Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday February 8th
Patty from Patty's Pretty Things

Good Saturday Everyone.  It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to a fairly new blogger I have just been getting to know myself.   Patty from Patty's Pretty Things.  Her blog is awesome and she shares the same career of being a nurse as I do.  So sit back and enjoy learning a little more about this wonderful blogger.

Hello, I'm Patty from Patty's Pretty Things (www.pattyantle.com). I'm completing my 2nd year of blogging this month. I had no idea what having a blog would do for me when I started writing it. Initially, I thought it would be a creative thing to do but besides that, Patty's Pretty Things has helped me to connect with many wonderful people and make new friends. My blog features articles about how I decorate my home, things I make and things I do.

I've been a registered nurse for 35 years and started in the nursing field when I was 16 years old working in a nursing home. Nursing provided for a wonderful career but last June I decided I wanted to devote all of my time to my blog, to keeping up with the household chores and to travel with my husband. It's such a good time in my life. We have two grown children and experienced becoming grandparents to a beautiful grandson last May. After working outside the home for so many years, I truly appreciate every single minute of having the opportunity to make my own schedule. 

One of the very first posts I published was about making this wreath. It has by far been my most viewed and pinned post of all! 

I like to make a variety of things. Lately I have used my Silhouette Cameo to make cards, tags and journals. I use my Cinch book binding tool to put the journals together. I also purchased a one inch button making machine and have had fun with that. I have been shopping at vintage stores to collect items I can use in making mixed media projects. I also like to sew and paint and experience it all!

my creative space

I have just started to attend art retreats. In October I joined in on Sweethearts on the Homefront and met many talented and creative bloggers there. Going to art retreats is a great way to meet other bloggers in person who share the same interests. 

Our daughter is an artist who specialized in charcoal drawings. Here I am holding a drawing I just purchased from her at one of her recent exhibits.

My husband is very supportive of my blog and is my editor. Here we are at my brother's Christmas party.

I'm excited about entering my third year of blogging and enjoying the fulfillment it will bring to me. Please stop by Patty's Pretty Things as I would love to meet you.

Many thanks to Kris and Susan for putting me in the Spotlight this week!

Patty Antle

pattyantle@gmail.com

Patty's Pretty Things

Thank you Patty.  Now that you have gotten to know Patty please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another wonderful blogger Meg from Farmhouse 5540.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Kris

:)

White Table It Is!

Happy Thursday.  I know I have been going on about this dining room table and I appreciate all your wonderful suggestions and comments.

After several stain attempts, glazing and sanding I have decided to paint the table white.  Yep! big shocker White!

I loved some of the ideas but I just did not want to sand again inside the house and start over.  So for now it will be white until I can get it outdoors to sand it properly.

I painted the table top white and now I am on the look out for some kind of salvage pieces to give the sides and end of the table some character.

I am thinking some salvage tin or maybe some old drawer fronts or old door knobs with old face plates to trim out the sides and ends of the table.  I am on the hunt.

So for now the table drama is over and it will stay white for awhile.  I do want to give it some character so I will be looking at the flea markets and shops I frequent for something to bling up the sides and ends of the table.

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions.  I have never gotten so stuck on anything like this before.  Maybe it is the never ending cold weather that is getting to me.

Come back on Saturday for Spotlight.  Susan and I have two new fun bloggers for you to get to know better.
Have a great rest of the week.
Kris
:)

The Never Ending Table Project!

Hi Everyone.  It is the middle of the week.  We are getting 6 more inches of snow today.  Yeah!!! I think the totals for this winter so far are over 50 inches for the Chicagoland area.
Nuts Just Nuts!!!!

Hope you are warm and cozy where ever you are.

This table in my dining room is becoming the never ending project.  I just can't seem to get it right.  I did the redo on my whole kitchen in less than a week and this table is taking forever!

Most of the problem is I have red oak planks and they want to take on an orange tone to almost all the light stains I have tried.  Then I went to darker stains and some of them were too dark.

So here is where I am at and need some opinions.

As you can see I tried several colors of stain.  The only natural one I liked was not a stain but butcher block oil on the natural wood.  You can see that sample upper right corner of picture.

The lighter stains were coming out too much like the floor and taking on an orange color.  Then I tried darker stains and they were too red and dark for me.

Then I painted this area with white flat paint and then put a glaze over the top.  It came out kind of grey.  I was not liking that too much.

Then out of frustration I just painted the whole thing with one coat of white flat paint.

It looked a little chippy with only one thin coat on the surface.

Then I thought before giving up and giving it a second coat of white and calling it a day.  I would try the glaze one more time.  This is one coat going on.  You brush it on and then wipe it off with a cloth.

It came out really light as you can see in this picture and uneven with just one coat of glaze so..........

I added one more coat of glaze and wiped it down and let it sit over night to really soak in and dry.

This is where I am at now.  HELP!  It definitely is a contrast to the floors that I wanted and it is more brown than orange but I have not put poly on it yet because I am still not convinced this is what I want.  It is now looking like a traditional farmhouse table.
Just not sure if I should just poly it and leave it for awhile or paint over it white and then maybe distress it to look a little more like all the other distressed pieces in the room.  It just seems flat and boring to me now.  Maybe the poly will give it a little something not sure.
Opinions welcome.
Kris
:)

Good Monday Morning

Hope everyone had a great week end.  We are still freezing here in the midwest and got more snow this week end and more snow to come tomorrow.  Ughh!  The never ending Winter.  I am tired of whining about it and just trying to live with it.

I have a few new projects going since I did the kitchen redo.

One is the dining room and the other some redo's in the living room.  They are not as big as the Kitchen but seem to be taking longer!!

Any whoooooo!

Here is a peak at one thing I am working on this week in the dining room.

This was my farmhouse table which was ok but the stain was a little to orange in color for me.

You can see the orange better in this picture.  There is Mr. JCC in the background waiting patiently for me to take the picture so he can get back to sanding!  He loves when he starts to do something and I yell wait I need a before picture ha ha!

You can see how orange the stain was on the table in this picture.

This is it down to the bare wood after sanding.

So now the question is to stain or paint.  I am leaning towards staining it but not sure yet.  What do you think?  I am off today to Home Depot to look at stain samples.
Hope your week is starting out great.
Kris
:)