Westward, Ho!

So, I know I haven't talked much about it, but I thought I might share some photos from our journey westward to Big Sky Country. I didn't get a lot of photos because I was driving, but I got enough to sum up our journey.

This is my little one pretending to drive while we were stuck at the auto repair place in Augusta, GA. Word to the wise, rent something other than a U-haul. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say, after about 12 hours on day one, we'd only covered a distance that usually takes just two hours. Not a good way to start the trip. Fortunately, there weren't anymore problems once we got back on the road, but by then, I was already pretty frazzled.

Day two began with us in Monteagle, TN. We woke up to LOTS of fog - like all the cliches about pea soup and hands in front of your face were completely true. While we waited for visibility to improve, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Rocky Top Restaurant. If you ever find yourself in Monteagle, you owe it to yourself to stop here. There's very good country cooking, friendly staff, and reasonable prices.

More pics from day two: the Nashville skyline, farm life in Kentucky, my tuckered out crew (traveling with a five year-old, a dog, and a cat isn't easy), and the St. Louis arch. We covered as much ground as we possibly could on day two in an attempt to make up for lost time on day one. It was pretty hard, but I really wanted to get to Montana as close to on-schedule as possible. My husband had been in Billings for the last two months, and we'd missed our 10-year wedding anniversary, Halloween, my husband's birthday, Thanksgiving ,and our daughter's 5th birthday together. When my mother in-law offered to help me move out so we didn't miss Christmas together too, I was grateful, and I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to in order to finish the journey.

 When the St. Louis arch came into view, I was a happy camper. I'd been excited to see it since I found out we'd be passing by it on our trip. However, today, the "gateway to the west's" beauty signified something else: our day of driving was nearly done, and better yet, we were halfway to Montana. Twelve hours and four states later, we stopped on the west side of St. Louis and rewarded our monumental driving efforts with dinner at Steak' n Shake.

Day three had us driving through a whole lotta nothin'. To the right is a pic of my little one at a rest stop in Iowa, getting a preview of the snow we had to look forward to. We had to trek the rest of the way across Missouri, into Iowa, and then across the vasty nothingness of South Dakota. To illustrate how little there is in South Dakota, my mom-in-law's husband, in spite of our warnings, decided to forego stopping for gas in Sioux Falls. When we began looking for gas, we finally found a little place several miles off the interstate. This town was so small, the gas station was also the town's grocery store and pizza joint!

On day four, the final day of our journey, we started out about two hours from Rapid City, SD. Over to the right you can see that vasty nothingness I was talking about. Once we got to Rapid City, we took a detour to go see Mt. Rushmore, because coming so close and not seeing it seemed like a crime. After that, we had lunch in Sturgis, SD, where my mom-in-law picked up some souvenir t-shirts at the Harley Davidson shop for her nephew and his wife, who are avid bikers. From there, we made the final push across Wyoming, and I tell you, it was beautiful. The snow on the landscape looked like someone had dusted powdered sugar over a giant donut. There were mountains, antelope, bald eagles, and more deer that I've ever seen in my life! We even got to see Devil's Tower, which is fantastic, because it is literally the only thing around for miles. I'm telling you, if you ever have the opportunity to drive across Wyoming, DO IT! Just fill up on gas first, because if you don't, you might find yourself surveying the landscape on foot with a gas can in one hand.

 This picture doesn't do them justice, but here are some of the Bighorn Mountains (I think). And to think this scenery is practically in my backyard! Anyway, after stopping in Sheridan, WY, we got back on the road and finally arrived in Billings at about 8PM. WHEW! Even though I was sleeping on an air mattress because our stuff was still in the truck, I've never slept so hard in my life.

So there you have it. Our four-day driving marathon across the ol' U.S. of A.

Simple Lamp Update

Hey, guys! It's been a while; life is going great here in our new home. I'm in the process of updating my little one's room; we're transitioning from baby furniture to stuff that I'm hoping she can use into her teen years. Today I started with her lamp. It started out like this:

That is a basic Better Homes and Gardens accent lamp I bought from Walmart a few years back. I new I wanted to make something bright and fun for the little one, so she helped me pick out a fun, light-blue colored spray paint. We chose the Valspar Paint + Primer in One Exotic Sea color in a glossy finish. I taped off all the working parts and sprayed the lamp base in several light coats. While that was drying, I decided to spruce up the plain shade by punching some sparkly, silver stars out of Tulip iron-on transfer sheets and carefully ironing them (low-setting!) to the lampshade. I wasn't sure if the iron-ons would work because of the plastic lining in the shade, but it turned out great, and I didn't melt the shade! Check out the finished product:

Now my girl has a fabulous new lamp to match her sparkly personality!

That's all for today, my friends, but I'm hoping to get back into my regular updates, so check back soon for more fun stuff!

Happy Holidays!

Hello, dear friends! We're all safe and sound in our new home in Montana. We just had a lovely Christmas, even though we're still getting settled in. I'll get back to blogging after New Years, and I'm sure I'll have all kinds of wonderful things to share with you then. See you, and have a happy and safe holiday!

Saying Goodbye - a Picture Blog

Now that we're moving across the country, I thought it would be nice to look back on the house we lived in during our last year in NC:

The neighbor's ducks

Our mutt chillin' on the front porch

Hummingbird at my feeder

Deer in the field behind our house

My flowers

More flowers

A rainbow over the cornfield next to our house

Fairy ring in the back yard

Goodbye, house!

Quick Folding Table Updo

When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I did a headdesk. I can't believe how simple it is, and somehow I couldn't think of it myself.

I have an ugly old card table that was in dire need of this makeover. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I finally had the chance to do it. I was visiting a JoAnn fabric store with my mother, when I just happened to wander down their fall clearance isle. I wasn't even looking for one at the time, but I found a pretty vinyl tablecloth for 70% off, making the sale price about two dollars. I just love when things work out like that! That evening I went straight to work redoing my table top:

Yucky table!

Phase One: Remove Top

Phase Two: Remove Tablecloth from Package

PHASE THREE: ?

(Seriously, though, I don't know why I don't have any photos of me stapling the tablecloth on the tabletop, but that's what happened next.)

Phase Four: PROFIT!

It took me about an hour to complete this, and approximately forty-five minutes of that was me trying to find a screwdriver, staple gun, and staples at my parents' house. But now I have a pretty, new table! Thanks, Pinterest!

Picture Blog Time! More Paintings!

Here are some more photos of oil paintings I've done using the Bob Ross wet-on-wet technique:

This was the first painting I attempted on my own. I used my lovely new paints and brushes that I got as a birthday gift from my wonderful husband. The picture was inspired by one on the Bob Ross website called "Winter Glow." (Full instructions here.) It's not exactly the same; I couldn't paint that cabin for the life of me. I am satisfied with it though, especially as a first lone attempt.

This painting is from my final class with Melody. I desperately wanted to do this painting because I knew that it would make an excellent gift for my mother who loves lighthouses. It turned out fantastic, except that the reflection of the lighthouse doesn't quite line up with the actual lighthouse. (Shh! Don't tell anyone!) I still think it looks awesome, and I know my mother will be pleased.

This painting started out as a seascape for my sister and her husband. However, I messed up the sky quite early on by adding too much yellow. Instead of scraping off all the paint and re-priming the canvas, I decided to roll with the yellowy sky, and this is what I ended up with - a pretty spiffy desert scene. This is a 100% Ashley original, and I like it. Like Bob Ross said, "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents."

 Here is attempt number two at a seascape painting for my sister. You'll notice the sky is much less yellow, and there's water in this one. However, the picture I wanted to paint had a beautiful crashing wave and sand dunes that I just could not get right for the life of me. So I painted some soft swells and called it good. My aunt fell in love with this one, so she's taking it home with her when she comes to visit on Thanksgiving.

This is the third and final attempt at my sister's seascape painting. After watching this video on YouTube, I was able to get that crashing wave down. Fortunately, I also got the dunes right on this one too. It really is just a matter of practice, I think. Trust me, you don't know how many times I scraped off bad waves before I finally got it just how I wanted. Like Bob Ross said, "Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you're willing to practice, you can do."

And just for fun, I'm going to share this video with you. If you have time, check out the rest of the PBS remix videos. Catch you later!

Forming Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers - Part 2

For the beginning of this project, see: Forming Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers - Part 1

Long has my epic bow sat unfinished, but no more. When I left off in part one, I was waiting for the paper strips to dry. The next step was to cover the bow in CelluClay. The final product was very hard and strong without being too heavy, but even thought the box said it could be sanded, sandable it was not. Either that, or I have the crappiest sandpaper ever made, because when I went to sand the CelluClay, it knocked the sand off my sandpaper. I did have better luck using steel wool to sand the bow, but in the end, what I had to do was cover the entire bow in a layer of spackle, then sand that down to get a smooth finish. I like to use the kind that starts out pink and turns white as it dries, so you know exactly when you can move on to the next step.

After the spackle was smoothed and dusted, it was time to paint. Faux painting is always a trial-and-error process for me, even though I've been doing it for years. I used the 3D model viewer on WoWhead to try to get the colors and textures as close to in-game as possible. After it dried, I coated it in Mod Podge to seal it. Once that was done, all that was left was to wrap the vines I'd made around the bow and glue them on. I didn't take any pictures of the vine-making process, but it was fairly simple. I took some newspaper

 pages and twisted them together into rope in the length that I needed. Then I wrapped up the newspaper rope in some green floral tape. I didn't want it to be all one color, so I dabbed on a contrasting green acrylic paint to add interest. Then, I wrapped around some faux-floral morning glory garland. Morning glories are closest to the type of flower that blooms on Rhok'delar, so that's what I used. Here's the final finished product:

I wasn't overly pleased with how this turned out, to be honest. I felt it looked rather cartoonish. I think my painting skills were taking a holiday. My sister-in-law and her husband both disagreed with me, though. They said it looked fantastic. Perhaps I'm being my own worst critic, but I think I can do better. What do you think?