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 ollalieberryolallaberryolalliberryollalaberry 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




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. 























Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Darrielle at D.D.'s Cottage and Design! 


Linking up with:
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!




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