Heather Bullard

Paint Magic

I've had this tiered stand for years now and have really loved how useful it is on my kitchen counter. When I originally bought it, it was black but I've grown tired of the dark color and was ready for a quick change.

I sprayed it with two different colors of grey/gray spray paint to give it a little extra depth. One was flat and the other semi-gloss. Here are the three items I used on it. They are all available at Lowe's.

The last step was using the Antiquing Glaze to give it dimension and add a rustic touch. I rubbed the glaze on with a towel and wiped some of the excess off with a cheese cloth. It ages it perfectly in an instant.

In other painting news...I've been trying to choose "the perfect white" for my living/dining rooms and it's been no easy task. Here's a little video of my dilema. In case you wanted to share in my obsession.

Scouting Locations

Hey there! We're nearing our deadline for the magazine and soon it will be off to the printers. Our premiere issue will be hitting newsstands on February 23rd and you'll finally be able to see what our great team has been working on for months and months!

Today I'm over at the Flea Market Style Blog sharing what I look for when I'm out and about scouting locations. Hope you enjoy a little behind the scenes. And if you happen to know a great location I should check out, let me know! 

Wishing You...

I hope each of you get to spend Thanksgiving Day with those you hold dear. I for one am so grateful that you take the time to drop by now and again to say hello and leave such warm hearted thoughts and comments. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my day!

Inspired Room Holiday Giveaway

Today my friend Melissa of The Inspired Room is hosting an All Day Holiday Extravaganza! She will be giving away prizes throughout the day. There will be lots goodies and winners! I am donating a French Salt Box and a Laguiole Butter Dish & Spreader as a prize to one lucky recipient. I think it makes the perfect hostess gift for the upcoming holidays. Hop on over to Melissa's for your chance to win something for the holidays. Click here to leave a comment to be entered in my giveaway. Good Luck!

Giveaway is now closed. Over 500 entries! Wow! Melissa will be announcing the winner soon. Will post it here. Thanks for participating in her Holiday Extravaganza.

Matilda's Mouse

On Friday, I was invited to attend the monthly antique barn sale at Matilda's Mouse by my friends Gale and Sandra. They are both vendors at the sale and have incredible style and I knew everything would be over the top gorgeous. Here are some images from the day with limited interuption...

 

The historic home and barn were once owned by Betty Crocker and the grounds are so charming. I especially loved all the boxwood hedges lining the walkways.

Isn't it a beautiful location and aren't the displays incredible? It's the perfect place to take your girlfriends shopping for an afternoon. They even have a coffee truck with hot java and goodies for you to fuel up on. And there's nothing like a day of Christmas inspiration to get you in the holiday spirit! For me the inspiration carried over to Sunday at the flea market where I continued buying vintage ornaments. It's contagious I tell you! Thank you ladies of Matilda's for a fantastic day shopping and visiting with you!

The next sale is December 11-13. They are located at 29200 Miller Road, Valley Center, CA. If I were you...I'd plan on going to this one. I heard it was going to be a winter white extravaganza! 

l'automne

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.
~John Donne

 

Wishing you a beautiful autumnal weekend full of all it's splendor. To view my favorite photos of the season click here. There are so many breathtakingly gorgeous photos on Flickr. Prepare to leave inspired.

Warm Heart, Artisan Hands

That describes my friend Natalie who has the most endearing personality and warm heart you can imagine combined with an incredible dose of artistic talent. I met her while doing a few photo shoots over the summer where she provided beautiful baked goods and a generous helping hand.

Aside from making delicious baked goods such as crumbles, pies, cakes and buckles she makes the most beautiful necklaces, altered art and shadow boxes. While I was visiting the last time she gave me the "H" bubble necklace with a great chunky chain and the diorama shadow box of the dried leaf and pod from a liquid amber tree.

She has listed a few of these treasure boxes in her etsy shop and will also take special orders if you have something you would like preserved such as shells from a great trip, a locket of your baby's hair or other little keepsake. Just send her an email (vintagesparrow@gmail.com) and let her know what you have in mind.

I sure wish I lived closer to my friend because I would come over in the morning for coffee, let her tell me how to raise chickens, go junkin' with her and spend the afternoon pouring over cookbooks and chatting recipes. Oh, if only.

Brocante Carnival Highlights

To sum it all up...We had a seriously fun day together! Such an incredible group of ladies (and one gentleman) came to conquer the Rose Bowl and spend the day laughing, shopping and sharing.

Some friends came later in the morning to meet up with us. I tried to get photos of everyone, including the shy ones while they were shopping. The best part of the day for me was sharing what we bought during our lunch. Here's a peek...

Isn't this a gorgeous collection of colors and texture? Love it! There were quite a few who collected paper ephemera and Leslie brought home some player piano music.

And who can resist any kind of beautiful beaded trim? Did you notice how the shoppers clothing sort of blended with their purchases? So cool!

Here's Pam's favorite purchase of the day, a spun cotton bell ornament. Faded beauties, she can spot them a mile away!

Here's Jenny holding one of our prize cornucopias. They were filled with a pair of handmade earrings from Amy, a packet of holiday notecards and other goodies.

For those of you who attended and took photos, please leave a comment so others can visit your blog. In all the excitement we completely forgot to write down everyones name and blog address. Sheesh, you can tell we need to do some fine tuning next time!

And it's hard to leave you without sharing our Rose Bowl Celebrity sighting of the day....

All I can think of is that song..."One of these things is not like the other ones, one of these things just isn't the same". Do you know who she is? Don't feel bad if you don't, I had to have someone tell me. Guess I don't watch enough tv.

Thanks everyone for spending the day with us. You made the experience unforgettable!

Crocheted Wreath Necklaces

I just had to share this with you because these crocheted necklaces just make me smile. They are Jenny's handmade contribution to the goodie bags we're giving away on Sunday. 

She dressed them up on a shipping tag stamped with her line of Creshendoh Doohdles which makes them even more adorable. We had such fun getting together last night for an evening of crafting, packaging and chatting. Jenny taught us how to make these so now I need to run to the craft store to buy some supplies. Inspiration abounds!

Coffee Chat: Social Networking

Would you like to sit down and have a little chat over coffee? I've been wondering a lot lately about the vast amount of social networking going on around the world today. Facebook, Myspace, Google Friend and Twitter are a few that come to mind. To be honest, they leave my head spinning. I mean, I can barely get through my email inboxes let alone keep up with other networking options available. Am I the only one who can't do it all? I would love to hear your opinions and view on such things as:

1. Do you Facebook (or similar websites) and if so...do you spend a lot of time on it? Do you enjoy finding friends from the past or seeing what everyone is up to?

2. Twitter...To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question. I have a Twitter account and have never used it. Do you read all those tweets going out by the millions per day? And does anyone really want to know what everyone else is doing and/or not doing via Twitter?

3. Can somebody please school me in the difference between Google Friend Connect and Google Reader Subscribers? I am at a complete loss. I think it's mostly a Blogspot thing because I don't see it on many Typepad blogs. Confused to say the least. Care to help a girl out?

Please think of this as a friendly open discussion. The kind of conversation we would have over coffee. I know that many of you will have great tips, advice and opinions regarding the subjects and I can't wait to see how everyone feels about all this networking.