Autumn Wreath

Our front porch still has the flower containers, willow chair, and wooden bench on it that have been there all summer (you can see it here).  While it looks nice, I really am feeling the need for a little fall action out there.  A friend and I had been trying to find a free evening to get together and create some autumn-splendour wreaths.  The stars finally lined up last night and we got them done.  

We started off with a table full of grasses, seeds, weeds, acorns, dried corn husks, dried chilli peppers - and two naked grape vine wreaths.

My aunt showed me some gorgeous soft grass up near our cottage that I picked a few weeks ago for the wreaths.

Here's a photo of my mother cutting some for us.  Aren't I the helpful one - holding the camera and the bag.  Thanks Mom!

I love how soft this grass is.  My aunt cut some last year for her living room and it stayed looking perfect all winter.

Anyway, back to the wreath-making.  After a few hours of cutting, and glueing, and poking bits in here and there we both had fall wreaths for our front doors.  

Here is my friend proudly holding her finished wreath -

and a close-up of her gorgeous wreath.  I love the little bundles she tied with corn husks, chilli peppers, and the japanese lanterns.

This one is mine on our front door.  The orange and red are perfect contrasts with the blue paint on the door.

My friend sewed the chilli peppers together to make a bundle which I glued on at the bottom and I used some of the japanese lanterns from our backyard.

Ahhh, doesn't that look better.  Our front porch looking a little bit more like fall has arrived.  Pumpkins coming soon, but I really have to take this fall decorating business one step at a time.

I have a feeling the whole wreath will blow away in the first strong wind so I had to take a photo of it quickly to show you.   

Anyone else make a fall wreath?  I have to say it is one economical project, since we had one grapevine wreath and only had to buy the other one ($3) and the chilli peppers ($4).  Everything else came from the roadside.

Linked to Fall Open House at Hooked on Houses
and Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple 
and Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

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Animal Findings and Summer Fun

A few days ago when I was walking Juno I found part of a robin's egg, which I carefully carried home and put on our front porch so I could admire its lovely blueness.

 Then we got ready to leave for work and school and guess who was visiting?

Can you see it over there past the edge of our porch?  How about a closer look.

No we can't see you at all, your sitting-still-as-a-statue technique is very clever.

Aren't you cute!  Now run along and eat someone else's garden.

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I have some summer changes happening here on the blog for July and August.

First, there is going to be guest posts every Monday all summer long - I'm tickled pink that every one of the bloggers I approached to write a post agreed to do so.  I'm looking forward to what they come up with. 

Second, I know I'm going to be busy over the summer and have decided that I will only be posting three times a week. When I started blogging on January 1st I decided to commit to publishing a post every weekday.  So far I have kept to that schedule and have loved it.  I thought I would run out of things to write about, but my mind is just brimming over with ideas and projects.  However, I thought I would take a bit of a break over the summer.

Finally, stay tuned for a giveaway in celebration of my 6 month blog anniversary - details coming soon.

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The Christie Antique Show

 

This past Saturday was the long anticipated Christie Antique Show - one of the biggest in Canada with over 300 vendors.  The day was a little hot but much better than earlier in the week.

It was my first time going to a big antique show and I have to say I was a little disappointed as I thought the prices were on the high side.  I think I must be more of a thrift store kind of girl as those prices seem to suit me better.   I still had fun though and spent a couple of hours taking in all the antiques.

There were tons of Canadiana things, including skis, tobaggans, and snow shoes which seemed funny since it is almost summer.
 

 This huge clock and the pretty signs were favourites of mine.
 

 I loved this booth with all the red and white kitchen things.
 

I only purchased three things - something for a giveaway (more about that later), an over-priced greeny-blue mason jar without the lid, and a wooden box (you can see it below in the lower left-hand corner).
 

 And here it is at home on our front porch.  

I heard the seller saying he made the lid and some repairs using boards that he had around and he stained it and varnished it, so I knew it wasn't a valuable antique.  Which was fine by me because I wanted it to solve a problem we have on our front porch.

We do not have an inside door to the garage and must go all the way around and open the big garage doors to put garbage into the garbage cans.  Sooo what often happens is that we toss a tied up bag of garbage onto the front porch if we don't have our shoes on, or it is raining, or ... you get the idea.  There is often a bag of garbage on our front porch waiting for the next person to go out to the garage, so I got this box to -um, cough, cough - hide the garbage in.
 

 Are you as appalled as the rest of my family was when I told them what I was planning on using this pretty box for?  Sorry about that, but at least our front porch will look tidy now.

Linked to Saturday Night Special - Old Crates at Funky Junk Interiors

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Front Porch Planters

A few days ago hubby and I planted the flower pots that go on the front porch. 

My mother made this gorgeous wicker chair about 10 years ago.   She had no room for it at her house, so I helped her out and put it on my porch.  What a wonderful daughter I am.

  I even put a pot on my new blue bench.

 

The watering can beside the blue bench was brought back from Nigeria, where I lived as a child. It was made to water like fine spring rain ... and it does.

Now we have to water and wait and watch while the plants fill in and grow - my favourite part!

Linked to Inspired By link party at The Inspired Room.

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Our Distressed Bench

I did it  - I made something old, look new, and then look old again!   Well that's how I felt this weekend anyway.  Here's the bench all purtied up -

Just to jog your memory - here is what it started out looking like, fresh from the garbage (well and it sat in our garage for 2 years, but fresh from all that) - 

Why is it that projects always cost two times as much and take two times as long as you expect then to.  I came back from the hardware store having spent $70 to fix up our "free" project.  Now I will admit that most of what I bought were things like clamps that will get used on other projects, but still....  And in order to get the project done all in one weekend, I was painting like a madwoman in the dark no less.  The things I do for my bloggy friends.

Now for the nitty-gritty step-by-step.  The first thing I did was sand the bench down to get rid of all the flaking paint.  I know some of you are sobbing that I got rid of all the chippy loveliness, but it was a bit too rustic for our house, so cover it up I did.

Since the bench was split in half, I had to glue it together and clamp it overnight.

Then I cut 2 small boards to put underneath for added support, and glued and screwed them into place.

Then I primed the bench,

and painted it two coats of blue, sanding the edges after each coat.

Then the fun began - I used a product that was a combination of stain and sealer that you rub on and then wipe off.  It was messy because it is oil based, but does the job of making your bench look old and dirty.  Here is a picture with one board just with paint and one board that has also had the stain applied so you can see the difference.

Then I had to let it dry.  All I can say, after writing all this, is I know why no laundry got done this weekend.

I love the toned-down blue and the bench looks really happy on our front porch.  Now we just need to get going on planting some flowers.

Here's a few more photos for your viewing pleasure.

The End!

Linked to:
Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
More Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Show and Tell Day at Blue Cricket Design
Home and Family Friday at Home is Where My Story Begins
Inspired by Linky at The Inspired Room
We Can Do It Cheaper at The Virginia House
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Modern Craftswoman Monday at Tools are for Women Too!
Best of 2010 Twice Owned Tuesday Party at House of Grace

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Before Photos of the Bench

A couple of years ago I found this bench in the garbage (much to my youngest son, William's, dismay since he was with me at the time).  I've always wanted a bench like this and I love this one for its rustic charm and its free price tag.

This weekend hubby and I are going to tackle fixing it up - joining the two halves together and painting it.  I'm not sure what colour, but I'm thinking either blue, using leftover paint from the front door which you can see here, or white.  What do you think?

I'm looking forward to setting my tea down on it, putting a plant on it, sitting on it - the possibilities are endless.  Check back on Monday for the 'after' photos.

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Front Porch Spring Decorations

I saw this cute spring basket at Under the Table and Dreaming and I have to say I was inspired.

Until recently this is how my front door looked:

Great for winter, but time to springify it don't you think?

When I saw that lovely white basket, I remembered that I had a flat-backed basket hanging around doing nothing much, so I put it to work. 

I removed the apple decoraton, added some pussy willow branches, trimmed it with some brown polk-a-dot ribbon, and hung it on my front door.

Last fall we bought an antique copper tub that I keep on the front porch.  I have been slowly adding willow and birch branches to it as I find them.   On a recent walk I found a lovely long birch branch and brought it home - much to everyone in the family's gufaws.  Okay it was really big, and it did barely fit in the car.   The things we do for the sake of home beautification.  I trimmed the length of the branch a bit and added it to the old copper tub.  Luckily for me, a bird's nest fell out of a tree in a recent wind storm, so I wired that into the notch in the branches.

It looks more like spring now, dontcha think?



Linked to:
Spring Fling Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Spring Fling Party at the Blessed Nest
The Inspired Week at The Inspired Room

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