Say hello

...to Jeanne!

Funny thing about this dresser...

At first it was intended to be a dresser for a nursery, but then I deemed it unusable because of it's condition (it was one of those oooo it's so cute, but too stinky). Then I decided that I was going to use it as a test subject for some painting and sealing techniques that I was trying out. I figured I didn't want to ruin something important, so I'd just use it instead. Once it was done being painted I completely forgot to paint the middle drawer (whoops) ... it's actually just a faux drawer because the bottom wood panel was rotted out. Then I sanded it a bit... then I bees-waxed the middle drawer... then I sealed it... then I was like, hey now... this isn't that bad looking.

Granted, it isn't perfect in it's finish. There are paint drips on the top that I let dry and some other random "completely not acceptable by my perfectionism" issues... but it did turn out pretty. So I thought, maybe I should make this into one of those planter dressers you see on covered porches that are so stinkin' cute. I took a picture with the drawers open, whipped out the Photoshop and loaded up the dresser, some random plants from the interwebz and a picture of my new-to-us front porch.

Awwwww.... isn't Photoshop awesome? I mean... isn't that cute???

Here's the plan:

1. I guess this cutie will stick around until spring time when I can stick some plants in some containers and stick them in the dresser that has been stuck on my front porch.

OR

2. If someone local is interested in her, I'll be willing to part with her for a reasonable price. :)

PS - This dresser is named after Jeanne Baret! In 1766, Frenchwoman Jeanne Baret disguised herself as a man to work as an assistant to renowned botanist Philibert Commerson on the first French circumnavigation of the globe, meaning she was the first woman to ever travel around the world! A royal ordinance forbade women from being on French naval vessels; prejudice and custom prevented their participation in science as well. Nevertheless she maintained her disguise, classified hundreds of different species of plants and in the end was never recognized for her accomplishments until now. Just recently a new plant species was discovered and dubbed "Solanum Baretiae". Found in southern Ecuador and northern Peru, the fruit-bearing vine is part of the Solanum genus, one of the largest and most economically vital on the planet. (It also includes the potato, tomato and eggplant.)

How fitting for a dresser that didn't look like what, in the end, it potentially became right?

And look atcha growing your brain a little bit today too!!

A "Knacktastic" Buffet

It's become quite an awesome tradition that every year for Christmas I thank Barb Blair from Knack Studios with a mini-replica of an authentic Knack piece. I do this because from day 1 when I began this process of restyling furniture, she has been there step by step encouraging me along and helping me when I get stuck in a pickle. If it wasn't for her taking her precious time out of her day to do this I would be L.O.S.T., and definitely not as educated as I am today about how to restyle furniture.

So this year I scoured her portfolio page on her website for the perfect piece, then I went to a local doll house store and sought out something relatively close to what I wanted to replicate. I knew it wouldn't be spot on identical, but I wanted the same type of style. In the end I picked her "Knacktastic" buffet and bought a long 3 drawer buffet from the store, some accessories, green beads and paint and went to town!!

If you are a fan of Knack you'll know that Barb just loves the odd bubble shaped vases to put single stem puffy flowers in. She also often uses books covered in white and different types of buntings in her furniture photo shoots. If you didn't know, Barb has a new book that is coming out in April called Furniture Makeovers that I know she is super excited about. Head on over to Amazon and pre-order it!!

I took all these inspirations, turned on the Photoshop, and recreated her book cover to fit one of the teeny tiny books and then downloaded a font to replicate the chalkboard so I could line the drawers. I then cut itty bitty triangles out of newspaper and hot glued them to some black sewing thread to make a miniature bunting. Then after some paint, some distressing and 3 green bead pulls later, I created this magnificent mini-buffet with the best decor accents ever!

How friggan' caaaayute is this!?!

It literally made my inner 5 year old girl squeal with glee, and as usual I had a hard time packing it up in a box and sending it to her. haha! I just loved it so much.

But alas, I wasn't done...

With the focus being on how absolutely adorable tiny things can be, I hit up my uber talented jewelry making best friend Ann Marie from Archaic Mementos. I snatched a super awesome miniature terrarium necklace with a grazing deer in it from her and added it to gift box for Barb. That thing is the bomb diggity and she has a ton more for sale on the Archaic Mementos website!!! Go snag one up before they are gone!!!

I just know Barb will "dig" her terrarium necklace, and I'm pretty sure this new mini-piece of heaven will be proudly displayed on one of the shelves in the display drawer I made last year for her. I hope you guys like it too!!

xo,

Thanks to Marian, Miss Mustard Seed herself, for the feature on

!!! :)

Watch Out 2013, I'm Comin' Atcha!!

That's right 2013, you better watch out because I have your number and I plan on owning you!! You are going to be a great year! Don't you forget it, or try to run astray, because I have so much planned...so you're gonna be a busy and successful year!!! No back talking, it's happening so you best just hush!

I'm so pumped, can you tell? I just can't wait to get moving!!

If you're willing to take the trip with me, lets reflect back on 2012...

*insert Wayne and Garth doing the "flash back" hands and sound*

At the beginning of the year I took some time off because I was utilizing a gift from my maternal Grandmother who passed away in 2011. This is her holding my now 7 year old son. She lived on the other side of the states so I'm so glad that we had this time for her to meet him. Who knows when we would be back to see her again.... Unfortunately she became ill and we never got a chance to visit before she passed.

Thanks to her generosity, I paid some bills, took care of an extensive amount of hail damage on my truck (like over 200 dents and almost $3k worth of damage) bought my Canon T3 and put some money into my business.

After all that was settled I finished up my annual "thanks for being awesome" Christmas gift for Barb at Knack. I painted her a union jack chest and made this display shelf out of a left over drawer. I was so excited because I knew that many more wee pieces of furniture would be sent to her and this would be the perfect item to display them in.

Then my friend C and I got together and made plans for her 1930's dining room. Since I started working on furniture I would drool over her set every time I came to her house so I was stoked that she finally decided it was time for a makeover. Even though it's taken longer than I expected (I have one last piece to go, which is the china cabinet) each piece turned out AMAZING. I have received the best compliments on the yellow table and the matching chairs, but the blogosphere lost it (in a good way) when they saw the orange buffet. It was featured all over the place, pinned like crazy on Pinterest and just adored by the masses. That made me feel SUPER special and made C quite happy.

When I first initially started my journey with her furniture I planned to whip right on through it, but life jumped in the way a few times and stalled me out. In March we lost our Pop, which is my husbands maternal Grandfather, to a stroke. Losing him tore our hearts in two. This is Pop with our kids 7 years ago.

Right after Pop passed at the hospital we went outside and I looked up and saw this heart shaped cloud, and before it blew away I snapped a pic of it. 

We love you too Pop.

I got back to work on C's furniture, but when summer came we decided it was time that we move on from Collinsville, IL and move back home to Missouri. So we bought our first home in St. Charles. It was hard saying goodbye to our rented home because it's where my dream of restyling furniture started, but bigger and better things called to us and in the end we are happier that we own now.

My good friend T, who I've known since the early 90's and who was our real estate agent, was pregnant through our whole house buying experience. In fact, I hadn't seen T since probably the late 90's and thanks to Facebook we reconnected. I was so ecstatic because I hadn't seen her in years and it was like time stood still and we were the same goofy kids from back then. After we moved in T wanted me to restyle a wardrobe for her baby Tallulah. It turned out very pretty and little Tallulah made her wonderful appearance the day after Christmas!!! She's B-E-A-yooootiful!!!

And as if the year couldn't have got any better, I was blessed to meet and work with a new customer Ms. L!! She had another 1930's set for me to work on plus other projects that are still up and coming!! This was the first piece completed of the set, a mini-buffet!

So throughout the year I had: hardships, losses, wins, re-connections, laughs, fun with friends, frowns, a few tears of frustration, a few days I didn't want to get out of bed, a few days where the bed couldn't hold me, aches and pains, excitement, feeling humbled, struggles, successes, praises, blessings in disguise... but even though there were so many ups and downs I'm still here. I'm still pushing on, persevering and determined to succeed and grow. 

I hope you enjoyed my walk through time. There was so much more I could add, but I'm sure you're groggy eyed by now. haha! I hope you stick with me through my journey in 2013, because like I said at the top of this post I'M GOING TO OWN IT. 

Have a safe and fun New Years and I'll see ya on the flip side!!\