Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!


The heart that
loves
is always
young.

Wishing you and your families a day filled with love!
Happy Valentine's Day.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

My lucky find: A lovely antique mirror...

Good morning friends! I hope that you're having a great week!

Just a quick post, but I had to share with you a glimpse of the antique mirror that I bought earlier this month at one of favorite haunts, Sweet Peas. It will be used in the "new" old bathroom that we are working on. I couldn't believe that I found an antique in the exact measurement that we needed to center over the sinks, and in the first store that I looked at, no less! The frame is solid wood and very heavy, and per the label on the back, in 1948 the mirror portion was replaced in Hickory, NC. We pass right through Hickory on the way to the mountains, so I guess this baby was meant to be ours!

 Below you see the mirror sitting in the back of my car.
This is a photo of the detail on the top of the frame...


...and the detail on one of the sides...


The picture below was taken in the bathroom, 
when I started to paint it.
Because we want a clean and uncluttered  farmhouse
look in this bathroom,
I did not want to leave it in its shabby 
and grimy looking state. 
It will actually match the moldings and bead board
that will sit against it... 


Have you lucked out with any special finds lately? I hope that you have a great day!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A sweet little art tutorial: Spring Beauties...

Hello everyone! We are hunkering down in anticipation of the winter storm that we are supposed to get tomorrow. I hope that if you are in one of the areas that expects the same bad weather you stay safe and warm.

We are still moving along on our master bathroom update. Hubby finished most of the floor tile work yesterday, and is out right now getting the grout so that he can finish up the flooring while we are stuck in the house. Working around Old Man Winter is getting to be a pain in the neck, but he did manage to get the bead board finished, and I have completed the painting. We are still waiting for the lighting fixture to come in, so will be at a standstill until it does.

While breaking from the bathroom work, I did finish the little art book that I mentioned in one of my recent posts. I don't often work from other people's tutorials, but I fell in love with this one and it helped nudge me towards spring and provided me with the ambition to complete some other unfinished art projects of my own. Plus, I didn't have to "think" too much about this little book, and could focus on the bathroom work.

Following are some photos of the finished book, which is called "Spring Beauties Art Journal", a tutorial purchased from Cerri Campbell at The Little Pink Studio. She is an amazing artist and has a wonderful blog. If you get a chance, please visit her, as she is recuperating from surgery and would probably love to hear from you. You may purchase the tutorial here. And here is a link to her blog. I couldn't resist using some of her images, but added some of my own, along with some embellishments that were crying out to be used!

Sorry for the quality of the photos. 
Bad lighting today due to the snow clouds
forming.

This is the cover...



I liked Cerri's idea of folding some
of the pages lengthwise,
and some width-wise...






And the back cover.
I could not resist using my photo of the
little baby posed in the bird's nest...


Thanks for whispering this breath of spring,
Cerri!
           
Now I should think about getting on with completing the 50 or so pieces of fabric collage that I have started and never finished ;~)