Filling up the Shop

Since Christmas I have been busy trying to prepare for the 2012 wedding season...that just sounds wrong doesn't it?!  Thinking about wedding season when it's not even January yet...but it's really not that far away.

So I have been making ring bearer pillows, table numbers, chalkboards, table runners and cake toppers.

I still am not done but I have made some progress.  I hope to have the rest of the items ready for listing by then end of the First week of January.

SO, to celebrate the beginning of a New Year I am having a sale in my Etsy shop!  Just enter code: NewYear2012 at checkout to get 15% off EVERYTHING in my shop.  The SALE will run through Sunday January 15th.

Here are just a few of my items:

ivory ring bearer pillow with YOUR choice of flower and message

Large Rustic Rosette Pillow

mr & mrs cake banner

Rustic Table Numbers

Rustic Burlap and Lace Runner

Custom Painted Three Rosette Chalkboard

The EASIEST Last Minute Gift Ever

So...do you have EVERYONE on your list covered?  Are you sure?  Neighbors, Mail Carrier, Teachers?

Well, if you like me there always seems to be a person {or two} that manages to escape your memory until the last minute.

Well here is a SUPER easy last minute gift idea.  I got inspiration from a gift I saw on pinterest.
    I'm so addicted to that site!  Ugh.

Here are the steps.
 1.  Buy a box of Ding Dongs, a box of Ho Hos and a Christmas kitchen towel.
 2.  Stack the Ho Hos ontop of the Ding Dongs and wrap up with the towel.
 3.  Tie up with twine or ribbon
 4.  Add a tag that reads " Sending you some Christmas Ho, Ho, Hos from the Ding Dongs next door"
   **change wording slightly if you are not sending to a neighbor

Here are mine:

I told you it was easy!  Easy, but cute. 

I hope you all have an amazing and stress-free Christmas!

Linking to:

25 Days of Reading, a different kind of Advent Calender

I'm itching to start decorating the house for Christmas.  We are waiting until the 1st of December to get out the tree and all the other decoration goodies.  If my husband had it his way we would wait until Dec. 12th.  In his family they always waited until the 12 days before and kept up all the decorations until the 12 days after Christmas.  I think that is a lovely idea, but I am entirely too impatient to wait that long. 

Only one more day to wait!  But, today I got in a little Christmas spirit fix by making my daughter an advent calender in preparation for tomorrow.  I love advent calenders.  The buildup of something little each day is fantastic and brings out the kid in me.  This year I decided that I wanted to do something "different" for my 3 year old.  The last thing she needs is a big ol' hunk of chocolate covered sugar every day so I came up with this.

You see, I happened to stop at one of my favorite thift stores yesterday and they had a special on children's books.  I bought an entire bag {25 books} for $5.00.  Perfect!  So I took out the paper mache advent calender I had bought at Hobby Lobby and painted it with some craft paint and use the trusty Sharpie to write the numbers on the front.

Then I wrapped each book seperately and put a number tag on each one.

I made a second set of number tags to put inside each box of the advent calender.  Some boxes also have an extra treat like stickers, fancy erasers, etc.

So every night before my little Punky Brewester goes to bed she can go to her advent calender and open the box for that day and pull out a number tag.  Then she gets to find the wrapped "present" that has the matching number tag.

She gets to unwrap the book and we read that book together as her bedtime story.

I hope she likes this as much as I do!

Do you do advent calenders in your house?

 

Happy Cyber Monday!

Ooh Cyber Monday, I'm glad your here.  You are so much better than Black Friday.

 Black Friday means getting up early.  Really early.  Fighting over $3.00 plastic containers with the crazy lady with curlers in her hair and waiting in endless lines.  But Cyber Monday means leisurely shopping at your home computer {or office computer, I won't tell!} while sipping coffee.  So much better.

To celebrate Cyber Monday I have listed some new Holiday Items in my shop along with some old standbys along with a special Cyber Monday discount code for my Etsy Shop.

Just go to http://www.mudpiesandmarigolds.etsy.com/ and enter the code:  cybermondayblog20
to get 20% off EVERYTHING in my shop.  Sweet.

Here are a few of the things you can find.

Set of 3 Bottle brush trees with Vintage spool bases: 

Shabby Chic Chalkboard

Magic Santa Key

Vintage Tinsel Wreath

DREAM garland

I'm sorry... but it's almost Christmas

I have been a VERY bad blogger.  A no-good, horrible blogger.  I have been MIA for a while and for that I am sorry. 

BUT...I do have a good excuse. 

First there was planning my daughter's 3rd birthday party.

Then there was this {an amazing three week trip to Turkey for my beautiful sister-in-law's wedding}:

We had a blast and I learned a lot.

1st--  That the pomegranates that I could pick off of the tree in the back yard in Turkey{how cool is that} are very sweet and not like the ones we get at the grocery store here in the states.  And that makes me sad because my daughter LOVED eating those as a snack while we were there.

2nd--  My daughter is a beach baby.  SERIOUSLY.  She loves the beach and was fearless.  She learned to doggy paddle while we were there and we asked to go to the beach every day.  This makes me happy but it also makes me sad because we live in St. Louis...not exactly close to a beach. 

3rd-- The Ephesus {one of the ancient wonders of the world} was more that I hoped for!  And, there are hundred of other amazing ruins in Turkey that will blow your mind.  Like Pammukale {also know as the cotton mountains}.

Then I had a craft show a week after we returned to the US.  {what was I thinking!}

And now Thanksgiving is over and I back with a few Holiday themed creations.

vintage sewing drawer centerpieces

vintage spool and sheet music bottle brush trees

Santa's magic key for homes without chimneys

burlap trees

sets of vintage style gift tags {that I have also used as ornaments}

      I have a handfull of items listed right now and will be adding much more this week so check back!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that all of you who went Black Friday shopping have recovered and are getting plenty of rest today.

Facebook and Giveaway news!

Just a short update here...I plan on being back later this week with a project post.

Well, I finally added my Etsy shop to Facebook.  I thought it would be a good way of sharing newly listed items with my customers.

Head here and give it a like.  Once you do, you will find a code for 10% off you total purchase for a limited time.

Also, I am giving away one of my shabby chic table runners over at Freckled Laundry today so head over and enter to win.

From my shop

Have a great day!

The story of the Ugly Duckling.

Do you see this Ugly Little Duckling? 

Actually in the picture above, she doesn't look too bad!

Now we are starting to see her true colors.

Well, my lovely Aunt Nancy gave her to me.  It once resided in my Grandmother's house.  My aunt no longer had a need for it so she passed it along to me.  My grandmother LOVER her some contact paper.  She used that stuff on everything.  My Dad joked that if you stood still long enough that you were in jeopardy of being covered yourself.

This Ugly Little Ducking was covered in contact paper...multiple layers of different colored contact paper.  Now, had this contact paper been evenly and smoothly applied I would have just used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint right over the top of it.  Unfortunately it was not.  There were big air bubbles, tears and gaps.  So I peeled, peeled and peeled some more.  Check out some of retro prints I found in this cabinet.

 

After hours of peeling and sweat dripping in my eyes I was able to start painting...the fun and easy part.  I painted the recessed areas with ASCP in Louis Blue as well as the inside of the cabinet.  The rest of the cabinet I covered in ASCP Old White.

I waxed the entire thing in Annie Sloan soft clear wax.  Then I used just a touch of Briwax Mahogany wax on the recessed blue panel on the side and front of the cabinet and immediately wiped off most of it.

please excuse the big garage mess in the picture!

One of the glass door panels broke when loading it into my truck.  So I went ahead and popped the other one out.  I think I want to put chicken wire in place of the glass but I've never done that before.  Any suggestions on working with chicken wire?

It's been a rough couple of weeks over here with lots of Dr. appointments and a surgery so that's why I've been MIA.  I hope to be back soon with my completely finished cabinet and some fun Fall projects.

Have a great week!

~Aaron {the girl with the boy's name}
MudPies and Marigolds

Are you done with Summer!?

I'm done with summer...I mean D. O. N. E., done!  We have had a ridiculously hot summer and it's not even August yet.  Ugh.  I'm ready for Fall.  I love Fall...jeans and sweatshirts and my friends.  I love pumpkins, colored leafs and crisp nights.  I'm dreaming of hay rides and apple cider.

By the way, do you call if Fall or Autumn?  I think the word Autumn is so pretty but I always end up saying Fall.

I've started {slowly} getting my Fall line together.

Here is one of my new items {set of natural pumpkin table numbers for weddings}:





I'm going to be making some sets of 3 with wording on them for home decor as well.  I just love them.

Try to stay cool and enjoy the rest of your week!

~Aaron {the girl with the boy's name}
Mudpies & Marigolds

Playing with Paint: a tutorial for time-worn style

My daughter spend this past weekend with my parents which meant I had a little time to play around with my new Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

My first project was this easy sign redo.


This time I used it on a piece of furniture.  My dad gave me an old piano bench he had gotten at an auction several years ago.  I didn't take a before picture because I was just so sure that there was one of it already on the computer...well, there wasn't.  But it was your basic dark stained oak piano bench.


I broke out my Old White and Louis Blue Chalk Paint and decided to just play.  No rules, just experiments.  I'm now in love with this bench!  I had originally thought I was making it over to put in my new Antique Store Booth but now I'm too in love to part with it.

Look at her in all her time-worn style glory.

Here is how I got the look.  I'm sure it's not the "right" way but it's what I did.  It was easy and fun.

1.)  First I painted the whole thing in a sloppy coat of Old White and let dry.

2.)  Then I painted the whole thing in a sloppy coat of Louis Blue and let  dry.

3.)  Next I LIGHTLY sanded down the bench in spots so the Old White showed through in spots.

4.)  I don't yet have the Annie Sloan Wax so I used the Dark Brown Briwax I had on hand.  I brushed on a very thin coat {trying to paint in long smooth strokes} all over.  I did not wipe off the excess.

Instead I let the bench set outside and bake in the sun for about 4 hours.

5.)  Then I wiped off what little I could and just about had a panic attack thinking that I ruined the whole bench.  I just needed patience.  I sanded down the whole bench LIGHTLY with a medium grit sanding block...sanding more in some spots and less in others.

That's it.  Painting really doesn't take long because this paint goes on so smooth and covers so well.

before:  source

After

Again, If your thinking of trying out Annie Sloan Chalk Paint you need to head over to Di Lucca Designs.  Michelle is so sweet and will answer any questions you have.

Have a wonderful weekend and go play with some paint!

~Aaron {the girl with the boy's name}
Mudpies & Marigolds

Also linking to:

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I can't deny it, I'm in LOVE with someone new....a tutorial.

Okay, I'm sorry. I know that was a cheeky title but it's true I am in love with another. I still love my hubby but another has entered my life that from this point on I can never due without.

Yep, this is who {or should I say what} has stolen my heart.


Seriously, why did I not buy this stuff earlier. Oh, yeah...the price tag. But I can honestly say that it was worth every. single. penny. It goes on like nothing I can explain. If you love distressed, shabby chic, time-worn and French style then this stuff is for you. It will make your heart sing...seriously. Chorus of Angels stuff over here.

I have already but together a little sign project / tutorial to share.

Do you have a Hobby Lobby near you? I love Hobby Lobby...especially when they have their 90% off clearance sale. That is where I scored two of these:



front





back


I knew I could transform these signs into something a little more Mudpies and Marigolds style. And with the help of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint I did just that. I made one to keep and one to sell.  I think you could easily do this with cut down paint sticks from the hardware store as well!

These signs had a 90s ish farmhouse image glued to the front. I ripped up any loose pieces of the image and then got to work. I shook the paints really well. I worked with 2 paint colors: Old White and Louis Blue. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

I tried 2 different paint techniques so I could see how they look. On the first sign I put both white and blue paint on at the same time {using more of the Louis Blue} and just barely blended them in. This paint applies like butter. It's so smooth and I think I've never painted something with so much ease and so quickly. And it used hardly any of the paint up!

I let it dry completely then used a medium grit sanding block to distress. This stuff distresses so easily and beautifully! Really...no elbow grease required.

After that I used my CitraSolv technique to apply the Nest image. Just make sure to apply the CitraSolv lightly so it doesn't bleed.

That's it. Doesn't it look like it's been hanging around is some French farmhouse for years. I adore time worn style and baby, this stuff delivers just that!

On the second one I applied a layer of Old white and let it dry, then applies a layer of Louis Blue and let it dry and then another super light and sloppy layer of Old White. I didn't distress it at all. I just left it with it's gorgeous layer look.

You can be sure that I will have many more Chalk Paint projects coming up!

If you live in the Midwest and want to give chalk paint a try {trust me you do!} then I highly recommend ordering from Michelle at Di Lucca Designs.  She is a Annie Sloan Paint Chalk Stockist located in Bensenville, IL.  She is super sweet and will take good care of you.