BUSY BUSY BUSY

Just a quick note to all of my friends and Fans out there. My blogging seems to have taken a backseat to my busy schedule! From refinishing, creating, and hunting down awesome treasures to being a mother and taxi-ing kids to this practice or event to the next one I have neglected my blog! Don't give up on me yet though! I have some great projects to share this next week. If you are curious about what I have been up to check out my Facebook I always post my creations there.

See you soon and HAPPY SPRING!

Word Of The Year

Last year, I read an inspiring post from The Lettered Cottage. The article was about choosing a word of the year, the instructions were

"choose one word that has the potential to inspire you and create intention in your life, all year long"

For 2012 my word was EXPERIENCE and it was a perfect word for me in my both my personal life and my business life. In my personal life I really did choose to experience every moment as it came I laughed, cried, and enjoyed every moment of my family. In my business I gained experience, I learned so much and I have grown to new heights.

For 2013 I have chosen my word; STRIDE.

Google defines stride as:

stride  

Verb Walk with long, decisive steps in a specified direction: "he strode across the road".

Noun A long, decisive step.

To me this word defines what my business goals are for 2013. I will continue to grow my business in STRIDE. I will walk with purpose and thought, I will achieve a steady effective pace, and when I hit a setback I will take that in STRIDE too. 

This past year, thanks to Facebook and Blogging, I have been inspired by many of you fellow; furniture painting, junk repurposing, crafting, fearless, brilliant, and amazing divas across this big world. I am proud to be a woman with a dream and I think it's a wonderful thing to see so many other women that share the same dream. So I am sure many of you will hit your STRIDE as well and achieve awesome things! 

What will your word be? I challenge you to choose a word to inspire you this year and share it with others. 

I have BIG DREAMS and I expect to reach them one day, for now I will catch my STRIDE and continue to move in a positive direction. 

HERE'S TO A HAPPY 2013!

Chippy Wonderfulness!

I know most DIY folks are really excited about Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, I am too! My first project with the Milk Paint turned out great I followed Marion's tutorials and got to work. This was my project....

I wanted to paint the dresser above in the Milk Paint but I was worried that it might not get the CHIPPY look I was after because the the finish on the dresser was very flat. I asked some friends of mine, what their experiences were with the paint. I was told that the shinier the surface the more CHIPPY effect I would get.  I was also told I could use vaseline under the paint in the spots I was trying to achieve CHIPPINESS. I decided to do an experiment to see what Pre-Finished surface gets you that CHIPPY look!

These are the treatments I experimented with:

Raw Wood

Satin Poly

Semi-Gloss Latex Paint

Stain with Gloss Poly

MMS Clear Furniture Wax

Chalk Paint

Metallic Spray Paint

Vaseline

I then painted 1 coat of Milk Paint over the top the experiment.

Here are the results:

I will be doing some more experiments soon on the Vaseline...It gets REAL CHIPPY but I need to decide how I will control that a bit. 

I decided to go use the Clear Furniture Wax on my dresser first, then I used Kitchen Scale MMS Milk Paint  and Linen MMS Milk Paint on top of the wax.....I obviously waxed again to finish off the dresser. 

I think I am in love with all this CHIPPY WONDERFULNESS! 

THANK YOU Miss Mustard Seed for making such a great Milk Paint!!!

To find out more information on MMS Milk Paint check out her website: www.missmustardseedsmilkpaint.com

Inspired By Katy Lopez

One of my mothers co-workers did this great redo and wrote an article all about it in their employee newsletter. I decided to share it with all of you because I love seeing these kind of makeovers. This is proof that anyone can use the things they already own, combine it with some creativity, a little hard work, and have great results!!!

Great Job Katy!!!!!

Thanks for letting me share.

Let me give you a little background.   My idea to refurnish my nasty 1970’s poker table came about because of our recent move into a new home. The new dining area in the kitchen is considerably smaller than my space in my old house.  Previously my large square dinner table occupied the kitchen space and my poker table was placed in the formal dining area.  This worked well because I could ignore it, and used it as a craft table for my kids.  My thought was to make the poker table “pretty” so I could use it everyday without wanting to throw it out on the curb or smash it with a hammer.  I know this might be a shock to most of you, because well yes, I like to spend money…so for me to actually consider recycling something instead of getting something new is novel.  Let’s have a moment of silence to my new maturity level.

I wish I had a complete “before” picture of the table, but my over-productive and extremely lovely husband moved the table and broke it apart for refurnishing before I could say anything.  But I’m sure you can imagine what it looked liked from these photos.  Not bad, but not my style… AT ALL.   

My first idea was to keep the legs

and acquire antique feet to replicate this look

Well, what I thought would be a great idea and any easy find turned out to be well, still a great idea, but extremely hard to locate parts to complete project.  So after a long day of store hopping with three children and 3 adults, I ended up purchasing a table for $50 bucks... well the bottom half of a table because I gave the top part to the store helper who had a strong aroma of alcohol… hummm. 

My first step was to sand and prep the veneer.  I accidentally took all of it off the poker table side...ooops, miner set back.   I then applied the primer I painted it with a really pretty yellow I used in my laundry room.  After much debate with my husband about keeping it the yellow I decided to still paint it blue because who doesn’t want a blue table?  I applied two coats of the blue and after the blue dried it was time to antique the table.  Yeah!!!  First I got all crazy with my bad self and sanded the edges and corners and then I mixed a light wood stain with glaze and applied the mixture to the table with a cloth.  This technique I decided was a neat way to antique something, but way too dirty looking for me.  So after applying the mix, my husband and I spent time trying to remove most of the glaze and stain. LOL.  (he loves me ;).  Now was the fun part, do I seal with polyurethane or do I seal with wax?  I went with wax. Why not, wax on wax off right?  NOTE: When you apply the wax, do not think it is a good idea to go to sleep without polishing the wax off.  Well, as you can imagine, it dried and my powder puff arms could not sand off all the wax globs. So, what did I do next you ask?  I decided I needed some umph and took myself to the auto parts store to get a buffer that attaches to a drill.  (Yes, the boys in the shop laughed at me and thought I was nuts when I told them what I wanted to do, silly boys)  The buffer got off all the nasty globs and smoothed it out and after applying two more coats to the table top, I was done!!!

Yeah!  So lets recap.  I spent $50 for a half of a table and $20 for a can of paint (I had the other supplies at home) I had to apply one layer of wood filler (for the side I took the veneer off. Major fowl! Just super glue that bad stuff down if it starts to peel),four coats of paint, one coat of glaze/stain, and three coats of wax. 

But most importantly I started off with this…

                                                        and I ended up with this!! 

                       

Mixin' it UP!

So one day I was browsing around the internet and I came across this AMAZING blog, called 'Round the Coop. This very nice lady named Deborah had created Color Recipes for Chalk Paint. It was AWESOME! I am a girl who loves change and even though I love the color selection on the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint line I also loved the idea that a new chapter of my furniture painting life was about to open! With Deborah's BRILLIANT recipes I could do amazing things! 

I started testing her recipes right away!

My first batch of color mixin' was DEEP PURPLE and BUTTER. I loved the results! (I forgot to take pictures) I was so inspired I started mixing up everything!

Antibes and Coco

Antibes and Coco small table

Emperor's Silk and Antoinette  

Emperor's Silk and Antoinette are the pink accents


I was searching for the perfect Grass Green recipe for a hutch in my home that has been on my to do list for years (still is..LOL) I saw on the Color Recipe page that you could contact Deborah and request for her to create a recipe for you. I was soooooooo excited!
I sent her message one evening telling her about this GRASS GREEN I was looking for, and then BAM! The next morning I had a picture of the perfect green and a recipe in my emails. She was lightening fast at responding to my request!!! 

Recipe is up on Color Recipe page!

Deborah and I chatted back and forth via email......She is soooo NICE! and she is Cali girl just like me! She is on the Southern end and I am on the North end! 

My inspiration continues. I am constantly mixin up new color concoctions in my shabby shop. Here is some more pictures of what I have done....

Greek Blue and Old White

Provence and Antibes

Provence, Duck Egg, and Aubusson

Thanks for Inspiring me Deborah from 

'Round the Coop!!! 

I hope all of you reading this blog get out there and mix something really cool up! 

The paint even likes being mixed!

Fun with Maison de Stencils!

I have played around with stencils quite a bit, and I love them! Mostly I have just used the stencils from local craft stores, but I wanted to branch out and try some of those fancy stencils that are available online. A friend suggested I check out Maison de Stencils. I fell in love with their stencils! They have a great selection of gorgeous stencils! I contacted Laura, owner of Maison De Stencils about doing a special blog post all about their amazing product and she was happy to provide a stencil of my choice! I also purchased a coordinating stencil, because I knew I was going to put them on this adorable little desk and chair!

 I got this desk from Lincoln Boulevard Home Consignments Randi Lorenzo, the owner always has the best finds! I immediately knew there had to be a stencil on the back of that chair! I had the vision right away of a Paris inspired look for this little cutie! I gathered my supplies together and got to work!!!

Stencils from Maison de Stencil, Chalk Paint, and some Seersucker!

I scored on some seersucker at a craft store $2.22 a yard!!! Woot Woot! I chose Graphite Chalk Paint for the desk and chair and of course Paris Gray was the obvious choice for those AMAZING stencils from Maison de Stencils.

You can overlap your stencil to ensure that your design matches up perfectly. Keep a tape measure or ruler handy to continue to check measurements so your border is aligned correctly across your project.

I watched a You Tube video that Maison de Stencils posted on their BLOG it shared tips and tricks on how to use their stencils. Even though I have already done quite a bit of stenciling I picked up some great tips from the video. I will post a link to the video at the bottom of this post. I also loved an idea that Laura shared on her video which was to tape off an area of stencil if you want to feature only a portion of the stencil on your project. FANTASTIC IDEA!!!

I decided to use Laura's clever little tip on the small back panel of the desk. I used only 3 Fleur de Lis patterns in the very center of the panel. The tape was placed just after design to stop the stencil brush from applying paint on unwanted portion of stencil. Then it was time to try out the stencil that Laura from Maison de Stencils sent to me....EEK I was so excited! I love this stencil!

You can see my center mark in pencil if you look closely. It is very important to measure both the area you are applying stencil to, as well as the stencil to find the very center of both and align them just right. If you skip this step you could end up with a crooked stencil which isn't the best look! ( I know from experience..LOL)

Here it all complete! I think this chair was made for this stencil! The SEERSUCKER fabric looks great too!  

And here is how the desk turned out.....

I am PLEASED AS PUNCH about the transformation of this desk and chair !

Here they are together a perfect Paris inspired desk. The character of this piece combined with the lovely stencils from Maison de Stencils made this an exceptionally divine piece. I think the lucky person who buys this will be proud to display it in their home!!!!! I want to thank Laura of Maison de Stencils and Randi of Lincoln Boulevard Home Consignments for their part in this impressive makeover. I couldn't have done without you ladies!!!!

NOW, I am loading this baby up and taking it back over to Randi at Lincoln Boulevard Home Consignments and I am sure it wont be long til someone snatches it up and brings it home. 

Check out Maison De Stencils:

WEBSITE www.maisondestencils.com

BLOG maisondestencils.blogspot.com

FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/pages/Maison-de-Stencils

YOUTUBE Stencil Tips

A Fancy Dry Erase Calendar

So this project came to me when I was running one day...That is when I get the best ideas!


I was so eager to create this I actually didn't get before photos. I started out with a great picture frame that I picked up at a yard sale. I removed the print and carefully removed the glass. This was a nice sized frame. I don't have exact measurements but I am guessing around 24"x36". I painted frame with Duck Egg Blue and lightly distressed it. 


The glass is where my work began. I am sure there is a very mathematical and correct way to measuring out your grid, however I am not a math wiz! I had some large graph paper that I had previously made into a giant calendar for my wall so I grabbed that and used it as my template. I layed glass directly over my graph paper and used some of that amazing Frog Tape to tape off my grid lines (Frog Tape is a little more pricier than the blue painters tape but is worth the every extra cent!) This took some time. I did all my vertical lines first and painted the grid with Antibes Chalk Paint. Yes I just said I painted directly on glass with chalk paint, it worked fantastic! I did two coats so that it had a nice bold appearance. I removed tape and repeated the steps to create my horizontal lines.

This is what it looked like when I was complete. It wasn't perfect, but thats okay with me I love a homemade look it adds character!

Next it was time to add some fabric and get this all put together. When you are choosing your background for a dry erase board it is important to use a subtle print, so that it doesn't compete with what you write on the dry erase board. I am a big fan of using the back side of fabric so thats what I did on this piece.

I cut the fabric to fit and used some spray adhesive on the backing of the frame to keep fabric in place. This is very important *** When you install glass into frame make sure you place the painted side of glass towards fabric *** Otherwise the first time you clean your dry erase board you will remove your grid that you worked so hard on. This is what it looks like all put together.

and here it is with the the month of July....

This is Functional Art!!!!!

Wouldn't this look amazing in a home office? WOW!






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