My Dad...Prayers Please

This is me and my Dad at my daughters wedding. 

 He has just had a serious farm accident and is in need of prayers.  

He is a tough guy,  but is in ICU.

Please pray for him, 

his name is Phil, (Dogger), Dad 

and I love him much,

Thanks for visiting my worried part of the country,

Jana

A Few Wedding Photos

 I have had several people ask me for some wedding photos....so here are a few

This is Macy and Kayla at their rehearsal

They had not discussed what they were going to wear and both showed up in purple.

 Me and my girl.

 I am "lacing" her up here, it took me forever.
she made a beautiful bride.

 This was how the alter looked.  She said all along she wanted "simple and elegant".

It was all of that and was beautiful with the lights turned down.

 Simple and Elegant was how the cake looked as well.

Well simple, elegant and FUN.  She had her guest throw colored "sprinkles".....

she thought it sounded like it would be fun.

and it was.

Thanks for visiting our fun part of the country,

Jana

DIY Ribbon/Material Fall Wreath

I thought I had better get this posted for the first official day of fall.

I started out with this wire wreath from Hobby Lobby, and I'm sure you can find these at your local craft store.  Then bought about 8 different materials in fall colors, patterns and even different textures along with  about 15 different ribbons in a variety of widths and patterns as well.  I tried to get some solids, some with patterns, different widths and textures for a variety.  Although I had a wide variety of textures, widths and patterns I tried to keep most colors in brown, orange and golden tones to go with the fall colors.  

 Then start cutting, I used pinking sheers both my ribbon and material. 

 I cut the material into strips about 8-10" long and about 1-2" wide.

I then cut the ribbon about the same length and then laid all of my strips out in an assembly line.

I know it looks like a lot and it is, you can use more variety if you wish or less, there is no right or wrong when it comes to this part.  Also if you don't want yours as bushy as mine turned out, just make your strips shorter.

 I started on the inside ring and just tied on each strip, going down my assembly line.  You can tie a single or double knot, I did a double because I didn't want to have mine have any chance of coming apart later.

At first it didn't look very full, but give it time.  It also makes a difference how close together you put all the strips.  I liked mine pretty full, but I will warn you it can take quite a while to tie this many and it can get a little costly for a wreath, or at least I thought it was.

I only tied mine on 3 of the 4 rings.  

I used the inside 2 and the outside ring, for me it was full enough.  

When I finished I gave it a haircut to even out some of the longer strips.  

 I am going to add a brown ribbon to hang it by, but it is not necessary, 

it will hang on the wire ring without it.

This really wasn't hard at all to make, just a little time consuming, but not bad.  

If you like crafts as much as I do, you'll find it worth your time, and I hope this helps.

Thanks for visiting my ragged part of the country,

Jana

Beautiful Bride ...Getting Ready...."Hair Bows"

Yes she is a Beautiful Bride and this is how I see her to this day.

Growing up I made a bow for almost every outfit that she had...

 so the wedding day could be no different.

This was her hair "bow" for the biggest day of her life, 

complete with a flower, feathers, raffia, pearls and even some bling, 

and I love the fact that I got to make it for her.

 We got up kind of early to start getting ready for her big day.

Beauty comes at a price.

And the finishing touch on the hair.....her "hair bow"

I had a few years of practice making them and was thrilled to make the 

"Wedding Bow"

Thanks for visiting our part of the wedding country,

Jana

Our Taj Mahal

 Well, we we made it thru our daughters wedding.....and even survived it.

 This was where we had our rehearsal dinner.  It may not be the Taj Mahal, but it was a really nice place to visit with family and friends......and a lot of love went into it.

 It took me about a couple of days to recuperate......I must be getting old, but we are somewhat back to normal now, well our kind of normal.

Thanks for visiting our Taj Mahal part of the world,

Jana

Black & White

 The clouds were splitting and looking a little bit dark.

 I turned my second photo to black and white and I can hardly tell a difference,

the only thing that changed much was the grass and trees at the bottom of the photo.

It was beautiful because it did bring a little rain.

Thanks for visiting my monochrome part of the country,

Jana

Rocking the Drive

 Now that we have our barn up it's time to help get rid of our muddy driveway. We had put down several loads of "rock" earlier, but it ended up too much dirt in it and whenever we would get rain,

 we also got mud.  

So we pulled out the "big guns" and got just rock this time.

Remember we are having our rehearsal dinner and if it rains (we are always hopeful) we don't want a muddy mess.....Mud and weddings don't mix well.

Here is my Father-in-law is helping spread it around.

 Here is hubby starting to spread it out.

 Well as it turns out 2 more loads of rock wasn't enough........so

 we ordered 2 more loads......it's only money right.

 I was surprised this is how they emptied their load.

Whenever we had our first "dirt" hauled in, they dumped it out the bottom of the bed.

This way was new to me. 

 After it was all spread we had to water all of it. 

 First to help with this dust....it was almost as bad as the mud and 

second to help make it hard......don't ask me why, but watering it does help it to "harden up"
...kind of like cement. 

I never think that the pile they leave looks like very much, but 

thank goodness this time it was....

we were tired of spreading it, watering it and 

even more tired of paying for it,

but it looks great!!!!

Thanks for visiting our rocky part of the country,

Jana

Getting Ready!!!

 We are getting ready for my daughters wedding and
she wants her rehearsal dinner to be in our barn.

 So to give a little bit of "atmosphere" we are hanging patio lights.

 She wants it to be casual.............no problem ................we are in a barn.

 She also wants family and friends to sit around and visit.

 Everyone in our family is helping us out.  

We have never strung lights in our barn before, so it is a little bit of trial and error.

 Yep, even the dogs are helping her out.

 We had to string wire first and then hang all the lights on the wire.

This isn't the type of place that everyone wants to have a dinner in, 

but for our family......

It's Great!!!

All the lights worked.....Yaaaaaaa
and at night it looks so much better than just our "shop" lights.

We are going to have around 85 people here for dinner,

 it is getting close, and we have more to do.

I will try and show pictures at night when we have it all decorated.

Thanks for visiting my part of the country,

Jana