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Monday, December 21, 2015

Christmas Decor in My Desert Cottage...pt 2

 Here is my little family room all dressed for Christmas. Since I started only putting up one tree, I switch back and forth between putting it in the Living room and the Family room.

 I love my cozy chair by the fireplace. It's great for reading or watching TV.

 The tree I use in here is flocked. I added burlap ribbon to it this year and I love the way it looks. Unfortunately it just doesnt photograph well with the light I have.

 My fireplace mantle is definitely the focal point.

 Vintage toys we have collected and saved from childhood go under the tree. It helps to keep the child-like wonder of Christmas even when there are no children in the house. (Unless you count my cute hubby!)

I love the graphic nature of this sign I got a few years back. I enjoy bringing it out every year.

I probably will not post again until after the new year. I hope you all have a very joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year. 
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!


Friday, December 11, 2015

My Desert Cottage in Romantic Country!

Remember about 6 or 7 months ago when I shared with you all the amazing experience I had when Fifi O'Neill and Mark Loehman came to my home and did a photo shoot for Romantic Country??
(If you missed that post, you can find it here)
Well... it's out on newsstands now! I have been searching every week to find it I finally did. :)

There are 10 whole pages and beautifully written article. I almost can't believe it!

They did such a nice job. I am very grateful for this opportunity and experience. 
If you are interested I found my issue at Walmart, but Barnes and Noble carries them too!

See you in couple days for more Christmas pics!!!




Monday, December 7, 2015

Christmas Decor in My Desert Cottage (pt.1)

 I thought I would go ahead and share a little holiday decorating with you all. I'm gonna start with the dining room, because for some reason it is my favorite room this year!

 I just love the way the garland looks on the china hutch. I have been trying to pair down the Christmas decor just a little bit (much to my hubbies chagrin) because I'm liking a slightly simpler look these days. 
This garland has nothing in it but the lights and pretty "BELIEVE" tags that I embellished and I am perfectly happy this way. I would love to be able to use real greenery but it is so dry hear that the real stuff only lasts about a week or two before it is dropping needles and dries up.

This is the living room. It's where I spend my mornings before the day gets started because it has more light than the family room. I kept the decorations pretty simple in here too, except for the garland which I love and go all out on.

Unfortunately its really hard to get a good shot of it. It has tons of snowflakes in it, as well as many that hang down and sparkle in the sunlight.

 This was the best shot I could get!!

 I also love the look of tons of glass ornaments of all sizes just piled together wherever I find space. These are in the hanging scale in the corner of the room.

 And these are in a glass cloche that looks like a terrarium.

This just a sparkly snow covered pick with a nest that I bring out every year. After I took this photo I realized it needed an "egg" so I put a vintage glass ornament in it. :)

I hope you are enjoying the season and having fun with your own decorations!

We'll visit the Family room next time!!!



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

My first product review! Firmoo Glasses

Several weeks ago I received an email from a company called Firmoo. They are a global company that makes eyeglasses. They asked me if I would like to receive a free pair of glasses and in exchange I would write a review on my blog about my experience. I have never done this and at first I was going to say no, but the company assured me that they wanted an honest post... good or bad. To be honest, they caught me at a really good time because I needed new glasses and holy cow, they are expensive in the stores!

So, I cautiously said yes and went the website to order my glasses. The process was very easy and actually fun. After I created an account, I got to play with all the different frames. I uploaded a photo of myself and "tried on" lots of them!!!
I picked one that was close in size to a pair that I had worn previously. (It's on the inside arm of the frame). They recommend that to be sure you do not pick a pair that is way to large or too small for your face. Ordering was very easy. If you have your prescription you can just fill out the form.

A couple weeks later I received my glasses in the mail. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with them!!! They are the lightest, most comfortable pair of glasses I have ever worn, and script is perfect.

 Here I am with my new glasses!! I like them so much, I am going to order more from them. Seriously, these glasses would have been less than $50.00. A pair from an eyeglass store would have been 3 or 4 times that. They even do bifocals and progressives
(which is what I will be ordering next. )

So if you need new glasses, I would say, give Firmoo a shot. I was very pleased with my experience. (no kidding!!)


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Glittery Bottle Brush Trees


The Christmas season is about the only time of year I really get my glitter on! From about October 1 until the end of January the floors in my house reflect exactly what is going on in my studio! There is glitter and mica everywhere!!! These Christmas trees are what I have been working on for the past couple of months. 

I love making these so much. It really is hard to let them go and put them in my shop at Rusty Saturday. All year I search for and collect little bits and baubles that will find there way into one of my Christmas trees.

 Sometimes I bleach the trees completely, and sometimes I like to leave a little color in them.


I use silver teapots too.

 This year I added some altered bottles into the mix as well. I've sold almost all the ones I made, so I think I'm going to need to make some for myself now!!


I made some more baby shoes too...  
One of my favorite things I made this year was this WISH* banner. It almost didn't make it into the store!! 
Hope you are all doing something fun for the holidays. I cant believe Thanksgiving is just over a week away!


Thursday, November 5, 2015

Faux Brick Wall Tutorial

I had a wall inside my space at Rusty Saturday that just did not make me happy. I didn't like the color or the lack of texture so I decided to change it. I love the look of old crumbling brick walls so I thought I would give that a try. Here it is all finished inside Rusty Saturday. I am really happy with the way it turned out and I thought some of you might enjoy doing this in your own booth space or even on an accent wall in your home.

 I started with panels that I purchased at Lowes. This is what they look like and let's face it... they aren't very attractive or real looking. I laid it out on a drop cloth on the floor. I needed to complete the panels at my home and then install at the store. If you are doing this in your house, and are going to need more than one panel width, I would recommend putting the paneling up first, and then painting.

 I just used the paint I had already at home. One was a semi gloss and one was a flat. Both worked fine. I think you will want a light creamy color. I also used black and old ochre (because that is what I had in house) but you will only use a tiny bit of those colors.

I painted a couple of rows with my light colored paints including the "grout" lines.

 Then I used a damp rag to remove a lot of the paint...

...and a dry brush to soften the lines left by the rag.

 As you are working your way down the panel, take another rag and further remove some of the paint on random bricks so that more of the red shows through. Let it dry. (It dries REALLY FAST)

 Then I got out my black and ochre colored paints.

 I started at the top of the panel again and added the black paint to random bricks.

 Then I used the creamy white or ochre to blend it a little bit.

I did the same with the ochre color, adding it to random bricks to give more variation of color.

Once the paint was dry again, I started adding the joint compound. You can find it at any home improvement store.

 I used a putty knife and just started smearing it randomly over the bricks. 

 Use as much or as little as like to get your desired effect. It's messy, but it cleans up really easily. I even used my hands to spread some it.

 This is the panel all dry and ready to be put up. The joint compound dries much whiter than it looks when it is wet.

After I hung the panels in the shop (with the help of my darling hubby) I decided they were too white and cool looking. I went back the next day and sprayed coffee all over the panel. Light in some areas and heavier in others. You can see the areas where I sprayed it on the left side of this photo. The water in the coffee made the joint compound soft again, but after it dried,  it was nice and hard again.

As I said, I am really happy with the finished results.

If you decide to try this, let me know if you have any questions.I'm happy to help if I can!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Military Bag Gets Girly. :)

It's always so much fun to see something I have created appear in print. It's kind of like an affirmation that something I have done was worth while. :)

Several months ago I was contacted by the editor of Haute Handbags. She said she had seen a post I had done on an upcycled army bag and asked if I would be interested in having it published.

Ummm. Yes, please!! So I sent her the bag and wrote the article and anxiously awaited it's publication. 

Yea!!! Here it is!!! It was really cool to see the way they styled the photos.


I am very happy and proud to add this great magazine to my (short) list of published works. :)

Here is a photo from the original post. If you would like to read that post you can find it here.


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