Brrr! Boots & A Basket

Brrrr!

As the temps dip ever closer to the winter average around here ~

(which is just waaaay too cold for this girl)

and after experiencing our first 3" snowfall on November 10 ~

(which is waaaay too early for that kind of stuff to be happening,
but thank goodness it melted the next day)

my thoughts tend to shiver their way toward things that will keep me warm.

I want to surround myself with thick, snuggly, bury-yourself-in-it
coziness.

Things that warm my fingers and toes by just looking at them.

A little Christmas in the guest room

Like the vintage French basket full of yarn at the end of the bed
in the guest room...

I just want to crawl right into that pile of angora and chenille
and hibernate for the winter.

{forgetting all about the cold, snowy winds outside my windows
and dream of sinking my toes in the warm sand on my little island beach down south..}

My favorite cashmere-blend gloves and scarf...

and a new pair of warm, furry snowboots

will unfortunately

be getting a lot of use in the months ahead.

Stay cozy.

Old Man Winter's knockin' on the door.

{ Warm Blessings }

Linking to the parties located on the lower right of my sidebar this week.

Click on the buttons, meet some new friends,

and grab some new holiday ideas!

Hangin' It Up

I hope that you had a blessed Thanksgiving holiday
surrounded by loving friends and family!
I counted my blessings
and YOU are certainly one of them.
Thank you all for your kind words and sweet friendship!

Yeah....I love ya MUCH more than this.....

Now....the diet begins in earnest
[ugh...]
as well as a bunch of Christmas crafting!


Sooooo.....

got some plain, old, boring wooden hangers hangin' around...?

How about prettying them up a bit?

They'd make great Christmas gifts.

or....




you could just keep them for yourself.

I purchased these at a local grocery store.

Paint the hangers with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in "Pure White" and let dry
(which as you know, takes only a whisker of time).

Take out a pretty filigree stamp, and with your gray stamp pad

stamp it at the center of the hanger where the arch is.

Then, lay a piece of paper towel across the lower portion of the hanger.
You don't want any wayward stamping down there.

Take your favorite French script stamp,
(you could use a pretty music stamp, too)
and with a different color ink,
stamp over your filigree impression.

Spray the hanger with a clear matte spray sealer for protection.

{I went back and painted the hook part of the hanger

because I didn't like the bright silver.}

Ahhh.....

much better.

A pretty, vintage JDA inspired hanger.

I stamped a couple with my favorite little bird's nest, too.

Now....


go hang up something pretty ~


on a rack made from a piece of old trim and vintage wire hooks


that you made yourself, too.  :)

Hook rack painted in ASCP 'Old White'.

And stand back and smile.


You did well, my friend.

Have a wonderful creative day!

[ Blessings ]

Linking with the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Just click on the buttons and

check out the holiday inspiration!

French Script Candles

Just call me a copycat.

Sandi at Wayside Treasures posted a wonderful tutorial a little while ago
about making some beautiful 

French script candles

[that girl is so creative,

and when she's making something JDA...

well....I'm just all over it].

So, of course,

me being me ~

I just had to try my hand at making some.

I couldn't find small, glass votives,

so I purchased some tall white glass candles instead -
at the Dollar Store
for a buck.

Although Sandi used some vintage gauze,

I just purchased regular gauze
and stamped it with pretty French script.

I wrapped it around the candle and Super Glued it,

added a piece of hemp twine

and......

an instant Jeanne d'Arc inspired candle!

Quick, easy, and pretty little Christmas gifts.

Thanks, Sandi, for sharing another sweet little project!

{ Blessings }

PS ~ I spent a recent evening panicked, frustrated, losing sleep,
spending hours on Google reading about "sploggers",
and following over-my-head instructions on how to restore lost blogs

because my own blog had disappeared.

[yup, GONE - pffffft!
Like it never even existed]

I'm sorry, but I will not be replying to any of your comments
unless you have your email address enabled in your Blogger profile
or you leave me your email address with your comment.

Evidently, from what I think I understand,
"sploggers" set up dummy blogs that you can be erroneously be directed to
when you're trying to reply to someone who's email address you don't have...?
And when you do that, something bad happens to your own blog?

I don't even know if that makes sense or not,
but I just won't be taking any chances any more.

I also quickly learned how important it is to
BACK UP YOUR BLOG.
Donna at Funky Junk Interiors
has a very easy tutorial on how to do this.
I'll be backing up on a regular basis, believe me.
AND investing in an external hard drive
very soon.

Thank you Donna, Tete, Heather, Kerrie, Ann, Diana, and Michelle
for your help and support during my panic-filled evening. ♥

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Click on the buttons and discover some beautiful holiday inspiration!

A bit of nurturing nature...

Autumn tends to nudge our hearts to bring more of the outdoors inside.

I think for a lot of us, 

it has to do with the cold, dreary, winter days ahead.

We feel the need to capture the sweet warmth and rustic-ness of summer

and continue to hold it close and surround ourselves with it.

With that need in mind,
not to mention
the cold weather knocking at my door,
I wanted to incorporate more nature-inspired vignettes throughout this old farmhouse.

In the living room~
a simple vignette of neutrals.

French gathering basket: antique market, grapevine heart:  Michael's, nest; Save-on-Crafts, cement urn: antique market

The combination of textures are soothing

and remind me of my walks in the woods this past summer.

The urn was whitewashed in "Old White" ASCP.

In the kitchen,
sits the newest member of the family.

She was purchased at Micheal's a while ago.
There was just something about her colors
and sweet look on her face
that prompted me to take her home.

She happily sits on a piece of Florida driftwood in the vintage birdcage I bought at an antique market last summer ~
next to her nest full of eggs.

"Toby's wings" shelter her cage protectively.

{thank you again, Sandi....♥}

In my study/studio/office

(what am I calling it today...?)

I hung a shade-bones from a small rack I made from a piece of distressed bead board
and a vintage wire coat hook.

Not quite ready to put my lavender away for the season,
a vintage galvanized bucket holds an armful of it
on my bistro chair
that Courtney tipped us off about this summer.
I painted it white.

Pashima: antique market find, lavender: Hobby Lobby

On top of the bookcases next to the bistro chair
is a vignette that whispers of summertime memories

 that I'm still clinging to ~

with my favorite old shell
and a vintagey tin heart.

Tin heart: The Beautiful Life, seashell: Florida, hubby: mine

This sweet, new treasure is from Bilancia Designs.
Lisa Moran creates the most amazing things from paper.
Be sure to visit her shop.
You'll find yourself ooohing and aahhhing over her beautiful creations.

I used a gift certificate that I won
to purchase this sweet paper gardenia topiary in a vintage creamer.

The petals look so incredibly real, I almost expected to smell it's sweet fragrance
when I unwrapped it.

It will look so Jeanne d'Arc when it's nestled in the midst of some cedar boughs
at Christmastime.

I'm very anxious to start draping pine boughs throughout this old house.
After spending hours inside the pages of last year's JDA Christmas book,
my inspiration is overflowing 
and I'm ready to create a simple, dreamy, rustic, Nordic Christmas atmosphere 
here at Heaven's Walk.


Bringing nature into your home - whether real or faux -
 creates a warm, "alive-ness" that is both cozy and nurturing during this time of year.

Listen to your heart when decorating for the seasons.

You'll know you have it right
when you hear it sigh...




Be blessed....and be nurtured,

my friends.

♥

[ Blessings ]

Be sure to stop by Fishtail Cottage for a great giveaway!

Linking with the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.
Just click on the buttons
and some wonderful holiday decor and craft ideas!

Playing with Blocks

I'm

counting my Happies

today.

 Because the sun was shining

and the kitchen was flooded with it's bright, warm light.

Days like this are going to be hard to come by in the near future 

as winter slides in

and we have day after day of cold, cloudy weather.

So, I took a break today from painting furniture in the basement

to play

in my bright, sunlit kitchen

with some blocks.

This box of wooden blocks dated way back to when I was a child.

(Yeah...I know.  That was a lonnnnng time ago.)

After trying to sell them in various garage sales,
nobody wanted them.

So, they always ended up back in my basement.

(I guess kids don't play with blocks anymore...?

I still have the Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs my brother and I used to build things with!)

When I was cleaning the basement moving things around the other day, 

the box tipped over and the blocks spilled out across the rug.

As I picked each one up to put back in the box,

memories of building houses, fences, bridges, and roads with these colorful little blocks

floated around in my head.

Then, the little creativity angel in my head gave me a nudge.

I knew what I wanted to do with them.

Of course there had to be Annie Sloan chalk paint involved, right?

They were lined up like little soldiers 

and coated with a couple layers of "Pure White".

I was actually tempted to start playing with them ~

but restrained myself.

After they were dry, I took them upstairs to the kitchen table

where the fun began.

I simply stamped different words on them.

Deciding what words I wanted was the most difficult part.

I just let my heart guide me.

After distressed with a sanding block, I used a coat of Clear wax to seal them.

Yup.

I'm counting my Happies.

And 

YOU'RE 

one of them!

These blocks will be for sale at the Allegan Antique Market in May!

{ Blessings }

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Click on the buttons and find some Happies!