Decorative Dried Apple Slices...

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Had a super productive day today... more on that in the next post... this post is about decorative apple slices for Christmas!.. there are many uses for these things... purely as decoration in a bowl... in a wreath... in the Christmas tree... as a garland... in mulling spice...  tied together with some ribbon and attached to a brown paper wrapped present... you get the point!.. I made these today with the intention of adding them to some mulling spice that I want to make to simmer on the stove to put a nice Christmassy smell throughout the house... the spice I bough for that at the Millarville Christmas Market is getting low!.. 

We bought apples last grocery day... and I don't really like them... so I sliced them and dropped them into a bowl of lemon juice and some salt...

I stirred them around a bit while I was working away at cutting up the apples... making the spice to go onto them... and getting the pan lined with parchment paper...

I just love the star pattern when the apples are sliced... :) its just so Christmassy!..

While the apples are soaking in the lemon juice and salt I mixed up some spice to sprinkle onto the apple slices... ground cinnamon, ground cloves and some allspice!.. It smelled soo good in the house all day with these drying in the oven!..

Then it was time for the apples to come out of the lemon/salt mixture... I lightly dried them off and then it was spice sprinkle time... I pulled out my handy metal sieve and with a few taps they were sprinkled nicely!..  it takes a few taps to get used to how lightly you should tap to get just the right amount of spice!.. I suggest a few practice taps on a paper towel!..

tap, tap, tap... tap, tap, tap...

Then onto a baking pan lined with parchment... and the oven had been preheated to 200 degrees... I let these cook away for 6 hours... every hour or so I pulled the pan out and flipped all of the slices and put them back in to keep drying...

Here they are just tossed in a bowl until I decide exactly what to use them for... I was going to put them into some simmering spice... but I think I might have to save a few of the pretty ones to go into my indoor stair rail garland!..  I have a few more of those apples that I don't really like so I think I'll use the rest of them up tomorrow and make another couple batches!.. 

Linking up to:

The DIY Show Off C.R.A.F.T The Shabby Chic Cottage French Country Cottage My Romantic Home The Shabby Nest

Kitchen Table Refinishing Progress...

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Here's a shot of the kitchen table in progress... its been sanded down and the table top... as of this evening has been stained twice... I'm going to stain it once more tomorrow evening... I think it still needs to be a little darker... once its stained and clear coated I'll paint the skirting piece cream... distress it a bit... and then wax it... in this shot the skirting and pedestal and feet are so crisp white looking because they're just primed with Kilz right now... It just got a second coat... all thats left with the pedestal and feet is to be lightly sanded, sprayed cream, distressed and waxed...

You can see the chairs in the background... thats the colour that the table used to be...  its much warmer looking now... I'm going for the beachy cottage chic look here to match the stools I finished the other week... Hopefully I can finish at least two of these chairs this weekend...

...just thought to edit this post and drop in a shot of what the table used to look like...

Just seeing the difference of the before and after pictures myself right now this close together... hmm... I much rather the after!..

Here's a shot of the Kils and the stain that I've used... and below are the stools... I waxed the legs of the stools with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax... this evening I lightly sanded the once clear coated stool seats and then put on a second coat of clear... tomorrow evening after another light sand and a third coat of clear and they should be finished... then they just have to cure for a week and they'll be ready for everyday use... 

Luckily the clear coat has made the stain look a little darker... I love them!..

Linking up to these lovely parties!..

Coastal Charm House of Grace The DIY Show Off House Of Thrifty Decor The Shabby Chic Cottage The Shabby Nest My Romantic Home Mustard Seed Creations French Country Cottage Frou Frou Decor

Framed Photos For A Friends Birthday...

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I already posted these photographs in their colour form back at Thanksgiving...  Since then one of these sweet pooches has tragically past away from auto immune disease... basically it comes out of nowhere and the survival rate is rather slim... unfortunately sweet sweet Indy succumb to it...

Here are Sadie and Indy... they are 8x12 inch prints and the frames are 14x17ish...  I cut the mats for the photos... the mats with the frame weren't a nice white and they cut the photographs down too much...

I wrapped them in simple brown paper... and tied a bow with some brown yarn...  the 5x7 colour photo on top is for the frame that A&B have already waiting for this print...

Luckily I had very recently taken these shots... so yesterday morning I sent them to Costco for printing... they say that the photos will be available the next day by noon... but a couple hours later I got an email saying they were ready!..  So I dusted off from working on the kitchen table and Furs and I headed out to grab the photographs... and of course you can't go to Costco without looking around... we found another Christmas gift and some possible Christmas gifts... then we headed to Ikea... well they're under renovations right now... holy disorienting!..  but we found the frames and headed home in time to get the mats cut and photos framed...

Now that the washer has stopped I have to run and change over the laundry... make the grocery list... and head out for groceries... then back to the kitchen table... I just threw another coat of kilz on the table skirt when I tossed the towels in the wash...

ps... don't forget the clocks went back last night!..

Millarville Christmas Market

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This morning I got up and put on some mulling spice that I picked up at the Millarville Market last night...to make the house smell nice... and kinda Christmassy... Then I sat down to blog about the Millarville Market... 

I didn't get a pile of photos last night so I had my external hard drive plugged in so I could dig up some more shots from previous years markets... well the external hard drive wouldn't work...  I was devastated... I have thousands of photos on there because there just isn't room on my laptop...  I ran to Furs right away... he managed to get the hard drive to work with his laptop after a little bit of working with it... so all of my files got dumped onto his computer for now... but his computer is also on the fritz...  lets hope all of these devices hold up until we can get some new ones!..  Here are a few shots of the market that I took last night...

The above photo is the vendor from which I picked up the nice mulling spice... Mmm... smells so good...

This shot is of the Mini Donut mobile... Mmm... mini donuts... We also had some fresh warm kettle corn... so good... At the market there were delicious Samosa's that we had as snacks... I picked up some awesome gourmet hot chocolates... coconut, hazelnut, fudge, candy cane, and amaretto... Mmm... AND I managed to get two loaves of Onion Dill Bread... Ooo... is it ever good... the bread lady had had THREE full tables inside that she cleaned off... people just go nuts over her bread... I would have gotten 4 loaves of the Onion Dill but there were only two left so I ended up with two Sourdough with Sunflower Seeds as well... she had more tables outside earlier that were also sold out... I'll have to try to catch her early at Spruce Meadows next weekend to get 4 loaves of the Onion Dill!..

so after the external hard drive issue this morning I headed down to the basement and tackled the kitchen table top... the top is now sanded and a layer of kils painted on the table skirt... I'm hoping to get the top stained this evening... and the skirting painted... then I'll sand and paint the table pedestal and feet tomorrow... 

Once I finish getting ready here now Furs and I are headed out to pick up a couple things... and this includes a trip to Ikea... please Ikea don't be packed today!.. hahaha!.. yeah right!.. like that would ever happen!.. but fingers crossed!...

Later when we're back home I have to work on a little something that I'll post some snaps of once they've been completed and gifted!..  I'll definitely be brewing up some of that hot chocolate and be settling down for the evening!.. (after a bit more work on the table top...)  I haven't been feeling the greatest the past couple of days... need some good rest I think!.. 

What have you been up to today?.. working on any exciting projects!?.

Hello Lovely Blog Readers/Commenters...

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

I'm taking inspiration for this post from the lovely Leigh...  As I get more and more comments I am experiencing the same issue she has just posted about!.. literally... I too have written many a reply to a comment via email and just as I go to hit the send button see the noreply@blogger as the email address...  If you're sending me love I'll send love back... but I need your email address to do so!..  Check out this link...  follow the easy instructions and then whenever you comment on a blog the blog owner will be able to respond directly to you!..  Thanks lovelies!..

xo

You'd Never Say I Ironed This Shirt...

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Yeah this one... you can't see it here but it looks like I just rolled out of bed after sleeping in this shirt and just headed to work!.. I spent a half an hour last night ironing this!..  it's the relaxed I don't care look I guess!..  I could use a bang trim as well... hmm...  I wish I had something to work on... Oh I do...  Those legwarmers... na... I'ma go check out some bloggity blogs and see what projects are being worked on out there...  C'mon weekend!.. I wanna get working on my next project now that those stools are done... thinking about tackling that kitchen table this weekend... perhaps I'll start sanding it down this evening... 

Oh yeah!..  Happy November!.. we're getting closer to Christmas!... ps... I love Christmas... the Millarville Christmas Market is this weekend... and then Spruce Meadows Christmas Market the two weekends after... Eeee!..

Happy Halloween...

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Happy Halloween!.. are you eating lots of candy!?.  I must admit... I had some mini chocolate bars for breakfast!.. time for some toast and tea I think... now that the two stools are distressed and waxed and the roast is cooking away in the slowcooker its time to sit back and chill out... perhaps carve the pumpkins on the front steps... tonight is Halloween afterall!.. 

Refinished Wooden Stools...

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Eeee!.. So excited... I slept in a bit this morning... and that means oh after 8:30 but before 9:00 am... hahaha... thats so late now that I think about it... seeing that its 2:35 now... perhaps I shoulda got up a little earlier!.. once I was up I headed to the basement to give the wooden stools that I got for $10... yeah!..  $10 for the pair!.. a final sanding ... here are the stools...

They're pretty plain jane bar stools... but they'll go perfect with the table and chairs that I picked up to refinish... and they match the style of the kitchen way better than the asian styled stools we currently have... perhaps I'll paint those red and sell them...

Here's a close up shot of the stool... I wasn't super in love with the shape of the top... looking down onto the top of the seat there was a sharp line around the top... so I sanded that down and rounded it...  it's much nicer now...

Here is the stain that Furs and I picked up yesterday from Home Depot... its Dark Walnut... Ooo... and did it ever turn out nice when I put it onto the seats!.. I only did one coat... that was enough I think...  I didn't want them to be super dark...  I used a stain applicator pad again and it was great... I did remember to wear gloves this time... luckily!..  last time I didn't... wasn't good...

Here are the stools now as they sit in the basement... I'm going to wait for the paint to dry really well before sanding it down... I went with a semi gloss paint... if I had it back I would have went with flat... I'm going to wax the legs anyway so that'll give a shiny finish to the legs... for the stained seat I'm going to sand those after the legs are distressed and waxed... then I don't have to worry about getting stain dust on the cream legs or cream dust on the unsealed stained top!..  I have some clear varathane to protect the stained seats... 

Once I get the legs sanded and waxed later today I'll add the pictures to this post...

For now I'm gonna dust off... change out of my painting clothes... get a cuppa tea... toss some laundry in the washer... and tidy the kitchen...  perhaps I'll stain up a couple books so that tomorrow they'll be dry and I can twine them up...

...I'M BACK!..

Ran out of 400 grit sandpaper to distress the painted surfaces of the stools so couldn't finish them yesterday... well I guess I could have... Furs and I ran to get groceries last night and then picked up more sandpaper at Home Depot while we were out... but instead of working on the stools I got some movie snacks together and we watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show!.. love movie nights with my Furs... and of course the fur babies were nearby chilling out with us...

...soo... I just finished the stools this morning... after sleeping in until 9:44!.. I know!.. lots of sleep!.. anyway!.. check it out!..

All thats left to be done with the stools now is to spry the stained seats with a coat of clear to protect them... I was going to wax them like I did the painted parts but am worried that sitting on the waxed seat might result in some ruined pants... if you know any different please let me know!..

I learned a lesson while sanding the paint on the legs... use flat paint... I used semi gloss... big mistake... it takes much more sanding... and the paint pills up when you sand it...  flat paint seems to sand so much easier... and because I wax after distressing anyway I don't need the paint to be glossy at all... the wax takes care of the gloss factor!..

I love how these turned out...  They go with the kitchen much better than the old stools...

You can see the edge of the old stool next to the new one here in the shot below...

Whatcha think!?. Check out these before and after shots:

Quick question... if these were for sale what would you be willing to pay?.. what's fair?.. I'm not actually selling these ones because they're for our kitchen... but I have to start wrapping my head around pricing things... and your thoughts are greatly appreciated!..

Time to link these puppies up to some linky parties:

House Of Thrifty Decor The DIY Show Off Sumo's Sweet Stuff Skip to my Lou C.R.A.F.T Making the World Cuter House of Grace Savvy Southern Style Coastal Charm The Shabby Chic Cottage The Shabby Nest Frou Frou Decor Chic on a Shoestring Decorating My Romantic Home French Country Cottage Miss Mustard Seed What Allie's Making Now