May 2015

After running away to Cape Breton Island on the weekend, which I will share about later this week, today was a day I had been looking forward to for a long time, Milk Paint Monday! Yay!!  Rose, from Onlsow Historic Lumber, and I have been plotting and planning this day for so long now! And it was a blast! Are you ready for all the pictures of our day? Yes? Great, there’s a few!!

Rose and I started bright and early to be sure everything was all set up for all our wonderful guests!  We wanted our guests got lots of knowledge about Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and lots of practice on awesome projects to take home to put to use, too.

Rose brought lots of samples to look at to help with picking colours and techniques that we used throughout the day.  Good thing she did, making those choices was hard work!!  But it was also fun to have all the colours at your finger tips! { I tried a few new ones today 🙂 }

Rose told us all about the company  and gave so much information about the products.  Thankfully, we had lots of information in our packets to take home so we could remember what we did and work on our own projects down the road. Personally, I love knowing that Rose is trained in Miss Mustard Seed and is and has been a great resource for me as I learn about painting and try out different things. She’s been such a huge help to me!

And then we started right in.  We learned proper mixing techniques, lots of tips about brushes and how to apply the product. I certainly learned so much.  I joked about taking part in the workshop so I could now learn the right way to do everything, after using the products for months already!! Can old dogs learn new tricks?  Hmmmmm….

We painted on jars, we painted on trim and applied waxes, we painted arrows and distressed them with a wax puck, we painted and wet distressed stars and we painted shelf brackets and made them go all chippy.  We nearly painted everything in sight, in just about every colour! It was so neat to see the colour combinations and how everyone’s turned out so very unique.

We learned so much today!!  So many techniques that add such character to a piece.  I’d go through each one but I can’t seem to think straight anymore, plus I realized I skipped some while taking pictures!  That’s the one thing about doing the projects as well as trying to capture the day on camera!!  I may detail the techniques we did over the next few weeks, and take pictures to fill in the gaps I have in the projects and techniques!

Thanks so much to Rose for teaching us today, it was so much fun!  Thanks for keeping it interesting and thanks for repeating yourself when the noisy table wasn’t listening….I won’t mention any names….. And thanks to Vonda { who couldn’t make it 🙁 } for offering up the awesome spot to host this workshop today!

Rose and I will be talking about hosting something together again over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!!  Until then, if you want to paint but want guidance, check out her up-coming workshops HERE.

To be continued,

Lori

I’m working on some chairs to go with the bench that I had done a while back.  The bench is slightly more simple of a job than the chairs but once the chairs are complete, they’ll be awesome!

These chairs are not the same, they don’t match but certainly feel similar enough that once dressed up in matching colours and fabric, they’ll feel like a good pair.  I can see them all finished in my head, sitting in their new home, ready for use.

But let’s back up a bit to the beginning.  As in, where did they come from??  The first one I acquired come from a Kijiji ad and then the second one was indirectly from a Kijiji ad, but not for a chair. 🙂  I have never posted or responded to an ad on Kijiji, I know lots of people do but I never have. But there’s a lot of awesome furniture to be found if you have a peek.  So, when I was scrolling through the ads, a lot of the pieces I was interested in were all from the same guy.  I fired off a message and then through the messages I found out buddy sells at the flea market in town.  We made arrangements to meet so I could see what all he had.  I did leave that night with some goodies, but not a chair from him.  He did ask what else I might be looking for and I showed him the picture of the other Kijiji chair and he had one at home, but it belonged to his wife and was on her To-do list to fix up.   A few days later, I had my second chair! 🙂

Now, there are repairs I can do and repairs that feel too big for me to do.  So I look for pieces that need very little help.  Upholstery stuff I can handle, as long as there isn’t extensive sewing.  But it needs to have good bones.

I love the bones of a chair.  Such a simple structure can provide such comfort.  They can be as basic or as complex as needed.  They can be simple or decorative.  Plush or hard.  Have I mentioned I love chairs before??  Did you know I had a problem?

Hi, my name is Lori and I’m addicted to collecting chairs.

To be continued,

Lori

My sister, Dawn, has a hobby farm called Daybreak Farm.  She lambs later than Dad so her babies have just arrived!  Prepare for cuteness overload!

She doesn’t just have sheep….she has Ben the pony and Clarence the donkey.

I love going there to get pictures of the babies, they look so adorable outside!!  I think I need to try to talk Dad into lambing outside so I can get better pictures of all those babies!! 😉

To be continued,

Lori

The world around me is changing.  It’s turning green and there are splashes of brightness starting to burst forth.  Thankfully, Spring has arrived. Yesterday the sun shone so beautifully and it lifted my spirits.

I was in Stewiacke and needed to go to New Glasgow so I took the scenic route, cross-country and got to where I needed to be without too much trouble and I only had to turn around once.  I had tried to check Google Maps but it even took a while to find me, but it did show me that there was a lake coming up.  When the burst of blue appeared on my left, I had to stop and enjoy it.  You see, I’m not fond of the highway, yes it gets me where I need to go but life can’t be lived on the highway.  And when the sun warmed my face, I had to go for a drive and the highway just wouldn’t do.  I’m kicking myself for not stopping at this one farm where the sheep dotted the lush green hill.  It was so picture perfect, but it’s captured in the album of my mind now.

The thing I love about driving is that I can think.  No music, no talking, no nothing, just me and my thoughts.  Yesterday was an exciting day as I talked with various people about various opportunities.  I have to admit that I am continually in awe of the opportunities that are presented to me.  Last fall when I left the job I had been in for so long, I was afraid that I would struggle and not have anything to do, and that I’d end up having to take a job at a fast food joint.  { Not that I have a problem with that, if it puts food on the table and keeps a roof over our heads, then fine but it wouldn’t be my top pick… } But I have had so many interesting and fun things to do and I am so very thankful for that.  It blows me away.  I’m turning down jobs.  Crazy, no?  I’ll admit its good for the self-confidence! And I love the choices I’m making.  I’m having so much fun, crazy as it is by times.  Makes me thankful for my awesome family and babysitters, couldn’t do it without you all!!

It is my hope for you that your view is awesome and inspiring and that life hands you great opportunities to enjoy!!

To be continued,

Lori

I’m sure people think I’m crazy when I tell them my husband and I used our date time to go to the Spring Machinery Auction in Truro.  But, really, its the perfect date, something we both enjoy and it sometimes you come home with some awesome goodies.

Today, we headed over, sans children { Thank you, Rika!! } and wandered around looking at this, that and the other thing.  I posted some pictures on Instagram and Facebook and the responses have been so fun to read through.  Guess what?  You are all invited next year!!  🙂

I love going and listening to the variety of conversations that surround you.  It was a sea of plaid, camo and denim.  I kept losing Michael and he was hard to spot again.  I may have stood out a little in my red coat…..  The old farmers probably make it an annual pilgrimage and meet up with old buddies and spend the day and maybe not a dime.  But they are what make it so fun. Yes, there are younger people milling around, some with small children in tow and maybe a wife thrown, too.  Maybe they’ve grown up going and so they make the pilgrimage, too.

I have to admit, I never wanted to go that very first time – why would I want to go to an auction where they sell machinery?  I hear Dad and Michael talk about this piece of that and that piece of this, why should I care??  And then one time, Michael came home and told me he almost bought me a wooden screen door.  Screen door?  What? At the machinery auction?  I went the next time. And I bought some cool stuff….old wooden tool boxes, milk cans,  an old wooden sled.  You see, it isn’t just machinery.  It’s whatever you find in your yard, your barn or machine shed.  Bring it, sell it, someone will want it.  Today’s mix of randomness included fake plants, lobster traps, broken fence posts, a tent trailer, lumber, bent gates, stove pipe, light fixtures, canoes and wood stoves.  And then there is the expected – round bale feeders, hay rakes, grain bins, cattle trailers, seeders, milk cans, tires, wagons, intact fence posts, but no big, green tractor as Hannah requested we bring her.

I wish this day had panned out differently.  I came home empty-handed. My brother-in-law scored at least one lot I wish I had.  I wish I had the fore-sight to have bid on a few lots that would have been fun to work over and re-sale.  But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be today.  I always hesitate or ponder too long { or show up too late } and then I think about what I would’ve done with this, that and the other thing.  And proceed to kick myself.

But I had fun, saw lots and now realize what I need to do differently next time. But before we left Truro, we did a little shopping in the downtown for Mother’s Day for me.  So it wasn’t a waste of time by any means! 😉

To be continued,

Lori