September . . . .

  

…..what I remember MOST about September,
is that I turned 50. 

And the best present was the surprise I got when I saw my kids sitting on our deck when I came home from work on the Friday before my B-Day.  How my husband arranged it and kept it a secret was beyond me.  And to most this may not seem too awesome but our kids drove from Alberta to Manitoba, took days off work just to come celebrate with me.  THAT was very special to me. 

 

Here are some photos of the weekend.  

 

My son-in-laws Birthday was a day before mine so we went go-carting and spent a great day in The Forks in Winnipeg.  Here we are, left to right,  our son-in-law and our daughter, our sons' boyfriend next to our son, and then my hubby and I.  After this, we had lunch at the Forks and a boat ride.

 

Thanks to my hubby and my kids for an awesome September!

Either you LOVE IT or you DisLike IT

 

I purchased a solid wood door at a garage sale, probably beginning of summer, and it sat in the garage until I knew exactly what to do with it.  I finally got around to painting it.  See …..

 

Here’s the door actually hung in our entrance.  My hubby just finished hanging it and you wouldn’t think that such a big deal but the door was SO heavy and we didn’t want huge nails in the wall.  So, he made an angled wood hanger and the door just hooks over it.  Very smart.  And a lot less holes in the wall.

NOW, I’m excited about adding shelves on the top and bottom for baskets, a mirror in the middle and hooks for miscellaneous items such as dog leashes and scarves.  And yes, if you did notice, I will be attaching a door knob.

I think I like how it turned out.  I used my own recipe for Chalk paint and used light and dark wax to achieve the effects.  A lot of time can be used up sanding and distressing and waxing until you get the look you love.

Chalk Paint Photo Frames

There’s been a lot of blogging going on regarding ‘Chalk’ paint, not to be confused with Chalk Board paint.  You can google Annie Sloan and read up on how she started this new paint line.  There’s also been a lot of blogging regarding home-made chalk paint.  That’s what I’m all about.  I did follow the instructions and produced my own chalk paint.  There’s a lot of tricks and tips to working with this paint and the options are numerous.  All you need is paint and wax.  Any paint mixed properly and dark or light wax and you’re set to produce any look for your wood products.

 

So, I’m sharing today my first project with Chalk Paint. 
This project started 2 years ago with my husband
hanging a wooden dowel on the wall.
I had an idea to hang pictures from this dowel and thought it'd be done in no time, well.....
that wasn't the case.  Anyways, it's done today! 

I used a home-made chalk paint recipe and it worked great! 
I have also bought the real Chalk Paint and have an antique writing desk (here) just waiting to be brought to life.  I’ll have to see if paying the high price of the real paint is worth it or not.  

Enjoy – I’ve kept it short with the comments below each picture.

 

I bought the small unfinished frames from IKEA and originally stained
them to match the trim in our home, which was a deep cherry bown.
At that time I hadn't discovered this new technique.

Here I've painted over the stained frames using 3 parts paint to 1 part 'plaster of paris'.
That's the beauty of this paint. You can also use Baking Soda.  Make sure you mix until completely smooth.

The large frame is not the one hanging on the wall, as the one you see here did not
finish the way I liked so I used a different one but forgot to take photos.

When completely dry I sanded till the paint was silky smooth.  
Then I sanded a bit more to achieve the 'antique' look which revealed the stain
that I originally had on these frames. 
Then I applied a dark wax and let it dry.

Then I rubbed and rubbed the wax until I achieved a beautiful shine. 

I realized I may have recieved the same look with a little less wax.

Michael's had just the accessories I was looking for.

I had to recruit my husbands help for this. 

It looks simple enough but I was done with this project and
ready to hang these frames.  That's when he stepped in and helped me.

I didn't even have pictures printed for them yet.

Hope you enjoyed. 

Wait for the next Chalk painted Writing Desk.