Jeff and Jordan from Big Brother -- My Favorites from the Knock Off Knock Out party and tutorial on how I did my pumpkins.

I love watching Jeff and Jordan on this season of Big Brother. They just crack me up. When my husband and I were first dating, I remember one night we were sitting out front, on the steps of my parents house and he was asking me about my goals and aspirations. I remember him asking me if I wrote my goals down. I guess he wanted a goal oriented girl back then. This episode brought back some of those memories for me, although ours was a much more serious conversation. Did anyone see the episode Sunday Night where Jeff and Jordan were talking about what kind of animal they would each be if they could choose. I finally found the video clip to share with you and I had to post it. It made me laugh all over again. I love the look on his face when she names some of her choices. SO WHAT ANIMAL WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?

You gals are making it so hard to pick a few to show case.

Do you remember my post about My Favorites? Well there are some knock off this week that fit in with that post. I have galvanized items from pottery barn and love the shelves from Ballard Designs too and those curtains with writing on them-oooh la la !!! Some of these posts remind me of some of those items. Gotta love them girls.
So My first post today is this darling mailbox knock off
What a great job she did on this project for her little boys play house.



And next is Marsha's burlap sacks

I love those pillows and her bench as well.

My 3rd showcase is from Denise Go take a look at her shelves. She did a Knock Off of a Knock Off. She saw Traci's tutorial on how to make them and Traci did a Knock Off from Ballard Designs. So this is a double Knock Off and a Double Knock Out. (I would have posted pictures of her shelf but Google wasn't cooperating.)

4th is Rachelle's Pottery Barn Galvanized Sensation KNOCK OFF



and 5th is the Katillac Shack Curtain you have to take a look at her magic marker curtains.


Be sure and check out these gals as well:
chalkboard make over
chair makeover
a fall wreath

Eveyone can grab the " I've been featured" button to post on your side bar.


I would really appreciate it, if everyone who has enjoyed these parties will grab my buttons to post on your side bar so others will learn about the party and come post their beautiful inspirations as well, so we can be inspired even more. I have a button created for the Knock Off Knock Out party and the Celebrate the Holidays party. Thanks gals.

Thank you to all the participants of the give-a-way. The winner is: John and Kendra. Please contact me so I can get your book to you. Congratulations. Let me know what you thought of the book. I read it, in 2 days-could not put it down.

So have you heard about my BIG Announcement?:

I want to start featuring a home per month. I'm thinking I will create a button at the top or side of my blog for each monthly feature (but it will also be a post that I do), so people can click and see it all month long or maybe it would be better to have a video clip-I'm still processing the best way to do it. I will do a post of your home on a Friday, (since I have my party and favorites Mon-Thurs). For now, it will be the featured cottage for the month. If you guys love this idea of having your home featured and we have so many, I may have to change it to a weekly feature but for now we will start with a monthly feature. HINT HINT: The quicker you get your home on the list, the longer it will be featured. What do I need from you? Pictures of your cottage. You may want to do a room or you may want to do your entire home. It can be inside or outside your cottage. If you have any tutorials that you can show of something that you did as a DIY project then that would be GREAT. Get the word out.

NOW what should we call the button for the Monthly Cottage that will be featured? Help me come up with a great Cottage name. Post your name suggestions in the comments and put your name on the list if you want your home showcased and I will be getting with everyone to start posting on Fridays.

My tutorial:
I covered the stems with tape then spray painted the pumpkins in white or black, I am hoping this helps the paint job I did to adhere.I did not make sure they were totally covered, you can see the orange still coming through the white ones.

I pulled out a few of my craft paint colors and added several into a paper bowl. I like adding different touches of color that I can swirl, blend, dab and use to highlight and give it the look of a real pumpkin. It is only paint and if you don't like it you can add another color. I actually had the plum pumpkin a lot darker and I really liked it but Prince Charming thought it needed to be lighter so I did it to his liking, althoug I will eventually do one in the dark plum that I loved.

I mix colors while it is wet. Then I let it dry, then I go in and add more color, giving it depth and lots of layers of color. I let it dry again and then I go in a do a dry brush technique. You barely get any paint on your brush or sponge applicator in this case, and start brushing in colors.

Then I had some leaves and decided I wanted them to have more depth of color as well. Click on the picture to see the colors. I like that they don't match now, making it more authentic.

I wanted to show this pumpkin below, because it is still wet (see how shiny it is) when I took this picture and you can see all the colors and strokes.








This is my faux mercury glass pumpkins, that I am still working on, just not quite the way I want them yet. I'll show them once I have them the way I want.



Thanks for inspiring me.
I love coming to meet you and if you follow me I will come and do the same. If you have not had a visit from me with in 24 hours you need to contact me because I can not find you -due to the way your account is set up, or Google issues. I feel really bad when I can not keep my promise.

Be sure to subscribe. It is great for you, you can view all your blogs in one spot. I had one gal, who had no idea what it was. She e-mailed me and said "You are my new best friend". I guess she was pretty thrilled with her new time saving tip. It quick, free and makes blog life so much better.