Wall Collage Week

This Weeks Events...
(a little behind on posting)

I bought my house about 3 years ago and completely changed the look of it by painting the god awful flat tan colored walls red, yellow, and green. And WHY anyone would paint the whole house in that color...is beyond me! But even years later, I still don't feel like I have decorated it to the best of my ability.

So yesterday I got a sudden whim (after I saw a photo of a collage on a wall going up a stair hallway, thank you Pinterest) and instantly decided I wanted to make this whole wall collage thing happen in my house. It's pathetic really, it's literally all I could think about the entire day while I was at work. I pictured things in my head, thought of things I had thrifted that were laying around in the garage I could use, and was thinking of some things I wanted to pick up to make it work. I could hardly wait until 5 o'clock hit to attack this brilliant idea that was seriously taking over my head. I really didn't know what I wanted to put in the collage or where I was going to put it. As soon as I got home I started rummaging through my garage (aka my studio.) I have all sorts of "junk" and DIY creations in there, so I knew I'd find something.

So here is my wall before I did the collage..

 

 

Nothing crazy awesome, also nothing crazy boring. But it never really did it for me. So....here was my attempt at the wall collage idea...

 

 

Have no fear folks....the "S" (wedding gift) art is no longer crooked! LoL But aside from that what do you think?! It definitely changed my entry way "feel" and gave it more of a rustic feel. I think I still may change it a little bit, but I really do like it!

I also had a little bit of a problem hanging stuff...pun intended. I am a little bit short, 5'3" doesn't always get the job done. And with a husband who works overseas and a 5 lb. Chihuahua as my sidekick,I didn't have a whole lot of options. So a short ladder and a "time out" stool  I crafted to sell had to make do. No I do not recommend trying this at home!

Here are a few more photos of the wall décor pieces close up...

Soon after I finished this project I had yet another random though at updating the look of my home. I had a left over PVC pipe that had a hole in it from a previous project that I never used. Here is what it looked like before....

I know what you're thinking. (That is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, where can you get such a stunning PVC pipe for yourself...the answer is home depot lol.) I promise I'm not crazy, I put it to good use since it was just hanging in my garage. I also had in my garage a bunch of fake vase filler grass and sticks. I actually found these when I was out on a job one day. Someone must have moved from the house and left a bunch of stuff on the curb, which included this perfectly awesome decorating sticks still in the bag. So my girlfriend though I was crazy when I told her we were coming back with her truck to pick up this junk, but we did it anyway! And now I have a corner stairway filler "vase"...I think it's lovely. All it need was a little paint, ribbon, and some TLC!

I finished off my crazy week by enjoying the gorgeous fall weather Iowa had to offer. It was 70 degrees and sunny Friday so I randomly decided to grab my pup and my camera after work and head to Saylorville Lake. It's only about 15 minutes from my house and I've been there 100's of times, however only to go boating...I've never really explored the areas around it. So I jumped in the car and drove around. I ended up at the visitor's center just in time to catch a beautiful sunset! Here are some photos I got of the gorgeous evening and my little furball.

 

It ended up being a beautiful weekend! I did however capture one shot that shows my hearts not quite complete with my husband away....

I hope you've enjoyed this extra long blog! Until next time....

It's Not All Rainbows And Unicorns

I know I've done my share of bragging about how awesome my life is and how great the island life is....however it's time I share, it's not all glamorous and fun and games. 

When the dark night sneaks up on us, it's when they come out. What comes out you ask?! ROI RATS! Gross right? Seriously there is tons of them all over the island. And of course the first one I see I squak and freak out and the usual response from people about all the creatures I've encountered is, "They won't hurt you, they're just as scared of you."

YEAH OKAY maybe. They are still gross and creep me out! Same goes for the geckos they crawl everywhere at night, so fast and eeeeek lol. I was sitting down the other week at the shack watching the sunset and had hung around  a little after. Sure enough it had gotten rather dark, all of a sudden a gecko runs across the table in front of me, another across my foot, and a rat climbs up the tree by my head. 
Here's the little gecko dudes that hang out....

EW I'm out! Of course the residents here laugh at me and call me a weenie but c'mon rats and lizards aren't anybody's thing right? So I forget to bring a flash light and attempt to make my way down the stairs to my bicycle without screaming. What  a terrifying ride home lol I was dodging running over rats with my bike the whole time. However, the moon and stars here are out of this world bright! It's so beautiful in the sky at night with no clouds or polution you can see all the stars perfectly and the moon so bright reflecting off the ocean is just stunning...until you see a rat and freak out ha ha. And then there's the bugs. UGH. I have bug bites galore all over my body. Day and night there's always something looking to bite. Bug spray is a must all the time. But besides those gross things as I said before it's wonderful out here, I mean you can't have it all right? =) One of the residents actually asked me to paint them a rat out of my palm frond art....I am not sure how it will turn out but I'll definitely give it a shot! Until next time.....

Peace Out!