4 Down, 26 To Go

Day 2 of retirement - weekends don't count - and I think I am getting the hang of it.

The laundry is all caught up, the house is clean and the garden is looking good.

My plan of attack - clean out 1 cupboard each day.

I don't grocery shop or cook and I'm not going to start now even if I am retired - one of the many advantages of marriage to a gourmet cook.

We went for an 4 mile beach walk and were on the water for our first paddle in the kayaks since Steve's surgery - major sunburn.

The rest of the day was spent on my 30 Days of Pinterest project.

The bicycle rim from Save-On Crafts provides a backdrop for my hearts and hands - the simple quote unites the two collections.

The bicycle rim is undecorated on the website so mine is definitely an improvement.

Sunday's project was easy - how hard is it to slap some paint on a bucket?

I have so many "retirement" bouquets to put in my bucket (more were delivered today) and seeing the buckets side by side showed me that I should have put more flowers in my arrangement.

This little project was free and easy because I already had the Ballard Designs tags and Ikea baskets.

The only difference is the color of my baskets.

The BEACH sign is another freebie.

The wood for the sign came from the blue box.  

When I painted it blue, I removed the rectangular lid and asked the shop teacher at school to make it more interesting by adding the curved top.

The Jane Coslick 99 Steps to the Beach sign is larger than mine and I am thinking I might need to find some fencing to add to this area in the front yard.

I wanted to paint 186 steps to the beach (I counted them yesterday), but my piece of wood is just too small.

I had to settle for BEACH.

One of my gifts at the party Saturday night was a $50 Michael's gift card.

I went out today to buy supplies for making felt hearts, crocheting bags and stenciling a tablecloth.

$50 sure doesn't go far these days!

I can't decide which of the projects to start next, but I have to get going if I want to keep making progress on the list.

4 down, 26 to go.

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Join me at these fun parties

Lavender Garden Cottage - Cottage Style Party

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Green Willow Pond - What We Accomplished Wednesday

I was busy today . . .

I will be spending a lot of time at home in the near future.

My husband is having shoulder replacement surgery on Tuesday and we have no idea what to expect in terms of recovery.  

He has been told that it will be about a year for full recovery.

That means we won't being doing a lot of kayaking, tennis, cycling or swimming for awhile.

I could do all of those things, but I don't want to leave him at home alone so we will be doing a lot of hiking and walking on the beach.

At least for the next week, I will be taking care of him while his movement is limited.

I will have time for some projects.

So, last night I decided to look at my Pinterest boards for inspiration.

I copied 29 images onto my To Make list last night.

Today,  I completed two projects and actually began two more.

FIRST

It was a beautiful sunny day ( I am sorry to everyone buried in snow) and I was able to actually work in the garden.

Steve has been threatening to take photos of my garden and sneak them into my blog to show everyone the jungle.

After tackling one section of the garden, I moved my garden bench from one side of the garden

this was taken last fall - my garden doesn't look this green and there are very few flowers right now

to another

and added some pillows.

Bear assumed that I had moved the bench for him.

My inspiration?

via

I left out the tray of lemonade.

It might have been sunny, but it was not warm enough to sit in the garden and relax.

I am not sure if I will paint the bench.

I do plan to change the two white pillows to one long pillow.

And I want to make some red, yellow and blue pillows inspired by the beautiful garden from the blog My Painted Garden which was recently featured in Flea Market Gardens.

Her garden is amazing and in my color palette. 

SECOND

With the garden on its way, I moved onto finishing a project I began a month ago.

I painted this mirror with chalkboard paint originally.

And, I have been looking on Pinterest for ideas that I thought I might be able to create.

One reason I waited was that I wasn't sure where I would even hang the mirror.

Living in an art gallery means I have very little wall space for my projects.

 I came across these great signs last night.

via                                                   via

I saw the black sign and loved the message.

 Then I saw the red one and realized I could paint the message instead of using chalk.

My plan was to hang the sign in our entry, but then it hit me that I could put the sign in the bathroom.

Our bathroom is the only room in the house that has no red so I settled on blue.

I used letter stickers to write the words.

I painted the mirror portion blue and added a starfish.

The letters didn't come out perfect and in some spots I left them as is.

After I hung the sign, I went in and touched up the letters and spots on the frame.

The new sign is hanging in the bathroom and just awaiting a little sanding tomorrow.

It's not perfect like the signs I found on Pinterest.

But I made it myself.

And the best part - it cost absolutely nothing.

Two down and only 27 more projects to go!

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You can find me partying at

The Pin Junkie

A Jennuine Life

Redoux

Homespun Happenings

French Country Cottage

Funky Junk Interiors

Jennifer Rizzo

Have a Cup of Mrs. Olson

My Romantic Home

The Answer is Chocolate

Tilly's Nest

The Trendy Treehouse

In the Old Road

Beyond the Picket Fence

Life on Lakeshore Drive