French Country Hutch

One of my latest furniture projects had a mind of its own…but what else is new?? I have been in love with this hutch (below) for months and months…in fact, I have it pinned to at least two different Pinterest boards!

I haunted Craigslist for days/weeks/months/(who knows) to find a similar piece for a good price, and finally came across this one:

It was $75!!  The only problem…it was in Kirkland, WA, while I was in Portland, OR, for spring break!  The owner was moving, and it HAD to leave on one specific day, and I wasn’t going to be available.  I fretted over that for a while, until an elegant solution occurred to me.  I was supposed to paint a small chest of drawers for a client that she was picking up IN Kirkland!  I made a deal…if she would pick up this hutch for me, I would paint her chest for free.

Everybody wins!

So the hutch came home in April, I think…and then it sat….and sat…and sat…until finally I was ready to do something with my dining room.

I tried my best to re-create the look of my inspiration picture.  I painted the body with a DIY chalk paint made from SW Creamy ceiling paint!  I distressed everything heavily, and also glazed it with a dark walnut stain .

I had a different vision for the backing other than beadboard, but I had to bring the hutch inside before I got to it in order to keep it “safe” from other garage projects. 
  I placed it against the dining room wall that was supposed to be it’s new home…and promptly hated it.

It was too. darn. big.

Sadly, I knew right then that it wasn’t staying.  I decided to use beadboard for the backing, painted a couple of shades darker than the rest of the hutch.

 
After putting it all together, I could appreciate that it was a pretty piece…just not for me!  It has moved on to a new home now.

<Sigh.>  Better luck next time!

Linking up here:

	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence
Knick of Time
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
	Mod Vintage Life

@ Ruffles & Rust

Even before we moved to the Seattle area, I had heard from my little sister about a delightful little tourist-trap of a town called Snohomish.  Isn’t it just lucky that our new home is only 10 miles from there?

One of our first outings then, naturally had to be to check out all the fun shops that line the main street of town.  There are several that are definitely worth a visit, but one of my favorites is Ruffles & Rust.   So one day when I was feeling particularly brave (it doesn’t happen that often), I asked one of the proprietors if maybe…possibly…if it wasn’t too much trouble…would they be interested in having some of my wares in their shop??  When she said YES, I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day!

Although I dropped off a few things (just to test the waters) last week, I had to go back to take a few pictures of what MY things look like in their delightful store!  And of course, I have to share ;-)

Here are a couple of my ever-popular “Biscuits & Gravy” signs…

“Lemonade”’ and “I Love You Like Cupcakes” make an appearance…

Here’s one of my great big beadboard flags…

One of my “extra” chalkboards perches up high…

Here’s a “You are the Bubbles to my bath” canvas.  You can’t tell, but “Bubbles” and a few of the bubbles are glitter-i-fied!

 I made two folding tabletop chalkboards like the ones from That’s My Letter.   These turned out so cute; I’m in love!

One thing that made me laugh was seeing my little chalkboard easel next to the Flea Market sign—because I made my own version of it last year!  It made me do a little bit of a double-take!

There were a couple of things that I couldn’t find, and I hope that means they have sold to someone who will love them like I do!

*****

I do love selling through my Etsy shop, but there’s just something about a brick-and-mortar store, you know??  Don’t miss Ruffles & Rust if you’re in the area!

Revisited: Beadboard Garland for Fall

Here’s one of last fall’s projects—I thought I’d pull it out again for this year!

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I love the look of beadboard, and I’ve been using it for signs for months now (you can see some here), …but I also love the look of pennant banners, so I thought, “How about a beadboard pennant banner?”

Why not?

The first step is to draw out your pennants. There is no magic formula here, just do whatever looks good to you. My pennants are 7” long, and 5” wide at the top. I marked the top and bottom at 5” intervals, except I started the markings on the bottom after coming in 2.5” (because that’s half of 5). Then I just had to connect the dots!

Once my lines were all drawn, I used a table saw to cut along the lines. Note: You could also use a jigsaw if you don’t have a table saw!

Once you get the first piece off, you can use a fence to cut your parallelograms easily…


…but that’s not going to help when it’s time to cut the triangles off!

I ended up with ten little triangles. Rather than drill each triangle separately, I stacked them and clamped them together. Then I could drill five at once! This is a great time saver.

I base-coated all my triangles with Rustoleum Heirloom White spraypaint, but then I decided to get further color inspiration from candy corn! I used acrylic craft paint, and didn’t even worry about getting lines perfect or anything. Have you ever seen a perfect candy corn?? Another Note: OK, so now I know that candy corns are actually yellow-orange-white and not orange-yellow-white. Sorry! I don’t actually eat them! Bleah.

I used black acrylic paint to stencil on letters…

…and the next day I distressed and glazed all my little pennants.

I tied the pieces together with twine, and anxiously hung my banner on my buffet so I could admire my handiwork!

Whoops!

***blush***

Oh, that’s much better!

I like the little-bit-faded look the pennants have.

No tricks for me….just treats, please!

Want some other ideas for an Autumn banner? Well, how about a banner that just says “autumn”? The one below was actually the first one I made. For this one, I use vinyl as a “reverse stencil,” and sprayed the pennants with Rustoleum Summer Squash paint. You may notice that these triangles are all equilateral, so you can make any size/shape triangles you like!

This particular banner now lives on my sister’s buffet!
I like this little “fall” banner with the different fonts for each letter.

The possibilities are endless! What would you put on a banner?

(and if you don’t want to make your own…contact me through my Etsy shop and I’ll make one for you!)

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This project has been featured at Elizabeth & Co.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Stone Gable
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Sunrise / Sunset

I tackled a different kind of painting project.  I should be working on furniture, based on the size of my stash…but a bit of a sore throat and a cough seemed to indicate that staying inside was in order!

It’s well known that I love signs and quotes in all their varieties (you can see my Etsy shop if ye doubt).  I’ve been pondering ways to make mine unique and separate from the many other lovely versions that are available.  I thought about using some ombre backgrounds, and that idea morphed into this:
Here is an 18” x 24” canvas that I painted Sunday night.  “What is it?” you may rightly wonder!  Well, lacking the skills to actually make a painting that looks like something…I decided to settle for reminding you of something!
To me, the reds, yellows, and oranges are reminiscent of a sunset.  But I suppose it could be a sunrise, too...although if it is, I keep thinking, “Red sky the morning: sailor take warning!”  And I don’t even sail!

I over-laid the scene with a favorite quote from Mother Teresa:

“We can do no great things; only small things with great Love.”

I used my Silhouette to cut the lettering out of vinyl for this project.  I used the negative space for the canvas, which left me with the “positive” space for another go.
This time I applied the quote to a piece of beadboard, and then painting another sky scene right over top of it all.  This time I used many different blues, as well as black, white…and a little pink.  Is it sunrise?  Is it dusk?  I’ll let you decide! 

I can’t really decide which I like better.  I like the softly faded, worn look of the beadboard (I had to distress it a little, naturally). 

…but vibrant reds and oranges speak to me, always!

Which one do you like?

(and if you really like one…they are both available in the Etsy shop.)

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Two Signs

I love it when I receive pictures back of some of my signs or furniture in their new homes!

Suzanne of Wicked Faerie Queen was the winner of my two-year blogiversary giveaway!

She chose this little Apiary sign out of my Etsy shop.

She posted this picture on her blog:

Would you believe this sign is really YELLOW?  Why is that color so hard for me to photograph??

Then a few weeks ago, Patti (the original recipient of a beadboard flag), ordered a sign as a gift for a friend.   She had seen the quote “Never miss an opportunity to sleep on a screen porch” on a sign with a flower, but wanted me to put my own “spin” on it and add a black cat to suit her friend’s home.

This is what I came up with…and I have just as hard of a time photographing aqua as yellow  ;-)

 

It was funny that the recipient had to track me down to find out WHICH of her friends named Patti the sign came from!  I was happy to squeal.

She posted this picture on her blog:

Thanks for sharing, ladies!

Two Years & a Giveaway!

 

Two years ago my daughter pushed me to stop drooling over other people’s blogs, and start contributing to my own! 

So I did!

It didn’t stop the drooling…but it gave me a constructive outlet for my own projects!

Not only has blogging proved to be another great time-waster (like I needed another??), but has also inspired my creativity and encouraged me to learn new skills (like power tools!).

I’d like to say THANK YOU to all of you who make blogging worthwhile through your

kind comments,

genuine praise,

helpful suggestions,

and gentle good humor. 

I feel blessed by the “virtual friends” I have made over the last two years, and I look forward to getting to know more of you!

Now for the important part:

To celebrate two years, I will be giving one reader a FREE 24” x 8” beadboard sign of their choice, OR a $20 credit toward any other item in my etsy store.

TO ENTER

Leave a comment telling me of a favorite past project.

That’s it!  Giveaway will end Friday, July 20.

If you don’t want to wait…use coupon code TWOYEARS for 10% off any item in my etsy shop!  Code valid through Friday, July 20.

Hope is the thing with feathers…

I have so many things to blog about that it’s overwhelming!  There are furniture projects, home projects, my first building project, sewing projects, not to mention an entire WORKSHOP…

…but all those projects have worn me out 

So for now, I will leave you with a favorite quote.  My sister requested this a few months ago in “Tiffany blue,” and I have made two more versions since then in coral (or tangerine?) and aqua.

“Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all.”

                             ~Emily Dickinson

You can see a little bit in the picture below that the bird, the birdcage, and the words “hope, feathers, soul, sings, and never stops” are all highlighted with clear glitter.  Glitter makes everything better!

Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Sisters of the Wild West	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design

Where Liberty Dwells

And now…for the REST of the story!

If you’ve stuck with me this long, you now know how one wrecked beadboard flag has been turned into multiple smaller projects!

First there was the patriotic bunting, then the large Old Glory sign.

The next sign is probably my favorite!  I took a five-stripe section out of the middle of the flag and painted a Benjamin Franklin quote on it that I came across on Pinterest (where else?):

Where Liberty dwells, there is my country.

The lettering is all in navy blue, outlined in white.  For the word “Liberty,” I painted over the letters in clear glitter to give it some sparkle!

At the moment I am enjoying it on my buffet, but it will go with me to the Whitaker Museum Flea Market on June 16th.

In the picture below, you can see a small “Glory” sign that was made out of the final scraps of the flag.  Actually—it is the reason the whole flag couldn’t be re-painted?  Let this be a lesson to you…NEVER cut off 6 inches of your flag until you’re sure you have the measurements right!

I’m curious…which version of my buffet do you like better?

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Sisters of the Wild West	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design