{Project 365} Day 31: Beautiful Blizzard

These are the times I love living where it snows...

 

...it was so beautiful on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project 365} Day 29: Aqua Scarf

I'm kinda digging scarves right now.  This one is a thrifted, square old lady scarf folded into a triangle with two ends tied together like a cowboy's handkerchief.  He, he!  It still had the paper label attached with its vintage print but no date.  Just goes to show that all things come back again...take a look at that aqua color.  Gorgeous!

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

Fall Beauty

Just one quick glance around and the beauty of fall assaults me...

 

 

I wake up every morning and see this tree changing before my eyes...what a lovely view!  Especially on sunny days...oh, how I need the sun!

Open window, no screen...much prettier and truer colors

Mums

 

Front step welcome

Lovely Bouquets

I'm thankful for the splashes of color found in our yard.  The men of the house have picked many a sweet bouquet to give away this spring...mostly to mama, but sometimes for others, too. 

Mmmm...makes me want to eat sherbert ice cream...

Settling In

Today marks one month since we've moved. It's been a full month, a good month, with settling in, an OBX beach vacation (Irene...grrr!), starting back into our homeschool routine, and getting ready to open my etsy shop again among just living life with family and friends. I can't say enough how blessed we are. How blessed we have been. Life is good and full. And, of course, God has been evident in all of it!

Beauty in our yard, beauty from the Lord...lots of lovely hydrangrea bushes! We trimmed them on Saturday...hope we didn't "ruin" them!

Lots of butterflies on our one third acre of suburban paradise...maybe we shouldn't rip out all the milkweed that is throughout the yard (from several years of landscaping neglect...). I love watching the butterflies.


Leaf collection and bark rubbing for science...we've had a good start to our year. Mike and I LOVE the main curriculum we're using this year!!! The boys especially like the science and geography. Elijah is our fabulous fourth grader, Luke is our spectacular second grader, Isaac is our charismatic kindergartener, and Sadie is my terrific teacher's assistant. I feel like I've gotten the "homeschool bug" back in my system and am excited about this year more so than the mini-slump I was in last year. Praying that we continue to have God honoring, productive, fun days ahead.

By the way, I love my new camera. Hoping to take an online course all about photography...capturing the everyday, simple joys of life with our family. (So go buy a doll...grin!)

Nothing can fully express how blessed we feel. None of this would be possible without our strong dependence on the Lord, our provider, the one who gives me grace to keep going strong, the one who has opened our eyes to see the good in our simple, sometimes mundane days. Blessed. So very blessed.

Can I say it again? Blessed, we are.

A Little Sadie Love With a New Camera

After months of hemming and hawing, I finally requested a check from paypal (from my etsy shop earnings) in order to purchase a dslr camera. I've been dreaming of owning one and getting all photographer-ish with it, but wow...it's a lot of money for one camera that I'm not even sure I'll be able to operate. And it won't fit in my pocket anymore like our "family" camera...Ha, ha! Guess I'll have to make a sweet camera strap cover out of vintage sheets, of course, to lug it around on my neck.

This isn't a particularly great picture, but after about six false starts, I got the camera to focus on my main object and blur out the rest. Please don't scoff at my improper use of terms and such, you photographic buffs! I'll learn someday!

I spent the next 30 minutes chasing after Sadie trying to capture her sweetness. Three decent pictures, another thirty deleted. Ha!


Don't ask Sadie to say, "Cheese!" because this is what you will get...

My sweet girl...love that sun bleached blonde hair!

Isaac just got home...pictures of my boys to come...

Thrifted Color

I'm not sure how wise it is for one to go to the thrift store to drop off unwanted items and since one is already at the thrift store to go inside to look for treasures...but that's how I roll! And, of course, treasures were there to be found!

I spotted this dresser over a month ago but at the time we were not selling or buying houses and I just didn't have space for it. Given that fact plus the $80 price tag, I walked away. But believe me, I kept thinking about that beauty!

Two weeks later I stopped at the store again. This time we knew we were buying a new house, but didn't have a buyer for our old house yet. In fact this was a trip to drop off items so I figured that Mike would be a little "put out" to say the least if I showed up at home with a new dresser. But the price was down to $40! Oh my...I almost caved!

Another week went by and by God's good grace, we had a buyer for our old home! So when I saw this lovely lady still waiting for me I snatched her up! Well, not really snatched because she's weighty...more like skip-ran to the checkout while dragging Sadie by the arm to buy her before someone else got the same idea! Would you believe I paid just $25 for her?! She is missing a few jewels on the front, but she's sturdy with lovely lines that will distress well once painted. Oh, our TV will be sitting pretty when we move to our new home!

Today's adventure brought in some colorful finds...

A pretty handmade apron made from upholstery weight fabric. It looks super sweet with my aqua blue sundress. I feel so June Cleaver-ish.

77 patches of knitted goodness and warmth bordered with green for $2.98...have I mentioned how much I'm in love with green recently?

I am.

Enamoured.

I've been watching for just the right blanket with a large mix of colors. Not too brown and orange. Not too clashy. I've had one pictured in my head with black borders. But oh, the green!!! This one is perfect! There are two little spots that need some repair in the "seams." (I know nothing about knitting or knitting terms, but it is obvious to me that I can make these two repairs on my own...maybe not "correctly" but repaired none the less.)

Finally, I found a bag of 100% crewel wool for $2.99. I'm not sure what I'll do with it or exactly what crewel embroidery is, but the colors were lovely and bright! At the very least, we can play around with it!

Color. Happy Sigh.

Pink

I need color in my life. Some days I need it more than others. Enter pink tulips. $5.99 from Wegmans.

Well worth it, don't you think?

Thrifty Treasures

I feel like I hit the jackpot today at the thrift store! Do I say that every time I post about my thrifty findings?!

This tablecloth is in MINT condition ($1.99). I almost died when I saw it...died of happiness, that is! The tray is not vintage but it is a wonderful shabby chic floral perfect for Sadie ($0.69). Bananagrams...WHAT???!!! Someone got RID of Bananagrams!!! We LOVE this game ($o.99)! No joke!!! It retails for $14.99. Who cares that we already own it...now we own two! It might work out really well though because Sadie and Isaac like to "make words" and sing ABC's while we're playing. Now they have their own set.

A sweet white dish for soap, my earrings, Sadie's hair pretties, Bananagram tiles, etc. ($0.49). The vintage tablecloth underneath is 60" round with a fabulous mustard colored lacy edging ($1.99). Might cut it up for a vintage sheet quilt I'm hoping to make using fabrics I find. I've got a good little collection already!

I also found several brightly colored Hawaiian shirts to make a beach/picnic blanket quilt for this summer...or maybe it'll end up on one of the boy's beds. A wool sweater to be felted for coffee cozies or rice bag cover. A bursting-full bag of marbles for the boys ($0.99) with three shooters! And a few pillowcases...one particularly sweet pale yellow one with embroidered flowers and a soft, cotton lace edging ($0.69).

I have had a love of vintage items for some time now...especially floral hankies...but recently have been inspired by reading amazing blogs about all sorts of reclaimed items. Especially sheets and wool sweaters...oh, the projects I have stored up in my brain. Now, to find the time to complete them all!!! HA!

Seriously considering taking a doll making hiatus for late spring and summer to focus on MY projects. It gives me shivers just thinking about it...summer break and lazy days to create!!!

Home for Sale

Our lovely home is for sale. I haven't written much about our search over the past 6 months...maybe I haven't written anything...but it's something we've been pursuing. It's been exciting, heart-wrenching, frustrating, irritating, sad, etc. We toured a house at the beginning of December, both agreed 100% to place an offer on that house, the seller accepted our contingent offer, and we started working like crazy to get our house on the market.

It's only been on the market for less than a week and already this has been a roller coaster of emotions. One the one hand it is so exciting to think about our family in the new house, how we might function a little more smoothly with extra space, having a little more privacy around our house, and Mike having a shorter commute to work to name a few things.

On the other hand, our current home is the only home my children have known, the home where all our babies have been loved and nurtured into toddlerhood and beyond, the home that we love after many years of elbow grease, sweat, hate, tears, and $$$. This home holds our memories.

Half of the time, I find myself wishing that someone would just come along and snatch up this gem so we can move on. The other half, I find myself thinking about all the "negatives" others have brought up to us moving...farther from church and summer garden, farther from free and paid babysitters, farther for grandparents to visit, etc. I am a people pleaser at times and I hate to disappoint others. It makes me think we are making a poor decision.

And yet, I know that Mike and I made a decision based on what is best for our family, we've considered all those "negatives", and still felt a peace from the Lord to pursue this new house. The new house is a little over 15 minutes from our current home. We're not moving across the country! When I eliminate all those voices, my soul is at peace. I'm not anxious. Stressed and chaotic at times...yes. Not anxious. I am confident the Lord will work out all the details if this sale and purchase is in His will.

Until that decision is made perfectly clear, we wait and scrub and organize and paint. And we live. We enjoy. We make memories. We don't waste the day, waiting for another day and what might be. We hope. We trust in the Lord. And we just wait.

Rediscovered Quilts

Rediscovered these two wall quilts in the crazy, sorting process of getting our house ready to sell (that's a whole different story that I'll share once our house is listed and I have a minute to breathe.) Took pictures in case they get packed away again for a time. Taking a minute to sit...something I don't think I've really done all day...and staring at my lovely log cabin quilt hanging on the wall.

folk art flowers - 2006 (?)

log cabin - 2005 (?) - maybe that's why people always say to label your quilts!

I have this great embroidered sign (also rediscovered today!) that says, "Blessed are the children of quilters, for they shall receive the quilts." Ha, ha! Maybe I'll hang it in my *new* sewing room...

Ugly 80's Wall Decor Transformed

Good-bye country goosey, dried floral, peachy wall decor! I picked up the picture below for $1.99 at the thrift store because I liked the frame and the matting. And I had a plan...

You see, I HEART vintage floral hankies. I own 50 or so, all picked up here and there for 50 cents to $1.00 each. And they sit in a cute, little suitcase waiting for me to do something with them. Yet, I don't want them to get ruined. Imagine that, in my house of rowdy boys...

As you can well imagine, all my pent-up floral fantasies and prettiness is making a grand appearance in Sadie's room. Except that recently, I've been feeling like it's okay to have girly things around the rest of the house even though the boys outnumber the girls. Old floral plates and silver platters are hung on the walls, pretty curtains are hung, and now my newest "pretty" is hanging in the living room.

All because I bought an ugly 80's picture and transformed it.

Vintage LOVE.

Blue and White Loveliness

Oh my! I got a good deal today...38 pieces...$25 for all the loveliness below. LOVE!!! LOVE!!! LOVE!!!

Three little plum colored saucers

Ooh...anyone want to come for brunch? I have luncheon plates and teacups & saucers for six!

A different pattern and a variety of pieces. I'm thinking they'll work well for a grouping on the wall. I LOVE using plates as wall art.

But the sugar bowl, gravy boat, and creamer might just have to be used...