Monday, December 29, 2014

Berry Jam







I love making jam and I made berry jam for Christmas this year.  One of my good friends wanted to make the jam with me and so it was a fun morning of jam making.  
I went to a local farm that has year-round picking of fruit and bought bags of frozen raspberries and olallieberries.
The olallieberry (pronounced oh-la-leh, sometimes spelled ollalieberry, olallaberry, olalliberry, ollalaberry or ollaliberry) is a cross between the loganberry and the youngberry, each of which is itself a cross between blackberry and another berry (raspberry and dewberry, respectively).[1]



My all-time favorite desert is Olallieberries Pie and Gizdich Ranch makes the best.  I have taken my daughter every year to pick berries and apples at Gizdich and I love the family run farm/ranch.  
Bags of frozen berries
Berries cooking! 

Cooling

We made 55 jars of jam and it turned out scrumptious! 


Home-made sticker labels




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Friday, December 26, 2014

Aqua Side Table


Right before Christmas I found this very sturdy, but dinged up side table and brought it home.  
Before:

 The table was solid wood and I thought it would look good in a soft aqua/turquoise color so I went to my "lab" (aka garage) and mixed paint until I got the color I was envisioning and made it into chalk paint.  After a few goats of paint, I distressed and sealed the table with dark wax/hemp oil.  The last step was finding an antique pull from my stash. 





















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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Darrielle at D.D.'s Cottage and Design! 
Linking up with:
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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Hark the Herald Angels Sing



I had a client bring a very large angel to me for a transformation.  Her daughter-in-law loves angels and she wanted to give this to her for Christmas.
Before:

 This angel is 3 feet tall and quite large.  My client wanted the angel aged in white tones, so I grabbed my handy dandy paint brush and began the transformation.  First, I dipped my paint brush in water and then in a small container of white chalk paint. This technique allows the paint to stay wet and I am able to wipe off any extra paint.  In some areas I wiped off too much paint, so I had to dry brush over again until I achieved a real, deep aged look.  
I think the angel might be daydreaming. What do you think?

Boxwood always makes things look better! 







Pedicure anyone?

Lovely wings!

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Empire Secretary Desk


I found this great old Empire desk at a local thrift store and I of course snatched it up quickly!  

 Before:

 The desk has great lines and legs, but was really dinged and beat up.  After giving the desk a clean I mixed up some chalk paint in Garlic Clove by Benjamin Moore and got to painting. Since the desk was so dark it took 3 coats to get it covered.  I spray painted the insides grey so that I could get all the nooks and crannies  I decided I didn't want it to be bright white, but more of an Old World White.  I aged and sealed the desk with AS dark wax/hemp oil and then distressed it.  



I am apologizing now for the poor photos-it has been raining non-stop here in N. CA and I had to quickly take this desk outside during the few hours of sunshine today to get photos.  
I added new mercury glass knobs

LOVE the legs!


Lovely storage drawers


Curved front drawers 










I love this little side detail 

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