::Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Workshop::

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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If you follow me on Facebook, (and if ya don't, please do!) you'll know I hightailed it to an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint workshop at the very.last.minute this evening at this new wee shop just down the road from me.  It's called The Poppy Cottage, and well, I'm smitten. 

With both the gal who runs the joint, and the paint she peddles.  

Smitten.  

(Meet Tammy, my new girl crush.  And meet Tammy's banner, my new, um, banner crush.)

I'm fairly certain I totally freaked her and her hubs out with my incoherent ramblings upon entering their shop for the first time earlier in the week, realizing such amazing-ness was a mere 2 miles away from my front door, in a shop I used to work in no less (it was a children's book store when I worked there).  

Serendipity.  

My new word, by the way: Serendipity.  

You might be hearing more of it 'round these parts.  

I've had a run of serendipities...er, serendipitous moments recently.

(via)

It means "happy accident".

(via)

And finding Tammy and her uber-awesome shop was most definitely Serendipity.

'Cause I was actually looking for a stockist for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, having attempted a few DIY versions that left me wondering, 'Oooooh reeeeeally' in my best skeptical Steve Martin voice.

And not only did I find a stockist, but she's like a long lost bosom buddy.  

Yes, I typed that out loud.

(a quart of *cream* ready for action at the workshop)

I just wanted to see what all the stink was about, really.

(There's no stink actually.  I mean, no literal stink to this paint. It's awesome.)

I bought a quart (*provence*, of course), a brush, clear wax, and a waxing brush on my first visit.

And made a brand-spankin' new friend.

With SERIOUS ::cottage instincts::

Serendipity.

(it's playtime girls!)

Stopped back a couple days later under the guise of checking to see if my brush was in, 

.....aaannnnddd picked up two sample jars: *coco* and *old white*.

("laying on" the paint, barely pulling the brush along)

Popped back in tonight for the mini-workshop and might have bought a sample jar of *duck egg* and the bigger waxing brush.

I also may have a wee problem.

(practicing the rustic technique, which looks great after adding the dark wax, pic down the post )

I was impressed.  My DIY versions were nothing close to this paint.  Which is not to say others don't have success with DIY versions....but mine were nothing like the consistency, quality and coverage of the true blue (lettered) Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

(on the left side we did the french technique)

Tammy's hubster Jon actually taught the class, which was really helpful, even though it was taught by a man (KIDDING!). He cleaned all our brushes about 4 zillion times...which is where he was while the gals got their pic taken below.

(my classmates, who all have lovely names that I can't remember.....someone forgot the Dr. Seuss nametags, but I won't name names.  I do remember my name was Vicki.  Don't ask.)

I'm still scared of the wax, especially that evil dark wax, but after I play some more I may come around.
It did look all kinds of awesome on my *duck egg* board....

So, did I mention I've decided I'm going to get serious about starting a furniture painting business?

I may need to call it 

SERENDIPITY

~Painted Funiture and Finds~

Because truly, isn't every cast off, thrifty furniture find a happy accident?

Isn't every trip to the junk shop/estate/garagesale full of mystery and happy surprises?

Serendipity, I'm tellin' ya.

I'll keep ya posted....

Thanks to Tammy and her Hubby Jon for hosting and teaching us all about the Magic Paint.

If you're ever in Fort Wayne IN, get yer rear into The Poppy Cottage.

But leave the cute stuff for me.

ps...I stole all the pics of her shop from her facebook page.
That's what friends do.

Go.

::Christmas Blue and Whites::

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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Welcome to this year's holiday mantel.

I'll just step aside and let you look.

Hobnail milkglass, mercury glass, the usual suspects.

And pinecones.  Always with the pinecones.

Some snowified branches...some real, some wanna-bes.

Reimagined stockings from last year.  

Bought them ready made from that (million)Dollar Store 

and embellished with ribbon and monogrammed frames.  

Just a bit of glitterfying....

IKEA lantern.

Artsy shots of the aforementioned branches all dolled up.

 And there she blows.

Interested in past holiday mantels?  

Your wish is my command.

2009 Rustic Christmas Mantel

2010 Glitterfied Christmas Mantel

2011 Ye Olde Naturalized Christmas Mantel

Oh yeah, and I'll be bringing my mantel to Kevin and Layla's party:

Soap in Shadow.

My fabulously talented daughter Maddie is working on her senior project.

She's getting a degree in graphic design, and using my handmade soap as the subject of her entire project.

Which meant I needed to make a bazillion bars of the stuff to be cut and stamped and packaged per her specifications.

Last night we got down to work slicing them up and using the custom stamp she had made.

This afternoon I decided to fiddle with my new camera, and while wandering aimlessly around the house looking for what to shoot, I saw the sun falling just so on my soap babies curing on their racks amidst the mess I hadn't yet cleaned up.  

There's beauty in chaos....at least that's what I tell myself.

I learned a lot about my camera while snapping off these shots.  

Lots about aperture, shutter speed and ISOs gone wonky.

And that sometimes luck just plays your hand and you say 'hey, thanks.'.

And that the art of photography is just that....art.  

Some will like what you like, see it like you do, appreciate it.

Some can't get past the 'technical difficulties' in each picture.  

That's ok.

I'm just a novice dSLR owner after all.

But me, I'm all about raw reality with a few wee tweaks in picasa.  

Mostly some crafty crops.

Don't take much to make me happy.

I was just fascinated with how the light fell on these simple, rustic bars of soap.  

I was challenged by how to capture what I saw into a digital image. 

How to use my camera to add some blur, snag some crisp, tight  focal points.

How to simply and artfully record the organic shapes and colors onto my memory card.

All these were shot with my Canon EOS Rebel T3i with the kit lens that came with the camera.

I love how the process of paring down newly cured soap with their raw, pure essence was captured.

And I'm glad I noticed the beauty of a stark, wintry afternoon sun kissing the chaos on my counter.

What 'beauty in the mundane' have you noticed recently that took you by surprise?

Last wedding post.

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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(credit: Della Terra Photo...who did an awesome job, I must say!)

I spent today setting up a blog specifically for selling the rustic wedding decor we made and used.  

If you're interested, you can check it out HERE, but I'm giving preference to local-ish brides first.  

I hate shipping.  

And the prices I set are too low to justify spending too much time packaging and driving to the PO. 

 Just sayin'.  

But if you see something you absolutely MUST have, email me and we'll chat.

Tonight, I wanted to show you how to wrap some cute crap in the form of bridesmaid gifts.

We were thrilled to find these really cute burlap cosmetic case sets at Hobby Lobby.

We stenciled their names and a cute design I found whilst fumbling thru a drawer in my cra(p)ft room.

 We filled each bag with toiletry items and sets, which thankfully were found in abundance due to the holidays.

Just stuck 'em in big ole kraft paper bags with handmade tags.

It pays to pick up letters packs at the scrapbook section when they're on sale.

Great way to personalize gifts.

And buy up ribbon you like while you're at it.

I hear tell they were a hit.

I didn't go to the bachelorette party where they were handed out.

Speaking of which, they did a fun photo shoot that night.

Here's some shots from that:

Ok, more random stuff.

I had some folks ask for a close up of the fabric flower waist piece we made for my daughter's gown.

There ya go. 

 I hotglued all of them to a piece of thick felt, then cut around the edge realllllly close, then hot glued the whole shebang to the lace and velvet ribbon that went around her waist. 

You can see that here:

(credit: Della Terra Photo)

Full shot of her dress:

And in honor of my beautiful mama and dad, a collage I put together with pictures my brother took that night:

(aren't they the cutest?!)

I'll leave you with one of my favorite shots:

The Walk.

(credit: Della Terra Photo)

(see wedding craft post HERE, random shots HERE)

Thanks for sticking with me thru all this wedding stuff. 

I can't promise I'll have much decorating or crafting stuff to share in the coming weeks 

as I'm just focused on getting my house back in order before I go to Florida in February.

I'm also struggling a bit to make sense of the coming year, still reeling from events of the last year.

My blog may turn a bit introspective for awhile, but I promise my humor won't disappear completely.

Ok, just mostly.  For just a while.