a fixie & a pinkie

Matt and I only live about 3 blocks from campus so we decided to buy new (to us) bikes last year when we moved to Mankato. In college I had THREE bikes stolen!Because we won't be leaving college towns anytime soon so I thought it would be best to buy cheap. We found a non-profit bike shop that sells used bikes and we each found a bike that was perfect for us. I paid $20 for mine and Matt paid $30 for his. They were both ride-able, but definitely needed some TLC. We did some minor repairs and upgrades, but knew we wanted to completely fix them up. I decided to paint mine and Matt wanted to convert his to a fixed gear. We finally had a free weekend to get the job done!

a change of seasons

Summer is over and my second year of grad school is in full swing! I have had anxiety about this time all summer. After an easy breezy summer spent with days full of sunshine and Tucker love I knew it would be an adjustment, for all of us, with me returning to school and starting a graduate assistantship. I have to say we are very blessed by a wonderful caretaker for our little man who has made the transition much easier for us all. I met Chelsea at church and was delighted when she agreed to take Tucker 2 1/2 days per week. She has a little one who is only a month older so this is Tucker's first REAL playmate and my heart just melts watching them interact. Knowing he is safe and having fun with his little amigo I can really enjoy the time I have to spend away from him. Chelsea sends me pictures of the boys throughout the day which always makes my heart smile!

Thankfully, between work and school and baby and husband and dogs and everything else, I have time for a little craftiness. When we were home for Tucker's dedication dad and I found time to gather some acorns for a project that was yet to be decided. One day this week I went to the dollar store, funnest place ever by the way, and I found a stick wreath for-get this - ONE DOLLAR! The acorns immediately came to mind and I knew I could create something fallish. Please note, acorns are seriously dirty and bugs live in them! Who knew?

Isn't she pretty?! I think yes. Happy fall!

barn door baby gate

Matt and I started this project earlier in the summer but got busy with other summertime fun. We knew Tucker would become mobile sometime this summer so we thought we would revisit the project when the time came. Well the time has come! Tucker started crawling about 2 weeks ago and we quickly realized we needed to get the gate completed. Matt did 99% of the work in making my vision come to life-he's the best.

First he started off with a plan.

Enlisted the help of an apprentice.

Learning about tools.

Taking it all in.

Measuring, making cuts, measuring again.

Once he was done with the brunt of the work I sanded the rough edges.

Painted the gate with a custom mix of white & gray paint.

Matt added a hook on the inside so little hands can't reach it.

We attached the gate to the existing door hinge. There was a door here but we took it off because we didn't like how it cut off the sunlight that comes in from the window at the top of the stairs.

It works!

knobs

Again, while visiting dad, we completed another project! I was inspired by Teresa's knob project where she took an old piece of barn wood and added vintage knobs and hung above her claw.foot tub. Adore.

While enjoying lunch...


I picked up my knobs at a local antique store.


I picked out my piece of wood from dad's never ending pile!


Stained.


Dad drilled holes and added adhesive.



I added hooks and a hanger.


Voila! Guest room decor! I found this "flowers" sign at a garage sale for $1 & I gathered the dried flowers while on a bike ride/run with the hubs.


*please note I did not choose the purple color of the guestroom! Someday I'll be able to choose:)

toy box

I bought this bench from Marcy from church about 3 months ago and I thought it would be perfect as a home for Tucker's toys. I thought it would be an easy paint job that would maybe take a week. Wrong. This was truly a labor of love and I am so glad it is finally done!


First I lightly sanded it and primed.

Even though I primed it I still need 3 coats of each color. And of course to add a little uniqueness I added some stripes on the spokes. This all took about a month to paint each coat, let dry, tape, paint, repeat...

Then, because I thought it needed more work, I painted some letters I found at Michael's.


I sealed the whole thing, let dry, added toys!


Finally done and it is already full of toys!