Sunday, September 30, 2012

And you learn something every day!


I'm like a child - I get so giddy with excitement every time someone ( takes the time ) to teach me or steer me towards something new!

For the longest time I used Picassa for my photos and always seemed to have problems with it - then my computer crashed and I lost it - and so have just been downloading my terrible pics and hoping that people can see past them..............not to mention I haven't been been putting my blog name on them so I risk the possibility of not being sourced when they are pinned.

And then along came Maureen - from It's all connected - and now I'm a pic monkey afficonado ( well hardly but it doesn't take much to make me feel like one lol )  Thanks so much M!!!
You can frame your photos  -  check
You can add script - check
You can include little notes - check
And a ton more things - not to mention crop - clarify - brighten - your photos -
I'm sure 95% of you know about ( and use ) this site - for those of you that don't -  GO - right now -
Stop what you're doing and get over there - it's amazing!

And on another note, why hasn't this dresser sold :(  ??????????
I thought this would fly out the store when I finished it - is it just a little too much do you think?



XOX





Saturday, September 29, 2012

I LOVE BAGELS

I really do and would eat them every day if they didn't contain 3,492,000,000 calories.



I love them fresh and warm - or toasted if they're a day old - I love them with lox and cream cheese and onions and capers- I love them with swiss cheese - and if the only food in the joint were beets and pickles  well I'd probably love them with that as well.





Fairmount Bagel is a Montreal-style bagel bakery in MontrealQuebecCanada. It is located on Fairmount Avenue in the Mile End neighbourhood of the Plateau-Mont-Royalborough.[1]
Opened in 1919 by Russian immigrant Isadore Shlafman, his hand-rolled recipe quickly became a staple in the Mile End community. He later moved his bakery from a laneway address to a two-storey cottage on Fairmount Avenue, building a large woodfire oven on the first floor, while his family lived upstairs. Fairmount Bagel is often referred to as the original Montreal bagel bakery.[1]
The bakery is still family owned and competes with nearby St-Viateur Bagel for the title of Montreal's best bagel.[2][3]
In June 2008, Montreal-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is related to the Shlafman family, brought Fairmount bagels with him aboard the International Space Station.[4][5]



Ok - so you know they have to be good when astronauts take them to outerspace with them lol
Often, on a Saturday morning, John will drive down and pick up bagels for breakfast - something I really look forward to.
Montreal makes the best bagels in North America. I know, I know, New Yorkers like to claim that title but they're wrong, I've had both and they are absolutely wrong in this case. Sorry, no humble polite Canadian here - you can't mess with my bagels, period. In fact, New York and Montreal used to have a friendly contest every year to see who made the best Smoked Meat or Pastrami as it's called in the States and although N.Y. usually won for the meat - Montreal usually won for our bagels.

 

AND NOW THIS?  SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE, PLEASE SAY IT AIN'T SO.


'Bagel Head' Saline Forehead Injections: Japan's Hot New Beauty Trend.




Get that smile off your face honey - you've single handedly scarred me for life  - and I wouldn't walk around N.Y. or Montreal if I were you - somebody's liable to smear cream cheese and lox all over your forehead...........................

Feel like bacon and eggs for a change John?

And by the way I mentioned the word BAGEL 14 times in this post - but don't worry - as of today I'm no longer a fan of them - and will never utter the word again.


Bon Apetit everyone

XOX






Friday, September 28, 2012

I've been transferred!!!

A while back I did a guest post for Kaysi at Keeping it Simple - and the makeover I did resulted in this table


If you'd like to read the conversation that came out of that between John & I you can read it HERE

Anyway I have really been wanting to hone my skills ( or lack thereof ) with transferring images - and so had my sweetheart once again sand a table top down for me - I think this will be my official practice table for everything since it's very wobbly and we haven't quite figured out how to fix that lol

A while back my computer crashed and I lost some pretty important information - and one of them was a site that you can go to to make your graphic images that you want  to transfer LARGER - and I've been searching and searching for a month now -
AND I FINALLY FOUND IT TONIGHT - exciting stuff, right - tee hee

So I gave the table a quick coat of ASCP paris grey and went looking for a transfer that I wanted to use
( warning - this can take hours - really - very addictive site ) and found a graphic that I really loved
over at ( yeah, where else really? ) The Graphics Fairy - downloaded it to my desktop - and then skipped
over to BLOCK POSTERS - you can find it it HERE - they have clear precise foolproof instructions on how to enlarge your graphic by splitting it on to multiple sheets of paper.  I only needed 2 to make mine the size I needed.
This is what I ended up with


I cut the 2 edges so that they matched perfectly


With some graphite paper underneath

The next step is crucial -
!) Make sure it's very late at night and you are the only one up
2) Set your T.V. to true crime ( investigation discovery here in Canada )


and scare the crap out of yourself as you're working - the nervous energy makes you work much quicker I find..........................

Then you simply trace over the graphic ( I left out the picture of the grapes - because I think they would have ended up being the Grapes of Wrath for me, really, too new at this still )


and then filled it in with my never-leave-home-without-it Sharpie


Oh oh - now they're airing a segment on  Aileen Wuornos - and if you don't know who she is - good for you you really don't need to  ( If I don't start getting a little more sleep I think I may end up looking like her )
At this point you can mute the sound -




note to self
Self, you have to go over everything one more time - so the script is solid

I added a couple of scrolls - also from the Graphic Fairy ( it wasn't necessary to enlarge them )



This is not the finished product - but I was so excited to have finally figured out how to do this that I couldn't wait to show you all!!!

I hope this helps at least one of you - or am I the last person to learn this LOL?

Have a wonderful Friday everyone - and an even better weekend!
Big hugs -
Suzan






 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Free Blogger Event - Barbie's Townhouse!


MOM TO BED BY 8 is hosting this great event!
Event dates: 10/15 - 10/30

It's free to try everyone - and what a great gift to win - we all know little ladies that would adore this for christmas!!!
Open to U.S. and Canada
You simply sign up HERE

GOOD LUCK ALL  

xox




Using a dresser for a bathroom vanity

Well after seeing that bathroom in yesterday's post I remembered that last year I bought a dresser for that purpose!  Then someone wanted to buy it - but it fell through - and it was the middle of winter and so that project was put on hold -

Here is the dresser after it was painted ( it's now sitting in my storage unit along with tons of other treasures I really must get to work on )


God those handles look awful - what was I thinking?  note to self - crystal handles a must!
But the dresser is pretty nice, the drawers are bowed - and though you can't see the legs, they're curved delicately - this photo does not do it justice at all.  The plan was to buy a piece of white marble for the top................and this one would actually fit in the room!
But first we have to change the tiles on the floor and because we have a claw foot tub, it has to be removed and the job seems so overwhelming to me because we only have one washroom now ( I don't recommend that at all - have no idea what I was thinking when I bought this place sometimes, really )
Anyway - I would like to see this reno done sooner than later but in the meantime here are some pretty gorgeous dressers-turned-vanities

hgtv.com



hgtv.com
I painted the identical dresser and sold it - maybe I should have kept it - love this transformation!

















Traditional Powder Room design by Other Metros Interior Designer KannCept Design, Inc.

This is really making me want to renovate that bathroom of mine -

Have a great thursday everyone

Hugs,
Suzan

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I WANNA live there Wednesday # 8

I live in a pretty incredible area - It's an historical neighbourhood loaded with tons and tons and tons of charm - and 20th century architecture, just steps away from the city center, it's also a pretty expensive neighbourhood ( in which I live in servants quarters basically compared to what I'm surrounded by.)

Because there's days I don't have furniture makeovers to show you - I've chosen Wednesdays to showcase and feature one home that's for sale around here.................( or apartment - or duplex - or teepee )
  

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

1.599,000.00
After 8 weeks - my thinking is becoming warped - I'm starting to look at these houses and think wow - what a steal - at a million and a half LOL

But I definitely WANNA live here!



Step right up, come on in, if you'd like to take the grand tour.....................



Beautiful back windows - the whole length of the home - and love the transom over the back doors



What's that peakiing through the vines in the back?  Probably an outdoor garage - but what a great workshop right?



The one thing I miss the most from our last home is my beloved little garden - it literally hurts my heart to remember it - I love this little corner of their back yard!

Ok let's go on in



I like it - I love it - I want some more of it






I love how they've snuck an office in the background of the living room!







Don't you love the amount of windows in this home?  I adore this room....................





Unique back splash - looks like tufted tile - I like!



and just to show you that my eyes miss nothing - nothing I tell you - there's something about jackets hanging on a coat rack in a kitchen that I love..................and that rug?  perfection!
If I had a kitchen this size I'd be doing somersaults on that rug - I'd be dancing on the counter tops while my cakes were baking - I'd be playing tag from one end of the other just so I could touch each end of the wall and scream " SAFE"







Could someone straighten out that bottom picture please - it's driving me nuts



I can barely tell you how much I love this master bedroom - simple - clean - look at that adorable fireplace in the corner - the chaise lounge facing the sun - that little nook in the far right corner - I even love the roman blinds ( and you know how much I love radiators )
And I - Suzan - even love that wood dresser - yup - If I could live here, I would promise not to paint that piece!

And if I could have this en suite I would promise never to paint another piece of furniture as long as I lived ( but my fingers would be crossed behind my back ) 
This is probably the nicest bathroom out of the series ( to me anyways ) 



can you make out that Venetian mirror on the left hand side wall - wish they would have shown that!  



a little exposed brick in the nook - with a skylight overhead anyone?



Too cute - love the little shutter door under the nook



did I mention how much I love the next room - lol - sorry had to look at it again





Love the color of the walls - also love that there's no window treatment believe it or not



small basement bedroom?  can you ( just ) make out that rustic dresser on the left hand side of the photo?



basement rec room

Think I feel depressed now actually LOL - 
Going to clean all 1100 square feet of my place now - 
Oh did I mention that I really really really love this room




As soon as I saw this vanity - I thought wow - I'm going to take this



paint it black and put it in my bathroom - 
HA HA HA HA HA HA  - in my dreams - it's too big by 1 inch - 1 lousy stinking rotten miserable depressing INCH.
But guess what?
I want to paint it black.
Don't judge - it's a sickness that's completely out of my control at this point.
Just from looking at that one photo of a bathroom - I've decided I want to paint it black - keep the top white -and redo my bedroom - 
God help me..............................

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Big Hugs,
Suzan
XOX

Time to Party!

Adorned from Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/09/how-to-make-natural-tinted-lip-balm-and.html
French Country Cottage
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.ca/2012/09/feathered-nest-friday_27.html
At the Picket Fence
http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2012/09/inspiration-friday-no-84welcome.html
My Romantic Home
http://romantichome.blogspot.ca/2012/09/glamour-halloween-show-and-tell-friday.html
I should be mopping the floor
http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2012/09/mop-it-up-mondays-36.html
Homemaker on a dime
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/2012/09/creative-bloggers-party-hop-79.html
Coastal Charm
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.ca/2012/10/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no133.html
Kathe with an E
http://www.kathewithane.com/2012/10/youre-gonna-love-it-week-24.html
The Ivy Cottage Blog
http://theivycottageblog.blogspot.ca/2012/10/cowgirl-up-link-party-35.html
A Diamond in the Stuff
http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.ca/2012/10/time-to-shine-party-no-88.html
Uncommon
http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/2012/10/uncommonly-yours-link-party-48.html#.UGup8pjLTj4
Savvy Southern Style
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2012/10/wow-us-wednesdays-86.html
DIY by Design
http://diybydesign.blogspot.ca/2012/10/fall-into-fall-its-party-85.html