Karla's Cottage

An Enchanted Forest painting and some deep (for me) thoughts on aging and time (but no math)

I thought I'd show you some steps to the Enchanted Mural I did for Kim's event.  I posted a few beginning photos here and there while I was working on it, but as it progressed and started to look like something, we wanted to save the "reveal" as a surprise for the Fair Maidens attending the party.

It measures 8-1/2' x 16'.  Too big for my garage wall! I had to bunch it up under the soffit, and move it down to paint the top after  I was done with the rest of the picture.

The first step was background color, blue sky, brown ground. I didn't bother to prime it this time.  I also forgot to cover my wall with plastic. 

Oops. 

Which would be fine, if the whole mural had seeped through, would be kind of impressionistic and fun. But no, just blobs of blue and brown.

Next, I painted the horizon and hills off in the distance, all in faded tones. After that, the grass.  And I sketched the trees in chalk for the trunks, then blocked in the dark leaves at the top.

I was going for a look of standing at the edge of a dark forest, looking out into a meadow and off into the distance.   I thought a road leading to a castle far away was appropriate for the Snow White story. 

Here are a couple of "during" shots as I tweaked the sunlight.  You can see that my background behind the pink tree on the left changes.  I did a lot of re-dos on that area.  But hey, it's only paint, you can change as much as you'd like. And I was making it up as I went along, so some things didn't work as well as others. There was a lot of painting over.

This is the final effort for that same spot under the pink tree.  Deeper shadows and some yellow splotches of sunlight.

The whole thing is done in layers. I felt like I really got to know that forest.

Like the fact that there are more pink trees far away to the right. They got covered by trees in the foreground. If I had done a drawing first, maybe that little issue wouldn't have come up, huh?

Here is it is, filled in a bit more.  Notice the shadow across the road under the trees?

I added little surprises out in the woods too.  (early version)

(Completed version)

This is where Snow White lived with her stumpy buddies. 

Her friends, the deer are in the woods too.

As well as a bunny and some butterflies.

I added a couple mushrooms.  I wanted to do a whole fairy ring of them, complete with dancing fairies, but I actually was able to stop myself in time.

This mural is meant as a photo backdrop.  No one will see the tiny goings on in the background for the photos.  But I was so involved with my own day dreams, I got carried away and spent way too much time on the far away details. They made me happy.

But they really took too much time away from my real life. I spent so much time wandering around the woods in my make believe life that I got nothing else done.  I've not added any new things to the shops, I've had no income. That is why they call us starving artists.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in creating that we don't care about selling.

But I am far from starving. I tend to snack as I paint.  Not a good thing for the waistline. I figure this mural cost me $1000 in sales online and added 5 lbs to my belly. 

Oh, but I sure loved being in this fantasy world!

Years ago, I did murals for a real job, but have gotten away from it.  I used to be super fast, because I did so many.  But with this I really zapped my time. 

I was wondering if it has something to do with getting older? (I'll be 55 in a couple weeks)  I seem to do everything slower as time swoops by me so fast.

Here is how I figure it:

When you are a kid time drags. Remember waiting for your birthday?? Those months seemed to take forever to go by.  But compared to the amount of time you'd been on the earth, it was a pretty large percentage of your years.  Lets say you are almost 5, maybe about 58 months old.  So those two months till your 5th birthday are.........

Wait a minute, I don't do math or percentages, what am I thinking???? My point is that two months of your life as a child is a huge chunk of time.  Two months of your life as a 50 something adult is nothing.  You've lived through 600 some months.  Time goes by faster due to your frame of reference.

That is what I am blaming on my slow down.  I take forever to get anything done and I used to be lightening fast. I think it is because time is slipping by so quickly that I don't register how long I've spent on a task. All afternoon at my desk feels like an hour or so.

Plus, as I said before, I got a little carried away on this project while living in the imaginary forest.

Case in point, this castle? I spent two hours on it. 

(the blue birds and leaves are just blocked in at this point, no details)

And you can barely see it. I wanted it to look very far away, and it does, but did I need two hours of detail to do that?  Oh well, I love the castle, so I'm glad that I did.

Another thought on aging:

As I get older, I care more about details.  I wonder how many more big projects I'll be doing? They seem to matter more to me, so I put more into them.  Not that I plan on kicking the bucket any time soon, or that I expect to be too creaky at 60 to get anything done.  But I'm just more aware of the remaining years and how precious they are.

Okay, back to the painting?

While I wanted the forest to seem dark, to emphasize the light in the break in the trees, I didn't want it to seem scary. The shadows are a pretty blue, and while there are bushes and grasses, it's not over grown and tangled. It's a friendly forest.  And since it is a photo back drop, I had to watch out for hot spots.  No glaring whites or brights, all are faded or toned down.  Which gives it a dreamy look, I think.

I'm afraid I can't get a photo of the complete thing while it is in my garage, there is no space to hang it up all stretched out. When I lowered it to paint the top, I had to roll up the bottom few inches.

Curtains will cover a foot at the top and 6" at the bottom will have to be rolled under to make it fit.  Curtains will also cover 2 feet on each side. I didn't know this till it was 90% done, so I went in and brought the leaves down lower and darkened them to keep the effect of a dark forest.  If the leaves were mostly covered at the top, it would change the look of the design.

This is a nest I added and wasn't happy with.

This is what it needed!

Much better!

If you want directions on painting a nest, I have a free tutorial here.

I'd have added more blue birds, but was afraid that they were so bright that they might stand out too much in photos.  And they could look like they were sitting on the head of someone standing in front of them in the photos.

And I think one of them will be cut out by the curtains, but maybe the tie backs will save it.

Sadly, it is also too big to hang anywhere at my house.   I donated my time (not planning that I'd spend ALL my time on it,) not the mural itself, so I get it back after the party.

I'd thought about selling it, but I have grown attached. I might cut it up in sections and wallpaper the grand fairies' room with it.  I'm not sure yet. 

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   I've been working on this wire birdcage tutorial, and now have it ready to send to you!  You can get the details here.

Tiffany Blue

The best part of going to these art events, like Tiffanys, is the people.

Great people, great friends. I might only see them randomly at various arty weekends, but we pick right up where we left off and continue the fun that started at the last party.

I've met some people who I consider very close friends, not just acquaintances or work friends at these places.

I have great memories of this latest trip, and many pretty pictures to show you.  But since the people I meet there mean so much to me, this post has not come easy.

I share more than laughs with these ladies.  I care about them.  And I cherish our times together.

So I don't want to be flip and go on and on about how wonderful it all was.

Believe me, it was WONDERFUL, Kim is an over the top, talented hostess who attends to every detail.  The teachers and classes were lovely. The decor amazing. The women were the best.

But there was also heart break this time.

My long time, Bella buddy lost her husband in an accident while we were there.

I'm glad she was surrounded by some of her closest friends when she got the news.  The ladies she was with that day were good people who had sturdy shoulders to cry on, and strong hearts to offer support. 

I do have more pictures to show you, and it was a lovely weekend.  But my heart aches for her now. 

She should be proud and thankful that the night before her husband's accident, she was saying very nice things about him and not complaining as many of us tend to do when we are idly talking about our husbands.  Not a negative word left her mouth when she talked about the two of them restoring a cabin together and about his job as a fireman.

Lots of us might (me included) might throw in a snide or complaining comment about a husband's design choices,  forgetfulness, or who knows what when talking about doing a project like that together or be crabby about the long hours he works at his job.

She spoke with pride about his work and with happiness talking about their project.

The minute I heard the news about her loss, I had to call my own loved one right away and tell him how much I appreciated him.  You never know when it could be too late.  Or when your last conversation about someone was not a flattering one. 

 

How to make a hand painted banner on canvas and tips on painting a rose topiary

Here is a little break from Birdsong talk!

I've spent a lot of years painting murals, I travelled around the country and painted quite a few hotels, day care centers, and even a casino, as well as people's homes.    But the scaffolding and ladders really got to me, so I moved on to other things. 

Every once in a while I'll get to do one again and always enjoy the opportunity. Especially a canvas one that I can work on in my own space and take my time on.  This one was sent to my pal, Kim, for her Tiffany's event, where I am at right now.  (I've pre-posted this)

While this isn't exactly what the front of a real Tiffany's shop looks like, it is just right for the ladies attending Kim's party! Whimsical, fun, and pretty.

Kim wanted something more light hearted than the cold stone of the original building in NY. 

So, we took a few liberties with our design. 

My painting is all free hand..  I just paint as I go.  My lines aren't perfectly straight, but I think that adds to the whimsy and suits my style.

Plus, I know that I could NEVER do straight lines, so I don't even try! But since this was so architectural, I used a level to help out with the door and window shapes.

Here is the inspiration that Kim sent to me.  I used the fanciful nature of this with the stone front of the real building, along with the colors she asked for to come up with the banner design.

Here is my basic sketch for the idea.  We decided to flip the color scheme, so more of the Tiffany Blue would show. The canvas is being used as a backdrop for a photo booth, and with people standing in the middle, not much of the door itself would show.

My first step was getting the canvas ready. I like to paint on drop cloths, but this picture was larger than most seamless dropcloths are.  I found fabric big enough to avoid seams at Darhma Trading Co.

I washed and dried mine hoping to remove the fold marks that way. MAN, WAS THAT A MISTAKE!  It came out of the dryer looking like a wadded up piece of paper.  I had to IRON the whole thing, and 13 x 8' is a lot to man handle over an ironing board.

  I'd say, iron the folds only, don't do it the way I did! 

After struggling with the ironing board till I was  steaming myself,  I laid it out on the floor to cut and pin.  After carefully measuring and cutting, I hemmed the two sides on my sewing machine, and then laid it back out on the floor to pin the rod pocket at the top. I measured and cut it in a way that let me keep the hemline at the bottom as is, no sewing.

By the way, it helps to have a second set of hands to wrangle the fabric and help feed it into the sewing machine, this was a big job and even this lightweight canvas feels weighty when you are trying to sew it due to its size.

Another tip I have is to use duct tape to hold the hem in place along with the pins.  It helped me.

If you are going to hang it with grommets, add these later. We didn't want the ropes to stand out much, so didn't want to use grommets this time.  I cut up strips of the fabric I had trimmed off, and sewed them in half for added strength.  Then zig zagged them to the back of the cloth at regular intervals.

While this will hang from a pole in the rod pocket, I was worried that it would blow or sway in the breeze, so the straps of fabric sewns the the painting's sides can be tied to the structure, and will help secure it and keep it in place.

To do the artwork, I needed a large wall space, so I cleaned out my garage and covered one wall with drop cloths. Then, nailed the canvas up over it. (my drop cloths have also been used previously to make Halloween party ghosts, see the faces on them?)

(yes, I have a giant, sequinned disco ball hanging in my garage, it tells me where to stop my car when I pull in. I've seen people use tennis balls in the same manner but that doesn't seem to be as much fun)

First step was to prime. 

I'm picky about primers, and know its important to use the right one for the job. In this case, a cheap, dry wall primer was fine. And I was glad I used it, because the fabric was thirsty and soaked it right up.

After it was primed and dry, I drew the door, and window with chalk and blocked in the colors.

For a large painting like this, quarts of latex wall paint in flat or eggshell works best for back grounds.

I used a sponge roller brush for the "stone"

To create the awnings, I marked the center of the top of each window, then tied a ribbon to a pencil.  The ribbon was cut to the length from the center of the window to the edge of it.  I held the ribbon at the mid spot, put the pencil on the corner of the window, and while holding the ribbon in place, drew the arc to the other corner.

For depth, I dry brushed a darker aqua over the sponge rolled base color, then did the same, lightly with white. I used white to create the mortar lines too.  The mortar lines are drawn on with a sponge dipped in the white paint.  I didn't want a sharp line that I might have got from a brush.

Next, I finished the window paintings and awnings.  Always work from the background out.  Nearer things are last to paint.

The two topiaries are my foreground, so I blocked those colors in after the windows were done.

Notice the Tiffanys sign? I stupidly painted it too high, over the rod pocket, so painted over it to redo.  Which really isn't a big deal. Its only paint. It can be changed till you get it right.  You might notice my doorknob is different in this picture than in the finished one too.  After I roughed this in, I didn't like  it, and a swath of pink paint over it erased the plain door knob quickly.

For the detail work, I used 2oz bottles of acrylic craft paint.

To get the metallic look that I have on the door knob, jewelry, and chandeliers, I painted them all in regular acrylic paint first to get the shadows, highlights, and shapes. Then, I covered that in  metallic paint.

I used the same 2oz craft bottles.  The silver and white metallic paints are very sheer and take a lot of coats to really cover, but that is what I like about them. I can do just one or two coats over my painting and get the metallic shine, but not cover up the details. But because they are sheer, its hard to build up color.  That is why I do the basic shape in opaque paint first.

When creating a topiary, I always draw the pot with brown paint first, then sketch three circles, connected by twisted stems.  After that, I block in the basic rose shapes, and color the entire background of the balls dark green mixed with a dark brown.

The same principal applies for the foreground as it did for the background. Paint the furthest things first.  I do the sticks and leaves in dark colors, then highlights over that. 

Next comes the leaves from dark to light, adding detail as I go.

I got side tracked and added a few butterflies!

After painting the pot/sticks/leaves/ then roses, I went back and touched up some of the leaves so that they were covering the roses a little bit here and there.

The moss is really easy, just scribbles and swirls with white and gray on a liner brush.  I paint the roses with a 2" flat brush, and the leaves with slightly smaller flat brush, adding veins with a liner brush.

Darker leaves toward the back, lighter in front, gives the illusion of roundness. The roses should face different directions, not all the same.

There is a tutorial on my sidebar with tips on doing a nest.

Layering is important. Make sure it looks like there are items in front of each other.

A few twirling tendrils out the side of the topiary soften the painting.

For the lettering, I used pale grey, outlined with dark brown. On the highlight side, I added a line of watered down white, on the shadowed side, a line of aqua a shade darker than the stones.

Next step, I let the paint cure a few days. Yes, it was dry to the touch, water based paints dry fast. But- I wasn't taking any chances of it sticking together when I rolled it up, so I gave it some time.

To mail it without fold marks, I bought cardboard tube mailers. They weren't big enough to put the 8' high mural inside of, or long enough either, so I duct taped 8 foot's worth of them together, and tightly rolled the canvas around it, then took the roll to the UPS store where they have boxes of all sizes and shapes.

Well, hopefully, when I return from California, I'll have some pictures of my friends and I in front of this storefront! 

For now, I have pics of my own little model whose imagination turned a painting on the wall into a private play house.  Here she is opening the door.

And jumping out of the door to yell surprise.

And dancing through the door.

The pictures I don't have are of her drawing on the door.  Yep, she had some fun with chalk making a picture just like Grammie did. Oh well, it was only chalk and wiped right off, coulda been worse...

Fairy crossing

I was honored when Jenn asked me to help with the decor for her big to-do in Asheville. Her fairy event will be over the top fantastic, as everything she does always is.

 

So, I was so pleased to be a part of such a pretty gathering.  The setting for the event looks beautiful in the photos, but Jenn is  going to fairy it up even more.   I made a few signs to display at the venue.

When I make my signs, I like to use old wood.  One of these is a small table top, the others are panels from salvaged doors.

I love it when I can use the existing paint with its chippy patina.   I just give it a light sanding so my acrylic paint will hold, and then a good cleaning, and when I am done, a clear coat.

These were done earlier in the summer, and it was nice to day dream about seeing my arty friends and playing fairy, even though the date seemed so far in the future. But now its here, and I'm on my way as you are reading this.  I'll have a few pre-written posts for while I am gone, so please come on by while I am gone.

When the event is over, two of the signs will be for sale.  I told Jenn to pick one to keep as a gift from me.

If you are interested, check back when I return from NC, and I'll let you know which two are for sale. 

 EDIT- This post was written ahead of time, before I left on my trip. I'll have new posts all week while I am away, but might not get to answer all comments or emails, but I will be reading and enjoying them on my Ipad. Thanks for coming by! I hope to add some "Live" posts from the road too.

Breezy

While I had my son here, and we both had paint brushes in hand, I asked him to tackle the breezeway with me. I've hated the too bright green it was painted for YEARS. I had painted it on a whim, I'd had a beloved puppy die in my arms after months of nursing her along and trying to keep her alive, and needed something cheerful and bright around me.  I also wanted something physical to do to keep myself busy after burying her.

Typically, I don't have a lot of bright colors in my house, unless they are seasonal accents.  But, this was an outdoor room, and I thought it was the perfect place for a splash of color.

Instead, it only reminded me of my dead dog.

And it was not fun to paint, since it is clap siding and can't be done with a roller.  And I knew that the green would be hard to cover, so I just kept putting the job off.

The new color I finally chose is much more tranquil, and is a much calmer backdrop to the stuff I had in the room already.  I left everything just as it was, the only change in the whole room is the wall color.  Well, and I switched out the seat cushion, it had been a hot pink.  The blue velvet is a cushion that my mom made about 30 years ago. 

The bench was hers too. I've painted it numerous times since I've had it.  In her possession, it was maple.

The room feels a lot bigger in this pale gray/blue.  And I'm so glad we got this done.  It makes me smile every time   I walk through it.

I was ready to get this room cleaned up and new looking after our recent raccoon attack.  Those coons ripped my curtains to shreds, and I wanted to replace them, but wanted to make sure the curtains went with the new color I chose.

  Instead of shopping at the store, I shopped at home in my linen closet and found a stack of white on white, striped sheers that I used to have in my kitchen, so my only cost for the redo was a gallon of paint/primer in one (Behr).  This kind of paint offers great coverage, and mostly did the job in one coat with a few touch ups here and there.

The white curtains also helped create the breezy feeling this room now has.  And under them are new, aluminum screens to hopefully prevent more coon invasions! If that doesn't work, we'll have to go to chicken wire over the windows.  Or razor wire....

  (the bird cage stand holds a simple chandelier that I've epoxy-ed tea cups to after taking out the wiring and the lighting parts. I keep tea light candles or fresh flowers in the cups, depending on my mood)
Even before I painted over the pea green explosion on the walls, I have considered this my pink and green room.  And I figured I'd have to do some redecorating and moving things out when I repainted. I was thinking that nothing would match any more.  But I am quite taken with the soft blue back ground, against all the pink florals. Plus, there are hints of blue here and there that I never really noticed when the room was green, like in the pillows, the broken plates in the birdbath that I made, and in the flowers painted on the bench.

There is very little blue in the mosaic table, but that doesn't really bug me.  I still think it fits the room fine.

I'd planned on repainting the shutters on the door too, but I'm liking the black and roses with the blue.  It seems like a nice contrast, and not too matchy.

(the shutters were bi-fold doors from a garage sale for a couple bucks. I took them off the hinges and painted them up, the other half of the set is on the front door to my studio)

After a while, I just might paint everything that is black now, a medium gray, with sepia glaze over it.  But for now, I'm satisfied. The gray is a maybe, and if I decide to do it, will be a good project when I'm feeling the need for another fresh-up.

Do you ever play with Rate My Space on HGTV's site? I have fun with it. You can lose a lot of hours browsing from one room to another...  anyway, if you want to check it out, you can start with this room, and give it a rating for me!

 

Next post, I'll show you a few more of my changes around the house. I've been productive lately!

It all started with a mouse

Do you ever just put up with stuff around the house and let it bug you each time you look at it, till it gets to the point that you just don't look at it any more?  I never used to, but in the last couple of years, my house has been neglected. 

See what I mean? All of our shutters were peeling,  the worst were up on the 2nd floor, so I just never looked up.  But when the ones right by the front door started to get worse and worse, it became hard to avert my eyes.  

Then, we were invaded by mice.  Yes, what do mice have to do with shutters?  Well, I guess these nasty little poo droppers just seriously got my attention, and when I started to clean up after them, I got kick started into a deep cleaning mode and went berserk over all of my house, including those peeling shutters.

  I moved all the furniture, cleaned behind it, and then did a couple switcharoos with a few doodads and some stuff on the wall in my bedroom.  That got me thinking how much I always hated the curtains in the bathroom, so I whipped up a new set with scraps and lace.  I then ended up buying a new spread, and a couple of rugs for my bedroom and sewed some pillows to match.  While I was rug shopping, I finally picked up some paint to redo the breezeway and these shutters.

Its been a crazy couple of days, but worth it.   I think that since our remodel plans have been up in the air for so many months, I've been just letting stuff slide, thinking I'd take care of it all at the same time, after the remodelling. But then, I realized how hard it is to live with the mess of ripping out walls, and thought, I should have some areas that were all done and nice to make myself feel better while living through the horror of having half a kitchen.

 Sugarwing's Daddy dropped by while I was scraping the ground level shutters and offered to do the higher ones for me.  I have a terrible fear of heights and was going to just continue with my policy of never looking up when I pulled into the driveway. 

This kind of peeling is fine.  This is an old shutter that I have hanging on the wall of the house for decoration by the back door of the studio.  When I bought it to paint roses on, the peeling paint was one of the things that drew me to it.

But this is a whole different story.  This just looks like no one loves the house. 

Years ago, I made these shutters myself.  We'd taken down an old garage and saved the wood. I cut two pieces the length of the window, marked a triangle shaped notch in each, cut it out with a jig saw, then lined the notches up to form a diamond and screwed small boards across them.  It was simple, and free to do, since I already had all of the wood.

I know they aren't perfectly straight, but for me, the old wood and simplicity of them compliments our old house and helps make the new addition fit in with the older half of the house.

More redo pictures to come! 

And in case you were wondering, I think all of the mice are caught.  Twinkle helped, she is a good hunter.

Fall into winter decor

  The dinner party on Saturday night was such fun.  The trick was making all the food the day before, so I could just pop the pans in the oven and let them cook till it was time for the party. No fuss at all, I could relax and enjoy my friends.

In the afternoon before they arrived, I had time to make up some little trees to set out on the table, then give away at the end of the night.

This one has a B for Beth.

If all of this set up looks familiar, its because I've been using the same tablescape all season.

These are the same glittered pumpkins that I used for Halloween.  I just removed the most overtly Halloween themed stuff, then added some Fall/Thanksgiving things and then when that holiday was over, I added some Christmas flair to the setting.

Like this green glitter fairy from Walmart for $1.  They had them in all colors, but had sold out of everyone but green at my local store. But I think it kind of fits the look of my table and adds a punch of color.

Plus, I'll be able to use them again for spring time decor. 

Since the basis for the table scape was all neutral, and lots of nature inspired pieces, it seemed to flow from season to season with just a few changes here and there.

Like tucking in some glittered stars-

A few of my bottle brush trees-

 

Some art work from Romantic White Christmas-

3 French hens (there is another one somewhere)-

Holiday messages of joy-

And more stars, this one is backed with fringed sheet music.

Way back before everything got cold and wintery, I picked these branches of lavender and hydrangea  and put them in water. The water evaporated and the plants dried.  I have a feeling that this will be on my table till Spring comes around and I can pick some replacements from the garden.

The treat cabinet got a mini makeover for the party, a few vintage ornaments tucked and hung here and there-

And some hand painted signs that I made a while back.

The two signs don't really fit the style of the rest of the room, but they are so colorful, fun, and holiday-ish that I had to add them. With grandbabies around, Santas and Frosties are a must whether they match or not!

 

This season, I've gotten a lot of use from my treat cart too.

The glittered letters spelling JOY are still on the bottom shelf, but now I've added a strand of lights to them.

The coffee service has been popular through all  my parties this month too.  For this one, I set out hot chocolate with candy canes, marshmallows, cinnamon sticks, shaved chocolate, whipped cream, and the bottle of 150 year old Grand Marnier as well as decaf coffee.

Its such a simple thing to do. No cooking, no work beyond shaving the chocolate. (I used a vegetable peeler and a big bar of  chocolate) but it packs a lot of style and gets a lot of attention from guests. With a store bought cheesecake and a some cookies that the kids decorated that night, it was a tasty dessert for very little effort on my part.

I like to do things the easy way, but make them look special.

I'm VERY lucky, of course, to have the studio dining tables that I can set up and leave as is for a whole season of entertaining and not have them be in the way. If I'd had to take all this down and set it up each time I had guests, I doubt if I'd have had so much company!

Two more parties to go.... Can't wait!  One is the day after Christmas so I get to extend my holiday cheer past the 25th, lucky, lucky me!!

 

 I'm linking with Faded Charm and White Wednesdays for this post.

Gypsy Wagon Baby Bed

On Sunday, I did my part to get ready for the new baby.   I painted a bassinette for her.

Its a Fairy Gypsy Wagon basket with lots of colors, flowers, butterflies, with a sun on one end and moon on the other.

While cleaning out the shed, I came across this old bassinette, that I had used for display at shows. My husband was horrified, not only because it wasn't leaving with the rest of the goodies in the shed, but because I said I was keeping it for the baby. He called it a death trap.  Mostly, he just doesn't care for old stuff, and doesn't see possibilities in them.

The paint was chipped and peeling and it was full of spiders and dirt. Well, I'm not fond of spiders and those had to go, but I love chippy and peeling. Too bad that's not a safe thing for babies. It all had to be sanded to remove any loose paint, and the base of it needed to be repaired.  Some of the brackets were missing and the wood was split out on one leg.

And I couldn't find  a mattress for it anywhere in town. Wouldn't you think that Sears, Pennys or Walmart would carry a bassinette mattress?  Nope. So, I went to the fabric store ( Hancocks), and got waterproof fabric meant for cribs, and some foam.

The foam was then wrapped up in the fabric and held in place with double stick tape that I get from Kay Ellen. The stuff is magnificent if you are a non-sewer! It sticks to just about anything and is really secure.  She says its used for embellishing swim suits, so it must hold up well if it can do that.

I cut the foam to fit nice and snug, so it would be safe for a newborn.  I used a firm piece of foam too. You don't want anything loose that a baby can smother in. Or a gap between the mattress and side of the bed where a baby can get trapped.

 

While these aren't  my typical colors,  I had a great time using them. Its fun to stretch and try something different.  And to do something to make another person happy, and I think I did, the expectant momma is a rainbow gypsy and this was just right for her.

I used metallic and glitter paints here and there as accents, then sprayed it with clear poly and a bit of silver glitter spray too. 

The only problem with it now, is that the sheets I found to fit it are white.  Which just doesn't go with this colorful creation. So, I'll need to dye them, to complete the look.  And I have a special mobile for it too.....

But I can't show that. Its a surprise for the baby shower tomorrow night.

While I had my brushes and paint out, I made a sign for my son's yard.  Last week, we were sitting on their porch, watching the kids play on the side walk, and over and over, had to remind the kids that the alley was a ROAD and not safe to run into!

We thought a two sided sign, with this message facing the road might help.

This side faces the sidewalk. Sugarwings and Finn can't read, but Clover can, so I wrote "stop" for her.  For the little ones, I made a cartoon that I hoped would catch their eye and be a reminder that a car could come by at any time.

Its not exactly a high quality production, but it was quick, and is colorful and I have my fingers crossed that they'll learn something from it.  I spent about an hour on it, but I think its enough to get my point across.

Well, I'd better go and get ready for the baby shower.  I've made a pumpkin cheesecake and brownies. Left on the menu is strawberry shortcake, mac and cheese, baked beans, sweet potatoes (that I dug out of my garden today!) olive salad, tossed salad, and crusty bread.  We also have bean burgers (for the vegatarians) and my husband has a couple of big turkey breasts in the smoker right now, so I'll be slicing those up and covering them with BBQ sauce.

Its not a Kansas party unless you BBQ something!

 

 

A new look for the cost of a quart of paint and a bit of shuffling around

Well, I just had to finish the porch redo, and honestly, it was a quickie. I used stuff that was already here and a bit of paint.  Sugarwing's blue and pink chippy chair was in the garage, and I'd already bought the hydrangea to plant. So, of course, it won't stay here,it has to go into the ground. Too bad, its just right for the spot.

The only purchase I had to make was a quart of "Birds Egg Blue" paint from Ace Hardware.  I fell for the name, as well as the soft shade.  I added speckles of brown paint over the blue for an even more egg-like look.

To do this, I watered down a squirt of dark brown acrylic craft paint, dipped in a stiff brush, and then flicked my thumb across the brush to splash speckles over the blue paint.

Its a little messy, you need to have a wet paper towel handy to dab up the most rambunctious speckles, they tend to fly everywhere.  I don't cover and tape off anything, that seems to take longer than just wiping up the runaway flecks.

 

No puppies yet! Twinks is resting up and getting bigger by the moment.  We'll both be glad when they are here.

I'm still not thrilled with the white wash on the rockers. I might repaint them later on, or else scour garage sales for something better. Like a glider.  Or a porch swing.  That's the fun part, always planning for a change, or  being on the hunt for a better idea. 

The flowers on the shutters had been a deep, magenta red like the door used to be.  I pinked them up a little and added some blue hydrangeas to tie all the colors in together.

I was going for a rustic, vintagey feel, so after painting, I used sandpaper for some distressing.

The shutters themselves started out as a pair of black, bi-fold doors from a garage sale for a couple bucks.  The other half of the set of doors is painted to match these, but I have those inside my breezeway on each side of the entry way door. (which opens onto the kitchen- we don't use the front of the house. You walk straight into our kitchen or the studio when you come here, the two most loved rooms of the house!) 

Its a gorgeous, spring day  here, and our niece's church group is busy working on the community garden that we loaned them space for.   They've decided to put up a fence, which is smart, we have about 3 billion rabbits and almost that many deer watching through the trees eagerly waiting to see what we are planting for their lunch.

Before I forget, the winner of a Peat  Pot Pretty is:

Sasha Girl

And if you want to win one, I am drawing names from the list of Google Friend Connect followers, for every 50 followers I get. You name stays in the contest as long as I am doing this.

The next drawing will be at 200.

Cest La Vie

 

Miss Frenchie's sale is next weekend, and since I don't have much in the way of genuine French goods, like some of the other dealers, I faked it and made up a few little French inspired signs and tags.  This is a mix of vintage paper, ink, paint, lace and part of an old necklace.

 

Both of these signs are painted and collaged onto old door panels. This one is sparkled up with some OLD beaded trim from a vintage dress.  What good is the good stuff if it is just tucked away somewhere? I'm using mine! 

 

It was fun to mix elements and come up with these plaques. And I think that everything looks better with a bit of crackled finish.

 

For some reason, I was in a "scripted" mood.  My handwriting is notoriously bad, it was a joke in my family for years. Back in olden times, when letters were handwritten, my mom and sisses dreaded hearing from me, because they knew they would only be able to read every other word, if they were lucky.

But when I paint words, my handwriting changes. I love frilly, curvy lettering done free hand.  En Le Jardin refers to the gathering at Jenn's that I am over flowing with anticipation for. 

 

Maybe it was that phrase that got me started on this signage. (this one is for Jenn, not for the sale) Jenn has ordered fleurs (I'm still feeling Frenchie, I guess) from me for a project she is doing as decor for the gathering. So, I have been laying out piles of flowers to photograph for her and have enjoyed them covering my table top so much, that I left them there for the back ground of all these pictures.

 

See, isn't a pile of flowers, I mean, fleurs, prettier than any table  runner I could have used behind this card?

 

And aren't these old Easter cards cute?  Although, if I were a kid hunting eggs and came across some that big, I might be a bit freaked out. What laid those, dinosaurs??? Just how old are these cards, if they depict kids hunting dino eggs?

 

Speaking of being freaked out by dinosaurs, Miss Sugarwings went to T-Rex today and had some prehistoric close encounters herself.

That is my new favorite restaurant! Gosh, I wish I had the job of doing all the mural painting for those, what fun work that must have been.  And the decor is too perfect, I thought the ice age areas are beautiful as can be.

 

Here is Sugarwings in some of the eerie blue light coming off the fake ice.  She was craning her neck out as far as she could to take in the sights.  Every once in a while, she'd let out a little scream, but it was all in fun, as long as she was being held, she was loving all the scary creatures.

  

Its been a busy day, picking up my husband at the airport, dining with dinos, and trying to squeeze in some work between dinner and an art opening I went to tonight.  I was able to get some packages wrapped up to get into Saturday's mail, and that is something I hate to rush. Wrapping up the package is such fun. This is the necklace that Kana won for my March Giveaway. The tag that is tied to it is made of a copy of some French ephemera from my pal,  Gwen, who will also be at Miss Frenchie's sale (actually, the whole event was her idea to start with).

 

This pretty Easter postcard went in the package of goods that Valita bought from my boutique.  And of course, the floral wallpaper was so perfect with it, I had to use that to wrap it in. 

Jewelry has been popular as a giveaway item for me lately, how about more jewels for the April gift?  Right now, all my pieces are packed up for the sale next week, but here is a sampling from an earlier picture.

So, after Miss Frenchie's I'll get something pretty picked out to photograph and that will be the April Giveaway. All of the comments all month count.

do you get tired of me repeating that line all the time?

 

As hectic as today was, I'm glad I took the time to go to the art opening downtown.  Meeting up with friends (even REALLY SKINNY ONES- why do I always have to stand next to my skinniest friend, Jen, in photos??) is a nice way to cap off a day!