Our 2013 Family Christmas Ornament

 

Each year our family, and the friends who share Thanksgiving with us, make a Christmas ornament. 

 

This year, we made these.  We hot glued Scrabble tiles spelling our names out to jumbo Popsicle sticks.  Then on the reverse side, we glued on a word that somehow descried or related to that person... the challenge is finding the right word with the exact number of letters that your name has!  We used copper wire at the top and a red bead with copper findings to hang from the bottom.  Topped of with a red ribbon bow. 

 

This is one of our favorite family traditions.  Each year as we decorate the tree, we think back on who we have shared our Thanksgiving with... and who we are thankful for!

Mea Culpa! I have been MIA responding to comments!

Hi All!  I so appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to stop by my little spot in the Cyber World as we celebrate and explore creativity together!

My GMail apparently sorted my inbox into separate sections without my help... and only one of those is visible to me.  Mind you, I would never have known this, except for a keystroke error I made a few minutes ago!  I was quite surprised to discover a whole list of notifications and emails that I had never set eyes on... including notifications of your great questions and comments (several about CeCe Caldwell's new Endurance Finish this month).

Now I realize that I am giving my age, or at least my era, away as I write this;)  Twenty-somethings probably know to expect helpful services like this from their electronic sources!  Maybe this is why I paint rather than program software...

Anyway, please accept my apologies for keeping you waiting so long to respond, and keep your great thoughts and questions coming!

Color Mixing Happiness

 

This petite table is done in a custom mix of CeCe Caldwell's Emerald Isl. and Destin Gulf Green.  It's just making me happy to look at it today:)

I have the very fun privilege of being featured in Karen Merrell Berg of Redoux Interiors' blog post today! 

Check our Karen's lovely blog for all sorts of great ideas, helpful tutorials and inspiration!  Thanks Karen!!

http://www.redouxinteriors.com/2013/08/blogeur-d-invite-danielle-partridge/

CeCe Caldwell's Basic Skills Class Sunday, July 14th

Call or stop in The Parker Shoppes to Sign Up!  (303-841-2250)

Greens and Blues...

 

First coat CeCe Caldwell's Santa Fe Turquoise, second coat Destin Gulf Green, Third Coat Spring Hill Green,  Wet Distressed, Endurance Finish. 

CeCe Caldwell's Endurance Finish... aka my new love!

I just received my first batch of CeCe Calwell's new Endurance Finish.  It is designed for Cabinetry and Table Tops especially, but really for anything that you want a durable finish on (or just a super easy to apply finish!). 

I have several tables in my garage that I have been waiting to paint until these little pots of gold showed up.  Why?  I know may people use wax on table tops... and I do on end tables, decorative tables etc.  But, I have never been on board with using wax for the top surface of a dining table.  I don't really know how other people live in their homes, but at ours, a waxed top needs a little too much babying for a dining table.  I do love the waxed finish for other pieces... just not places that you may need to scrub marinara sauce off of!

This is the little stool that I was wet distressing yesterday.

Eager to try the new Endurance Finish, I applied it to the stool this morning.  Well, it look all of 5 minutes.  Done.  And though it says on my can that it should dry for two hours, I put the Endurance Finish on 20 minutes ago... and that little guy is dry. 

The Endurance Finish is the only product in CeCe's line that is not ZERO VOC.  It is Low VOC. (Less that 30 l/g).  As many of you know, not only am I a big Earth Mother, but I have some chemical allergies, which is one of the many reasons that I love CeCe's luscious products.  I was curious how I would react to this finish... and I didn't.  It has almost no odor, and it didn't bother me at all!  That said, respect for human health is a priority of CeCe Caldwell's, and it is recommended that you use Endurance Finish in an area with adequate ventilation.

I am in LOVE.   I suspect that we are going to need a moment of silence for the waxing tradition.  While this is just one of a great line up of finishes in CeCe's line, I am certain that some will be breaking up with their wax.... or moving the relationship into the realm of "just friends" to make room for your new love.

Wet Distressing with CeCe Caldwell's

 

I love wet distressing CeCe Caldwell's paints... for several reasons.  First, I love the look.  Second, I love the ease.  I did this with a damp paper towel in a jiffy...in my kitchen.  No dust.  No mess to clean up.  I just threw the paper towel away after and rinsed my hands with water.  That makes me sound a tad lazy... well maybe... but why do it the hard way when you can do it the easy way?

 

To achieve this look, I did a first coat in Kentucky Mint. 

 

After that dried, I put on a coat of Santa Fe Turquoise rather sparingly, not too worried about coverage and let that dry because...

 

I then took a damp paper towel and blended the paint, and rubbed harder in places that I wanted some to come off revealing the first payer of paint (and the previous finish). 

This is super easy to do.  If you are nervous about trying a new technique, go pick yourself up a $5 chair or end table at a garage sale and play around with it.  No significant loss if you don't love your first attempt... and you will likely end up with something you love!

Coral Cutie

You can make lovely coral colors by mixing CeCe Caldwell's.  This one is 6 parts Kissimee Orange + 1 part Traverse City Cherry + .5 part Sedona Red =  Fun!

This cutie table is for Amy.  Her grandfather made is by hand from reclaimed wood.  Now it is feeling all sassy after it's makeover!

Happy Day Planet Earth!

Black, Black, Black

We all asked for a true black mineral paint, and here it is: CeCe Caldwell's Beckley Coal. In stores!

CeCe Caldwell's Emerald Isle Green... limited edition

Debuting today at The Parker Shoppes

Spending Time

One of the things I have been reflecting on lately is what we have to spend in life; money, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy, time.  The only one we can't generate more of is time.  Every minute, every hour has been traded, exchanged for something once it is gone.

So, I bought a cell phone cover I don't really like the other day.  No big deal.  But for me it came to represent what I was willing to trade an hour of my life for.  I had been spending an inordinate amount of time online looking for a cell phone cover that would not only protect my phone, but would be pleasing to me visually.  I was standing in the store, looking at a perfectly functional and well priced cover and just decided that it was not worth trading another hour of my life looking for another one.  Purchase done.

I thought that same day about what I did want to trade an hour of my life for, and it was having coffee with a neighbor.  It may not be life changing, but certainly a better investment than looking for a sassy phone cover.

I think too about emotional and spiritual states and the time we trade for them.  Not that I believe we can (or even should) fully "choose" all of our emotions... I think they are designed to tell us things and to harness for good...but to the extent that I can choose to forgive or not forgive, to be angry rather than grieve and move forward, to choose fear instead of openness... which do I want to trade the irreplaceable hours of this gift of my life for?

Isn't time odd?  It is a Pandora's box of mystery and implication about physics and the spiritual.  The enormity of the mystery can almost overwhelm me.  But the grounding, the daily application for me is that I am given this minute, this hour to live, to spend, and that in most situations I am given the privilege and responsibility to decide how to invest it. 

I have contemplated and jotted thoughts on this before.... I must be in a place where I need to think about it again:)   Here is to spending our hours and days well.  Cheers!

Fresh, simple green...Spring is Calling!

No Wax, Clear Wax, and Aging Cream

All three of these chairs are painted in the same color (CeCe Caldwell's) paint.  Left to right:  Aging Cream over clear wax, Clear Wax, no wax.

This next pic shows how Aging Cream (applied after clear wax) really highlights and ages the turned wood, giving it a lovely Old World appearance.

The Kirstin Table

 

 

CeCe Caldwell's Paint Made Easy Basic Skills Class in Littleton

Long overdue photo of the table!

Between getting ready for the relatives coming for Christmas, skiing with the crew over the holiday, and then suffering from the nasty, post-holiday cold, I am long overdue on posting the 'after' pic of the once orange wood table.  I love it now!  Even better, it was a quick transformation.

I did a custom mix of CeCe Caldwell's mineral paints, followed by clear wax and then aging cream on the legs and skirt... then a quick brush on of CeCe's Satin Finish for extra durability.  On the top of the table, I used the same paint.  I then put several coats of an extremely durable (and very stinky BTW!) poly/stain product from a big bx store straight over the paint on the table top.