Fake Caramel Apples

I had a family photo shoot that needed a few apples in the shot and Fall screams Caramel Apples so since them are messy I decided to make fake Caramel Apples .  1) so they weren't so messy 2) so I could use them again and 3) so wouldn't have to eat all of them.

So 1 step is to find cheap foam apples.  I found them but not a bright red color that I wanted.

So I chalk paint them in bright red.

I did a clear and dark wax so they didn't look quite so fake.

Next step is to add tan paint to Modge Podge and pour it over the bottom of the apples.

Set them on waxed paper and add a stick.

You can sprinkle them with fake options but I decided I was only going to keep them for the fall so I used real nuts.

Let that apple dry for 24 hours and then flip it over and let the bottom dry for another 24 hours.

There you have it a Caramel Apple that will last until the end of Fall.   I added a thicker stick to give them a stronger look and a little scrap of ribbon to make it cute.  

Here's a shot from the photo session that wouldn't have been complete without an apple.  

A fun little project for you and the kids.      Later....

Owl Love/Hate Relationship

My daughter loves owls and she loves them more when they are the 70's style.  I think they are pretty darn ugly but I buy them for her anyway.  I was in the second hand store and seen 4 lamps and a clock with Shannon's name written all over them.  

I laughed and sent her the picture.  She replied.... I want them all.

I made a decision for her house and her boyfriend.... I only bought her the clock one.

My sister Sharon replied to an Instagram photo of the clocks..... I want one.  So I go back for one for her.

Next day these owls are bugging me..... I really should buy one and paint it white like I've been wanting to do for a long time.  So I go back to buy one for myself.

I start to paint it white while up north

I quickly send a text to my sister Gayle..... go buy me the matching owl lamp, I need two.

Excuse me Mr. Owl you have a bit of white paint on your face.  

They are awesome painted white and will look very cottagy up north.  I painted them with Linen White Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint

I am a distress girl but these guys did not get any distressing.  Just a coat of Clear Wax.

My sister Gayle came up for a moonlight kayak trip down the river and she's kicking herself for not buying the last owl lamp.

Now to find two matching shades.  What can you paint white and give it a whole new look?   

Later....

Candle Stick meet Cutting Board

Got a couple heavy duty candle sticks from the second hand store.  They were black which was okay but color always looks good.  Florence and Antibes Green were blended when wet for a fun mix.  

  

Candle sticks meet Cutting boards

After a quick painting of the cutting boards to match the candle sticks we married them together with a nail gun to make cute little tables.

Added a orangey ribbon for some fall color along with my chalk painted gourds.

I found another candle base that I had which was smaller than the other two and would make a good threesome so I painted him to match to make the grouping an odd number.   Adding the tray to hold them brings the grouping together.  

The center piece is nice and high and adds a fall touch to the dining room.  Florence and Orange are a pretty good combination.  I might have to combine them again.  

What can you marry together for an unexpected twist?   Later.....

It's Fall Y'all

Fall is not my favorite season but it's my second favorite as long as it's warm, dry and pretty.  There is something about putting on long pants, sweatshirts and socks that makes you feel all cozy.

I love to watch the colors start to turn and then fall to the ground in piles, nice big piles preferable on top of a big blue tarp that I could lay on the ground so no raking would be involved this year..... dreaming for sure I know.

I'm not much of a holiday decorator but I do like to change things out for the seasons.  Buying gourds  that I like is somewhat of a challenge..... well that is when they are fake and under $2 a piece.  They look something like this.  Yep them is ugly.....

BUT then.....

I found these at a second hand store, they are real, just very old and only .25 a piece...... SCORE.

As I've said before...... I'll paint anything so the new gourds got a face lift with Chalk Paint.   I'm kinda stuck on white even though it's fall I still am liking the white worn out look for fall.  

I used Linen White Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint and gave them a pretty good coverage.  If I missed a couple spots or creases that's okay I was looking for a shabby chic look anyway.  I then gave them  quick sanding bringing out more of the shabby....

Then brushed a very thin coat of Valspar SealingWax, after about 2 minutes I brushed on the Valspar Antique Wax for the dirty look.  Buffed off some of the Antique and let them dry to the touch.  I love how the dark wax brings out the brush strokes and unevenness of the paint.

Quite the difference huh?  Now this cheap plastic gourd is looking good enough for center stage.  

The old gourds I just gave a dry brush with the Linen White with clear and dark wax and they are all looking like they belong together.  

A few berries and partridge feathers in a bowl

I'll come back later and share the entire centerpiece with you, right now my paintbrush is calling me.  Later......

Amy Howard Brush

I've used the inexpensive "chippy" brushes for a long time and I've been very happy using them.  They cost around $1 which makes them very affordable but that also makes them not the highest quality brush either.  They lose hairs when you first start to use them so you have to be careful to pick the hairs out of the wet paint until the brush gets broken in.  I've been okay with that until ACE Hardware asked me to use the Amy Howard brush.  She's pretty awesome and only around $6 which in my opinion is very worth it.  

The bristles are packed tightly in the Amy Howard brush and holds the paint wonderfully.  

The chippy brush is pretty whimpy and her messy bristles can become an issue.

The painting area is much larger also.  I've even painted the walls in my house with the Amy Howard brush and loved it.  

Take good care of your brush washing with soap and water and it will last a very long time.  

If you're looking for a good brush head up to ACE Hardware located within County Market and buy yourself a treat, you'll thank me...

Later.....

Bored or Board

How many times have we heard I’m bored, there’s nothing to do…..  Well I heard it a lot with 3 kids, however bored to me means something totally different.  Board is something I cannot leave untouched when it’s a good solid board with no purpose.  It might be a board from a broken pallet, or a board from a different project that gets tossed in the scrap pile to be burned.  So here I am picking boards out of the scrap piles to find a new purpose.  In July when I was getting ready for the Jazzed Up Junk sale this board was calling my name from across the garage.  It kept saying “save me John thinks I’m burn material”.  I can’t get this voice out of my head until I take it out of the scraps and paint it to work on blending of paints while wet.  I liked the process on this board but then what?

So I’m sanding away on a couple chairs and this butterfly keeps checking out my project.  I’m not much of a butterfly person but I am a dragonfly girl so it was time to put the vision on the board.

I’ve said before I am a distress lovin’ person so the sander came out on the dragonfly as well, which in my opinion made him even better.  A little wax and he’s one of my favorite paintings. 

At the sale my good friend purchased him for her house.  I’m so pleased that he gets to brighten her home and bring a lot of color to her décor.  Since the sale I’ve painted about 6 of them for others on boards and license plates, each one makes me smile and they’ll never get old.  The only picture of them is this one and they aren't totally done yet so trust me.... when they were done, distressed and tied with a ribbons they were very cute.  One of the dragonflies hangs in our little Andee's room on her daddy's license plate from his first truck.  Jr has a truck one like the top right in white to match the color of daddy's first truck. 

My lastest request was to do the dragonfly but on 3 boards to display on a wall together at a friends cabin.  Of course I can’t make all 3 boards with the same dragonfly so I got the brain thinking again with a little help from Pinterest and her dragonfly gallery was born.  I painted the boards again with the wet paint blending technique and let them dry.  

I was going to try it on the green blue board but decided to add some more color, a little red

And more color.... a little orange

Then sanded them to bring back the colors underneath.  Now those colors have a smooth blended look.

 The 3 dragonflies got drawn on and the painting started, I normally pencil my drawing first but I rarely follow the lines... it's just a guideline for me for spacing.

All done being painted.

Distress and added clear wax.  The below photo shows the one on the right clear waxed and the one on the left not waxed.  See how that wax just pulls the colors out.  Waxing may be a lot of work but this gal is a waxoholic and my right arm that's bigger than the left and aches daily is the reminder for me everyday.   Hi my name is Connie, I'm a waxoholic and haven't touch clear wax since Tuesday.....

Last Sunday my granddaughter Mallory came over and she was so excited to tell me this story. 

Mallory talking with so much eye expression and body language it cracked me up … "Grandma I did something just like you do.  My mom and us went on a walk around the block and I found a piece of wood, I picked it up and said “mom I’m going to paint this wood and make it pretty like grandma does”.  I brought the wood home and chalk painted it just like you…. (with sidewalk chalk).  It’s really pretty and lots of different colors and I put it in a paper towel so the chalk won’t rub off and when I want it to look like it’s worn off in spots I just rub it with the paper towel".   

Oh my what have I done to my grandchildren?  She’s homeschooled so I’m thinking I need to take a day off of work and go to their classroom to teach art class with chalk paint.  Mallory would love it, so would her mother, and probably the other homeschool families they connect with.  

I found a garden gate to hang the three boards up, they will look so good at a cabin up north.  

So are you BORED?  Just pick up a BOARD, search Pinterest  and see what happens...... Later

Rusty Planter

Rusty junk gets me every time.  The other day John and I went to my sister’s house for a visit.  They’ve had their barn torn down by the amish and now there is a pile of debris tossed aside as “not good enough” for the taking.  Of course I need to go pickin’ in that pile of garbage to look for treasures.  As soon as we walk up to it I notice this.

Score!!  I quickly hid this little beauty in the back of the truck before John sees me collecting useless junk.  

I love the look of things rusted sitting in the garden, on the patio table, or on the porch.  When most people pass up the rusted piece of junk or throw them away I come along behind them picking it up.  So with this rusty piece of sweetness I lined the inside with burlap, filled it with dirt and planted a sedum. 

A five minute project and I love it.  This piece of junk will hold up in the garden for many years and the great thing about sedum is you place this planter on the ground tucked into a comfy spot for the winter, pull it out this spring and it grows all over again.   My rusty barstool is from my Grandma's garbage many years ago.  I've had it in the garden through all the seasons getting more and more rusty patina.  It wasn't sturdy enough for someone to sit on it so making it a side table works perfectly.

For now I will enjoy this little beauty during our warm fall days with a fire crackling in the pit and sipping on a Old Fashion.

My chairs are not painted, John likes them natural and frankly so do I.   Not everything should be painted.  

What can you pull out of the garbage and plant a sedum in?  You’d be surprised.

Later....

Charm School Girl – Amy Howard at Home

While at garage sales you see things that have good bones but their exterior is beyond ugly.  Some can get past the ugly and some cannot.  I am one that can get past the ugly and see right to the bones and the transformation that can happen with a little TLC.   This little cabinet was sitting in the corner all by herself just like one of the kids on the playground that wasn’t allowed to put her toe in to play Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.  But I seen her sitting over there and quickly rescued her.  She was beautiful in her day but now she wasn’t so cute anymore but after I get done with her she is going to be stunning. 

As soon as Ace Hardware contacted me to paint their Amy Howard at Home Paint display I knew she was going to be perfect for the job.  Storage on the top and inside the cabinet and of course a color that would attract customers to come look at her and see what she was all about.   I chose Charm School (seriously I didn’t think of the paint name when referencing the school playground, I guess it just goes to show she was made for this project). 

With cabinets you can either paint over the hardware if you want that old farmhouse look (they painted over everything) or you can remove the hinges and pulls.  Put them in a bowl or jar marked with what they belong to so when it’s time to put it back together everything is in one place.  (take my advice, since I never do and wish I would).  John has spent many hours searching the garage for a hinge here, drawer pull over there, screws in a bowl with 17 other ones….. yeah it’s not fun at that point.

Charm School is a deep red with a deep pinkish tone to it; I really like solid coverage so I painted 2 coats of Charm School on the cabinet inside, and 3 coats on the outside, drawers, and doors.  Waiting in-between coats for it to fully dry.  You will know when it’s dry because the paint will look dull and chalky.  If you are impatient and do not wait for it to dry you will just drag the brush through the wet paint and cause it to pull away from the base wood.  Go weed the flowers or grab a drink and sit on the porch for a bit.  

I wanted a surprise for the person opening the cabinet so I then painted the inside with Tick Tock.  I do like my solid coverage so again it was another 2 coats to cover the Charm School.  Why did I paint it Charm School if I was going to cover it with Tick Tock you ask.  I like furniture distressed and when painting two colors you can distress to the 1^st color which is what I was going for on the inside.  Now that I'm blogging this I totally forgot to take a picture of the inside.  My bad.

After all the painting I grab my sander and distressed just the edges of the piece, being careful not to distress too much.   After sanding wipe everything with a lint free cloth to get all the paint dust off.  Next step was waxing.  Amy Howard at Home Clear Wax was pretty amazing, I’ve used a lot of waxes in my day and this wax is probably going to be a favorite (when used properly).   Amy Howard has paint brushes and I would recommend buying the brush, it’s amazing for paint and even better for waxing.  In the below photo you can see the dull chalky paint on the left and the right is where the Clear Wax has been applied with the Amy Howard brush.  I've never put wax on with a brush but it was super fun after I made plenty of mistakes trying to figure out the correct application procedure. 

 

I used the dark wax on her also, she really liked it and it gave some depth to the paint and the creases. 

I put her all back together including new door and drawer pulls but something wasn’t screaming…………LOVE to me…..  she needed a bit more pop.  Back up on my table and I painted a fun flower on the door with Tick Tock, distressed her again and another coat of wax.  Notice I painted after it was already waxed….. you can do that with this paint, no need to sand it off.  Which is a good thing for me cuz I change my mind lots. 

The next two pictures were taken with my real camera in the daylight vs my cell phone under florescent lights so the color is a bit different and more true to her real color.  

And here she is all ready to be delivered.

Charm School Girl feels amazing and she looks stunning.  Amy Howard at Home Paint is just what she needed.  If you would like to meet Charm School Girl in person head on over to Ace Hardware located within County Market and tell her Connie sent you and tell her that I miss her.  

It's like sending a child off to college when you work so hard on a piece and then....... she's gone and you can no longer control who will love her. 

Later....