New Roof Starts Today!

Thanks to everyone who offered an opinion on what color we should get for our new metal roof. After much deliberation, we finally decided on "Koko Brown." We were afraid we'd get tired of a color like red or green, and thought we'd be safer with a neutral. Also, I saw a few houses in the area with bricks similar to ours and with brown roofs, and they looked nice.

So...here it is!! My dad & uncle drove to Athens yesterday to pick up the materials, and my uncle will be starting on our new roof today. I can't wait to see the finished product and listen to the rain on our new metal roof!

Home Repairs: Opinions Wanted!

After discovering a leak in our roof a couple of weeks ago and calling up our insurance agent about it, we we were told that we needed a whole new roof. Even though they are only paying for the cost of a shingled roof, we have decided to go ahead and pay the difference and get a metal one. My uncle will be doing the work for us and hopefully will be able to get to it this week. I'm excited and know that our house will look much nicer once it's finished.

The problem we have now is picking a color. Below is a picture of the front of our house, and below that are some of the colors we have available to us. (Click for bigger images.) Brandon & I have differing opinions on what we think would look the best. I won't post them yet, though, because I'd love to know what everyone else thinks. Please leave a comment or send me a message with your opinion. We have to decide in the next day or two so we can get the metal and get the project rolling.

PS: We wouldn't be opposed to changing the shutters to match the roof if what we pick doesn't look right with green.

In addition to needing a new roof, the leak caused damage to the ceilings and walls in both of our bathrooms. (The leak was going directly between two walls.) Again, insurance is paying to replace the sheetrock, etc, but we have wanted to remodel our bathrooms for quite some time and so are going to go ahead and do it now. Our friend Matt will be doing the work, and we know he will do a great job! We probably won't begin that for a few more weeks, though, so more details on the bathroom project later.

Mini Album

I've been working on this a little bit at a time for a while now. I wanted a mini album to put on my desk at work, and this is what I came up with. The pages are made from plain coasters I purchased for 10 cents each a few years ago.

I got the inspiration for the woven heart on the cover from a recent Creating Keepsakes magazine. I wove the ribbon into a rough square and then placed the negative from a heart I cut out with my Cricut over that. I punched holes around the perimeter and sewed it with embroidery floss, and then I cut the outside shape around the whole thing. It was time consuming, but I love the results! I would like to come back later and attach a charm or our initials to the heart, but I don't have just the right item in my stash at the moment.

The journaling is actually the lyrics from a song in our new song book. I cried the first time I heard it...It's beautiful! (Click the picture for a bigger image if you'd like to read it.)

For these two pages, I ran plain brown cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the "Floral Fantasy" embossing folder before attaching it to the coasters.

I think this is my favorite page. I love the combo of rub-ons and flowers! The cardstock is shimmery, although that doesn't really show in the photo.

Hearts were cut out of the same glittery cardstock that I used for the covers using the "Home Accents" cartridge and my Cricut.

I might come back and add a little something to the back cover later. For now, it's just glittery!