My Favorite Things

bella rustica

I just returned from a fabulous girls weekend in Franklin Tennessee.  My friend, Laura and I traveled to Tennessee to visit our good friend Kyra, who recently moved there from Illinois.  We visited an amazing flea market called Bella Rustica located in Franklin, TN.  It doesn't get much better than spending time with good friends while uncovering treasures at a flea market!  I also loved that all the proceeds from the sale benefitted AGAPE Nashville.  Here are just a few pictures from the day ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

till next time,

 

melissa

 

 

 

road trip

 

I am a lucky girl!  I get to go on a roadtrip with a good friend of mine to go visit another friend that has recently moved to Tennessee.  While we are there, we are going to explore what promises to be an amazing flea market called Bella Rustica.  

 

till next time,

 

melissa

valentine's day

valentine ornament swap and other swap goodness

Just yesterday I successfully sent off my little valentine snowman army (as my husband refers to them) to Alanna who is so graciously hosting yet another swap.  I know that snowmen are not notoriously thought of as "valentiney", but I felt like I appropriately dressed them up for the occasion :)  I also made these little bags to house them in.  I just love combining blue, red and pink for valentines.

I know we are well passed the Christmas season (although, you wouldn't know it if you came into my house, which is still decked out in all of it's Christmas glory!), but I wanted to tell you about an amazing swap I did with my fabulous friend, Jen this past December.  We had our 2nd annual Christmas stocking swap.  We each design and create a stocking for the other one and then fill it with all sorts of goodies. Imagine filling your own stocking with things you know you will love and then opening it on Christmas morning.  Well that is what this exchange is like!  

One little funny happened as I was unwrapping my treasures in the stocking Jen had sent. Before I tell you, first look at this fabulous creation that Jen knitted for me.

Isn't this absolutely adorable?!  What do you think it is?  Well, when I unwrapped this, I immediately oohed and aahed as I slipped it on my wrist.  I thought it was a beautiful wrist cuff.  Needless to say, during a very funny phone conversation with Jen, I soon realized that my wrist cuff was actually a coffee mug cozie!  I know, probably a mix up only I would make :)  And yes, if you are wondering, I do use it as a wrist cuff.

For more pictures of our swap, please go over to Jen's blog.  

The next project that I am off to work on is a Valentine decoration swap that Jen and I are doing.  I already know what I am going to create.  I have been mulling ideas over in my head for a couple of weeks now.  Once the project is completed and we swap, I will post pictures.  

till next time,

melissa

 

 

 

 

 

a new year brings productivity

I am so excited ... my first new year's goal was to finally finish a duvet cover for my daughter Julia's dorm room bed.  And just in the nick of time, I completed it one day before she left to head back to Virginia.  Mind you, I started on this project back in August, but then it got pushed to the side :(  I have to say Julia has been quite patient.  However, the not so subtle remarks about the quilt I had promised her for her 13th birthday that never came to be, certainly spurred me on towards completion before another birthday came to pass!

She and I were both pretty pleased with the final product.  Julia wanted the duvet to be made from a variety of vintage bed sheets.  So, etsy served as my go to vintage sheet source.  I topped off the enclosure of the duvet with a mixture of vintage buttons.  Now what to do with all of the leftover vintage sheets ... hmmm ... I'm sure I will think of something!

Maybe I will use some pieces in my Valentine's projects that are next on my list to do.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

till next time,

melissa

a new year

This is a package of fabulous Happy Tape that I received for Christmas this year.  I am in love with the colors!  These colors are a good representation of how I am feeling as I begin this new year.  To me these colors are very fresh and vibrant.  I am very excited and hopeful about the fresh start that the new year can represent.  One area that I truly need a fresh start in is in my blogging.  This year I plan on being much more diligent about posting!  I also want to begin journaling.  That is where this wonderful tape will come in handy ... in helping to decorate my journal.  I haven't quite decided what the focus of my journal will be.  Will I use it as a place to write down my thoughts,a place to doodle, or use it as a more formal art journal?  My guess is, is that it will be a little bit of this mixed with a little bit of that!  I will keep you updated on my progress.

This month I am working on a Valentine Ornament Swap, a one on one Valentine Decoration Swap with my dear friend Jen, finishing a vintage bed sheet duvet for my college freshman, and embroidering images on a tablecloth.  Whew ... there is a lot of creating to be done and not nearly enough time!  I will post pictures as I progress on each of these projects.  I have a deadline on several of these projects, so I know that they will indeed get done :)

till next time,

melissa

 

views on the run series

I found this vintage lamb in a yard along a county route that we run.  I thought it had a very pastoral feel to it.  In contrast, this dancing lady, just had us all hanging our mouths open in amazement as we ran by her!

 

I took the first picture at the beginning of my run.  Pretty much everywhere I run, I am surrounded by cornfields.  I thought the evening sky was a pretty backdrop.  As I neared the end of my run, a storm was coming in, as evidenced by the second picture.  I thought the color of the sky was a beautiful contrast to the green of the trees.   

till next time,

melissa

 

 

easter ornament swap

I just received goodies from a easter ornament swap that Alanna George hosted.  She is a Silver Bella sister.  Since she was not going to be able to attend Silver Bella this year, she decided to host a swap.  Sadly, I am not going to be able to attend SB either this year, so I jumped at the chance to do a swap with my Silver Bella sisters.  And, yes, in case you are wondering, we are a little late for easter!  It is going to be so hard to put these beauties away until next year, but how fun to have this surprise waiting for me next Easter.  Everyone really out did themselves!

This is a sneak peak at what I saw when I opened up the box.

Alanna took some great photographs of everyone's ornaments.  So, just go on over to her blog to see the adorable creations that everyone made! 

till next time,

melissa

a fabulous birthday

I woke up last Friday morning at 6:30 am to these 2 signs made by my ever so thoughtful youngest daughter.

This one was attached to our front door.

 

This child knows my love for all things chocolate!  So, she used Hershey Miniatures to spell out her birthday greeting.  She then gave my an amazingly comfy t-shirt that she knew I have had my eye on and MORE candy.

 

The blouse that I am wearing is a birthday present from my oldest daughter, who knows exactly what I like and from where ... Anthropologie of course!  I was definitely spoiled this year.  My oldest also made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast after I went running with my cross-country girls who sang happy birthday to me in 5 different languages!!  

I spent the rest of the afternoon with sweet hubby.  We went to a favorite spot for lunch, and then we did a little shopping (I should say I shopped while he patiently waited in the air conditioned car and read).  

One of my stops was to purchase my very first Copic markers.  Who knew there were so many colors to choose from?!  It took me about 45 minutes of testing out many of the colors before I finally settled on a few.  I played around with them today ... love, love, love them!  Before my friend, Jen, had gifted one to me at Christmas, I had no idea what I was missing.  My long standing love affair with the sharpie may now be compromised!  

After our afternoon together, hubby and I headed home to have cake and ice cream with our kids.  Once again, my oldest came through and ordered this amazing birthday cake.  

My hubby's parents also came over for cake.  We had a fun evening of our family's version of stupid human tricks.  You know, it just doesn't get any better than this!

till next time,

melissa
 

   

fun with buntings

I have been wanting to try my hand at making a bunting for the last month.  What you see here is my second attempt ... and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  Admittedly, I tried to make my first bunting the morning of my oldest daughter's high school graduation ... not so smart!  We were having her party outside that afternoon, and I thought a bunting would be a perfect addition to the garden decorations.  Well, as you can imagine, nothing went right.  I was following the directions from a tutorial I found online, but their suggested way to calculate the measurements was just not working for me.  I finally gave up when I realized that I was going to be late to her graduation ceremony if I kept persisting with this frustrating project :(

Three weeks later, I'm here trying this project again.  This time, my hubby was so kind as to help me calculate the proper width of the unfinished piece in proportion to the length.  That is where I kept going wrong before.  My unfinished piece (the piece before I started gathering the fabric) was too wide.  So every time I tried to gather the fabric towards the middle I never got a nice half circle shape.  The beauty of persistence is that eventually (most of the time, anyways) you figure how to put the puzzle together!  So, after I made the first one successfully, the second one was a breeze.

If anyone is interested in making a bunting of their own, just let me know, and I would be more than happy to share on my bunting pattern!

till next time,

melissa