Guest Room Ceiling Color

When we bought our house 6 years ago I remember thinking the first thing I would do is to paint the guest room ceiling. The bright yellow is just not me. The only reason it has existed this long is because my mom gave me those cute pillow cases from when we were kids and they have a great 60's pattern with yellow in it.

But it is finally time to change it and I have photoshopped several choices. Please let me know what you think.

Pale Blue
Pale Green
White

Japanese Anemone

I was so excited the last issue of Martha Stewart helped me identify a flower I have had in my yard for years and never knew what it was -- Japanese Anemone. They had a nice story on it. It is a shade perennial that has beautiful, soft, pale flowers and blooms in late summer and fall. The foliage is also interesting and is dark green. I tried to transplant some to my front yard but they failed. If anyone out there knows some tips let me know!

New Illustrations!

I just uploaded a 8 new illustrations to my website. You can see them by clicking here.

I did these for Voyageur Press for a book about snow, but they ended up not using them. I have been meaning to post them for a while now and I finally did it. I am thinking about making them into cards and selling them on Etsy. Enjoy!

Okra Overload!

Last weekend we got okra from our CSA (Hazelfield Farms). I have to admit, it is not my favorite vegetable to eat, but boy is it breathakingly beautiful! The linear ridges and slender curve, the pale green color, the fine hair, and its cute green cap all make Okra irresistable. Why have I never noticed it before!

I had a great time arranging okra. I had so many photos it was hard to narrow it down. Below are some of my favorites. I think you can click on them to see them bigger.

Screen Porch

Below are some photos of our screen porch project. It is finished and we are super excited!

The first photo shows the back of our house before we got this crazy idea.

This is a wonky sketch I did to show the builder and the architect what I was thinking.

And this is the finished porch!

Our architect was Eric Hagenaur and our builder was J.D. Sandipher. Thanks to them, and numerous others, we now have a screened porch.

Of course I have been getting all worked up about decorating ideas. In fact, I am working on a little something that will be blogged about soon. I am so excited about it that I can hardly sit still. In fact, I am going to Hobby Lobby right now to pick up some supplies. Adios chicos!

Bowl O' Tomatoes

I was so excited by this bowl of tomatoes. The way the cute shapes and the orange, yellow, and red colors of the tomatoes mimic those of the birds on the bowl just makes me all giddy!

The bowl was another great find at the Burlington Flea Market. It is vintage Pyrex and is so me! The pattern is called Friendship and this bowl is part of a set of nesting bowls (what a great name!). I just found this cute website called Pyrex Love that gives more info and has some good photos of the other bowls in the set.

FYI - Those tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes from our CSA that George made into a very tasty tomato herb focaccia bread!

Frame Makeover

So I finally finished the framing project for my flea market bird prints. When I originally bought these inexpensive frames at Home Emporium and they were gold I thought, "Oh, I will just spray paint them a different color. It will be easy!" (famous, last words).

It ended up being quite a project. I first tried to paint them with some nice metallic paint I bought at Michaels but it beaded up. It was then that I realized, "Uh oh...this might require more than I thought." It ended up being a five step process:

1. Sand the frames.
2. Spray with grey primer.
3. Spray with satin nickel metallic paint.
4. Hand paint with champagne gold metallic paint.
5. Age it a bit with gunmetal grey metallic paint.

Multiply that by six frames and it ended up taking me a while. Below you can see before and after.

Vermont Wedding

Last week we had the pleasure of attending a beautiful wedding in Vermont. George's cousin was married in Plymouth Notch at the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site. The church was built in 1840 and had beautiful hardwood ceilings.

This barn was perfect for photos of the bride and groom.

The reception was held at the Hawk Mountain Resort and was amazing. The favors were cute little bottles of Vermont maple syrup that had everyone's name and table number. Everything was beautiful. Congratulations Emily and Mike!

Flea Market Bird Prints

I couldn't believe my luck when I found these prints at the flea market for 50 cents a piece! I fell in love with them immediately and was super excited to see they had a mockingbird and woodthrush because my husband studies these birds.

Of course it has been a project all by itself to get them matted and framed. I bought some inexpensive frames from Home Emporium thinking, "Oh, I will just re-paint them. It will be easy!" Easier said than done. I tried to paint them this morning but it turns out I need to prime them. I'll post one later if they turn out. Wish me luck!

Hobnail Vase & Vintage Tablecloth

A couple Sundays ago I went to the Burlington Flea Market for the first time and I loved it! It is about 20 minutes south of Cincinnati at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Burlington, KY. I had a great time and bought several items which will soon appear on the blog.

This Fire King hobnail vase was one of my finds. You can't see it in the photo, but it has a very cute scalloped rim. I just love the vintage look and feel of the knobby milk glass.

I also got this incredibly adorable vintage tablecloth. I tried to walk away from it at the flea market, but I kept finding myself thinking about it so it came home with me. And look how great it looks with that hobnail vase...so cute!

Notebooks and Wrapping Paper

I recently made the above notebooks for some friends of mine who were graduating. I have been excited to use some of the flower designs from my new book Decorative Flower and Leaf Designs by Richard Hofmann. It is a great book just chock full of lovely flowers!

I made them using Snapfish. Instead of using photos, I just make my design in Photoshop and upload a jpg. Sometimes it takes some fooling with it to get the image where I want, but it usually turns out great. I have made mugs, books, and notebooks this way.

When I went to wrap the notebooks I realized I was out of wrapping paper so I decided to print some using the same design. Now I always have wrapping paper at my fingertips!

Father's Day Succulents

This year I decided to make my dad a succulent arrangement for Father's day. My goal was to buy one plant and use the rest from the yard.

This was also really driven by this cute container I got at Hobby Lobby. I lined it with moss and then with chicken wire to give it strength. Then I filled in with dirt, then plants, then pebbles.

This little bloomer came from Natorp's. Oh, and the beautiful urn is my neighbor's. Thanks again John!

For NANA

Do not stand at my grave and weep;

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.
-Mary Frye

Pesto Feta Pizza

I had to post this pesto feta pizza I made the other night because it was so pretty. This summer we are part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Hazelfield Farms in Kentucky and we are constantly trying to find uses for all the veggies we are getting. This week we got a little baggy of Italian parsley and I decided to make pesto feta pizza.

The dough is not hard to make in the food processor, but you do have to refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Here are the recipes:

Dough

1 1/2 cups flour

1 stick butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

cold water to form dough

Place first 4 ingredients in food processor (I slice the butter into chunks) and then slowly add cold water until dough moistens and sticks together. Put dough in refrigerator for at least 30 mintues. When ready, spread dough on cookie sheet and add toppings. Cook for 50 minutes at 375 degrees.

Pesto

1 handful of basil leaves

1 sandwich baggy of Italian parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Fern

The other day I went to Hobby Lobby and I couldn't help myself. They had all these super cute wrought iron containers and they were 50-60% off!

This is a photo of one of them. I lined it with moss and bought this cute little fern to put in it. The photo doesn't show how this fern's wiry little arms move in the sweetest way in the wind.

More Hobby Lobby projects coming soon!

Coral Peony

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers so you can imagine how excited I was to bring these coral peonies home. These were a hair past their prime, but still incredible! They measured about 7 inches across.

The color of these peonies starts off an intense coral color and fades to white as they age. The part I like the most are the yellow anthers that all wiggle their heads together if you move the flower.

Tulip Pods

I have been garden crazy lately. You know how it is...you are just going to weed this one bed; then five hours later you can barely straighten your back and you are dehydrated.

Anyway, I feel like I have evolved into a hardened gardener. I used to try and save every little baby sedum that accidentally got dislodged, or I would transplant every last day lily that was in the wrong spot. But no more nice Nessy. Now I am pulling out columbines left and right. Yes... even the ones with flowers! Can you believe it?

But this brings me to the current topic which are these beautiful seed pods. They were about to go right into the garden waste bag when I noticed how beautiful they were. Yes, they made this hardened gardener pause for a moment to consider their slender shape and hint of pink.


I have to admit I am a pod lover. I love pods of all shapes and sizes. I love the idea of all their little babies nestled inside. OK, this blog is getting too long. Enjoy!

Baby Raccoon

George and I had a crazy day yesterday. George spotted a baby raccoon that had fallen out of a tree while we were driving and the hole was really high so it was impossible to put it back in.

It was so cute. Its eyes were still closed and it made super cute bleating noises. We were a little grossed out by all the ticks, but we couldn't just leave it there.

So we picked it up thinking that we could take it to a wildlife rehabilitator we know. Unfortunately she was not home so we had a long night in store for us. Those cute bleating noises turned into incesscant cries. We fed it kitten formula using a dropper and that calmed it down for half an hour or so.

The cries were so loud we even tried bringing it back to where we found it in hopes that mama raccoon might hear it and come get it. But after an hour of waiting we decided to take it back home.

We kept it in the basement all night and we did morning feedings at 6 and 10. I was getting concerned because it was a little lethargic and cold during the last feeding and the rehabber we knew still wasn't home.

Luckily we found another wildlife rehabilitator online. She was one of the few that took rabies vector species. We drove the baby up to her this afternoon. Thank God for Marcy the rehabber!

I called tonight to see how she was doing and Marcy reported that she warmed up nicely on the heating pad and had a good feeding.

Now if George would stop making "coon itch" jokes maybe I could stop feeling like I have a tick crawling on me.

More Flowers!

This weekend we celebrated Mother's Day again with my brother so I decided to make another flower arrangement using just flowers from the yard (and my neighbor's yard - Thank you John!).

I started off using a trifle bowl and taped a grid to hold the flowers. I didn't have any floral tape so I cut regular scotch tape in half.

I used mostly solomon's seal and hosta leaves for the greens. Then I added peonies, iris, rhododendron, yarrow, heuchera, and some other unidentified flowers. My neighbor John not only "loaned" me his peonies, but he proposed we use his last two yellow irises to finish it off. Thanks again John!