Show Me Your Romantic Prairie Style Final 5 and a Winner...

Hey Blogger Friends,

My apologies for being slow at getting the 5 finalists of the "Show Me Your Romantic Prairie Style" Photo Challenge.  I have been getting ready for the MUTHA of all garage sales.  We are really choking at our place with our own slightly pathological accumulation of stuff.  So, we are being as ruthless as we can.  It's hard.  Sometimes there are tears.  But I know that eventually, this weight will be cut from around our necks and we can start to enjoy our lives more.  Or that's the plan anyway.  SO, if I am a bit MIA the next month or so, rest assured all is well and I am just taking care of business.  NOW, with that bit of dirty laundry out of the way, on to our finalists.  Thank you to all who entered.  I've had a ball going through your beautiful pictures and seeing how you interpret the romantic prairie style, but after much deliberating, I've narrowed it down to 5 pictures that really struck me.  I hope you'll pop over to these gals' blogs and see more of  their unique styles.

First up is Lynn of The Vintage Nest.  She shared 3 beautiful photos with me, but this one is the one you absolutely have to see.  This cute little house is her chicken coop.  Now I don't know about you, but I think if your chickens have a romantic little abode (they call it the Romantic Roost), you've got a good start on the romantic prairie style.  She said it was a child's playhouse that was no longer needed and they bought it via Craig's List after about a year of looking for just the right place for their backyard chickens.  I think it is darling, don't you?

Next, we have a very talented gal, Lara from Air Kisses.  Her use of zinc and natural materials is very much in keeping with the romantic prairie style in my humble opinion.  Her photo collage showed several lovely elements and captures the simplicity of materials that come together to make a simply beautiful vignette.  Lara was just featured in Artful Blogging and you'll want to pop over to see her gorgeous blog where it will become quite evident why she was selected to be in this quality magazine.

Our next gal is Patti of The Shabby Chick.  Patti has been a follower of mine for a while now and she is one of the nicest ladies you'll ever meet.  She's always tweaking and fluffing her beautiful home and infuses so much personality into it.  I hope you'll agree with me when I say I am enchanted by the top of her bookcase featured below.  I love the way she used the vintage silverware as decorative elements and, of course, you know I love the ironstone....yummy!  Stop by and see her amazing kitchen redo that she is working on.  I think it is looking smashing!!!

Next is Karen's home from A Delightsome Life.  It just says "farmhouse" to me and, while perhaps a literal interpretation of romantic prairie style, I just want to move in (get my room ready, girl!).  Everything looks like a turn of the century home and yet, it is very fresh and inviting.  This is where I hope to go with my kitchen one day.  I can't complain too much, its been a very nice and amazingly attractive space (albeit a bit small) for over a decade, but I would like to infuse some farmhouse charm.  Anyway, back to Karen.  She's been doing some gardening lately and her plants are beautiful.  Go check them out when you have a chance.

Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to show you  Rene's beautiful living room.  Her blog, Miss Gracie's House is a beautiful study in white and all it's many shades.  The warmth of this lovely spirit's home is amazing.  Every detail is well thought out and tells a story.  Her many vignettes give interest to this 100 year old farmhouse and her generally traditional Victorian style is stunning. The color palette keeps it light and airy and fresh.  Another source of inspiration for yours truly to be sure.  Drop by and take a look at her post titled "Why Do We Love White" and make sure you check out her divine bedroom.  I get inspired each and every time I go by her place and I know you will too.

Well, these are my picks.  Later this week, I will be doing a photo collage of my "Honorable Mentions", so check back again.  As for part 2 of this post, one of these lucky ladies featured above will be getting their own copy of Fifi O'Neill's "Romantic Prairie Style" although I think they may just have to give it away as a gift since they obviously have it going on already!  I assigned each one a number, based on the order in which they submitted their pictures, so the numbers are as follows:

1.  Patti
2.  Lynn
3.  Lara
4.  Kathy

5.  Rene'

And Mr. Random Number Generator says the winner is...

#2

Congratulations to Lynn of The Vintage Nest!!!

Sorry I couldn't figure out how to do a screen shot of the generator, but I guess you're just going to have to take my word for it that it came up 2.  Lynn, give me a hollar with your physical address and I will ship your beautiful book out to you.

That's all for now.  Back to the sifting and sorting...

Just for grins, I'm linking up with Kathleen's White Wednesday over at Faded Charm.  Maybe just a few stops before I hit the basement again... :-)

Until next time,

Playing with Sophisticated Finishes Patina Solution

A few weeks ago, I was shopping at a little junque shop in town.  I say junque because junk is a bit harsh, but antique is a bit of a stretch.  I saw this little metal terrarium thing complete with candles and silk flower bits (I appreciate the thought, but not so much the outcome).  I didn't buy it first time around, but then a couple of weeks, went back and decided it just needed to come home with me.  AND I needed to do a little fussing with it until it was more rusty crusty and full of character.  Below is what it looked like when I brought it home.

Before, as purchased.  Not bad, just not me

I have used this product before and like it a bunch.  It is Sophisticated Finishes and it can be found at Michael's.  It comes in a bunch of different finish options and is a 2 step process.

This set gives an aged copper patina

First you paint on the base coat.  I had the aged copper kit, so the first step made everything deep copper metallic color.

After the first step of the process.  Copper metallic finish.

Then, you add the patina liquid and let it sit.  I did a lot of dappling with a sponge brush and just let it run wherever.  As you might guess, the tray got the best of the patina since it is flat and the liquid doesn't run off.  If you like "extra crusty", you can toss a little salt in the mix and it does a bit of the pock thing.  Kinda cool.

After the second "patina" step has been added. 

I liked it, but it was a little too orangey for the look I wanted, so I got on line and found out that Sophisticated Finishes also has a kit that is iron and rust.  Since I used up the last of my copper patina on this project and I had a coupon for 40% off at Michael's, I decided to replenish my rusty crusty maker stock with the iron and rust.  I then dabbled on both steps so I wouldn't completely obliterate the coolness of the finish I already had, but I could just tone it down a bit. Below is the result.

After adding dabs of the Iron/Rust set

I like it.  Funny how sometimes it just takes a little more layering before you're happy with the result.

Then came the fun part of putting some stuff in the structure.  I printed off some stuff from the Graphics Fairy and decided on the Birdie Darling sheet music cover.  I added an actual bird's nest which was abandoned in one of my Christmas wreaths one year, put in some Quail eggs, a little lace scrap to soften things, a crusty old finial, and the cute little porcelain bird which was on clearance at Michael's (OK, yes, impulse buy, but I did resist the first time I saw it and only bought it the second time around, so I think I get a little credit!).  I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the inside vignette yet, but the fun thing is, I can play until my heart is content now that I have it looking the way I wanted.  I like that now it isn't so obviously new like it was before.  Rusty and crusty and a little elegant.  Ahhhhhh, PERFECT!  And, pretty easy as well.  If you like to alter stuff to look like old metal, I think the Sophisticated Finishes do a pretty good job.  The kit runs around $12, but you can get several small projects out of it and, of course, if you use a coupon, it is much more reasonable. 

Filled with fun "junk"

It has cute little ball feet although its just balanced on my architectural piece right now.

I'm linking up with Kathleen's White Wednesday over at Faded Charm and Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday.  Stop on over and get filled up on eye candy galor!

Don't forget my Romantic Prairie Style "Show Me Your Style" Photo Challenge that you can enter for a chance to win your very own copy of the fabulous Fifi's Romantic Prairie Style.  Read about it here.  Hope you gals don't mind, but I'm pushing back the deadline to enter the challenge to April 30th.  We all need more time, right?  Or maybe that's just me...smile.

Until next time,

We have a winner...AND a Romantic Prairie Style Photo Challenge

Today is the day, yessirree...we have a winner of Fifi's fabulous new book Romantic Prairie Style and one of my little lavender sachets. AND I have something exciting to tell you at the bottom of the post, so bear with me.

Thank you to all who entered and became followers and tweeted and posted on Facebook.  I wish I had a book to give all of you, but I don't, so we'll just have to congratulate the nice gal who's "number came up".
Mr. Random Number Generator came up with the number belonging to....

RECYCLED RITA!

I'll be contacting you Karen for your mailing address so I can ship you your treasures.  YAY!

Now, for PART DEUX.    I am pretty excited about this and I hope you are too.  Today on my doorstep, the mailman brought me a SECOND copy of Fifi's book.  Yep, a second one.  Now, at first I thought I'd just have the random number generator generate two numbers.  BUT, that would be too easy.  I thought perhaps we could have a little fun and promote one another as well.  SO, here is my idea:

**********************************************************************************

Between now and tax day for us in the U.S. (April 15th-SHRIEK!), send me a photo from your home, studio, or garden that you feel best represents your take on romantic prairie style.  It can be a vignette or a room photo, whatever you prefer, just send me a file size that is suitable for posting in the XL Blogger picture format because that is the size I like to show on my blog so everyone can see your beautiful details if you are a finalist.  I will pick the 5 entries that I feel best embodies the romantic prairie style and do a post on my blog featuring YOU and your wonderful personal spaces with links to your blogs or websites.  THEN, those 5 people will have their names thrown in the hat and the winner will receive Fifi's book.  Now if you already have Fifi's book, you could give this one as an AWESOME gift and look like a rock star (don't worry, we won't spill the beans that you got it for free!).  Please don't feel that you can't enter just because you don't "need" the prize.  I really want to see your pictures, whether they are brand new or from your files.  Feel free to send up to 3 photos since, if you are like me, you will be torn as to which is the "perfect" one.  Now you don't have to decide.  Also, please don't stress out about your photos.  We are just having fun and that's what its all about.  By entering, you do, of course, imply permission for me to post your photo on my blog should you be a finalist.

My only rule is this:  these MUST be your OWN photos.  No magazine inspiration photos or photos from FLICKR, etc.    Go forth and get those cameras clicking and show me what ya got!  Let's have some fun with this.   If we are a little sluggish getting started, I do reserve the right to push back the end of the contest so we have enough to play.

Send your photos to the email address posted on my sidebar.  It is not a direct link because I don't want the automated bots to fill up my inbox, so sorry for the extra step.  I will send you a very brief confirm that I got your photos.

Spread the word by posting about the contest on your sidebar.  Here's an image you can use if you like, and please link it back to THIS POST so people can find out the details.  

 Until next time,