missed YOU! and PPF

"Bless me Father for I have sinned and it has been 6 months since my last blog post" ... can NOT believe my last blog post was September 2013.  Guess I got caught up in Holidays and snow and family and life and loss and gain.  Also fell into the trap of … it’s so much quicker to just drop a blurb on fb …  I’ve missed it here … missed all of you … missed visiting your places and sharing your experiences.  I’m back and will make the time.  I didn’t stop painting … paint is still one of my favorite things!  Missing Paint Party Friday too ... Happy 3rd Birthday-Anniversary-Blogoversary to PPF!

I’ve been playing with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint mostly and here are a few of my finished pieces (18 ASCP projects so far …)

an old wooden tray buried in my parents basement

the vanity mirror my sister and I had when we were teenagers

a $2 solid wood dark brown tag sale candle holder

old dark brown wooden ashtray table

old wooden sewing box my pépère had built for my mémère

a thrift store cradle

the hutch my husband built with his dad a long time ago reminding him always of the 1st baseball game he attended with his dad back in 1964

my mom's old pine lamp

my mémère's wooden treasure box

an old family piece painted for my sister for her 'quilting cave'



a mirror for Stef

a $15 estate sale bed and night stand

an old pressed wood double recipe box

the dark pine hutch I grew up with featured in the Just Paint Vermont March 2014 Newsletter

a very special chair for Stef

now I am off to catch up and visit YOU!

xoxo

Fink Family Dogs' Beach Home Toy Box and PPF piece

built by Rog and embellished by me!

 

please don't tell me I forgot anypup!
(and it's my PPF share for week eleven year 3 check-in)

ladder plant stand with ❤

i found this sweet old ladder (already painted) at a consignment shop in Portsmouth, NH.  Shell and Bruce transported it for me and it has been in the basement for over a year now.  Had to have it, but I hadn't planned to do this with it.  Was ready to go buy some boards to make the shelves when i decided to use two of my vintage ironing boards (Rog disassembled the boards and built brackets to help position the boards on the ladder from the ironing board legs).  NOW, for the best part of the story ... LOVE when stuff just comes together!

this ironing board came from Kevin's grandmother ... Helen Veronica Lasky Beloin.  Kev swapped me for a brand new ironing board and iron.

this ironing board came from Irene Newsome Munson.  I had helped Irene with her housework and told her if she ever wanted to get rid of the vintage board I would be interested.  Shortly after she passed away, her daughter called me and said that they had found a note taped to the back of the board to give the ironing board to me.

both ironing boards were manufactured by the same company.  both Helen and Irene were very best friends while they were here on earth.  Irene was 90 and Helen was 91 years old when they departed from this earth. 
Can't wait til it warms up a bit and I can fill these shelves with flowers and herbs and treasures!

Paint Party Friday Auction Blog Hop to Benefit Sandy Hook Elementary School

Welcome to my auction post for the Paint Party Friday Auction Blog to Benefit the Sandy Hook Elementary School!

 

When I was a little girl I remember my mother telling me that I should be good because Santa was coming. I believed in Santa for a very long time – I still believe in Santa and enjoy painting him at every opportunity I get on any surface that allows paint.

 I LOVE Christmas and I am always scrambling to get everything done before this holiday. I painted this Santa in 2011 on a Chinese bottle gourd born and raised in the USA.  At that time I was trying to focus more on being good and doing good things for others.

 I really liked the way this Santa came together.  He sits on a Paperclay base with the stamped words GRATITUDE, PEACE, HOPE and HEAL. Vintage sheet music snowflakes adorn his coat. His sack is filled with children’s toys and a painter’s palate and there is a Christmas tree ready for decorating.  In his hands he holds a banner reminding us to "be good ❤ do good".  He stands approximately 14" tall, not including his stem.
 

 

 

 

On December 14^th 2012 while I was busy scrambling to make Christmas lists and write Christmas cards and painting Santas, an incomprehensible event took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and time stood still for so many of us. Christmas lists and cards and Santas seemed insignificant and Christmas will never be the same for me. I will always have GRATITUDE for my many blessings and I will continue to pray for PEACE, and I have HOPE that there is a plan for all of us, but it will take forever to HEAL from that day.

 

I am very thankful to Kristin and Eva of Paint Part Friday for organizing this auction and I have selected this Santa gourd as my auction item. 

Auction Details

My auction will run from Friday, March 15th, 2013 until Monday, March 18th, 2013 at 11:59 pm EDT.  (I am in CT, to find out what time that is where you are please click here).

 

Shipping anywhere is on me!  If Santa is shipped internationally, shipping is still free BUT the buyer is responsible for any duty/taxes/etc. 

How to Bid

Starting/Opening bid is $25.00 please

1. Place a bid  (with a way to reach you) in the comments section.

2. Bookmark this page so you can easily check back to see if you have been outbid and need to make another bid.

3. If you have the winning bid I will contact you.

4. Payment will be made from YOU to a Sandy Hook Elementary charity (see below).  I will NOT personally be collecting any money.

5. Once you have made your donation to the charity, please send your proof of donation (a forwarded receipt) to me at: gerchouinard(at)comcast(dot)net

6. After I have received your proof of donation in the form of a forwarded receipt (and you have supplied your mailing address), I will mail Santa to you! 

 

Please remember as you contemplate your bids, all proceeds go to very worthy causes.  Please check out the below charities where donations can be made and pick your favorite.

 

http://www.mainelovessandyhook.com/

... a beautifully crafted memorial honoring the 26 lives lost December 14th, 2012.

http://www.thesandygroundproject.org/

... an endeavor to create 26 playgrounds (living memorials) "to provide a symbol of hope, recovery and return to normalcy".

 

https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/

 

http://newtownmemorialfund.org/

 

 

 

... any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Enjoy the auction and thank YOU for participating if you can ...

***THIS AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED***
Congrats to Eva for her winning bid and thank YOU so much for supporting the Sandy Hook Elementary School charities!  Thank you to those who participated in this auction with bids, words of encouragement and acts of kindness. Santa will be moving to Ottawa soon!  Thx all again!  ❤

 

 

Sandy Hook Angels and Paint Party Friday

Remembering Charlotte, Daniel, Rachel, Olivia, Josephine, Dylan, Madelein, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, Ana, James, Grace, Anne Marie, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Lauren, Mary, Victoria, Benjamin and Allison today and every day …

While here on earth they were stars in the eyes of their parents, siblings, spouses, significant others, all other family members and friends and now and forever, they will live in our hearts and shine from the heavens.

 

I’ve tried to represent these 26 precious beings with an assemblage of wood and placed them watchfully on a stairway to Heaven. Six female grownups and twenty little children (twelve girls and eight boys) all taken from this earth far too soon.   

 

Hand and machine crafted shapes along with vintage wood handed down from generation to generation, along with old VT barn wood and wooden Scrabble tiles. 

And the paint … angel white with a touch of pink or blue.  A Sandy Hook Elementary School green heart shaped memorial ribbon adorn each angel.  The yellow stars are painted with leftover paint from a children’s summer piñata I had once made.

 

 

 ... and it's Friday already again!

Where does the time go?  

It's Paint Party Friday!  Visit PPF to find out more about the PPF Auction Blog Hop to Benefit Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Anyone can contribute art, Anyone can buy!

❤ 

 

 

'fabric' Jesus

I sewed this representation of Jesus on the cross over 30 years ago on an old black vintage Singer sewing machine.  Was amazed how well it came out.  It was a perfect travel crucifix and always accompanied me where ever my suitcase went.  Rog took my suitcase for his most recent airplane trip and spent the entire day at the airport.  His airplane never arrived to pick him up causing him to miss his connecting flight out of Philly.  He returned home the very same day.  He had taken Jesus out of the suitcase and left him on the dresser.  I returned Jesus to his suitcase and Rog set off again.  The 1^st leg of his trip was uneventful and took off right on time.  'Chaos' tried messing with the 2^nd leg and I received 2 automated calls from the airline informing me that the 2^nd leg would be detained from 3:45 p.m. to 4:44 p.m. and then to 5:24 p.m. due to maintenance issues from a prior flight.  And then the 3^rd call came saying that the flight had returned to its original take-off time (and eventually landed prior to the original estimated landing time).  Ya don’t mess with Jesus!  I don’t mess with Jesus!  'Chaos' tried but Jesus won!  Rog calls him ‘fabric Jesus’ and you can believe what you want ...

But I won’t ever fly without Him!  Prayer helps too!

❤
thank you Jesus!

PPF & the buoys

So my Uncle Richard (1916 - 1995) had these 3 buoys from Maine hanging in a nautical collection on his house forever.  I procured these treasures from my Cousin Kathy (thank you Cousin), restored and repainted them with some Caribbean colors (but left hints of the original red and blue) and added numbers from 6 addresses where I have lived.  They originated from

284 Moore Hill Drive

 

 

and I've lived at

369 Ivy Drive, and

71 Renee Street, and

492 Plainville Avenue, and

41 Tanglewood Road, and

finally, and originally at,

40 Knoll Street

 

... just 3 buoys and so many combinations of numbers that worked!  Can't wait to get them outside to embellish by beach themed deck away-from-the-sea!

Check out Paint Party Friday and the announcement for the upcoming

PPF Auction Blog Hop

to Benefit The Sandy Hook Elementary School!

 

happy PPF! ❤

Thank YOU Stef and Rich

 Early Christmas present from Stef and Rich (and Jack and Kai) made by Susan Fairgrieve Design.  Our driftwood Christmas tree!  This tree is made from Jersey shore driftwood.  A portion of the sale of this driftwood tree helps to restore the shore and directly helps Hurricane Sandy victims at the Jersey shore.  Check out more of Susan's work at The Coastal Collections!

 

LOVE our driftwood tree!  Thank You Rich and Stef!

 

xoxo