.00.

Usually I wipe on a stain and work it so the piece looks antiqued but we found this Valspar glaze for $8 at Lowe’s and decided to give it a try hoping the dry-time would be a lot less than when using stain.

It didn’t take much, and it was so easy to just wipe on, let it dry a little for just a couple minutes, then work it and wipe off as you like! The bottle says you have about 15 minutes until it dries and you can’t work it anymore and I would say that’s very accurate!

I didn’t notice that “C” until we antiqued it up! C is for CUTE!

Brian was so kind to help us hang this beast!

We purchased these picture hangers, $12 for 2 (links to 18″ but we got the 6″). They hold a lot of weight! And they worked awesome! As you can see here, we didn’t paint the back of the door, we were too anxious to see how it would turn out!

Brian measured perfectly, it’s level!

And there’s the headoord!

Pretty cute, huh? I like that she picked a softer neutral color and not black.

Looks old and dirty, huh? Just how we like our creations!

Super cute, can’t wait to see what she does with the space above the headboard.

Kate’s a good decorator, she always picks really fun fabrics and knows how to use color without putting it everywhere like I do! Her lime green duvet is from Target and my Mom made the pillow. My Mom also made the wall hanging with the different fabrics. Cute, huh?

Kate was VERY EXCITED!! And she only spent $35 on a headoord!!

When I do this again, I will probably buy a wider door, this one was only 2 feet and I think 4 feet would be perfect. I would also use a door with a symmetrical design, but that’s just my neurosis! I also don’t mind that it is longer than the bed is wide, I think if you had side tables and nice lamps or something tall it would be easy to blend the ends in.

Thanks for asking me to help you with this Kate! Can’t wait to make another one!

What new technique or project have you created lately?

Smiles!

Megan

Seeing Green – More Repurposed Wall Art May 13, 2012

And now a little break from the nature hikes!

My very good friend Nicole found this gem while she was out “junkin”!

Beautiful gold and chippy frame.

And this beautiful gem I picked up at Shabby Chic Picker Chick but sadly she has closed her storefront but still sells online.

Another beautiful gold beauty!

(oops, I forgot to round the corners on this photo! Oh well.) I chose the Martha Stewart paint samples I got from Home Depot in Okra.

And I had a spill. . .. oops!!

It took about 4 coats to cover that nasty goldness!  You can see it shining through here.

I’ve had that green paintbrush since college. . . 14 years. . . yikes!!

I roughed up the frame after I painted it to look worn. But you can see here, the gold really showed through.

I like the white showing through, but not the gold.

So I tried to paint it with watered down white acrylic.

It looks pretty good. . . from a distance

Isn’t she lovely? I picked up  a few botanical prints at The Humble Home for only $2 each! I love botanicals but only when they are in a bright funky frame!

You may remember this beautiful shelf I made from this post. I propped my new artwork up on it, looks lovely.

But a little sparse.

So I added a couple other pieces of repurposed art! Now it makes me smile every time I walk by.

Doesn’t the shelf look so sweet?

I’m in love with this repurposed project too!  Green and pretty.  The white vase is also from The Humble Home. The doily is from a junk store in Eureka Springs, AK. And the yellow iris’, well, their from my garden!

What have you repurposed lately?

Smiles!

Megan

Have You Been to Hitchcock? May 1, 2012

If you haven’t been to Hitchcock Nature Center for a hike I highly recommend it!  This place  is a little piece of heaven only 30 minutes northeast of Omaha. Located in the Loess Hills, Hitchcock Nature Center offers over 10 miles of rugged trails (well, as rugged as you can get in NE/IA!) - you’ll definitely want some pretty good hiking shoes or water proof shoes out here. Here’s some snapshots from a recent hike at Hitchcock.

Can you see the mustache?

I absolutely love the green foliage against the wintery brown brush! (is that so nerdy of me or what?)

There was little snails everywhere!

This is from the top of the ridge line looking West to farmland and I-29 way back there.

It was kind of overcast the day we were out there so I tried some different editing options in Lightroom 4 to blue up the sky.  Turned out pretty good. . . at least I think so!

Party pic!

Okay, can you see the little flash of red smack dab in the middle of this shot? It’s a woodpecker, I promise!

I think this is from the look out tower looking West over Hitchcock Nature Center.

There’s Brian at the top of the 45′ lookout tower. It was pretty, can’t wait to go on a sunny day!

I hope you are enjoying posts from our hiking adventures, I promise I’ll have a post on an creative project coming up soon!

Smiles!

Megan

Hike at Schramm Park April 29, 2012

Here’s some of my favorite photos from our recent hike at Schramm Park State Recreation Area. Did you know Schramm Park was Nebraska’s first fishery ? It opened in 1882 and the old hatch house is now a fish management museum.

Here are some photos, I’m still learning what I like when editing a photo, but I guess I know I like how these photos turned out! Enjoy!

My Canon T2i takes pretty good close ups, huh? I love the organic shapes of these fungi.

Pretty contrast, burnt orange against gray.

More fungi, love the texture of the green moss.

Brian on a bridge.

Me on a bridge, I was having fun!

That is the fish house way down there and these are the hatchery ponds (I’m not sure of the correct name for these) but they still have a lot of pretty fish in them!

I love the colors and textures in this wall.

Platte River

Awe, Brian.

What’s your favorite outdoor activity?

Smiles!

Megan