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The Gypsy Wagon

I made a beadboard sign for a dear friend of mine, and she posted about it on her blog! Isn’t this the most amazing chicken coop you’ve ever seen?? And it’s CUTE! Who knew chicken coops could be cute??

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Thanks, Rachel!

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Flea Market Finds…Friends…Fun

Sunday we headed to our favorite Flea Market and are always on the lookout for Pewter…I normally can find one piece at least.

Well this time there was a table full – 18 pieces actually but I only bought 4…now that might have been a mistake because all 18 pieces WERE ONLY $10.00 total.

I took 4 – I just didn’t need the rest (well, I didn’t need these either, but it was a have to have kind of thing) and thought I’d only have to find someone to buy them…so I left them. Sorry afterwards!!!   But the girls said they have more packed away and that their mother collected it and they’d find it and send me pictures…I’m waiting anxiously.

So here’s my little 4 piece stash – A domed Butter Dish, Creamer, 2 Wine Goblets all for a dollar each.
And the gorgeous  Crock for only $8.00
Pewter and crock

I love the dark coloring on the crock and will put some Fall things in it and that will make the colors pop even more.  Later in the season I’ll change it out and use it for kitchen utensils.
Stoneware crock

And the butter dish up close
Butter Dish 

And the goblets on the Pewter table
Pewter Wine Goblets

And some nice Pineapple napkins for .25 cents!

 Pineapple Napkins

I don’t think I mentioned that the week before we went to another flea market and I found this antique crock bowl with wire bail handle – never seen one in this good of a condition and I paid just $5.00 for it

Bowl 1 

Using it for our fresh Tomatoes right nowTomatoes in blue blow 

pcdividergcg
  So last week Thursday we met our friends from Arizona for breakfast – we meet them every year while they’re back in Wisconsin visiting their children and on their way home – this year it was at the Cracker Barrel.
Emily and Joe are with us on Thursdays in the Summer so this is the 2nd year they went with us.

Joe had quite a plate full of Apple French Toast and Bacon – Emily had Oatmeal and a muffin and Apples.
Em and Joe before
Guess he was pretty hungry because there was only one slice left plus a few apples!
Joe finished

Then it was photo shoot time…Mare never gets together that she doesn’t take pictures. She wanted pictures of the kids with us to see the growth – and there was a huge spurt from last year to this.
Here’s last August
Us and kids
And this August
Us with em and joe 2

And Mare and Me.
Karen and Mare

4 of us
The 4 of us

Group
All of us 2 

Didn’t realize I had this many pictures for this post – but sometimes words just get lost…so I guess that’s okay.

Mare had a special order for me on my Pansy/Watering Can design…she wanted Burgundy thrown in and also in an oblong so this is what I ended up doing.

Mares Pansy Runner 
I really like how the Burgundy made the other colors pop – it’s on the small Penny as well.
Mares Pansy Runner closeup

pcdividergcg

Almost forgot – I am doing the LITITZ CRAFT SHOW next August…I’m very excited but skeptical at the same time…this is a big show and I got rid of all my ‘show’ things – no displays left – NOTHING…so now I have to plan.  And buy a pop up canopy. I saw one at Sam’s Club…PERFECT with screen sides and an front awning – great for winds or rain but I think they are for a limited time – all the other ones I have seen are just the awning tent and you buy the extras separate. Not sure what to do there. If only I could rent one!
So that has my brain reeling – figuring out what to make and how much of it to make.pcdividergcg

I’m in the process of making dried Green Bean/dried Cranberry garlands – because you know I don’t have enough to do!!!!  I bought 2 lbs at the flea market last week and now it doesn’t look like enough to make several….and the farm stands around here well, they aren’t cheap. These were so I was spoiled!
I’m also going to experiment with maybe dried Green Bean/Sweet Potato garlands too. See which I like the best.  If they turn out I may sell them at the show.

pcdividergcg

Fall is in the air – I’m so happy!  I’m a cool weather person and Tuesday (right after Labor Day) we are heading up north to camp with some friends. They maintain the camp ground all summer and then stay one for a couple weeks past Labor Day so we should have a good time with pretty much the camp ground to ourselves.  They have a large motor home but they don’t hook up to electricity so the mornings and evenings will be a tad cool but hopefully we’ll take enough warm clothing and by 10 or 11 the sun has warmed up the air considerably.

pcdividergcg

Be happy and safe whatever it is you are doing this week…for me it’s sewing!  Thanks to all my wonderful followers and website followers I have had a huge sale on my Fall Mr. Jack and the Triple Pumpkin Penny Rugs…looking at all of them sitting here it looks like my pumpkin patch is becoming overgrown! 

ENJOY,
Karen

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Restitution

Have you ever screwed up? I mean, really screwed up…on something that didn’t belong to you?

It’s one thing when a project of your own goes south. That’s bound to happen once in a while, and it’s no fun…but what about when it happens on a project that belongs to someone else?

Well, those are the days when you just wish you never got out of bed!

You can see where this is going, right?

All I was supposed to do was a simple refinish job on a table top while my friend was between houses. There weren’t even any legs to worry about. She just wanted to resuscitate her hand-me-down table and give it a few more years until they could afford a new one. Easy enough….so easy, in fact, that I called in one of my handy-dandy short helpers in to do some sanding for me!

Remember this guy with the mischievous smile?

kidpicsAugust 108-1

Turns out he could have used a little more supervision on the sanding process, ‘cause this is what we ended up with:

Aimee 011

Let’s look a little more closely, shall we??

Aimee 012

Yep. All those arrows point to spots where he sanded right through the veneer into the plywood base. Ack!

We all know it wasn’t a great piece of furniture...

…but it wasn’t MY furniture to wreck!

It wasn’t fun for my boy or me to confess our mutual misdeed to my friend, although you couldn’t have asked for a more understanding listener. Since these weren’t the types of flaws one can hide on a stained table-top, I could only feel better about offering to replace the table. Strictly to ease my conscience (and trust me, it was a battle), my friend agreed to accept this table that I had waiting in my garage “in trade.”

selling 002

It’s solid oak, and I liked the legs! Plus, it has a leaf.

selling 003

(You can see I already had sanded the table top in this picture.)

After looking at some pictures of other tables I have refinished, my friend chose a lightly-distressed black base and a dark stained top (like this one).

black farmhouse table

Her new house has dark, reddish-brown wood floors, so I tried to give the wood top that tone, by using alternating layers of English Chestnut and Antique Walnut stain—two each.

doily table runner

I finished the table with four coats of Varathane, to keep up with her young family.

farmhouse table

So that’s the story behind the table “Resitution.”

black farmhouse table

It went to its new home last night!

And now my conscience can rest! Winking smile

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Linking up here!
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Neo-Classical Interiors

Rick Perry Architect
Something has overtaken me, and quite suddenly. Having always enjoyed elements of Neo-Classical interiors, I am now embracing the entire look. What do you think of this room? The muted tones, lines of the chairs, pillars for the lamps?

 Ready to depart for England next week, I am headed for the first time to this Museum.

                          The renown Sir John Soane, R.A., Architect, Professor. 1753 - 1837

Three homes were demolished to build this single home for his family and as a living studio for his students. Before and after a lecture the students would come and sit among the artifacts of their lessons.



NEO-CLASSICISM:  Is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative arts, literature, theatre, music and architecture that draws upon Western classics, usually that of ancient Greece or Rome.
Dominant in northern Europe during the mid-18th to the end of the 19th century.





Sir Sloane designed his home to ultimately become a museum upon his death and those wishes were immediately dispatched.
The majority of the artifacts within, remain in the same spot he chose originally.

A neo-classical home via House & Garden magazine. This image sends my heart through the stratosphere!



 Your thoughts? Can you live with this aesthetic?
I know I can but will start with devoting a wall in my city shop, SG Grand........photo's will be shared, stay tuned!

In the interim I am off to England with a group I will guide via 'Travel by Design' a new business I will share shortly.
After the group departs I am off to Paris to see the show 'Maison et Objet', a trade show for design professionals. If you are attending, let's meet!

Cheers
Debra


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Happy Birthday to ME! (and a giveaway for YOU!)

That’s right! On this day, 38 years ago, a 10-pound baby girl was born, and she turned out to be…ME!

This morning my six children awakened me by singing “Happy Birthday,” delivering this to my bed:

korriebday 001

(Sorry…I kind of started eating before I thought to take a picture!)

The flowers are from our neighbor’s yard (she said we could)…the bubble bread was made by my oldest daughter…she’s also the one who figured out how to fold the napkin from a YouTube video…my second son made the eggs with cheese and ham…and they all sang!

The only fly in my ointment is that I still don’t feel well. I’m sick of being sick. I don’t get sick very often…but on my birthday? That’s kind of lousy!

But you know what will make me feel better? I want to share the love a little bit. So I’m giving away another custom beadboard sign to one lucky reader.

The last winner chose this sign:

beadboardgiveaway

Or you can choose something like one of these:

beadboardsigns

Or you can choose something out of your imagination! You can choose the saying, the colors, distressed or not, vertical or horizontal…I’m flexible!

To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment telling me one of your favorite birthday memories.

Winner will be selected at random on Saturday, September 3.

Please leave an e-mail address if you don’t have one attached to your profile. Better yet…please attach an e-mail address to your profile!

I will not be responding to every comment...but I will read them all!

Thanks for sharing your memories with me!

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