Fall Color

I was up at the cottage last week and the leaves had started to do their magic and turn the most beautiful colors. I took these photos with my phone so they aren't the best. (Someone was bad and left their camera at home.) But this gives you the general idea of what it looked like up there.

And when I took these the trees weren't even at their peak yet. They probably are at about their best this weekend. (When I am NOT up there of course!) I just love living in the midwest where we can experience all four seasons. One is more glorious than the next, but I must admit that autumn is probably my most favorite. Until spring comes again, that is!

Weekend Work

I thought planting wildflowers up at the cottage was going to be a low maintenance type of gardening. Seventeen wheelbarrows full of dead stalks and debris later, it's hard to believe that this picture from last year. . . . .

. . . .can turn into this the following year.

Never fear though. I finished cleaning it all up and hauling the debris away. And I'm planting additional wildflower seeds tomorrow and hoping for a pretty view again in a month or so. My DH used to refer to this kind of work at the cottage as a "different kind of work." I suppose that was because it was work done in a pretty get-away type of location. For me though, work is work no matter where it is done!

Hello Monday!

My mailbox has been filled with fabulous inspiration due to the Postcard Swap that Natalea from Kandeland organized. I've received almost all the postcards now, with just a couple more coming. It's been such fun to go to the mailbox and find something other than bills inside!
And guess what? Lucky for you, Natalea is running a second round of the Postcard Swap! She's taking sign-ups now and you can get all the details by clicking here.
This past week I drove up to our cottage for the first time since this happened. It was very difficult since having this getaway was my DH dream. I'm so grateful he was able to enjoy it for a few years, but I must admit it's not quite the same without him being there. Fortunately our good friends have bought a place in the same town and will be spending the summers there, so that will make things a little easier. And as you can see by the photos, I was not alone at the house on this visit.

Have a great week!

KIts For Sale

I'm so excited because today is Kit Sales Day at Joli Paquet. We've all worked hard to bring you some adorable kits this year. I think everyone really outdid themselves this year. My Winter Wonderland Cottage Kit is pictured above is available in my Etsy Shop. Check out Cindy, Cerri, Brandy and Sheila's kits here.

UPDATE: I just listed more Joli Paquet Kits in my shop - Thanks so much for your wonderful response! I also found a couple of kits from last year if anyone is interested!

Zentangles

I started a Zentangle journal a while ago. I find it to be relaxing to work in and it's a natural thing for me to do, as I have always doodled when I talk on the phone and at other times when my hands are idle. I've already completed 30 pages in the journal, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.
It is really a mindless style of art because you really are just serendipitously letting your pen go with the flow. I am working in a Moleskine journal because I like the smoothness of the pages and using a Sharpie Retractable Pen (not the marker) to create the designs because it glides effortlessly over the page. You can see more of my Zentangle Journal pages here.

In other news, my friend Brandy Faulkner is one of the guest artists on the Crescendoh website this week. And she was nice enough to feature my little backyard retreat as a part of her featured article. You can read Brandy's touching Art Saves story (as well as Tracy, Rachel and Teresa's stories) by clicking here.

Summer Cottages

Blogger has been causing problems the last few days and so that is why I haven't been posting. It seems to be working for the moment, however there seems to be changes to the system that I am not exactly thrilled with. What a pain! I wish they would leave well-enough alone. So be patient with me as I try to adapt to all the new-fangled features.

After my last post about that cute little artist's cottage, I decided to do a search on Flickr to see if I could find some other fun summer cottages. During my search I was surprised at what some people consider a cottage to be. Wikipedia describes a cottage as "a modest dwelling, typically in a rural, or semi-rural location." That is sort of the same thing I picture in my mind when I think of a quaint little cottage. But some people have pictures of what I consider to be huge mansions tagged with the word cottage. I guess it's all in the mind of the beholder.

I couldn't figure out how to add the links to each of the cottage photos shown above with this new version of Blogger, but if you are interested I do have them linked up over on Flickr right here.

Christmas in the Country

Call us crazy, but my DH and I decided to take a last minute quick getaway to the cottage this weekend. No, I am not all ready for Christmas. No, my house hasn't been cleaned for having the family over on both the 24th and 25th. No, my shopping isn't done and my presents are not wrapped. But it's kind of fun to put all that aside to spend time in the snow!
We ate dinner last night at a favorite restaurant and I had to take a photo of the tree in their waiting area. It reminded me so much of my Scandinavian grandparent's Christmas tree. They always had strings of Norweigan and Danish paper flags stretched across the boughs of the tree. I feel so fortunate that I still have some of those original flags.

I hope you all taking some time to enjoy this last weekend before Christmas.

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!

A Week of R & R

Last week we went to our cottage for a long awaited getaway with our friends from Florida. We had a wonderful time and it was nice to visit our favorite local spots and discover some new ones as well.The weather was absolutely perfect which meant we got to see sunsets like this every night.

We took the ferryboat to a nearby island for a day trip and discovered this neat little coffee house called The Red Cup.
This is a still-life mural that is painted on the side of the building. You really have to look twice to make sure it wasn't real.
The inside of The Red Cup is full of funky atmosphere that makes you want to just sit and hang-out there with a cup of joe. In addition to coffee drinks and the biggest oatmeal raisin cookies ever, they sell lots of artwork, jewelry, journals, etc made by local artisans. I bought a wonderful bracelet which I'll share with you later.

Here's a view from the ferry boat.

And near the dock.

Here is one of the pristine beaches with smooth, white dolomite stones as far as you can see. We used to swim at a beach like this when we were kids. I remember how we'd walk into the water wearing our flip-flops because the pebbles are hard to walk on.

One of the more choppier parts of the water. There are caves all along the bluff here.

A favorite water front eatery.

And the sign on this restaurant just made us laugh! :)

We also went to several garden walks while we were away, so I'll share those with you next time along with some vintage finds I was able to get my hands on.

AFF:Part Two:Enchanted Felt Cottage

On day two of ArtFiberFest, I took Charlotte Lyons adorable Enchanted Felt Cottage workshop. My cottage (shown above and below) continues to be a work in progress. It is so enjoyable to sit in the evenings at home and continue the embellishing process. Somewhere during the construction of my cottage I decided to decorate it with a House of Love theme, featuring 3 generations of wedding photos.

I used some vintage buttons and a scrap piece of embroidery in the gable. I chose the color scheme for the cottage based on the colors used at my daughter's wedding last fall.

The little aqua posies were leftovers from the favor boxes we decorated for my daughter's wedding. Next to the little cottage door (with the wonky stitched window panes) is a photo of my DH and I at our wedding. 

On the right side of the cottage, I sewed a metal jewelry piece embossed with a quote from Ghandi that says, "Where there is love there is life." 

I added a photo of my daughter and her husband from their wedding, some vintage button flowers, a piece of old lace embroidery and tiny aqua seed beads. Fortunately this was a hand-stitching class, which gave and my little Janome machine a much needed rest.

On the left side of the cottage, I did some "landscaping" with some felt & ultra suede trees trimmed with beads and a little garden of aqua beaded flowers. A mother-of-pearl window finishes this wall up.

An antique brass charm frame holds a well-known phrase from traditional wedding vows.

On the back of the cottage, I used some tiny frames to feature wedding pictures from my parents (on the right) and my in-laws (on the left). More vintage lace and Battenburg trim, and an aqua button top off the wall. 

"I do, I do" is typed out and mounted on a scrap of vintage paper. I used a single pearl in the center of the button to represent the pearls brides wear with their wedding gowns.

Here my classmates are busy stitching away - from left to right there is Tracie, Cindy, Pam, Charlotte.  Charlotte's class was very relaxing and restful and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all her stories while we worked. She was so willing to lend a helpful hand and encouragement throughout the day. 

Here's Cindy, Juanita, Nicky, and Tammy busy at work constructing their cottages. I couldn't believe how quickly this class flew by!  I'll share the class I took with Ruth Rae in the next post. Until then. . . . . .

Happy Fourth of July!