Friday, November 17, 2017

'Twas The Week Before Thanksgiving

I've been gathering up ideas for Christmas (I might have gone overboard on the plaid...nah)

Picking up goodies here and there, new and old

Planning and working on an ornament painting party I'll be teaching in December - can you tell what they will be?

Working on Christmas projects
All in anticipation of decorating the farmhouse for the Holiday season!

I'm making wooden house ornaments

Wood signs  from old fence pickets - they are going in a special place!

Wooden blocks and a wood sled getting repainted as well

And various other Christmas things I've picked up (these are from my trip to see Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction).

these cute mice will be dressed for Christmas soon!

And I've been sewing as well - red checked curtain for the dining room window

And adding length to the shower curtain (we have an oversized shower so a regular curtain is too short).

I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek at my Christmas decor. Come back after Thanksgiving to see my farmhouse tour which is part of the Cozy at Christmas Holiday Blog Tour!

There are several bloggers sharing Christmas coziness all week long. I hope you'll join us!
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Friday, November 10, 2017

Warm and Cozy - A Special Gift

Having the wedding at our farm was so special. We enjoyed getting to know Megan and Dylan's friends and meeting Dylan's family.

One nice surprise we received was from Dylan's dad. He made us this wonderful fire pit.

He decorated it with Megan and Dylan's wedding date,

Texas, The Lone Star State

And the B Farm with bees

We fired it up last weekend since it was cold.

And it worked perfectly! In no time, we had a roaring fire and were toasty warm.

Thank you, Greg! We'll enjoy it for years to come.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Recharging and Celebrating Friendships

I haven't been doing much since the wedding. Pretty much just taking it easy and recharging after all the work we did getting ready for the big day.

I finally picked up the paint brush yesterday. It felt good - really good to put paint to canvas. I'm determined to finish this painting so I can start something new. I'm looking to stretch myself and learn a new technique or two. :)
 
(I'm so close to being done! This is from our friend trip last year to Boston and Beyond)

A visit to Cecilia from My Thrift Store Addiction combined with thrifting was perfect for recharging. Our birthdays are close together so we celebrated with a yummy French toast breakfast my last day there.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First of all, Audrey of Timeless Treasures invited the two of us over to go through her linens and generously let us keep whatever we wanted! I found some great pieces - placemats and napkins, crocheted bits, fabrics, and more. Thank you, sweet Audrey! I am looking forward to using them!
our bags of treasures
Audrey had a lot of linens for us to go through
napkins, placemats, and a bit of crocheted lace are some of the things that came home with me
a sweet little red apron jumped in my bag as well
A pretty plate
A cute leaf dish too

Then we hit the thrift stores in the area (75% off at one place and 50% off at another 😮)
I definitely found some good stuff: a green suitcase to go with the red one I found last year (these make great storage pieces especially in a small house with limited storage plus they look good!),

1987 Four Seasons plate (the year my son was born)

 a piano scroll (I see a fun Christmas project with it!)

and this great silver tray - perfect for corralling items on my countertop.
It cleaned up nicely
Such a pretty edge! 


Cecilia made me the cutest pillow from an embroidered find. It's perfect for the farm. Thanks, my sweet friend! It makes me smile each time I look at it!

(And as long as we're on the subject of pillows, another friend gave me this gorgeous leaf pillow. It looks so pretty at the city house. Thanks, Susan!) Both pillows will be treasured as they will remind me of sweet friends.

After hitting the great thrifting sale, Cecilia and I met Audrey for lunch. The food was delicious and the company wonderful!
Cecilia, Me, and Audrey

Then on the last day of my visit, Cecilia and I went to Comfort, TX to shop. Such a cute town!

 At the 8th Street Market, I scored these metal shelf-looking things which Bruce told me were drain grates. I got five - we are going to use them to make industrial looking shelves for the studio.
 I can't wait to set the studio up. I have so many ideas for it and these metal grates are going to be so cool in there!

There was lots of wonderful things to see at 8th Street Market. So much fun to look both in the outdoor and indoor areas! Definitely a fun place to shop in Comfort!
Metal planter and cactus too - love that barbed wire was used for the cactus spines

And inside! So much to see! How about a real stuffed peacock?

I loved the tuba set up as a cornucopia. Just wow!

The tablescapes were so inspiring


What a great way to use an old tool caddy - fork holder!

 More eye candy! I love the columns and galvanized arch! The jack-o-lantern can is pretty neat too.

The carousel horse was calling my name and that round mirror - lovely!


From there we walked down the street to Blackbird Antiques. These cute mice reminded me of a child's book I have - you'll see more of them at Christmas!

This book and children's red boots are perfect for my Christmas decorating! They came from the Comfort Antique Mall.
Nothing like a fun trip to recharge!

Then this weekend, my twin sister and I are off to Canton to celebrate our birthday on Saturday. More recharging!!

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. :)

I'll be back next week to share a special gift we received from Megan's new father-in-law. (Dylan has his dad's generous nature!). 😊We love it and I can't wait to share it with you!

hugs, Cecilia

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