Show Me Your Style Honorable Mentions

Well, I didn't get this post done late last week like I said I would, but better late than never, I guess!  Story of my life, running behind and playing catch up.  I just had to share some of the other entrants of the Show Me Your Romantic Prairie Style Photo Challenge.  These gals all have their own take on the style.  These 4 readers are a little more towards the romantic feel.  I just want to go "YUM" when I look at their photos. 
Amandashows off her entryway, Jenny had a divine stack of quilts, Jasmin had some amazing lilacs, and Nicki has a beautiful dreamy bedroom (loving that bedcover and its ruffles, aren't you?). 

The next 3 ladies also submitted photos that totally tickled my fancy.  From L to R:  ShawNa (who I got to meet at her very cool store since we are in the same county-she's a hoot, I think we'll be getting together again!),  Julie from Austrailia had a beautiful vignette, and Sandi who has great style and can make the prettiest photos out of the simplest items.


I hope you enjoyed seeing a few more photos from the challenge and again, thank you for those of you who sent in photos. 

I'm going to pop on over to visit Kathleen and White Wednesday and get a little more inspired (if that's possible).

Until next time,

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,

Pretty Statue Makeover

Hi Blogger Friends,

A week or so ago, I posted about some of the finds I got while out antiquing and one of them was this little fella.  He was so cute with his little ivy wreath crown and bird's nest, but he was painted an old gold.  I love old gold on some things, but on him, not so much.  Don't get me wrong, if for some reason, I could only have purchased him with the agreement that he had to stay as is, I still would have picked him up, but luckily, that was not a stipulation of purchase!  Like so many of you out there, sometimes, we just think, "but I could make it so much BETTER..."  And off we go, paintbrush in hand.  Here's what he looked like when I got him.

I had wanted to leave a little of his gold peeking through.  Hmmmm...I painted him all a watered down white and then wiped some of the paint off.  YUCK!  That wasn't even photo worthy.  He ended up in the sink with me and a brillo pad.  Back to the original...after numerous coats of a little white paint mixed with a little walnut glaze, then watered down walnut glaze to go down in the cracks, he ended up looking a bit like an old bronze statue.  I kind of liked him, but when I got up this morning, that old painting jones got the better of me and I got back at it before I even ate breakfast (or got dressed for that matter-I know, it's a sickness).  I wanted him lighter.  After a little more white paint mixed with a little glaze, ragged on, I sort of liked him, but he was a little chalky looking and the walnut glaze in the cracks seemed a bit too...well, wal-nutty.  SO, add some black paint to the watered down concoction and drippled that all over and then wiped if off the surface, just leaving it in the cracks.  Better.  I think we're getting there.  This is the result.

In this picture, he looks a tad zombie-ish, so I think he may get a little more dabbing of color in his face.  Tweaking, tweaking, always tweaking...sigh.

Overall, I think I'm happy with him, but there's always room for improvement, right?

Don't forget to enter my ROMANTIC PRAIRIE STYLE SHOW ME YOUR STYLE PHOTO CHALLENGE.   Click over to that post to get the low-down and send me your take on the romantic prairie style.  You never know...you may be in fabulous Fifi's next book!  No, I don't have any inside information, no I do not know if she has another book planned, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.  One thing I can say for sure, the winner will receive a copy of Fifi O'Neill's stunning new book, Romantic Prairie Style.  Archive photos are fine, you don't have to snap new ones, as long as they are YOUR personal photos of your home, garden, or studio.

Linking up with Kathleen's White Wednesday.  Pop on over for some great white inspiration.

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,

Weekend Treasure Hunting

Hello Friends,

I thought I'd take a break from altering costumes for my son's Shakespeare play (yes, 5th graders doing Shakespeare-and they do it well!  Does that rock or what?), to say hello and show you a few of my finds from over the weekend.  I did a little thrifting and a lot of antiquing and came up with quite a few treasures, some for me, some for sale.  I am only showing you the white or white-ish ones since it is, after all, White Wednesday, possibly my favorite day of the week!  Least productive day of the week since I spend WAY too much time hopping around looking at all of the pretties, but still my fav!  ANYWAY, I scored the beautiful little glass apothecary jar shown above and below.  I saw it and just knew it had to be my new mother of pearl button container.  It's going to look great in my studio.

I got a set of 4 of these pretty little doilies.  I will use them for some project down the road.  Or maybe just enjoy them as doilies, who knows?  I think its important to keep an open mind, right?  My husband would tell me we could go broke keeping our minds so open, but he doesn't have to know everything!

I paid a lot for the heart shaped doily, but I have never seen a heart shaped doily before and I do have a special place in my HEART for heart shapes, so it just had to be.  I think this would be great incorporated into an altered blouse or in a beautiful Magnolia Pearl inspired purse or tote.  What do you think?
Or maybe into a lovely pillow inspired by my very talented blogging friend Rene' . Hmmmmm....  No Rene, I'm sorry, this one is mine.

These beautiful earrings are going to be cannibalized for their incredible beads and will be made into a necklace along with some of their vintage jewelry friends that I have been hoarding collecting for a year or so.  Well, no, I've never actually made a piece of jewelry, but I do have a couple of great books and I need to have a stash in order to get the proper inspiration, right?  Yeah, I think that's what the poor folks on that show "Hoarders" probably said 15 years prior to being "featured" on the show. Yikes!  There but for the grace of God...

This beautiful little fella (or maybe gal) almost didn't get picked up because of his very gold paint job.  But when I walked over and really looked at the detail, I realized that it just had to come home with me.  I will do a little makeover on him/her and subdue the paint a bit.  I'd like to leave a little of the gold and silver peeking through though. Any thoughts?  Email me or just comment on this post if you have any ideas on how to do this.  Come on, you gals are the most innovative, creative, and talented  people on the planet, I know you know.  (smile)

Just love the detail on that sweetie.  Ivy crown (or is it grape leaves?  A horticultural genius I am not, I leave that to my brilliant husband), bird's nest in the hand, sweet face... does it get any better?  Well, after a little make over it does, but other than that, I think not.

I almost fainted when I saw this incredible vanity tray.  Nuff said.

Swoon...

Lastly, the thrift store was a bit of a dud where home goods were concerned, but where clothing was concerned, I was pleased.  Check out this gorgeous top from one of my fav stores, White House Black Market.  I couldn't buy it fast enough.  Love its lace detail and the color is divine.  I'm thinking "date night".

Well ladies, must rock and roll.  I'm linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday.  YAY!

DON'T FORGET to enter my 100th post giveaway here.  Time is getting short for you to win a copy of Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Prairie Style and one of my lavender sachets.  Entries need to be in by midnight Mountain time tomorrow, March 31st with the winner being announced April 1st, so get on over there.  You'll be glad you did.

Until next time,

Pink Saturday Retrospective

 

Happy Pink Saturday!  I am super busy in my studio making some items for a friend's shop and enjoying a little time with my kids over spring break, but I wanted to participate in Beverly's wonderful Pink Saturday, so I hope you don't mind a little pink redux.  These are some of my favorite past Pink Saturday images.  I hope you enjoy them!  Light on text, heavy on pretty pictures...perfect for a nice Saturday. 

Don't forget my giveaway of Fifi's new book, Romantic Prairie Style.  Just leave a comment on the giveaway post by March 31st and the winner will be announced April 1st.  

I am linking up with Beverly's beautiful Pink Saturday.  Stop by and say hello to all of these cheery pinky ladies!

Until next time,

Gratitude from me...and a giveaway for you!

The Giveaway is now closed.

Hi Beautiful Friends,

I can't believe I am FINALLY composing my 100th post. YAY! First, I'd like to acknowledge some pretty wonderful people I've met through blogging. You are all awesome, but these gals have given me presents recently, so I do need to give them a special shout out!

I won a fabulous giveaway over at Paula's Castles and Cottages. She hand paints these beautiful Pottery Barn inspired plant holders which she made (or maybe DH made them, I can't remember), available in two sizes, and personalizes them with whatever your heart desires in whatever font you would like. She generously gave away the smaller one (which is still a substantial size) and personalized it to my specifications. After a few mock ups back and forth via email, I got this incredible piece in the mail. It is WONDERFUL. I haven't decided on its final hanging place, so I have used Paula's pic that she took when she finished it for me, but you will see this beauty again once it is hung (I'm very slow at making up my mind) and has something cool in its little holder. THANK YOU Paula from the bottom of my heart. You are incredibly talented and you'd better believe I will be coming by your way should I have any signage needs (and I'm thinking I just may).

Next, I was fortunate enough to win a sweet little giveaway over at Rhonda's place, A Little Bit French.  She is a very talented lady as well who hosts a monthly French Friday giveaway.  March was MY MONTH!  Those of you who read my previous post about never winning anything will note that perhaps my luck did indeed change.  Yippee! I hope so.  Anyway, this precious little bag came my way last week.  I absolutely love it. THANK you Rhonda!  Rhonda is headed to France in 11 days, so I'm going to refrain from being green with envy in light of your beautiful tresor you sent me!  LOL!

Lastly, I participated in the Pay It Forward project that I read about over at Michelle's beautiful blog, Petite Michelle Louise.  I was one of 5 commenters to her blog who were sent this beautiful handmade stamped seam binding by Michelle.  In return, each of us "paid it forward" by blogging about the project and sending a handmade gift to our first five commenters.  (And BTW, if you were one of my 5 commenters, your tresors are on the way as of Monday.  Hope you like them).   This is the pretty package that Michelle sent me:

Inside was this darling card.  There was also a pretty little hand stamped bag tucked in the back which had beautiful punches from old ephemera-I look forward to crafting with them, but I forgot to take a picture of them.  Trust me, they are wonderful as well.

THANK YOU, Michelle!  You know I'm a huge fan of yours anyway, but your generous spirit is something I'm also a fan of.

Okay, now if you've stuck with me this far, it is time for us to get to the GIVEAWAY which will commemorate my 100th post.  First, I will send you a pretty little lavender sachet, handcrafted by moi.

I may eventually add some of these to my Etsy shop, but my kiddos are on Spring Break this week, so probably not until next week. 

THEN, the piece de resistance....your very own copy of Fifi's new book, Romantic Prairie Style!!!!  I had pre-ordered mine AGES ago but I have to confess, the hype that was swirling around Blogland made me skeptical...you know, like when EVERYONE tells you how great a movie is or is going to be and you go and see it and you think...it's OKAY.  Too much build up, ya know?  Or maybe that's just me.  So, anyway, I kind of thought it might be like that.  AND, I have to say, over here at French Laundry, my style is a little more fancy than what I perceived the prairie style to be, so I figured it would be a bunch of interiors that maybe I didn't totally relate to.  Alright, all of that being said, when the book came, I was BLOWN AWAY!  Yeah, it's that good.  Not only are some of the ladies I've been cyber-stalking reading with enthusiasm for quite a while featured here, but also some folks I don't know who have the most amazing homes.  And the cool part is, the interiors truly run the gambit from ranch to cabin to elegant farmhouse (Wow!  That's a great name, maybe I should open an Etsy shop called that-oh yeah, already did!). It has been one that I have absolutely salivated over on page after page.  Glad to say, the hype was justified.   As you will see,  it is an awesome book and is being provided as a giveaway from the great publishers at CICO books.  If you aren't the lucky winner here, you can order your very own copy from them here.

HERE'S HOW YOU WIN:

1.  Leave a comment on this post for one chance.

2.  Become a follower of my blog or if you are already a follower, just let me know for another chance.

3.  Give my giveaway a shout out on your blog or on your sidebar, on Facebook, or Twitter.

You MUST leave a separate comment for each of these.  You can do one of them or all of them, for a total of 3 chances to win.  The giveaway will be open until midnight MDT on March 31st and the winner will be announced on APRIL 1st (no foolin'!).  Good luck and thanks for being my pals and listening to my rambling over the last 100 posts.  I am full of gratitude for all of the wonderful folks out here that love and support, pray and lift up, and beautify and inspire, day after day.  You guys ROCK.

Linking up with Kathleen's White Wednesday because it's the place to be!  LOL!

Until next time,