Happy New Year!
Happy New Year y'all! Lose weight, get in shape, eat better, work harder, stress less, go to church, what else ya got for a resolution? Me, no thank you! This will be the first year that I choose not to resolute the madness (I'm not sure if resolute is a word but it sounds so professional)! Reflection though, seems likely! It has been an amazing year. Lot's of change, lot's of emotion, and lot's of personal and professional growth. My plans? I am just planning on growing, learning, developing, creating, and loving my family and friends... that's what will keep me healthy and happy this year. Oh yeah.... I'm also going to paint my tail off! I'm going to paint furniture, paint walls, paint canvases, just paint because that's what I love to do!
I would love to hear from you. What are your plans for the new year? Are you making resolutions?
We Made It!
Hey Y'all! We made the move to Texas and boy has it been an adventure!!! This is a picture of our arrival to our new house. David had never seen the house in person so it was extra exciting for him!
A new year, a new life... that's been my featured hashtag on instagram for the last few months. Well let me tell you, it is turning out to be a very true statement. We made our move to the big State of Texas, really not knowing what life would be like for us. As it unfolds, we are liking it more and more! It's a big change, but the discovery has been incredible! As of yet, I am still unpacking and organizing so have had no time to dive into my work, painting, and figuring out just who I am out here... but I have to say, that I am loving, my new, slower pace, the daily discoveries, and yes, I am loving (so far) the Texas weather. Today I will share some pictures of Cross Roads Texas, the small community that we landed in. We live in a newer home, but in a development that is surrounded by nature and farm land. We are so blessed to be slightly removed from the hustle and bustle, but still have quick access to the fun and excitement that the Plano area has to offer.
David had never seen our house in person, so this was a very exciting moment.... we just had to capture it with a selfie. Most of the houses in this area are made of stone and brick... being a mid-westerner, I love me some brick!!!
The very first thing that catches your eye when you walk into our house is the lake in the back. It's called Tannery Lake, and is a true reservoir to Lake Lewisville. It is said that it is the best bird watching lake in Northern Texas. I have seen cranes, red-winged black birds, cardinals, pipers, and ducks... the little guys don't like to pose for pictures though. LOL.
Ugh... no more make up, no more pretty smiles... just boxes, paper, and way too much stuff!
Blessed!!! This is the reward after our first day of unpacking and cleaning. I have always heard the Texas skies are amazing... after 10 days of this ever-changing view, I must say that I agree. I am trying to promise myself never to take this for granted!
There is a wonderful walking path all the way around the lake. It's so fun! Neighbors walking their dogs, joggers, kids playing. Every now and then you'll find these wonderful little rest stops. I had no idea how cool this was, as I had not seen this part of the lake when we purchased the house!
Just another view of the lake with our house in the background. It's quite brown now, but in a month everything will start turning green!
Talk about discoveries!!! When David and I were taking a stroll around the lake Saturday morning we saw this. It appears to be an old horse hitch... now those of you who know me, know that I love old chippy paint. It amazes me that this is just here in the midst of the trees, untouched for who knows how many years. How rad is that?
This sign is right outside our neighborhood, across the street at the entrance to the cutest farm. I sent this picture to David while he was working... he replied "Please Don't". LOL!!!
The chick selling farm!
I went exploring down a street, right outside our development called Historic Lane. This is what I found!
Some happy cows...
and some pretty cool farm houses! I hope you enjoyed the Cross Roads Texas tour. As we settle in, I will continue sharing my adventures, work, and play. Until then, take good care!
How To Get the Crackled Look on Your Chalk Painted Furniture
This beautiful crackled happened naturally... probably due to lots of Pledge!!!
So here we go... let's talk about aging. While, we struggle to defy the aging process when it comes to our own personal beauty, why do we love, love, love aged crackly furniture? BECAUSE IT HAS MORE CHARACTER!!!! Funny, huh? Guess what? I do believe that when I look into an aged smiling face of a beautiful older woman, I see stories, I see character, and I see lot's of interest. So let's face it ladies... Aging is rad!! I know I am a heck of a lot more interesting now than I was 20 years ago!
So let's talk furniture. Sometimes we are super lucky to find that piece of furniture with the perfect chippy, aged, crackled look. But what I love most is finding a free piece of furniture. My neighbors give me furniture often, but I dumpster dive for sport! I have found, the best places to dumpster dive are apartment buildings (when people move they just stick unwanted pieces in the trash) and industrial parks. See below for some of my dumpster dive finds!
This amazing chest was found in an apartment dumpster... it looked gray when I found it... I put some CeCe Caldwell's Endurance on it and the dusty gray paint turned red!!!! Wow!
So, now that we are clear... old is good, old is great, old is in!!!! How do you get that look? Well there are several ways! Everyone can distress by sanding and pounding on painted pieces to make it look old. With CeCe Caldwell's Chalk + Clay paint you can sand using sand paper (play with different grits to get different effects), or you can wet distress with a kitchen scrubbing sponge. Simply dampen the sponge and use the rough side to rub off paint from pieces (before waxing or clearcoating) and then wipe dry with the sponge side! Easy peasy! The piece below looks natural, but it was actually distressed using this method... Gorgeous!
CeCe Caldwell's Duck Blue with wet distressing
Another method, and my personal favorite, is crackling. Furniture will sometimes crackle itself when exposed to the sun, heat, and lot's of cheap furniture wax. I personally am over-joyed when a student in class paints a piece and the paint naturally starts to crackle. But sometimes, only in the painting world, we want to speed up the aging process. Creating your own crackle is easy! Now you can go to your craft store and buy Crackle Medium for about $15, or a specialty paint store and pay $20- $30 for it. Or you can do what I do and buy a big jug of generic school glue for $5, pour a little in a container... add a little water and wallah! You have crackle medium. How did I figure this out? I smelled the medium that I bought for $30 and it smelled like kindergarten.... really! Below are a few pictures of pieces that I have applied crackle, and one with a natural occurring crackle that happened in class!
This piece was painted in CeCe Caldwell's Windsor Blue. I used sand distressing, wet distressing and my magic crackle potion, and then added some aging cream.... yes, aging cream!!! LOL
When using your crackle potion, simply put it on liberally in some spots and more generous in others.... this is key, because crackle usually doesn't happen all over a piece in the same pattern. While the crackle is still wet, just lay the paint thickly over the crackle, resisting the urge to brush back and forth. Step back, and watch the magic happens as the paint dries!
These wood samples where all completed with CeCe Caldwell's Paints and my crackle potion. On the white board, I added a little crumbled up canning wax along with the crackly, do give it even more character. After the paint dried, I scraped the wax lumps off and then added a dose of waxing cream. This is Beauty to me!
This most beautiful crackle appeared naturally during a paint your own piece class. We just added a little aging cream to highlight those beautiful wrinkles!!! :-)
Kim and I found this beautifully aged table in a dumpster... we use it today at Studio Vintage...It was just perfectly aged! This is not trash!!
I hope you enjoyed this post! I know I did... and I am starting to feel pretty good about the last year I am about to enjoy in my 40's. If you have any questions please email me and I would be glad to talk with you!
Cara