A Sofa, Louis & Rachael

Etsy, for those of you who don't know, is an online marketplace for handmade/designed goods, vintage, and supplies for making handmade goods. Etsy is, quite frankly, chock full of inspiration.  I've designed note cards inspired by Pamela Angus' stained glass. I drew a sofa that my friend Susie had in her shop. I coveted that sofa. When Susie saw the drawing of the sofa she said "How on earth did you do that?" I said with a wink, "I drew it."  I know, very smarmy. Let's get more specific, though I do have  drawing pad and pencils, you will most often find me working on my computer. Illustrator is my program of choice. I drew her sofa in Illustrator, in part with my mouse and in part with my Bamboo computer pencil. 

I really liked the simple line drawing style that it embodies.  Susie liked it too. Which got me to thinking, maybe others would like it. I spring boarded from there. Perhaps a Louis XI chair?

Then I found some more inspiration on Decor8 in their feature on neon bright colors. I transformed the classic line drawing of the Louis XV chair with bright colors and and patterns (one of my paper designs to be exact).  This might be the piece my sister Di has been waiting for to go in her guest room with her 'happy' color comforter.

I had fun with inspiration and creation yesterday. I needed some 'just create' time big-time-a-rooney. It made my day.

Rachael Ray

Now, I like Rachael Ray, though her show and cutesy words can get a little much for me at times. I bought her magazine a couple years ago from the girl next door who was raising money for girl scouts. I wouldn't consider Rachael a 'chef' so to speak, but she doesn't consider herself one either.  That said, I could do without the sections that feature the products RR loves or can't live without. Doesn't mean that much to me. But I continue to get this magazine each year from the neighborhood girl scout because I like her recipes. She had a couple of grilled pizza recipes in this month and having not tried grilling pizza before, I thought it was about time.  I didn't stick to her recipe, just the general idea.

Got pizza dough from the store (shout out to my bil Niall who is shaking his head as he reads this.......he makes his own dough). Easy. Made two rounds. Grilled up some of the Lebanese squash we got at Farmers Market this weekend.  Grilled the pizza dough on a cookie sheet with some greased foil. Flipped it and grilled longer. Brought it all in to top it off. One we topped with sauce, the grilled squash, prosciutto and mozz. The second we topped with the rest of the grilled squash, baby bella shrooms, yes- more prosciutto (what can I say, we love the stuff and it still left me some for the cantaloupe this week), and mozz.  Brought back out to the grill, but cheese wasn't melting good so popped under the broiler. Mighty fine meal.

Now, it looks like there is more cheese on the pizza then there really was. What really shined was the squash and prosciutto. We will definitely do that again.

Another hot day here. Our friend Charlie just stopped by with his granddaughter Makennna. She needed some pool time. Pictures tomorrow.

Proof of the heat. One sprawled out, zonked dog. (yes, that's a fur ball behind him).

Forecast for tomorrow..........hotter. Good thing my parents have an air conditioner they're not using. Well, my father would be, but Mom isn't big on them. I'm not either to be honest, but the hot-dog above will be very happy and will breathe a bit easier the next few days.

Wow, Wednesday already! Hope it's great in your corner of the world.

Leaf Me Alone, I Want To Play Dress Up!

An Update for a Very Old Dresser

You may know that over the past several years we put an addition on our home. Ourselves. Well, with a LOT of help from family and friends. Any renovation is challenging, to say the least. By the time you get to 'dressing' the new rooms, you've changed your minds about color a thousand times, many arguments have ensued ("we said we were going to put the door THERE, not THERE"), and the budget has dwindled to next to nothing.  What you find is, "Next to Nothing" can be quite inspiring.

Gar had been making use of a hand-me-down dresser from my parents since we were married. Before it became his, it was part of their 1962ish blonde bedroom set. Yes, you know the ones.  They had done a blue pickling technique after living with the 'blonde' into the 70s.  When it came to us, we painted it a deep red- almost burgundy. And it lived happily that way until the 'new master bedroom' was in need of something new to go along with the rest of it. But, alas, no budget.

We had incorporated things with leaves into our bedroom, like our bedside lights and our curtains.


Our leafy bedroom curtains.

 So why not the dresser?  I scoured the basement for paint and found some light blue-ish gray that was leftover from our bathroom. Love the color but it needed something else. Oh yeah, leaves.



I painted this puppy the light blue-ish gray I found in the basement. 
Sorry I don't have step by step pictures, I did this two years ago.  This picture really
doesn't do this dresser justice.

 I also found some white paint, went outside to find the perfect leaves, and painted the leaves and pressed them on the newly painted dresser. LOVE it!



The best was when the veining in the leaves really showed through.





As you can see by the burgundy showing through on the bottom of the dresser,
it might be time for a touch up.



The old, dark brass handles needed a lift too. Used chrome spray paint on them after cleaning them up, roughing them up and priming.



Here's another view. The leaves are sprinkled across the top of the dresser too.



This was a really easy technique. What took the most time was the drying time of the base coat of paint. This would be really cute for a bedside table, or whatever piece of furniture you want to spruce up. Of course, spruce have needles and not leaves so I probably could have chosen a better word!

Paint On my lovelies.


The Real Deal

Just wanted to confess. I did not Shark vac yesterday and it shows.  Furball alert! Nobody is perfect and neither is our home. But that's probably what makes it a home.
Full disclosure- you're not the only one who has tumbleweeds rolling across the floor. We do too.



Furball City under our dining table.

Welcome to the Real World.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.