And the winner's are!!!

I couldn't believe the response to my giveaway!  Before the extra entries, it ended up at 303!....303!Wow!  After all the entries were tallied it went up to 340! It was so nice to meet so many new bloggers and have so many familiar faces stop by and enter... okay I'll stop yammering on now and get to the good stuff!

The Tee is one that I've hand printed. Many entrants said they wanted to win to wear to yoga. I think this would be a great idea, because they are super soft, stretchy and have  a longer length!

The winner is... Gypsy Aka Tam Congrats!

The dress maker note cards are reproduced from a vintage print on heavy card stock. The set of 6 cards and envelopes goes to....Bella Casa!  Congrats! I hope you enjoy them! 

And the magic wand! I laughed because I had so many people asking me if they worked and a few asked for a guarantee!...The dishes one works after you load the dishwasher, add soap and turn it on, or in a sink add water,soap, scrub, rinse and dry.. then you wave the wand ;)

For the Laundry...I think you see where I am going with this... ;) Well,even if they don't really work, We can dream they work, can't we? :)

The magic wand goes to....Suzanne!

And since I had so many people enter, I decided to give away  2 more things!  

A hand papered journal each for...

Angie from Quillysilly and

The Blessed Nest!

Congrats to everyone! And thank you so much to everyone who posted the link, became a follower or subscribed...  And especially to those who came out of lurkdom to leave a comment! I am so happy to meet you! It will take me a few weeks but I will get around to all of your blogs and say hi.

I'll be having more projects coming up, tutorials and furniture makeovers. I think I am going to have to do a few more drawings too in the next few months. I love giving stuff away! And all of the things I gave away are available in my Etsy store.  I'll also be listing some new things soon! Thank you so much again!

Have a great weekend!

:) Jen

A prettied up bathroom

One of my good friends, Loria, is  a seamstress and has her own custom window treatment business. She does all kinds of amazing fabric things for the home.She decided to redo her girl's bathroom and asked for my  help  with the paint. We decided to match the fabric on the shower curtain she made and she wanted it kind of striped like the shower curtain, but not busy striped up and down the walls. I think in such a small pace, it would have looked  a little circusy.. By the way, do you think, both of us who have portfolios would have remembered to take before pictures of the yellow and blue duck laden space?? No, of course not! So here's the after!

We did a chunk of pink at the top half of the room, a white stripe in the middle with the intention of maybe putting polka dots in there and a luscious chocolate brown bottom.

Then we used a metallic paint and stencil to match the other fabric on the curtain and stenciled it all over the bottom half ( the color is off due to the flash, but I wanted to show you the pattern.). She had the towels monogrammed with the girl's initials.

Didn't she do an amazing job with the curtain?

On the top part of the valance there are 3 fabrics on it with a bit of polka dot peeking out from underneath.

She also did these towels by sewing  the curtain fringe on regular brown towels.

And  we found matching trim that matched the curtain and paint and glued it on the wall for the chair rail. 

Thank you to all so far who has entered my bloggy giveaway! There is still time if you haven't! You have until the 30th!

 Jen

Bloggy Giveaway carnival time!

I am participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival January 26th-30th ... and what am I giving away???

To one lucky winner, this t-shirt in

 choice of size...

To another winner a set of dressmaker notecards 

and to a 3rd winner a "magic wand" with choice of dishes or laundry

Just leave a comment on THIS POST and I'll announce the winners the morning after the carnival ends! If you subscribe as a "follower"  or post my giveaway on your blog, let me know in your comment and you'll be entered twice! This is open to blogger's, commenter's, lurker's and reader's alike.

 All of these items are also available in my Etsy shop.

Make sure you stop by Bloggy Giveaway's main page to sign up for all of the other great prizes!

I wish you the best of luck!

Also, stop by Bella Casa Beautiful Home. She is having a Etsy party. There are some great giveaways there and you can see just what some of the Etsy world has to offer!

Jen

Furniture Makeover awards!

It's that time again to award this wonderfully prestigious award to all of those fab furniture makeovers I've found while blog reading and lurking! 

First I want to give one to  Pretty Ditty for her hutch make over!  

Then to Amber for her buffet redo!

Cheryl from Artsy-Fartsy   ... I didn't know a toddler bed could look like that...

Beyond the picket fence had an amazing use for chalkboard paint.

and Shell in your pocket for her lampshade makeover! 

And see how Making it lovely updated a dated dresser with a fabulous shade of  pink!

Congrats to all of you talented, talented ladies!  Please pass this on to one other person you feel has done a fabulous make over! Oh and be sure to check back, I am going to be participating in the Bloggy giveaway carnival!

Jen

Let's paint the town red.. okay maybe just a table...

I found this table earlier in the Fall a the Kane County Flea Market. It as one of those things that sat until I was inspired... It' s probably mid- 1940's 50's? It know it's soild wood, it was heavy! 

Can you tell I paint in my house in the winter? I've found 15 below in an unheated garage is no fun and does not help me to feel very creative. 

Did you know I always, if possible, try to paint my furniture first upside down?

 It helps to get all of those little spots you tend to miss when it's right side up...

After a sanding a good coat of primer.

After it went right side up to get the top.... It went upside down again when I did the red.. it took almost 5 coats! Many times I use tinted primer, but I didn't have any. With dark colors, it really cuts down on paint coats. ...

And art work added... 

I thought needed some gold swirls and leaves. I went over the Gold with Burnt Umber for dimension 

and then aged it. A few coats of sealer and it was ready to go to a new home.

Have a great week end! I need to get some red paint off of my floor!

Thank goodness for laminate!

:)

Wood I ? With embellishments, yes I wood..

How much wood can a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?A wood chuck would chuck all the wood if a wood chuck only could... 

One of the best gifts my Gram ever gave me was a box of these vintage wood embellishments that  she had had moldering in the basement of  her 1900's era two flat in Chicago. When we moved her out she said I could throw them out or have them. I didn't need them and this was before I did anything with furniture so I have to admit, I almost threw them out! Thank goodness instead I stuck them in a corner of my laundry room and forgot about them.. ! When I finally came across them again it was like finding a buried treasure... I'd love to say they are  fantastic memory of my Gram, but since she's still kicking and crocheting  at 98, I am lucky enough to still have her around.

I have been working on how to duplicate them with mold maker because I don't want to use them...but I do love using store bought ones. I think they can really make a pice feel even more upscale for next to nothing.

You can find some at Micheal's, Home Depot, Menard's and a great on-line site called Van Dykes Restorer's. 

They have some nice big ones and fantastic corbels' as well. 

I think they just add a little something extra. 

While it's best to apply them to bare wood for adhesion, it's as easy as roughing up the(glossy) surface you are going to apply them to with the roughest sandpaper you can find...

Apply wood glue ( love Gorilla Glue) on the applique and  a bit where you are going to glue it to and let it sit a few minutes to stiffen.The moisture will evaporate and the glue will be  a little tackier this way. I also use  a teeny bit of hot glue on the edges to act like a helping hand. 

Quickly press very firmly and when the hot glue sets, use high tack painter's tape to tape it on if you can't clamp it ( clamping is the best- be careful not to shift the piece.). Wipe off any excess.

Some people like to use finishing nails. I've never had any luck with this on furniture and I've either cracked embellishments or the nails are too long.

Once the piece has set, you are ready to prime and paint.  It will be like a whole new piece! 

:) Jen

A big thank you! and some TMI that, believe me, has nothing to do with decorating

Thank you so much to all of my old friends and some new friends too! I finally have my blog roll completely updated and I feel so accomplished! Thank you to every one who added me as well to yours! I am honored! I never knew so many people read me!  You guys are the best friends a girl could have!  

As a special thank you I want to share some of my vintage images with you. You can use these for  scrap booking, decoupage, 

or even just put them in a nice frame..Just right mouse click and save as a picture. if you make a craft with them, please share, I'd love to see them! 

On a much more funny note and with a bit of too much information, I had to have my yearly appointment for my "lady business" yesterday. It struck me at the oddest of times (and I mean oddest of times, let's just say I noticed my socks matched), how this appointment in particular is much more like a "date" than my other MD's. 

I mean, every other appointment I don't care if my socks match, I have boogers running out of my nose and my hair hasn't been washed in a week. For this one, I sweat about it for a week before hand, practically shower in Lye soap, groom like  I've never been groomed, WEAR make up, and worry about what my undergarments look like.. and in the end.. all of my clothes come off any way.. how much closer to  a date can you get? ;)  Though I guess it's kind of like when you brush and floss for the dentist....

Just thought I would throw that tidbit in there... :)  

Jen

Blog roll round up...

Have I ever told you guys how you are the best? I can't tell you how much I appreciate every single one of your visits and comments!

I was wondering you could do me a favor...? Could leave me a comment with your blog link on this post? I would like to make sure you're on my blog roll, it really needs updating... so if you don't see yourself there, please let me know for sure so I can add you! 

 I'm a big blog surfer/lurker myself and I find I am visiting a lot of people by clicking on the follower's section ( I have to be honest, I had no clue what that  was when it first came out.). So please join in and add yourself!  If you are trying to increase your blog traffic, it's a great way to have extra visits.. and if you want to follow secretly, there is a part you can click on to remain an anonymous follower, so you lurkers are still safe ;)

 Also, I love to respond to commenters, but if you don't have  a blog and there is no e-mail address attached, I have no way say hi back... I don't know about you, but if I leave a comment, I never go back and check on the comment section if there is a reply! 

Thanks so much again! Like I said, you guys are the best... in fact I am going to be having another giveaway very soon in appreciation!

:) Jen

Decorating with bits and pieces

Sometimes my favorite projects for clients are the little ones, you know, the little touches at the end that  just really pull a room together and make it just  a little more special and more personal. And as an artist, I think work is where you find it, especially in this economy.

Like this airplane nightstand

Or  red and yellow bee chair

(Sorry about the camera cord) This out-dated end table turned roadway and underground parking garage.

candlesticks

 Or even cowgirl table and chair set.  

Or one cute little chair for a corner. 

I really enjoy doing canvases and plaques.

And home portraits.

I just think it's those little things that can really make  a house a home.

Do you have any extra special little touches you use in your home to make it even more personal?

:) Jen