Friday

The Dining Room Gets Painted

Coming soon to a dining room near ME........  
"The Transformation Begins".


You probably don't know, (but I'm about to tell 'ya) that I started blogging a year ago with the intention of redoing my dining room.  Lots of pine was really in need of an update.

It took a year but the dining room is now sporting some new paint, two shades to be exact.

Sherwin Williams Perfect Greige and the darker Spalding Grey.


Around these parts I'm pretty well known for not being able to pick paint colors. I suppose when you end up repainting a room three colors in the course of two days, the reputation is deserved.


So what did I do this time to get it right on the first roll?  I gave Brawn a handful of several variations and let him pick.   Of course I had someone else narrow those variations down for me, {thanks Kimberly}, so really I didn't pick any of the color, and that's why we only had to paint once.

I wanted something warm that complimented all the stones in our house.  I would love to pull together more of a cottage look, but I don't see that happening.  Depending on the lighting, the Spalding Grey can be more of a grey tone or brown - same with the greige.

We (Brawn) also painted the trim white.  He sacrificed his back for mine.

He is also a master paint tray craftsman.......


No  paint tray?  No problem!  Just cut an antifreeze jug in half and dip in your roller.

The paint's really been hitting the walls around here.  While this was going down, daughter #2 was painting her room, and son #3 was painting the boys bathroom.

Everyone must have Winter fever, that's the kind that makes you delusional from being cooped up and you pretend it's Spring.

I just hope I'm not posting a year from now telling you that we finally finished the dining room transformation!  Just shoot me if we are still working on it in June.


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Wednesday

Some Honey's From Hey Girl

It's time for the Hey Girl Valentine link party features.  The party will come to a close on Sunday.  Participation has been so wonderful we wanted to give people a few more days to link.  Believe me, we'll be reading them!  I have to say I'm sad to see it end.  Each morning with coffee in hand,  I start the day with a smile reading all the links.  Next week will be so boring.

 They were all good.  They all made me smile.  

Babies, husbands, pets, and celebrities.
Sweet ones, touching ones, funny ones.
A few bare chests.

Each one Hey Girl'd with love.

I had a hard time picking, so I went with what spoke to me at the moment.

Wills Casa
 I stayed in my jammies and read blogs.  Because just like the photo says, those blogs weren't gonna read themselves!

Brawn would come home at night and I would want to tell him all about my day in blog land. 

Redoux Interiors
I knew I couldn't feature all 166 and counting links, so I wrote some of them down.

The Charming Zebra
 First I had the top 32.
"32 is still too many Bliss".

I had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the computer trying to pick.

Grasping for Objectivity
Even a cute baby can't deliver the truth any less harsh.

I got those 32 down to 10. 

The Backyard Bungalow

And the more I read, the more I wanted to add more.  And more.  And more.

It All Started With Paint
And I made an observation......... all the hey girl men have the most excellent smiles.  Young or not as young, they really all looked like the nicest guys! 

Debbie Doos Hey Girl'd By Me, Myself & I - Bliss Ranch
I should add Miss Doos did not endorse this photo,
nope I think Mike framed it instead. HA!

Some were so true they were absolutely profound......

Renew, Create, Restore
And clever, oh so many of you were clever.

I'm Sharon With You

Speaking of paints, I mean pants... just what is that coming out of those jeans?
Gemini Vintage
That one just made me laugh, and it wasn't the saying.  Gemini Vintage didn't notice the wayward "thing".  Leave it to me to point it out.

But at the end of each day I kept coming back to one.
One that made me giggle each time.

Only a dog could upstage all those handsome men and cute babies.......

Decor and the Dog

Thanks to everyone who linked up at one of the host blogs
Bliss at Bliss Ranch
Chelsea at Two Twenty One
Michelle at Decor and the Dog
I hope you all had as much fun reading as I did.  
Hands down one of the funnest link parties ever!

Happy Valentines Day to My own Hunk-of-burning-love


And how about a great shout out for Bliss Ranch from iVillage.... they have a whole Valentine thing going on for all the pregnant mama's out there and included a link to our Hey Girl party.  If you need some more laughs check it out, some pretty hunky model guys Hey girl'n expectant women.


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Monday

Debbie Doos Get's Hey Girl'd

Just last night I posted about my wonderful lemon bars, and here I am doing another post less than 24 hours later.  What-up with that Bliss?

What on earth could posses me to do something so out of character?  Well you see, Miss Doos , as in DebbieDoos did a little teasing on me when she posted her Copy Cat Challenge features, and I can't let that go by now can I? 

So in keeping with the spirit of the Hey Girl link party (still going on by the way), I pirated without permission, these photos of Debbie and her handsome husband Mike - right off her very own blog.


Debbie must go through a gallon of mod podge a month, so it's only fitting Mike noticed this about her from the very beginning.


I'm willing to bet he knows if he stands still too long, he might get mod podged right in place.


And I am also certain he knows that nothing is off limits from her mod podge brush.


Of COURSE I'm linking this up to the Hey Girl party, I only wish I would of thought of it sooner!

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Sunday

No Recipe Lemon Bars

I tell 'ya all, the response to the 'Hey Girl' party was awesome for myself and cohosts, and I don't know how I can go back to posting ho hum projects after all that fun!  Come back on Valentines Day to see some Hey Girl features.  They were all good but some were just down right hysterical.
If you haven't linked up yet, it's open till the 13th.


I've been contemplating doing a weekly Bliss Bakes, or Baking at Bliss Ranch of some food type thing.  Certainly NOT because I like photographing food, or that I love cooking all that much, but everyone here likes dinner and I find that I try anywhere from 1 to 3 new recipes from my Pinterest board every week. 

I make some pretty darn good vittles. 

My thighs don't lie.


So to recap;
I don't like to take food photos.
I don't get some great high from cooking.
I DO like to eat.
I do use my Pinterest board for main meals and desserts.

But just like Tongue in Cheek Tuesday that hasn't happened yet on a Tuesday for me, Baking with Bliss would probably not happen regularly due to more times than not I just go right to the eating part before I even consider taking a food picture. 

And forget that the vittles often look like barf on our white corel dinner plates.  In my real life dinner adventures I rarely care what it looks like, as long as it tastes gooo-ood.


Every once in a while I make up my own recipe and it's edible.  Usually I am very content to follow the recipes all of you make.  Less waste that way.

These lemon bars..... well they were my own concoction.  Sort of.  I took several recipes and combined them then added my own twist, to get the most lemon flavor out of the combined lemon bar recipes that I could.

We love lemon here.  Most recipes are not sweetly-puckerific enough for me.

Plus I had a bag of fresh lemons I didn't want to go bad.


It took a lot of will power not to eat this piece - the last one by the time I got around to photos.  But after I set it on that dirty scrub brush, it wasn't near as tempting.


And now that a week has gone by since I created it, here lies the problem with doing posts of Bliss Bakes;  even if I happen to remember to take photos of a creation or awesome meal ....... I might not remember the exact way I made it or the ingredients I used so you could make it too.

Like these lemon bars.

But they were gooo-ood.


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Thursday

Another Copy Cat & A Hey Girl Party

I'm not an over achiever, not by a long stretch.  It is purely a coinkidink that I have a second copy cat the same week of Debbie Doos copy cat party.  Earlier in the week I linked up Sy's Barber Shop sign that I copied from an antique.  Today I've copied a blogger.  I have no shame.

And stay with me here, I've got a fun party announcement at the end.  At least I think it's pretty fun, and I really really really want my followers to join in on this one.


I've had a bunch of springs since last spring,  (ha ha ha ha, springs since spring - I'm so easily amused), I picked them up, I don't know how many 10 perhaps? at a garage sale.  A buck for the works, and as I paid the guy he said "aren't those cool, what are you gonna do with 'em, I knew someone would want them to make something".  I looked at him and said 'I have no idea'.  He seemed disappointed and I think he judged me then and there. 

So the springs gathered saw dust in the garage for 6 months.  Till last week when Angie at Knick of Time made this....

Angie's Cool Creation
And I knew.  I was inspired.  Angie always seems to make stuff I can knock off.  Thanks Angie!  As I measured using my hands in the air I said, "Brawn... I need a board about this long, by this wide, old rough wood please, weathered... and those old bed springs, I have to air staple three of those on the wood".  (I swear the way his mind wanders his selective hearing only focused on three of those key words.)

I thought it a simple request and he went out side to gather the goods with out even giving me a funny look.  He's getting into this blogging/crafting stuff I tell 'ya!

Before it was empty
I had a perfectly good bedroom mantel, empty since the Christmas Santas went back to the north pole, and it was just waiting for something simple like this.

Brawn made an executive decision that whatever these bed springs were going to be, he wanted them raised up - so he cut three pieces of tree as legs and brought those in the house with the wood. 


Works for me.

When all was said and done I didn't have the right candles laying around, so for now these will do.  I just might get a burst of energy and get that mantel all dolled up for Valentines Day.

After all, it does have an ode to our love story.....


The wall words are on a separate piece of sheetrock that fits into the arch, so when Brawn and I move to the old folks home the kids can easily remove it as a keep sake, or put it on our nursing home wall.
Because 'ya know.....


                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Ok, so the springs are cute and all but how about something wayyyy better looking?  A party you can link up to and be seen on 5 blogs?  A party you can link up your husband too?
Yeah, ok don't tell him or Brawn that part....

COMING SOON..... It's a VALENTINES HEY GIRL PARTY!  
What the hey is a hey girl party???  You've seen the photos.....
but if you aren't sure, head over to the Hey Girl Pinterest Board for ideas.

BUT for this party, to hey with that young goose Ryan Gosling, we want to see YOUR Hey Girl Man.   Yup, get yourself all learned up on adding text to a photo.  Load any photo of your Mr. Wonderful (hint for Jean) and add your own Hey Girl to it.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with, cuz I've seen some of your spouses and Ryan's got nuth'ing on them!
 Link on one, fun on all five. 
Moi
Chelsea at Two Twenty One
Michelle at Decor and the Dog

 Brawn will be so not ok with this.   HA!

Get your photos ready..... February 7th to the 13th.

It doesn't have to be your hunk of burning love...
Link the dog, link the cat, link the neighbor,
I don't care, just include the HEY GIRL.

Should I send a text to Lisa to link her husband?

Linked to:
Knick of Time Tuesday @KnickOfTime
Debbie Doos Copy Cat Party
Inspiration Gallery @CraftyScrappyHappy

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Monday

Barber Shop Sign Copy Cat Challenge

Entering Sy's Barber Shop Sign @
Creating with the Stars 

It's no secret my favorite party happens once a month.  It's a green light to copy something and hopefully flatter the original creator. In this case I am reproducing an actual antique sign that was sold by a place called American Garage.
 
C O P Y  C A T  C H A L L E N G E  T I M E
Inspiration Photo
 I've had the sign pinned for awhile to my signs board on Pinterest.  I want to make every single thing pinned on that board.  Like tomorrow.

I aged some bright shiny silver chain by applying several colors of La Craie Paint

 Here is part of the description of the sign....
"in completely original surface and condition with the original iron hanging hooks intact. The City Drug Store was located at 8 East Main Street, Amsterdam NY, and the building is still standing".  

"It had dual entrances; one for gentlemen, the other for ladies. The sign hung so that the Gentlemen's entrance advertised Imported & Domestic Cigars and the Lady's entrance advertised Perfume & Toilet Articles".

Sy's Barber Shop.... perfumes for the Ladies & a hot shave for the Gentlemen

Part of the challenge is taking the copy and making it your own.  I just couldn't advertise ice cream so close to my bathroom scale so I went a different route.

It's a pretty good size sign, largest I've done so far


For those of you who don't know it, I own a vintage building that was once a barber shop.  Sy's Barber Shop to be exact.  Some day when the inside of the building is complete this sign will probably hang in the bathroom there.  But for now it's on the wall by my toilet.


I kindly asked the man with the power tools if he could cut the shape similar to the picture for me.  I used a sample pot of La Craie paint in Wrought Iron that I purchased from the world famous Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage, and like usual my designer paints all get along with each other and the old white is Annie Sloan.  The whole thing was waxed with CeCe Caldwells clear.



Figuring out the size to cut the vinyl with a Cameo Silhouette is math for me and that takes the longest.  I didn't know how to make letters arch and swirl, so I had to paint some by hand.


The sign is replacing a mirror with hooks so it needed to be made with a place to hang my skivvies.  I reused some cabinet knobs, and just brushed old white on the tops to age them.
Bacon $4.49


The original sign didn't have a place to hang anything so I made it my own!


The before.  Pottery Barn Mirror, blah.

After... Barber Shop Vintage
And that silk robe hanging there?  That is not the one I lounge in all day.  Brawn has one in yellow.  They were gifts from one of our Vietnamese exchange students.  Brawn is sooooo not a yellow robe guy, any color robe for that matter.  I don't wear mine either, lets just say the ladies in Vietnam, well they grow 'em a bit smaller there.

Wonder what my UPS man would think of this robe?  It's better than my black Walmart one covered in dog hair.

Thursday I have a fun link party announcement with some other gals and another copy cat.... yup two this time, I copied another blogger.  Will it be you?


This project was linked up by my own little fingers 
to each and every one of the below parties.  

Oh Yeah, linking this up to the Copy Cat Challenge at Debbie Doos
AND the Power of Pinterest Party @Debbie Doos & Fox Hollow Cottage
Saturday Night Special "Hang Ups" @FunkyJunkInteriors 
That DIY Party @DIYShowOff
Make It Party @CraftyScrappyHappy 
Cowgirl Up Party with CedarHillRanch and the girls
Knick of Time Tuesdays @KnickOfTime 
Creatively Tuesday @TheRusticPig 
Mod Mix Monday @ModVintageLife 
Tuesdays Treasures @MyUncommonSliceOfSuburbia 
Budget Decorating Party @CreativeCainCabin 
All Star Block Party @FullCircleCreations 
Show & Share @SouthernLovely 
Open House Party @NoMinimalistHere 
Creative Inspirations Party @EmbracingChange 
Wildly Original Linky @IGottaCreate 
Party Time @36thAvenue 
Transformation Tuesday @TheIronstoneNest 
Be inspired Friday @CommonGround 
Link Party @Redoux 
Fabulously Creative Friday Link Party @JenniferRizzo
Transformation Thursday @TheShabbyCreekCottage 
It's Party Time @Cupcakes&Crinoline 
Make the Scene Monday @AlderberryHill 

Featured at
KnickOfTime
The Ironstone Nest 
Alderberry Hill

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