Sunday, June 26, 2011

Our Cottage Garden


Happy summer everyone!

Here are some pics of our cottage gardens.














a stone path with an arbor leading to the back yard


We just put out the concrete (clay) ball this week.
It is sitting on two concrete bench supports 
(which we got for free at a sale).


 
a pea gravel path bordered with old bricks

a new mossy bird bath added this year


I love architectural elements in the garden.
We have some flower pots placed throughout the garden
and other white, rusty metal and clay pieces,

. . . . . a gravel path bordered with old bricks and
a meandering gravel path on the other side of the gardens.

. . . . . a white wood bench and a concrete bench
where you can sit and enjoy the flowers or watch
a game of croquet in the back yard.

We love our gazebo which we had built by a friend.
It is furnished with white wicker furniture and floral cushions.
It's perfect for morning coffee or just relaxing.
Our youngest daughter shared her wedding vows here.

The first piece we added (even before flowers) was
the concrete sundial, which I gave to The Captain for a
birthday present about 15 years ago.


Thanks so much for walking through our gardens today!
I will keep adding garden posts over the summer
as well as highlighting some of our flowers
and sharing what we did to create our cottage garden.


I appreciate you taking the time to visit
and follow along.
Thank you for all of your sweet comments!
I'm still making my rounds visiting your 
wonderful blogs.

~ Julie



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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Pretty Pink Peonies


I'm so thankful our peonies are blooming.
Most of these blooms are from one bush.
Love it! And they are so fragrant.
When I put this bouquet together I added some
seed pods from one of our wildflowers.




 The last pic is from our peony tree.
The blooms measure about 11" across.

Hope you're enjoying your garden.

Have you checked out this big blog party this week?





Go check out all of the great ideas for summer 
or post up one of your links.
I'll be linking up a few  favorite posts from last summer
and a new post this week sharing more details 
of our cottage gardens.

Enjoy your summer!
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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Decorating tips and a summer mantel and armoire

Before I started blogging, 
the decor on our mantel stayed the same
for years, except at holidays when our daughters
were young and, of course, at Christmas.
But, thanks to you, that has changed :).
Now it gets redecorated for each season.
This week I did a little cleaning (needed)
and redecorated our mantel and armoire for summer.


Both are in our family room, 
so I kept a similar theme for both . . .
white, silver, birds and flowers.

Of course, I used the snowballs 
from our snowball bush. 
[Some of you have asked about the 
snowball bush in my last post;
the Latin name is Viburnum opulus.]

Here's the top of the armoire.

I started with a vintage table runner 
placed on the diagonal,
on one corner and a tall vase for height.
I looked around the house and shop to find
more whites that would coordinate with the theme.


Added some alabaster birds,
a white covered dish, 
 a vintage book stack
(went with red, white and blue for the 4th of July),
Decorating Tip: Use books to add height to an item.
a vintage button covered ball, 
which was part of a giveaway
I won from Arbor House Lane,
just because I like it, it's white
and seems to look good with all seasons,
a Scrabble wood letter holder painted black
with Scrabble tiles to spell 
'fleurs' ~ flowers in French,
and a piece of silver to tie in with the mantel
(it's a sugar bowl, but I like its trophy shape).

On the other side I put a wood birdhouse 
 I've had for years that has been
out of the decorating cycle for awhile,
a set of alabaster birds and
one of my shredded paper bird nests,
a small urn I filled with moss and an egg,
a little bird seed lavender sachet I made from canvas
(which will be available in my etsy shop)

I like the way it turned out.


Some Decorating Tips that I use:
 ~ Use odd numbers in vignettes,
~ Keep items in a similar theme or color, and
~ Divide large areas into smaller vignettes.

[On the armoire, you can see a different vignette
on each side using groups of 3 ~ 
on the left, the bird, vase and button ball;
on the right, the 2 birds and the urn;
and the 3 books in the center.
Almost everything is white with similar items: 
birds, bird house, nest and an egg in the small urn.]

Here's the mantel


A picture in the center with vignettes on each side.

3 piece vignette ~ teapot vase, bird with nest, and silver basket
filled with fleur-de-lis dominoes to add a French touch,
and black to match the picture frame.
I felt like it needed a little something more,
so it may be a little random, but I put a picture
of The Captain's grandmother and brother behind the basket.
I like the sentimental touch.

In the center I added a large 
black toile picture we purchased
at an estate sale last year. Love it.
It is very old with a black gesso frame.

For the vignette on the other side, I added
a plate (I like decorating with plates and it has a flower design)
a hydrangea covered ball and a bird.
A vintage book stack under the teapot 
(used red, white, and blue again).



Hope some of these tips are helpful 
with some of your displays.
Just some things I've learned along the way 
that work for me and give me the look I want.

Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for all of your comments.
I am working on visiting your blogs.

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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Summer Snowballs


Don't you just love 
snowballs in summer?
 

Our snowball bush is in full bloom.




Just love the white balls of blooms,
drooping from their limbs with
the weight of their beauty.
Fluffy balls full of dainty white flowers.

Just wish they could last a little longer.

Happy White Wednesday.
Enjoying and appreciating spring,
the beauty of flowers,
and you.

~ Julie



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Monday, June 13, 2011

This weekend's vintage finds . . .


This weekend we hit a few garage sales 
in a neighborhood down the street from our house.
 I never really expect to find too much at garage sales, 
but we found some great deals on a few treasures
I'll be adding to my etsy shop this week.

Some vintage wood pop crates 
(I love the blue graphics on this white one),
a graniteware bowl,

 and this pretty handmade treasure. 
Someone probably made it for a pillow top a long time ago.
It is pink and white, and I'm going to put it in a vintage frame.

An old chippy painted window with legs on it. 
Not sure what type of window it was originally.

 An old typewriter carrying case.
It was too good of a deal to pass up.
I think it could be repurposed into any type of carrying case or storage.

 A red, chippy fish tackle box.
Perfect for storing and organizing.


A few more things that didn't make the photo cut . . .
two vintage pillowcases with pink crochet edging,
a couple of old metal file boxes and 
four vintage chandelier lamp shades.

Thanks for stopping by.
What treasures did you find this week?

Hello to some new followers!
I look forward to meeting you.

Thank you for signing up for my giveaway;
it doesn't end until June 27th.
You can check it out here
if you haven't signed up yet.

Have a great week!


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Saturday, June 11, 2011

Just creating . . .

Hi Friends, hope your week is going well!
I have been in a creative mode. 
Here are some things I made last week.


Since I had some extra canvas drop cloth
from making the chair slipcover, 
I made a flag banner. 
I love the warm white look.

I used some old vintage alphabet cards
and vintage lace.
What to put on it? 
"DREAM" kept coming to mind.
We all love to dream, don't we?






I saw this idea somewhere and 
thought it was so unique . . .
a vintage spool garland.

 I just strung some vintage spools on a piece of 
tattered fabric rose ribbon. 
I think it's fun and unexpected.



and several new French inspired gift tags.




 All of these items are available in my etsy shop.


Thanks for stopping by today.
What have you been creating?
Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Vintage lace, roses and burlap


Hope you're all having a great week!

While I was getting everything ready to photo
for my Vintage Rose Giveaway,
I thought it would be nice
to include a gift bag.

 Remember the burlap bags I showed you here.
I added a panel cut from some rose fabric
I've had for a few years, 
and added vintage lace and trim.
The vintage crochet trims were probably 
made by The Captain's grandmother.
They had been cut from old garments 
and packed away in my bag of vintage lace.




 
I added some lace to the top
and tied the top with some of the torn 
roses fabric ribbon that I sell in my etsy shop.
 

And,
it's a dual purpose bag!

It can also be used as a pillow case.
Just add a 10"x16" pillow form and voila. :)
 

This one will go to the winner
of my giveaway.
If you haven't signed up yet,
just click here and leave a comment.
It's open until June 27.

Love and roses,
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