4.30.2011

Guest Blogging Today

Two posts in one day, shocking I know. But I wanted to let you know that I’ll be over at My Repurposed Life today. Gail is having fun at her daughter’s wedding. Have some cake for me Gail, I love wedding cake. You need to come by and see what I’ll be doing with all this stuff.

sawhorse-diptych

I’ll give you a couple of hints. It’s bigger then a bread box. And it’s going in my sewing/guest room.  If you’ve never been to Gail’s blog then now is a great time to see what My Repurposed Life is all about. You will be amazed. It’s my first time guest blogging so come by and say hi!

see ya,

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4.29.2011

A New Lens

I also got to play with my new lens today. It came in a day early from Amazon. It is way too easy to order stuff from Amazon. I ordered a 50mm for my Canon T2i. I think it will help with my indoor shots since it has an aperture of 1.8. But I went out in the garden in search of something pink.

cosmo
f2.2- 1/320- ISO: 100

Tricia of A Rosy Note is having a photo party and the subject was pink. With 3 boys, a husband and even a male dog I don’t have a lot of pink indoors.

Pentas
f2.2 - 1/250s - ISO:100

It will take some getting used to. I have to remember that with the aperture open that wide I will get less detail. So I stepped it down just a bit to get more.

lantana-auto lantana-shady
f1.8- 1/160s- ISO:100

Here is the same shot, or close to the same, but the one on the left I had the white balance on auto and on the right I tried shady. I was in the shade so I thought I’d try it. It gave it a more golden tone. A little blurry but it was a good example of the difference in color you can get.

squirrel

This guy was ticked off and kept squawking at me. I was just waiting for him to jump on my back while I was taking a picture.

lizard 
This guy could care less and let me get pretty close. I did crop it some. Isn't he cute?

shoes






see ya,

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Chalkboard Box

Sometimes the simplest project can be such a pain. Or is that just me? I originally was working on two wooden boxes. The other is small and no rope handles. But the more I tried to embellish, the more I hated it. I ripped it apart and realized less is more with me. It’s getting more paint. If I don’t like it I may have to get the hammer. Some stress relief sounds good.

Here is what I started with. Pretty cute but I have no girls and I don’t know anyone named bab. Actually it was marked down because it originally had a y. Baby.  No one puts Baby in the corner! Sorry, it's the first thing that pops into my mind when I read that.

pink-box

So off came the letters. A little filler to smooth it out. Some primer, some paint and my first time using chalkboard paint. Finally. But wouldn’t you know it, I couldn’t find the box of chalk anywhere. Just my luck.

box


box2

I added some coastal stripes like I did here on this project.

box3 
I originally picked it up with thoughts of using it to hold the mail in the laundry room. It tends to pile up on the kitchen counter. But I decided it was really too big and I needed something that would force me to go through it. So now I need to find it a new home.
 box4

Before I go I just want to say how my heart goes out to all of you that have been affected by the awful storms that swept across the south. I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. 




see ya,

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4.27.2011

A Gardening Weekend

Why is it that grass always grows where you don’t want it to? Hmmm? We are planting glass where we want it and removing it where we don’t. It’s madness I tell you. We try to transplant some of it but it doesn’t always take and it’s sort of patchy. I am going to be brave and show you the back yard in 360 degrees. Mostly. It's still a work in progress.

yard

The previous owner was supposed to be a master gardener. I’m not really sure where she got this title because there are some crazy plantings that make no sense to me. Like crepe myrtles planted under trees and 2 large sago palms in odd spots. We put an ad on craigslist for the sagos, free if you dig them up. They were gone the next day. But hubby ended up helping with the digging. They were mosquito breeding grounds because all of the leaves would fall and get stuck in them. Now we can finish this corner. But the magnolia won’t stop shedding.

yard2

Moving to the left, this is what we accomplished. Mulch. 25 bags of it. We should have just got a truck load. But it was the weekend and nothing here is open on Saturdays when normal people do gardening. 
I just want an open bed along the back fence so that I have a spot to plant and grow things to my heart’s content. It’s looking a little sad at the moment. But the 3 plumbagos in the back will grow pretty big so I had to space them. I have been known to be impatient and cram things together and then regret it down the road. I also put in 2 butterfly bushes and a key lime tree. Pie and margaritas. What more do I need?

The post was put in to hold the topsy turvy that we got hubby as sort of a joke for his birthday. He’s into growing veggies this year. I’ll probably paint it and get more plants to hang. It’s doing okay but I’m not seeing any tomatoes.

yard4

Moving along. We have hubby’s small vegetable patch. It’s a bit too close to the jasmine so it might get moved next season. But they seem to like it there as we have a ton of zucchini blooms and tiny tomatoes already. The chicken wire is something I picked up at GW for a project but it ended up here to keep Henry from stampeding over the veggies. This is as far as we got with the mulch. We just need to curve the bed back toward the fence so it has an ending. Otherwise we could go on forever. Not something that either of us has the energy to do.

yard5

I have a whole list in my mind of things I’d like to add to this space. Roses might be next. Daises, salvia and lots of annuals to help fill in all that empty space. Something to hang on that blank fence. Some large rocks would be nice.

wooded area

I might move this bird bath over there too. I need a new base for it. It’s made out of that foamy stuff and is falling apart. I really just want a tree stump. Has anyone used those things you stick in bird baths to keep the water moving? It’s supposed to help with keep the mosquitoes down.

pool

I’m thinking of dividing some of the lirope that surrounds the screen and putting some of it in the back bed.

I’m skipping our driveway and garbage cans. You’re welcome.

boat

But I can’t leave out hubby’s one true love. We had the concrete pad made just for her. I need to figure out something to plant around this. 

wildflower

Does anyone know what this is? I found it growing in my small wooded area. Sort of reminds me of a bleeding heart.

I’ve been trying to attract birds to the area. They don’t seem to want to eat my bird seed. The squirrels however are enjoying the feast. I caught one stretching himself from the tree to the feeder carefully reaching in. It’s the squirrel proof one that if they get on it it shuts close. Yeah, not so squirrel proof when there’s Gumby the squirrel around.

For those of you that made it to the end of this rambling post, thanks for listening. If you have any favorite fast growing plants that you know of let me know.


Linking up with:
Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures: 360 Photo Party

see ya,

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4.22.2011

Happy Easter!

First, I want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful comments about my old peeling mirror. I was blown away by how much you all liked it. I was unsure about it in the beginning but you guys really made me feel great. I have the best followers ever!

I tried to get just a few Easter things out because I wanted to join Tricia @ A Rosy Note for her Photo Feature Friday. Then I had to go get candy because well, I can’t take a picture of a candy dish with no candy. I didn’t have great light in the house by the time I got back so I just got a couple of shots off. And now I’m late for the party. What else is new huh?

candy-dish levels adjustment, –20 saturation, Sweettart texture (Kim Klassen) soft light, 63%

Then I had to run outside to get some shots of my amaryllis that recently bloomed. Not an Easter lily but darn close. Let’s just pretend.

amarylis2straight out of camera, just slight sharpen

amarylis yellow saturation –20, ran high pass filter
high pass is something new to me, I’m still learning.

amarylis3cropped, levels and brightened




This one I wasn’t too sure about when I first saw it.
But I think it came out pretty good.
Hover your mouse over the picture to see the before.
cropped, brightness +74 contrast +8, high I know but then I masked out the whole picture with black so that it was like it was not there. Next I took a soft white brush and brought back the brightness on just the flowers and stem.  Lowered the opacity to 50% and then softened the edges.
Then I increased the saturation +15.
Can you see the difference? I couldn’t really see the flowers all that well in the before.


I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday.
candy-dish2 levels adjustment, Sweets texture (The Coffeeshop Blog),
#3 Texture (SKC Photography)





see ya,
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4.21.2011

Bamboo Chair and Cushion

I thought’s I’d try something new for me. I have always wanted to make a square pattern out of striped fabric. It really wasn’t all that hard. I don’t know why I waited so long.

chair3

I was going to just cover an old cushion I had but it was rather flat. Years of bottoms sort of did it in. I had some cording in my stash and added that as well.

chair4

I could not for the life of me find my extra long needle to tuff this cushion. So I got hubby to hold it smooshed together so that I could run a regular needle through the middle of it. I used embroidery thread and a button to hold it down then just tied it tight.

chair2 
Here is what the chair looked like before. A $3 yard sale find that was missing some of the strapping stuff around the middle. And it was rather orangey. So I sprayed it spa blue. 

chair-before 
chair5

Say hello to my new sewing chair. 

chair

If you would like me to do a tutorial on how to cut and piece it together let me know. Or if you have questions give me a shout. I’ll be happy to help.

Linking up with:

Miss Mustard Seed: Furniture Feature Friday
Freckled Laundry: Air Your Laundry


see ya,

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4.19.2011

Peeling Mirror Redo



Thanks to everyone for all of the great suggestions on what to do with this mirror. I thought I’d give it a go and try backing it with something.

I took it apart yesterday and it wasn’t too bad. I put on some gloves even though I don’t think it was old enough to have any issues with the backing. I used a plastic scraper and just got off all the loose stuff. Cleaned layers of dirt off the front of it.

old-mirror6 
Here is the before:oldmirror

Here is the after:
old-mirror

I just took some leftover paint from my dining room and lightly brushed it on. I wanted the dark gold to still be in the nooks and crannies. Then I just topped it with a bit of white glaze.

old-mirror3

I had some sheet music from my friend Maureen. The lyrics happened to be about the sea. I thought that was appropriate. I just glued the sheets to a piece of cardboard so I could slip it in or change it out to something else down the road.

old-mirror7


 
old-mirror5old-mirror4 
See what is peaking out?  ….will sail today…

old-mirror5

So what do you think? Do you like the color or should I have left it alone? It’s only paint, I can always sand it back or paint it another color.


Linking up with:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesday’s Treasures
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Domestically Speaking: Power of Paint 
Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Weds.

see ya,

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