I Grey Washed My Fireplace

For several years now I have been wanting to do something

to my rock wall fireplace.  

Here is the before picture.

The rock covers the entire wall of the living room, and just a bit around the

side about a foot.  I used to have a waterfall in it, but

 it has never worked as long as we have lived

 in our house, almost 30 years.    Thank Goodness.  Raising

kids it would have been a disaster with water in the

living room!

I finally talked Dana into letting me update the rock look.

It has been a challenge to do this, as men love rock and wood, at

least my man does.  I have always wanted to paint the wood ceiling

and that was never a go, but I did finally get the go ahead

for the grey wash on the rock.

Here we are!  Washed grey!

This was so easy!  

I used Mindful Grey Sherwin Williams paint.

I put 1 part paint to 10 parts water.

I used a 6 inch brush and brushed the watered down

paint on the rocks.

That is it!!!!

All you need is a quart of Mindful Grey, a small container, I used a

large yogurt container, and a 6 inch brush, and water!

Voila, you have all you need.

I decorated the wall just for fun so I could get the vibe of how

it will look after Christmas.  And not very good photo

but one to let me put it back together again.

Christmas soon to come.

What do you think?

Ciao,

Robin

Fall Watercolor Paintings

I have been practicing my watercolor art.

Usually I paint flowers, but I took a class a few months

ago and so I tried a few different painting

which are very out of my comfort zone.

I've been wanting to paint a window with a rocks

around it.  This is my first try on this, I'm sure there

will be many more to come, but trying to get

out of my comfort zone.

Then my daughter bought a princess pumpkin while I was

visiting her, and I decided to paint it one evening.

Oh how I love how it turned out.

I must try more pumpkins when time allows.

I wish I had painted more this fall.

But alas, this with change in time.  I will

have more time in the winter.

The yard took my time this fall while 

I was back from California.

Let me know what you think of my

try at watercolor paintings.

They are not the best, but I will

continue to practice until I get  it right.

Ciao.

Robin

Book About Home 3

Today I am sharing the rest of my "HOME" mini album.

Here is the cover of the book again, just a recap from last weeks post.

Here is the first pages of the book.

A picture of Dana and I,  

I always say "This is the house that Dana built."

You know like the nursery rhyme I remember from my

younger years, and reading to my kids.

My husband loves to do things with his hands,

to build, to create, and to work.

So we have to put a lot of credit to him for what this house is

today, because he did make it what it is today.

I used the new Saffron Sunrise embellishments for this
page, and Gina's Designs.
I will post all the papers at the end of this blog post
that I have used in this book.
This photo on the right side is the side of our house
with flowers growing in our planters.
Summer!

This is my dream house.

I love the fleur de lis.  One of my favorite motifs ever.

I took this off left over fabric that are curtains in our bedroom.

Page 2 of the book actually show our house and the 

balcony off the back of the house.

Here I have used more of the Saffron Sunrise line, and other 

papers from our product line, again these will all be

at the end of the post.

So fun!!!

Glitter Chipboard, Saffron Sunrise paper,

and a clock from our sticker line.

Page 3 of the book.

I forgot to tell you that the pages of the inside of the book are made of 

mat board.  When a center in cut from a mat for a 8x10 picture, there is the

center left over.  These pages are made from the centers of mats.

(We used to own a frame store, these are from that store,

but you can go to any framing store, I'm sure they have scads of these!)

I feel everyday like I really live in a Villa.

Again these little rectangles come from the inside of cut mats.

Just leftovers that usually get thrown away.

I put the letters Villa on these rectangles.

This is my first page that has a number,

This is from Gina's Designs, 

I fell in love with these. 

Page 4 of our book is the garage.

Our garage is detached, and for the first time in 30 plus

years, I was able to park my car in the garage!!!!

Close up of the page elements.

Page 5
The yard and gardens of our home.
Love the white lilacs in the spring.

Page 6 of the mini album.

The fountain and back of the house.

I bought the fountain without Dana, wasn't sure if he was

gonna still love me after that, but it is so relaxing for

me to hear the water run.  

I love the fountains all over Mexico and Europe.

Close up of the elements of the page.

Again, I have used the

Saffron Sunrise line for these elements.

Last page of the book,

the clip board is the back of the book.

Dana is a Johnny Appleseed.  

This is his row of apple trees in the spring in full bloom.

It is One Fine Day everyday here.

I love each and every moment I spend here at our home,

more than anything, 

I love each and every moment that is spent with Dana.

He is the joy of my life for sure.

Again the tag on front of the book.

The book completed!

How great is my joy!

So glad I could share some of me with you.

Hope you enjoyed this book!

Ciao,

Robin