Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Funky Little Lamp Redo


I found two of these lampshades at the thrift shop, and loved the shape, but one of them was falling apart... so i decided to rip the fabric off and just go funky with it....




of course it had to have a big bow, which might make some people gag... but i love soft satin bows...



 i found this garland of little white seedy things at the thrift shop too, didn't have a plan when i bought it, for now it is just wrapped around the frame...


 Here i just laid an old remnant of vintage embroidered doily over the top, just to see what it would look like...





I also got a wild hair, and decided to add some gray to my coffee table....


 I just painted on the gray, and then wiped off the the top so that the gray was mostly in the creases...


 What do you think?


 see that long drip of paint on the top... that's how messy i am when i paint... it came off ok though...

 
this color is called Brandon Beige by Benjamin Moore, the color i recently painted my bedroom...
 
Soooo anyway, what do you think?
 paint the whole thing gray? 
paint it all back distressed white like it was,
or do it like this... with just part of it gray?
 
Finally... last weekend we went to the grand opening of the most darling, adorable, shop... "Nest"  in Burlington, NC...
Heather had recently relocated to this new shop ... 
I hope she dosen't mind if i show some photos of what she had..
 
How clever is this drum shade with little white lights, and the price, unbelievable... $25.00 !
 


just look at this amazing and versatile dress...


yummy pillow..
.


and just look at these baby hats... they're to die for


 
plus she had homemade potpourri loaded with big yummy chunks of dried orange peels and cinnamon, and i don't know what else, but it smells heavenly, and you could get a huge scoop for $5.00!

 
The shop was amazing, and so fun, and loaded with shabby chippy furniture and things...
Heather is so talented !
If you're anywhere near... you should definitely go to "Nest"


The end...

Sunday, October 16, 2011

First Attempt at Making a Dreamcatcher... and Some Killer Eye Makeup Remover...


Ok, so since Rachel Ashwell has a dreamcatcher and since Tausha from Simply Me has a dreamcatcher, and since i think they're just cool, I decided to make my own...  I watched a video on youtube, and went for it...


See the tag  that says "sea," ... well i won a giveaway from Kerrie at Sea Cottage ...  
she tucked in several tags with the beautiful prints and cards she sent me... I LOVE them !
so of course i used one on something special...





 I went to Michaels and bought a wooden embroidery hoop, and some sinew, that's the stuff you make the webbing to catch the dreams with ...
 I had an old dress i bought at the thrift shop, just for the pretty fabric, and the pink lining from the dress, and some white fabric that i tore into strips,  and some netting stuff, and so i just went at it... 
after watching the video a couple of times...


 
 It was pretty simple actually, just wrapped the fabric around the hoop, no problem....

I was definitely a little iffy doing the webbing part,  so i'm pretty sure it's not officially dream catcher quality webbing...  

ok, .. so it was a webbing battleground, with sinew pieces everywhere, getting totally  tangled and having to redo it twice... 

but i think for a normal person it would be easy...




It was kind of fun though... i just put random things on it, like a little shell, and a dried rose and a crystal... i tied the strands of fabric on the sides with this sweet thin lace that was inside the dress..
I kind of like it...


and I love love my cards and tags and prints from Kerrie


I can't even bear to take them out of their ties and packaging yet.
You see the cute pumpkin... Well under that print is a print of a Sandollar... 
You know how some things have good energy...
Not only is her work precious, with soft beautiful colors, and well presented...

it also carries good energy... you can feel it...



Finally i want to share some of my favorite face cleaner girly stuff... you know, the stuff that is your "go to" favorite.. 
this is mine..

 The Logona is an oily makeup remover, so if you don't like oil,  you may not like it...  But, i think you should try it anyway... 

oops, i guess that sounds totally bossy... sorry

anyway, my eyes love it, and the skin around my eyes feels soft and happy and dewey after i use it.. and it smells lovely

 
I used to buy it at Whole Foods, but they don't carry it anymore, so i like it enough to order it online... 
I use waterproof mascara, and it works great removing it...


The other product i love is the Avalon organics lavender face scrub... I remove the eye makeup with logona, then give my face a good scrub with this wonderful stuff...
it's got those little grains in it, so it's an abrasive type scrubber... 

after i use it my face feels so clean, and renewed and my cheeks are pink... and it smells lovely...

used to get that at Whole Foods too, too bad for Whole Foods, they don't carry it anymore... i order it online too..

after all that, i use something else from Whole Foods, that i won't bore you with right now, that is if they still carry it ! 

and then a moisturizer... 

and that concludes my story of a dreamcatcher, a beautiful gift, and eye makeup remover...

...what?...
...that is soooo random...


the end...



Monday, October 10, 2011

Hey Guys, Check This Out, Chez Fifi Showed One of My Paintings on Her Blog!



The famous and adorable Fifi from the blog Chez Fifi was in my neck of the woods recently photographing adorable sweet  Erin's home  for her new book.   Erin has a blog, Carolina Country Living,  and lives in this amazing log home.  She creates her own candles, and has chickens, and well it is just charming there.  

My friend Karan from Fetch Antiques, Interiors and Gardens, helped Erin fluff up the house for the photoshoot.  Karan is a crazy talented woman who does interior design and consultations and finds the best goodies ever to sell in her shop.  Anyway she suggested hanging a couple of my paintings for the photoshoot... and one of the photos ended up on Fifi's  blog post today... She is one of the most famousest blogger, decorator, book writers ever!  I was totally excited that she and her photographer Mark would pick a photo of my sheep painting for the blog post!  
check it out!  here it is on her blog post...



 and here it is in my house!

well,... you can barely see it, but back there on the wall in the living room...




I am tickled to death, to have anything of mine anywhere near Fifi and her photographer Mark!

the end...

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

My Favorite Comfy Chair, and Daisyboo...



This is my favorite chair for watching TV.  I had two of these slipcovered recently, and it was so worth it.. I love them.

I drape my legs over the arm, put on my TV glasses, and then Daisyboo jumps up and snuggles right in with me.    If i get up, she gets up.  If i sit down she sits down.  
And since i'm totally Attention Deficit Disorder, and disorganized, and distracted, i get up and down alot...  

poor Daisy, just when she gets comfortable, 'boing' I'm outta the chair...  

You can see my comfy tattered pillow... 



Here she is... She's a little mop, and her face is always dirty, she's a wittle mess...

I don't know why , but when i talk to her, i talk baby talk... like , ohhh daisyboo, do you uuv your mama?? 

I bet some of you guys talk baby talk to your doggies and kitties, and have crazy gushy names for them too...




wook at that sweet wittle moppy face...she's just a wittle mess

pretty sickening isn't it...

she hates the camera, and refused to look at it...

when i try to wash her face, she turns this way, and then that way, and hides her head in the pillows... or smushes her head into my mushy soft taught and toned stomach..it's impossible to get to that little face...



big pink helicopter ears...

she's a very mixed up breed... but she barely sheds, so some poodle in there...

   
So, this is our chair...


And this is my favorite big fake flower pinned right smack on her shoulder !   I thought she should have some bling, and of course it had to be pink!
  


the end....


Friday, September 30, 2011

Ruffles, a Spider on the Chandy, and a Pink Hat...


A soft as butter pink straw cowboy hat, how could i not buy it !  For now it rests on an old lampshade...


There are hats on lampshades all over the place here!


and what is better than ruffles, tons of them....


 My favorite skirt...


And ummmmmm, i think i need a gun to kill a spider this big! 


Maybe we'll just let him stay, i don't think i want to mess with this guy, or piss him off!

What if he's a jumping spider, and jumps on me and falls down my shirt!!!



Of course it is almost Halloween, so no telling what i'll find in the cupboard in the kitchen....

GAAAH!  It is a pair of crows!



This little cupboard is loaded with wildlife!

How did all these spiders and birds and nests get in the house! 

 


I guess it's just that time of the year...

the sky is so deep blue it takes your breath away, and the sunsets are translucent, fading to orange and coral and lavender...the stars are bright little crystals that twinkle like no other time of the year..

fall has it's own special exciting energy
and it's crazy beautiful...



The end....

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Touch of Pink...

This is the sweetest little rose in the world with the best color... it's small and has little clusters of blooms. I bought it at Home Depot years ago, and never even planted it, just left it in the cute pale yellow container and i fertilize it every year... I just had to share this yummy color with you...



I'm moving stuff around in my bedroom again since we are painting the walls, well actually mrfracturedfairytale is.

When he paints, he does one section at a time, tapes everything up and does a perfect job, and it takes weeks...

When i paint, i never tape anything, i don't do a perfect job, i get paint on everything including the dog,  i'm finished in one day, and then i hate the color and do it again... 

see the edge of the  mirror in the photos, i want to put this mirror in like 3 different places, i can't decide where, when i put it one place, then another place on the wall is empty... it's called
 "the typical crazy blogger constantly moving stuff around syndrome"

more pink in this pretty flea market find... 


if i see something pink, i totally can't resist it... it's pathological..


and last, check out this cute little canisters i found at Marshalls, (if you don't have a Marshalls it's alot like TJ Maxx and they often have the same stuff), 

i thought they were so fun...


Oh yeah... One more cool thing -  ya'll all probably know this, but i discovered that if you have an iphone, and you are in Michaels and you don't have any coupons, you can just look up Michaels coupons on your phone, pull them up, show them to the cashier, who will just type the bar code in the computer. and you will get the discount!  I know, you're probaby saying DUH, everyone knows that, but well, i thought it was a great discovery...


the end...




Thursday, September 15, 2011

So You Can Fluff, and Poof, and Pretty All You Want, But With the Guys it Comes Down to This....


Chair, TV, and Remote... 
"the guns"...
he's armed and loaded here...
one hand on each control device


 I have plenty of cute baskets to put the remotes and random incomprehensible TV devices in...  
But after Mrfracturedfairytale leaves the chair,  here is what we're left with... 





i thought this was so typical of a guy and kind of cute... 
even in a fluffly white slipcovered chair
he is captain of command central...

and do you see how fast they can whip through channels on the menu thingy!
how do they do that???

If that sounds sexist, sorry, but i think men and women are totally different... one is not better than the other, just different

I'm not even actually sure how we get along, other than the testosterone factor of course... 

which makes them be really nice to us and pretend they are listening when we talk endlessly about wall paint colors...


the end



Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Ok, I Don't Usually do Recipes, But Here is Something Cool About Lemons...


We all know that lemons are really really sour, and are very acidic right???  Well guess what, that's right and wrong.  They are acidic, but when you eat them and they go inside your body, they become alkaline, which is the opposite of acidic. 

It's hard to believe, but it's true, you can google it...

I was having gastric reflux, indigestion, whatever you want to call it... and i took Prilosec for a year... it really helped, but i don't think it's good to take it that long...


One day i remembered a salad i had eaten using lemon juice and olive oil instead of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.. 


 So, i bought one of those plastic boxes of Arugula... which is this crazy pungent addictive green... scooped some out,  sliced off a little lemon, grabbed a crusty french roll, and took it to work for lunch...  i already have olive oil and salt at work ... i keep it at my desk...


Do you know anyone else who has a large bottle of olive oil at their desk at work?  Probably not... it comes in handy  for lunches though...
 

anyway, for about a week, i would grab my arugula, and roll, and lemon wedge and go off to work... and at lunch just squeeze some lemon on the salad, blob lots of olive oil, a little salt and crunch away...  it's darn good too!  

After a couple of days i noticed i had forgotten to take my Prilosec... hmmmmm, no indigestion...  interesting... i never forgot my Prilosec, because i'd start getting that refluxy feeling and it always reminded me to take it...
 
Then i realized, which i already sort of knew, that lemon was alkaline... which i know dosen't even sound right, but it's true,
and it must be alkalizing the acid in my gut... Cool!  

So I wanted to tell you guys to try it, i know alot of people get gastric reflux... This could very well help you...
Plus add a few pita chips or a crusty peice of bread, and I promise you this is a yummy crunchy lunch, and it's sooooooo easy... 


One thing that's cool about the combination, is that if you have chewy bread, it takes a long time to chew it up, and it feels like you're eating alot, and you're not... plus you can rub your bread in the bottom of your bowl in all that good olive oil and lemon and salt... and then if no one is watching, you can lick the bowl, not that I've ever done that, 
but you could... 


At the end of your beautiful fresh green lunch with crunchy stuff, 
 i need crunch to be sane, and chocolate..
just add a little square of dark chocolate... and you just ate the best and healthiest lunch in the world!

(Now this might not work as well if you put cheese, and bacon, and pork rinds, and ranch dressing, and macaroni and cheese, and pig fat on your salad too.. )

Anyway,  wanted to tell you guys, because i'm totally in love with you, and if this helps anyone with their belly, it will be worth it...

And that's probably the last recipe you'll ever see me do...

the end...


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Mirror Mirror on the Wall... ... and Thrift Store Clothes...

 
 I wanted to show off the pretty necklace that my neice picked out for me.  She is kind of artsy and nutty like me, and she knows exactly what i like... 
I know i have 3 necklaces on, but it's the pearl one with the little pink rosettes...  isn't it sweet?  
  Don't look at all the freckles on my raggedy old chest from too much sun exposure please...
 
And check out these thrift store clothes... the dress is actually a vintage negligee...
the little top was just a couple of bucks  and it's the best color...
the other two necklaces are from the thrift store too, 
for $1.00 each... 
I love finding things at the thrift shop
the only thing i can't really find there are my jeans, because i wear talls... hard to find
 


 I like wearing funky clothes... 
i'm 57 years old, so i'm sure this is totally inappropriate...  but i'm not sure i care


Mirror Mirror on the wall, you're a magic mirror, right?  

I'd like to have flawless dewey skin again please,

and could you please do something about the frowny lines over my eyes...

all those moles and spots that keep appearing, will you take care of that..?

and there's this random hair that keeps growing on my chin... and i don't usually find it until it's like 6 inches long, because i can't see close up anymore ...  well, that's just gotta go...

oh yeah, i would like a flat stomach please



the end


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ok My Brilliant Blogger Friends, We Can Figure Out How To Do This, Can't We?


My friend was in a shop in Belgium, and he took a photo of this Chandelier just for me, because he knew I'd love it...

Look at the ceiling around that Chandy,  It's gorgeous... 

Of course i immediately decided that i could do that myself... 
- well, i can't really,... yet - 

I have no idea how to do it... i mean couldn't you just take drywall mud, figure out how to make those shapes and then do something like that... 

hmmmmm how to make the shapes? 



Maybe find one of those faux ceiling medallion things, and cut it down like the first circle around the chandy, and then take it from there...??

Anyone have any ideas? 

After all the stuff i've seen you guys do, i know someone out there will come up with some crazy cool way to copy this! 

if you do, please let me in on it!


the end ... for now

Monday, September 5, 2011

Shhhhhhh, It's a Surprise !

  There is a very special lady blogger out there, who has touched my heart with her lovely words and her big heart...  One day she spoke about her precious Bella Luna... So, I decided to paint her a surprise.  

Now, let's see how long before she finds it here on my blog...

She might just be looking over random posts and look at the photo, and go ... Hey!, wait a minute!  That's my dog!

This is going to be fun..
See if you can guess who this is for.... she is on my blog roll on the side, and there is one word in this post that is a good hint as to who she is...



the end...  almost


Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Perfect Pink Zinnia

 Take a look at the perfect pink zinnia (center) from a farmers market bouquet.   Anyone know the name of that zinnia, because i'd love to plant a huge patch of them next summer!

Those and some big white hydrangeas... I've heard "Incrediball" is a good white hydrangea...  any suggestions?



 In the photo above you can see the door from my new kitchen cupboard, just propped against the wall.  I took it off of the cupboard so it would be more open.  I love curvy things, and this little door has great curves...  
There is a mirror in front of it, and then way too much other stuff on the dresser... i'm trying to edit and be just like Pamela Pierce.. 



If you go see the last  COTE DE TEXAS  blog post, she talks about Pamela Pierce... it's an amazing post, you should go take a look...

the end...