My Adventures in Painting Roses and Other Fluff!

I am one who can poke fun at myself and not worry. I have a pretty good sense of self-worth so I can do this. I rarely care much what other people think of me. In other words, I’m pretty confident of my abilities. No, I’m not prideful, just confident. I know what I can do and what I cannot do. And there is much I cannot do. Trust me!

Anyway, today I’m going to tell you my adventures in trying to paint, in particular—roses. Please don’t laugh; it’s not funny that I am a total flop at painting.

I saw this image on the internet and it brought back memories of my pathetic attempt at trying to learn rose painting. While this painting doesn’t show frustration, which I felt, it shows the beginning of a beautiful painting. Mine never did. Sigh.

This is about as good as I ever got. You’d think I’d be embarrassed to show it, but nope, I’m proud of how far I had come before I decided I’d never be a rose painter.

Then I thought about painting bird nests. I wasn’t much better at that. However, these two paintings hang on my front porch. They may not be sellable but I sure as heck tried and I’m proud that I did.

Okay, here’s the story on this one.

I bought two folding wooden chairs for our patio out back and painted these roses on the back. One of the chairs broke and I wasn’t about to let my “art” go to waste as these roses were rather pretty. So I took the back piece off the chair to salvage the roses and they now hang in my laundry room.

This rose turned out pretty well so I made some decals out of them. My granddaughter wanted some to put on her place cards for her wedding dinner several years ago and we did. She loves me much you understand, so I think she was just being kind to me, but they were used and for that alone, I’m eternally grateful to her. Caroline is the other thing for which I’m grateful to her. ;-) And if you look at the URL at the top of your screen if you’re reading my blog, you’ll see I made it my avatar also. Pretty unique, huh?

Now, here you can see I’m truly NOT an artist by this little caricature I drew of me. It’s my place-holder. What is a place-holder you ask? Well, I work with templates. When I make one for a person to use, I color code them for text and photos. In other words, when they see red they put their text in there. When they see blue, they put the photos in that space where the html is. Makes it much easier for them when using the template. So my place holder is this little caricature of me. If that pops up, they know they need to change it to the photo they want instead of my photo. This is what I see all the time when I’m creating a blog post. If I see that little caricature, I know I need to change it to another photo. But this is in here to show you my creative endeavor. Stop laughing!

This is another shade of pink I really like. More of an orchid color, but beautiful.

Another sweet thatched cottage in the UK somewhere. I believe they are allowed in certain places in the U.S. as I’ve seen them, but I doubt many places would allow them. In Ireland, one of the B&Bs we stayed in didn’t allow me to use my blow dryer. You should have seen me. I got under the electric blanket and just started running my fingers vigorously through my hair until it dried. Turned out pretty dang good though!

Another stunning lamp for you. This is one I would like to copy on one of my lampshades, but I’m not sure I’ll do it any time soon.

Some really pretty lampshades here.

Love the feather trim around this one. Elegant. I would definitely buy this lamp.

Yes, these are the colors of my “Dream” house. While it’s not winter yet, I thought you’d like to see this gorgeous home now. Ooooooh, huge sigh.

Sweet little cart. I really like how they use it for decoration around their home.

Just eye candy to make you drool.

You can go and make some chocolate and pink macaroons now. ;-)

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Just Randomness 6/26/2012

My daughter is a mosaic artist and has given me many things she's made. She did not make the table top below but it is gorgeous. I just love eye candy so much and want to share as much as possible with you.

I like this kitchen, at least the part we can see, but the small niche we see here is darling. The homeowner has made art out of her rolling pins and has made use of the space above her refrigerator in a very pretty display of cake plates. Beside the refrigerator is also cute with shelves for her cook books.

Another room I'd love to make my craft room, but trust me, those bricks would be painted pink!

A bright yellow sunny porch to cheer up anyone.

A girl can never have enough pink, ruffles, bling or pink stripe sofas. Never!

I'd buy this if I knew where it came from. Shabby chic rag quilts.

Even this room has pompoms like I do in my office, family room, craft room and bedroom.

Berkeley, California typical house.

Beautiful claw foot tub with antiqued feet and green painted outside.

A small sweet country kitchen.

An absolutely gorgeous pillow.

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Random Thoughts:

Envy is a mistake that keeps on giving. It is not often that I'm envious of someone. Truly. I just feel so blessed that it's hard to be envious. When I do get those thoughts, I remember all that we have instead of all that we don't. Works every time.
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Have you read about or seen those women who are having b*tt implants? I cannot for the life of me figure out why! Just ask and I'd give them half of mine. Who in the world wants a tush big enough that it requires its own zip code?
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I've heard people ask "why me" when something bad happens to them. Well, why not you? Who would you select for something awful to happen to? Perhaps you can weather the trial better than your neighbor. Maybe you'll come out stronger with the trial you've been given. I don't think I've ever said that and if I have it's been a very long time since I uttered those words.
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We cannot change the past but we can shape the future.
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Brighten the corner where you are and you will lighten the world. Let your light so shine!
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Photos courtesy of tumblr and pinterest.

A Stunning Red and Pink Bedroom

Stunning. STUNNING. Stunning!!!! I adore this room with the bright pink and red. The lamps are gorgeous. The chairs are adorable. The furniture looks like something from the 60s, and I should know because I had a bedroom dresser, bed and night stands very similar to these. But what they did to this room is absolutely magnificent in my book. Freshened it up with paint to come into the 21st century.

What a cake! I have no clue if those are real roses but I suspect they are.

I definitely have a few birdcages and birdhouses around my house. This one is really cute though.

What a cute Easter dinner setting.

These would be cute party favors.

The chandelier caught my eye first but I do like the room.

I've found this store on the internet but cannot figure out how to order something from them. Go visit Green Gate and see what I'm talking about. Darling stuff.

Pretty living room near an ocean.

Aren't these little mini cupcakes adorable? What a cute idea, instead of a big cake.

Another lovely idea for place settings.

For you lovers of blue.

Isn't this cute how they've done the eggs here? Just glue on scraps of fabric.

Another gorgeously decorated cake.

And more luscious goodies to eat.

All white and silver table setting.

I did this to the back of my small china cabinet. Simply put decorative sheets of book scrapping paper and it changes the whole appearance to a touch of the dramatic.

Serene place to have for feminine endeavors.

This caught my eye because my daughter had this wallpaper in one of her bathrooms a few years ago. She accented it with blue and it was lovely.

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Rule #10:
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
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