New signs and crazy weekends!

One of the things I love most about painting a special piece are the stories behind them.

It's always an honor and a blessing to play a small role in them.

Thank you for sharing.

The chalkboard inspired wedding signs have been a big hit.

This one is just a bit different from the last one.

Trying to catch up before our girls road trip, I needed a break!

The Crawfish were calling my name!

Hands down, this is my favorite food!

NOTHING.... compares to good weather, a healthy family and hot crawfish!

The smell ......if I could bottle it I would.

It's that good!

Mushrooms are like little sponges, they soak up all the yummy juices.

Have mercy!

No editing on these photos...

It's the real deal.

We all find our place around the table.

Do a quick (silent) search for the biggest claws..LOL

Have our favorite drink close at hand.

And DIG IN!

Throw in a huge Catholic wedding and your weekend is complete.

My cousins daughter got married this past weekend and what a beautiful wedding it was.

After the wedding we went straight to the reception.

Close to our table was a photo booth...

We tried to act normal...

But something about a photo booth just...

Brings out the crazy in you...

Now if you made it all the way to the end of this post..

Bless your heart!

I'm packing today.

So far, no sick kids and no blown tires although I do have poison ivy LOL

Much Love, Susie

Country Living Fair!

I held it in as long as I could....

My norm is to just blab everything and then I jinks myself with a sick kid or a blown tire.

But I could wait no longer!

Besides...I don't believe in jinks anyway LOL.

Here's the scoop.

My sister and I will be leaving Thursday for Austin Texas. Yeehaw!

They will be hosting the Country Living Fair (27-29) this weekend!

You can read more about it here

Pulled pork is calling my name...I love Texas!

Over 100 plus vendors for shopping...I love Texas!

We hope to meet up with Sarah Gray Miller and see a few other editors...excited!!

and Cooper Boone..

and just maybe have a chat with Brent Ridge from the Beekman Boys!

My sister got to meet them both in New Orleans.

She's still braggin' LOL.

You can see the schedule of events here

You know me...

It doesn't take much to get me excited.

I'm pumped just to snag a T-shirt or two!

If any of you are going I would love to meet ya!

If any of you have ever been and have some good advice, I'd love to hear ya!

OK... you know I would love to chat all day but this girl has got to catch up on her painting, clean house, bathe dog, keep my family away from germs, watch out for nails, pack.....

I hope to see you there...

much love, Susie

just keep pedaling....

Have you ever had so many ideas or projects on the brain you could just burst?

I do.

In fact, I have a mental list of to do's at any given second.

Problem is...limited time.

I'm sure you can relate ;)

So what do I do when I need to take a break?

I create. I paint. I just keep pedaling....lol

I have always had a love for vintage bikes (with big seats).

Wanting to incorporate a bike somehow, I came up with this!

just keep pedaling....

I'm adding this one to my shop too.

On another note...

Kaylee and I took a Zumba class for the very first time.

Oh. MY!

Have any of you every tried it?

I don't want to give up but Geeze.... I stink!

Not literally. I think.

just keep pedaling....lol

much love, Susie

Vintage Chalkboard Inspired Art

This weekend I have a wedding to attend.

I love weddings.

I love cake!

So I wanted to make something extra special.

Something out of my box.

A vintage chalkboard would be cute. Right?

But.

Chalk doesn't last. Boo.

So I went with an idea that I had...

I went forth and made a real chalkboard.

I studied how it looked. How it felt.

How the chalk dusted over the board.

And I washed all of my work away...LOL

Above is the finished "real" chalkboard.

I then put my newly learned skills to the test and recreated "the look".

This time instead of using chalk I used paint.

It took some do'overs but I did it!

I made the ever so popular "chalkboard look"  permanent.

Would this not be oh so cute for a garden wedding??!!

No worries of someone walking up and rubbing it to see if it's real chalk.

We all have those cousins...LOL!!

After the wedding...

A sweet reminder of your special day to hang on your wall.

I just hope she likes it too!

I think I will be adding this design to my shop!

If you are interested you can email me here.

susanh@eatel.net

much love, Susie

DIY Shabby Mirror

I have a new DIY to share with y'all today.

My inspiration came from Rhoda's post here.

She is always finding the neatest shops and treasures.

I LOVED this mirror!

So I started with my basic design from a previous mirror DIY.

It consist of a 24"x48" piece of birch found at Lowes and a mirror from Wal Mart.

I marked just where I wanted my mirror to go.

I then used some poplar strips to make planks. 

(also found at Lowes)

 You will have to cut a few down to smaller pieces to fit.

You can see here how I had to cut some down to size.

Using some liquid nails, I glued my mirror in place.

I then started to paint some watered down gray paint onto my planks.

This will help give them that aged look I so love.

Randomly, I added some watered down colors.

Any color would work.

These are just a few of my favorites.

After my paint dried, I sanded my planks and added a bit of stain.

I also cut some screen molding to fit around the mirror.

This will cover any boo boo's you may have.

Keep in mind rustic.

I then glued my planks and molding down.

You may need to add a few nails to hold em in place.

I think the nails just add to the rustic'isty :)

Love~

Blurry a bit but wanted to show you how it looks here.

I love how I can change a room from fancy shabby to rustic shabby in just minutes.

I have a spare room now and tried it out in there.

Hmmmm... maybe?

I then moved it into my studio.

Here again, fancy shabby meets rustic shabby LOL

I love that my house can just roll with it.

Not sure if rustic shabby mirror will call this room home.

Nothing like having to look at yourself all day painting.

Not. LOL

I'm sure it will find a place soon.

Much love, Susie