Gooseberry Patch

Yesterday while I was at Lowe's spending my life's savings~ no, just joking, it only feels like that sometimes when I go there!~ I spotted this magazine:

I'd never heard of Gooseberry Patch before, until last December when Robin from The Robin's Nest recommended it. I bought their Christmas magazine and loved it! The recipes were amazing and easy to follow. {So when I saw this, of course I had to part with more of my life's savings and purchase it as well!}

I don't buy a lot of cookbooks, but have found that some of the best recipes come in those little baking/cooking magazines at the cashier's stand in the grocery store! And since last Christmas, I am sold on anything Gooseberry Patch!

This is just the ticket for my menu planning~ we have grown quite tired of the same old meals. I have already tried two recipes in this magazine, and they were both a big hit!

And here is something that might interest you: I actually bought two copies of this magazine! We are wrapping up our year long kitchen renovation, and I am in the mood to celebrate! So keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway in a couple of weeks, and here is a little hint~ the Gooseberry Patch magazine is one of the gifts that will be included! :)

Okay, and speaking of gifts...

I was so touched to receive a package in the mail from a blogger friend, Kelli from Lovely Vintage Cottage Life. And not only is she one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet, she is also so talented!

Look at that sweet towel with that darling pom-pom fringe!




The fabric she used is so perfectly vintage looking!

My youngest daughter was as excited as me about these gifts, and we immediately scurried about to find places for each thing...we had such fun! So thank you Kelli, for such an unexpected treat!

Well, that's all for now! I hope you all are having a great week, and that you have a peaceful night! :)

Blessings,

Memo board with a twist

A few weeks ago, I saw a wonderful idea for creating a memo board out of an old window that Cottage Charm and Family Inspiration showed by linking up to The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday. Now if you followed that confusing sentence...On her blog, she showed the old window she'd used as the frame for her memo board, and then I thought of the old windows in my garage...

I didn't have one exactly like hers~ hers was one with a sash in the middle~ but I did find this:




I've had this for years, since finding it at a garage sale, but hadn't done anything with it. (With the exception of putting it in the garage.)

Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration to get you going! :) I removed the "window" part of it, and set that aside for another project. I found that the other part made a perfect "window" frame for my memo board. Now, the blogger I was inspired by used bead board on the top with an amazing free hand drawing, and burlap covered with chicken wire on the bottom. I did mine a little different...




It needed a coat of paint first. Then I used smooth, thin birch plywood found at Lowe's (about 1/4 inch thick) and painted the top half with chalkboard paint, then covered the lower half with white linen (a personal favorite!). I covered the bottom part with chicken wire and nailed it to the "frame", and added the decorative trim to the middle. (I found that Jo-Ann's Fabrics has quite a nice selection of trim, but the prices were more expensive...I couldn't say no, however, to the scalloped pattern!)

I have it here on the vanity I am painting. The top is done, but I still need to finish the rest! But does that stop me from decorating on it? :) (No way!) I will put sweet glass knobs on it when I am finished!




This is the same part of the room I showed you a while back when I posted on completing my board and batten project. Now the corner is happily decorated, and I am hanging up the curtains tomorrow. (I love the ones I found, and even more, I love the price I paid for them! Oh, how I love IKEA!)

Well, that is all for me tonight! Thank you for coming by for a visit! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! :)

Blessings,

And the winner is...

I hope you all had a great weekend! :)

I was a little nervous about doing a giveaway, but it has been SO much fun! I am already thinking up new ideas for future giveaways!
And thank you to all who entered! :)

I printed and cut out all the names of those who entered, putting them"in the hat", er, the basket. My daughter's Easter basket, to be specific!




My daughter mixed up the names a little, and then drew one.




And the winner is~ Alexis Anderson of Confessions of a Shopaholic.
Congratulations Alexis!

Here is the picture again of the book she won:




Well, thanks again to everybody, and I hope you all have a great night, and a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Blessings,

Forever young

This past Friday, my mother-in-law and I went to lunch at a cute little tea place near her home. It was lovely, and we had such a fun time. BUT there was just one little blemish on the afternoon:

The owner was cleaning up a nearby table. Looked at my MIL, and then at me, saying conversationally, "Last day of spring break."

She thought I was a kid.

And if I'm lucky, she at least thought I was in high school. If.

My mother-in-law told her that I wasn't on spring break, that I had three children of my own.

Then I felt very compelled to add that I would be turning 35 this month.

I tried not to be too disturbed by her shock at this statement.

The very nice lady told me to enjoy looking so young.

(I told her I would like to invent a different kind of wrinkle cream.)

The thing is, I was almost serious. Okay, I don't want wrinkles or gray hair yet, but I would settle for not looking like my almost teenage son's sister. Do you know if I were as young as some think I am, I have calculated it out: I would have had to have had my son when I was four. Yes, four. And not only is this physically impossible, it is depressing.

Now if this were just a once in a blue moon sort of happening, it probably wouldn't faze me. But unfortunately, it has been the story of my life...

When I had just turned 16, I was on a church bus heading to a youth group retreat. I got chewed out by a kid who thought I was ten years old, trying to go to a high school retreat.

My friends were very offended on my part, one of them telling him that at least I didn't look like I was 35. (Like he did.)

Well, now that I am 35, or almost, I figured I haven't aged that quickly~ if I was ten almost 20 years ago, and now am 16, that's only six years in the past 19. It is clear I am going nowhere fast. At this rate, when my son's voice changes and he is taller than me, they won't think I am his sister, they'll think I'm his girlfriend. And that, my friends, is something that is guaranteed to depress not only me, but my son. I'll be lucky if he wants to go anywhere with me ever again.

Do I sound a little bit bitter? I'm really not. I will admit, it is all a little amusing. And yes, I would rather look younger than older. And yes, I am sure I will love it someday.

But sometimes it would just be so nice
to at least look like I was in college.

Off my soapbox now,

My first ever giveaway!

Guess what came in the mail on Monday afternoon?

After reading a post about this book on {The Cottage Nest}, I knew I needed to put this book on my birthday wish list, but my husband bought me it for an Easter gift!




And I decided it looked like such a wonderful, inspiring book that I wanted to share it not only with you on this post, but with you in a giveaway, too! I have not done a giveaway before, so this is long, long overdue...


I have already looked at some of the book since it arrived and let me tell you, it is deliciously good!




For those of us who struggle to pinpoint our exact decorating style, this is the perfect book! Like Jen at {The Cottage Nest}, I found my style is really and truly Vintage Casual, even though I am sometimes drawn to things outside that spectrum...




And in the first picture describing this style, I found something I already own and love, although mine is a replication...




I can tell this book will be not only helpful, but a lot of fun to read! (I know these pictures don't do it justice. I never realized how hard it was to take a picture of a picture before blogging!)

For a chance to win your very own copy of this book, please leave a comment below. For two chances to win, blog about this giveaway and then let me know in a second comment that you did so! You absolutely don't have to have a blog to enter, but please do make sure to leave an email so I can let you know if you win! The deadline for entering is midnight on Sunday, PST!

I hope you are all having a great week!

Many Blessings,

Happy Easter!

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

~Wishing you and yours a wonderfully blessed Easter!