Magic, with Annie Sloan Chalk paintTUTORIAL

Hello friends:

Ready for some fun with chalkpaint. Let' get crakling.  It is like magic..
First of all, you need a few tools, average things we all have.:

1. a hair dryer
2. a paint brush
3. chalkpaint
4. gloves
5.dark wax

Apply the paint don't spread it, just apply it in a small place

DO NOT SPREAD THE PAINT OUT!!!!

Take your hair dryer and make little circles, and cook the paint

you will see little crackling going on, that is it.  You can see it better in this other color, I used a light color "Provence" hard to see.

Wait until the paint is dry, and apply the dark wax to reveal your crackle, very easy, and you don't need the glaze.

These pictures are before I applied the dark wax, sorry about the colors.
But you can really see the crackle in this one and on the others. I just did it on boards to show it.

You can see it better here.Then turn on your magic

Keep blowing in gentle circles over the paint 

and in a short time the paint will begin to crack.

We will have a great giveaway, keep reading my blog, we are CELEBRATING

Have a great night.

martha

Inspiration antiques (real stuff)

Hello Friends:
Hope you had a great weekend, I did, I was here:

The water was great, and the weather very very hot.


INSPIRATION:

This is a nice one, rusty, and very very old, I don't like the reproductions on line, just my opinion.

Some ideas on how to decorate with the later objects of the past. These are real antiques.

Pair of old benches with linen upholstery

Gustavian "Axen" chairs  cupboard and table 1950's. original

pair of Berdemeir chairs

old gurney table with burlap top use it anywhere.

very sweet old cupboard Gis

Gustavian cupboard 1800's

Art Deco birch table, just lovely

Very nice antiques, something to inspire us, mostly from Europe, and the Gustavian Sweedish style.

Ready for the Big Giveaway, you are going to love it, stay tune.

martha

"Your wish will come true??"

yea???  I wished so much for a hot summer, we got it.  However, today, in the middle of a humid,108 temperature, we had the air conditioner blasting ,we lost our lights.  What do you do?? of course, we thought, the beach, but we decided to go out for a quick lunch first. Well, every restaurant in the area was in the dark, generators didn't work. Well, I heard on the radio that the Wayland schools were celebrating their second "snow day" in the summer, so they brought tons of ice and snow for the kids, for a fun "snow day",  perfect idea for a day like today.
We live far from Wayland,so that idea was out, but we live 5 minutes to the beach,so that was the plan.We have lots of beaches here, every town has a beach, but then there is the big beach,It is called "Nantasket" It is big, it has all kinds of attractions, condos, cottages, so it looks to me like a vacation spot. Actually,Bostonians usually have a house in Maine, New Hampshire, or Cape Cod. A lot of them have a cottage here in Nantasket which is the big beach. Or they come for the day, for the week etc. We arrived and, of course it was so busy, but what a relief. ]    
  I know a lot of you who read my blog live in the Southern part of the USA so this weather, is not news to you, but for us here in Boston, is a bit too hot, usually summers are short, not too hot, the water is cold, it gets better at the end of July.  So, this is as bad as a snowstorm, I kept thinking about my food in the freezer, cleaning the fridge out,after not having electricity for so many hours.   be  the "buzz" word today was, "do you want ice, and snow??" 


Some of my favorite books (summer reading)
 


and 

Here are some pictures of Rachel Ashwell's new project, her B&B in a ranch, I brought her books also to the beach. I thought you would like to see her new rooms, so cute. The B&B is a series of cottages in a big ranch.  Each one is decorated with vintage wallpaper, a lot of white, and very romantic furnishings and accessories. Go online for rates and availability if you are interested.

this little cottage has a bedroom and a bathroom, so cute!!!

the living room on another of the cottages at "The Prarie"

the" Blue Bonnet "cottage,  sooo cute imagine a romantic night here!!!!

very Rachel, her white on white bathroom

Another cottage living room, simple but so elegant.

"The Manor"  bedroom

Great room combination, living and guest room.

The next three books are by Atlanta Bartlett   they make you drool when you read them.

very elegant and so delicate, love her photography

If you like decorating with whites, this is the book for you.
I love whites.

Love her style and the photos on  her books this is really, my style, love "white" and a touch of color. Love simplicity eclectic, mixing, this is art, in my opinion, very few decorators can achieve a look like Atlanta Bartlett.

The lights are on, so I have to go home, hope you enjoyed some of my books, happy reading,

xoxoxo

martha

Summer reading, beaches of Cape Cod

Hello friends:

 

I am reading this book, almost done, so so like the New England summer towns, like Hyannis, Oak Bluffs. Here are some more pictures of my last weekend in the Vineyard, I call this place "paradise"

 

 

"Are we there yet" Advice:  If you go to the Vineyard from Wood's hole expect to wait for a boat over 2 hours, because they fill on the weekends really fast.  They have lots of parking lots to leave your car on the mainland if you don't want to pay to take your car to the island.
A lot of people take their car, beacuse of the bikes,and beach gear.
This is a great place to vacation every weekend, or stay for one or two weeks, and hop over to Nantucket.

Lots of shops, antiques, flea market, great restaurants, biking trails,and of course the beach.






The boat, trying to take some pictures, great ride.

Maine

“Like Elizabeth Strout’s conflicted junior high teacher, Olive Kitteridge, [the Kellehers] are appealing partly because of their oh-so-­human shortcomings…I enjoyed every page of this ruthless and tender novel about the way love can sometimes redeem even the most contentious families. Like all first-rate comic fiction, Maine uses humor to examine the truths of the heart, in New England and far beyond.” –The Washington Post
“Sullivan beautifully channels Alice through her memories…The dialogue sizzles as the tension between the women’s love and anger toward one another tightens…You don’t want the novel to end.” –The New York Times Book Review
For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano at night. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.” At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.

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SUMMER DELICIOUS DRINK

Hello friends:

Today is so hot, that all we are doing is keeping cool, drinking a lot of water, and running the AC.

• • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 bunch fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
  • 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed
  • 4 grapefruits, juiced
  • 2 cups vodka
  • Club soda
  • Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. Add the thyme and peppercorns. Let steep for one hour. Strain and chill, reserving a few thyme sprigs for garnish.
2. Mix grapefruit juice and vodka in a pitcher. (Chill if making ahead.) To serve, fill each 8-ounce glass with 1 tablespoon thyme syrup, add ice to fill the glass, and fill 3/4 of the way full with the grapefruit mixture. Top with club soda. Garnish with 1 sprig of fresh thyme and some cracked black pepper if desired.

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

It sounds like a great refreshing drink for a very hot day,

love

martha