I've got me some thanking to do . . .

. . . now don't hate me but I've been incredibly lucky lately.  I'm even a little embarrassed about how lucky I have been.  But not so embarrassed that I'm giving my gifts back - no way, no how!

The wedding gods were smiling down on me when I won Lilly's Lace recent giveaway.  Cindy is the most incredible collector of all things wedding and she FILLED a box with the most gorgeous pieces of wedding fluff.  I'm slowly going through each little bit so I can get my daily dose of oohs and ahhs! You know I can use all of this fabulousness now and my head is spinning with ideas!

Thank you Cindy!

And I know you will probably REALLY hate me with another of my recent wins.  I am now the oh-so-proud owner of one of Lynn's Trash to Treasure Art pieces!  I am constantly in awe at the different mediums that Lynn is so proficient at and, even with her trials and tribulations, produces something beautiful almost every single day!  This special pendent will be displayed where I can oogle at it several times a day to remind me what a true artist accomplishes!

Front.

Inside.

Thank you Lynn!

I have borrowed these photos from both Cindy and Lynn's blogs.  I hope they forgive me.  My camera card is full of photos from the engagement session we had this week.  I think I captured a couple of good pictures and hope to share them with you soon.

If you don't hate me for being so lucky and decide my little blog is worth a second chance, come back and see some more wedding junk (if you aren't sick and tired of seeing wedding junk, that is!).

Now, remember you can't win if you don't play!

Can you stand it?

Can you stand ANOTHER chalk paint testimonial?  I've read them all!  I soak up all of the tips from seasoned chalk paint aficionados!  We all know that this paint is a little pricey and I wanted to know EVERYTHING about it before I plunked down that kind of cash.

Well, how lucky was I to WIN a can of chalk paint!  Kim from Truly Tattered and Debbie from 'Round the Coop (fantabulous blogs and I INSIST you visit them ASAP) co-sponsored a giveaway and I was the winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The day I received the paint I IMMEDIATELY grabbed my paint brush, my super ugly brass lamp, my paint can opener and I was off and running to the workshop to make some chalk paint magic.  Well, imagine my surprise to discover that chalk paint is worth every penny of that high price because my 'ready to be thrown in the garage sale box' lamp turned into 'why was I looking for a new lamp when the one I already have is beautiful' lamp!   

My button shade (remember when I posted about that?) now looks even better on a lamp that is worthy of the shade's uniqueness.

The paint color is Country Grey.  

From studying all the tips and instructions, this is how I painted the lamp.

  I just wiped the lamp down with a baby wipe (great tip BTW).  I barely dipped my paint brush into the paint because I didn't want to waste a single drop.  It covers very nicely but I've NEVER painted anything that didn't need a second coat so a second coat I did paint.  I found that the chalk paint dries VERY quickly (maybe because I was working in 95 degree heat!) so this project didn't take me long at all.  I then lightly sanded the lamp (oh, my gosh does this distress wonderfully and yes, it is a little messy).  Working in small sections, I used a brush (again dipping very little) to apply clear wax and immediately brushed on (dipping even LESS) some dark wax and wiped off (again with the baby wipes) the amount of dark wax until I was satisfied.  When I was finished with the whole lamp, I applied a light coat of clear wax and buffed to a shine.

And voila!  I think my lamp turned out as beautiful as the painted tin that Debbie also sent!

I have jumped on the chalk paint bandwagon and I'm NEVER getting off!

I was so in love with the results of my lamp, I drug my grandmother's vanity out to the workshop and continued chalk painting away! 

Yup, lovin it!

Here are a couple of other observations from an unskilled but going to get better painter --

The dark wax is VERY dark.  Use VERY sparingly!  The wax also dries VERY quickly so wipe off what you don't want immediately!

Don't try to clear wax the whole thing and then go back to apply the dark wax.  Works much better when working in sections.

One of those fancy schmancy round brushes would be ideal!  I found that my cheap, flat bristle brush was more or less ruined trying to get into the details of the wood and I didn't have that many details on either piece.  I'm sure there is a sure fire way to clean the wax brushes but needless to say, the brushes I used will only be used for wax from now on.

I can't stress enough how little of the paint needs to be on the brush to get good coverage.  After 2 coats on the lamp and 2 coats on the vanity, I probably didn't use more than 3/4" of the paint.

The wax is the trick to make any piece look and feel like a professional did it.  All of the furniture I have previously painted with latex paint will be getting a coat of clear wax in the future.  

If you have hesitated about chalk paint and couldn't quite believe how wonderful every one says it is, I encourage you to bite the bullet, buy some and try it for yourself.  It just so happens that you can get it from Debbie!  Just my opinion, but all of blogdom can't be all wrong, right?

Now, go out and paint something pretty!

ps - since this is kinda white, I'm linking to Faded Charm's White Wednesday

MOB . . .

. . . Mother of the Bride.

I'm not teeny-tiny but I'm not the biggest woman in the world either.  My proportions (and modesty) are such that there are parts of me that I'm not comfortable showing off to the world.  I'm the average age of a mother having a daughter more than old enough to be married.  I live in the midwest where October can be very cold and sometimes snowy.  I also live in a small town in the midwest where I have to travel a couple of hours to find almost everything!  I'm a major procrastinator and have a hard time believing that it takes 3-4 months to order anything from the main warehouse and get it to the local store.  Ever hear of UPS or FedX?  

Are there no dress designers that can create a dress for the real woman?  A special occasion dress that is practical, yet beautiful?  Something that is well-made and looks better on a person than just on the hanger?  A dress that doesn't cost more than the wedding itself?

I'm discouraged, disgusted and disappointed.

These are examples of what I encountered on my most recent MOB dress excursion  ~~  

Low-cut, taffeta, two-piece.  

Result if worn:  Things popping out that shouldn't pop out; after wearing all day for photos, a wrinkled mess before the actual wedding; every time an arm is raised a tummy is exposed.

Ruffed, bolero jacket, three-quarter length sleeves.  

Result if worn:  Yes, most of us want our stomachs and hips to be the focal point of a dress, don't we; where do those bolero jackets really end up each time you move?  Yup, stuck somewhere under your armpits; and the shorter sleeves - I just hate them.  Yuk, yuk, yuk!  But I guess they make room for a wrist corsage (which I am NOT wearing, thank you).

The one-shoulder, form fitting dress.  

For many reasons - no, no and no.

The strapless ball gown.  

My prom was many, many years ago and I don't wish to recreate it.  Unless I get to go with HIM again.   Hmmmm . . . visions of a first love (but a real loser).

The slit up the leg.  

Believe me, NO ONE wants to get a peek at the cellulite on my thighs!

The typical mother of the bride dress.  

All one piece with a long jacket.  Usually accompanied by a few rhinestones around the scoop neck and jacket edge.  It just screams 'it is not YOUR day, it is the bride's day so please blend into the walls'.

I would like to wear a long dress because once I left the business world, I swore I would never put on a pair of pantyhose again.  

But maybe I should go SHORT!  And tight!  And hoochy!  Really make a lasting impression on all of the inlaws!

*sigh*  Can't I just wear the same dress I wore for my son's wedding?

Now, your assignment for the week is to write letters to all of the dress designers and let them know what we woman want.  Beautiful, elegant, well-made, age and body appropriate attire!

MOB UNITE!

Second sneak peek . . .

. . . boutineers.  Finished!  Unless you think they need something else.  All opinions appreciated!  

I find that I am constantly second guessing myself.  Who are we really putting this wedding on for anyway?  Us or the guests?  Will they even notice the details?  Is there a survey taken after the event and will it be rated and published?

The bride and I like what we like and there will be no apologies for this non-traditional wedding.

Can you tell that I am having a 'down' day of wedding preparations?  I just emailed a friend that I have so many ideas in my head but am having a hard time getting anything done.  If things aren't finished, does that mean that the wedding will be postponed?  No.  

I think it stems from the 'dress shopping for me' excursion yesterday.  Disappointment abounds!  Oh yeah, I'll simply have to put my feelings down in words about that!  

But the bright side is that I am thinking of a fantabulous idea right now and must go try it before it leaves my fuzzy and forgetful head!  I just hope I have more glue for my ever faithful, hardly gets a chance to cool off glue gun!  

Now, go work on those flabby arms!  Someday you will have to go sleeveless!  (or am I the only one who doesn't like to jiggle while they wave?)

   

Sneaky peeky . . .

. . . into WEDDING CENTRAL!

First of all, let me give you a hint at how my daughter and I have gone about planning our (oops! HER!) wedding.  We start with an idea, so we go to wedding heaven (which is also called the internet) and search for the perfect way to implement our idea.  We find what we are looking for and make a decision.  Oh, but wait . . . one of us finds a better idea somewhere (which is also called blogs) so we change our original decision.  You would think we are finished, right?  No!  We both have begun perusing other people's ideas (which is called Pinterest) and we make the decision to completely dump  our own original idea and go in an entirely different direction!  Our wedding work sessions became 'look what else we can find' sessions and we were getting NOTHING accomplished!

So . . . the new rule is NO LAPTOPS, NO COMPUTERS, NO IPODS can be within our reach when creating wedding wonders!  We have a plan and we are finally sticking to it!  

Welcome to the first sneak peek of the elegant, but simple; vintage meets junky; white, ivory, cream, with a little black thrown in wedding of the century (at least in our little world).  All created by two wanna be party planners/crafters who don't really know what in the heck they are doing!

One of the inspiration pieces . . . 

I will always try to give credit where credit is due if I can.  This lovely bottle came from A Little Bit French.  I would have purchased more if they were available but unfortunately, Rhonda sells her bottles as fast as she makes them! So I made my own.  

Bits and pieces that I have collected for years have finally been put to good use!  I KNEW I was storing pretty little things for a reason!  I'm NOT just a hoarder . . . I'm NOT!

The first doily was really, really hard to cut up.  

And the jewelry was hard to give up.

And don't get me started on gluing a vintage Christmas ball on top!

But who else deserves a few of my treasures than my daughter?  Besides, these bottles will look so pretty on MY windowsill after the wedding!

There will be more to show you soon.  I think we both finally realized that there are LESS THAN 100 days until the big event so we are in a creating frenzy now.  I don't have a dress (really, do I HAVE to wear a dress?) (I think I should do a whole post on just trying to find a dress - really, who wears the stuff that is offered in stores?), invitations haven't been ordered, I'm still working on painting (with CHALK paint!) a dresser that will be the alter and we haven't chosen any flowers but HECK, the super wedding planners (that would be US) have it all under control!!!

I think I still have time to link up with Faded Charm's White Wednesday, so I guess I will!

Are you all enjoying your summer?  Is your's speeding along as fast as mine?

Now, a little piece of advice . . . if you have daughters, go search for your own wedding inspiration while you still have time!