My New Obsession

We are almost at the end of February.  Let's all say Amen!!  What a winter this has been.  We have all collectively had it with winter. Long days turning into even longer nights.  I have even started playing Candy Crush!  If you don't know about this game, consider yourself  lucky.  This game was devised to warp the minds of innocent, middle aged women (maybe men,too, not sure) and render them helpless and brain dead. I was warned by my friend, Kathy not to get involved, but, I chose to look the other way and now I am hooked. There is no strategy to this game nor is there any exercising of the brain.  It is just stupid colored candies dropping down and I MUST eradicate them and their stupid "jellies", whatever they are!  Can you see where I am going with this people - I need help.  So...I have decided to turn  to some creative outlets.  I spend a lot of time reading other blogs.  I read horse blogs and some dog blogs.  I admit it I read the Housewives' blogs, but my absolute favorite blogs are those of the "crafty" women.  These women create the most beautiful items for the home and garden. They are young(er), pretty and have beautiful old homes. They can paint, sand, and use tools!  I envy them.  Sure I blog, but they not only make perfect crafts and re purposed furniture, but they take great photos and give step-by-step tutorials!  I love them.  One idea that kept grabbing my attention was the use of Chalk paint.  This is not Blackboard chalk paint, this is expensive water-based paint that goes over any finish.  No stripping or sanding needed.

Perfect stuff for an impatient crafter like me. I found some locally and got to work.  I have an old Bombe chest that belonged to my mother and decided I would try out my new skills.

See, my photo skills suck!  But this is the chest with the drawers removed.  Two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk paint later and voila.

The piece is actually darker in person.  I also learned how to use the very important wax to finish and "age" the chest.  I LOVED doing this.  I first painted the chest Paris Grey.  It looked really great, but the ole Farmhouse does not lend itself to grey, so....I repainted.  This paint sticks to anything.  Please send me your old furniture , I'll work for peanuts! I cannot stop thinking of projects to do.  Speaking of projects I finished my snack tray project.  I painted (chalk paint- what else?) the top and did a graphic transfer and it worked!!

Fun stuff. 

I think my head may explode with all of these ideas floating around in it.  When it gets too overwhelming I play Candy Crush. Help!

In other news The Farmhouse is now adorned with more window treatments.

We had roman shades made for the den. They add a nice warm touch to the room.

That's all for now.  I've got furniture to paint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carriage House Update

Is is "normal" to love a garage?  I sure hope so, because, I love my garage.  Maybe it's because I lived without one through the most hideous of winters, but I really , really am enjoying our garage!  It is not totally finished, but it is totally functional and that's all I care about at this point.

Jason did a great job of reusing the existing brick and creating a center panel.  We still need to paint the new wood to match the rest of the structure.  He also created an opening on the side closer to the house.

We removed the brick and siding and added a door.  Notice the window above the door.  I like how he used half of the existing window.  Sort of like a transom. This too, has to be painted.  We also added the step and matched it to the existing walkway.

Hard to see with the snow, but it matches perfectly.  The final step will be paving the area in front of the garage.  The house originally had cobble stones, while pretty to look at, they were dangerous to walk on.  Wes tore them up last fall and put down asphalt millings.  We will pave when the weather warms up. I can't wait to pave because the milling are a mess!! Whenever they get wet , which is all of the time, they get tracked in the house by dogs and people alike.  Yuk!

I have been experimenting with Transferring the French Typography I told you about last time.  This is my latest effort.

The Mod Podge method did not work for me, so I hand painted the image with the help of graphite tracing paper.  This is an old side table that is pretty beat up, but I like the way it turned out.

I am now exploring the world of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Stay tuned!  This may prove to be amusing.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crazy For Crafts (or How I survived Winter)

Well here we are again, many inches of snow on top of the ice.  What's a girl to do?  Well of course - go crazy with crafting!  But first I am conducting an experiment.  I am very scientifically charting how many days I can go without washing my hair!  Gross, you may say, but with this weather I have been wearing hats and ear warmers and we all know how beautiful a gals' hair looks after removing her hat! So I have decided - why bother - where am I going - oh that's right - outside to shovel or walk the dog.  Hence, the hat. And the pretty hair underneath.  And the best part?  Cliff has not said one word.  Does this man even look at me??  Bella doesn't care either!  I am now on day 3.

Now on to crafting.  I don't know if this has anything with The Farmhouse, but I have a very strong need to craft.  So far I have painted and stenciled an old window, painted and stenciled a sign, painted coasters, painted a cake plate and tried my hand at French Typography transfer!

Here are a few of my projects.

These are ceramic coasters I bought at Michaels.

I painted them with Chalk Paint (my new favorite Thing) and then of course - stenciled!

While at Michaels I also picked up this small cake pedestal.

Painted it Black and then...

Won't this look cute with a giant cupcake?

I also decided to use my Porch stencil again.

I hope to hang this on an actual porch.

While cruising craft sites online I came upon a great site called The Graphics Fairy.  This site allows you download graphics for free and also gives directions for crafting.  I am drawn to the French Typography section and I hope to try it on furniture on day.  For now I am just doing test pieces.  First you download the image and then flip it, yes I learned how to reverse the image on my computer!  Next you print it out and apply a thick coat of Modge Podge and place it over the surface you want to use.  The hard part is waiting 24 hours until you soak the image with water and remove with a sponge.

Here is my test piece.  I hope to try this on a large pizza board.  Fun!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I even crafted a card for Cliff!!  Really, I got snowed in and didn't get to the store :) 

Uh Oh! A bird just fell out of hair!  I gotta go wash it!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Serenity Now

Enough Already!!  As I sit down to write this blog the lights are flickering, there is a coating of ice on the trees and my pants are getting tighter.  May I just say - THIS WINTER SUCKS!  I know I am not alone in this sentiment, but as the Creative Director of this Blog I feel it is my duty to complain loudly about the weather.  Yes it was "charming" when the first snowfall came to The Farmhouse, but come on, how much of this crap must we endure?  I fancy myself as an outdoors type of gal.  I love riding my black pony on a crisp winters day, Bella and I enjoy hiking the trails at Oregon Ridge , heck I even make Cliff join me on a walk around the hood.  But this - this S**T is unbearable.  Forget riding even the most surefooted beast in this weather.  Kitty hails from Canada , wears shoes with special snow pads and borium and I still can't ride her in this mess! Walking the dog becomes a challenge just to stay upright due to the ice.  My big outing today will be a trek to my beloved Starbucks. And let's talk about the mud.  When we finally get a day above freezing the ground turns to mud!  Bella is not a dainty type of girl, when she runs she runs Hard!  Skid marks are all over our new, delicate "lawn".  Of course then she comes inside and brings all of that mud with her.  It's an endless cycle of washing towels and washing the floor.  Fun stuff, but when your stuck inside what else is there to do?  Oh and let's not forget baby Fletcher.  When he comes to visit it's double mud.  My little grandpup now weighs 50 pounds.  Big muddy paws!  Love him, though!

Ok - I am done complaining.  I have much to be  Grateful for and I know this, but every once in awhile it feels good to complain. Think Spring!

Thanks for stopping by.