Friday, November 20, 2009

Work !,,but oh how much fun.

I have finally started to find paying work. Its sporadic but here's hoping it will build up in time and with Jehovah's blessing.


My first source of income is teaching Art to adults and Children privately. I have one student called Braden who is 9 and a very good drawer.. Im loving it. I have another potental student who is a lady in her 50s I just need to set a date.

The project im very excited about is Shabby Chic Furniture. A sister rents a room in a Shabby Chic shop and has her furniture in it.. She has asked me to team up with her and she will put my furniture in there too.. Last night we went to the shop and re decorated the room.. We added my furniture and had a blast. Im loving this process. In fact I found a set of drawers for $5 did my magic to them and love them so much they are now my first piece of bedroom furniture..(below)


This part of her room in the shop below you can see a Jewelry box I made Shabby chic its on the left of the table.


A close up of the Jewelry box
This is the center of the room which I helped design. On the wall behind the light are my Headboard and Mirror set.



This is by the enterence the love heart sign is mine i found it cleaned it up and did the writing on it


This is a better view of the Headboard and mirror I did the designs on them.

Below on the desk is a small set of drawers I did all the detailing including the knobs

A close up of the small drawers


A close picture of the Jewelry box on the desk

Sick Day and Watching the Storm

Today I woke up with the beginings of a sore throat and a head cold so I decided to stay at home rest and cook good food. This sick day is much needed.

Another cool thing about today is its stormy.. Coming live from my porch amidst the down pour.. yes pple my first live blog... The rain is pouring the wind is....... well not so bad but the rains never stops.. We are at the bottom of a hill so all the rain water runs down the hill and into our little stream outside our house I have pics .. see below.. The cold air has penitrated my hoodie and I feel damp. But thats partly because I ran around taking pics for you guys and got wet.. Tootsie is under my blanket keeping warm..

I love this weather it reminds me of home. Which I miss very much folks, but ill be back before I know it and pining for the Californian mountains..


Back inside now.. my nose is running and the warmth is welcoming..



Above is the footbridge outside our house covered in ivy... and rain.


Rain coming down the hill pouring into little stream

Me keeping warm outside watching the storm.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tuesday Blues

Sherman had surgery yesterday so I have canceled today. He had a big blood sack on the floppy part of ear due to scratching and bursting a blood vessel. His ear is full of stitches and im not sure if your aware but Boxers ears are really floppy and Sherman shakes his head around alot, and scratches at his ears alot. At the moment he is wearing a sock on his head to keep his ear in place. Now its Tuesday and its time to take the dressing off and clean the ear.. OH yes thats my job..

So I remove the dressing which is caked with dry blood and have to soak his ear in wit hot towels. Sherman is skittish esp as his ear is tender, so getting him to just sit still and not shake his head is a huge ordeal, finally he does. I soak the ear for about 5 mins and gently clean it. I allow Sherman to get up and the first thing he does is shake his head vigoursly. Blood splatters the walls and me. I scream "Sherman, STOP" but he doesnt understand what he is supposed to stop doing, shaking his head is normal for him.

Now i have to repeat the proceedure and find a way of stableing the ear.. I have tube socks Ihave had to wear for a sprained ankle and we have non sticky pads for large cuts and bruises. A ha! brilliant. See photo for finishes product. It works as long as he doesnt shake his head too much. It has fallen out twice but I think ive secured it enough.. Poor Sherman looks so sad.

We think we have new home for him, some people are coming tomorrow, she has run a rescue shelter for dogs in the past and was looking for a adult boxer as a companion and guard dog. She knows sherman has had surgry but still wants him now. It cost us $391 to have his ear taken care of. London seems very far off right now.

Im home playing doctor, I have laundry up to my eyes and the housework to do.. Pants day blah. Yesterday I played tennis and got on with a Shabby Chic project, Im involved with a sister who has a spot in a Shabby Chic shop. Ill post some photos of what im doing. Im really excited, we basicly take furniture strip it down and paint it white and distress it so it looks Shabby. Or we take found objects as the bed head and mirror below and we make it unique and sell it for BUCKS. lol
Above is our first finished piece. We took a bedhead and mirror and added our design to make it one of a kind . Cost $2.50 Sell $150 -200

Above is an old jewllery box that we are spraying white then we are going to distress it and sell it for lots of money. Cost $8 Sell for $45-50


Above is a small chest of drawers ive sprayed white. Im gonna add cute knobs like crystal ones and the red love heart ive re sprayed as it was really water damaged and im going to add scroll writing.. Like "home is where the heart is" or somthing like that.. Cost $4 for both sell for $20 -25 each

This is what im working on now. Found this cool lamp for $5 its heavy, solid and it works. Im making Ruffles with the materail below and im going to glue them on the lamp see image below for how it will look.
This is how the ruffles will look. Got this project off a blog on here called "ruffles and stuff" very cool blog.


Im also being hounded by Tootsie today she has an obsession with my Tennis balls. She love to go fetch and wines like a kid if i do not throw it for her. She follows me all around the house and drops it my feet making a whineing sound..
These dogs are like having kid the good part we can leave them in the house alone and wont get arrested. However they do trash it occasionly.


So time to start house work... Ugh!