A prim cup of coffee

Mmmm, the wonderful smell of coffee being brewed. It takes me back to my childhood. I remember my mom making coffee in one of these stove top perculators every morning. Maybe that is why I enjoy coffee so much today. I found this 8 cup perculator in one of my favorite antique stores. I painted a sweet autumn design by Terry French on it. I finished it with a prim tag, a vintage measuring spoon, a rusty bell and a strip of homespun. Fall is my favorite time of year and with the heat baking us here in my area, I could almost feel the crisp cool breeze of fall blowing while I painted this. I have added this item to my Etsy shop. Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to sign up for my giveaway. Pin It Now!

Monday Market Place on Tuesday

I’m a day late for the Monday Marketplace so this is Monday Marketplace on Tuesday. I want to introduce you to a great artisan who recently joined The Old Farmhouse Gathering Etsy team. Her name is Mary Jane and her Etsy shop is “Log Cabin Memories”. I am sharing with you an interview Mary Jane recently did for the OFG team. Along with the interview are some photos from the great selections she offers in her shop. Please note the URL of her Etsy shop at the end of this interview and drop by to see the other great items that she offers.

What is the name of your Etsy shop and why did you choose that name?

My shop name Is LogCabinMemories-----I chose this name because it reminds me of the log cabin where I was born. The cabin was in the hills of West Virginia and was built my dad. We only lived there for several years but the memories are warm and pleasant.



How long have you been on Etsy?

I started the shop in March


What type of items do you offer?

My items are all hand painted, Country,Prim,Folk Art, I paint on a variety of different surfaces, wood tin, canvas, using acrylic and oils. I like to find goodies at antiques shops, yard sales, auctions and flea markets.



How long have you been crafting?

I starting painting as a child, using paint by number, and have been doing some painting off and on ever since. I have taken a few classes and was a member of the decorative painting.



Who or what inspires you.

I love all the wonderful colors the Lord has created. The colors of the different season of the year, old buildings, other artist beautiful work, an old shoe, light bulbs.




What is your favorite item in your shop and why?

The wooden shoe form; the shoe form is different and I like to paint on things that are old and not often used.

Other places where you can be found (EBay, webstore, blog)

I do not have a lot of promo sights yet, I have a Facebook account and post some of my photos there.
I hope to start a blog.

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LogCabinMemories

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GIVE AWAY!!

I know this give away is late; I promised it to you a couple of months ago but many things have happened in my life since then but a promise is a promise. Finally, here is the spoon finished and ready for a new owner. This is a vintage enamel spoon that I found in one of my favorite local antique/vintage stores. I love the white enamel and the wear along the edge of the spoon;it gives it that well worn look. I painted with a Terry French design and finished it with a tag, a vintage measuring spoon, some rusty bells and a strip of homespun. As you can see the spoon has a wonderful long handle and can be hung or placed with some kitchen vintage ware. So what do you need to do to win this painted vintage spoon? Here are the rules.





1.You must be a follower of my blog.

2.You must comment on this post. Only the names on this post will be used in the drawing.

3.It is not a requirement but I would greatly be appreciative if you add this giveaway to your blog.

4.If you do not have a blog, please leave your email address so I can contact you.

5.Once I contact you, you have 5 days to get back with me with mailing information; I want to get this out to the winner as soon as possible.

The drawing will be July 24th. Due to cost of postage this giveaway is limited to US and Canada participants. Good luck! Pin It Now!

Come Stroll Through My Garden

I love to garden. Can’t say I love the work as much as I love the product but I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. In 2005 we started building our house; before it was complete I began to layout and plant the flower gardens. I had a pretty good picture of what I wanted in my head and rather than put it down on paper, I picked up a shovel and began to make the vision in my head come to life. As you probably know the first couple of years after planting a flower garden, things look a little scraggly, they may bloom and they may not. But, that 3rd year the magic happens. Everything begins to spread out and bloom. The beds are pretty much packed but I still find room for more. Take a stroll with me through my gardens and let me show you a few of my favorites.
This is yarrow. I planted several variety of colors among the shasta daisies, coreopsis, and daylillies;



This is a coreopsis plant. It was a small plant when I purchased it from the nursery. It is now at least 24x24 inches. This plant never disappoints me with it beautiful sunny blooms. The foliage is thick and shades some of the smaller plants around it. It seems to grow every year and from the looks of it this year, I will need to divide it next spring. I love its small delicate silvery green leaves, it adds a beautiful sparkle to my garden. Adding plants with different leaf and bloom texture as well as varying colors of the foliage will add interest to your garden and give each plant its "15 mins" of fame as you walk through your garden or admire it from the porch like I do.


This is lavender; I planted it with my roses. I have always loved lavender; it's beautiful, soft lavender color and the fragrance. Its small silvery leaves stand out among the deeper green leaves of the rose bushes. It attracts bumble bees and butterflies. This morning while taking pictures, the bumble bees were buzzing all over this plant. I often sit on the porch and listen to the buzz, buzz of the bees as they flit from one stem to the next. Sadie will sit on the porch with me and snap at the bees as they fly by her on their way to the next plant. Fortunately, she hasn't been stung but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time before she nails one. If you look closely you will see a couple of the bumble bees enjoying their morning breakfast. I often use this plant for my craft projects. I also use it in aroma therapy bags with flax seed.


This beautiful plant is known as bee balm. A lady in our neighborhood gave it to me about 3 years ago. I kept it in a small plant container through the spring and summer. I had placed it outside and promptly forgot about it. When Fall arrived I knew I had better plant it in the ground before winter hit. I planted it at the edge of the garden between the detached garage and the house. I didn’t know anything about this plant, how tall it would grow, how far it would spread out and frankly I didn’t give it much hope since I waited so late to plant it. But amazingly the next spring it popped out of the ground and has been growing and spreading ever since. I love its unusual blooms. It attracts humming birds and bees. Any time we have guest over they always comment on it and a few have asked for a piece of it for their garden. This is another plant that will need to be divided next spring. Looks like I will have my work cut out for me next year.

This is an oak leaf hydrangea. It was given to me by a gardener friend. What a blessing that was as these plants are quiet expensive in this area. After she had planted this, on the second year she put a stone on one of the leaves so the stem was pressed and held to the ground. The stem began to root and by the next year she had a new plant which she dug up and gave to me. I had never heard of propagating a plant like this before but it works. What a great and inexpensive way to grow a garden! I planted this hydrangea by my Annabelle hydrangea and as you can see the oak leaf is fighting hard for its space. I will need to relocate part of it next year. It really isn’t showing off its beauty among all the white booms of the Annabelles. Regardless, it is thriving and seems happy but it needs its “15 minutes” of fame. I love the shape of the leaves of this plant. They are not small and delicate but bold and prominent. Its white, with a soft tinge of pink, blooms are beautiful set against the bold leaves.


These Annabelle hydrangeas came from a house we sold a few years ago. When we sold the house, the lady who bought it gave me a piece of the Annabelle to add to my garden here. From the first year that I planted this hydrangea it has done well. I think it was happy to come from our old house to our new one. This past Spring I trimmed it back quite a bit hoping it would stay confined in its space, but this guy doesn’t seem happy to stay in a boundary. It grew up and out and has taken up its space and its neighbor’s space too. I love the white, lacey heads on this plant. It adds a beautiful country feel to my garden. It provided a home for a nesting family of birds this past spring. It is also shelter to a small rabbit. While I was taking a photo of this Annabelle, the rabbit scampered out from under its leaves. Amazingly it scuttled away without Sadie catching wind or sight of it.


This is an Endless Summer hydrangea bush. I had it planted in a different location which it didn’t like at all. After seeing its poor performance in that location, I dug it up the next year and moved it. It must like its new home because it blooms profusely. This plant lives up to its name, it blooms all summer long. I enjoy its lovely blue blooms; they make great bouquets for the indoors. I hope you enjoyed strolling through my gardens and seeing all my beautiful bloomers. I also have a shade garden but I will have to share that with you at another time. Pin It Now!

A Job!

I have been cleaning and clearing out my basement for several days. It seems like it is never going to be done but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It has been quite a job going through everything; throwing away, giving away, and putting away in storage. Most of what is left is stuff my Sweetie needs to go through.

Cleaning out the basement isn’t exactly the job I was talking about in the title. I actually have accepted a position with a company. After a 14 year sabbatical I am going back to work. It happened so fast my head is still spinning. I emailed my resume to a friend; she sent it to someone else who sent to the HR personnel of their company. I received an email, a phone call, an interview, a few more emails and I start work on the 29th. I am ready for this. I promised my Sweetie that I would go back to work after our daughter, Aly, left for college; that was in ’08. I am excited about this new opportunity but a little apprehensive as well; it’s been a long time since I worked out of the home. My main concern is finding the time to continue to paint. I enjoy painting and creating and don’t want to give it up. I don’t have any plans to close my Etsy shop at this time and I hope I won’t have too.

On a creative note; this is a wash pan that I finished as a special order. I shared a similar one here a few weeks ago. I like how the pan is chipped and worn. This design by Terry French was fun to paint, as always. I did add a few extra touches to it so it would fit well on this project. Thanks for stopping by.


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Featured Artist

Good Sunday blogger friends and Happy Father's Day to all the dads. We had a super busy weekend. Our daughter Aly came home from college (she’s taking summer classes and working), and of course the preparation for Father’s Day. My Sweetie and I enjoyed the family being together to celebrate Father’s Day. I hope you had a great celebration at your house.

I want to introduce you to a new friend, her name is Susan and she is the owner of an Etsy shop called “Clucklebees”. Her handmade items are simply adorable. I asked Susan a few questions for this feature. I’m sharing them with you along with some photos of her work. Please note where you can find Susan on the WWW at the end of this feature.

How did you choose the name of your shop?
I have a love of roosters. I miss living in the country and I miss the sound of the roosters crowing down the street. I have roosters all over the place in the house, and roosters really say "country", to me. I also have this love of bumblebees. One morning, "CluckleBees" just popped into my head and I put it up for a vote with all my family members and friends, and everybody thought it was a great name. So... voila!






What inspires you to create?
Oh, so many things. A drive through the country, a visit to a local farm, visiting my old neighborhood, and thumbing through old books and magazines my Grandmother gave me. A visit to a farm, an apple orchard, a walk down a country road... that's all it takes and I'm itching to do something creative.

And then I have this totally feminine side that loves lace, the roses, and whites, pinks, and so on. My Grandmother had this beautiful white woven bedspread and a crotcheted bedspread that I inherited after she passed away. I also love vintage images of houses, people, and neighborhoods. Just the mix of those things together can set me into a wonderfully creative mood




What do you enjoy most about crafting?
I think it's mostly the act. The process of getting a flash of an idea, then drawing it up, or what happens many times with me, just grabbing a bunch of this and that and tossing it all together and seeing what becomes of it. It's always a little bit of an adventure because many times I'm not sure what I'm going to end up with. I love surprising myself and thinking: "Well, heck, that's came out pretty darned cute!", when I had no idea how it was going to come out in the first place! I’ve been an avid crafter most of my life ~ it’s just a part of who I am.





What other crafting would like to do and why?
I would love to learn spinning and weaving. I have always wanted to own a loom and spend hours making rugs, or bedspreads, or... whatever. One of my favorite people was Tasha Tudor. She had a loom that literally filled one room in her house. It was a beautifully crafted machine and she would weave these wonderful country pieces on it. I know I won't ever have a room-sized loom, but I hope one day to have a small spinning wheel and a portable loom, perhaps a Babywolf by Schact. Maybe if I'm really good, my husband will surprise me one day at Christmas. ;-)





Check out Susan's Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CluckleBees

And her Blog: http://clucklebees.blogspot.com/

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All Things Kitchen

I enjoy doing chalkboards for my Etsy shop. They are always an adventure to do. They are exciting to create; from choosing a design, laying it out, painting it and adding the final touches. The adventure is, I never know how it will turn out. There are usually a few twists and turns while I am working on one. It seems that I always have to add a little something to the design to get it to fit, or take something out that I really wanted to keep. In this case it was a little of both. I'm pleased with how this turned out. I like this design because it can fit with many decorating styles. This is an Aly's Room original. I hope to add it as a pattern to Aly's Room soon. But having said that, I am reminded by my overactive conscience that I have "new" patterns from last year that I haven't added. Well, one of these days I will get R done. Pin It Now!

It's Hot!

Things are heating up here in Northern VA. It’s been in the 90’s and that’s a little too hot for me. I am a cool weather person and had rather be a little cold than hot. I had 4 ripe bananas and this morning I turned them into banana bread. My Sweetie and I got up early so we could put the bread together and pop it in the oven while it is still cool in the house. He mashed the bananas for me and dusted the pan while I mixed up the rest of the ingredients. Before we knew it, it was all together and popped into the oven. He even washed the dishes. I must say it was delicious!


We've been hard at work on the house. We have applied to re-finance and of course that means a new appraisal. The housing market has dropped 38% in our area, which means we must do everything we can to beef up the appraisal. We have quite a bit of unfinished areas in our house. It is a 2 story (3 stories counting the basement) house but we've never finished the 2nd floor. The main floor has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, a family room, large kitchen (with large island), dining, formal living room, laundry room and a nice foyer; we felt the house was big enough and we probably would not use the 2nd floor. Our basement is a bright daylight basement; it has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a living area. It also has 2 rooms that are unfinished. Our son and his family are currently living in the basement until they can find a place to rent/buy. All that to say, I now wish we had finished the upstairs just for this appraisal but the appraiser is coming Monday and unless a miracle happens that space will look just like it does now, unfinished. The appraiser told my husband in a phone conversation that above grade spaces appraise much higher than basement spaces. When we moved in we were so tired of working on the house, we didn't finish some of the “finishing” work. The columns on the porch were left unpainted, some of the trim work needed "repainting" and some of the door casings were not finished. All this has to be completed by Monday. We are almost done but still have several more hours of work. Most of it on the outside and here it is as hot as a firecracker. Lesson learned, "get r done" rather than waiting. The bonus is that once it is finished we are done and can enjoy the worry free feeling that comes when something is completed.
Our home is a country cottage. While I love the primitive style I must admit I decorate in a cottage style. I love all the cottage colors and patterns. It’s still a work in progress but to us it is “home sweet home”. Pin It Now!

The Story of the Rose

Last week my husband and I made a quick trip to Target. As we strolled down the aisles with our buggy, picking up the items we had on our list, I could hear thunder rumbling outside. We don't have thunderstorms in our area very often but when we do they can be quite dramatic. The thunder was in the distance so I thought we had time to finish shopping and make it home before the storm pushed in. As we were checking out we looked out the store front windows and saw buckets of rain pouring down. We decided to wait out the storm in a Starbucks located at the front of the store. We ordered our coffee and sat down by the large wall of windows. The sky was blackened with storm clouds, the once distant thunder had closed the gap, lightening was streaking across the sky like bullets of light and rain was coming down in sheets. The storm had arrived. We watched as a few brave souls darted out the door and to their cars. Two small girls (about 9 and 10) ran to a car that had pulled up within feet of the store's door, they quickly turned and ran down an aisle in the parking lot. Poor dears had run to the wrong car. They must have been drenched when they hopped into the right one. As we sat and watched the rain pound the pavement and sidewalks we thought that hail was falling but at a closer look we could see that what we thought was hail was actually raindrops hitting the pavement with such force they were bouncing up like hail would. I love watching thunderstorms and rain, there is something completely powerful about it. The display of lights and sound from a thunderstorm, to me, is as captivating as any movie Hollywood could make. I watch a streak of lighting light up the sky and wonder where did it hit; I hear a roll of thunder and think of how that rumble will travel miles to warn others of the coming storm.


If this post is a "story of the rose", why am I talking about a storm? I can't tell the story of the rose without telling the story of the storm. They are connected. After we arrived home, night had fallen and what was a promise of a full moon was hidden by the dark clouds. I began to think about my rose bushes loaded with fragrant blooms. I decided to wait until morning before venturing out to take a look at the damage. The next morning, with a cup of coffee in hand, of course, I walked out onto my front porch to take a look. To my surprise, very few blossoms had been knocked off by the driving rain. The leaves were radiant with the reflection of the raindrops sitting on them. The pale petals were sun-kissed and seemed to be proud to hold their heads high after such a beating. I was amazed that such a fragile beauty could survive a tremendous storm of winds and rain. I sat down with my coffee and pondered a lesson from this. Life's storms happen to all of us. Sometimes we hear the distant rumble of them headed our way and have time to prepare and sometimes they arrive unannounced taking us by surprise. The shock and fury of them may cause us to lose our mental and emotional equilibrium. In our storm we may feel like a ship tossed to and fro in the fury, whipped by the winds, taken to the sheer, dizzying crest of misfortune's wave and then let go to slip down the slope of despair. Just when we think life's storm will never end, it passes. Often these storms leave a lingering sense of fear that another one is just out there past the horizon beyond our sight. As I surveyed my rose garden and sipped my coffee I considered how those blooms made it through the storm; I thought about how I planted the rose garden. I dug down deep to give the plants a good foundation, I scooped out the clay soil and replaced it with good soil that drains well (just what roses need), I added nutrients to give them a good start; since their planting, I have added new layers of mulch each year which has broken down and add richness to the soil. I pruned them when needed to give the core branches strength and kept the suckers clipped off so the real plant would receive the water and nourishment and not branches that would never bloom. The bushes are healthy because they are anchored well and given what they need to keep them healthy. When we are anchored well and given what we need to be healthy in our body, spirit and soul we can survive the storms of life. I am personally anchored in a faith in Jesus Christ. I depend on His Word to feed my soul and spirit. I believe He has called us to be good stewards of our bodies so I try to eat well and exercise. I try (but I'm not always successful, I must admit) to not allow "suckers" in my life that will deplete my time and energy and that do not produce what is fruitful for my life. I have recently come through a devastating life storm and because my roots sink deep into an unshakeable Faith I know that this rose will survive and thrive again. I know there are other storms that will cross the horizon in my direction, they are inevitable; I don't look forward to them but I won't live in a state of fear or dread. If you are going through a life storm, keep the faith, you will make it through. Pin It Now!