A bit of Traveling...

Can you guess where we went? 

Yep... Portland, Oregon.

It was our first trip to the Pacific Northwest and very special treat.

The sights were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the sun was shining!

The above picture was taken at the Saturday Market...the representative said that the artists used all local themes and materials for the sign.

I thought it was a perfect way to begin this travel log.

Our first official stop was one if the many parks, Mt. Tabor.

My son is standing next to the massive trees for a bit of perspective.

The paths were easy to follow with my "street" shoes and well traveled by bikers as well.

There were different routes for different destinations...

...and plenty of beauty to digest.

One of the neatest surprises were the hydrangeas that grow wild.

There were a variety of colors...

...and sizes...

...all showing their glory.

Thanks to J and T for being amazing hosts!

Stay tuned!

It Worked!

disclaimer:

I am not a professional painter nor do I sell anything I make. I'm just an average person who loves to try things on her own and find alternatives to ignite my imagination!

Ok...with that said, I tried chalk paint...not the famous brand...a homemade batch. I don't have a stockist close to me, so I thought I'd give the "knock off" formulas a try. And do you know what? I think it worked! (I haven't used the "real" stuff and I'm sure it's amazing.)

I found my formula searching through the internet. You can find it here. It was very easy...I used paint I already had and bought Plaster of Paris at Home Depot. I did splurge on a new paint brush: Purdy. I must admit it was worth the price; if you haven't used them before, you might want to give this brand a try.

All this to say, I have a few large pieces that will soon need repainting and before I tackle the "big" jobs,  I thought I'd give this paint a trial run:

I picked up this plant stand at GW for a few dollars...it was in need of some attention.

Following the above formula, I mixed the Plaster of Paris and water then added paint. 

It looked like the examples on line...so far so good.

On the left is one coat...on the right is two coats.

After the final coat it looked better.

The finish is "chalky" due to the Plaster of Paris. You could stop at this point, that's what's so neat about this stuff...very versatile.

However, 

I wanted to try distressing:

The paint worked very well...it stuck to the wood without any priming or sanding. And when I did sand, only the paint that was roughed up came off. 

As I said before, I think it worked!

 After distressing, I did add wax to seal everything...it was easy too and gave the piece a slight gloss.

(With the help of the salesperson at Home Depot, she suggested I use Johnson Paste Wax. 

It was great and worked just fine.)

If you'd like to try this yourself and have any questions, just send a question via the comments. 

I have another piece I'm going to experiment with...

 I'll keep you posted!

I'm joining Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to drop by for loads of inspiration!

Have a Great Weekend!

There's a little quiet space in our new subdivision to "get away from it all"...

it's quiet

it's calming

it's peaceful.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.

Wrap Ups...

I was working on a project and messed it up. Have you ever done that? Please tell me you have...

And I was being so careful, you know, measure twice - cut once.

But, I still messed it up.

So I put my thinking cap on and wondered what I could do with my "new" item.

Hm...enter Pinterest.

Someone out there {I can't find you now} actually, on purpose made these bands!

I had the strips, all neatly sewn and pressed so all I had to do was make button holes and search through my stash of buttons.

easy

Now, do you know what you can do with these?

Bracelet? Perhaps, but I had unruly cords in my house.

I made these:

 

Great, aren't they?

Plus, they're washable if needed!

Oh so much better, and cuter, than my old method of organization!

Quick Fix...

Mason Jars...who doesn't love them?

So many ideas...

Momtastic has a great tutorial for a cute, cute sewing kit, you can find it here. It was quick and easy...and oh so cute!

First you gather supplies:
Mason Jar
Mini Sewing kit (I found mine at WalMart)
Fabric (quilting squares)

I also used a bit of batting for the cushion, pins, buttons, jute, and paper.

This one will go in one of my guestrooms...just in case they need a quick fix on anything.

This one will go in the other guestroom. The jar is larger so I could also include scissors.

Just about every color is included.

 Thanks for dropping by to visit!

Choosing Paint...

Choosing paint is exciting...the choices are endless. 

Where is one to turn? 

Houzz, Pinterest, blogs

Yep...I've been doing a lot of research and have found the exterior colors for our new home.

They are actually part Sherwin Williams, part Benjamin Moore.

For the porch ceiling we chose:

"Lauren's Surprise"  by SW, it's a beautiful, peaceful blue.

The trim we chose was a BM color "Cotton Balls". 

 My contractor only uses only SW so I took the BM sample and they mixed it for SW.

...and they're having a sale this week on paint and supplies! yippee!

For the exterior shutters we chose "Revere Pewter" by BM...again switched it to SW.

Next to these samples is our brick. It's called Lafayette Blend.
What do you think?

Next is deciding on interior colors.

 "White Dove" is all the rage...it has a hint of gray.
Here it is with the "Cotton Balls" I was thinking as trim.
Hm...

I have to think on this one for a while.

Be back soon!

Here We Go!

We bought a piece of property about 18 months ago.

It was fully wooded in a ranch type subdivision.

It's not in a city.

It's rural.

yikes!

It was a compromise...he wanted country, I wanted city.

He got a few acres of country and I'm 10 minutes away from all the city necessities...like...shopping.

Approximately once a week, we'd drive to the lot and mosey around checking out everything going on in the subdivision and surrounding area. 

We'd take a leisurely stroll through the property imagining the layout of the home, finding tracks of wildlife, and new foliage.

These are Beauty Berries. Have you ever heard of them? I hadn't...the animals don't really like them but if all their other favorites are gone, they'll munch on these.

Being rural, we had to take care of a lot of things on our own, one such item was ordering a culvert.

We had to purchase it, but the county set it.

We were proud of our new addition:

I know...it's the simple things, right?

Then yesterday, we saw this big boy parked beside the lot.

This picture doesn't really do it justice...it's huge!

We had drawn out a site map for the driver and he began the task of removing underbrush.

(Kinda reminded me of Fern Gully...did you ever watch that with your kids?)

Yep, the day had finally arrived...site clearing day! 

After months and months of planning we were on our way!

Whooohoo!

Stay tuned!