20 Years

This past wkend we went to Houston and Huntsville just to hang out. We went to our favorite chinese restaurant-twice. Went to alot of antique stores, ate, swam, napped and just hung out with no dogs or "kid." Tues we celebrated our 20th anniversary. I think we (along with friends and family) are still shocked we made it. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and others it seems like a lifetime ago. We've been through some things that tested us-but here we are, and here's to the next 20!

The Cowgirl

Finished the box last night. I think she might need a moon hanging on the left side, but other than that, here is the finished product!

The Burned Box continued

Here is where i am at on the box now. I screwed in a piece of rusted metal on the back instead of doing a wooded back. This was some kind of flattened can-about the shape of a hershey's choc container-but flat. I cut it apart and opened it-tore the bottom part off and added to the box.
I then cut barbed wire to fit and attached to the front. On top, i added some rusted old bedsprings. More tomorrow if i get the next part done.

Cut, Sand, Paint, Burn and Nail

Yes in that order-my next project inspired by my rust-gathering in Evant! The idea came to me on the drive home of a box i wanted to do-one that had a burned, old barn wood look.
I cut the wood, then painted w/latex paint. After that sat for a day, i got out my torch and spent about an hour (in 2 sessions) burning the wood/paint before nailing it together and torching it some more. I'm going to add some fluid acrylic color to it before sealing it. There will be a cowgirl image inside, along w/some rusted metal piece in the back-maybe as the back and barbed wire to finish it off~ will post more as i progress.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Thurs i drove to Evant TX to visit my friend Greg. He manages a 1300 acre ranch and i finally had a chance to go down there. This is the main gate.
I continued onto the property only to arrive at the guest house. Needless to say, i had to wonder what i had gotten myself in to.

We got my stuff settled in-then we went on a tour of the ranch. Saw jackrabbits, cottontails, blackbuck (antelope)deer, prize deer, wild turkeys, livestock-including one bull who did NOT want to share the road with us. Walked around a dry creekbed, scavenged near old homesteads for rusty metal objects and broken (or whole) bottles, pottery etc... There is even a hideout on the property dating back to the 1800's-two brothers-the bailey boys-hid out there for 6 yrs before getting careless, being found and later hanged.
Got to have an ionic foot bath in town-and eat at local eateries, including the town diner. Where all the ranchers come for breakfast and gossip. Had a great time-interesting to see all there was there-all the "secrets" that land can hold. No telling how many have lived there throughout the years. Headed home on fri afternoon-looking forward to a visit when the weather is cooler~and THIS is the real guesthouse.

Creativity

finally~here are the boxes margo and i started:
mine is the one painted pink and black. It will probably be for addison. I also made her curtain panel today, strung her pink initials to hang and started the art room purge...

V A C A T I O N

I've been on vacation this week, staying up late to watch movies. Sleeping in~here it is past noon and i'm still in my jammies. Decided to update blogs i like to visit-i had a ton of ones i had saved and not added. I still have more, but for now, it's enough. Time to do something productive. Like get dressed and play in the art room. No house work for today~at least not yet. Margo came over yesterday and i showed her
how to make a wooden box to embellish/decorate. All we did was the construction. I did get started on mine last night-pictures soon~

The Projects

Here are the projects we did at the retreat~i have to re-do the puppet since nala chewed it up after i finished it. WHY do i want dogs?...