Milk Paint, Tomatoes, and Tea Parties. It’s just a few of the things we’ve had going on around here in the past few days (the days I’ve been pretending I don’t have a blog to update). Along with the milk paint, tomatoes (which we’ve just been eating a lot of, not canning or anything so ambitious) and tea parties (which was attended by several dollys, a teddy bear, and my two daughters) we have had a flea market, a garage sale, pillows, school work, laundry, voice lessons, a ‘field trip’, and a myriad of life in general – all with Dad gone for 3 weeks. (he was home on weekends but weekends are not enough! We are very thankful he doesn’t have to travel too often)
A few weeks ago my Mom’s new kitchen cabinets were ready for paint. And I was privileged to get the job of painting them! With MILK PAINT! I’m so excited to have this project finished and see these cabinets installed. These are just some of the cabinets. Maple wood, constructed by my cousin in his cabinet shop. Then he cleaned out his garage for me to use as the paint shop.
I loaded up my paint and supplies in a basket and headed over to start painting.
I’m using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Ironstone.
Ironstone has been a bit of a challenge for me. Something about the pigments in this color just want to give me fits! But I have tackled it and I am winning! It takes lots of stirring and a bit of patience when mixing and you end up with a beautiful milk paint.
At the end of my first day there. Everything was a bit in the ‘ugly’ stage of milk paint. One thing to know when using milk paint – the first coat doesn’t look the best. Just keep going! The second coat will look amazing. And if you want even more coverage add the third coat. 
Yesterday I was working at home on some of the cupboard doors. Most of the cupboards looked like I wanted them to with 2 coats of paint. One or two of them got a third coat. The doors I did today got a third coat on the outsides. It all depends on the paint and the paint depends on the weather and the mood it is in! Sort of like bread dough and pie dough. Not exactly the same every time – lots of things play into the end result. Part of what makes playing with milk paint so much fun!
Tomatoes. Ripe, red, delicious goodness. We were blessed to be given the surplus from a couple of friends gardens and we have been thoroughly enjoying every bite. We have tried to grow tomatoes here and it just doesn’t work well. There is a walnut tree on our property line and walnut trees do not lend themselves to promoting growth in vegetables. I will be thrilled the day the walnut tree is cut down.
Tea parties. My almost-9-year-0ld still likes to set up her dollys and have tea parties now and then. She made some pb&j sandwiches and the ‘tea’ was milk. It was enjoyed by all the party attendees very much!
Along with the milk paint, tomatoes and tea parties I also made some ruffled curtains. I’ll show you more of those soon.
A few new pillows – this one sold at the Springfield flea. I wasn’t going to do the flea this fall but a couple of weeks before a friend asked if I would share her space so I did. I have some pics on my iPhone I’ll share of that soon too. (it’s high time I quit pretending I don’t have a blog!)
More latitude pillows. These are at the shop I fondly call ‘my’ storefront. More coming on that and our upcoming Christmas open house too! There are LOTS going on behind the scenes around here (thus the pretending the blog doesn’t exist 😀 )
These latitude pillows can be custom ordered for any location you choose – just send me an email!
This is a favorite at a couple of shops that carry these. There are a few available at Smith’s and they can be custom ordered with the heart on any location. I do other states too!
Along the way we’ve also been working on a cute little garden shed. It’s almost finished but you know the finishing can take almost longer than the putting together!
My very talented hubby and his plethora of tools are crafting the sturdiest, cutest garden shed from reclaimed materials. Can’t wait to share it all with you.
And believe it or not it’s time to get out the 2015 calendars. I ordered mine and it arrived last week. I’ll be sharing more about my calendar – what I got, where I got it, and the one I wish was still in print. I try to get my new calendar about this time every year – I always have appointments and deadlines that are already stretching into the new year. My how time does fly.
In other news, I have a designer working on a new logo for me and we will soon be overhauling the blog, making new business cards and I will finally have a cool watermark for my photos. I’m excited about the changes. AND – I just bought a new camera! Well, new to me, it’s used but it comes from someone I know and I’m so very excited about it. It’s the camera I wanted when I bought mine but couldn’t afford it then. This deal popped up Sunday afternoon and I couldn’t pass it up. I have plans of going to a professional, full-frame camera in the future but will wait till I have more cash built up for that purchase! I’ll be sharing all about my camera when it arrives.
I have lots to share – now to keep myself on task to getting it all photographed, edited, written, and shared 😀
Stay tuned!
Jane says
September 30, 2014 at 11:29 amYou have so much great stuff going on! I’m happy that it’s all good…you sure know how to keep busy! Good luck with all your projects. I can’t wait to see the finished cabinets, shed and blog changes!
Jane xx
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 4:02 pmThanks Jane! I can’t wait to see it all finished either. now if I can just make up my mind for sure on the logo so we can get moving on the blog!
Susan the farm quilter says
September 30, 2014 at 12:13 pmSo any exciting things going on in your life! Did you get an invite to the royal tea party? Precious memories!! Looking forward to seeing the cabinets all finished – they are going to be beautiful! Enjoy every fast-paced day – you certainly keep busy with family things AND being so creative – love the pillows!!!
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 4:01 pmThanks Susan! I was in the kitchen while the tea party was in progress and I got asked to photograph it! That’s quite an honor 🙂
deborah says
September 30, 2014 at 3:40 pmI love all your photos! The tomato one speaks to me. My husband was looking through the photos on my computer the other day and he laughed at me because I have a folder labeled inanimate objects. ‘You’re so much like your dad,” he said. But I love this kind of photo so much!! 🙂
Love the teaparty one too. Woulda been fun to attend! And the planner photo. I still haven’t gotten one. Can’t decide for sure what I want, but I do have a couple of dates I’d like to write in for 2015.
I love the home pillows. Wouldn’t a KS one and an OH one be cute in my basement? Maybe mother should Christmas shop. And I am so, so, so, so, so loving my pouffe! I can not say how much!!!!! I will blog about it one of these days. I have the post started.
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 4:00 pmThanks! Yep, somehow we have a lot of our Dad in us don’t we?! I liked the tomato pic pretty well too, hence the ‘tomatoes’ in the title of the post! Since I started taking the Vitamin D I’m getting my feel for writing back. It rolls out more easily (when i take the time to actually do it!) and doesn’t feel quite so forced.
Mrs. K says
September 30, 2014 at 4:57 pmI always buy a school year calendar rather than a regular calendar. I don’t think I’ve bought a regular calendar in quite a number of years, if ever. I am very particular about my calendar and this year I had to go to 4 different stores before I finally broke down and darkened the door of a {bum, bum, bum} Wal-Mart! Yes, yes, I found what I was looking for and quickly got out. I keep thinking I’m going to make my own but it’s so much more expensive but I came very close this year. Alison from Samozrejme has a beautiful planner and gave me the name of the company she ordered from but I about fell over when I saw the prices!
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 3:59 pmIt’s just one of those things we get stuck on exactly what we want and don’t want it changed up huh?!
Jessica@designerssweetspot.com says
September 30, 2014 at 5:11 pmJill, I would love it if you share the name of your blog designer. I have been looking to do similar updates on my blog, I am sure yours will look even more amazing! I love your pillows, very creative!
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 3:58 pmI emailed you directly about my blog designer Jessica – if you didn’t get that email let me know!
Cathy Johnson says
September 30, 2014 at 6:46 pmI’ve been missing your posts but so happy to hear you have lots of exciting things going on!!
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 3:57 pmThank you Cathy! I was gone all day yesterday and on my way home I thought about my blog and was excited to get home and read the comments from my readers who always leave me such nice comments! Thanks for hanging in there even when I get too busy to post much!
JaneEllen says
September 30, 2014 at 7:31 pmIt’s been little while since I got a post from you so figured you must be super busy. You have a lot of nerve having a life besides your blog, lol, really. I’m missed you but totally understand how it must be for you. Hope your hubby will be back soon, makes it harder not having your other half. Can hardly wait to see the garden shed, good for you two, making it out of reused lumber.
Today we went so I could have my hearing checked. Have such bad wax especially in left ear, (always problem ear) she didn’t want to tackle that ear til I use some of that ear wax removal stuff and bulb with water to flush it out, to get it out of ear. So twice a day for this next week I’ll have to use that stuff. I had ear infection about 6 weeks ago in that ear also. Said our bodies make wax and when we get older it’s worse. Then I’ll go back next Wed. to have hearing checked.( I went due to special offer in paper, hubs is always bugging me to do something about my hearing, so I did.) So didn’t have to pay for her to get wax out in one ear which wasn’t fun. She took one look at left ear with her scope and said the wax is so thick and hard it would take too long and be too painful for her to dig it out. Good, cause after the right ear I wasn’t prepared to deal with the discomfort either. Hope this wax removal works well. Getting old is not for sissies.
You probably could have done without hearing about that, a warning of what to possibly expect.
I love those longitude/latitude pillows. Is the pillow form included or just the cover? How do you find out what latitude/longitude are? Better let you go. Happy week
Jill Flory says
October 1, 2014 at 3:56 pmHaHa! Too bad I have a life outside my computer huh?! It was fun to share with you again and get back at it. One of these days I’ll get it all figured out how to juggle it all 🙂 I’ve had some bloodwork done and I’m taking a top brand of vitamin D – 5000mg per day. And I have found that my thyroid is not functioning at full steam. So after we see the results of the vit d in a few weeks I will start some stuff for thyroid. The vitamin d is helping I think so maybe I will get back to feelign really good all the time soon!
I’ve used those ear drops before to soften up the wax and then had my ear washed out. I have issues with my right ear. I had a bad ear infection years ago and my eardrum burst. Dealt with it off and on ever since – more so the past couple years. I hope you get yours cleaned out with a minimum of fuss and that you can hear a lot better!