Christmas Is In the Air... and Such

After two days of Christmas Open House at one of the shops where I work, I'm in the Christmas Spirit!  (This photo is a sign my boss painted that says it all.)

So, it's been a busy week, thankfully.  The following are a few photos of things I've been wanting to share. 

The first (below) is the "shutter cabinet" that the father of my boss made from some old shutters we've had laying around.  I'm looking forward to painting this piece ... however, admittedly it may be spring before I get to it, simply because it's huge and thus an "outside project."  Not to mention, it may take that long to get someone to help me move this heavy piece to the front of the shop where my painting area is set up.  But I LOVE it, and am excited to finish it, but I do want to complete a couple of "test pieces" before I get started on such a big piece.

It's difficult to tell from this photo, but the cabinet was built around the 80" tall bi-fold shutters, using these as the doors.  The craftsman whom constructed the cabinet for me sanding the shutter "molding" so it blend with the cabinet, and thus it appears that he reconstructed the shutters ... but he didn't.  I can't WAIT til warmer weather so I can finish this piece!  However, I hope to enjoy the process of doing "test pieces" of smaller scale, that can be done indoors this fall and winter, and get a better idea of what I will do with this piece.  I would love to keep the shutters in their original state, unpainted, and thus am "thinking" of using a golden brown undercoat, with a creamy white topcoat, with some distressing and glazing ... but who knows what will be the end result!

And this is my "Inspirer's" latest piece that is GORGEOUS in person.  It was a set of cabinets that came out of an old castle in a local country club community (Sedgefield in Greensboro, NC) that Marcia has brought to new life here.  I wish I had a "before" photo to share with you, but I don't.  Just know that they looked NOTHING like this!  They were old, nasty, dirty, cream and mint green in color to begin with.  Now they are refurbished and ready to go into the dining room of my boss!  I LOVE them!

And their "refurbishment" inspired this mantel (below) that Marcia has now completed!

I would LOVE to have this mantel on my fireplace ... that needs a bit of an uplift, ;).

Finally, I have recently reconnected with an awesome young lady whom my Mom taught second(?) grade to many moons ago, and the young lady's lovely father.  This young lady and her father touched Mom's heart, as they were going through a tremendous loss at the time when Mom taught her, and thereafter the young girl received extensive burns over much of your body.  Mom kind of took them under her wing, and did her best to nurture them, as many teachers do, and spoke of them frequently, to the point that our family began to feel like this young girl and her Dad were a part of our own extended family.  However, time went on, and years later Mom passed, and then Facebook evolved and I reconnected with them!  (Very complicated story, I know, so I'll get to the point!)  The young girl, whom is now 40 yrs old, posted a photo of her Dad on Facebook with a GORGEOUS piece of framing.  I commented on the photo... and framing... and voila ~~

The father is a framer, by trade, and this week, he brought me a good amount of "scrap" framing molding to use with my art work ... simply because my Mom meant alot to him and his family!!!  I was THRILLED beyond expression, and can't wait to put these pieces to use, and hope I make him proud with their outcome!  Of course, it may be after deer season before I can get my DH to cut these pieces to size, but it will be a very happy day when they are put to use!  Isn't it great to reconnect with people from our past today on social networking sites online?  Had it not been for Facebook, I most likely would not have reconnected with this awesome family.

So, tonite, I am thankful for the ability to reconnect, and thankful for the Christmas season.  I'm also excited about a "junkin' trip" I'm taking tomorrow with one of my bosses and coworkers!  We're going to the Raleigh Flea Market, and I'm excited to share some time with some wonderful, fun friends, and see what we find along the way!  I hope to share our experience with you early next week.

In the interim, may each of you enjoy the remainder of the weekend, and look forward to a prosperous week ahead.  May we all appreciate those around us, and the beauty that surrounds us.  Happy creating to each of you!