We Have A Winner!

My big sis and I headed off to the farm yesterday. Farm Girl, had a notion we could recover her settee in an afternoon.  That none of us had ever upholstered anything didn't seem to phase her at all.  It's nice to have your daughter have confidence in you, but really?

With only a few hours to attempt the impossible, the kids had to be kept busy after the school bus inconveniently brought them home.

I grew up as one of six kids and I know children are to be treated as servants.  I set them to icing some cupcakes.  Our resident Lady Gaga was doing a great job!  I don't think you've met her yet.  This girl LOVES to dance, sing and wiggle her butt and she's none too particular about wearing clothes either! ~

Her big sis is carefully spreading icing in her usual meticulous way.  She's our very own National Velvet and doesn't she look like an angel? ~

You all know that Amish girl is competence itself and is the best six year old kitchen helper you'll ever find. ~

Aren't these the best behaved grandchildren in the world?

Wait a minute, Farm Girl is telling off Lady Gaga for this. ~

That look in her eye says she isn't a bit sorry, either.  Now, we have to eat kid spit!

It's time for Amish Girl to pull a name for the draw for the Christmas trees from 2 Be Cherished @ Etsy.  She doesn't want to do it.  Why should she pull a name for someone else to get a present if she isn't getting one?

So, Grandma says, "Listen, little Miss Pouty Face, I told them you would draw the name so stick you hand in that bowl right now and draw one!"  I'm the sweetest Grandma ever.

Great Auntie Lynn (the who has the Etsy shop that sells the trees) says, "I'll make you a set, honey."

Now we have smiles and a winner! ~

Can you read the name?  Of course you can't because Grandma is trying to keep a zillion kids under control and photography is the last thing on my mind!

Having chosen this set of three black, hand knit, Christmas trees, ~

The winner is Danni Baird of Silo Hill Farm, one of the hostesses of ~

Congratulations Danni!

There's an Elf On The Shelf that is going to have something to say about how many of these stockings get filled! ~

Lady Gaga's not worried as she tells me she's already seen a video where Santa tells her she's on the NICE list.  That elf must have missed her cheeky grin!

Simple Country Christmas

I feel a real connection to all the women who have lived in this old farmhouse for the last 200 years.  Some I know about and some I just imagine.  I'm taking the house back to it's roots for this holiday season.  Much of my decor will be done as it was before Pottery Barn and dollar stores.

I started wondering what the lady of the house did in the height of the Depression when money was scarce enough for necessities and non existent for frills.

I imagined her turning to what was at hand to make the house cheery.  Of course she'd have to use what nature offered. ~

The boys are gone to school and she settles in to work some craft magic.  She clips some twigs from the bush by the chicken coop and wires together little bunches of  cheery red. ~

The old cat doesn't much like being evicted from his napping spot on the potato sack burlap but she needs some fabric for her door garland. ~

She clips branches from the fir trees and starts to wire it all together with bits of bailing wire.  ~

Crop prices are so low that the farm can't support them and John has had to go to the city for work.  They all miss him terribly, but the boys have stepped up to the plate and are shouldering much of the farm work.  Her eldest boy did himself proud by getting a pheasant and she's saved the feathers for some pretty touches.

The bows have been carefully saved from Christmases before and are taken from their tissue wrappings to give a very merry air to the garland.  She nips the bells off the old cutter harness and adds them to the arrangement.  They haven't had a horse in many years, but oh how she's misses those winter sleigh rides of her youth! ~

   

The tail feathers from the pheasant look grand in the bucket of greenery. ~

The boys haven't had time to cut a tree for Christmas, so this will have to do.

John is coming home for the holidays tonight and the boys will meet him at the train station.  There's a chicken roasting in the oven and an apple pie cooling on the windowsill.  Just a few more touches and the decorating will be done. ~

The porch light is on to welcome all the family home.  There they are now; her fine husband and sons!  They were so late she was starting to worry.  Ahhh, look, they're proudly hauling a Christmas tree home to her!

And, that is how I amused myself while I worked on the door that has been decorated by so many ladies before me. ~

I'm off to see Farm Girl tomorrow and I'll draw the winner for a set of these hand knit Christmas trees from

   

I'll have Amish Girl do the drawing.  I know you all trust her.  See, she's lost her first tooth and was very brave about it! ~

Good luck everyone!

I'm partying this week at:  Transformed Tuesdays, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Christmas Decorating On A Budget, Tweak It Tuesday, Make It Pretty Monday, A Return To Loveliness, Frugal Friday, Fantabulous Friday, Flaunt It Friday, Simply Creations Link Party, Inspiration Friday, Thrifty Things Friday, Tis The Season 2012 Christmas Link Party

I'm thrilled my door was featured on Christmas Decorating Party On A Budget at Creative Cain Cabin!

Five Minute Christmas Craft

I'm not sure you can even call this a craft.  It's more of a copy.  Or, a "Watch me Google and print stuff out." kind of thing.

I'm not totally lazy (yes I am!) but the decorated front porch I planned on showing you today is not quite finished.

I figured that as simple as this is, you might not have thought of doing it.  You see, I'm a sucker for Christmas movies.  I watch them over and over again.  I'll even watch the sappiest, made for TV in the 70's movie, if it has a Christmas theme!

My favourites are the old black and whites from the 1930's and 40's.  The only real Scrooge to me is Alistair Sims.~

It's got to be this version of Miracle On 34th Street! ~

And, I don't think anyone has dared to try to top Jimmy Stewart in A Wonderful Life. ~

I hunted up the movie stills of my favourite scenes, you know, the ones where everyone feels the true meaning of Christmas and is happy.  Scrooge's niece in law accepts his beautiful apology and dances with him; probably the first time he's danced since old Fezziwig's company party.  A little girl realizes there is something more to Santa than a nice man in a red suit.  And George Bailey?  Why, he finds out his life has a great deal of meaning and reminds us of how important we all are in the grand scheme of things.

So, to keep these images with me all season long, I printed them out and put them in dollar store frames. ~

I brushed some glue on the edges of the glass and added glitter, so it looked like I was looking in through a snowy window on all the cheer inside. ~

They are hanging in the kitchen, over the breakfast bar pass through to the dining room, and the sheer joy of the scenes can keep me company as I prepare for my own festivities. ~

May we all have a day where we know how important we are, care for our fellow man and remember to BELIEVE!

You still have two days to enter the draw for a set of these hand knit Christmas trees!

Just click here to go to 2 Be Cherished Etsy shop, choose your colour and leave me a comment to know which ones you want.  It's open to everyone and I'll draw the winner on Monday.

49 Cents For A Pendant Light?

ALMOST 49 cents would be more accurate but not nearly as interesting a title!  I did have to buy a socket and a threaded washer.  I think they came close to $7.  So, lets say $7.49 for a hanging light for over the sink.

After doing the galvanized metal paint look on the breakfast bar, I wanted an aged metal hanging light.  I was running around asking everyone I knew if they had an old funnel and getting nowhere fast. That led me to a scrounging session at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, with my sister.  She held up a metal vase (probably a florist item) and asked if I could do anything with it.  I snatched it up, grinned at the 49 cent price, and brought it home for a little DIY magic!

Here it is in it's original incarnation. ~

Of course, I had no idea how to turn it into a light fixture.  A visit with the always helpful folks at Home Hardware got the theory worked out and a little bag of parts.  

I'd like to tell you I did this myself, and I'm pretty sure I could have, but my BIL offered to do it for me.  That's A-okay with me!

A hole was drilled through the centre of the vase base with an ordinary drill and bit.  A threaded washer on the outside of the vase and a light socket screwed into it from the inside is pretty much all it took. ~

A simple length of shielded wire was fed through the threaded washer and wired to the socket.  You do want to know what you are doing with electricity to be sure the wires are attached correctly.  

The other end of the wire is attached to the box on the ceiling and viola!  One industro chic pendant lamp! ~

I love how the rivets stand out when the light is on!

It was really sunny when I tried to get shots of the finished light, so these aren't the best, but you get the idea. ~

Mixing modern, industrial with antique is called 'creating tension' in the world of decorators.  Switching things up a bit stops the room from getting stuffy or too predictable.

I just may get finished this kitchen in time for Christmas!

The draw for these cute Fun Fur Christmas Trees is open until Sunday! 

 Just drop by 

at Etsy by clicking here, choose your colour and come on back here to leave me a comment letting me know your choice.  It's super easy and open to everyone! 

I'm sharing this project with:  Wildly Original Link Party, Time For A Party, Transformation Thursday, Link It Up Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop, Open House Party Thursdays, Make It Pretty Monday, Fantabulous Friday, Frugal Friday, Flaunt It Friday, Rustic Restorations Linky Party, Feathered Nest Friday, Inspiration Friday, Under $100 Linky Party, Saturday Show And Tell, Saturday Nite Special

Starting Christmas Decorating

I have to decide which of these adorable, hand knit Christmas trees I want to buy from my sister's Etsy shop.

I like the black and silver set if they are going in my library. ~

But then, the traditional red, green and white are awfully cute on top of my spice cabinet. ~

Or, I could go with the blue to match my cobalt kitchen accessories. ~

But, I just checked out her shop and saw these great, new teal ones! ~

Then, there's the hot pink, the natural browns .....

So many trees, so little time to decide!!!

These trees are 100% wool, hand made by my sister Knitter Extraordinaire and completely safe for pets and little tots.  As much as I enjoy pulling tinsel out a kitty's butt, this may be the safest route for me to go with Maeve in the house!

While I'm making up my mind which to choose, why don't you all go over and check out 2 Be Cherished here and pick out a set for yourself?  Come on back and leave me a comment to let me know which colour you love the most and I'll put your name in the hat for a draw.  On Sunday I'll pull a name and send the winner their very own set of fuzzy, hand knit Christmas trees!

Yay!  I get to give my very first Christmas gift of 2012!

Let's Talk Paint & Paper

I've had some questions about colour choice and materials used in my kitchen redo so I'm going to jump right into some of the nuts and bolts of the job.

In the last post, I talked about turning a stock cupboard into open shelving.  My dear friend Mel, from Mellywoods Mansion, piped right up and asked if it was real beadboard. ~

The original plan was to have beadboard installed as a backsplash.  When finances dictated that I wait to install a new counter, I couldn't invest in having beadboard installed.  The new counter (whenever it appears) won't have a raised back and the job would have to be done all over again.

Instead, I went to this. ~

At $24 for a double roll, this stuff is amazing!  You really cannot tell it isn't the real thing.  There's a bit of a trick to applying it.  It's realism comes from it being a very puffy, 3D design.  If you apply pressure during application, it will pucker and the look is spoiled.  Even the seams can only be gently smoothed.

I've used this type of anaglyptic wallpaper to cover accoustic tile ceilings and, again, you have to be careful not to press it into the seams of the tiles.

I've had it on the kitchen ceiling for a few years and have painted it twice. ~

It covers a myriad of sins!  Too bad they don't make some of that for life.

Melly used the beadboard paper on her nursery closet doors.  Here it is behind the adorable night light she made for the babies. ~

I absolutely love the look of this paper!  I've painted mine the same colour as the walls, Benjamin Moore White Down CC-50.

The cabinets were washed with TSP and primed with Benjamin Moore Fresh Start.  I removed the doors to paint them but don't think I would bother another time.  If you do remove yours, remember to mark where they go.  I marked mine in the holes for the hardware. ~

The kitchen is situated between the black and white dining room and a family room that has a lot of brown in it.  To create a good flow in colour, I wanted a brown based grey.  My choice was Benjamin Moore Silver Fox 2108-50.  This is a true chameleon colour that responds to surrounding colour and light.  In my master bath, it looks very dark.

In this room is looks light grey.  You absolutely must try a sample of this in your room before making your decision! ~

I found a couple of great tools to help the painting process, especially on a job that is dragging along like this one!

This reusable paint can lid is a lifesaver! ~

Love the pour spout! ~

Beautitone has made a holder for the wet roller that has kept mine usable for 3 weeks.  I'm on a septic system and can't wash paint into it so rollers wind up being thrown out after a couple of days of keeping them in the fridge.  This is airtight and really, really works!

I'm sold on everything I've used in this project.  How often does that happen?

Now I'm on to the tricky job of replacing an 80's style pot light covered in a plexiglass shade thingy. ~

This I cannot fix with some paint and paper!!!

Changing A Cabinet To Open Shelving

Just taking the doors off didn't disguise that the cabinet over my shelf was stock cabinetry.  I wanted it to look like open shelving.

The first step was to carry the beadboard onto the back wall of the cabinet. ~

This covers up screws on the back of the cabinet.

I've removed the adjustable shelf and marked the holes where I want it to go with masking tape ~

I need to cover all the side holes and I chose vintage sheet music for my "wallpaper".  I sprayed the paper with Elmer spray adhesive and let it set for 5 mins.  This makes a temporary, instead of permanent, adhesion and I should be able to remove the sheet music with little difficulty.  If I wanted a more permanent glue, I'd attach it to the cabinet immediately after spraying. 

It's easy to find the holes for the plugs with the masking tape markers and pop the shelf back in. ~ 

Now, we've gone from this ~

To this ~

I use these pieces all the time and now they are on display.

I love this antique, ironstone jelly mould that I found in a thrift store for $6.99! ~

The sheet music echoes the colours of this early, black and white transferware plate with it's romantic Roman scene. ~

I admit my addiction to pitchers and cream jugs! ~

Restyling this cabinet is the only thing in this kitchen redo that has been quick and simple to do!  I used materials I had on hand and the cost of this project was zero.  Yay!!!

I'm joining the party at:  Favorite Things Blog Hop, Transformation Thursday, Under $100 Linky Party, Wildly Original Link Party, Share You Cup Thursday, A Favorite Thing, Sunny Simple Sunday, Nick Of Time Tuesday, Tweak It Tuesday