My Baby Boy is Back

Plane arrives

Stepping off plane

Check out the Luggage, totally worn.

With Mom and Dad

After two years away, my youngest son got home today from his mission to the Philippines.  He looks good, but a bit thin. Look at that big smile. He is a happy kid. And we are happy parents.

French Chair Part 3

I finally finished!! Happy Dance. It has taken me way too long to finish this project. But in my defence, I have had many other things going on in my life. Two babies born, trips must be made to spoil said babies, gift also must be made for beautiful babies. Love my babies. Anyway on to the rest of the post.

I originally had planned on covering this chair in drop cloth fabric, but then found this awesome fabric at Joanne's with 50% off so was affordable. Then I was going to trim it in an off white gimp but found the black in my stash and after doing it decided it was too much. However, after living with it for awhile decided I made the right choice, I love the contrast. Hope you do too.

So here is a recap, this is what it looked like before:

And now. YAY.

I am sharing on these blogs.

French Chair Part 2

It has been so long since I have posted. Can't figure out where the time has gone. But have had two grandsons and visited one since my last post. Now off to visit the second one. I have been working hard on this chair. It has not been an easy piece. I really thought it would just take me a just a few days and would be finished. The painting was the easy part. I bought it at a yardsale and the person I bought it from had taken all the fabric off to redo it herself and then didn't. So I did not have any way of knowing how to put it together again. So a word to the wise, always save the fabric when you take a chair apart and take notes on how it was put together to save yourself all the stress.

Just to refresh your memory, this is what it looked like before:

Some of you said you thought I should remove the old seat and stuffing and replace it. So glad I took your advice. Under this nasty thing I found,

This nasty thing. Some kind of grass or straw. And full of dust and who knows what else. 

 On top of this layer was some really nasty cotton batting, that grey stuff, which was also full of dust. 

And under it all was this nasty looking burlap with the springs poking through.

Into the trash with it all and on with some new foam and batting.

I used 2" foam and cut it out with a serrated knife, a bit larger than I thought I would need. Just in case I got it a bit small so I did have to do a bit of trimming, but that is always better to have it a little too big than too small.

I then added quilt batting over the foam to give it a bit more softness and to protect the foam.

Tacked that down with a few staples. 

Then on to the fabric. I got this great fabric at JoAnn's at 50% off with another 10% total purchase coupon. So it didn't cost too much. 

So far the hardest part has been figuring out how to put the back on. I have gotten this far and will post the finished product very soon, I promise. The biggest obstacle I am running into with this chair is the fact that the wood is very old and very brittle. I have broken a few chips out of the back stapling the fabric on. There isn't much space and with all the staples it is a real problem. I am hoping to figure out how to finish it off without breaking it further. So if any of you have any great suggestions I would love to hear them. I have checked out numerous websites such as MMS and feel I am heading in the right direction.

Painting for Baby Oliver

Well the time has arrived. We have another sweet grandchild. Oliver was born on Feb 7. He weighed almost seven pounds and was 19" long. And he came a whole 10 days early! He is beautiful as all babies are and looks just like his daddy. I finally finished the last painting for him so I can take them all with me when I travel to meet the new little guy. This makes grandchild #11.

 Cute little owls for the sweet little one. The baby shoe is for sale in my Etsy shop. 

For anyone interested in an owl painting for themselves let me know, they were very fun to do. Can't wait to meet this newest little guy, but poor Nanna will have to wait until next month when Poppa and Nanna have time off from work to make the long drive down to LA to meet him. Until then, there is always Skype!

Goodnight Sweet Prince

I have not had a chance to finish the chair I have started but did want you all to see what I have been working on. I got sidetracked by a project requested by my sweet DIL in LA, who is due to have our sweet grandson next month. These are two of four paintings she requested.

She has decorated the nursery in Owls so she wanted Nanna to paint some for her. I can't wait to meet the new little one. She is not the only DIL who is expecting. We will be having another sweet grandson born to our son in Seattle. The cousins will be born within days of each other. What are the odds? And at different ends of the country too. Poor Nanna won't know which direction to go first.

 Good Morning Sweet Prince.

Good Night Sweet Prince.

So what do you think? Will the sweet prince like his new owly pictures?
Sorry for the bad display of said pictures but I was in a hurry to get this up.

Antique French Chair Part 1

Like everyone I am busy, busy, busy these days. I am not as good a blogger as most, but I am trying to post more often but don't always have a project finished. That is why I thought maybe I would post a half finished project. I have had this French chair in my garage for at least three years awaiting her turn to be made over. Unfortunately the person I bought her from had already removed the fabric so I won't have a pattern. I think I will be able to figure it out though with the help of some great blogs out there.

Pretty huh?

This is one very old chair, no staples anywhere, only tacks. Even though at first glance you may have thought she was ready for sanding and painting. NO not so. Two hours and some very sore fingers later, the tacks were out!

 Here are a few of the many tacks I pulled. They were so old and rusty some of them came apart and I couldn't totally remove them. 

Already looking better after a good coat of DIY off white chalk paint.

And a coat of DIY teal chalk paint.

Some dry brushing of off white.

And a bit of distressing. 

Next up antiquing and recovering. But she already looks so much better. Not sure if I am going to rip off the ugly covering there or just cover it up with more padding and some muslin before I put on her pretty dress. What do you think?