A Little of This and a Little of That

The timing of the Grow Your Blog Party

at 2 Bags Full is perfect.

My blog,

just turned one year old.

Participating in the party means I need to describe my blog.

I still am not sure what the blog is about.

Yikes!

What can I say?

It's a bit schizophrenic -

a little of this and a little of that.

My original thought was to use Schizophrenia for the title of this post, but I thought it might scare people away.

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Basically I write about life in our little seaside cottage.

Decorating

Some days I write about decorating and my love of primary colors,

collections,

vignettes - 

all the ways I tweak my home to make it fresh and inviting.

Other days I write about painting furniture.

Did I mention that I like primary colors?

I was not much of a furniture painter PB (pre-blogging) and I had never heard of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  

Seeing all the beautiful furniture pieces being refinished around the blogosphere has inspired me to paint up a storm.

I have to drive 45 minutes to the closest ASCP dealer, but it's worth the time and it is located in a great antiques mall.

Life Outdoors

I might write about my garden, but definitely not right now.

Even though I live in temperate southern California, it has been too cold to work outdoors and the poor garden is not showing off to her best.

I long for summer when I can spend my days digging, weeding and planting.

the dog in the foreground is our precious Dorje during "doggie playgroup"

You will definitely read about life at the beach 

and see pictures of our daily walks

or kayaking adventures.

Creativity

I might write about making pillows out of scrap canvas, 

or using the canvas to make a rug.

I will never write about making slipcovers.

I have nothing against slipcovers.

In fact I love the look of slipcovers.

But I will NEVER make slipcovers again.

Been there, done that and will let someone else experience the aching back and sore fingers.

I'm sticking to pillows.

Then again, you might read about the little books I make.

or the Valentine decorations I have been making.

One thing I will guarantee you.

You will NEVER read a post about recipes and cooking.

I do not cook.

I do not clean.

I do eat.

My husband Steve is a gourmet cook, surfer, tennis player, and artist (not in any specific order).

He takes care of me and the house while I slave away at school.

I teach school.

More specifically, I teach middle school.

 Which also means I'm crazy - you have to be crazy to teach middle school. 

It keeps me young - at least at heart.

Since Birthday Wishes are in order for Art and Sand, there needs to be a present- not for me - for you.

If you would like to win this little handmade quotation book please leave a comment.

I know not everyone is into primary colors

so the winner may request a custom book - size, color scheme and favorite quotes.

Thanks for dropping by Art and Sand.

The Giveaway will close on January 31.

Please come back on February 1 to see who is the winner.

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See all the other blogs attending the party at 

2 Bags Full- Grow Your Blog Party.

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A New Rug

Ever since I 'spiffed up' my porch, I have been looking for a little throw rug.

I have the yellow striped rug, but the porch is a high traffic area from the back yard.

I need to wash the rug every other day, so I thought I would pick up a red striped rug and a blue striped rug to switch out with the yellow.

I found this Dash and Albert striped rug on-line.

It is a little more than I want to spend on a throw rug.

While I was looking for a throw rug at Ikea the other day, Steve was home cleaning out his art storage area.

He stretches his own canvases and always has scraps of canvas.

He called to ask me if I had any use for the canvas or whether he should toss it. 

A lightbulb went on.

What if I painted my own rug?

It was a relatively fast project.

The hardest part was fringing the canvas before I painted.

It took a couple of hours to hand pull the threads one by one.

The canvas is so thick that I couldn't pull the threads easily.

I drew lines onto the canvas using the thickness of the yardstick.

I painted the first row holding a ruler down next to the line to keep it straight.

Steve suggested that masking it off would be smarter and I probably should have done that in the first place.

It took me about 15 minutes to actually paint the whole rug.

I need to let it dry, but I couldn't wait to see how it will look.

I am a little disappointed with the shade of yellow, but I am not going to paint over it.

I have plenty of canvas and lots of paint to create more rugs.

I can't wait to paint a red striped rug.

And a blue striped rug.

And maybe one with stars!

The best part of this project is the cost - $0.

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I am linked up at

CSI Project  

Primp for Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Southern Savvy Style for WOW Us Wednesdays