PresentPast Collection

My Belated Blogiversary

With all the hoopla going on around here, it seems as though I completely forgot my Blogiversary! Shame on me. I'm so glad I have such a forgiving Blog. But not being one to let a celebration pass by, as the saying goes, Better Late Than Never! I had some time to go apple picking this weekend and "pick" up a few Fall inspired goodies to give away. For those of you who leave a comment, I will draw a name on Wednesday night and announce the recipient on Thursday.

The goodies include the latest Living magazine from the Queen of Good Things herself, a beautiful box of note cards, a vintage skeleton key tied with velvet ribbon and a gorgeous rust colored tassel.

I also tucked in a pair of Autumn hued kitchen towels and a Sweet Sparrows hook to hang them with.

And finally, to keep your house smelling of homemade seasonal goodness, an atomizer of Pumpkin Patch room spray.

This past year (or more) has been a complete joy meeting all of you. It cannot go without saying that it's been blessing upon blessing for me as I've shared my thoughts, ideas, celebrations, family and daily life with you. I thank you all for welcoming me with open arms and warm hearts!

Here's a few of my favorite photos from our Apple Day this weekend. It was an all girls trip with my Sister, Neice, Mom and Sweet Girl coming along for the adventure. We spent a gorgeous day in the mountains, with lots of laughs, too many sweets and plenty of memories to spare!

My Neice was a big hit at the petting zoo, all the animals LOVED her and I don't blame them one bit! This was my favorite part of the day because I have so many wonderful memories bringing Sweet Girl here when she was this age and it just made my heart so full being able to go down memory lane. You know, when it gets down to it, life really is about the small stuff. It's funny how it takes getting older to understand it! May you all have a week of small stuff!

New Items in the Shop

I'm starting to get into the swing of fall. The weather here has started to cool down and the evenings have that crispness in the air which makes perfect baking weather. I've got a few new recipes to try and will share them with you when I've taste tested them for you. I know, the sacrifices we make for our friends!

I've updated the Shop with some new inventory, there is still much more to be added, but in the meantime there are new things in Accessories and new styles of the popular Card Cases, a few new items have been added to the vintage inventory here and here and there is a brand new selection of Canvas Prints to choose from all with one of a kind vintage tin frames. And lastly, there are some great notebooks and adorable erasers to be found here. I hope you enjoy the new additions to the shop!

I'm off to take some photos of a project I finished. I can't wait to share them with you. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have them ready for show-n-tell. Wishing you all a wonderful Fall day! 

Recap and a New Week

Well, where to begin? It seems as though I've been swept away in Dorothy's dream and Kansas is but a faint memory. The magazine photo shoot was on Friday. They were here all day setting up their equipment, styling the areas to be photographed and getting so many different shots. I really enjoyed working with them, they were all so kind and made me feel very comfortable, not to mention they had a great sense of humor which can put a girl at ease!

Here's a pile of props and their bag of tricks to make my home look like no one really lives here. We just sit around sipping lemonade (watered down Kool-aid) and smelling our fresh cut flowers (which they provided) and living the life of leisure. I've got lots more photos but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just leave the teaser at this and will let you know the publish dates and magazines and such when it gets a little closer.

This weekend, Sweet Girl had a Cross Country race in Malibu at this beautiful college. It had been raining the previous day and morning of the event, which made the race an obstacle course of gigantic mudholes!

There were kids running around with no shoes because they had been sucked off by the mud! There were one shoe on, one shoe off kids, and kids with only socks flapping around their muddy feet as they raced to the finish line.

Sweet Girl managed to keep her racing flats on due to double tight knots. You should have seen the kids slipping and sliding down the hills absolutely covered head to toe with mud and huge smiles from ear to ear! I believe there were 34 schools that participated and that means at least 34 school buses that probably regretted having to take them all home!

Our girls team walked away with the 2nd place spot and Sweet Girl came home with a medal. But more importantly, she said it was the most fun she'd ever had on any course! Sweet Victory.

The last few weeks have just flown by and I'm excited to get started on my new week. I'm finishing up last minute details on the shop update, and can't wait to start doing some fall projects that are on my list. Oh how I've missed baking, gardening, grocery shopping (if you can believe it!) and relaxing. All things on my New To Do List. Looking forward to sharing them with you!

Picture This

It was time to spiff up the front door wreath and add a fall touch. For a new twist I thought I'd use an old picture frame that had been embellished with wood rose appliques for the backdrop.

The frame is from Shabby Miss Jenn on eBay. She may have similar ones available but I'm sure all you crafty divas could come up with something clever too.

I wired a small grapevine wreath to the center and added a strand of silk ivy and several different ribbons for the bow. Some of the ribbons were new and the lace is from my flea market stash. I love the splash of cream against the deep red door and vines. The gold rose swag is a vintage furniture applique from a salvaged dresser. I used fishing line to hang it from the wreath.

And lastly, for a bit of nature, I added a birds nest set among some raffia. I think this front door welcome will last until the Christmas season rolls in, which I know will be here quicker than a blink of an eye!

The La Maison Rustique Barn Sale is September 21st through the 23rd.  Hours will be 9:30am until 6:00pm on Friday and Saturday and from 11:00am until 5:00pm on Sunday.

The address is 39195 Avenida Antonovich, Temecula Wine Country. Phone number is 951-699-9609 for questions. Please be sure to stop by if you have the time! I promise you will enjoy your visit. Be sure to tell them that Heather sent you and I hope to you there!

On The Homefront

Boy have I missed saying Hello to everyone! I'm looking forward to being able to catch up with all my blog friends. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for all the well wishes and kind comments on my last post. I've been a busy little nester this week and things are starting to come together. Thought I'd show you a couple peeks into my home. I'm not sure what shots the magazine photographer will be taking so I've tried to take a few photos of the bits and pieces. This is part of an entry table. The wall behind it is HUGE, probably over 18 feet so I needed something very BIG.

  This photo does not show the scale very well but trust me, those branches are very tall! I added a wire basket filled with old seltzer bottles and used an old shutter door as a serving tray. The frame for the artwork is old and worn but has an elegant feel with it's scroll details. Here's a closeup of the sweet bird.

I don't remember if I told you that we had to replace all our wood flooring due to the air conditioning unit flooding the downstairs, but anyway, here's a shot of the new stone floors. LOVE them so much more!

And this is a mohair throw that I bought here. It was $49.99 but lucky for me it was on sale for $12.49. The best deal that I've found this week!

And for anyone who might be interested, Sweet Girl loves eggs!

The 6 Days is the countdown for my little family, so they will know when all the projects around the house have to be finished. I think they love watching that number diminish!

Well, off to do more work. I promise a very large store update soon and don't forget to mark your calendars for the Maison Rustique Barn Sale happening September 21st through the 23rd. You are guaranteed to find treasures you can't resist! I've never come home empty handed. I'll update you in a few days the hours and location and hopefully a few sneak peeks!

Happenings.....

There are lots of things going on in my little corner of the world. I wanted to share a bit with you because my posting may be a little more infrequent than I like during the coming weeks.  I have a magazine coming in two weeks to shoot my home and do a story, so needless to say I'm a little fanatic trying to get things in order. It's very exciting and I'm so honored and I need to devote my time to getting ready.

I also have the upcoming Barn Sale to prepare for and have boxes upon boxes of new inventory to shoot and upload to the website. These are all good things and I've worked a long time to get to this place so I want to make the best of it and tend to these projects. So please, dear readers and friends, bear with me as I turn my attention to these areas. I promise I will try to post now and again and share some photos of what's going on. Now, let's hope I don't drive The Man completely mad with my craziness! Hugs to all, Heather!

House Warming

This title is appropriate in more than one way. First off, everyone's house in Southern California has been warming for days on end. Today is the first day of relief and I'm glad to welcome cooler temperatures (if 96 is cooler).

One of my girlfriends has moved into a new home and I created a little care package to take to her as a House Warming gift. It includes a bundle of hydrangeas from my garden, wrapped simply in burlap and tied with a satin ribbon. Tucked into that is a candle snuffer to go with a collection of ivory tapers.

I wrapped them in a vintage French book page and a few snippets of old lace. Then I added two antique brass charms, one a Four Leaf Clover for good luck in their new home, and the other a Heart charm so they may be blessed with lots of love while living under it's roof.

And lastly, this Sacred Heart to hang wherever it suits them to remind all who enter that it's Love that makes a house a HOME. Wishing you all many blessings, and blessings to those you welcome into your homes.