About Me

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Sublimity, OR, United States
****WELCOME FRIENDS****
I am artist of texture and color. I enjoy working with textiles, mixed media and the graphic arts. I am an avid cottage gardener with a love for pass along plants and big fluffy pink peonies and pink roses. Many of my tangible creations reflect my love of the garden and all its wonderful colors. I have been selling my creations online since 2002 beginning as a hobby. After 10 years I quit the day job to pursue my art as a full time passion.

28 July 2013

Vintage Ice Cream Social

A fun party going on at Etsy Cottage Style Blog

This is all about a July Ice Cream Social, so I dug into my graphic files and found a few vintage postcard images depicting summer fun with ice cream!

Enjoy and feel free to snag and save any of these images for your personal use








Got something fun to share at the ice cream social?
pop over and share it with us:)


The history of Aprons

I posted this poem a few years back and it still one of my favorites because it rings so true of my grandma on the farm. I found lots of vintage apron pattern images to share along with it. Feel free to snag and save any of the images here too:)

The History of APRONS


I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

 The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath.  Because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than
dresses and they used less material, but along
with that, it served as a potholder for removing
hot pans from the oven.



It was wonderful for drying children's tears,
and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

 When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places 
for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around 
her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, 
bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.


From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.  
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the  hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in 
apples that had fallen from the trees.
 
 When unexpected company drove up the road, it
was surprising how much furniture that old apron
could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto
the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it
was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

 It will be a long time before someone invents
something that will replace that 'old-time
apron' that served so many purposes.



Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on
the window sill to cool.  Her granddaughters set
theirs on the window sill to thaw.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how
many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.............

Joining these parties this week

Be Inspired @ Elizabeth & Co.
Cottage Style @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll thru life
Time Travel Thursday @ Brambleberry Cottage
Treasure Hunt Thursday @ From My Front Porch to Yours
Anything Blue @ The Dedicated House
Farm Girl Friday @ Fresh Eggs Daily
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground 


22 July 2013

Summer on the front porch

Over at Etsy Cottage Style, I joined in on a creativity challenge that was to create an "outdoor space" be it for dining or relaxing. Since we spend most of our outdoor time on our backyard patio were I have always focused my decorating, I decided to focus on our large front porch. It does have seating, and we have a beautiful view of farmland and mountains, but I have really neglected it the last few years. I needed this challenge to make it a lovely place for evening relaxing with a glass of wine.

  Many of you follow my blog know I have been obsessed this summer with apple green. But I do love the combo of yellow and blue too. I already had a lot of yellow going on here so decided adding blue would be inviting in my dark red porch.


As you know, I am a believer in "use what you have", so there is nothing here I went out and bought. The yellow chippy plant stand serves a coffee table. It was a cheap estate sale find that I spray painted and distressed. That cover on the bench is just and old round table cloth I threw over the bottom cushions.




Love this rusty kitchen scale I found at an estate sale this weekend! I actually sanded some of the rust off to smooth it out. The yellow star vase was part of the Bauer pottery set that belonged to my grandmother. An old mason jar full of cornflowers is the perfect country blue.

  A jelly jar of yellow coreopsis is just the sweetest!


  A bit wider view of my updated seating area. I drug the hubs out here to see what I had done, he actually was impressed, his comment was we should sit out here this evening since it is so nice. Now I am impressed because most of the time he really thinks all my fussing around is a waste of time, but he knows I enjoy it LOL.


I planted huge baskets this summer so they would look good thru the end of September. These are only half full, image how big they will be in a month!
 Sharing what we see from our porch, the pics do not do it justice. Below, we had a new full moon last night. It made the porch makeover extra special!





Joining in these parties this week (lots of them!)
Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage
Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life
Be Inspired @ Elizabeth & Co.
Cottage Style @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer
Garden Party @ Fishtail Cottage  (May 1st – Oct 1st)
Time Travel Thursday @ Brambleberry Cottage
Treasure Hunt Thursday @ From My Front Porch to Yours
Anything Blue @ The Dedicated House
Fabulously Creative @ Jennifer Rizzo
Farm Girl Friday @ Fresh Eggs Daily
Friday Redouxs @ Redoux
Inspiration Friday @ The Picket Fence
Shabbilicious Friday @ Shabby Art Boutique
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground 
Anything Blue Friday @The Dedicated house



21 July 2013

Simply white in the garden

Seems when things heat up, the white in the garden seems to have a cooling effect, especially in the evening. Sharing some of my favorite photography of white in my garden this summer and a few from past summers.

Enjoy!















This week I am joining in on these parties
Make it Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House
It’s Bloomin’ Tuesday @ Ms. Green Thumb Jean
Tuesday Garden Party @ An Oregon Cottage
Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer
Garden Party @ Fishtail Cottage
Simple and sweet Fridays @Rooted in Thyme

11 July 2013

My Creative Studio

Nope, I am not going for pretty in my working studio! My goal has always been function with plenty of space. Since we are empty nesters, I am afforded the opportunity to use the 2nd largest bedroom as my work space. Facing south with large windows, there is plenty of natural light as well as a view of lovely farmland and mountains. I have to admit, I did clean up a little. Well, it must have been a lot as the hubs came in and said it was really nice in here. The upside is that I got all the thread and little scraps of fabric off the rug!

Keyword: INSPIRE
Greets me each morning

 I snapped this photo in the evening, I couldn't get enough back light during the day to show the entire room. Basically my creative space is divided into 3 parts. Textile and Sewing; Mixed Media; Graphic Arts and Home Office. I have a monster of a corner desk. It was a good idea and functioned well 8 years ago when I was working a day job that required me to have home office space for work related storage. Now that I am 100% self employed, I really don't need this big desk, so being one who strives to work with what I already have, I reconfigured this desk to a peninsula style. It serves as wrapping and mailing station as well as extra space for big projects

 Above is my sewing and textile art center. My big table is one of those folding cutting tables--I hated those black legs, so I got some decorator Velcro and added fabric panels for a skirt. I can store a lot out of sight under that table! Again, you will see that I organize with what I already have or can pick up real cheap. I have 2 idea boards that were garage sale bulletin boards that I covered with fabric. My large ironing board was 10 bucks at a garage sale down the street. It was a real score.
  I love that I can look outside when I am sewing. Both the thread rack and the cup caddie were tag sale finds too. I saved baby food jars when my granddaughters were babies, they make perfect button jars that I can organize by color.
 I have 2 closets. One side is packing and mailing boxes. Above is my fabric storage. I will admit cleaning this up a bit paid off. I found some fabric I forgot I had (aka new project!) and decided I could fit more fabric (aka time to buy more!)

 The opposite side of the room I have set up for Mixed Media and just about any other project that strikes me. I also store quite a bit of my selling inventory too .I do shows now and then, so many of those display fixtures are part of my office store too.

 This is where the graphic art and home office happens (obviously) Since I ditched the day job, I have seriously expanded the graphic art part of my total business. It's fun to create with the old images of the early 20th century. I have become hooked on postcards that date 1900-1950. The artists of that era were incredibly talented!

 Lastly, I pulled up the blinds to snap a pic of what I see out my studio window in our Oregon summer. We have wheat and grass seed fields on 2 sides. It is hard to see, but we also have beautiful mountains in the distance. This pic was taken in the morning, but the mountains are much more defined in the evening.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my creative studio!

Every Saturday

Where we reside

Where we reside

The Oregon Coastline

The Oregon Coastline