Come on the Garden Tour with me!

Today I went on the local garden tour.  I love going through other peoples' gardens and when they let me take all the photos I want, I get to take you all along with me!  I live in a Zone 3, borderline Zone 4 area.

This is not a wordy post, but very photo heavy - and I didn't even include every garden.

Enjoy the 2012 Kimberley Tour de Fleurs Garden Tour!

Garden fence designed and built by the owner - isn't it awesome??

I had to include this - it's the elementary school's greenhouse, isn't it adorable?

Hope you all enjoyed the tour!  Have a happy week!

Linking to these parties:
Fertilizer Friday
Tuesday Garden Party
Cottage Garden Party
I heart nap time
Serendipity and Spice
You're Talking Too Much
Homemaker on a Dime
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch
Mod Vintage Life
Cowgirl Up
It all started with paint
Wow Us Wednesdays
Clean & Scentsible
DIY by Design
All Star Block Party
Time Travel Thursday
Rooted in Thyme
My Romantic Home
the Grant Life
Feathered Nest Friday
the Charm of Home
2805 Potpourri Friday
Serenity Now
Funky Junk Interiors

I'm a Rule Breaker!!!

I've been messing around yet again with a painting from my early days.  I painted it from a photograph that I loved but never could get it to look quite right.  It's super campy and fun, but the flowers just didn't turn out and I keep working at it and working at it with no success.

Until today...

I'm pretty sure there's some rule out there that says no real artist uses sharpies...  but I love 'em!  I love the cool look I get whenever I use them to add some definition or just a dash or two of sharpness.  Oh well, I never really thought of myself as a professional artist anyway, so I'll do as I please!!!  The more years I get under my belt, the less rules matter to me at all.

So here are the before, during and after photos of my field of sunflowers painting.

YIKES!  What a mess!!

Hmmm, better but still no cigar...

CAMPY!!!!!!! 

I lightened the sky, softened the trees and used a black Sharpie to add more definition to the flowers.  I wish I could take a better photo because it looks awesome in person, but you get the idea.  Here's to breaking all the rules!

"There is no key to happiness, the door is always open."

Cheers!

Linking to:  Paint Party Friday

black and white

I'm in love... no, not with a person, with a paint treatment :).

I've begun painting over my black furniture with bone white, distressing it and LOVING the results!!  I'm ready to repaint everything black and then white again just to get that look.  No, I'm not that crazy.  I might add a few black highlights here and there to my other pieces, but I'm too tired of painting furniture to start all over again.

The whole thing began when I repainted my kitchen in bone white two weekends ago.  I have a maple slab plank that I made into a shelf last year and spray painted with Rustoleum Painter's Touch Canyon Black.  I decided it would be nicer if it matched the walls, so I painted it a semi-gloss version of the wall colour.  Then I sanded the top and the edges and fell in love.  I painted over the corbels as well - more love fest and when I hung everything up again, the love fest grew and grew:

My eyes fell on my poor Ikea Bekvam kitchen cart that has been made over seemingly endless times... and they are SUCH A PAIN to paint!!  I bit the bullet and began painting - LOVE!!

And then I painted white over a dark basket as well.

And with all the white paint, my windowless and dark kitchen is brightening right up! I can't believe how much better everything looks compared to the way it looked when I moved in.  Paint makes SUCH a difference!!

BEFORE:

AFTER

I have another project on the go that I've begun painting in this combo but I'm not going to share here.  You'll just have to wait.

Have a great week!

Linking to:
Tuesday Treasures
My Repurposed Life
Primitive and Proper
Faded Charm
Saavy Southern Style
Power of Paint Party
Jennifer Rizzo
French Country Cottage
Common Ground
Homespun Happenings
My Romantic Home
the Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring
Funky Junk Interiors
I heart nap time
Serendipity and Spice
You're Talking Too Much
DIY Showoff
Homemaker on a Dime
Between Naps on the Porch
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
Cowgirl Up
Show me what you've got
a bowl full of lemons
DIY by Design
Clean & Scentsible
Beneath My Heart
All Star Block Party
Embracing Change
August Before & After Party

pot racks aren't just for ceilings!!!

I was so excited last summer when I found a brand new wrought iron pot rack at a garage sale for $3.  I got it home and then was stumped about where I was going to hang it.  Finally I hung it over the sink and was thrilled with it.  Then I began trying to find the perfect things to hang from it and I didn't like anything.  Sigh...

I liked the look of it over the sink but whenever I hung anything on it, I found it looked cluttered instead of cute.  So I left it there and it became a shelf instead :)

Then Pinterest entered my life and I found lots and lots of pot racks that looked fabulous.  Why couldn't I figure out how to make mine look like those ones??!!

Last month I bought new lights for over the sink and the pot rack didn't work at all anymore so I took it down.   Boo!!

First thing this morning I had a brainwave.  Why don't I just hang it on the wall instead?  I whipped off the ceiling supports and decided to give up the better part of my chalkboard wall so I could hang it right beside my stove.  It was sure hard going to the office for the day and not being able to work on my project.  As soon as I got home, I got out the drill and attached the supports to the wall.

Yup, I like this!!!

Then I really got into the swing of things, using the hooks to hang knives and mixing and measuring spoons, herbs to dry and the like.  It's so handy!!

Of course it has finally dawned on me that the reason it never looked good is that my ceiling is way too low to have a pot rack hanging from it.  Live and learn!

Have a happy week!

Linking to all these lovely parties:

the Shabby Nest

Jennifer Rizzo

My Romantic Home

Chic on a Shoestring

My Repurposed Life

the Grant Life

Days of Chalk & Chocolate
DIY by Design
Overflowing with Creativity
I heart Nap Time
Funky Junk Interiors
You're Talking Too Much
Homemaker on a Dime
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Front Porch
Not Just a Housewife
Cowgirl Up
DIY by Design
All-Star Block Party
Ivy and Elephants
Clean & Scentsible
Beyond the Picket Fence
Brambleberry Cottage
Shabby Creek Cottage
Rooted in Thyme
a little knick knack

Where Bloggers Create 2012

It's officially time for the biggest linky party of the year!!

Wow, is it really a year since my last Where Bloggers Create post?? 

I still don't have a designated space for creating, I continue to use pretty much every room in my house.  My big plan of fixing up my huge shed and turning it into a studio/workshop flopped when my never-ending bathroom reno commandeered the entire space as storage for the bathtub, beadboard panels, plumbing parts, fixtures, etc., etc.  Oh well, my new studio will be my next Where Bloggers Create post!

My biggest change this year has been buying a laptop so I don't spend all my blogging time stuck in my office.  Instead I blog here:

or here:

 or here:

 or my very favourite place, here:

and I finally found a use for my favourite old door as a screen for my washer and dryer!!

and I create here:

and I hid all the canvases and framed paintings that I have no wall space for so that they aren't all toppling over in the corner behind my easel.  I hate that I have no room to hang them up, sigh...

Here are my three favourites:

and this is where I do all my building projects.  Right smack in the middle of my patio area:

and if all goes well, this will very soon be where I'm creating.

 Thanks so much for visiting!  Happy creating everyone!

Oh and don't forget to visit all the amazing creative spaces that have linked up to Karen's party: