Mon Petit Ouiseau bleu (my little bluebird) ornament

I have a confession to make... Remember how I always say I am not a girly girl?  How my idea of sparkly is old mercury glass and chrome?  Well there is a teeny tiny bit of girliness to me... I LOVE glitter!  Especially Martha Stewart glitter!  It makes me swoon.  Yes you read that correctly, SWOON!   But do I use it... nope! Not normally.  It sits on a shelf it its teeny, tiny little canisters catching the light, sparkling until November.  Yes, each and every November I bring out my minuscule canisters of Martha Stewart glitter when the conditions are just right.  Its normally a cold, windy day where the sun shines brightly so that it will glisten and sparkle even more.  And I make birds.  Doves, bluebirds, birds from old Christmas cards, cardinals, jays, and birds from pretty papers that once lived their lives as shopping bags (thank you Starbucks and Panera for such attractive wrappings!)  Out come the jars of clear glass beads to adorn birds made from old linen skirts, cast-off Carhartts, and sweaters long ago out grown.

So today I give the first in 2011's bird series.  My little bluebird who hangs askew but makes my heart sing!

mon petit ouiseau bleu

Version deux of mon petit ouiseau bleu living outside our room.

And mon petit ouiseau bleu back lit.

My Memories Suite and a giveaway!... ended

Recently I was contacted to try out some digital scrap booking software.  Years ago I tried my hand at scrap booking... the old fashioned way.  And do you know how many albums I completed?  ZERO!  Yes you read that correctly.  So I have to admit I was a bit nervous at first.  I mean I have all these papers and stamps and cutouts and letters and decorative thingies but could I make heads or tails of them.   It was a case of: does this border look good with this background?  Why is my handwriting always so wonky?  Does that sound corny? Ah man... I just wrote down the wrong date!  Yes sirree I was my worst enemy!!

Here is an example of what all you can do.

Well let me say I AM SOLD!  I love this.  Now all I need to do is have the first 10 or so years of our married life converted to digital and we will be in with Flynn! (so where exactly did that expression originate?) I love it as you can make scrapbook layouts, photo books, cards, and even videos!  Do you know what I think is one of the best features??? Their customer support!  I can not believe how quickly they responded to my questions or how thorough the responses were!  

So now for the giveaway.... one of my readers will win their very own copy of My Memories Suite digital scrap booking software.  (You do NOT have to be a follower on my blog to enter!  I just want you to have the opportunity to win a wonderful product!!)

To enter to win:

1. Please visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment telling me which one you chose.  


For extra entries you may follow the MyMemories blog, their FB page and Twitter page.

2. MyMemories Blog
3. Like  MyMemories Facebook page
4. Follow My Memories on Twitter

So there you have it, 4 chances to enter.... one for leaving a comment and the other three for following MyMemories blog, FB page and Twitter page.


The giveaway is open until Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 noon EST. 


Also once the are 10,00 fans on the MyMemories FB page an iPad will be given away.  All you have to do is LIKE their page to be eligible to win!



And for all of my readers who would like to purchase the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software I have a special Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com
store - $20 value!)





Just click on this link for MyMemories Suite and copy and paste this code STMMMS41020          

Garden dress form to craft room beauty

Isn't she a beauty?  I have to admit I LOVED her our first summer here.  She looked so lovely wearing a dress of lavender clematis... and then IT occurred our second summer.  She became a hideous blob, her fine lines and delicate shape overrun with in a tangled web of vines.  And to be honesty my family did not appreciate her. In fact they found her to be rather creepy/freaky.  Hmpph.. what's a girl supposed to do?  I ripped her out!  Yes you read that correctly!!  We moved the clematis to a much more user friendly are and this lovely lady, well she had a little makeover.  Last night.. while it was raining.  But now...

Isn't she stunning?!  

where she sits primly in the corner awaiting adornment.

Here is what has been going on the past several weeks.  Lots of painting.  The cabinets to the left of the desk were part of this find. You just heard about the desk and shelf just the other day.

I am so excited as this room is closer to completion.  See I share this room.. at the moment it is with the musicians in our family but we haven't moved their things in yet.  The next phase of the project is to finish sorting fabric, craft supplies, and packaging supplies.  After that, its researching how to build a drop down table for sewing projects.  If you have any ideas or have ever made one I would love your input!

yard sale desk makeover

Do you remember when I mentioned all of the great yard sale finds here?  Well later in the day we went back and bought this beauty.  She was a bit rough looking as her top was bubbled, blistered and peeling (which was my bargaining chip as many people had passed her by for that very reason!!)

(I forgot to take a picture of her prior to chipping of all the veneer... I know bad blogger, bad! ha ha!!)

Well here is my lovely after a good cleaning with her new top and her handles all spiffied up.

(please disregard the colorful cabinets on the left... i think they are getting a little makeover as well)

We will see how well the paint on the handles hold up as I did a minimal clean on them and then it started to rain.  I was getting a bit impatient so I rushed things a bit....   I can hardly wait to have the "spare" room completed!!  Here's a sneak peak of a little something else for the room.... it was a shelf my father-in-law made over 20 years ago back when he was getting back into wood working after a 20 year hiatus.  I am amazed at how far he has come in the past 20 years!!

(I don't know if I mentioned it before but this is a truly a minimal budget project.  The only thing I've purchased new is the paint and it was with a voucher from some returned items.  Everything else was to be under $10 for furniture pieces or something we already owned and repurposed.)

I hope you are having a wonderful autumn and are taking time to reflect on the season!

Linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Wild/old fashioned cottage roses... handmade home

 (actual size)

Yes you see the fruit of my latest obsession.  

Wild roses, cottage roses, and french knots!

Okay in all honesty it is nothing new.  I have loved wild roses and old fashioned cottage roses for almost as long as I can remember and french knots were one of the first embroidery stitches I learned as a child.   And to be able to craft them and see them lying about when they are out of season, well lets just say it makes me VERY happy.  The one thing I almost forgot to mention is the fact that this fabulous little rose is made from none other then... a polyester shirt I found at a yard sale for... $.25, yes 25 cents!  Not only did I save a dated blouse from the landfill but it was quite the savings as well.  I love a bargain!

joining in at:

         





linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Autumn... a time of changes

Sorry for the absence... wow I really say that a lot don't I?  Okay I'll have to be honest with you here.  My blog takes a backseat to everything else in my life a LOT.  In fact a number of things have taken a backseat to... to what you ask.  Unproductive busyness to a degree but mostly day to day living,  You see we have a number of things going on in our lives right now that are not ready to be revealed and a few things which are personal.   You know things like gathering information, research, accounting, and well, stuff.  I know so eloquent! ha ha.  And yes there are a few possible major changes in our lives.  Here's just a few.... our eldest graduates from high school in May/June, we are about to finish up Dave Ramsey's FPU, the on-going battle with clutter (we are starting to win!), the prospect of writing for a new e-zine with the possibility of a regular column,  the reworking of this blog (to include a name change!), and last but not least.... the possibility of opening an etsy shop.

Below is a comment I left on a blog recently and it describes my "home" loves because my family falls far above all of these things.

"OKay I have to admit I love to be in the kitchen... not just cooking but creating and recreating! Funny since I avoided the kitchen like the plague growing up. See I have champagne tastes on a shasta budget (super cheap soda)! So I love to recreate all the exotic jams, jellies, spice mixes, sauces, cookies, candies, beverages, and breads that I can. I love the sights and smells of freshly ground spices and fresh herbs. But that is not all... I love canning jars, bale jars, and wood... old terra cotta, glass bottles converted into drinking glasses, homemade pasta, crocheted washcloths, embroidered flour sack towels... basically a handmade home! So I guess if I were to ever even consider writing an ebook it would be about those very things I LOVE... you know this may even be an inspiration for a new blog makeover!"

After much discussion with my husband and much prayer, this is exactly what I am going to do!!  I will be working hard to document OUR handmade home! passing on ideas and projects of the things I enjoy...
  

but for now I am leaving you with some of my inspirations via Pinterest.

(no link on pinterest)

kitchenisms.com

injennieskitchen.com

harbourbreeze.blogspot.com

http://homeremediesrx.blogspot.com/2010/12/vignette-on-cheap.html

hartsdesire.wordpress.com

via pinmarklet

And I would like to welcome everyone who is visiting from

 

Phantom of the opera cake

As much as I would like to include a picture of a slice of this cake, it just isn't possible.  But I can describe it for you.  Triple chocolate fudge cake with a peach/Portuguese marmalade filling, frosted with buttercream frosting and dusted with cocoa/mocha powder.  Its the project we forgot to bake last night for Sean's English class.... hopefully he made it to the office to pick it up.  I haven't gotten any panicked phone calls so I figure he got it turned in in time.

Enjoy your weekend!  We will be spending our weekend watching high school football tonight and marching band regional competition on Saturday.