Saturday 22 February 2014

Sweet Dreams complete!

I'm just so excited this morning to share with you a completed bed. 

Remember this one? 
I picked it up last week, you can read that story HERE (Sweet Dreams X10)

I had it done, but waited till this morning to take pictures. 
Here she is! 

The new owners have escaped Canada for a warm Mexican vacation...so they haven't even seen the pictures yet. But I couldn't wait, I had to share with all of you. (shhhh don't tell on me) 
 I used a combination of "provence" and "paris grey"..a glaze and then slight distressing...and I mean very sight.

 Look at that foot board.

 I showed my husband and told him I could die happy if I could sleep in this bed.

 I taped off this section of one of the side rails. This bed was signed by the maker...at some point before 1871. So I kept that for the new owner.
Drool worth bed...
Picking up my chin and moving on. 
I will cry when this one leaves. 
I really hope my clients daughter has many sweet dreams sleeping on this dreamy bed. :)

Thursday 20 February 2014

Getting ready for spring.

I don't know about you, but I'm so sick of winter and snow and cold and being stuck inside. 
I'm dreaming of sitting out on my deck in the evenings and enjoying a glass of wine while watching the dogs romp in the yard.
I'm dying for the freedom that involves no heavy coats but shorts and a loose shirt to catch the breeze.

Can you feel it? 

Right now we have snow, a LOT of snow. 

But I'm preparing for spring. 
Slowly...but I'm starting. 

I grabbed a couple of mason jars and decided to kick them up a bit. 
I wanted something I could use to put flowers in once the snow melted. Yes I can go out and buy flowers now..and I might, but didn't today. 

I did however play around
 I think I may add a bit of "bling" to them, but took these pictures before I could even start.

 They look really rough, but they are so smooth.

I think they are super cute and I can't wait to fill them with lots of flowers all summer long! 

Sharing:
Miss Mustard Seed
Domestically Speaking 
  


Tuesday 18 February 2014

My Brazilian Love

I don't normally talk much about ME. 
But I'm breaking that tonight. 
You see I found something I just have to share. 

Although my blog is called "Crafty in Canada" I wasn't born here. 
I was born in the Netherlands (Holland)
I came to Canada when I was a very little girl. 
At one point in my life I moved to Brazil and worked there as a missionary. 
I came back to Canada and I married, had my kids, divorced, remarried (amazing husband if I haven't mentioned that) And now work for myself. 

Before I get off track here, I want to hone in on my time in Brazil. If you ever get a chance to go there, don't turn it down. The country is amazing! So many places to see, and so very different from south to north, east to west. You won't regret a moment, I promise! 

I have so many wonderful memories from my time there. So many wonderful experiences. I literally bawled most of my flight back to Canada, I did NOT want to leave. 

While I was there I tasted some amazing foods. One was the pizza. Yes the Pizza. Very different than what is served here. You eat it with mustard. Yes I know that sounds strange, but it's awesome. 

The other food I remember is Pão de Queijo. It's a cheese bun. A flavour I just could never forget. 
I had no idea how to make these and over the years I've thought of them often, but just in passing, just a part of my past...a fond memory. 

Then the other day I opened pinterest to find something and what pops up...food. What caught my eye was the word Brazilian. 
hmmmmmm could it be? 
Was it possible? 
I mean you can't get Jabuticaba here, how could you get these amazing buns here. (note, Jabuticaba is a fruit that for some unknown reason they don't export..it's their secret and they won't share, big meanies!) 
So of course I clicked on the link and just had to try...even if they turned out awful I just had to try. 
The picture is really really bad. 
Of course I'm going to have to make more since these turned out so well. 

I could of course just give you the recipe and explain what I did, but I have to give credit to the website I found it on. 

I did change out the parmesean for an old cheddar. And I just rinsed my hands often as I was forming the balls instead of using oil. 
They do NOT taste like cheese buns here at all, which is a good thing. 
So do try them out. 
They are glutten free. 
YUM! 
Oh and just so you know what they really should look like with someone that knows how to snap more than just a phone picture.
Have fun with them, and think about your diet tomorrow :)

Monday 17 February 2014

A touch of French

Every now and again, you get inspiration from the most unlikely places. 
For this piece it was a knob. 

Not that I knew this knob belonged on this dresser.....But I knew these knobs were coming home with me. 
And I knew that one day I would find the piece they belonged to. 

Gladly it happened sooner rather than later. :) 

And I knew the dresser needed to be fairly distressed and that the top would be a different colour. 
This is so lovely I would hate for it to go into a bedroom. I think its perfect for a dining room buffet or front entrance. 
But of course it's not really up to me now is it? 
 Isn't it just perfect?
 I really think these knobs were meant for this piece, don't you agree?


And since I had mixed up this colour anyway.........
I added a couple of pieces to todays projects. 
 This absolutely adorable chair and footstool
 The chair is so solid and was just perfect for this paint.

 I tried tipping it over...but couldn't, so a child can do all kinds of climbing over it.

 And well, ever home needs a footstool or two right?

Here in Ontario, it's Family day...and I spent mine working. Which is something I love no matter what the day. :) 

Sharing: 
Coastal Charm
The Dedicated house 
Knick of Time Interiors
Elizabeth & Co.  
Ivy and Elephants 
Savvy Southern Style 
Everyday Home 
Curb Alert 
The Brambleberry Cottage 
Miss Mustard Seed 
  

Saturday 15 February 2014

Sweet Dreams X10

Once you start to redo furniture and/or redo "stuff", you start getting requests from all over for certain pieces that people want. 
I love the search. 
I love the redo
I love the reveal
And I love knowing that something I've had a hand in bringing back to life, has found a new home. 

Yesterday I was out in search of a piece for a client. 
In some ways I love doing that, but it almost never ends well. 
When you are looking for something so specific it's not always easy to find.......but on the PLUS side, you run into a lot of wonderful things you simply want to take home and breath new life into. 

Most of the time I have to leave things behind. 
You have no idea how full my basement is. Filled with projects that I need to get to. 
I really should share with you what my poor house has become. lol 

But sometimes you come across something so special you just can't leave it behind. 

Yesterday I came across one of those pieces. 

I know the quality of the pictures are not the greatest...quick snap with my phone in the store while I was still deciding. 
So many people were touching it and awwwing over it I had to grab a chair and sit beside it. I knew I couldn't take a long time because someone was bound to nab it. 
The price was way more than I've ever spent on a piece.....but I was instantly in love.
All the normal things running through my mind. "can I justify this purchase?" "would someone buy it?" "is the cost worth it?" 
Then reality sit in. 
What if it was the wrong size. Old beds were built without a "standard" This makes them much harder to refit. 
So out came my handy tape measure. 
I measured and held my breath. 
53" by 75" 
BINGO!
Perfect standard size for a double bed! 
Now to pick up my chin from the floor and see if there was any wiggle room on the price. Some places will wiggle, some places won't. 
This place didn't. 
Oh but look at those details.

 I simply didn't have the heart to leave it there.

Even the sides were perfect. 

So home it came. 
Once I had it loaded in my truck...well most of it loaded I had it commissioned.
I had to go back with my husbands truck to get the headboard and the springs.
But it's home now. 
and other than removing one nail and fixing one crack it's PERFECT!

And being a bit of a history buff I had to look up the maker right away. 
Turns out this bed was hand signed by the maker and was built somewhere before 1871 in Erie PA. 



Thursday 13 February 2014

Bathroom Beauties

Some pieces are lovely as is. Without paint. 
Yes..for someone like me who loves transforming things, I still like doing some things back to natural. Especially when a client comes to me and she is also my oldest friends. 
We met when we were only 5 years old. She might have been 6...after all her birthday is before mine and she is "older" ;) 

She is building a bathroom in her home and asked me to take on a couple of pieces she bought

 These are the pictures she sent me. The bowl on the bottom picture is crystal that has been honed to create a sink. Trust me when I say this picture does NOT do it justice. It is beyond beautiful.
I snapped a couple of before pictures on my own. But I can't seem to locate them in my thousands of pictures on my computer. How long do you keep your pictures? I'm running out of names for albums. 

The above pictures don't show how worn out the varnish was or the damage on the vanity...or even the true colour, they were rather red. 

They are now a rich walnut colour and everything is in perfect working order :) 


 The "tiger" maple came up perfectly! and now it all shines :)
 Check out this vanity now!

 I even cut out the center for her so that her plumbing would go through without losing to much storage space.
I'm sure you noticed that there is no hardware on it. That's because she wants it all to match the other hardware she has picked out for the rest of the room. 
I will have to take pictures once her bathroom is done (it's still a work in progress) 

So worth bringing some things back to their original beauty. 
:) 
Enjoy my friend...enjoy :) 

Sharing:
Savvy Southern Style
The Brambleberry Cottage 
Miss Mustard Seed 
  

Monday 10 February 2014

Monday finds :)

I love and I hate Mondays. 
I love them because they are filled with possibilities for the start of a new week. I get up with so many plan on all the wonderful things I can get done during the week. 

But by noon, my hopes are dashed as I have gotten to so few of the things on my to do list. 

But....Normally the things that have taken up my Monday mornings are things that I really needed to get out of the way.

Today was no different. 
Bonus today was going shopping with one of my wonderful clients and getting to throw ideas back and forth on decorating her home. 

Today we picked up this. 

 A damaged dresser.
 Normally I would do something like and "classic" with this, but it's going into a home theater room. Not your average home theater with chairs and a big screen. My client has a much bigger vision. She is incorporating a popcorn machine, a hot dog rotisserie, and a full cabinet with all sorts of candies. 
So this is getting an industrial make over and will hold all their dvd's, cd's, etc. I can't wait to see how she pulls it all together :) 
 She also scored this wonderful vintage chair which will get redone as well for her daughters bedroom. Now for her daughters approval and a choice of colour and material before I rip it apart.

 This has some of the most unique details. It's going to look fantastic when done :)

Then I picked up this maple dresser
This will be going to a baby that is still waiting to be born. I've discussed colour with the mom to be and a vision is coming together. 

But for now, I have to finish a vanity and dresser set...ohhh Monday where did you go. I see this week flying by way to fast.