100 Followers Giveaway!

Congratulations, TZel, you are the winner!

In keeping with blog-land custom, Red Hen Home is proud to announce the

100 followers giveaway!!

CSN Stores has been kind enough to offer a $35 gift card (in the form of a promotional code) to one of my lucky followers. CSN Stores features over 200 websites with one checkout! You can find anything your heart desires, from a briefcase to a toaster to a holiday garland!

The lucky winner can use the $35 gift code to any of CSN Stores wonderful sites.

There are two ways to enter; you may choose one or the other, or both!

1. Be a follower of Red Hen Home, and leave a comment telling me that you are.
2. Leave a comment telling me what gift you would most like to GIVE this year...the one you would give if money (or time) were no object!

Giveaway will end Friday, December 3, sometime before I go to bed (probably around 10 p.m. MST).

Good luck, and happy Christmas shopping!

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Craft Show Goodies – Fun with Kids

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I  hope you all did too.
Two of the boys/family went to the in-laws so we had a small gathering but still wonderful…as usual there was enough food for an army but oh it tasted so good. We had leftovers last night but that’s the last I want to see of it. Love it but enough is enough.
Now I’m ready for something else.

We had two of our grandchildren here Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday and had lots of fun planned.

Emily made place cards for our Christmas dinner while Joe played with his Lego’s (his favorite things to do in his spare time)
I had printed out an old time Santa head on aged paper and Emily glued them onto aged tags and then wrote names on – we’ll tie them onto the napkins…all her idea!

 

They also made ‘snow’ – we bought the pack at a prim shop and thought they would enjoy it and they did…we also bought some Winter figurines to use with it. I think you can buy that snow most anyplace, especially at places like Walgreens, CVS and the like…it’s called ‘REAL SNOW’

This is Emily’s – two boys throwing snowballs
 

And Joe’s is the snowman and deer

We also made Marshmallows! What fun that was…messy but fun!
 

Emily had a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt that had shrunk up quite badly so she asked if I could make a pillow out of it so we did that too. I think it turned out adorable and she was a happy camper to be able to still have it in some form.

From sweatshirt…
 

To pillow
 

Now onto my weekend…well, it just started but it started out great.

A friend and fellow blogger ANN from A Hole In The Basket Primitives, from Ohio, is in Wisconsin visiting family for the holiday and she and her husband Kevin came here for the morning.

 
We first exchanged gifts (her husband had made an extra blanket crane and I wanted one and she chose some of my items plus I threw in a little surprise too) then went out for breakfast and then on to a craft show…it wasn’t very good…lots of fleece, painted items and jewelry – hard to find anything fun or Prim…but I did get a PEWTER CREAMER & SUGAR SET…loved the patina on it and it was only $12.00 for the set.
 
but…this was on the other side…now I just think it was horrible to destroy an antique like this! I’ll display it turned around – I wouldn’t use it as a creamer and sugar anyway because of the lead content.  But isn’t the design pretty?
 

We left the craft show and went to the one and only Prim shop near me – Finders Keepers – and I bought a MERCURY GLASS SANTA that stands about 9 inches.

Here it is next to the pewter for size
  Also bought one of these trees (not sure what kind it’s called though – do you know???)  I have a 3 ft. but wanted a taller one too so this is a 4 ft.

On Thanksgiving we gave Jamie a gift for always taking care of the kitties when we go away…my niece makes rag quilts and Jamie loves ours so it was the perfect gift.
 

My goodness – we NEVER go shopping on Black Friday. Never had the desire but Friday we went to Janesville to meet my brother/wife and niece and I wanted Tina to help me pick out fabric for quilts for our two granddaughters…well let me tell you it was a zoo. CROWDED to say the least…LINES OF PEOPLE waiting to pay and even bigger lines of people waiting to have fabric cut.

We finally got to get a number to wait in line…I had F08…they were on E24 and it went to 100 and then started on the next letter.
We had a loooong wait ahead and they weren’t calling off numbers very fast. People had carts heaping (I mean HEAPING) with fleece fabric – they had a HUGE SALE and people were taking advantage of it.

It would have been at least an hour and a half before we would have gotten taken care of – people said they had been in line for over an hour (they had numbers in the E) so we put my fabric back, bought what we had of other things and away we went to lunch to Applebee’s (good choice!).
So my Niece will go back this week and get what I had picked out.

So that’s my long weekend – now I’m ready to finish orders and get the fall decorations put away and start on my Christmas decorating which will be on-going for a week or so…it’s not getting done in one day cuz I just don’t have it in me anymore.

Now getting ready to watch the Wisconsin game…wish us well so we can go to the Rose Bowl !!!

Have a great weekend
Karen

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A THANKS to you.....and the GIVING for a heart

 This stunning piece is part of the GIVING......but first, my thanks to all of you.

When each of us that blogs wrote our first post, we had no idea where this would lead.
If you were like me I thought "how on earth do i compete with so so many well established blogs out there?"

 Would there ever be room at the "table" for me?
The answer;  yes a resounding yes, I was not entering a competition (that's the old sports player in me) but a warm and welcoming family. Blogging and it's interactions, are now a large component in my life and I am thankful for each of you.

Not one to start out too slowly, I went to the top........Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar. I nervously reached out with an invitation to host a party in their honor when they were coming to the Kane County Flea market in Illinois. Imagine the screaming when I opened Jaithan's response....."Yes, we would love to..........."
Two years on these dear men are wonderful friends with a special place in my heart. We have shared much. Deep in my soul I know  they are the lifelong brothers I always wanted and I treasure them immensely. Could this have happened without blogging?

 This world I joined has been life changing. What a privilege meeting many of you; the talented people whose words and ideas have inspired me.   

Deep bonds have formed with many others that I hope to meet someday

 I am a better person, designer; landscape and interiors, possess a keener eye for those bits begging to be re-purposed, even becoming a newly re-ignited crafter (thought that was long over) and striving for honing any skill i possess as a writer and hopefully.........an emerging photographer. Certainly my new SLR camera will solve all my issues............once I learn to use it!

                                 donated to Marija's family by Patricia of PVE blog

And then there was Marija of Holding Court, my new BFF. The joy of meeting this brilliant and funny individual behind the blog which resulted in instant magic, we were "forever soul sisters"

Anyone who reads my blog knows about the car accident which took Marija's life and left me scarred emotionally 

 My local friends, family and precious clients reached out. The blogging community had lost one of our own and rallied to Marija's husband, family and to me. 

note; a memorial blog called Holding Forth has been created for Marija's children. We would love to hear your story of interaction with Marija.

But since I rarely responded to those gestures of kindness at the time,(too buried deep within) I remain truly

 

And now for the giving............
As most of you are aware another "one of ours" remains in need. Valorie and Alberto of Visual Vamp

In brief Valorie and Alberto flew to Toronto for a Tango event. Upon exiting the plane, Alberto suffered a life threatening heart attack. The Canadian Health Care system is not particularly "foreigner friendly". Conferring with their Doctor in New Orleans he concurred that their method of treatment would be detrimental and Albreto needed to get home immediately for surgery.

Not so easy..............

• Alberto was not allowed to take a commercial flight, he needed a Medi-Vac
• The Medi-Vac must be paid in full, up front
• The hospital had to be paid in full in order to secure a release

 We are talking huge sums and Valorie reached out for her beloved Alberto. Friends, family and her blogger community reacted. Funds were borrowed and donated. The borrowers lent their credit card and the payments are due. Having met and bonded with this darling couple, I would be honored to help. So I will stop rambling and get to it!


                                Art for a Heart

Another on-line auction. With the opportunity to both give and to receive. Seeking those of you that have something artful to donate. With the help of Laura Ingalls Gunn of Decor to Adore, she is guiding me on how to host this endeavor.

 Laura's generous auction can be seen here with all of her participants.

The lovely sister duo of Providence Design opened their new on-line shop with a big gala. Did you see? We were all invited! And.........10% of the sales are being donated to Val and Alberto

 A long winded back to this gorgeous piece of jewelry. Our first donation by a reader of the Visual Vamp's, wrote me about being honored to donate her art; this stunning piece was made by the generous Carla Fox.
I have a feeling Carla will be in demand, don't you love this?!!

 Second up, a painting by the generous Karena of Art by Karena........can't wait to see what she chooses!

Third: I will be donating a beloved antiquity, a French playing card from the late 1700's lovingly framed and matted, can't wait to show you!

 Who can participate? Everyone, you can be an artist and showcase your work, I will credit you and provide a link for your new fans. And any art form; painting, sculpting, jewelry, knitting, glass, mosaic..........  from your heart. 

 Want to help but are not an artist? Consider donating an item of art, however humble, in your possession or an object in honor  of your favorite artist,something that speaks to your heart. Just send me an email
Together we are strong. And......I detect a pattern here, do you? Bloggers and readers of blogs all belong to this amazing community and we will know where to turn should the need arise.

 Thankfully, to all those that visit, comment and extend your hand in friendship, loving you all

Debra

PS;  By accident I deleted all my fav blogger reader list. If your blog is missing, still re-building 

.

 

                                        

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The laaaasstttt set of chairs (this year!)

....otherwise entitled, "Chairs for the laaaassstttt table!"

Sorry to keep you waiting (if you were) for more about the table I posted last time. I was supposed to get to this post yesterday, but our family had an unscheduled stop in Rexburg, Idaho, last night! We were on our way to Montana for Thanksgiving, but we got caught in a nasty blizzard, and there was no going any farther!

So, without further ado...what is a table without chairs? I had an idea in my mind that I wanted eight different chairs around my table, and one day, I found SIX different pressed-back chairs for sale on KSL.com.

I am missing some pictures, unfortunately, but here are the two arm chairs that were with this collection:


Aren't they gorgeous? I hit up my friend at Di~Vine Consignment for two more pressed-back chairs, and she came through for me. Now I had my eight!

One of those, unfortunately, looked like this:


So I had to do this:


Which meant I had to order this:


So I had my first experience of re-caning a chair! (It wasn't bad!)

The chairs got wiped down with liquid sander, and although it helped, I can't say that I was overly impressed with it. I still resorted to spraying on some Zinsser 1-2-3 primer before the Sherwin Williams Creamy paint. I will frankly admit that it was almost a shame to cover up the beautiful wood on these chairs...but I was going for a look here!

I will also say that I sprayed a LOT of spindles! Well over ONE HUNDRED when all was said and done!

Here are the chairs after painting:


And here's a look after they've been distressed and glazed, and were just waiting a polyacrylic protective coat.


This set was *such* a lot of work, that I honestly wasn't sure I was going to be able to stand it in the end! Once the chairs were done, and the table was mostly done, however, I put the table together and placed six chairs around it in my garage and stood back and looked...and wow! It was actually pretty!

How nice.

Next step: put a leaf in and see how it looks with eight chairs!!

(((((crickets chirping)))))

"Houston??? We have a problem!"

Has anyone guessed what the problem might be? I certainly didn't. In case you're as clueless as I was, I'll spell it out for you.

Remember how this table has a beautiful, elaborate base that is separate from the table top? Meaning that when you expand the table, the top spreads apart, but the LEGS STAY IN THE SAME PLACE? Which means that when you put a leaf in THERE IS NO MORE ROOM FOR ANOTHER CHAIR BETWEEN THOSE LEGS??

Yah. Neither did I.

This was a deal-breaker for me, folks. If you normally only needed six chairs around your table, and only brought out the extras for occasional guests, it would be fine. But it you have to have eight chairs around your table every day, and you can't push those chairs IN!! Well, it's not gonna happen in my kitchen.

So, the table that was supposed to be for me...wasn't meant to be.

But here's what it looked like!


With one leaf:

With two:

With lots of pretty chairs:


Here's a full shot of the chair I re-caned:






And those beautiful legs:


One last beauty shot:

They may not have been meant for me, but they have found new homes...because, believe it or not, someone wanted the table but not the chairs, while another wanted the chairs but not the table!

And as for me...well I got some cash! (Which will hopefully finance a project I have in mind for my boring family room.)

We (me and my buyers!) have much to be thankful for.

Hoping each of you also have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! May your day be filled with wonderful company and excellent food, and the chance to reflect on your many blessings!

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