Vintage Dishtowel Pillow

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Today I wanted to share with you the prettiest hand sewn pillow that I was lucky enough to win!

 The sweet and very talented Michele over at Something Special surprised me when she contacted me and told me that I was going to be receiving this oh so lovely pillow that she created!  Thank you, Michele, I just love it!

Michele stitched it from a tea dyed vintage flour sack dishtowel, as well as pretty vintage floral fabric.  I just love how she embellished it with gorgeous vintage lace, a crocheted doily, pretty stitching, and the sweetest buttons.

 Michele has an Etsy shop featuring her wonderful pillows, as well as vintage treasures.

 The pillow just so happens to be in my favorite colors of blue, cream, pink, and aqua!

Oh, and I also love the adorable little yo-yo that she made from pink and white fabric!

It looks perfect on my white wicker loveseat in my craft room!

 Isn't it pretty? And aren't bloggers some of the sweetest, most generous people you would ever care to meet?

I sure think so!

 Thank you again, Michele!!

Hope you all are enjoying your day.

Me?  I've been busy for the last several days tending to a bushel of roma tomatoes!

Yes, I said a bushel!

So my food dehydrator has been going nearly non stop (for my version of "sun dried" tomatoes, yum!),

and now I am in the middle of canning a batch of stewed tomatoes.

While I love "putting up" fresh produce, I must admit that I am getting a bit "tomatoed out"!

Spray Painted Wreath

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Yep, you read the title correctly!  I said "spray painted wreath"!

I like to joke that if something isn't moving, out comes my can of spray paint:)

I wanted to make a wreath to hang over our bed, but wanted to utilize materials that I had on hand, rather than go out and buy all new supplies.  I remembered a large bunch of silk flowers that I purchased on clearance last fall at Hobby Lobby, but they were in autumnal shades, which definitely wasn't the look I was going for.  Lucky for me, I already had a grapevine wreath base on hand.  And of course I always have a large supply of spray paint in my arsenal!

 So, after spraying the flowers with primer, and then my favorite Heirloom White, I cut off the individual flowers and leaves, and hot glued them to my base.

 I then sprayed the heck out of it with another coat of Heirloom White.  It took a ton of paint!  It was pretty much impossible to totally cover all of flowers, as some of the color showed thru.  But, I really am in love the look of faded, frosty blooms!

 After the paint had dried, I brought the wreath back inside and added the piece de la resistance, a bunch of my glittered vintage sheet music roses, which I had made awhile back.

 I'm so happy with the end result!

 I really love how the colors that once were bright gold, dark burgundy, and orange (and so not me!!)

now have the look of being gently faded over time.

 Right now I'm enjoying it in my craft room, on my brick wall. But soon it will go in our bedroom and add just the touch I was looking for.

So don't be afraid to look beyond what is, to what could be.  Get out those cans of spray paint and create something fun!
Sharing with Becky for Blissful Whites Wednesday

Creamy Whites

Bonjour Mes Amis!

It was Michigan's Longest Garage Sale last weekend, right in my neck of the woods!  So I had fun stopping at as many garage and yard sales that I could squeeze into a few hours time!  There were tons of people out and about, I think half the fun was mingling!  I was amazed at the variety of things that I spotted. Everything from a wedding dress to an old bathroom sink at one sale!  Another sale had an adorable vintage baby buggy, complete with "peep hole" windows on each side!  Another sale had an antique bathtub that was pretty worse for wear.  Of course, there was alot of crusty, rusty and grungy looking things at many of the sales.  Those were the ones that I quickly passed up!

I did manage to find quite a few treasures to transform for my shop, so today I thought I'd share with you a few of them that I've already worked some magic on!

Beautiful picture frames are always good sellers in my shop, so I was super excited to find this heavy brass frame!  Of course it was very, well, brassy when I discovered it!  I could hardly wait to transform it with my favorite shade of creamy white!

 The details of the piece are amazing!

 These sweet little frames were pewter finished.   I think their new creamy look suits them much better!

 I always like to insert vintage sheet music or decorative paper in my frames for their photo shoots. 

 Look at all of their lovely details.

 I guess I was on a roll and got lucky finding great frames!  I adore this gorgeous frame with three openings.

It was a bit of a gaudy gold when I first spotted it.  But no more!

 I really love how the cream paint, and a bit of distressing make all of the wonderful details pop!

 I love easels, too!  So I couldn't grab the one below fast enough!  It's brass, and was just begging to be given my shabby chic treatment!!

 It's so pretty, I think.

Perched on top are the sweetest pair of love birds.

That's it for now!  I'm off to do some more painting, and to see what you all have been up to!

Have a great day!

Sharing with Blissful Whites Wednesday. Be sure to visit for tons of dreamy white inspirations!

Vintage Sewing Box Makeover

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

A while ago my mom gave me her old sewing box, circa early 1970's, that she no longer used.  I knew right away that I could totally transform it into a pretty accessory for my craft room, with a little paint and tlc!

Here is the after:

 And here is the before!  "Lovely" avocado green (ugh, I told you it was from the 70's!), which made it look even more plasticy than it already was!

 I could hardly wait to cover all of that icky green with my favorite creamy white spray paint!

Mom's sewing box holds alot of special memories for me, as I remember spending hours as a little girl pouring thru her buttons and other sewing notions.  My mom sewed nearly all of my clothes while I was growing up, as well as complete wardrobes for all of my dolls!  So this sewing box, which she filled with thread, snaps, buttons, rick rack, fabric scraps, and much more, got a real workout!

 So now instead of looking like the heavy plastic that it actually is, it truly has the look of carved wood!

I also painted the insert, which used to be harvest gold (I sure don't miss that 70's look!).  I painted it white inside, only because I ran out of the cream spray paint. And I'm a "use what you've got kinda girl"!

The tray lifts out to reveal lots of storage space.

 Even the back side is pretty!  I couldn't believe how the paint brought out all of the wonderful details that were totally hidden in that icky green!

 Just the right amount of distressing gives it time worn appeal.

 It will come in so handy in my craft room to store my supplies. And I'll take it along with me when we go camping, as I always like to bring along a few crafting projects.  So I think it will be perfect for that!

 I also wanted to share with you a fun surprise that I received in the mail today, from a sweet blogging friend.  She sent me a huge roll of the most amazing decorative paper!  It's a nice heavy paper that has vintage hand written letters copied all over it!  I love it!  It will be so fun to use in future projects!

 I can hardly wait to use it!  I am so blessed to have met so many wonderful and thoughtful kindred spirits here in blogland!  Bloggers are the best, aren't they?

Have a fun and creative week!
Sharing with Debra for Be Inspired Friday.  Be sure to visit for lots of great ideas!

Katie Gets a Haircut!

Yesterday was a big day here at the chateau, as our little Katie got her very first haircut!

 Our little fluffy pup is beginning to look all grown up!

 We were amazed at just how many spots she had, as they weren't so apparent under all of that fluff!

We think she looks so cute, but I am missing her "puppy look", and all of her downy soft fluff!

 Oh my goodness, I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open!

 And here she is, the night before, cuddled up with Daddy. Just look at those eyes!

(geez, I sure hope you aren't getting tired of so many puppy pictures around here!!)

 When we got back from our camping trip the other day, I was amazed at just how many flowers were blooming in my cutting garden off the back deck.

Zinnia's are one of my very favorite summer annuals, and I'm growing lots of them this year!

 I also have tall snapdragons, which look so pretty in the big bouquets that I've been picking and bringing in the house.

 The cosmos are doing well, too.

 I've edged the cutting garden with a border of marigolds, which I forgot to get a photo of.  Even though they don't smell the greatest, I think they are so pretty!

Love this close up of a hot pink zinnia!

 Of course white cosmos are among my favorites.

 Not sure what these tall yellow flowers are (below).  They are so cheery looking, I think!

We're getting some much needed rain this morning, I think that will make my blooms very happy!

Have a great day!

Camping in Michigan's Wine Country

Hubby and I spent last week camping in our motor home in beautiful Northern Michigan.  We had a nice and relaxing trip, and thankfully great weather, too.  No internet connection for the entire week though!

(that's my idea of roughing it, haha!)

So now I will have to play catch up to see what you all have been up to!

Many people would be surprised to learn that Michigan is a big wine producer. While there are wineries all thru out our state, the majority of them are in the north western part of the lower peninsula.  The area is at the 45th parallel (just as much of France and northern Italy are!), making for the ideal climate to grow grapes!

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is visit wineries.  It was so much fun to drive around in the motor home (ok, hubby did the driving, I did the relaxing and navigating!) to various wineries for some tasting.

 The views were just beautiful!  Row after row of vineyards, rolling hills, quaint resort towns, and of course gorgeous Lake Michigan.

Below is one of the first wineries we visited on this trip, Brys Estate.

 I forgot to snap a picture of the inside of the tasting room, so I grabbed this one from its' website.

It was just gorgeous inside!

And so were their many flowers!

 Here's hubby and our little Katie, and our home on wheels!  You can get a glimpse of Grand Traverse Bay in the background.

The grounds were so pretty, with the adirondack chairs overlooking the gardens and bay.

 More lush landscape.  The area is also known for their many fruit farms.  Did you know that we are the top producer of red tart cherries in the world?  So every half mile or less you will see cute little road side stands selling peaches, apples, cherries and more.

 We were super excited to find a dog friendly beach!  Katie loves the water.

 I thought this photo of the rocks in the ripply water was neat.

 One of our favorite wineries is Black Star Farms. They have three separate tasting rooms.  Below is their inn, which looks just amazing!

I got lazy and didn't take any more photos of the wineries, so the rest of the pictures you see here I got off line.

(I guess I was having too much fun wine tasting!)

 Inside the main tasting room, looking at the amazing ceiling and their star logo.

 Here is another one of their tasting rooms.  I love the bar which is fronted with slats from wine barrels.

 Below is Chateau Chantal. Again, I got this photo from their website (note the autumnal colors?).  It is a really impressive winery and inn, perched on the top of a hill overlooking both the bay and Lake Michigan.

It was one of our favorite stops.  We felt as if we had been transported to France!

 I would highly recommend a trip to this beautiful part of our state!  There is so much to see, and so much natural beauty, we are already looking forward to our return trip!

I just had to share with you this photo that I snapped of Katie this morning!  Just look at those eyes!  This is her last day of being wooly, as she is getting her very first hair cut tomorrow!  I am going to miss all of that fluff, but she really does need to be trimmed!

Have a great week!