Embrace Growth

image via pinterest

There will always be times of growth throughout our life......times where hard things, unexpected things, scary things, and seemingly hopeless things come our way. These things are never easy.....but if we can learn to embrace these times... with the full confidence and knowledge that we are being stretched and made stronger...for our good.....like fire and gold.There is One who loves us so deeply......who knows our paths every detail, and who knows what is best for our good.....and that confidence is so powerful.Work hard. Be generous. Love others completely and unconditionally. Live well.xo,Barb

Little black night stand with kitty fantastic detail - "Reiniger"

Ok.....I have two kitty cats....and it is no secret that I love them. I personally have never ever been a cat person...... until little Bleeker Olive and Newsie Mae came into our lives last April. We were very quickly converted as a family...and remain smitten kittens {wink!}This sweet little night stand is for all of my cat loving friends and is painted with black latex paint and then finished with minwax stain. The wallpaper on the drawer front is from Spoonflower and can be purchased here. The artist for this cat in frames pattern is : Moss Badger.Little miss "Reiniger" is available for sale on the Knack website here.Meow love,Barb

Blue and Red for the Win- Meet "Torelli"

I finished this lovely one a couple weeks ago.....but could not decide which knobs I wanted on her...and so she sat in the workshop...all sparkly and new....until some gorgeous red floral knobs made their way into our lives.Now, all is good.....and she is complete. This finish is a milk paint, followed by three coats of water based poly. The drawers are lined with a vintage Laura Ashley wallpaper, and then we finished Torelli off with a red floral ceramic knob.I really, really love {once again} how the milk paint crackled and peeled in all of the right places. Such a beautiful thing when paint performs above and beyond every single time you use it!Torelli is available in the Knack online shop here! { Did you all know that there is a full  Knack online shop where everything pictured in these photos {and more} is available for purchase? No? Get on over to knackstudios.com and check it out! }Hope you all are having a great week!xo,Barb 

Encourage Others

image via pinterestWhat humbleness, grace, and love can do in the face of great discouragement and pain.....is priceless. Be a giver of this kind of encouragement.......so many need love, and unconditional friendship and support....and there is no greater joy than to see and feel the returns of this kind.....xo,Barb

A sweet little armoire with cute little feet - named "Burwell"

First of all....I must apologize for not being around here much lately. I have no excuse...so I won't make one....I will just show you this latest piece of goodness that I finished recently. This armoire belongs to my parents, and they use it to put their TV and supplies in....but they wanted it to be painted and fresh...and so they asked if I would take on the job.....:}I am happy to say that I left her way better than I found her.....and am glad I get to visit her every Tuesday when I am at Mom and Dad's for dinner!xo,Barb

Fear

 

image via pinterest

Fear is real, and fear can enter our minds and control our every move if we let it. Learn to recognize fear in all its forms.... and remember that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love , and a sound mind {2 Tim 1:7}

xo,

Barb

Dots and Stars...Be a Lucia

http://youtu.be/15QuHygLwFU

This story, is one of my very favorites.....of all time. It’s all about the Wemmicks, little wooden people made by a wonderful carpenter named Eli. They live in a little village where all they do all day is walk around with their little boxes of golden stars and gray dots and place them on each other. If you are beautiful, talented, well dressed, and can sing pretty you get lots of stars, but if your wood is chipped, your paint is peeling, you have no talents and say silly things.... you get dots …

There is one little wooden guy named Punchinello who only gets dots, and he is so sad because he tries so hard to get stars but he only ends up just making things worse. He doesn’t even want to go out anymore because he is so covered in dots it’s embarassing ….. and the only people he is comfortable with are the other wemmicks that have lots of dots. Then he meets Lucia, and she doesn’t have any stars or dots because they won’t stick to her……he has to know how she does this………and he eventually finds out it is because she does not care what the other Wemmicks say....only what Eli, her maker, says.....and because of this, the stars and dots do not stick to her.

I love everything about this story, and find it so pertinent in our culture today. I think we could translate our Facebook "likes", Instagram "hearts", Twitter "retweets", and blog "followers" into the Wemmicks dots and stars. We need to remind ourselves, and our precious children growing up in this Wemmick society, that IT DOES NOT MATTER! None of it.....period.If you have not heard of this book, or haven’t read it…….go out now and buy it…….“you are special” by max lucado ……and read it over and over…..

 Choose to not let the dots stick or the stars matter…..

xo,

Barb

Meet Aronia, a little fancy lady in pink milk paint

It is no secret that I have a major love of all things milk paint. I have been using it in my work since the early 2000's......{which feels like forever ago now!}.....and have never ever been disappointed in a single finish.Milk paint gives a truly time worn and authentic finish that you cannot get with any other paint....period. Don't even try to tell me you can get it with chalk paint, latex paint, or any other brand of paint out there on the market.....I've tried it all.....you can't. There is something very special about milk paint, and that is why I have loved it from the first day I used it. I will never forget the first color I used, or the piece I used it on. I used Sea Green, and I painted it on this HUGE armoire. {yes, I am a risk taker!} I had never used milk paint before, so when it started to peel...I started to panic....but decided to just go with the flow, go through my motions, and see what happened. I wish I had a picture of that piece....I probably do have a printed picture somewhere .....but it turned out so beautiful, and I was an instant and forever fan.So, when Marian came out with her line of Miss Mustard Seed milk paints....I knew I would love the formula...and was so excited to see a pretty new line of colors. Marian sent me a wonderful package of products to have fun with....and the very first color that I went for was this gorgeous "Apron Strings" . It literally is the best version of an "orangish" pink that you ever did see. It is so soft on the eyes, and reminds me of a perfectly pink little piglet. Apron strings is not a salmon or a pumpkin....it is a beautiful coral, and I absolutely love it. I finished off this piece with MMS clear furniture wax, which was soft and creamy and wet....just the way I like wax to be. I have not done a wax finish in months, and I enjoyed whipping out the wax brush and buffing out that beautiful wax sheen.I am so happy with how miss "Aronia" turned out, and can't wait to finish the other three pieces on the work room floor......Painting is such fun.Xo,Barb