Thankful

I am THANKFUL for:
A loving GOD that provides, always.
A supportive, loving family, and especially for my MR. and the 3 Little's (who aren't so little anymore)!
A community of friends who help hold me up when I need it most and bring me so many giggles and laughs.
Included in the above, but deserving of a special mention my fellow Prairie Pickers & Peddlers friends, Kathleen, Tammy, Suzanne, & Kirstin, that probably best understand what makes me tick!
The many Military families who serve with Courage, Dignity, and Strength.  You are ALWAYS in our prayers.
Living in a free Country, with rights and liberties we often take for granted.
A Wonderful new group of supportive friends from so many fantastic blogs all around the world.  How cool is that?!
Being able to realize a few dreams, start some new ventures, vent some creative juices.
A warm home filled with Peace and Plenty.
Good health, both my own and my family's.
Warm & Happy Memories of loved ones no longer here on Earth. 
The unwavering love and loyalty of family pets, well, at least the dog Ginger. I'm never sure how far I should trust the cats not to be plotting a revolt, but I do treasure those purrs.
New projects, new client-friends, and the excitement that comes with fresh challenges.
And many, many things that would take me a lifetime to list.

I wish you all a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.  My hope is that you are able to celebrate all that truly makes life fabulous.  Laugh a lot, hug a lot, love a lot, be Truly Thankful,  and perhaps most importantly, remember those who need us, have lost hope, or are struggling.  

Blessings to you!
Deb

A Bit Wordy

Custom orders can be so fun, but I also think the pressure is amped up just a bit.  I mean someone gives you some prize possession and wants you to freshen it up a bit.  I always worry that they really do have a picture in their mind of the end result...and what if I don't deliver.  Dadada DA. Anywho, D.S. thought she would take a chance on me and brought me 2 antique pieces that she wanted restyled.  I WISH I had thought to take before shots.  These were quite ornate with lots of roses decorating every drawer front, and flat surface, in a very Victorian fashion.  It was quite lovely, but the colors had begun to fade and it was looking a little tired.  I was given free reign once we had decided on the base color.  I have to admit to being a bit intimidated to begin.  The base is AS Chalk paint Paris Gray over Old Violet which was not a dramatic change from the warm gray that had been on the pieces.  Then I knew we needed to redecorate these pieces again.  What to do?  Numbers, stencil, resist stencil, number words, hmmm.  A friend said, "I see words, but I don't know about number words."  That's when the light bulb went off!
How about words of Inspiration?  I'm going to apologize in advance for the photos.  I was in a hurry and to top it all off, when my computer crashed it messed up my photoshop program which I still need to fix.

We reused the clients drawer pulls which were these grand brass and black pulls.  So I opted to use black on the lettering, outlined it with a gold pen.  Then I did use some stencils in other places with antiqued gold rub n buff as my paint.  I sanded both the stencils and the words back so they looked more time worn and fit in with the gentle shabby finish on the paint.  I finished these almost 10 days ago and I swear it took that long for AS Wax to really not feel tacky.  Ack!  Learning curve with the use of that I think!

The dresser does not have the large mirror attached in my photos as we were moving it to prepare it for pickup.  My client hasn't actually seen this yet, so I'm hoping she will approve of the changes!  Beware of giving the painter too much freedom!  (Nervous chuckle) 

I really wish I'd been able to photoshop these photos because it is so much prettier in person.  Next time maybe I'll paint the words "trust" me.
Happy Mid Week!
Deb
Linking to:
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/11/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link_22.html
http://missmustardseed.com/2011/11/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party/

Liebster Blog Award

Kathy at Petticoat Junktion blessed me with an award this evening!  I am humbled and greatly honored to have been found out here in this vast cyber universe.  When I jumped off my big virtual cliff last Spring I was pretty secure with the knowledge that I would have good local friends that would be supportive.  What I had no idea about was this larger community of like-minded people in blogland who would offer such wonderful encouragement along the way as I continued to experiment and grow with my furniture restyling business.  Thank you Kathy for following and encouraging me and countless others too!  Your blog is so much fun to follow and you are an amazing furniture painting guru!! 

The Liebster Blog Award is presented to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Here are the rules for participating in the Liebster Award:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

So without further ado:

Flo at Go With the Flo
Flo does the most beautiful work on her painted furniture.  She is just so uber talented, but I think what I admire most is her awe inspiring Spirit and Faith.  You must visit her blog to see how generous, loving, smart and dedicated she is.  Her dedication to the children of Uganda is truly moving.

Hollie at I'm Busy Procastinating
Hollie has been busy redecorating her gorgeous home.  She also restyles her furniture with paint in luscious colors!  I think Hollie probably caught me with her blog title.  I can so relate as nothing in my own home ever seems to get out of first gear.  I love how she shares her process.  Check it out, I bet you can relate too.

Colleen at The Painted Turtle
Colleen actually found me as she & I started our blogs about the same time with similar goals in mind.  She has some amazing pieces of furniture that she has painted, and launched a very successful first show recently.  I was struck by how genuinely she offered her support and shared her show experiences so that we could have our own successful sale.  I love that the blogs allow us to make friends around the country who share our same interests and passions.  Stop by and see how Colleen launched her business!

Betsy at Betsy Speert's Blog
Betsy probably thinks I'm some weird kind of stalker because I have never really had much dialogue with her, but I have nominated her for a couple of awards.  She is the most marvelous decorator and story teller!  I follow her blog faithfully and not only gain a lot of great decorating tips but I am highly entertained with her style of writing.  If you've not visited her yet I highly recommend you do so today.

Julie & Sharon at Vintage Shabby Chicks
I have to say that I just "found" Julie & Sharon's blog recently.  They will be big soon, trust me, their furniture redo's make me drool...figuratively, but still!  I see big success for these gals as they build their followers and business.  Stop over there and just look at their portfolio for some inspiration and ideas.  They are Fab I tell you.

There it is, and I wish I could have added about 15 more names.  This is an Awe-Inspiring place we visit every day!!  Thanks again Kathy!

Hope to have some more updated posts here very soon.
Until then...
Deb

Lost In Space & a Feature!

My house is almost back to normal after our Market sale in October and yet I'm still finding myself a bit "lost in space".  I've been working on a couple of custom pieces that I almost have completed, but they seemed to take me twice as long as they normally would.  I want to paint my dining room piano room, but can't decide on a color.  I need to find the rest of my sweaters, but they sit boxed up on a closet shelf.  The house needs cleaned...bleh. I'm itching to paint my new dining table and chairs, but haven't gotten to it yet.   In other words, I'm just spinning around and not gaining much traction here!  There is a lot to do around here with the Holidays approaching, and I feel like I'm in some kind of daze.  Anyone else out there find themselves in this strange place?  I think I need something to give me a kick in the pants!

On a much happier note, I was featured today on 551 East as a Habitat Hero for "Cupcake".  Thank you so much!!  I am thrilled to have been able to participate in such a worthy, worthy Link Party.  It makes me smile whenever I think about all the people out there helping others with something that makes them so happy to create.  It's such a win/win and fun thing!  I especially want to thank my friend Kristy who purchased Cupcake for her soon to be born granddaughter.  Her supporting my vision for Cupcake's proceeds made it all possible!  So thank you Julia for choosing Cupcake!
Check out the following blogs for more information about Habitat Hero.
551 East Furntiure Design
Primitive & Proper
Simple Home Life
Wildwood Creek
I LOVE their blogs and I bet you will too!  Thanks Ladies for hosting the Link party!

Go DRAGONS (Volleyball & Football) in District Games this week!!  And of course, Go HUSKERS!
It's going to be a busy weekend!
Deb