Spring Canvas

With all this nice February weather, I have been in the mood to get my spring decorations out.  I found a 20 x 20 canvas on major clearance last summer and knew it would eventually come in handy.  I created a design of what I wanted to put on the canvas and cut out my vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo.

 This is the canvas I bought, not exactly my style, but I couldn't pass up the bargain price.

 I cut out the circle frame first and weeded all the parts out that I didn't want.

 Then I transferred it to the canvas.

 It is super important to brush a thin layer of mod podge over the vinyl to seal the edges.  This helps keep the edges down so when I paint, it doesn't run under the vinyl.

 I spray painted the canvas with Krylon Chalky Finish Colonial Ivory and made sure it was completely dry.  Then I peeled up the orange vinyl to reveal the colored circle design.

 I chose to cut the word design out of a darker purple and centered it in the middle of the circle.  At least I think it's centered... I always have a hard time with that part!

 Tada!  Here is the finished canvas that will join my other spring decor on the mantel.

Keep checking back for a post on my spring decorations!  My goal this afternoon is to get my winter stuff put away and my spring stuff out.

Beautiful February

It has been gorgeous this week, so I have been seeing a lot of this as I get back into running this year.

This is my cheer section...

 I just love being able to see what seems to be endlessly.

These three keep me company in the morning hour (and protect me from all the scary mountain lions.)  At least I feel safer with them tagging along.

 One February morning at 7:00 it was already 64 degrees so I was able to run in short sleeves, in the morning, in February!!

 I get a kick out of Ozzie.  Whether we are on our way down the driveway or back up he makes a pit stop at these trees lining the driveway.  They have little shoot branches that are growing from the bottom and he loves to walk around the tree several times to scratch his back.

On Saturday Jacob worked putting anhydrous on the fields and since it was so beautiful, I took advantage of the weather and cleaned out the garage and my freezers.  We have our spring flowers already out of the ground about 2 in. so we are planning on the weather staying nice... cross your fingers.  Sunday, Jacob & I and his cousin Aaron & Maria went to Wolf Creek's Environmental Area and walked several trails there.  Did I mention the weather has been supreme?!  We then hit up Pizza Hut for supper.  We are looking forward to another week!

Special Visitors

We had some very special visitors this weekend!

We spent many hours making Valentine cards.

Uncle Jake roasted hot dogs for lunch in the fire place.

We got to help move cattle.  Good thing we had Skipper to help us out!

 Queen on the left and Princess on the right.

 We played church...

...and this is what was served for lunch.

She is such a ham!  We were snap chatting with an Uncle.  See the conversation below :)

The littlest one was such a good baby all weekend.  I enjoyed getting to snuggle and spoil her too!

 Uno and Candy Land were the games of choice.

We made pink camo cupcakes to take to Nathan at work since he doesn't have a Valentine.

So sweet!  I miss them already!

I'm Back!

After a much needed break from the blog world, I'm back!  We had an eventful past 4 months and are hoping for a much calmer 2016!  Jacob's Grandpa Luthi passed away about a week before Christmas.  He was such a great Grandpa and we miss him dearly.

He was our supervisor when we made apple cider this fall.

Another beautiful sunset in Kansas.  We have the best!

Jacob helping me fulfill one of my crafty wishes.  We built this sign together.

Knapp Christmas was eventful, as always!  Mom made all the grandkids pajamas, so they are pretending to be asleep.  Apparently some of them are just happy sleepers.  I'm pretty sure I don't smile in my sleep! 

One of my favorite pictures from the whole weekend.  This is so typical! 

We had to have an arm wrestling contest with the littles.

Dad's styling his new grilling apron.

Haley's Birthday

Beautiful cake.

Beautiful girl.

Jacob welding horseshoes together for another one of my projects.  He's such a handy husband!

We went to West Bend several weeks ago and Jacob brought along a project to work on with the boys.  It shouldn't take too long, he said... 8 hours later and this contraption came home with us never to be taken down again.

Colton's Birthday

Another amazing cake.

Can you imagine this squirt being a drummer?  I may need to get Liz a set of ear plugs for her birthday...

Guess who made this adorable Groundhog Day Cupcake.  Yep.  Liz is super talented!

Annual Valentine's Day Supper

Our annual Valentine's Day supper with the other young couples from church was hosted by Victor and Hope this year and we got spoiled!  Here is what lobster looks like before you cook it.  I had to get that mental image out of my head in order to actually eat it.  You could seriously see all the little legs underneath...

The table... and the men waiting patiently for the meal to be prepared.

It was a fascinating for us all watching the lobster cook.

Our plate... Lobster, filet mignon, asparagus, twice baked potato, and a red lobster biscuit.  I did not get a picture of dessert (oops!  It was delicious!), but it was a chocolate lava cake.

Grandpa Luthi collected tractors and wanted to leave one to each of his grandson's.  They drew out of a hat which one they each got.  He ended up with the John Deere 2030, I believe.

And one last picture... Grandpa had a great hiding spot for his "hide-a-key" if he lost his truck keys.  He continues to make us laugh months later.

I know that was a quick catch up, but I'm looking forward to keeping you more up to date with the Knobloch's from now on.  Hope you all have a blessed new year.