A Year In The Life Of Shoppe No 5!

I don’t do resolutions, do you?  I do have goals which change as things in my life change.  As we look back on the past year & forward to a New Year I will show you a year in the life of Shoppe No 5.  What a fast year is has been, don’t you think?

I started the year off by sharing how late one evening my neighbor was knocking on my door to let me know another neighbor had chairs at the curb.  I only got two and really regret not getting the other four.  But I built a bench from them and it didn’t stay at Shoppe No. 5 very long.

Shutters ended up being a popular topic.  I really enjoyed working on this project.

I painted two of the shutters in beachy colors and added Sea on one and Sun on the other.  Since not everyone is into the beachy look, although it is popular in my area I did two shutters in a more neutral color palette with Welcome on each one.  I have some more and really need to get back to Shutter art.

2016 was the year I took the plunge and started using name brand paint.

 The first paint I tried was Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Although I love my DIY recipe and continue to use it on certain projects I am enjoying getting acquainted with the many different brands out there.  The variety is endless and so far I am in love with trying out everyone.  Each paint has different qualities and each piece calls for a different look so experiment.

And I showed you how well the DIY version holds up.

 

And this is what the cabinet looked like before.

I shared The Best Potato Casserole In The World.  Well, that is my opinion.  And I bet if you try it you will agree.  It is a wonderful dish for potlucks, good to serve at breakfast and superb with baked ham.  If you have any leftover it does freeze well.

Crafting with clay pots has been a something I have done for years.  Every year I create a Christmas ornament from a clay pot.  When I worked, well I work now but when I had my 9 to 5 job I created an ornament and gave them as gifts.

Some people actually looked forward to them, to see what I came up with.  The Gingerbread Man was first made in 2004.  I did a post for Christmas in July and showed you how to make one.  This Christmas I created a Little Red Car With A Tree On Top.  I have created so many that I have a little tree devoted to the Clay Pot Ornaments.

 

Not everything makes its way to the booth.  I stenciled a piece of drop cloth for a chair and didn’t think it was the right size and did another one.

And the chair looked like this.  Quite the transformation.

The paint seeped under the stencil so I made it into a pillow.  I like it and since it wasn’t perfect I didn’t think I should sell it so now it lives with me.  But the chair turned out great and lives with someone else.

I hope you enjoyed A Year In The Life Of Shoppe No 5 to check out some of the things I have done this past year. And will continue on the journey in the coming months.  Let’s reclaim, recycle and recreate together.