Saturday, November 25, 2017

Making The Bedroom Cozy for Christmas


Hello, cafe friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend. We enjoyed our dinner and time together, and are now looking forward to Christmas.

Have you started decorating? I still have pumpkins outside (and inside!), so I guess I'm transitioning to Christmas slowly.

I decided to start in the bedroom this week. I pulled out the red plaid quilt and pillows, the birch trees, and the greenery to make it feel a little more festive.


I've moved these birch trees to three different states now. And each time, my husband asks "Do we really need these?" The answer is yes, silly! Of course we do!



I bought the quilt and pillows from Target a few years back, and we love it. It's just the right level of warmth during the cold winter months.


I think I will add a few twinkle lights to the window to make the room just a little more 'Hygge". I sneak away to this room at night with a warm mug of gluhwein and a good book and just snuggle into the bed in contentment.


Jemma has a thing for pillows, and she's been jumping up on the bed to steal the Merry Christmas pillow every day. I now have to get in the habit of closing the door so she can't get inside. Silly girl!


Today is Shop Local Saturday. I'm going to take the boys into our small downtown for a little window shopping.

Happy Saturday!

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!


Happy Thanksgiving, cafe friends! Hoping and praying that your day is blessed and that your heart is filled with gratitude.


Here's a sweet little Harvest Mouse to let you know how very blessed I am by all of you!


{Today's Brew: Harvest Mouse (MFT), Lawn Fawn stitched dies, Lawn Fawn papers, PTI card stock, COPICs}


The coffee's on, the pies are baked, the turkey is in the oven, and the house is filled with family. My heart is filled with thanksgiving this year...home!

Blessings!

Monday, November 20, 2017

Distlefinks




Good morning, cafe friends!

It's Thanksgiving week! Are you prepared? Cleaning house and cooking? Or are you traveling this week?

My son, John, is coming home this week! Yay! And my mother-in-law is coming to spend a few days with us. So yeah, a lot of house cleaning here, and a little shopping and baking, too.

I'm serving up what I am going to term the "semi-homemade" dinner this year. I ordered the turkey dinner from Busch's, our local grocery store. They always sell and make yummy things. It comes with a twelve pound Amish turkey, the gravy, the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, and the green bean casserole, all cooked and just needs reheating. That will free me up to make my pumpkin pies, cranberry casserole, cranberry salad, and dinner rolls.

When you are a retail family, you try to keep the holidays as simple as possible.

Today, I want to show you my awesome distlefink!

Distle-what?

Distlefink! This bird is a traditional motif in a lot of folk art, especially Pennsylvania Dutch in origin. The name probably comes from a German term referring to a Thistle Finch, or Gold Finch. You will often see this bird on Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs. It's the German version of "bird of happiness", and it's thought to be a symbol of good luck.

I found this awesome Distlefink trivet at a vintage shop here in Saline called The News Arts and Antiques.


I finally got it hung up this weekend. What took me so long? I paired it with this adorable watercolor print. It's actually a greeting card that I found when we were cleaning out the family home a few years back. So sweet! And can you see? Not one, but two Distlefinks! Double the good luck!


Hope you are feeling doubly blessed on this Monday!

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Life Is Good!



Hello, cafe friends!

Life has been busy, and life has been good. So good, in fact, that one of my friends commented recently that she cannot believe how quickly God turned my life around with this move back home to Michigan.

It's true. It feels as though many elements of life have been restored to me here.

For starters, we love our house and our neighborhood.It's a cozy little cottage that needs a lot of decor help, but you know what? I'm not obsessing about it the way I did with the fixer upper. Instead, I take nice long walks with Jemma and my husband and the boys. We admire the trees and the natural beauty all around us. It fills us with contentment for where we are.

I also love how close we are to family. My sisters can send me a text invite to lunch, and I'm there in no time. Family time has been precious.

We have a sweet church where we're making some wonderful connections.

I have a new ministry, tutoring adults who are learning English as a second language. It's been a really rewarding experience.

And recently, I started a new job doing something that I love: writing for local publications! It's been a great creative outlet for me.

God is good, my friends! I'm so thankful for this new chapter in our lives. My calendar is full, my days have purpose, and we are developing a rhythm that has created a healthy balance for us.

Today's card sums it up pretty well!


{Today's Brew: New Every Morning (PTI), Lawn Fawn leafy tree back drop die, PTI ink and card stock, Simple Stories paper}

Friday, November 10, 2017

The Cottage: A Front Door Makeover


I've been waiting to have my front door painted for a few months. Every weekend, my dear husband would promise he'd have plenty of time to get to it, and every weekend the job got pushed aside. Too rainy, too cold, too busy planting in the garden.

This week, I finally decided "Why wait? I'm painting that front door myself."

After all, who has more experience painting doors than me? At the Illinois house, I painted the front doors three times!

I popped in to my local Ace Hardware and bought a quart of Benjamin Moore Waterbury Green, along with some painters tape. The weather was not too terribly cold (upper forties), and I figured because this was on a covered porch, it would be protected.


I painted the door and sidelights, leaving the trim and the storm door for another day.


I love how this greenish blue complements the red brick and tan exterior. It also looks great with the existing elements, like the door mat and the porch rocker pillows.


This will be a great color for all seasons. And look at how that wreath just pops against the green! LOVE it!


It also makes me happy to see this burst of color in an otherwise neutral foyer.


Good news! Miss Jemma approves!


The front entryway used to look sad and neglected. Between the overgrown barberry bushes and the pukey taupe door, it really looked uninviting. But now, thanks to new landscaping and a bright and cheery door color, the house is warm and welcoming, just in time for the holiday season.

Blessings on your Friday, cafe friends!

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Autumn Trees, Lawn Fawn style


The views from the deck and back of the house have been so beautiful this autumn. The sugar maple has started to drop its crimson leaves this week, blanketing everything below in a carpet of red.



And every evening, we have visitors who stop by.




It's a far cry from the view of my neighbor's garbage cans that used to annoy me every day in Illinois. God is good, my friends! He is so good!


Here's a fun card I made using Lawn Fawn products. The tree border is a really fun die. Use the trunks alone for a bare winter landscape, or add tree toppers for any season.


{Today's Brew: Hedgehugs stamp set (Lawn Fawn), tree border die (Lawn Fawn), Lawn Fawn papers, PTI card stock}

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

After! Our Landscape Makeover


Finally! We finished our major landscape makeover this weekend!

It has been an ongoing project for at least a month now. Was it necessary? Absolutely. We started with a half-dead leaning evergreen, enormous overgrown barberry bushes, and an odd mishmash of lilies planted willy nilly that the deer were eating before they could even bloom.


 The entryway felt tight and dark and uninviting. So we removed the giant bushes, took out all the useless black plastic edging in the gardens, and reworked the stone for a hardscape garden border. Then the fun job of replanting could begin.

And here's the result of our labors!


It's always a good idea to add some evergreens for all year interest. I like to have them at the back of a garden because they will provide a nice backdrop for showy spring and summer annuals. Here, we planted a row of boxwood flanked by two lime green arbor vitae.


We planted three Let's Dance Moonlight hydrangeas around a pink dogwood tree.


I added some carpet drift peach roses for long lasting color.


I love spirea bushes for all season interest. These Magic Carpet spirea are low growing, and look at how beautiful they are in their fall foliage!


I can never have enough hydrangea! Annabelle hydrangeas are some of my favorites for their large white blossoms and easy care. They add a nice golden color in the fall, too.  And behind it, I transplanted a clematis to grow along the back wall.


The dogwood tree has a lovely leaf that changes color, too. This is one reason I like to plant in the fall. You can see firsthand what the foliage will look like in the late season. It's also a great time to get fantastic deals. We got most of our bushes for half off!



So much better!


At the island, where the evergreen was leaning, we planted a star magnolia, a nice ornamental flowering tree which will grow to about ten to fifteen feet. We surrounded it with some low growing juniper. I love the lime green color! I also planted some pink carpet drift roses here for color in spring and summer.


A butterfly bush sits in one corner. I plan on adding a lot of perennials next year to attract the birds, bees and butterflies.


And here's the house view from the sidewalk and street. So much friendlier. The neighbors have been very encouraging. Everyone stops and tells us how much they like the changes.




We have such a lovely view of the woods next to our house. I really wanted the landscape to reflect the natural environment, and I think it does.


By the way, there are a lot of additions to the garden that you cannot see. That's because I planted over five hundred bulbs for spring blooming. Daffodils, hyacinths, and so many others. Basically, if the package said that it was deer resistant, I put it in the ground. Now I just have to hope that the squirrels don't dig for buried treasure!


I'm also trying hard to grow some grass in the bare patches. The destruction phase of landscaping probably didn't help. I've been over-seeding and hoping that the autumn rains will work their magic. Perhaps that will be a job for the spring. But for now, I'm happy to have the yard and gardens nice and tidy for the seasons ahead.

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!