She's Baaaaack!

That's me...I'm the she that's back.  I know I've been MIA.  But, I didn't fall of the face of the planet.  Actually, I kinda did.  I went to visit my family and the hubby's family in the sticks of Oklahoma, so to some that is considered falling off the face of the planet.  I always have good intentions of blogging while I'm home, but then the nieces and nephew seem to pull me away.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for those cuties!

I was off work for a few days so I decided to head home for a bit, then it turned out to be a pretty good choice, since at the time, the hurricane was headed right for us.  So I boarded up the windows and hit the road with my travel partner:

 While I was home I got to spend so much quality time with all my family and my husband's family.  We went to the cemetery to add some new flowers to my Mom's grave.  Here are the nieces (Avery and Jordyn) and nephew (Aiden) helping out and visiting their Noni's grave. 

 Here is one of my Dad (Ricky) and us girls (Holly, Heather, Hilary, Hannah).  This was the best picture we got since we only had a kid to take it for us.  I should also remind you that while to some this seems crazy that we would visit the cemetery and be all smiles.  Let me assure that it is sad and hard for us, but we smile because we continue to have joy in the fact that my Mom is in Heaven.  This is an empty grave, she is not here and we somehow rejoice in that.  There is a song called "If You Could See Me Now" and it talks about not wanting a loved one to leave Heaven because it is such a perfect place.  This is certainly our view...we know our Mom is in a perfect place.  And while it's not always easy, Jesus remains our strength until the day we join her.

 I did do a little work while I was home.  Mainly for my sisters, so we'll just call it "complimentary work". Good thing I love them so much!  Here is the before of a cabinet that I did for Holly.  This used to be our entertainment center when we were teenagers, and she has turned it into a kitchen storage/utility cabinet.

 I did the weathered paint technique using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to achieve this look.

 Here's a couple of close-ups:

 I also did a small nightstand for Hannah, but, in true goober-style, I forgot the before picture.

 Here's a close-up of this one.

Oklahoma can also be dangerous...here's proof.  This is a splinter that I pulled out of my Dad's leg one day.  Just to show you how monsterous it was, I compared it to a penny:

 And here's some close ups of my little jewels.  Here's Jordyn, who turns eight this weekend.  She's so precious and inquisitive.  I got to have lunch with her at her school a couple times and we got to have a couple sleepovers, and so much more.

 Avery turned six while I was home and let me tell you...she is a spunky little ball of fire.  Here's a picture of her at one of our sleepovers...sleeping on her "taggy", holding a stuffed bear, with a bunny towel wrapped around her and slipped over her head.

 Aiden loves the "red slide" at "Noni's park" (the memorial playground in my mom's honor).  He's so smart and I absolutely love getting to hang out with him.

 Last but not least, what's a day without some adventure.  Here's Dad and the grandkids in the tree they all climbed.  I just love them all to pieces!!!  Isn't he such a good Popi!

Back to work and reality again.  I have a number of paint jobs lined up for client's over the next few weeks, so I'll try to keep you posted with some befores and afters, along with some tutorials. 

Table Transformation with Paris Gray

Ahhh...back from the morning run with a neighbor and the little puppy.  It always feels so good to start the morning run.  Actually, let's be clear...getting up for the run and going on the run do not feel good.  The accomplishment and the energy I have afterwards do feel good.

I'm in a speed painting mode this week.  Trying to get a lot of furniture pieces finished up before our next batch of company arrives.  Yep, I just compared them to cookies and called them a batch.  My baby sister and her hubby are coming, and they are bringing with them my two nieces and sister number two.  There are four of us and we all start with H's...so one could conceivably lose track....Heather, Holly, Hilary, and Hannah.  Our own little 4-H club.

Ok, I digress.  Back to furniture.  I picked up this little table and chair set at a garage sale recently for a steal.  The entire set was black and in decent condition (excluding the top of the table).  So, I kept the chairs and the table base black and did some touch-up work on them.

 I painted the top of the table with one coat of ASCP in Paris Gray.  I let it dry for an ample amount of time 30 minutes (because I'm patient like that), and then gave it a heavy distress.  That is one thing I love about this paint...it dries so fast.  If it's not completely dry, you'll just end up with a different look.  You can't really go wrong here.  And since I knew I wanted a heavy distress, I didn't have much to lose by moving along so quickly.  This heavy of a distress is certainly not for everyone, but since I'm in the business of furniture resale, I like to keep a variety of finishes going on to please the masses.

 I distressed using a sanding block.  Normally, I don't use these, because it fills up so quickly with the chalk dust, but in this case I did.  I just beat it on the driveway every few minutes to empty the dust.  I believe it was a 120/150 grit block.

 After the distressing, this piece got two coats of clear wax followed by a good buffing.  So perfectly smooth to the touch!  Now she's ready for a new home.

 Or he, it could be a he.  Maybe it is a he with all the grays and blacks.  Oh, and I couldn't get a picture without the furry little model jumping in.

 The Paris Gray is a bit darker than it appears in these pictures.  But, with my phone camera, this is about as good as it gets.  I wished I was as passionate about photography as I am about painting.  Unfortunately, there's not much about taking pictures that I do enjoy.  Maybe one day.

 And, just for kicks, his a look at my booth space at De'France.  I just restocked there on Tuesday.

The End.

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Little Table Gets New Life & A Story

So, today is primarily a before and after with a bit of story mixed in.  Here's a little side table I redid recently.  Here's the after:

 And the before:

 I bought this at a garage sale and thought I could just sell it as it was.  There wasn't really anything wrong with it, so off to the booth it went.  Where it sat, and sat, and sat, and sat some more.  I was tired of seeing it there and tired of it not selling, so I brought it home and doctored it up.

 I first used an ivory spray paint.  Ok, no problems there.  Then, I decided to put a dark wax over it.  Problem enters here.  Being the impatient one that I am, the spray paint had only been on there for about 30 minutes, but I proceeded to wax anyways.  Mistake (or so I thought).  It started smearing the spray paint and giving it a look that I wasn't really going for.  I distressed it some and called it good, even though I wasn't satisfied.  Had I seen this piece at a store finished like this, I would have snatched it up for resale.  But there was something about the fact that I knew it's imperfections came solely because of my impatience...it just wasn't sitting right with me.  I wasn't loving it.  (Looking back I should have).  So, instead of taking it back to the booth, where in all likelihood it would have quickly sold, I considered it a failure and took it to the thrift shop I work at for sale (it's also a consignment shop).  Then, another dealer friend of mine came in that same day, snatched it up, took it to her booth (at a store where I also have a booth), more than tripled the price, and off it went to a new home.  Now why wasn't I using my noggen???  I could have just put it in my booth, but I didn't.  I'm a goober.  Good thing this "dealer" is a great friend of mine.  I was super happy for her "find" and her "sell".

Why is it that sometimes we are just to judgmental on ourselves??  I'm not a perfectionist, generally, so I'm still bumfuzzled by this.  Looking back on these pictures, I guess it was pretty cute and rustic.  Oh well, on to new painting adventures.

Oh, and just for those of you who are jealous of the sunshine state....don't be.  Here's my weather the last few weeks (not ideal for getting caught up on my painting projects):

Entry Way of Honor

This week has been another busy one.  The weather is not cooperating on the painting home-front though.  Good thing I had a million other things that needed my attention aside from paint-related projects!  How can one to-do list become so long?  It's like it multiplies while I look at it.  So, for lack of painting projects from the last couple of days to share, I'm bringing you into my house.  Today, I'm sharing my entry way.  I'll focus on the portion I did in my Mom's honor.  In the pic below you can see the front door and our big furry black home security system.  There's also a gallery wall...that houses all of the nieces and nephews artwork.  As they send us new stuff, the art gets updated.  I LOVE this wall. 

 As you come in the front door, this is your view:

 When we first moved into this house two years ago, it was the same time that I had just lost my Mom, so I wanted to do something in her honor.  This is my tribute to her.  You can read more about her story and her inspirational journey here.

 The wood box is an old garage sale find.  I love primitive decor and so did my Mom.  The ivy is from her funeral service and is just sitting in an old galvanized pot.  My Mom collected old children's chairs and had an entire wall in her house filled with them.  She wanted each of us to have one, so this is the one that came to live with me.  I must admit, I have now turned into a children's chair collector.  Read more about that here.

 This cross is really amazing.  It is made from grapevine, which I love.  I use grapevine frequently throughout my home decor.  This cross was sent to my Mom's funeral with artificial flowers on it.  I eventually removed the flowers and replaced them with a gray ribbon, representing brain cancer awareness.  This cross is a great reminder of faith and family.  I would like to thank the person that sent it, but out of the hundreds and hundreds of flowers and cards received, this was the ONE item that came from someone that no one in our family seems to know.  I would love to know who this came from to give them a proper "thank-you".

 This beautiful quote speaks for itself.  Justin's sister sent this to us and it's words could not be more perfect.  Thanks KrisAnn!

 Here's the beautiful lady that this spot in our house is set up to honor.  We love you Mom and miss you every day!

Now you've had a sneak peek into my home.  There's usually dog hair on the floor and clutter on the bar, but hopefully you're not too scared away.  Come on over and visit!

Playing with Colors and a Feature

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Gail over at My Repurposed Life for featuring my dining room table re-do.  I'm honored!

 Be sure to check out Gail's other features and weekly link party here:

Next up is more creative kid's craftiness by one of my sisters, Holly!  She's such a great Mom.  She basically does a craft each day with my nieces.  The Texas (where they live) heat so kindly lended a hand in making this one happen.  For this project, they took a blank canvas and hot glued new crayolas on it upside down.  Then, set is out in the heat and watch it work it's magic.  Now that's what I call instant art!  This one is headed for my nieces gallery art wall at their house.

Ammo Box Desk / Table

Hey Friends!  I wished I was here to tell you that's it's been sunshine and good painting weather here in the Sunshine State.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  My garage is filled to the brim with projects that are sanded and waiting to be sprayed.  Using my sprayer is not my absolute preferred painting method for no other reason that I get great satisfaction and enjoyment from painting by hand.  But the sprayer does make a welcomed appearance when I have multiple pieces at the same time, getting the same color (and it also helps to use the sprayer when I have chairs with a million spindles).   Point being, however, the weather has not cooperated.

So instead I've been working at the thrift shop, going through the files in our home office, getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist, quoting a couple paint jobs, and other randomness.  I was able to squeeze in a couple smaller, less tedious projects recently.  Actually, Mr. JUNKtion squeezed this one in for the most part.  He was the brains and the builder behind it.  He built a piece that would serve great as a desk or a sofa table.  It's a one of a kind piece built from wooden ammo cans.  Has a bit of a rustic/industrial feel to it in my opinion.

 We have a lot, and by a lot, I mean A LOT of these empty ammo boxes.  How do we have them you ask? Well, let's just say the hubby shoots a lot.  Should the zombies attack, I think we'll be sufficiently prepared to fight back.  We may or may not have a small armory in our house.  We'll just called it preparedness.  But preparedness is a good thing when you can use it's remnants to make furniture, right??  Let's just go with it!

 The piece we are using for the top here was none other than another roadside junk treasure.  I just really love me some good junk.  Actually, it appeared to be part of a completely falling apart desk.  This turned out to be the only salvageable piece.  You know it's bad when the Smalling's actually throw it out!

 We stacked two ammo cans on their sides and glued, nailed, and screwed them together, and then attached the top.

 I then did some sanding to smooth it up a bit.

Next up, it was time to consult the stain shelf and rag box.

  The top was stained with Provincial and the base (ammo boxes) were left natural.

 I absolutely loved the way it turned out.  I really wanted to keep this one for my house, but didn't have the perfect place for it.

 I hope someone else loves it as much as we do!

Here's a peek of this piece in my new space at Plethora (58 Carson Drive, Fort Walton Beach, FL):

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