The Krylon Colormaster Challenge

This is so cool - my mom is heading to Cleveland to participate in the Krylon Colormaster Challenge. She will be working with Jeff Devlin from the DIY Network and a few other bloggers to complete 24 projects in 24 hours - and you get to watch it live!


They'll be working their tushes off 10am-10pm on Friday and Saturday and you can watch it right here! (You can even sign up to get a reminder in case you forget!)

I am so proud of my mom and so excited for her as she gets to go experience this challenge! Read more about it on her blog here!

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Old School Ceramics: Christmas Tree Edition

Now that the Clauses are done, I'm working on a Christmas tree! I cleaned the greenware last week and Barbara fired it for me so that I had a nice piece of bisque to paint!

(I asked her the difference between greenware and bisque. Bisque is greenware that's been cleaned and fired and ready to paint! So that's the major difference between doing "old school ceramics" and going to a paint-your-own-pottery place. In ceramics, once the piece has been poured, you have to clean the seams by scraping them gently and sanding them down... paint-your-own places have already done that work for you and you just paint the bisque with glazes.)

The base of the Christmas tree had decorations on it and I expressed that I didn't particularly like them. Barbara told me just to sand them off the greenware, so I did! I thought it was cool that I could customize my piece! It had raised images along the base - like a wreath or rocking horse. I just sanded them down and have a nice, smooth base!


So here it is, after being fired. The first step was to paint it all over with paint (color: hemlock). It's a little difficult to get the paint in all the crevices and make sure it's completely covered.


Next time I go, I will dry brush it with a brighter color. Barbara has a bunch of different colors of lights for me to glue in and then we'll wire the base up with a light bulb. So fun!

See more ceramics posts!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

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Favorite Finds at the TN Antique Mall

Yesterday I mentioned there's a new booth at the TN Antique Mall. (I received an email from the booth-owner, Channy- I'm so glad to be connected now!)

Here are a few things I found and loved! (But didn't buy...yet!)

Of course I love crewel work and she has a few really cute pieces!

And does anyone know anything about the tree + animals wall hanging?


Very cute striped plates and napkins! Stacked on top of a picnic basket - great staging!

I zoomed around the rest of the mall to take photos of other favorite finds... I have been coveting this oil painting for quite awhile:


I could fill our walls with portraits...but I don't think Andy loves them as much as I do!

These chairs are sitting in a booth catty-corner to mine. LOVE THEM! Brown leather tufted MCM chairs? Yes, please!


It's fun to window-shop! The mall is full of fun things but these were definitely some of my favorites this weekend. Come shop if you're in middle TN!

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Thrift Reports: Flea Market & TN Antique Mall

Andy & I hit the flea market for a couple hours Saturday afternoon with our friends Bryan and Anna. It was HOT! It was almost too hot to really look at anything, you know? Like when you just kinda look around but can't really focus on anything? That's how I was feeling all afternoon!

We were on our way out when we spotted some booths outside that had some really fun industrial items. Bryan and Anna were on the lookout for something they could turn into a plantstand and they found a really cool old wire basket. I scoped out the rest of the booth and spied a table full of things that were actually priced! Hallelujah!

I picked up this tiered platter:


Cute, huh?

I also got these blocks that are below- they are pretty random! Anyone know what they're from?


Check out the green sewing box above! It matches the thread case that I found a couple weeks ago! Yesterday, I was organizing my thread in my new case and sorta wished, "I'd love to find the matching sewing box." And then I did!

I actually bought it at the TN Antique Mall (where my booth is). I hardly ever actually shop there, but there's a brand new booth in the mall that is GREAT. She and I have very similar taste and I'm really impressed with this new booth!


Tomorrow I will post my favorite items from this new booth (Booth #5) and a few other things I love at the TN Antique Mall!

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Shameless begging for votes...

Lucy goes to Camp Bow-Wow about once a week, on days when we know we'll be out at night and can't spend time with her. We LOVE Camp Bow-Wow and all the people there! They really love dogs and even if Lucy wears them out, we never know because they greet her enthusiastically each time I drop her off.

Our local Camp Bow-Wow is hosting a cute puppy contest and whichever photo gets the most "likes" wins 10 free days of daycare! If you're so inclined, please click over and like her photo to vote for our girl!

Thank you!!

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What a difference a year - make that 2 months - makes!

Last year, my mom brought me hens and chicks planted in a planter she made from reclaimed wood. The hens and chicks were from my great-aunt's garden in Michigan. After she passed away in November of 2011, her family dug up the hens and chicks from her yard before selling the house. I am so, so, so thankful they did that! The hens and chicks get to stay in the family which is very special since they originated from my great-grandmother's garden in Louisville.


We used hens and chicks from her yard in our wedding. She was too ill to make it down to Nashville for our wedding, so it was very special to me to have her there in spirit. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep ANY of the plants from our wedding alive...so when my mom brought me this new batch, I knew it was a second chance. I decided to let them live outside. I knew they could survive Michigan winters (my cousin Mary Beth even had to wait for snow to thaw in order to dig them up for us to use in the wedding!) so I figured they could make it through mild Nashville winters. And boy, oh boy, have they!!

Just 2 months ago, I took this photo:


(Note all the weeds above--hilariously, shamrocks keep growing in my hens & chicks planter--I have potted shamrocks sitting on the porch... so the bees are doing their job which makes my job of keeping the planter weeded more difficult!)

Fast forward 2 months...NOW...they are HUGE.


Can you believe they've grown so much in just 2 months?? They live outside next to our porch in the original planter that my mom made and I let the rain take care of them for the most part, but I water them when it's especially dry and/or hot.

The are gorgeous and they mean the WORLD to me. They have such a rich history in my family and they are so special to me. Now that they're almost outgrowing the planter, should I re-plant some of them? Should they go in the ground? Or other planters? Any green thumbs out there have some advice? Oh and one note- they're not succulents - I killed the first batch by treating them like succulents, unfortunately!

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Are you watching Mad Men this season?

If so, you know what I'm thinking--WOWZERS, right? This season started off painfully slow but it has really ramped up! It's getting so intense and I am LOVING it!



This season, I discovered the genius of TomAndLorenzo.com. These guys write the most incredible Mad Men recaps every Monday and every Wednesday they publish an academic breakdown of what the characters are wearing and how it relates to the themes of the season. They have really cracked the code and it's fascinating to read.

If you haven't checked them out, head over here to read their Mad Men recaps and Mad Style posts! They even did an amazing analysis of Bob Benson (my new favorite!) last week!

Tom and Lorenzo have been referring to this season as a Muppet Babies version of Mad Men, and they couldn't be more right. From Roger declaring "This is MY funeral!" when his mother's funeral didn't go the way he wanted to Ted whining "I want MY juice" to... Don Draper whining like a baby.


And I leave you with that! One of the funniest moments of the season.

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