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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sand, Surf, Saltwater and Sun

It finally reached the 90's here (more on that and our poor little garden the next post). 90 is going to feel wonderful about the middle of July when my family gets together in Galveston, TX, to play at the beach, in the middle of July, in Texas, did I mention it will be in the middle of July....in TX?

So, to psych myself up for this adventure, I've painted a few beach-themed signs for my update this month on TDIPT. You can visit my page here: Pear Tree on TDIPT



But, before you go, I'd like to show you how I made some of these new offerings ~*~*~*~*~


I am in love with old weathered barn boards. They just appeal to me for many reasons and they look cool too! :) So, I thought I'd try to replicate their "look" in a condensed version. I found some craft sticks in my stash of supplies. (Not really sure why I had those, can't even remember buying them, but they came in handy for this project).




I had my handyman cut 3 x 4.5 pieces of hardboard (the kind of board in the back of cabinets, and sometimes used for peg boards). This was approx. the length of my craft stick...they peeked over the edges of the board just a bit, but that was my plan! :)

Since all my pieces were wood, I used wood glue to adhere the sticks to the board. (Much stronger glue!) Then, I let them dry and painted them with one coat of acrylic white (I think it was FolkArt Vintage White). Then I sanded heavily! :)

I also sanded the edges of the boards where they extended past the hardboard. This gave the craft sticks, a "weathered board" look.

I drew my design on the boards and painted them, then sanded lightly this time.

Then, I applied a matte sealant and drilled holes for the jute to be threaded through.



Fun project!

The other item I have for the update is a little girl headed to the Beach! She is hand drawn onto a maple board that has a "custom" mix aqua/ blue sea color for the background.




So, to the beach we go!

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! Have fun and please stay safe!


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Refresh, Renew and Restart

Hi~

Okay, just don't look at the time stamp on my last post. I know you are tempted, but don't look! It's embarrassing! I've been "blogging" since 2007 according to my blog account,  this past year has been the worst as far as keeping this blog up and running.


 I know I have "egg on my face" from the embarrassment of not keeping up with this blog; but, I've made you a little photo collage of an "egg with a face" instead! :) 
Egg donated by one of our chickens, artwork made using fun Photobucket features!)



Refresh: No excuses, although there are many! Okay, I guess the biggest reason is that once my oldest child became an adult (legally), life seemed to get more complicated, not easier. If you've read about my family on this blog, you'll know that my husband and I have two sons; both with high-functioning autism....and life can get crazy! Oh, and we home schooled both of them. And, now that one has graduated, we have one left to go. He will be a senior in the fall. Wow, one more year of high school for both of us! Yippee!

Uh-oh, sorry, I said I wasn't going to give excuses! Well, I guess that was more like a reason.


Renew: So, "Hi", Welcome to my blog. Thank you for finding me on the web and for taking the time to visit. My name is Suzanne and I love to paint, it is my "sanity" time. And this blog is about sharing my paintings, and occasionally my painting process (if I don't think it is TOO boring!), sharing our home-improvement projects on our little "Colonial Cottage", as well as life with our boys, dog Molly, and three chickens!

If you want to know more, or wonder what else I do in my free-time (Ha!), please click the "About" tab just under the banner (header) of my blog.

Restart: Tabs?, About Page? That's new. Why, yes, yes they are. Did you notice any changes to the blog? I've been "refluffing" (I suppose I could have used that "re" word too! :) My website: www.peartreeprimitives is no longer in use. My site was run on my Mac via MobileMe as the publisher. MobileMe is no longer a publisher as of June 30th, so...I either had to find another publisher for my website, OR just drop it.
Since I really didn't sell very much through that site (and b/c it cost money!), I've decided to use this blog as my main website, thus the "new look".

(I will be keeping my domain name, just in case I ever want to use a separate website again. Or, after awhile, I may mask this blog's url with my domain name.)

So, now you know, and probably more than you even had questions about! :)
Please click around and see if you can find any "boo-boos", or let me know if it is too confusing or difficult to navigate. I would appreciate any feedback!

And, stay tuned for another "new" venture. I'm trying to finish up a painting for a customer, (I'm really working on it, Debbie!) and simultaneously work on a new venue for my painting. HINT: If you click through the new pages, you may discover what I'm referring to before I actually post about it!

Oh, and one more thing, if you are on Facebook, come be my "friend". I'm not on there very much, but occasionally I'll post a photo of the "girls" (our chickens) or other silly family things:

 https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.peartreeprimitives

Thanks again for visiting!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Pattern, Preferences and Passions

Whoa? Two posts within a few days of one another? How unlike me lately! :)

We had a pretty, sunny day today (not especially warm, but it was sunny), and the sun made the house bright and cheery. So, it inspired me to take some quick photos of simple vignettes around our living/dining room. Of course, the dust on was brighter too, but hopefully you'll overlook that!

You'll probably see some Patterns (simple backgrounds), Preferences (uh, just about "white" everything! Walls, shelves, furniture, lol) and Passions (shoe forms and old wood!).

Let's start at the front door, or the wall beside the front door.....here I have a spoon rack that used to be painted black (don't worry, nothing I've painted was ever an "antique"!) I painted it white-ish, then distressed and rubbed some antiquing stain on it.



Cute little baby shoe forms, tiny books and old keys placed in the tops of the forms...."just because!" :) Kinda makes them look like wind-up toys.



Now walk on over to the farthest wall where my desk sits....only showing you the top of my desk, 'cause the inside is kinda messy! Oh, and my talented husband made my desk for me. I love the wood stain, so it didn't get painted white! :)



Another shoe last. I love that this one easily holds a few books. I've also used this one as an easel for a small painting.



On that same wall are two tall bookshelves. We've painted our bookshelves, you guessed it, white~ with antiquing and distressing, of course!




More shoe lasts/forms!...See a pattern, or passion? :) And, yes, the books between them touch the top of our ceiling.



Tucked inside one of the shelves is a sheep sitting on some books with wood block letters that spell "BAhave" in front of it. Or, you can flip over the "A" and it becomes an "E" and then is spells "Behave", which is what I SHOULD be spelling at all the time!




Now look to your right and you'll see another painted, distressed and antiqued white shelf....I don't think I used the same "white" paint on any of the pieces, except the large bookshelves, so it all looks different, but the same! lol!


Yes, another one of those shoe thingys!

A vintage postcard for spring sitting in a painted candle sconce that my husband made many years ago. What? Is that a creamy white, almost tan color on that candle sconce?! Ha!



Hmmm, I'm thinking I would like an old wire birdcage to sit in the empty space on the buffet. I've been hoping to find one at a thrift shop.



And speaking of "finds". Today, I stopped at a fun shop called Good Goods. If you live in the Boise area.....you NEED to visit this shop!
She has SO many fun items...but, I had to "BAhave" myself and I walked out with this...the wood part or frame of an old mantel clock. How fun! I've put it on top of one of the larger bookcases and I plan to paint a little painting or silhouette, etc. for the inside. Oh, and the little wire easel came home with me too and if fits perfectly in the clock frame.



Side view of the clock frame.



The cute little wire easel.

That fits inside the clock frame opening.




Today is our first day back from Spring Break....back to the books (or computer, since we are enrolled in an online school!) We made a really quick trip to Washington state to visit family over our Spring Break. When we got back and looked through all of our mail...I had a letter from Early American Life:


They were gracious enough to include me in the Artisan Directory for another year. The 2012 Directory will be in the June issue~ so if you aren't a subscriber, please follow the above link to their site and find out more!
Thank you EAL!

Thanks for "vignette viewing" with me!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Buzzzzzzzzzz


It might seem like an infestation of Bees over on my TDIPT page this month.
But my bees don't sting and they are really very quiet.

This month I've painted a bee and a beehive in sepia on wood board. The paintings resemble flour sack cloths.....I love the look! It looks "vintage-y", "cottage-y", aged, prim, and rustic with the colors used. Click this link to view the bee paintings: Pear Tree on TDIPT (if you still see some bunnies after 9PM tonight, just refresh your page).


~**~**~**~**~



One of the projects on my list for spring is to clean out the garage! Why does that part of the house get SO messy? Every year it needs to be reorganized, well, no "Gutted" so it can be reorganized. This year, I'm sure to have the "help" of our chickens.....they just may need to be penned up while we clean!
My husband and I would like to clean it out to use as a workout room.....I'll post more on that later.

I'm feeling the need to clean out some of my paintings too...so, I invite you to a "Spring Fling" over on My Etsy Shop. Everything is 20% off for two weeks: April 1st- April 15th.
(If you are reading this on March 31st, you can go ahead and use the coupon.)

When you add an item to your cart and are checking out, just type in the code SPRINGFLING in the coupon code box and it will give you a 20% off discount from the item(s). Shipping stays the same,....but, I've reduced some of the items and with the 20% discount, it will be like getting free shipping! :).

If you have any questions, or you aren't signed up to use Etsy....just email me (on the sidebar) and let me know what you would like and I'll give you the discount.

Thanks for stopping by, and here's to a "CLEAN" spring! :)

Monday, February 27, 2012

March Update and other ramblings

Well, it looks as if I'm not getting better at blogging this year. It is March already and time for updates on TDIPT. With March comes spring, (and St. Patrick's Day)....which means veggies, flowers, shamrocks. :)

This update, my offerings have a spring theme. You can find Earnest and Esther Newberry holding carrots over at my TDIPT page: Pear Tree on TDIPT (this page will be updated later this evening, approx 9PM EST).

(I thought the Newberry's were very "spring-like"; so I made them my new banner)

And you can see the Irish Shamrock I've painted for St. Patrick's Day there too:




Here is the shamrock in the frame. It is sitting on a bookshelf in our living room. (Yes, we have a lot of books.....if I zoomed out, you would think we owned a bookstore :)



And, TDIPT is celebrating our 5th Birthday with a give away. Please visit our blog to sign up for the drawing starting March 1st:

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A New Year


Well, this is embarrassing......it is a little late to wish you a Happy New Year, but I hope you've had a good start to your new year!

We had a nice Christmas and New Year.....and then January happened. Lots of medical issues, health issues and the dryer died. That about sums it up!

Glad to see February here with answers to medical and health issues, and possibly a new dryer, lol!

And, it is also update time on TDIPT.

For the month of February, I've made a few things:

~Love Bunnies~

(my sons cringed at this name....I know it is kind of silly~ sweet, but it fit!)


(See them here: Love Bunnies on TDIPT)



~Beatrice~


My first Wall Doll of the year. Beatrice wears her heart on her apron, lol!

(See her here: Beatrice on TDIPT)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas


"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

This year, for our church's Christmas Eve program, I drew something with a Victorian theme in mind.

I hope you and your family experience many blessings this Christmas. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Suzanne