Ok, So Do Ya'll Have This Problem?

I drove by the Thrift Shop Yesterday,... laaadeeedaaa, Casually glanced in the window debating whether to go in and dig around, and there were these two pink wing chairs right there on display beckoning me!  

Screeeeeeeeeeeechh... Put on the brakes, almost kill pedestrians pulling into a parking space... and in i went.  I was thinking, ok, maybe they're dirty, or they smell like cat pee... or something is horribly wrong with them... it would be better that way

Nope - flawless, made in Hickory, NC, heavy, great curves, the perfect shade of pink.  

Now what do i NOT need - 

chairs

What did i buy - 

chairs

How could i not buy them???

do you know how expensive a good chair is???

and there are two of them!!!

these were $75.00 a piece

I mean, i really like the slipcovered chairs i have... 

I justified it, by saying, well... maybe  i can sell them at my friend's shop... hmmm

just look at these gorgeous curves

ok, so who gets to drag my "fabulous finds" in and out of the house...

well... mr. fracturedfairytale of course

and who is really sweet usually, but gets irritated when i bring furniture in and out of the house when i don't really need said furniture???

you guessed it

and who gets her feelings hurt when he gets a little irritated

yep

and then who says i'm never gonna ask for help again,

and then who gets mad because i said that

how many of you have "been there"?

and, we made up of course

but...

none of this makes the remotest sense to him

hmmmm wonder why?

Because it dosen't make any sense!

not even to me!

Now i have a big old pink chair in the living room and another one to go pick up at the thrift shop, and it's 106 degrees outside

Maybe i could save them, in case, uhhhh, somebody breaks in and steals my other chairs

or, ummmm, come on guys help me out with this..

think of something

If he only knew what i didn't buy

Look at this big old brown leviathan buffet

But but but....Wouldn't it be to die for fabulous painted in Annie Sloan paint

like a gray with some white and distressing and wax and maybe a touch of silver leaf

omg...

thrift shop - $125.00

anyway, what do ya'll do when you find irresistible stuff???

and does your husband think you're insane???

ok, so while i figure out what to do with these two chairs

bedroom maybe...?

i'll end with a pretty little pot i found at Marshalls, with some sweet little white begonias i'm gonna plant in it, 

I hope i don't trip over the pink chair blocking the front door when i go out to water it...

...the end...

New Painting

Ok, even i like this sweet sheep painting... 

she still needs a little work, but it will have to wait until next weekend... 

 back to work tomorrow for me!

gotta pay for these freakin expensive canvases! 

I actually painted her twice... I could only find a small canvas at AC Moore 

( i wanted a square shape)

 and none at Michaels...  

and i really wanted to do her bigger... 

but 20 x 20 was all i could find in a square and i couldn't wait to paint her, so i just went ahead..

Here is the smaller one, a slight difference in color... a little more brownish, the larger one is more gray

20 x 20

here is the small one hanging at my friends shop, still wet paint and unsigned

wouldn't she be wonderful in a chippy white frame

Once i painted her in 20 x 20, i was like DRAT, should've done her bigger... so i went searching and found a bigger square canvas at Hobby Lobby... 

used my iphone to get a 40% off coupon

that canvas is $50.00 bucks originally!

Here she is painted again on the bigger canvas, with me holding up a rose from my garden, 

don't you think it would be pretty to paint this pink rose somewhere on the painting with her?

me holding a rose up to her ear...

Once i finish her, (i'm gonna mess with her hair a little more...)

I'll probably take her to my photographer/printer and get a special photo taken of her so i can make giclee prints... 

meaning i can reproduce her on canvas for purchase... 

If you want to know more about giclee prints the link below will take you to a place on my website that explains

  cindyaustinpaintings.com

giclee prints are pretty nice

i can actually have a fine art print of her made, and paint a rose right on the canvas if i want... or little bluets or violets or anything i want to paint to personalize her...!

 you know it would be fun to weave flowers all in her crazy fur!

my hair looks something like that in the morning, especially my bangs, they go every which way

 

and finally here she is, mostly finished,  on a 30 x 30 canvas with the paint still drying and unsigned

"Repose" 

oh yeah, and no roses

...yet...

 

...the end...

Bleaching a Linen Duvet and Shams, From Oatmeal to Soft White...

So many times i've gazed longingly at heavenly soft white linen shams, and duvet covers and sheets online, only to cringe when i see the price... 

Just can't justify hundreds of dollars for them when i need to save up to buy annoying necessities like toilet tissue, and gas, and vodka... sigh...

Anyway, the other day i was perusing some of my favorite blogs, and saw a blog post by 

Laurie at Heaven's Walk

She is amazing,  you should go over and take a look at her french market basket redo

She had bleached some oatmeal pillow shams and they turned out the most wonderful soft white color

so i wrote her and asked her about how she did it

and she wrote me back with detailed instructions

I thought it was so very sweet and thoughtful how she took the time for that

So, Voila 

here they are after a good ole bleaching...

 

bed's a little messy... but that's for a good reason, because me and Daisy take naps in there!

I'm a creature of routine
everyone pretty much knows where i am because i always do the same thing... 
people on the spectrum like routine, i have a touch of aspergers,  and i'm proud of it!
well, except the anxiety attack part, and the overly controlling part, and being completely literal and not getting jokes part
and the
hyper sensitive to everything part...  
not too thrilled with those parts

anyway, everyday when i come home from work Daisy runs to the bedroom and flings her body against the bedroom door until i open it, because she knows it's naptime!

Below is the before, I had a Rachael Ashwell, Simply Shabby Chic duvet cover and pillow shams in oatmeal

and here is the link to Target where they are on sale for $39.99!

http://www.target.com/p/simply-shabby-chic-oatmeal-linen-duvet-set/-/A-12202138

In this photo you can see i have already changed out the lamps on the bedside table from the first photo...

I love this rusty old light fixture...

pillow sham closeup....look at that pretty soft white color!

it worked great!

I learn so much from my blog friends

I know that if i want to know something... all i have to do is ask, and you guys are out there in all your brilliance thinking about it and offering ideas and creative solutions!

Like Mandy at Alaparisienne suggesting i hang my unwired vintage chandy in the bathroom... 

she said don't worry if it's not wired, hang it up anyway !

 i did, and she was right, it's cute as anything there!

the red you see is my belly, there always seems to be unfortunate shots of my belly in photos

here is where it was before, just sitting atop this little cabinet thingy

and here again, dirty laundry and all...

you'll notice that the flowers on the chandy are white...
well, they weren't originally, they were this really intense bad color, i don't remember what it was..
so i just painted them white... why the heck not!

the duvet again...

and just for fun... a pretty little crucifix i found from another creative lady from Etsy...

Kristin, she has an Etsy shop called "Relic"

So, thanks my friends for all your creative ideas and positive vibes...

you're awesome!

...the end...

Don't You Think It's So Amazing When You Can....

...go to your very own garden and pick a bouquet this pretty!

a little alcove in the back yard

that's the arbor where mr. fracturedfairytale led a 'full on assault' on the "lady banks rose" with his clippers.. 

it came back the next year though... even bushier!

the biggest hosta i've ever seen... !  the lady who lived here before me planted it...

This little rose bush blooms with clusters of petit coral pink roses...

Me and Daisyboo posing under the garden arbor,for Romantic Prairie magazine, trying to look all "Prairie like"... 

ok, and check this out, this is a bouquet from my sister's garden.... i just had to brag on it and show you

check out the random pink dog on the left...

a couple more shots of flowers from my garden...

cute little burlap wrapped glass vase from "Marshalls"

"New Dawn"

and that's all for now from "Rosebud Cottage"

 

check it out, my house looks crooked in this photo !

 

 

...the end...

Omg, I Have Run Out of Things To Talk About... sort of

Does that ever happen to you,... you just simply run out of things to talk about, or you just don't feel like anything you have to say or anything you're doing is remotely interesting... 

I haven't painted in at least a month... 

I haven't done a blog post in a couple of weeks...

I haven't even felt like shopping ... Now THAT'S serious!

Anyway.... What causes it,?What is that???

 Sooooo, until i think of something more interesting, i will show you my little "altar" in my painting room

 An old photo of my dad, in a frame i found at the thrift shop...

a little cloche with a shell,  an amethyst, and a stone i found at my old house that looks just like a toad...

well, actually my house didn't look like a toad,

the stone did

 

In the summer at night when you're driving in your neighboorhood,

you will see what looks like white rocks on the road..

don't run over them

it's the toads fat little white bellies shining in your headlights!

they're sooooo cuuute

Aaaannnywwaaay...

 I saw this stone in the driveway one day, and thought it was a toad, until i realized what it really was

 i grabbed it and saved it...

When my kids were little, they used to run around naked and barefoot, and catch them...

(we lived on 7 acres in the woods)

Some of the toads would chirp

they were the most special of all

my daughter would put them to her ear and listen for chirps, 

and then she would hold them in her dimpled chubby little girl hands

and she would sing to them

it was 'make you die' cute

So, this is one of my most precious belongings

a driveway stone that looks like a toad

can you "see" it?

Ok, now i will blather on about just stuff...

story number two:

Have you ever shaken up a can of paint and the lid wasn't on tight?

That happened to me last week

big undulating blobs of paint  

onto my favorite chemise, my skirt, my boots...

so i had to try to take my clothes off without getting paint in my hair and everything, i leaned on the counter, paint got on the counter

on my arms, on my chair, the computer mouse, EVERYWHERE

of course the dogs wanted to run in the room where the paint was on the floor, because they thought it was really funny that i was on my hands and knees half nekid on the floor

(i don't even want to think about what a horrible sight that was), 

(kinda like looking down at yourself in a mirror)

i was trying to clean up the paint, and everytime i moved it got on something else, plus i was trying to keep the dogs from trapsing pink paint all over the carpet and rugs!

story number three:

 Today i finally got in the mood to do a painting, at 3:00 in the afternoon

I was losing my light

and all i had was a canvas i put this texture goop on about 3 years ago... and then had no idea what to do with it...

not great timing to get in the mood to paint

But, i decided what the heck, what have i got to lose...

I've been dying to try to paint a dress kinda like 

 Laurence Amelie

Above is a link to Rachel Ashwell's blog, scroll down and you'll see Laurence Amelie's work, it's amazing!

so i grabbed a fluffy dress i had, and  'went at it' just for freakin fun!

and it was fun!

here is the dress i used as a model 

and here is what i ended up with...

Omg it was fun to paint...

It only took about an hour

I got to fling paint at the canvas, it was awesome 

(throwing paint is a lot better than spilling paint)

you should try it!

I took some acrylic wall paint, painted in the background

splattered the canvas with some pink sample color i had

then got out my white oil paint, mixed it with a hair of yellow

and wisped in the dress

Do you know that in a painting, sometimes it's what you don't paint that makes the painting cool... kinda like here

Ok... so i stole her idea... but it was my dress... and i'm giving her all the credit for the idea, which in my mind is about 80% of painting

having the idea

plus, she's a master...  i was just screwing around

 

you should go look at her work, she does more than just dresses...

I would die to have one of her pieces 

Story number 4:

Since i'm blathering on about painting, i will show you one of my favorite all time things i did

It's just pencil on canvas

i've had it for years

the hand isn't even finished

but i like it that way

i finally pulled it out from my jumble of unfinished canvases 

and hung it up

it's funny how of all the paintings i do

it's usually the simplest things i love the most

( my shadow is blocking some of the light, i'm such a great photographer...)

Ok,  that's all i've got

if you read all that, you must be really really bored, or too tired to click the mouse and go to a more interesting blog

Can you guys stop being so awesome, and doing so many crazy amazing makeovers, and creations...

you're making me look bad

 

you've got me pulling out 10 year old pencil sketches to show you,  for goodness sake!

hugs from your incredibly boring and uninspired friend,  cindy...

...the end...