Staining wood with homemade stain !

When buying wood to transferring photos to I've noticed that the only options at the craft stores are light colored or untreated wood.  I really wanted some darker wood for some gifts I've been working on, and decided to try to find a way to stain the wood at home.  I then looked to good ole Pinterest :)  And, she didn't fail me!  I used this blogs directions http://www.homeheartcraft.com/blog/diy-vintage-wood-stain to make my own stain and it worked great!  It was a bit too dark for what I was looking for after the 2nd coat, so I'll probably only put one on from now on.  Here are a few photos.

Also, I used a apple cider vinegar, instant coffee grounds, and steel wool from a SOS cleaning pad ( I washed all the cleaner off. It was cheaper this way ).

I'm transferring a photo to it right now. So, I'll let you know how that goes... ?

First coat

Second Coat...

Update on Canvas People canvas!

I received my canvas last week. Yay!  And, I love it... 

I can definatley say that I like Canvaspeople.com better than Pixwraps.com .
I ordered my canvases the same day from both places and have yet to hear anything about my canvas from pixwraps.  I emailed them today, so we'll see what happens.

I guess I'll tuck this baby under the bed until I find somewhere to display :)

Tacky Sweater Day

I was going through some photos earlier and came across some photos from our tacky sweater day at work last year. Myself and co-worker, Kendall thought this up and was excited to see everyone in their sweaters.  We didn't have the turn out that we'd hoped for, but had several people participate.
Here are a few of our favs.

Seeing old things in a new way :)

When I was around 10 years old my friend Amber and I had a sick obsession with cheer leading ( and Bon Jovi and Vanilla Ice...ha ha ha ). We finally got a chance to be on a little league team and was excited. Amber's grandmother stitched us up some uniforms quickly because the team had already ordered their uniforms, and frankly my family couldn't have afforded the "real" uniform anyhow. I only cheered for two years, but really enjoyed it.
I stuffed the uniform away in a drawer and pulled it out for my sister, Crystal to wear for Halloween a couple of times. 
Twenty years later, my nine year old niece, Emily tried it on and looked so cute. It made me realize that sometimes it's worth holding on to old stuff.  It was really neat to see her wearing something that I loved when I was her age. I encourage her and my sisters and brother to hold on to memorable things. 
Here are a couple photos of all three of us in it.

This photo is cut up because my younger sister (Crystal) was very mad at me and took scissors to it. Luckily I stopped her before she destroyed it...

Me wearing the uniform for Halloween, as a Cheerleader. How original?

 Crystal on Halloween.  She was a killer Cheerleader...ha ha ha

And, our little Emily 2012.  Nine years old

Transfering photos to wood = Fun decor

Well I'm one of those Pinterest lovers.  So, when I seen this on Pinterest, I had to try it.  I have to say it's not as easy as they make it look. It's hard to get the paper off the wood without rubbing the ink off. But, I'm still in the process of trying to figure it out.

I've transferred several photos to wood and a couple to canvas. The transferring to wood is a lot easier than canvas. For some reason, the ink doesn't stick to the canvas as easily, or I'm not getting the photo stuck to the canvas well enough. Either way, I'm going to get it right at some point. I want to stain the wood to give it a more finished look, but haven't seemed to master that yet.

I got my directions from this blog.
http://huckabyshappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/p/craft-inspirations-and-diy.html

I done it a little different than the website, I used the Mod Podge for both the sticking the picture to the wood and to seal it. It seems to work, and that's less money you have to spend.
Below are some that I'm done with. You'll see that I've made them look aged. I done this for two reasons. One because I like the look of it, and two because I had parts of the ink come off with the paper and wanted it to all come together to look right.

Here are three current projects I'm trying to finish up. My Mom and niece Emily helped me start them up, and they will be given to them when I'm done. You'll see that the ink has started coming off on the canvas of my sister and Emily. Hopefully it doesn't do it too bad. I don't think Emily got the Mod Podge on the canvas good enough before sticking the photo, but I think it'll turn out :)

Hope this has helped you, if your looking to do it yourself !

Primitive signs and decor / Corn Cob Cove

( Brittany says that her and Russell's grandfather, Andy had a love for "junk" as do most Millsaps men. This is where the idea for the sign came from. He was born in 1931. )

This is a sign that my husband won at our annual Christmas dirty Santa game, played at Grandma Betty's house.  We love it...  Our cousin Brittany makes these signs. She is currently selling them on Esty and her facebook page.
Check her selection out. Your sure to love them!

 Below is the link to her Esty page.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CornCobCove

The fam on Easter

Here are a couple photos I snapped of my family on Easter this year.  That's about the only time I can get everyone to half way dress up. I think my family is beautiful :)

Wells Family

It seems that more and more these days couples opt out of having conventional children, and have fur babies. That is exactly what this couple has done.  Meet their fur family...

A growing family

Wow, these kids are getting big!  I shot their photos a couple years ago and couldn't believe how much they had grown when I seen them! They've also grown in size. This year they added a new cousin, and a girlfriend to their session. Hope you enjoy looking at these cute faces ! ( I snuck a couple of Tuffy's senior photos in too )

Norman family session

Meet the Norman family.  I shot their session in the Spring.  I had so much fun with them. These two adorable little girls will melt your heart with their smiles :)

Kyndra's sweet 16

My little sister turned 16 !  I can not believe it.  I took her sweet 16 photos in the spring. Here are a few that I really liked.