Tag Archives: Annie Sloan

I’m Back!!

Posted by Leanne on May 31, 2012 1 comments

Whew! What an absolute wild week we had last week, I needed most of this week to recuperate!! You ready for this??

A few weeks ago I made a new blogging friend, who lives in North Vancouver. After emailing back and forth and getting to know each other, on Tuesday last week this amazing woman, Claudine from Condensed Love Home, packed up all her Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (which you all know I’ve been dying to try!) and brought it all over to my place to paint with me!! I had a child’s rocking chair that needed a little makeover, and in the 3 hours Claudine and I had together, we gave this chair 2 coats of paint, gave each other the quickest tutorials – she taught me about chalk paint, I taught her about making signs – got to know each other, picked up my sick son from school, fed the baby lunch, and barely had time to breath! Wow. More on my time with Claudine and Chalk Paint another day though!!

Wednesday and Thursday I finished off that rocking chair, plus a special project which I delivered yesterday… but more on that another day!

Thursday evening I put together 30 gifts for volunteers for the elementary school. Although time-consuming, I had a ton of fun putting them together and watching the recipients receiving them the next day.

Friday this gorgeous little darling turned 1! Wow, how did that happen?!?

Don’t you love the birthday outfit?? It insured she would get a lot of attention for her big day!!

In the morning I had to remember to deliver the 30 gifts to the school, and later in the day, the girls and I attended the Parent and Volunteer Tea, held by the school staff. So much fun, with amazing cupcakes,

and music,

(that’s my guy 3 heads back – the best picture I could get of him

That evening we celebrated Elissa’s birthday with a trip to the Coldstone Creamery

(she’s looking a little anxious, because she can’t figure out why I keep taking pictures, and not giving her the ice cream!)

Pizza and a movie ended the evening, and the little birthday girl was sound asleep by 6:45!

That’s when I needed to get back to work and prepare for the big party on Sunday…

Saturday was a day I had been looking forward to for some time!!

That’s right, it was time for the Scout Handmade and Vintage Market!! Whoohoo!! And this was the line up waiting to get in, a half our after opening,

That was in front of me… behind me the lineup went around the building! But wow was it worth the wait. I had every intention of taking pictures inside of all the goodies, but my eyes just couldn’t devour what I was seeing fast enough!! Plus, with the insane crowds, I was acting as a contortionist the whole time, trying to get in close. But, I did get the chance to meet someone I’ve been wanting to meet for a while – Alisa from Home Sweet Nest, and her friend who I can’t wait to get to know more, Desja from The Former Fashionista. And boy did I blush when they were pleased to meet me, because they read my blog!

The day continued with haircuts for the whole family, and an evening at the in-laws to meet up with hubby’s from-out-of-province cousin.

Then Sunday got even crazier. Church, (where I had to read the Bible scriptures for the service, and wouldn’t you know it, it was full of some of the craziest-pronounced cities) which was followed by a Sunday School party with hotdogs, bowling and cake. Home for a couple of hours to gather ourselves, and back to the church gym to host Elissa’s birthday party!!

(the project for the party I was working on Friday night)

She enjoyed watching me open the gifts for her

And also enjoyed her birthday crown!

She was a bit nervous when we put the piece of birthday cake in front of her, not sure what to do with it…

But it all ended with a very happy and very messy clap!

Monday I crashed, and suddenly it’s Thursday! I hope you have a great one! Thanks for reading!

xo, Leanne

PS, Happy birthday to my niece “M” today!! xo

It’s Magnetic!!

Posted by Leanne on May 8, 2012 None comments

The weather here has been SO amazing the past 2 days, it has been almost shocking! People are out in droves trying to soak it all up. We have had so much rain here since last summer, we take advantage of every sunny day we can.

On Sunday we had a fabulous day taking advantage of the sun. We had a picnic on the beach at Harrison Hot Springs, went for a walk around the water (which takes incredibly long with 3 kids, loose shoe laces, runny noses, birds to chase, flowers to pick, and pictures to take). Did some “window shopping” at The Back Porch (coffee, antiques and collectibles), chased the chickens there and fed the goats, drove up to Hicks Lake and took a little walk, had dinner back in Harrison, and stopped by my parents for a quick visit and some ice cream! It was just so great to get out of the house for a day!

Today I want to share with you a personal favorite of one of my creations… you can find this beauty on my For Sale page, which I just updated yesterday, by the way!

A Magnetic Board!

Oh, I so love this one.

I don’t have a very good selection of pictures on how I did it, but here’s a small glimpse. If you would like a more descriptive idea, then my post of Turquoise Twins might help you out.

This is what I started out with:

this is what I started out with. I picked it up from a local thrift store. this was another one of those occasions when the cashier said "oh what a beautiful picture!!" When I explained what I was going to do with it, she didn't seem too impressed. :/

a close up of the frame...

I carefully took the whole thing apart....

...part of the process of taking it apart...

I used this little thingy to help pull the staples out...

... and the frame. I gave the frame a quick sanding a cleaning, then gave it one coat of graphite paint...

and that’s it for the “during” pictures… but I’ll try to explain my steps while you enjoy the “after” pics

...after my one coat of graphite, I noticed some of the original color was peaking through, and looked awesome. It didn't need any distressing, it was just perfect the way it was... I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but watch for it!...

the frame received a thin coat of clear Annie Sloan Wax for protection

for the inside of the frame, I cut a piece of sheet metal to size...

... measured the fabric an inch wider than the sheet metal... and this is where I began to mess up a little...

before realizing I was messing up, I carefully hot glued the fabric to the back of the sheet metal...

...when I turned it over to admire my work, I realized I hadn't removed the store code sticker from the sheet metal, and it showed through the fabric! Darn it anyways...

... I carefully pulled back the fabric, and began to try to peel off the sticker...

...luckily I didn't get too involved in this before I realized my other mistake...

and I clued in that I had fit the fabric pattern to run in the wrong direction!!...

... I was keeping the original hanging wire, so the frame was hanging horizontal... but at this point the fabric was vertical...again, a few curse words...

I ripped the fabric off, carefully started over again, checked it and double checked it before hot gluing the fabric to the back (which used to be the front, I remembered to turn the sheet metal upside down!)... I placed the sheet metal into the frame, and used the original picture, upside down, to fill in the void space. Taped it in place, and, sigh....

Ta-da!

…A gorgeous magnetic board, perfect for your kitchen or living room! Check the For Sale page for details, and otherwise, thank you SO much for reading!!

xo, Leanne (PS. Update: This item has been SOLD!)

Partying at: Not just a Housewife

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Fresh Cut Flowers and a Mason Jar!

Posted by Leanne on April 16, 2012 14 comments

Well, I have been dealing with 3 sick kids and a sick hubby since Wednesday, and I am beat! My post on Thursday let you know about my son Jordan, and how we feared he had the chicken pox. It turned out it wasn’t, but Thursday night the poor guy was sick all.night.long. And I was on mama duty, sleeping on the couch next to him, doing keep-up-on-the-cleanup-duty. Then he needed a second night on the couch with me beside him, just in case. Yesterday we figured he was good enough to take out, but alas, there we were in the parking lot of the dollar store, when Anna suddenly got sick. Yup. And who walked by but an old friend from highschool. Of course. Luckily he is an elementary PE teacher, and was very, very kind. I went inside with the baby, to buy some ginger ale, and… the baby started vomiting. Everywhere. That was not a fun ride home. Poor hubby got it by 9:00 pm. Again, on mama duty, I have now spent 3 nights in a row on the couch, have seen (and smelled) way more than I ever needed to, and I am beat! (I am writing this post Sunday night). I hope that wasn’t too much info for you all, but I needed to get it off my chest!

So now I would like to focus on something that makes me much happier, a little project I managed to pull off last week, and I love this little darling!

Fresh Cut Flowers!

What do ya think???

Here’s my “how-I-did-it”:

I started out with my piece of pine, painted the outer border brown, and the inside roughly with a blue, both from my craft paint selection...

...I used a new tip I found online: before adding the top layer of paint, apply vaseline to the areas you want to have easily distresses, as the paint won't stick to these areas. I focused the vaseline on the corners, and added a few streaks randomly on the board. Best Tip Ever! ...

(Source for the Vaseline trick: Shanty 2 Chic - awesome blog, I’ve learned many little tricks from here!)

...I then added a top coat of white paint....

...distressed with sandpaper...whew, that was easy!!! I LOVE the way both the blue and brown show from underneath...

...I had made my template on Picnik.com, and printed it out on my computer. Cut it and decided on its placement...

I colored the back of the template with pencil for the transfer method... I then used my favorite Sharpie paint pen to paint the letters in...

...traced the template with a ball point pen, and the lettering transfers onto the board...

I then took one of these plumber-thingies (oh, hubby just told me it's a 6" hose clamp)... Hubby helped with pounding a nail through 2 of the slots on this, so screws could fit through... I needed hubby's help a lot with this part of the project!

And used the hose clamp to hold my Mason Jar in place! (in case you don't know, because I didn't have a clue, the clamp tightens and loosens with the help of a drill at that big knobby part of it. You can completely open it up too, to screw it onto the board) ...After I took this picture I realized the jar didn't sit straight on the board, so you'll see in the later pictures that I adjusted the jar so the clamp sits lower...

...I waxed it the sign with Annie Sloan clear Wax, added a wire hangar to the back...

...picked our first blooms of daffodils from our garden, with a bit of "greenery" (lavender and chives), added a wee bit of twine to the mouth of the jar, and Ta-da!

...this baby will be hanging on my wall until it is sold!...

Fresh Cut Flowers!

I’m holding on to this sign for our school’s ladies night, but you can check out my For Sale page for more info on how to get your own!

I hope this sign makes you smile as much as it does for me, and I hope we all have a wonderful Monday!!

Thanks so much for reading!

xo, Leanne

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Today I’m Visiting….

Posted by Leanne on February 15, 2012 4 comments

Good morning!! I’m very excited about today! Today I am guest posting over at Sunshine.life.love! Ashley at sunshine.life.love has an adorable blog, and she herself seems completely adorable, so head on over there and give her some love! Plus, I blogged about a few things there that I haven’t mentioned here yet!

If you are visiting from sunshine.life.love, welcome!! I am so happy to have you here, and I hope you like what you see!

So, just another heads up, I have scheduled my permanent change over to wordpress.org to happen February 28th! With all sorts of things happening in my blog life, and in my personal life over the next couple weeks, I just want to make sure my calendar is clear around the time of the switch, just in case anything goes awry… and since I have been my own computer geek through this whole process, something is bound to go wrong! So please watch my posts carefully around that time, as I am still not sure if it’s possible to automatically switch all of you over there myself, so I may need your help. Plus, I will be offering a GIVEAWAY in the first week of the switch!

On to something more exciting… I showed off this frame at sunshine.life.love today, and I am going to share with you how I did it. I am SO pleased with this project, I am in love with it… so here you go!

I picked up this picture and frame at a local thrift store last week for $10. The lovely lady who rung it through said, “Oh! What a beautiful picture and frame!!” and I had to bite my tongue from saying “Not Yet!”

Frame, "before"

The first thing I did when I got home, was take the frame apart… anyone want to keep the picture?

I washed it down, and went straight to work.

Wythe Blue, Benjamin Moore

I gave it a coat of my Wythe Blue, from Benjamin Moore (the same color used for my Master Bedroom) and gave it some distressing. I wanted both the brown and the gold from underneath to show through.

I gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax, and then a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax. This is how it looked just after I applied the wax. It scares me everytime!!

I gave the wax a good buffing with a clean cloth, and the next morning another buffing.

I took the cardboard that was holding the original picture in, and gave it 2 coats of Chalkboard Paint. This stuff is super easy to use, love it!… Attached a wire hanger to the back, and ta-da! Here is the “after” shots!

I needed something to write down the week’s menus, so I remember to take the meat out the night before… and also when I’m cooking and each individual member of the house takes turns coming into the kitchen asking what’s for dinner, I can now just say “look at the board!”

See how the dark wax gives such depth? I love the effect it has. I am in love with this stuff!

And I love the way the frame has finished off this corner of my kitchen… and no, I’m still not showing you the rest of my kitchen!! It’s still so not blog worthy!

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous day!

xo, Leanne

A Refinished Frame, and Today I’m Visiting….

Posted by Leanne on February 15, 2012 7 comments

If you are visiting from sunshine.life.love, welcome!! I am so happy to have you here, and I hope you like what you see!

Frame, "before"

The first thing I did when I got home, was take the frame apart… anyone want to keep the picture?

I washed it down, and went straight to work.

Wythe Blue, Benjamin Moore

I gave it a coat of my Wythe Blue, from Benjamin Moore (the same color used for my Master Bedroom) and gave it some distressing. I wanted both the brown and the gold from underneath to show through.

I gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax, and then a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax. This is how it looked just after I applied the wax. It scares me everytime!!

I gave the wax a good buffing with a clean cloth, and the next morning another buffing.

See how the dark wax gives such depth? I love the effect it has. I am in love with this stuff!

And I love the way the frame has finished off this corner of my kitchen… and no, I’m still not showing you the rest of my kitchen!! It’s still so not blog worthy!

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous day!

xo, Leanne