Friday, October 30, 2009

Of Cabbages & Tablecloths


One day it'll stop raining here in Georgia....right? Anyhoo, isn't that a cute tablecloth? Country Living Collection from KMart (they should pay me for advertising don't you think)!



I have so many things waiting to plant! I got some raspberries two weeks ago on clearance at Lowe's and haven't been able to get them in the ground because of all the rain and a fig and so many other things. I had a few ornamental cabbages that have been sitting around and I decided to put them in this tureen for the time being. Maybe next week the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to plant them outside.



I just took them out of their pots and stuck them in this tureen (which I only use for plants btw).



The pattern on the tablecloth is very similar to the pattern on the little curtain I made for my bookcase buffet don't you think?



I asked for a tripod for my camera as my Christmas present this year but I may change that to some more Country Living Collection dishes and linens! Squeezing your arms really tight against your body and holding your breath seems to work as well as a tripod. I think I can do that for another year~smile!


Have a wonderful weekend and remember that the November book give away starts on Sunday so do check back for that. Just my way of saying thank you to all of you who read this blog and especially all of you who make the effort to comment. I'm not able to get to everyone that leaves a comment and I always feel badly about that! But, as I'm sure you all know, there are only so many hours in a day. So I hope this makes up for it!



Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Pumpkin, A Fleur de lis & Red Transferware


Hello everyone! What a day! We had very heavy rains (again) yesterday and last night around 2 am a huge oak fell over (very common in Atlanta) and knocked out the power lines to my neighborhood. Thankfully it fell away from the person's house and since it was in the a.m. no was driving around. So as far as I know there wasn't anyone hurt, but we had no power until about 12:30 this afternoon.



The dog is scared of the dark (and loud noises etc) so he kept me up all night(or should I say morning). Anyway, I didn't feel at all like doing anything I actually was supposed to do today (like wash floors and clean out the fridge). Instead I played with the hot glue and a pumpkin and pulled out some plates and hung a new mirror that I got at the thriftstore.



I took various Christmas picks that were lime green and glittery and cut them up and hot glued them to the top of this white pumpkin.



A Christmas Pumpkin?


I chose lime green because that's an accent color I use but you could do traditional Autumn colors if you like. Just snip off each little piece on a pick and arrange them in a pleasing way on top of any color pumpkin. An orange pumpkin with traditional fall colors would be pretty!





My one truly antique piece of red transferware. I think all the pictures are clickable?







Isn't this a neat plate rack? A very overpriced (at least I think so) home furnishings boutique in my town was having a warehouse sale (75% off) so I grabbed this and couple of Christmas Ornaments. I don't normally even bother going in this store other than the warehouse sale days!



Well that's all I've done so far today besides drink copious amounts of coffee!



I want to show you what a reader sent me. Look at the cute monogrammed pumpkin that Anne made. She liked the one I made so she made one for her family. Isn't that whole thing so pretty! Love it!




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Tracey is having a give away of her two books "Frugal Luxuries" and "Frugal Luxuries By the Seasons" on her blog Frugal Luxuries. Scroll down to her Friday post. These are two of my favorite books!


I'll be posting my November book give away on Sunday. So check back for that!


I don't mind answering questions at all but, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me an email addy if you don't have a blog that you keep current. It's very frustrating to go to someone's blogger account, access their blog only to find out that the last time they posted was July of last year and no contact info. I never know if I'm wasting my time or not. You can get a GMail or Yahoo email account if you don't want to use your regular one.


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Fun Ways to Display Your Child's Art



Hi everyone! I'm back! I bought a 2005 HP with Windows XP for $250 from the computer guys that worked on my dead computer. I did go to Best Buy and I thought about getting a brand new one with Windows 7, but I never really liked Vista so I wasn't sure I'd like the new Windows product. I don't need a whole lot of bells and whistles anyway. Plus this was a totally unexpected expense so I didn't want to spend a whole lot. So far so good! I do miss my Windows Photo Gallery program, I don't really like Picassa but I'm getting used to it.




So today I thought I'd share a couple ideas for displaying your children's art work. Long time readers of my blog know that my daughter is an artist/filmmaker. She actually wants to make animated films (she's 17 btw). Here's some of her framed art that we hung in the hallway.





We've always grouped her art together. When we homeschooled we had a huge bulletin board that displayed her art. It was always a rotating gallery! It looked sort of like this.




Photo credit: CafeMom


We also used to have "art shows" for the Grandparents! Which were fun and made her feel very important. We used to put the cards she would make for us on the fridge instead of her art (easier to remove those when the occasion was over - less questions~smile).


Here are some other fun ideas! I have a friend who did this in her little girls playroom.




Photo Credit: The Style Files


She just used clothes line and clothespins. I believe that above they used a curtain wire. Like this one from IKEA Deka Curtain Wire


How cute is this and easy to make yourself!




Kid's Wood Works


Use barrel clips, a board, some rub on letters (or paint your kid's name) to make this at home! I think this would be a cute gift to make for someone too .



Even now we rotate her art. We take what's in the frame out and put something new in. She keeps all of her art work in a large portfolio now. But when she was little we used to keep them in a box. When she was about 10 we bought her a trunk (those inexpensive trunks that all stores have at the beginning of the school year) and that's where we keep all the things we think she might want later including her earlier art, favorite children's books, special toys etc. You can also take digital photos of their art work if you are really limited in storage space.



Kids really like it when you frame their art! You can find inexpensive frames at any thriftstore or garage sale or paint some frames on the wall like in the photo below.




Photo Credit:San Francisco Chronicle



Now for my Mom Brag! My daughter got into her number 1 college of choice - The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta! She's graduating High School early (this December) and will be taking some classes at Kennesaw State University in January. She'll start SCAD in September 2010! We're so proud of her!



Sunday, October 25, 2009

How I Organize My Magazine Clippings and Magazines


This is an edited older post.

What do you do with your magazines? I use different ways of storing them depending on whether I just want a magazine article that I tear out and want to keep for future reference or whether I want to store the entire magazine.



I like to use these plain white magazine files from IKEA in my living room. That's where I keep my Countryside/Mother Earth News/Natural Home issues that I want to keep for reference. You can certainly cute them up with scrapbook paper but I like them plain white in this room.



I organize the articles I tear out into file folders. That way when I need to look for something I don't have to sift through a stack of magazine clippings! Some people like to keep them in a binder but I find it easier to grab a specific folder like "Fall Decorating Ideas" and just see all the tear sheets with those ideas. This way you can find the specific topic that you need. Other people like to paste them into composition books but to me that's way too time consuming.




I keep all my tear outs that I need to file in the front of the bin and every now and then take a few minutes to file them. If there is just one small item on a page that I want to keep I circle that item. This way I know why I kept that page. Sometimes I make notes on the page.




I bought that bin a few year ago at TJ Maxx and you certainly don't need one to organize your magazine clippings this way. You could use a large accordion file, you could use a cloth bag, you could use a box (you can wrap the outside with scrapbook paper, wallpaper or giftwrap paper, stickers, use your creativity), you could even use a file cabinet if you have lots and lots of magazines clippings. Nor do you need toile file folders! But pretty file folders are very inexpensive these days and I find that it makes keeping things organize just a bit more enjoyable.



This basket holds the magazines that I'm currently reading. I like that it has handles because it makes it easier to move around the house with me.



Recipes that I pull out I put in a big binder in sheet protectors. That way when I'm using it I can just wipe it off if it gets dirty. Also, if I print out a recipe from another blogger, I always include that blog's name so that if I should make it and show it I can give proper credit. I find it very annoying when people say "I saw it on somebodies blog" - it takes a minute to make a note of where you got a recipe or idea.



I just use a really big binder that I decorated with some scrapbook paper. Although it's getting too big and I'm thinking of using smaller more specific binders. Like a binder just for desserts or baked stuff, one for breakfast ideas etc.



I have an old bookcase that I keep in my closet where I store every Mary Englebreit magazine ever published as well as a few of my favorite old Victoria's and a bunch of gardening magazine. I don't know if I'll ever get rid of my Home Companion mags! I got rid of all of my Martha Stewart magazines a few years ago and I'm very sorry I did! But I only have but so much room - so sometimes you have to make some hard choices when it comes to storing things! I'd say I was more Mary than Martha anyway!


Also, every now and then I go through my clippings. It's amazing how I always find some that I can't for the life of me remember why I wanted to keep! This is a good rainy day or sick day activity. I also donate my magazines to my library (my library sells mags for 10 cents!) I used to be a magazine junkie but now I'm much more selective as they've become so expensive. Actually, lots of times I just go to Barnes and Nobles, order a coffee and sit and read magazines for and hour or so. A cup of coffee is much cheaper than a magazine these days!



I should be back on Tuesday with a brand new post as I'm getting another computer!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Checks and Harlequins


Well my computer needs a new motherboard (forget it - it's $300 for a new one) but they were able to encase my harddrive so I can use it as an external harddrive (this is new to me?). So the good news is that my pictures are saved and more importantly my Quicken is saved! I dreaded having to start fresh with that because I have years of data (history of spending in different categories etc) that I use all the time. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I'll use my daughter's desktop while she's in school and see how that works out for the time being.

This post is an edited repeat.


When you walk through my home you're sure to see a few recurring themes or motifs! Not so many that you can actually say something like "Wow, she really, really, really likes harlequins!" type of thing, but enough so that there's a unifying feeling that flows from room to room.



Today I'll just show the check & harlequin patterns. The first thing you see is that red harlequin door mat outside on my front porch (top photo). Then when you enter you see this black check doormat. The risers say "There's No Place Like Home", for those of you who haven't seen the steps before.


Up the steps and the first thing you see is the black and white checkerboard floor of my kitchen. I really love it. We did black and white marble tiles (peel and stick) instead of the solid white and black you usually sees. It's much better at hiding dirt!



My cute harlequin and rooster kitchen rug from Wal-Mart.




I love those candles! We light them every morning while we have our coffee (since it's pitch black outside when we get up). It makes for such a nice calm way to start the day.



The kitchen isn't really this fluorescent green! It's a kiwi or pear green.





I'm sure most of you can guess at some other recurring themes I have ~ smile.




Those are real leaves on top of some scrapbook paper in a thrifted frame.



Small checks....



Or BIG checks!





I'm always looking for things that have a harlequin or check pattern and surprisingly they're really not that easy to find.




Harlequin bathmat


As you can tell I like black! I pretty much stick to black, white, and red with some apple green as an accent and I think of my yellow walls as a neutral. I find that makes shopping for things so much easier plus I love those colors and have never gotten tired of them.


I try not to go overboard with any of the themes or motifs I have, but that's just me and what I like. I know a lot of people are into roosters, or sea shells, nests, or flowers. What themes do you having running through your house and do you find that people buy you things with those themes? Do you like that? I personally don't like it when people buy me things for the house unless they know me really really well. Just because I like & collect dog paintings doesn't mean I'm going to like that one with all the dogs in clothes sitting around a poker table! Know what I mean!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!