I can’t believe it’s been over a week already since we got home from our vacation!  And I’ve hardly shared any of it with you!  Can’t say that life is boring by any means!  I hit the ground running when we got home and I’ve not stopped.  I’m going to need another vacation soon at this pace!

So many things I want to share with you I don’t know where to start.  So I guess I’ll just edit photos and share as I get to it.  Today I’m sharing about the shop that instigated our trip.  I met Laura from The Ironstone Nest over a year ago through her blog and I’ve followed her ever since.  She offered to do a giveaway on her blog to help highlight my fledgling little Esty shop, I made a couple of Union Jack Pillows – one for her and one for her to give away.  We kept in touch.  She started selling MMS Milk Paint and doing workshops.  I love Milk Paint and wanted to learn more.  She wanted a couple of slipcovers made for a bench.  I was going to attempt to make the covers by using measurements and creating a pattern without the bench in hand.

And then inspiration struck and a plan began to emerge.  Laura didn’t live that far from me, I was sure.  I wanted to take a Milk Paint class.  I prefered to make slip covers with the piece on hand to use as my pattern.  I wanted to take my family on a vacation.  Mapquest confirmed that there were only about 8 hours between me and the bench that needed slipcovered – and the Milk Paint class – and Laura!!  Seriously – what a win-win situation!!  Meet a blog friend, take a paint class, make some slip covers, go on a vacation – all at one time!!!  So I asked Laura what she thought and  she agreed with me.  Then I asked my hubby.
WHAT?  You think I should have asked my hubby first?  Well, maybe that would have been a wise decision but it all worked out – he agreed – and the plans were set into motion.

It was so amazing to walk into this shop.  Seeing it on Laura’s blog and then actually being able to go there in person – see it for myself – was so wonderful!  I loved it and if it were possible I’d have packed it up in my suitcase and brought it home with me 😀  It is a dream of a shop.  Huge windows, tons of sunlight, painted white, and decorated in the best style ever.  I could have happily spent the next month or two there creating all kinds of wonderful things.

Here is Laura, demonstrating the proper way to stir up the Milk Paint.  I learned that it works best to always put the water in first – no matter what the package says.  And I learned that I need to stir stir stir – longer than I have been.  And I’ve used too much paint.  Very worthwhile class.

Stir, stir, and stir some more!

Working with layering paint.

And here is the lovely chippiness on one of my practice boards.

You can rub the chipping paint off with your fingers.

Another perk of this vacation/working trip was meeting Goedele  from Belgium!  She was there for retail training – she sells MMSMP in her shop in Belgium and teaches classes too.  She was so fun and her accent was just adorable.  So was her family.  I’m thinking a family vacation to Belgium might be next on my list!!!

Here we are!  Goedele and I with our finished signs!  Yeah I know, that wonderful sunshine sort of washed them out – I forgot to change my light settings before having Laura take the pic.  But you get the point and I loved all that lovely sunshine!

My finished projects from the class.

Next up will be the sewing part of the trip!  We painted on Sunday afternoon, and on Monday I made 2 slipcovers for this bench.  I k new you’d love seeing the ‘before’ now 😀 – come back tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have the ‘during’ and ‘after’ post up.  And go over and say ‘Hi’ toLaura at The Ironstone Nest too!

Jill