Vignette Friday~My Dark Mood

As I said in my previous post, working with black and cream put me in a 'dark' mood, so I thought I'd have a little fun with this week's Vignette Friday, hosted by Artie of Color Outside the Lines.

I've never been much on Halloween, but I've always liked Edgar Allen Poe, so that's what I used for inspiration..the statue I picked up at a swap meet for $3.00..and planned to paint her white as she looks so creepy with the dark eyes. But she plays into this arrangement nicely until then..

The crows on top of the mirror and on the books I got at the Dollar Store a couple of years ago and dolled them up with a little glitter and glitz.

 The kitty in the spool came from one of my swap mates, Joanne.

And the little crystal hanging from the book is a giftie from my other swap mate, Kana.

After creating this display my dark mood lifted and I've been off in other parts of the house spreading the colors of Autumn throughout!!

Be sure to check out other lovely Vignettes over at Color Outside the Lines!

Black and White Box Swap

I recently participated in a Black and White Box Swap hosted by Heather of Speckled Egg.

 We were to alter 2 of these  boxes in black and white (or cream) and fill them with goodies and send them to two people that Heather matched us up with.

 This is what my boxes looked like..

 ..and the goodies I filled them with.

 This darling box was from Joanne of Vintage Dragonfly.

 Packed with oodles of goodies!! What fun!! Be sure to visit Joanne...she just started a blog 6 mos ago and is having a giveaway to celebrate!

And this adorable box came from Kana of Kana Creates ..she covered hers in sheet music (as did I) but took it one step further and covered it in glorious glitter! Too cute!! Kana has a darling blog, too~ pop over for a visit!!

 Here is what  I beheld when I opened it..I forgot to take a picture of Joannes like that..:-/

More delicious goodies! Oh! I am so inspired to create something with all these treats!

'Twas a fun swap..Thanks, Heather!!

Playing with all this black and white put me in a 'dark' mood...wait till you see what I did for tomorrow's

Vignette Friday!!

Ta-Ta For Now!!



Family Love

 "The love of a family is life's greatest blessing”

 Little girls are precious gifts, wrapped in love serene. Their dresses are tied with sashes and wrapped up in dreams.

~ Unknown

                     

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

                                                               { Theodore Hesburgh}

 

“Having a baby is like falling in love again, both with your husband and your child.”

                                                                      { Tina Brown}

 

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

                                                           { George Bernard Shaw}


 

" Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found”

                                                               { Winston Churchill }

                    

 She will fill our lives with sunshine….

And our hearts with love. 

{Unknown}

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."

{Vincent van Gogh}

                                          

"You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

{Psalm 139:16}

"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories."

{ George Eliot}

                                                                    

                                                                           



Vignette Friday

 Welcome to Vignette Friday hosted by the very talented Artie at Color Outside the Lines!

Since you were all so gracious and kind about my confession to not changing my fireplace mantle display in almost a year, I shall now admit to another table vignette that has graced our coffee table for several months as well! LOL! ;-)

One of the features in this vignette is the darling baby picture of my now 88 year old father, my mother had gold leafed the frame it sits in at least 30 years ago, and I love how it fits so well with our style.

This cloche fits perfectly in this candle holder I picked up at a garage sale. Featured in the cloche is a framed piece of tatting that my grandmother did when she was a young girl. This treasure was also a work of my mom's.

I featured this particular music from an old songbook out of my collection. It was a song my mother used to sing to me when I was a little girl. Even tho my mom's been gone for 19 years, I can still hear her singing it in my head and it always comforts me. :-)

This sweet little silver pot I found at the thrift store...I love the little birdie on the side and it's engraved with the saying 'Best Wishes'. Does anyone know what it was used for?

Here is the view with the mantle in the background..Oh! And underneath the glass on the coffee table is an old tapestry I picked up at a garage sale...love the colors and victorian-ness feel it has!!

Be sure to visit all the fabulous vignettes at Color Outside the Lines!

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." {William Morris}

Happy Autumn!!

Tabletop Tuesday~Toni's Hutch

Hi all! And welcome to Tabletop Tuesday hosted by the lovely, Marty at A Stroll Thru Life!

I am failing miserably at getting my fall decor out..and by the looks on my calendar at this week it won't happen until (maybe) next week! Am I the only one in Blogland without fall decorations out??

My sweet friend, Toni, from San Diego loves decorating as much as I do and I glean so much inspiration from her! She recently sent me pics of her fall decor around her house and I wanted to show you her hutch for Tabletop Tuesday. You can see her 'before' (summer) decor of her hutch here.

See those pheasant feathers? They were given to Toni by her niece who also shot the pheasant!!

And I love her 'belted books'..I've stolen  borrowed that idea myself! ;-)

Just too darling for words!!

That adorable pumpkin teapot was given to her years ago from her sweet mom-in-love ...a treasured heirloom to Toni.

Thanks, Toni, for letting me 'play' Tabletop Tuesday..even tho I had no tabletop of my own to show~ I am thrilled to show off YOUR talents since you don't have a blog!! :-D

Be sure to visit A Stroll Thru Life--there are some fabulous fall tabletops for your viewing pleasure!!

"Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another"... {George Eliot}

P.S. Looks like all I need are 5 more followers and I'll host a Giveaway!!!

My Husband, My Hero

So Saturday I was in the house when I heard Steve yell for me to come out. I took one look and ran back in for my camera. (of course!) :-)

A snake was slithering his way towards my studio and Steve grabbed it and yelled for me.

Winston was puzzled. He'd never seen a snake before.

Needless to say there was much excitement and activity by me, Courtney, and Steve which made the poor snake more than a little nervous and dubious of us.

Even tho this snake was harmless, they do bite when feeling alarmed.

He (She?) was released into the lot next to ours...keeping the rattlers and mice out.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Steve is deathly afraid of snakes?? He went through all that to keep it out of my studio!! THAT is why he is my HERO!! ;-)

Vignette Friday

For this week's Vignette Friday, hosted by the very talented and charming Artie of Color Outside the Lines, I thought I'd do a repeat of our sitting room mantle. I found I have had it this way since January!! Can you believe it??

But I have been so happy with this display that I've not wanted to change it ALL YEAR!! I KNOW! What is wrong with me? LOL!!

I had watched the movie 'Out of Africa' and got my inspiration there. Really wanted a  'British' look..

Do any of you like a vignette so much that you actually leave it as is for almost a year??

I know a change will be a-coming in December, and I may throw a pumpkin or two up there and call it Fall decorating in the coming week(s), but until then I still love the look..hope you do too!!

Be sure to visit Color Outside the Lines for other fabulous Vignettes!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

P.S. My ever-loving and ever observant hubby, who follows my followers way more than I do, pointed out that I'm almost to 200 followers! I'm thinkin' Giveaway time when I get to 200...what do you think?? ;-)

Family Portraits

Just had to pop in and share a few pics of the family. As you can see all eyes were on Lindy the whole time she was here! ;-)

We had a great time with Zac, Amy, and Lindy visiting. We took the opportunity of all of us being together to take some family pictures. This is only a couple of pics of many...the T-shirts came from Ernst Cafe in New Orleans~Thought it'd be fun to use in our pictures! ;-)

I just HAD to show a couple more of our sweet grand-daughter sitting so contentedly on her daddy's shoulders. Such a JOY!

The house is so quiet now. I'll be spending the next few days catching up. I'm also involved in a swap over at Speckled Egg  and I'll be working on those, too!

I've popped in on a few blogs and found it seems like everyone is decorating for Fall! It's giving me the itch to pull out pumpkins and leaves and branches and get to it!! ;-)

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.

{Anthony Brandt}