Carving Craving

Have you ever 

yearned for.....

salivated over.....

desired.....

CRAVED.....

something?

(leave Ryan Gosling out of this)

Just KNEW...from the top of your ponytail to the bottom of your clogs....
that THIS.....this THING....was destined for you?

Have you looked at it for days....
weeks....
months?

Tried to convince the crotchety old guy sitting next to the potbellied stove 

that he needed to....

give you a break?

knock some money off?

stop being stingy....

with this thing of beauty that you NEEDED to possess?

If you ever have.....then maybe you can make...
a headboard (to replace the sheet of plexiglass there now)....? No

A gorgeous piece to put over the mantel to replace the piece there now? No

But, you could make something you've desired.....

Something EVERYONE else seems to have already
Something that says 
"welcome"
or "Merry Christmas" 
or "Joyous Spring"
or anything else your heart desires or feels.....

You could make.....a chalkboard.....
and you could hang it here......

Oh yes.....yes you could.....

Stay tuned for the reveal....




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Morning

Various projects are going on in the garage....
Not newsworthy yet....but it's hard to get myself going just now....
As a delaying tactic, I played around with my camera a bit......

The glassy-eyed kid eating Fruity Sparkles barely knew I was there.......

I waved my hand near him but he was totally engrossed in another time zone......

The Fruity Sparkles kicked in and he left for the bus.....
Time for more coffee......



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I'm A Shameless Copycat

How did we survive before Pinterest?
Or Facebook?
Or Tumblr?
Or photo editing?
Or blogs?
Or HGTV?
Or...... insert your favorite site here....

Seriously....one beautiful picture, vignette, party, arrangement, design, etc, etc, etc.......after another!

It's overwhelming to me....I don't know about you....

I tell myself I'm going to sit down and look at Pinterest (for example) and within two or three pictures, I'm so agitated and anxious to get Aunt Martha's (whatever) out of the attic and turn it into a gorgeous front door decoration or tablescape or towel holder or ribbon dispenser!!!!!

I'm in design overload most of the time!

I recently posted here about my all time favorite color, blue, in ALL it's permutations...from barely icy to full blown cobalt; from palest bluish green to vibrant head throbbing turquoise.

One of the pictures was from Pinterest (source unknown) and I loved it......

I decided I could replicate it if I could find enough bottles.....
I gathered anything glass that was blue......

And put them in a box......
Conveniently, there were some Christmas light strings still around so I added those.....my living room is a bit dark.....

I added in some clear glass too when I realized how pitiful my blue glass collection was.....

Eventually....after scouring closets and drawers....I had enough....

Not exactly the same....but close enough for me.....

Pinterest....

Me

And it looks quite pretty at night.......

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Farmhouse Table

The workshop is still humming here and so are the paintbrushes!
 I just finished this sweet farmhouse style table and dropped it off at the shop....

It's an antique maple table which was in really sturdy shape when I found it months ago.
It's been languishing in my garage until now.

There is probably a "before" pic somewhere but maybe not...
I've been trying to learn to snap a pic of everything I bring home, whether I am starting on it or not.
Because you know how it is.....you get inspired....you get excited....you start to work....and then...you slap your forehead and realize you didn't take a pic.......sorry.....

This was an instance of bleed through issues too. I sanded it to give it some "tooth" then used ASCP Pure White.....bleed through.....

So, I had to prime it with a latex primer first. 
Then I removed most of it before adding the graphic to the top....
I almost left it natural like the Tea Chest End Tables, but then really liked the stripped white paint look I was getting!

I made my own just using stencils and paint......

I finished it off with clear wax......

I love it.......

What do you think?

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What a Difference a Frame Makes

I come across all sorts of things when I'm out thrifting....I'm sure you do too.

Plastic Christmas decor that wasn't pretty even when it was actually still green instead of faded, pale teal....

Lids without bottoms and bottoms without lids.....

Silverware that has already been chewed by the garbage disposal....

You know what I'm talking about.....

Pretty soon I'm going to do a special post of what NOT to buy at the thrift...once I have enough evidence that is.....

Recently I found this canvas portrait in a fantastic frame.....

All these old portraits have sad looking people in them and these children are no exception......

Obviously dear old Dad is standing nearby threatening a whipping if they don't stand still for the outrageously expensive portrait person or something.......

The garish gold frame didn't help......

I wasn't sure if there were people like me who buy pictures of other peoples dead relatives but I bought it anyway.......

At first, I thought I'd just turn it into a chalkboard but then I decided to go ahead and paint it first and see if the kids looked any better......

They did I think......much better.....

It's possible now that there is another person out there wanting to live the Downton Abbey Life and they might want these faux ancestors.....

The thing is...if you WANT the Downton Abbey life, then the picture of Uncle Frank on the back steps with a huge grin and a bottle of beer doesn't cut it.

Neither does your great-grandmother standing next to the Ford DeSoto lifting her skirt so you can see her garter......not good if you want to impress the Dowager.....

Those are the kinds of pictures I have in my stash......

You HAVE to have things like this....posed, unhappy portraits.....I'm telling you....take my word for it.....

So, just like the nouveau riche who invaded Europe......if you don't have history...BUY IT....

I'm taking them to the shop.......these sad kids might make someone smile.....




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Spring Scrooge

Allow me to introduce myself...
I am the one who you will be hating very soon...
When I tell you that I am praying for just a bit more cold weather.....
because I'M NOT READY.....
Let me repeat....

I - am - N-O-T  R-E-A-D-Y....

Oh, I used to be ready...
before I had some kids move in.....
and started a business.....
and moved to this new HOPPING (OK, fine, ONE Spring word doesn't count) booth space

I used to walk around my yard and excitedly look for spring buds.....

WAIT...what is that next to the daffodil bud??

Holy crapola.....MORE? Already??
We just had snow last week! Not Fair!!

I decided immediately that something needed to be done....

So I did the NORMAL creative person type of thing and...

Made pots......

Hey, this is MY blog and if I want to make pots instead of pull weeds I WILL....

Cute pots....

With cute numbers.....I guess so you can remember which pot is which?...

 I just go with the flow....I don't ask why....

With chalk paint.....

and numbers ....

And some wax......

So I am officially..... 

THE SPRING SCROOGE

Go ahead and hate me....I can take it

Hit me with your best pot.....

( I HAD to say it)

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British Tea Chest End Tables

I hope you're sitting down....
Me...the chalk paint gal....

see here

the milk paint gal

see here and here

The spray paint gal

decided to do a project with NO PAINT

I thought my husband was actually going to do a cartwheel in the garage.....seriously...

I found a pair of end tables that made me think of wooden chests...

They were a lovely shade of brown with some previously done distressing......

lovely for the right customer I suppose....like ME

I envisioned this however........

I had every intention of painting them...really....
I only sanded the top at first....

I added the graphics ...and distressed it back a bit.....
I used stencils which I traced and painted for the top graphics and used graphite paper transfer for the LONDON and Since 1707 graphic portion.

London is courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.....I ADORE this person....

Now here comes the fun part....

I decided to use paint on the body of the chest......

however, the next morning I woke to find it was all bubbled and didn't take.

I don't have a picture of that part....

I'll keep my misery to myself I think....

...sigh...

So, I scraped off the paint and had to sand off the part that DID stick.

At that point I decided I was going to sand the entire cabinet and think about what to do.

In between breaks from sanding and more sanding....

I applied some AS Dark Wax to the top 

and realized I loved the stripped, old look I was getting!

See....working on furniture is like that sometimes...

trial and error.....

Could it be? Was it possible? 

I was going to do an unpainted piece of furniture..

yes I was....

After sanding and applying dark wax.....that was it....

I was finished....

I added some graphics to the drawers......

sprayed the metal legs with Rustoleum's Hammered Bronze

Oh no....I used paint!!

I'm a big fat liar!!

OK, well ALMOST a non-paint project.....

And my two tables are finished!

Yes, I know the knobs are missing...they weren't quite dry and I was SO anxious to get the pic because they are going into the shop today!

One day I'll actually have it all together....

maybe.....

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Calligraphy Desk

I promised I would show you the desk that went with that Calligraphy Chair I did earlier in the week so here it is...

I forgot to take a before picture but you can trust me...it was just brown.....and boring...

I painted the table with my 50/50 blend of ASCP Paris Gray and Pure White.

Before any waxing, I applied my graphic.

I used a different calligraphy than the chair. 
This one is also from Karen at The Graphics Fairy.

This time after I enlarged it, I transferred the image using graphite paper.

Then, I began the tedious process of painting...it took several hours because the design was so intricate.

I really loved this graphic so I thought it was worth it.

All done....

Isn't that just gorgeous? It was almost a shame to sand it....but I did.

Then I used the Miss Mustard Seed Antique Wax to age it a bit....

followed by some MMS Furniture Wax.

I know the pics aren't the best (darn flourescent light) but I had to take advantage of my 14 yr old's help this morning to get it into the shop. 

Consequently I had to take pictures in situ, if you will....

Hopefully you can still appreciate how pretty it is....

I think it's so lovely and I wish I could keep it!

I guess I need to keep my eyes out for another desk....and do one just for me!


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Calligraphy Chair

I am a HUGE fan of beautiful calligraphy.

I would LOVE to know how to actually do Spencerian script.

I bought my husband a beautiful fountain pen years ago and he just found it so I could try my hand at script writing...

I say "just" but it's actually been weeks ago that he gave me the pen....

I just haven't had time to play with it yet...sigh...

Soon...I hope...

In the meantime, I'll satisfy myself with using some of the pretty calligraphy graphics I've collected from different sources.

One of my all time favorite sites is (of course) the Graphics Fairy.

Karen has a HUGE collection of graphics that she very generously shares with anyone!

When I found three of these chairs, I knew they needed to be made especially pretty.

The lines are so graceful...

No ornamentation meant I could go crazy with anything I wanted to add!

I painted it with a 50/50 mixture of ASCP Pure White and Paris Gray

and distressed with Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax.

I prefer this wax for any project I do using a gray tone because it has black undertones rather than brown as the AS dark Wax has.

I chose this calligraphy to use on the seat from my computer file.

First, I reversed the print and enlarged it on a laser printer.

Then, I transferred it to canvas using Citra-Solv.
I LOVE this method for transferring images to fabric. It's super easy.
There are tutorials on the Graphics Fairy site.
I bought a small bottle of Citra-Solv a couple years ago. 
At the time I thought it was SO expensive. I think I've used maybe 1/2 cup total over the past two years and I've transferred TONS of images. 
The method uses VERY little of the product, so try your hand at it.
It smells just wonderful! Like oranges!

Graphics Fairy

I used some fabric for the back which resembled grain sack fabric,

and made a trim using some of the smaller stripe portion of the fabric.

The back received the same treatment although it didn't need trimming.

I am so pleased with how it turned out!

I'm working on a matching desk. 

I'll show you that as soon as I finish!

This pair of shutters is going to get an advertising graphic eventually!

Hoping to get both pieces into the shop tomorrow!

How do you like it?

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