Burlap Lamp

I don't have an old picture for this but you have to picture:

70s - wood and brass base

The shade was that awful orange and brown tweed

So 4 coats of gloss white on the base.

Then I used the same lamp shade, took off the trim, covered it in burlap.

(I used spray adhesive for the center then hot glue for the trim.)

The floor was made from light black fabric, cut in shapes, burned the edges to prevent fraying, then just sewn in the middle with a 'pearl' in the center.

I just love it! It's soooo much better than the before!

And... I need to work on staging/not taking pictures at night.

I am going to attempt to link up to the fabulous Samantha Muse for my first blog party.

One more chair (kinda) finished.

I still need to replace one of the braces at the bottom. But I'm trying to thing of a creative way to do it.

Here is the new.

I used high gloss black paint and burlap for the seat. Then stamped the corner.

The corner looks funky in the picture... but it didn't before. hmmm

Yellow of the day

Inspired by the great old hay barn on the family farm and the fact that I am my mother's daughter, I set up shop in the cold and frigid basement to bring new life to old furniture. It doesn't help that I tore my house apart, put it back together and now I'm left with an itch... Hopefully the future holds an amazing little shop in the great old barn to hauck the wares to new homes. But until then they shall live on in the blog world.


The first estate sale weekend










I also acquired a few things from my fathers house - but got way to excited and they are already covered in paint. And because it's only right to work on 5 things at once, only two things are completed.



Clearly my formatting skills need some major help.

Created so I could yabber on about my horse-capades and re-awakened to follow design blogs. Change? I should say so!

The boy is still doing good - just wish it would warm up!

Carol Kozlowski gymnastic's clinic

This weekend was our first outing of the season, and a big one at that. Our 1st time hauling with the beast and his mistress. Our first time going by ourselves (well my mother was there for moral support, but completely useless as far as horse help). And our first time with another trainer... well ever! Our first time riding in a ring with other horses since January.. you get the picture.
I was really nervous - I didn't know where I was going to park and our backing skills are .. getting there. I didn't know where to go or what to do when I got there. I didn't know how Canada was going to react (although he is perfect ... ).

Sunday morning I gassed up the beast and headed over to Grand Island to pick up his mistress. After about 15 tries (parked on a slight hill we kept rolling a bit) we were finally ready to go! Let me tell you the drive over that bridge is very scary, the lines are NOT wide enough and there is NO shoulder. Thankfully no one was on the road.

At this point I was running 30 min behind where I wanted to be, but not late yet. I ran to the pasture to get the prince out. He wasn't interested and began his slow walk away. His favorite thing is to walk through/around the "pond" so I can't get to him. But HA! it had dried up and I had my muck boots on. Once he realized he no longer had this option he came willingly.

At this point I had to rush a little bit to make up some time. So quick brush and show sheen it was. His highness was a little miffed because he A. didn't get his treat. B. I wasn't taking my time C. I was spraying stuff on him that was messing with the self treated mud treatment that he took care of yesterday/the morning. But he stood somewhat patiently. I through his saddle on and cleaned it/oiled it quickly and then through the cover on as Trainer had advised it would be much easier to deal with at the barn then on the road.

My mother showed up with the usual mom items - human treats, GPS, camera, extra clothes should the weather change. I loaded up while my mom watched uncomfortably aside. Rushed around and picked up the last minute things. And we were off - slightly late but nothing to exciting.

Well we listened to the GPS and it took us some back assed way through the curviest streets with the most jagged path to get to the main road which would take us to the clinic. UGH

We arrived with time to spare after the GPS continued to take me the most asshat way possible. Found all of the other trailers parked aside the road, and I sighed relief because I would not have to worry about backing. Walked into the barn to find a few parents sitting out side the ring as the other clinic was going on. My anxiety slowed down as I realized it wasn't as big of deal as the mind had made it. After about 10 min they were finishing up so I ran to my trailer got his bridle on, handed my mother his spare bridle, threw on my helmet and ran to the rind.

We had a few minutes to warm up, which I spent trying to loosen up our ever so still hind end. While not having time to full do our warm up of leg yields and hunches in and out, I had him working on the bit and mostly off his hind end.

When the clinic officially started I of course tensed up, stopped using my leg, and started pulling his head down. Opps. That didn't last long before I was corrected.

Overall the experience was rewarding and worth it. I didn't hear anything new or surprising. It all just followed what my current lessons had been, but it was great to hear it in different terms with someone that didn't know me and therefore demanded a bit more from us. She often raised the jumps just for us, which gave the inner confidence a bit of a boost. By the end I think we had improved and she seemed pleased.

I thanked her for her time and told her I learned a lot. She said we made a nice pair and invited us to come back.

As I walked back to my trailer I reflected on our clinic, did a little heal click and remarked how lucky I was to finally live out the 13 year old dream.

It was a great day, I'm so lucky to have the truck and trailer to be able to do these types of things. I worked hard to get here and can only hope it continues!

An Introduction

Show name: Canadian Blue
Best known as: Canada
Breed: Canadian TB
Raced: Erie
Goals: Start at Beginner Novice with a move up to Novice by the end of the season

He was my 21st birthday gift for myself. Best. Thing. I decided it was time to live out all of my childhood dreams. Money, time, injury to both horse and rider have really prevented us from truly living out those dreams. But this is our summer.

He lives at a small 7 stall facility with mostly retired horses. He get a lot of turn out and a lot of individual attention. I usually have our lovely (yet small) indoor all to ourselves. Our focus, drive, and connection has done a 180. It's been a perfect situation for us, and we are doing great!

Last year we did one event in Genesseo, NY at Beginner Novice - we were 6th after Dressage, but had a refusal (my fault!) in Stadium and had time faults because we (Canada) didn't want to cross a stream of moving water.

Last year I purchased a small 2 horse Kingston from my trainer. While it sat there and just looked pretty, I dreamt about the summer to come where we would travel and do as much as (the wallet allowed) possible. But my little blue Ford Focus just didn't have the capability to pull it along. Recently I took a big gulp and went into (small and modest) debt to purchase "the beast" a 2003 Silverado 2500HD. Since the purchase the little one (Focus) has sat idle because it's just not as fun to drive as "the beast".

This is the trials, tribulations, and hopefully championships of Canada and his girl (ME!)