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tonal floral still life sketch | oil painting tutorial

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a painting video tutorial, so even though this was just a sketch to get into the groove of oil painting again, I decided to set up the camera and turn it into a tutorial.  Really, it’s more of a paint-a-long than a tutorial since I wouldn’t consider myself an expert when it comes to painting flowers!  It is definitely not my sweet spot when it comes to oil painting, but they are a popular subject so I’ve decided to keep working on them despite feeling like it’s not my forté. This painting was done in about 40 minutes, so it’s what I would consider a sketch more than a finished painting.  My goal wasn’t to have something that looked refined and detailed, but instead a painting that was impressionistic, simplified, and loose.  I focused on blocking in the larger shapes and only

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September 5, 2024 9 Comments
All Things Home

pressing & mounting flowers | video tutorial

Last month, I shared how I was taking cuttings from my garden to preserve them in my gardening notebook.  As various other herbs and flowers have reached their peak, I have clipped them to add.  I decided I would make a quick video on pressing and mounting flowers in a notebook while I was at it.  I still have a few more to cut and press, but I have a pretty nice collection happening and I love how it makes my notebook even more personal and special. I pressed all of the herbs, a few annuals that are in pots on the patio and in the garden beds, and blooms off of flowering bushes.  I labeled each one along with the date it was planted or cut.  Admittedly, I didn’t stay consistent with the dating, but precision wasn’t the goal.  I just want to keep a general record of the

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August 28, 2024 9 Comments
All Things Home

Giving an antique whirligig a makeover

 A few months ago, I decided to check out an antique store I hadn’t been to in a while – the Fayetteville Antique Mall in Fayetteville, PA.  I used to go there regularly when we lived in PA, but I noticed more vendors were leaving over and the quality of the merchandise was going downhill.  But, I’ve learned with antique malls that it’s always worth checking it out.  Even one or two new vendors that carry things I like can make a place worth visiting.  Well, they have really stepped up their game since I was last there.  There were more vendors with quality antique pieces.  The store was tidier and more pleasant to shop.  I bought a nice collection of things and liked many pieces that I just didn’t have the right spot for.  I’ll definitely make regular visits!  Anyway, one of the things I bought was this antique

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August 21, 2024 13 Comments
crafts

preserving cuttings in my gardening notebook

Do you remember the gardening notebook I put together in the spring?  You can read about it HERE if you missed it.  I thought it would be fun to keep a record of what I planted and how I cared for it so I could track what worked and what didn’t.  It would also give me a place to store receipts for bushes that can be refunded if they don’t make it through the winter as well as a place to make notes to myself for future reference.  I’ve put all of my plant tags in it and have recorded what I have fertilized and when.  I also took cuttings from a few plants to press them for the book.  Is it necessary?  No.  Is it a beautiful way to record what was growing in our yard each year?  Yes. I pressed them in a heavy book between two sheets

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July 24, 2024 11 Comments
All Things Home

tips on hanging peel-and-stick wallpaper

Back in April, I worked on the boys’ bathroom to give it a little refresh until it reaches the top of the renovation project priority list and we can completely gut and redo it.  I actually liked the wallpaper and vintage blue accents in the bathroom, but after over 50 years of use, they really are tired.  The ceiling paint was peeling and stained, the wallpaper was peeling, grout was missing, and the original fan sounded like it was churning marbles when you turned it on.  It needed some addressing to make the room feel fresh until it could be renovated.  Instead of fighting the existing blue finishes and vintage feel, I decided to lean in and embrace it by hanging some fun peel-and-stick wallpaper that ties the beige and blue together. Here is a before picture of the bathroom… You can read about the makeover process in these posts

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June 17, 2024 14 Comments
All Things Home

cleaning ivy (roots & stains) off of brick

When I first shared about the back wall of our house, I thought aloud about allowing ivy to grow up in certain areas and just keep it trimmed so it didn’t take over.  However, after pulling it from all over the yard and seeing it try to climb into windows (successfully in the case of a basement window that was left open), I decided against it.  I do still love the look of ivy growing (thoughtneatly trimmed) on a building, but I realized it’s not as easy to control the growth as I imagined and the damage and discoloration it leaves behind on the brick is unsightly and I don’t want to accumulate more.  So, English ivy has become another nemesis along with Bishop’s weed/goutweed and I’ve been scraping it off the house, cutting it off the fence (which we’re replacing this week), and pulling it out of the yard.

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June 10, 2024 10 Comments
All Things Home

marian tries | weaving garden cloches

Do you know what I’ve been thinking lately?  I need more hobbies.  I mean, a girl needs a few tasks to keep her busy.  Of course, I’m being facetious since I have hobbies up to my eyeballs, but it’s still hard for me to resist dabbling in a new one when it looks intriguing.  As I’ve been spending a lot of time this spring working on our yard and garden beds, I thought it would be fun to make some of my own willow garden cloches and plant supports.  I just adore them when I see them in books and TV shows.  They add a homespun charm that I wanted to add to my suburban garden.  As I started researching sourcing willow for weaving garden supports, I realized this hobby wasn’t going to be quite as simple to delve into as knitting or painting.  It seems that weaving your own

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June 4, 2024 26 Comments
Gardening

cedar vintage-style garden trellis reveal

Last week, my mom came out for the day to help me with some work in the garden along with priming and painting the vintage-style trellises.  You can find the complete (and free) plan for the trellis we built HERE.  When I first brought the lumber home to build the trellis, I wondered about priming and painting the pieces before assembly, but I wasn’t convinced that would be much easier and I would need a lot of space to spread out all of those one-by-twos.  In the end, I decided to assemble the trellises and deal with painting all of the little nooks and crannies. So, my mom and I leaned them up against two sawhorses on the driveway and started priming.  She used the roller and I cut into the corners with a brush. We used Sherwin Williams PrepRite ProBlock Indoor/Outdoor primer tinted to Card Room Green.  For our

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May 21, 2024 16 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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