Notes from A Cottage Industry

Hello sweet July.

Ah, July. The month that launches us into the second half of the year. (I don't wanna stress anybody out, but there are one hundred and seventy seven days left until Christmas, which means we are officially closer to next Christmas than last, in case you were wondering.)

On the bright side, (if your mind is already going to next Christmas...) July is also the month in which we get to enjoy a little two day online thing called "Amazon Prime Day". (This year it's July 16 and 17th.)

Anywy.

I like July for lots of reasons, and another one is that it's National Ice Cream Month. This also includes National Ice Cream Day, which falls each year on July 16th. (Coincidence that it is also one of the two Amazon Prime Days? Maybe.)

Speaking of ice cream, if you have been a blog reader of mine for a while, you know I occasionally like to make homemade ice cream. It's easy, and yummy, and perfect for hot summer nights.

Probably my most favorite thing about July is the long, warm, (usually) cloudless days, with the sun staying up until around nine o'clock, and all of the colorful flowers blooming everywhere. It's nothing short of heaven to be able to go outside in the early mornings to enjoy my cup of cocoa full of floating mini marshmallows, and just take in the peaceful quiet beauty around me. I love my little house so, and being able to enjoy the outdoors each morning makes me appreciate it even more. (What's your favorite thing about this time of year?)

Welcome to the second half of twenty twenty four!

Rain, snow, or sunshine, it's the official first day of Spring, 2024.

When you looked out your window this morning, what did you see? It's absolutely fantastically sunny and warm here! Perfect weather, if you will, as today is the official first day of spring....however....according to our local television weather expert, Dave Salesky, today is the last sunny day here in the Portland/Vancouver area for the next couple of weeks.(or more...ugh.)

The cloud's silver lining here (see that weather pun that I did there?) is that the chance for actual rain is pretty low most of those days. (under fifty percent! Yay!) 

Now, most of the time the rain and the cloudy days don't usually get to me, (the darker days make me enjoy being inside my cozy home that much more) but this year has just been a bit too much even for my liking.I mean, just look at the forecast here....

Rain, rain, even on Easter...rain. (I know. It's not that bad at all, as many of you are up to your eyeballs in snow at this very moment.) I'm slightly obsessed with the weather right now, because Easter will be here shortly (on March 31st) and that always gets me wondering about the weather because I associate Easter with sunshine, outdoor egg hunts and flowers of all sorts.

Whenever Easter is earlier than later, like mid April, the weather is much more uncertain. Anyway, I am rambling here, when all I meant to post today was that it is now Spring, and that causes my heart to lift, as we are looking towards sunshine and longer daylight hours, and enjoying being outside much more....so, happy Spring to everyone reading this!

My favorite season is about to arrive.

Autumn is my favorite season, and September first marks the day that I feel like I can pull out all the stops with my boxes and boxes of harvest decor. While there may still be two or three more heat waves coming our way, weather-wise, the big hay wheelbarrow in my front yard will be filled and overflowing with crates of pumpkins and mums within the next week.

Autumn is such a warm and fuzzy time of year… it is the epitome of cozy, and that is what I love about it! How about you? Are you a warm weather person or do you love fall too???

A potential Action plan for 2023.

After the rush of the holidays, I can't help but want to slow down, cuddle up on the sofa, and write out my plans for the new year too.

I have yet to follow these plans, but everyone talks about the value of intention, and I keep thinking this just may be my year.

A girl can hope so, anyway.

So.

Action plans. Do you have them? Plans for home organization, laying out my day to be more productive (and hopefully stay out of a few rabbit holes) and healthier choices? Do you make a list or a chart, or a graph, or whatever, to achieve goals and inspirations for the upcoming year? Or months, weeks, or maybe just for tomorrow?

One of my best friends keeps a tablet by her bed. She makes her to-do list for tomorrow each evening, and often times adds to it during the night if she wakes up with an idea. She says that, for her, it creates a sense of calm and security that she won't forget something. I've tried this, but I get going on that list in the evening, and I get all hoopty-do'd and excited about the things I think I might be able to accomplish tomorrow. The next thing I know, it's after 1:00 a.m. and my list is unrealistically long, filled with totally unachievable pipe dream items of a semi-imbalanced person.

So, anyway.

This year I'm at it again, trying to lay out rough plans and goals for home projects, business crafty creations stuff, a healthier lifestyle, and things I want to make more time for this year. This time I'm attempting to lay out my plans and goal month by month on a big ol' google doc, with the idea that I will can hope to remember to print out the current month to work on.

I've tried paper planners (Love the pretty-ness of them and all the hope they hold, but I misplace them, and forget to write in them...) and I adore a good vision board. (But I forget to look at the board, let alone update it)

I've tried monthly calendars on my wall. (I like the esthetic, and feel mostly inspired to sit and enjoy at how nice it looks on the wall, as opposed to actually filling in the months with activities...)

I've tried plain notebooks to bullet-point out to-do lists, and I am considering attempting again in conjunction with my year layout in google docs. (But there is that concern that I will forget about it or misplace it as I already stated...)

Anyway, I am feeling enthusiastic and full of hope, as so many of us do each early January. As Oprah said, "It's a new year, and another chance for us to get it right". I love the pure optimism and idealism of that quote, and each January I believe it more than ever.

Oprah also said you do not need a new year to start anew, that any day, any moment can be a fresh start, so there's that.

All of this being said, for me, there is just something about a fresh new year and all the hope and possibility it brings.

I'm wishing us all good luck in getting our acts together a bit better in 2023, both organizationally and in our intentions. I'd love to hear how you start your new year; do you feel that exhilaration of a new page in the book of your life, or did you just do an eye roll and a tiny chuckle while reading this post?

If you do make new years plans, what is your method of carrying them out? Are you a digital document type? A doodler-in-a-planner paper kind of person? If you don't buy into this, how is it going for you? Were you just born focused ad organized? ( I so envy those folks!) or have you, like my friend, already discovered that best-process-method that works well? I truly want to hear.

Whatever method you use, (or don't) I am here, cheering you (and me) on, and looking to take full advantage of using this chance to get it more right. Happy New Year, friends!

A mantel refresh for springtime, and some other random ramblings.

It's snowing here today,(Unheard of, and a record for us!) with a weather warning in effect until midnight tonight, so I thought it only appropriate to choose this day to finally share my springtime update for my fireplace mantel.

Anyway.

After Valentine's Day I put away all of my red accent decor and pull out my most favorite of all Robin's egg blue pieces, and add lots of garden touches. The fireplace mantel is a focal point in the room, so I especially like decorating it.

After removing last season's decor from my mantel, I start my updates the same way pretty much each time I want to make a change. I look at my backdrop pieces, which usually include one or more mirrors, and a shutter or two.

I move things around a bit, maybe taking something away, or adding to it, and then once I like the balance of the backdrop I wander through my house looking for items in other rooms that are the color or theme I'm after. 

I absolutely adore old books because of the fabulous colors on their covers and bindings, and I keep them stored in all sorts of places around the house. I love building my color scheme by starting with a few books (or a big ol' pile of them) to begin creating my vignette.

This time wanted to go with the Robin's egg blue to greens to wheaty earth tones, so those were the colors I assembled with my books. (Aren't they yummy?)

I placed my sweet little old rotating fan on top of the taller book stack, and  added terra cotta pots with my Ikea plants in them (I cannot keep a houseplant alive) around the smaller stack of books.

Sometimes, but not always, I will add one or two of my banners or other paper crafts to my vignette. Right now I have my Sow, weed, water, wait itty bitty banner strung across the old window, and I am liking it. Some years I switch to an Easter-y theme, but this year I'm content to stay with the spring-with-a-slight-hint-of-gardening look.

That being said, I did add one of my Bunny Flash Cards, held up by a tiny flower frog. An old straw hat that I have had forever, a chippied garden hand tool, and one of my vintage alarm clocks rounded things out. 

I put away the fireplace screen for the spring and summer seasons, and instead, filled my old copper boiler pot with oodles and toodles of artificial hydrangeas. (Thank you Walmart!)

I like to move things around in my home, and the day after I did my color-swap and mantel refresh, I tried out my two extra buttery yellow wicker chairs flanking the fireplace...what do you think of this? Too crowded there? A nice change?

After an hour I moved them back to their respective old locations (One in the guest room, and the other in my workroom) because my mind started whirling with ideas, and the next thing I knew I was online browsing Ikea sofa and loveseat sets. (The sectional is now eleven years old, people! It has really done it's job, but it is ready to be replaced!)

New furniture is not currently on the must-have list around here, so I reeled myself in, all lickety-split like.

**big sigh**

I'm enjoying the lighter, brighter feel in the house (even if I am looking at snow falling outside the living room windows...) and later today I think I'm going to start playing around with an Easter brunch tablescape.

Speaking of Easter, is this an "entertaining" holiday for you? Do you do a brunch, an egg hunt, or a supper with friends or family? As for us, our Easter plans change each year, with no traditions set in stone like the other holidays. I was thinking a nice drive and a picnic lunch might be fun, but...did I mention it's snowing here today? 

Maybe a sofa picnic.

 

April: Chapter four of twelve.

I know.

Time flies whether there is a pandemic or not.

So......hello, April! There is so much going on, from cleaning up the garden so I can get this year's flowers going, to a not-exactly-short list of much ignored homekeeping projects perfect for spring cleaning.

We have Easter coming up too, and I'm busy on Pinterest looking for tablescape ideas to get me going, as well as some other springtime decor.

How about you? Does a new month bring you renewed energy and inspiration, or am I in the minority on this one? 

My calendar says January, but my local Fred Meyer is experiencing spring fever.

I was stopped dead in my tracks as I put on my mask and walked towards the front door of my neighborhood Freddie's, (A Kroger grocery store for those of you who might not know Freddie's.) when what do my wondering eyes appear, but a very large display rack of primroses and pansies.

For a brief moment, I my heart jumped and a smile flashed across my face. Then, just as quickly, reality hit me that we are not even to the middle of our winter, and these precious blooms belong in California or Florida right now. This is the Pacific Northwest, peeps, and not only do we still have several months of gray rainy days ahead, we dip down to some pretty frosty nights and mornings. (Let us not forget that we just experienced a week of on and off snow days...) 

I couldn't help but stop and capture a picture of this hopeful display that Freddie's was teasing me with as I entered the store for groceries on my list that they may or may not have, due to our current supply chain challenges. 

While it's one season too soon, it's nice to see there is apparently no shortage of four inch annuals, and that made me smile, because, as I remembered the quote, "where flowers bloom, so does hope".

After the holidays living room and mantel refresh.

BC (Before Covid) I was a girl who always pulled out my Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, complete with Christmas tree scented wax melts burning, and holly jolly holiday music playing all day while I lovingly pulled each item from the crinkled tissue paper in my bins brought in from the shed. Christmas would come, and December 26th I would take everything down, and box it all back up. 

This year I started to put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, but it took me about a week to get everything dialed in. Christmas came and went, and I finally took down the holiday trimmings on New Year's Eve. We had freakishly cold weather from Christmas day though the end of the year, and I think the freezing temperature and bit of snow we got put me in a stay-cozy-inside mode. Enjoying the twinkling lights on the tree and the snow falling outside the window from the comfort of the sofa covered up with a blanket throw was just too perfect.

The house always feels so bare when those Christmas accents are put away, and it puts me in a mood to deep clean all the nooks and crannies in the house, particularly in the living and dining room, while I  contemplate what I can do to those areas of the house to kind of bring them back to life. (Do you do that?)

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know we live in a cozy-sized cottage. (About 1,100 square feet, that I like to think it feels like a warm hug when you walk in the door...) I keep the walls and my main pieces of furniture neutral; white walls, a white slipcovered sectional, creamy painted wooden entertainment unit, and weathered pale buttery yellow wicker chairs around the dining table, so I can add whatever splash of color I choose for any given season or holiday.

I put out touches of red and black for Christmas, and leave these accent pieces (things like quilts and throw pillows and placemats) out until just after Valentine's Day. Once the bottle brush trees and glittered ornaments are gone, I switch to a more subdued, minimal look with whites, creams, reds and black accents.

My fireplace mantel is a primary focus in the living room, and I like to change it up every few weeks or so. I use vintage architectural pieces as a backdrop for my mantel area. I almost always include at least one mirror. I like old mirrors, but I read or heard somewhere more than once that according to feng shui, (which I basically know nothing about...) you should always have a mirror above a fireplace; something about reflecting because the fireplace opening can suck energy or something out....I'm not sure, but I guess it can't hurt.

Old books are a favorite source of color for me, (reds, tans, and creams right now...) and I always look for colorful hardback old books when I am out thrifting. I also collect old alarm clocks. They look great grouped together, or sitting nestled in with other items in a vignette. I do not care if they work or not, and have very nearly all of them set to 11:55 for when I group them for New Year's Eve. I will add pieces from my small heart collection around mid January, and keep that all up until Valentine's Day.

Well, I'm noticing that this turned out to be a rather ramble-y kind of post, but it's another very gray, dark day here, and I may or may not be procrastinating about getting this day going. At any rate, I would love to hear from you! Do you periodically move things around in your home, or put things away for a bit, and bring them back out later? What sorts of things do you like to use in vignettes? 

 

The magical week between Christmas and a whole new year.

The week between Christmas and the new year is one of my favorite weeks of the entire year. The stress of holiday planning and shopping are behind us, and what lies ahead (A new month, a new year!) always seems to be so full of hope and possibilities.

For me it does, anyway.

(Cue the theme song to "Traceyville" here...) I always have about a million and two big, big plans for the new year, and I feel absolutely unstoppable in achieving them all. (Trust me, it's a grand feeling!)

I hit a rather large milestone this year, as I turned sixty five. (Gulp. Did I really?!)

On the bright side, I am still on this side of the dirt, and I now qualify for Medicare, so there's that. On the more disturbing side (for me at least) was my personal goal to make it big(-ish) financially by that milestone birthday. (See my old post on Harland Sanders for reference...)

I have found comfort in now telling myself that good ol' Colonel Sanders made it big at the age of sixty five, not before turning sixty five, so I am now telling myself I have the next eleven months full of  amazing opportunities and possibilities. (See my first paragraph above....)

Aaaaanyway.

I'm cleaning and organizing around the house, which always makes me feel more in control of my life in some weird way. I cleaned out my dining room hutch drawers yesterday, which holds all of my table linens, and then ironed all my cloth napkins while watching the Seahawk game. (Trust me, this was no small task. It turns out that I have enough cloth napkins to get me to summer without using the same cloth napkin twice.)

I'd love to take down my Christmas decorations today, but I have an old friend coming to visit for a few days, and I want to be ready for her, so...we shall see just how much progress I make today. 

I've got some plans in my head for so many things I want to do in my etsy shop, my booth space, and my blog. I actually have managed to get rough timelines written out for January, so I am feeling more than a little full of my self. 

What about you? What do you do during this wonderful, magical week? Do you bask in the afterglow of the holiday, or do you get the holiday decor boxed up lickety-split like? Do you make New Year's resolutions, or set new goals? Or does that seem like nonsense to you? (Oprah once said you can make new resolutions any day of the year, and she is right.) I'd love to hear how other people spend this week, both mentally and physically, so please share with me!

A second idea on an Easter tablescape with a farm-to-table feel.

I hope two tablescape posts in a week (back to back, no less...) isn't gonna be overkill here, but I saw an idea and I was overcome with inspiration to try my version of it. (A fellow instagrammer used fresh baby carrots down the center of her table, and that's all it took...)

I had fun creating this look, and again, other than buying a bunch of baby carrots at the grocery store, everything came directly from my own home.

I started with a runner made of artificial moss that I have had for a gazillion years as my backdrop, and I gathered up several of my flower pots to set the garden mood, along with my always-on-hand Ikea fake mini boxwood shrubs.

A short stack of old books borrowed from my entertainment center shelf added some height for one of the pots, a few plastic eggs (The kind that are meant to sort of look real-ish) and those inspiring baby carrots came together in less than 5 minutes to create my vignette on the table. Here is a look from the back side of my vignette...

I opted for my wicker trays to use as placemats or chargers, my old thrifted Sur La Table grey cloth napkins tucked in water goblets, and I then whipped up some fun little tags with a charming, and oh-so-serious bunny wearing a carrot and green onion bow tie. A bit of Dollar Tree jute replaced the white string on the manilla tag, and attached the tags to the pair of baby carrots on either plate.

Easy peasy, and quick too.

Now, I just need to decide which of these two tablescapes I'll use on Easter (or will I come up with another one?) as well as deciding on my Easter brunch menu. 

My latest favorite color combination in a simple and relaxed Easter time tablescape.

I have a little eye candy inspiration for those of you who enjoy setting a pretty table for holidays. (Or, any day!)

Have you noticed how popular the pale blush pinks and corals have become this spring? I am loving them so much that I decided I would feature them in my Easter tablescape...

I started off shopping my house for weathered worn tea-stained colors, and I came up with some old books missing their covers, a couple of my peat pots, and a pile of old dictionary pages. (Think outside of the box! It needn't be a kitchen related item, or a vase of flowers!) I also grabbed a couple of my painted clipboards in the blush coral shade,(Yummy!) a few of my printed out copies of vintage postcards.

I decoupaged some plastic eggs from the Dollar Tree with torn pieces of the pages, and printed a couple more pages with the coral stripes to use clipped to my clipboards. These then became my placements. (..or chargers, whichever you like to think of them as...)

I put the plates on the clipboards, and added a printed postcard as a little accent piece, then added my flatware and napkins.
I placed a blush colored gift box (Filled with Easter candy, but it could hold any little gift or treat you like!) adorned with a vintage print of some sweet bunnies in the weathered shades of creams and camel, and tied it with a camel colored ribbon. A name tag for "You" and "Me" made them extra special.

A peat pot with some Dollar Tree excelsior straw and a decoupaged egg tied with a snippet of pale pink and camel ribbon and a small millinery flower  placed by each place setting added another little Easter touch.

For my centerpiece I stacked the old books, and used a flower pot from my yard filled with an Ikea artificial peony plant. More decoupaged eggs and an additional printed bunny postcard rounded out my centerpiece.

I have the cutest (I think so, anyway...) little vintage silverplate pepper shaker shaped like an egg, that I added to the table, along with my favorite silverplate salt cellar, and my tablesetting was complete.

I hope this post has inspired you to shop your own home and set a fun table for a meal sometime soon!

Dining room wall decor update, at last.

Ohmygosh, could you hear my nail gun and me squealing with delirious glee at 1:45 am last Thursday night? (Or Friday morning, depending on how you view that time I refer to as "the middle of the night".)

I am 100% happy at long last with my dining room wall! (For now anyway. You know how I like to change things up in my house all the time.) It took me three days off and on, working ten or fifteen minutes at a time, (I was busy with etsy orders and my booth space, and had to allow drying time for the paint between coats....) but I finally completed my sign, and it is just what I wanted.

Neutral, kind of understated, and personalized, all at the same time. What do you think?
I began with a twelve dollar board from Home Depot. It was a four foot by four foot board (some sort of thin plywood) and I had the guy cut off one foot. (Which I will craft into another sign to sell in my booth and recoup my twelve bucks and then some...)

I painted it with primer....

I painted it a butter yellow that I had from a tester bottle for my Mom's laundry room way back when. It took a little adjusting to get the color muted just right. (I added white paint)

I then used Annie Sloan dark wax around the edges to weather it a bit. Then, I patted a paper towel of watery white paint over the glaze, and the oil to water mix made it kind of do a weathered looking thing.

After that, I printed, transferred, and painted my words.

We live on Harney Way, which is why the sign reads "The Jewel of Harney Way" at the top.The idea for this line came from a visit to my best friend since fifth grade's home several years back, when she still lived in northern California.

We had taken a walk one morning and we passed a little cottage with a picket fence. On the gate was a bronze oval plate that read "The jewel of such and such street" (I don't remember the street name) and I thought it was precious.

I knew I wanted to steal this idea so I squirreled it away in my mind, but once I put up my own picket fence at our cottage, I was torn, because I already had my little sign that seemed also perfect for my gate to welcome friends. Here is a picture to remind you of it from last summer...

...so, I kept waiting to use the idea. I thought it worked on my dining sign, so here it is.

It's not perfect, and I still might weather the paint a bit more, but I am feeling all sorts of crazy mad love for the wall now. It fills the wall, without being too showy, which is just what I was after.

Now, to decide about the black hutch...

Out with the old, and in with the older.

...and so much cuter, if you ask me.

Remember my old one?.....

Eeeeeeeeewe.

It worked fine, and did it's job for me in the kitchen for these past six plus years, but I've got to say, I am not gonna miss it one bit.

I think the new-to-me white range looks more intentional, in a Susan-Branch-ish we-love-vintage-things kind of way, as opposed to the-70's-left-their harvest-gold-stove-here-and-no-one-wants-it-back. (This being said, I was able to sell old yeller super quick on Facbook Marketplace...yay!)

Extra special thanks to my son-in-law for doing 99% of the heavy lifting up the porch steps and through the tight opening to the kitchen! (and climbing out from behind the range once it was plugged in)

So....I've got to ask you...do you like it, or do you love it?

.....

In other news, it is week four of my spring cleaning, and according to Clean mama, it's beds and floors, and I am totally onboard! Who's with me?

The post where I figured out what I will NOT be going on the dining room wall.

Ya don't really know until you try, right?

So, in one of my last posts, I mentioned the dining room, and the wall of mirrors I am planning to replace. I was positive that my weathered shutters idea was going to be nothing short of perfection when I envisioned it in my mind. (Que the theme music to Traceyville)

While the idea might have worked with the right length, width, and ideal amount of weathering, it turned out to be a no-go. First of all, I have a heater vent on the low part of the wall, so the shutters had to be hung high enough to not cover that.
Then too, it just seemed like too much wood. I mean, as you can see, what I am referring to as shutters are actually bi-fold doors that I planned to weather and age with paint and crackle and wax, but even with my wildly keen imagination, when I stood back and looked, it was just too much wood. A painted wood (off white) entertainment center on the other side of the doorway to the hall, and then the (currently) black painted hutch.....adding more wood between them didn't seem to add anything.

Ugh.

I then thought I had an epiphany and brought in some shorter old (partially) weathered window shutters from the back patio that I then tried hanging (on existing nails from the mirrors) so each shutter section was horizontal.

Ewe.

What I pictured in my mind as a weathered subtle backdrop for a clock or a wreath, looked pretty much like I had hung an extra wide weathered teak patio lounge chair from Hawaii hung on the wall.(Do you see that too? That fold there on the third rung down is where your knees go....)

Not the look I was going for, as you might have guessed.

(....and I would feel like I needed to say "aloha" every time I looked at them.)

Later that day, when I was down at Camas Antiques dropping off Easter banners in my booth, I spotted a pair of old hutch doors with glass windows inserts, and seriously considered them. This sparked a series of ideas in my head about vintage windows, but in the end, I ruled this whole window-hutch-door idea out.

(Am I exhausting you with all of the in-my-head-debates I had?)

Instagram came to my rescue, as I spotted a sign this gal had made for her home. I could make a sign, and it wouldn't cost too much (...it might even be free. I have to check my wood scraps in the garage.) and it could be done in the exact colors I want.

I quickly designed a basic sign for the dining room in my cheesy print program on my computer. I'm thinking the butter yellow from the wicker chairs, with white and stain weathering (maybe) and possibly dark-ish tan lettering? Maybe blue?

What do you think? Are you seeing my vision? Okay, let me share two possible ideas. First, the sign I just shared, done on slats of wood, or beadboard....(From Instagrammer Burlaproserevivals)

The second idea, a painted sign on flat wood....(Found this idea on a Pinterest link to the TV show Fixer Upper) 

Of course, this idea is still another wood piece on the wall, and I may not like it when completed. I am thinking I will find or buy my wood, then paint the background colors and hang it on my wall to then make the final judgement call. If I do not like it, I'll paint a sign to sell at Camas Antiques.

I'm heading out to the garage to have a look-see and update next post!

Springtime details around the house.

Ugh. The trials and tribulations of having Typepad hosting my blog. I had the entire post written, only to have it disappear when I went to publish it today. Grrrrrrrrrr.

(Making a loud sigh, and chanting "Serenity now" in my best George Castanza voice softly but angrily under my breath...)

...

Okay, let me begin again, Typepad. (Saving this post every three sentences this time....)

As I am on week two of Clean Mama's Spring Cleaning Challenge, I am wiping and dusting all of the still sawdust tinted areas of my home, and I have to tell you, it has me inspired. Inspired to re-fluff every nook and cranny as I come through. Does deep cleaning do this for you too?

One of the things I was wiping and dusting is the little built in bookcase between the dining area and living room. (Sorry, forgot to take any "before" pictures, but suffice to say, it looked fine. It just had not been changed up in about five years.)

I decided to go for a more springtime look, and brought in some of my tera cotta and peat flower pots, as well as some green plants (all of which are artificial. I am not good with live indoor plants!) Anyway, I am loving the fresh new look!

I also, for the first time in years, re-homed my vintage typewriter to the guest room, on the bottom shelf of the night table. (Guess what? I am loving it in there! There are black framed vintage family photos and the black typewriter works nicely in there...)

Taking the typewriter's place on the coffee table is now my old rusty-crusty-vintage-y birdcage, with a little vignette inside it.....whatcha think?

My mantel was already in springtime mode.....

...and I added a few more touches on the entertainment center (are we still calling them that?)and I couldn't be more content with the new look.

Everything looks clean, and light, and bright, and happy. This spring cleaning thing has been a good thing for me. As an added perk, I didn't spend a dime on the refresh. I used what I had!

**Oh! On another note: Thank you to everyone who weighed in on hutch color options to help me out! It ended in a very close horse-race-like finish, with the blue winning out by a nose. It was followed incredibly closely by the black, and the white. The two tone white with blue came in last, but enjoyed a respectable amount of popularity as well.

So.....I have decided to tackle the mirror-chalkboard wall first, and then make the call as to what color to paint the hutch (or not) so stay tuned! 

The post you probably saw coming: to change or not to change the hutch color.

...and if so, change to what color?

(Insert huge sigh here.)

Well, I dug around on pinterest and found some photos of hutches in colorways I am considering. (Man, I love living in this time of technology!) So, without further adieu, let's get this party started....

To refresh your memory, here is the hutch as it looks today...

I actually like it black when I see this shot, but let's remember my colorway of my home, as you see from the kitchen...

Okay, so now, let's look at other options. (Photo is small...sorry 'bout that.)Option number one, we have basic white. The pros are that it is timeless, cons are that my white dishes may not show as well. (but, is that still okay? Maybe.)

Option two is painting the entire hutch a Robins egg blue, as in the color of my bathroom, and laundry room in my home. Pros are that it is neutral, and it is my favorite color, and my dishes should stand out well against it. Cons are....hmmmm, I am not sure here. Can you think of any?

Option three is a white hutch with blue background, as Jackie suggested (and I had just saved a photo like it!) While I like the idea of this one, I am not sure I am a two-toned gal. What do you think????

(Again, sorry for the tiny photo...)

Option four is to leave it alone. (Sorry, this photo is really dark, asit was early morning when I took the picture...) Leave it black, and try out my weathered shutter look first, before changing it up. (The old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude.)

There we have all of the options. Which one is your favorite? The good new is that, in the end, it's only paint, which is affordable. Help a girl out here, please!

This week's Spring Cleaning assignments, and a peek at an idea I have for the dining room.

Not gonna lie, (and not to brag, but...) I nailed the Clean Mama spring cleaning assignment of the laundry room last week. Cleaned my washing machine innards for the first time, ever, along with everything else in the room, including cupboards. Extra proud of myself, because I nailed it while spreading a hefty thick layer of sawdust all over my home, and then having to spend the better part of two days sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, wiping, and repeating. (If you missed it, see my post here.) I also gathered cleaning supplies. If you're playing along, how did you do?

I'm so ready for Week 2: Dusting and Wiping, as I am now considering myself expert ninja level in this task. Bring it on, Clean Mama.*

(*Full disclosure here. I am still finding sawdust in areas of my home I didn't realize the sawdust from the sander could reach, and I will swear on a bible if required that it is reproducing at night while I sleep.)

In other news, while debating the color ideas on my hutch in the dining room, (Same post, here.) I also realized I was ready for a change up on the wall perpendicular to the hutch in question. It's currently covered in four vintage mirrors, and a vintage frame with a chalkboard in it. You can pretty much see it here...

I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I am wondering if some weathered wood shutters might be a fun textural backdrop for a wreath, or a single mirror, or even a big clock. Here are a couple of inspiration photos to give you more of a visual of my idea....

I know. It's not a dining room wall in the photo....but, close your eyes, and imagine, if you will, the wall with the mirrors and chalkboard, with 2 sets (Four panels) weathered, white over wood, mounted to appear as one solid piece, and then, a sweet wreath, like...maybe this...? 

....on it. Can you see it there, in your mind's eye? If so, does that look better, or worse, than what I have there now? (You can be honest. I have thick skin.)

Anyway, I'd love your input on this. Should I do a change up, or leave well enough alone?

To-may-toe, to-ma-toe. As you can see, the pandemic-stay-home-stay-safe has finally taken its toll on me.

The evolution of my workroom over a six year time span.

Aaah yes, the little room where all of the magic (and messes) happen, so to speak.

Okay, Let's start at the beginning. If you've been reading my blog a long time, you might remember that the smallest room in our cozy cottage was my little workroom. It is a teeny tiny bedroom sandwiched in the hallway between the other two bedrooms and the bathroom, and its petite size is perfect for my workspace.

I was looking through old blog posts, and I was shocked to realize that I have never shared my home workroom renovations with you.

I moved into my sweet little cottage on the corner back in December of 2014. (Can you even believe it has been a little over six years?! I can't.) I shared a peek into it in early 2015, and you can see a picture to refresh your memory (and mine) here.

And later, I shared some small details here.

Then I tried repurposing the heaviest piece of shelving in America to hold crafting supplies here. (Oh my. What exactly was I thinking? I planned on painting it, but, in perfect 20/20 hindsight vision....the 80's furniture just needs to stay in the 80's....)

None of it was really coming together quite the way I had envisioned it in my mind's eye, but it was working.

Kinda.

We (my handy-mad-carpentry-skillz daughter and I) renovated my workroom in 2017, and somehow I never shared anything about it here.

Weird.

(Let's go with the "better late than never" mindset here.)

So, as I said, it was 2017. (Remember 2017? When life was lived with lots of hugs and no masks?)

Anyway.

Twenty seventeen. My daughter is very handy with wood and construction, and for my Mother's Day gift, (along with a new nail gun) she wanted to refresh my workroom.

Yay!

We designed some built in shelves and a desk to do beneath them, and then we got busy...We (My daughter) built shelves (I was the go-fer helper) above the desk and I moved the little vintage white dresser to hold more crafty supplies. 

She had a very old, very heavy thrifted desk that had been passed around between family members that she had an idea for in my workroom, and we planned the whole makeover around that. She took the top off of the desk, and we repurposed the two banks of drawers to use as the base for my new desk area...

Oh, so much better for working in!

Except for the fact that I am a messy creative type.

The room functioned well, but my messiness creativity stayed pretty out of control until...well, until the pandemic hit. I am not sure if has been all of this time spent at home, day after day, after day, after month, or what, but the messiness began to wear on me something awful. 

I decided to do something about it.

I got a bag for trash and a box for donations. It was hard at first, but the more I purged, the more I began to see just how much stuff I had that I had not used in at least a decade and a half.

Seriously.

I got in touch with my inner Marie Kondo (I didn't know I even had it in me!) and after a few purging sessions with myself I found I had more to donate than to keep. (It turned out that all of this stuff wasn't "bringing me joy" as Marie would say, as much as it was very nearly turning me into a craft hoarder. (You know what they say; it turns out that shopping for craft supplies, and crafting are two different hobbies....)

Desperate for a system of order, I purchased white photo boxes from Michaels Crafts (Only $2 each with the sale price...) and picked them up curbside. (I actually love this service that has come out of the pandemic. Just pop open the hatchback on my car, wave thank you, and get back home...)

As much as I liked the little vintage dresser I had in the room, the long narrow drawers were just a magnet for messiness. I searched online, and found a cubby style shelving unit that would hold items, yet keep them visible for me. Also, it would hold the photo boxes oh, so neatly.

I then filled the boxes with the themed paper craft supplies and already made banner inventory  I had purged through, and I stood and admired my handiwork for a solid forty five minutes.

I am thrilled to share with you that I have now kept my workroom clean and organized for going on three months now.

(Trust me, this is huge for me.)

Has the past year and the pandemic changed your homekeeping style any? Have you paired things down, like me? Started cooking differently? Baking more? I'd love to know!

***

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Christmastime mantel.

I shared a while back that I scored a rusty toolbox at a yard sale. It's the longest toolbox I have ever seen in person, (about 32 inches) and as soon as I spotted it on the driveway of a yard sale, I knew I wanted it.

For my mantel. 

(I may have already shared this fact too, but, just in case I didn't..)

To this day, I am not sure why my fireplace mantel stood out in my mind's eye that day, but it did. The lid is rusted in such a way that it is slightly open, and that makes it extra perfect (in my mind, anyway) to nestle little seasonal goodies inside so that they are just peeking out, without the lid falling down on top of the items inside.

For autumn I shared that I had filled it with spiders and little white pumpkins (I use the Dollar Store plastic ones; three for a dollar! and no worry of them rotting, plus I can use them year after year....) as you may remember my sharing...

...and for the Christmas season I have filled it with my artificial frosty looking boughs, vintage ornaments, and a few bits of cotton ribbon, which is the same ribbon I use to tie bows on my Christmas tree. I just love the juxtaposition of the different textures; the rusty toolbox with the shiny ornaments and the feathery looking branches, and the chippied old bannister dowels.

I finished up the mantel by adding little vignettes on either side of the toolbox, and then hung our stockings.I'm happy with the new holiday look up there, as opposed to my year after year mirrors and gold balls and stars. Time will tell what I do up there next!

Have you done anything out of the ordinary in your holiday displays?

Gift wrapping tips and tricks, Part One.

The season of major present wrapping is upon us, and I'm hoping to inspire you to get yourself a dialed in gift wrap supply box-closet-cupboard-whatever so you will always be ready to make any package look fabulous, even at a moments notice. It also occurred to me that you might be able to score some pretty sweet deals with all of the extra deep online sales this year for some of the staples I keep on hand to make my gift wrapping unique!As a girl on a teeny tiny budget, I can tell you first hand that the supplies I use are all affordable, and, please know that I didn't buy all of my supplies in one giant shopping trip, but over time, and by thinking ahead.

Today I am beginning with the list of supplies I always keep on hand. After all, having wrapping supplies already on hand in a closet or drawer, ready to go, makes everything easier. 

I guess it goes without saying, but first, a decent pair of scissors, and a few rolls of scotch tape. (I buy mine in 3 packs at my Dollar Tree Store) There is nothing worse than needing to wrap something last minute and seeing you have exactly one inch of tape left!

Next is my wrapping paper. I say it probably too often, but I like to use brown kraft paper as my base for all gifts. I have rolls of kraft paper, small and larger paper bags, and even the cutest little 4" x 4" x 2" boxes. My bases are covered. (I have a friend that does the same, but her go-to is white butcher paper.)

The reason I am sharing this basic tip again is that it. saves. me. time. and. money. I don't have a basket in the corner with endless random roll-ends of printed paper that at some point get slightly crumpled, and never are quite big enough to wrap a gift when I have the right occasion for that paper, or still have the right color ribbon to coordinate with it, or....you get it, right? Oh, and one more thing; I keep rolls of painter's mask paper rolls on hand as well, for smaller packages.

The brown kraft paper is always neutral. Man, woman, child, housewarming, Christmas...it works.(Extra tip here: I also use the rolls of kraft paper as table runners either under a cloth runner, or sometimes solo, and the wider kraft paper makes for a great table top covering that kids can color on, or for protecting my table during a messy art project...) If you adore the many beautiful printed wrapping papers out there, and have a place to store them, fine. You do you. It's just how I work, and I am not trying to sway you. As long as you love the paper you use, it's all good.

Along with paper, I will say that having some gift bags and small gift boxes are my next supply basic. I get my gift bags, for the most part, at my local Dollar Tree Store. Small ones are three for a dollar! I also sometimes buy them in a larger size in bulk at the restaurant supply near my home.

I get my sweet little gift boxes here, usually, but I have branched out on these to also include black, white, and blush pink boxes from here. I know buying these little boxes in groups of 100 might seem like overkill, however I cannot tell you how many times they have come in as the perfect container for gift cards, a baked treat, party favors....you name it. You can use them solo of course, or you can stack them and tie them together with a ribbon for a themed gift.

I. love. them.

Okay, that covers containers and wrap material. Next is ribbon. True confession; I am a  crazy, out of control bit of a ribbon hoarder. Any time I find a ribbon I like, I get it. Yard sales are good places to find ribbon a lot of times! Also, places like Walmart and Dollar Tree.

I also am always on the lookout for cute tissue paper. I store it all together in one neat and tidy basket, and I can flip through it when I want to use some inside a box, as bag fluff, or even as part of a foofy bow.(This photo is hideous, but I want you to see how I organize it...)

My other always-have-on-hand-item is small rolls of tulle. I get my bolts of tulle at Walmart. You can find it online in an assortment here, and singles in the stores as well. After you wrap a ribbon around your package or handle of a bag, you can add in lengths of tulle for some foofy goodness.

Speaking of tulle, I also have some white tulle that iI bought a bolt of that I love to use to wrap wine bottles as a hostess gift, and in case you haven't seen it done before, I sometimes use it instead of colored tissue inside a box, or sticking out of a gift bag! It looks so whimsical and pretty, and you can dust it with a bit of spray glue and glitter to really take things over the top.

Speaking of glitter and glue, as I said, if I want more of a shimmery look, I then use my spray glue, followed by a sprinkling of glitter. You can also substitute the glitter for confetti. (Paper confetti, or mylar for a metallic look) This works great any package or bag, and on a tulle wrapped wine bottle as well.

One more terrifically fun addition is colored shred. I get mine at Dollar Tree, but you can find pretty colors almost anywhere. You can also make your own shred if you have a paper shredder. Simply feed in sheets of sheet music, or old book pages, and you have instant vintage look shred!

Lastly, I add clever tags. (I make mine on my computer, and there are some in my etsy shop, but you can make your own as well on your own computer, or even by hand!)

Often times I add some sort of fun bobble to my wrap jobs. My most favorite place to find little ornaments for my packages is the Christmas ornament section of places like Target, Walmart and, again, the Dollar Tree Store. Take a look after Christmas when things are 50% to 75% off, and you just might be surprised at the cute little bobbles you find! Themes like sports, cars, camping, or a favorite color like lavender or pink...all found right there on the ornament aisle. I keep them in a box in my workroom closet, and when I need one, it's waiting for me.

I think that about wraps up my supplies list. (See what I just did there?) I hope I have inspired you to organize your own gift wrap area, or to check out the links in my post here to get some new creative wrapping supplies!

Next post I will be sharing my gift wrap techniques....Happy Thursday everyone!

#acottageindustryetsyshop #acottageindustry #notesfromacottageindustryblog #Christmasgiftwrap #christmasdecor

A little birthday present wrap inspiration as we head into the Christmas gift wrapping season.

One of my bestest friends in the world had a birthday in early November, and while we don't always exchange gifts, I wanted to send her a little something during the longest year known to our generation. It's always fun to receive a surprise, and even more fun when the little treat is wrapped up in a fun way. If you've been following me for a while, you know that I love foofifying things up, and more is always more.

So.

I thought I'd share my easy peasy gift wrap job with you. My signature gift wrap for a good long while....(oh, I dunno, maybe twenty years?) has been to use brown kraft paper as my starting point. I love it because it's neutral, (it works for girls and boys, and all the holidays)it's affordable, and I can get bags to coordinate in literally any size.

I went with a blush pink kind of theme with her presents. I wrapped one present, and added pink ribbon and tulle and topped it off with a dusting of spray glue and glitter.

The other little treats went into sweet small bags, with the same coordinating pink ribbon adorning each one. I designed little tags in my print program on my computer. I then made little buttons out of metal rimmed paper labels and cut out my tags with my handy dandy circle cutter.

One quick smear of a glue stick attached the printed circle art onto each tag, then glued in place over the pink ribbon, and everything was all ready to be packed for mailing!

Now that the Christmas season is upon us, I am wondering if you'd be interested in seeing the tools in my streamlined gift wrap arsenal? Or are you more of a just-use-a-giftbag-and-be-done-with-it wrapper? I'd be interested to know!

A quick summertime tour of the front yard.

Summertime here in the Pacific Northwest is always a beautiful time of the year, and being home so much more due to the pandemic has allowed me to appreciate my outdoor spaces at my home even more than I usually do.

The hydrangea are enjoying their fourth summer and, as you can see, they have really gone crazy with blooms! 

If you look at the far right end of my front yard, you can see how the arborvitae have also grown, and are providing some nice privacy for my laundry room door. 

 

If you look way back to when I first landscaped in 2017 you can see the door to the laundry room and my front door kind of created a duplex home look!...and you can also see in this photo just how much the arborvitaes have grown...!

Here is the current laundry room stoop area....one of my favorite little spots...

I love looking at the growth in the yard over the past four years. I've done it all in stages, and each year everything looks better than the year before.

It makes me smile each and every day.

Yep, this is truly my happy place.

A little addendum to the kitchen verse project.

After I posted yesterday it hit me that I hadn't shared the other two top quotes that were competing for the coveted space up there on the kitchen wall. (I am not even sure you are interested, but...well, maybe you wondered about them.

The three quotes were:

1. Nothing brings people together like good food (which you already know I chose)
2. Food tastes better in small houses
3. Annoying the cook will result in smaller portions

It really came down to the first two verses, as the third quote kinda made me chuckle, and I ended up printing it on a chalkboard background and putting it in a metal frame on my bookshelf in the corner of the kitchen.

Actually, framing quotes, verses, or song lyrics is a fun little touch to most any room. I buy cute little frames at thrift shops and yard sales and save them to use later, either in my own home, or to sell in my booth space. I have my wifi password in a tiny frame on a night table in the guest room, and a fun verse in the bathroom.....the possibilities are endless, and not only is it a sweet touch to a room, it costs next to nothing!

Anyway, as you already know, I ended up choosing the first verse, because it resonated with me most.

There are so many great quotes out there, for both dining rooms and kitchens. Now that I work in real estate and tour people (when there isn't a pandemic going on) and I am surprised at how many quotes either on signs or directly on walls I see out and about.

Do you have a quote or verse in your kitchen or dining area? If so, what does it say? Inspire us!

Because done is better than perfect.

I think that's how the saying goes anyway.

It took me nearly until four o'clock yesterday to get motivated to tackle the painted verse up there on the kitchen wall. (I am the queen of procrastination.) As I was outlining each chalked letter with a sharpie marker (this works great when you are going to be painting your letters black) Ralph wandered in to the kitchen from his afternoon post on the sofa where he watches Judge Judy each day, and looked up at my work.

He then offered up his opinion on my project, as he asked me why I wasn't simply painting my verse on a board, which could be easily removed when I got tired of it. As I explained my reasons (boards sometimes warp, it would be thick, it's a different look, yada yada...) I felt a wave of panic that maybe I was making a mistake up here on the ladder, and I would be spending three days trying to color match this oil based paint in the kitchen to cover my sharpie marker letters up.

In the end, I advised him to get back out to his beloved Judith Sheindlin and leave the wall art to me. Of course, he was just trying to help, (as he said no less than three times) and he did raise some good points, but I was too far in to turn back now. I finished outlining all of the letters and stood back to study things.

(Can I say here that this stay-home quarantine thing brings a whole new meaning to quality together time?)

It took me an hour long break before I got back up on the ladder to begin painting in my letters, both because the job seemed enormous, and daunting, and part of me was worried that Ralph was right. Worried that possibly when I finished I just might be calling Home Depot for a one by twelve foot board for curbside pickup so I could start over and cover the wall art.

After painting about a third of the letters, my creative advisor popped back into the kitchen and, much to my relief, (and sheer delight!) he gave his seal of approval in a tone that sounded more than a little surprised at how much he liked it. 

 

I took two more substantial breaks during the evening (to visit with a couple of friends on the phone, but mainly to snack.) and wrapped things up before the ten o'clock news. Al in all, it was about a three to four hour project, had I done it start to finish in one time slot.

 

It isn't perfect, and I have some touch up to do this morning, here and there. Also, I am still contemplating whether or not to add a little scrolly do-dad at each end, but for now, it is done, and I think we both like it. A lot.

As you may have guessed, my kitchen project is still not completed.

I think it's this whole quarantine thing....you know, when I have plenty of available time, I seem to accomplish less. I tell myself I'm going to do something and then get sidetracked (ehem...usually by food) and then tell myself that I will do it in a little while, because, after all, I'm not actually going anywhere.

(Insert long, full-tummy sigh here.)

Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I had gotten the sign template chalked to my wall, and then...well, I had second thoughts. I kind of freaked out, thinking it looked a little crooked. (That would be horrible, because covering black lettering on a creamy white wall would take about 27 coats of white paint.) I put some blue painters tape up there and realized it is in fact pretty straight.

Then, I had second second thoughts. What if it's just too much, up there? And, there is about fifteen inches on either end of the quote, which looks kind of too roomy up there to me.

I think.

I could add some sort of little doo-hickey on either end, I suppose. Or, I could start over, and make the quote one piece of paper longer.

Ugh.

Maybe I should make a quick quesadilla and ponder it for a bit.

Midway through a dining room update (or, how I continued to avoid completing the kitchen soffit project)

I bet you thought you might be seeing a fun verse painted on my kitchen soffit today. (If you didn't know me well...) 

Here's the thing.

I have the sign template for my kitchen project printed, taped together, and even chalked the backside of it. (Yay!) I have the six foot ladder open and standing in the not-so-large kitchen. (Thank God Ralph is laid back and just maneuvers around it to get into the fridge, never mentioning it...) I even have my blue painters tape hanging in strips all along the soffit, ready for me to get the twelve foot long template taped up in place. 

But I'm having trouble getting started because I'm afraid it will be crooked somehow, and that would bother me to the ends of time. I'm also concerned that my chalk won't be visible enough for me to see to paint my letters. 

Okay, those are excuses, and I am going to tackle this project today.

For sure.

Over the weekend I was messing with taxes (ugh.) and unemployment, (there are no words to express the frustration here, but please know, if you are going through this too, I am feeling your pain.) and I ended up not being able to sleep, so  at about 3:00 a.m. on Friday night (Saturday morning actually.) I made a cute new table runner of sorts for the dining room table.

That's when I realized I have not updated you all on my dining room.

Remember my old dining room set? (A fantastic Craigslist find that Ralph picked up in a torrential down-pouring of rain for me....) Well, the chair seats had seen better days, and all of them were needing to be redone with new stuffing or foam or whatever upholsterers do, and I was starting to feel like it was looking a little outdated....okay, maybe not outdated exactly, but not quite the look I was wanting any longer. 

I fund a new-to-me table last summer, and it sat out on the covered patio out back waiting patiently to have chairs to go with it, and it's base to be painted a weathered white. One day I found chairs (craigslist agin) that I thought I loved, and a friend helped me make the swap in the dining room happen. (Ralph didn't know I even had any of these plans in the works, because, as I shared in my last post...man decor opinions.)

Well, it turned out that I am not a modern farmhouse girl at heart, (I see that clearly now) and the chairs were too new looking (if that's a thing) for me. By this point I had sold the sweet cottage dining set to a family that had six kids and were beyond thrilled to find a dining set with three leaves and eight chairs. (It truly warmed my heart when the guy picking it up shared how excited his wife was to be able to fit the entire family at their new-to-them dining set!)

Well, Ralph adjusted to the new look and I searched craigslist and facebook marketplace like a crazy woman, not quite sure what I was looking for. As luck would have it, I remembered that my daughter had six thrifted-from-craigslist parsons chairs (originally from Ballard Designs) that she had stashed out in her big ol' shop, because she had replaced them with more modern farmhouse style chairs in her home. (Which looks great, by the way...) 

Anyway, long story getting longer here, you guessed it. I called her and asked to buy her chairs. She wouldn't take my money, but gave them to me. Ohmygosh, so mush more me. More us. I loved the look, and Ralph loved the comfortable seating.

There was one teeny tiny issue. My daughter had washed the slipcovers, which were linen, and when I put them on, they had all shrunk. (They now are capri length slipcovers.) Ralph of course had not noticed this. Either that, or he thought this was yet another shabby decor look he didn't fully understand and thought better than to ask about. At any rate, we have new slipcovers coming, because they were on a huge sale, (Yay!) and so I feel like we are rounding the corner to the dining room area coming together in a cozy cottage style sort of way that I love.

The table base still is waiting to be painted, because for half a minute I decided balck might be good, since my hutch is black. (Turns out it looks to modern for me, just like those last chairs I bought...) so it will be getting a white paint refresh later this week (I hope) right after I complete the kitchen sign job.

Do you get tired of things, or rooms, and feel like they need a refresh sometimes? Or do you like the secure feeling of home, where things look the way you like and never feel the need to fix what isn't broken? I'd love to hear about it!

Oh!...back to my table runner creation. (I had nearly forgotten that this is what my post is about...) I had seen this idea done on this girl's instagram account, and I thought it looked cute; a little cottage mixed with some whimsy. I had a bunch of strips of shredded chenille and cotton that I was doing a garland project with, and I simply grabbed few pieces and tied some knots. I like it, and I love that it was basically a free design project! (I think I will love it even more after my slipcovers arrive and my table base is white)

What do you think? 

Getting ready to (finally) start a log-time coming home project...

I know I have posted before about my concerns around having too many quotes and sayings signs around my home, and I am desperately hoping this latest project won't be taking me over that edge.

As you may recall, I have a yet-to-be-updated-or-renovated 1950's cottage kitchen, (Complete with harvest gold range, thankyouverymuch) and I've made it work for us. It's got a cozy feel, thanks to the black and white stick on tile checker board floor my fantastic son-in-law put in for me over five years ago. (In case you're wondering, those stick on tiles are incredibly affordable, hold up great, and you can pull up a damaged one and replace it lickety-split, if need be!)I also adore my bookcase full of thrifted and collected dishes and such...

....but there was one project I have been meaning to do since the week I moved in here. Above the front wall of cupboards is a soffit about 13 inches tall. It runs the entire thirteen feet wide up there above the cupboards and window, and it seemed to be screaming for...a quote.

(Do you agree?)

The reason it has taken me so long (besides the fact that I am always getting sidetracked with new projects and life....) was that I couldn't decide on the right quote. I narrowed it down to three of them, and then I pondered them.

For a few years.

Once I decided on the quote, I had to decide between a twelve foot long board with the sign painted on it, (Easy to take down if I tire of it) or to paint directly on the wall. I ended up deciding to paint right on the wall, as I feared a twelve foot long board would be a. heavy,(Aaaah! What if it fell?!) and b. could warp potentially after a time, and would then hang wonky. (I am a nut about envisioning worst-case-scenarios...in all areas of life.)

Next, I needed to choose the right font.

And decide if it should be all upper case, or both lower and upper case.

Ugh. See what I mean? So many decisions. (I know. I sound melodramatic, but, seriously, it had to be right the first time, because a do-over on this size of a sign would be unbearable for me.)

I decided (or so I thought) on a font choice, and printed out the twelve-pieces-of-paper sign template, and then decided the wording needed to be all uppercase. I then had to re-print the entire template again, of the back sides of my first template.

By now you are seeing why it has taken me five plus years to get to this stage of my project.

I need to interject here that, as I was typing this post, Ralph came into my workroom and asked what my post was about. When I shared this with him, (he had no idea I had been planning this project, let alone for five years, because...man opinion.) He then gave me his entirely unsolicited said man opinion on my quotes, making various facial expressions (from frowns to total distain) and a couple of eye rolls at the quotes that had made the top three, and wrapped things up by offering up some alterations and re-wording for my chosen quote.  (See before reason I didn't feel the need to tell him about my project...)

Thank God I didn't show him my font choice.

Anyway.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be dreary and cloudy here, and that is the absolute perfect weather to tackle this project! That kind of weather puts me in a nesting mood, and I am pretty sure I will be in my full and total glory working on my painted wall sign. (Also, it is Saturday. At least I think it is, and this feels like a Saturday kind of project.)

Wish me luck!

(Are you like that? Does the weather inspire you to do certain projects?)

Because more is WAY more when it comes to birthdays.

I'm of the mind set that everyone deserves to feel oh, so special at least one day a year, and I think that a lot of folks would agree with me.

Just before all of the stay-home-stay-safe situation happened, I received a birthday banner order from a friend for her daughter's twenty first birthday. They were planning a girls trip out of town, and she wanted to decorate the hotel room with oodles and toodles of banners. We got to talking and ended up adding goodie bags for the plane ride, and some cookies too.

We discussed basic ideas, and came up with a color way. By this point, my mind was already whirling and twirling, and I could hardly wait to get started! The big banner was the inspiration point.

From there, I created several smaller banners to coordinate. Some were adorned with little bits of extra bling, and others were matted against a matching coral rose printed background paper. I was so smitten with the way they all came out and complimented each other that I ended up deciding to add them to my etsy shop.

The sweet gift bags were fun to create as well. I used a matte gold tulle instead of tissue for my friend to use to peek-a-boo out of the tops of the bags....

Next up, it was time to bake some birthday cookies. (You know how I love to bake!) I made my signature never-fail sugar cookies recipe and my buttercream frosting.

I tinted some of my buttercream a soft coral rose color, and added little sprinkles here and there after I frosted each cookie. I'm completely in my happy place when I am decorating cookies, cakes, or cuppy-cakes.

sigh It was a labor of love. 

While the frosting was setting up, I got a wild idea to individual cookie boxes for the girls...

...as well as a decorated to-go style box of cookies to snack on in the hotel room.

Ohmygosh, I had so much fun on this order!!!! I think I nailed it, when I say more is more when it comes to birthdays, don't you? I hope the birthday girl loved it too!

A housewarming gift for my green thumb friend. (And a sweet little freebie for you to download.)

Continuing with yesterday's I-am-so-ready-for-springtime-weather, I thought I'd share a housewarming gift basket I did a while back for a friend who is an incredible gardener. I'm sharing it because so many people think gifts have to be big and fancy, (and spendy) and that's not just not true. While I am a fan of the more-is-more train of thought in the entertaining and gift giving arena, I know that what people value is someone who gets them, and it really is the thought that counts.

I love gifts with a theme, and in this case, it was gardening. I picked up a sweet little lavender plant at the grocery store, and I wrapped it in brown kraft paper tied with a length of black and white gingham ribbon. (That alone takes things from ordinary to extraordinary, don't you agree?)

I grabbed a basket in the size I was after from my stash of thrifted baskets in my garage. (Keeping your eye out for cheap baskets and containers is always a great idea, because they come in handy for so many things!) I added some crumpled paper to the bottom of the basket, and covered the top third or so with landscape moss (I have a stash of that on hand at all times too, courtesy of my local Dollar Tree store...)

I placed my lavender plant in the basket, and headed to the kitchen to bake up some sugar cookies. I went with a bee skep and heart theme, as you can see, and once my frosting set up on the cookies, I placed some in a little to-go box. (I get these at my local Cash and Carry Restaurant Supply Store - so many uses for these!!!!)

I keep a pretty extensive list in an online folder of fabulous quotes, and if I can't find the perfect one in my list, I google it. For example, you can google housewarming or home quotes, or garden quotes. You get the idea...)

I had a great quote for housewarming gifts, and so I printed it on my computer, and then made a little tag to go along with it. I punched a hole in the skinny tag and fed a kabob skewer through it, as it seemed to me to be the perfect plant stake.

I tied more ribbon on the to-go box and tucked the quote under the ribbon. Once it was done, I placed it in the basket along side the lavender plant.

Cute, and easy, and fast, and thoughtful all at the same time.

I was thinking about the quote card yesterday, and it occurred to me that it could be used on pretty much anything. You can tuck it under ribbon as I did, or glue it to the front of a gift bag. You could punch a hole in it and hang it from a bouquet of fresh flowers from your own yard. (Or from the grocery store...) You could matte it to the front of a home made card. Heck, you could even print it out and frame it to keep for yourself....The possibilities are endless!

What would you do with this little quote and tag? Click here to download your very own copy, as a little prezzie from me to you, while we are all at home.

Stress relief.

I know.

We could all use some, right about now.

I was thinking just that yesterday, not long after the Governors of Oregon and Washington States declared Stay-at-Home orders. Feeling an odd mix of emotions; a sigh of relief that decisions were made, and a growing anxiety about the many unknowns still out there, (Health and loss-of-income to name the two big ones) and knowing friends and family are feeling the same way.

I was thinking about how I would like to make up some little unexpected surprises for friends, you know, just a as small diversion from all of the non-stop news, and the forced family bonding that is now going on day four, five, or six (seven?!) for some folks.

You may or may not know that I love to bake, and I love to create fun packaging for baked goods gifts, and my mind started to whirl, as it does sometimes.

Before I knew it, I had made a fresh new ginormous mess of paper clippings and strips of ribbon in my newly cleaned and organized workroom.

(Ugh. I knew that was gonna be short-lived.)

Anyway, one idea led to another, and after a while, my papercraft project landed me in the kitchen, baking up a batch of chocolate chip cookies at about 8:30 pm. (I think Ralph was happiest about this part of my frenzied activities for the evening.)

About this time it stuck me that maybe other kindred spirits out there felt the same way, and I decided to add my newest papercraft creations to my etsy shop to share with fellow bakers looking for cute cookie packaging. (Digital here and hardcopy here. ) Also, baking is my superpower, but if you're not a baker, you could still make someone's day with a sweet little boxed or bagged store bought treat you can mail to them, or leave on their porch!

Stay well and stay safe, my friends!

I

Because sometimes things are not really as they appear.

Okay, so this is a totally random post, but I discovered something recently and I figured if it was life changing for me, maybe some of you haven't ever thought of doing this either. (If you already know this trick, high five yourself for having a superior level of common sense, and skip reading today's post.)

You know how you get to the bottom of a tube of a face cream, or soap or lotion and you toss it in the wastebasket 'coz it's all gone?

Well, it's not.

(Whaaaaa...?!)

Nope.

Not by a long shot. (Sometimes there are as many as a week's worth or more applications of your cream or lotion!)

If you take a pair of scissors and cut your tube of whatever it is, you will find there is still quite a bit more product in that tube. (Seriously, the first time I tried this, I was stunned at the amount of product I had been tossing out.)

More than you'll use in one application, in fact.

What are you supposed to do you do then, you ask?

Simply put the top part of the tube back over the bottom, like a lid...

...and put your tube of product back in the medicine cupboard.

I know. Amazing, right? (And it seems so simple we all should have known to do this all along.)

Happy hump day, my friends! (By the way, if you're looking for a Rodan & Fields Skincare consultant, or want to become on, I'm your girl! Find my site here or shoot me a message!)