Happy Monday, everyone! Is it Friday yet?

No? Ok – well then.

So this weekend was full of family activities and supporting veterans!

Friday I went to my brother’s baseball game. They lost, but he was still pretty cute in his uniform anyways. (At 14, I’m sure he’s sick of me saying stuff like this  in person, on my blog, in front of his friends, etc. but I’ll never stop!)

My sister, brother and I took a post-game picture, photo bombed by our really mature dad.

But that’s kind of exactly how it always is with our family. It’s where I learned my awesome pestering skills that I use to annoy the boyfriend! What, you don’t want to be tickled every time I see you? Too bad!

Then Saturday I volunteered at the Cameron Missouri Veterans Home Golf Tournament. I worked there as a receptionist in high school and I volunteered for last year’s tournament, so I decided to help out again. My cousins were also volunteering (my Aunt works there too and recruited us all) so we were in charge of taking the team pictures.

I also supported veterans that night by washing the boyfriend’s national guard uniform for him. Lucky for him, he had just spent a week training in a field, or else he’d a been washing his own uniform! :)

Turns out, some of these old men are serious about their golf games and do not like to be bothered by team pictures after they sneakily run out to the course without taking them.

I’m also known for running around on the beer cart and soliciting more tips out of the guys when they get a fresh drink. You’ll hear me saying repeatedly, “We accept tips for veterans!” A lot of the times people just ignore me, maybe because they think I’m lying and I’ll take them all for myself, I don’t know. But I ended up collecting about $20 in the hour I was out on the course, so I figured that wasn’t too shabby. If I’d done it all day I’d have quite the stash built up!

The following picture is now a tradition with some of my dad’s friends who play in the tournament. I’m pretty sure this started last year when one of them sent my dad a picture of us and told him I was out there flashing people for tips. (Don’t worry, I wasn’t. You’d just have to know my dad’s friends.)

Don’t they look like fun guys? Haha! Dad’s friends always get me in trouble.

Like this one time, when….

The night before my college graduation, one of Dad’s friends (not in this picture) roasted a hog for us for free, so Dad sent me over to his house with some extra meat for them to keep as a thank you. Can you tell my parents live on a farm yet? My parents were also cleaning up the barn and the house for my graduation party that was taking place the next day, so I was in no hurry to get back.

Well this guy was out in his shed smoking the hog and having a couple drinks, next thing I know he’s pouring me my fourth margarita and texting my dad about how I’m getting drunk with him. And then I tried some shots and did all the normal things you do while bonding with your Dad’s friends by yourself.

I’m not the only one who does that, right? 

Long story short, it was all fun and games until I thought I was going to throw up during my graduation ceremony the next day after telling everyone, “I really didn’t drink that much!” And I mean people had out their cameras ready to record it. You just have to breathe through it!

Ok that’s not where I intended this post to go. I was going to talk about Father’s Day how excited I am for my first vendor meeting tonight, but I guess I’ll just do a recap tomorrow! :)

Hey guys! I’m so glad it’s Friday today…!

I’m gonna go watch my little bro play baseball tonight, then tomorrow I’m volunteering at a Veterans Home Golf Tournament (of course it started getting HOT just one week before the tourney leading up to a 92 degree day), and then Sunday is Father’s Day and the boyfriend gets done with his week of National Guard training!

So basically I’m going to be busy, busy, busy!

But I have some great news! I decided to just go for it and I signed a contract to be a vendor at Bella Patina in the West Bottoms of KC for First Fridays!! If you’re not from here, you may have no idea what I’m talking about, but basically I’m opening a booth at a shabby shic/vintage/antique shop that is open the first weekend of every month!

I’m so excited, and nervous, and terrified, and happy and scared! Ok I know there was one more negative in there than positives, BUT I think to truly enjoy doing something, especially when it involves a risk, it needs to scare the bejesus out of  you! And this kind of does.

I’m so nervous I won’t make enough sales to cover my rent plus my cost of supplies. AND I’m nervous I won’t sell anything at all! How mortifying would that be? Everyone assures me I’m freaking out for nothing, so hopefully they’re all right! I’ll be scrounging around my parents farm this weekend for goodies to sell if I can pry them from my mom’s hands (think old windows and doors).

For those of you around here, I’m going to post pictures right before the sale. I want to give you a great reason to come see me (and the rest of the vendors who also have some really great stuff)!!!

Okay – enough about that (don’t worry, you’ll get an earful as time goes on and I figure out what I’m doing)…You can enter a giveaway I’m helping sponsor for one of my favorite bloggy friends Kenzie in the rafflecopter below.

Who wants a $60 Old Navy gift card?

I do…that’s who…but I’m not eligible. So good luck to all of you and have a great weekend! :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A while back, Julie from It Freezes Beautifully and I agreed to embark on a journey to motivate each other to get a little more creative. We decided the best way to do this was to plan a joint blog post and share our projects together!

Julie really outdid herself I think! I totally love how hers turned out. Find out how she made this here!

I’ve been planning on doing my project FOREVER but never got around to it…until now.

I needed a little inspirational quote to help decorate my office with – to give it a little more personality.

This project is quick and easy. All you’ll need is:

- Poster board or Card Stock
- 1 piece of scrapbook paper
- An exacto knife
- A picture frame
- Stencils (unless you’re good at free handing)

First, trace your saying onto your poster board.

Then use your exacto knife to cut out the letters. This is my least favorite part. I thought I would have improved since the last time I attempted using one to scrapbook in high school, but apparently that’s not the case. I guess I’m missing some great technique.

All that’s left to do now is tape/glue the scrapbook paper to the back of the poster board (I used tape) then glue the middle of the letters back in and frame it!

Ta da!!

That’s it. And because I wouldn’t be blogger without showing you every angle of my project, you’re welcome! Don’t forget to go check out Julie’s project!

I have a lot going on in my little world right now, and I’m waiting for the perfect time to catch you all up! (If you know me outside of the blog, I’m sure you’ve already heard all about it!)

Until then, I’m going to share a video I made last week about what you need before you start painting with chalk paint. I’m also in the process of working on my YouTube video presence. Before I start cranking out any more videos, though, I want to get all the effects in order to make these are more enjoyable to watch, while being completely informational.

You know the really great YouTube people and how they all have their YouTube personality? I need one of those! Not like a separate personality, but more of an exaggerated version of myself, but in a good way. But every time I think I’ve come up with something, I realize it’s something I’ve seen another person on YouTube do.

So I’m working on it. Anyways, here’s my video:

Also, tomorrow I’m going to be sharing a project I’ve been working on in conjunction with Julie from It Freezes Beautifully. You should go check her out now and then. I’ve gotten to know Julie pretty well through blogging and emails since she’s a Kansas blogger and doesn’t live to far away. (Due to the lack of KCMO bloggers I’ve found, I’ll forgive her for being from Kansas!) Anyways, she’s great and we’ll be sharing each others’ projects tomorrow on our blogs, so make sure to stop back by!

I spent this whole weekend at First Fridays in the West Bottoms of KC. It’s my favorite part of the city.

Saturday, I hung out at Bella Patina all day and helped out my friend Nickol (which actually consisted of distracting her by asking so many questions) and I learned a ton! Nickol sells CeCe Caldwell’s paints, so I met her through that, and she has continued to help me out ever since. I’m so fortunate to have someone who is much more established than myself to give me advice and be open about the realities of this furniture business.

The above picture is a bit of the behind the scenes hoard that some of the venders have in an upstairs studio! I was soooo jealous! Hopefully, I have this to look forward to in my future. Someday I’ll need my own shed/garage just for all my stuff! I can’t wait until the day I can call myself a true junker. It has a nice ring to it, huh?

While there was a lot of great stuff to look at, the only thing I took the time to take a picture of is this picture frame with lace and chicken wire. I so want to make one of these:

Sunday I picked up a friend and we headed back down to the West Bottoms, this time to look around. We also stopped at City Market for the Farmer’s Market. They always have the craziest trinkets on Sundays.

I ended up buying the globe on the left for my cousin. I talked him down (and by talked him down I mean he saw me looking at it and offered a lower price) from $25 to $20. Then I tried my hand at bargaining, asking to get it for $15…and he said no. So I handed over my $20 bill. Haha. I think I need to work on my bargaining skills!

Anyways, that was fun. Then my friend and I stopped at this nice little coffee shop. I ordered a smoothie since I don’t drink coffee and I didn’t want to pass up the cultural experience of getting something there. I know. I’m ridiculous. To top it off, this girl was in front of us:

My friend and I were super jealous of her “headpiece” as we referred to it and found out it was just a scarf wrapped around her head to cover a bad hair day! (We asked.) Anyways we were also super obsessed with her “artsy” look, and I decided I’m pretty much an Old Lady, Old Navy advocate, so I need to step it up in the style department!

Maybe someday I’ll acquire a quirky style! (But not too quirky….)

I’ll end this post with my immature sense of humor. This sign would really come in handy while walking around my apartment complex. I don’t think I’d put it in the ground, I’d just carry it with me and flash it at all the dog owners walking their dogs as we passed.

As you know if you’ve been following me on Facebook or Instagram, I have been painting like crazy for a solid week now!

Last week I decided to try out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Gray. I bought this from Restoration Emporium in the West Bottoms of KCMO. This was my first experience with ASCP and I definitely loved it! I also learned a few things about the waxing process that I can’t wait to try out with CeCe Caldwell’s paint.

The boyfriend gave me free reign to paint his bedroom set, so I went at it, and I LOVE how they turned out. If you come check out my new apartment, you can bet I’m showing these little beauties off and talking about them more than you want to hear!!

So, obviously I used Paris Gray, and then I used Old White. I first painted with the Paris Grey in spots I wanted accented and in spots I planned to sand down a bit. There was no rhyme or reason to where I chose to sand, I was just kind of sporadic with it.

This is also the closest we’re gonna get to a before picture, because I kept forgetting to take them. I was just to anxious to get started!

After painting on the white, I painted on 2 coats of Paris Gray. This was a little unnecessary and honestly just made the sanding process take a little longer. You should be fine with one coat and then maybe touching up in just a couple spots if needed.

After sanding where I wanted it to look worn, I waxed everything to seal it in. You can check out my tips on waxing here.

I’ve said it before, but I’m totally in love with how these turned out! I feel like I’m finally starting to make stuff that other people would really want to buy, which is exciting! (But these are alllll mine!!) 

Now I just need to work on getting some wall art up, and my bedroom will be pretty much complete!

The sun is out which means it is time to show off those lovely limbs, ladies! And what better way to do that than with some fun and colorful clothing?

Pair a fun, flowy skirt with a neutral top and you’ve got a cute, easy, and COMFORTABLE outfit, fit for a day of shopping, happy hour with the girls, or maybe even a date!

And what’s better? I got this entire look for just $25!

Skirt – (Charlotte Russe, on sale for $4.99)
Top – Kische (TJ Maxx, $7.99)
Sandals – Carlos (TJ Maxx, $12)

In the future I plan to pair this coral skirt with a white tank and jean jacket, and play it up with some colorful jewelry!

Also, due to busy summer schedules of work and an internship, we will now be having Trendy Tuesday on a bi-weekly schedule.

Have a lovely couple of weeks!

-Ashley

I’ve found the waxing part of chalk painting to be the most difficult compared to painting with other paints. Mostly because it’s the most different part. But every time I looked up videos to get more tips, they were all like 10 minutes long, mostly with a lot of rambling.

So I’m going to start making some short videos that get straight to the point to show you what you need to know.

Enjoy! And let me know if you have any specific questions you’d like me to address in the future. :)