Spring Projects and Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Hi everyone! It's officially Spring!  We have had Autumn-like temps here, a wonderful break from 80s and 90s, and the tiny bit of gardening instinct I had kicked into gear, along with some Spring cleaning and shopping and of course a tag for Tag Tuesday with the theme, Spring Flowers. This was quick to put together with Prima paper flowers, an antique pearl button, preprinted Bingo card and touches of ribbon, including the leaves which I cut from the ribbon.

All week long I've spent the last hour and a half of daylight working in my flower beds.  I can't believe how quickly weeds take over!  Once I had the two beds in the front yard cleaned out, I bought plants that grow well in a western garden from Home Depot. Today's project will be to plant and mulch.  Here's where I am right now:

I will cut open and plant in these bags of potting soil letting the plastic provide weed barrier. This idea came from the U U of Missouri, found on Pinterest.

I'm trying columbine this year. I love its color and delicate, weedy look.

Geraniums love this spot, require very little water, and grow like weeds!

This theme of Spring Flowers and new life was blooming in so many of your posts as well.

Newcomer, Meg, from My Vintage Life,  shared her lovely collection of floral bridal headpieces--making a comeback with our teenage flower child population in So Cal! lol! Meg also shares gorgeous vignettes of fresh flowers and the beautiful Australian countryside.  

Brittany, from the Rococo Roamer, shared a post about Victorian furniture, which I love, but what really struck me was her wedding photos! So befitting this theme as two lives two join together to embark on a new life together, and find beauty all around! (And so rockin' the red shoes!!!!)

Last of all, some inspirational words from Debby Ray at My Favorite Things to launch the season:

Have a wonderful week!  

Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Link whatever you think would inspire us to beautiful living. Please link to my blog from yours, and post my button on your blog if you are featured. Thank you!

Inspired Sunday Blog Party: Almost Spring!

While most of the country is cold, cold, cold, we in Southern California are experience a perpetual summer!  (It was 93 today!) I think we are all ready for Spring--most of you for a warm up, but for us a cool down!

I've been trying to catch up on my tags for Tag Tuesday this week.  The theme of maps was the inspiration for my "California Dreamin' "tag. I used a piece of vintage map, a girl from Pink Persimmon stamps, and rhinestone stars to mark destinations in So. Cal. Does it make you want to visit sunny So Cal?

Next was a tag for the "Pretty in Pink" theme. I painted cardboard and coated with pink sparkly nail polish.  The light pastels and use of jute remind me of Spring flowers and birds' nests:

Many of you are ready for Spring as well. Penny from Penny's Vintage Home, is getting ready with a new potting shed complete with a gorgeous potting bench her husband made from a door. It looks too pretty to pot on! I want one! :-)

Sherry from The Charm of Home created a simple Spring wreath for her door utilizing faux greenery from past years and trimming with a bird's nest. So simple and inexpensive, but so beautiful!

Newcomer, Betty, at My Cozy Corner created this beautiful Spring tablescape for a luncheon using thrift shop dishes and napkin rings and grapevine wreath around the plates. I just love the touch of Spring that the grapevine brings. Great tablescape, Betty!

Thank you for linking up with the blog party this week, everyone. I wish you a wonderful week ahead, filled with love and beauty and more fresh breaths of Spring.  If you have been featured, please put my button on your blog.

Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Link up anything you think would inspire us to beautiful living! Please link back to my blog.

Inspired Sunday Blog Party: Fantasy in Pink!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I have needed quite a lot of mental escape time lately, so I decided to get right to your blog party posts.  I saw a recurrent theme of fanciful posts that took me away to delightful places. You will notice that they all are fantasies in pink!

Magali, from Little White House, was dreaming of a new kitchen - a fantasy in pink, perhaps - and her post is a wandering monologue with this kitchen.  In a fog of half-sleep and tea-induced lucidity, she takes us through several iterations of possible pink kitchens only to decide upon "awakening" that the kitchen needs to be some other color! Hop on over to her blog for this lovely post and to weigh in on your color suggestion!

Debbie from Debbie Dabble showed us how big girls play with her fantasy-in-pink doll house. I would just love to see it in person! Debbie is into the details, as you will see when you look at her post.  And I just love that she named it! Big girls can find many hours to escape in the pink fantasy that is "Nelson Crest!"

Susan from Eclectic Shorebird shows how one small vignette can carry one into the world of fantasy. Her little pink paper house, Hotel du. Cheval Blanc, just leaves us imagining what secrets are hidden behind it's elegant walls.  Hop on over to Susan's blog to escape the mundane and visit her fantasy in her wildly creative post.

From the large pink fantasy to the small, I hope you enjoyed the creativity of these imaginative posts.  They certainly put a smile on my face this week!

Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Link up your inspired posts. Please visit a few of the other blogs, and please link to my blog from your post. Also, if your post is featured, please put my badge on your blog.

Valentines and Inspired Sunday

Whew! Is January zooming by for you? It sure is for me. It seems to be taking all month for me to get back in the groove, and I really have decided that a woman's work is NEVER done! Do you feel that way too?  I didn't have much time to work on a post today, so I brought out some Valentine's cards that I made a while ago:

Chalkboard style is so trendy right now, and I just love it!  I  rub black card stock with a piece of chalk, and then stamp with embossing ink, add white embossing powder, and melt with a heat gun. I added some precut Victorian scrap and burlap and layered onto card stock:

 

Another of my favorite "techniques" is paper dolls. I used stamps from Mad Rat Rubber to make this cat doll.  Mad Rat has lots of great doll stamps! 

Now I've got to get back to cleaning!  I am really looking forward to seeing what you are working on, so please link up with the blog party!  :-)

                                                                                                       Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Link up any project, craft, vintage find, or anything else you think would inspire us!  Please link back to my blog and please leave comments for some of the other bloggers.

Inspired Sunday: Little Christmas Boxes and Blog Party

Happy Sunday! This has been a very exciting week for me, but it has also put me a little behind with today's blog party.  In addition to an unexpected invitation to a party with a dear old friend, I received an e-mail from the owner of Pink Persimmon asking me if I'd like to be on their creative team. It didn't take me long to answer that question! :-)  I own a couple of their 50's style vintage girl sets and used them in my Tag Tuesday samples:

 


In the coming months I will be showing projects with their stamps, including a few tutorials. It's very official, contract and all, and I am SO excited. My first deadline is December 30, but I will probably have my samples made before then. My mind is creating already!

But now, back to Christmas! I had planned to photograph an antique store's Christmas displays, but with eight goody boxes to finish for a Christmas cookie exchange tomorrow at work, I had to save that for another weekend.  For the goody boxes, I started with eight  plain kraft boxes from JoAnn:

After lots of glue and paper and glitter, I have transformed them into these:

 

Now I just have to finish  the baking and tying up box and goodies in a cellophane piece with a pretty bow. 

I hope everyone will like them!

In last week's blog party there were so many beautiful Christmas posts.  What really stood out to me were ones with decorations that keep fresh long-cherished memories of loved ones and times past.

Reading through Celestina Marie's post almost brought tears to my eyes as she shared the remembrances associated with her lovely things, including these beautiful red vintage glasses made by her family who worked in the Pennsylvania glass factories in the 30s and 40s. What a lovely tribute to the people in her life!

Another post full of Christmas memories is Sally's from Salmagundi. Her beautiful vintage decorations and her story about the Christmas elf and her child's tantrum made me smile. I think most of us can relate in some way!

And last but not least, is the little unexpected surprise that brought a magical Christmas moment to Judy. If you haven't already, check out her post for the delightful little discovery.

If you were featured, please put my badge on your blog.  Thank you, everyone, for linking up each week. I will try to leave comments from last week's link ups if I haven't already. And thank you for being patient as I get posts up on Sunday, some time.  I do love seeing what you are up to.  I hope you are well and are finding time to enjoy the season.

Warmly,

Laura

Inspired Sunday: 30 Days of Christmas and Blog Party

Happy first day of December! There's nothing like shopping in gorgeous stores to get me in the holiday spirit. So to kick off the holiday season, I decided to bring you thirty days of Christmas beauty. Each Sunday I will be showcasing Christmas decor from shops, antiques stores, and perhaps even my own home.  I will continue the Inspired Sunday blog party and showcase your links on Friday evening.  Please link up any Christmas-themed post that you think would inspire us (at the end of this post).

Today's feature is the Traditions Store in Canoga Park, about 20 minutes north of L.A. The store sits unimposingly in an industrial area among auto repair shops and the like, and provides an entree into a fantasy world upon passing through its doors.  Proprietors Debi and Barbara Thomas graciously let me photograph their gorgeous theme trees, folk art vignettes, and tabletop decor.  They ship all over the country, so if you love folk artists like Debbie Thibault and Bethany Lowe, you've found the source. They also  have sales and offer coupons throughout the year.  This store is nothing short of heavenly!

A row of greeters shoppers as they enter the store.

Little drawers covered with Victorian Santas make a wonderful advent calendar.

A simple feather tree with scrap ornaments.

A variety of folk art figures displayed on a chippy painted hutch.

Trees for the garden lover, one with flowers and insects and one with fruit

 

An elegant gold tree trimmed in cream and red

Red and creamy white set the color scheme for this beautiful setting.

 

A Putz house surrounded by Chritsmas trees

A "feather" tree made of paper fringe

Old-world Father Christmas figures in various sizes

Putz houses are scattered throughout the store.

A glittered deer grazes in the yard of this Putz house.

A Putz village offers a feast of endless sparkly pastel variety. 

A "rustic" version of a Putz house

A sideboard laden with folk art Santas, bears, and Christmas trees

Visions of sugarplums take center front in this sweets-themed vignette

 I hope you've enjoyed this stroll through the Traditions Store with me.  Now I'm ready to go decorate my house? Did it get you in the mood, or are you already done?

Laura

Now let's see what the Christmas spirit has brought your way. Link up any post related to Christmas.  Please link back to my blog.  I would love for you to become a follower. I will follow you back. Happy Sunday!