Cottage & Family:
home

My friend Anne at Fiona and Twig
just did a blog post showing the amazing
Magnolia Pearl Ranch
that is for sale!!
It is truly breathtaking!

There is also an awesome giveaway
of 2 Magnolia Pearl outfits
valued at almost $2,000!
Oh my gosh!

Robin Brown and John Gray
of Magnolia Pearl Clothing
are selling their
beautiful Ranch located in
the Bandera countryside
of the Texas Hill Country~
It is 38 acres with
3 complete homes,
18 external structures,
3 outdoor shower baths
which are supplied by
on demand hot water heaters ~

Among the many features
of the 3 homes
there are 25 chandeliers,
iron beds, 3 clawfoot tubs,
stone fireplaces and
spacious porches as well
as many outdoor structures
like a chicken coop with
a chandelier!

The interior ceilings
are covered in antique tins
from an abandoned movie theatre
in New York City ~

This gorgeous property
has been featured in
numerous magazines as
well as being the subject
of a book published by
Country Living ~

Make sure and stop by
Fiona & Twig for many
more pictures and the
contact information ~
Enter to win the giveaway
too!!

This year I wanted all
of my Christmas decorating
to be creams, burlap,
mercury glass and greens ~

The challenge was to
take things I had and
kind of recreate them
and also to use things
that I had around
my home already ~

We have an artificial tree
but I wanted fresh greens
for the awesome smell ~
I went to Lowes and they
gave me cuttings that
were just laying around
from their fresh
Christmas trees ~ It was
awesome!! I left
with an armload ~

Then I got some of my old
glass ornaments and
washed them in warm sudsy
water to make them
turn into a wonderful
mercury glass ~

Next I took a wreath that
was shoved in the attic
and took off all the old
decorations ~

Then I added
clippings from the greens
all over and used
some hydrangea
blossoms that were still
on bushes ~
Then added some of the
mercury balls that
I had washed ~

This is our mantel with
stocking for my precious
grand babies ~

I am still using the
hydrangeas that
I showed you in this post ~
The colors have faded
but they work great for
my tree ~

My armful of greens
helped create all of
these simple little
Christmas vignettes
and it smells great!

Have fun decorating!

hugs,
Lori

My husband and I got
to spend a week at the
central coast of California
visiting with family ~
That is where we are from
so it is going home for us ~

When I go back I often
am amazed at what I took
for granted when
we lived there ~
I just LOVE the beach and
LOVE the mountains that
you have to drive over
to get to the beach ~

This is Avila Beach
where I spent so many
days in the summers~
I want to come spend
a week just here now ❤

Who would have thought
that swinging on the beach
could be the most fun ever!!

I LOVE my mom and dad's house
that is on a mountain that
overlooks 3 towns ~

I LOVE driving the winding
roads seeing the beautiful
wineries and vineyards that
are everywhere ~

Spending time in California
with my family that lives
there is just some
of our best times!

This is my sister, Kim
and I in Morro Bay~

Thankfully we get to
go back a few times a year
which is a blessing for sure!

Lots of hugs,
Lori

We are so excited to start the
Creatively Made Home
e-course and wanted to share it with you!!

Creatively Made Home is an all new e-course about creating a home that reflects your heart in everyday living. It is about inspiring and encouraging you to create and style a home that you and your family love to live in...

This five week online course is hosted by 5 friends who want to help you to define your decorating style so that it is a true reflection of your heart.

Creatively Made Home is hosted by:

Tracey Leber

Sara Duckett

Kimberly Taylor

Jennifer Rizzo

and.....Jeanne Oliver

Here is the jam-packed schedule for the course:

* Each week you will have amazing truthful videos from not only the five teachers but other creative women.

* Each week we will take a room from one of YOU and all five women will give their suggestions telling you how they would transform the room with their style.

* There will be 50+ project videos.
These will be incredible videos that include everything from gardening, cooking, gift giving and decorating.

* There will be written tips from each woman telling you how she starts a room, picks paint, fabrics, etc. You will learn where to start when putting your own home together.

* Tons of beautiful house photos from each of the five women.

* Videos that truly reflect what life is like in each of their homes. The stuff that life is really about.

* Each woman will share their own truthful journey about how they started making their home a reflection of their hearts.

* Each person registered will get an easy entertaining e-book to download.

It will contain go to recipes for beautiful and easy entertaining (they do go together), photos of table settings that take the stress out of having people over, favorite drinks and so much more (and their funniest entertaining story).

* There will be a private Facebook group to connect with other class members.

* There will be a once a week live discussion with one of the teachers!

* You will get printables and pdfs to keep and use again and again.

This course is about loving your home, loving your family and blessing those around you....and having fun doing it.

This course will lavish you with ideas, beauty, inspiration, joy and encouragement!
Come and play house with us.

Class begins October 22.
Registration is now open!

The price of the course is $58 for all 5 weeks!

To sign up for Creatively Made Home, go *HERE*

We can't wait !!

We are in baby heaven
here in our homes
with Kristin's son, Isaac
who is 7 weeks and
my other daughter Stephanie
due now ❤


Stephanie is having a girl
and is going to be a stay
at home mommy so she
is having fun creating with
Kristin and I ~

Steph is making the sweetest
vintage baby accessories
and adding some other
fun sweet things as well ~
Her facebook shop is named
after her baby girl,
Ellie Grace ~

Her creations are
so precious and
her prices are awesome
so stop on by and say hi ~

The picture directly above
is of a pacifier clip ~
We haven't seen a
sweet vintage looking
one anywhere and are
loving this!

Chat soon!

Congratulations to
Sares
from Loveleigh Treasures!!
You won our giveaway
to Heather's shop!
We used a random
number generator ~

True Random Number Generator Result: 93 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

I am so very excited to be
able to host a giveaway for
Heather at Post Road Vintage!

Her blog and shop are
absolutely gorgeous!!

Heather is a soon to be mom to
six children and she is a wonderfully talented gal!

This is a little bit from
Heather's blog about her ~

"I believe when we create a home for our story to shine, our souls to rest, and our families to come together, life is simpler… and better. I am inspired to help you create this warm and safe spot in your own heart and home. My goal is to help you find joy and creativity in life’s perfect imperfections and to inspire you to create a home that is a reflection of you. {Beautiful + Unique }" ~

These are some of the
beautiful products
on her website ~

You can receive a
$50 gift certificate for
anything in her shop by
winning this giveaway!

You get an entry for
each of the following ~

* Signing up for her
free beautiful online
magazine "Homebound" ~

* Following our blog ~

* Subscribe to Heather's blog ~

The giveaway ends on
July 20th ~

Kristin and I have been busy busy with our website
the last couple of weeks!!

But ... in between the busyness there are
babies coming very soon!!

Kristin's baby boy, Isaac's room, is
in a vintage airplane theme ~ She wanted
to use one of her husband, James' photographs,
but wanted it to look old ~

This is a quick step by step but
you can get more detailed instructions on her
family blog ~

First we got the picture laser printed at
Staples in a 20x30 inch size ~
Then we went to Home Depot and had them cut
a piece of wood in to 2 pieces 10 x30 inches ~

Place the 2 pieces of wood side by side
( we attached it together at the end but
you can do that step ahead of time )~
Then brush on Acrylic Gel Medium
and spread pretty generously ~
Place your paper with the image face down
and smooth out ~
We had a couple of wrinkles and actually it
ended up adding to the vintage look ~

Let it sit overnight ~
Then dampen the paper with
a wet cloth ~
When the paper looks wet rub with your fingers and the paper kind of rolls off ~
Kristin cracked me up because her fingers
didn't have finger prints or something because
she was having issues with this step ~

You can keep dampening the paper when it dries out
until it is
all rubbed off ~ Some of the paper was left
and it ended up grabbing the stain and looked good ~

Next Kristin stained over the entire piece ~
Then she sanded the edges
and rubbed the edges with
Pigment ink with a sponge ~

Lastly we waxed it with Annie Sloan clear wax
but you can also use Mod Podge to seal it ~

After it dried the wood was attached together
on the back with metal flat brackets ~

The whole project cost less than $30 ~

It turned out great and looks awesome
in Isaac's room !!!

Do you ever go through a day

thinking (obsessing) about

a project that you want

to do and as soon as you get home

you just have to try it out ?

In my mind I was digging through

fabrics that I have in my stash

and going through each step of

making these melted edge roses ~

Anyway in between making dinner

I was melting fabric edges ....

and then I had to finish before the

sun went down too far to take

pictures :)

I got it done in time

and I really like how this "sweet

in pink rose" came out and it

was fun too!

I would do a tutorial but there

are a gazillion already online ~

I am pretty positive I will

be making more for my website soon ❤

**** I have had tons of questions

so this is kind of an add on..

I used an old slip that I got at

a thrift store for the fabric :) ****

My husband and I just got

home from San Francisco where

we were celebrating our

30th anniversary ~

We went with some of our precious

friends, Mark and Lori,

who have a timeshare there ~

We had a huge condo

in Union Square that was GORGEOUS!!

The weather was amazing so we

walked our legs off and saw

a ton of things ~

I have been to San Francisco

quite a bit but I forgot how

diverse this city is ~

Since we were close to China Town

we went there a couple of times

and had fun getting the yummy

veggies at amazing prices!

Of course we had to go to

Fisherman's Wharf and

the Golden Gate Bridge ~

One of my favorite places was

where the World's Fair was

in 1915 ~

Oh my gosh it was amazing!! It

totally reminded me of being

in Rome~

It was fun to see Redwood trees

at Golden Gate Park ~

They are a very favorite of

mine and it brought

back sweet childhood memories ~

I love love this age of life!

I am so excited to see

the Farmhouse Style as

one of the top trends for

2012! I am thinking it doesn't

really surprise me though :)

Romantic Homes magazine has a

couple of our products featured for

the Farmhouse style ~

{the two bucket things }

These are now out of stock but

we did get in other items that

I love and will continue

to get more things all the time ~

❤

I am off to get caught up

from Christmas fun!

Last night I got to go

to Lisa's house for a

Christmas crafting night ~ It is

so much fun to get together with

people who "get" the same stuff that

you do ~

Her house was recently in the

Dallas Morning News with some

beautiful pictures of her holiday decor ~

Well needless to say I knew that

I would pretty much not get any crafting

done because I really wanted to

look at all of her beautiful

Christmas decorating and awesome

vintage vignettes everywhere ~

Here are just a few of them ~

~ this is above the bathtub ~

~ over a doorway ~

~ this is the top of her headboard

with a mirror above it ~

It ended up that everyone pretty

much admired her home in awe, ate, chatted

and watched Charlene make

a necklace for Lisa out of some

of Lisa's vintage finds ~

( Lisa, Charlene & Cindy )

I have been wanting to make a

necklace with an old coin purse

for awhile so it was really fun to watch ~

Right before we left Cindy

had Lisa autograph her copy

of the newspaper ❤ ~

We were totally goofing around

with having her sign the paper

just because it was too fun ~

You've gotta love crafting with friends!

Hi! Lesson plans and pictures from todays workshop on creative collages will be posted up on this blog tomorrow when I get back home from the aenj conference!

I am soooo very much leaning

toward painting my studio walls

a soft creamy white and going

with whites, creams (surprise, surprise)

and Robin's Egg Blue ~

I love Annie Sloan's Duck Egg Blue paint

and I LOVE vintage aqua jars ~

The color is so beautiful

and I have never had anything blue

in my home at all ~

These are some jars I found

yesterday and have a really hard time

parting with them .... I guess I don't

need to hoard them ~

I am cleaning and

destashing after all ....

( I am keeping some though )

Janet at The Empty Nest has

an awesome post on the

history of the jars and

how to figure out their age ~

Thank you Janet!

I love knowing the history of things!

Alrighty I need to unload

my car from junkin' ~

I have been running around in

circles and not feeling real accomplished

this week for some reason and I

am not sure why ~

But... after spending the day out

getting nothing accomplished ~

I got home to some wonderful boxes

on the porch ( I love coming

home to boxes on the porch )~

The first thing I did was open them

up and grab my camera to give you

a sneak peek of what I will be adding

to my website tomorrow ~

Ruffle Tote Bags, Ruffle Laundry Bags,

Ruffle Shower Curtains ~

Alot of roses with some new colors ~

Ruffles and Roses ....

Some of my favorite things!!

When you go out junkin' do you

collect things to sell ~ to recreate

something from the past that

becomes a new treasure for someone else ~

I love to get things for my home

but I can only have so much before

it becomes hoarder status ~

So.....I am mostly on the hunt for

things to put on my website ~

While I was in Kansas I got

two Bibles that I thought would be

awesome to take the pages from

and use in pocket pillows or for

who knows what else but they are aged

so perfectly!

As I took them out and really looked at

them (which I don't really do

when I am on the search) .....

I started to think about where they have

been ... what stories they had to tell...

Was this little Bible carried

to a church like this ~

or this ~

Was this larger Bible in a families house

out on a prairie somewhere ~ Did they

find comfort in its pages during

hard times ...

Where have they been through the years

to end up in a flea market in 2011 ~

Precious treasures from the past

are the things that we collect ...

whether to recreate with or to

cherish as they are ~

I just got home from a few days

in Central California ~

Oh my goodness it was glorious

there! The weather was awesome

( it was great to get away

from the Texas heat )

and well I just pretty much

love it all ~

Family, childhood memories, the beach,

the mountains, the vineyards,

the weather... I could go on and on ~

It is funny how when we lived there

I completely took the beautiful

hills and ocean for granted ~

It has been 16 years since we

moved to North Texas and I am

a happy gal to have family

in California and flight privileges :)

I am a lavender freak so seeing it

all over is amazing to me!

This is a beautiful bed and breakfast that

a friend's wedding was at in Templeton ~

This is a really fun place in Avila Beach called

Avila Valley Barn ~

This is my sister and niece

picking yummy apples ~

I have been home a day and am totally

ready to go back ~

Hopefully in October for the

Remnants of the Past Vintage Show

and

Three Speckled Hens Show ~

Now it is back to work (fun)

for me ~

It totally feels like it

has been forever since

I have blogged!

We have been moving our daughter

and son in law into their home

and redoing our master bathroom

and life just flies by ~

In between that I have still

been working on things

for my website ~

I have been LOVING

all of the pictures of

vintage weddings

using burlap, lavender, muslin

and old stuff ~

So going along with that theme

I decided to make a little

flower girl basket and

ring bearer pillow ~

I just love the combination

of burlap and muslin ~

They are on my website here ~

I have introduced you to my family in the past but
I wanted to introduce you to my girl's blogs ~

Kristin, our oldest daughter, has been doing photography
with her husband for a while and recently launched her own
photography website and blog ~

Her business is called Kristin Brandon Photography ~
They are traveling to Italy soon to shoot a wedding!
I am so excited for them !

Stephanie has started a blog journaling her and her
husbands cottage home transformation ~
They actually are just closing on it today and are
having fun going to Salvage Shops, Flea Markets
and Craigslist to find vintage things for it ~
Her blog is called College St. Cottage ~

It is so fun to watch them get excited
about all of the treasures they have found ~

{ Photos are by Kristin's husband James
at James Brandon Photography }

Both of the girls are just introducing themselves and their blogs
so they would love to have you stop by ~

I was so excited to

get to take a Chalk Paint class

today from

Karla at Lady Butterbug

in McKinney, Texas ~

Taking classes for chalk paint

is fun because

you get to learn new painting,

distressing and waxing techniques ~

There are beautiful colors which

can be used as they are or mixed

to make a bunch of different colors ~

I love that the colors

are inspired by European furniture

from the 1800's ~

This next picture shows my least

favorite piece as we were working on it ~

It has 3 different colors, dark wax

and clear wax and a couple different

distressing techniques ~

After I got it done I ended up

LOVING it because

in real life it looks like an old

building that has had layers of paint

and wear ~

I really like this color combination

too and would love to incorporate

it in my home somehow ~ I have

all creams and whites but I am

thinking that Duck Egg Blue

needs to be there too!

It was alot of fun!

I love how easy, fast

and fun Chalk Paint is to use ~

I LOVE going to First Monday

Trade Days in Canton Texas!

Every month it is something

I so very much look forward to ~

Even though I knew it was hot,

I left my house with a good attitude

and told myself that I would

just stand the heat because

I LOVE Junkin' !

I hit the grounds with my

trusty cart {a necessity there },

my ginormous ice tea and anticipation

of the treasures I would find ~

I drove in and saw ohhhhh maybe

5 vendors when there are usually 75 ~

But....I knew there was cool stuff

even with the 5 vendors and there

was still another HUGE area to hit ~

The next area had about half of

the usual but still some neat things!

I NEED a chicken coop and that cute

little bicycle and all the awesome

galvanized stuff, a gazillion

old keys, a stack of drawers and

birdcage ~

COOL STUFF !

Has anyone done anything awesome

with a chicken coop ~ I want to see :)

I didn't buy any of the big stuff

because I was on a mission for my

website and big stuff is expensive

as craziness to ship ~

After about 2 hours I thought

I would die of heat stroke

so I went to my most favorite

place to eat because it looks healthy,

you get free refills on ice tea

and they have a HUGE fan!!

Ohhhh and the buffalo head rocks!!

{not really, I don't like dead animals

but it is so Texas }~

After I ate I was revitalized

and ready to hit the junkin' trail for

HOURS more ~

Well I lasted about one more hour,

saw sweet Daphne and Dorothy that were fun

to chat with and decided heat stroke

was definitely setting in ~

Dang it!! I so wanted to last

for sooo much longer but

it was kind of miserably hot ~

{110 degrees and it is humid...bleh!!}

Next month I am definitely going

on Thursday so I can visit

LaurieAnna's Vintage Home,

Girls Gone Junkin and some of

my other favorite shops that aren't open

on Wednesday and have air conditioning ~

I talked to my mom, in California,

while driving home and she

told me that she was kind of chilly

because the ocean breeze was blowing

in and it didn't feel like summer

{which she loves }~

I would be loving some ocean breeze

right now :)