What is Lemon Balm

For such a wonderful and popular herb, it's surprising more people don’t know about lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). I recently blogged about making lemon balm liquor and received a puzzling number of emails from people who wondered what lemon balm is and what makes it a keeper in the garden.

I forget sometimes that there are lots of folks around who do their herb shopping in the produce

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Can’t stop the classics!

I very much enjoy playing with fun colors, typography, stencils, and all the rest. But there is a look I keep coming back to—that of a warm wood top paired with a creamy glazed base. I love it for dining tables (like this and this), end tables, and I love it for cedar chests!

My sweet sister wanted a piece of furniture for the end of her bed. We discussed a bench, but finally settled on a cedar chest so she would have someplace to store her stacks of fabric (she’s an amazing seamstress). She found this chest through the on-line classified ads for only $30, and I picked it up for her:

It’s a good Lane-brand chest, and it even still has the key! The top is all cedar-lined, and the bottom has a drawer. She pretty much gave me carte-blanche to fix it as I liked, but I knew she liked the wood top/painted base combination.

So here’s what she got to take home!

The top is stained with Minwax Antique Walnut stain. I was at the very end of the can—and I found that it gets very thick at the bottom if you aren’t good about stirring it before each use (obviously I didn’t!). It actually gave a new and different effect to the top of the chest. In some places, the stain went on almost like paint, and could be sanded off to leave interesting lighter streaks. I kind of liked it!

I chose to change the hardware on this piece (I found the new pulls at Hobby Lobby), which involved filling all the old holes and drilling new ones. (I swear, sometimes that process takes as much time as the painting does!)

I like how the fluted shape of the knobs echoes the shape of the fan.

The base, by the way, is painted in Behr Ultra paint. I had them color-match Sherwin Williams “Creamy” paint.

I don’t have any “before” pictures of this next chest, but I thought I’d toss the “afters” in here for comparison’s sake!

As you can see, this chest is very similar (it also has a bottom drawer), and it received almost the identical treatment.

The knobs and pulls were interesting on this piece. They were a Southwestern style, had a very brassy finish, down to a faux green tarnish in the details. What is a Southwestern style knob, you ask?

Well, imagine a knob that has a stylized fish carved into it! It was not my favorite look, even after painting it all with Krylon’s oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. I replaced all the knobs with plain round knob from my stash. (I kept the pulls. They have some angular carvings on the ends, but I could live with them.)

I adore cedar chests!

Here are the two side by side:

Which one do you like better? Why?

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This project has been featured at West Furniture Revival.

Linking up here!

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Beadboard signs

It’s no secret that I love typography! Before I started painting on tables, I painted words of all kinds on recycled cupboard doors, old canvas, and scraps of baseboard (you can see these here, here, here, and here). After seeing Miss Mustard Seed’s MARKET sign, I was inspired to cut up a piece of beadboard I had left over from a project last summer.

I didn’t do any measuring…just cut off some pieces that looked good to me. I used my Silhouette to design the wording. Since vinyl is expensive, I cut the lettering out of cardstock and used spray adhesive to temporarily fix the letters to the beadboard.

Note: it helps to lay out the letters on your board before your spray them, and make little pencil marks to remind you where to place them after they are all sticky!

This is what it looks like with the cardstock letters on the beadboard, before I paint over them:

All of the beadboard was base-coated in white before I played with the letters.

The “Market” sign was my first and favorite! I used some leftover paint from a Behr Ultra sample pot to paint over the board. Yes, you get some more bleeding under the letters, but for a sign that will be glazed and distressed anyway, it really doesn’t matter! You also don’t get perfect coverage…but that’s part of the charm.

I used a small brush and black acrylic paint to “shadow” the letters. I love the depth it gives. Then I sand everything down well, and glaze it with brown stain mixed with a glazing medium, concentrating on the grooves.

I did a couple of French signs. “Boulangerie” is “bread shop,” and “Patisserie” is “pastry shop.” Surely two of the best places in the world to be!

The “Groceries” sign is the same color as the “Market” sign. Do you like the antique wooden shoe form sitting in front? I got it from I’m So Vintage’s etsy shop!

I love red. This one would have been great in my kitchen. I grew up on homemade bread, and my family goes through at least 6 loaves every week!

The “Eggs” sign was inspired by Full Circle Creations.

I didn’t distress or glaze the “Lemonande” sign. It was so clean and bright as it was…perfect for summer!

Which sign is your favorite? Or do you have another idea for a sign? Be thinking about it, because JULY 25 is my one-year BLOGIVERSARY! There will be a giveaway beginning that day, and one of the prizes will be a sign of the winner’s choice!

What would you want yours to say??

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Linking up to these great parties and Saved by Suzy.

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How to Make Lemon Balm Liquor (Liqueur)

This citrus liquor really benefits from the addition of lemon balm leaves. It gives the bouquet a light, sweet lemony fragrance -- one thing that is so appealing about this herb.

Lemon balm liquor is best served chilled from your freezer -- and use some caution because it packs a wallop. It's like lemonade for grownups.

Instructions for Making Lemon Balm Liquor

Glass jar with a tightly fitting

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Wouldn’t you rather have something pretty?

There is a Savers store just around the corner from our local Deseret Industries (both are like a Goodwill store). I don’t check it quite as often as DI, but I try to stop in fairly regularly to look for furniture. They don’t have good stuff as often as DI does, but what furniture they do get is usually a great price!

One day a few weeks ago, I walked in the front door to see this table staring back at me:

Oh, I swear the heavens opened and angels sang! Look at those gorgeous legs!

Sure the top was a little worn…but that just meant it had been well loved!

And there were two chairs to boot!

Their legs weren’t half-bad either!

The only problem was a sticker marring the top of the table:

SOLD. Hold until 11 a.m.

I was crestfallen. Sadly I walked away, hoping that the person who purchased these lovely pieces would truly appreciate them.

I continued my rounds, stopping in at DI, then on to Wal-Mart. But I couldn’t get the little table out of my head. When I finished my errands at 10:50 a.m., I decided to stop back by Savers—just in case.

I walked in the door, and the little table looked at me hopefully (or so I imagined). It was still there! I walked away a few feet to keep an eye on it.

A store employee walked by the table and glanced at that tag. He called out, “What’s the story with this table? It’s almost 11:00! If that lady doesn’t come back soon…”

I saw my opening, and leaped in… “I’ll BUY IT!” I said with ill-concealed glee.

Then the wait began. 10:57. 10:59. 11:01! RING ME UP!

The little table…and the chairs…came home with ME!

And we were very happy!

Lest I sound like a true ogre, an effort was made to locate the original purchaser. As far as the employees could tell, she had left the store.

I found a remnant of a beautiful green bird print that was perfect for recovering the seats, and it set the tone for the rest of the makeover…green it would be! I took the fabric in with me to Home Depot and purchased a sample of Behr Ultra in a shade close to the birds. However, when I got it home I decided it was going to be a little too in-your-face green, so I lightened it with some white paint.

On the left you can see the unglazed chair; on the right is with glaze. It mellowed the color just enough, and brought out the interesting details.

And here’s a newly recovered chair seat. I love this fabric!

I sanded down the table top and re-stained it in my favorite Minwax Antique Walnut.

There’s a 14-inch butterfly leaf tucked away inside.

One of the things I love about this table is how narrow it is: only 31 inches. It would be perfect in small quarters.

I still love these beautiful double legs!

If I could, do you know what I would use this table for? A craft room. What a great place to spread out your projects! (I coated the top with 3 layers of Varathane just in case!) A seamstress could extend the table and cut out an entire dress. A scrapbooker could assemble a whole vacation’s worth of memories!

After all…wouldn’t you rather have something pretty to work on? Who needs that old folding table, anyway??

…And when the work was over

…maybe it could just be a nice place to enjoy a glass of lemonade with a friend.

This project has been featured at Beyond the Picket Fence and the DIY Home Sweet Home Project.

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Linking up to these great parties and Saved by Suzy.

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Pictures, Pitcher (as in a small Creamer) and a Picture

Wow, what a mouthful huh?

Well last week Thursday we headed to hot humid Arkansas – why you ask did we head South in the midst of this Summer Heat Wave?
Well my husband and his cousins had their annual COUSIN’S REUNION…mainly it’s for the adult cousins but this time the daughter of the one hosting it was home from California and the other cousin’s daughter and family came along too because they rarely get to see each other so it was the perfect time to have them join in.

Martinsen cousins
In order of age…oldest to youngest - Doug, Jim (our host), Alan, RuthAnn, LeAnn, Phyllis
(missing: Kenlyn, Karen, Jeanne)
 
Me and LeeAnn helping in the kitchen

This sun room Jim built on recently (by himself) – he actually finished it on Monday and had the tile floor put in the day before the reunion weekend (on Thursday)…he was sweating (and not from the heat) in fear it wouldn’t get finished in time and it looks off into the woods.
 
He lives in Bella Vista, Arkansas which leads directly into Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart headquarters among other companies.
Jim’s community is just gorgeous.
Bella Vista offers lots of wooded common ground, 7 Golf courses, 7 man made lakes, 4 club houses, RV park, a marina, 3 swimming Pools, 2 Putt Putt golf courses, 3 playgrounds, Tennis courts, 2 workout facilities, miles of walking trails, a dog park, and a ball park...ALL FOR THE USE OF POA (Property Owner Association – which are all of $24 per month!) for those living in Bella Vista. We were very impressed. Jims house is at the end of a cul-de-sac and completely surrounded by woods – well the entire community is woods.

After lunch on Saturday we took a site seeing tour with Jim (3 vehicles in all) and our first stop was the Cooper Chapel (we couldn’t stay long because there was a wedding to be held there)
 

 
 

The entire group

After that Jim took us to the Crystal Bridge Trail
Now this was supposed to be a block and a half walk along the trail (Now for any of you have been in a Tropical Rain Forrest at the peak of heat, you will know how warm and humid it can get…that’s what it felt there).

Three of us were feeling the heat something awful and it was on the way into the walk. Well what was to be a block and a half turned out to be a MILE AND A HALF - ONE WAY…..in 100 degree heat – in the woods!!!!  And no one thought to bring water along because it was to be JUST A BLOCK AND A HALF….I don’t think Jim is ever going to be able to live this one down – his sister said she’s going to use it against for a long time to come. Jokingly that is….she’s a journalist for a newspaper and write a column like Erma Bombeck did.

But I will say the walk was beautiful – even though every part of me was wet and dripping from my hair as well. But on the way back there was a rest room and Doug brought out some paper towels and part way back there is a spring fed stream and he wet them for the three of us to wipe our faces and arms with and it actually helped…by this time my heart was pounding in my ears and I started to hear humming so I knew I reached my limit so I was thankful for that good cold stream.
At the beginning of the trail there are gardens to enjoy.

The wonderfully COLD spring fed stream!

And the goal was to see the Crystal Bridge Art Center – the photo here is from their website and not the real thing – not sure how they got this to look real because it’s still under construction.
 

This is what WE saw
 

Then we went to the Ernest Lawrence Plaza so the little ones could play in the dancing waters (along with their grandma LeeAnn)

They also dragged grammie LeeAnn in with them – don’t think they needed to pull very hard though…100 degree temps basically drew one in.

Then we stopped in the Original Walmart store
 

I know this post is picture heavy so I’ll just show a couple more.
Doug and I arrived on Friday early and that evening those that were there early went out to dinner at the Shrimpman’s Yacht Club – I tried to get a good Sunset picture but I guess I waited too long.
This was the view from our table.

 

On our drive home I saw this sweet Ice Cream stand somewhere in IL

And in Phillipsburg, MO we stopped at Historic Route 66 Antique Mall.
I have not seen an Antique mall filled with sooo many Primitives – not ever like this.
I will post on them later this week and also I want to post about Country Freckles – I still need to do that so I have lots to post about.
http://www.picturetrail.com/rt66antiquemall

I found this wonderful black and white print of George Washington there. It’s 22 x 26 so it’s a generous size and the frame is also very old.  My hope is to put it over the fireplace one day WHEN we get the wood replaced up there.
And I found this great creamer with attached lid!  Not sure why the color is different on the lower part of the creamer but that didn’t bother me.  It’s 6 inches tall and the maker is Brewster Pewter.

And to end this looong post, we received two pictures from Dan our son – over the 4th they were in IL to some friends house and he likes to shoot – in a good way.
Dan and Jamie were able to shoot a few and here they are shooting a Barret 50cal., and I guess there’s quite a kick to it from the look on Jamie’s face.

Our other son Darren/MaryAnn have hand guns and go to the shooting range and Dan and Jamie are hoping to buy some as well and join them on weekends.

So that’s it for me for this post. I know it’s long but I had a few photos to share.

Take care and blessings,
Karen

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