Showing posts with label The Cottage Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Cottage Family. Show all posts

9.07.2013

::A Photo Shoot with BH&G::


PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!
You can now find me at

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I had to wait until Big News #3 actually happened before I could post!
Back in the early summer I was contacted by a field editor from Meredith Corp about my kids' kitchen.
They'd seen the 'before and after' post I wrote after I'd helped paint their kitchen cabinets and walls and offered a sounding board for my DIL as she picked finishes.


They came on Thursday...Betsy was the stylist and will also write the copy.  She was so so great!
She brought a ton of fun stuff for staging.
I got to fill the potato and onion bins.
Oh, and that dish detergent decanter at the sink.
I'm just that talented, yo.


This is Justin, who was just thrilled that I was taking this pic.
 Besides offering his talent for taping the blind cords out of sight, he was the photoshop magician :)


This here is Warner, the main photographer who also offered me some tips with my own Canon. 
Not that I remember what he told me.


This is Warner's gear, which I drooled over.


This is my DIL's cat Bermen, who claimed Warner's gear for the afternoon.


Including this light tree as well.....


This is my DIL Andrea showing Warner how to make friends with Charlie, another of her brood.





 This is Kingsley with Charlie who thought all the cords were new chew toys....



Ok, enough of the cats....
Betsy was great at asking Andrea how she liked the staging and open to her input.
Because my DIL also works on photoshoots as a graphic designer, it was really awesome that they included her in lots of the decisions.

 (that industrial island was bought for the shoot, and the kids get to keep it!)

Here they are discussing 'tangents' and 'hot spots' and other tech speak about the first shot.
That first shot takes FOREVER to get.  They tweak the staging, the lighting, the angle, etc.
Once they get that, the rest goes fairly quickly. 


I tried to stand out of the way and take pictures of really interesting things like the messy table and cats.
(See how well I filled the onions and 'taters in the baskets back there?)


Warner and Andrea discussing another shot.....also, please notice how cool she painted her chairs!
We're hoping they use a shot that included them.


Justin doing his thing....offering suggestions on lighting and so forth as each shot appeared on his monitor.
Betsy froofs in the background.
(And there's a bit of the crendenza I showed you yesterday that I painted up for the kids.)


I managed a few artsy shots of some props and the kitchen space, but I don't want to give too much away.




Doesn't it look great?


They got the pendants from West Elm.


The artwork is Andrea's own, and I was so happy they wanted to use it for the shoot!


We had a ball, learned a lot, laughed a lot, and felt very thankful her kitchen was chosen for their magazine.
It will appear in their "Kitchen + Bath Makeovers" Special Interest edition which comes out 5-6 times a year.
We have no idea when the piece will run, but I will let everyone know when it does!


I know lots of bloggers get magazine features, but I'm so tickled that I got to participate in this one!  My kids style is very different than mine, but I was honored to help with a bit of the design and work that went into this space....and was happy that sharing it on the blog brought us this opportunity!

Now I shift gears again and start crafting for the wedding in November, painting up custom furniture orders, and picking out kitchen finishes for the new house :)  Never a dull moment.....





9.04.2013

::So, What's My BIG News?::

BIG NEWS #1:




These three pics were in my hubby's birthday card :)  Robyn Rose is 16 months old now, but will be 23 months when when her new baby sibling arrives.  Whoop whoop!
(And they'll all be our next door neighbors when the house is done)

BIG NEWS #2:


#3 daughter got herself engaged!  Here she is with my son-in-law-to-be at the Mumford concert Monday:


They are getting hitched November 3rd.
Why yes, that *is* just 7-ish weeks away.
That's just how we roll around here.  
(psssst....wanna see Daughter #1's wedding?  or Daughter #2's wedding?)
I'm armpit high in wedding planning, picking colors for the house, and helping with Robyn Rose as her momma struggles thru morning sickness.....ANNNNND I have 3 custom orders waiting in the garage and another vintage market this weekend.

Send chocolate.

BIG NEWS #3 will have to wait a couple days, but I promise not to keep you hanging too long.....


9.01.2013

::Antique Wash Stand and Dry Sink::


PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!
You can now find me at
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Peeps.

I'm so behind in showing you all my before and afters.  

Here's two of my recent faves.  First is Daisy the dry sink:


Daisy before:



I used DIY chalky paint with calcium carb in a Sherwin Williams 'Watery' Color-to-Go sample.


I used her original hardware, using some Brasso to shine them up.


I'm having a hard time parting with her.  May need to keep her as a bedside table in the new house. :)

Next up is Annie, from 1850....so says the English ironstone pitcher and basin:


Here's her original incarnation:


She was treated to American Paint Company's 'Blue Jeans', then 'Home Plate'.  I used a baby wipe to rub back the white to reveal the blue, which compliments the ironstone so well!



I have several others to show you too, but that's it for now!
I have another market coming up as well as some more custom orders to do this week, and 3 SUPER big announcements to tell you about!  My life is crazy full with awesomeness right now :)

Hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day festivities tomorrow.
Me?  I"m heading down to a family picnic then VIP tickets to see
MUMFORD & SONS!


(compliments of my brother who is their booking agent....that's him being kissed by Winston) 


5.22.2013

::A Birthday::

My baby is 12 today.


Sam got mothered by his three big sisters, and played with (an on) by 2 older brothers.  He was always a trooper.


I loves him.


So glad you were given to me Sambo.


Happy on-the-verge-of teendom baby boy!  You're simply not allowed to grow any bigger.

Sharing my boy at A Favorite Thing.


5.21.2013

::Simple Things::

Follow my blog with Bloglovin (that right there is what I have to do to 'claim' my blog, whatever that means....)

Onward.

Oklahoma.  What is there to say?  My heart hurts over the suffering and devastation there.  Even posting today seems trivial and stupid in the face of such tragedy.  I'm keeping everyone there close to my heart and willing strength and endurance to all those serving and helping and peace to all those who have suffered such devastating loss.

Here's what I did yesterday, and what I'll finish doing today as it helps my heart to work at simple things when I'm feeling heavy and helpless:

(Patchouli for a client and Almond Cream with buttermilk)

I mixed up my master batch of oils for the summer installment of soap babies.
A long while ago I did a tutorial on making soap from scratch-a-rama.
But if you just wanna buy some as soon as it's ready, visit the real soap co. I'm taking pre-orders that will ship by June 10th.

In other news, my hubster and his team got home last night after a 6 day Hurricane Sandy relief trip to NYC.




My daughter Maddie (and her hubster) went with the team.  She and her Daddy took these pics of each other in Harry Potter/Dumbledore fashion across the subway tracks..... as she was headed back to Staten Island and Hubby was heading to Brooklyn to hang out with Peter Rollins and gang.

I love that my Hubby has such a big heart and wants to help people....He'll be doing another helping trip to southern Ohio next month, and possibly travelling to Serbia in the fall.  With the tornadoes down south, I expect he'll head there too eventually.

Back to painting tomorrow.  I picked up some new MMS milk paint samples (Luckett's Green and Shutter Gray) as well as a quart of Ce Ce Caldwell's Kentucky Mint and a sample of The American Paint Co. in Home Plate.  Simple things like happy paint colors and painting old stuff help cheer me, help keep me going when I have a hard time not being paralyzed by fear of storms (some heading our way later), and the pain of others affected by things out of their control.

I hope you all can find something to do that cheers you today, done in honor of those dealing with the tragedy firsthand.

peace.





5.10.2013

::Mother's Day::

I got sorta tripped up on my latest jaunt to the Dollar Store.

People were seriously cramping my style by blocking my way thru the card section to the coveted crafting supplies.

I was all like "geeez, why's everyone all up in the card section today?"

Oh, um, yeah.

They're buying Happy Mothers Day cards for their mamas.

Mother's Day 2012, 5 generations
I won't be buying one this year.

I don't know if the people we love can still see us or hear us or whatever after they leave us.

But, Mom, if you do see me or hear me, know this:

I miss you.

I'm glad you were my mama on this earth for 45 years, 5 months, 19 days, and 9-ish hours.

And I love you.

Always.



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