Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Diamonds & Rust


 While Steve and I were in Carmel, we ventured into this darling shop in Pacific Grove. It's called
Diamonds & Rust at 472 Lighthouse Ave.
I managed to snap a few pics before my battery went out in my camera and wanted to share them with you...Enjoy!










Our dear friends Dave and Laura are coming to visit (yippee!) so I'll be away from blogland till next week..have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Most Elegant Giveaway!


The fabulous and delightful Anne, of Fiona and Twig, is having a "Most Elegant  Giveaway"!
She's offering a $25 gift card from Anthropologie (be still my heart) AND an autographed copy
of Stan Williams' book The Find! Pop over there and enter..she has THE loveliest blog!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Carmel-By-The-Sea


Winston knew we were leaving and jumped into the truck and whined and cried...would NOT get out! So sad..parting is such sweet sorrow! ;-)

Our townhouse at The Highlands Inn..
 Played Scrabble by the fire at night...
Full kitchen..brought our own groceries and ate breakfast and dinner there

Going downstairs to the bedroom..




The view outside the bedroom window..


The view off our balcony..

Steve made dinner the first night..;-)



Our friend who visited every day.

Every night we'd sit on the balcony and toast to the glorious sunset!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Hooked on Houses Fall Tour


I just back from 5 glorious, romantic days with my husband in Carmel-by-the -Sea and found out that the lovely Julia of Hooked on Houses is hosting a Fall Tour Party and I decided to play along! For the five of my regular readers ;-) this will be a repeat viewing for you as I'd given a little tour  awhile back...hope ya don't mind!

Greeting you at the front door is a birdcage that I doll up for whatever the season is...so now it's full of fall and crows!


And right inside the front door is a secretary desk all vignetted out with fun old stuff!


And a little touch of fall sits on top of the cabinet. I got that neat ol' pitcher at a flea market for 6 bucks!
It's usually filled with greenery or flowers..depending on the season.


Our dog, Winston..he's usually the first to greet you at the door...


On into the family room...some close ups of fall decor. I LOVE autumn colors, but this year craved a little teal blue to add to it. Scrounging thru my house I found some scraps of fabric and ribbon that worked just fine!


I got this frame years ago, and framed it with a greeting card that was sent to me...I love the sentiment..


 During spring and summer, I have colorful floral printed dishes in pinks and soft greens nesting in this plate rack. For fall and winter I changed out this display with brown transferware, tarnished silver and and old hymnal.


This is a close up of a collage I created on this platter..


For spring and summer I have this couch slip-covered in a creamy damask. I love that about slipcovers..you can change the whole look of a room by changing the look of the couch!


Another view of the family room..I wove teal blue ribbon thru the fall garland on the mantle, and added blue hydrangeas that I had dried last year.


This is part of the display behind the wicker chair..


and here's the other side of the display. Part of my collection of old clocks illustrate the verse about "time".


And a little display on my kitchen counter. A pumpkin scented candle is lit in the background...yum!


The formal dining room all decked out!


A close- up of the tablescape..


And the display on the buffet..


A close-up of the cloche display. The pheasants are little salt & pepper shakers I picked up at a garage sale.

Well, that concludes my little 'tour'. I just love the fall...and I love decorating for it!
Thanks, Julia for the fun party!! Be sure to check her blog for other wonderful fall tours!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Candles and Romance


   Just added to my Etsy shop....Embellished candles!
This one is "Paris" themed, with french text and french images. Pretty romantic, don'tcha think?


And keeping with the French theme, this has a lovely vintage image of a woman with the word "Bonne Fete" stamped in the upper left corner. "Bonne Fete" means "Happy Birthday" in French..


I was in a 'fowl mood' when I created this one...sorry, I couldn't resist! ;-)
I used original sheet music called "Birdland" and then embellished with french text, bird images and rubber stamped birds and nests.



My sweet husband is whisking me away to a romantic destination for a few days..
here's a hint...


Can you guess where?!? ;-)
See ya in a few days!