Paris Themed Giveaway # 2 - Day 2

Good Morning everyone!!!
If you missed the first giveaway you can click HERE to enter still.  The winner for Day 1 will be announced next Monday.

Now on to another incredible " artiste " friend of mine.
Meet Tuula - from The Thrifty Rebel

Tuula does the most amazing things - from furniture makeovers - to room makeovers but what really grabs my heart is her Garden Art

She creates things like this

and this

and these magnificent chimes - made from vintage goblets - you really must visit this makeover to believe it really - HERE

After all of us telling her she is an ARTISTE - I think she finally accepted that fact and has opened an
Etsy shop which you can visit HERE ( be prepared to be totally inspired )

What do you do when you see old vintage silverware - an ashtray - and some bling?
Well Tuula creates wind chimes - specific wind chimes for THIS giveaway!!!

I wish I had a decent camera for this because it's just gorgeous beyond belief - and makes the most beautiful tinkling sound you can imagine

Each spoon was hammered out - and lucky for us she had just bought a die cast tool and stamped in French words onto each spoon!!!

The care she put into the details - the little bits of bling - that it was made with this giveaway specifically in mind makes it absolutely priceless to me!!!

Wouldn't you just love to have this original Vintage Wind Chime ???  I haven't put mine outside yet - but I can't wait to sit outside with a magazine and a cup of tea - and listen to these swaying in the wind - the music is just magical...............

Ok - so the rules will be the same as yesterday's !!!

#1  You have to follow  THE THRIFTY REBEL
#2  You have to go visit and leave her a comment
#3  You most definitely need to leave me a comment LOL

#4
Strike number 4 -  I was going to say you have to follow me - and although I'd certainly love it if you did -
I'm not going to make that a rule!!!!!!!!
SO..........3 simple ones
No no !!!  I just thought of a 4th rule - you have to put one French word in your comments - seriously -
1 French word!!! (  I had so much fun with the French words you all came up with yesterday that I have to keep that in lol )
The third give away will be up Thursday - you can enter them all - but you can only win one ( just to be fair )
Give away is open to U.S. and Canada 

Tomorrow will be the scheduled I WANNA live there as usual

Are you ready?
Get set.............
GO !!!


AND I can't tell you how suprised I am that NO one said Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir - AND I KNOW YOU ALL KNOW THOSE WORDS LOL

I added one more silhouette to my board..................the Moulin Rouge - can you do the can can - can you do the can can !!!

it's coming - I add one building every night lol
to see the others you can peak HERE and HERE

Ok everyone - the best of luck !!!

Big hugs,

GIVEAWAY - DAY ONE

Good Morning everyone -

Hope you all had a great weekend - for those of us in North America it's still our weekend - na na nananah!!!

A group of incredibly talented ladies grouped together with me to create some pretty special give aways to mark my 1000 milestone with GFC.
And when I say they're incredible - well you're going to find out for yourself in a second.

When I approached each of them - and asked if they would like to participate I was met with a resounding collective YES - we would love to!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But - I added - I'd like this giveaway to be themed.....................and STILL they eagerly jumped on board
Can you guess what that theme would be?
If you know me - you guessed right - I'm pretty sure about that LOL

AND - I added once again - I'd like a copy of whatever you're giving away so that I can see it for myself
( because I'm greedy like that - last week the mail man just kept plunking gifts down at my door lol )

I will showcase one Blogger - one Giveaway at a time ( and I make take a break in between a couple to actually blog as well lol - so this will go on and on and on )

The first contributor is Dani from Frugal Ain't Cheap

Dani is the Queen of Frugal - she can show you tips that you never thought of before -
Be careful when visiting - I feel completely under-accomplished every time I do LOL
I don't know if there's anything she CAN'T do - but I'm in awe of her......and her many many
talents..........like this page project that cost her all of $ 1.00

or this incredible chicken wire lantern

or wall art out of shims for $ 2.00

She also has an Etsy shop Frugal Ain't Cheap where she sells beautiful table linens....................
And has graciously offered this set to one lucky follower!!!
Not only do I love them for myself but these would make such awesome Hostess gifts - and the holidays will be here before we know it!!!

Aren't they beautiful?

I quickly ran around setting the table for a Parisien inspired dinner " pour quatre "

John came home
John says - Oh are we having company?
Suzan says - Noooooo -
John says - Please don't tell that's for the blog
Suzan says - Ok - I won't
John says - Do other people do this?
Suzan says - Yes they do - and they make mine look pathetic actually - you should s -
John says - Never mind - I don't want a big discussion of what all the bloggers do
Suzan says - You're very rude you know
Suzan says - I was going to leave the table set up like that for you and I but now I'm putting it all back
John laughs - Dinner in the kitchen, then?

Ok - here's the rules friends -
and they are my rules - not the contributors

#1  You have to follow FRUGAL AIN'T CHEAP
#2  You have to go visit and drop her a line
#3  You most definitely need to leave me a comment LOL

#4
Strike number 4 -  I was going to say you have to follow me - and although I'd certainly love it if you did -
I'm not going to make that a rule!!!!!!!!
SO..........3 simple ones
No no !!!  I just thought of a 4th rule - you have to put one French word in your comments - seriously -
1 French word!!!
The second one will be up tomorrow - you can enter them all - but you can only win one ( just to be fair )

Are you ready?
Get set.............
GO !!!

With immense gratitude to Dani for contributing
AND to all of you who follow
Giveaway is open to U.S. & Canada
Come by tomorrow to see the next awesome giveaway!!!

Much love,

Oh - and yesterday I showed you the beginning of my Parisien Skyline Silhouette Here - where I only had the Eiffel Tower done - now I have the L'Arc de Triomphe too!

DIY Silhouette Art

Good morning everyone!!!

Your friendly neighborhood artist here at your disposal ( and that is SO sarcastic - because I'm the furthest thing from an artist that there could be )
Although being an artist certainly is starting to be a term people use most loosely - if you want to giggle
check out a true ARTIST HERE - seriously - you won't believe your eyes ( and if you are related to that particular artist - well then I'm sorry - and I'm just an ignoramus - because I don't get it )

BUT - every now and then an " idea " is born and I attempt to do something on a canvas ( and that's a very loose term - because it's usually an old scap piece of wood ).  I created these for my kids last fall - made one each and put lyrics that meant something to each of them.  You can see details of it HERE

They seemed to be quite popular and are SO easy to do - that I decided to do another one with a step by step tutorial for you today..............it didn't come out as nice as the first ones because I was in a hurry to
get things done and didn't do as many buildings on this one

I only had very thin pieces of plywood to use - the first batch were made on pieces of wood boards actually.
So I started off with my " canvas "

I gave it a quick coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Pure White

John says - PLEASE don't paint on the dining room table
Suzan says - It's my EASEL - and please don't stifle my creativity
John says - We use that to eat on - PLEASE
John says - No wonder I can never find a a recycle bag - HAVE YOU BEEN USING THEM FOR DROP CLOTHS???????????

I've been wanting to paint this table for over 2 years now - John is standing firm against the idea -  I figure if I have enough " accidents " on it - he'll have no choice but to let me do it LOL
Ok - ready to see an artist in motion?
Take notice of my clean fluid strokes everyone -
and especially my tools!!!

A Sharpie and a Ruler - LMHO
Now I can draw stick figures AND buildings - SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!

For a city silhouette I make them as close as possible with different roof lines and add some smoke stacks ( chimney's? ) for interest

and I ALWAYS add a Church

Montreal is a city of Churches ( more per capita than anywhere else in North America apparently )
so a city skyline without one is inconceivable to me !!!

Ok - at this point John said the funniest thing he's ever said before ( well concerning the blog anyway )
I'm dying of laughter here.............and like usual he's dead serious !!!
I'm sitting at the computer uploading these images

John says - WHAT are you doing?
Suzan says - I'm giving a tuturorial on how to make these
John says - ARE YOU INSANE???
John says - You could sell these on your blog - why the hell are you telling everyone how to make them???
Suzan says - If you're expecting people to line up to buy these John you're in a dream world here!
John says - Well that's another lost opportunity ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Suzan says - Why do all your get-rich-quick schemes always involve me and a paintbrush?
Suzan says - Please go invent something................leave me alone, I'm blogging

OMG - I'm laughing my head off - I can barely type to finish this ..................
Hey John - You've got HIGH hopes - high hopes - high in the sky apple pie hopes................
Should I have these patented LMHO???

Ok - let's continue............I left the backgrounds white on the ones I made for my kids - on this one I decided to paint a grey sky.................just dry brushing once again -
I used Graphite and White chalk paint because I was out of Paris Grey -
It's completely ok to paint over some of the " buildings " at this point because they're all going to be filled in with the Graphite color anyway..............

I then added some Old Violet here and there - again only dry brushing -

Ok - now we paint the buildings - if you want to make Graphite a pure black - you can add some black pigment to the mix - I didn't have any so I added black craft paint - and if any of you tell Annie Sloan that I'll never speak to you again!!!

I paint the black in one direction only - up/down - and I do it thick for " texture "
And this is how it looks when you're finished ( or in this case almost finished )

I left the one I did for my Son like the above - completely black - but I usually dry brush some white over the buildings at this point..............in the opposite direction that the black was painted in - so side to side.
This allows the texture to show ..............

it almost gives the effect of a rainy twilight  - with moon glow just starting to creep in
oops - have to work on that steeple and cross a little!

Stay tuned - I'm working on a Paris one now.................BECAUSE

Tomorrow is day ONE of GIVE AWAYS  ( to celebrate 1000 GFC followers )
There'll be 6 different days and there may be a little bit a lot of Paris involved  
Have a great Sunday everyone
Much love,

Suzan yells - John the first piece is ready for the Art Gallery!!!!!!!!!!

Sharing with!
Homemaker on a dime                            Craft O Maniac                        Under the table & dreaming

The Charm of Home                               French Country Cottage           Chase the Star
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House            My Romantic Home                 One Artsy Mama
The Shabby Nest                                   Finding Fabulous                       Mellywood's Mansion
I Heart Nap Time                                  Funky Junk Interiors                  It's Overflowing
I should be mopping the floor                 Uncommon Designs                  Homemaker on a Dime
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia           Homework                               Stone Gable

Home is where the Hearts are...................

Good morning everyone - another heartfelt post today

When I began blogging I had no idea - absolutely no idea - the friendships that were waiting in store for me literally at my fingertips.  I had no idea I was about to embark on a journey that would have me meeting and becoming close friends with people all over North America and beyond - well beyond - from Europe to Australia and New Zealand.............and that people would connect with me - " get " me - ( my craziness and all ) has at times left me feeling completely overwhelmed.

We're strangers no more.
We know our children's names - our husband's names ( if there is in fact one ) we mourn each other's losses.
Deeply.
We celebrate each other's achievements.
We tease - cajole - and above all encourage.
We laugh - out loud
We cry - silently
We giggle and sniffle and giggle some more.
We offer praise - and suggestions - and give advice
We welcome newborns into the world
We say good-bye to those that have left
We do so collectively - as a whole - and when we decide to lift
some one up who's fallen - we hold " virtual " hands to do so, so that our " sister"
knows we're there.

It's a world where one day you casually mention that you would like to start a heart collection because of a clients collection you once saw - and fell instantly in love with ( you can read about that client's collection
HERE - It's amazing and worth it to see !!! )
And the next day you have an email from a friend thousands of miles away

Who tells you she would like to help you get started with that collection...............
And then proceeds to make the most incredible gift for you

This friend of yours - this very dear friend of yours - whom you have never met - has taken the time to create something with you in mind.............

Carol, I was touched beyond words to receive this - you'll never know how much your gift represents the
true essence of blogging for me..............of course when I look at it I'll think of you - my sweet colorful friend in California - but more than that - it truly represents how deeply connected this sisterhood of blogging really is and how I would be lost without it at this point in my life..................

John says - There's a package for you
Suzan says - Oh I think I know what it is!!!

But I wasn't prepared for the wave of emotions that flooded my heart the moment I saw it.

John says - What are you crying for now?
Suzan says - Because this represents my blog sisters John - one in particular but all of them in general
John says - Sometimes you make no sense at all....................why would a string of hearts make you cry?

He has no idea the metaphors that are racing through me - because this gift completely tugs at my heart strings.

When I think of blogging - I think of William Wordsworth's famous poem

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils

Yes, my heart with pleasure fills, indeed.
Thank you for letting me dance with you everyday
I don't think I mention that near enough..............

Please take a moment to visit Carol from ART and SAND (one of the prettiest blogs out there - if you don't know her you are in for such a treat - and while you're there, completely mesmerized by what she does - take a look at what Steve, her husband, does as well )

Ok Suzan - enough with the soppy crap - THIS is why I try to keep my posts light and humorous lol
So before I start crying here again,
Much love to all -
Carol, you are amazing..................thank you for my Heart Strings once again

Sharing with!
I Heart Nap Time                                I should be mopping the floor                        Craft O Maniac
Under the table & dreaming         Confessions of a plate addict                         Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia        The Winthrop Chronicles                              Marty's Musings            Homestories A to Z                            Savvy Southern Style                                    Adorned from Above
No Minimalist Here                            The Charm of Home                                     French Country Cottage
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House       Craftionary                                                    Chase the Star
My Romantic Home                           One Artsy Mama                                          The Shabby Nest
Finding Fabulous                                It's Overflowing