Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2018

 Remember this fantastic movie?

Sure, it might not immediately feel like a Christmas theme, but we're a Hallowe'en-loving family and sometimes the macabre seeps into everything we do. 

As usual, Grey-dog is always a participant in our annual card. So his photo was up first. I needed a view of him from below to make it work.

I think you can see where this is going... 

Some other iconic images from the movie: Jodie Foster and that lamb

Hannibal, obviously. No more iconic image than that.

Finally, the original poster.

Photoshop to the rescue! Sure, I didn't get the skin colour quite right on one, or the hairline on another, but it was crazy fun.

Front of the card in a quarter style.

Back of the card in the new Hannibal style - I mean it basically screams reindeer Christmas vibes, right?

To see last year's card, click here.

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2016

Guys. I know. Another rushed last-minute holiday card.

Ugh. BUT we are absolutely committed to putting out a card with some fun or some whimsy. This year we leaned hard into the whimsy of it all.

So, we took to the woods near our house and tried to get a good family photo.

Grey-dog was loving the birds. He was distracted by every sound and every flit past his eye.

M was distracted by the snow and sometimes didn't even look at the camera. The rest of us look great, thought, right?? LOL

Look over here, M!

Getting so much closer to a good shot...

Then everyone was distracted, but in a very good way. I can work with this one.

I needed to add one extra member to this photo to make it complete.

Cue funny tag-line.

Silhouette of Bigfoot just in case the other side of the card was too subtle.

Ta-da! The annual holiday card is complete!

To see last year's card, click here

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2015

This year's annual card was ... you guessed it... rushed yet again.

So, working my limited Photoshop skills and parlaying them into a worthy holiday card.

Step one: Come up with a funny theme that doesn't take a lot of time or effort. Mugshots!

Step two: Gather my rag-tag group and take some photos in lighting similar to that of an line-up.

Step three: Hold up a blank card for Photoshopping later

Step four: Let your kid do whatever she wants. Toddlers cannot be corralled. I repeat: Toddlers cannot be corralled.

Step five: Teach your husband about duck lips.

Finally, add this year's terribly funny photo with Santa!

I love that our mall Santa has different cards, and I absolutely love that they grabbed the "naughty" one when she started to cry. Perfection.

Not bad for a quicky!!

To check out the previous years' card, click here!

Fixing the Bathroom

Okay, okay...

I can't make you wait any more. But if you missed the steps, check out part 4 here.

Before, with its pink curtains, pink square tile, shelf mounted too high and utilitarian mirror...

After.

Faucet by Glacier Bay.

Shower curtain from Simon's.

Vessel Sink by Kohler (Vox)

Kitchen rail and hooks by Ikea, modified rail from wood to copper.

Baskets by Ikea

A quick copper sheet applied to the light fixture until I can decide on a light fixture.

Loki approved.

Now, as long as I don't turn around and look at the bathtub... it will look perfect!

That is a project for another day.

Breaking the Bathroom - Part 4

I decided on a sink!!

So the saga continues. If you missed the progress so far, check out part 3 here.

I found a beautiful sink online. It was the perfect height and proportion for my existing vanity. But I didn't like the sticker price. I ended up finding the same Kohler sink for a little less money at Wayfair.

I ordered it on a Tuesday and had it by Friday. Not bad at all.

The main problem is they didn't include the template, which apparently is a common review for this.

Luckily, I like math, did a few quick measurements and figured out the cutout size.

I used a jigsaw on the small cutouts and thanks to the tape, ended up with a nice clean cut.

Under the watchful eye of my favourite supervisor, we plopped the sink in and began to caulk the sink and the spaces where the tile meets the counter.

Maybe tomorrow I will share the full reveal?

Maybe. Maybe not...

Breaking the Bathroom - Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of Breaking the Bathroom. If you missed part 2, you can find it here.

After falling in love with, then waiting for my new tile to arrive for 2 months, the day finally came!

In order to put the new tile on, I first needed to remove the faucet and old sink. 

 

One last look at this old beauty.

Using a couple of putty knives and set to slowly scraping the old sealant off.

This takes a bit more time than you'd think... you need to very gently pry the sides up. Not shown is when I used a small piece of wood trim to hold up the front edge while I worked around the sides and back.

I cleaned off all the old caulk/sealant, and pulled out my mosaic tile. Thanks Ames tile for being amazing!!

Working in roughly 18" sections, I put on the thin-set, then used the notched trowel to take off the extra.

I started with one sheet high, knowing that I would want to fit the mirror frame first to ensure that the tile fit properly. 

I installed the mirror frame, which was super snug and perfect. I put down some painter's tape to protect the new frame, then was able to fit exactly one row of mosaics into the top space. 

Another 30 hours or so, and I started in on the grout. I chose a white on white look for subtlety. 

Then, I needed to look for a new sink. I agonized over this decision, because the lazy (and partly purist) part of me wanted to head to restore, find one that was the exact same size and plop it down. 

Check back tomorrow to see what I decided to do! 

Sorry, I know I suck with these "to be continued" endings.