One of Those Things

This is one of those things I have always wanted to do, and is a dream come true to have done it finally. What is it you ask? Well, I wanted to write a children’s book, and now I have. My first book (yes, I hope to write more) is called A Fairytale Tea Party, and the inspiration that made it finally happen was a few photographs that I took the other day.

Stopping at a bakery and seeing the goodies inside and the bunny baker outside was the icing on the cake (pun intended). The cake itself was an invitation to host a virtual tea party, which I had never done before, but wanted to. So I started there, working on my tea party ideas, and that led to the book.

The tea party will be filled with images and the fairytale tea party story, and I had so much fun writing it that I decided I would like it in book form for my grandkids and for my own keepsake. So one thing led to the other, and now both the party and the book are done.

The little thing (the online tea party) was the journey to the big thing (publishing the book). Kind of a metaphor for life: It’s all about the journey. Little things can lead to big things.

And this is one of Tricia’s Things, hence this blog post.

Blessings! ~Tricia

Funny.Hope.Bacon.

First, I must say that my hope is in Jesus. I did have a good laugh at a variation on this saying that is going around the internet. So I made my own adaptation. Mmmm bacon….

~Tricia

 

Something Old Something New What to Do BEFORE

This OLD CHAIR is HANDMADE and one-of-a-kind. It has a little hand-painted folksy-cottage design on it. I have been wanting to do something new with it since discovering the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint(tm) technique of furniture refinishing.

VINTAGE CHAIR — If only I knew this little chair’s real age; we have had it in our family for at least 30 years, and it was old when we got it. I don’t know its history, who made it, what the painted design is about, what kind of wood it is, or anything else. I got this antique chair from my mom decades ago, and she had purchased it from someone else. So it is a mystery.

MY DILEMMA — How to re-do this chair? Some ideas have been to whitewash it, or to paint it blue, both of which I like, but my big concern is the hand painted design. Though it does not go with my home decor it does have its charm. Do I paint over it? Do I work around it somehow? My talents and skills are not in the painting/decorating field, so I am afraid to make a move without a lot of advice!

BEFORE — So I will call this the “before” post. It may take me a long time to decide how to rework it, and then get the motivation to paint it, but once I do I will do an After post.

AFTER — I finally finished the chair HERE.

 

(c) Castles N Crowns, Tricia’s Things and Sweet Rascal Photos — These are all me! I don’t know where I will end up sharing my furniture re-do if I like the experience and end up doing a lot more than just this one! ~Tricia

Art Show: Chalk Art

Batman The Dark Knight

Chinese Lotus Flower

Norman Rockwell “Saturday Evening Post” magazine cover

My son teaches middle school kids (6-8 grades) and the chalk art is from some of his students at an Art Show at their school. They also had art pieces from Kindergarten up through 8th grade on the walls all around the school.

I have a 1st grade grandson who did some beautiful artwork also (not shown here, but his Joan Miro-inspired surrealist piece was my favorite).

“No Dawdling” but “Doodling” is okay!

I enjoyed the modern black and white doodle art which was displayed on their lockers too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tick Tock Photographing a Tower Clock

I realized that this clock has a different pastel colored band around the glass face on each side. The first photo has the pink.

Baby Blue.

And a soft mint green.

Somehow I missed taking a picture of the fourth side! Oh well….

SOLVANG CA: SUNNY FIELDS PARK

Irish Castle On A Rock Island Real or Not?

Castle on a Rock Island is not in Ireland and not real. Bummer!

Though I wish I had the original poster’s PhotoShopping talents, and though I wish there really was a very cool castle like that balanced on a rock island, it’s not true. Not in Ireland, not really a castle on top. HOWEVER, this rock island is still very cool anyway! And it’s real, in Thailand. I researched to get to the truth of the matter (because of my curious nature), and here is the Wikipedia entry for the real rock island (now called James Bond Island!): 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khao_Phing_Kan