Doodles & Stitches

Count Your Blessings

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I just wanted to share this little chalkboard art that I created this week.

"Count Your Blessings" was always one of my favorite songs when I was a little girl.

I still love this song and it now pops into my head

each time I walk through the living room and see this chalkboard.

You might remember this from last year.

I created a birthday chalkboard for my daughter's 13th birthday.

Click on the photo above to go to that post.

I repainted the frame with "ASCP Old White".

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Hemp Oil - Reviving a Farm Table

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Hemp Oil is amazing stuff!

It is one of my favorite ways to finish painted furniture projects.

I learned about this product at a Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint Class earlier this year.

I took the class at Me & Mrs. Jones, a great little shop and workshop that carries everything from stencil supplies to milk and chalk paint, plus offers a variety of technique classes.

The gals over there are some of my favorite people and I highly recommend you check them out! Here's a link to their website...http://www.mrsjonespaintedfinishes.com/studio/

As much as I love Hemp Oil as a finisher, I still find that I love Annie Sloan Wax as well.

There are great benefits to each of these products.

I keep both in my workshop and decide on which to use according to the

finish I'm striving for and the amount of cure time needed.

Hemp oil requires about 30 days to completely cure.

It has a bit of an oily touch prior to the 30 days.

BUT BACK TO MY POST TOPIC...

I love my kitchen farm table!

We had it custom built a couple years ago.

It fits the space in my kitchen perfectly.

We found some great wooden chairs with fabric seats that I easily recovered.

I bought a couple of parson chairs from a friend that I use at the head of the table.

I made custom slip covers using a heavy ticking upholstery fabric.

This ensemble is my favorite furniture in our house!

AFTER...

I initially used a poly-protectant on the wood but it has worn off... as you can see.

This table is the one my family always use for meals, homework, projects, etc.

It was starting to look really bad so I decided to treat it with a little hemp oil.

This project took me less than 30 minutes.

I simply used a chip brush (that I threw away afterwards) and painted out of a plastic bowl of hemp oil. I thoroughly saturated the wood as I painted and let it sit for 15 minutes,

then I took cheesecloth and absorbed up the excess oil.

It took a solid 3 weeks to cure but we were able to use the table after 48 hours.

It had a bit of an oily feel for those 3 weeks but it didn't get onto clothing or anything like that.

It changed the whole appearance of my table and made me love it even more.

The wood looks new and beautiful again.

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With The Blog...

A lack of blog posts:

I lived at the beach for the entire summer. It was a wonderful experience but not very conducive to painting furniture and blogging. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm so glad I got to experience it! I am back and ready to return to my painted furniture, decorating, cooking and canvas painting.

A couple of exciting things to tell you:

As you might know from reading a recent post... CafePress contacted me about doing a product review. Yay!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from iVillage! WHAT? Yes, iVillage.com. They wanted to use my lunch note printables in an article they were writing about school lunches. I was thrilled. Here's the post and the link... iVillage Lunch Note Article

I have several different lunch note printables on the post but this is the one they featured...

Also, several months ago, I was also contacted by Annie Sloan's P.R. Rep. about using my Painted Piano photos in some pitches for media coverage about Painted Pianos. What a THRILL and HONOR to be asked for the photos and acknowledged by such a great company!!! I will certainly let you know if and when something happens with that one ;)

The Infamous Piano:

Now, back to the blog...

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Hand Painted Table Runner

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Hand Painted Table Runner

This is a hand painted table runner that I recently made for my dear friend, Tobi.

She found the runner in a magazine article (see below photo) and knew that it would be just perfect for her dining room table.

So, we started looking for it.

We searched for that runner everywhere and couldn't find it!

So I decided to make one for her.

I bought a few yards of canvas fabric.

I chose a very thick fabric so I wouldn't have to line or double it.

Then, I sketched some birds that I felt like looked similar to the style of those in the magazine photo.

I painted them on the runner, using acrylic paints.

I painted the birds on both ends, opposite sides,

so wherever you're sitting at the table, you can see the birds!

The scariest part of this for me was serging the edges (using a rolled hem).

After all the hours of painting, I was afraid the fabric would tear or mess up and ruin all my work.

I literally held my breath the entire time I was serging.

If I ever make another runner, I will serge the edges BEFORE I paint.

Thankfully, it all worked out this time.

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Cafe Press Give-Away... Update

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I was compensated with free merchandise by Cafe Press for my review on this post. The opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not swayed by free merchandise. I have been a Cafe Press customer for many years, prior to this promotion.

You can read more about my Disclosure policy here.

Kitchen Accessories

Totebags

Laptop Skins & Phone Cases

Invitations

Here are a few of my

favorite invitations...

So, here's the scoop... I have removed the GIVEAWAY details because the contest has expired and it didn't go over that well, quite honestly! I spoke to several of you who said it was just too time consuming to search out a product, etc for the giveaway and I completely understand :)

So I have contacted Cafe Press to tell them what I'm ordering and it's

A SECRET!

I will tell you this...

you can expect a full and honest review!

Have a great weekend!

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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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This is no ordinary cookie...

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup raw sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup milk chocolate chips

	Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
	Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and raw sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
	Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Mango Salsa

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Mango Salsa

You must try this salsa! Tobi (one of my very best friends) gave me this recipe & it's AMAZING!

Mango Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can Mexican style corn, drained and rinsed

1 onion, diced

2 T chopped jalapeno

1 mango, diced

1 avocado, diced

¼ - ½ cup chopped cilantro (I used about ¾ cup with the doubled recipe. Really to taste)

Juice from 1 lime

Red wine vinegar to taste (I used about 1/8 cup)

Salt and Pepper

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West End Salvage

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West End Salvage

Have you seen the show? Have you visited the shop? It's in Des Moines, IA
Their show's on HGTV and DIY and if you haven't seen it, you must!
They create the coolest designs and furniture and have AMAZING IDEAS!
They have salvaged items from all over the WORLD. The items in this place are incredibly unique.
I got to meet Don Short, the owner, when I was visiting in Des Moines last week.
I wanted to share some of my favorite pics with you...