Selling Blog Additions

Another busy day here at my home. You all should know me by now....... I can't seem to sit still for very long (lol). Anyway, I painted part of the fence outside and then my husband took over and I started on some of my signs. I placed an order for some new stencils a couple weeks ago and received them last week. I was pretty anxious to get started on making some new signs and adding them to my selling blog. Here are a couple signs in the middle of my process. They look great just like this - don't ya think? I had an order request for an Olde Crow Seed Co. sign so I had to get it made and the others were just to add to my selling blog. So, if you are interested then head on over to Londonberry Primitives to check them out. They are available to purchase!

Here are some new gameboards that I added to my selling blog. I think this first one has to be my favorite. I just love the look and all of those words on the gameboard fit perfectly into my life! Don't you love it? This one is available to purchase as well.
Here is another favorite of mine. You would never know that both boards were painted with yellow ochre - huh? They are indeed both yellow ochre however the paint is made by different companies. I like the idea that they are both yellow ochre, but they also both give off a different look. I really love both colors. Very prim!
Here is another new sign that I made this evening. Gotta love this one and guess what!?! It is painted yellow ochre over black and it gives off a totally different look to me also. Hmm, you wonder if it could be the wood or maybe I put a heavier coat of stain on it. Hmm, makes me wonder. Which prim gal doesn't need one of these - right?
I love this antique sign I made. This is available to purchase as well.

Last, but certainly not least........ my best friend when it comes to stenciling. I just started using the spray adhesive when stenciling and I LOVE IT!! I bought it at Wal-Mart for around $2.00 and it is truly your best friend when it comes to stenciling. It holds everything in place and really helps prevent leaks of paint sneaking through. Just be sure to read the directions or you could get your stencil to stick permanently on to your wood and I am sure you don't want that (lol). Hoping this week goes fast....... I am meeting Cindy from Cynthia Lee Designs on Friday and we are going Thrift Store Shopping. I am sure it will be a blast, but I promised awhile back that I wouldn't take her out at the knees to get to the best thrift store goodie on the shelf. I better be on my best behavior : ) Hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Kitchen Cabinet Reveal - FINALLY!

So, have you all been waiting patiently for the BEFORE & AFTER pictures of my kitchen cabinets? Well, I apologize for making you wait so long, but it has been a long day and we just got home not too long ago. I still had to put the knobs on the doors and clean up the kitchen and well I am finally done. I bought some knobs last night...... got them home and didn't like them. So, we returned them today and headed to North Shore Primitives. I purchased my new curtains and Vickie told me to go with good old plain wooden knobs. So, I went off to Wal-Mart and purchased all of the knobs that they had. I am about 5 or so knobs short so my drawers do not have knobs yet, but I didn't want you all to wait any longer. Anyway, I decided to go with the coffee stained prairie curtains and I am glad that I did. I think they look so prim and they look FABULOUS with my new and so much improved kitchen cabinets. Ok, without further a-do....... let's take a look - shall we ladies?

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Here is the BEFORE pictures of the kitchen cabinets

Are you ready for the AFTER pictures?

I can't hear you?

Did you say you were ready?

This REVEAL is BIGGER then the bathroom

and

BETTER then the bathroom too!

Ok, I guess I have made you wait long enough.......

Here you go - be sure to soak it all in and enjoy

the

PURE BEAUTY OF THIS KITCHEN!!

Don't you love my new prairie curtains?

Here are the knobs........a simple wood knob and I stained them dark walnut

So, what do you all think? Was it well worth the wait?

I know for a FACT that it was well worth every single drop of sweat, sleepless night and hardwork that I endured. It will be worth it for you too.

Go ahead and give it a try and trust me..... you won't regret it!

Londonberry Primitives - Check it out Now!

If you haven't checked it out yet then be sure to head on over to my selling blog. Londonberry Primitives is now open for business. I know, I know what am I thinking when I just finished my cabinets. Well, I am a maniac I tell ya. I can't stop! I am THE ENERGIZER BUNNY!! I have just a few things on there right now however I will be adding more goodies throughout the weekend and into next week. I have 2 more new gameboards, a couple different signs, primitive stacking blocks and a few other things. So, keep checking back for more prim goodies that will be added. Thank you to all that have already ordered!!

The Day Before The Big Reveal

It has been a long day coming that is for sure. It is the Day Before The Big Reveal of my Kitchen Cabinets and I couldn't be happier. I finished staining last night, put the top 12 cabinet doors back on the top and now I am just waiting for the bottom ones to dry. What a project!! I can honestly say that all that sweat and hardwork was worth it, but I am definitely worn out to say the least. I laid my head on my pillow last night and I was out like a light. I slept the best that I have slept during this whole week. I guess I feel like I can relax now that it is all done. Tonight I am picking up all the knobs and I should be able to get those on and hopefully if all goes well I can go pick out my new curtains at North Shore Primitives tomorrow. Oh yes!! I am going back and I can't wait. Hopefully Cameron will be a little bit more cooperative then last time. I really wanted to get my curtains from North Shore Primitives because afterall she is the gal that gave me the idea and directions on how to do my cabinets so I thought she deserved the business. I also sent her pictures of my kitchen before I did my cabinets and she knows what it looks like so she would probably know what would look best. I am having a toss up right now between 2 different styles....... one is the tobacco panel style and the other is what I think they call a prairie swag style. With the prairie swag you can use both sides or just one and in my case...... I would just use one side. Hmmm, decisions decisions!

Today has been a day full of tweaking and cleaning. I have been cleaning my kitchen countertops off and tweaking certain areas on the countertop. Awhile back I received some gourd eggs from Dru Ann McCarty and thought they would look too cute in my kitchen somewhere. Well, I had this sifter and I have been thinking about trying to find something that could go inside. So, after much thinking and staring at the gourd eggs for sometime I thought I would try my eggs inside the sifter. What do you all think? Good idea or not so good idea? I thought they looked pretty cute in the sifter myself, but I always like your opinion too.

Oh yes, this is my area right about my stove and as you can see it is empty and bare. I am looking for the perfect prim sign that would fit in right there that has something to do with my kitchen. I have seen lots of kitchen signs on alot of blogs, but I am looking for something that really strikes my fancy. Does anyone want to trade a gameboard or a sign of mine for a kitchen sign of yours? I was thinking that a sign that said Eggs 5 cents would look cute or even something else. I am definitely up for anything, but I would like to see pictures before I agree on the swap. So, does anyone wanna swap? Let me know by sending me an e-mail. Oh and did you notice that I was VERY CAREFUL when I took this picture not to reveal any sneak peeks of the cabinets.......hahahaha, I caught you all trying to look too : ) You are such sneaky little prim ladies (lol). While I am on this area of topic.... do any of you have ANY ideas on how to get that nasty grease off the back of your stove? I wash it off with hot soapy water after each use, but it still has this nasty oily coating and all I want is for it to be clean and smooth. Suggestions?
Talking about Dru Ann McCarty originals...... I bought these two prim make-do soap holders during one of her shows. I just love them and I love how they are so prim, BUT wouldn't you know it that I don't have a place to put them now that I have them!?! Yep, I think I need a few more bathrooms. What was I thinking? I buy this stuff and then I don't know where to put it. Do any of you prim ladies do the same thing? Why are we like this? It is like I don't have any sense when it comes to prim goodies. Yep, it must be that horrible disease that I have. Mad Obsession Primitive Buyers Disease. That has to be it!! Totes and totes full of prim goodies and I still end up buying stuff. Oh my........ this disease is getting bad. I guess the only cure is to go shopping again (LOL). Totally kidding ladies! Just checking to see if you were all awake and still with me : )

My last picture post is this huge VERY TALL ladder. Now what could I possibly be doing with this ENORMOUS ladder!?! Hmmm, well I guess you will have to wait and see. Oh and don't be looking at my deck.... it is in need of a MAJOR paint job, but that is where my dear sweet hubby comes into play. The deck and the fence is his area and primming is my area (lol). Just kidding - I am sure I will get caught having to help sometime or another.

I guess I will see you all back here sometime tomorrow for the BIG REVEAL of my new and well improved prim kitchen cabinets! Hope you all have a blessed day. It is a tad bit chilly here today, but I am optimistic that it will warm up for tomorrow and be a sunshiny day!! Hugs & Smiles to you all and I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Humidity

This HUMIDITY is driving me crazy!! I was able to stain about 6 more cabinets last night, but the HUMIDITY is killing my ideas of having them dry on time so I can start on my bottom cabinets tonight. Ughhh, I was on a pretty decent schedule and was liking the idea of having everything dry so I could hang my top cabinets tonight and start on the bottom ones. I was also able to stain the framing in the kitchen last night and that it still a little bit tacky which surprised me. I made sure that we had all of our ceiling fans on last night as well as the continuous fan and it is still tacky. I have been a maniac with these cabinets and now I am just to the point of getting them done. It is suppose to rain here today in Ohio so that won't help the humidity either so we will see what happens from here. I will tell you that the framing and the drawers in the kitchen really look GREAT!! It now gives me an idea as to what the finished project is gonna look like and I am loving it. I just hope that when I get my doors up that some aren't darker then the others. I would like for them to all be uniform and when I have them scattered all over the garage......well, it is kinda hard to tell. Hopefully (with my fingers crossed) I won't have to touch anything up in order to make things look uniform when they are all hung and back in their original spots. What a project!!

I will tell you that my flowers are liking the weather...... I have flowers blooming like crazy which I love, but it doesn't mix so well with staining cupboards (lol). Oh - I also wanted to tell you all that I have now worked with the Minwax Gel Stain and the regular liquid form. I must admit that I like the liquid form alot better. The thing I like about it is that it doesn't dry as fast as the gel stain. The gel stain is fine for smaller projects, but the liquid form is much better for the larger projects! Anyway, they both give you great results, but it just kinda depends on what you are working on. That is my 2 cents for what it is worth.

Good News for alot of you prim gals...... I have decided to start a selling blog! I am still thinking about a name for my new selling blog and suggestions are definitely welcome. I will probably be working on setting that up however I won't start selling anything until after our vacation to Myrtle Beach. We are taking our first FAMILY vacation (just the three of us) during June 22-27th. We are pretty excited about it, but that leaves a little amount of time for me to get stuff done before I leave. So, once I return then I will start taking orders. I have new stencils that I am expecting to come in anytime so hopefully I can get pictures posted soon. If my memory serves me correctly...... I ordered a couple more game board stencils. I can't wait for them to get here!! I am ready to work on something else other then the kitchen cabinets. Oh - did I tell you that I was thinking about making a new kitchen table for us? We have one already, but it is just too small for us when we have company over. I was thinking about a farm table style and thought that I would paint it the same color as my kitchen cabinets or black. Hmmm, decisions decisions.

Talking about other things that need to be done around the home....... I still need to put down mulch, paint the fence and deck and power wash the house. Gotta love summer time!

Summer time always = Busy Time!!

Mixed Bag of Goodies to Share

I have been a busy gal lately, but I must admit that it is so much fun getting 1 step closer to having my cabinets completely done. I did stain 5 of my cabinet doors last night and I must say that these cabinets look AWESOME!! Oh, I totally made the right decision in taking the plunge to re-vamp the kitchen and give it a new look. It is definitely a long and drawn out process, but if any of you ladies are thinking about doing it...... DO IT!! It is going to be well worth it when I am all done. I am so excited I could pee my pants (lol). Just checking to see if you were all awake this morning : )

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Well, I won a giveaway from Carrie @ Unmatched Socks and I have been decorating here and there with my goodies. I decided to put my Americana picture in my entry way along with Mr. Bunny. I also added a prim flag that she included to give him a new look for Memorial Day as well as the 4th of July which is around the corner. Doesn't everything look so cute? I am still working on my other goodies and will post pictures on those very soon.

Oh yes!! Here is my Goodwill buy that I found last night. It was normally $9.99, but it was on sale for half off. I was thrilled. I am going to paint it yellow ochre over black. A little basket that I won in the giveaway will hang from one of my pegs. Oh....... I saw this beauty and lit up. I was so happy!! I was just happy it didn't have heart cut out of it. That is all I find anymore. Now if they were stars then that would be a totally different story (lol). Don't you love this beauty?
As promised........ here is my hypertufa that my Mom bought for me while we were in Amish Country this past weekend. You would think this pot would be SUPER heavy, but surprisingly it is not. They just got them in and I can't wait to plant something in it. Can you see the impression of the flower in the bottom? I think it is a sunflower. Anyway, that is my hypertufa.
Ooops....... here is another peek of my cabinets. Ignore me! My hair was little dripping wet, I had an old shirt on that I was wiping paint off on and well I guess you could that I was not looking too pretty at all. Anyway, at least you get another peek of the cabinets. Remember that these do not have the stain over top of them yet. That will probably not happen until Friday night when Cameron stays with my in-laws for the night. I just didn't want him exposed to all those fumes. So, by the end of the weekend....... the cabinets SHOULD BE done! Thank you to you all for being patient with me and most of all for being the gals that gave me the swift kick to get up and tackle these cabinets. I am totally loving them and I am so excited!! Trust me....... if you like prim then you will love them. The stain almost gives the cabinet doors a soft coffee/tea stain and it looks primtastic!! Hmmm, now I need to find some hardware for my drawers and doors. Oh how I love projects!!
I leave you with a picture of part of my garden. My purple salvia is definitely in bloom along with a daylily and lamb's ears peeking through. Don't you love my garden mushroom? I got this at Country Gathering's in Berlin, Ohio. Don't you just love it? It add so much character to my beds. This is my 2nd year having it, but I still love it like it was brand new!
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day. I am off to relax and put my feet up before I have to tackle more cabinet doors tonight. Hopefully it won't rain and I am really hoping that the humidity cuts back a little bit. Oh, I was sweating like some pig last night and when you have rubber gloves on and a stain brush in one hand and a stain rag in another....... uh yeah, wiping your forehead can be a bit difficult. Oh, I was a mess I tell ya! I just can't stand it when it is REAL humid....... our A/C tends to spoil me!

Tipsy Pot Tutorial Website

Alot of you have inquired about my Tipsy Pot Kit that I purchased while in Amish Country this past weekend. I found a tutorial that I thought you all might be interested in and passed it along to a few other gals that were interested. Anyway, check out this site for pictures and a quick tutorial. I haven't put mine together YET, but when I do...... I will be sure to post pictures for you all to see. Right now, I have other much larger projects that I am currently tackling. Here is the site...... http://www.gardensandcrafts.com/tipsypots.html

If you do make your very own Tipsy Pot then let me know. I would love to see it!!

Can you say WORN OUT?

OH MY Goodness!! I am worn out ladies. I have been going non-stop since this morning at 9:00. I got a second coat of paint on my top cabinets, one coat on the bottom cabinets and I painted all of the cabinet framing and I am so worn out. I am not done yet. I am hoping to have one more coat on the framing this evening and then hopefully in the next day or two I can start staining the cabinets and then hopefully they will be done. Oh, I never knew what it was like to have your kitchen torn all to heck and I must admit that I am not enjoying it at all. I have everything out of my cabinets, my prim pretties scattered everywhere and well I guess you could just say that it is one big mess! I sit here and think about what Kath is going through and definitely feel for her because I know her kitchen is more torn up then mine. Anyway, things are REALLY taking shape and I know that I am going to LOVE LOVE LOVE my cabinets once they are totally and completely finished. I just need to get there (lol). Well, at least I know that I will like the buttermilk cabinets against my red walls. It really makes things pop and trust me...... it looks so much better then those ugly oak cabinets that I had before the make-over. Here is a sneak peek, but no more peeking until it is completely DONE! I know, I know that isn't right, but you know me....... I like to keep you all hanging and when it is done, the BIG REVEAL will be well worth the wait! So, in the meantime just hang tight and I will keep you all posted on when I think it might be done. If I have my way then it will be done by Wednesday, but we will see.

Prim Patience - Something I don't have

Do any of you prim gals have patience? I often like to say that I do, but my husband begs to differ. We got home from my parents house today and I knew that as soon as I got home, that I wanted to get my first coat of paint on my kitchen cabinet doors. For all of you that asked..... I decided to go with Olde Century Paint (Buttermilk). I saw in a prim store close to me that she had refinished her cabinets with this color and I loved the way they looked so I decided to take the plunge and go for it. Luckily, the weather was very warm today here in Ohio so I was able to get the first coat on the upper cabinet doors. I love the color and the cabinets are really taking shape. I just can't wait for them to be done so I can get everything back in to the original places. I was trying to decide if the cabinets would look ok with my red walls, but I guess I will just have to wait and see when they are all done. If I don't like the way the cabinets look against the red walls then I can always paint the walls and be done with it. Let's just hope the red looks good in the end (lol). I am sure I will be done with painting after it is all said and done. I must admit that I love seeing a transformation. Nothing more rewarding then to have something ugly at the beginning and turn it into something prim and beautiful at the end. Here are a couple pictures that my husband took of me while I was painting. I told him that I wish he wouldn't have taken a picture of me hovering over the cabinet...... I look HUGE!!

Looking good - don't you think? If all goes as planned then hopefully I will have them painted with a second coat tomorrow and then maybe by mid week I will be able to stain them. Isn't this exciting? I just love the color - don't you?

I also wanted to share with you my new crow. This is actually a Dru Ann McCarty creation. Isn't he just too cute? I love how he sits on his perch and he looks great hanging on my wall as you are heading up my stairs to our bedrooms. I ordered a few other items, but I still have yet to take pictures of them. Hopefully I will do that soon and share them with you. It is funny because every single time we head upstairs for bed in the evening or to put Cameron down for his nap, my husband makes a crow sound at the crow. It is hilarious!!

Well, I better run for now. I need to rest up before I have to do some more painting. Stay Tuned for more pictures. I have so many goodies to share with you. Wouldn't ya know it, that I didn't find a whole lot when I went to Amish Country this past weekend with my Mom? I was surprised and so was my Mom. I did get a hypertufa pot and can't wait to plant some flowers in it and I also got a few more bulbs for my little candles that I have here and there in my home and oh I also got one of those tipsy pot kits. I saw it in my Birds & Blooms magazine that I subscribe to and when I saw that they had all the pertinent parts that you needed in this kit in Amish Country.......well, I snatched it up pretty fast! I can't wait to work on that to and share it with all of you. Oh My Goodness, I have so many things to do and so little time (lol). Well, I am signing off for now.

Kitchen Cabinets Are Now Underway

Last night was another busy night. My husband came home from work, all the kids that I watch left and we grabbed a bite to eat. The weather was warm, but nice so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather. All of you gals that have been so impatient for me to start my kitchen cabinets can now relax. That is right....... you can relax because my kitchen cabinet re-do is FINALLY underway!! I am so excited and anxious to get them done. That sanding is ALOT of work, but I have to keep reminding myself that it will be worth it when I am done. I have cabinets on the top and bottom so I decided to do all the cabinets on the top first. That means sand them, clean them, paint them and stain them. Once they are completely done then I will move on to the bottom bunch. It is definitely going to take me some time because I have quite a few cabinets and drawers, but it will be worth it in the long run. My Mom gave me my Grandpa's old saw horses when I was there 2 weeks ago so we made a make-do work bench so I could sand my cabinets down. I wanted to be out in the air instead of in the garage so my husband set me up a little area and I started sanding. I have 12 cabinet doors that I have started on that are on the top and then 6 cabinet doors on the bottom along with 7 drawers on the bottom. I am hoping that I can get my remainder of cabinet doors from the top sanded today and then hopefully I can start painting some, but with me leaving for my parents tomorrow morning...... I might just wait til I get home to paint them. We will see and I will be sure to keep you all posted on the progress. Here are a few pictures that I took last night. Here is my little work station.

Here are some of the cabinets that I sanded already. I am just hoping that I sanded them enough. I think that I did - what do you all think? Let me know your thoughts - ok?

I also received my goodie box from Carrie @ Unmatched Socks yesterday. Oh, I received so many wonderful goodies!! I am so excited to get decorating with them however my main concern is to concentrate on these cabinets. Hopefully if I need to come inside and take a little break then I will have enough energy to post some pictures of my decorating. I did find a home already for my little basket and I am pretty sure I know where I am going to put my patriotic stitchery sign and my bench, but I will post pics later on that when I have a moment. Well, I better get off here for now and see if I can get some stuff done around this house of mine. Hope you all have a wonderful extended holiday weekend. Blessings to you all.

Quilts and More Make-overs

What a night I had last night. I woke up thinking I heard Cameron screaming on the baby monitor and low and behold it is some stray cat either in our yard or in one of our neighbors yard screaming bloody murder. Uh yeah, it must have been in heat because the cry was not a good cry! Now don't get me wrong...... I love cats and I use to have one before Cameron was born, but for people to move into our neighborhood, bring their cats, let them roam the neighborhood, let them poo all over my flower gardens and then scream bloody murder at night is just not cool at all. So, do any of you have any suggestions as to how to get stray cats to stay away? I have tried moth balls, but it hasn't really worked all that much. I just about flipped my lid when I was planting my lavender last night and I find this big pile of cat poo under some mulch. Oh, I was NOT HAPPY AT ALL. I take pride in my flower beds and then for me to find cat poo........ oh, I guess you could say I was pretty daggone ticked off!!

Anyway, I finished that cutting board that I purchased at the Goodwill store the other night for 50 cents. You know the one that was so gross and disgusting that I had to come home and scrub it with an SOS pad (lol). Uh yeah, it was nasty!! It had an awful greasy feel to it so I was wondering if I would even be able to work my magic on it, but after washing it and sanding the heck out of it...... it was good to go for a prim paint job. Here is the BEFORE picture!

After removing that metal cheese plate, washing it down and sanding it and giving it a new prim look....... this is what it looks like AFTER. Doesn't it look GREAT? Doesn't even look like the same board. I painted it Yellow Ochre and gave it a coat of Minwax Walnut Gel Stain. My husband thought that I put brown under it, but that is the natural wood color coming through. So, what do you all think? Definitely a HUGE improvement!!
Do you all remember these bowls? Well, I had one of them left and after sanding it and giving it a coat of red over black....... it turned out all nice and prim. So, let's take a look - Shall We?
BEFORE
AFTER - Wowsers!!

That looks great. I love how it is super smooth too. I know I am kinda weird that way, but I love how everything goes from rough and ugly to smooth and beautifully prim.
Oh, I also wanted to show you 2 of my clematis vines. Looks like they are in full bloom. Aren't they beautiful? This is what I see as I stare out our backdoor. Gotta love those bright colors!
Here are my quilts that I received from my Mom. These were made by my great grandma on my Dad's side. Here are a couple pics....... Here is the 1st quilt.
The 2nd quilt

Here is the 3rd quilt and this one is my favorite one of the bunch.

Look at the detail and I love all the colors. Aren't they all so pretty in their own way?

Gotta love family heirlooms. I know that I do!!

Well, I have my kitchen cabinets numbered and I am starting the sanding hopefully tonight if all goes well. I kinda have to rely on my husband to take care of Cameron while I do this so if he has other plans then I am sure the cabinets will get pushed to the back burner. I will keep you all posted and hopefully I will be able to post pictures soon. Until next time, hope you all have a bright and beautiful day filled with lots of sunshine and happiness!!