A Wet Surprise

Our Saturday was wonderful, warm mild temps and beautiful sunshine.  Perfect weather for getting firewood.  My hubby split while I stacked or tossed in the truck.  Teamwork made it go fast.   Our haul we just brought home and left in the back of the truck.  No rain is predicted, not even hinted at so no need to cover it…

But in the mountains you can never tell..we woke up to this:

A nice soaking rain…I had left my laundry hanging on the back deck on the drying rack and some washable burlap I want to make some hand painted table runners with:

I guess a rain rinse will be special…fortunately my metal tub painting project will not be hurt by this unexpected change in weather.  We use this as our wood bin next to the woodstove, it needed some purdifying.

I have a few shots taken a few mornings ago after a soaking rain.  The mist was rather lovely.  I am still going thru my D40's for Dummies book, I am dying to get to the Manual mode but I am forcing myself to learn everything up to that point in the book. 

The neighbors house under remodel..

Our house in the mist.

Deeper in the woods. What you are missing is the scent, there is nothing as refreshing as the scent of a rain washed forest.

My favorite shot of the morning, my studio framed by the trees.

I hope to see what color this sweet pea is before either the deer eat it or we get a hard freeze.  Lovely even with just water droplets. 

Good Sunday Morning to you, a wet one at that!

Painting a Bookcase

You first spotted my bookcase in this last post, Pottery Barn Knock off My Way,  I was using it as a work table at the moment in my overly crammed studio.



This was one of those pieces from an unfinished furniture store, I have had it forever and it is fairly beat up.  I am giving it a make over as I will need it for display in a local shop that has offered me some space for my art.  Taking decent photos of it was impossible since I could not get around it very well in the limited space.  Painting it was just as interesting, I get used to contorting myself. 



I base painted it in the creamy white, used some Elmer’s white glue for a crackle then painted the sky blue over it.  The inside of the shelves are the creamy white.
I had to step outside the studio for this shot, you cannot see the crackle finish but trust me it did turn out nice.

 

I had just started on the back today with some oops paint, in a nasty slimy yellow shade.  I will go over it with the cream in case the back will be used for some display as well.



It was a gorgeously warm and sunny day for October.  I am soaking up all the warmth I can before real winter hits. 

I will be sure to get photos of my stuff in the shop once I take it there. 

Pottery Barn Clock Knock off MY way!

I know this clock has been done a few times.  Original from Pottery Barn Catalog:



Then a Knock Off at Twenty Something



And another at Alchemy Junk



this next one is from Creative Juices Decor



I enjoyed how each put their individual spin on it.

So here goes with my version. First I cleated some 1 x 6 cedar fence boards together and painted them white.



I found a big ol’ flower pot to trace for my circle



I used my Silhouette and an old used file folder to create my numeral stencils.  I only did the basics as I planned to combine them to make all the numerals.  (ignore the ED on there, it was for another project)



I was running out of room in my studio, with the wet weather I had to move this bookcase inside to paint it and it takes up quite a bit of space. I had a several signs in different stages of completion all over the place so I had to use the side of the bookcase as my work area.



The circle I traced with the pot was not large enough so I used it as a placement marker for the bottoms of the numerals, then I traced another circle using a pencil and compass from the first circle.  Not precise but I wasn’t aiming for precise.



Here it is nearing completion but it needed some distressing.  The center circle was too much so I wet a cloth and started to scrub at it to wipe it down some.



I used the damp blackened edge to run along the edges of the boards and here and there to add a bit of aging and darkening smudges.



Better but it still wasn’t me.  So I took it to the garage and sanded the goodie out of it.   Still was not there….



Finally I had to do it…I had to put my signature touch on it…



Roses…now it really is my version of Pottery Barns clock.  I still make tweak it a bit before putting on the varathane.  I had thought of some wording above and below the roses, I am just not sure yet.  

I definitely had a good time with this one, I have another in the works with a heavy crackle background and I may do yellow roses on it. 

While working on this I got 3 other signs painted and I have 2 more now on order. 
The sun shone today and it was a sight for sore eyes.  It is easier for me to run between the garage (where I saw and sand my signs) and the studio when it is sunny and pleasant out. 

I did practice some shots with a new setting this morning in the mist.  I will share them soon. 

Enjoy!