You  may have noticed that I’ve been a little quiet lately.  Things have been crazy around here.  We were hit with our second blizzard in less than a week and had over 43 inches on the ground when it was all over.  One of the teenagers we work with wasn’t able to make it home, so we had an unexpected guest (ahem, live-in babysitter) for a few days.  Anyway, all of these components have kept me away from my computer.  I have been getting a lot of things done, however, and I’m just dying to share it all, but the projects are for something special.  Some of you may have spotted a new button on the side bar, but I wanted to officially announce that I am one of ten designers competing in So You Think You Can Decorate presented by Alchemy Junk.  It is a brilliant and fun idea and I

Welcome to another installment of the workshop series brought to you by Mustard Seed Creations and Funky Junky Interiors!  It has been very exciting for me to hear from all of you about your excursions into the decorative painting aisles.  You never know how you’ll be unless you try it!  I also want to encourage those of you who have said, “I can’t draw”, you don’t have to be able to draw to paint.  Next week we’ll talk about using templates, stencils, and projectors to help you out.  So, after you read this post about getting inspiration for your painting projects, make sure you visit Funky Junk Interiors to learn all about developing a plan of attack when organizing your work area.  You need to know what will work for you and be realistic for your needs and the way you work.  Donna’s been hard at work in her own garage and has

I just finished working on my latest project  – a brass lamp from Goodwill with a pretty shape, but it needed a lady’s touch.  This post is a bit of a tease, because I’m not going to give you any information about the process.  I painted this lamp to use as an example for my Workshop Series post this week, Decorative Painting 101 – Finding Inspiration. So, here’s a before and after sneak for you.  Come back on Wednesday for more!  I’m posting this to DIY Day at ASPTL and Show & Tell over at Blue Cricket Design.

  I’ve been working on framing family photos lately and today I worked on this frame. Hold that thought a minute.  I just had to share that we got about 2 feet of snow here in south central PA.  Yes, that’s our van under all that snow and it was barricaded by a 4 foot wall of snow made by the plow.  Poor hubby spent hours digging us out. Ok, back to the frame. It actually isn’t wood.  Did I fool anyone?  The title surely gave it away.  Anyway, it was a gold resin frame that someone painted this strange blue, which is probably why it ended up in a thrift store for $2.00. Now, even as a professional decorative artist, I’m not generally into faux. I think it can be hard to do really well. It may look good in pictures or at a distance, but once you get a

I was so excited to receive an e-mail from a sweet woman named Rose.  She shared with me that she was inspired by my Chalkboard Table Tutorial and made her own creation. Here is the table she tackled.  Brave woman.  This table looked pretty dated. …and here is the result!  Didn’t she do a wonderful job?  I love her interpretation of my table with her octagonal shaped chalkboard and green border. She told me she “cheated” because she used dollar store roll stickers to create a stencil for her hand painted detail.  This is not cheating at all; it’s just another way of doing things.  It’s also a great example that you don’t have to be a decorative artist to make your own custom hand painted furniture. I would give a shout-out to Rose’s blog, but she doesn’t have one!  She loves reading our blogs, though, so leave some encouraging comments for her

Welcome to the fourth installment of the workshop series brought to you by Mustard Seed Creations and Funky Junky Interiors!  I am so excited to hear reports of people who are trying their hand at decorative painting.  I’ll be adding a link party in a few weeks for anyone who would like to share what they’ve done, so snap pictures as you go along! Make sure you pay a visit to Funky Junk Interiors this week to get some inspiration for your workshop area.  Donna will show you some clever pieces to use for storage as well as a new use for that old ironing board (now that you’ve purchased wrinkle free clothes for your hubby.)  Check it out! Today, we’re going to add color.  I didn’t realize how challenging this was going to be to teach.  It is a personal taste thing, first of all, but the style also varies based on what you’re painting.  I’m going to

To be honest, my post yesterday about my French Settee was a bit of a “throw away” post.  I have been out with a cold, so I needed something to share.  Not having anything new, I looked through my pictures to see what I could write about.  I had some pictures of the settee and I had not shared about it, before, so that was the winner.  I had some requests to see it with the quilt removed and I aim to please! It is slipcovered in a white cotton twill fabric.  This was a pretty tricky slipcover, because it involved making a front piece, a back piece, and then tying them together in strategic places.  I also made a cover for the single down cushion.  (whoops…there’s a thread that needs to be cut!)  Anyway, I made the ties extra long to lace them around the curvy legs. 

One thing I’ve really enjoyed about blogging is taking pictures of all of my stuff.  I never really had an excuse to before, so my poor kids had a flash going off in their face all the time.  Now, I just love arranging things, finding the right light, zooming in, and getting the money shot.  I feel like I’m shooting for a magazine.  It’s so much fun and since I’m still sick in bed, I thought I would share some of my very favorite photos that I’ve taken for my blog.  Enjoy! antique darts found in my grandparent’s attic Doesn’t this gum drop look like it’s on its tippy toes? some spools of ribbon coral found in my grandparent’s attic and a monogrammed silver spoon handle a chippy shutter that I painted “Open Seas” for a client Bakelite knives in an ironstone bowl a twig wreath I found at a