It's Christmas!

This will be our second married Christmas. I can't believe it!

Last year we looked for Christmas stockings, but didn't find anything we liked. Plus, we didn't have anywhere to hang them when we lived in the apartment. Our mission a few weekends ago was to see if there were any stockings we loved. Mission accomplished! Our first stockings!

We don't have a fireplace mantle so we decided to hang them on our stair railing. Okay, I got the idea from a magazine picture I saw, but it's a fantastic idea! The stockings were missing something- our names. Charlotte, a parent at my school has her own embroidery business called Whimsy & Wishes. I contacted Charlotte to get our names embroidered on the stockings. She does an amazing job! She also did the monogram on my lunchbag that I got for my bridal shower last year! She's quick and can embroider pretty much anything! Aren't they so cute?!

Hi ho, Hi ho!

Two weekends ago we got out our Christmas decorations out and put up our Christmas tree we bought the year before for $20! We might put lights up outside the birdhouse; we'll see.

The day started with David trimming the bushes in the front. The HOA takes care of trimming but doesn't do shaping. So, the bushes have grown out of control. All the landscaper guys do is trim them down every other month; we wanted them majorly cut back. Last weekend we borrowed some hedge trimmers from my mom, and then ended up also getting some loppers (that's what Lowe's called them) and a small rake today. I started cleaning up around the birdhouse and doing some laundry. I couldn't resist- I went outside and helped David start devouring the bushes with the tools. There was so much dead undergrowth that the bushes now look like 4 small starting plants. That's okay- they'll grow back and hopefully look better too!

We also finally caulked the downstairs sinks- kitchen and bathroom. It didn't take us long to do; we've just been putting it off for some reason. Check that off our list. Yes!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I bought some pots and pans, and corningware. That was the easy part. The hard part is finding a place to put all these items. I bought the kitchenware because we had a pan here, a pot there. We decided that instead of using our last cabinet for the trash roll-out as we originally intended, we'd put in a dual basket pull-out. We bought it today and installed it in no time.

Now all our pots & pans fit on those two shelves. Hooray! I actually got David to help me organize the rest of the items in the kitchen before he settled in for some football.

Our next two big items are to tackle the baseboards- buy them, install them- and finish the downstairs bathroom open pocket door. I'm hoping we can take care of buying the baseboards this week.

my thumb is a little green!

As I look at my last post (made in late October) I realize how much has really gone on over here!

First- my great-grandma would be so proud! She had rose bushes every place they moved- as far as I can remember. They always had huge roses growing on them and it smelled so good. The two rose bushes we have in the back were really struggling to survive since they hadn't been watered for who knows how long before we bought the place. Well, I'm glad to say they are back! My mom came over a few months ago to show me how to trim them and start to turn the "garden" area into something other than dirt and weeds. So far we've gotten as far as keeping the rose bushes alive. But eventually we'll figure out what we want to do with the space. (I promise, mom!) I just can't believe how big these two are. David laughs at me every morning on our way out the door to go to work- I walk over just to stare at them. Usually I end up killing plants at some point. Hopefully that won't happen here. Every time I see another rose blooming it makes me smile and think of my great-grandma. 

 I love this up close picture!

   

 

We finally got our air return covers back- or whatever you call them. They used to be a gross greenish color that was probably original. David and I had the smart idea to try to clean them and spray paint them white. Actually, the original idea was to buy new ones, but once we looked at how shoddy they're made now and the price wanted for them we decided to stick with what we had. So, the do-it-yourself paint job did not work. After our little experiment David found a place that powder-coats them. Basically they dip the vents in an acid bath to remove all the gunk, rust, etc., then dip them in a powder-like substance that's made up of tiny fine plastic pellets, and then they bake it. (Think about the paint job on a brand new bicycle). Now they feel awesomely smooth and look brand new! It's amazing how putting those up helped us feel more productive!

Another project we finished up was laying down the small remaining pieces of wood flooring. Once that was finished we put the transition piece between the tile bathroom floor and the hallway wood floor down and David got to hang up our open pocket door! One bathroom door down, two more to go! For now the suspension rod/curtain look we've got going on will have to do upstairs!

 One of our next big projects is getting our baseboards on downstairs. It seems like if we don't have a photobooth gig one weekend then we have plans with all sorts of out of town people instead. It will get done though! I feel like the little engine that could- I keep telling David that I'll feel productive if we get at least one thing completed every weekend on our birdhouse(even something very small- like hanging our first picture on the wall).

• it's like we're famous!

Ok, not really. But it's so fun to see yourself on someone else's site! Long story short...I ordered this canvas artwork from a shop on etsy named GeeZees for our one year anniversary. It's a picture from our wedding and our wedding vows. Basically, you order the size canvas you want, then send in the picture you want to use, and up to 150 words. Stephanie, the "shop owner" then takes your words and combines them with your picture. Once you approve one of the proofs she prints it out, mounts it on solid wood, and wa-la- instant art!

Now David and I have to figure out where to put it in the birdhouse! The other cool thing (here's where the famous subject line comes in) is that we're part of an email she sent out about a charity thing she's doing on her blog and we're on her etsy site now! How cool!

The charity part of it is actually really awesome. For every print she sells the shipping is free (within the U.S.) and she will donate one handmade knitted and crocheted hat for every sale during the month of October to kids fighting cancer who have experienced hair loss. Check out her shop on etsy! Stephanie did an awesome job with ours!

• my new purchase

I was wandering around this store in SD looking at lots of goodies when I came across this one "booth" of stuff. I was instantly drawn in. Actually I wanted to buy just about everything this girl had, but thought that my bank account would thank me later if I refrained!

So instead I just read everything she had on the walls and found myself going back to one piece in particular. I actually did the "walk-away" test. I walked over to a few other stalls to look at their items and then kept turning around looking at this one piece. I just found the short and sweet message so powerful...so I bought it! What do you think? :)

• creating the new photo-scene

So David and I apparently felt like we didn't have enough to do for Gina and Max's wedding...we decided our original photobooth just wouldn't do! No, we needed something more magnificent, more vintage, more perfect for their special day! Insert: the photo-scene! I can't believe we got it basically completed in less than 1 week! Below are some of the pictures we took creating the 2010 line of our side-business!

Our friend Tom Fink helped us create the entire 8' x 8' scene in his shop. In order to make it easy to move, assemble, and disassemble we needed to make the scene 2 separate pieces that fit together.

First we framed both the top and bottom pieces, created the wainscotting on his huge table saw, and attached the front pieces onto the frames.

We also had to position our two picture frames on the top section and cut them out using the jigsaw.

Once both pieces were ready to go we created "legs" to help hold up the entire scene. Then we sat the top section up on the bottom and screwed the pieces together. Here's a view from the back of the scene!

Just completing these pieces of the booth took all day. Before David and I left we had to try out the booth though!

A few days later we came back to stain the bottom wainscotting, wallpaper the top, and reattach the frames. We were almost finished! In our quest for the vintage look we found a chair and stool (that we reupolstered) and a small table that sits in front of the scene. Included behind the scene are stepstools that allow you to stand up behind the framing and look like you're in the picture frames "hanging" on the wall!

Tomorrow David will be processing the pictures that were taken at the wedding. I'll post a few up here so you can see the finished product in use. As with any new item there's a few kinks to work out and items to add, but we're super excited to add this to our photobooth business!

No pics just yet!

We've been busy helping Gina & Max with their upcoming wedding (upcoming like this weekend!!) and haven't done much around the birdhouse lately! This past weekend David and I celebrated our one year anniversary- we can't believe how fast the year has gone. Throughout the day Sunday I found myself looking at the clock and thinking back to what we were doing at that time one year ago! So fun!

We've decided to create a "vintage" photobooth scene for Gina's wedding (and to add to our ensemble of photobooth options). Gina found a photo of a scene some guys had made for someone else's wedding so David and I thought, "Well, we've got nothing else going on so...why not, let's build one too"! This past weekend we went antique shopping for scene furniture, wallpaper, and ideas. Finally found some furniture (chair, bench, table) at a place on 7th Ave and pretty much created the whole scene with Tom Fink's help (again!) on Sunday. It's amazing what one can create with a little imagination, a master carpenter, and the right tools!

We don't want to spoil the fun for Gina and Max to lay their eyes on the vintage photobooth this upcoming Saturday...so no pics just yet! Let's just say David and I are super excited for the debut of our latest photobooth creation! (Plus, we're trying to figure out where it's going to be stored when not in use)

Don't worry we'll post a few pics here soon! Plus, we'll have tons on our photobooth site http://www.picturethisbooths.com/!