The final days of summer

Can you believe that summer is winding down already??   I can't!  It seems once again
that it has just flown by, but I LOVE summer here in Michigan this year.  Not scorching
hot, but beautiful weather for the most part.  We didn't even put in our air conditioners
this year and that is saying something.  Most evenings we even had blankets that we
covered up with instead of laying in bed roasting!  Although, I will say that we
 REALLY
 need rain here...badly!!  The grass is brown and crunchy which does not make
 for pretty photos at all.

I don't think I will ever tire of the chippy , white look.  Will you?   I think it is here to stay
for me.  I do add splashes of color such as pink and aqua every now and then, but I
always wonder what the next "trend" will be. hmm...

I am loving all my outside flowers again this year!  They are doing pretty good even in spite of
the lack of rain.  I have had to run the hose a bit, but not too bad.
 I  am glad that I can capture their beauty every year to share with you.

This is the back deck area this summer.  Yes, I do need to get the blower out and get rid of some leaves
and get out the spray to kill off some weeds and grass, but for the most part it is okay.  The area on the
right of the photo is just covered in tiny white flowers {Sweet Woodruff} in the Spring, but when
summer hits it looks rather bland. I wish the flowers would bloom all summer long!

I love white picket fences and have put them here and there on our property.

Here is one of our kitty's that we "inherited" when my son and his family took off for North Dakota.
They are finally coming around and being very friendly for the most part, but for the first couple
weeks we thought they would never return. ha!

We have two of them, both gray.  They are sisters and they fight like sisters do also! :)
One of them hisses at the other when it is feeding time and I tell them to stop that they
need to share.  We usually end up separating their food bowls. Crazy cats!!

I acquired this vintage can just recently and I love it.  I plopped some fake flowers in
it , but I really need to pick some real ones and take the fake ones out.
{I am a bad blogger...:( }

Up close and personal.  Not sure which one this is.
They are named Merida and Maeve and I can never keep track of who is who.
We need to get one of them a different color of collar so we can tell them apart.
One of them does have a wider face also so that helps sometimes. 

We had to work on this little window house this summer.  It has sat outside for a few years and was showing
the ill effects of the sun , rain and snow so we replaced the "peak" windows and I also gave it a touch up of
paint here and there.  I also added some silverware chimes and a white geranium sitting on an old stool.
Still love it!

I hope you are not tired of seeing my back deck area.  This is where we enter the house.
We rarely use the front door {unless we get locked out for some reason} so this is
the area I love the most. AND most of the time I can't remember what pics I have
shared with you so you may get duplicate posts.

Are you having a great summer? Ready for school to start??

I have been doing a few projects inside the house that has thoroughly exhausted me.
Hopefully I can share those with you soon if I can get some decent photos with this
crazy lighting.

Blessings~

I am in LOVE with our latest project...is that possible??

If you follow me on facebook you know that my hubby's factory closed in November of last year with no
warning. He found another job in the middle of January of this year. We JUST got health insurance after
his probation period of 90 days, had it for a week or two and then he got laid off again. He didn't find
another job until about three weeks ago so...I say all that to say this. We TRIED to keep busy to keep
 ourselves sane, but on the other hand we had no extra money to spend so we set out to do a project
with things we already had here.

We just finished up this piece yesterday that we started when he was laid off. I guess you could call it
 a potting bench, but I doubt I will do much if any potting on it as I have a garden shed also.

 I LOVE how it turned out, don't you?

It all started with this piece that we picked up at a garage sale for $2.00! You can't even buy one board
for that price so it was well worth it. I wish I had a before picture as it was a blue gray color with a LOT
of grease on the top and inside. It was previously used for a work bench and was a MESS to say the
least, but I saw potential. Didn't have a clue what I would do with it, but I am so glad we put it in
our jeep that day!

Fast forward a few weeks.   I was browsing PINTEREST and was inspired to make some type of  bench
 with it. If you google "potting benches" you will find one that is similar in nature as far as the top of it,
but more of a creamy color with a tin valance. That was my inspiration.

{My genuine antique English watering can...there is a repro of it sitting on one of the bench
shelves also...but I digress...} 

After we finished it yesterday I initially thought I would put it on the front porch, but there
wasn't enough room where I wanted it. WHO KNEW?? ha!

So we ended up putting it on the back deck for now and I moved plants etc. here,
there and everywhere trying to find the best look.

{I am loving how my tiered herb garden turned out this year!}

This is a side view of the piece. One day I got inspired for hubby to add a window and then another
day I said, "Hey , let's put some shelves on the side of the window". We did that and it sat a couple
more weeks or so. Yesterday, I figured I better get this done or it would be winter before long!!
So we cut and old post in half for the front and added some shelves on the side that I had laying
around along with the brackets.

{The post came from my grandmother's house when it was torn down. I acquired three of them and
love using them for something to remember her by}

When I look at the finished photo, I think I would like one of the shelves that are on the sides a
 bit lower than the other side so it doesn't look so "matchy, matchy", but we can do that
 anytime.

We added old table legs on each side of the window to add more character and they
were the perfect length! We couldn't have planned that if we tried.

I had the "valance" laying in my potting shed for a few years and had no clue what I would
ever do with it, but now I know why I kept it.

A bit of paint and distressing and WA LA...it was done and ready to be decorated!

I didn't want to spend one dime especially since hubs was laid off,  so we just used stuff we already had
except the $2 we spent on the initial bench. I am thrilled with how it turned out and now we can move
on to the next project...whatever that is. I am sure I will come up with something! *SMILE*

This was the photo that I put on facebook this week.
What have you made lately? I would love to know!!
Blessings~

Celebrating Pink and Peonies ~

I woke up today to a sink full of beautiful peonies!!

 Hubby kept trying to lure me out of bed this morning by
saying that I better pick my peonies before it rained and I just kept laying in bed. When I finally
decided to get up and plodded to the kitchen my eyes lit up when I saw these beauties!!  He had
gone to our local town {3 miles away} and picked these on the way home. {they were in a ditch of all
places!} How does that happen! Not by a house, but just growing in the ditch. We saw them last
 night, but didn't stop. I whined around a bit when we got home for him to go and pick me some,
 but I told him he didn't have to. I was tired and so was he!  HA!

I had forgotten all about them!! SO... I was thrilled when I saw
 these this morning. {along with a maple frosted cinnamon roll with nuts on top}

{He picked the ones in the large white vase and the others are from our bushes here}

Who wouldn't be thrilled to wake up to these beauties??!!

This is a table on my front porch. Sorry for the "slant" of the pic!

I have fun moving things around all summer long out here.  I need to put something
in that birdcage yet, but not sure what. Maybe some ivy...I do have some that I
haven't planted yet.

I just noticed I haven't gotten rid of the pinecones from over the winter!
Guess I better get right on that. :)

I took photos of peonies inside and outside and every which way while they still look nice.

I love them on my pallet tray, don't you?

In my humble opinion I think everyone should have peonies growing in their garden.
They don't last long, but they are so worth the show they put on for a brief time.
I love them!

Happy JUNE everyone!

Fall...the most wonderful time of the year!

It really is on the way right?? I know the leaves are starting to fall here in Michigan although there is no real color on the trees yet. I do realize it is kinda early, but I am beginning to see pumpkins out for sale along the main road here.

 I LOVE FALL!!! 

Remember my bargain table? Fixed her up for fall and she loves it. :) 

Had to throw in a bit for Halloween. I have never been much of a Halloween decorator, but I have been beginning to feel the urge in the last couple years. Maybe it is the "witch" coming out in me. hee hee! 

I also wanted to share my clematis with you. I LOVE this climbing vine!!
Enjoy your week...we are off to watch our granddaughter Annika practice for soccer.
Blessings~ 

The big black box

I got up this morning and decided that I was tired of looking at the big black box on our bedroom dresser so I set about making a cover for it and this is the result.

{notice the dresser handle on the bottom left...lol... I also started painting this dresser a few weeks ago and this is as far as I have gotten. ha! One of these days...}

It is just a piece of fabric that I added embellishments to and threw over the tv. No fancy seams or anything. Just a square piece of fabric. 

I sewed on a tulle ruffle and then added cheesecloth on top of that. Hand stamped ribbon on top of the cheesecloth. Very haphazard...no measuring. Just wanted to make something fun that wouldn't take long or tax my brain too much. :) 

This is how it looked before...ugh. 

I also added a vintage hanky and a fabric pin with ribbon tails. 

Lest you think I spent hours sewing this rickrack, lace and tucks in this fabric...no, I did not. I purchased the fabric this way. It was on clearance so I purchased what they had left. {JoAnn Fabric} 

Hope you enjoyed your peek into my bedroom again today.
Blessings~