Autumn Leaves, Catching Dreams & A Winner

 Autumn was blazing beautifully here in Michigan the past couple weeks.

Because of the drought we had this summer, the colors were simply amazing this year.

 Rich reds, bright yellows, and "phajent"

(pronounced "fa-jent" in case you were wondering)~

a color that The Husband made up.

(Don't ask.  I haven't a clue where he came up with it.)

He insists that it's the brilliant, almost neon, orangey pink hue that you are lucky to see once in a while on sugar maples.

So, between plowing MONSTROUS piles

(I'm talking thigh deep at times, people)

of golden and phajent leaves...

[Yes, The Husband actually plowed them for me with our vintage tractor (a sweet 1947 International Harvester) because I was not making any headway by blowing them with my super duper Stihl backpack blower.  He hooked up the snowblade and pushed those ginormous piles into the woods surrounding the house. Saved me a ton of work. 
I married such a smart man.]

and putting my flower gardens to bed for the season,

dumping the pots of annuals,

putting away the wicker on the back porch,

and storing the multitude of pillows on the front porch,

I needed to do something creative.

I was feeling all brawn and no brain.

:)

I've been swooning over and coveting Tausha's gorgeous dream catchers ever since she first started making them.  "Romantic Homes" magazine even featured them when they did a spread on her beautiful Florida home.
When Sandy shared a wonderful tutorial on how she made one,

I knew what I wanted to try my hand at next.

There have been so many different crafts that I've had fun making ever since I started blogging.  You all inspire me so much!  Clay tags, Mod Podge transfers, stenciling, sewing vintage handkerchief buntings, painting furniture, making topiaries, stringing large wooden rosaries...
You've encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and try new things, and I've loved every minute of it.

But making dream catchers has caught my heart and soul in a way that no other project has.

In the Native American Ojibwa culture, the hoop of the dream catcher signifies strength and unity. The circle of life.

Dream catchers were created to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams while letting the positive dreams through.

The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center.

The negative dreams would get caught up in the web and disappear when the first rays of morning sunshine struck them.

A feather tucked into the dream catcher symbolized a breath of air that is essential for life.

I found the supplies I needed at NocBay Trading Company and at Michael's.  After scrounging around in my linen closet and baskets of fabric for some vintage floral sheets,

I assembled everything in my studioffice and began creating.

It was calming. 

Zen-like.

Wrapping the strips of soft, faded floral cotton around the hoop.

Weaving the waxy sinew into a delicate web.

Tying on rustic leather cording strung with sparkling glass beads.

Tucking a white feather into a small, wooden sphere,

and adding a final decidedly signature piece ~

a small cross made from either a genuine turquoise stone

or balsam wood. 

It's a way of adding a bit of my own heart and soul to the dream catchers.

A simple way of passing on God's love.

 
 A hoop of beachy turquoise.

A circle of vintage plum.

A quiet ring of soft pinks and blues.

I will spend my winter quietly making these intricate webs of romantic beauty.

They will be sold in my booth next spring.

I will weave each one with a calm breath,

a satisfied soul...

and a whispered prayer.

I want to thank ALL of you, near and far, so much for entering my THROUGH THE FRENCH DOOR book giveaway and leaving your sweet comments. I wish with all my heart that I could have given each and every one of you a copy of this beautiful book.


~ ♥ ~

The winner was picked the old fashioned way.
The Husband pulled a name out of a vase for me
(before I refilled it with some fresh pink roses).

 

The winner is.....

Dore from Burlap Luxe.

Congratulations, Dore!

I'll be contacting you.



♥

~  Blessings ~

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

Prayer Rug & Paisley Love

Last Sunday, Michelle and I met up once again for a day of treasure hunting under a hot and sunny August sky.

Allegan Antique Market never fails to delight my senses and stretch my imagination to it's limits. With blog inspiration bouncing around in our heads, and hands itching to nab some good deals, we set off down the numerous rows of vendors.

Michelle was searching for beachy decor for her darling cottage by the lake,

 and I had my shabby chic-bohemian radar set on high.

It wasn't long before we were making a trip back to our cars to unload our weary arms.

Wait....just wait....til you see what I brought home.

I think this was my favorite trip so far this year because of what ended up in the back my SUV. Treasures that my heart has been aching for...waiting for...searching for.

This was my first purchase of the day.

Yeah...I know you're drooling.

I was, too.

It didn't take me but 2 minutes to decide to dance away with this little French beauty.

She was neat as a pin, clean as a whistle, and I didn't have to touch her with a paint brush at all.

Total perfection.

The finish was just perfect and the shabby chic fabric pristine.

I love the mix of feminine with the rustic plank-top desk in my office.

This is where I do all of my paperwork

while gazing out the window into the rose filled flowerbed surrounding the new

white arbor. 

Glass lamp:  Meijer's

Ok, I see you're drooling again.

I assume it's over my new vintage Turkish prayer rug?

Oh, yeahhhh, baby......

I saw this gorgeous thing crumpled up on an old church pew. 

I almost walked by it.

Horrors!

But I noticed it out of the corner of my eye and once again,

poor Michelle was nearly toppled as I dodged around her and flung myself through a group of hot, sweaty people to get to it.

"How much?", I breathlessly asked.

"Forty", said he.

WHAT??!!

I had just reluctantly passed up another prayer rug up from a different vendor who was asking three times that much!

Currency flew in the air like autumn leaves as I pulled out my cash to pay the man before he realized what he had actually said.  I didn't even try to chew him down, afraid that he'd change his mind.

He watched me warily as with heart pounding, I thrust my money at him,
heard the Hallelujah chorus in my head,
and grinned stupidly at him like The Joker.

I wanted to wrap myself up in it and dance my way back to the car yelling,
"Look what I found!  Look what I found!!"
But I knew that Michelle would probably desert me for someone who wasn't quite as dingy.

Be still my beating heart.....  :)

Gorgeous deep blues and pinks, and beautifully faded and worn in all the right places.

This beautiful addition to our old farmhouse was even more special when I showed it to The Husband.

He stood there, mouth agape.

He said, "You've GOT to be kidding....."

My heart sank.  Oh no....I thought for sure that he would love the deep, rich colors or just poo-poo it as another one of my fanatical purchases.

"What's wrong...?", I asked tentatively.

He answered by telling me, "You're not going to believe this, but we used to have a rug just like this in the farmhouse I grew up in. I would pull it over next to the floor register on cold winter days and play on it with my metal trucks."

 I could see his eyes were almost on the verge of filling with tears as he continued to stare at the rug ~ sweet memories swirling in his mind.
My heart melted and I smiled.

Hours later, I actually found him sitting on it giving Maizie a tummy rub...

Oh, how I love that man.

♥

The framed oil paintings you see on the shelf above Maizie's crate
were painted by my mom and dad decades ago.
Dad painted the one on the left.  Mom's is on the right.
Mom loved Dad's sweet lilacs so much that she wanted to try her own hand at it,
so Dad coached her while she painted her own version.
I can still remember them sitting at the kitchen table working on it together.  :)

Large wooden rosary:  me

I draped a vintage lace netting curtain that I discovered at a favorite vendor's booth

over the French door.

It's a sheerer version of what I previously had there.

Another sweet treasure was this canvas rose painting.

I adored the simplicity and the colors.

It's resting against a vintage mirror (I brought home last month from the antique market)
on top of the bookcases in my office.

Yes, that's the same chandy from last month's antique market sitting there on the bookcase.

I hadn't quite decided where to hang it yet, so i plunked it up there so I could wax the floors one day.  Loved it so much up there, that's where she's staying for now.

I did purchase another larger chandy for the center of the living room which I'll show you later.
Yep....two chandies in two months.
Call me obsessed.

My last purchase of the day was this large piece of cotton/linen paisley fabric.

Light and airy and very bohemian.

Do you notice the color that's softly floating back into Heaven's Walk?

Maybe it's the autumnal feeling evenings, or maybe it's the fact that some of our maple trees are turning color and dropping their leaves already,

but I'm embracing the deep, rich warmth these colors are adding to this old farmhouse.

I love the contrast of creamy white and silvery blue linen,

and the deep pinks and purples of my weekly dose of fresh roses

against the darker accents.

I threw the faded paisley fabric over the tri-fold screen in the corner of the living room.

Now, the hunt begins for more prayer rugs.
I want to see them scattered all over these glorious old wood floors
here at Heaven's Walk ~

and now I know The Husband would love to see that, too.  :)

Ruffled linen throw and pillow slip: Ticking & Toile

[If any of you see any for a decent price, would you let me know?]

~  Blessings ~

Linking the the parties on the lower right of my sidebar!

 

Sweet, Simple Pleasures

Ok.

Call me spoiled.

But I love buying myself a dozen roses each week at the grocery store

where I sometimes get lucky and find them on sale.

I love the simple act of picking out the blush pinks and whites,

or sometimes the lovely lavenders.

 I love the simple act of trimming them when I get home

and plunking them in various vases and vintage cups.

I love that they're real.

I've used faux ones before because they look so very lifelike now.

Hobby Lobby and Michael's carries beautiful silk flowers, btw.

But I bring in blooms from my garden as often as possible.

There's nothing like real flowers scattered throughout your home all year long.

Lilacs and peonies in the spring.

Roses and hydrangeas in the summer...

But with the drought this summer, blooms were far and few between.

I was in withdrawal.

So, I resorted to setting aside a few dollars each week for a small splurge.

And it had to be roses.

I love watching them slowly open their soft petals during the week,
and the way they eventually bend their pretty heads over the side of the vase

as if in prayer.

They grace various vignettes throughout Heaven's Walk,

even in a vintage mustache cup...

that sits in my favorite corner of the living room

on my favorite little table.

A new pillow slip carries through the pinks and greens of the roses.

See it peeking from behind the chaise on the slip covered church pew?

I first saw this fabric at Tausha's and fell head over heels for it.

I found some online and begged my sweet friend Shellagh at Ticking and Toile Linen Shoppe to whip up a nice, big, 28"x28" pillow slip for me.

I simply adore it.
(Thank you, Shellagh!)

Sweet, simple pleasures that bring a song to the soul

and 

make my heart sing.

♥

~  Blessings ~

PS ~  May I ask for some advice from you computer techies out there?

My computer keeps telling me that I have "high CPU usage" and "low disk space".
I can't even defrag because there's not enough disk space.  Yikes!
I spent houuurrrs deleting old files and photos, and then trying to transfer a huge amount of photos to CDs to create more disk space, but I'm still stuck because there's not enough disk space to actually write them on the CDs! Help! 
What do I need to do....??? 
Do I need to purchase more disk space?

I have tons of photos (as I know many of you do). How much disk space do you have on your computer? Or do you keep your photos someplace else?
I'm not savvy enough to know what programs I can delete from my drive or how to solve this problem...
so I need some help here, peeps!
Thank you so much!!




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