Tom

I've been known to buy myself cards. I LOVE cards. They inspire me, crack me up and just speak to me. When I saw this one I knew it was for me.


I grew up with a mean rooster. His name was Tom and every time we walked out of the house we had to carry a broom. This was for survival...so we could get to the car or wherever without him attacking us with his scary talon things. My dad kicked him once (in self defense) and it blinded him in one eye. So after that fiasco he got even meaner, if that was possible. Until one day someone ran over him in the driveway. Shocker...anyway that is my twisted childhood pet story:)

This is the inside of the card. Isn't that hilarious??! I'm not much of a morning person...or a late night person for that matter. Just ask Jeanne and Lissa:) Anyway unfortunately my Chicks are. So every morning when I wake up they are all over me; pecking me with questions, singing songs...talk, talk, talking!! Now don't get me wrong they are just precious, but I need it quiet first thing.

You would think that I'd hate roosters after my childhood experience with one, but on the contrary I find them adorable. I have several scattered around my house.

This one is from Tracy Porter designs. LOVE her! It's pulling our Christmas cards:)

I've had this wall hanging for years. Can you tell I love farmy stuff?? It hangs right outside the Chicks' rooms.

I bought this tray at an antique store a while ago.

Finally to round out my rooster collection, Tara sent me my very own flock recently:) Isn't that funky and fun?? Reminds me of Tom;)

Do you have any fun collections?

Have a blessed day.

Junk Market Bonanza

On Thursday, my friend Kristine and I took off for the third annual Junk Market Bonanza. I was soooo excited. The last two years yielded some great finds and I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. Poor Kristine:) Seriously I had to take some deep breaths and pray to calm down!

This painting was really interesting. The artist stepped out of the box with real jewelry and glitter giving the woman a 3-d look. Very inspiring.





Love the idea of painting pumpkins for display. If nothing else I got some really great inspirations.




Aren't these chickens adorable?? I love chickens. I think the set was $185.00. It seems that a lot of things were just too expensive this year, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood to spend a lot of money.





Loved these pillows! I've been seeing these around on various blogs and I just adore them. But I'm thinking I could make them myself. If anyone knows how to do this let me know:)





Me taking pictures of everything. Kristine texting her husband to ask permission to buy something. Of course he said YES:) I thought it was so sweet that first of all she asked him, and secondly that he said yes. I usually don't ask...because I know what the answer will be;) I did this once and his text response was "Nice, but no." I have good judgement, so that should be enough right?? Big purchases are the exception.




Framing letters in those cheap, gold $1.00 store frames and then spelling out something. Love that idea.







I did buy this little glass jar filled with scrabble pieces for $5.00. I thought it was cute.

Love this colorful display of yellows and red. Great quilt and the mums...just getting me all excited for Fall.

Last but not least, my treasure of the day. I bought three of these buckets. They are in my studio now. I'm thinking of changing the words to TRY, CREATE, BEGIN...Ha!! I need all the encouragement I can get. Overall it was a fun day. Can't wait for next year:)

Have a blessed day.

It's the Little Things, part 3

This is part 3 of my "little things" series. Our master bath is just for my honey and I. It has various pics of us during the years and special mementos. The tin sign above used to have scrap pieces of paper on it that said "start blog" for me. Amazing that I had it on there for so long before I finally just did it. I don't know what I was waiting for:)

This is the view from my bathtub. I love baths, especially during the long cold winter months. I just lay there and look at the life we have built together.

In the first picture of us on the left we were only 16!! I love remembering those days. It seems like a million years ago.

I love this mirror. I got it at one of my favorite shops back in Illinois. The little rocks are from various beach trips and the little clay bunny I made in a pottery class.

What little "things" at home make you happy?

Have a blessed day.

My "Studio"

I found these cute clothe letters at the General Store this week. I had a coupon on account of it being my birthday month and I just had to use it right?? Anyway they were just what I needed to spruce up my "studio" wall:)

{Before}

{After}

We are going to add some track lighting above my table, so I can see better. This area is in the basement of our house. There is a window but we only get afternoon sun. So I think more lighting will help alot!

My storage. These bookshelves were in Little Chick's room and they were just too big and black, so I moved them to the basement and they were a perfect solution to hide all of my crafting stuff.

I've shown this before. I got this bench at a flea market years ago. It was sooo ugly. I found this pillow at Anthropology and knew I had to redo the bench to match. I sewed the cushion and it's reversible. It is really cute now. I just love it.

Have a blessed day.

Kristine's House

My friend Kristine has the most quirky decorating style. I just love it. Since I feel that how we decorate kind of reflects who we are...I would describe her as natural, classy, easy going, a little glam and definitely creative. This is their dining room, which used to be the living room. They added an addition which was the best idea ever. It really transformed her house. I love the farm house table and the pheasants on the mantel are so cool.

See that rake up on the wall? That is just the coolest idea for a glass rack. I love it and she has the same backsplash in her kitchen as I do. Hmmm wonder where she got that idea??

You know that hallway that is at the top of the stairs in every two-story house? The one that is a nightmare to decorate. This is just the greatest idea. She found this ladder at a flea market or something and hung it sideways and then tacked photos to it. I love this idea. The piece above the ladder is something she salvaged somewhere and then hung on the wall...really inventive.
She made this coffee table. There used to be glass in it and it broke and then she just reinvented the whole thing. Genius!
Kristine uses lots of nature in her decorating. When we first became friends we went antiquing and I hadn't seen her house yet and she bought antlers and pinecones. I seriously thought she was a little nutty. But she manages to put them in her house and they look sooo good.
She is able to decorate the tops of things really well too. I find this really challenging. I love the big stripped vase. I think she said she got it at Pier 1.
Again genius with the nature...feathers, pinecones and grapevine.
She had this one dark little corner and decided to hang all of these little mirrors with a small lamp and voila, problem solved.

I was with her when she bought this mirror. It was on our first "date". Again I thought crazy:) What's with the big gaudy mirror, but I love it in her house. It fits and it's really cool. She got it for $10.00, so bargain to boot.

Love this piece too. It's in the dining room. She completely refinished it.

So there's the tour. I hope you found her home as creative and inspiring as I did.

Have a blessed day!

The Prize

I had a million things I could have done today...should have done, but instead I went antiquing with my friend Kristine.

We had so much fun. With map in hand we took off for uncharted territory and found "The Prize" an antiquing event sponsored by one of my favorite stores Hunt and Gather.

(Kristine with scalp tingler thingy in her hair)

(My 5 year old "Little Chick" took this pic)

After oohing and ahing over all kinds of unique old things, we went on to another favorite store Patina, where we found some truly cool stuff. It was a fun Friday indeed.

Have a blessed day!