Quote of the week

" The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Albert Einstein

Knit Dish Cloths

These are the BEST. We have cut down tremendously on our paper towel usage with these. I use them for all our cleaning needs. My grandmother knits them. I'm stock piling them for future use. She uses hers for taken baths. They are easy to clean. Throw them in the washing machine and add soap and a little bit of bleach. We can make a roll of paper towels last in our house now for over a month.

Fairy Houses for Birthday Party

My best friends little girl was having a fairy party and asked for some suggesting for a take home craft project. I suggested making Fairy Houses. Here is some of the stuff I came up with. We held the houses together with hot glue. I'll post photos of the fairy Houses when she sends them to me.
Scrapes of fabric.

Satin ribbon.

Each child had their own bag of natures little treasures.

Tiger-Lily leaves, sticks, acorns, pine cones, & oak leaves.

Sunflower Leaves

This was a house I made with her daughter. She had a great time with the glitter glue and fake flower petals. The petals and fabric were put on with glue stick.

Quote of the week

" Attitude is the minds paintbrush. It can color any situation."
Author unknown

Fall in New England

Fall is my favorite time of year here in New England. It's a great time of year to be inspired to create. This is the time of year I like to say I get my pond back. From Mid May to about now our view is blocked from all the leaves on the trees.
The leaves floating on the water remind me of a beautiful warm quilt. Maybe that will give me some incentive to do my first real quilt this winter. I have several strips I have started in the past but have not gotten very far with them. I think this winter will be different.

The colors in this tree are the same colors you would find in my home. I love the Harmony and Peacefulness that natural greens and yellows give off. I get a lot of my ideas from being outdoors. I know I haven't shown much of my art or crafts. That is all going to change this fall. I'm finishing off my studio this week. Hopefully I can fit everything in this small but great room. I'll post pictures this week of the progress. I find I need to be organized for me to create and right now that is not the case. I have craft stuff, sewing stuff, art supplies, scrap booking material , books and magazines every where.

I love the colors that these flowers show. The bees are even busy getting ready for winter. There must have been 2 to 3 different kinds of bees flying around these flowers while I was taken pictures.

Even though it is my favorite time of year, I'm sad to see my garden go. We had a killer frost last night. I had picked the last of are crops this weekend. I know the carrots look small but they tasted soooo good. I sauteed them in olive oil, kosher salt,cracked black pepper and 1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar. I sauteed them till they were slightly tender. We tend to eat our veggies on the raw side. Hope your all enjoying your final harvest.

Have Fun & Enjoy

Grosgrain: Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY!!!!

You need to check out this sight. What a beautiful red jacket. She is very creative and all the cloths she makes are beautiful. Check out her sight it's wonderful.

Inspiring Quotes Weekly

Starting this week I will be posting a weekly inspirational quote along side one of my photographs. I hope you find them as uplifting as I do. ENJOY. Feel free to leave a comment with any of your favorite quotes that uplift you .

Inspirational Quote of the week

" Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."

Albert Einstein ( 1879-1955)

The Country Fair

Family Tradtion in our family is going to The Deerfield Fair. To give you an idea how far our family goes back, my grandfather use to lead the parade on opening day back around the mid 1930's. They no longer have the parade but they do still have animals, entertainment, horse shows, and the buildings where local folks show off there country skill. Quilting, crafting, canning, baking, flowers, and vegetables. Bring your family to a local fair & make it a tradition. These can be great memories that last a life time.

This is my favorite building on the fair grounds. Inside is how people lived back in the early 19th century and earlier. The barn is filled with old farming equipment.

First thing we do when we get to the Fair is go to the art and craft buildings and see what we got for a ribbon. Shorty was so excited to see he got 1st and 2nd on his pictures. Great gram also did well in her classess. She knits and sews. I didn't have a enough time this year to enter but maybe next year. I missed not doing it this year.

What every child wants to do at the fair. RIDES!

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR AT FAIR. Now's the time to start planning projects to enter next year.

Maybe next year I'll enter my Strawberry Jam and Art work.

Have Fun

That Time of Year

FALL IS OUR FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR
Show your Scottish pride at the Highland Games. Lots of music, dancing, and of course The Games. Loon Mountain provides the perfect back drop for the gathering of the Clans.

Musicians from Scotland and Canada perform under this giant tent.

The Highland Games takes place in September at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire. This is truly a wonderful family event that can be enjoyed by all generations. My son really enjoyed watching the tossing of the Caber. He got to try out some 17th century children's games. Find your Clan at Clan village where you can reconnect to your past and heritage. Lots of vendors providing products you can only find in Europe or Canada.

Cake Idea for Your adventurer

My son wanted a Indiana Jones cake for his Birthday this year.
I used the following receipe for the cake and the frosting.
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter or margine
1 3/4 cuprs of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
In another large bowl beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla.Add eggs one at a time.
Add dry mixture and milk, Alternate between the two. Pour into pan. I used 13x9x2 inch baking
pan.
Grease and lightly flour the pan before pouring batter in.
Bake at 375' for 30 to 35 mintues.
Cool cake in pan on rack for 10 mintues before removing. Cool cake thoroughly before frosting.

Frosting
1/3 cup of butter
4 1/2 cups of powered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
milk
food coloring

Beat butter till fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar. Slowly add 1/4 cup of milk and vanilla.
Add rest of sugar.Add more milk if needed for frosting consistency. Add food coloring.

I used twine tied to tooth picks. I put the frosting on the twine so it would resemble vines. I mixed yellow, red, and blue to make the base of the cake. For the vines I used green mixed with some of the base frosting. I purchased the figures at a local cake shop.

Images of a Little Boys Summer

Images of my little boys Summer. It's the end of the summer and he's not such a little boy anymore. The summer went way to fast. School has already started. I'll look back on these pictures during the middle of the Winter we are getting our 10th snow storm and there is 3feet of snow out our windows. Father and Son

Summer Toys

Time to pick and display!

Get to enjoy the fruit of all our labors. They won't last long in our house.

Show off your Spring and Summer Flowers.

This is a great time of year to cut some fresh flowers and show them off in a unique container.

I love using old water cans!

Recycle your glass vases with your own flowers, or return them to the florist if your flowers came from them. They will appreciate it and it's one less thing in our land fills.

Free flowers from the road side or my garden are the best.

Impatients never seem to disappoint. My grandmother has always grown big beautiful Impatients. Her secret is to water them both morning and night. They also don't like a lot of sun.

I also like to use the following to arrange flowers in:

• Mason jars
• Old crocks
• An old wash bucket
• An old boot or shoe
• Mini maple syrup jars
• jelly jars
• baby food jars

Get creative with your flowers.

Have Fun!

Inexpensive Window Boxes

I finally got my window boxes. We've lived here for 5 years and I have always wanted window boxes on the front of the house. I love looking at houses with beautiful over flowing window boxes. My husband was worried about damage that the water might cause to the house. I came up with an idea that puts the boxes far enough away from the house that their should not be any damage.

I got all the material from the Mill Store. The unfinished boxes with plastic liners were only $14 a piece. Most window boxes I looked at were $75 and up. The brackets were $5.00 a piece. This was a very inexpensive project that added a lot of character to the house.I originally wanted to buy antique brackets but I couldn't find enough that matched. I needed 8 brackets. I have four windows.

First thing I did to prepare the boxes was:

1. Drilled about 30 holes in the bottom of each box


2. Sand the boxes before painting


3. Primed the boxes


4. Used exterior paint ( I used 2 coats of left over paint from the house trim)


5. Re drill the holes (paint can clog the them)


6. I cut huge holes in the plastic liners so they would drain easily


7. Placed one layer of newspaper on the bottom of the liner.


8. Fill with potting soil and compost.


9. Fill with plants. ( Choose filler flowers( I used pink Becopia) Usually small buds, trailing flowers & vines( Vinca or Potato Leaf as an example) and then a main flower ( I used ruffled Petunia)
   

I placed the brackets on the house with the long side faced up. The window boxes sit right up to the end of the bracket. ( I wanted a 2 to 3 inch gap between the house and the window box. )Once the flowers fill in you really don't notice the gap. The window boxes were drilled to the bracket from underneath.

Notice the Whimsical bug. This was from the Kith & Kin Studios a few years back. My sister-n-law designed the wings and I designed and painted the body. We had them in all kinds of playful colors. Someday I'll post the Fat Fairies we made. They are adorable.
You can really change the look of your house with this project. Next month I'm going to replace the summer flowers with Mums and Decorative Cabbage, and this winter I will have Holly berry, mixture of greens and red berries.

Have fun with them.

Snowball Effect of Home Projects

Shorty really enjoyed helping out. He told my dad "he couldn't wait to rip the carpet out because he was a junk yard dog." My son. I Love Him. He was a great help. We paid him in baseball cards for all his hard work.


Soon this Island will be gone and an old table will replace it.

We have been very busy getting ready to put in wide pine flooring. As with any project; it seems to grow. Putting in the floor means:

1. Paint the walls, because the rooms open up into each other, it means more rooms get painted.


2. Floor trim has to come up and all the other trim has to get painted


3. Island in the middle of the kitchen has to come out.


4. Every thing in the Island has get packed up.


5. Finish the large library reference table that will serve as the Island in the Kitchen. (Salvage yard burnt down a month ago, so now we have to find another place that sells old wood.)


6. Need to match up old wood to make a few missing draws on the table.


7. Try and match up old paint we liked. ( Didn't happen, so I had to rethink the colors in the hallway. Three trips to the paint store and a couple re dos on the walls. We finally ended up with a harmony of color we're happy with.


8. We now have to add a chair rail because I wanted to use both the paint colors I picked for the hallway. (Hubby is a very Patience man. I love you Honey).


9. And it all has to be done before Shorty goes back to school.

The floor goes in this weekend so I will not be blogging very much this week. A lot to do for just a floor! Has this happened to you? When I was doing Interior Design I would tell clients to be prepared for these headaches. I need to listen to my own advise now. We now are living out of one room . ARRGGGHH!

Here are a few pictures of my faux finish I did. The color is a happy accident. I wasn't sure how I would like it . This is about all the creating I'm going to get to do for a while. Though it was fun to play in the paint.

I know it will be ALL worth it when it DONE!

This was the first color I painted. We thought it was a little to bright, though my son loved it. So while hubby was at work I thought I would try to do a faux finish.

I had some glaze left over from a table I worked on a while ago. It was a dark brown. I used a rag. I had another rag that I used to blot up excess glaze. At the very end I got the rag damp and went over the wall. I didn't like it. Then I had a little paint left over from the original hallway color. I put this on with a damp rag. I feathered out any hard edges. I wasn't sure if I liked it yet. This is when Shorty and I went to the paint store to buy more paint. We bought two shades lighter from what we had put on the wall.

<
p>When we got home, the wall had dried. I Loved how it looked.
Then I moved on to the hallway. Two paint colors and a roll of painters tape later I was finished. That's when hubby came home and I told him we were going to have a chair rail. (Like I said , he is very patience.)
Have a great week & Have Fun!