Getting Out and Enjoying the Weather

We spent a magnificent day at a rock covered beach in Godrich. I'm not a traditional beach goer. I do love to swim...... Well, er.... float. But sitting on a beach for hours doesn't seem like good times to me. Unless there are billions and billions of cool rocks to sift through!!!

Look at this one!!! Beastie found it and I think it's a fossil of a shell end. Sooooo cool!!!

Beastie has adopted the tomato as her favorite fruit. She's eaten more than I can count and her Momma is thrilled. She cleared out her Great Gramma Dar's garden on a recent visit. She managed to down a couple pints of ground cherries too. At least we know she's getting her fair share of fruit.

We've dusted off our fall movies and Beastie has been watching non stop. Her favorites are The Wizard Of OZ, Hocus Pocus and The Worst Witch (on Netflix). She has announced that she is, in fact, a witch. Here she is demanding a lift on her sturdy broom.

Fall baking has begun too. Some zucchini and carrot muffins have been conjured. 

The Salon is feeling more homey. Still need some finishing touches. A bench and small table maybe. Someplace for purses to be tossed or a waiting client to sit. But it feels real and cozy now. I think I'm going to really enjoy this new life chapter. Feeling very lucky to have had the chance to explore my options. Never stop searching and learning and wondering. The dream is where The Happy lives. 

Summer Lovin, and Some Branding

I've been incredibly lucky to have had the time to spend playing this summer. Feeling VERY fortunate and loved. We're having to scrimp a bit without the extra paycheck while I study. But it's soooooooo worth it!!!

We made some teeny tiny tarts. filled them with vanilla pudding, berry jam and berries and garnished with a fresh sprig of garden mint. So full of summer.

Walks in the woods are happening. Chipmunks live there!!!

The front lawn is the perfect place for cuddles and bedtime cartoon watching. Well..... until the mosquitoes come out. Then there's a mad sprint to the house before we're stung.

Still learning many many things. 

Developing a paint pallet for our younger clients!

We have brand tags now for all our sewn product. They are very small. A challenge to sew. But I'm pretty happy with the results.

The salon is filling up with bright new handmade product for sale! Still so much more to make and learn! This changing careers midlife is nerve wracking but I wouldn't change a thing!

Pre-Opening Salon Tour

Here is a wee bit of a Salon tour. We're not open yet.... Close.... But not quite yet.

How we managed.....

I Thought Retirement Would Be More Restful?

 I imagined that when I finally got to stay at home to "work" I'd have HEAPS of time to relax and just putter around.... I may have been a wee bit optimistic. I can say that being home has been lovely. I'm not in pain constantly. I can go up and down stairs without muttering obscenities, and I've been really considering going for walks! So the results have been fantastic for my health. I've been under the gun to get the Salon up and functioning, get my schooling going and I've also been plugging away at commissions. So puttering hasn't really been an option.   I've managed a few pics to share.... Ohhhhhh! And a video with ingredients on nail art. 

I mixed some Shiny Shades together to make this turquoise. I raided my art supply stash to decorate them... Definitely my favorite colour of all time! 

Here's how I did it!

Momma got some natural tip french nails with sparkly butterflies. She wanted gel french extensions with nail polish nail art so she could change them if she wanted on her own between appointments. Her extensions last about a month before she needs a fill and she LOVES to polish her own nails. So I think this process will work out best for her. Lovely natural looking extensions that she can customize on a daily basis if she feels like it.

Grandpa Jimmy had a lovely Pappa's Day! He was spoiled by Beastie and Momma Beast. Nammy got him this fantastic hammock to relax in, and his Pa and Ma came for a visit. It was an all around fantastic weekend.

Momma Beast and Beastie have been having great results with their garden so far this year. The beans are growing strong! They have beets and lettuces, herbs and tomatoes too!

Beastie's Fairy garden is also looking fantastic! Momma tucked it in under a bush in the corner of the backyard. Can't wait until the moss and ground covers start to spread out. Love this idea. Great fun!

I've moved my work space out on the front porch. I love that this is an option. I'm out there almost all day enjoying the squirrels and birds. There's great lighting for photographing project step outs too. Wish this were an option all year!

Well.... enough prattling on.....

I'd better get back at it!

Building the Perfect Polish Shelves

We spent about $40.00 on these nail polish shelves. They were so very easy to make and they look fantastic! Thought I'd share how we did it with you. They'd be great for holding all sorts of things. Picture frames, greeting cards, thread? Great display storage.

Here are the finished shelves. The trim came in 8ft lengths, so to keep things simple I made my shelves 4ft long.

This is the trim we purchased. We go two of each. I think I may need to go get more for the other wall..... We layered the two trims one on top of the other. First I drilled and screwed the flat trim to the wall. Then I used finishing nails t attach the curvy trim. Flat side up and flush with the top pf the plain trim.Easy peasy!

Holds the polish perfectly!

I've been having loads of fun looking for the perfect glitter mix. This one has possibilities....

I started experimenting with nail art plates and jelly stampers too....

I'm having so much fun!!!

Retrovations

 Oh HI!!!

We're almost there!

Two more trades people to have in and then all this nonsense will be done with and we can get on with the new us.

Here's a wee update so you can see a bit more of what we've been up to.

We won't do a full reveal until it's all done.

(Soooooooo much work yet to do!)

We've emptied he front bedroom and removed all the wallpaper. This job took two weeks or so. Looking back at the photos it appears to have happened by magic, but let me tell you..... there was crying and pouting involved.

It really did come off quite easily.  Top vinyl layer peeled right off. Baby beastie helped and enjoyed this immensely! Had to spray the under-layer with hot water and vinegar then scrape it off with a pastry scraper. Glad to see the walls underneath were in great shape. Almost no repairs required.

Astounded to find that we were painting the room almost exactly the same colour it was before the paper went on! If you look very closely, you can see that I've cut the corners in. 

Beastie loves pulling off the tape. She was a HUGE help!

Friend (and HERO) Rich came over to help us knock a wall through. This used to be two closets. One in our foyer and another in the front bedroom. Now it's a handy entryway directly into our front room.

We put together some flat pack cupboards and added hardware store legs to give them some height. We painted them to match too!

I had the local building shop cut us some thick MDF and rout the edges to make a snappy desk! This was SOOOOOOO inexpensive! Great way to make a custom work top. I highly recommend it.

I painted to top of the table with three coats of cabinet paint. I'm LOVING this colour!!!

I made this quilt top a while back for Beastie and fell in love with the patterns and colours. I made a repeatable pattern from it and sent it in to Spoonflower to have it made up as my new theme fabric.

The new fabric arrived in just a few weeks and was more amazing than I ever dreamed! Even George was in love!

Now on to decorating!

More updates soon.

We're almost done!!!

Moving Forward

We've made HUGE leaps in the Super Secret New Plans department in the past month.

I'm EXHAUSTED!!! But Happy and very excited to soon be able to share all the news!

We were hit with another (very seasonal) winter storm this week. We've been buried in snow and the cold snap has us all cuddled in.

We've been fattening up with some delicious breakfasts made by Momma Beastie.

Here's a sneaky peak of some new colour choices in one of our new rooms!!!

Nammy had me do these for her. Very uncharacteristically blingy for her.

I made myself some springy almond gels over my natural nails. The pink colour is called Tu Tu..... It's delicious! 

A Sewing Room

I finally put one of the kids rooms to good use. I saw Tasha's new sewing space post on her blog and was inspired to start one of my own. Here's how it's come together so far. I'm still pulling fabric and supplies from the basement storage area to put away in my new neat little cubbies. I hope to get more cubbies or shelving units in the future to store more patterns. I have hundreds. Oh, and the dozens of sewing books need someplace to live too. Right now they're in our bedroom.

I think this is where I'm going to keep everything for now. I like the table close to the window with the ironing board right behind me. I can swivel in my chair and iron bits I've just sewn without having to stand and walk over to another station. Very efficient! 

I started by painting the room a crisp white. I plan on hanging projects in different stages of completion up on the walls and didn't want the paint colour to clash. This was Maggie's bedroom and she had painted it a warm brown with one turquoise wall. It was pretty and cozy, but white was needed for a sewing room.

Mr. Jimmy helped me put these cubbies together. We got them from Canadian tire and I think they were about $30.00 each? Tasha had hers two cubbies tall and three wide. I made mine taller so I could stand at the work space to cut things out without stressing my spine. This made my table top smaller by a foot each way, but it fits better into my room and I think it's still big enough to work on. I still like Tasha's better! If I could find three by three cubbies, maybe I could have used two of those on the ends to make the table a bit deeper.

The table top is an old hunk of MDF (medium density fiberboard) we were using as a worktable in the garage. I just covered it in some marble mactac, but we are looking into a self healing cutting surface to protect it.

George really likes the new larger work surface. He has much more room to hang around and supervise my projects. When I'm not using the room, he cuddles up in my work chair under the table. I can always hear him purring when I go in to start a new project so I know he approves.

I have hung a heap of my favorite patterns bunting style from twine with clips on one wall. I like to be able to see them all up there. Helps me plan the next projects out while I'm working on current sews. I really have increased how much work I'm getting done. I think I've made more things in the last two months than I did all of last year.

This is one of my favorite things about the new space. I can take pics of my current thread and fabric stashed before I go shopping. While out I can reference each section on my phone and no more overbuying the same colour or pattern. I'm still working away on getting all the ready to be sewn fabric and suppies up to the new room. The patterns are going to be the most challenging to put away. I have to look up some appropriate storage solutions for them. I would really like to be able to see them all at all times, but there are far too many for that. If you have any suggestions, I'm listening! How do you display/store your patterns? I sure would love to hear from you! 

Obviously, one of the best new sewing room features is that the table can double as a baby fort! Lily LOVES to hang out under here and look at all the patterns. 

A HUGE thank you to Tasha and Mel for sharing their build with all of us. You two are always an inspiration. 

Fimo Professional On My Work Table

GAH!!!! Just got my very first FIMO Professional 85g blocks of clay! Look at that delicious colour! I can't wait to open up these resealable packs of awesome and get creating! 

I spied one of my projects on the FIMO Liquid page of the new STAEDTLER pamphlet. I've been given the go ahead to share the project here with you. So read on and click to see the full instructions for how to create these metal look pieces using FIMO Liquid and FIMO effect clay.

Work Help

 George is my work buddy. He loves to hang out and see what's happening. He's also pretty chatty lately. He lets me know it when he thinks a design is going south.

We've been knee deep in projects the last few weeks. I'm pretty excited about starting new things and George is right there to keep my toes on the ground.

I've craftily invited this owl to sit in on the work table pic to avert your attention from secret projects. 

I can't wait to share! 

You're going to love these!