Another Way to Transfer Photos

In an earlier post I showed you how to transfer photos to wood.  I mentioned that I would show you yet another way to transfer photos.  As promised, here it is.  This way is much cheaper because you don't have to buy iron transfer paper, but requires precision.  You will need freezer paper {not wax paper}, a piece of printer paper, spray adhesive, an ink jet printer, and a photo or image to print out.  I used an image from the Graphics Fairy.  If you are using words be sure to mirror your image so you can read what you transfer.

First take a piece of freezer paper that is a little larger than an 8.5x11 piece of paper.  Use the spray adhesive on the regular paper and attach it the NON waxy side of the freezer paper.

Next, trim the edges of the freezer paper down to 8.5x11 so you can run the paper through your printer.

Print your image so that the image prints on the WAXY side of your paper.  Be careful not to touch the image once it is printed so it won't smear.

I used a wood circle that I painted with acrylic paint.  I used the same steps as I did in my previous photo transfer project.  I also marked the edges of my design so I could tell where I wanted to place it on my wood circle.  Then use a damp rag and slightly wet the surface you are going to transfer the image too.  In this case I wet the wood circle.  Very carefully lay your image EXACTLY where you want and use a a credit card or something hard to burnish your image.  I used an Uppercase Living transfer tool.  DO NOT MOVE YOUR IMAGE OR IT WILL SMEAR.  When you are done burnishing lift your wax paper straight up off the wood.

As you can see, I had a little bit of smearing, but I can live with it.  Vintage right!!!  I did not put any sealer on this yet, but I would probably use a spray for best results.

There you have it.....another way to transfer an image.  I have my little sign displayed in my bathroom with my prized towels {the ones you really don't let the kids or hubs use because they are too pretty}.  I got my towels here.  I hung some divided baskets and then adorned my TP and towels with some twine. Now that is some fancy TP huh??!!??

OHHHH, I almost forgot.  You can simply wipe off the waxy side of the freezer paper with water and reuse it for another project.  Awesome stuff I tell ya!!!!!

If you would like to keep up with the happenings on the farm, my projects, and recipes be sure to LIKE me on facebook!!!  Yes, I finally started a page for my blog!!!!
{{{HUGS}}}

BIG News....well for me

If you have read my blog you are probably aware of my on going laundry saga.  Yep, laundry is a big deal at this house.  I am a farm wife, therefore I constantly have the normal everyday dirty clothes to wash plus chore clothes covered in cow poop, grease, and oil.  I am never caught up on laundry.....EVER.  Okay, maybe once in awhile I get it all done, but I swear it only lasts for five minutes.  You can read about my laundry saga here, here, here & here.

Mondays and Thursdays are my days off from work so I do the majority of my laundry then.  I try to do one load every night so I don't get so far behind.....like one load makes a difference...LOL.  Well, I was doing laundry on one of my days off and my dryer started acting up or maybe I should say overacting.  It wouldn't turn off!!!  I think this could be a fire hazard.  I am one that throws a load in the dryer and walks out the door to go do my errands.  I didn't feel comfortable doing leaving the house while the dryer was running so this started causing me to be...well....irritated.  I was having to babysit my clothes dryer....REALLY.  When we purchased the dryer it was used.  I am sure it has done its fair share of laundry over the years and was ready to move to the "bone" pile.

I told my hubs years ago that  the next time I have to buy a new washer or dryer I was getting both.  My washing machine is small capacity and I find it to be very unpractical for a family of six.  When my last washing machine quit my hubs went to the local appliance store and bought one because we can't be without one.

So, let me introduce you to my new friends.  We are still getting to know one another, but so far I have a PAIR of new friends.

Purdy huh!!!  I ended up going with a beautiful pair of Maytags.  I was planning on getting LG because they seemed to have fairly good reviews.  I am sad to say that when I was reading reviews I never read any on Maytag.  I had it stuck in my head that I was going to go with LG or Whirlpool.  When the hubs and I got to our local appliance store I browsed all they had.  I mentioned that I was leaning toward the LGs.  They mentioned that their repair man refuses to work on LG brand appliances.  The repair man has to pay for the parts up front and then is reimbursed by LG THREE months later!!!  I guess I can't blame him for not working on them!!  I wanted to be sure to have a repair man close {remember we live in the sticks} and they recommended the Maytag or Whirlpool.  With new appliances I hope I don't need a repair man for a long time!!!!!!

I would love to give you full blown review of my new friends, but we are still getting to know one another.  They are from the Maytag Maxima line and I LOVE that they are LARGE capacity.  The washing machine is soooo quiet that I find myself checking on it like I would a sleeping baby.  I am impressed with how much cleaner my whites seem to be.  There is a setting for Whitest Whites.  I love that if I have a stray article of clothing that I forgot I can pause the machine and toss it in.  I would hate if I didn't have that feature.  The dryer only takes about 30 minutes to dry a normal load {jeans take a little longer....and there is a setting for denim}.  I'm loving the wrinkle preventer.  It also has steam, but I haven't used that yet.  I have only had the set for a week, but I can tell you that I am in love!!!!!

In the midst of my appliance love I also have another love....CARPET!!!!!!  My carpet if finally in.....no more cold feet in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly contain myself!!!!

P.S. I was not paid by Maytag to talk their product up.....I really love them and Maytag doesn't even know I exist.  That's all.

{{{HUGS}}}

Transfer Photos to Wood....AND a Little Rambling

If you are visiting from Pinterest I would like to thank you for taking time to check out my project!!!  I have another method on transferring an image which you can check out here.  You can now keep up with The Farmer's Wife on facebook by liking my page!!!  Thanks again for stopping!!!

Okay I am warning you this is a long post because I feel like being a chatty Cathy.   Therefore, a little bit of rambling before I get to the project....

In our household lately we have managed to have three kids get hit with ear infection.  OUCH!!!!  It is something we have dealt with a lot.  All of our kids have battled ear infections and our oldest two daughters got their first ear infection at 1 week and 3 weeks old.  I have a "newer" understanding for these poor kids because when I was pregnant with our son {who turned 5 yesterday.....waahhhhh my baby is growing up too fast} I got one heck of an ear infection and tylenol did not help with the pain.  It was probably the most painful thing ever.  I would have rather been in labor.  It wasn't that the pain was extremely severe, but it was constant and I didn't feel any relief for 3 days.  Needless to say, I have grumpy kiddos lately....and I TOTALLY understand.  Then throw a flu bug on top of that and you can about imagine what it has been like around here.

We had the unfortunate event of having our sewer back up right before Christmas.  Could this be linked to the recent illnesses going on in our house??!!??  The insurance adjuster came and said to remove all the carpet {ugh...we remodeled our entire house 3 years ago which included NEW carpet}.  We then had to have a professional cleaning service come in and spray chemicals to kill off any bacteria.  They brought in fans and dehumidifiers along with large sheets of plastic to section off the basement.  It sounded like we had a jumbo jet taking off in our basement for three days.  I had big plans to get the new carpet in right away so we could get back to "normal".  After searching for carpet that would compliment the basement stairs {yes, I am VERY picky} I finally found THE ONE!!!  Well, THE ONE was out of the budget that the insurance would allow....however we can pay the difference.  Then I find out the carpet installers are booked 6-8 weeks out....UGH!!!  My plan of having this carpet installed within a couple weeks of our "back up" was not going my way.  So here we are 2 months later and guess what??????......I still don't have carpet!!!!

I decided it was time to get a new comforter for our bed.  The walls in our bedroom were kind of a deep terra-cotta color.  I remember the color sample said Firewood.  My thought was to get something neutral so I didn't have to paint the walls.  After painting ever square inch of our house inside and out I really have had no desire to paint.  I found this quilt and loved it!!!  It was on sale for an incredible price so I ordered it along with the pillows and shams.  However, they were out of the Euro Shams which totally disappoints me so I have been on the hunt for something similar with the same great price they offered.  I haven't had luck finding anything....yet.

After putting the new quilt on our bed and admiring it I started to get the urge to paint.  So within 20 minutes of that urge I headed to the hardware store to grab some paint samples....you know......to get some ideas.  A half hour after visiting the hardware store I headed home with a couple  samples gallons of paint.  I justified this because I figure it is much easier to paint without the carpet in so I might as well do it NOW.

While waiting for paint to dry {literally} I decided to tackle a photo project.

I started out with a decorative board I bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.

I lightly sanded the board so it would be smooth to make the photo transfer easier.

Then I gave it one coat of walnut stain.

Next I gave it a light coat of white paint.  After the paint was dry I lightly sanded the edges to give it the shabby look and allow the color of the stain to show through.

Now for the fun part.  I decided on a black and white photo of my girls and printed it off on fabric transfer paper to my desired size.  I allowed to ink to dry completely.  PLEASE NOTE: If you do this project and your photo or design has wording you will need to mirror your image.  You can do this in a photo editing program or possibly in your printer set up.

Next I traced the shape of my board on the back of the printed photo and cut it out.

I lined up the photo on the board {photo facing the board} and used an iron on the highest setting {DO NOT USE STEAM} and ironed the photo transfer paper for a couple minutes making sure to burnish it as I went.  After the paper is heated up gently pull the paper back.  If it is not separating gently put the paper back down and iron some more.  I found it worked best to keep the iron on the paper while pulling it up {as shown in the photo below}.

You can see that some of the transfer paper was not quite ready and I have a little peeling effect going on.  I was able to smooth it up a little.  Don't rush and hopefully you won't have that happen!!

The finished project looks shabby and I love it.  I attached some black ribbon to compliment the black and white photo and hung it on my wall.

  I have another method of transferring photos to wood that I will share once I finish it.  Thanks for stopping by.

Ohhhhh

{{{HUGS}}}

Cold Calves

The plan for our household this morning didn't go as planned.  Part of living on the farm.  Our middle daughter had a basketball game in a town 30 minutes away.  My hubs asked me to bring her to the farm and he would take her from there.  When we arrived at the farm where my hubs was checking cows he asked me if we had any colostrum.  Uh oh, that means we have a newborn calf in trouble.  He also said he was going to have to pull a calf.  The newborn calves took priority and we did not head to the game.  I headed home to mix up the colostrum in the tuber {esophageal feeder} and grabbed a couple more kids to come watch.

When I returned to the farm the heifer had her calf on her own so we didn't have to pull it.  The baby calves were so cold because the temperature was a whopping TWO degrees out.  You can see the steam coming off the wet baby calves when it is this cold.  Both of these new babies were born to first calf heifers {meaning they have never had a calf}.  First calf heifers can be kind of stupid because this is a new thing for them and they are not sure what to do {kind of like being a first time parent}.  If the heifer doesn't claim the calf we end up with a bucket calf.

My hubs decided to go ahead an tube both the new babies because the heifers didn't seem to be interested in the calves.

As soon as the older calf got some yummy in his tummy he stood up to discover the surroundings a little more.

Then the calf started walking around looking for his mommy.  His mommy was standing off in the distance and noticed the calf was up and moving around.

The other heifer took notice as well and headed back over to her newborn calf and started to lick the calf.  This is what is suppose to happen!!!  The mother cow licks the calf dry to help warm them up.

The other heifer finally decided to head over and take claim to her calf. 

 All is good!!!

{{{HUGS}}}

The Farmer's Wife