Just A Little Bit Shabby

Merry Christmas to All.....

2010-12-24T14:52:00.001-08:00

and to all a good night!!

Wishing each and everyone of you the peace and love of this Blessed season!

Coming Up for Air!

2010-11-30T11:46:00.001-08:00

I've been really busy with my new endeavor with Stampin'Up! I've been getting ready for a craft fair that I was doing with 3 other crafters/Stampin'up! folks. It was short notice to try and do some things to add to our space. I was going to put some of my baby shoes in and I made 5 pair. But I had a lot more fun doing my Altoids boxes, so I concentrated on making them.
I made the box above for my niece who was gracious enough to host my first workshop a couple of weeks ago. It was my way of saying thanks.It is my version of a box that is on the front of the Stampin'Up! catalog. She admired it and said she'd like to make it. She wants to use it to keep her favorite Bible verses.

This one of my favorite cards that I made...as most of you know I've really been into pink since my go-round with breast cancer, and I gravitate toward shabby chic/vintage things.

I borrowed most of the stamps on this card from one of my Stampin'Up! friends. It is a retired stamp set which makes me very sad as I love it so much that I'd love to have it! Guess I'll just have to borrow it from her when I want to make more from the set. I used it a lot on my boxes.

This box top was made from a Dr. Pepper can and an embossing folder. I flattened out the cut out portion of the can. I painted it with pink and blue acrylic paint and antiqued it down with brown glaze. I also used some shimmer paint to bling it up a little, also. Then embossed it with gold and stamps. I used a Versamark pen to go over the embossed roses and then put on the embossing powder and heated it to set. Then I added some old clock embellishments and an old button.

This box is covered with old music , antiqued down with a brown glaze and gold embossing and some pearls. I used the Versamark pen on this one,also to do just the edges with gold embossing.

This one is made with a tag, chocolate chip ink and antiqued with brown glaze, again.

I'm doing another two small craft fairs on 12/3 and 12/7. So I've been making some additional things for them, plus I've been filling in a lot a work for one of the other nurses who's been having time off to diagnose her current health problems.

Sorry to have been gone so long I'll try to do better.

What I've Been Up To....

2010-10-10T15:52:00.001-07:00

Recently I've taken a big step and joined Stampin' Up!, a company with a great reputation and fabulous products. I have done stamping before and really enjoyed it. Since last February I have been a member of a card club that meets once a month. We make 3 projects each time. Usually at least 2 cards and I love it. So this last month I took the plunge and am going to be a demonstrator.
The picture above is a small tin that I covered with scrapbook paper and then embellished with stamps and embossing. I really love getting my hands into all the craft projects. It's a real pleasure and the only limitation is my imagination!! This is the before picture of the box in the next picture. I covered it with paper and antiqued it down with dark brown ink. Added lace and some old buttons

The next few cards are a small sample of the cards that I've been making. The dog card I sent to a friends daughter who incurred an injury that will keep her down for awhile. She's a dog lover, like me, so I thought she'd enjoy the doggies. I have hand painted some of the elements and elevated them to give the card depth.

On this next card I used embossing to give it depth. The gold flowers are embossed with gold embossing powder and elevated, again. An old white button and a touch of ribbon. This is one of my favorites. You can see that I embossed the envelope, too.

Another embossed card is with red and a button and ribbon, again. It doesn't show in the picture but the white background is also embossed with polka dots to simulate snow and corelate with the polka dot paper. The camera put glare on the embossed background of let it snow. It is more solid red than it appears in the picture. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but you get the general idea!!

This next card was for a co-workers baby's first birthday. All the stamps are water colored by hand and elevated. These stamps are from 3 different sets and two of the sets I've had for over 10 years, they are now retired sets. I'm having so much fun playing with all the different materials. Hope you enjoyed see just a few of the cards I've made.

A Little Road Trip

2010-09-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here we are with my blogging buddies! L to R: Beth, Me, Jenn and Karla at the Round Top blogger party. Nice to see the real person where it just was a picture before!! And guess what! They are just as nice as they seem on their blogs!! We really enjoyed our brief visit with them both!!

Last week while reading Beth's blog (http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gatheringdust/) )she posted that she and her buddy Karla (http://karla'scottage.typepad.com) were going to Round Top. WOW!! Now I know most of you know what Round Top is but for those who don't, it is just the most fabulous antique and flea market this side of Paris. They weren't going primarily to shop but just to see it, absorb the ambiance and meet up with friends.

Beth and I exchanged e-mails and decided that if Jenn and I wanted to, we could meet up at the blogger party that was being given by one of the exhibitors. She said see how you feel on Sunday and if you're up for it take a road trip.

So Sunday afternoon Jenn and I headed out for Round Top. Trying to be sooo organized I went to the Round Top website and printed out the directions how to get there from San Antonio........but

I didn't realize I laid them down on the table and forgot to take them. What an Airhead!!! Needless to say it involved getting thoroughly lost but finally making it there just before the party. In some ways it was for the best!! When I arrived there I was thunderstruck! Talk about over stimulation! Wow! Just the little that I was able to see made me drool! Since finishing the room I am pretty much broke until I get everything paid off. I had 99% of the money but, as usual, there is always some things that you didn't plan for that arise. I just have to get past this before I can go out and buy something I like without feeling guilty! I've included some pictures that I took. These are not representative of the whole show which if fabulous. Just some of the things between the party and the car. Hopefully you'll enjoy just looking at the next few pictures.....

Aren't these light fixtures really cool!

If you can't find a great antique bed here it just doesn't exist!!

Changing Things Around

2010-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

There is an old adage that goes..the best laid plans of mice and men often go a rye. That is what I found out when I started to use my new room. It looked fabulous but when I started using it as a craft room it fell a little short. Nothing was readily available and felt somewhat awkward. I've had to "tweek" it a bit. That involved moving a lot of things around. I moved the family area around and consolidated it a little, expanding the craft side more. I spent the majority of yesterday rearranging furniture and seeing what looked best. I'm going to live with this arrangement for a while and see if this works better before I make it permanent. I guess time will tell........ Any thoughts??

The Tour..Part Two

2010-08-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a look at the whole table and the window above it. This is the table that I salvaged from a cold death outside my Mom's house. The chairs are also cast offs from my Mom. Originally there were 4 but these 2 are the only ones that are all in one piece. Above the window is the cornice that I made from insulation foam. The fabric is a Ralph Loren fabric called Water Floral. I love the big pink cabbage roses and the touch of blue in the forget-me-nots. This fabric is a retired pattern and is hard to find. The only place I have been able find it is on E-bay and then you have to fight for it There are lots of others out there who want it too. I've gotten up to the last 5 seconds and had someone win it right out from under me. Grrrrrrr! Anyway that accounts for why I had to come up with a window treatment that requires a minimum of fabric. I did score the chair covers recently, but they are actually pillow shams that I converted.

I had purchased the shutters at a garage sale sometime back and though they don't fit exactly they are close enough for me and give some privacy if needed. Under the table is a decorative suitcase that I bought at Home Goods for $10.00 in the clearance aisle. It had fake travel stickers on it but I covered it with wallpaper and removed the leather handle and replaced it with a cream colored ribbon. I could use it for storage but for now it is just there to look pretty.

Here is the single french door that we added to the room when we found that the existing door and frame were rotted out. You can see a small cornice that I added to the top of the door. I put Velcro on the back and using a type that will adhere to smooth surfaces. The lower curtains are left over from a previous house. The rod is magnetic. I don't know if it is kosher to just drape the fabric over the rod but that way it is not sewn and can be used over and over. If you are interested in how to make these cornices you can go to the DIY.com website and find the instructions. All you need is the insulation, a utility knife, tape measure, hot glue, batting and fabric. I chose to put my fabric on with long pins so that I can change the fabric as needed. I have some beige fabric with the pink roses that I plan to use for the winter season.

Here is the door that originally led from the laundry room (which I made out of part of the original garage) On the backside of the room you can see the door that leads into the dining room. Also the computer armoire that I got at a garage sale, too. I used some of the same wallpaper that I used on the suitcase and in my bedroom. I'm not sure if I like the finish I have on it. I originally made it the plain white and my Mom said she thought it looked like a big white blob so I tried to tame it down some. Do you have any suggestions to improve it??? I would appreciate any feedback that might help me figure out what would look best.

Starting the Tour

2010-08-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

As you enter the door you will be greeted by the old fashioned screen door. I have great affection for this door. I personally carried it on the top of my X-Terra all the way from Mobile Alabama a couple of years ago.

When visiting my friend Nancy and her husband Rob in Mobile, they had a couple of them in their house and I just loved them. She had purchased them at Home Depot there in Mobile. Being unsure whether they had the same design at our local store. I purchased three of them to bring back home. When I designed the room I wanted to include the screen door. There were two reasons, one, to keep the dog from bolting out the back door and secondly, to add the vintage flavor that I wanted for the room.

As you can see I put hardware cloth across the lower part of the door instead of returning the screen. This gives the necessary safety factor without closing in the room, the screen is dark and would tend to separate the two areas. At present I just have it attached with wire but I want to staple it on and trim it out to give it a finished look on the back side.

As you open the screen door to your right is an old oak table that I acquired over 30 years ago.

It originally came from the garage of my stepfathers' sisters' house. My Mom had brought it out to her house after his sister passed away. She left it out in the weather when we all lived back in Kansas. When I got it, it had peeling white paint. I spent many hours out in my garage stripping all the old paint off. Who would have thought that years later I would have loved that finish!! I stained in walnut and put it in my kitchen. I have transported that table from Kansas to Arizona and then to Texas. I didn't have any place for it in my last two houses so it had been retired to my Mom's garage where I tried to sell it. Luckily no one bought it and it has returned back to me and got repainted, white.

I love to go to Hobby Lobby to see what is on sale 50% off that week. Back in April I found this little green house there just waiting for me to take home. I have a couple of African Violets in it with some moss and and a little angel to complete the vignette. In front I have an old book with some dried long stem roses. Underneath are some old pages that curled up when I tried to apply them to a slick surface that rejected them. On either side of the table are two small French rush

chairs. The table has drop leaves on both sides so when I want to use this as my work table for sewing or crafts I just need to lift the leaves to expand my working surface.

Here is the slick surface that rejected the book pages. They are inexpensive modular units that I bought at Target about 5 years ago. I primed them and painted them the soft blue of the Forget- me- not in my rose fabric. I then went around my house and pulled things from all over my house to create this display. The good thing about gleaning things from the other parts of the house is that it pared down some areas where I probably had a little too many things, if that is possible! The piece of gingerbead came from a closeout sale at Wimberly, a flea market in the Texas Hill Country.

In these cabinets and drawers I have a lot of my crafting equipment and some of my fabrics. I changed out the hardware as my friend Nancy told me that it wasn't vintage enough. I took Spackle and filled the extra holes where the old hardware had been. I wanted to use these vintage pulls but the price of them was just more than what I wanted to spend. Lowe's had some gold pulls that were marked down to 89 cents. So I bought a can of brushed nickel paint and painted them. An easy solution to my limited budget.

Hope you have enjoyed the first part of the tour.....see ya soon!

Welcome Home!

2010-08-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

This a partial view of the entry way to the new room. This area is approximately 4x4 feet. It is on the other side of the screen door that we placed at the entrance to the room. On the right side of this area is the door to the storage area than we incorporated at the very back of the garage area. I love and need a lot of storage!!

I wanted that screen door there to keep the dog from being able to bolt out of the outside door when it is opened. Most of my dogs have been talented escape artists. Molly, thankfully, is not as much prone to this but I still don't want her running out into the alley as most of the cars come down the alley pretty quickly. Also, I think the screen door adds charm and the vintage feel I wanted the room to impart.

I don't like coming home to a totally dark house. I usually have a small night light turned on to correct this problem. In this case, I have a 15 watt bulb in the lamp on the shelf. The shelf, it's self is made from old shutters I bought at a garage sale several years ago. Shutters aren't as popular as
they used to be but I still like them and have them in several places in my house. To me they have more character than blinds. In this case I added two metal brackets to form the shelf and then used the lower edge of the one shutter for hooks to accommodate some old track shoes , a straw hat and a small sign that says "to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."

Below the shelf I have a wicker shopping basket that I also bought at a garage sale when I still lived in Arizona more than 12 years ago. To me, it forms a great little vignette and gives a welcoming feeling to the entry. Welcome, we glad to see you ! Come in and stay awhile.!

ONE HUNDREDTH POST-PREVIEW NEW ROOM!

2010-08-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted my one hundredth post to be special so it took me some time to get to the point that I had the room completed enough to share. It is still a work in progress but I couldn't contain myself any longer.

We are not completely through with the painting but getting close. Probably in a couple of more days it will finally be done. Bead board is not easy to paint. It requires getting into the grooves and that requires a lot more energy than just rolling it on. Those of you who have painted it know what I mean.

As luck would have it, my next door neighbor was having a moving sale a few weeks ago and had a queen size sleeper sofa that he was not taking with him. I purchased it from him for $50.00 and moved into my room. I ordered a slipcover for it . I have loved the slipcovers from Spring Gard'n for a long time and finally had the perfect sofa for one of her wonderful slipcovers. I added some
pink check and pink rose pillows that I had made to complete the look.

I brought my old coffee table and drop leaf table back from my Mom's garage and proceeded to paint them white. The tool tray on the coffee table is from my favorite craft/antique mall. It doesn't look to bad in the red. What do you think??

In the next few posts I'll share other parts of the room with you. I'm still trying to decide on curtains . I am using some pretty sheers that I had in a previous house. I have more of the Ralph Lauren pink rose fabric that I am thinking of making valances for the windows. Any suggestions???

OH SO COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

Oh Happy Day!!! The room is complete! I absolutely love it. It is all I wanted and expected and a lot more......

I still need to finish painting the bead board and the cabinet but all the rest is done. Now we can move in the furniture and start decorating. My very favorite things to do!! Isn't it just fabulous! It is so exciting to see your vision come to life. Like I said it is even more than I could have wished for. Thanks to my great guys for all their hard work. Last night they were down on their knees cleaning and grouting the floor until almost 9 pm. They were dog tired and barely limped out of here! (Literally!)

Here you can see the screen door that will keep the dog from bolting out the door if she gets the chance as well as one of my hidden closets with the door slightly ajar. I love the way that they turned out. I need to mount the brackets and add the shelves and then I can start loading in all my precious items (aka my junk!) With the doors being 8 feet tall I can use the space all the way to the top so that should give me lots of space. The best part of this is that there are 2, count them, 2 of these closets! Lots of storage. In my case there can never be too much storage. (It's a quirk I picked up from my Mom! She says it's hereditary!!!)

This is a picture of the doors closed, with my air conditioner/heater that we installed into the wall. I particularly like it because it is white. Some of them I looked at were gray or black and that didn't fit into my room. It was great when we finally got to the stage that we could start it up and work in the cool room instead of the very warm Texas heat! It certainly made it a lot easier to prime and paint the ceiling and walls.

Here you can see the doors open. I think that when I get all the bead board enameled that they will be even more inconspicuous. You can see the cabinets are just primed also. I've already put my stereo in there and today we put the new TV in.

My next post will be number 100 and I'm hoping to show you the room decorated to celebrate this milestone. It may take me a couple of weeks to get there but I'm hoping that you will feel it was worth the wait. Until then I'll be busier than a cat in a rocking chair factory. See you then.......

Closer, Still

2010-07-14T17:50:00.001-07:00

What you see, if you look closely, is the wall with all the bead board. If you look over the equipment you can see the cabinets which will be where the TV will sit. On each side there are closets. What, you say? You see bead board on one side and plain wood on the other. What will be is invisible doors. They will be bead board on the outside and blend into the wall so you won't be able to see that there are closet doors. I'll show you more when they get completed.

This is the North wall and you can see the window and the single French door. Also the pre-primed bead board and unpainted trim. Also the wall color. It's a Martha Stewart Living paint called Buckwheat Flour. On the very left side of the picture is the edge of the French door that leads to the laundry room and beyond that the entry into the original house.

I wanted to include this picture of my hardworking guys. They are mixing the thin set to lay the tile in the room. A king size mixer blade driven by an electric drill. To the left is Greg and on the right is Royce. They've worked really hard and with great accuracy to make my dream a reality! Thanks guys, you're the best!!

We should be done in the next few days so hang tight we'll be back.......soon!!!!!

More Progress

2010-07-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

The tile is down in both the room and the laundry room. I've primed all the sheet rock and painted the ceiling. The ceiling was not FUN!! I don't have a good neck and looking up for so long was definitely a struggle, but it is done and boy am I glad. Part of the Sheetrock was the original that was in the garage and it absorbed the primer like a sponge. I went through 5+ gallons of primer and that wasn't even all the surface as the rest will be covered with bead board. It always feels sooooo good to have such a icky task behind you.

I, finally, have picked the wall color. My Mom was a great help. I must have bought 7 samples before we finally settled. The tile is a grayish beige and colors were either to yellow or something else. I do think we did settle on the right one!!!

The interior doors are in. When we got over to the door that was one of the original garage exits we found that the door casing was rotted. So we had to buy a new door there. So since I needed to get a new one I put a French door there, too. It's a single one but it adds even more light and a view of the patio on bedroom side. Now all the doors match.

Today, the guys are setting the front door and starting on the bead board. It's almost there....I'm so excited!!!

ONE STEP CLOSER

2010-06-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

All the sheet rock, taping, and texture is done. We are now ready to install the flooring. Tomorrow we will start that . Today we started unloading the pod and putting some of it into the storage. All I can say is.....this is not fun!! It is hot out, we had a storm last night and may have another tonight so, it is humid. Need I say more????? We are not that far from the Texas coast and they are bracing for Alex. Be he hurricane or tropical storm he will surely have some heavy winds and rain
That's the update for now, pardon me but I'm off to take a nap!!!

We're Making Progress....

2010-06-21T13:30:00.001-07:00

We have got part of the Sheetrock in and tomorrow they will begin to tape and float all the seams. The three sections you see above are on the wall on the back of the room. This is where the garage doors used to be. The center area is where the cabinets will go with the TV on the top. Each of the sections on either side will be closets where I will keep all my fabric, paint and supplies.

This is the wall from the opposite side of the room. In this picture you can see part of the windows and where the entrance to the room is from the backside. In that opening will be a old fashioned looking screen door. That will help keep the dog from getting out when the back door is opened.

Saturday we went tile shopping again and I found the tile for the floor. I have seen a lot of pretty tile while I was out shopping but they just didn't fit into my budget. The one I found is pretty and affordable, so I am happy. We are getting closer each day . So stay tuned!!

Music, Music, Music.......

2010-06-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have started to paper the inside of the computer armoire. It is still a work in progress but I thought that I would share some of the parts that are partially completed.

I am using music books that I purchased on e-bay. It does require quite a few books, but it is also a very large area to cover. I am using liquid starch to apply it to the walls of the armoire. You can buy it at most grocery stores if you look for it.

I saw how to do it on Tracey's blog http://acottageindustry.typepad.com/. She did a mini tutorial about it. I used a small plastic bucket into which I put a small amount of starch. Use enough that you can dip the music pages in and wet them completely. I did find, however, that too much starch makes the paper very soggy and it tears even more easily. You need to squeegee out the excessive starch before placing it on the wall. Use your hand to do this.

I found it easier to smooth the paper out with my wallpapering brush . It does wrinkle fairly easily but can be smoothed out GENTLY. Otherwise it tears if you are too rough. I also wore rubber gloves as it is very sticky, more than with wallpaper paste.

I bought some paper napkins at Home Goods and cut out the butterflies from the napkin to add randomly to the area. One thing I like to do is cut off some of the margins of the paper with a paper cutter as I don't like the wide plain white margins. I have decoupaged some other things by tearing the pages and just applying it randomly instead of in sheets. It just depends on what you prefer. You'd be amazed at how stiff and smooth that it dries. I still have about half of the inside left to complete because of all the little shelving areas it has. So I'll share again when I'm done. If you need visuals of it go to Tracey's blog and look for the tutorial, it helped me a lot.

Windows And Doors Day 1

2010-06-11T11:01:00.001-07:00

Today they are putting in the French Doors. It is amazing how light it makes the room inside.Of course, as you can see , it is not finished being installed but I am so excited I just had to share the very first look at it! Don't know if they will get to the windows today or will have to wait until Monday.

Decisions, Decisions.........

2010-06-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

We are moving right along with the room. So far we've got part of the framing in, at least along the long wall where the TV will sit. That is where the garage doors used to be. They have the headers in for the doors and the windows and most of the electrical work has been done. Tomorrow they are planning to put in the french door and the windows. They go on the side walls that look out on each of the little yards that I have. My house is T shaped. The garage is the lower part of the T. That explains why I have two yards. Each one has a small garden and the windows will look out to each of them.

Today, when there were not any workers here Jen and I headed out to Lowe's to get the outdoor fixture to put outside the French door. All the others I have are matching so I wanted this one to match, also. I also got the ceiling fan and the hardware for the door. For my retirement and my birthday I got a couple of gift cards so I used them and it made the bill less of a hit to my budget. We, also, looked at tile for the floor. As you can see from the picture above this is the palette that I am going to use. The fabric was what I used in my bedroom in the last house and I had the walls one of the pinks in the roses. I have a lot of it as I made a king size duvet cover out of it. I want to outline quilt around the design for several large pillows and some valances. Can't decide if I want other curtains or not yet. I want to go more neutral for the room so I got some cream and brown paint samples, kind of on the khaki side as there is some green in the khaki in the leaves. I don't know how well the colors will show up in the photo. I want to see all the samples in the room tomorrow after they put in the windows so I can see if they still coordinate in the light of the room.

I brought home several tile samples to look at too. I to be thrifty on my flooring choice as it is not included in the price of the room. I'll post again when they get the windows in.

We're Off and Running!!!

2010-06-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived!! WE STARTED THE NEW ROOM!!
Thursday was the first day of our new adventure. The guys showed up about 8:30 am and immediately started dismantling the garage doors. I, in the mean time, placed an ad on Craig's List to sell them and by 6:00pm that same day they were sold and cash in hand! They next started to rough- in the openings and by 8:00 pm they had the tar paper and siding on the outside. (They had to close it up before they went home for the night.) They temporarily put the door in, locked it and fell into their truck, exhausted!

Friday I had to work so I didn't get to see much of what they did but they roughed-in the storage area that is at the very back or front depending which way you come into the room. Originally the storage area was going to be built just outside the original garage under the carport but the concrete pad was going to be 1600.00 and that was above the budget so we had to take some of the space out of the room. I think it will be OK and not affect the design too much.

I originally planned to put a fake fireplace in the room with the TV in the firebox but, that too, had to be cut b/o the budget. I did find two used bathroom cabinets at a garage sale for $30.00. I will put them together put a top over the two and put the TV on it. Also, I bought two old house screens that will go above to form doors. The screens have wooden frames and chippy white paint. I think that they will look great when it is put together. On each side of the cabinets will be a closet that will house a lot of my craft supplies and such. They will have some unusual doors that I will share with you at the time they are completed.

That is the latest update. Soon I'll share some of the other details of the room as we go along.
Luckily I will be home all next week to watch the progress. I'm really excited to see every detail.

Lillies Of The Field

2010-05-31T08:38:00.001-07:00

Today, is Memorial Day, and it seemed appropriate to show flowers. These pictures are of all the Day Lillie's blooming in my garden, today. The white one above is one that has never bloomed before. I got all these Lillie's from a former neighbor whose mother had over a thousand varieties.

I am, largely, a pastel person but I am enjoying all the different hues of these flowers. When I got these plants they were dried and had some tags on them but no other description. So when they started to bloom all the colors were a surprise. The plants have doubled this year and I have so many more blooms.

I love this peachy one, and the blooms are large and soft to the touch. As you can see I have a lot of additional buds that will soon be ready to burst open. It's sad that the blooms only last one day.

Isn't this one really unusual , the picture is slightly not a vibrant as the blooms themselves are in person.

Doesn't this one remind you of the skin of a peach or nectarine. It is definitely very dramatic.

This garden fairy is sitting on the rock border of the garden. She is sitting there still thinking about the new room. I have been having to rethink some of the plans that I had for the new family/craft room as the bid for it came in way OVER my budget. I'm having to cut some of the things so that I can fit my expectations to my budget!! As of today they are suppose to start work tomorrow.

Luckily, I worked 3 days last week at the clinic. Because of a family emergency I will be able to pick up an additional 5 days of work and that translates into $$$$. Hopefully that will help to bump up my budget just a tad.

I was able to finally get over to my space at the craft mall to see if I have sold any thing. It wasn't much but at least I have a start. They had a big sidewalk sale last weekend so that brought a lot of traffic into the store. I will get busy soon and get some additional merchandise to place there.

The last two weeks, since I last posted, have been a whirlwind. This month is a big birthday month in our family, including my birthday. So it has been filled with some parties. It is also the month that I need to renew my nursing license so I had a lot of reading to do to get my required 20 hours of continuing education required to renew. Also I rented a "pod" type storage unit to place at the back to store all the stuff that I had stored in the garage. All of this and working, too. We worked really hard to remove it all. Luckily I had a strong handyman to help me with the heavy stuff. We filled two large trash containers with trash. I am going to have to whittle down some of the things when we go to return it as the storage area will be slightly small than before. That will be hard !

What 's New???

2010-05-15T14:37:00.001-07:00

In my previous post I was telling you about going to my favorite craft/ antique mall. That is where we bought my cute little piano. While I was there I talked to the management about being put on a waiting list for a booth. Wednesday, May 5th was the day of my retirement. It was also the day that they called and told me that they had a booth available. PANIC!!!!! There is a saying when God closes one door, he opens another!!

I just wasn't prepared for the door to swing open so soon. I wanted to start making these cute baby shoes to sell but I didn't have any made yet. I did, however, have a bunch of pillows that were previously made. So, I had to scamble big time to get some shoes made. I went to the mall the next morning to sign up for the booth and set my move in date for the 15th. So now you all know why I've been MIA.

Today, I gathered up all the inventory I had and went off to set up my booth. It is the smallest booth they have, as I didn't want to take to large a risk when I didn't know if people would buy what I had made. Money will be tighter now with no regular paycheck except my social security and some supplement from my retirement. I'm not much of a daredevil when it comes to money.

I wanted a decorated booth since I think that attracts more people. Since I had baby shoes as part of my inventory I decided on a baby type theme. The little doll cradle I bought at a garage sale last year when I was visiting my friend Nancy in Mobile. I spray painted it an ivory and covered the bottom with a pale blue and white polka dot. The wicker table came out of my garage storage and if you look carefully you will see the springs from Jennifer's baby bed.

We added some tulle, hydrangeas and a paper moon. I wanted to put as much inventory in to the booth as I could and it took some finessing to try to get it all in. My Mom and Jen helped me to tag everything . Here's hoping it takes off. I am including some pictures of my baby shoes. The shoes don't take long to make but quilting all the fabric for them has been very labor intensive.

The shoes are very soft and I really enjoyed picking out the coordinating fabrics and ribbons. I'm not sure how many shoes I'll get done, I guess it will depend on how quickly or if they sell. At least I won't have to sit at the sewing machine all day now. I really was under the gun to produce some in such a short period of time.

I think these are my favorite pair that I made. I love the little frogs! They are such happy little fellows!

Miss Kitty and polka dots!

Mary Englebreit fabric and polka dots, too!

So now you all know what we've been up to here. I'm so glad to have the craziness behind me now for a while. Tonight I'm going to put my feet up and relax. And probably go to bed early as I was up until 3:00 this morning. I'll try to keep you all posted on how it is going but for today, a big ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Happy Mother's Day Early!

2010-05-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my Mom, my daughter Jennifer, and I went to get a pedicure, out to lunch and then to one of my favorite shops. It is a craft/antique store. I saw this child's piano and fell in love.
My daughter bought it for me for Mother's Day. I am so thrilled. I am so excited to put it in my new room when it gets built. I'm having such a hard time waiting for the day that we can get started on it.

I'm still looking through books and magazines to find things I'd like to incorporate into it. I'm teetering back and forth whether to put a French door or windows on the one wall that doesn't have a door. It would be on the side of the rose garden. I guess it will be determined somewhat by the price of the doors and /or windows and the amount of labor cost for each. Also, I am thinking about putting a false fireplace on another wall. I've been squirreling as much money as I can but there is, unfortunately, a maximum amount I can afford. I'm just anxious to get my "stuff" spread out and organized so I can start on some of the projects I want to do.

Wednesday is my last day of work! I've been waiting for this day and it is FINALLY just a couple of days away. WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

Update and Garage Sale Purchase

2010-04-19T09:23:00.001-07:00

Just a little over two weeks until D day or should I say R day! I have a big calendar that I am crossing the days off. Lots of things going on. Trying to get my health needs taken care of before I lose all my benefits at work. Have dental appointment today to get my new crown. Looking into supplements for Medicare. Just little details. Not very exciting.

I talked to my carpenter and he can't start on my garage conversion until the beginning of June and though I find it frustrating, it gives me additional time to work out the space planning. Last week end while heading through a nearby neighborhood I saw this armoire. I had an appointment I had to go to so I didn't get a chance to stop to investigate it. So the next day Jen and I went back and luckily it was still there. The best part was that they were asking half the original price as it didn't sell the previous day. It is a computer armoire but I am also thinking, with the extra table that I could sew there, also.

It is very heavy wood and I told the man that I didn't have anyway to get it home. Luckily he had a truck and was willing to deliver it. So for now it sits in my garage waiting for a complete redo. I am going to paint it and antique it down.

The desk folds up and has a little clip that holds it up when the doors are closed. I like all the little cubbies for paper, etc. I think it will be very serviceable for my needs. I am thinking of wallpapering the inside. Maybe with old music pages. That would be a lot easier than cutting pieces of wallpaper but a pretty floral or something colorful would be good, too. What do you think?

There is metal panels in the doors so I will see how they look painted and distressed but I also am thinking of putting anaglypta wallpaper in there to give the look of an old pie safe with tin. What is your opinion? what do you think would look better?

This coming week end I'm going to have a garage sale at my sister's house on Saturday. They just sold their house and the neighborhood is having their semi annual garage sale so we are hoping to have a lot of traffic through there. I'll take every advantage to make some money and get rid of some more of my junk, oh, should I say gently used objects!!

Rose Colored Glasses, Too!

2010-04-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here's an additional view of the yard from the back gate. I'm really enjoying each and every rose.
Every plant and every bloom. I wanted to share it with all of you. Hope you enjoy as much as I am.

Looking at the world through "Rose" colored glasses!

2010-04-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Spring, has surely come to Texas and definitely to our home. My garden is a live with beauty.
The roses are a live with blooms, buds and greenery. The Hollyhock and Day lily's are green and thriving. After our long, long dry summer we have been blessed with an abundant amount of rain so that the plants that survived our extended freeze are growing like a house afire!

I am a pink rose lover and all the roses I have planted in this side of the yard are all shades of pink. I have Belinda's Dream, First Prize, Cecil Brunner and I just planted a Perfume Delight this Spring

I have large pots on each side of the patio that I have planted small white daisies, shades of pink petunias and another plant that is lavender, don't know it's name but I liked it when I saw it.

My climbing rose in the picture just above is called Social climber and it literally must have about 100 blooms on it. I get a lot of sun on this side of my house and the roses have really thrived in this area. Also the Hollyhocks are sun lovers so they, too, have pushed skyward.

Things have been very busy here. Trying to get refinancing done, which closed today. Still working and getting some health issues settled. being so busy has been a good thing as it has made these last few weeks fly by. May 5th is looking closer and closer.

I haven't heard from my carpenter yet but I've been going through my old magazines looking for ideas to incorporate into the room. I'm definitely going shabby chic but still haven't settled on a definite color. I keep coming back to my pink roses and pale blue but nothing is definite yet. I'm getting anxious to get started...it is hard to be patient.

Finally, decision made!

2010-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it was hard to decide but it finally came together just like a lot of you said. I took my family to look at the townhouse I was thinking about and they all liked it but I still wasn't sure. So, I went to talk to the mortgage man and had him work up the new house and a refinance for my present home.
I was astounded at the fact that with the refinance I could reduce my house payment by $200.00
a month. That is a lot when you will have a somewhat limited income. I will continue to work but only for fill in at the clinic. Plus I would get an ample refund from my current escrow. It was just too good to pass up. This will make the garage conversion a reality.

This week I was off Thursday instead of Monday and I went out and worked in the garage to pull out a lot of the Rubbermaid containers I have stored there. Saturday we had a garage sale.
Unfortunately about 6:30 am we had a thunderstorm....that put a little bit of a damper on the sale. Luckily it only last about an hour and then cleared off. It was still cool and windy but the sale went on regardless. I had already put the ad in the newspaper so I didn't want to waste my money. We did just OK . I made about $50.00 which isn't too much but I got rid of some stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to go through and weed out stuff to take to Goodwill.

I talked to my carpenter last week ,also, and it will be about 4-5 weeks before he can get over here so I have a little time to work out my plan. I went to Home Depot to get some flowers today and strolled through the window and door aisle and got a couple of magazine with ideas for additions and storage organization. Really saw some good ideas. My sister and her husband are moving in a few weeks and they will have an extra sofa I can have and I some other pieces of furniture in storage so it is starting to come together. Still have a lot of planning and sorting to do but I will try to chronicle it all for you. So if I'm not posting for awhile you'll know I'm up to my eyeballs.

May 5 is the date I've set for my retirement, it seems way too far away but all this planning for the room will help keep my mind busy so it doesn't drag too much. So stay tuned!!!

What to do....I just don't know!

2010-03-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I've been gone so long, I've been in quite a turmoil personally.

First of all, I've set the date for my retirement and then I've been trying to decide whether to sell this house and move to another one. Yes, that's right move!!!

Here's the reason why. Even though I love this house, it only has 2 bedrooms, which is really all that we need. There are just the two of us, but when I retire I want to start doing a lot of sewing and crafts and I don't have a place for all of the "stuff". I've got a huge stash of fabric that I have squirreled away in various places in the house but I'd love to have it all in one area so I can see what I have and use it effectively. I also have a huge supply of scrapbook and card making supplies that again are stashed in different places. Enough said.

I need a place to put all this stuff together and where I can leave out my machine, etc. without my whole house looking a mess. I've been looking at some different houses that give me a place to have my studio. I've put my house on the market, then taken it off.....It's down to either taking a part of my garage and building a room or get a different house with an extra crafting space. I have to make up my mind soon so I can get the show on the road before I retire... so if you don't hear from me for awhile it's because I'm still in limbo until I get this situation settled. Thanks for your patience. I'll be back.

Lavender Blue

2010-01-18T11:37:00.000-08:00

With Winter being so awful in so many parts of the country I decided we all needed some "flower therapy"! This is a photo of the beautiful African Violet that sits in my dining room window. I love the lavender blue color of the blooms. I have two old windows that sit on this ledge as well as a few other pretties. The soft bluish lavender blooms cheered me and spoke to me today of the promise of Spring, just around the corner.

Last week it got down into the teens here in South Texas and we are not accustom to this cold.
Our homes are not built to take extreme cold. Now that may not be cold by your standards in other parts of the country but here it bursts pipes and freezes plants at an alarming rate. Multiply that by three days and you 've got a minor crisis. We were all told to drip faucets and cover our outdoor spigots or suffer the consequences. Luckily we didn't incur any problems at our house but it sure did a number on the outdoor plants, even the plants that were covered. I guess I'll just have to wait for Spring to see what survived and what did not. Luckily my roses all look pretty good. Most of ferns, on the other hand, look pretty burnt.

Today it is in the 60's and we are supposed to have the 70's by this week end.. You just never know about the weather here! There is a saying here in Texas that" if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes!! " We are anticipating a visit from an old friend this week end so I hope that the weather is nice so she can have a little vacation from the ice and snow.

If it is cold and gray in your world just look at the photo above and visualize it sitting in your sunny window instead of mine. Wishing you sunshine and warm breezes!!!!!

Still A Work In Progress

2010-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on the laundry room. I finally have all the shelving up and lots of the storage in place. Originally I had put shelving just on one side of the room and had my modular units on the other side. Even though they were only 12 inches in depth they really closed the room off. I finally got some one to help me move them to the back wall of the garage. No small task as there are about 10 pieces that stack all the way to the ceiling! That requires a lot of muscle which I'm afraid I just can't do alone.

In the picture above I added the shelf below the picture to kind of pull the idea of the dishes down from the picture. To the right on top of the dryer is an old wooden baby swing that I bought at a flea market for $10.00. I added pads to the bottom screws that hold it together so that it wouldn't scratch my dryer surface. I really like bunnies as you may have noticed in a lot of my things so when I saw this tall old wooden bunny I just had to have it. She's the queen of the land of laundry!

Since I moved the wire rack in the dining room to the area where I had shelves with my Fitz and Floyd pieces I wanted to still showcase them, at least my favorite pieces! So this part of the shelving was incorporated to accommodate my favorite pieces. I also had to be able to access the breaker box. Below these shelves are my recycling bins. One for glass, tin and plastic and the other for paper. We have a very large dumpster outside the garage which the city picks up once a week. We try to recycle just about everything that we can. I also mounted my ironing board behind the door to the dining room. That gets it out of my bedroom and the iron out of my closet.
I want to make a curtain to cover the lower, narrower shelves that has all the cans and stuff on it. Just to keep it neat looking and uncluttered as much as I can.

This side has a lot of decorative boxes that I have been accumulating slowly over the past year when ever I could find them on sale. They will contain a lot my sewing supplies and material. (I still haven't gotten much of that done yet. Lots of the boxes are still empty. Like I said still a work in progress! I left the shelving high so that I could put the laundry sorter under them so it would stay out of the way when not in use. We pulled the chest of drawers in from the garage and it will hold a lot of fabric, too. It was left in one of my former home so I kept for storage. Free storage is good, is it not? I have quite a large stash and would like to separate them by color.

With the extra shelving I have a place to put my bread machine, pressure cooker and other small appliances that really cramped my kitchen cabinets. It makes accessing them so much easier and I have started to use them more and since I'm not doing as many projects I have been able to cook more.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour. Like I said I still have some things to complete out there but it is finally getting there and I'm really happy with the outcome!

Tea for Two

2009-12-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

Isn't this just the cutest little tea set you ever saw! It's a small teapot, sugar and creamer made for just 2. This is the newest addition to my dining room. I bought it from Karla at http://karlascottage@typepad.com. She actually had photographed it as part of the merchandise that she had for a show she was going to do for the holidays. I absolutely fell in love with it. I love the size and especially the beautiful carved flowers.

Time has recently been at a premium. With winter being here we have been really busy with

sick people at work. Getting Christmas projects, shopping, mailing and cooking has consumed an enormous amount of time. I've been trying to get some well deserved R&R over this week end. Though it was a pleasant holiday I'm really glad that it is coming to a close. Hopefully things will calm down a bit.

Jennifer is off dog sitting for a lady until the 30th so I'm enjoying having a little time to get some ME things done. Hope the new year will bring much health and happiness to you.

Moving Things Around

2009-11-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

When I decided to put up a mirror in my dining room, I had to take down my wire shelf with all the blue and white dishes. I really like the wire shelf, so I decided to put it up in the kitchen. In order to accomplish this I took down the wooden shelves that were there. Then mounted the wire shelf. I tried to incorporate some of the things I had on the wooden shelves with the blue and white. I had to put the shelf a little higher than I would like due to the fact that the thermostat was on that wall. So I added some hooks to the bottom shelf and hung my little creamers down there. Do you think it looks OK?

I really like how it all looks. I Incorporated some things that had been on the wooden shelves. I love the bluebird platters that I bought on e-bay. Also, I kept the cookbooks and the tray that my Mom had painted over 35 years ago. Also several gifts from friends such as the butter warmer (on the second shelf to the right) The Droste box and the egg cups from my same friends' Mother. There are a lot memories displayed on those shelves! Some of the pieces were garage sale finds, such as the canisters that I got for $10.00 and the blue cabbage plate. Also some pieces I picked up at the thrift store and Marshall's.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

2009-11-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I was torn about whether to put up the wire rack in the dining room or a mirror.

I bought an oval mirror that I repainted but eventually put it up in the hallway. It wasn't large enough for the room. My theory was that the mirror would lighten up the room and make it look larger. It would also reflect the crystal chandelier that I had assembled item by item. Last Saturday after fertilizing my grass, Great timing as it rained all day on Sunday) Jen and I hopped into the car to go to Home Goods. I rarely come home from there empty handed and Saturday was no different than usual. I found this large mirror that is somewhat antiqued, kind of a silvery brown finish. Any way I took down the wire rack and put up the mirror. I think it really enlarges the space. It goes well with the rusty sconces on each side, too.

On Sunday I finally got the wallpaper completed in the dressing area between the bedroom and the bathroom. I had ordered a double roll of paper thinking that it would easily do the job. I was luck that I didn't mess up any pieces and that it was such a small match. Believe it or not I only had a 15 inch piece left over. I was very pleased that I finally got it done. I feel as if I have been spinning my wheels for awhile. Another project that is all done now but the refining process. I was glad that I did it on Sunday because I ended up working on Monday instead of having the day off. One of our nurses was sick and I needed to fill in. This flu season is really got a lot of people sick and we get exposed to it several times a day. I guess it is an occupational hazard you just can't avoid. I am looking forward to having this Monday off.

I am contemplating putting a cream colored wash over it like I did in the bathroom so that it will flow more easily between the two rooms. Do you like it as is or do you think a lighter wash than the bathroom would look good? You can also see the mirror that I put on the vanity to replace my shell mirror. I think it goes better with the appliques that I put on the draw fronts than the shell mirror did and it's not falling apart!

November 10, 1921

2009-11-09T17:15:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, November 10th is my Mom's birthday. She's a little camera shy. ( More than a little) so I'll just show you something very dear to her heart. Her home. She loves to remodel, redecorate and redo as much or more than I do. I guess you can say the Acorn doesn't fall too far from the Oak tree.

She's an amazing woman. Very strong, determined and very, very talented! She's smart as can be. If she'd had the opportunity to go to college she'd probably be a lawyer. Her father was a lawyer and she has that talent from him. She's the best artist that one can imagine. When she finally got my sister and I married off and out of the house she started to paint. She's done decorative painting and a few portraits but her favorite thing to paint, believe it or not, is walls. She has a wonderful sense of color and sees each and every detail. She can tell you if some thing is level or plumb from 50 paces!!

Ever since I was a very little girl I remember her remodeling every place we ever lived. I mean tearing down walls, designing and redecorating. She tells the story of her first decorating job, it was wallpapering the inside of her Newfoundland dogs' doghouse at a very young age. She can tell you as much about construction as a lot of men and can paint everything that she sees. At 70 something she was up on her own scaffold rag painting the walls of her vaulted living room in her house in Arizona. She built a brick courtyard in front of one of her houses just from looking at the pictures in a book. She drug big flat field stones a half of a mile up from the creek to make the floor of a courtyard when she lived out in the country when she was in her late 50's.

She can grow anything she looks at, cross eyed. I mean roses the size of saucers and of course her famous hollyhocks from Arizona. Her favorites are peach colored roses. Anthing she tries to grow flourishes under her care. She has a great gift of landscape design, too.

When we were young she and my grandmother would sew our Halloween costumes. Though she wasn't big on sewing clothes she could whip a pair of drapes or a bedspread with perfect stitching and put up the rod with one hand tied behind her back. In fact she made the drapes in the picture above.

She is an excellent cook except for pies...That's just not in her repertoire! See the post about my grandmother a couple of posts back. I believe she inherited some of her artistic talent from my grandmother.

Not only that, but she raised my sister and I alone from the time we were very young. Put us through Catholic school and college. She isn't afraid of much of anything and if you tell her she can't do it, she'll just say " watch my smoke!!"

Any way November 10th is her birthday..She'll be 88!! Though her body has slowed up with age her mind is still sharp and she is still as determined as ever! To quote her "I don't know who that old lady in the mirror but it isn't me!!)

Happy Birhday Mom! We love you!!!!!!

Une Petite Vignette

2009-10-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

This little vignette is inside the armoire in my bedroom. I have temporarily papered the inside of the armoire with old sheet music and some pretty boxes . Also some old baby shoes and a compote filled with silk and dried roses. I bought this compote in Maryland many years ago.

The top shelf of this armoire is filled with pretties and the lower shelves house my small TV and my DVD's and CD's as well as a small portable stereo. I open the doors to watch TV but otherwise everything is hidden from view.

A Glorious Morning to All!

2009-10-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I looked out the window to my garden and saw such a glorious site. My Morning Glory vine was in full bloom! With the recent rains and some warming sun the vine has started to thrive. It is so wonderful for the drought to finally be behind us. It's a cool morning and promises to be a wonderful week end.
I heard from my wallpaper order and was told it should be on it's way in the next few days. I am anxious to get it put up and then that will be one step closer to finishing the majority of the bedroom project.
Wishing each and everyone of you sunshine and a glorious Saturday!

Sandy

SORRY I'VE BEEN AWAY SO LONG

2009-10-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been pretty difficult! Our sweet Holly finally got to the point that she couldn't get herself up from laying on her side. Above seven years ago she slipped a disc in her back and has had difficulty using her back legs. At one point we thought we would have to put her into a doggie wheelchair but she regained use of her legs after several steroid shots and a couple of months of Rimadryl. Lately though she had trouble getting up and even going out to do her business. She was after all 151/2 years old. I think she has been senile for at least the past six months but she still loooooved to eat. Her vision was failing, too. So, as hard as it was, I made the decision to put her down. I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. We used to call her Hurricane Holly when she was young. She loved to play escape artist and you could chase her for blocks before you could get her cornered! Then there was the time she stole the roast off the dining room table...She was quite a gal!!

Secondly, we've had our flu clinic at work and that was 2 grueling days. I've been having problems with my left arm (I'm left handed and that is my mastectomy side) so I didn't do as much shooting as I did drawing up a lot of the vaccine. I guess all the painting and wallpapering finally caught up to me. I even went and had a mammogram of that side and an ultrasound of the area to be sure there was nothing dangerous going on. October is, after all, Breast Cancer Awareness month and I encourage all of you, if you haven't done it this year, to get your mammograms. It saved my life five years ago. I guess no matter how long it has been you always carry that little spark of fear around with you and especially if you have any disturbing symptoms such as I was having. Luckily, the tests were negative. I am so thankful for this.

The photo above is one of my Grandmother when she was 18. It is sitting on the chest in my bedroom. (It's on loan from my Mom). Beside the picture is a small jewelry box that I received when I was 18. Some pearls that were given to me as a child and a pin that I made from vintage buttons. My grandmother was a very elegant lady. She was an accomplished seamstress, knitter, cook and all things domestic, except she couldn't bake a cake to save her soul! Wonderful pies, biscuits but never cakes. My Mom on the hand couldn't make a pie......

Well, I FINALLY decided what to do with my dressing room. I chose the trellis wallpaper in one of the previous posts. I ordered it yesterday but will have to wait to see if they have it in stock.
So hopefully, if they do, I'll be able to put it up next weekend. So, keep your fingers crossed.

TEARS IN HEAVEN

2009-09-28T14:20:00.001-07:00

Holly-Lu-Yah

March 13, 1994 --September 28, 2009

We love you baby girl!

Eney Meany Miney Moe!

2009-09-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been wrestling over and over with what I like the best for the dressing area.

Above is the dressing area painted pink. I thought I could paint it the pink first and then if Idon't like it I can paper over it. Below is a picture of the other side wall, but I took some of the bedroom wallpaper and turned it sideways folding the stripe down. I'm thinking of cutting out the lower section of the paper so that it would look like a laser cut with the roses being the lower edge. I have enough wallpaper left over to do it. Am I just being cheap or will it look good?

I went on line and and looked at the border that matches and I need 2 rolls. It comes in 15 foot rolls and I need 16 feet. There are a couple of other coordinating papers that are available, too. Maybe they would be the solution. One is a damask that is predominantly the pink and the other is kind of a small x type paper with mostly the cream color (see above). Does this make it more confusing or do you think the answer is there?

I'm still not sure what to do yet. I want it to look as good as the other parts of the room and I'd spend the extra money if it meant "making" the project come together. Again, I'd like to hear what you all think. Thanks again.

OK, OK, You Win!

2009-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

The past two week ends I've been working on phase 3 of the bedroom project. This portion is the dressing area between the bedroom and the bathroom. It is where my dressing table, sink and closet are.

This where I put on my face every morning before work and have breakfast with my two dogs.
You can see part of my shell mirror that is coming apart. After I took these pictures I took it out and put another mirror there that has some rose appliques at the top. It is currently white but will get a coat of the cream paint as soon as I am able. On the drawer front you can see a rose applique. I added one to the drawer and one to the panel in front of the sink. The beautiful lamp is called Queen Marie. She was named by my Grandmother. This lamp is another one of the lamps that I got to have that belonged to her. I love this lamp.

Here is a close up of the applique.

Now the question is what looks best with the bead board that I have spent the last 2 days putting up. I must admit that it was a challenge. It's not the first time I've done bead board but it is the first time I've put it up in such a small place. You ask why is that such a challenge? It required a lot of cuts. I used the small panels instead of the 4x8 sheets, they are easier to work with but cutting down the length with a jig saw is not easy. Trying to stay on the straight is not easy. I'm not really good with a saw, be it jig or circular. My main problem with circular saws is that they are too heavy for me to handle easily, so I tend to use the jig saw more easily. I'm trying to decide what I want to put above the bead board. I have three options.

First....the wallpaper in the bedroom.

Secondly, the wallpaper in the bathroom.

Thirdly, pale pink paint that I had mixed off of the palest pink in the rose wallpaper in the bedroom. (which is in the first picture above.) Which do you think goes the best? I'm kind of leaning toward the small print in the bathroom, but I'm going to keep all three of them up for this week to see if I still feel the same. What do you think?

I hope that you all know how much I appreciate all the comments of my last post. It is nice to know that there are people out there who enjoy my blog. I have tried to take all your comments to heart and proceed from there. Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

I'm Sad

2009-09-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

I 'm feeling sad. I've been blogging for almost a year now and I feel that I'm not able to continue. Other blogs are so much better. I'm not sure what I've done that wasn't right. I do feel that I've tried and I'm not wrong, I'm just not right. I looked back to see when I started last year and it was Sept. 17. I'm going to keep posting until then but after that I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
I have to say thanks to the few people who do read me on a fairly regular basis and those who leave comments. Please tell me what I can do to improve and generate additional readers or interest. I don't mean to be gloomy. When I first started people advised me to get a counter, and if not for that I would have quit a longtime ago, it shows me that a least some people are coming by even if they aren't leaving comments
There are so many talented people out there. Cindy at My Romantic Home has been the force that encouraged me to start blogging. Her site is so great and she has a zillion readers. Valarie, Penny, Mary Ellen, Jean and Cindy, thanks to all of you for your encouragement.
I had the privilege of corresponding with some great people. I feel like there are a few of you that I consider friends I don't want to list names for fear that I could leave someone out and hurt someones feeling, but know that I appreciate you ALL.
Am I being too sensitive? Too self-absorbed. Too DEPRESSED??? I really am a very upbeat person and try to be somewhat of a clown but I guess I'm not able to transfer that to my posts.
Anyway I'm going to keep trying until Sept 17...
thanks for listening to me ramble

One Picture Worth A Thousand Words!!

2009-08-26T19:15:00.001-07:00

PATIO PAVERS 1 SANDY 0

Another Week, Another Project!

2009-08-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend my project was to paper my bathroom. I worked Saturday on putting the last coat of enamel on the cabinets and then Sunday I wallpapered the room. Most of the bath is full lengths of paper. It took me the entire day. I sure was tired when I finished!!

Once I got finished I wasn't too happy with the way that it looked. The roses were too dark pink, almost red. After all that work I just wanted to rip it all down. So I decided that I had nothing to lose by washing it with white. I used a wet piece of cheese cloth and dipped in the cream paint that I used for the woodwork. I kept wetting the cloth occasionally to keep the washed look. It looks a lot better. I wanted it to look kind of old and I think this fills the bill. I may try a light brown wash on a scrap piece to see if will look even better. Not sure yet.

Some of the things on the shelf are just some of the things that were in other parts of the house.

The little chocolate mold I bought at my favorite antique shop and the little laurel wreath pin I bought at an antique shop at Fell's Point area of Baltimore Maryland several years ago. The pink plates and cup were gifts from a couple of my friends. The large silver bottle is from a big bath set and I like the way it looks. Evidently the humidity in the bathroom is wearing away the silver finish and I think it is beginning to look like Mercury glass. The little silver box is a garage sale find, too.

The shelf is one that I bought a few months back at Marshall's, it was only $34.00 and I think it looks a lot more expensive than that. It was a grayish color before and I painted it the cream of the woodwork and had fun decorating it. Do you think it is over decorated? I want an old timey look. did I do OK?

The little table next to the tub is a garage sale find that I decoupaged with old music and the flowers were cut from paper napkins. I then wiped the black legs and edge with some cream colored paint to tone it down. I don't have my shower curtain up yet, it is the same lace that I have for the curtains in my bedroom. It will help to soften the room even more.

I still have the dressing area to do and it is still in the thinking stage. I'm having a baby shower for one of the girls from work in a couple of weeks and I'm not sure if I can get it done before then as my house is now a wreck from a lack of attention. I guess I'll see how much I can get done. Sooo stay tuned for phase three.

Finally, Phase One Completed!

2009-08-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while getting here but I have finally finished. It took several week ends but

I think it was worth all the work! Walls painted, woodwork done and wall paper completed.

I tried to take lots of different views. So enjoy!

The lamps on the bedside tables belonged to my grandmother. I rewired them and put new lamps shades that I covered with the lace from my curtains. I got this lace from my Mom, she bought it all at a mill ends place for $5.00 a yard. It is an embroidered lace on net.

The dressform I bought at a garage sale. The old wash stand I bought at an antique store for just $65.00, I have seen them for several hundred dollars.

The armoire was pine and it just didn't fit into the decor but it houses my TV and a few other things. It's not quite finished (blue tape still on hardware). I needed to bring the pink to this side of the room, too, so I papered the front of it with leftover wallpaper. I love the way it looks.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Next project: paper the bathroom and dressing area with the companion paper.

Stay tuned for the phase!

Preview...Stay tuned!

2009-07-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

This just a preview of what is to come. Walls are painted, wallpaper is not up yet!

But this what it looks like........These are my old dolls from my ancient childhood.

Stay tuned..........

MIA

2009-07-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess that I haven't posted for a while but I've been really busy! Lots of projects on the fire. Trying to get the patio back together after the deck was finished. I had a lot of the cement pavers to replace that we had robbed to put under the shed for a foundation. I used the pavers that they removed from where they built the deck to replace the missing ones. Then of course I had to move everything around a bit to look better. What a hot job!! Especially when it has been over 100 for several weeks here and we still are having a drought! I'm trying to decide whether to put in a water feature, what a where. We moved the little lattice gazebo to the other side, by my bedroom and I still haven't gotten out there to get it all straightened up after the move.

Next, we painted my daughter's room, that took 2 days as the first part we painted was too blue and we had to tone down the paint with some additional white. It turn out good and I hope she is happy with it. We still have the dressing room, closet and bathroom to do but that can wait for a while (I hope!)

Next I started painting the new screen doors and the doors they are on. They had been the same cream color as the body of the house but I wanted to paint them blue. That took two days, also. But I think they turned out great. I have gingerbread on my porch and I am thinking of painting the little balls and some areas of the posts to look kind of like the painted ladies in San Francisco. I painted the shutters blue, also but need to pull the blue completely across the front to balance. I haven't painted that part yet. Guess that will come, maybe next weekend.

In this picture you can see the gingerbread and do you think it would look good with a touch of blue? I love the old fashioned screens, I got them in Alabama last year and carried them home on my X-terra. The didn't have them at my Home Depot here so I am glad that I made the effort to get them there.

Sorry this picture is sideways but it had uploaded before I realized it was on the right way. I washed my sheets today so it was a perfect time to do more work on the bed. I bought some apple green paint to paint it but it looked neon when I started putting it on so I decided to go for a rusty look. The wall paper has large pink roses in it with green leaves (it's a Laura Ashley design) but I need to get the walls painted first. The pattern is so large that I am only doing the wall behind the bed. Hopefully this will give a sort of garden look and the bed will look a little like a rusty gate. I guess that will have to wait for a future post. I used several colors of paint to get the look. I'll live with it for a while to see if this is exactly what I want.

I painted it with green, cream brown rust and a touch of yellow then I took my electric sander and roughed it up for that aged look. We'll see how it goes. Any suggestions????

IT'S DONE!!

2009-06-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

I came home from work tonight to the completed deck. Being the nut that I am I had to get busy and decorate it. I tried to use what I have out there so there will be some more things changed around but I just had to share how it looks! I love it!!! ISN'T IT FABULOUS!!!!!!!!

#%$&@# Internet

2009-06-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been gone so long but I have been without my Internet for almost a week. I have been on the phone with Time Warner so many time I can't even count .........It's really frustrating. It would connect on both computers then if they get turned off it's gone again. So I'm going to post this so if I get knocked off again I'll give you something new to look at.

This is one of the day lilies that I got from my old neighbor. Isn't it just the most beautiful lily! It's name is Web of Intrigue! I love it!

We started some new projects here this week. At last I got my old fashion screen doors put up (finally) I have had them in my garage for over a year! I bought them back with me from Alabama last year but haven't gotten anyone to put them up until now. I got one of them primed today but still have the others to do. (there are 3 of them) Also we cleared an area on the patio (on the yard with my gazebo) to start the deck. The problem is that there has been several big trees planted in that area and the stumps are too large to dig up so I'm having a low deck built over the top of them. The stump area was covered with rock and that area sits right in the middle of the patio so it limited the usable area. If you go to my last post and enlarge the picture of the gazebo you can see the edge of the rock and see how my table and
chairs have to be crowded over to the side. When the deck is done I'll be able to put the table in the middle and not be crowded. Also we are going to add some benches to perimeter at least on the far side so it will give me added seating for guests.It will give me a nice large flat surface 12x12 which will be all usable space. I want to paint a large square rug on the top. The carpenters have taken up all the concrete pavers and set the posts. On Monday they start the base. Can't wait. That tree, then the stump have been a big pain to me since I moved in here. Next post I'll show you the deck, that is if I can keep my Internet........

A Tour of My Sun Garden

2009-06-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

I tried to delete these pictures up here but I can't seem to do it...no matter what I try. I know that some of you can relate. So you'll just have to see them twice..sorry, wish I could figure it out. I've been working for over an hour trying everything but nothing works.....So be patient with me...'cause I have no patience left!!!!!

I've been working on my garden a lot this spring. I've only lived in this house for less than 2 years and this is my second summer to work. One of the flower beds was already here but I've extended it and added a second one on the other side of the yard. My house has two small yards, one on the living room side and another off my bedroom. The garage is in the middle of the back of the house and you enter off an alley. The driveway divides the two sides, therefore leaving two long narrow yards. The fence comes off the side of the garage and behind that I've covered the area with weed cloth and river rock to cut down on the maintenance.

The picture above is of the living room side of the yard. I am working on the other side but not ready to show it yet. It creates two gardens, because of that I have one sun garden and one shade garden. It is kind of fun to have one of each, it gives each its own look.

I got these double purple coneflowers a couple of weeks ago at Lowe's. I've seen them in the magazines but never found them until then. Best of all they were gallon size plants marked down to $3.50. I went back a couple of days later to see if any were left but, no they were all gone. Aren't they beautiful and so unusual. If you're interested they are called Double Delight.

This is Mr. Peter Rabbit. I saw him at the nursery one day and fell deeply in love! He was quite expensive so I resisted for quite awhile but I finally gave in. After all he's concrete and will last for a long time..... I just love him!

I am partial to pink flowers but try to incorporate some other colors. I have some day lilies that a former neighbor gave me . When I got them they were dry and had been shipped from her Mother's home in Oregon. I didn't know what color they were but FREE is good enough! I have some dark ones and a peachy one and one that is a cream color. The cream one is blooming today.
And so is the peachy one. They are repeat bloomers, too. I moved them from my other yard when I sold the house. Wish I had taken more of my plants as the young couple I sold the house to have taken out a lot of my plants. I guess they are not gardeners. I can't bear to go by the house anymore as they have changed it soo much and taken out a lot of my

plants. It makes me really sad.

I have a gazebo that I did bring with me. The one I left ended up torn up on the ground and it was only 1 year old. Oh well. The one I bought is an 8 foot one that fit on my side patio at the other house. I had it for several years and the canvas was gone so I added white lattice to the top and sides. It cost me more than replacing it with a new one but this will last for a longtime so I felt it was worth the expense. It isn't waterproof but does provide nice filtered shade. I think it has more ambiance than a stock one.

I covered the two chairs out there with a cornflower blue vinyl and that makes them somewhat waterproof. I like that it brings the blue from the living room out to the patio. I had a fountain that I used with it at the other house too, but even though it was cute it was constantly evaporating the water. So I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage and put some asparagus ferns inside. It still has the fountain look without the hassle. Here's a picture of the gazebo.... and one of the greenhouse,too. Hope you enjoyed your little tour!

Au Claire de la Lune!

2009-06-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the full moon and it looks so beautiful, especially through the crape myrtle trees in my neighbors yard. Hope you are enjoying your week end.

Another Project To Work On

2009-06-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Back in March when we were visiting our friends in Alabama my friend and I spent an afternoon looking at wallpaper books. She and I both love wallpaper. I found what I wanted for my bedroom and she found her paper, too. After a long wait for the paper (it was on back order)

I finally got my paper so now I'm trying to pick out paint colors. The paper is vines of beautiful pink roses with green leaves and two shades of cream. I'll show you the paper when I get it up but for now I'll keep it for a surprise until it is all done.

When I moved into this house I had a king size canopy bed but it was just a little to big for the room so I sold the bed and mattress and got a queen. I got a metal bed from Penny's but frankly was disappointed in the color. Since the vines and leaves of the roses were an apple green I got some green paint and started experimenting with the paint the day I changed the sheets on the bed. Part of the bed is painted (almost ) What do you think? I mixed a little cream in with it too.

I'll post again the results of the finished product.

Sunset Friday Night

2009-05-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Sunset, May 29, 2009. From my front porch! Have a good week end!!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

2009-05-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

2009-05-23T19:48:00.001-07:00

From my garden to you on this lovely May weekend!

Happy Memorial Day!!

More Than A Little Bit Shabby

2009-05-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

In my next to last post I had part of my little greenhouse. The poor little thing is looking pretty shabby. I bought it at The Wimberley Market Days (In Wimberley Texas) about 7 years ago. At that time it was all glass windows. It has been outside in my back and front yards for all these years. I didn't have any way to replace the roof window when it almost fell apart so I got a sheet of trailer skirting, cut into two pieces and then antiqued it down to look old. I have replaced one of the side windows and now a lot of the panes are gone in some of the other windows. I added gingerbread scrolls to the front and a piece of tin ceiling trim across the front. In the past I had an outdoor spotlight in the top back and a cute terracotta statue and flowers inside. Now it sports an old watering can and some pink silk geraniums. I'd like to find a way to give it a makeover so I can continue to look at it in my garden. It's like an old friend, always there no matter what the weather.

Pink Powderpuffs!

2009-05-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here's how beautiful they are today! Aren't they wonderful! Enjoy!

The Travels of My Hollyhocks

2009-05-11T10:20:00.001-07:00

A long time ago, at least 15 years or so my Mom bought some Hollyhock seeds from England. She planted them in her beautiful garden in Arizona. Now this may seem odd to plant Hollyhocks in the desert but if you plant something in Arizona, especially in the Scottsdale area, you water it and give it sun, it will grow. Add to that some great topsoil, beautiful rose companions and a woman who has one of the greenest thumbs ever and you get a gazillion, tall beautiful Hollyhocks.

When they self seed, you have a lot of volunteers to give away and a lot of seeds. I dug up a lot of these babies and transplanted them into my garden. Then I got volunteers...so you get the picture! These seeds have been given to willing gardeners all over the world. Some of the plants went to my dear friend Sherry, who still lives in Arizona. She gave some to her Mom and she gave some to her friends and on and on until they had travelled far and wide.

Recently she sent me some seeds from those same Hollyhocks and what you see is the first of my plants, and the first one to bloom. And of all days to burst into bloom, it happened on Mother's Day! The original gift from my Mom, to me. To top it all, it is a double pink Hollyhock, my very favorite. Thanks Mother for the legacy of the Hollyhocks, now planted and thriving here in my yard in Texas.!!

If these Hollyhocks could talk what wonderful tales they might be able to tell of thriving and growing with love from continent to continent and from rich earth and loving hands.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA!!

2009-03-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Jen and I hopped into the car and traveled to Alabama to visit our dear friends Nancy and Rob. This the view from their great room looking out to the ADORABLE screen room and her beautiful azaleas! Nancy and I became friends when she worked at my home away from home.....Home Depot. We share a passion for decorating and just enjoy getting into lots of trouble together (the fun kind of course.!)

So we are here for about 5 days and will be going to the Arts and Crafts Festival today in Fairhope, a nice upscale little community just outside Mobile.

We're off to see the sights!!

Happiness is a Bluebird!

2009-03-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

I have recently become enamoured with bluebirds.

I found this teapot at T.J.Maxx on Saturday and I really like it. I have a few other bluebird items on the display shelf in my kitchen. I have a lot of Fitz and Floyd items,too and even though this one is not, it could have fooled me it looks a lot like their style.

Saturday because it rained for 3 days (what a blessing! We really needed it as we are having drought conditions here in Texas) we cleaned the garage instead. I now have the amount of

"treasure " in my garage down to a manageable amount. So, since most of Saturday was consumed with cleaning I didn't get to wallpaper until today. I am happy to report that the paper is all up. I am waiting for the wallboard to dry and then I will mount the standards for the shelving. I still have a lot of work to do but the end is finally in sight .I need to deciding what and where everything should go, then organize it. We've come a long, long way and it is really beginning to look like a cozy little room.

Hope each and everyone of you has a great week and the most festive Saint Patty's day!

Laundry Room Part 3

2009-03-08T16:45:00.001-07:00

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men....as the saying goes. I didn't get accomplished all of what I set out to do this week end but I did get the laundry part of the room completely finished. It is the hardest part of the room because of all the cuts for the door, cabinet, outlets, etc. What is left is a straight shot without anything to paper around.

I am working all week this week as my boss will be off to visit with her family. We changed to daylight savings this week and that will give me an extra hour of light but don't know if I will have any energy left at the end of the day to work on the paper. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the other wall done as it is the wall with all the storage shelves and I am anxious to get some organizing and decluttering done in the garage. Well, I guess I'll just have to try to be patient and wait until I have more time next week end. I have a handy man coming on Saturday to help me dig holes for my roses that have been in their original pots for a year now. Unfortunately I hurt by back many years ago and have a difficult time digging especially if there are a lot of holes I will be relieved though to get them in the ground, at last.

Last Monday I had a huge mesquite tree in my front yard cut down. It was quite a site to watch them take it down. It took about 5 hours for 2 of them to get it done. The tree had 2 trunks and half of it towered over my house. That is the part that took so long as they had to take it down branch by branch. Unfortunately the tree was on it's way out and I wanted down before part of it landed on my roof. Not a good thing!!

The weather here has gotten quite warm and all the trees are beginning to leaf out so Spring is definitely on its way. Love to see all the beautiful flowers and warm breezes... Happy Spring!

Before and After Mirror

2009-03-04T19:55:00.001-08:00

Remember several weeks ago when Jen and I went shopping for new tennies and we went to Marshall's to check out what goodies they had? One of the things I bought that day was an oval mirror. It was black with brown antiquing. Black is not my favorite so I decided to paint it.

I was going to paint it white and probably should have done that. I was trying to decide whether to take down the wire shelf in the dining room and replace it with the mirror so it would reflect the chandelier. I put it up on the wall in the dining room, got some ivory acrylic paint and just started painting, eventually I went to my paints and started adding some colors and I don't even remember what I put on it but it turned out like in the last pictures. I liked it in the dining room but the wire shelf was weightier (is that a word?) so it returned to the wall and the mirror replaced a picture in the hallway. It is directly across from a french door so I think it brings some extra light to the hallway.

The little shelf below the mirror is a castoff piece of trim from a half wall that we took out of my last house. I just cut it to size, mounted it with some cast iron brackets from Hobby Lobby and added some "stuff" I'm not sure I think all the accessories are great but until I find something that I think is better, it will do. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what to put on the shelf and in the display shelf that sits on it. The spaces in the display shelf are somewhat narrow to put a lot of things in so I'll just keep trading them out until I feel that it is finally right. More fun, more shopping, right???

Laundry Room : Update-Week 2

2009-03-01T16:35:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are week two. We've completed all the priming, I have repaired the cracks in the ceiling and we have the ceiling painted. Today I put the enamel on the door and the frame, got part of the cabinet over the dryer painted and painted the almond refrigerator white. (that way in matches the washer and dryer.) The refrigerator that is in the garage was the one that was left here when we bought the house so we use it for an extra freezer and to keep all our sodas in. I also keep the bottled water in it, I give my dogs bottled water as my older dog had bladder stones and had to have surgery to remove them. I figure it is a small investment to keep them from getting them again. I also use it to make my coffee as our water here is really hard and I kept going through a coffee maker every year or so.

This afternoon I sized the primed walls and hung the first wall of wallpaper. My wallpaper arrived on Friday. I'm not too sure about the boarder yet but see what you think. I just have it pinned up with push pins. I wanted to get this first wall done so I can move the cabinet back. That way I can get the contents off of my dining room table..... I'm tired of looking at the mess!!

Next week end, finish the wallpaper, mount the brackets for the shelving and start getting the shelves installed. It's a tall order, I guess we'll see how much I can get done. For now, into a warm bath and try to relieve my aching muscles. Have a good week.

Wonderful Blogger Buddies

2009-02-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday in the mail I received a lovely gift From one of my blogger Buddies. The gift was from Valarie athttp://glimpseofmyworld.blogspot.com/. In the package were two beautiful,old, small plates with pink roses in the center. Her card said "I saw these and thought of you." Wasn't that the sweetest, thoughtful thing to do. Thanks Valarie, I love them and I know just where I want to put them.

I have embarked on a very large task! When I bought this house the washer and dryer were in the garage, just outside the dining room door. In that part of the garage there is an area that is the width of the garage and about 7 feet deep. It is one step above the garage itself. In this area is were the washer and dryer sit. I have embarked on enclosing this area and making a laundry/ storage area. I have soooo much stuff that I need the extra storage area. I had a carpenter come in and put up a wall between this area and the garage. The walls in the garage are sheet rocked and taped and floated but that was it. Jennifer and I have spent the week end priming the walls and ceiling...Boy, am I tired and we haven't got it all finished yet.

The walls have suffered a lot of abuse and have a lot of dings and nail holes. I have filled all the nail holes but they are still not the best quality so I decided to wallpaper it all to hide some of the imperfections. I have ordered some soft blue and white stripe paper to do the job. We still have to finish priming before we can even think of starting to paper, plus I just ordered the paper yesterday. Again from my favorite wall paper seller on e-bay. I'll keep you posted on the progress but I think it will take a good month of weekends to get it all done.

But tonight I'm pooped. I'm fixing dinner and going to sit down, put up my feet and watch the Academy Awards. Luckily, I'm not working tomorrow so I'll take the day to rest. Have a good week!

Baby OH Baby!

2009-02-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

I guess it has been awhile since I sat down to visit with all of you. I have just had the winter blah's I guess. Just haven't felt up to doing this. Plus, I was having company that was supposed to come to visit the last week in February and I was trying to get some projects done. I just found out Thursday night that they aren't coming!! I needed to get the things I did done anyway but I sure am disappointed! To boot, my Mom has not been feeling well. I finally took her to the Dr. last Monday and he thinks she has C dif, which is a bad GI infection, especially for a woman her age, she is 87. Luckily, she is much improved with her medicine and the "probiotics

Well, enough about my absence. Today, I just had to get out of the house. Yesterday, it was gray and cold here and all I wanted to do was curl up and watch the KU basketball game. So, today Jen and I hit one of my favorite stores, Homestead Handcrafts. It's a combination craft and antique mall not far from my house. I bought another cute baby picture to add to the collection in the kitchen. I bought it at a booth called "Embellishments", it has lots of good "old stuff." I think a mother and daughter have the booth together and they just happened to be there adding some new "treasures" to the booth. I had run into them the previous time I was there, too. We had talked about my blog last time and she told me today that she had looked it up and really liked it. That sure lifted my spirits! I came home hung the picture, rearranged the cannisters and took these pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks to all of you for hanging in there during my absence, I'll try to do better.! Have a great week!

I'm in Love!

2009-01-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I love dishes. So when I saw this china pattern posted on someones blog I went straight over to e-bay to scope it out. Some of the pieces can be really pricey, like $350.00 for a teapot!! The pattern is called Billingsley Rose by Spode, it is one of their oldest patterns. Some of the vintage pieces with the "red mark" are commanding some big prices. Luckily, I found some pieces that were priced reasonably. I think the seller was trying to clear them out so they offered them for 65% off. I got 2 dinner plates, 2

cups and saucers, 2 demitasse cups and saucers, two salad plates and 2 extra saucers, plus shipping for a total of $50.00.

I love the pink roses and the lacy edges. I thought that they would go so well with the lace on the shades of the chandelier. Now, I'm at odds whether to move the wire shelf into the hall with the blue dishes or what.

Saturday Jennifer (my daughter) and I went shopping. She got new tennies, so cute with pink trim. Since Cindy of My Romantic Home shops at Marshall's all the time I told Jen, lets swing around the corner and go to Marshall's. I found a beautiful oval mirror there that has a frame that looks carved with some roses. The only drawback is it is black with some brownish antiquing on it. There are lots of you out there that love all things black but it isn't me. So I need to paint t it white and antique it down. I love the mirror in the dining room of Kelly on Rose Vine Cottage, Two. So I'm thinking of putting the mirror in the place of the shelf and adding some of the rose dishes with it. The mirror would reflect the crystal chandelier and increase the light in the room. Mmmmmmmm!

I also bought a couple of other things, one at Marshall's and one at Home Goods, all real good buys but require some redoing, I'll share them with you later. If you get the chance go over to Kelly's site and see what you think of the mirror... One thing that got me thinking about changing the shelf , is the wall behind the rack is the French blue and the blue and white dishes don't show up as good as they would with a white or cream back ground and the creamy white dishes and mirror would "pop' more. Any opinions??

And, More light!

2009-01-16T19:42:00.001-08:00

Whew!!! What a week, it seems everyone here is sick! We have been flying around all week trying to accommodate all the sick people on our campus. I work for a large research facility and we have over 3000 employees on our campus and it appears the majority of them have colds, sinus infections or allergies. At least it seems that way. So sorry I am behind with my blogging.

I figured that while I was talking about lights that I would show you a couple more of my crystal

lights.

The first is my candlestick lamp that I have on my front door. Several months ago I bought two candlestick lamps on sale at Hobby lobby for $15.00 each. One of the lamps I bought had a leopard lamp shade. While I know that they are very popular with a lot of people, it is not my style. I looked for another shade for it for a longtime but had a hard time finding one that would fit because the base of the shade is very small.

I can't remember on whose blog I saw a lamp with just the bare lamp frame. It gave me the idea to remove the fabric and just use the frame. The pictures above show how it turned out.

I had some ribbon with crystals attached that I had purchased at Walmart in the craft section, so I just attached it to the top and bottom edge of the frame. It's different but I like it. I also changed the light bulb to a 5 watt bulb that had been dipped in silicone. It makes it look more like a candle and surprisingly enough it is enough light to light the foyer.

The chandelier in the hallway is one of the things I bought on our trip to Mobile last spring. It was hanging in the entryway of a shop that was going out of business and the owner literally took it down to sell it to me. I originally wanted to put it in the entry but it hung too low and would have been hit by the front door, so it ended up in the hallway. If I can't find a good chandelier for my bathroom I might replace it with something else and put it in my bathroom. It is the kind of fixture I wanted for the dining room but larger ones in that style are soooo expensive so I

ended up with the one in the previous post. Actually, I like what I got in the dining room just as well and it has more of my creativity in it and it is definitely one of a kind!!

Let There be Light!

2009-01-10T08:15:00.001-08:00

I have finally finished my dining room chandelier. I wanted a large crystal chandelier but after looking at them for a longtime I just couldn't afford to put out $500 plus. I just had too many other places to use my money.

I went to e-bay and kept looking at the offerings there. I finally found this chandelier. It was

brass and very colonial looking but the price was right. Just $25.00 plus shipping. I painted it white, took the big colonial looking ball off the bottom and then looked for crystals. I found a

combination of old and new crystals, again from e-bay. I also added a fair amount of the crystals from my finds from the Michael's wedding section (like on my kitchen chandelier.)

Additionally, I added shades to all the lights. I got some basic shades from Lowe's and even at

3.00 for each shade, it added up. I didn't like them plain so I covered them with cream colored

lace cut from the edge of lace that I have in my bedroom. My Mom originally had this fabric in her bedroom in a previous bedroom and when she moved from there, there was enough for her to use as well as me. It is a beautiful creme lace that is embroidered panels with a sheer netting in the middle. She bought it at a mill ends place in Arizona for just $5.00 a yard.

I glued the fabric to the shades and added a trim to the top edge. Then to bring the blue up to it

I added a gauzy blue wired ribbon. I think it turned out lovely and the lace really shows up beautifully when the light is t urned on. I put 25watt bulbs in all the lower 8 bulbs and 40 watt in the top 4 that way it doesn't look like I am setting the room on fire. It also has a rheostat to softenwhen needed.

It took me a while to get all the shades covered but now I love the look and the total cost was about $200.00. I think it lends some presence to the dining room.

Update and More Visual Aids!

2009-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

My living room fabric that I got from E-bay

The backside of fabric tacked up on the window

Larger view of dining room

Front side of fabric, color is stronger than it appears

The Toile, very strong on the reddish browns

I am reminded by one of my blogging buddies that I didn't give you enough visual aids to make a good decision without a picture of all the fabrics involved. Thanks, Penny Suzie for helping me do better.Thanks!

I'm Backward! What do you think?

2009-01-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

I've been running over in my mind what to post next.

I bought some fabric back in December.If you've read some of my previous posts you know that I have been looking for some fabric for my dining room window. The fabric in the living room that I love is a blue fabric with pink roses. I bought the piece of fabric on E-bay and it was just a small remnant. I have searched and searched to find more of it but to no avail. I keep checking E-bay and have spent hours on the Internet and in fabric shops but "Nada".

I've bought several pieces of fabric, gotten it home and didn't like it. It just doesn't fill the image of what I think the dining room should look like. Recently I bought 2 pieces of fabric online and when they arrived I was disappointed again.

One was a Toile and the other a companion stripe. The colors were just too strong. So the Toile was out. I liked the companion fabric better. The picture above is what it looks like BUT what you see is actually the back of the fabric. It gives it that old vintage look that I want. What do you think? Should I try it or keep looking?

My Favorite After Christmas Buys

2009-01-01T10:01:00.001-08:00

The Saturday after Christmas I took my Mom shopping. She's 87 and doesn't drive much except to the grocery and near by places like my or my sister's house. She has a couple of special places she likes to go. One of them is a store called 5 Broads off Broadway. They had all their Christmas ornaments 50% off. Above you can see the things that I purchased there.

My favorite is the little birds nest and the small glass cloche. The nest is actually an ornament but I think it is cute enough to stay out all year. The plate underneath it is from Home Goods.

I bought it several months ago and just had it sitting as is on the side table next to the sofa. When I got the nest and cloche they just seemed to go together naturally. I had taken about 20 some pictures of this with terrible results until today when I got out the book that goes with my camera and starting trying to adjust the light. The flash kept washing out the detail in the little bird and the flowers on the edge of the plate. I finally figured out how to turn off the flash and get the shot I have above. Using the macro setting it finally came together.

I also got the glittering icicles at that shop. Also, the silver beaded ornament came from there.

Then it was off to Tuesday Morning where I found the "top" shaped ornament. They have the mercury glass look but when you put them on the tree with the lights on they are kind of translucent and because

of the mottled silver they kind of look lacy. A very pretty effect. I really like the mercury glass effect. I also have some round mercury-like ornaments I got last year at Hobby Lobby and I might try putting the two different styles in a big container (don't know exactly what yet) and see if

they can stay out, too. What do you think?

Miracle of Miracles!!

2008-12-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it! I actually did it!! I still have my hair and I might have screamed a few times but it wasn't heard 'round the world. I must admit that it was difficult. It took some time to just figure it out.

I just started blogging in September so I don't have the amount of pictures that some will have.
I did enjoy going through all of the pictures and figuring out what to share. The majority of pictures are of the remodel that we are doing to the house we moved into about 1 year ago.

We started the redo in February, First was the kitchen primarily because we were waiting on our contractor to get to our projects. He is very good at what he does but he, also, is so overwhelmed with jobs that you have to wait awhile. We added new appliances, sink, faucet and painted the cabinets. We added wallpaper and took down the fluorescent lighting and added a chandelier.

I also painted all of the kitchen (before the wallpaper) dining room and living room walls and doors. When our contractor finally got to us we added a laminate floor in all except the bedrooms, Completely revamped the fireplace by adding bookshelves and creating a spot for the TV that conceals with doors to which a framed print was added. When the doors are closed it just looks there is a picture there . We, also, added a new tile surround, to the hearth which we enlarged, too. Concealed behind this is all the wiring for the TV, cable box and DVD. The book cases house my large collection of decorating books.

Also you will see a picture of my antique armoire that I completely transformed by painting and antiquing it. This armoire houses part of my large collection of blue and white china. Also,several small shots of different pieces that are some of my favorites.

Some of my sentimental vignettes are also included. Some little objects that mean a lot to me.
Pictures of those closest to me. Take time to look at all of them and see just how much we have accomplished in the past year.

Next year, I am planning to start working on the bedrooms and baths and get the window curtains done for the living room and dining room. When Spring arrives I hope to get more done on the garden and yard. So here's to more creative projects and filling our home with beauty, love and happiness. I look forward to the challenge. But for now I am just SO happy to say I have made a major step in that direction.

Welcome to 2009 and all the future accomplishments we hope to attain! Happy New Year!
Wishing all of you a year filled with health, wealth and above all...LOVE!!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas!

2008-12-22T18:28:00.001-08:00

Our Darling Molly!

Merry Christmas to you from our house to yours!

THE YEAR IN REVIEW CHALLENGE!!

2008-12-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

The other day I went over to one of my favorite blogs. Cindy at My Romantic Home is
having a year in review mosaic on DECEMBER 29th. Those who want to can join in with their own mosaic. I don't know if I can do it but I'm going to try. So if you hear someone screaming and see hair flying you'll know it is just me trying to get it together. We'll see how it goes, so stay tuned.......<

Fireplace Decorating

2008-12-18T17:21:00.001-08:00

Of course every fireplace should have the traditional stockings!! I don't remember exactly when or where I bought these stockings but we've had them for a long time.
I usually get the angel, Jen the Santa and the dogs share the snowman.

This angel sits on the hearth now but she used to go on the top of the tree until this year when I bought the one that is on there now. The new one has a blue apron that goes with this years tree of blue and white. Next year it will depend which color ornaments I use, to decide who will get the honor next year.

These silk poinsettias are on the mantle on each side of the "fake picture" that covers the TV. I added them to some greenery. I think they go really well with the silver and brown on the frame.

IT TOOK AWHILE BUT IT'S FINALLY UP....

2008-12-14T17:56:00.001-08:00

Well, the past two weeks have not been too good. First of all, we have been SUPER busy at work. Lots of sick people with colds, sore throats and a lot of injuries. We
do employee health for our entire campus of about 3,000 people. Trying to get a lot of projects finished, you get the picture.

Secondly, I've been sick myself. Last Monday morning I was awakened about 3 am with the feeling that the Left side of my head was going to explode!! I had a sinus infection so I spent most of Monday in bed. Then back to work on Tuesday and try to catch up.

We finally were able to get into the garage today to try digging out our tree and decorations. I still have too much stuff in the garage but I can get my car in so
that is MAJOR progress. When I started going through the Rubbermaid containers I was shocked to see that I had 5, yes, 5 of them filled with fabric. That is in addition to all the fabric I have in the house. What's that saying the one with the biggest stash wins!! My Mom told me that she has the same problem that I do. Must be a hereditary disease. When I retire I want to make and sell pillows and other objects. I have a lot of pretty floral fabrics.

Anyway, I finally got the tree up. I have so many different color ornaments. I have
blue, pink, white and of course traditional red and green ornaments. I like angels a lot. I even have the first ornaments I made for the tree the first year I was married. That was 1964. I made little drums that I made with toilet paper cores. I covered them with red velveteen, gold cord and different color velvet ribbon trims.
We went to the local T.G.&Y. (remember them?) and bought some little plastic horns and spray painted them gold. I even made soldiers from clothes pins. It was a cute tree.

This year I to decided to do the blue and white with some of the angels. I added some of the old fashioned fans that I had made out of white paper doilies, pleated and tied with ribbon. The little angel in the Tutu is a Madame Alexander storybook doll that has been on our trees for greater than 50 years. A few crystal icicles and some mirrored ornaments that I made with fishing line and little mirrors from the craft store. The angel on the top I bought at a garage sale when we were in Mobile this past Spring.

I love some of the original trees that I have seen on some blogs but I just didn't get organized soon enough to do anything different this year. I don't have all of my greenery out and fixed but I still have some time to do it if I can.

This is a better picture!

2008-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

The Fireplace is DONE!!

2008-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

Partly finished

Complete with doors open

Complete with doors open

FINISHED with Doors open

COMPLETELY FINISHED!!

I finally got up the nerve to attack working on decoupaging the print onto the doors to the TV. First I painted the frame. I started with a brown base,then added some shades of green and some blue then added the silver paint. I then added some deeper brown and tried to distress the frame. Then I applied a layer of decoupage glue onto the main part of the doors. I laid the print onto the area with the glue and trimmed it with small craft knife, then I tried to smooth out the wrinkles. That part was tough but after it dried the wrinkles were pretty much gone. I let it dry for a while and then applied another thick layer that I worked around the flowers to gives it the look of being painted. It is a mat finish but with the heavy layer you can see the texture. I had a few touch ups, then let it dry.

When I came home from work today it was dry so I used a completely clean blade and put it deeply into the opening at the top of the frame and then slowly went down the opening until I came out the other end. Then I did the same thing to the middle hinged area.Then I reattached it to the hinges. I still need to do some adjusting of the hinges as it is not quite straight.

I bought the print at Michael's on sale for $7.00. I used my craft paint to paint the frame and I think the bottle of decoupage glue was $5.00. I picked this print as I wanted something that wasn't too busy as I have so much going on in the bookcases.
It also contained some blue and a background that goes with the paint and tile on the fireplace. I still have a little touch up to do but I'm pretty much finished and I'm happy with the way it looks. And just in time for Christmas!

THREE IS THE CHARM

2008-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

I've shown you two of my kitchens already. The first is in the house I live in now, the second was one that I saved from being the mirrored beast. Now I am going to show you the kitchen from the house I lived in just before I moved here.

It was a great kitchen and it was very comfortable but two people in there at a time meant being backside to backside if you were at the stove and the sink. Even though my kitchen now is small it has a better working pattern and definitely I have more counter space.

The pine cabinet you see is now in my entryway, painted off white with rose appliques. The shelves up above that piece are, also, painted off white
and on the wall in the kitchen here. The shutters on the kitchen window are now on my
dining room window. The old screen door I bought at a flea market. I painted it and attached the small shelf. It is attached to the ceiling with a screw eye, a screw and a piece of wire. The chandelier over the table I have had in every house I've lived in for the past 40 years! The small table bought for $15 at a garage sale, I just added a new glass top that was larger than original.Is on one of my patios and the chairs are in my living room on either side of my armoire. I, also bought the little high chair at a garage sale. It's fun to see how things look so different in another house.

I wanted to do something different with the paper in this kitchen and with the help of my friend Nancy we picked this paper. I love all the roses. There was a large wooden box fluorescent light box on the ceiling that really brought the ceiling down. I removed it and added the track lighting which gave better light than had been there previously.(I had an electrician do this) I also added the bead board and trim and painted it the same color as I painted the cabinets.

The counter top was the butcher block Formica and since it was neutral I left it. The budget didn't allow for something more expensive. I put in a new sink, faucet, stove and microwave. I wish I had the pictures of the kitchen before I started but they are in my old computer and it crashed.

I need to see if I can find a way to get all those pictures out of that computer. I've purchased a removal stick thingey (don't remember right now what they are called) so this won't happen to me again.

Eclectic Mix

2008-11-26T21:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it is Wednesday evening and I've got my cranberries ready for tomorrow to
take to my niece's house for our family dinner. Work is done for the week, my daughter is dog sitting and the dogs and I are sitting here watching HGTV an catching up on reading some of our-I mean, my favorite blogs.

I recently bought this wire 3 tiered basket and being influenced by some of the blogs who do eclectic displays I wandered around my house, poking into drawers and boxes and gathered up a variety of objects to place in the baskets.

Some of them include an old silver baby cup, an antique bracelet or two, a broken leg from a china doll, a sugar and creamer, crystal prisms left over from my dining room chandelier, a small brown transferware dish from Stoke-on-Trent, a bit of lace, some old photos,an old clock face and an old bingo card. Some paper money from Hong Kong, an old draw pull, a little leather box, some keys, a fancy hair comb. Take a little time to see how many you can see.

Hope your Thanksgiving is a blessed and relaxed day and your week end is great.
From our Home to Yours... Happy Thanksgiving!

Memories.......

2008-11-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

On this shelf are some things that bring back memories.A picture of my Mother and myself taken on Easter about 25 years ago. I still had dark hair and my Mom was blond. Both of us have white hair now!! Also a picture of me when I was probably 8 or 9, posing in one of those photo booths from long ago. It is amazing that those pictures have held up so well considering the cost of them. I got the picture in the back ground at a garage sale. I liked the sentiment. " God Tucks Mothers In At Night." How many times have we tucked our children into bed but is nice to know that we are looked after, too. I recently purchased the Scrabble letters and stand at a local craft/antique store. I think it looks right at home right here with these pictures.

I'm SOOO EXCITED!!

2008-11-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

I just got my first blog award from Melody at Tea Time With Melody. I'm supposed to link to her but I don't know how to get it to work. I've tried several times but I must be doing something wrong?????????
I am so honored! I've gotten tagged by a couple of other kind bloggers for games but not an award! WOOHOO! Thanks Melody. I don't really know too many people that I know well enough to tag, so I'll just say Thanks! You made my day!!

International Button Week

2008-11-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

When I was reading Dawn at The Feathered Nest I read that this week was International Button Week. You are supposed to post to show your love of buttons. Here are some pictures of the button jewelry that I made several years ago.
One is all silver tone buttons, the next are goldtone. I have collected buttons from all over the country.

I've tried REALLY hard to get pictures of my button jewelry. I had a hard time getting some clear pictures so I hope that you can see all the beautiful buttoms that are in these pieces. Enjoy!

The Entry Way

2008-11-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

When you come in the front door of the house there is a small area that is an entry way. I put a cabinet there that I bought at a craft/antique store. It was pine when I bought it. I originally had it in the kitchen of a previous house. When I moved here I had it in the dining room, my bedroom and finally in the entry.

I painted it the off white of my walls and added french flower appliques. Above it I put some empty frames that I got from various places, a wag-on clock and some of my blue and white dishes. The wire armature I bought at Pier One and I will be changing it to winter evergreens in December. Also, I added a small candlestick lamp on a timer so that it is never dark when you come in the front door. Above that is gold scrolled piece that I wiped with off-white paint to tame the shine.

I won't change the flowers till after December 5Th which is my daughter's birthday. I have always done this ever since she was born as I wanted her to have her own birthday,not associated with Christmas. I also have always given her a half birthday in June, also, to make up for having a December birthday.

Sow's Ear to Silk Purse

2008-11-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

Before

During

After

Recently I was reading one of my favorite blogs, My Romantic Home. Cindy was showing photos of some houses in her local area.She made the statement that one of the houses was too modern for her. It reminded me of a townhouse that I used to live in. When I moved in there it was very contemporary modern with mirrors on the kitchen cabinets, modern cabinet pulls, mirrored verticals on the windows and even mirror panels on the front of the refrigerator.

I decided that I wanted it all to be more cottage as modern is not my style. The cabinets in the kitchen were painted blue, which wasn't too bad as I like blue but they were a little too purple for my taste. so I painted them an off white, then I cut bead board to fit the area where the mirrors were and attached them with a brad gun.

Then I got screen molding and added to the edge, mitering the corners. (This was my first attempt at mitering so it took a few extra tries ) I then filled the cracks with caulking, primed and painted. I also added traditional knobs and old spoons as the draw pulls and crown molding above the upper cabinets. Voila! Modern to Cottage!!!

I'm Confused

2008-11-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm having a meltdown. I am trying to figure out what I like. Lately I've been reading some blogs from people who went to Marburger and Round Top, held twice a year and gets people from all over the country.(A big antique show here in Texas, attended by all the major country magazines.) They have shown some of the things that they saw while there. A lot of it is very eclectic, architectural salvage and unconventional arrangements. Really cool stuff, very shabby. More toward Paris Apt. than RA. I'm not quite pink and ruffles but I'm not into black or dark colors either. I notice that when I post about old music or my shadow box, I either get no readers or no comments. I know that what you all want is part of blogging, especially if you want lots of followers. I want that, too, but I am hoping that I can combine them both. What is your opinion? I'd like to know, but also know that I am a very sensitive person so go lightly if you have negative comments. Thanks for helping make my house and my blog, hopefully, better.
Sandy

Antique Shadow Box

2008-11-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

This beautiful shadow box came from an antique store in Scottsdale Arizona. I bought it about 15 years ago. Actually, it originally wasn't a shadow box. Some clever person added a box on the back of this old frame. The box is constructed of plywood that has been painted.

Inside the box is a sort of coiled nest that really is dried coral vine. I harvested it from the vine after the frost had turned it brown. I also added moss to fill in around the vine. I think it gives it a very woodsy look.

The picture of my daughter is when she was about 15 months old. She was at the birthday party for a friends' daughter. It is one of my very favorite pictures of her. I have the picture tucked into a floral frog that I bought at a garage sale. Then added a touch of lace to soften the look. A little piece of an old beaded necklace is strung on the vine. The little baby bonnet hanging on the side of the frame is crocheted with the tiniest little chains and small flowers. I, also, bought it at a garage sale years ago when I lived in Arizona. It is so small that it either has to be for a large doll or a newborn. I just love the delicate look of it.

This box is hanging on the wall above the chest of drawers in my bedroom. It is the same chest that I've had since I was a very young child. It has seen a lot of moves and a lot of paint over the years and even endured my daughter drawing on the front of the drawers with a permanent magic marker when she was five........

I've been tagged for the photo game

2008-11-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

The game is to go to your computer, go into your pictures and pick the 4th folder and the 4th picture in that folder. I've been tagged by Jean at myromanticountry home.blogspot.com.

This picture is of my kitchen before I started to update it. I bought a banner at our local craft gallery that had old music behind the letters so I began to notice thing with old music.

I saw in a magazine, but can't remember which one, where they had wallpapered the back of a cupboard in a bathroom with old music, it looked really neat. I went to e-bay and bought some old music to do that for my antique armoire but wondered if it would be too busy.

I tried it on the back splash in my kitchen just to see if it would look good there. I have since wallpapered the kitchen with toile wallpaper so I won't use it in the kitchen. My Mom told me she thought the music was too busy so I just abandon the idea. What do you all think???

This is a picture of the armoire in my bedroom. You can see the banner that I bought hanging in front of the mirror. I am getting ready to paint the armoire white when I start working on my room. If you look in the mirror you can see my dressmakers form. I saw on Notes from a Cottage Industry where she used old music to decoupage an old dress form and I think it looked really great. I have plenty of old music to do it with. Hopefully I will get to it soon.

Can someone tell me how to get the pictures between the text? I am totally clueless how to achieve this. Thanks!

Blue and White China

2008-11-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

When my daughter and I went on vacation this spring we went to Mobile Alabama to visit my dear friend Nancy and her husband Rob. They moved to Mobile over a year ago to be with her daughter and husband and four grandchildren. In the mean time her youngest son came to Mobile also. Nancy and I became friends a little over five years ago. We both love to decorate and though our styles are slightly different we both love Shabby Chic and Cottage.
We took off the day after Memorial day and drove the 12 hours to Mobile. It was the first time we had ever been in Mississippi or Alabama. We really enjoyed the drive but we were really glad to get to our friends house.
Nancy and I are both shoppers, budget shoppers at that. We went on a whirlwind shopping tour. We got a lot of great bargains. We went to a shop that was going out of business. Nancy got the most incredible gazebo for a fraction of the price and I got the shelf pictured above.
Some of the china on the shelves were gifts and some are garage and discount store buys. I love the Spode blue and white transfer ware. I have found a lot of the plates at TJMaxx and Marshalls. I'm now concentrating on getting extra pieces like sugar and creamers, platters, etc.
We came home from Alabama with the car loaded and three old fashioned screen doors tied to the top of the X-terra. In later posts I'll show you more of the things that we bought back.

October is Breast Cancer Month

2008-10-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone has been posting about Breast Cancer Month all month long. I know that this is the last day of the month so I am posting this so that as we move into next month that all of you out there will be reminded one last time to think pink and remember to get your mammograms. As a four and half year survivor of this dreaded disease I can tell you that mammograms DO save lives!! I had no symptoms but they found it on my yearly mammogram. We all get really busy with the holidays so don't forget to be proactive and don't put off getting your mammogram. It is the best gift that you can give you and your family this holiday season.

A blast from the past

2008-10-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

It's been a very busy week. The weather here has turned off cold in the past few days and it is the beginning of the cold and flu season. The clinic has been very busy. I haven't had much time to do a lot so I thought that I would share a picture of the patio and fountain that I built in my last house. I did have help lifting all the heavy rock but I dug the hole for the fountain and built it and the flower beds alone. Hope you enjoy......

Pink Saturday, Sort of....

2008-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have seen a lot of people showing pink things today and a lot of fall things.
I guess I'm somewhat of a maverick, I went to Home Depot today to buy dirt for a flower bed that I am building and they had bright pink geraniums. Bright pink geraniums are my all time favorite! So I just had to buy a couple to keep in my dining room window for the winter. We get lots of sun there so I am hoping that I can keep them alive and hopefully blooming. If not I'll move them outside but for now they really fit into my little vignette.
The pie cupboard,leaded window and shutters are garage sale finds. The spoon holder is from an antique store in Bingen Washington, a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, when visiting my BFF a couple of years ago. The old tray in the back is from a local craft/antique shop. The garden container from is from Home Goods. Hope you enjoy this little glimpse of my dining room.

New Fireplace

2008-10-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

When we moved into this house we downsized from three bedrooms to two. We used our third bedroom as a den and TV room. I decided that since we had to watch TV in the living room I wanted a flat screen TV. That kind of set the tone for what we wanted to do with the fireplace. With the brick on each side, and a flat area between it was the perfect place for the TV. I wanted to update the look and I also wanted to have a way to hide the wires and a place to put the cable box and the DVD player. I really needed some book shelves to house all my decorating and gardening books.
You can see from the sequence of the pictures that we enlarged the hearth so that the bookcases were grounded. We covered the dated brick with tile in a neutral tile and I wanted a mantle so we could hang our Christmas stockings. The part that isn't finished is a print to go on the doors so when they are closed it just looks like there is a picture there. I will decoupage the print onto the doors. I also have to paint the trim along the edge to look like the print is framed. It sure doesn't look the same, does it.

Something New, Something Old

2008-10-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've shown you all a lot of pictures of my kitchen so I thought that I would show you something else in my house. The picture is of my miniature perfume bottles. I've picked them up from lots of different places and some were gifts from friends who knew that I was collecting them. This box hangs on the wall of my dressing area just off of my bedroom. The pictures in the box are of my daughter. One is her newborn picture and the other was from a dance when she was in high school. I haven't really started working on my bedroom yet. I will start on my daughter's bedroom next as she has finally picked out some fabric to make her coverlet. I swear that girl can't ever make up her mind about things. So I will try to get in an do it before she tells me she's changed mind.

I want to show you all pictures of my living room next but I don't have one vital part of the revamped fireplace done, maybe I'll show you the process we went through and later show you the totally finished project. Stay tuned!

The Fine Print

2008-10-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again. I have tried to do a post multiple times over the past two weeks.

I got so frustrated that I almost decided to quit. First I couldn't get my pictures in the right places, then when I tried again it still wouldn't cooperate. Then I finally got the pictures on the page but not where I wanted I decided to remove one picture as when it was enlarged you could see some information that I figured wasn't for posting on the Internet (a personal address) and I tried to remove just the one picture but it removed the whole post. That is why you may have gotten a message that I had a new post but it wasn't there. Bummer!!! I'm also having trouble with my laptop. I'll be typing on one line and it will jump up to a previous line and start typing there. !!!

OK, I'm through wining! what I wanted to talk about were a couple of little details that to me help the total picture . The first is the draw pulls. there wasn't any hardware on the cabinets when I moved in here. So I added them but I wanted something different for the drawers. In two of my previous kitchens I had used old spoons. I went on e-bay to look for 6 spoons that match. It took awhile for 6 that I liked that weren't too expensive. Then I gently bent them over a round surface to form the handle and then attached them to the drawer fronts with Loc-tite adhesive (the one that the guy glues the hammer to the ceiling). It holds right away and is re positional for about 1 hour then is dry in 24 hours. It, also, is white so it didn't show at all on the cream colored cabinets. Be sure to let it dry thoroughly.

Secondly, I dislike a lot of extra wires and cords lying around, especially if they are black, they stand out like a sore thumb in my mostly white kitchen. So, I purchased a nice chipboard box that was covered in nice blue fabric with pink roses. I cut a hole in the back of the box (Actually

it was an x-shaped cut so it would let the cord through but not make a big open hole) Inside the

box I put a power strip. On one side I cut two smaller holes for the cords for my cell phone and blue tooth. Also, the power cord for the cordless phone. None show but are easily accessible if needed. So I'll add the pictures and pray that all goes OK.

What We Did This Week-end

2008-10-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

We had a garage sale on Saturday and although we didn't make as much as we'd have liked to, we did accomplish one monumental thing. I can now park my car in my garage. I haven't been able to do this for over a year.

We moved in to this house about one year ago. I sold our other house and down-sized to this house. Being the pack-rat that I am and with all the wood for the main living area it has been impossible to walk through there at times much less park in it.

About 3 weeks we (A helper and me) put a Cute Rubbermaid shed in the back of my yard. Between the sale, a carload to Goodwill and the shed I can put my car in the garage. Just in time for the winter months. Here in south Texas it does frost, and some times it requires scraping the windshield! I thought I left all that when I left my beloved Kansas.

On our way to do some errands we went by an Estate sale. We didn't plan on going but they had everything 50% off. I just couldn't resist. I got 4 of these cute little plates for $7.00. I also got something that just called to me. Luckily it was 50% off so I could afford it. It was a vintage1940's nurses' uniform. Blue gingham dress and a white pinafore and the cap, too. I am sure that it could tell many a story. Tales of loving and caring, hard work , laughter and tears. Nursing has been a large part of my life for over 30 years. I place it in a place of honor,in my entry way. Welcome All, love and caring live in this home!

This is the rest of the story

2008-10-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, you have seen all of the other walls of the kitchen, here is a picture of the last wall. It goes up the full height of the 12 foot vault. It, also , was the most difficult of the walls to paper. I had to stand on a chair on the counter top to hang the strip that couldn't be reached from either side on the ladder. I got a great deal on the wallpaper I got all 4 double rolls on e-bay for $ 45.00. and the color was just perfect. I couldn't believe my luck.

I built the shelves and mounted them on iron brackets which I painted the same color as the cabinets. They house a large part of my Fitz & Floyd collection. I bought some of them at a F&F outlet and others were gifts for either my birthday or Christmas. I am partial to bunnies and ducks. The canister set was a garage sale find and the sugar and creamer were from a trip to Kansas City several years ago. The tray on the top shelf was painted by my Mom over 35 years ago.

2008-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Mary Ellen @ It's me I think. Since I new at this blogging thing I hope I do this right.....here goes.....

1. I was as tall as I am now when I was 12! (Almost 5'8") Believe me boys are a lot shorter at that age than girls. I wore flat shoes a lot!

2.The first time I went to college I was an Art major. Art is still a major part of my personality. (I'm a Gemini, so that blends the science side (nursing) and art, I love to remodel and decorate.

3. I've been divorced for over 34 years. Never married again. Went back to nursing school when I was 31. (so now you know how old I am)

4. Italian food is my favorite. Probably because I'm half Italian but don't speak the language. I do speak French, though and can figure out a lot of Italian when I read it.

5. I'm originally from Kansas City. Love that town but hate the cold weather so I moved to Phoenix Arizona for 18 years before coming to Texas 10 years ago. Texas is a blend of both. The weather is more like AZ but the trees and green is more like KC. The picture above is the Country Club Plaza, a major shopping area in KC , they have lit this area at Christmas since before I was born. It is so beautiful!!

6. Pink Roses are my favorites

7. My greatest vice is...magazines. Don't smoke and barely drink.

Don't know any one well enough to tag them so Hope you find my answers interesting.

My Inspiration

2008-09-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

This beautiful fabric is the inspiration for the whole color palette used in the house. I bought a small piece from e-bay and fell in love with it.

The only problem is that I can't find any more of it. The selveges were cut off when I got it so I can't even search for the pattern on the internet.

I have spend endless hours scouring every site that I can to see if I can find it. The only other place I have ever seen it was a long time ago on a designer show on HGTV. If you know the name of this fabric or where I can find more, PLEASE let me know.

I would like to do cushions for my bar stools and a valence for my dining room window. I have spent over $100.00 on fabric for this project and am disappointed every time with the way that it looks. Nothing seems to look right. I just have to find this fabric if I can

The Shabby Kitchen Display

2008-09-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

The vaulted ceiling in the kitchen afforded a great opportunity to have a great display above the cabinets, but I wanted something a little different. I went scrounging around my house for something out of the ordinary for a kitchen.

The clock was a great find on the sale table at Home Goods. It was all black when I got it. I was painting the cabinets and just started wiping it with my cream paint and it just turned blue.I was so pleasantly surprised, it was just the color I would have chosen. Who would have thought!!

Next I found an old frame or two that I got from my Mom, some blue and white to pull some of my blue and white china from my collections and some other shabby things accumulated over the years. Topped of with some green plants and I was done.

Garage Sale Chandelier

2008-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

I really wanted a chandelier for either my dining room or kitchen but after shopping on line and e-bay I didn't think that I could afford them on my budget. One of the neighboring subdivision was having their semi-annual garage sale. I found this one at one of the sales. It was brass and colonial looking with a big brass ball in the center. I took off the ball and glued the finial on, painted it white then antiqued it with my acrylic paints. I still needed crystals. Since some of the stores were already starting to put out their Christmas decorations (In early August?) I looked to see if any of those would work but I discovered at Michael's in the wedding section they had these glass crystals. Each box was about $5.00. I think I used 3 boxes with wire I had here at home. I also got a crystal garland to twine in the middle. I figure I got the whole thing for $40.00. I had the shades from a previous chandelier and Voila! We took out the fluorescent light that was there and put this one up. I have a chain cover and want a dimmer so I can soften it when I want. I am going to have a young man I know who does electrical jobs do that when he hangs my dining room chandelier, too. I think it really dresses up the kitchen.

From Drab to Fab

2008-09-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

The first place that we started was in the kitchen. It was still the original 80's look with the original appliances. Yhe first thing we did was replace the stove and dishwasher. Later an over the stove microwave,sink and faucet. Then the cabinets were painted Edwardian Linen by Ralph Lauren. Next we painted the wall a soft grayed French blue. Then crown molding to the top of the cabinets and lastly the walls were wallpapered with Toile wallpaper. I also replaced the flourescent lighting with a chandelier to complete the look. The result is a wonderful, warm area to cook and bake.

2008-09-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is picture of my little cottage here in Texas. I bought it recently to downsize and prepare to retire. When we bought it it was "plain vanilla" and we (my daughter and myself) are working to turn it into a cream puff. For almost the past year we having been working to start updating it. So far we have put down wood laminate floors, redone most of the kitchen, updated the fireplace and painted all of the main living area. It has been a big job and we still have a long way to go. I hope to be sharing a lot of what we've done in future posts

Thanks for visiting!

Sandy