Love...

...signs are what I have been working on this past week or two because we all KNOW what the next holiday is right?
Yep...Valentines Day. Don't forget your sweetheart!! :)

 I am making them out of pallet wood. One of my very favorite woods right now to work with. You too? I know
 a lot of people are using it and the sky is the limit. I have seen it on walls and floors. I have seen signs, tables,
 candle holders and all kinds of things made from it.

 If you are lucky you can find pallets for free, but they aren't very expensive if you have to purchase them.
 My hubby was coming home from work one day and saw a couple pallets in the ditch that must have fallen
off a truck at some point so he stopped to get them for me. Sad day because he had to leave them there.
They wouldn't fit in his vehicle. I miss our truck!! :(

Signs, signs, everywhere signs...lol

 I have sold a few on Facebook and I have taken several up to a friends store where I sold my pallet trees this
 past Christmas season. If you are interested in one just give me a shout out! The wood they are painted
on is approx. 28 inches long.

I thought I would show you a peek in a corner of my dining room right now. The lighting is
 horrible this time of year so I didn't get many good pictures. See that lamp shade?
$5...a steal! I love it.

I also wanted to show you what my youngest son made me for part of my Christmas gift.
See the lanterns off to the left. I LOVE them!  Our family doesn't spend a lot of money for Christmas
 gifts and we LOVE home made gifts so we try to do something along that line.

He loves to work with his hands and said he would love to do this kind of work all the time.
I think he has a bit of his mama in him. SMILE

I hope this post finds you well and healthy. Praying that you will have a wonderful New Year.
Blessings~ 

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~

Beautiful June!

One of the reasons I LOVE the month of June is because of the beautiful
peonies that make their appearance year after year.

Can you stand more photos of these gorgeous flowers?
I have noticed quite a few posts in
blog land of these beauties and I understand why.
Although their bloom time is short and the flowers fade fast, they are one of
the most gorgeous flowers E.V.E.R.

I have taken hundreds of photos of them in the past week or two.

Different shades of pink and thousands of tiny petals that unfurl at just the right time.

I watch my peony busy down at the other end of the property like a hawk and
I run out and cut the new ones that appear each day. I have to make them last
just as long as I possibly can.

This particular peony had this

ONE LONE FLOWER

on the bush.

I am sure by the time this post is over you will be on peony overload! ha!

I took photos inside and outside and every which way.

In tall vases and small vases and all colors of vases.

You have to admit that these are AMAZING flowers.

This particular day I was needing a vase and spied two giant Eiffel Tower mugs that my
daughter gave me for part of my birthday gift.

I grabbed one , added water and it was just perfect!

Peonies in the dining room too!

I do hope you enjoyed my peony tour. I can post pics forever, but I will give you a break. lol !!
Happy Wednesday!

You gotta have faith!

Spring IS coming...
Yes, it is! I can almost smell it, can't you?

I am so ready to throw open the windows, breathe deep of the fresh
country air and run barefoot in the sand.
huh??...WAIT...
no sand around here!!
My mind must have wandered for awhile.
It tends to do that quite often these days.

But, I am so ready for warmer days that is for sure.
We had a couple days in the 70's last week and then got hit
with SNOW again.
The weather this year has just been so crazy!

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof".
- Khalil Gibran

I took these pics a few weeks ago and forgot all about them until I found them on my
computer again.  I picked up the chevron "B" at Hobby Lobby for a mere $7.50.

It was on clearance and I love it inside this frame.
I initially intended to hang it alone , but it looked rather forlorn all by itself. 

I also had this  family sign printed several weeks ago. I hung it in an old frame
that I picked up at a garage sale several years ago and it is just perfect.

 It was designed by Alice from Thoughts from Alice
blog. I love it. Thank you Alice!!

I am still loving the paint treatment that I did on our fake brick wall. Makes me want
to fake brick my whole house. lol

This has become a favorite corner in my house right now.

I have not done much creating lately, but I did manage to sit down last week and make a couple bird nest
pieces. I created them inside of old zinc lids.

There's that word again...FAITH.

Faith...working on that as I type this.

There are a few issues going on in our family right now that I wish you would say a prayer for.
I won't get into it on here, but I know God is able and I am trying to have FAITH that in HIS
time it will all work out.

Linking up today with Blissful Whites Wednesdays over at Timewashed.
Please come on over and join us.
Blessings~

Snow, snow and more snow!

As many of your probably already know, we are set for a big snowstorm today and
frigid temps tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday. Can't change it so might as well
make the best of it right?

Hubby and I took a nice, long walk down our road today before the worst hit and it
was beautiful.  I just came in from taking most of these photos at 2 pm and we have
much more snow already than we had on our walk before lunch.

Looking outside my back door

Pretty berries so maybe the birdies will have something to eat this winter.

Left over apples hanging on the trees

Hubby plowing snow to try and keep ahead of what is coming, but that may not work. lol

Home sweet home...look at the snow coming down!

Another photo taken outside the back door

my fence outside the back door

Our large pine tree looks gorgeous laden with snow

Hubby was taking pictures of me taking pictures on our walk this morning! lol

 Here I am again...lol

This was on our walk earlier today when we didn't have near the snow that we have in the photos above.

It is gorgeous , but the shoveling etc. isn't so fun. ha!

Just praying that everyone stays safe and sound and comes through this winter blast okay.
Blessings~