striped furniture complete and an awesome recipe from the Pioneer Woman's punk a** little sister

Here we go:

I love distressed furniture. The kind of distressed with multiple layers of paint, where you can take a hammer to a piece and paint outside the lines and sand it down until it looks just right. But I admit, sometimes distressed can be a lot of work....because it has to be done right.

You know the kind of furniture that has been "rushed distressed" and made to look old, but really it just looks like a made in China particle board table with a slap of paint on it? Yeah, not a fan.

Soooo....this latest project put me to the test to see if I could do it myself. The right way.

I have these two random cabinets...the diamond one was actually in my room in high school and was originally solid cream until I painted it.

And the green one came from good ole' Edward and Edward in downtown Frederick when they were still in business. (How they are missed!)

painted them each a soft blue first....mixing the color and then adding about 3 tablespoons Plaster of Paris...1 tablspoon per cup of paint

Then distressed them...

Then painted a layer of bright aquaish color....

taped off the stripes...pain in the butt!

before and after dristressing....

Here's the final product with a layer of SC Johnson wax applied and buffed out....it's super smooth and super distressed.  What do you think?  I hope it's not too Cheshire Catish : /....I'm liking the bright, happy colors and it adds an element of surprise to our kitchen!

So, between:

A) repeatedly asking Leila to sit down on her sweet little tush while jumping on the sofa

B) Needing to get my behind to the gym

C) Wanting to make this AMAZING recipe again from the always trusty Pioneer Woman, which my sister sent to me a few years ago via e-mail with the subject line: For My Punk A** Little Sister (click on the above link and read what TPW had to say about her sis)...

here is the Pioneer Woman's little sis btw...doesn't she look nice :) ?



photo courtesy: The Pioneer Woman....Penne a la Betsy!


D)  Working on the above pain in the butt stripe project

WHEW...and last but not least...

 E) Dragging my butt to pack for our first plane trip with toddler to visit my big sister in less than, uh...let's see, 18 hours....yikes!  There has been a lot of back talk in the house.....

We are off to Rhode Island for a week where I hope to see several mansions like these on the coast of Newport:


photo via beach island.net


Hope everyone is having a lovely first day of June....have a great weekend, see you when we get back!!

dressed up no sew windows

I've been wanting to make window treatments for our sad little kitchen windows for a while now. 

However, not with the window treatment cost.... and of course I wanted them to be unique and tailored. Basically I didn't want the "Bed in a Bag" of window treatments you can find at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

And, I still don't know how to sew... I so want to learn!  I had to be creative and complete this project just with glue, lots of starch and ironing.  And some patience.

Off to Discount Fabrics in Thurmont I went.  This place is a massive warehouse full of designer fabrics and everything else you may need to sew with...all at great prices.

An entire wall is set aside just for extra low discounted fabrics.  Fabric which is left over with just a few yards on the roll...the entire wall is a flat rate of $5 per yard and you are required to purchase what is left on the roll. 

I found this fabric with 2.5 yards left....so I paid $12.  It is a thick, nice weight fabric:

(Leila decided to throw her lovies on it as I was taking pics!)

So, I got my measurements all squared away and clear on paper first since I am such a scatter brain...and then decided to take the plunge:

Iron, starch.  Iron, starch.  Glue, iron, starch, iron.  Repeat...:)

To make my life easier, I glued this treatment on directly to my rod:

And then, I wanted some trim....remember that post I did on the great sewing machine and vintage trims etc. I was given?  The trim came in handy:

I used black as a base:

Here is the first window after shot:

Then the panels for the sink window.  I decided using hot glue was so much easier (and faster).  Is it just me or does that glue smell take you right back to your bow making days in 4th grade?

Again, glue...starch...iron.......etc, etc.

I made little loops at the top from the rick rack ribbon to hang them

Last but not least....I love a kitchen window with a few special pieces to look at when you are getting your Palmolive on :)  I have here:

1) a pic of leila in a sweet frame from one of my best friends

2) a little vase from a local artist from a trip to Barbados

3) a little salt/pepper shaker (only 1 is left) from a set my dad sent my grandmother from England as a boy

4) piece of pottery from my mom to house soap

5) And, I can't stand my Palmolive to remain in it's yucky bottle so I hide mine in a hand soap dispenser...

What do you think?  I hope it looks more welcoming and finished because it took up the better part of yesterday....whew!

speckled egg

Speckled Egg is a sweet blog I read from time to time.  I just love all of the quirky, vintage small finds she comes across and then sells through her shop...everything from vintage paper to cool embellishments that are one of a kind. 

Her prices are very reasonable, I finally decided to order a few small things to use in my art and am so happy I did:

In the upper left hand corner, those are vintage London bus tickets, then yellow cabochons (there were sooo many of these, I had a hard time choosing), great thin velvet gray ribbon and blue herringbone ribbon....and then, ok...so the Madre pin isn't for my art but won't it be so cute on a jean jacket?  I thought so too!

Last but not least, she threw in some twine with her business card....don't you just love a free bonus?!

I received my package within a few days too! 

Really excited to get to work on my current project and use some of these embellishments....here is a sneak peak:

The Inn at Gristmill Square

My parents live out in the country....way out. We drove there on Friday and to get there you pass some of the most gorgeous, picturesque scenes you can imagine.  Makes me want to jump out of the car and set my easel up about 100 times. 

And then, there are parts of the drive that lead you to believe you are officially part of the Griswald family.  We made our first Griswald memory by stopping by where else during our drive:

Circa: 1963...it's not the Hollywood sign folks, but it has certainly made a name for itself.  Located right off 81 near Winchester, VA...it has been open so long that their gift shop probably still has items left unsold since opening fifty years ago.

I couldn't help but giggle some:

 This place was priceless and something tells me we will make this our own family tradition for now on when we visit my parents....check it out here.

Moving on....Bath County, VA.  If you haven't been....it is a must!  Simply gorgeous.  We spent Friday night at The Inn at Gristmill Square before heading on to my parent's house.

The restaurant

We stayed upstairs in the tower...

Lovely...definitely worth the trip!  Have a great week everyone.........