Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Contest

For Canadians only!
They are featuring a stockist and a colour each day of October. Today's paint colour is Old Ochre. I entered this dresser. I do need to learn to take better photos!  You can see (and please LIKE) my entry in the CONTEST  thanks

Thanksgiving weekend

I have so much to be thankful for. I try to remember this on a daily basis. It is nice to celebrate with friends and family and fabulous food.

All the veggies are ready to cook, just have to stuff the bird, pop it in the oven and relax for a few hours.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

A little behind

I am. I know. But a BlogPodium recap has been on my mind.

Times does fly.

Unlike last time the room full of younger women didn't bother me!

 Jennifer Flores did an amazing job again leading her team to pull off an organized, fun, educating and stylish conference.

The Keynote speaker was Donna Williams of Funky Junk Interiors fame. All the way from BC. Her presentation was about being authentic, and she was.  Shedding her jacket to put on her trademark plaid shirt she was real as she gave us the emotional and tearful story.

That's what it is really about, after all. Donna's story, my story, your story.

Later in the day I ran an idea past her and she said "what is the worst thing that could happen?"

"Fail" I said. And she gave me a look that said, ya so? So I have had that thought rambling around my mind for the last few weeks.

The rest of the day was equally inspiring.  I am going to open an Etsy shop for my quilts and upcycled items.

Avery Swartz always does an awesome job explaining the techie stuff like Google Analytics. I took her Camp Tech Wordpress class last fall. I will be putting it to use soon.

The afternoon Keynote session was full of nuggets of wisdom. Scott Mcgillivray charmed us with his phenomenal success story.  Jennifer said her secret is to start in the middle not at the beginning.

I was fascinated by Monika Hibbs .

Monika is a former physician that started with The Doctor's Closet. I had a hard time wrapping my head around her decision to give up a medical practice. After the incredible amount of study, hard work and dedication she quit.  Maybe because I've been a pharmacist for over 30 years and quitting never surfaced as an option for me. She shared that after spending some time waiting in an ER she realized she has no regrets. That is the way I like to live.

Do you remember the scene in the movie "You've Got Mail" when Meg Ryan's character decided to close her bookstore? Jean Stapleton's character says 'closing is the brave thing to do.' That's how I feel about Monika's story. She encouraged us to search for our natural skills.

I enjoyed checking out the sponsor booths. Chatting with the ASCP ladies from New Orleans and Florida.

So the take away for me......be brave, risk failure, have a mantra, tell my story.

check out the new contest

for Canadians who love Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at the 31 Days of Chalk Paint Love

here is my night table in its home at the cottage.

Looks like a fun contest.

more painted furniture

with custom colours.
We need to have very small multi-functional furniture at the cottage. What could be better than nesting tables? This is before I started mixing up the ASCP. and yes I do know there is only one table here!

 

 

Nesting tables painted in custom colours. All three neatly tucked together. I love the legs altogether each with its own gorgeous colour.

 

Here they are opened just slightly with my two favourite 1970's pieces.

 

 

I put the most dark wax on the smallest blue table.

 

 

the colours really work with this 9 patch quilt top too.



 

 

I mixed new colours

of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to make the colours used to paint this chair. Sturdy, comfortable, clean yet boring.

I had pinned a similar one done with a Union Jack that Annie has shown to feature Napoleonic Blue. I wasn't really up for the math to do a flag so stripes it was. I started with a pale base

 whipped out the Frog Tape and varied the width of the stripes while trying to match up the seat and backrest.

 

 

it looks all bright and childish until the dark wax knocks back the colour and makes it looks aged.

 

 

 

 

The paint is also great on metal. The chrome parts were painted in graphite then waxed as well.

 

 

 

 

No stripes on the back.



 

 

so much better than before. Don't you think?

 

 

I wasn't going to go but once I had a purpose I signed up for

I went last year. You can read about my experience Here

My purpose, well it's too early for details but lets just say I've bought to much furniture and "STUFF" for our little cottage.

Hehe!

Colour scheme

Our new cottage is a builder's model.  That means their designer picks out the paint colours. I love colour, any colour so I am fine with using what we will be getting. We found this picture in thrift store, of course. The colours are perfect.

It is about 24" sq.  Just not sure what room it will end up in. We'll see!

They're here, they're here!!!!

Yup my  Heather's prize arrived.

Paint cans in their own winter wear. only in Canada eh?!

We got 12, yup, a dozen cans of ASCP, a can of each dark and clear wax and Annie 's workbook.

So many yummy colours. Thanks Annie Sloan Unfolded.


It all started Here

What are gleanings?

I love the name of my blog but it is not self- explanatory.
My new in-my-mind-only blog will have a menu explaining the term Gleanings and  have examples.

The new blog may be a while so I'll start here.

Gleanings

pl n

1. (Agriculture) the useful remnants of a crop that can be gathered from the field after harvesting

This is the meaning I grew up with living on a farm. Collecting the missed cobs of corn into sacks for chicken feed after the large harvesters had chopped acres and acres into silage.

Cutting the small broccoli shoots that sprout after the main head was removed.

This sort of thing is now done on farms in an organized way to yield tons and tons of food that would other wise not be harvested.

I obviously take a more creative use of the term!

Yesterday had a spur of the moment gleaning opportunity. There are still piles of broken branches from the recent ice storm sitting curb side.  Spot and I stopped at a pile of curly willow branches and  gleaned  an armful of lovely twigs.

I'm not taking a photo cuz they are outside on top of ice and now covered in fluffy snow.
They look exactly like these

And we plan on using them to decorate the urn at the front door in the spring.  I wonder if they will sprout leaves?

Blog posts need photos right?  So here is the urn still decked out in red before Christmas and all the ice and snow.