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Thursday, June 30, 2011

I'm July's porch of the month at Gypsy Brocante!

I'm so happy to announce that Jill from Gypsy Brocante has chosen my outdoor space for her July porch of the month feature! Jill is an amazing entrepreneur and sells the most lovely things on-line
and her blog is always chock full of eye candy!! Here are just a few pictures.....
(click on any photo to make it larger)


So if you haven't already been to Jill's lovely blog, hop on over,  say hi,  and see what the rest of my garden looks like these days!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

My Sunday...

Recently, we had some new friends over to the house.  As they were looking around the living room, one of them noticed the big metal letters hanging on the wall. "Oh, those are old signage letters my husband got off of a job site. I said. "They are his initials." Then my friend asked where my initial was. Well... I didn't have an answer because I didn't have one. There weren't any K's or V's at the job site. So, long story short... today I decided to remedy that.


It was a lovely Sunday spent in my pajamas, playing in the studio. FUN!!! FUN!!! FUN!!!!
So this is what I came up with....
I had one of those cardboard K's laying around in my stash of stuff and I covered it with lace bits that I got on my recent trip to Round Top as well as wedding gown scrap that my mom gave me from her time working in a bridal shop. I have been playing with encaustic wax and making altered bottles lately, so I used some of that wax to apply the lace. Then I printed out an old photo of me as a kid (I don't know why, but in this photo it makes me look like a little elf!! LOL!!) I added a metal rose I had and cut up an old necklace that had leaves dangling from a chain to add to it as well. The last step was a little sprinkle of gold German glass glitter. I really love working with the wax because there ism no glue involved. If you place something and you don't like it, you can just heat the wax to melt it, and reposition whatever you want to!!

I found a place for it on the shelf. I think it's so appropriate that my husbands initials are made of rusty metal and mine is made from lace. Well, there are still a few more hours of daylight... I'm gonna go play some more! Hope your Sunday has been as fun and relaxing as mine!!


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Belle Inspiration

Have you guys ever heard of Belle Inspiration????  That's probably because it's fairly new. It is an online magazine with everything from design to food and fashion, all in a lovely french style.
The creator of the magazine is the lovely Mimi Bleu who has the blog Bonjour Romance.
I first "met" Mimi over a year ago when she was first starting the magazine. I helped her with a few basic layouts and she has completely outgrown what I did for her and turned her vision into this lovely magazine.
A couple of months ago, Mimi asked if I would like to have an article in the magazine and I of course said,  I would love too!! The magazine has thousands of paid subscribers already, but I asked Mimi if she would share the May/June issue with all of you, and she said yes!!  Click here to go read the magazine for yourself to see how fabulous it is!!!

Enjoy!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Fun with Caromal Colours


Last weekend I was finally able to get around to a project I have been wanting to do for a long time.
I had a table on my back porch that was very plain. The lines were great but it was a plain light wood table that had been varnished. I really wanted to paint it, but I was not looking forward to all the prep work. You know, sanding the whole thing to make the paint stick and then cleaning off all the dust (again, so the paint will stick)  My friend Jan, from Lucy's Baby told me about a great line of paints that she had recently become a rep for. They are made by Country Living and are called Caromal Colors. So Jan told me all about them and I was definitely intrigued so I asked her to send me some. I am sooo happy she did!! I loved them.  There are several things about this paint I really liked.
First... No prep work!!! Yes, you heard me. I did not sand a single thing first. These paints are designed to stick to anything, porous or not!!!  The second thing I loved was how easy  it was to get the finish I wanted.  I don't know if you've ever tried to get that multiple layers of paint look, but for me it's always been really hard. I rarely get the look I am going after because latex paint is so rubbery and it's hard to get that "chipped away" look. So, because I was so impressed with this paint, I thought I would share the process with you all so you can go get some for yourself!!!  First I just smooshed the first layer of  Bayberry paint on. And yes, smooshing is an actual term they use to describe how to apply the paint!!!


It's really thick. Thicker than any paint you've tried before.  As you smoosh you will be creating texture. That's  a good thing. I didn't worry about complete coverage with the first coat as I was just going to cover it up.
After the first coat was completely dry (a couple of hours) I applied the Chipping Cream.  It's a clear paste that you put on between the coats of paint. It allows the second coat of paint to come through easier. 

After the chipping cream was completely dry I smooshed on the second paint color (Parchment). See all the texture?? It really goes against all the painting techniques I've ever learned but the results were fabulous. I went over it twice to be sure to cover all the green.

Next,  I broke out my Sander and went at at!! Sand as much or as little as you want.
The sanding smoothes out the finish, but there will be still be small lumpies and bumbies.
 


Now came the glaze. It filled in all the details on the table and added a wonderful aged look.
And here it is all done! I added a coat of finished wax to protect it, and love the buffed finish it gave the piece. Their paints are durable enough to be outside! (I would probably keep it in a covered area though.) I wish the photo could do it justice, because it came out fabulous. It was exactly what I wanted. If you want to try Caromal Colors paint for yourself go visit Jan.
I think she even has a coupon code on her site, and I'm sure she would be happy to answer any questions you might have. I will warn you... it's not the cheapest paint out there. But the time I saved doing prep work and the finished results I got made it definitely worth the cost.  I have a chair in my living room that I'm going to use their blue as the basecoat. I can't wait to use it again!!!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Where Bloggers Create 2011

Click here to visit the permanent links to all the participants for the 2011 Party!!!

Yes, my friends... It's party time !!!  Another year has come and gone and once again it is time to get those creative spaces ready for guests!! Last year over 300 crazy talented women (thats crazy talented, NOT crazy and talented... I'm the only crazy one around here! LOL!! ) signed up to participate. So be assured that the inspiration will be bountiful!!

As previously, the gals over at Where Women Create will be looking for future magazine stars, and all the rest of us will be satisfying our voyeuristic tendencies.

So, once again this is how it will work. If you want to participate leave me a comment on this post. If you have more than one blog, please specify which one you want me to link to. I will add your name to the list of participants on my sidebar. On the night before the party(July 14th), post your photos and stories about yourselves and your art. (This assures that the early risers or those bloggers in other parts of the world can see your post on time.) We all love lots of pictures so don’t be shy!!!! On the day of the party we will all meet here and you can spend the next few weeks blog hopping to visit everyone’s blogs and get a peak inside all the very wonderful and creative studios!!
Don't forget, it doesn’t matter if your space is big or small, it’s yours and that makes it special!!!

If you want to visit last years attendees, click here for the entire list. It will be available until this years party starts, and I begin linking the new posts.

I have quite a lot on my plate this year, so I will not be sending out confirmation emails. Please give me a few days to get your link placed on my blog. Then check back and make sure it's there. If it's missing please send me an email to let me know. Last year I had several folks who didn't leave me a way to get a hold of them, so please make sure your contact info is available.

Oh! And please take the party invitation located on the right sidebar and place it on your blog to help spread the word. If you want to do a post about it... that's wonderful!!!

WooHoo!!! Party on!!

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