A LITTLE SNEAK PEEK AT SOMETHING I AM MAKING FOR THE KITCHEN USING DIY CHALKPAINT...MADE WITH SOMETHING YOU HAVE IN YOUR PANTRY...AND NO IT'S NOT BAKING SODA...

Boy is that a mouth full!

Happy Friday Ya'll!  It's been a VERY long work week in my world and I am so GLAD it's coming to a close.  It seems it should've been Friday about three days ago!  You?  Anyway, the weekend is FINALLY here and that makes me happy!

I had hoped to be able to show you a completed project today. Instead, because I have been so busy this week, I can only give you a little sneak peek at something I started on for the kitchen. I hope to finish it over the weekend.

I also have a GREAT new recipe for homemade chalk paint to share with you today.  It's made with an ingredient you probably have in your pantry...and NO it's not baking soda.  So you may want to keep reading to find out what it is.  I think you will be surprised.

Every since I painted the kitchen cabinets earlier this year, I have been wanting to make something for or do something to fill this huge blank spot over the kitchen sink...

There used to be a fruit motif decal there but I didn't like it so I painted over it.  Now though it looks so bare. I think it needs something with a little farmhouse style to go along with my farmhouse sink.

I have had just the right thing in mind for awhile and was finally able to get started on it this week. I got a scrap piece of 1/4" plywood from my father-in-law which was just the right size for the job...

In case you can't tell I am making a sign to go in that spot!

I made up some super easy, super cheap homemade chalk paint using a secret ingredient that I keep in my pantry...

It's NOT baking soda.  Can you guess what it is?...

It's cornstarch!  You might remember my homemade chalk paint using crushed chalk from my round table makeover HERE, it worked but it wasn't very smooth and it was tedious and messy crushing all that chalk. I mentioned then that I had another idea for making homemade chalk paint that I wanted to try. The thought came to me AFTER using real chalk that cornstarch would be PERFECT for making chalk paint. For one it's already in powder form and though it doesn't contain chalk, it is a thickener that becomes "chalky" after being mixed with a little water and left to dry. I have to say it makes a very smooth chalk paint, covers good and is super easy and cheap to make. I love it.

I would give you the precise recipe but I didn't measure anything. I simply put some paint in my bowl and added the cornstarch a little at a time until I had the consistency I wanted. There were a few clumps left around the edge of the bowl but the paint itself was blended until smooth...and smooth it was.  No clumps!

I painted my board and let it dry, which didn't take long.  I only did one coat because I didn't want full coverage for this project. Once the paint was dry it was time to make my design. I printed my wording using a special font off my printer and then transferred it to my board using old fashioned carbon paper.

It took some time to trace every single line seeing as how I used somewhat of a decorative font but it turned out pretty good...

Now comes the hardest part...painting in between all those little lines.  That's going to be a real booger since I don't have the steadiest of hands, but I WILL get it done!

So, have you figured out what my little sign is going to say?

Have a good weekend!

NERIUM AD....FIVE DAY PRODUCT REVIEW...WITH COMPARISON PHOTOS...

A big hello this afternoon to my faithful followers...all two of you...hahaha

So today is the day that I am going to show you the results of my five day free trial of NeriumAD, the all natural age-defying serum sweeping the nation.






My friends Dawn and William Cremer provided me with the product and instructed me to take before pictures of the front and both sides of my face.  I was then instructed to apply the NeriumAD day cream every morning and the NeriumAD night cream at bedtime (after washing my face in the usual manner) for five days and then once again take pictures of the front and both sides of my face.  I was promised I would see a "noticeable difference" in my skin in just five days.

Of course I was skeptical. Though I had seen Dawn and Williams' 5 day before and after pictures and was pretty impressed with their results, I still didn't believe this stuff was that good. I mean, no product can truly promise results in as little as five days, can it? No matter how skeptical I was I decided to take the challenge and thought it would be fun to post the results here.

So are you ready to "see" my results?  Yes, I know you are on the edge of your seat with anticipation! So here goes...first though you gotta promise not to laugh...close up facial pictures are pretty humorous..

Are you as impressed as I am?  Do you notice that my "squint" crease in between my eyes is almost gone?  Notice that the puffiness on my eye lids and under my eyes is gone?

This stuff truly did this...in just five days.  These photos were not manipulated or edited in any way. This is real life folks!

Next are the right and left side views.

I didn't see much difference in these two views but then again I really don't have any "wrinkles" or blemishes other than the occasional pimple...Again though, I do notice a reduction in the puffiness around my eyes and also in my cheeks.

I did notice a difference in the over all appearance and feel of my skin after the first day.  Really!!! It really did look and feel better than normal after one day...I'm not kidding!!!

After using this on my face for three days, I was so impressed that I tried using it on another part of my body for the remaining two days of the challenge.  UNFORTUNATELY I did not take a before picture so I do not have a comparison photo for you to see. I can only tell you the results...THEY WERE ASTOUNDING!!!

I have had some "dry skin" spots/patches on my forearms for several years.  I'm not sure if they were caused from excessive sun exposure of just a part of the aging process but I have tried a number of things to get rid of them with no success.  In just two days of using Nerium AD on my forearms the spots are almost gone. I am not making this up!  That right there was enough to sell me on this product.

I truly wanted to become a Preferred Customer or a Nerium AD Brand Partner but I chickened out. I had actually signed up to be a Preferred Customer but then backed out this morning because this stuff is EXPENSIVE and finances are really tight right now!The initial investment to become a Preferred Customer is around $360.00 and $500.00 to become a Brand Partner, which isn't bad if you have the money because...this stuff is that GOOD! Plus, once you sign on there is opportunity to receive your monthly supply of Nerium AD absolutely free along with other bonuses, if you can get three others to sign on and maintain an account under you. Seems pretty easy because this stuff sells itself.  Everyone who tries it likes it.

I did however purchase the bottles I was given to sample and I also purchased a tube of Nerium Firm, their new body contouring cream to try. I hope to do a product review on that in the next month or so, and once my finances are a little better I will probably sign up for at least the Preferred Customer level. I really do like love this stuff already!

Now my question to you is this, after reading my review would you be interested in trying NeriumAD for yourself? There is no purchase necessary to try the product free for five days. If you would like additional information about the product go to their WEBSITE to have a look around.  Especially check out the testimonial pages (with lots of before and after pictures)...and then either contact me at srodgers1969@yahoo.com or Dawn and William Cremer at (573) 259-0220.

I encourage everyone who reads this post to give this stuff a try....YOU WILL BE AMAZED!!

DILLARDS MILL & SOME YARDSALE FINDS...

Good morning!  Well it's Monday...AGAIN...and back to the daily grind.  The weekend always goes by so fast but what a great weekend it was.

The weather was simply gorgeous so we spent Saturday at Dillard's Mill, an old mill turned State park in Dillard, MO about 45 minutes from the house.  It's a beautiful place to visit and have a picnic.  It's been years since we've been there so it was nice to get a chance to visit again. I was shocked with the weather being so nice that we were the only ones there (besides the tour guides inside the mill). However, that made it nice for us.  We had the whole place to ourselves to enjoy.

The views are spectacular and I only wish I was a better photographer.  Perhaps one of these days (hopefully in the near future) I will take a photography class.

I did manage get a few shots that I guess are worthy to post so I figured I would share them here. There are only a few because I was having trouble with my SD card.  I need a new one.  Also, the bubs didn't want his play interrupted with photographs so I had a hard time getting him to cooperate or smile...the little stinker!  Anyway, I'll be quite now and let you see Dillard's Mill...

He did not want to smile.  It was really that he did not want to sit on those steps.  He's not much of a naturist and was "afraid" of them.  However, just seconds before this shot he was trying to catch a frog.  Go figure!

My guys.  Oh how I love them!

Now there's a big smile!

And here's another pretty smile.  Awww, he's such a good man.  I couldn't ask for a better husband.

And my favorite picture of the day...Hubs and Bubs heading off for an adventure...

I like this one too...coming back!

I'm thinking about getting this one I did in black and white enlarged and making a spot for it somewhere in the house...

And we had our picnic lunch by this tree that had a large growth on it's trunk.  Bubs looked like he was pushing the lump up the tree...

Hahaha, so cute!

We really had a great time at Dillard's Mill.  If you're ever in the Steelville, Missouri area you really should make a trip over to see it!

Well this has been a longer post than I anticipated.  I guess I had more pictures than I thought but I can't leave until I share with you what I found at a yard sale that we stopped at on the way to the mill...

A cute wooden @ symbol and a vintage card catalog for a mere $30.00.  Card catalogs are super hot in home decor right now and are usually pretty expensive. I wasn't necessarily out looking for one, even though I have wanted one for a while, because I figured I would never find one at a price I could afford. To say that I am super thrilled about finding this at such a great price is an understatement. It is the perfect piece for my front entryway.  I have been looking for a unique table or cabinet for that entryway for quite a while (4 years) and this is PERFECT.

I can't wait to get a little time to give it a little makeover...though that probably won't be until fall. Whenever it is though, you can be sure I'll tell you all about it!

NERIUM AD...EVER HEARD OF IT?...

Happy Friday everyone!  So thrilled it's Friday and that the sun is finally shining, how about you?

So the topic of the day, Nerium AD...The all natural, age-defying serum made from the Nerium Oleander plant.

Have you ever heard of it? Have you ever tried it?  If so, did you like it, and do you still use it?

A friend of mine, a Nerium sales rep, gave me a bottle of both the day cream and night cream the other day and asked me to take their 5-day challenge.

My instructions were to take some close-up shots of the front and both sides of my face before using the products and then take another set of pics after five days of use. I was assured that I would see a noticeable difference in my skin in just five days.  Oh really!...I am such a skeptic...

I thought this would be a great opportunity to have a little fun and do a "REVIEW" of this product here at Beyond the Portico. I have not been paid or compensated in any way to do this.  It's just for fun and my friend doesn't even know about this!

Sometime next week when my five days are up and all pictures are taken, I will share my side by side, unedited, before and after pictures with you.  I wonder if there will be a "noticeable difference" in my skin as promised. Hmmm...

I wonder, does this age defying serum really work?  Does it merit it's price of $75.00 per bottle?  WE SHALL SEE!

POOPILIZER...

Okay, so I bet you thought you would never see the day that the title of a blog post would contain the word "poop" did you?  Ummm, maybe its because that word is not very charming or pretty, is it...and certainly not fitting for a home decor blog but...today I just couldn't pass up the chance to share with you my new plant food...well, it's not new...it's centuries old...but I just started using it the other day...POOPILIZER.

Now if you have done much gardening at all you know that plants need fertilizer (food) to thrive.  There are many types on the market but avid gardeners prefer organic over chemically produced.  Organic being that of decomposed materials or remnants of other plants or herbivores (plant eating animals).

Truthfully I am fairly new to gardening and never gave too much thought to feeding my plants. In the past (even as little as a few months ago) it was my habit to purchase gorgeous plants, go home and dig a hole where I wanted the plant to live, plunk the plant down into the hole, back fill the hole with soil, water and then expect that plant to grow and thrive. I guess I figured everything the plant needed to survive was already in the soil.  Who knew they needed POO too.  Okay I couldn't help the pun but all these years I thought I had a black thumb and that plants should fear the day that I brought them home with me.  Come to find out though, through my Google searches and pouring over a million articles on gardening, anybody with a little learning, and some rabbit poo can have a green thumb.  Hmmm, who would've thunk it and it just so happens that I have just the guy to help me out...MR. BUN BUNS...

Awww, isn't he cute.  He's our pet Easter bunny.  We got him three years ago for Easter.  Sure wish I would've found out three years ago that rabbit manure was the perfect fertilizer.  Maybe I could've saved a few plants.

Anyway, unlike other animal manures it is not "hot" and will not burn your plants if it comes in direct contact with them.  It doesn't have a strong odor like other manures and adding it to poor soil, like Missouri's clay soil, will drastically improve the soils structure and quality.  After learning all this wonderful stuff I promptly donned my rubber gloves and gathered some of this...

and sprinkled it around all but two of my mums...

I had been reading that mums like a little fertilizer every month or so and since they have been looking a little puny (I'm guessing due to my barbaric way of just plunking them in the ground and then starving them) that I figured they would be perfect for a little experiment. I fertilized all but two with bunny poo and will be monitoring them over the next few months to see if the poo really works.  Of course I'll be sure to share the results with you.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about the best all natural fertilizer, you can read all about it in this article...THE BENEFITS AND USES OF RABBIT MANURE.

So, how is your garden growing? What fertilizer do you use?

WHAT'S BEHIND DOOR NO.?...

As you know, I have been working on my master bedroom a little at a time since the beginning of the year. I have been knocking out little projects here and there in an attempt to finally be able to mark that room off my project list.  Last night I had a few free minutes so I tackled yet another little project.

I have been staring at this wall of doors in my room for the past few months wondering what, if anything, I could do to that wall to make it a little less bland.

I could put some type of wall art or picture on the far left next to the bedside table but I really don't want anything there. Though some designers would disagree, it IS okay to have a small blank wall here and there. However I still felt that this wall needed something, but what?  Then it came to me...

First though, before I show you my cute, easy, peasy five minute remedy for this bland wall, read this little allegory and see if you can figure out what I decided to do...hint, it has to do with the doors...

So, did you guess that I numbered the doors?

I know it's kind of a silly, quirky little project but as I stared at those two doors day after day I would find myself muddling under my breath in the voice of a game show host saying, "Sheila, show them what's behind door #1 or...door #2.  So my logical solution to my bland wall that needed a little somethin', somethin' to liven it up was to number those two doors.

I had thought about stenciling the numbers on but didn't want anything as semi-permanent as paint...when you put 4 or more coats of paint on a door to cover the old turquoise color that used to be there, you shy away from doing anything that might cause you future work to them, if you know what I mean...

So I cut the numbers out of some contact paper I had leftover from another project. I gave them an old and faded look by rubbing on a little gray paint, measured where I wanted them to be and stuck them on.  Super easy and super quick.

I love how they look but if I ever decide I don't want them there, I can just peel them off.  No biggie!

So now are you wondering what's behind door number 1?...Well just for fun, let's see...

It's A NEW CAR!!!!  Just kidding...Door number 1 is the entrance, and that IS "ahem" a car you see out there...the Bubs' race car bed.  His room is across the hall from ours.

And now for door number 2...

It's just my little, teeny, tiny, MESSY closet...which by the way is still turquoise, and probably will be until the end of time, hehe.  I just "ain't got time for dat!"

Anyway, I think these little numbers add just the right amount of character to this wall, don't you?

Numbering things is very hot and trendy in design right now and these numbers add so much to this little room.  I love it! This room is quickly becoming my favorite room in the whole house.

Can you think of some place or something in your house that you would like to put numbers on?

A COUPLE LITTLE PROJECTS...

Hello everyone.  Did you miss me? It seems like it's been forever since I've had the chance to do any blogging.

To say I have been busy would be a HUGE understatement...hence the lack of posts lately.  Of course you know Sis graduated on May 17th.  The next weekend following graduation we celebrated with a big graduation party...by which I was too busy planning and putting it all together to get any pics to share with you all...SORRY, but everything turned out terrific and though it rained most of the day, we had a great time. That was on Saturday the 24th

Sunday was friends and family day at church and then we headed off for a little camping for Memorial Day. Busy times I tell you, busy times.

This past weekend was the first in a long while that I haven't actually had anything or any place in particular that I had to do or be and it felt really good to just be able to relax.  I took a nap yesterday after church. The first in many months and I savored every little moment of it.

Though I have been so incredibly busy, I did manage to sneak in a few little projects that I thought I would share with you today.

The first, I found an old farmers hat at my favorite thrift shop for $1.00 just before Memorial Day and knew that it would make the perfect Patriotic door decor...

I hot glued a few small American flags and sun flowers to it.  It only took a couple of minutes to make and I think it turned out sooooo cute.  It's the perfect door decoration for summer and will last all the way through to Labor Day.

Then this past weekend, since I finally had a little time on my hands, I made slipcovers for a few of the dining room chairs.  I liked the one that I made from an old tablecloth for THIS chair in the master bedroom so much that I decided I wanted some like it for my dining room.  I found a few more old tablecloths (which are becoming harder and harder to find and more expensive) at a local thrift store a few weeks ago and snatched them up.  I got out the sewing machine Thursday evening and went to town.  I finished up on Friday evening.

They're not perfect but I love 'em.  Though they are homemade they are sooooo much better than the ones I got at Wal-mart last year. For one they are tailor made so they fit better. They were a lot cheaper too, which is always a plus.

I couldn't be happier.  Now if I could just talk Pops (my father-in-law) into helping me build the farmhouse table I am wanting.  I would be set!

I like my current table.  It's country style but I am really wanting something similar to this one from Restoration Hardware...

It's plain and simple but I love it.  I think it would be perfect for my dining room and it looks like it would be pretty easy to make too, but that's a someday project.

One more thing before I go...I found these really cute old crusty, rusty barrels Saturday for just $5.00 a piece.

It looks as if they were used as planters in their past life.  That's my plans for them too.  I can't wait to get them filled with some pretties.

So what hodge podge mix of things have you been up to lately? Anything interesting? I would love the hear all about it!






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