rain is a good thing

Well, apparently, Luke Bryan was right - rain is a good thing.

I know many of us have been getting hit with a lot of summer storms lately. And where does that leave the furniture painters? Some are fortunate to have a basement, or a garage...I used to be one of those!

Now that we've moved though, my space is the sidewalk in front of the house. I have a feeling you can tell where this is going.  I painted, I sealed, left the piece outside to dry, and it rained overnight. Ruined...I ran outside trying to save it. Revive it, bring it back to life. Too late, the water had gotten under some of the paint. 

I pulled it up onto the covered porch and left it. Left it for work, left it for later repair, another sunny day when I had the motivation to fix it back up. This is what you get when you use a chalk based paint - left digging your heels in the dirt.

But, what happens when the sun comes back out? The piece dries? You get this.

Perfect, authentic chippyness. The good kind. The kind like lead paint left to weather over the years. The kind that peels back to reveal another color. The kind that no amount of sanding will ever create.

All of this, without the health concerns of lead paint. I think I'll take it.

Now, unfortunately, this wasn't my plan for this piece, so I have sanded the flakes away for repainting. But, I'm going to give it another shot. Does twice make it time tested? Can I say this method really works then?

Have you had any crafting accidents with happy results?


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Miss Mustard Seed

tobacco stick fence? yes, please!

I won't lie when I say I hoard. I do, the load can get pretty bad. About a year and a half ago I bought some tobacco sticks. They just sat and sat in my garage. I had ideas, but I did not have time.

About a month ago, I ventured to a barn dated back to the 1800s with a new good friend of mine. We crawled, we dug, we got dirty, and then, we found it. The stall slammed full of tobacco sticks. So, like any friends do, we agreed to split and dragged them all out! 

Taken by Lady Day Vintage

 My husband, needless to say, was less than thrilled given the fact that I already had tobacco sticks and had done nothing with them. So, like any husband would do on a one year anniversary, he got to work.

And thanks to him, I have this quick tutorial for you!

Making a tobacco stick garden fence:

With all necessary safety equipment, grab your circular saw, jig saw, hand saw, or anything that will cut through a small stick of wood.

Cut random sizes at an angle. (Don't you love our makeshift cutting table. It's a vintage filing cabinet I picked up for $5 that we haven't yet brought inside). He ended up cutting the large stick into about three or four smaller sticks. He also did not cut the sticks all at one, but cut more as needed. (We can't waste these precious tobacco sticks now can we ladies? I could have another project down the road!)

The next step requires some muscle and endurance. You have to hammer all of those cut sticks in. Ours are in pretty deep, so they definitely aren't coming out without some additional hard work. It's a good thing our land lord is in love with them!

So summing it up: cut, hammer, cut again, and hammer some more until you have all that you need! Now, my husband asked if I wanted these around the flower beds in the back yard. I'm not planning on that because our dogs play rough and the sticks are sharp...and well, I can just see someone getting hurt. We're doing brick in the back...so I will share that when its done!

 I'm pretty sure this is the best present my husband has given/made for me! What's been your best gift? 

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