Monday, July 30, 2007
Happy Birthday Victoria!
Friday, July 27, 2007
The Kitchen
The kitchen has been red for about 3 years. It has been white and yellow and I think green. LOL, I can't even remember because I paint so much! Anyway, Earl went hunting one year and I decided to do something wild and paint the kitchen red. I had made the Toile curtains and thought the red would look good with it, and besides, I have a thing for red as you will soon find out if you read this blog for long! I did it in one day. The first coat went on and it looked Fuschia! I just kept going, knowing that darker colors need multiple coats and it turned out ok. It is a Ralph Lauren red, can't remember the name of it. It isn't a summer color but it is so warm and festive in the winter. It looks very holiday friendly! We have actually been thinking of redoing the kitchen and adding on to the house again, but it will probably be a few years down the road. The economy in Michigan is tanking and that kind of expenditure needs to wait for better times. When we actually get around to it I think my kitchen will be a lot brighter, maybe even with white cabinets. But I will be ready for change by then, as usual.
Here is a final picture, my daughter modeling an apron I got at my last garage sale outing. The one where I got all the wonderful pillowcases? This adorable apron was $1, and it reverses to the cotton print you see on the pocket. Cute. That's it for the kitchen, not much to it but we do a lot of cooking and living there!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sorry it's been a few days since I posted. I am in the home stretch of getting all the crafts for our Vacation Bible School prepped for next week. I am the craft lady this year, and since I have never actually headed this up before I am stressing a bit and feeling a little overwhelmed. I am taking a break to give you a laugh. I got new glasses last week. I only get them every two years and I needed everything. I have bifocals and if any of you out there have them too, you know that looking at the computer for any length of time with your neck cricked back so you can see out the bottom of your glasses is maddening. I would love to get soft contacts but I have a particularly bizarre astigmatism and for my eyes they aren't an option unless they are special ordered and we all know that is code for big bucks. Anyway, I got my usual bifocals and some Rx sunglasses and I also indulged myself with some reading glasses just for the computer. That way I can look at it head on without getting a stiff neck. So I ordered some kind of funky, fun glasses for the computer so I would know which were which and they look like this.
No, they aren't really bizarre or anything, but I usually wear wire rims so they are different for me. Anyway, dear husband comes home and I am at the computer wearing them and I turn around and he actually blushes, gets this goofy grin on his face and starts telling me how cute he thinks these are. Every time I put these on he has the same reaction. It cracks me up. If we are having a disagreement (we only have mild disagreements by the way), I put these on and he starts to grin and tells me how cute I am. I now have a secret weapon! LOL! I went through some of my old grade school pictures and if he thinks these glasses are hot he should get a load of these.
This is me in 6th grade. I think these are actually quite similar to what I am wearing now. I would like to thank my mom for the fabulous spit curls that are now immortalized in my school pics. Wow, what a babe. Several years later, (I think this is about 8th grade) I switched to these hot numbers.
Oh Yeah! What was I thinking!? Why didn't someone stop me! I can only blame youth and a total lack of fashion sense for these eyewear choices. Fortunately, if Earl sees these pics he will only blush, grin, and tell me what a doll I am. How did I get so lucky?! :>)
No, they aren't really bizarre or anything, but I usually wear wire rims so they are different for me. Anyway, dear husband comes home and I am at the computer wearing them and I turn around and he actually blushes, gets this goofy grin on his face and starts telling me how cute he thinks these are. Every time I put these on he has the same reaction. It cracks me up. If we are having a disagreement (we only have mild disagreements by the way), I put these on and he starts to grin and tells me how cute I am. I now have a secret weapon! LOL! I went through some of my old grade school pictures and if he thinks these glasses are hot he should get a load of these.

This is me in 6th grade. I think these are actually quite similar to what I am wearing now. I would like to thank my mom for the fabulous spit curls that are now immortalized in my school pics. Wow, what a babe. Several years later, (I think this is about 8th grade) I switched to these hot numbers.

Oh Yeah! What was I thinking!? Why didn't someone stop me! I can only blame youth and a total lack of fashion sense for these eyewear choices. Fortunately, if Earl sees these pics he will only blush, grin, and tell me what a doll I am. How did I get so lucky?! :>)
Monday, July 23, 2007
My Hummingbird!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Another small corner of my home
Also, my dear friend Jan and I went garage sailing yesterday and I hit the jackpot! I am a total pushover for old linens, especially old pillowcases. I don't think you can beat how soft and pretty they are. Well at the first sale we stopped at I found a few for a real steal. Three lovely lacy edged pillowcases for $3.50!
I am sorry this isn't a great picture. But hopefully you can see that these have a lovely drawn edge to them.
The bottom case in this picture was in a a bag of what looked like stained bits and pieces of embroidered dresser scarves and odds and ends. It was only $1.50 for the whole bag so I took a chance. It was full of more beautiful pillowcases! I took some Fels Naptha to them last night and washed them in hot water. They had those yellow and brown stains all over them and I didn't know if I could make them look better or not. The pansy one above is the only one that didn't clean up very well, I will keep working on it. But look at these beauties!
Well, I am off to get some work done now. I have 250 muslin bags to make for Vacation Bible School by the end of next week (yes, I am quite insane!) and tomorrow Hubby and I are going to the Ann Arbor Art fair. A HUGE and wonderful annual art fair that we love to look through. I will try to get pictures to share! Have a great weekend!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Living room paint
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Glorious Morning Glories
I have plenty to do today. I need to get back to making time for art, but I am also in the middle of repainting my living room. I usually pull everything into the middle of the floor and have it done in a day. This time I have all the trim to paint for the first time which I know means multiple coats beginning with washing the woodwork, a light sanding and primer. Yikes. I like things fast and dirty, get it started, get it done, enjoy. I have half the living room walls painted (am I supposed to do the walls first or the trim? Well I started with the walls) I love the color, which my darling youngest daughter helped me pick out. She seems to have an excellent eye for things. It is a creamy yellow that changes color a lot depending on what time of day and how the sun is hitting it. That should keep me from getting too bored with the color! I will take some pictures of what I have done tomorrow and post them. I will also be making new pillows for the couch & love seat and rethinking my accessories and art. Might as well do it right. Things get stale otherwise. Did you ever notice how when you went to your grandma's house it was stuck in a time warp? Now don't get me wrong, I still have lovely fond memories of grandmas house. In fact, grandmas house was more my home than my real home in many ways, but I don't want to be one of those old ladies whose home kind of smells like mothballs and is still painted avocado green (shudder! as if!) As I get older I feel the need to keep reinventing myself and my surroundings. I can already feel my brain hardening into old ways of thinking and I can tell you it isn't pleasant! So I am trying to open my mind to new things and new ideas. Certainly in my art and absolutely in my home. I don't intend to change my ideas about God or family or anything like that, but I can sure embrace new things elsewhere. Any other "old dogs" out there trying to learn new tricks? Tell me how you stay fresh & up to date!
Monday, July 16, 2007
YAY! Check out my new Header!
P. Covington of Shabby in the City and Adrienne from With a Grateful Heart were kind enough to advise me on how to change my header. It has been a mystery to me, a simple and apparently technically challenged woman, for all the months I have been blogging. Oh, how I longed to have a fancy, lovely header on my blog like I saw on so many others! Well, thanks to these lovely ladies I know how to change it! It was simple and right there in front of me all that time, but I needed someone to point out the how to of it all. Thank you both so much! By the way, Ms. Covington was my bookmark swap partner and has just today, posted about my bookmarks and several others she got in the swap here. So if you want to see what I sent her, stop on over and take a look. Adrienne has a lovely blog too, one I enjoy very much. I encourage you to take a peek here. I doubt that this header will be my permanent one, in fact, if there is one thing I like to do it is change things around, but I sure had fun messing with it!
Thanks again ladies!
Thanks again ladies!
Help!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
She found a bag but no tissue. I remembered that we had some cellophane on a roll downstairs that I have had FOREVER. I actually like it better than tissue. It isn't wrinkly, didn't rip, stands up out of the bag prettily and for extra measure, I sprinkled pretty little iridescent heart shaped confetti (from my matchbox swap partner!)in the cellophane. It stuck to the wrap with static and now the glittery pink confetti adds another dimension and some glitz! What started out as a way to solve a problem may become the way I do all my gift bags!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Also, here is a view of the trellis from the other direction and you can see how high some of my hollyhocks have grown. The Pergola is about 8 feet high and the hollyhock is getting really high. It seems to still be growing, I hope it wont get knocked down when the rain comes. I think I will tie it to the structure somehow to prevent it.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. The weather here is going to be perfect, in the 70's (it is about 66 right now!) and sunny. I am heading outside to do some lawn and garden work and enjoy the beautiful weather.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Art 101
Monday, July 9, 2007
I Love the Mail!
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Look what came in the mail today! I won a beautiful lace and beaded pillow sham from Bertie at Aunt Mays Cottage. She has a gorgeous beaded lamp shade she is giving away this month, made from a bridal gown. Go enter now! If you have never been to her website you should really go look. She has a lot of information about Victorian houses and decorating and a shop full of beautiful handmade items like this pillow sham! This pillow sham is really a treasure! Thank you so much Bertie! You made my day!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Matchbox swap arrived!
Inside were some pretty ribbons, gift tags, blue ribbon roses, little flower stamens and an adorable cameo, all wrapped prettily in pink tissue paper and the box finally filled with glitter (I am a huge fan of glitter!) These will all be great for craft projects. What a lovely surprise to find in the mail. Thank you Shannon! Apparently my box finally arrived too. If you want to see what was in it, you can hit Shannons link above. :>)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
I Love A Parade!
Monday, July 2, 2007
Book mark swap!
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