Let me dust this thing off....

Haven't touched my blog in weeks! I feel out of touch for real this time...haven't done much computer wise outside of work in a while.  I tell ya what I have done though...I've seen a lot of movies, read a book, spent a lot of time with my peeps, ruined a slipcover, sewed a lot of pillows, covered a lampshade, acquired another cat, started 530am workouts again and I painted this....

Here's the before to this big old girl. I used chalk paint in Old White & sealed it with Fiddes & Sons clear wax.  The sanding part was messy but it's a smooth as silk finish and it's so easy to get an authentic distressed look with chalk paint.  It was super expensive though - $89 for 2 quarts (with shipping)!  I will say that not having to prime or prep at all was worth it! 

 

I found this design on the internet from the Paperchase Folk Tree collection and loved it.  It has a Scandinavian feel to me which is what I wanted for this piece. 

I posted this and then messed with it some more..I think I'm finished now, so here's the after, after: 

 I used my overhead to keep scale and acrylic paint, then sanded and added a stain to dull the colors a bit.  I wanted it to look worn & faded.

 I outlined the flower tree so it would stand out.  I like how it looks a little haphazard & folksy.

The extra storage is AWESOME!

I love this part - little bird hooks for our keys!

I love all the muddled colors

Still can't believe I got this armoire for $40.

Pretty details.

Here's a back view.  We have an open floor plan and this helps separate the front door from the living/dining rooms.  So you can hide if someone comes to the door and you're not decent (and by you, I mean me)!

Now on to my newest little wanderer...

This one just showed up last week.  Scraggly little guy with an eye infection, ear mites, hungry...all kinds of beat up...will you just look at that poor little face.  I think he was working me.

 So we fed him, loved on him, took him to the vet, got him neutered & named him Scooter.

 I tried to make him an inside only kitty but I can't tame his wild heart.  He's happiest skipping around the yard.

He follows me to the mailbox every day.

Here he is after dinner...big old tummy and ready to nap!

So there ya go...more furniture & another kitty!  Another bit of good news, we're now sponsoring a little boy from the Philippines.  His name is Fritz and he's 9 (the same age as my son). I'll share more info on the program as I learn it myself.  I got started here.  We're really excited to get to know this little boy. 

Now that I finally posted something I hope someone is still around to read it!! 

Hugs to you - until next time,

Whatchadoin?

I've been up to my eyeballs in alligators!

Work, work, work..

I work from home which is awesome and I'm totally blessed to have such a good job, so I don't complain.  But when it gets busy at my office, I just settle in because I know that I'm not going anywhere or doing anything except meeting deadlines (the joke around my office is we'll all have company issued catheters, so we won't ever have to leave our computer!)

That means..no blogging, no painting, no new cool finds...

seriously, it's sad.

But, wait..what's this?

It's daylight!!  I'm coming out of the dark tunnel of deadlines, conference calls & late nights and into the light!

And I'm thrilled!!!

But I have to tell you this,  you know I LOVE my cats but I swear they are going to put us in the poorhouse!  Three of them came down with a terrible case of the kitty flu/strep.  They are all ok now, thank goodness (after several trips to the vet and swipes on my debit card)!  Giving one cat meds is bad enough, but THREE was miserable and they all have devil claws to boot!

That was at the beginning of the week THEN I was cleaning out a desk drawer and moved the garage door opener - didn't think a thing about it. So I'm just piddling around the house, doing my own thing and then I wondered where all the cats where..no one was around.  Well,  I accidentally OPENED the garage door when I moved the opener and let all my cats out and didn't realize it until about 1.5 hours later.  So we had to round them up at 10pm with flashlights and that took hours..one came back the next morning like the conquering hero..bunch of dummies.

On the upside, we actually started putting the finishing touches on the den this weekend.  My goal is to get everything finished (except the flooring) this week. We're painting the ceiling now and it's NOT white!  Woohoo!

Well, I just wanted to say hi!  Talk to ya soon -

Aliens & Tables & Mom!

That pretty much sums up my Mother's Day! Before anything else, I want to thank my mother, Betty Jane. My brother, sister & I have been blessed, truly blessed, with a generous, strong, kind, light-hearted, sincere, faith-walking, praying, spanked you when you needed it, unconditional-loving mother. I spent Saturday (Sunday too!) with her...

If this picture disappears you'll know she didn't like it and made me take it down.

We had a nice lunch & bought beautiful fabric!  How awesome is that?  Here are a few of the things I gave Mom..

I just love the whole look of this one.  It's perfect in her living room!  It was part of the furniture pile I brought home a week or two ago.

Here's the before:

I had already sanded the top down.

Next, lamps....

 I also gave her set of brass lamps a lift.  She loves them - mission accomplished!  (But let me just say this, you'd have to pay me $1000 to make another lampshade like this...no how, no way..nuh-uh.  Burlap is miserable to work with..I know it's dearly loved by many, but it sure can mess up your contacts with all that lint flying around.  Not to mention when you have hot glue stuck to your fingers and burlap lint stuck to the hot glue..MIS-ER-yyyy.) But if you are up for a challenge, then click here to see how I made this shade.

Here's the lamp before:

We had these when I was a kid..time for a change.  Oil Rubbed Bronze & the shade update brought them back to life!

One more table..

Looking a little tired & very, very brown.

 Again, it's perfect for her living room. I just love the lines of these tables..SO pretty! A little paint & elbow grease go a long way..and a really good sander.

 

And seriously, how could you not appreciate that beauty?

As for my Mother's Day...

 Hey...what's this?  For moi?  

(BTW, delivery person - don't mind the plants, just drop it anywhere!)

On top of living with two funny guys who keep my life interesting & full of love, they gave me a spray painter for my special day!  No more aching hands or wrists from holding a brush for hours!

 My two sweetheart aliens take good care of me!

Before I go..

 Little Birdie here is hoping you all had a wonderful time celebrating Moms!

and Betty left you some flowers....

Talk to you soon!


P.S.  I'm linking to the side bar parties!

Lady Luck Smiled At Me (& I hope it's not haunted....)

Lady Luck did give me a nod and here's my story...

I've been pining for an armoire/wardrobe for a while.  We really, really need a coat closet and I thought that would be a great solution while adding a little foyer area when you walk in the front door.

So, I found a few armoires that I liked on Craigslist and sent emails to see if they were still available..in the meantime, we had new garage doors installed.  I got carriage doors and love them! Not real carriage just stamped, but in my book, they weren't cheap.  I decided to hold off on an armoire b/c I felt a little queasy spending so much money in ONE week.  So I emailed the lady back telling her I would have to pass - she wrote me right back and told me I could have it for free just please come get it!!  She said I was the only person who was interested and she wanted to get rid of it. Of course, I was beyond tickled.

We picked it up yesterday..

  It's a HUGE, very old wardrobe and the finish is pretty banged up, but it has locks that work, dovetailed drawers (my fav), plenty of storage & aged mirrors. It's all around awesome!  I'm going to paint it, but I'm going to live with it for a while first. (hard to get a good pic but you get the idea)  

I couldn't just take it.  I insisted the lady take something for it, so in the end I got it for $40.  She was a widow and this was her late husband's and it seemed she really wanted it out of the house.  So here's the part that kind of creeped me out, I was watching "My Ghost Story" last night (because I'm a giant chicken & regularly scare the tar out of myself with shows like this).. anyway, they were talking about haunted houses and haunted FURNITURE...hello!  I was watching some haunted chair terrorize a woman and turned around and looked at this wardrobe wondering if I really DID get a good deal....dun, dun, dunnnnnnn.  Crossing my fingers all I brought home was furniture!

Adding to that, this is what my living room looks like now..

Doesn't this look warm & inviting?  The two white tables are sold and one was delivered this morning.  I'm going to get that wooden desk on the left ready for sale this week.

Today we went to a festival and it was so nice to get out of the house.  We're all dirty & tired..all in all, a pretty good weekend.

Talk to you soon & take care -