Chalk Paint Strikes Again!

This weekend I finished our rocker with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint to match the Adirondack chairs I did last week.  Here she is before:

A little rough around the edges:

After the first coat of old white:

And after the second coat of paris grey and sanded lightly:

Much better!

Ready for  her close-up:)

She looks a little lost from this angle!

My next adventure is to paint some shelves and a stool for my classroom - did I mention how much I love this paint??

And just because I wanted to capture their beauty:

An updated view of the walkway now that plants are blooming:

This is what that same view looked like back in May:

Happy Monday!

Corn Hill Arts Festival ~ 2012

One of the perks of having Dan live where he chose to live is that the annual Corn Hill Arts Festival is literally in his front yard.  In past years, we always tried to meet there and browse all of the artist's beautiful handmade creations - and don't forget the kettle corn!  Well, now that Dan lives there, we can take a break on his deck, and then go out for a second round of browsing and shopping:)


These wooden creations were beautiful:

Just a view of the street and the vendors - I think Dan and Sarah were laughing at a hat they saw - something about it being a colander with propellers on the top?? You can see by the umbrellas that we had a little rain but that didn't stop the fun!

This was a booth from a local orchard ~ beautiful bouquets and vinegars, jams, and jellies:

Pretty:)

Look what Kristen found!  This bouquet had peonies in the center.

Ceramic ware was everywhere!  I circled around the festival twice just to admire all the creativity.

These are some of the historic buildings you see when you enter the Corn Hill District.

Oh yes ~ Dan and Citylogger went back to the house to get lunch ready and stopped for this on the way ~ a henna tattoo ~ I have no words!:)

These were some of the vendors right outside Dan's house, as I took this picture right from his deck ~ some of the nicest people.

While we are here, I may as well show you the latest update on the house - baseboard trim!  Andy does such good work!

New deck furniture:

This was my souvenir of the day - I couldn't stop looking at this, so she came home with us:

Such intricate details:

The Corn Hill Crew - minus Tom and I as we were taking pictures.

Uncle Mike and Dan at the grill:

Shh - Dan was buying Sarah something at this vendor - has something to do with turning antique spoons into jewelry....

We had such a great time - the pictures tell only some of the story.  Dan and Sarah made us Belgian waffles with fresh fruit for breakfast.  Then for lunch, we had grilled salmon and chicken, pasta salad, and fresh tossed salad...and then there was all the sampling at the different tents!!

What a great day and a great tradition that we can hopefully continue every July at Dan's!

On the way home, I was talking with my two moms, and we were commenting on all the pretty jewelry we saw - I think my mom said it best:

"I don't need any more of that stuff...just peace, love, and happiness....and days like today!"

Well said mom ~ well said!

Thank you Dan and Sarah for a beautiful day!

Scenes from the Fourth

Here's just a few pictures of our family party for July 4th.  It was a breezy, but hot 90 degrees.  I wish I had taken pictures of family, however once we got food and everything ready, I totally forgot! Was simply enjoying everyone's company and having a good time.

We hung lights below the deck to make it more festive.

Some pretty flowers with American flags, and a "mini station" to help keep things organized.

Festive straws and napkins:)

Remember those Adirondack chairs?  They seem to have found their new home:)

More flags in our pots of flowers.

And food!  Our traditional pesto tortellini salad:

Antipasto kabobs - highly recommend these.  You simply put olives, salami, mozarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, and basil on skewers.  Then drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.

The salad below was amazing - Watermelon Feta Salad - be sure to check out the link in the caption if you'd like to try it.

Recipe found here

And finally, Kristen will have to share more about this cake ~ simply amazing job!!

Hope you had a chance to relax and spend some time with those you love!  Have a great week - already looking forward to the weekend and the Corn Hill Arts Festival.

Happy Fourth of July~2012!

Source

Happy Fourth of July!

Chalk Paint Chairs - Sneak Peak

I have started refinishing the Adirondack chairs that we have with the Annie Sloan chalk paint I mentioned a few days ago.  It.is.a.dream. to work with - not kidding!  There's very little prep to do, and the paint goes on easily.  We did have to clean our chairs beforehand though - they were resting out by the pond and our feathered friends marked them as theirs - time to take them back! Such determination on Citylogger's face!  A man without power tools is like a cowboy without a horse:)

After we washed them, they looked like this:

This was after the first coat of chalk paint - Old White was the first color.

I let that dry and then applied the next coat of Paris Grey - it's a real soft grey with a hint of blue.

I then lightly sanded by hand - just enough for a little of the old white to show through:

This photo below shows a little more detail:

I have to say that the paint was very easy to work with, and it's really smooth to the touch when finished.  I didn't apply the wax that you would use if this were furniture that would go inside.  They recommend that you do not wax furniture that will be out in the elements.  I'll just let the paint cure for a couple of days, and that's it!  I'll show a final pic of where we are putting them when the weather clears - yes - in the middle of all of this we had a downpour! Much needed rain though.

Now, I have to include more pictures of these cuties - they were so close to our fence in the backyard:

Hope your Fourth of July is a good one!