Cutie Pie Cottage

On Sofas And the Winter Blues

2012-01-27T07:11:00.000-08:00

Life is usually a mixture of good and bad- happy and sad. I'm happy because I have a new sofa but I'm SAD from lack of light. Do you like my "new" $150.00 sofa? It's the first one I've had in 15 years- compliments of the Salvation Army! (Quilt needs to be re-centered now.)

I really like the sofa's lines and so does my grand puppy, Butters. She inspected it from one end to the other! Butters makes me happy but lack of light makes me feel SAD, lazy and muddled in my mind!

Thanks to my friend KIM, I finally took action against the winter blues and ordered a light therapy box. All the reviews I read were positive and people saw results right away. I'll let you know how it works for me when it arrives. Thanks again, Kim for caring about me.

♥

I know how to count my blessings and I know these blues will pass. In the mean ole time, please understand if I am quiet and spending a lot of time in the world of BBC. Lark Rise To Candleford anyone?

☺

A Dotty Deer For Dotty Day!

2012-01-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry but there will be no linky sign up from now on. I'm finding it hard to keep up with so I'll still be posting dots from time to time and doing give aways but no linky. I gotta keep Holly happy! If you already had a dotty post ready for today then please let me know so I can see! Did you know fawns are dotty? This is a scan of a decal of mine that you may copy. I forgot all about it! I found it a couple weeks ago tucked in a bunch of other papers. I have the haaaaardest time keeping paper crafts organized! Isn't is precious?

♥

Last weeks link up give away winner is Betsy from The Little Red Hen At Home! Congrats, Betsy! I'll be sending you off a little dotty surprise sometime this week.

♥

Trouble commenting or opening blogs?

Help spread this word passed on to me by Carol at The Polka Dot Closet:

"Here's the problem and the fix.
Blogger introduced a new feature for people who use the imbedded comment format (As opposed to those who have a pop up or full page comment boxes). Everything got messed up and they have not yet been able to fix it.
Some people who comment with Internet Explorer (Not those using Safari or Firefox) on a post with imbedded format, are not able to comment. If they search other pages in your blog the pages freeze.
Here's the work around as they do not yet have a fix.
Change your comments to "Pop up" or "Full Page". Go to Dashboard>Settings>Comments> And change it. If you are unable to comment on a blog, let the blog owner know to change her settings to "Pop up" for comments. I am sure many blogs have no idea this is going on as they are still receiving some comments from people that don't use Internet Explorer"
Thanks, Carol!

♥

How is everyone coming along with their swaps? With blogger being goofy last week, I've had a hard time making sure everyone is on track!
♥

Swap Partners Revealed!

2012-01-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

Hello, girls! Here's what we've all been waiting for!
♥
The dotty swap partner list!
(Each name is linked- just click to visit your partner's blog and exchange info!)
♥
Roselle of Seaside Rose Creations and Trisha of Glass Slippers And All Sorts Of stuff
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Renee of My Vintage Mending and Angelina of Ruby Jean
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Shirley of Zetta's Aprons and Besty of The little Red Hen At Home
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Mary of Mom Wald's Place and Susie of Little Susie Homemaker
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Molly of Birdie Blue and Jennifer of Sugar Pink Boutique
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Lynn of Life On The Wienee Ranch and Dorothy of Hen's Rule
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Jenny of Jenny's Heart and Velma of Down Our Country Road
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Lisa of Pupylov Memories and Sarah of Sing and Don't Be Silent
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Donna of Donna's Lavender Nest and Debbie Kay of My Vintage Daydreams
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Jann of Have A Daily Cup With Mrs. Olson and Noelle of Think. Happy. Thoughts
♥
Sweet Bee of Sweet Bee Cottage and Sue of It's A Very Cherry World

Linda of Linda Ruthie's Aprons and me!

Here are the rules:
1. You and your partner will exchange addresses and swap 3 dotty items only!

2. Items may be hand made, store bought or a combo of both.

3. Find out your partner's style and favorite colors by asking or visiting their blog.

4. You MUST NOT stress. (This is just a little swap!)

5. You MUST have fun! (Your partner will love getting your little package and you will love getting hers!)

4. Mail off swap by Feb. 10-th (Is this too soon? Should we wait until after Valentines Day?)

Tips and hints:

*Wrap your items up really cute.

*Be generous but don't break the bank and make your partner feel guilty.
♥
Ready, set, GO get your dots!
☺
Let me know if any of the links don't work properly or if I accidently missed someone!

Sally Gets Her Dotty On!

2012-01-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

(Hee-hee! One of my favorite parts of blogging is coming up with blog post titles!)
Welcome to Dotty Hop Day! This is the day when I show off my polka dots and make blog land a happier place because of it! You can link up at the end of this post to show off your dots, too. Just post one or more pics of any kind of dots from your home or even off the Internet. Feel free to grab our Dotty Hop Day kitty button, too. Everyone who links up this week will be entered in a little dotty give away from me! I have 2 Sally pics to share with you today. I learned to read with the Dick and Jane books. I loved little Sally and wished she was my baby sister! Here she is with Tim

I bought a few Dick and Jane pages off of etsy a few years ago and have wanted to frame them but never have! I have so many good intentions...
Feel free to copy these and never do anything with them either- just like me!! Ha-ha!

And in other business:

Last weeks link up give away winner is Pam from Virginia Retro!

♥

Give Away at Sweet Bee Cottage

2012-01-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Head over to Sweet Bee Cottage for a cute as can be give away! Give away ends Feb. 4th!

It's Dotty Swap Time!

2012-01-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Eeeps! Thank you, Renee of My Vintage Mending for letting me use this perfect image for our dotty swap! Everyone grab it and help spread the word! (I added the borders and the words.) It's Time To Dotty Up! Are we Ready?
♥
The rules of the swap are simple:

1. USA bloggers only (sorry!)

2. Leave a comment on THIS POST saying you want to join and I'll match you up with a partner once all the names are in. I'll leave the sign up open for one week.

3. You and your partner will exchange addresses and send each other *3 dotty related items ONLY*! can we restrain ourselves?

4. Items can be *store bought, home made or a combo of both*.

5. Find out your partner's style and fav colors by asking and/or visiting their blog.

6. Mail off swap by: Feb 10th- does that sound good or should we wait longer?

Here are some *examples* of items we could send to help jump start our January brains! These are *examples* only:

*A dotty candle, dotty note card set and a dotty hankie

*A dotty cup, dotty fabric and a dotty box.

*A dotty scarf, dotty scrap book paper and a dotty bowl.

*Once everyone has joined, I will list the partners in a separate post but also contact you by e mail. Please make sure I have your e mail address!

This is going to be fun!

(This is my first time to host a swap so please bear with me and let me know if I've forgotten anything.)
♥

The Top Of Our Hutch For Rednesday!

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Looky here, girls! I've been eyeing this toy Wolverine sink/cabinet AND the candelabra at the antique mall for over a year now! Isn't this perfect for the top of *our* hutch? (I think I'll *share* the hutch with all my blog friendies!)

And isn't THIS perfect for the top of our hutch, too? Good thing I had lots of Christmas fun money this year! Our hutch is staying decorated with Christmas until my oil cloth comes for the top of it. Ooops! I let out the secret! ☺

I'm linking up to Sue over It's A Very Cherry World for REDNESDAY! Rednesday is having an anniversary and Sue is having a give away so go see the reds AND enter to win some!

See yesterday's post for my Dotty Day post and a chance to win a give away from me *IF* you link up!

♥

Also, come by tomorrow to get details for our fun and simple dotty swap!
♥

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Tags And A Dotty Lamp Shade Tutorial

2012-01-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Dotty Day where blogland gets happier because of dots! Thanks again, Meri for designing this super cute button for me! Today I'm going to show you THREE dotty items that I have made in the past. I hope to post something NEW next week! Here's a little Meyercord decal lamby tag with some tiny dotty paper.

and here is the first tag that I ever made and it too has dotty paper! Gingham, lace, dots, rick rack and buttons all fight to be my favorite!

Oh and of course POM POMS want to be first, too! This is the lamp shade I made last Spring. Click HERE to read the original post for a "sort of" tutorial!

Link your DOTTY post up now through Monday with our linky below this post for a chance to win a little dotty give away! Winner will be anounced next week! This is for fun- okay?
♥
SWAP TIME!

Be on the look out this week for a post about our upcoming 3 item dotty swap! This will be simple and FUN! I'm still trying to create a cute button for our swap. I'm determined to learn how to do this!

♥
Come back tomorrow to see 2 awesome splurges for myRednesday post!

She Shops! She Scores!

2012-01-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

She brings it HOOOOOME! ☺
Did you know you can find good deals EVERYWHERE? Just look at this vintage tin from the antique mall for $1.50. Who cares if it doesn't have a lid? How many kitchens did this tin see? This tin is very much at home in my new vintage hutch. (So are my cards from Diane and potholder from Kim!)This is your last peek of Christmas in the hutch! There's my new Pyrex! Say hi!

Here's an old wire side Ball jar that I picked up for just 25 cents at my local thrift! I got another one with the rubber seal still on it, too!

And yet another $1.50 vintage tin from the antique mall,

all because it has a squished in lid. Poor thing!

How about a chintz mini pitcher for 75 cents from the thrifts? It was supposed to be 25 cents but the checker eyed it slowly and raised the price. Hee-hee! This will go in my future booth because it's a bit too much gold for me. I've been picking up lots of little things for my future booth!

So see, you can find vintage deals at the thrifts AND the antique stores if you go often enough and really dig!

♥

Come back tomorrow for Dotty Day!

Big Sale At Donda Lee's!

2012-01-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

BIG SALE!!! USE THE CODE: NEWYEAR and get 50% off your entire order! Let's clean up shop and make way for new items! Happy new year!Wow! Now that's a sale! See the cute ring I ordered from Dondi? Thanks Dondi!
♥

Pyrex For Rednesday!

2012-01-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Ooo-wee! Lookie here, girls!! I found a sweet deal on the Pyrex primary set!I'm so tickled with them! Won't these look sweet on my new/old hutch? They are perfectly worn and loved and they remind me of mom! I'll take more pics of them on my hutch when I can get the settings on my camera right!

See yesterday's Dotty Day post for info on an upcoming dotty swap!

I'm linking up with REDNESDAY! Today! Go see all the great reds!

I have exciting news! I'm thinking about opening a booth at my antique mall! I had thought this might be a far away/ some day kind of thing but now I'm thinking it might be sooner than later. I'll keep you posted!
♥

Lots of love to all my bloggy friends!

♥

Ready For Dotty Day And A Swap?

2012-01-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Girls and welcome back to Dotty Hop Day! Have we all come out of our Christmas sugar comas yet? ☺ Are we ready to start back to Dotty Hop Day AND do a dotty swap? See end of post for details! Dotty Hop Day celebrates happy dots of all colors and sizes! If you want to show your dots, I'd love to see them! Today I want to show you my pink and brown cuppy creation that I made a couple of years ago. It was really YUM! ☺

♥

I used an up cycled thrift store frame for this. I made it for myself or a give away but I ended up giving it to Blogger Noelle for a wedding gift. Simple but cute! I haven't made any cupcake pics in a while. I miss them!Dotty Swap Idea:

Well, I think some of you definitely need more dots in your life so what do you think about me hosting a simple 3 item dotty swap?

Are we ready or should we wait a couple weeks?

I would have a sign up and assign partners and then give ourselves a few weeks to get it together and shipped out...

Here are some *examples* to trigger some ideas and to show you what I have in mind for a 3 item dotty swap:

*A dotty candle, dotty note card set and a dotty hankie

*A dotty cup, dotty fabric and a dotty box

*A dotty scarf, dotty scrap book paper, and a dotty bowl

*A dotty banner/garland, dotty ribbon and dotty buttons

* A dotty pot holder, clothes pins, and a dotty pillow case.

♥

Get the idea? Simple but fun, something to brighten our winter and NOT a ton of money.

♥

Feed back is welcome and I hope to have a GOOD linky set up for next week so get those dots ready!

♥

It's A Zoo Around Here!

2011-12-29T04:55:00.000-08:00

This is Holly the zoo keeper reporting from the high prairie of Idaho! I'd like to introduce you to my grand puppy Butters. Who sort of lives with us. I guess. Here, she is sporting the fruit bat look. Cute, huh? ☺ Butters is a Chaweenie and she gets longer and cuter by the minute! ☺ She belongs to my 25 year old boy who lives in the next town over but she's being trained by 13 year old boy. Butters adores me and now that she's potty trained and trained not to bite, I adore her, too! Butters loves our big kitten, Crackers. How about those names? Butters and Crackers? Yeah, we're unique like that.

Crackers also loves Butters and they wrestle to no end!

No one ever gets hurt and they have so much fun tearing from one end of the house to the other and up and down the wooden stairs. They sound like little ponies upstairs! Butters loves to bite Cracker's tail but Crackers gets her back!

Here they are with our big dog, Lexi. Lexi tries to join in their fun but she looks so awkward and doesn't know how to act! Ha-ha! We love to tease her!

Chit- Chat:

Animals in the house is NOT my ideal and it really does make me feel all zoo-ish but I do it for my 13 year old who is the only boy left in the zoo. Oh, and what you don't see in these pics is my poor mama cat Kitty Anne (Note that is Anne with an E!) Poor Kitty Anne is utterly disgusted with these animals and wants her quiet life back. She's hiding somewhere even as I type. :( It's not easy to keep a whole family happy.
♥

Our Christmas was wonderfully fun and low on stress! How about that? The tree comes down today but the rest of the decor will stay up and gradually be put away so the house won't go into blah shock.
♥

The Christmas cookies are all gone but the fudge is still in the fridge. Hmmm... My fudge turned out too hard and my DIL's turned out too soft so I spread hers on top of mine and yes, my waist line is spreading, too! It has till Jan. first to grow all it wants and then it's back to being skinny and cute again as I work out to the songs I will put on my Christmas ipod!!
♥

I hope to be back to the blogging swing in January. I have so many "treasure" posts to do and I want to get back to hosting Dotty Hop Day and a dotty swap as well!

♥

Love to all you girls! You're the icing on my cupcake!

A Snowy Christmas And Some Moose Pics, Too!

2011-12-23T04:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my blog friendies! ♥ Not many of us have snow this year so I thought I'd upload a BUNCH of snowy farm pics from LAST YEAR and give you a white Christmas! This opening pic is taken from the top of my looooong drive way.From my bedroom window. My flower beds were all comfy under their blanket of snow.

Ooo! Looking toward the highway.

Yikes! Right outside my bedroom window! Rookie the teen aged moose had just finished "marking his territory". I truly think he had a crush on me. ☺ Rookie visited us frequently last Winter and he was bigger every time! (Don't mind that tipped over chair. We do cool things like that around here.) ☺

Here's Rookie contemplating a ride on the rope swing!

He was a bit smaller and cuter here. This is right after he was looking in my living room window at me.

I think he missed his mama. He had just turned when I snapped this pic. He sure scared me when I walked in the living room!

Our dog, Lexi stopped chasing Rookie after she was "charged" by him. It was scary. We were sorry when we had to thoroughly chase Rookie away for good but he was getting too big and unpredictable to be in the yard with children around. (And me!)

Lovely, snowy fir trees!

I occasionally hike to the top of this wheat field. It's steeper than it looks!

I love the Winter shadows on the snow.

The empty horse pasture that will hopefully have a horse in it some day!

♥

We had a LOT of snow last year!

Another pic through my bedroom window.

I hope you enjoyed the snow! Merry Christmas one and all! You've made my life richer and sweeter!

♥

Holly

My Very Merry Vintage Hutch!

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, girls! I've been waiting for some sun-shine to take clear pics but alas- no sun! So here, in all its faded glory is my cutified- merry Christmas to me hutch! The cutters and can opener were recent purchases that were sold to me ON this very hutch days before I bought the hutch! Fun, huh? How do you like my bin full of vintage bulbs? ☺ (Pssst- not really full!) Here's the whole top! Decorated over bunches of times as I play every day.

Don't pay attention to the bottom. Ha-ha! It's not done yet! I have a great plan for the bottom so stay tuned. Does my decorating seem sparse to you? I'm really not a minimalist, I just don't have much but now I have an ecxuse to hunt harder!

My red Fire King dotty bowl was also sold to me on this hutch! The hutch had been like a booth. It was filled with the owner's stuff! Now that the hutch is gone, she's supposed to move in another one and I'm told it's yellow! I can't wait to go see it!

I'm finally able to display my little red quilt scraps that Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters gave me! I just love them! Do you like my vintage block words? I love them, too! See my little snowman candle from Jackie at Once Upon A Fairytale? Yup, he gets the love as well! All my goodies are so happy in my hutch. That cherry canister was a score for a $1.50 because it had a dented top!

I thought I would display some of my vintage snow man cards in here. Good idea? My awesome red handled egg beater from Carol at Old Glory Cottage gets center stage!

Happy Apple had to leave my shelves above my sink but he's still happy! I definitely want more tins to display on my hutch but I didn't want to take the ones I have off of my happy shelves because those are what I see when I first walk in the kitchen. (I think I need another happy apple too!)

My mini fridgy, also from Carol, gets a playful Santa on top!

Here's a close up of my awesome new table cloth that I bought a couple months ago! I'm so happy to have a wonderful antique store here in my tiny town and a friendly owner who sells to me! Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed the hutch tour! ☺

I'm linking up with Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday! I bet there's LOTS of reds today! Go check it out!

Have a great week, everyone!

♥

Remember- no one can "do it all" except God and YOU are NOT Him!

☺

Merry Christmas To Me!

2011-12-09T03:37:00.000-08:00

Look what my Bobby got me for Christmas! (My idea- of course!) It's not an authentic Hoosier but it's a lot like one which is good enough for me! It has a metal label on top that says Kitchen Kozy. Isn't that sweet?! I've had a crush on this hutch for a whole year! I saw it the first time I went into my local antique store. It was being used as a display piece and was brimming over with goodies! I can hardly wait to do the same with my own goodies! This little drawer is a bin and it tips out! Eeeps! I can't wait to put something in there!

All the knobs on top are crystal. It even has a cutting board! These pics were taken at night so you can't see the gleam these knobs get.

Here's a shot with the side doors open. Only one panel has glass. We're going to remove that and put white chicken wire in all 3 doors! The top part of the hutch will be for cuteness and the bottom will actually store kitchen stuff. ☺

The bottom drawer is a huge bin! I've had so much fun scrubbing on this hutch! It looks so perfect in my old farm house kitchen. The scruffy white paint matches the paint on my other cupboards!

I hope you can be happy for me girls! I've had to sell or give my furniture away so many times through the years and I hope that this hutch will be my "forever' hutch! I'll take more pics once I get it decorated and now I will be on the hunt for more vintage kitchen tins and such!

♥

I'm linking up to the Fun Friday link up party at my sweet Jennifer's blog, the Sugar Pink Boutique! Go see her today becauseshe's my friend AND she's having a candy light give away!

Have a great day girls!

♥

Holly

Vintage Light Bulbs And Their Friends

2011-12-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

I've been playing up a storm with these vintage light bulbs! They make the most delightful clacking noise when you play with them. I've been placing them in bowls, jars, baskets and sleighs! I have big plans for these babies!And here's the light bulbs' friends. ☺ This is my living room window is all ready for the grands to come over tonight! See their stockings? Maybe they will match better next year.

I have this window decorated especially with them in mind.

I have a snowman, gingerbread, Santa theme going on here. The Christmas lady in the middle was painted by my artistic and beautiful Mom RIP.

These all thrift store goodies and gifts from Christmas past. Nothing fancy in this window- just fun! My husband Bobby picked up the plate at the Goodwill for me this year and he was so happy that I liked it. ☺

Tomorrow is my Bobby's birthday and he will be 59! Have I ever mentioned that he's the most wonderful man in the world? He's totally clueless a lot of the time but he adores me and lavishes me with praise. ☺ We're celebrating his B day today with a family dinner-. I'm making his favorite- chicken and sausage gumbo!
♥

I'm so excited for the grands to see the house all decorated! I even have a tree up in their toy room! AKA JUNK room. Ha-ha! No showing you THAT room!
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I hope everyone enjoys their day and enjoys looking at every one's blogs! Remember- you WON'T get it all done and that's okay!
♥

She Shops- She Scores!

2011-12-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

I picked up this snow man pic at my local thrift for 2 bucks! It's a little wooden window frame and the snow men are attached metal pieces. Super cute! I hung it here with some lace- on top of a lace panel on my dinning room wall. I like to mix things up!

Here's a Close up of my tea cups hung with seam binding.

And here's another glimpse of my hutch with my favoritest card image from Twyla and Lindsey of Two Crazy Crafters. I just think those colors and the girls are adorable! Both the bell ornaments you see came from the thrifts and the antique mall. The one from the thrifts was 10 cents! Score! See my new blue bird plate? I ♥ it! No need to put all the regular decor away. Just mix it up!

For the first time ever, I have a little kitchen tree! I hung my smallest ornaments from it. I know my grands will like it. It's just a cheap little plastic tree that I got for a buck but I think all Christmas trees should be loved. ☺

My local antique store is having an open house today so I'm off to that here in a bit and then I'll spend the rest of the day resting because I feel a naughty cold coming on and there's none of that allowed around here!

♥

Hope you all have a great week end!

Win And Fail

2011-12-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

Not all my crafting adventures are win.This Christmas garland was a fail. Novelty buttons tip and make a button ball garland hang unevenly and look chaotic. I'm going to tear this one apart and stick to my original design of button- ball- button ball. Nice and even.

But my new jacket this week was a win! For a couple of dollars from my local thrift shop I snagged this super cute/like new jacket! It made me FEEL super cute as we left to go go tree shopping yesterday!

And look where I live! My very own (rented) Green Gables!

Life is good! I have so many things that I want to do today and that keeps me interested and eager with life. But I also know that I *WON'T DO* everything that I want to do today and that's okay! ☺ That's one of many advantages of being 5o. You know more about yourself and THAT is a definite WIN!
♥

Deck The Blog!

2011-11-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

I'm decorating my blog with vintage images freely shared by others! Stay tuned for more! This one above is from sweet Meri.
I think all my images have been shared by:
Imagimeri
Two Crazy Crafters
My Vintage Mending
Creative Breathing.
Thank you ladies!
Since these were freely shared with me, I'm assuming you may freely copy from me.
♥
Merry Christmas!

My Turn!

2011-11-28T07:19:00.000-08:00

Every morning, I eagerly look through your blogs for glimpses of Christmas! So now it's my turn- even if my pics are a bit blurry. I'll pretend that it's cool. Want to pretend with me? No?

Well, how about a farm shot then? This was one of those HUGE harvest moons that looked too large to be true but once my boy took a pic of it, it looked so small! Oh well, it's still a cool pic, eh?

I have been so busy with family (I went to see Breaking Dawn TWICE!) cooking, shopping, pets and decorating that I've hardly had time to craft! I hope to change that today.
♥

Enjoy your day and look for the little things to be thankful for. They are waiting for you!

♥

Have you visited here but never commented? Don't be shy! Just say, "Hi, Holly! You have the best blog out there!" Ha-ha! Nah, my blog is but a drop in the ocean but it *is* mine and I hope you enjoy it.

♥

Happy Christmas!

2011-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, the turkey had his day and now it's time to move on! Happy Christmas time to you all! This is my vintage Christmas card collage. Most of them are flocked!
♥
Make sure and take time for YOU today! That's not being selfish, that's being wise.
♥

A Sugar Kissed Christmas!

2011-11-25T06:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I, for one, am thankful it's over and now we can concentrate on Mother's Day! (Snark~ snark)Nah, seriously, it's *Christmas* time now and those Two Crazy Crafters Twyla and Lindsey are at it again! Go visit a Sugar Kissed Christmas for daily fun!
♥

I'm Guest Posting!

2011-11-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

I know everyone is busy getting ready or Thanksgiving but please drop by DondaLee's blog today and tell me how wonderful I am! ☺Hee-hee!

I Am Featured!

2011-11-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to brag about this for some time now! The Decal Cottage has featured my second bunny chair in their photo gallery!
Have you ever been there? I've bought decals from the Decal Cottage twice now. They have the sweetest decals for kitchen, nursery and all things in between!
♥

Buy Your Own Button Ball Garland!

2011-11-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hello bloggy peeps! I am thrilled that some of you are interested in buying my Button Ball Garlands! (Garland above and below made for Sandy of 521 Lake street)

My garlands are lovingly hand made by me here on my farm. The mini Styrofoam balls are covered with tiny strips of fabric and then strung with coordinating buttons. They remind me of pom poms or strung pop corn! (Pictured below- Autumn garland made for me!)

Button ball garlands can be hung from the ceiling, along curtains, shelves or just about anywhere! I'm wanting to make one for my white Christmas tree this year!

Button Ball Garlands come in 2 different sizes:

3 FT for $20.00

4 FT for $25.00

These prices include shipping.

(Custom garlands below made for my give away winner Renee of My Vintage Mending.)

I do not have an etsy shop or paypal account at this time but if you want to buy a garland of your own, you can email me and we can set up your order and buying info. Click on my profile button in the side bar to find my e mail address if you don't already have it.

♥

Here below is a custom patriotic garland in the design stage. I love designing custom orders! I feel like I'm designing a quilt! A custom order will take a little extra time to put together and can't be shipped immediately but I think they are worth the short wait!

Here's a couple of good close ups showing the texture of the fabric balls. Depending on the fabric and my mood, some are shabbier than others.

I love filling custom orders but you can also order a multi colored garland for a quicker shipping time. Here below is my original multi colored garland sold to my first customer, Elizabeth of Creative Breathing! (Photo by Elizabeth.)

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A link to this pricing post will be included in my side bar for future reference.

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A big thank you to all you girls who have encouraged me in my creating through the years! If you are an old friend or a new, just know that YOU are special to me and to God!

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I'm Linking up to my friend Jennifer's blog the Sugar Pink Boutique for her new linky party!

Inspiration Station!

2011-11-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

Look at these wonderful packaging ideas supplied by the talented Jessica of Two Shades Of Pink! I love to visit Jessica any ole time because she's so sweet and fun and she gives the best tutorials on all things crafty! For the next couple months, Jessica has a special treat for us and will be posting festive packaging and crafts for the holiday season. It's been a lot of fun already so go by and see Jessica of Two Shades Of Pink! starting with her first post in the series and join in on the fun!

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Win A Vintage Train Case

2011-11-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

Head over to see the wonerful miss Rebecca to enter this faaaabulous give away! Click HERE!
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My Happy Little Kitchen

2011-11-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my happy little kitchen! I finally found the perfect spot for my vintage Fire King dotty bowl! (AKA a grease pot but isn't dotty bowl a much cuter name?) I knew it would go on my happy shelves but it took me a while to get it juuuust right. I have some other kitchen views for you too... but FIRST, let's have a cookie!! These are my brown sugar- part whole wheat- chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and I use Holly plates all year round because my name *IS* Holly! My boy took this pic of the cookies because he was so happy that I made them! Ha-ha! Poor kid! I haven't done much baking since starting my diet back in May.

Now that you have your cookie, here's a full shot of my happy shelves. Perfect-right? I probably won't always enjoy this Kindergarten style of decorating but after all, this IS my second childhood!

These shelves are actually just a cabinet without its doors. The are right above my sink. See my new vintage daisy trivet down below? I love it and I think this is the perfect spot for it! It was a "happy birthday to me" present from the antique mall. (It is soooo hard to get the lighting right in my kitchen! If I turn off that light above the sink, the colors don't come out right. Wish I could get things clearer but this is the best I've been able to do in a long shot. Maybe some day, I will learn how to use my camera?)
It's still Fall in my happy little kitchen and these little guys want you to know it! ☺ Banner from Carol at Old Glory Cottage. Paper apron from Cindy at Rick Rack and Gingham. Thanks again, girls!

Hurray for red spray paint! I painted up this little thrift store shelf over my *11 day home alone vacation*. I don't have a before pic. You can just imagine its formally plain, ugly wood. The adorable little crayon apron above it is from Jackie at Once Upon A Fairy Tale! Thanks again, Jackie! I think my grand girls want this but I know I appreciate it more. It's MINE, MINE, MINE!! (I always wanted little sisters to fight with! Hee-hee!)

Here's a close up of the shelf. Yes, everything is rearranged again- AND again and again and again. Ha-ha! See my new Avon strawberry decanter? 25 cents at the thrift store! Yay!

Believe me, I also had plenty of rest on my vacation while watching DVDs and old VHS'. I crafted, decorated and shopped. I also went way off my diet and ate lots of chocolate but only gained a few ounces! I guess it was all those projects and not cooking much while the guys were gone??? That works for me!
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Well I think this post has enough RED in it for a Rednesday post don't you? I'm linking up with the fabulous Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World!

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Thanks for coming over to visit. I LOVE when you leave me a comment. ♥

Romantic/Rustic Window Treat

2011-11-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

Hello girls! I have another window treat to show you! In an attempt to not overwhelm the guys, I tried mixing things up a bit! Will some twine and Currier and Ives do the trick? This is my HUGE living room window. We have no near neighbors and we like the view of our firs and old 1904 barn, so we left it bare. The look was a bit stark though so on MY 11 DAY ALL ALONE VACATION, I finally treated it!

I strung up some twine and put a vintage dresser scarf in the middle and then vintage hankies on either side. I finished it off by tying a cup on each end with more twine in a sloppy bow. I like it! It softens the room up just enough. This is my predominately blue room so I looked for linens with blue in them.

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Below this window sits the guys computer and table and it's the biggest, ugliest computer table you've ever seen and I absolutely HATE IT! When my man came home from his trip, one of the first things he said when he came in the house was that I could get rid of it! I had not said ANYTHING about it! Do you think maybe my window worked magic on him?

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I also did some re-do painting while I was alone and some kitchen decorating so I'll show you that in the days to come, too!
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Thanks for coming by and if you left a comment, I give you a double thank you!

I hope you all have a *most excellent* week end!

Vintage Dotty Rose Napkin Banner

2011-11-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hello happy dotty fans!! As we continue rushing into the holidays, I'll be taking a break from Dotty Day and come back with a bang in January! I've had a lot of trouble with the linkys so no links today but hopefully that will be resolved by the time I come back.I just finished up a 11 day home alone vacation and girls, did I have fun! I could do whatever I wanted to do! Woo-hoo! Stringing up this dots and roses banner along my dinning room window was one of the many projects that I did!

(I spy a cupcake ornament from Celestina and a paper art banner from Elizabeth, too!)
This was an easy project. I just had to do it! I just ironed the vintage napkins, flipped them over some twine, knotted the ends with an ornament hook and hung it from the top of my curtain.

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I've made similar banners before with ribbons and flowers in between each "pennant" but this farm house of mine has been wanting things a bit simpler so I'm granting its wish!

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I'll be showing you more projects that I did on my vacation in the days to come!

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I'm sorry I don't have a linky list for you today but if *you* put up a dotty post, I'd love to know!

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I'm also linking up to Rednesday since I have red roses here!

A Fall Themed Dotty Day

2011-10-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Can we please, please call these adorable pom poms DOTS for Dotty Hop Day?! I think they look cute enough to eat and it was love at first sight for me!! (I had to remove this weeks linky due to technical problems!)

Although it was love at first $ight, I didn't buy the pom poms until they were half off at Joann's! I hung it along my big Fall themed living room window.

I think it goes well with my new Fall themed button ball garland.

My garlands are like dots also- right? They remind of pom poms, too! Is it wrong to adore your own creations? ☺

I added little leaf buttons to this garland but I couldn't get them to hang right... I also experimented with this garland by looping it differently and if I have time, I'm going to add more buttons and balls to this one to make it even longer.

I think my Currier and Ives dishes lend themselves well to Autumn- as do bunnies in orange sacks! (Bunny from dear Lisa at Puppyluv and cup from dear Fairytale Jackie!)

Tucked in also is a sweet tag from a few years back made by our dear Creative Elizabeth. (Do you like my chippy window sill? I don't but I'm pretending I do until I can paint them.)

And for those of you (like Elizabeth!) who like to see pictures of my world, here's a shot of the farm that I took from the top of the wheat field. The living room window that is featured in todays post is the window located in the right hand corner of the house. See my Aspens? I LOVE them! Happy Autumn!

Sorry I didn't get together a give away for this week. The Holiday days are simply flying by!

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Have a great day, girlfriends!

♥

How I Lost 27 Pounds

2011-10-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Many have asked me HOW I lost so much weight so quickly- so here's my story!

How did I lose 27 pounds? I wanted too! Really bad!
A true do it your- selfer, I started losing the day after Mother's Day with the goal of losing 20 pounds. I met my goal and then some by my 50th birthday on Oct. 3rd. I have the most energy and motivation in the Spring so that's when I started.I started out slowly and I made a plan with phases for each week as I went along.

Phase 1 /week 1 included:

*Smaller portions of food

*Less desert (I was a daily 2 times a day desert eater PLUS candy bars!)

*Drinking more water

*Walking to the mail box every morning (about 4 football fields there and back.
)
*Walking up the wheat field/ hill at least 6 days a week.
(I'd have to stop and catch my breath several times on the way up!)

*10 crunches daily (This was hard!)

*Run up and down the stairs twice in a row- daily . (This was hard, too.)

* I try to remember to stand up/sit up straight and suck in my gut! Yup! I truly believe this helps tone your abs- especially if you've given birth to 4 huge baby boys! It also helps you feel good about yourself, makes you feel thinner and it's good for your internal organs.

*I also naturally increased my activity with Spring cleaning, gardening and sports.

* I started keeping a food and exercize journal. I don't count calories- just write down what I eat.

I lost 3 pounds in my first week! Wow!
This motivated me to keep going and I felt so hopeful. I now know that I always lose about 3 pounds after my menstrual cycle is over (if I have one that month or not) I did not continue to loose 3 pounds weekly but at least once a month, I have a 3 pound loss. (I love those days!)

Phase 2/week 2 was similar with some small but big changes which included:

*2 Balanced meals a day with a healthy snack if needed-avoiding heavy carbs or empty calories. (Chewing slowly and putting down your fork really helps!)

*No desert except on the week end.

*Daily walk to the mail box now included jogging for several feet of it.

*Running up the stairs 3 times in a row now!

I was hungry the first 2 weeks but do you know what? In the past, my stomach would never growl. That's because my stomach was never empty! That's just not good for you! Those first few weeks, I would NOT eat until my stomach would growl and when it would growl, I would say, "This is good, it means I'm getting skinny." When I *would* eat again, I would not "wolf it down" to curb that hunger but I would slowly eat until I felt satisfied. My stomach is used to this now and if by chance I *do* try and eat as much as I used too, I feel miserably FULL!

By phase 3, my crunches easily jumped up to 25 and my hill walk was getting easier! (I can now walk that hill without having to stop once- even when I reach the top! My daily jog gets longer and longer, too!

Throughout the months, my food intake/restrictions have remained the same- 2 meals a day and no desert except on the week ends. I don't forbid any other foods except desert- I just avoid things like white bread or pasta or I only have a little bit. I do make occasional exceptions for family celebrations and holidays. I honestly feel stuffed and uncomfortable if I have 3 meals a day instead of 2. *Some people cannot do this* but I have done it in the past too and I actually feel better and sleep better when I do. What I like to do best is eat around 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM.

My activity has increased! I now jog half way to the mail box, and run up the stairs 5 times in a row! I'm getting in shape! (You'll never see me at a gym. Me? Exercise in front of strangers? I don't think so!) In the Summer, I traded my hill walk for swimming and now I've been playing a lot of badminton and volleyball in the place of the daily hill walk. I just sort of monitor my activity. At one point, I was doing 200 crunches a day but with my back, it's hard to maintain that amount.

When I'm not as active due to illness or my back, I stall or gain a bit but I lose it when my activity picks back up.

I made a promise to myself to be good to me and to not get down on myself if I "cheated". There have been a few desperate rummagings for chocolate for my hormones sake but no guilt was allowed! We do what we have to-right?! The time I ate a huge meal like I used to was "punishment" enough for that slip up. Boy did I feel awful!

* I set fun rewards for myself.

I told myself that when I lost 5 pounds, I could buy a brand new top. THAT was fun! I set an award for the next 5 pounds also but by that time, I didn't need any other reward other than feeling my jeans get looser every day! Woo-hoo! I have bought LOTS of new clothes at my favorite thrift store and it's such a good feeling to try on clothes and have them FIT! Yay!

I only weigh myself once a week- on my Friday (which is your Monday) and I take my measurements about once a month. I have lost a bunch of inches!! My belly is at a stand still right now while my bust keeps shrinking! Rats! ☺ Actually, my bust needed the shrinkage since it was so difficult to find a top that fit right- plus my shoulders would hurt when wearing a bra. But... the bust can stop shrinking now-okay?! ☺

Everyone is different and what works for me might not work for you.

Before menopause, I could lose a few pounds just by cutting back on calories or increasing activity but now, I have to do BOTH.

Well, I guess that's about it. Ask questions here if you'd like and I'll answer in the comment section for all to read.

PS I AM wearing Spanx in this picture! ☺ And if any of you think I didn't need to lose weight, my current weight is now 160 and I finally can get back into a size 14 jeans. I'm a big lady and always will be but just not as big as I was on Mother's Day 2011!
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I ♥ you all!

50's Fire King Dots!

2011-10-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Forget your troubles- come on get DOTTY! It's Dotty Hop Day! Isn't this the cutest little thang eva?

This DOTTY "grease pot" has been taunting me at the antique store since last December! I finally gave in and bought it with my birthday money! I'm trying to find a home for it on my happy shelves. I'll show you when I get everything juuuuust right. ♥

Last week's give away winner of the dotty papers is Angelina of Ruby Jeans! Congratulations Angelina! Did you all see the apron Angelina posted last week for Dotty Hop Day? Eeek! Click HERE to check it out!

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What have you all been doing that's fun? My guys rearranged my craft room/ bedroom for me so that means I've been busy cleaning and organizing it. (Which means the rest of the house is a disaster! Ugh!) I HOPE this will be my final arrangement for this room. I am so NOT good at furniture placement.♥

I've also been busily making custom colored button/ball garlands! I love it because it's like designing a quilt but I don't have to do any sewing! Once Sandy gets hers in the mail I'll show it to you and I'll show you the one I'm making for Renee when she gets hers, too. I'm still working on my own fall colored one too and I can't wait to show you that one. Hopefully you're not getting tired of button ball garlands and dots!

♥Thanks to everyone who links up with DOTTY HOP DAY! Remember, the purpose of posting is to show your DOTS. You can link up today or any day this week. ☺

Oops! I forgot to add my Dotty Hop Day/kitty button to this post! Poor kitty! You can copy it from past posts if you'd like.
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*I'm* linking up to REDNESDAY! Go see all the reds every Wednesday.
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I hope to have another little give away for you next week! Aren't give aways so fun?

Dotty Up!

2011-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

Time to DOTTY UP, girlfriends! Every Tuesday (or starting late Monday night)I show my dots and you can show yours, too! Let's spread the word! You can link up your polka dot post at the end of this post all week long. Feel free to grab my dotty/kitty button, too. Look at the dotty/cuppy jammies that my grandgirl picked out for my birthday! They are super soft like a baby blanket! LOVE!

She knows me so well! She'll be tickled to know that I showed them for Dotty Hop Day!

I also have new dotty shelf trim for my happy shelves above my kitchen sink! They're even happier now. ☺ I bought the trim at Michael's Crafts.

I have a little give away for you this week! Everyone who comments gets entered. If your name is drawn, I will send you a little selection of cute dotty papers. Buttons are dots-right?

Put up your own dotty post AND link back to me and you'll be entered in the give away twice! I'll draw the winner next Monday. Please let me know if you post.

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Thanks to all of you who join in the party!

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Next Dotty Day I'll be showing you a very special vintage dotty dish that I bought with my birthday money!
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I'm linking up with another weekly party, Rednesday over at It's A Very Cherry World! Go check it out if you've never been!

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Have a great day everyone!

Vintage Red Suitcase

2011-10-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

This little suitcase is my latest antique store find. I won't have to PAINT this little baby! It's super cheery and ready to hold my fabric projects! I love the rounded corners. The home made cloths on top were pressies in the same week from Julie of Rick Rack and Polka Dots! and Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters! 2 super sweet girls! Julie sent 2 cloths- one in red and one in yellow and Twyla sent the red with yellow trim when she sent the candy colored cloth for my last give away! Great minds think alike, eh?
THANKS AGAIN GIRLS!
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I'm linked up with Sue for Rednesday.
Be sure and Check out my post from yesterday for Dotty Hop Day!
and see who else linked up. It's not to late for YOU to show off your dots!
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* PS That silly ole spell check always tells me that Rednesday is spelled wrong! What do they know???

Dotty Day Garland Winner Announced

2011-10-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

Hip hip hurray for Dotty Hop Day! Got dots? Link up at the end of this post to show them off. You can also copy this Dotty Hop Day kitty button if you would like. A link back to Cutie Pie Cottage is always appreciated! Let's spread the word! Here's what I'm showing for Dotty Hop day this week! Brand new dotty fabric and buttons for more button ball garlands! Buttons are dots- right?

And speaking of garlands, I had 37 entries for my give away last week! Woo-hoo! One lucky winner was chosen by the redneck random generator (My 13 year old!) ☺ And the winner is: Renee of My Vintage Mending! Congrats Renee!

Renee will also receive this candy colored wash cloth made by my sweet bloggy friend Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters. Twyla crochets all sorts of wonderful things that she offers in her SHOP! that she shares with her daughter Lindsey. Thank you so much for your contribution, dear Twyla!

I was making some other things to go along with the give away but THEY didn't turn out! Yes, there are many craft failures here at Cutie Pie Cottage but to make up for that, I will also give Renee a second button ball garland with the original multi color theme OR a custom colored garland of her choosing.

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I'm having fun making these garlands! Right now I'm working on a custom order for someone and a Fall colored garland for my own living room. *IF* I don't end up selling that one, too! I think I'm going to have to buy stock in Styrofoam balls and buttons! Tee-hee!

Are we liking Dotty Day? Should we keep it up? You can link up to show your dots all week if you want to! We had several girls link up their dots all last week so check them out! Thank you to everyone who plays along!

♥

PS I had a very nice 50th birthday! Thanks to everyone who helped me to celebrate! ((HUGS))

Birthday Give Away For Dotty Hop Day

2011-09-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Dotty Hop Day! Every Tuesday, I show off my DOTS!
Today, I'm showing you another multi-color Button Ball Garland that I made and I'm giving this one away in celebration of my 50th Birthday next week! (I'm so excited to turn 50!) I'll be adding other things to this give away so staaaaay tuned! ☺ I have this garland hanging in front of my hutch for photographing purposes but wouldn't one look cute on a tree? Oh, imagine that, I see other dots in my hutch, too! Here's a close up of what the tiny fabric balls look like. Some turn out shabbier than others. If you win this garland, it might look a bit different than now because I keep finding the most adorable fabrics that I want to add and I've bought more buttons too so I think I'll try doubling them!

I'm having so much fun making these one of a kind garlands and guess what? I've sold 2 of them! That's right- and I don't even have a shop!
♥

All YOU have to do for a chance to win this garland is leave a comment on this post. If you link up for today's Dotty Hop Day and show YOUR DOTS, you'll be entered twice!

Want to link up with me for Dotty Hop Day?

Here are the rules:

* Make a post showing something with DOTS. Easy, huh?

*A mention and/or link back to Cutie Pie Cottage would also be so very DOTTY of you! ☺

* Feel free to grab my cute kitty button (Made by Imagimeri!)

* You can also link up to this blog hop by using the linky option below this post. Then we can all see YOUR DOTS! (Please bear with me as I learn how to set up a linky!) Since there is RED in my garland, *I'm* linking up with Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday. Thanks for hosting, Sue! (And isn't THIS kitty cute, too?)Good luck to all who REALLY want to win! I will draw the winner on my birthday, Monday October 3rd and I will announce the winner on next week's Dotty Hop Day on Tuesday!

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Every woman in the world is special but my blog readers and commenters are the best! Never commented before? Don't be shy! I love making new friends!
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Have a great day!

Double Dot Garland For Dotty Hop Day

2011-09-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Dotty Hop Day, girls! See the little double dot garland that I made? I cut baby circles out of dotty papers BY HAND and glued them to a string. Circles are polka dots- right? So it's a double dot garland! The dots wanted to spin and twirl so I had to sticky tack them to the top of the frame. I'm telling you, I'm just daffy for dots lately! Or maybe it's dorky for dots? ☺ Or maybe I'm just a dot darlin'? Crafting makes me feel so happy and dots do too so crafting with dots is double the fun! Feel free to grab my dotty day button and publish your own dotty post! You can also link up if you want so we can all HOP around and see each others dots.

Do you recognize the pic below from the top of my blog? I have hung many a thing inside this big aqua frame of mine but this is how it looks today. One of my prized Meyercord decals gets center stage. No sunlight reaches this wall of my craft room so it's hard to get the colors true.

The winner of the pink dotty towel last week was Brenda from the Farmers Dotter! Go visit Brenda and see her wonderful quilts and her bed and breakfast!

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I don't have a give away for you this week but I am working on a big 50th birthday give away for you-coming soon!!

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A Button/Ball Garland For Dotty Day!

2011-09-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Since my Button Ball garland has red in it, I'm linking this older post up to Rednesday at It's A Very Cherry World!

Happy Dotty Hop Day, girls! Every Tuesday I'll be posting something Dotty and I hope you will, too! Dotty lovers of blogland unite! And here's Polka Dot Pete welcoming you to the show! (Thanks to Jackie for naming him!)

Look what I made with all my little fabric covered cottage drops! It's a garland. I love it! My guys are so sweet. They asked, "Did you make that up?" Yes, I did! I'm an inventor! ☺

I strung them all on some string with a button in between each one!

At first I thought I would try to establish some sort of pattern but that seemed too much like math so I just went with it!

There are Red and Pink dotty balls in the mix so I decided to show it to you on Dotty Day.

Making this garland made me feel happy. That's why I craft. If it doesn't make me feel happy, I don't do it! Here's the whole garland- about 32 balls. I am now making more balls at a furious rate! Well, as fast as the glue will let me!

(Give away closed)

Last weeks give away went by toooooo fast for most of you so this time I'll leave it up until Monday! For this week's give away I have a little hot Pink dotty towel for you. I know hot Pink isn't every one's cup of tea so you *have to tell me if you want it* when you comment. Congratulations to last weeks give away winner, Carol from Old Glory Cottage!
(Give away closed)

If you make your own Dotty post today, you can be entered in the give away twice. Be sure to tell me!

25 Cent Vintage Melamine!

2011-09-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Vintage from my local thrift store is my favorite kind! 25 cents for a Blue melamine plate! Here's a close up of the flowers. Yes, there's a chip and it's lost its shine but that's okay.

I'll always keep going to the antique mall and stores but finding cheap vintage at the thrifts is such a thrill, isn't it?!

♥

I'm linking up with Angelina/Ruby Jean for Blue Monday! Go tell her hello!

Come back tomorrow for *Dotty Hop Day*

Dotty Hop Day With A Give Away!!

2011-09-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome the the brand new Cutie Pie Cottage and Dotty Hop day! Are you ready to hop and show your dots? It's simple! Just show one dotty item that you own or even from somewhere on the web! Isn't this kitty button cute? Meri made it! thanks Meri! I'm trying to learn how to make my own, too. Dots make me happy! This is a little egg shaped dotty desert plate that my DIL gave me. My littlest grand girl cried and said she wanted it! We fight over our toys. Hee-hee! I have 2 of them and they currently live in my built in china hutch. With this first Dotty Hop Day, I'm having a little give away! I want to have give aways from time to time- nothing big- just a little something to make life even more fun!
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Are you a pinkie girl or have a girl that's a pinkie? Then you could win a Pink Dotty Pop made at Cutie Pie Cottage! Dotty Pops are pretend fabric lollipops for decorative purposes but if you're a little girl, you can twirl them 'round and 'round and say "Dotty Pop! Dotty Pop!" over and over again until you drive your gramma crazy. *OR* if you're a kitten, you can sneak in and steal it from mommy's craft room, take it out into the dinning room and kill it! (Naughty kitten! She shall have no pie!)
☺

But maybe you're a Red girl? If so, this Red dotty swag is for you! Made on wire, this dotty swag can go just about anywhere and be twisted into all sorts of shapes! (I would have included a dotty Blue fabric prize *IF* I had some Blue dot fabric! It is hard to find!)

Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win and tell me *which item* you would prefer. If you post your own dotty post, you get 2 chances to win! Let me know if you post. I tried setting up a linky but it didn't work! Boo-hiss! I'll keep working on it and see if I can fix if it but if not, hopefully I'll have a linky working next week. Give away closes Wed Sept. 7 at 8:00 PM Pacific
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Girls, it's taken me over a year but I finally feel like I'm getting myself back after those 3 moves and adjusting to more family in my world. I'm a slow learner and slow adjuster but I think I'm back! So let's party!

♥

Feel free to use my Dotty Hop Day button or even make one of your own if you want!

♥

PS A *simple* 3 item dotty swap is in the works! Is anyone else interested?

The Blue Dish Mystery

2011-09-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

I'm linking up with my friend Angelina at Ruby Jeans!
♥
Here's the mystery dish!

I posted this bowl last year to see if anyone knew it. My mom had a set of these when I was a girl but I found this one at the Goodwill here in Idaho. It is unmarked on the back and I have been unable to find any others like it on the Net. I've seen some that are similar enough that my heart does a little jump but then- no, that's not it. I'd love to have more of these. If you ever see any like it on the net, please remember me and let me know!
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Come back tomorrow for my first Dotty Hop Day with a little give away!

Cutie Pie Cottage!

2011-09-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

*Name change*
Mandy is here to make the official announcement! Do you like her? She's from my vintage high chair. I keep playing with this image, trying to clean it up and use it but I'm slow to learn! Ha!

My blog address will remain the same but I changed my comment line that I'll use on your blogs from *Holly- Girls at Heart* to *Holly- Cutie Pie Cottage*. Hopefully this will help everyone with the transition and won't be too confusing for anyone!
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My new blog header is my fabic and one of my picket fences with a vintage decal. Keren of Free Pretty Things for you, layered it all together for me! Isn't it sweet? ♥ I'm keeping the same dotty blog dress because I love it! I'm going more and more for multi- colored themes. They make me happy! ♥
And speaking of happy... I'm still working on putting Dotty Day together for you and I'll hopefully have it up and running by next week. But no pressure- right? If it ain't fun- we ain't doin' it!
♥
Thank you all so much for the simply smashing compliments on my appearance last post! You sure know how to chirk a girl up! Yee-haw!
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Until next time, my friends!

For Those Of You Who Aren't With Me On facebook

2011-09-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have lost 21 pounds since Mother's Day. Yes, I am showing off!!! ☺

Yes, this is my new top.

And yes, I will turn 50 on October 3rd and I am very happy about it!!

My hubby took all these pics before our date the other night. He always makes me laugh.

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Be happy!

The Linen My friend- Is Blowin' In The Wind

2011-08-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

The linen- Is blowin' in the wind. ☺
This is my newest vintage table cloth. It is quite faded but it likes my kitchen table/counter anyway. It does NOT like coffee spilled on it though so in the wash it went! I hung it on the line and thought to take some pics but it's windy here on the edge of the Palouse! The air is seldom still.

My table cloth was flapping hard but I thought I'd give it a try. Even though they are a bit blurry, I think the flappiest ones turned out the best!

Yes, it's faded and there are a few tiny holes in it but for $4.00 I thought it belonged in my farm cottage kitchen.

Since there is red in this table cloth, I'm linking up to Rednesday at It's A Very Cherry World! Go visit Sue to see a list of this weeks red celebrators!

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There's a new name change coming to my blog! *Cutie Pie Cottage*

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I will always be a girl at heart but Cutie Pie Cottage defines me and my crafts even more.

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Also, get ready for a new blog party- *Dotty Hop Day* where dot lovers of the world can unite!

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PS I don't care what spell check says, "flappiest" IS a real word on my blog! ☺

Aqua Shabby Frame

2011-08-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

I'm linking up with Ruby Jean/Angelina's My Blue Monday! Don't you just love her button? Her is an old frame I bought at garage sale a couple years ago. It was gold but I painted it a bright Aqua /blue with paint I mixed myself. Have to get that just right color-ya know?

I hot glued a vintage nursery lamb from blogger Linda to the corner of the frame and then hung my Swiss Alpine plates inside! These are the plates of my early childhood and I'm always on the look out at the thrifts for other pieces to match! Many blogging friends have gifted me with small plates and even 2 berry bowls! I actually saw a tea pot at the GW once but it was all chipped and cracked. Now I wish I would have bought it anyway. Thrifters remorse.... We all know about that- right?

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My plates were adhered to the wall with Velcro fasteners. Do not try this if you live in a humid climate!

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Girls, If you didn't see my last post, I'm soon going to be changing my blog name to *Cutie Pie Cottage*. I'll be kicking off this change with a new Dotty Hop blog party and a small give away, too! Stay tuned!

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Love and laugh today!

♥

Holly

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You!

2011-08-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

A new name for my blog and a new blog party day! (Psssst! Get those dots ready!)
Meri put the Dotty Day button together for me. Isn't it cute? Thanks, Meri!
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Back To The 70s Daisy Canister

2011-08-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hello girls! My MIL had a whole set of these canisters in different sizes in the 70s. She got rid of them all in the early 80s and somehow, I snagged one! I kept flour in it for my gravy making until recently. My current stove top is very hot and my poor vintage canister melted! I won't show you the melted side. It's too sad. But now it holds craft supplies for me and adds a vintage pop of color to my craft room. These were the colors of my girlhood bedroom and they bring back many memories! I have an afghan in these same colors and I'll show that to you on another day.
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Don't we just love things that remind us of our childhoods? My 13 year boy old has requested that this canister be given to him when I'm gone. ☺ NOT that he would display it or anything! He said he would put it in a box! Hee-hee!
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I hope you have something to help you laugh today!

A Ribbon Carousel

2011-08-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Look girls! I'm so proud of my latest creation! I think it's scrumptious! For now, I'm calling it a ribbon carousel! Do you think that's a good name? Have you seen one of these before? I don't know if I have seen one and mentally copied it or if I made it up on my own. My 7 year old Grand girl spent the night with me and I made this for her room while she was here. We started out making something else but it wasn't turning out. I think this turned out pretty well for a mistake! ☺

GG helped pick out most of the ribbons and watched me make much of it before running off to play. I didn't have to go buy anything to make this. I used only what I had on hand. But now of course now I'm trim poor! ☺(Many of these ribbons and trims came from blogging friends as gifts or give away wins!)

This was so much fun to make. If I would have had it longer, I would have added even more ribbon but there was no way GG was going to leave it with me! Ha-ha! I took around 30 pics of it and it was hard to narrow them down!

This carousel will hang from her bedroom ceiling. I used a fabric wrapped embroidery hoop for the base and tied or glued all the ribbons and pom poms on.

I covered the outer base when I was done, using a wide strip of beaded trim. I could have covered the inside too but decided not to since it will be hanging too high for anyonw to see inside. Here it is hanging in front of my built in hutch so you can get a better idea of its actual size.

My GG and I had a wonderful girl's "weekend" together. My boy went off camping with her dad so we switched kids! I don't know how many times she told me that she was SOOOO glad that she had me all to herself! We crafted, went shopping two days in a row- the first day to the thrift store and the second day to the antique shop. We watched Anne Of Green Gables, had a hair and make up session, baked cupcakes, sun bathed and swam in the pool and Bobby took us out to lunch at our local coffee shop which has an outdoor cafe! It was so fun and I have strict orders to rest today! And I will!

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Enjoy YOUR day whether it's work or play! You desrve to enjoy your life!

♥

Holly

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I'm linking up with:

Amaze Me Monday

Blue Monday

Whatever You Want Wednesday

Vintage Train Case

2011-08-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday girls! Ruby Jean has started up a linky party for Blue lovers! What's that? You thought I was a Pink lover? Well I am! But I love Blue and Red, too! Oh and Yellow and Lavender and... Got it? ☺ You can sign up to post your favortie blues, too! Go check it out!This is a sweet little vintage train case that I picked up at my local thrift store! I can't remember how much it was but I know it was cheap because EVERYTHING there is cheap!! Now I must admit that this is not my favorite shade of Blue but years ago it was so maybe I will like it once again and then I won't have to paint it! Ha-ha!

☺

This our my weekend so we're going out to eat today and then I'm going to Macy's to use my gift card from my son and my daughter in law! I hope to find a really cute top! I'm only 2 pounds away from my 20 pound goal so I feel I deserve a new top- don't you? But guess what? I'm going to keep losing until my 50 birthday which is October 3rd! I don't actually care how much I weigh, I just want to fit back in to a certain size jean. :)

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Have a great day everyone!

♥

Holly

It's Party Time!

2011-08-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

If this is your first time here to Girls At Heart- Welcome! My name is Holly and I'm glad you're here! I couldn't help but show off my favoritest rooster of all time! The red dots totally get me and I GET them!!

He's a tiny toothpick holder but he packs a big punch of charm! He reminds me of a vintage children's card image with his big, roundy eyes and long eye lashes! I haven't named him yet. Any suggestions?

But he's not my only rooster...

The rooster on this tin is a true family man but my goodness, his wife lays dotty eggs! Who could pass that up? Not me! All the birds who came to this party are from my local antique store where I shop OFTEN!

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Thank you so much Shelia for throwing this party for us and making blog land a fun place to be!

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Go by Shelia's Note Songs blog to see her chicks and roos and to see who else linked up for this party! Have a great week everyone!

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Yippee For Strawberries And Dots!

2011-08-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello girls! Looky here! Over the Winter, my local antique store lady gave me a call and said she had something at the store that I might like since she knew I liked strawberry items. When I arrived, the little sugar bowl was waiting for me. Strawberries AND dots! Yippee!! I was pretty pleased with just that- especially sine I had a special phone call about it but then...a couple weeks weeks ago, I went by my local thrift store and they had 2 matching bowls! You know how it is when you see that very special thing that you can hardly believe you're seeing? It's like slow motion walking to that shelf. Ha-ha! I was pretty tickled! The group of three look so cute on my vintage kitchen counter. I keep coffee filters in one and napkins in the other with the sugar bowl in front.
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I've been swimming and sunning and celebrating Summer big time now that it's finally nice out! I know most of you have been too hot but this poor northern mountain girl was too cold for too long!!!
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I'm linking this post up to REDNESDAY over at sweet Sues! Go check out the party!

Just Watching The Farm

2011-07-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

We rent a 345 acre farm- sort of. The 4 bedroom farm house and 12 or so acres surrounding it are for our own particular use...

while the rest of the acreage is leased out to local farmers for growing hay and wheat.

We still call the whole farm ours and we are free to explore every inch of it.

Watching the hay get bailed and loaded was the main event this week! There was a LOT of hay!

We had to watch the haying with our coats on. It's been cold here in the North West! Our pool is up but we've hardly used it at all. It's in the 30s this morning! It's supposed to warm back up and I'm glad. Although I do not desire the heat wave the rest of the US has been having, I *am* tired of being cold!
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So, I haven't been crafting, treasure hunting or decorating. What *HAVE* I been doing? Just watching the farm. ☺

Please Pass The Popcorn Chenille!

2011-07-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hurray for THE garage sale find of the year- so far anyway! A full size White popcorn chenille bedspread with no stains or tears for $12.00! ( Note the rows of freshly mowed hay in the back ground!)There is only one spot with some missing threads but it's not noticeable at all. This beauty was WELL made back in the day!! It was REALLY heavy when it was wet from the wash! I had to wait for the skies to cloud up to take these photos. The sun made it TOO bright!

It has a flower/ flower pot pattern. My husband says he thinks his grandmother had one just like this!

I can't tell you how heavenly it was to snuggle down under this bedspread once it was washed and hung on the line! It smelled of fresh green hay and sunshine and it made the most wonderful rustling sound! I could have a whole house full of chenille and still want more!

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well girls, I so appreciated all the enthusiasm about my pink dishes. Thank you so much for all your comments. I'm so glad I have a community that "gets me" on this. With my Internet being so slow now, I've ALMOST wanted to give up on blogging lately but I'm glad I've hung in there! You are all such wonderful women and you are the frosting on my cupcake!

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Have a great day everyone!

Pink Mela-something Dishes!

2011-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

Looky here, girls! I took soooo many pics of my latest antique mall find but I narrowed them down to just a few! This is a big batch of plastic dishes. Before, I would have said they were Melamine but now I'm not sure. Someone please educate me so I don't have to Google it. ☺ Only the sugar bowl is chipped but with a little scrubbing, they all look new!

All the dishes were in the same booth except for the bowl that says Malloware. My 3 year old granddaughter loves to play with these and so does her Gramma! My childhood was void of pink so I revel in these. Even my husband likes them and says they bring back such good memories for him. ☺

I like them plain but I couldn't help experimenting with just ONE cup!

I put a different Meyercord decal on each side. Eeek! I know my GG will really love this! I can just hear her now! I'm going to give it to her for her upcoming birthday.

These decals are so hard for me to photograph! The light has to be just right to prevent blur but then there's a glare from the shine of the decal...

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I hadn't been able to spend anything at the antique mall since Winter so it was really fun but of course I saw things that I couldn't have and that ALMOST made me grumpy! I really want to be thankful for what I HAVE instead of longing for what I don't have.

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Enjoy your weekend!

My Red Mini Barn

2011-06-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

WELCOME! I love this little red mini barn almost as much as my big 1904 one. This mini barn even has its own hitching post! Do you see who is hitched there? Isabella the bunny! What can I say? I don't have a horse! The barn has 3 little rooms and so far, only one of them is occupied by Isabella. (Pssst, I wish I could take the whole barn over and make it all mine!)

Giddy up cowbunny! ☺ We only left Isabella hitched up long enough to take these pics and then we let her run off and hide!

These pics were taken in early spring. the grass surrounding the barn is so green and waist high now!

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Thanks for coming by to visit! I loooove your comments! I'm linking up to Rednesday hosted by Sue of It's A Very Cherry World!
♥

Holly

Yellow Roses On The Farm!

2011-06-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

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Yesterday, my boy took me back through the tall grass to the OLD farm site to see these yellow roses! Quite grand- don'tcha think!? Can you believe that I live here? It's like a fairy tale! As you can imagine, these were even brighter in person- almost too bright to look at! I took sooooo many pics but these were my 3 fab favs!

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Hope you all have a great week end!

♥

Holly

Glimpses Of The Craft Room and Some Girl Talk

2011-06-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello, girls! I'm always looking for creative ways to display some of my vintage cards and this little nick knack shelf does just the trick! I don't show many pics from my craft room because I don't have much sun in here and THAT makes for some dull shots! My craft room is actually just one side and one other corner of my bedroom. I don't share a room with hubby so it's all mine.

* Yes this is kind of personal but it might help someone!

Separate sleeping areas for us as a couple came about after my hubby's shoulder surgery and it worked so well for us both that we've kept it up. I realize now that most of the mood swings I experienced for all my married years were caused by lack of sleep. I'm a new woman now! My husband snores loudly, has sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and is a shift worker. All these things combined were totally ruining my sleep and health! Yes, at times I miss the closeness and we have to be creative to recapture that but we're happy and it's been one of the best decisions we've ever made!
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Okay- true confession time is over! lol! Enjoy your life!

Feel The Wonder!

2011-06-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a cue from my new kitty and I'm just going to feel the wonder of it all!
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Rescue Bunny

2011-06-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

LOOK what I bought at our city wide garage sales! Do you think I'm crazy for rescuing this toy box/chest? I've already started removing the stickers and pen marks and I can hardly wait for its transformation! My new kitty, baby crackers is excited about it, too! I'd like to paint the whole thing. Do you think I can try painting around the decal?

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Vintage Brooch For Rednesday

2011-06-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

This vintage Sarah Coventry brooch is on my wish list! My mom had one just like it and I loved playing with it when I was a little girl. It finally dawned on me to look for it on the web and I was thrilled when I found it right away! Google is so cool!

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I'm linking up to Rednesday!

Just Enjoying The View

2011-06-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to learn how to photograph sunsets. I wish I could get the Pink to show up. This was the other evening and is the view out my back door. I love living here on the edge of the Palouse!

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Hope you all have a great week and that you can enjoy the world you find your self in!!

Trim Time!

2011-06-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my treasure hunting took on a trim theme. I found this Cigar box full of vintage seam binding at my Local antique store. I thought I would alter the box some day but my husband liked it so I gave it to him. I popped all the trim in my tin foil dispenser thingy instead. Cute, huh? It all fits perfectly.

I also went to my local thrift store on the same day and found a bag full of assorted trims but these giant Yellow pom poms were the winners. I wonder how long they will sit around before I do something with them. ☺

I'm still waiting on the day that vintage Christmas ornaments will be the theme! It's worth the wait AND the hunt!

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Do your hunts ever take on a theme?

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If you feel down in the dumps today, I encourage you to go hunting for the GOOD and FREE things in your life! They are the best bargains!

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Flower Power!

2011-06-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

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Each one of these lovely bouquets were picked by my wonderful boy, right here on the farm!

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I hope you're all enjoying your Spring. Although ours has been wet and cold for the most part, it hasn't stopped the flowers from blooming!

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Have a wonderful day!

♥

Holly

Please Step Into My farm House Kitchen!

2011-06-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here's my banner/bunting (from Carol at Old Glory Cottage) hanging above my kitchen windows! Isn't it cute!?
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It's hard to get the lighting right in here but I wanted to show you anyway. I hope you all have a great day!
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I'm linking up to Rednesday where Red lovers unite!

Newest Treasures!

2011-05-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

Quack- quack! Look girls! I finally have a 'fill with hot water' vintage baby bowl! Does anyone know a better name? ☺ My antique store owner friend gave this to me for $7.00! Woo-hoo! Thank you so much Marilyn!

I also picked up this cute little tin for my kitchen. I had a hard time photographing *it*.
I just keep adding more and more poultry to the farm- don't I? And I don't even have to clean up after these!

We do plan on getting real laying hens this Spring but the cool and rainy weather has slowed down our motivation big time! Blaaaaaah!

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Girls, I'm thrilled to say that I've lost 8 pounds since I began my weight loss journey!
I wasn't sure if I could lose anything until we got the pool up so I'm tickled! I've worked really hard but it's been so worth it! You can do it too- you just have to WANT to!
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After my first 5 pounds, I rewarded my self with a new bathing suit top and for my second 5 pounds, I get to have my hair cut professionally! I generally cut my own hair until it's so messed up that I can't stand it anymore! Ha! It helps me to have little rewards dangling in front of me so for the 5 pounds after that- I'll get new jeans!! Can you tell I'm excited?

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Hope everyone has a great day!

True Blue

2011-05-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello girls! Here's proof that the Pink and Red girl can do blue, too! My living room is in Blue for the boys. This is my $30.00 Goodwill find Shabby Chic book case which does double duty as a china hutch! I recently put all my blue dishes on it in the living room. I'm only showing you this one shelf but I'll show you the others when they are done. On this shelf we have antique Currier and Ives, vintage Alpine and modern Cath Kidston. Does it work?

*Dollar Tree Display Easels:

Every time I go to the Dollar Tree, I pick up some of these! They come in three sizes. I want to spray paint them White some day. I'm terrible about painting. I have 2 boxes full of "to paint" items!

Trouble Commenting?

When blogger sends you through the sign in hoops, uncheck the "keep me signed in " box and you'll stay signed in! Go figure! Poor blogger... So many tech problems lately. I'm glad I'm not in charge!

♥

Holly

Have a great week end!

It's True!

2011-05-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

It's true! You'll drink more water if you use a vintage cherries drinking glass! (My most recent find.)

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I'm linking to: Rednesday

Have a great day!

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I Hope You ALL Have a BALL This Weekend!

2011-05-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

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Let's Hop Inside My hutch

2011-05-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished you were very small?

Let's pretend that we are- and hop inside my old built in hutch! This hutch is in my dinning room by a big window! It's my favorite room of the house! (Cake made by Queenie from Queenie's Vintage Finds and Treasures!)

There are no country club rules to obey inside my hutch but everything displayed here must be either pretty or cute! (Cup cake made by Twyla from Two crazy Crafters!)

It doesn't matter if it's in style or if it obeys design rules. If I like it- in it goes!

It only has to make me feel happy when I sit at the table and look. (Forget Me Nots from Sandy O at Gammie's Little House.)

I've discovered that my hutch is a great place to display many of my vintage cards! (Some of them are from Tina @ Sweetina Vintage)

Teddy planter was a give away win from Sonya @ Dime Store Thrift) I mix and match styles to a shameless degree! (Star fish made by M from Tales From An OC Cottage!)

Everything in here was gifted, thrifted or crafted! (There are cards in here from Jackie @ once Upon A Fairyland.)

Here's my kitty. She's dieting with me. (I lost 4 pounds this week but she didn't lose any!)

There are also cards in here from Carol @ Old Glory Cottage and Elizabeth from Creative Breathing! I even hung some card fronts on the back wall since I'm not crazy about that beige color!

I will probably tweak these shelves daily. Feathering is what it's all about for me!

Are you tired yet? ☺

♥

Thank you all for joining me in my hutch! It's a happy place to be!

I ♥ your comments and I hope you all have a happy day!

The Cutie Pie Poultry Pageant

2011-05-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

I finally have some poultry on the farm! Mr. rooster thinks he's the cutest and I'm a bit inclined to agree.

But Mr. Duck is really cute, too!

Couldn't you just kiss those duck lips!

Here they are together bickering over who is the cutest! Men!

They now both reside on my happy shelves in my kitchen where they fit right in. I'll have to get a new picture to show you.

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These sweeties came from my favoritest antique shop- Back Porch Treasures!

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Happy Rednesday! Link up with us at Sue's over at It's A Very Cherry World!
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Pink!

2011-05-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday to all my Pink lovin' girls! Pink or Red is all I seem to post anymore but I really do have a house full of Blue! This is my newest antique shop find- a pretty little orphan girl. She needed me. ☺

Have a great weekend everyone!

♥

My Red Giveaway Goodies From Carol!

2011-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

This kitty is so adorable that I just had to use her again!

I recently won a give away from Carol at Old Glory Cottage and it was full of Red goodness! ♥

This is itty bitty!

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Thank you so much, Carol for all this Red vintage fun!

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If you've never checked out the other Rednesday posts, go by Sue's at It's A Very Cherry World to see!

Knock Knock!

2011-05-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Who's there? My crystal door knob which was upstairs on the spare room door... but now welcomes you into my craft room.

And then there's this more rustic gem which adorns my back door.

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I took the stuffing out of the key hole so you could see through it. It sure lets in a lot of cold air in the Winter!

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I hope you all have a wonderful day! This day starts my week end and I have a hot date with my man!

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My Tag And Egg That I Made For Sandy

2011-04-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

You all know how I love to play photographer so I had to do a photo shoot with the cutie pie tag and egg I made for Sandy! For my tag, I used one of my Meyercord nursery images that Sandy had previously admired. I'm on a dot kick so the tag had to have the dot treatment!

I ♥ paper Forget Me Nots so they had to go on there, too! I loved this yellow doily and had saved it for a long time before finally using it. I know someone gave it to me but I can't remember who! Was it you, dear reader?

I also made another sugary Meyercord nursery egg! I put a few different images on it but only two would photograph well.

Sweet!

I have lots of pastels going on here lately- don't I?! Don't worry. I'll be showing more good reds soon!
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Doll Chair Make Over And Decals 101

2011-04-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

I found another little Home Interiors doll chair at the Goodwill! It was exactly like my other old brown one so I gave it the exact same make over! No need to show a before pic. Just imagine this chair in brown wood. ☺ *I'll give you some decal applying tips at the end of this post.* I loved this morning sun coming through my bedroom window! Hello, sun! Yes, we LIKE you!

Primer+ Pink paint + Meyercord decals = Girlie Ever After! I display my melamine sugar bowl + decal in its seat.

This new chair is a *bit* different than the first one which is pictured in my side bar. The pink paint is lighter and I arranged the decals slightly different.

Decals 101:

*I still feel like a beginning decal applier but here is what I've learned so far!*

1. If you've never worked with decals before, applying them to a non porous surface is easier than unfinished wood or flat paint. The wood or flat paint will grab fast to the decal and there is not much opportunity for sliding it around and positioning it differently than where it lands. A satin or gloss finish paint is easier for the decal to slide on.

2. Leaving the decal in the water too long can be a problem- you'll lose too much glue. Less time in the water is better than more.

3. Practice working with small decals before attempting a larger one. Applying a large decal is NOT easy! They crease easily and they are less forgiving. You must work quickly and precisely.

4. Placing your fingers on both sides of the decal while positioning it is helpful and with this small chair, that wasn't possible. I can imagine that applying a large decal to a larger surface space would be much easier.

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I hope to make my own decals some day but the decals in this project were purchased from The Decal Cottage. Go take a look!

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Have a great day everyone! You are the frosting on my cake!

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My Easter Swap Surprise!

2011-04-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Yum and swoon! I adore paper Forget Me Nots! I could almost eat them! If you've never done a swap before, you'll want to after seeing this post! I saved my Easter swap package for Easter morn and I'm so glad I did! Here's the front of the cutie pie tag that Sandy O made for me! Meow! The Forget Me Nots and baby bootie she gave me wanted to be in the picture, too!

Here's the back! Isn't that little envelope sweet? I adore gingham and kitties, too!

Sandy gave me other goodies also and here they are all wrapped up still. Am I not -just so patient? ☺

Such pretty little surprises!

Look! An altered Journal! I've wanted to make my own for so long but this is much better! I love the "rag" binding! I love it all!

Such a cute clothes pin posing with little doo-dad friends!

Unlike most of you girls, *MY* candy made it into the photo shoot! ☺(Sorry- all that chocolate made me kind of bratty!) ☺

An itty bitty basket! Just the other day, I was marveling over the lack of fuzzy chickies in my life! I'm so glad Sandy included these guys!

Thank you so much, Sandy! You made me feel so special!

Well, I hope you all had a happy Easter, even if you didn't get a swap package as cool as mine! ☺

I took some pics of the tag and egg that I made for Sandy but I'll show those in another post.
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A Cutie Pie Lampshade Tutorial- Sort of!

2011-04-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

I bought this old hobnail lamp at the Goodwill a long time ago. It needed a lampshade so I finally gave it one! It started out the dirtiest, ugliest ole thing you can imagine!

I cut out a lampshade pattern with unwanted paper first and then chose this yummy dot paper for the final cover up job. I cut out 2 pieces like this:

And one piece like this. It was incredibly difficult for me and I can't even begin to tell you how I did it! Ha-ha! Can you tell that I notched the tops? That was for folding over the top of the shade.

I used 2 kinds of glue: Tacky and hot. ;)

I used tacky glue for gluing down the notched top. I put the glue directly on the lampshade and glued one section at a time. I kept a wet cloth handy for wiping the glue off of my fingers as I would go. Sorry this is so blurry on this cloudy day but you get the nothching idea- right?

I used tacky glue for the side seams also and then a drop of hot glue on the bottom corners. I ended up gluing it wrong, burning myself and I created too many seams but I'm still happy with it. Here it is looking cute on my craft table. (The seams are hiding!)

Oh, and I hot glued the pom pom trim around the bottom which in my opinion is absolutely perfect with the hobnail!
♥

You likey?

Rednesday Bunny

2011-04-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

This bunny tag and red gingham coaster hangs on one of my kitchen cupboards. I guess I can call this my Red Easter decor! I just love the Red and Aqua together!
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The tag was actually a Valentines gift a few years back from Lindsey of Two Crazy Crafters and Lindsey's Paper Scraps. Lindsey is an awesome paper crafter!
♥ ♥
Go by Sue's today to see other Rednesday posts!

Pics From Shabby, Pink and Pretty

2011-04-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

**** The following pics are from sweet Kim's blog *** Have you ever visited Kim from Shabby, Pink and Pretty?

Kim's blog is one of the first girly blogs I found 3 years ago when I first started blogging! If you need a pretty fix- go to Kim's!

This pic demands to be on here twice so we will let it! ☺ I ♥ paper forget Me Nots!

Kim collects and takes pictures of the PRETTIEST dishes and linens and she has also been gathering craft supplies all these years. And now! Kim is crafting! Hurray! I knew she could do it! Take a look at these sweet and pretty tags that she made and gave to me this last Christmas. (Thanks again, Kim!)

Aren't they sweet? If you've been wanting to dip your toes into the pool of crafting- go for it! you can do it, too!

♥

The sun is shinning here today and the guys are finally finishing up the work on our spare room! Hurray!

♥

Strawberries For Rednesday!

2011-04-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

Isn't this kitty just adorable?! Sue, thanks so much for coming up with such sweet images for our special day! Welcome to Rednesday, girls! Today I want to show you this strawberry pic that hangs in my vintage farm house kitchen. It sure was hard to get a pic of it without a glare!The frame was from the Goodwill and the strawberries are just scrapbook paper from Joann's. I just took the old goodwill pic out and popped the paper in. Easy peasy custom decor! I'll be showing you more strawberry items and "decorating on a budget" ideas on Rednesdays to come!

I'm linking up with Sue and the Girls over at It's A Very Cherry World!

Go check it out!

♥

Life On The Farm

2011-04-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Every morning, my boy walks all over our 345 acre farm in hopes of seeing some wild life. He remembered to bring the camera the other day and he took this picture for me from the highest wheat field. Nice shot of the mountains, eh? He also took a pic of a huge pile of moose droppings but I won't show you THAT pic! ☺ Have a great day, friends! ♥

Di-Di-Delish!

2011-04-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Look at me- posting on a Saturday! My baby took me out on a date the other day to MacDonalds and Sally Annes! (The Salvation Army) My SA has sooo many dishes and many of them vintage. I love to go hunt for them there. Here is what I brought home. This lovely Eggshell Nautilus plate. I had fun looking it up on the net and haven't found another one like it!

An unmarked blue bowl... I wonder how many Thanksgiving dinners this bowl has seen?

I'll admit that I've thought about being jealous of the "new dishes from Cath girls" and even the "new dishes (that look like Cath's) from TJ Max girls" but I decided I will be content with my delish dishes from the thrift store and be THAT kind of girl! Besides, I think they need me. ☺ Ya think?

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Have a great week end, girls!

♥

Gooseberry Patch On Rednesday

2011-04-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

I'm doing my part to spread some cheer on this snowy Rednesday! Yep, that's right! We have snow in Northern Idaho this morning! Well, I love me some good ole Goose Berry Patch! I know coasters are not supposed to be stuck to cabinet fronts with sticky tack but I've always been one to bend the rules! These are the cabinets above my fridge. I didn't like my chrome knobs at first but now they are growing on me!

Enjoy this day my friends! Go hunting for something really good in it! You *will* find it!

♥

Click HERE to go to Sue's and see more Rednesday posts!

Heart Of The Home Party

2011-04-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just love the colors in this little Heart Of the Home button! I'm linking up with Shelia @ Note Songs for this favorite cupboard party! Click here to take a peek into cupboards all over blogland! are you ready to see my favorite cupboard? If you've been here before, you've already seen it! Tah-dah! Here it is! So I sort of cheated. ☺ I call these my happy shelves above my kitchen sink but it is actually a cupboard with the doors off. I guess you can call my style of decorating: Vintage Kindergarten ☺

The "Aunt Bee" cake carrier and canisters are recent additions to my farm house kitchen and I love them so much! They came from my local antique shop that opened right before Christmas. That's my mother's rolling pin up on the top shelf. She made great pastries with that rolling pin- a knack I did NOT inherit!

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Thanks for coming by my blog! I will do my best to return the visit.

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A big thanks to Shelia for hosting this party!

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Enjoy!

Rednesday

2011-03-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

I'm linking up to the best red party in blogland! Click here to see more reds provided through Sue's blog- It's A Very Cherry World!

Is my barn red enough for you? Thank God I'm a country girl! Yeehaw!

These hills are greener today than they were last week when I took this pic. I can't wait to see the green hay and wheat growing on them!

♥

Have a great day sweet ladies!

Sweet Spring Treasures

2011-03-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, sweet peas! Come on in and see my newest treasures from my local antique shop! I don't spend much but I still have fun! Such happy Spring colors in this little potholder. It now hangs in my dinning room.

A vintage baby shoe planter makes a good tiny baby card holder in my craft room!

I was afraid the planter was too goldy so I passed it up the first time. After coming home, it kept calling my name so I had to go back the next day and get it. I told this to the shop owner and she said I was funny. Yep, I guess I am! (Doesn't everyone hear baby planter voices?) ☺ She said she has more planters in storage and will bring them in for me to look at. Sweet, huh? I just love her!

♥

I love my sweet blog friendies, too! Your friendship means so much to me! Each one of you makes my life and this world a better place!

♥

Pretty Please With A Cherry On Top

2011-03-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Twyla made this cupcake for me a couple years ago. Isn't it cute?! Has it really been a couple of years, Twyla!?? My do the years fly by! It's currently sitting atop this little vignette I've been working on in my Cutie Pie Cottage craft room.

I decided I wanted one area dedicated to whimsy and fun- serving no purpose but to delight me! My cottage drops are happy here in the midst of tulle and lights. It makes them feel important. (It sure is hard to get a good pic with mini lights in it!)

I tried this apothecary jar of flowers atop the milk glass too but the cupcake makes me feel happier!
♥

I've been having some wonderful romps around the farm and that's made me feel happy, too! I can feel those Winter blues rolling away. Good ridance!!!

♥

What would make you feel happy today? Try to make it be something you can actually do- not just wish for and go ahead and do it!

♥

Holly

Strawberry Bunny

2011-03-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

It really *is* Spring! Even if you see snow outside your window. We've been hearing Robins and Meadowlarks here so we *know* it's Spring
♥
Here to greet you for Rednesday is my strawberry bunny who hangs between my kitchen windows! Say hello, girls!

This Red valance hangs above my kitchen windows and I like to clip cute things on it like this vintage ad card from Jackie at Once Upon A Fairyland.

and this paper apron made by Cindy from Rick Rack and Gingham.

My kitchen is a Red happy place- except when I have to cook!
♥

Thanks to Sue for hosting this weekly blog party!

A Spring Corner For My Vintage Highchair

2011-03-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hurray! I was able to move the wood box out of this corner of the dinning room and put Mandy the bunny there instead! She also has a lace panel behind her and a lovely vintage Easter pic so I can mix romantic with my cute! This lace panel is doing double duty by covering up a wall in need of cosmetic repair! Lace can cure everything! In this shot, my Eastery pic seems too high but if you saw how high my ceilings were, you'd see that it looks just right. Also, I didn't want the pic too low lest the grand girls muss it up when they sit in the high chair.
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I can't wait till we're totally done burning wood for the season and I can really clean!

Yes, I love to clean and feather my nest! Have a great day everyone!

♥

An Easter Bunny Photo Shoot!

2011-03-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hello girls! I'd like to introduce you to Claire. She's my cutie pie cottage Easter bunny! Chenille, pink pom poms and vintage paper Forget Me Nots... The perfect Spring time accessories for a fashionable bunny! Claire sits here on my little dinning room table. It all looks so pretty with the sun shinning in!

My vintage daisy bowl works great as a base for a Spring time centerpiece! Last year, I had candy eggs in the bottom of the bowl but I keep forgetting to pick some up!

Claire thinks this pom pom scarf is a bit big for her and I do too but it's still cold up here in Idaho and she needs it!!

Opal Easter grass is my favorite kind and I wish I could eat these Forget Me Nots- so yummy looking!!

I hope you enjoyed this springy photo shoot! Spring is definitely in the air up here!
♥

Strawberry And Check Lamp

2011-03-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'm linking up with Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday! Hello Winter weary friends! I have 4 reds in one for you today!

A red lampshade, strawberry bracelet for an accent, a fruity linen and a red and white enamel ware inverted pot that's more rust than enamel ware. ☺ I needed more light in this corner of my farm house kitchen so I brought in this little lamp. The inverted pot gave me the height it needed.

♥

See my vintage Green counter tops? The only thing I can like about them is that they are vintage.

☺

We've been having a bit more sunshine up here in Idaho- how about you? These winter blues and blahs have just GOT to go soon!

♥

Here's a funny:

Yesterday, while driving my van down the mountain to town, a mouse ran across the floor board on the passenger side! I screamed and grabbed tight to the wheel! I was soooo scared he would run out again and scare me and make me wreck!!! Ha-ha-ha! I just kept talking to him real LOUD and told him to STAY over there and NOT come out again but I about had a FIT! He stayed put and I had the guys set a trap when I got home but oh my! What a drive to town and back!

☺

Have a great day, girl friends!

Spring Has Sprung Inside My Hutch!

2011-03-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday, girls! Get on board for a post full of cutie pie Spring decor! Baby planters lend themselves well to Springtime, don't they?! Here's a full shot of the open shelf of the hutch. It's so hard to get the light right for the whole shelf. My enclosed shelves aren't ready yet!

A little closer...

Sugary Meyercord lamby egg and yummy desert from Queenie.

Here comes the bride!

Cuppy taking a nap. ☺

I'll leave you with a cool parting plate shot.

I was ready for some decorating! It really cheered me up- especially when the sun came out!

Do something to make yourself happy today. You deserve it!

♥

A Prairie Bonnet for Rednesday!

2011-03-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

It's time for Rednesday! Thanks to Sue at It's a Very Cherry World for hosting this party!

Isn't this just the cutest thing? It's a potholder and it looks like it was made from a vintage table cloth. I love the colors! It hangs in my farm house kitchen and it's quite at home there! This was a gift from a while ago from my blogging friend Christy/ Queenie at Queenie's Vintage Finds And Treasures.

Thanks again, Queenie!
♥
We're buried in 17 inches of snow up here on the farm! Had to hire a snow plow yesterday- hopefully for the last time this season!

Cutie Pie Cottage

2011-02-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hello neighbors!
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This is my adorable logo that sweet Keren of Free Pretty Things For You made for me! That's one of my fences in the pic! Not only does Keren have an adorable blog where she gives away cute graphics but Keren also does cute custom work for a fee and she knew just what I wanted when I didn't! Now that's service! You should go check out Keren's blog if you've never met her!Cutie Pie Cottage is the name of my product line of crafts. I can't really say that it's my shop name because I don't have a shop- yet! But I am selling some of my crafts through Jackie's store, Once Upon A fairyland and I might eventually open an etsy as well.
♥
I added a few Easter graphics and "home" pics to my side bar this week. I like playing with my side bar- even if I'm the only one who looks through it!
☺
Well, I hope all my blog friendies can get through the day! It's almost March and with it comes hope and sunshine!! Even though I get out to the sun every time it shines, it still isn't enough and my "batteries" need to be recharged!
♥
Big hugs to you all!

My Newest Red

2011-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

A new potholder picked up at my local antique shop! Isn't Red just so cheery when Winter keeps raging?
Hang in there, girls! Spring WILL come! Meanwhile, we can keep fluffing our nests!
♥
Head on over to It's a Very Cherry World to see a list of more cheerful Reds!
♥

Girlfriends

2011-02-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

"Holly, does this tea pot make my backside look big?" Well, that's what she asked when I walked up to her at the antique shop. Instead of answering her question I just said, "Oooooh, so cute!" and I snatched her up and took her home to get her mind off of things! Girlfriends do that for each other.
☺
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
♥

A Finished Baby Wreath!

2011-02-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well, not just for babies because my grand girls want one just like it! I love these little bitty cottage drops so much!

Here's the whole thing!

This wreath will be for sale in Jackie's store some day soon!

♥

More Roses And Dots

2011-02-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

This is the back corner of the table in my kitchen that I use as a counter top. Those good ole farm house kitchens are not always real functional on their own! They need help!I displayed the new looking yet vintage napkins and few posts back in THIS POST and now here is the table cloth to match. See how much more Betty must have used it? And they were folded for so long, I still haven't pressed all the wrinkles out. ☺ AKA Not in the mood for ironing much. ☺

As I was arranging the the table, I felt reminded of something I couldn't quite put my finger on and now I know! My Gooseberry Patch cook book! No, I don't really cook but I *DO* use that oil lamp when I have one of my many power outages!

Roses and dots... Red and Aqua. These are the recent themes of my life. I'm linking this post up with Rednesday. Click on link to see more participants.

♥
Holly