I hate that I didn’t get involved with this project from the beginning so I could share pictures from start to finish.  But “in the middle” pictures are better than no pictures at all…. right?

Keep in mind, there’s still a lot to finish, but it’s already come a long, long way.  The picture above is the room immediately inside the front door and would function as a family/ living room.  You can see by the old closet door in the corner the yellow color of the old interior.  All of the interior doors have been replaced and this one will be as well.  It’s taken quite a bit of primer and white paint to spruce up the walls and ceilings.

All new kitchen cabinets and ceramic tile floor.   Also in the works are all new appliances including a dishwasher.  I  love the crisp, clean feel in an all white kitchen.

Another view of the kitchen.  This time from the hallway entrance looking across to the back door.  The closet full of insulation and supplies will eventually house the washer and dryer and bifold doors so it can be concealed.

This is the only bathroom in the house, and it’s been completely re-done.  According to my brother this section of the house had to be torn out to the sub-flooring and rebuilt when they discovered rotten flooring and mold at the onset of the project.  He’s added all new fixtures and decided to tile the tub surround and floor in here as well.

Again, I love the use of all white here.  It makes a small space seem larger.

This is the hall off the kitchen leading to the bath on the right and three bedrooms (two on the left and one at the end of the hall).  I believe the plan is to use laminate (hardwood) flooring in the living room and down the hall and carpet in the bedrooms.

One of the bedrooms at the end of the hall.

Same bedroom… just a picture from inside.  New closet door and will have a new bedroom door soon.

Inside second bedroom at the end of the hall.  Most rooms are still being used to store supplies.  I can’t wait to see it finished with new carpet.

Stay tuned…. I’ll post more as the work continues.

Hi and Happy Monday!  We had the most beautiful weather this past weekend.  The kind of perfect weather where the skies are bright blue and the sun beckons you outside.  On days like that, I love to spend time in the garden or sitting outside to soak up the sun.  And this chair, on my screened porch, is one of my favorite spots.  When our house was built in 1923, I don’t think they intended for this space to function as an outside living room as it’s more of a stoop that happens to be screened in.  Nevertheless, I’ve adapted it to suit a small sitting room that functions quite well.

The door opens from the kitchen and I often leave it open to hear the bell chime hanging above the chair.  I like to decorate very simply and use mostly hand-me-downs or pieces I find at yard sales or thrift stores.  I love that worn, beach cottage look.

The garland hanging from the top of the screens is a string of seashell lights (the result of a project my mom and I took on a few years ago).  They are very pretty when lit at night.  The wicker chair belonged to my grandmother and has always been one of my favorite pieces.  Add an iron plant stand found discarded on the side of the road and a few cut flowers from my garden and it turns out to be a cozy corner.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great week!

This is a page I completed for Katy’s book a while back.  I loved how the picture captured her favorite things.

I made the flowers by cutting circles with decorative scissors, crumpling the paper and layering two circles on top of each other.  The centers are paper flowers by Making Memories and beads from Wal-mart that I sewed on.

Paper:  My Mind’s Eye (Kaleidoscope), The Paper Studio

Cardstock:  Marcella by K, DCWV (mat stack)

Embellishments:  Ribbon (scrap), Making Memories (flowers), Wal-mart (beads), Paper Studio and K& Co. (chipboard letters), K& Co. (eyelets), Paper Studio (letter stickers)

The weather finally cooled off here yesterday and we had a beautiful morning with very low humidity and clear skies.  So, I took the opportunity for an early morning walk and snapped a few picures along the way.  I usually like to walk a particular neighborhood very close to our house.  Most of the houses are older and surrounded by lots of trees.  Most are very well landscaped and I get lots of inspiration for my own garden while on my walks.

This is one of my favorite cottages along the way.  The owners have given a lot of attention to their yard and what you can’t see is an entire row of white hydrangeas that line the sidewalk (I couldn’t get a very good picture).  I love the crisp white against the green grass, the wide picket gate swung open and the burst of color at the base of the light post.  Everything about this house invites you in for cookies and lemonade.

This is the most recent page in John’s album and documents the first time we took him to the beach.  I’ve started venturing out a little bit and am trying my hand at using different textures and techniques to liven up my pages.  I like layering and using embellishments to add dimension.

I created this page before I started keeping detailed lists of products used so I will list the things I know for sure.

Card stock:  Paper Studio, Marcella by K (photo mats)

Vellum (journaling), Blue Mulberry paper

Eyelets: Making Memories

Sea glass is from my personal shell collection

In my opinion, there aren’t many breakfast foods as perfect as muffins.  It’s one of my favorite things to bake.  My neice spent the night with us last night so I pulled out this favorite recipe and we had them for brunch when the teenagers woke up.  I pull a lot of my muffin recipes from Esther Brody’s 500 Best Muffin Recipes. I have yet to cook a batch of muffins from this book that are not good.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins

FILLING

¼ cup        all-purpose flour

2 tbsp        granulated sugar

½ tsp         cinnamon

2 tbsp        butter or margarine

MUFFINS

1 1/3 cups  all-purpose flour

1 cup            whole wheat flour

½ cup          packed brown sugar (I increased this to ¾ cup)

1 tbsp           baking powder

1 tbsp           cinnamon

½ tsp            salt

1/3 cup        butter or margarine

2                     eggs

1 ½ cups     milk

½ cup          raisins (I used pecans instead)

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees

*Muffin tin, greased or paper-lined

1.  In a small bowl mix together flour, sugar and cinnamon.  With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in 2 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Cut in butter.  Make a well in the center.

3.  In another bowl whisk together eggs and milk until blended.  Add to flour mixture, stirring only until moistened.  Fold in raisins.

4.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups only half full.  Add 1 tbsp filling to each and top with remaining batter.  Sprinkle any remaining filling on top.  Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch.

I used to pick wild blackberries every summer from the bushes that grew down that dirt road and sell them to friends and family.  It’s probably what sparked the beginning of my love of gardening…. although, I didn’t know it or appreciate it at the time.  I spent more time covering chigger bites with calamine than reflecting on how great gardening was or could be.

But, nevertheless, the seed was planted (no pun intended) and now I sit every morning and admire my flowers and herbs from my kitchen work table as I enjoy my breakfast.  I make the trek on early Saturday mornings to our farmer’s market to buy the freshest produce and every May/ June/ July I get the urge to pick berries.  Lots and lots of berries.

My brother lives on an old farm and with it he inherited a grove of cultivated blackberry vines.  That means… no BRIARS (second only to chiggers as the worst part of picking blackberries as a child) and very easy picking.

Berry picking starts with strawberries in May.  We froze what we could this year, but spring was very wet here and strawberries were not as plentiful.   Blackberries came in around July 4th and we just spent the day yesterday picking 15 pounds of blueberries.  Blackberries always become jelly for fantastic peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or hot homemade biscuits and we freeze as many blueberries as possible to last us thru the winter… or so we would like.  We are usually out of blueberries before Thanksgiving.

If you’re reading this and you’ve never experienced the joy of picking berries, let me encourage you to try it!  Most areas have local farms where  you can visit and pay per pound to pick your own.  A much cheaper way to enjoy the bountiful fruits and also a great way to support your local farms.

Happy picking!

This is the house on my first visit.  Small, adorable with lots of potential.  A lot of work had already been done on the inside and all was heading in the right direction.  My first mission…. get rid of overgrown shrubs.

This is the main flower bed along the far right side of the house.  Currently full of vines!  Lots and lots of vines… of the poison ivy variety.  It took me two days to clean it out.

The new deck along the back of the house.  Door leads directly into the kitchen.

Continuing along the back of the house and up the left side.  Ugh!  What a mess.  There must be four different kinds of trees, azaleas and more poison ivy.   More on this one later.

Water heater is not a new garden ornament!  That will be the home of a nice new rhododendron in the coming weeks.

BINGO! I unveiled a second flower bed while raking leaves early one morning.  Anyone notice the hidden beauty in the back of the picture?  Boy did I make an incredible discovery (you’ll see below)!

Week two into clean up project…. house gets bright new roof!  I love the red.

Clean-up of second flower bed uncovered the mega load of poison ivy (foreground of picture)!  Good thing I’m not allergic.  Round-up became my new best friend..

Clean up of second flower bed complete.  Great row of azaleas all nicely trimmed and raked free of leaves.

But, just look at this!  Hidden amongst dead limbs, leaves and poison ivy.  One heck of a beauty!  This has to be the biggest oak leaf hydrangea I’ve ever seen and ayone who appreciates gardening will understand when I say that it took my breath away.

Most of the flower heads are over a foot in length…. Wow!

Overgrown bed almost clear.  Next up… time to crank up the tiller.

Ahhh… a blank slate!

Front of the house, minus the azaleas.

Planting begins.  Day one:  One crape myrtle, three forever hydrangeas, one small azalea, seven stepping stones and three hostas.  The irises were already in the bed.  I tidied them up and left them at the front of the bed.

And then there were pine needles!  Just the finishing touches needed to complete the beds.

Now if only I could fast forward a year to see what it will look like when it’s filled in a bit.

The front of the house is still a little bare and may need an addition or two.  That’s a butterfly bush in the middle front and three ornamental grasses beside the porch.  The butterfly bush is dark purple and the grass is burgundy.  Both will be beautiful when they fill out.   I need to pull out my miracle grow and see if I can’t hurry things along a bit.

I wish we had been able to get before and after pictures of the inside.  I will definitely post pictures of the inside, though, after it is complete.

Someone is going to score a wonderful house!

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This is another page for Katy’s album.  I’ve mentioned before how much Katy likes taking self portraits these days and this is one she took of her reflection in a mirror.  I love the double profile in this picture and the drama of the black and white.

I just picked up scrapbooking again after a five year hiatus and I cannot believe how things have changed.   This is the first page I did after discovering there are INCREDIBLE patterned papers on the market these days!  I am in love with the coordinating patterns and colors by various companies.

 
Product list:

Paper: Bohemia (patterned), Paper Studio (card stock), Vellum
Embellishments: Martha Stewart (ribbon), Making Memories (flowers), K&Company (brads)
Lettering: Provocraft (alha letters), Paper Studio (letter stickers)
Font: Monotype Corsiva

The spring youth volleyball league  started this weekend and we are loving this sport.  Katy, Abby and my niece Emily are all playing.

Katy played her first game last night and I have to tell you how proud I was of her.  She started for the team and served up some pretty amazing aces.

This is the rally cheer the whole team does in the middle after serving an ace.  All of the teams come up with their own.

This is Katy’s first year playing volleyball.  In the fall she played on the girls’ JV team and did really well, but she’s improved a lot and it is so much fun watching her play and enjoy being part of a team.