Grace & Favor

Felt Pillow

2012-02-16T07:20:00.005-05:00

Are you ~~obsessed~~ in love with Pinterest? I know from reading many blogs that I'm not the only one out here that can't get enough of the fabulous ideas that Pinterest provides. I've found many many craft projects to try and my husband is enjoying all the new recipes I've been testing in the past few weeks.

Today's offering is a felt pillow I made, this is super simple and I love the winter look of the finished pillow.

You could easily finish this project in a couple of hours, it took me a few days because I would find another great project on Pinterest and start that too. I finally had to limit myself to one project at a time or nothing would have ever gotten finished.

I started by determining the size of my pillow (dictated by the pillow form I planned to use) and cutting the two pieces out of a good quality felt. Next was how big to make the leaves on the pillow, I just guessed at that and began cutting.

I didn't use a pattern for the leaves and just randomly cut them so that the finished pillow wouldn't look too perfect. It takes a lot of leaves, what I thought was enough wasn't....I had to go back and cut another bunch equal to the first. I can't really give you a number of this because it will depend on the size of your pillow.

To make a circle to guide me in placement of the leaves I turned a salad plate upside down and traced around it.

And so I began gluing the felt leaves on to the pillow form. I used a fabric glue, it held about 90% of the leaves when I was finished so I did have to go back and hand sew a few leaves on. I could have used another drop of glue but decided since I was going to do a little hand sewing anyway I just reattach the few stubborn leaves with a quick stitch.

And so the finished leaves, again I just randomly placed the leaves, no rhyme or reason to it.

For the construction of the pillow I just pinned the front and back together and machine stitched it. You could hand stitch this if you don't sew or actually do a blanket stitch on the outside and finish it that way too.

I decided to add a few old buttons to give the pillow a little extra punch. I had a small bag of different hews of white that when sewed on really made the pillow look finished.

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Great Idea...Just Not Mine

2012-02-03T11:28:00.009-05:00

Again....I wish I had thought of this but the next best thing is I can take this creative person's idea and make it my own. For Christmas my daughter-in-law gave me the cuties piece of silver that she found in a local antique shop. Someone had a great idea of a trinket for the house or the Christmas tree or wherever, they took a piece of old silver flatware, cut off the bowl and made this great piece from the stem.

I've used it for a book mark, hung it from a candle, used it on the Christmas tree in place of ice icicles. Really, there are so many things you could use this for.

Since I'm in a snow mood, its the middle of February and we here in western Michigan have no snow I decided to make a few of these and add a silver snowflake to them.

I used a small snowflake on this one, and some larger snowflakes on others. This was a very simple project and making five of them took me about half an hour to complete. I'm having issues finding flatware at GW and SA right now, I guess someone must have beat me there but what I did find I only paid nineteen cents for each piece. The total cost for this project is about fifty cents per piece.

Here's how I did it.

I put each piece of flatware in the vice and used a hack saw to remove the bowl from the stem. If you have a Dremel tool I think you could do this a lot easier but really the hack saw worked fine, it took me about thirty seconds to saw through each piece, just depends on the quality of the silver and how thick it is.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with the bowls from this project but I'll keep them for another day. Some cleaver person will come up with a great project that I can copy using leftover silver pieces. Its only a matter of time.

Next I used a very small metal drill bit to drill a hole in the center of the stem. I'm done apologizing for my poor photo skills, I don't even know how to turn off the flash so what you see is what you get.

When I first tried this the drill bounced a little and the hole was off center, I found that if you scored it with a hammer and nail just making a little indent in the silver, then drilled from the back of the piece you can control the drill bit much better.

I'm fortunate to have a drill press that made this project much easier. This sanding drum took all the metal burrs off where I had cut the silver and drilled the hole. You can sand by hand but if you have a drill press or an electric sander this will go much faster. After all the burrs are gone you can start embellishing your silver pieces.

I used a very thin elongated needle to thread all the pieces starting with the ribbon. I cut about twenty four inches of fine ribbon, you could also using cording or whatever else you might have around. It just needs to be pretty thin.

The original piece had a silver button for embellishment, I found these at Hobby Lobby. I also added the silver snowflake so that was threaded on to the ribbon first and then the silver button. I tied a knot just above the silver button just to keep it and the snowflake in place. Then I tied a knot at the other end and that was it my friends.

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C. Crawford Hollidge of Boston

2012-01-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

I picked up a small piece of furniture a few weeks ago that I'm going to use in one of the guest rooms for a small wardrobe for visitors. Since we don't have walk in closets in this house closets are at a premium and bulging with clothes therefore leaving no room when guests arrive. This small piece will hold some clothes in the five small drawers and then hanging pieces in the wardrobe side. I think it must have been made for a child's room just by the size of it.

The manufacture is C. Crawford Hollidge, I've done a little research on this and found it was a department store in Boston. This piece is by no means a fine piece of furniture but is unusual and I can't wait for the paint to dry so I can "present it to the room". I'll have a picture of the finished piece in the next day or so, I didn't see any need to do one more tutorial on painting furniture so I've skipped all the before pictures and will just show the after.

I'm thinking about using some wallpaper in the interior of the drawers and to line the hanging wardrobe and it needs some new knobs so I'm off shopping this afternoon to see what I can find. If you know anything about this company and or its furniture I'd love to hear from you.

After the Party

2012-01-16T11:04:00.001-05:00

It was a very busy day on Saturday in preparation for my mom's birthday party. My niece was good enough to snap some pictures for me. Thank goodness she and my friend Sharon were there to help set up or I'd probably still be working. It was a beautiful snowy day and my mom really enjoyed herself.

I sure hope I can look this good and be as sharp as my mom is when I'm ninety!

I had planned to do cupcakes for the party but my mom wanted a sheet cake instead. We had the cake made at Sam's Club. I have all the equipment myself to make cakes of any size and shape but I really think Sam's has a good tasting cake and butter cream so all I had to do was to pull out my cake Cricut cutter and cut out some snowflakes from fondant to go with our winter snow theme. It was my first time at using the machine and with a little practice I think I can get the hang of it.

I sprinkled some edible glitter on top of the cake and it did sparkle with the sun coming in the windows.

While I was at Sam's Club I found this beverage server, I have some nice glass ones that I use for home parties but for a large crowd this did the trick and it was only $20! Its made of plastic so its not as pretty as a glass one but the bottom lifts off and you can put any sort of decorations in it that you like. I used some fake snow and styrofoam balls that pretty much looked like snowballs for this party. There is a cylinder in the middle that holds the ice so your beverage doesn't get watered down as the ice melts. All in all I thought it was a pretty good vessel for this type of senior citizen party.

Speaking of senior citizens, there were lots of them at the party on Saturday. I think they all had a great time and enjoyed the luncheon.

Each table was set with a container of twigs that I painted white and then rolled in epson salts to make it look like they were covered with snow. I added one peacock blue bird to each of the arrangements and that was the only color on the table. The room has lots of windows and the snow was beautiful but unfortunately the view was of the parking lot.

You can catch a glimpse of the small silver frames that I had on each table from this shot. I went through our old family pictures and pulled out a bunch of my mom when she was younger along with some taken in the last twenty years or so and printed them in black and white. I think everyone loved looking at the pictures of her from when she was a young woman.

At the end of the day everyone left with a special wish for mom and a great memory of our small family all together to celebrate her special day.

Show and Tell Friday

90 Years Young

2012-01-14T06:37:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my mom's 90th. birthday and today is her birthday party! I've been working on the party on and off for the past couple of weeks. It will be held at the senior apartment building she lives in, there will be a mix of family and her friends from the apartments in attendance today. I hope she loves what we've put together to help her celebrate. My mom is not a fussy sentimental person so there was no room for a lot of "foo foo" at this party.

I decided to use the weather as my theme, thinking there will be tons of snow so why not work with it. We are very limited as to what we can do in the community room at the apartments where the party is to be held so I decided that everything would be done in white. I'll post some pictures of the tables sometime next week but today I'm showing you the take away gift for those who attend the party. Its just a little something suited for the weather today.

I found this idea on where else... Pinterest and knew it was just what I had been looking for. Hot Chocolate on a stick I had already put the little gift boxes together and knew that eventually I'd find just the right little something to put inside.

I purchased little white boxes at the Dollar store in the wedding stuff. I think they were a dollar a dozen, can't beat that price. Since I was using snow and white as my theme I cut out several different styles of snowflakes on my Cricut to decorate the front of the gift boxes.

On the back I again used the Cricut to cut out the words THANK YOU.

Next came the Hot Chocolate on a stick. The directions to make these cute little gems is on the link above so I won't repeat it but here is what they looked like before going into the little gift box.

Since half of those in attendance today will be in their 80's and 90's I had to print the directions in a larger font that I would have liked so when I attached them to the stick they kind of overwhelmed them. When I put them in the actual box I put the directions facing the back so at least from the front you don't see much of this.

There will be one of these little boxes at each of the place settings today for everyone to take with them. Its snowing outside and this I think will be the perfect gift for everyone to enjoy in remembrance of mom's big day.

Happy 90th. birthday Mom!

Wow Us Wednesday

The Christmas Clock

2012-01-07T09:31:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful Christmas this year; our whole family was together including our daughter in law's parents and her siblings who have become our extended family. Coming from a very small family myself I always enjoy large gatherings for any occasion and Christmas is so special where you have so many to share it with. We all opened our gifts together this year so you can imagine the chaos of two families of gift givers handing out and receiving packages at the same time; it was a bit confusing to keep track of everyone's treasures with wrapping paper flying everywhere. At one point I saw a very large clock coming down the stairs and my son's mother in law Kathy helping get it to the landing. I thought that Dustin and Katie (my son and daughter in law) had given Kathy this beautiful piece that we had both admired when we were shopping together a couple of months ago. I then realized after a couple of seconds of clock gift envy that being the generous people they are, Kathy and Jim had gotten the clock for me.

The clock now hangings on the lower steps of our staircase to the second floor. I thought it would be going on the upper stair wall but I finally settled on the lower one right under a shelf. It will make it easy to change the battery and the time when necessary and it just seemed to "fit" there. As you have come to expect my photography skills have not improved and these shots were exceptionally hard to get because of the angle and the glare from the big windows on the second story. You'll just have to take my word for it that this pieces looks beyond fabulous in its new home.

This is a large piece and it was hard to try and get a picture that hinted at the actual size, it stands 4' tall and 2 1/2' wide. Our entry is open to the second floor when you come in the front door so it really does take larger pieces to make a statement there. I think my new clock fits the criteria to perfection.

Pinecone Cheese Ball

2011-12-24T06:46:00.002-05:00

This is a super simple go to appetizer for this time of year. Its a pretty presentation and tasty too with just a few ingredients. I got it from a magazine many years ago, I think possibly Southern Living. The prep time is less than 20 minutes.

Tonight when I take this to our friends house for a Christmas Eve party the tray will be covered with crackers to spread the dip on. The presentation on this particular cheese ball is always well received.

Pinecone Cheese Ball

1 8oz. container of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Garden Vegetable

1 8oz. container of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Roasted Garlic

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 green onions finely chopped

2 cups toasted pecan halves
Fresh rosemary sprigs for garnish (you can also use a little evergreen from the yard if you prefer)

You can change up the flavors of cream cheese, for this cheese ball I used the garden vegetable and then changed the roasted garlic for pineapple cream cheese to give a different twist on this old standby tonight.

So if you're looking for something different to take to a gathering sometime this week I can tell you this one will be well received.

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Something I just Whipped Up

Merry Christmas

A Pinterest Project

2011-12-19T06:10:00.008-05:00

I'm still learning to navigate around Pinterest and I must say I enjoy browsing through the categories looking at all the information available. The project below was one I pulled from the site under the DIY category, its super easy and the process can be used for lots of projects. Found through Pinterest

I found 4 quart Pyrex baking dishes to use for this project. I did have to go to a couple of stores before I could find the Pyrex baking dishes without the logo molded into the bottom of the dish. I knew I wanted to put the name in the bottom of the dish just to make the project easier. If you want to use the side of the dish as is show in the attached website this won't be a problem. These were Christmas gifts for some friends this year, I hope they enjoy them.

The supplies are pretty basic and not costly. You can pick up etching cream at most any hobby store. I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby. I used a small foam brush to dab the etching cream on the stencil, nice thing about these are they are inexpensive and you can just toss them after the project is finished. The flat paddle in this picture was used to help lift the stencil to reposition it as I worked across the name.

I started by cutting out the name on my Cricut. If you don't have a cutting machine of some type you can do could print the name on a computer and then cut the stencil by hand into the vinyl. I used contact paper rather than the more expensive paper sold by Cricut and it worked great. After the letters were cut out I used the negative to adhere to the bottom of the dish. I put another piece of vinyl over the top and burnished the lettering to make sure that everything was adhered well so the etching cream wouldn't bleed under it and ruin the project.

The etching cream was dabbed on heavily, I've learned that brushing it on as indicated on the bottle doesn't give good enough coverage to the project.

After allowing the etching cream to set the required time indicated on the bottle you wash it off with warm water, remove the stencil and this is what you'll have, the name of the owner of the dish permanently etched into the glass.

I'm going to use this process for my own glass baking dishes, I'll never loose another one at a covered dish dinner again.

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A Bag with a Tag

2011-12-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well Debbie's winning entry Name That Christmas Location is on its way to her beautiful home today. I hope you enjoy your new Wisteria Bag and Tag Debbie. Thanks again to all who entered.

Front Porch Decoration

2011-12-12T15:25:00.003-05:00

I seem to have paired down my outside decorating considerably. This has been a wonderful December as far as the weather goes so there really isn't any excuse for me not to have done more than I have. I've been waiting to snap a few pictures of our front porch until it snowed and made everything look like Christmas. It doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon so today is as good as any for posting. I have a flood light directed at the porch so my Santa suit does show up nice, it just would have looked more festive if we had snow to cover the porch.

The Santa suit was a Christmas gift years ago from a coworker. It has the beard, shoe covers and gloves to go with it. It was hand made, meaning not commercially sold and was machine stitched maybe forty or fifty years ago. It usually hangs inside on one of my doors in the entry way but this year it got moved outside. The wooden coat hanger that the suit hangs from is from Herpolsheimers, which was one of two large department stores in Grand Rapids and if you are familiar with the movie Polar Express you may remember a reference to this store as the training passes by the store windows all decorated for Christmas.

The stand that I have the suit hanging from is actually the weighted base of an old fan, I put a wooden dowel in it to bring it up to a proper height. Because its so heavily weighted it really takes a pretty stiff wind to send it tumbling no matter what is hanging from it.

This old tin kettle was a gift from my friend Sharon a few years back. I painted it black and stenciled the lettering on one side with "Believe" for Christmas and on the other side it has "Welcome" stenciled. It sits on one of the porches or in the yard all year. It looks like its able ready for a new coat of paint!

There is also a wicker grocery basket with a lighted gift box and a small tree in it to the right of the suit. I have to keep a little room for people to come to the front door so this is really only visible at night when the package is glowing and the flood light shows off the basket.

Open House Thursday
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Its Not Easy Being Lime Green

2011-12-10T18:28:00.002-05:00

When I was in Mt. Dora at the antique sale my friend Sheila spied a lime green tinsel tree at a booth. It was really cute and as I was waiting to ask the lady how much she was asking for it a stiff wind came up and started blowing things off all of her displays, she got distracted, I got bored and I left.

Sheila thought they might have a similar tree at Big Lots so on our way back to the hotel we stopped at the BL and right there inside the door as a lime green tinsel tree for $15, it was kismet. Next issue was how to get it home, too awkward to carry on the plane and I wasn't about to pay $25 to check it, thankfully Sheila was able to ship it home to me.

Well my tree has been displayed in my kitchen window and has had rave reviews for the category of "something out of character" for me. My friend Joan saw the tree and wanted to get one for her grandson's bedroom, his favorite color is lime green....so began the quest and believe me its been a quest.

I have been to over ten stores in our area that at the beginning of the season had lime green trees, there are none left in the area and I even tried buying the display at one store and was turned away. WHO KNEW the hot item of the season would be a lime green tinseled tree.

The moral of the story is shop early and quickly or you could be left with a cart empty of a lime green tinsel tree or a Tickle me Elmo.

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Tabletop Tuesday

Christmas Tree Table

2011-12-06T07:59:00.005-05:00

We won't be at home for Christmas this year so simplicity is the name of the game for decorating.

When I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago we were discussing real tree vs artificial and in that conversation it was suggested that I put up a small real tabletop tree this year. I'm loving the look and smell of this little beauty, I set four place settings around it just for show, obviously no one would be able to sit there and eat without getting an eye poked out by the branches.

I picked up the chair covers at the dollar store to add a little extra color to the table setting.

The Believe bowls were a steal at 90 cents each on a clearance after Christmas last year and the napkins (actually dish towels) were from the dollar store. The water glasses were a promo years ago from Arby's. My friend Sharon and I were laughing the other night about how many trips we made to Arby's to get the glasses. They would only let you buy one per person so we would hit two or three Arby's locations on a Friday night. We even talked some others into ordering a glass for us with their orders. The twig chargers are from Nell Hill's.

Without giving any thought to it I guess I'm working on a Santa theme Christmas at the house this year. I'll post the simple outdoor decoration I have on my front porch later this week.

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And the Winner Is.....

2011-12-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

The winner of the guess my header contest is Debbie at Words on Wheels. I really had no idea that this would be as hard as it was but I guess that's because I KNEW which each of the pictures were when I put them up on my header, duh. Two were from Washington DC and two were from Williamsburg VA., I had hoped that everyone would see the pattern of the two cities and it would help but it didn't.

Anyway, Debbie along with several others were correct in two of the answers that included the National Tree and the Governors Palace. Debbie was the first to respond so she is our winner.

The Answers are:

The Christmas tree was one at the Williamsburg Inn, several people guessed the White House tree and I can certainly see how one might think that when you look at the drapes in the background. This time of the year my traveling buddies and I are usually on the road enjoying pre Christmas festivities somewhere on the east coast. Williamsburg has been our destination several time where they celebrate with the Grand Illumination.
The second picture is the front of the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington. This was the one I thought would trip everyone up. It really is a beautiful building and has very minimal decorations but still looks so beautiful its all its intricate detail.
The third picture is of the National Tree at the White House. I have to tell you it is not the prettiest decorated tree I've ever seen. My friends and I have been to Washington at Christmas several times and were lucky enjoy to enjoy the national tree lighting in 1995 and 2004. I don't remember which of those years I took this picture but the tree really doesn't change.
This of course is the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, nearly everyone guessed correctly on this one and the National Christmas tree.

Thanks to all who participated and sent me their best guess. I'll post a picture of Debbie's tote bag before I send it out to her.

Contest Update

2011-12-02T05:57:00.000-05:00

So far no one has gotten all four locations correct on my Christmas header from those who have entered. Take your best shot and if no one gets all four correct I'll draw a random winner from those with the most correct answers.

I'll announce the winner on Monday.

Fun Christmas Contest

2011-11-29T20:52:00.000-05:00

I have my Christmas header up on the blog; it always takes me awhile to do that as I can never remember what the process is. These aren't necessarily the best pictures I've ever taken and I'm sure there are professional pictures on the net that I could have used for this contest but I thought it would be fun to use some of my shots instead.

This is so simple just email me at chturner67@gmail.com with your guess as to the name of each of the four shots and what city and state they are in. Please don't place your answer in the comment section, use my email address. Three of the four should be very easy; one may take a little more time.

The first person who contacts me with the correct name and location of each of the four shots will receive a cute bag from Wisteria with a monogrammed bag tag. I'll post the correct answers as soon as we have a winner.

Long Weekend in the South

2011-11-24T18:05:00.000-05:00

I was in Florida for a few days antiquing with friends in Mt. Dora Renningers . They have a sale every week but in November, January and February they have a super antique sale that was featured in Southern Living. If you ever get the opportunity its worth the trip. I love this wicker bench, it was at least 7' long. I just couldn't imagine trying to check it with my luggage when I flew home after the sale. I did find a few treasures that I'll share next week.

On our way back to Georgia we stopped in St. Augustine for a few hours and found this beautiful guy near the fountain of youth.

He did not display his beautiful plumage but to see an albino peacock was a real treat in itself.

Upside Down Bananas Foster Cake

2011-11-23T08:30:00.003-05:00

I made this last week for a simple dinner with a group of friends. I can tell you its simple to make and pretty in its presentation. The flavors blend nicely together as the sugars caramelize the bananas and pecans. The recipe is from the 2011 November Southern Living.

SL Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake

The recipe calls for rum of course but I didn't have any in the house so I used Kahula, the subtle taste was wonderful. The recipe also calls for All Purpose Baking Mix (I took that to be Bisquick) since I don't care for this brand I substituted another all purpose mix.

So if you're looking for something a little different to serve on Thanksgiving or anytime this one is a great treat.

Monday Menu with StoneGable

Wow Us Wednesday

Comfort Table

2011-11-17T06:23:00.002-05:00

The weather has turned cold here, not cool but cold. Living in Michigan, it gets cold and snows every year and yet every year I seem surprised when it comes.

I was having a couple of friends over for dinner the other night and decided to go with simple comfort food. Three simple servings later we were stuffed to the gills.

We started with Stone Gable's fabulous chicken noodle soup. I've posted the recipe on the blog before so if you interested you can find it here and I will reconfirm its a wonderful recipe. Next we had a cold cabbage salad with grilled chicken and then finished with an upside down banana foster cake which was rich and the perfect compliment to the soup and salad.

I used my transfer-ware cream soup bowls and under plates that I picked up at Nell Hill's last year. They sat atop my Palm Restaurant white plates.

The sun was coming through the french doors as I was trying to take these shots, it made the table look even more inviting.

I used my burlap table runner down the middle of the table along with a couple of pumpkins and in honor of the chicken noodle soup and big cement chicken.

I got a wonderful end of season deal on her and her chicks, I think come spring she may get a white wash or something.

I served a sweet honey cornbread with the soup, the pedestal wicker basket was picked up at a thrift store in South Carolina last year.

The burlap runner was embroidered with the simple word Autumn, this will be the last of this runner until next year, next week like most everyone else I will switch over to Christmas holiday decorations.

The Upside Down Bananas Foster cake was served on square blue plates that were a gift from my friend Sheila. I'll post the recipe for the rich gooey dessert next week.

Tabletop Thursday
Open House Party
Wow Us Wednesday

Shopping for Blog Friends

2011-11-16T08:00:00.015-05:00

A couple of months ago I was looking on a local online site that resells vintage treasures and found a small bedside lamp with a Fox Hunt scene on the base. I immediately thought of my friend Donna from Designs on 47th. Street. She is a sweet friend and although we live several states apart we do get to see one another from time to time. Anyway....Donna has done her fabulous family room with a Ralph Lauren Hunt Club look, you'll have to check her blog to see how well its coming along and I knew this lamp would be a nice addition. I sent her a picture and the lamp now resides in her home. I'm often reminded of a blogger friend and their personal style when out looking for treasures, do you do that too?

Recently I was in a resale store and found some fabulous dessert plates I thought Donna might like. I sent her some pictures and although they weren't exactly what she was looking for it still warmed my heart that with the speed and ability of the internet I could send pictures of the plates off to Donna while I was still in the store.

This was the one that Donna really liked but out of the six plates they were offering there was only this one with an actual hunt scene on it. The others were more of village scenes either before or after the hunt. Reminded me of the hunt scene from Downton Abbey.

After much consideration Donna decided to pass on the plates but all is not lost...they now reside in my home and I'll use them soon not as individual dessert plates but to hold samples of small finger desserts for the holidays.

Monday is Wash Day

2011-11-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

My laundry room is also my pantry and message center and is just off our kitchen. Our house being over twenty five years old doesn't have mega space for chores that used to be housed in a basement so it wears many hats. I felt very fortunate when we built this house that I could do laundry without having to trudge to the basement lugging piles of clothes up and down the stairs.

The small counter next to my stack-able washer/dryer combo is where our phone is, (yes we still have a landline in the house compliments of ATT) our doggie treat jar and a small lamp because the room is windowless. I've now added a big container of powdered laundry detergent.

I started making my own laundry soap after reading an email from a friend. Its so easy to make and lasts a long time with just Mr. Bruce and I in the house. The "recipe" couldn't be simpler, although it did take some hunting in our local store to find what I needed but only because it wasn't where I thought it would be.

1 Box Borax (if your not at least 50 you've probably never heard of this)
1 Box Arm and Hammer WASHING Soda
2-4 Bars of Soup, I use a combination of Ivory and Felsnaptha (again you may not of hear of this one but I find both in my local dollar store). According to the recipe my friend sent you can use just about any good cleaning hand soap.

You grate the soap and then combine with the two boxes of powder and you've got a darn good washing detergent. One to two tablespoons is all you need to add to a load of laundry. Is it any better than what you buy on the shelves at the supermarket? I haven't a clue but for some reason I just like the pleasure of mixing this together myself. Weird but true.

It does make a lot so I went searching in my dish room for a container to hold the soap and knew I wanted something that would sit on the counter and not look like a plastic container left over from a gallon of ice cream. I came up with this large glass container that I got at Home Goods last year, I added an old silver tablespoon and stuck in a tin star just because and I think it adds a little punch to an otherwise dull counter.

When I was growing up Monday was "wash day" in our neighborhood. My mother insisted on using her old wringer washer even after my dad bought her an electric one. I can still see the laundry hanging on the lines in the backyard of all of our neighborhood homes. I still hang some things out in the summer and it always stirs a memory of fresh clothes straight from the line.

Last one to the rodeo

2011-11-08T10:53:00.008-05:00

Yup, raising my hand as the last one to jump on the horse that is the sheet music wreath. They have been around blog land for some time and I've had the project in my mind since the very first one I saw. I won't repeat the dozens of tutorials out there explaining how to make one of these beauties.

Last night while I was watching a movie I rolled the individual pages from an old book I picked up at GW. The pages were already aged so I didn't need to do anything but rip them out of the book. I could hear librarians everywhere screaming as each of the pages gave its story to complete my wreath.

It took me about an hour or so this morning to glue each page into the small six inch foam wreath form I picked up at the Dollar Store. I thought it was going to be too small but as you can see the finished wreath stretches across my door so I'm glad I didn't go with the bigger is better theory I usually conform to.

The pages had print and illustrations, some of the pages in this picture make it look like there are voids but I can assure you the pages are crammed in tight and there are no voids. I do however in examining this picture see that at the top there is a small area that needs a longer page added to balance it out, I'm going to head to the craft room and add a couple of more pages to the wreath to balance it out. Its amazing sometimes how something looks perfect until you take a picture and then you see its flaws.

As I pulled the pages out some of them curled when they left the binding. I love the look of imperfection, from a distance the wreath kind of looks like sea shells.

This is a side view which really shows how the pages had yellowed over the years. Can you tell I'm in love with this project?

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Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T06:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween

I Won!

2011-10-17T13:33:00.000-04:00

Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin had a great giveaway a week ago and I won! What did I win you say????? A beautiful lime green MY FAVORITE COLOR scarf that she MADE! I'm so in love with this scarf and I know I'm going to wear it a lot this winter.

I'm not sure how she gets it all surged up and crinkly but its soft and beautiful and I'll be wearing it this weekend to an event. I just clipped on a black rose pin with this jacket but the scarf to show that the scarf can be worn for cold winter days or to dress up an outfit.

Thank you Dawn, you're the best!

Vinyl Fabric Project

2011-10-14T14:08:00.002-04:00

I was in the fabric store the other day and saw this little vinyl open weave fabric made into a cute pouch. Since I've been looking for something to put all the GPS "stuff" in this looked like a good option. Its flexible, you can wipe it off to clean it, easy to sew on, not expensive AND it came with a free instruction sheet as to how to make the pouch in different sizes.

I'll try and get a better set of instructions made if anyone is interested in making some of these little cuties.

To make three of them in varying sizes I purchased

1/2 yd. of the vinyl mesh fabric

One package of binding

One package of small loop and hook dots

Since I didn't plan on posting this project I didn't take any pictures when I started, again if there is interest out there I'll make some more and get pictures to attach to the tutorial.

I made a large pouch from the measurements given on the instructions sheet, it was a little large to hold the GPS stuff so I tried the medium measurements and they were a little small. Finally I just made up my own measurements for what I thought I would need for the finished product and tadaaaaaaa it worked. I would however next time cut the flap longer to overlap the pouch.

These could be embellished with lots of cute trims but since this was for our "manly" GPS I figured I would just use a plain black button to cover the stitching from the hook and loop. I think the total cost per pouch was less than $2.

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Just Something I Whipped Up

Pumpkin Wreath

2011-10-04T09:31:00.002-04:00

This was a wreath I did last year, click here. When I first saw this wreath on line I fell in love with it. It turned out to be a bit more expensive than I had thought and it was so heavy when I finished that I really didn't feel it would be safe to hang it on the door thus the floor hanger. I won't be making another one this year but I still love the look. Happy fall decorating everyone.

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Potpourri Party

Harvest Festival Bake Sale

2011-10-03T10:05:00.001-04:00

Our church did a bake sale at our local Harvest Festival this weekend. It was cool but sunny and we did very well. This particular sale helped to raise funds for a Mission Trip to New Orleans each year where we work with Habitat for Humanity rebuilding homes post Katrina.

This is Susan who is from New Orleans originally and myself just as we were getting started with the sale. Susan still has family in NOLA and each year when we're down there building they provide us with a wonderful Friday Night NOLA meal.

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When we were at church loading up on Saturday morning there were a group of girls from our Youth Group helping with other projects, these two great teens came down and helped us with the sale for nearly the whole day.

Laura, bless her heart spent the whole day with me out in the chilly air selling. Her husband Mike works with Habitat locally and also travels to NOLA with us each spring.

These little guys were just so cute and contented when they stopped by the booth. I just had to take a picture of their darling little pumpkin hats.

This little guy sat there so patiently waiting for a bite of his daddy's apple dumpling.

It was a great event and what little we had left from Saturday we sold at church yesterday morning. Even in this slow economy people are still so generous with time and money when it comes to helping others. No time to rest...at the end of the month we have our silent auction and NOLA luncheon at church to raise additional funds.

This Week's Treasure

2011-09-30T19:11:00.000-04:00

I was able to steal away for a few days to spend some time with my girlfriends slugging around antique fairs and stores. First stop was at Allegan Antique Fair, the last of the season. It was rainy and I just didn't find anything that caught my eye. My friend Joan did find a couple of treasures for her home. We left Allegan and headed down toward the state line to spend a couple of days with another friend.

There is a cute antique mall right around the corner from my girlfriends home in the southern part of the state. Eureka... I found something that made me want to come home and decorate for fall.

There it was right at the entry and for only $28!!! Its a cute chalk drawing 16x20 beautiful deep fall colors. I was going to pick it up when we were ready to leave but my friend Carroll said that I had better get it off the wall and on the counter before someone else grabbed it. Thank goodness I took her advise, when I went to pay for it the lady at the counter said someone else asked where the drawing hanging in the entry had gone. Hee hee, right in the car with us is where it went. The lady who was interested in it came up to me as I was waiting for the others and said how much she liked this little gem.

The rest of my little mini vacation was spent on the lake shore with the girls enjoying the art communities that dot this part of the lake. I didn't however find another treasure; good food and some wine but not another treasure.

Kitchen Favorites

2011-09-29T11:57:00.004-04:00

There are certain helpful gadgets in my kitchen that I just can't imagine being without. One of them is my apple peeler corer slicer that I got at a Pampered Chef home party many many many years ago. The hours of time it saves me in the fall when apples come into season here in Michigan have been numerous. You can peel a bushel of apples in no time flat for pies, applesauce, breads...anything that needs sliced apples.

I love to make apple pie filling in the fall and freeze bags of it to use all winter longer for fresh tasting apple pie. I just take all the ingredients for the pie filling and mix it together and place each individual pie filling in a zip lock bag, then all winter when I want to make a pie its just a matter of grabbing a bag from the freezer.

There are several functions to this handy kitchen helper but mostly I use the full feature of peeling, coring and slicing the apples.

The wonderful thing about having the machine slice the apples for you is that ever slice is the same, makes for very even baking. You can leave leave the apple sliced but still together in the spiral if you want to make baked apples.

For other baking projects you just run you knife down the apple twice and you have perfect quartered apple slices. Diced apples ready for pie, bread, struttle, whatever your apple lovin heart desires.

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Return to Sender....No Reply

2011-09-16T18:16:00.000-04:00

I try to reply to comments left on my

little slice of the world blog.

Often I get a all ready only to realize that the comment sender doesn't have the reply feature turned on through their blog. I so appreciate each and every one of the comments that come my way as I'm sure all bloggers do so please read the post from Tales From an OC Cottage regarding replies. Click Here for the story of no reply

Yes....we remember

2011-09-10T14:52:00.001-04:00

I took a little drive to our "Healing Field" representing all those who lost their lives on 9/11 being displayed in our area. It includes those in the four planes, those in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and those who gave up their lives insuring that the fourth plane never made it to its target. There are over 3200 in all.

I hope these pictures will touch you they way I was touch as I walked among all these flags, each with the story of an individual who's family still grieves today that in these past ten years their brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, husbands and wives are no longer sitting at the dinner table.

There is no way with my lack of photo skills I could get a good clear shot of all of the flags so hopefully these bits and pieces will represent of all those who were killed that day.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

2011-09-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin nominated me along with several great bloggers for the Versatile Blogger award. Thank you so much Dawn for your friendship and encouragement.

Part of accepting this award is to list seven things about yourself so here goes...

I love to travel and have marked off many places that were on my bucket list.
I have a soft spot in my heart for pit bulls.
I don't like tomatoes, no salsa for me.
Dishes are my hobby.
I love power tools.
I prefer Alaska to Hawaii for a vacation.
A McDonald's Happy Meal is my lunch of choice.

So there you have it, seven things about me you may or may not have known.

Thank you Dawn I appreciate your sweet support.

End of Summer

2011-08-28T09:25:00.003-04:00

My children are grown but as I see the big yellow school bus lumbering down the street I know my days on the porch are numbered and summer has officially ended.

September can still be a beautiful warm month here in Michigan but in my mind I know my love affair with summer is over for the year. I thought I would share a few pictures I've taken in the last month and you can see the summer sun waving good bye.

You can see the walking path on the west side of the dam in our little town, it follows the river upstream and past the marsh areas that the ducks and swans move through.

I saw this log fallen log when walking along the walking path one day, it looked exactly like a shark to me. Do you see it? I even seen the eye of the shark looking at me...won't tell you what Mr. Hubby said when I showed my shark to him.

The swans usually hang out in this area, they do come down toward the dam some days if the kayaks and canoes aren't too prevalent. I did catch a couple of shots of them along the east shore of the river.

And this is the reality of what we have now, oh we will still have some beautiful summer days and fall here is just spectacular but when I was camping this week at the big lake I snapped a few pictures of what is to come.

Just as we were leaving the beach the state workers were out installing the red flags of warning for anyone who might have been swimming in the lake.

Summer's Harvest

2011-08-27T09:41:00.001-04:00

I am not a real canning mama but I do dabble a little this time of year with tomatoes, pickles, jams, etc. There is something so satisfying when you line up your bounty on the shelves freshly sealed and oh so colorful. I love to hear the "ping" of a jar sealing after its removed from the water bath and you know you've been successful.

I went to our local farmers market this morning and bought every color of sweet pepper I could find, green, red, yellow, purple and white.

I chopped all the peppers and some sweet onions to be added to the tomatoes. I take this shortcut so that when I use a jar or two for chili I already have my peppers and onions in the mix.

Beautiful red tomatoes are in abundance right now in our area.

Everything is finished and put away from this project and here is some of the end results.

Hopefully some of you are spending a day or two canning too.

Today we are praying for all those being effected by Hurricane Irene.

Summer's Beach Table for Two

2011-08-21T22:14:00.005-04:00

I live in Michigan...surrounded by water. Our home is within a couple miles of two rivers and I'm about 35 miles from the big lake (Lake Michigan). The minute Debbie from Confessions of a Plate Addict notified me that I was the lucky winner of her giveaway of service for eight of Pfaltzgraff Lido Beach I knew I would do a tablescape at Lake Michigan. Yup, that was the plan.

Fast forward a few weeks and I still hadn't loaded up the car and taken the 30 minute drive over to the lake to get this set up. My friend Sharon and I planned to do this more than once but something always got in the way, a storm, my comfy chair, hoards of tourist at the lake shore, you get the picture.

Then this morning, when I was sitting at the dam after church enjoying some quiet time with my SIL I saw it.

Do you see it? Nope I didn't photo shop this shot as you can certainly tell by its out of focus look, that maple tree on the far right is turning its beautiful autumn orange and red. A quick call to Sharon and we were off to the river to try and do justice to these beautiful dishes here at home rather than heading to the big lake.

This is just a small portion of the dam in my little town, today was a sunny day with the fall poofy clouds just starting to show that they will be upon us soon. This part of the river was our backdrop.

Soon the cat tails will open and fall will be underway.

We started to set the table up a little north of the dam where we could safely get in the water. Actually we were at the launch for the canoes and kayaks and as we were setting things up a few people ported their kayaks right along side of us. This is certainly a modified version of what I had planned on doing to showcase my new dish stash. I used a small cloth (wrinkles couldn't be ironed out at the river and I apologize for that) with just a baby blue placemat for a little color.

The silverware was a GW find for $18 for 45 pieces. I love the nod to the shells of summer in the pattern.

A simple white napkin with a shell napkin ring from Pottery Barn completed the flatware.

All of this was to call attention to the shell pattern in the dishes. We don't have an abundance of shells in the Great Lakes like those of you who live near the ocean so I tried to temper the setting with just a few shells. There wasn't enough room to do a centerpiece so simple it was without one.

I picked up these beautiful shells a few years ago on a trip to Prince Edward Island, the little shell candles were a Home Goods find and for those who look closely that is sugar rather than sand filling the shells. Our sandy beaches along Lake Michigan are beautiful but I wasn't going to fight the last of summer crowds to drive to the lake to get a couple of hand fulls of sand so sugar it is.

I used corks to fill the stemware rather than wine as we have open container laws and getting hauled off to jail on Sunday for having an open bottle of wine in the river didn't really appeal to me. Try explaining the world of blogging to a burly sheriff that you were only using the wine as a prop for a tablescape.

I did however bring a bottle of wine and set it beside the table in a silver bucket I picked up at GW or SA for a song. Isn't the scolloped edge of the tablecloth beautiful? I can't remember if I found the tablecloth at GW or at an estate sale.

So thank you so much Debbie for the opportunity to enjoy my new beach dishes and the last days of summer working up this setting. I normally never set a table for the blog that we don't actually use, this however is the second tablescape that I've done without actually enjoying a meal at the table. This one along with my Lemonade in the Snow table were just set for the enjoyment of the season.

Kim @ Wow Us Wednesday
Susan at Tablescape Thursday
Ann for Open House Thursday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday
Cindy at Show and Tell Friday

Update on Summer Project and Repair

2011-08-16T16:48:00.003-04:00

Earlier this summer I posted about using Command Strips click here to hang a picture and a clock on my porch wall. This particular wall is the outside of our house and I knew that Mr. Hubby would have a fit if I were to put a hold in the siding to hang my treasures from. In came the Command Strips and all was right with my world. The picture still hangs today but the clock held about three weeks before the Command Strip failed and the clock fell. The good news was nothing was broken, I took out a new Command Strip and tried again thinking it must have been the application as the clock isn't any heavier than the picture but within a few days the clock was down again.

Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the package but I knew better than to tempt the fates with another try so the clock has sat on the floor for awhile. Yesterday I had one of those "craft moments" and came up with an idea based on a project Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin had posted. She had made a wonderful message board out of a ceiling tile. From her idea came an idea to get my clock back in working order on my porch.

I had a easel that was just gathering dust, and a 24"X24" tin ceiling tile stacked with some other treasures on the porch. I came up with the idea of using a stretched canvas of the same size to put this project together. I went to HL to pick up a stretched canvas but the one they had available in the 24X24 was $35. Not gonna happen so I picked up four stretch bars at $1.79 each and made my own along with some leftover drop cloth that had been an attempt at a table runner (another day's story).

After I stretched the fabric over the stretcher and added a center bar for support on the backside I nailed the tin ceiling tile to the stretcher. This gave everything stability, I added a screw to the center of the framework to hang the clock from and here is my finished project. I may change the color of the ceiling tile eventually but for now I at least can tell what time it is as I sit on the porch dreaming of other projects.

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Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday
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10 Minute Project

2011-08-14T17:02:00.009-04:00

OK, to get 10 minutes on this project you can't count the painting time. Since most of us have scraps of wood around to be re purposed at some time or another I didn't count painting the wood into the project. I saw this earlier this summer in a craft shop and put it in the back of my craft mind for further consideration.

Here is the finished project with what pitiful flowers I have blooming right now. I hung my flower holder on a door that sits on our porch. I really don't have the best place to put one of these, I could see it on an old swinging gate or a back fence outside. On the inside it could hang on a wall or a door or wherever.

I started with a simple 24" piece of base molding that I had left over from installing new baseboards in our living room. I painted it with a couple of coats of spray paint (time not included in 10 minutes).

I went to Lowes and bought these ring thingies in the plumbing/heating department. They come in several sizes depending on what kind of jars you are going to use. I got three for the 24" board that I was using for the project.

Next I measured equal distances for each of the rings and screwed them into the wood. If I were to do it again I would use an awl to make indents in the metal before I tried to put the screw in. As you can see by mine the screws aren't even because the drill made the screw jump around the metal a little before it caught.

I used mason jars but you could use any kind. If I make another one I think I might use something like a mayo jar that is smooth and then put vinyl numbers on the front of each with a great font of some sort. You just get the ring things started by screwing down the side screw and it will eventually tighten around the rim of the jar. This is what it looked like after all three jars had been secured.

I put two picture hangers on the back and then centered two screws into the door to hang the board from. Depending on how big you make yours you might need to beef up the hardware on the back.

I put a couple of inches of water in the bottom of each jar and then added what little bit of greenery and flowers I have left. This will look great in a month or so when the mums are in bloom.

So the next time you've got 10 minutes to spare give this little project a try.

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Susan at Metamorphosis Monday
Just Something I Whipped Up
Kim at Wow Us Wednesday
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Gina at Transformation Thursday
Inspiration Friday
Cindy at Show & Tell Friday
Candance at Scrappy Saturday

Five Minute Project

2011-08-06T13:29:00.007-04:00

I've had this fold up piece of ironwork base for a long time, so long I don't remember what sat on it initially. Whatever it was its long gone and consequently the bottom piece has just sat folded up and stored on the porch for a few years. From time to time I would haul it out and put a big galvanized tub on it to hold beverages for a porch party but I knew it had a better purpose that I'd come up with someday.

A couple of weeks ago I was out treasure hunting at SA and I came across this beautiful large tray, its not vintage I think maybe it came from somewhere like Kirklands or something. Anyway, for $1.99 it was mine and I knew I'd find a place for it somewhere.

Eureka!!! With the base I had and the new tray I know had the makings for a side table for either in the house or on the porch. The next task was how to marry the two pieces without making anything permanent in case I should change my mind later. Big roll of eyes here.

The ever so useful loop tape only in this case what I had at home were the industrial strength (the only one I use) disks. I took just one disk and cut it into quarters and the ironwork piece had small stems at the top to which I could adhere the tray. One piece of each side of the loop take on each corner and I was in business. Ahhhhh...that would be Izzy my rescue puppy trying to figure out if I had anything she could destroy at this particular moment.

I turned the tray upside down and centered the iron frame with the sticky loop tape on the top and pressed down until I felt it was secure.

And the finished product looks like this

The whole project including setting the little vignette from a couple of things I just grabbed off the porch to get the show took less than five minutes. This was an embarrassingly simple project.

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Susan at Metamorphosis Monday
Kim at Wow Us Wednesday
Sherry at Open House Thursday
Cindy at Show and Tell Friday
Miss Mustard Seed at Furniture Friday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday

Sunflowers and Pears

2011-08-01T17:36:00.007-04:00

I picked up a great crock at GW a couple of weeks ago for three or four dollars, got the cement pear at SA for $1.99 and while I was at the antique fair on Sunday I got a great flour sack for $7. Together they make my tabletop for this week with Marty at Tabletop Tuesday.

Love the sunflowers, its sunflower season here in Michigan. Driving by the fields they look like happy faces bobbing in the breeze. This crock is fabulous, no markings on it and I assume at one time there was a cover on the top but its great for flowers.

This is the center of the flour sack, this thing is really a sturdy piece. On the back it indicates that the mill was in Dayton Ohio.

This piece didn't photograph well, its really kind of a nice piece. Being cement its heavy as sin.

Here it is all together, sorry about the black paint can in the background, I'm working on another project.

Joining

Kim @ Wow Us Wednesday
Sherry at Open House Thursday
Leigh at Thrifty Thursday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday
Debra at Vintage Inspiration Friday
Cindy at Show and Tell Friday

If You've Got The Money Honey

2011-07-31T16:30:00.000-04:00

Even with temperatures in the 90's for I've lot count as to how many days I decided to head to the monthly antique fair about an hour from my home. I knew it would be a short day as us Yankees can only handle so much of the heat but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do when it comes to treasures.

Years ago I had a booth at this summer antique fair, actually for several years. It always seemed to be either freezing or oppressively hot. Today was brutal and I was glad I was only shopping and not setting up a booth.

I didn't buy much, a bag of antique buttons and a flour sack but it was fun and I'll go back in September when the weather cools and maybe do a little serious shopping.

I thought I'd share a few pictures of today's market, it was not crowded at all which I credit the heat for. The photos are just snap shots as I didn't have the energy to move stuff to get clear shots.

I think in the heat this guy lost his way

The Junk Gypsy's in their Pink Trailer

Weird furniture of the day, I'm not going to say anything more


I have no idea who this lady is but I loved her outlook on life


What would life be without Elephant Ears

I loved this desk and the beautiful legs, sorry about the sofa in the background but I certainly wasn't going to move it


I think the turkey was running from the gator


I've always wanted one of these and this guy was a nice size, just too hot to pick him to a lug him to the car


Only in America can we take healthy food and fry it! My friends and I had fried pickles a couple of months ago and they were really good


This lovely lady had a booth in the shade and really great pieces, again to hot to shop


OK, my favorite piece of the day, I just love this! These guys had a wonderful whimsical booth called REBEL reclaimed

I won't be visiting in August, this one about did me in. September will hopefully bring cooler temperatures and better prices.

Porch Rocker

2011-07-26T16:05:00.009-04:00

The rocker on my back porch has had the same old cover on it that I made when I used it in the house which was several years ago, its done in barn reds and didn't go with anything on the porch. Roll eyes here regarding projects that need to be finished. I decided that yesterday was the day, I would make the new cushion for the rocker and some pillows to go with it. I got up, did some things around the house and headed downstairs to get to work, filled with anticipation of finishing a project. I sat down to the machine only to discover that I was out of white thread...yes you read it right, a person who sews all the time didn't have white thread. Off to the fabric store I go to buy WHITE thread.

This is the rocker in question. I picked it up locally at an estate sale several years ago . It is an old piece of wicker, very strong and with all the springs still intact.

First was the base cushion, after seeing the picture I guess I should have taken the time to smooth the back of the cushion out before I took the picture, its a very odd concave back so its hard to fit. All the cushions and pillows in this part of my porch are done in blues, yellows and white. This geometric print was a pretty periwinkle blue and soft yellow, for the welting I used a floral print from the back cushion.

This chair needs a back cushion because of the concave back and the wicker backing, otherwise its a back killer. I love this print and got it for $2 a yard on a sale rack at JoAnn's. The welting is the same as on the seat cushion which is this fabric.

Next came a roll pillow in kind of a reverse of the back fabric. I needed to add this to keep the back cushion which I made for comfort with the odd back from looking like a very wide men's Speedo. Once again, rolling eyes.

This last pillow is just a basic button closure pillow, I love the contrast with the other patterns. I also used button closures on the back of the seat cushion for a change. No one can see it but I liked the look.

So here is the finished chair, I love all the patterns together, trying to step out of my comfort zone in regards to always using one print and one solid. I'll be back in the basement tomorrow making more pillows for the wicker sofa. Our 2 year old puppy decided to use all the pillows I had from last year's porch for chew toys. We've since come to an understanding about the new pillows...at least I hope she understood my rantings.

Joining

Kim at Wow Us Wednesday
Sherry at Open House Thursday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday
The Girls at The Picket Fence
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday
Cindy at Show and Tell Friday

Helping Hand

2011-07-23T07:40:00.002-04:00

One of the promises I made to myself when I retired was to do more community work. I've been blessed in my life and need to pass some of those blessings on. I just didn't plan to do it in the middle of a heatwave but off to the Habitat site I was early yesterday morning.

The boom truck didn't show on time so these are some of the volunteers from my church getting ready to hoist up the first roof truss by hand. This was a small one story home so that really wasn't that hard.

And success was ours, after this first end truss was up the rest were pieces of cake to get up there. We had a cool front come through for a few hours in the morning so the skies were overcast and the temps dropped down so we could work without passing out.

The dude in the shorts and blue shirt was a local building inspector, the new homeowner who was working on the project yesterday was standing to his right, she seemed very apprehensive that he was not coming with good new but he actually was just stopping by to see how the project was progressing.

The new homeowner is a sweetie, she and her husband have three children, 2,4, and 6 that sleep in the only bedroom in their current apartment. She and her husband sleep on a pullout sofa in the living room. Although this home is small it at least has three bedrooms. I'm sure they'll be thrilled once they move in.

This is the Habitat home that is next door to the one we were working on. Its nearly finished and I'm sure the family is excited to move in before school starts.

It was a good day for me, its nice to give something back.

Another Finished Project

2011-07-19T10:56:00.005-04:00

I'm sure most of you can relate to unfinished projects, ideas rolling around in your head so fast that you really don't feel that you get much accomplished???? I am working toward finishing at least ten projects this summer that have woefully been neglected for far too long. This is my latest.

I bought this fireplace screen at a last day sale of a local company that was going out of business. I really did make a haul that day. I got this piece for $5 and with the exception of a few surface scratches it could have been called "good" as a finished project that put in front of the fireplace. I think this thing has sat in the basement for at least two years waiting for some sort of direction.

First I took the insert out of the frame and painted the frame black.

This is what the insert looked like when I got it. I considered doing a stencil on it using one of the fabulous designs from the Graphics Fairy, also I considered gluing antique buttons on it but the area was so big I knew I'd be shopping for antique white buttons for a year.

Next came this fabric which is leftover from a bedroom chair that I recovered for Katie. This one looked great and was a real contender.

I've been hoarding this beautiful fabric and although it looked good I just couldn't bring myself to cut a chunk off of what I have to staple on to a screen.

This is what I finally settled on, I found it this past weekend at JoAnn's for 30% off. It has a lot of the colors that I've used in my living room which tend toward fall and yet the pattern still looked summery to me. Side story to this purchase. I asked for two yards as I'm going to make a couple of rolled pillow covers too for the window seat , when the lady measured it out it was 6' 1". She asked if I wanted the extra inch....I said sure not really understanding why she was asking. Did she plan to cut it off and then sell it? An inch on a pattern this large couldn't even be used for samples. Anyway....she said that she could give me 50% off if I took the extra inch. Yes girls I paid .12 for that extra inch, the evil little person inside of me wanted to say "no, I just need the two yards".

And here is the finished screen. I know I'm probably the only person in blogland who likes my fireplace covered in the summer but there you have it girls. The great thing is since this is an insert I can remove the fabric and replace it with something else when I get tired of it.

Joining

Susan at Metamorphosis Monday

Kim at Wow Us Wednesday
Sherry's Open House Thursday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday
Cindy at Show and Tell Friday
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Friday

Visions of Summer Dishes

2011-07-18T07:14:00.000-04:00

I've got visions of summer dishes dancing in my head since I got an email from Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict indicating I was the very lucky winner of her Pfaltzgraff Lido Beach dinnerware giveaway.

I'm so excited and can't wait for the day when they arrive and I can put these beauties to use in a coastal tablescape. Of course since I don't live anywhere near the coast it will be a little more difficult but I'm up for the challenge.

Thank you Debbie for this lovely gift!

Summer Fun

2011-07-15T11:59:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you but I'm struggling to keep up with blogging this summer. I'm working on lots of projects and every day I see a new idea I want to implement so its been pretty slim pinkins here this summer in regards to blogging.

I was cleaning in the basement AGAIN the other day and came across this big rangle of hose that was left over from a wreath project a few years back. Since I didn't have time to make something fabulous for these summer months on the front door I decided to make it about as simple as can be. I tied off the hose with one of those electrical zip tie things, added a fabric bow and this is it for the next month or so.

I hope you are having a wonderful carefree summer this year too!

A Hair Cut and Service for Eight

2011-07-06T19:04:00.003-04:00

Talk about a great promotion....A Hair Cut & Service for Eight

What you say....she gets a hair cut and china! What kind of salon does she go to and what's the address? Well I must admit this isn't the "norm" for me but my dear hairdresser had a full set of china plus serving pieces that had been her mama's that she gave me when I went in for my last haircut. Her mama had passed last year, leaving behind a lifetime of home decorating items. She had owned a gift store in our little town for many years and in her home were boxes of stock from the store that she just couldn't part with when she closed the store.

Its a very pretty rose pattern with greens and muted yellow and a delicate gold rim. The only writing on the back is in Chinese so I have no idea who the manufacturer is.

This was my dear mother in law's silver, it certainly isn't something that I would have picked out for myself but I love it because she gifted it to me.

I went to market this morning to pick up some sunflowers for the kitchen and stopped to buy a couple of little tussy mussy boquets for the bedrooms. This silver holder is one that was gifted to me by my friend Sheila.

And the crystal was gifted to me by my friend Kathy, the full set had belonged to her mother. It will go to my daughter in law (Kathy's daughter) when she finds the right piece to display it in.

I feel blessed to have friends and family who entrust me with their family treasures.

Joining Sherry at Open House Thursday
Susan at Tablescape Thursday
Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday

Ice on the 4th.

2011-07-06T08:32:00.000-04:00

I made a couple of ice stars for my porch to be displayed on the 4th. As you can see from the pictures with the heat of the day and the candle heat they started melting pretty quickly. I use this mold a lot in the winter and of course in my part of the country the stars can last for weeks. Summer....not so much.

I used cranberries to enhance the red white and blue theme of the 4th.

I'll spend part of today removing all the 4th. decorations and coming up with something new for the porch. There isn't any cleanup from the stars hee hee, well except for the poor cranberries that were floating on the tray yesterday morning.

Joining Kim at WOW us Wednesday

Anne of Green Gables

2011-07-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

Can you picture L.M. Montgomery sitting upstairs at Green Gables writing her stories of Anne Shirley? As I stood in the yard taking this picture I was so thrilled to finally visit GG. I was reminded of my trip to Prince Edward Island these past few days as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Canada, one of the requests that the Duchess made was to visit PEI because of her love of the stories of Anne Shirley and Green Gables. I stayed in a little B&B not far from GG and enjoyed exploring the island and reliving the stories of GG. It was a wonderful experience and I'd love to go back some day.

I drove from Manchester, NH to PEI. It was a beautiful trip through Maine, across New Brunswick and then across this ginormous bridge to PEI. This bridge is spectacular which is something for someone from Michigan to say as we have the beautiful Mackinaw Bridge.

Before I left the island I of course stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up all things GG including a package of lupin seeds. I had enjoyed the beautiful lupins that are so abundant on the island, they grow with wild abandonment everywhere in what seems to be all the colors of the rainbow. The lady at the counter told me "good luck" they aren't easy to get started but are so beautiful if you are successful. I was successful and have been thrilled each year since with the beauty of the lupins in all their glory in my back yard. I was horrified a couple of weeks ago when I found Mr. Hubby in the back yard in one of my flower beds "pulling weeds"! He had pulled nearly all of my lupins by the time I was able to stop him. They hadn't bloomed at that time, I was out in the backyard yesterday and all I have left was this one pitiful lupin.

Let me assure you he will not be helping to pull weeds in my flower beds again. I think of the beautiful areas of PEI with all the lupins in bloom and I can only hope that I will see mine regain their glory in the back yard next year.

When leaving PEI I so wanted to take the ferry to Newfoundland but my time constraints ruled and I headed down through Nova Scotia to Halifax and finally after visiting Halifax I took the ferry from the south of NS to Bar Harbor Maine.

After writing this thread I'm going to have to pull out my book and read Green Gables again.

Happy Birthday America

2011-07-03T20:51:00.000-04:00

Pink & Silver

2011-07-01T19:41:00.001-04:00

I'll post the table setting that this floral tussy mussy came from next week but for Beverly today at How Sweet the Sound here is my Pink Saturday.

Patriotic Garland & Star Lights

2011-07-01T08:27:00.001-04:00

I bought this flag garland a couple of years ago in Shipshewana at one of my favorite stores. Since then I haven't know what to do with it because it seemed so sparse with just the seven flags. The other day while poking around in one of our local antique stores I saw a garland totally made of strips of cotton fabric. It was all in pastels with little charms hanging randomly from it. I was in love with the garland and also knew I had found a solution for my sparse flag garland.

Tin stars that I picked up for $1.50 at the same store where I saw the great garland.

Heavy cording to attach everything to and 1 1/2 yards of cotton fabric torn into strips about an inch wide were the only supplies that were needed.

After the 4th. when all the decorations go on sale I plan to start looking for vintage pieces to add to the garland.

AND

I had to share these adorable solar lights that were a DIY project from Dawn at Creative Cabin. I love these things and I must warn you once you start making them its like eating potato chips...you can't stop at just one. Thank you Dawn for such a great idea.

Isn't the light they throw just beautiful? Looks like a star on my flag garland. For these all you need are canning jars large or small, solar lights and a little hot glue!

Joining Debbie a Debbiedoo's
My challenge was from another blogger rather than a magazine

Happy 4th. of July Tablescape

2011-06-29T15:35:00.004-04:00

My kids and hubby will be gone for the 4th. so I plan to spend the day at my brother's floating in the pool. Not a bad way to spend a day. I hope to have my brother and mom back for dinner in the evening and the table will be set for a festive day for just the three of us on the porch.

I had made the tablecloth earlier this week and added the vintage flag garland along with the fern and flag holders.

This morning I started pulling out dishes to see where the items that were in place were going to take me. I think I'm on a journey somewhere along the colonial times with dashes of poetic license as some of this certainly wouldn't have been present, so here is my taken on the 4th. of July 2011. Since all of my pewter charters, mugs, plates, etc. were sold many years ago I decided to use silver to give the table just a touch of elegance with it's otherwise humble setting. All the transferware has been gifted to me by my friend Sheila, I'm still working on finding more pieces to add to the collection.

I combined a red and white napkin in hopes that it might resemble a firecracker . They are just balanced on the back of each chair.

I mixed both round and oval plates and silver platters for my place settings.

Pistol grip flatware was used to compliment the colonial thoughts that were rolling around in my ADD head.

I had picked up these crystal goblets at a local antique store a few weeks back and I like the look of them with the transfer ware.

Some fresh strawberries were added to the table along with berry bowls.

This sketch is from Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I love visiting there and touring all the gardens. Strawberry Banke Museum

God Bless America

and

Happy 4th. of July

Joining Sherry at Open House Thursday
Susan's Tablescape Thursday

Tabletop Starter

2011-06-27T19:37:00.000-04:00

I haven't had the time to get a 4th. of July tablescape ready but thought I would share the start here at Marty's Tabletop Tuesday. I made a tablecloth out of a paint drop cloth yesterday CLICK HERE and decided to use it as the base of my 4th. of July table.

On top of the table cloth I added an old garland that I purchased off of ebay several years ago.

This piece is over eight feet long and had the standard gromets on it so I assume it hung from an upper balcony of a home or business at one time.

I have two of these bird house/flag holders that I purchased many years ago at a local store. They were on the sale table and I knew I'd find a way to use them on the porch.

The silver tray is the start of a tablescape I have in mind but haven't gotten a clear idea of yet. Hopefully something will come to mind very soon.

Looks like our black lab Maggie decided to take a peek out and see what I was up to.

A Rustic Tablecloth

2011-06-27T10:16:00.004-04:00

The top of my porch table is in need of a paint job because when I was staining the porch floor I spilled the better part of a gallon of stain on it. Roll eyes here and say a few choice words. I figured covering it up was the best thing to do until I got over the loss of the expensive stain AND the mess on the table. I went back to Lowe's to buy another gallon of stain for the porch floor and a drop cloth to cover the table. To get the size I needed for the table I had to buy a drop cloth that was much longer than what I needed so I cut it off and made a ruffle out of the leftovers. I love the rustic look which I did on purpose as it just didn't seem right to take a drop cloth and try and make it into something fancy.

This is where I started with just an inexpensive drop cloth. The extra fabric was tucked under as I decided what the drop would be.

Although my sewing machine has a nice rufflier and a basting stitch I did this by hand with dark thread so that I could make adjustments as needed. I divided the tablecloth into 4th.'s and did the same with the ruffle. I also used my surger to finish the edge of the ruffle, I wanted it to look a little rustic so I did this rather than a folded finished edge on the ruffle.

To try and make sure that the ruffle was the same all the way around the table I marked both the tablecloth and the ruffle with a blue sewing marker and then lined the two up as I pinned the ruffle on.

I really like the finished product and I'm glad I took the time to make the ruffle rather than just leaving the table cloth plain.

Little peek at tomorrow's Table Top Tuesday.

Joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch
Kim at Wow Us Wednesday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday

Pink Lilies

2011-06-24T16:32:00.003-04:00

This is not my home but one near by, as I drove past it today I noticed the pink lilies in the corner of the entry. Unfortunately all I had was my camera phone so the picture is a little off but I wanted to share the size and beauty of these flowers. Sorry there is only the one picture but I was afraid that if I sat in my car snapping pictures of the home the little lady who lives there might freak out and call the police. I'm not sure what the lady must feed them but they are as tall as the little lady who lives there, no kidding!

Joining Beverly at Pink Saturday

End of Spring

2011-06-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

We had a very cool spring here in Michigan and everything is blooming a little later than usual.

I lined the walkway to our front door with these Shepard's hooks and spring flowers for a baby shower I hosted.

Could anything be more sweet that this picture? I don't know who the children are but I was sitting down at the dam "people watching" when I snapped this one. I was nervous because I didn't see any parents near these two sweet little kids and the area where they were standing was less than a hundred feed from the dam.

This is an old picture from my front door. I've changed the door color to black now and the urns are filled with purple pansies but I still love this shot.

So....spring is on the way out and summer will hopefully be here in it's full glory very soon, happy Monday.

Tom and Jerry....remember them?

2011-06-16T11:08:00.001-04:00

I was doing the Senior Day Salvation Army rounds yesterday and decided to stop at Goodwill too. We have such a strong Goodwill online program here in my area our GW's very seldom have a real treasure. I think I got one yesterday with this Tom and Jerry punch bowl. There was just the bowl, no cups were to be seen. I did a little research on this set which is Buffalo China probably was made in the 30's. No cracks, chips or crazing and its heavy as heck, if you know anything about this set can you please email me? I'd love to learn more than what little I found on the net.

I love the bowl and I've already got it displayed in my kitchen cabinet, it hardly fit in there but looks nice with the other bowls. And the cost you ask.....$4.

Kitchen Island Vignette

2011-06-15T17:44:00.006-04:00

I took a few pictures of my current kitchen island vignette for Sherry's Open House, Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday and Sherry at The Charm of Home . I have spent the last hour trying to find the blog where I saw these wonderful folded books displayed along with the tutorial and I can't find it. Old age I guess, I need to start writing things down. If you recognize the folded book design in this thread as yours PLEASE email me and I'll give you all the credit in the world for it. I love these and have had several people comment on how unique they are.

I started with a larger book that was in an old box in the basement. After removing the cover (sorry book lovers everywhere) I actually sat one night watching Sara Richardson on TV and folded all the pages. I couldn't get the finished product to stay open because the spine was so stiff so I put a fabric ribbon around it and I really like the look. The small wicker flower pot was a find at SA for $.99.

This was a paperback that I had finished, I love the two sizes and different ribbons.

I picked this cement angel candle holder up at an antique store recently for $4.

The pears I picked up at the local floral wholesaler (thanks Kathy!)

This was such a fun project and so easy, give it a try I think you'll love the look.

Flag Day

2011-06-14T11:29:00.000-04:00

Not only am I a dishaholic I'm also a flagaholic. We have flags flying year around at our house and I just love the way they look against the blue sky and our blue house. I have a few flags that have flown over the White House and all are with the 48 stars, I don't often fly one of them but I will today.

I purchased this flag holder years ago from Martha Stewart's site. Its on the front of our garage and the five flags fly there year around.

These two flag tabletop holders came from a sidewalk sale in our little town, they pretty much stay on the porch all summer.

Happy Flag Day

When You're Away

2011-06-13T14:07:00.005-04:00

Mr. Hubby and I just returned from a wonderful cruise to Alaska. It was a week of breathtaking scenery and new experiences. When I returned home after traveling through four time zones....I just thought there were only three and after that you just fell off the end of the earth I saw our home in a new light again.

My point in all of this is how do you view your home when you return from vacation? To me everything looked so warm and inviting and I think I was seeing some things with a new "eye" and what the possibilities might be to improve. I had just finished staining my porch floor when we left, a major task and one I might share later after I recover. I had put a few things out on the porch the week before we left because I was having company from out of state and wanted things to at least be presentable.

This is a little corner of the porch where I sit when I have a moment. I recently found that after years of struggling with not being able to put pictures, etc. on the siding (hubby would have gotten the vapors if there was a hole in the siding) the Command Strips work great!!!! I put this picture and clock up this morning and love the look of it. Now my mind is spinning with other ideas of how I might use these little gems on the porch.

This sweet potato vine is doing well and I love the new orb I picked up at the floral wholesaler a couple of weeks ago. The candle is a faux one that has an auto timer on it from QVC, Flameless Candles, I love to look out in the evening and see the candles flickering on the porch.

I had a box filled with old chipped Blue Willow that was sitting in the basement, I brought some of it up and filled a wicker planter with it then added a few flowers in some of the cups. Hope this qualifies for Susan's Metamorphosis Monday!

I'm joining Susan today for Metamorphosis Monday

and

Marty at Tabletop Tuesday

and

Kim at Wow Us Wednesday

and

Southern Daydreamer