Summer issue underway. Not so sure about summer...

It seems to have finally decided to warm up, here in Minnesota, but it's still mostly cloudy and rainy.  I might whine louder but I can't go out and play, anyway.  Not until the summer issue of 365 Being is in the hands of the printers.  Here's a few tidbits of the schmorgasbord it's turning into...

We share some of our favorite books, and our featured BEing, Maureen Carlson shares her picks, too...

 We couldn't feature books and not talk about libraries.  We have some really big ones...

 ...and some really tiny ones...

 And speaking of tiny ones... 

They're never too little to learn to color on the walls DM style! I do love my job.  More of this mural, along with oodles of other stuff coming soon in the summer issue of 365 Being.

Free sample of 365 Being!

Hi-ho, Dawn-Marie and Cathy here!

Actually, that's Cat on the left, and DM on the right.

...and we have...

If you haven't read 365 Being yet, here's your chance to do so for FREE, and please would you be so kind as to facebook share this post, or email a link to this blog to everyone you think might like this free issue of 365 Being, or everyone who knows someone else who might like it (which is just about everyone you know)?

Who wouldn't want to receive a free, fun, no-ads magazine?

Okay, so here's the deal...

About this time last year, we got this crazy idea to create a bookazine (an advertising-free magazine on book quality paper, meant to be kept or shared), and by autumn, we were in print (and PDF). We're celebrating our year of insanity with a fabulous freebie:

Our Sampler Issue

in PDF format

is now completely FREE!

It's a smaller issue than our usual, but it's filled with the same full color ideas (and we do mean FULL color) for living a hands-on, heart felt, perfectly imperfect life. Also, like all of our issues, it's free of annoying advertising! All content, all real, all fun! And it's all yours!

You can download it for yourself, send it to friends, zap it off to pen-pals...

click: 365being.com

Give us a try, and if you enjoy it, we would love to have you as a subscriber! You can subscribe in PDF, but print subscribers get a gorgeous coffee table book (so dubbed by several of our readers) and fun little freebies tucked in with every issue. Readers who have seen and loved it first in PDF, and then in print, say it's so surprisingly, deliciously more amazing in print. Okay, that's not the exact thing they said, but all combined, that's the gist of it. Oh, and every issue has a different look than the one before.

We choose a loose theme for each issue, and for our Summer issue (coming out in June), the theme is "For the Love of Books". Polymer clay artist, and author of oodles of books on fun with clay, Maureen Carlson, is our featured artist. (She's shown above, dressed in her story telling garb, holding our Sampler Issue.) Our Artgirl, Faith, tested a project from one of Maureen's books, and we'll show you how to make it, too. You can also read about big, old, beautiful libraries, and the new tiny libraries popping up in front yards across the country. Need to feed the book club (which we might inspire you to start with Barb Gates Schaben's story)? How about a recipe for potato salad with no mayo?

Friends taste-tested this recently, and the ooh's and yum's assured us it was a print-worthy dish. It tastes as fresh as it looks, thanks to lots of veggies, including avocados, and fresh tarragon! We have created several more recipes that feature the fresh herbs of summer, along with a few gardening tips, book reviews and recommendations, and oh, there's so much more in the summer issue, but you get the idea:

It's a whole buncha fresh, fabulous stuff in a beautiful book, for you to enjoy on your porch swing, hammock, patio or poolside.

Subscribe now, so you don't miss it!

(or just download the free sample issue, to see if we're your cup of tea)

click here: 365being.com

Be sure you don't miss a single issue! You can subscribe in PDF, but again, print subscribers not only get a beautiful book to keep or share, they get extra little goodies tucked into each issue... Greeting cards, book marks, paper dolls, art supplies...whatever we think might catch your fancy! We're that kind of fun.

The winter issue had a love dove for subscribers to cut out and color, or to use as a pattern to make a whole flock from all kinds of papers.

So, here's to a great summer, and if our style meshes with yours, we hope you will include 365 Being on your summer reading list. And again, being a small, no-ads publication, we don't have a mega-corporation's advertising budget, so we would really truly and deeply appreciate it if you would share this link through email or facebook (just click the icon under this post!) with anyone and everyone who would not be bothered by receiving it. You just never know who would be delighted by a free sample of our colorfully quirky and charming version of a lifestyle magazine.

Heartfelt hugs and Smiles,
Dawn-Marie and Cathy
365 Being

btw:  Perfect Parfait recipe is in the Spring issue.



Peace, love and paint...and dance. Definitely dance.

This week's project was a fun little bedroom mural, for a seven year old sweetie, named Charlie.  She had a hard time deciding between a peace room and a dance room, so designer Codie Donahue (that's a clickable link) asked if I could do a bit of both.  I think it worked out well...


Twirling in and leaping out, the dancers continue around the room.



Details and...




more details.

 

First, I drew it in with chalk.



Next, my young assistant donned a paint shirt and helped me do a blocking coat of white acrylic.  This keeps the foggy blue wall color from showing through and dulling our bright paint colors.



In another setting, and with a few details tweaked, this could have just been left white.



Then we added color.  Charlie got her mama to paint a few shapes for us.

Here are all the dancers, in order of appearance...

So, last week I wood grained doors, this week I painted technicolor peace dancers, next week I finish the art and design for the summer issue of 365 Being, and the week after, it's a mural of either Venice or the Italian countryside (kinda hoping they pick Venice, since I haven't painted that yet).  If variety is the spice of life, my life is truly well seasoned!  Hope yours is just as much fun!

Messing with perfectly nice paint...

...because that's what I do!

Flat 50's goes rustic, with a bit of elbow grease and some glaze.

My client Alison loves the hand painted furniture of Henredon, and through vigilant craigslist shopping, she's collected some nice pieces.  Her home is traditional, leaning toward French Country, though a bit more streamlined than a lot of my French Country loving clients.  The fact that she's a professional organizer probably explains that, or maybe she's always been this tidy, which is why she's an organizer...hmm, well, suffice it to say, this was not a job where I had to trip over backpacks or step on legos.  Big plus!

First sand...

Another great thing about this project?  Alison wanted more than fit in her budget, so she agreed to help me with all the prep.  This doesn't always go very well, as some clients mean well, but they spend much of the day answering their cell phones, and stopping to run errands, and I still do most of the work at a discount price.  Grrrr.  Not Alison!  She's used to hard work and she keeps her word, so I got out of a whole day of prep and sanding, and most especially, CLEAN UP!  Mega bonus for me!

...then glaze

Alison's house was built in 1958, in a very nice neighborhood.  It's a split level, with the traditional styling of that era, which means it was well built, but nearly devoid of personality.  Over the years, she and her husband have added charm, and recently, they took on the kitchen, replacing the appliances, sink and counters.  Now, Alison doesn't buy cheap crap, and she doesn't waste money, so it didn't make sense to her to replace the sturdy but plain cabinets.  She knew who to call for those.

A bit of extra umber will help hide the fact that the new hinges are just a breath smaller than the old ones.

After a short conversation, we agreed to create a finish similar to one of her rustic painted pieces.  Because we wanted to just sand back the existing finish and add a glaze, I chose to use Benjamin Moore's acrylic D.T.M.  The ultra base, usually used for mixing dark colors, works great as a glaze, and it bonds well to most acrylic paints.  When putting new paint over old without a bonding primer, always do a test first.  Give things a week or two to cure, and try scratching it.  You shouldn't be able to separate the new from the existing.

Silly Robin built her nest in the window box right outside from the kitchen sink.

Alison hit the cabinet cases with the sander to show me how much distressing she wanted, and then I took over and did the doors, while she wiped them clean.  The next day, I mixed a yellowish tan to simulate the yellowing of old oil paint, and an umber to mimic tanin bleed, then alternated brushing and wiping until it looked right.  While I finished the last of the doors, her husband was installing the first ones, and Alison was practically crowing with delight.  Exactly the look she wanted at a fraction of the cost of new.

Hopefully her four eggs will still hatch, since she flies away almost everytime anyone uses the sink.  She was braver on the colder days, and stayed put, so maybe it will be okay.

It's not the right look for everyone, but Alison has been collecting this style of painted furniture for longer than I've known her, which is something like eleven years, so there's not much chance she'll get tired of the cabinet finish anytime soon. 

Painting your cabinets is a great way to get more from your kitchen remodeling budget, as long as the cabinets are well positioned and well built.  You can see examples of other styles of cabinet paint finishes on my website, theartofthehome.com.

Warning: I brake for junk.

You know that Christmas song that goes "It's the most wonderful time of the year"?  I've been singing it all day.  (What was that?  Now it's stuck in your head?  Sorry 'bout that.)  No, it's not snowing again, here in Minnesota.  I think the sleet on Saturday really might have been the end of that nonsense.  It's spring, and while I do love spring for all the usual reasons, I really love it because...

It's Junk Season!  There are finds popping up on curbs everywhere!  Look what I got today:

These old radio cabinets are the best for repurposing.  Never mind the chipped veneer or the scratches!  With a bit of paint and a little restyling, it could be an elegant liquor cabinet or display niche.  With a lot of paint and all kinds of other stuff, it could be a cool mixed media art piece.  I have one in my kitchen converted to a bookcase (the front opening is much larger than this one), and one in my dining room that I want to turn into a puppet theater.  This one might become a doll house.  Maybe Madame Lucie (click her name or read the last post to meet her) would like to live in it.  Or maybe I need it for linens, or it could hold the printer and fax in the office, or...



 You don't quite get the excitement?  Oh, well.  The resident rabbit wasn't too impressed with my fab find, either.  She tried to keep an eye on me while I unloaded it from the van, but the warm sun was too much for her.  Just looking at her is making me yawn, so I must be over my rapture enough to get some sleep.  Perhaps I"ll dream up even more ideas for things to create from obsolete technology.

Have a great week filled with your favorite treasures! 

Introducing Madame Lucie Bonnard...

A.K.A.  Miss Lucy Bond, a mouse of indeterminate age and uncommon courage.

I launched a new website today, and another sort of sideline business, if one can call travelling with a mouse a business.  As many of my friends know, I am attending a class in southern France this summer.  As part of the class, I had a homework assignment to write a short couple of paragraphs.  As many of my friends, as well as my readers here know, I have a very bad habit of turning simple projects into full-blown hikes through the brambles.  This little assignment was no exception. 

Rather than retell the story here though, can I convince you to click over to Lucie's brand new website?  Her story is there, along with her plan to help pay her way.  Of course she needs no airfare, but she wants to see more sights than my frugal budget will probably cover, so she has an offer for you.  Read her story, and see if you want in on the fun!

click here:  Postcards From Lucie

Something fun is in the works...

No blog post tonight.  I'm getting ready to launch something new online, most likely tomorrow or Wednesday, so check back to see what I'm up to, and meet my newest friend!

Merry Pranksters Indeed!

So, did you celebrate May Day?  I had planned to bring back my childhood tradition of delivering May baskets, but it's a good thing I had intended to use bedding plants instead of my traditional dandelion and Johnny jump-ups bouquets, because this is what our weather looked like here...

May Day Farmer's Market Opener.  The May showers were a little more, um, solid than usual.

I didn't get a chance to check out opening day of our local Farmer's Market, but since the market manager is Lisa Fahey, and since Lisa is also the photographer for the book I was supposed to be finishing illustrations for, I think I'm forgiven for not attending.  And yes, as of 5 o'clock this morning, after one last all-nighter, I did finish all 34 pages plus covers!  Wa-Hoo!!!  Can't show you the pages yet, but here's the aftermath of that party...



You know it was a great party when there are things hanging from the lamps and the floor is covered with confetti.  Two audio book mysteries, a full pot of coffee, and two kinds of paint and three kinds of glue...I am such a party animal.

 I did have to run a couple of errands up the highway yesterday, so I stopped at Pearson Greenhouse (pearsongreenhouse.com or scroll back a few weeks on this blog for some photos) to get some basil and violas to fill those May baskets.  I thought about asking for dandelions, but decided they don't know me well enough for that, yet. 

May basket with violas and purple basil.  Directions for these are in the spring issue of 365being.  365being.com

In proper May Day fashion, I left a basket for Cat on her door, rang and ran.  Sadly, I didn't get a fair test to see if I'm still fast enough at this.  She happened to be walking through the kitchen as I made my sneaky dash to her door, so she spotted me out the window.  Sigh.  In an apparent effort to show me how it's done, a pair of pink plastic flamingos appeared in my front yard a few hours later.  I'm sure I'd have caught her if I hadn't been so intently and virtuously focused on finishing her illustrations. 

Whatever your plans, here's wishing you sunshine and good friends to enjoy it with this weekend!

Hair clogged drain? This $3 tool and 30 seconds is all you need.

I don't endorse products or allow random advertising on my blog, but I have recently found out that I am actually not the last person on earth to know about this tool.  None of the people I mentioned it to this week had ever used one, so maybe you don't know about it either.  If you have slow bathroom sink or tub drains, and anyone in your house wears their hair longer than a buzz cut, stop at your local hardware store for one of these this week. 

Zip-It.  Clogged bathroom sink or tub drain?  This is probably all you'll ever need.

Wasband #2 (he of the musician's mane) used to plunge the bejeezus out of the tub drain about once a month, and it still never worked very well.  About once a year, I would give up and dump a bottle of the wickedest drain cleaner I could find down the thing, which also didn't seem to really (di)solve the issue.  A few years back, I found the pipe cleanout under flooring in the closet, and removed a hairball the size of a dachshund from where the plunger seemed to have packed it into a union of the new and old plumbing.

About a year ago, knowing the clog wasn't that far down the pipe, but unable to work any sort of magic with a plunger, I popped around the corner to the hardware store (love small town living!) to see what else there was.  I chose the ultra-super-dissolves-everything-except-miraculously-your-pipes potion, and then spotted this little gizmo.  It's a Zip-It.  Some of the potions now even come with one.  I don't think you need the potion.

Despite my best efforts, and a fine tea strainer that catches most of my baby silk hair, I still get a slow drain a few times a year.  I now know not to push it further along with a plunger, where it will grow from a mouse sized inconvenience to a small monster that will totally clog the pipe fifteen minutes before out of town guests arrive.  Now I just pop in this little zippy strip, wiggle it, tug a bit, briefly panic thinking this will be the time it gets permanently snarled into the drain, and then finally pull out the offending snarl of silk.  Voila!  and Eeew!  (I'll spare you a photo of that.)  Zippy-quick drains, once again.

Okay, this is not the sexiest post I've ever written (Wait.  Sadly, it might be.  This isn't really a very sexy blog is it?), and not exactly a decorative topic (unless you noticed the fab painted marble counter top), but it's probably one of the biggest favors I could ever do for my readers.  Seriously.  I love whoever invented this thing.  I could marry whoever invented this thing.  Oh wait, I can operate it myself.  No spouse required.  Good thing, 'cause I could be in for a really big surprise at the altar... ! :)))  Whoever you are, I send you my undying gratitude.  I hope it's made you a millionaire.

Mmm-Mmm good (...gawd do not eat that crap in a can!)

Once upon a time there was a very little girl who wanted to go to story hour at the library, and she got all dressed up.  Not in her fancy-patched hand-me-down jeans, but in an actual dress.  Her mother said she needed to eat lunch first, and all her siblings gathered around the table.  Being all dressed up made the little girl feel much too big and important to sit on her baby chair, and she insisted on sitting on a regular one.  Of course, this meant that the hot soup was way too high to reach, and somehow, the bowl flipped, and scalding liquid covered her beautiful dress.  The last thing she remembers of that day was screaming while being almost instantly lifted from behind and whisked toward the kitchen sink.  She has never again eaten Campbell's Tomato Soup (baaaad soup).  She still loves libraries, and every once in a while, she even wears a dress. 

Homemade tomato soup.  Broccoli garnish optional.  Was not going to let lunch get cold while I ran to the store to buy parsley for a photo, slacker that I am.

Actually, the reason I've never eaten store-bought tomato soup is that I think it tastes sort of pasty.  For as long as I can remember, my version of tomato soup has been to just heat diced canned tomatoes and add some herbs.  It's pretty good, but it has that sharpness. 

I was thinking about this recently, and it occurred to me to use pureed carrots, both to add body, and to smooth out the flavor.  The idea came from habanero hot sauces, which are usually carrot based.  I added a few more veggies, along with the carrots, and I'm really pleased with it. Thick, smooth, and no pasty fillers, or un-food ingredients.  Spring has finally arrived, but evenings are still cool, so this soup is a great way to warm your tummy (from the INSIDE).  Throw an audio book on the CD or Mp3 player while you cook, and you've got story hour, too!

Almost instant Tomato Soup

   Finely chop or coarsely grate, then saute (in a little olive oil) until soft, and even a little brown:
1/2 medium-large onion
4 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 tsp (1 clove) minced garlic


   Toss in, and stir to wilt:
2 big handfuls of spinach leaves
1 tsp tarragon

  Puree in blender with:
1 large can of diced or crushed tomatoes

  Heat in saucepan with:
1 quart chicken broth, vegetable stock, or water

That's all there is to it.  Soup's on!

Now, of course that's not the end of the story.  At least not for the recipe.  This is great left over, but what if you don't want tomato soup again?  Stir in crumbled cooked hamburger or other chopped, cooked meat and a diced baked potato, add a handful of left-over green beans or broccoli,  and kiss those Chunky Soups good-bye.  Don't want soup? Toss it in a skillet and simmer it for a few minutes to evaporate the liquid back out (or skip the broth/stock/water in the first place).  Now you have a great sauce for an omelet or steak...

Souper Sauce on a broccoli and mushroom omelet.

Want Italian?   Just add some basil and oregano, maybe a little more garlic, and you have pasta sauce.  Cook it just a bit thicker, and it's pizza sauce.  Mexican?  Cumin, chili powder, and some cooked pinto or kidney beans.  I could keep going, but it's after midnight, which is way past my bedtime, so write your own ending!

The Greenhouse Effect

 
It is April 22nd, and it's snowing.  Again.  I don't care if we are forecasted for as much as four inches of snow tonight, I put my parka in the winter storage closet on Saturday, and it's not coming out again until autumn.  Period.  Especially since we are also forecasted for 74 degrees on this coming Saturday.  As you might well imagine, the gardeners in Minnesota are getting really antsy.  Even I, grower of the worlds largest heirloom free-range dandelions (all organic, of course), am getting mighty anxious to at least play in the dirt.

A handful of gardeners (and me) from our local garden club got to spend a few hours in semi-paradise on Saturday. Pearson Greenhouse in Jordan, MN, let us come in and plant up our flower pots and hanging baskets. Andrew says he's never done this before, and was a little hesitant, but Dan, the garden club's self-proclaimed curmudgeon, somehow sweet talked him into it.

Garden club members browsing Pearson Greenhouse.  This is maybe about a fifth of the big greenhouse, and there were several smaller hoop houses behind it.



My (365 Being bookazine) business partner and her husband joined the garden club recently.  Cat really loves beautiful gardens, and Steve really loves gardening, so I guess they're a match made in heaven.




Dan, the curmudgeon, who is usually on the other side of a camera at garden club meetings.



Beth (right) whose cats once starred in a blog post (Zen and the Art of Cat Herding click to read, if you like stories wherin the cats humiliate the human), gets some help choosing plants.

 Oh.  My.  Stars.  It was such heavenly tonic!  The allyssum in one corner of the huge greenhouse scented the warm, humid air with such honeyed perfume, I could imagine bees getting drunk on the fragrance.  Maybe that's because I was getting drunk on it.  Hmm...does this make me a  reeeeally cheap drunk?!  "Greens-tender, I'll take another shot of that there nectar!"

Andrew Pearson, a gardener's best friend.

The folks at Pearson's were so helpful, and very patient with our questions.  Some of us brought along magazine clippings of planter arrangements that we liked, and they helped us choose similar plants rated for our zone (normally 4/5, though I'd be inclined to call it a zone 2, if I looked out the window right now), and sized for our planters.  They will water and tend our pots for a few weeks, until Mother's Day, by which time the weather is usually warm enough to put them outside.  Now that we've all had a preview of what they have growing, I'm betting most of our members will be going home with more than just their pots that Sunday!

We got to belly up to the potting bench and play in the dirt.



Bonnie (left) and Carol (right) were having fun in the, well, um, fluorescent lights.  Even without any sun, it was fun.  And in case you're wondering about the laundry detergent jugs, those make great scoops for things like potting soil, when you cut the bottom end out.

Big box stores sell plants cheap, but if you have a local nursery, try to give them your business.  Sometimes their prices are higher, but spending your money locally means you keep your neighbors in business, your friends employed, and your community thriving.  In the long run, the cost evens out.  Besides, you won't find the intoxicating air of a well-tended greenhouse at the Big Orange Depot, and if it's snowing three weeks later than a normal late winter where you live, believe me, that's some priceless stuff!

How to Create a Classic Bagged Leather Finish

Bagged leather is one of those classic faux finishes that works with a lot of decorating styles.  I spent a day this week painting a wall for clients who had done some remodeling and wanted me to make the new wall match one I did a few years ago.  Since I custom mix glazes, my biggest worry was matching the color, but luckily I have a habit of mixing way too much, just to be on the safe side, and I had left the extra with them, as I always do.  I'm fairly certain their base color is Behr Iced Tea.  The glaze I custom tinted is mostly raw umber, but softened with some burnt umber tint.  I like Hirshfields (a Midwest brand) glaze a little better than Behr, which in the past dried faster, though I've not tried it in several years.  You may want to mix extender into your glaze to give maximum working time.

"Tobacco Leather" bagged glaze

You can get all kinds of different patterns with plastic pressed into wet paint.  Julie preferred a pretty fine and even look to hers, so this is how I did it on this job...



Mask everything.  Use 2" wide tape, tan on popcorn ceilings and woodwork, blue on delicate painted surfaces.  Put down drop cloths, fill a bucket of water and round up a few rags to keep handy.



Prep your tool.  This will give you better results, allow you to work faster, and make the job easier than trying to just hold a scrunched up bag in your hand.  Wrap a Woolie tool or a grout float with tan masking tape turned sticky side out.  Turn a couple of plastic grocery bags inside out (otherwise the ink will transfer to your wall) and scrunch them onto the tape, creating as much texture as possible. 

Once you are ready to paint fast and without stopping, using slightly thinned glaze, cut in the edges of a section about one yard or meter square.  Notice I use more of a squishing motion, rather than brushing it in the usual way, which could leave lines.

Roll paint on, then starting tight in the edges, pat quickly with the tool, a little for loose large pattern, a lot for finer pattern.   Roll the next section, just meeting, but not overlapping, and pat this seam first, then the rest of it.   This is not a forgiving technique, and overlap marks will show.  On a larger wall, keep a damp rag handy and wipe it over the surface ahead of you before rolling on the glaze.  This will keep it wetter longer.  Also vary the size shape and edges of the patches you roll on, so if you do get laps it isn't as obvious.

Paint tight spots by dabbing with an artists brush.  In really small areas, you may not even need to press plastic into it.  Pull tape, clean any sneaky glaze off of the ceiling edge,  and touch up any unglazed spots that might show up along the baseboard and in corners.  Done.



If you put your switch plates back on right away, wait a few days to tighten the screws, to keep them from sticking to the glaze.

 There are a few more tricks to this. 

   One is to not try to go around inside corners.  It almost always looks better to work on side walls, then come back to dry edges, mask the corner with blue tape, and do end walls. 
   If you have someone work with you, have them wipe with the damp rag and roll on the paint just ahead of you, so you can just keep working the bag. 
   You will need to wipe excess glaze off of the bag fairly often, so have a few rags handy for this. 
   Don't let paint start to dry on the bag, or you will get little paint boogers stuck in the next part you pat it onto. 
   If paint gets on your textured ceiling, it usually is best to let it just barely dry and pick it off with a fingernail, rather than trying to wipe it off wet, whicn almost never works.
   Start in the least visible spot in the room, and finally, if your first attempt is going badly, wipe it off quickly, take a break, tweak your glaze if you think it might need to be a bit thinner or thicker, and start again. 

City loft or country cabin, formal dining room or cowpoke's nursery (or just in a typical suburban master bedroom), leather is always stylish.  Try it!