New Sign for "Grissoms' Garage"

After making my other "Grissom" sign out of a piece of this pallet, I told Paul I wanted to make a sign for his garage -- he was all for it and immediately began to come up with ideas of what we would do.  So between the two of us we came up with the design and layout (I gotta say -- I don't normally think of spattering blood on things I create -- that was a total Paul idea -- but one that really turned out great for the theme of our garage). 

Unfortunately, I had trouble getting a good clear picture of it all... other than the Grissoms' Garage title, it says "Just Passin' Thru'" with deer tracks and "blood" spattered on the right lower corner of the boards.  The Just Passin' Thru phrase (for those of you who don't know) is a play on the pass-thru of an arrow when we shoot as well as a play on all the people who just pass thru our garage from time to time. 

We are SOOOO excited to begin another GREAT deer season beginning tomorrow!!  Hope I can get some sleep tonight with all the excitement!!

Featured by Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table & Dreaming!!

I was so excited to find out that Stephanie Lynn at her blog Under the Table & Dreaming decided to feature this pallet art

along with some other SPECTACULAR crafts by some other INCREDIBLY crafty gals...Go check out her site for inspiration!!

More Pallet Craftiness

Here is another wood pallet I pulled from the dumpster.  I decided to make a piece with our name on it to hang in our diningroom.  I printed Grissom on cardstock using a large block font.  I then cut out each individual letter (I didn't have any stencils that would work, so just did this in the night time when I was winding down from the day).  After careful measuring, I taped it to the wood pallet where I wanted it.  I then took some craft paint and kind of sponged it on. 

First I did it in green but decided it wasn't bright enough.  So then I used a muted yellow and am happy with that.  I had Paul cut this bottom board from the rest of it and now I just need to hang it up.  I have another crafty project in the works for the other two pieces -- Paul and I are creating that one together and I will post it when it is complete.

Linked up to:  By Stephanie Lynn's blog and Made by Heidi and Finding Fabulous by Decor Mamma

2nd Place

This morning I was so excited to take part in my second Quad Cities Marathon...Did I run a marathon, seriously??  26.2 miles?? uh, no...but, I did run the 5K with the sole purpose of beating my time from last year.

My 2nd place trophy

Well - I beat my old time.  I placed 2nd out of 67 in my age division and 19th out of all 536 women who participated.  I have to admit -- I am very happy.  I shaved 1 minute and 20 seconds off of last years time.  Maybe next year I will give the 1/2 marathon a shot???  But then again, maybe not  :)

Subway Art - Soap Pump Makeover

This was featured at Childmade!!

I was so sick of looking at my little soap pumps on my sink...I have never had any luck with buying the "fancier" looking pumps -- they never seem to last for me, and I actually had one or two that didn't work from the start -- so I buy these cheapies, refill them constantly, and they last for years.  Anyway - I decided it was time they looked a little fancier...
Here is what they looked like to begin with -- I know, I can't believe these have been on my sink this long...

First I cut the outside label off.
Then Skyler and I picked out some spray paint from my stash and painted them, one hammered black and one hammered gray/silver.
After they dried I applied some rub-on letters I had previously bought for scrapbooking
and........Waa laa!  Spectacular? No.  Better?  Yes -- and free to boot.

I like the Subway Art look --

The G on this one stands for Grissom, or Ginger, however you want to look at it  :)

3 squirrels in 2 hours!!

Skyler with Squirrel #1

Skyler with the whole days' harvest...

We had such a fun morning today hunting squirrels with Skyler.  We had some serious Squirrel Mojo goin' on (if there is such a thing).  Between all the squirrels, deer, coons and 1 coyote -- it was a great morning to be out in the timber!!

Pallet Pumpkin Tutorial -- A Free Craft

After recently having done some more of my famous "dumpster diving" with a friend, we came across this pallet (along with some other finds I hope to do something with later). 

There is lots of craftiness across blogland lately where old wood is transformed into a pumpkin -- and I thought this would be perfect!!  I Love pumpkin decor items because you can display them for such a long time.  Since I am in dire need of more fall decorations and wanted to do it on the cheap -- that makes me resourceful.  Check out Someday Crafts to see where I got my inspiration to even try this...  Here is my materials list:

Dumpster Pallet

Craft Paint
Raffia

Other than the Pallet (which I stole from the dumpster) everything else was in our stash of crafts so the entire project was essentially free -- just the kind of craft I love!

I got out Paul's power tools (gotta love 'em) and started cutting.  I knew the basic shape I was going for and I knew I needed to leave enough board on the backside to hold it all together

I then got out my paints (Skyler helped me on this part).  We had green for the "stem" but didn't have any orange -- sooooo -- I mixed red and marigold together and thought the color turned out pretty perfect.  I spread the paint on pretty thin as I wanted the finished product to look antiqued as opposed to being polished, which is so not me.


To finish it all off I used a sander to distress and soften the edges a bit.

Below is a little pumpkin I made from some of the scraps.  This little guy is perfect for inside!  I used the same basic premise but used some wire to make the "lines" of the pumpkin and some scrap material for the "stem."

Linked up to:  Hoo's Got Talent

and Someday Crafts and U-Create Crafts and Remodelaholic and Fingerprints on the Fridge

Featured at the Jon Walters Family Blog 

Sunday Squirrels - first nothing -- then a TROPHY!!

We spent our Sunday morning at church squirrel hunting in the original and most beautiful cathedral of all -- the woods, of course!  And even though at the end of that morning the score was: Squirrels 1, Grissoms 0 -- we had a great time!  This is a picture of what we saw as we watched the treetops for squirrels eating hickory nuts.

Here is a picture of a rub that is located about 15 yards from Skyler's deer stand -- WOO HOO!!

And this is a cool mushroom I found growing out of the side of a tree...the picture didn't really capture the colors -- it was bright orange in the center and bright yellow on the edges -- I'm not sure, but I would have to guess this is not one you'd want to cook up and eat...

And this is the final proof (if anybody needed any more proof) that we are all a bunch of nuts...I was carrying around these hickory nuts for a craft -- when suddenly people starting stuffing them in their eyes...

After getting work done around home, mowing our in-town yards, shooting our bows, etc...I asked Paul if we could go squirrel hunting again.  We all agreed we should -- so off we went.  This time I left the camera in the truck -- and that was reason enough for this beautiful BLACK squirrel to give Skyler a perfect shot (plus the fact that Paul is a perfect squirrel hunting guide).  Black squirrels are known for their incredibly wary nature -- it is very difficult to get within shooting distance of one -- and if you do -- they are usually very quick and disappear before a shooting opportunity arises.  Skyler has been wanting to get a black squirrel FOREVER and apparently this was her day.  Skyler shot this squirrel with a .410 that has now been used by four (yep, I said 4) generations of Grissoms!!  What a cool story and what a great job Skyler!  We are so glad that she enjoys being out in the timber as much as we do!!  Skyler and I cleaned this squirrel and plan on putting its meat on the grill after work on Monday night - yyyyuuuummmm!!  Plus, now the score is:  Squirrels 1, Grissoms 1  :)

Volunteering has its Advantages

Skyler and Alex hauling in a vacuum cleaner

We put in a few hours Thursday night volunteering.  We were taking in and pricing items for a garage sale that was held on Saturday to raise money for 4-H.  Since we love 4-H and would like it to stay around for years to come, we wanted to help out.
The advantage to helping set up a garage sale is that you get first pick on items...I controlled myself for the most part, but couldn't help but walk away with this little beauty for only $2 bucks:

I love the metal number tabs (it reminds me of a Pottery Barn shelving unit they offer for a TON more money) and my little jars of buttons fit in the cubbies just perfect -- almost like it was made just for me  :)  I would like to paint this guy -- but since it is WAY down on my list of priorities -- I am not sure it will ever get done.

We Can Hardly Contain our Excitement!!

We can hardly contain our excitement!!  Deer season is just around the corner (22 more days for you fellow bow hunters -- if anyone else is counting).  We went out shooting our rifles again last night -- life has been so busy that we have gone several weeks now without getting our deer killin rifles out...it is very unusual for us to go so long and it won't happen again.  This top pic shows Skyler shooting off of a super cool bench that Paul made (we used some other people's super cool bench as an idea -- don't know if they want their names mentioned here -- but thanks!!).  When Paul decides that something is needed -- he just figures it out and starts cutting.  Pretty great guy to have around!!  Well - this bench is fitted more to an adult male -- so Skyler gets to sit on dad's foot in order to be tall enough to sight correctly.  We are all still making perfect killing shots...but we love to shoot bunches to be as familiar with our equipment as is possible. 

This is a picture showing the powder charge in my pan which -- when I pull the trigger -- will receive the sparks created as my flint (the small rook lookin' thingy) drags against the frizzen and ignite this powder, which will create the heat needed to set off the main charge in the barrell -- thus sending the lead ball to its target.  Ya gotta love a muzzleloader -- I can't imagine shooting anything else (other than my bow, of course)!!

And last, but not least, this is a photo of a Monarch that had just emerged from its chrysalis and was hanging from my flower pot last night stretching its wings and drying off before its big flight to Mexico -- what an amazing and awesome transformation.  We have Monarchs in all their different stages all over our yard.  The Monarch caterpillars LOVE our Swamp Milkweed -- even more than the regular old Milkweed -- they are all over it!!

Days go by...

Have been having a fun week -- lots to do -- but gettin' to do it together makes anything fun...

A few snapshots from our week:  Our little cutie niece had her 3rd birthday party on Sunday -- she isn't actually 3 yet -- but it is coming up...Happy Birthday Molly!!  We love how she has been talking like an adult for well over a year now -- pretty sure she takes after me (Ginger)  :)  It is a little intimidating when a baby walks up to you and has a full conversation with you...so we're glad she is starting to get to an age where it is not so uncommon.

Our songbirds planted this beautiful sunflower in our backyard and I couldn't help but take a picture!!  I guess they are paying us back for feeding them all year!

We went out in the woods again last night -- wanted to get a downed tree cut up that had fallen across our lane.  While we were out we checked on this food plot that we just got planted about a week ago.  This is a food plot that is not accessible by much accept our own two hands -- unfortunately we have lost our 2 other seedings at this spot already this year because of downpours that hammered the new little seedlings and didn't allow them to grow.  This time our hours of raking paid off.  This is the food plot directly in front of Skyler's stand -- let 'em come!!

Here are pictures of me and Paul.  Paul is cutting up some firewood -- the guy can run a chainsaw -- which is good cuz to be honest chainsaws make me nervous.  I don't know how that chain doesn't break off and come flying over to cut my head off...and I figure since he loves to cut the wood up -- I at least better load it all.  Unbeknownst (is that a word?) to me Skyler took this shot of me throwing logs in the back of the truck.