Day 3:Joli Paquet

- Photo courtesy of Melissa McCobb Hubbell -

Oh my goodness!  You absolutely MUST get yourself over to the Joli Paquet blog today and check out Melissa McCobb Hubbell's adorable Halloween Garland! Go now!!!!

Latest Vintage Find

Here she is - my sweet little pink frosted glass dresser lamp. I found her at the flea market a couple weeks ago. I fell in love with the little pink girl who was sitting there with the shade laying nearby and no way to attach the two together. Neither the vendor nor I could figure out how the two pieces would go together. But I still liked the pink lady and for the low price I figured I would be able to do something with her. 

I brainstormed ideas like adding a candle-shaped bulb and using the shade for something else. Or perhaps I could remove the cord and place a glass hurricane and real candle in the socket. She sat in my studio for a week while I pondered various ideas. Then amazingly, I stumbled upon her twin at an antique mall - for four times the price I paid for her!  Her little pink sister sat with her shade fully attached and voila, I saw how the two pieces fit together. For less than $2, I purchased one of these at the hardware store, screwed in a bulb and topped it with the shade. Doesn't she have a nice warm glow when lit?

Latest Project

I've become obsessed with journaling lately. I've always had a weakness for journals and would purchase pretty ones that I come across on my shopping sprees. I probably have accumulated more journals than I could possible fill in a lifetime! They vary in size and type - small, large, hardbound, soft cover, spiral bound, hand bound. . . . 
Lately, I've been having fun making my own journals from scratch - binding and all. It is a bit more time consuming than taking sketchbooks and altering the covers. But I still like to do those for certain types of journals.  For these journals I tried to stick with materials I already had on hand - scrapbook papers, chipboard from cereal boxes, old buttons, etc.
I made these little journals the other day with a purpose in mind. I wanted to have one to carry around in my purse to jot down notes. And one to keep by my art table to write ideas that come to mind. And one to jot down quotations whenever I come across one that hits home with me. 

And this one I keep by the telephone for doodling. I tend to doodle while gabbing on the phone and this is usually done on bits and pieces of scrap paper lying around. Some of my best sketches are done at this time. So why not keep a special book so that I can contain all these mini pieces of artwork in one handy spot.

Day 2:Joli Paquet

Photo Courtesy of Beth Quinn

Hi everyone! It's Day 2 over at Joli Paquet and Beth Quinn is teaching us how to make this special Boo Banner! If you've ever seen her soldered jewelry creations, you know what a talented artist Beth is. It's such a "treat" to have her as one of the Joli Paquet girls!

Ready, Set, Here We Go. . .

Photo courtesy of Brandy Faulkner

TODAY IS THE DAY!  Brandy Faulkner is kicking off our Joli Paquet Halloween Event today with her Creepy Crawly Candle tutorial. It's great and I'm sure you probably have all the supplies for this project in your house right now!
And while you are checking out Brandy's candle tutorial, be sure to sign up for the Joli Paquet  Trick or Treat Swap. Sign-ups are being taken through 9/23.

Joli Paquet Kickoff!

Have we got a special treat for you!!!  Joli Paquet is hosting a fun little swap to get us all in the Halloween mood for our tutorial launch on Tuesday. It's called the Trick or Treat Halloween Swap! Sign-ups are being taken now through Wednesday, Sept. 23rd over at the Joli Paquet blog. So get on over there NOW to join in on the devilish fun!

White on White

1. Handmade by me, 2. orchestral ledger 3, 3. Ivory Frangipani Wedding 1, 4. like whipped cream, 5. Greys Of Court, 6. blooms in white, 7. Cream Mirror, 8. Three shelves are filled with the many the tints and shades of white, 9. Vintage Apron Swap, 10. Farrow & Ball Paint: White, Cream, Pale and Mid-tone Neutral Colors

I adore the look of 'white on white' decorating. How about you? It's so simple. So fresh. Such a clean and restful look. None of the rooms in my home are decorated completely in this monochromatic color scheme. My family room is the closest to having this look with it's cream walls and white painted trim, but it's more of a white & black designed room. 

There are so many shades of white out there. I think that is the secret to using the color successfully. Using all the various shades of white creates the depth and texture that is needed to pull it off. Look at how Jennifer from The Old Painted Cottage did it here with her amazing cottage redo.  Another great place to see the use of  'white on white' is at Aina's Modern Country blog here.  Her Norwegian style decor is so refreshing. 

The photo above from Seasons For All shows how bright and elegant a 'white on white' decor can make a room.  

And the warmth that can be created by using a variety of creamy white vintage items like in the photo above from Country Living,  

Or maybe you prefer to punch up your white decor with a pop of color like in the photo shown above from Freshome.  Do you have a favorite photo of 'White on White'?  If so, leave a link to the photo in the comments section on this post. Your photo doesn't have to be limited to home decorating. It can be photos of food or fabric or artwork, etc. Use the mosaic at the top of this post for inspiration. We can all have some fun checking them out.

Shabby Chic Returns!

This lovely book is now available. . . earlier than expected! I found mine at Barnes & Noble. And it's everything (and more!) that I thought it would be. And in related news, Rachel's store in Santa Monica has reopened under the name, Shabby Chic Couture. Isn't that exciting!  Oh how I wish the one here in Chicago would reopen too. There's more info and photos on Rachel's Blog here.

Drum Roll Please

Here are the winners of my birthday celebration giveaway:

Dawn won the handmade journal

and

Amy Elise won the book, A Note To Self

CONGRATULATIONS GIRLS!

And a great big hug to everyone for all the lovely birthday wishes and comments!

Last Chance!

Here's a fun new swap that I recently signed up for. Natasha Burns has designed this one with a little twist. Check out the details on her blog here.

This is your last chance to sign up for my Birthday Giveaway. One winner will receive a handmade Follow Your Dreams Journal and a second winner will receive the book, Note to Self.  To read all the details and sign up click here. Sign-ups end at midnight tonight!

Are you a Design Star fan? Did you watch the finale last night? I was very disappointed that Dan didn't win. I thought his house was much better designed than Antonio's. Just as I thought Lonnie's room was a hundred times better than Antonio's the week before. Dan's house was gorgeous and the mother/daughter homeowners truly loved everything he did for them. He really listened to everything they said and executed it all beautifully.  Don't get me wrong - I like Antonio and his rough-tough-teddy-bear personality. I think because of that he will be a refreshing addition to the HGTV line-up. I think HGTV thought that also and feel "the fix" was in weeks ago that he would win, regardless of his design skills. What do you think?

Happy Grandparents Day!

Today is National Grandparents Day. Although our grandparents are no longer with us they still live on in our hearts and memories. I carry my grandma (on my mom's side) with me every day, since my middle name is the same as hers (Marie). Similarly, my daughter has her grandma (my mom) with her every day too, since her middle name is the same as my moms (Jane). 

My DH and I are grandparents too. . . .of these two fun "grand dogs" shown above! Happy Grandparents Day to all the Grandparents out there!

A Day of Remembrance

- Original Photo by Thomas E. Franklin -

Where were you eight years ago?

Weekend Fun

In addition to working on finishing off the second floor of our cottage, 

we did have a little fun on Labor Day Weekend at the annual Marina Fest near our cottage. 

It was a perfect day without a single cloud in the sky, as you can see.

There was the fun loving dingy boat races. . . .

The daring waterski show. . . .  

And a whole lot of entries in the wood boat contest. . . .

They really were quite beautiful. . . . 

Wonderful craftsmanship. . . .

The one below was my husband's favorite - although I think he was more interested in the 

vintage Ford truck than the wood canoe on top of it. . . .

I liked the way they had the truck bed styled for a day on the lake. . . .

Not a wooden boat, but a woody Ford Sportsman convertible - just look at those whitewalls!

Not sure if this boat was made of wood, but automobile fins on the back had me intrigued!

We ended the day by going to the drive-in movie theater to see Julie and Julia (which was adorable, by the way) and watch a gorgeous sunset.

There's still time to enter my Birthday Celebration GIVEAWAY. You can sign up over here!

Back Home

We're back from a long weekend trip to the cottage. As you can see by the photo above, many other people had the same idea. I snapped this photo mainly because I spotted that robin's egg blue vintage VW Beetle in front of us. It's the predecessor to the newer version that I have. Back when we bought the car we were told the color was a retro color (Aquarius Blue) and this is only the second one I have seen on the road. 

We had a wonderful time - the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Did some more painting of the trimwork on the cottage - will it ever be done???  But we also did some fun things too which I will share with you later in the week after I sort through the photos. 

~ Birthday Flowers From My DH ~

Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes! I really do appreciate each and every one of you. You are such an inspiration to me through your comments, your own blog posts, your beautiful artwork, photos, your support. You'll never know how much it all means to me:) 

It's not too late to sign up for my birthday celebration GIVEAWAY.  You can sign up all week by clicking here.  

Birthday Giveaway!

Happy birthday to me!  It sounds so funny to say that, but I haven't had a giveaway on my blog for quite a while and thought my birthday was a good excuse to have one! 

SO. . . . 

Help me celebrate by leaving a comment on this post and at the end of the week I'll let the trusty old Random Number Generator select a couple of people to win the prizes shown below:

Winner #1 will win this handmade journal created by "moi" and winner #2 will win a copy of the book, "A Note To Self" by Samara O'Shea, which is a great book I discovered about keeping a journal.

Good luck!

Art Journaling

Have you seen the new issue of Stampington's Art Journaling?

The premier issue of this publication was a huge, huge hit. I can understand why, because art journaling seems to have really taken off in the art community lately.  So everyone has been anxiously awaiting this next issue. The cover features the artwork of Dina Wakley from Get It Scrapped. I've taken a couple of online journaling classes from Dina - Art Journaling 102 and Masterful Art Journaling. Her classes are great and I especially like the videos she uses to teach her techniques. Below is one of my journal pages from her Art Journaling 102 class, which uses some of the same techniques she used on her cover artwork above.

The arrival of the new issue of Art Journaling really got my journal juices flowing, so I got out the various journals I'm currently working in and played in each of them. I even put together some new journals for a few special projects I am working on!  

Speaking of special projects, with my birthday coming up next week I thought the perfect way to celebrate would be to have a GIVEAWAY!  Stop by back here on Monday for all the details.