Fabric Covered Cork Board

 Hi everyone, how is your week going?

Today I thought I'd share with you one of my recent projects for my shop, a fabric covered cork board.

I remember as a young girl having a cork board in my room.  A plain ordinary ol' cork board. Well, they have come a long way since then!  Pin boards, inspiration boards, memo boards, whatever you call them, cork boards no longer have to be boring!

Pretty frames and fabric covered boards seem to be all the rage now, so I thought I'd try my hand at making one!

 I wish I had taken the time to snap a before shot of this oval frame (geez, how often have I said that?!)

It's made by Homco, and began as a very dated peachy color  (hello 1980!), and held an equally dated "cutesy country" print, ugh!!

I couldn't paint that frame fast enough with my favorite creamy white!

 I picked up a roll of cork at Michel's, cut it to fit the opening (after I removed the glass and ugly print, of course!) and covered it in this pretty floral cotton pansy print fabric that I just happened to have on hand.

I just love pansies, they are one of my favorite flowers, and I thought the colors of this fabric were so pretty!

So there you have it, my version of a fabric covered inspiration board!!

 I couldn't resist sharing a few photos of Katie I snapped last week.  She loves finding spots of sun to lay in, and here she is working on her tan in our bedroom!

 Sure getting sleepy!

 "I'm too tired for any more pictures, Mom!"

Have a great day, can't wait to see what you all have been up to!

Radiant Orchid, Pantone's Color of the Year

Bonjour Mes Amis!

While I never have been one to pay attention to the color of the year, when I saw that Pantone had chosen "Radiant Orchid" as the color of 2014, I took notice!

It's a gorgeous blend of lavender, fuchsia, and pink that I think is so fun and cheerful!

Oooh, la, la!

Source

I found the following photos on Pinterest.  Apparently, many people are crazy about this color, too!

Check out this amazing barn!

While I wouldn't want radiant orchid floor to ceiling in my home, I think touches here and there would be so pretty!

You can't accuse this bathroom of being subtle, but it sure would be fun to take a bubble bath in that gorgeous clawfoot tub!

 What a beautiful blooming bush, and a pretty front door.

 So, I thought I'd get into the act and create a few things for my shop in radiant orchid.

I had so much fun painting this picture frame and mirror set!  I think that the color really pops against the creamy white and shades of gray that I painted some of the pieces.

 I also just finished this radiant orchid framed chalkboard for my shop.

 It's a color that just makes me happy!

I've placed the frame set and chalkboard in my Etsy shop, if you care to take a look!

What colors make you happy?

Sharing with Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday

Decoupaged Easter Eggs

 Hopefully you all aren't tired of seeing my glass apothecary jar!  I love changing out the contents with the seasons and holidays, and thought I'd share with you my Easter version!

 I've filled it with a bunch of eggs that I created last year, that I decoupaged and embellished with bits of this and that.  Also included are faux eggs in the prettiest shade of light blueish green, as well as a sweet tiny faux nest complete with a teeny tiny egg and feathers!

 I've tucked moss here and there for filler.  The eggs have been decoupaged with vintage sheet music, and pages from a vintage French book.  I added pretty ribbon in the shades of aqua and blue that I love.

 Aren't these blue paper flowers gorgeous?  I think I picked them up at Michael's.  To some of the eggs, I added pale yellow silk hydrangea blossoms, that I dusted with a bunch of glitter.

 Here's a look from above, with the lid removed.

 It's on our dining table, where we can enjoy it each day.  Come summer, I'll add special sea shells and some sand, for a beachy feel.  But for now, I am loving my eggs!

 With Easter just a few days away, I am reminded of days past when my mom would take my older sister and I to pick out a special outfit for Easter Sunday church services.  It was such a treat, and a big adventure picking out a brand new dress, as well as shoes and a purse to match!  Often we would get new hats and I also remember wearing little white gloves when I was very young.  Wow, things sure have changed, haven't they?

Below is a photo of yours truly, taken at Sunday School, when I was not quite 3 years old.   I'm sorry for the poor picture quality.  Not only is this photograph a little worse for wear, but we don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture of it.

I look scared to death, don't I? I was painfully shy as a little girl, and into adult hood as well.  I think this must have been taken at Easter, as the date is April.  Notice my little pocket book with the pretty floral embellishment?  I started loving all things embellished at a very early age, I guess:)  I have to laugh at the purse though, wondering what I kept in it?  Candy???!

I was wearing a little pale pink dress, white sweater, and of course shiny black t-strap shoes and white knee socks. So very lady like!  Oh, and a barrette in my hair, too.

If only life could be so simple now...........

 Wishing you and your family a very blessed Easter!

Dreamy Whites & Blogger Blues

Bonjour Mes Amis!

This week sure flew by, didn't it?  It's finally starting to feel like spring around here, and I am oh so happy!

And since anything painted my favorite creamy, dream white also makes me happy, I thought I'd share with you some of my latest transformations that I've added to my Etsy shop.

 I found this beautiful framed vintage print of the Virgin Mary down in Georgia this winter.  Problem was, the metal filigree frame was a very gaudy gold.  I could hardly wait to paint it my favorite shade of cream!

 This is the before, below.

I think Mary looks so much happier after the makeover, don't you?

 The wonderful details were totally lost in all of that gold!

 I don't have befores of the rest of my makeovers (bad blogger, I know!), so I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination.  I love collecting pretty pictures frame, and united all of these by painting them shades of white and cream.  

 I found this cute little vintage mirror while out thrifting, and thought it would be the perfect addition to the frame set!

 I've got to give hubby credit for finding this next piece!  (guess I have trained him well!).

It is a vintage sewing organizer. At least I think that was its original purpose.  I think it also would be pretty holding jewelry, or used on a desk for office supplies.  I wish that I'd taken a before shot, as it was a very ugly brown wood tone, ugh!

 Look at the pretty raised details on the top and front.  It's actually made of molded plastic, but you'd never guess it!

 The top lifts off to reveal two compartments.

 And there is a drawer below.  Cute!

 Last of all, are a pair of vintage Burwood wall sconces.  Again, they are actually molded plastic, but I think now that they're painted the look like old plaster!

 So, you already know that I love all things white and creamy white!  But what I don't love are issues with Blogger!  Are any of you having problems with it?  I have been singing the Blogger Blues, as it's just been giving me fits.  I can leave comments on your blog posts, but apparently many of you aren't receiving those comments in your in boxes. If you are like me, you usually don't check for comments on your actual blog, just in your in box.  So, I didn't want you to think that I've not been visiting or commenting, I am!

When I leave a comment, I often receive it back in my spam as a "mail delivery failure", but the comment is on your post.  I know I'm not the only one having these issues.  And, the same thing is often happening on my end.  I am not getting all of your comments in my in box, so I now (thanks to Blogger!!) am trying to get in the habit of also checking my blog for any comments that I've missed receiving.  I do appreciate everyone of you who visits, and who leaves me comments, and I almost always respond.

I've also had a few people tell me that I'm a "no reply" blogger, though I've not changed any of my settings.

And some people say that I am not a no reply blogger.

 I've tried clearing my history and cache, and that didn't solve it.  So apparently it's something that #$%%^#$&*  Blogger is up to!  If any of you have any suggestions or ideas, or are experiencing the same issues, I would love hearing from you!

Ok, now that I have that off my chest, hope you all have a great weekend!

Latest Projects

Today I thought I'd share with you some of my latest projects.

I'd picked up an unfinished wood shelf last fall and had it in my "to paint" stash.

It was a bit boring in its unfinished state, and I wanted to add something special to it.

Finally inspiration struck!  I painted it a pretty light blue (my favorite color!), then added this pretty Frenchy stencil by DecoArt.

 I must say that it turned out even cuter than I thought it would!

 I love the curvy front, and the neat curved side brackets.

 I'm always hunting for mirrors to transform.  I found this over the winter when we were down south, and it was in a pretty sad state.  It had been painted layers and layers of an awful rusty color and just wasn't very happy!  So, after cleaning her up, I just knew she'd look prettier in pink!

 She looks so much happier now, I think!

 Next up are a pair of wood and metal vintage candle sconces.  I'd had them in my stash forever, and had practically forgotten all about them (do you ever do that?).  I painted them a soft light blueish gray chalk paint from DecoArt.  I am really loving this color!

 Geez, I should have taken "before" shots of all of my makeovers, but I guess I was just too excited to start transforming everything!  Trust me that these sconces look oh so much better than their former boring dark brown finish with black metal accents!

 I also used the same pretty blue gray to paint this crown moulding shelf.

 I then used DecoArt's cream wax to give it a nice hand rubbed finish.

 Now it's back to pink!  I found this cute vintage wall pocket basket, which was originally white.  I love the hobnail pattern, and the pretty ruffly top!

 This is the second one that I've found, so I knew I wanted to go pink with this one, just like the previous one that I did about a year ago.

 It's made by Burwood, as are these sweet little butterflies, that I found down in Georgia this winter.

 I think they would look adorable in a little girl's room!

 Since you know how much I love mirrors, I couldn't resist showing you this little cutie, below!

It is vintage, and actually found by hubby when we were out thrifting last week!

I guess I've trained him well, as he now has a very good eye!:)

 The frame was a really ugly dark brown, and was practically begging me to paint it a bright and cheery aqua!

And last up is a tall wooden candlestick, which also was practically forgotten in my stash!

I painted it the same wonderful blue gray chalk paint that I showed you in some of the projects above.

I really love the carved details of this piece.

 I used a darker cream wax from DecoArt to give it that aged look.

 I've placed all of my creations in my Etsy shop if you'd like to take a look!

Hope you all gave a great day!

Now I'm off to find something else to paint!:)