Is There Such a Thing As Too Much Gold?

Hello friends...welcome back to my nest.

I want to share a few fun things with you today.

A makeover, a great thrift shop find and 

a birthday gift.

Pay no attention to the lady in the mirror

This week I stopped in my Warrenton Salvation Macy's and picked up this pretty gilded table top mirror.

I loved it, but I felt for it's small size, it was way too much gold.

How about we remedy that problem.

I started by painting on two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paloma.

Paloma is a lovely soft pale plum color.

Pale and lovely

 After the Paloma dried (I hit it with a blow dryer) I dry brushed it with a little Old White.

This helps to highlight the great relief detail.

Isn't Paloma a pretty color?

After the dry brushing, I lightly sanded just enough to expose some of the original gold.

I applied some clear wax with a soft stippling brush.

Normally I use the Annie Sloan wax brush, but i needed a much smaller brush here.

My artist stipple brush worked great.

Again...pretend she is not there

Let's look again at the VERY gold mirror before.

Hey...the lady turned into a vase of roses!
That's one crazy restyle!

And the much more sophisticated toned down restyled mirror.

I added just enough dark wax on top of the clear to accentuate the crevices.

Using an old cotton t-shirt dipped in clear wax, I carefully wiped away any unwanted dark wax.

I think she is beautiful

See the gold peeking through?

 I'm so glad I did not pass up this great little mirror just because I didn't like the finish.

Remember...ASCP adheres to just about anything!

Now on to the next thrift shop find...

 With all of the blogosphere posting gorgeous projects using sheet music, I have had my eyes open for the stuff.

I had not been able to find it anywhere....

Until this week!

Just look at all this fabulous sheet music

 so many wonderful old titles and cover art.

How incredible is the American Cowboy Songs book????

And Stephen Foster!

Ziegfeld!

Bing Crosby!!!!

A classic song and beautiful cover art.

Pay no attention to the price stickers...I bargained the mgr down to an unbelievable price since I was wanting all of it.

I now have enough sheet music for many projects.

 Isn't this gal pretty?

Mr. Secret Agent gave her to me for my birthday, which happens to be 

TODAY!!!
I'm 57 years young.

I know she looks basic, but that is exactly what I wanted....just an old fashioned cruiser.

I'll be on the lookout for a sweet basket that I can line with vintage fabric.

I can't wait to spend my mornings coasting up and down my country lane.

If you see me, be sure to wave.

Any suggestions for the perfect Bicycle name?

A reminder for everyone that my Hometalk/Home Depot gift card Giveaway is still open.

Be sure to enter HERE

Don't forget to leave a comment for each entry ex...Facebook..Like the Hometalk page..Tweet and Follow my blog.

Depending on the number of entries, I will be giving the lucky winner a $50.00 or $100.00 gift card to Home Depot.

USA & Canadian followers are eligible to enter.

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.

Sharing here this week:

Transformation Thursday

Perfectly Imperfect

Designer Garden

Southern Hospitality

Halloween Gourds And A Super Hometalk /Home Depot Giveaway

Hello friends...welcome back to my nest.

I hope everyone on the east coast survived hurricane Irene this past weekend.

In my part of Virginia we got some wind and a good amount of rain, but nothing dangerous.

 Before Irene, you can see the storm clouds beginning to roll in.

 However, she was gone almost as quickly as she came.

Prayers go out for the lost lives that were reported.

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 On to the 'gourd' part of my post...

My sweet friend Phyliss gave me some gourds a few years back.

 I painted a few as folk art Santas.

This gourd reminded me of a pumpkin....so.......

 Hello Annie!!!

You know how everyone is always saying how the paint in the can top dries super fast, so quick...put that top back on.

I took care of this problem by using the paint from the top on my first brush strokes....no paint to dry and problem avoided!

 I gave my gourd two coats of Old White using an inexpensive chip brush.

She is pretty just like this...but I have more plans for her.

 

I searched my stencil stash and believe me, it's big!

A spider..perfect.

Using a lettering and a curly cue stencil I went to work.

 I did an all over Henna tattoo style design

I added some black spiders and the words

WITCHES 

ABIDE

Isn't she great?

Next time I will place the letters a little closer together, but I think this will do for now.

 For the second gourd, I found a cool font at 1001fonts.com and printed it out.

Using graphite paper, I traced the word Booo ! onto the gourd.

Using ASCP in Graphite and a liner brush, I hand painted the letters in

Believe me, you DO NOT have to be a decorative painter to do this.

Just take your time and have a steady hand.

Sidenote:

Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold a gourd..a paint brush and a camera at the same time????

YIKES!

My gourd has a natural crack and I think it gives her great character.

There will be no wood filler used today ladies.

ASCP Old White and Graphite with clear & dark wax

So here she  is... 

Griselda the Ghost

Pretty Bootiful, huh?

Helpful Hint:

   On a piece of waxed paper, mix a little clear and dark wax.

Apply allover and then using your finger...YES, your finger, apply more around the lettering and face.

I love how it gives a little more depth

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Ok....On to the best part of this post

A HOMETALK GIVEAWAY!

I just discovered this great website HOMETALK.COM, and it is just that...you can talk about all things to do with your home.

DIY projects, room makeovers, new construction, remodeling or landscaping. You can pick the brains of designers, carpenters, licensed building contractors or professional painters.

You can also chat with DIY bloggers from all over.

The best part of HOMETALK is that it is absolutely, no strings attached, FREE!!

I have only been a member for a few weeks and already I have shared photos of my slipcover projects, my kitchen restyle and of course I have spread the word about Annie Sloan.

You can leave comments on member postings and they on yours.

Got a question for an expert...you will have an answer in most cases within the day or faster!

It is fun..very friendly and very informative.

Although I am a new member, the kind folks at HOMETALK contacted me and asked if I would be interested in hosting a Giveaway.

Twist my arm why don't ya!

This is how it will work...

You have the chance to win a $50.00 gift card to Home Depot.

How cool is that!

IT GETS EVEN COOLER!!

If I get 500 or more entries, HOMETALK will double the gift card to $100.00

Do you know what you can buy with $100.00????

A new power tool...small appliance...new kitchen hardware..paint, paint and more paint...etc...

You will get 1 entry for commenting and following here and liking HOMETALK'S Facebook page or joining in here.

You can rack up additional entries by posting this giveaway on your Facebook or Tweet about it.

Just be sure to come back and post it in my comments each time you share. 

Remember...leave a comment for EACH time you share this Giveaway.

So spread the word because the more bloggers who comment, the better the chance of someone

winning $100.00 instead of $50.00.

I know you ladies are good at networking...I am counting on you to work your magic.

I would love to be able to give $100.00 to one of you handy bloggers, so link...link...link!

I am doing this strickly for you guys, I am not being compensated at all.

I will run the Giveaway for one week, until midnight September 4th,2011.

The winner will be chosen on Sept. 5th by Random.Org.

Good luck everyone...now go spread the word!

PS...thank you Jason!

UPDATE:

This Giveaway is now 

CLOSED

Thank you to all who participated.

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.

Sharing here this week:

Dittle Dattle

Hope Studios

Savvy Southern Style

Metamorphosis Monday

Motivate Me Monday

SewStylish Boutique

Transformation Thursday

New Girl...New Room...A Makeover Story!

      Hello friends and welcome back to my nest. If you are new here, I am happy to meet you and there is always room for more friends.

So....I got an e-mail from my sister Joanne, who just visited me, and she wanted to know if I would help my niece Ashleigh restyle her bedroom. 

While Joanne was here she got to see all the painted furniture that I have been working on.

When she returned home, her daughter told her of her desire to make over her bedroom in a shabby cottage design.

To which my sister replied.."that's what Aunt Janet does!!!!"

Cue the back and forth texting of ideas and inspiration rooms!

Of all the rooms I e-mailed to her, this is the room that she sees in her mind when she envisions her dream room.

This made me very happy because it is my personal favorite of all the photos I sent.

Isn't it darling?

Ashleigh has a very nice bedroom set that I will be blessing with some Annie Sloan chalk paint.

I will be searching the thrift shops for some chunky frames to paint and maybe distress and gild.

A nice chalk painted side table lamp and some nice extras.

Definitely some pretty cabbage rose fabric also.

Yeah...this is going to be so much FUN!

I will be blogging about the whole process, so do keep in touch.

PS.....Be sure to come back next week for a fabulous Fabric GIVEAWAY!!!

You won't want to miss this one.

Wishing you blue skies

Until next time...be kind and stay creative

An Earthquake and Now A Hurricane....Oh Great!

My morning sky

Hello friends....welcome back to my nest.

Well you all know that we just had an 5.8 earthquake on Tuesday and now it seems we are being told to prepare for a major Hurricane called Irene. 

Why do they give these deadly creatures pretty girly names ?

Why are they not warning us about Hurricane Demonic ?
Mr. Secret Agent has instructed me to stock up on supplies in case we lose power.
I told him no problem, I have already purchased
the most important thing for survival...
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Hey...a girl has her priorities!

If I am going to be without electricity for days, my hair is going to be greyless and silky

;->

I was going to post about a fabulous Giveaway that a very cool website is offering my followers.

However with the very real possibility of many of us being without power due to Irene, I have decided to postpone my Giveaway until next week.

So please do keep in touch so you don't miss out on this great Giveaway.

Sneak Peek!

I actually have a second Giveaway in the works involving some really great seasonal sewing goodies.

You fabric nuts out there will want to try your luck with this Giveaway.

I love giving stuff away!

Ok...so all of my friends on the east coast or anywhere where the weather is being crazy...stay safe.

See you in a couple of days!

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.

                                           

What Do English Ironstone, an Earthquake and Peaches Have In Common?

They all rocked my world this week!!

Hello friends...happy to see you here.

So... if you follow this blog, you know that my sister and my mom came to visit for a few days. 

We had a great visit that was filled with eating.....

Nothing beats a juicy local peach!

Man..this was good stuff

Warm, out of the oven southern peach cobbler...

notice the cool jet streams

 Beautiful Virginia mornings...

runaway parakeet and tomato eating deer

 Unexpected visitors...

my pathetic tablescape attempt...look away Miss Mustard Seed!

And fabulous thrift shop discoveries...

I hit the motherload of English Ironstone thriftiness on Monday

I really love the soft design on this pattern

Beautiful crazing...

Isn't this texture lovely?

Twenty seven gorgeous pieces in all

As I hunted, I kept finding more and more pieces

Sorry, but I cannot tell what I paid for all this Ironstone

 for fear of the police knocking on my door and charging me with grand theft!

Yeah...it was that much of a steal

I also picked up four really lovely vintage hankies

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my house is in that red square...YIKES!

And now we come to the EARTHQUAKE part of my post.

Today at about 2pm a 5.8 earthquake hit Virginia. 

My sister and mom had left for New York and I had just settled in to edit all these photos for this post.

All of a sudden it sounded like a couple of military helicopters landing (or crashing) into my home.

The walls started to shake...dishes rattled...floors moved beneath my feet...it was SCARY!

Now I know you California ladies are thinking 5.8 is no big deal. 

Just imagine LA or San Diego getting a major blizzard in July...yeah, that's a good comparison.

I think it is safe to say that would get your attention.

;->

So that was my fun few days...what have you guys been up to?

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.

PS...I'm working with a corporate sponsor to set up a great little Giveaway and I need some input. If you were to win a gift certificate for a Home/Garden store (think Home Depot, Lowes, Pottery Barn etc) which one would  it be. Do you have a favorite? It is going to happen, so help me decide on one and leave your choice in a comment. I'll be posting the Giveaway next week.

PPS...I JUST FELT AN AFTERSHOCK!!!!

Not Fun.