The Difference Between Husbands & Wives

I'm not talking about the obvious differences. :) I'm talking creative/decorating differences. My husband and I only have one big difference really. I like things to be pretty, clean and organized. He likes things to be functional and doesn't really care what they look like.

 This is the current object of my discontent.

My husband NEEDS this because he likes his keys to be hanging just inside the door where he can reach them. I can't tell you how many times I have taken it off the wall and had it magically reappear. I don't know how someone made something so small but that so easily hit my biggest pet peeve button. The name of this should not be "key and mail organizer" - it should be "The Clutter Displayer"

So this was my latest solution:

I picked it up for $6.00 at an estate tag sale. I adore everything about it. The color, the rusty wornness of it, and I love that it's former utilitarian use was an old dust pan. It has history. My all about the function husband says he doesn't like to dig for the keys he wants. *sigh* On the bright side it's still hanging on the wall and the clutter display is still gone, but I am keeping my eyes open for another more husband friendly option for keys.

Today's yard sale find list, most of these things will be featured in upcoming projects & will be posted later.

Cabinet/shelf  - .50¢ (this might turn into the new key holder)
White twin bed skirt - .75¢
Southern lady - $3.00
Wicker bowl/holder thingy $4.00
Round Table $4.00
Side table with drawer $5.00

Another yard sale find hard at work

I found this little Holly Hobbie cradle a few weeks ago at a yard sale. I left it just as I found it, even with the cutter quilt laying inside it, then put it to work on the studio floor.

Little baby "E" fit just perfect!

Rain Rain Go Away

It just won't stop raining! By the time I was getting around to getting things set up on Friday unexpected guests popped over, by the time they left it looked like a storm was brewing & it's rained everyday since. So I have not had a chance to use my new sprayer yet. I have so much work that needs to be done outside that it's making me crazy. So crazy that I am making more work for me to do inside!

Here's what I have been working on. I forgot to take before photos but I can do a before of the sneak peak because I found this fabulous vintage print at a yard sale for .75¢ and snapped a photo of it as soon as I put it on the wall.

The walls were a dark blue with a hint of gray tones. Then because it rained my walls looked like this for a day.

And this is the same wall and the same fabulous vintage print after I pulled the tape down. The white is West Highland White from SW and the Grey is Reflection also from SW, both in a satin finish.

I planned on repainting that shelf before I put it back on the wall, but then that would require it to stop raining.

Here is a close up of my print.

Anyone out there know the name of it? It's very old, in the original frame, with an old wood back and square nails. It has a bit of metallic sheen to it that you can see where the sun was reflecting off it. I was going to remove it from the frame and clean the inside of the glass, but it's so fragile I'm afraid of damaging it.

Guess what I got today!!!

The Wagner power painter max with optimus!! On sale for $114 at Menard's and a $25 rebate!!!! I was going to the store to pick get the Wagner that's one step below this one but with that deal it ended up being the same price as the small one was normally. That's the price I had budgeted for so I got the big one! LOL

Now I would love to stay and chat but I have a new toy to go play with!!!

My $40 Craig's List Desk

I got on Craig's list today and saw this!

It was advertised as $40 and had been redone and new hardware added. I would have preferred they left it alone and kept the original hardware, but the shape of a kidney shape desk is just sooooo cool! So I had to have it.

Here's my noob problems with it though. The former owner was a bigger noob then I was. She painted black paint over existing white paint. She did not sand, degloss or prime. The black is pealing off like a bad sunburn. The black is also painted over where there is a lot of detailed carvings. How do I get the paint out of those tiny grooves? Also what's your fav products to use to strip paint? 

The Painted Lady

This was the Painted Lady when I first got her for $6.00 at a yard sale. I was going to add some decorative wood pieces to her drawers and paint her white, but before I could do it she spoke to me. She had been white before and she was tiered of her plain white dress, she wanted to take a walk on the wild side!

I had more help then I needed trying to get her done.

So I gave her a new fur coat.,

a pretty pink dress,

And a pair of black high heals.

I was going to sell her when I was done with her but my 9 year old is begging me to keep her - and of course redo her entire room to match! For now I will let her hang out in the studio and let her paint harden up. Besides she loves it when clients come in and tell her how beautiful she is.

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Say What Tuesday

Happy Monday!

Monday's are still part of my weekend so I can afford to be happy about them. I hope you all had a great weekend and that you moms out there had a fantastic mothers day.

I had a good mothers day but a looooong weekend. It has been a long time I have been required to do any manual labor, but this is what I worked on this weekend. It looks like I'm  having a yard sell.

All that washing, sanding, spraying, painting had me turning in early every night! I also had a little session on Saturday. Not a day I usually do sessions but this one had special circumstances, so I agreed to let them come in on a weekend. The baby was happy and I got to use my new bad again so it all worked out.

She also inspired the look for that new high dresser you can see in that mess of furniture photos above. Hoping to post it finished later this week so be sure to check back!

Steel Pipes Make For Sweet Dreams

I forgot to take a before photo of this weeks big project but I googled it and found one on the Internet that looks just like it, only shorter. Our pipe was so long it started in the cab of the pickup and ended about 4 feet after the tailgate.

And here is the after

Actually that is right after I broke it while distressing it. For some reason it didn't hold up to well to me dragging it around upside down in our gravel driveway. But Hubs fixed the weld and got it all back together in time for todays session.

So here's how I used it.

It doesn't really make as big of a statement as I wanted it to. I'm thinking I need to change the color. Maybe teal or a bright green. What do you think?



I party at

Waiting For Paint To Dry

I was inspired.

Before

After

Before I was a photographer I was a digital artist. I used to do these sorts of things all the time, only using portraiture instead of buildings or landscapes. Here's one I did for my baby C a few years ago.

This is how it started out

So as I was waiting for paint to dry I was reading my blog roll. I came across this post by Faded Prairie showing the fantastic art of Distressed Jewell. It reminded me of my old art days, it also reminded me of this photo I had of an old church. So I had to give it a try.

Distressed Jewell offers a whole slew of textures to purchase on her website, and some free ones through her Flicker account. I however already have a whole library of textures so i used what I had on hand. Jewell's textures are fantastic though and I will be adding them to my collection in the future, but not right now. If I add them right now I'll spend all day playing in photoshop and I won't ever get back to painting!

I joined the party at







What to do with too many props

and not enough space? Use your props to decorate your studio!

My local photography specialty is newborns and small children. I have lots of toddlers in and out of here, so I have lots of small chairs. I had so may chairs I was running out of places to put them. Not anymore. This is my new favorite use of my small chairs.

By using them as easels and shelves! This gives me more places to display prints as well as gets my chairs in out of the way, but useful places. Now I have room to buy more chairs, you really can never have to many chairs!

Little Boy Blue & Things That Make Me Happy

I love little girls. I have two of my own, and no boys. When I shop for my photography props I am always shopping for the girls, the boys are always last on my mind. So I bought my last background with boys in mind, and I have been looking for a blue velvet chair for ages. This is what I found.

Not exactly the style I was looking for but I have been looking for so long I thought I could make it work. Following advice from my "Help The Noobs" post I taped off the fabric. I think this step took longer then all the rest put together!!

And here is my Little Boy Blue Chair. I can't wait for my next little man to come in for photos - this week it's all girls though. :)

 I gave it three coats of an oil based spray can primer, and a coat of spray gloss poly. Now here's my noobs question for the day: Can I sand the poly and keep the shine? I couldn't really tell where the spray was going and it got a little heavy and ran, so I have a few drip marks. I'm guessing I would have to spray another coat of poly after I sanded? Hopefully some of you more experienced redoers can help a poor girl out and offer some advice.

The pattern in the fabric bothers me just a little but I'm hoping if I use a low enough aperture it will blur out enough not to be so noticeable.

And now, what makes me happy?

Babies, balloon, tutus and belly buttons and here's a shot I took last week that has all 4.

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Not An Ugly Duckling

I had a hard time finding any before photos of this little couch. I found some photos of each of the girls on it that are YEARS old. I think they are 5 and 2 years old in these photos.

They are 12 and 9 now! I also found a close up that Maddie (the now 12 year old) took about a year and a half ago of our Daisy May as a baby, out like a light.

There we some photos of it before it was glazed in my last post and here it is now!

After further research on the subject *scouring Miss Mustard Seed's blog* I decided to use burnt umber universal tint from Sherwin Williams as my glaze because my "Butter White" was very close in color to her SW Cream. I think I may have went a little heavy with the glaze but I still love the effect and the way the carvings now pop. I also love that it is very close in tone now with the fabric. I can't wait to put a baby on there. I think the newborn I have coming in this week will be too small for it, but the 9 month old should be just about right! I just hope she brings a great outfit to go with it!

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