Pink Roses

to a good home...

The nest with blue eggs belongs to ...Angela McRae!

The nest with pink eggs belongs to...Heidi Woodruff!

I've sent you two an email , and will get your nests in the mail!

You were all so sweet with your comments, that I wish I had enough nests to give you all one!  I appreciate every one of you for taking the time to stop by and read my blog and leave such thoughtful comments...you make my day-EVERY day!

In other news...

The dining room is painted, but bare...I'm really kind of liking it...I hope to enlist some boys to help me move things this weekend...all it will require is a pan of brownies, and I'll have all the help I can use!

Elizabeth is coming home from Nashville today, her Spring Break is next week...she is flying to Florida on Monday to spend 5 days with my parents.  I am sending her with my old camera, and asked her to "guest blog" when she gets back.  We will see how a 20 year old spends Spring Break...hopefully the only "girls gone wild" she will have is with my mom and her credit card at the mall!

unfinished business...

Two years ago I saw a picture of an egg that someone had covered in beads and sequins, and decided I was going to make one for Easter.  I went to the craft store to find a small styrofoam egg.  Well, when I got there, along with the regular sized chicken type eggs they had these giant Ostrich eggs...

Of course I thought this would be even better...I failed to calculate how long it takes to put tiny sequins on an egg with even tinier pins.  I started this 2 years ago at Easter, and never finished.  I got it out today, and will attempt to finish before this Easter...

It's actually quite easy, and I would recommend it, just start small!  I started by making a few clusters of flowers and leaves with sequins, scattered around the egg.  Now I am filling in all the empty spaces with small silver sequins...

I'm almost finished!

P.S. Don't forget, nest giveaway tomorrow..

P.S.S. I'm giving them both away!

nest giveaway...

I am fairly obsessed with bird's nests and eggs these days...they seem to be everywhere.  I saw this nest in a store the other day, and had to buy it. Vintage looking pink flowers and blue eggs, it was perfect.  And then I saw this one...

Vintage looking purple flowers and pink eggs...which should I get?  Well, I couldn't make up my mind so I bought both, and I will let you choose...leave me a comment on this post, and tell me which you like better...

pink eggs, or blue eggs

and on Friday morning I will pick a name at random, and send you the one you like best...I'll keep the other one!  Thanks for helping me make up my mind!

style disorder...

I called my friend Tom the painter last month and told him I wanted my dining room painted sometime before May.  Tom called me on Friday night and said..."I'll be there Monday morning".  I said that I didn't know what I wanted yet, to which he replied..."then you have 2 days to figure it out".  I have spent all weekend looking through magazines, until I am convinced that I have no idea what I want.  I have no style. 

I like shabby chic.  I like stacked rock fireplaces with brown leather sofas and chandeliers made out of antlers.  I like peaceful restful feng shui spaces.  I like modern art and peeling paint.  I like bohemian-gypsy, and 70's throwback retro.  I am eclectic. 

What I did discover is that I like looking at dining rooms with pretty flowers and plates, and fun accessories.  I have loads of mis-matched flea market plates and serving pieces.  So, after looking at lots of rooms with amazing colors (and  loving them all), I decided to go completely neutral and change up my look with tablecloths and accessories. 

So here's my dining room now...red.  It's getting painted linen white. Tom says I'm getting really boring.  I hope he's wrong... 

a little pretty...

It's 37 degrees and raining here today, and judging from the national weather map, I may not be the only one with gloomy weather.  So here's a little something pretty to cheer your day...my friend Nancy has a camellia bush in her yard that must be 9 feet tall, and it is covered in blooms.  She called me (before the rain) and said..."come over and cut some flowers"...she didn't have to ask twice!  Here's hoping you are all warm and safe and dry!

journal & scrap...

When I travel I always take a journal with me.  This is a journal my daughter and I have been keeping for trips to New York City the past few years.  I chose a black book, and write in it with white pens.

Along with a journal, I take fun pens, a small pair of scissors, a glue stick and photo corners.  I use the photo corners to put in things that I might want to use in a scrapbook later, or that have something interesting on the back.  Everything else I just glue in. 

The deal is...EVERY night, you empty your pockets, or purse, and pull out all the ticket stubs, business cards, napkins, labels, receipts. postcards...anything and everything from that day, and just glue it on a page and start writing.

You capture all of your feelings for that moment.

I love looking at our journal even more than I like the scrapbooks I make when we come home.  I find I get SO BORING describing pictures (a month later), but when you write in the moment, it is raw emotion. 

When we get home, and get our pictures developed, then I put them in a scrapbook...

and that's fun to look at too...

I am not a fancy scrapbooker these days...

I have lots of journals (mostly sketchbooks, because the pages are thicker for gluing) that we have used over the years for different trips.  When the kids were younger, I would make them draw pictures in the journal, or write down funny things they said..."quotes" of the day... best/worst...One book has a business card from a hat store in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with the quote..."Elizabeth called it tacky, mom called it perfect"  My son would leave a restaurant and dump his pockets at the hotel and he would have business cards, napkins, a swizzle stick from his soda, matches and a to-go menu.  I wonder where he gets that from!

you probably know this...

I went to Michael's yesterday, and saw these cute chandelier themed things on their $1.00 racks...10 notecards for $1.00, in 4 different colors.  I bought a pack of each color, and thought I would make small packs with one of each, and tie them up with black and white ribbon...could make a cute little extra something in a gift for a friend...

They also had these chandeliers that are laser cut out of thick felt...in black, pink, green, orange and blue.  They would be great as package decorations, but I thought they would be fun on a tinsel Christmas Tree, hung with ribbon and assorted vintage chandelier crystals...maybe in the dining room...I can see a silver tree with black and crystals...or hot pink and green...the felt is very sturdy...you could glitter it, or add some rhinestones...it could be very chic...but you probably already know this...

flea finds...

Along with the chairs, I found a few other things at the Flea market this weekend...This gorgeous blue velvet hat with lots of flowers and leaves...I bought it thinking I might take it apart, but I have a hard time doing that...maybe for something really special...

  These little penny holders and some chandelier crystals from THE cutest girls...I didn't have my camera with me, but they promised to be back next month so I could get pictures of their booth... you'll love it!

some real quail eggs that have been blown out and dyed pink and green...

some vintage hankies and a bag of quilt pieces...

sorry, I obsessed on photographing this fabric...

and this...

some lace, and hand dyed cheesecloth in the prettiest robins egg blue...a box of buttons, and this chubby Easter chick...

will I ever get tired of lace and buttons?

I think you know the answer to that!

WWRAD?

What would Rachel Ashwell do? 

Flea market. 

Four PERFECTLY shabby chic chairs.

 

Beautifully carved.

Cream and pink paint.

Chippy and peeling.

Price tag says $195 for four.

Before you can even ask, the seller says

"you can have them for $160"

you think a moment...

and without you saying anything else the seller says

"the lowest I would take is $140"

$35.00 a chair.

Please tell me Rachel Ashwell would have bought them.

Of course she would, she has a ga-billion dollars.

I don't have a ga-billion dollars.

But I would have regretted this tomorrow.

The one that got away.

I didn't need them, but I bought them.

I love my new chairs!

cards & such..

I got off track with my card making...my daughter came home one weekend, and then I went up there...I took these pictures at night with a flash, so they're not the best, but you get the idea...

this one was sent in an envelope because of the ribbon and button and pom-poms...

song: You're Beautiful by James Blunt.

One week I made her a little mini card banner, out of regular sized playing cards, and strung it together with vintage baby rick rack...

this too was sent in an envelope...

and this wasn't a song, just positive affirmations...I think I was so distracted with swaps, that I lost my focus for a moment...this week I will get back on track, I promise...