cottage 960 vintage finds, photography, an inspired life

inspiration found

2012-02-09T23:58:00.000-06:00

{This photo really has nothing to do with this post. I just like it. And it is the month of love.}

Is it really February 9th already? Really? Where did January go? And do I just keep saying that? Annoying, I know.

This year I planned to take time around the first of each month to reflect on my OLW Courage, and the impact it’s had on my life so far. I’ve also been collecting quotes and little reminders of my word on my Pinterest Courage board.

This is one of my favorites.

Source: Uploaded by user via Maureen on Pinterest

I also have a Pinterest board full of random quotes. I am a collector of quotes; I like them much better than poetry. I never get poetry, and it frustrates me. Quotes are usually short and to the point, simple. That's why I love them.

Most of the quotes on that board are inspirational, some make me smile, or laugh out loud, and one or two are just random.

And because it is the month of love, I thought I'd share this quote.

Source: luxefinds.com via Maureen on Pinterest

Good advice, don't you think?

xo
maureen

before and after with annie sloan

2012-02-06T22:49:00.000-06:00

I jumped on the Annie Sloan chalk paint bandwagon for the first time last summer, painting a rather large wardrobe in my bedroom. And then promptly got busy with outdoor activities and didn't finish it until recently. First, I L.O.V.E. the paint. Really, love it. It's easy to use, dries quickly, and the best part . . . no primer necessary. And it sands easily to a soft, smooth finish. {but, oh my Gah, the chalk dust from sanding. . .}

I have had this wardrobe for years, and never liked the finish. I always thought it was too dark. But it just seemed like a huge project to sand and primer and paint it. Which made it a perfect project to try out the chalk paint.

{after one coat of paint}

I used the Old White color on it. I really love the color, it's a nice creamy white, that looks like it has years of patina. It covered nicely in two coats. Once it was dry I sanded it by hand, getting it very smooth and distressing it a bit. And that's as far as I got.

Recently, while looking around on the Annie Sloan website, I realized there is a dealer in my area that carries the paint. I also discovered while reading the website, that you are supposed to paint, then wax, then sand, then wax again. (instructions from the AS website here.) Which is NOT the way I did the wardrobe, and it seemed like an odd order to use the products. Once at the store that carries the paints, I was able to page through the books by Annie. After seeing examples of her projects, I understood the reasoning and how to use the paints and waxes together to get a time-worn look to a piece.

This time I purchased the Pure White paint and the clear wax. I had decided at this point to change my room to a more true white with gray accents. Over Christmas break I bought a vintage bed at the local thrift store and decided it was the perfect time to finally paint my dresser so that they would match.
I painted each piece three coats with the Pure White to get good overall coverage. I also learned that you can mix Annie Sloan paint with the clear wax for a custom look. I didn't have any more Annie Sloan paint, but I did have a sample jar of gray latex wall paint, so . . . I mixed them. And I love the way it turned out.

When the piece is waxed (and not sanded first) the brush strokes are highlighted by the colored wax and it gives it a lovely old appearance.

I know it's difficult to see, but trust me, it was difficult to get a shot of it that didn't wash out the detail of the brush strokes.

I'm not ready to do an entire room reveal, I still need to paint the walls and find curtains and new bedding. Which may happen sometime this decade. But here are some sneak peek before and afters.

I love, love, love the soft wax, it really is soft and easy to apply. I used an inexpensive paint brush to apply it, that allows you to really work the wax into the 'grain' of the brush strokes. But be sure to apply the wax with a light hand, in thin layers. If it is applied too heavily, it won't dry well, and will feel tacky.

I love the wax finish on the furniture, it has a soft shine and has a feel of a very aged piece of furniture.

I also painted a coat of gray paint on parts of the bed, and then covered it with a coat of the white. {Two coats of white, one of gray, and a final coat of white.} Once the white was sanded, the gray shows through. You can see that on the headboard above and leg of the bed in the photo below. {The gray paint was NOT Annie Sloan paint, but from a jar of sample wall paint I had.}

I may have had a glass of wine . . . or two . . . while painting.

Interested in seeing more about Annie Sloan and her shop? Check out this video.

You can find the Annie Sloan website here, she also has a blog, you can follow here. Annie is touring the U.S. this year giving workshops. You find more info about her tour here.

Have you tried Annie Sloan chalk paint? What was your experience? Have you been hesitant to try it? I recommend jumping in and using it, it really is so very easy to use.

xo
maureen

keep calm and snap on

2012-02-03T08:21:00.000-06:00

I love the Keep Calm posters, so I decided to do up a photography one. If you'd like to print one for yourself, you can download a PDF of it here.
Have a great weekend!
xo
maureen

the month of love

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

I love the idea of a month of love. Love for no other reason than the sake of love.
It comes at a perfect time, too, don't you think? We have survived the holiday hangover, put away the bright, sparkly decorations. For many of us, in the northern hemisphere, we have gotten through what can be one of the longest months of the year. Cold, dark, gray January. Normally February will bring a warm sunny day here or there to remind us Spring is indeed going to come 'round once again.

At this time of year almost everywhere you look, you can see lovely red and white and pink. And hearts oh, everywhere the hearts. It's enough to give us reason to smile, to warm our hearts.

Valentine's Day for me has always been a handmade holiday. Handmade valentines, homemade treats. When my boys were little it was heart shaped pizzas and heart cut out cookies for treats. Through the years I've made plenty of valentines, candy, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries {perfect for this time of year} and just pretty things to share with friends and family.

There's still enough time to plan and make some handmade cards and treats. I have a Valentine's Day board on Pinterest with some darling ideas for treats and decorations.

Source: meridianroad.blogspot.com via Maureen on Pinterest

I also love this idea from Suzanne who blogs at Meridian Road. Who wouldn't love a jumbo chocolate covered rice krispy treat kiss? This maybe the year I try these bad boys.

If you want to make some homemade valentines with vintage flair, you can get free downloads of vintage valentines here from Red Lead. They are a fabulous paper crafting store in the St Louis area, and they also have an online store where you can buy all kinds of crafting goodness. I think they would make sweet tags to attach to a gift bag or basket.

So tell me, how do you plan to celebrate the month of love? Are you a valentine crafter? Do you have any favorites that you make each year? Any cool ideas for Valentine's Day crafts or decorating, food or treats on your blog or your pinterest? Please share them in the comments I'd love to know what you are up to this month.

xo
maureen

One Little Word ~ courage

2012-01-16T09:32:00.001-06:00

I love this time of year. New beginnings, a fresh start. I especially like this quote I read in the current issue of Whole Living magazine.

"The new year isn't a do-over; it's an opportunity to take your next big step."

With that in mind I completed the free workbook from Susannah Conway, Unraveling the Year Ahead 2012. You can download a copy here. It's a great exercise to close the door on 2011, to remember the highlights and lessons, and let go of all the rest. And then to focus on the year ahead, to choose a word for 2012, to imagine how that word can guide you, where it can take you.

In 2010 I chose the word Dream. And I began to dream big, really big, scary big. And you know what? Many of those dreams came true. One of my biggest dreams was to be featured in Artful Blogging magazine. And in February of 2011 it came true. I am such a believer in dreaming, no matter how out of reach your dreams may feel, there is a power to them.

In 2011 I chose the word Believe. It was to remind myself to believe in my dreams, to believe in myself and my ability to accomplish what I could dream. I dreamed a bucket-list kind of dream last year, and it took working for most of the year to accomplish it. There were times I was tired of the work, resentful of the amount of time necessary for the work, and just downright scared of failing. But, I continued to believe in myself, that I could indeed do whatever I set my mind to. Oh, it didn't come easily, but it was so sweet when I accomplished it. I finished a full marathon in October, and I have a finisher's medal to show for it.

For 2012 my One Little Word is Courage.

cour· age \ mental or moral strength enabling one to venture, persevere, and withstand fear or difficulty firmly and resolutely; confidence that encourages and sustains; implies firmness of spirit; determination to achieve one's end; brave

{I made myself this pendant as a reminder to carry with me. The back reads: courage \ confidence that encourages and sustains}

I again have a list of dreams and goals for this year. I am counting on my OLW to give me the courage to dream, to believe and to work toward my goals. It can feel downright scary to attempt such lofty, seemingly unattainable projects. And the fear of failure can keep me from beginning the work.

When I ran the marathon, I treated myself to a pendant for finishing, on one side it reads: twenty-six point two, the other side reads: The Courage to start. Strength to endure. Resolve to finish.

This year I plan to work through the fear, to have the courage to begin, the resolve to finish. Have you chosen your OLW for 2012? I'd love to know what it is.

Cheers to 2012 I hope it's your best year yet.

maureen

If you would like a banner of your OLW, like mine at the top of this post, check out my Etsy shop to order yours.

More information about the idea of One Little Word, can be found at Ali Edwards' blog here.

I'm also linking up at The Lettered Cottage, where you can read more about One Little Word.

experience the joy

2011-12-26T22:36:00.001-06:00

I came across this quote today on the Roots of She blog and liked it so well, I made small poster of it for myself to hang over my desk. You can download a copy for yourself too, just click here. It's a PDF that will print on an 8.5 x 11 page.

I also wanted to share with you this wonderful calendar template from the Shutter Sisters. You can download the template, open it in Photoshop or PSE, drop in your own photo and print. These are what my finished pages look like. I saved each month as a .jpg, then opened them in Microsoft Publisher (MS Word would work also) and printed two images per 8.5 x 11 page. I printed on photo paper, trimmed them on my paper trimmer and used a small binder clip for each set. They can be hung using the clip at the top, or they will stand up with the binder clip in the bottom of the set. They made great Christmas presents, but it's not too late to print some up for New Year's gifts, or just a set for yourself.

xo maureen

countdown to Christmas

2011-12-18T00:38:00.003-06:00

Okay, seven days left. Anita reminded me that this is the last weekend before Christmas. And I had a little pain of anxiety. How on Earth did I miss that bit of trivia?

I'm terribly behind with Picture the Holidays. But that always happens with me. Each time I try to do one of those daily (or *ahem* weekly ) prompts I make it about a week. Good intentions. I figure I can jump back in whenever. Right.

And what is the deal with all the crafting in the month of December? It's not like Christmas is a surprise, same day each year and all that. Why then am I crafting gifts and decorations at the eleventh hour? Insanity. I blame Pinterest.

And speaking of crafting. Anyone been to Michael's this weekend? Where is the Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon? One small bin of it left? I mean it's not like it's Christmas Eve.

These are some of the projects I've done this week. Because, of course my Christmas decorations weren't complete until I had some snow globes, right? I found the bottle brush trees at Big Lots, 16 of them for $6 (they are on sale now 1/2 off, of course, after I bought mine). To make the white trees I just soaked them in bleach until all the green was gone. I used full strength bleach but maybe I wasn't supposed to? It worked really well and didn't hurt the trees. Just pop them into old (or new) jars, add some Epsom salts and instant snow globe.

I'm guest musing today over at Mortal Muses about the wonder of the season. Stop by and say Hi, there are giveaways and link ups each day too.

So tell me, how are your holiday preparations coming along? All done with your feet up enjoying egg nog, cookies and Christmas music? Or frantic with hot glue blisters on your fingers, a cold cup of coffee by your elbow as you try to remember where you hid the presents you still have to wrap? I'll let you guess which camp I'm in.

xoxo maureen

picture the holidays & winners

2011-12-10T00:34:00.000-06:00

This isn't one of the prompts for Picture the Holidays, but I couldn't resist sharing it. Heh.
The Bud man loves me.
"why you put lights on me Mom?
not funny.
stop laughing.
where my treat?"
This may be this year's Christmas card.

Day five ~ the view from here. I love Christmas lights. I have always loved driving around after dark looking at homes all decked out for the season. From simple displays to over-the-top-Christmas-Vacation-style light shows. I love all of them.

Day six ~ every little thing. Amid the boxes of ornaments and decorations I came across this one. Such a little thing. An angel, handmade with love from corn husks. Each year when I unwrap it, I am flooded with memories. My great Aunt made this for me nearly 50 years ago. It always makes me smile and remember Christmases when I was little and the Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles all came to our house for the holiday. The house was full of family and the joy of the season.

Day seven ~ express yourself. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Decorations and crafts and gifts strewn all over the house. Nothing completed, everything in a state of half-finished. {much of it still is, truth be told}
Ah well, 'tis the season right?

So, lets get to the winners of my little drawing.

Gail wins the Christmas flash cards, Anita wins the set of sheet music tags and Debby wins a set of Santa tags. Thanks to everyone for leaving comments. Ladies, email me your address and I'll get them out right away.

Today begins 14 days of holiday musing with the Mortal Muses. Be sure to stop by and join us each day. There will be a different prompt, giveaway and linky party each day.

See you there.
xo maureen

picture the holidays and a giveaway

2011-12-05T16:49:00.000-06:00

Picture the Holidays Day Four. We were reminded to be aware of our 'key.' That thing that we do to keep our perspective about the season. What is it that we go to, to put ourselves back in the holiday mood, to slow down and enjoy what's special about the holiday. For me, hands down, it's Christmas music. I have tons of it. I listen to it from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas day.

I listen in my car, at home {shhh don't tell, sometimes I even listen at work} and I smile happily when stores are playing it too. No matter what kind of day (or shopping experience) I'm having, when Madonna starts singing Santa Baby or I hear the Eurythmics begin with "Sleigh bells ring, are you listening" I always smile and begin to sing along. Long lines, crabby shoppers? Who cares.

Go ahead, listen to one, or treat yourself, and play both. I bet one will put you in a holiday mood.

One of the other things I love about Christmas is gifting. I love making gifts. Just about every year I find some project to make and share with my family and friends. This year has been a Santa's workshop of handmade gifts. Photo gifts, jewelery gifts, sewing, paper crafting.

I have piles and messes all over the place, but I'm happy as can be. That's really when I find my muse, when I've got my hands sticky with glue and glitter, threads hanging from my clothes (and sometimes in my hair) and bits of paper littering the floor.

Since time is in short supply for all of us right now, I'm going to get right to it. I've worked on two projects I'd like to share today.
I love vintage flash cards, but I haven't found any in my junking trips, plus I like the idea of holiday words. So of course I made a set. These are really easy to set up and print, with whatever words you like, but, like I said, time is short, so here's a set ~~you can download and print your self~~ I'm giving away. I can't seem to find the original document. *sigh* What unorganized hard drive? If I find the original document, I'll share it in another post. Moving along.

Next up. The other thing I love about Christmas is wrapping gifts. I always have. When I was younger I wrapped all the gifts my Mom bought for the whole family. I used to think it would be the best job EVER to wrap gifts in a department store. Each year I choose a theme for my wrapping paper and trims and all of the presents under my tree are coordinated. This year I'm using plain brown kraft paper and vintage tags with white and a bit of red ribbon thrown in.

For unique gifts tags I went through my paper stash and got out my vintage Christmas post cards and sheet music. I scanned them and punched them out with a large tag punch. Some are printed on cream card stock, the brightly colored Santas are printed on white card stock.

This is a tag made from a vintage, visit with Santa photo. That's Santa in a sleigh and the little girl with him is my Mom. The photo is one of my most treasured possessions. And I think it makes a darling gift tag.

This tag is one of my favorites from a vintage Santa postcard. I laugh like crazy at it every time I look at it. It's Santa raising his hands in fists, seemingly in dismay at the fact that his sled full of toys has wiped out and is strewn all over the snow. And I have no idea what it says at the top. Anyone know? Perhaps that would solve the mystery of that look on his face. Can you imagine getting that in the mail as a Christmas greeting? I l-o-v-e it.
The sheet music tags are punched from a page from Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

I have one set of each punched and ready to use that I'm giving away.

So, to recap, I'm giving away

one set of Christmas themed flash cards

one set of vintage post card Santa gift tags

one set of vintage sheet music tags (with a few Santa tags}

If you'd like to win a set of flash cards or tags, just leave me a comment. I'll draw a winner on ~~Wednesday~~ later this week, certainly by Friday, and get them in the mail ASAP.

Or, you can purchase a set from my Etsy shop here

xo maureen
.

picture the holidays ~ finding love

2011-12-04T11:24:00.002-06:00

The prompt for the second day of Picture the Holidays was 'reframing' the season. I thought about it all day while at work, and wasn't particularly inspired. In the evening, while driving around looking at Christmas lights I came across this scene. I live in a small town, that has its share of urban blight. Mainly in the old 'downtown' area. Sadly, most of the lovely old buildings I remember from my youth, had fallen into disrepair and have been torn down. But there are a few left. This year, in one of the old bank buildings (often some of the coolest old buildings) Santa set up shop. It's a wedge-shaped building lined with windows on two sides, all of which were full of Christmas displays. I was so delighted to see one of the old buildings being used, and in such a fun way. It was a lovely way, to (re) frame the season and a tired old building. I was so uninspired during the day, I had left my big-girl camera at home. Lucky for me I had my trusty iPhone with me. I shot this through the 'frame' of a wreath on the door.

The Prompt for day three was "All you need is love." Using a heart shape for this prompt was obvious, and I had a few things in mind for it. But, before I took any photos I checked my mailbox, the real one, next to my front door. And there I found love. Perfect timing. Last week I was desperately trying to catch up on blog reading when I came across this post by Dagmar at studio d. I thought her jar hang tags with the bright red hearts were darling. And I told her so. To my surprise, she sent me two of them! Don't you just love blogging, and internet friends? I love the way the internet has brought back the fun and delight in snail mail. It's such a treat when I come home at the end of the day, bring in my mail and find a hand-addressed envelope {nearly lost in the large volume of junk mail}. I get more personal mail now than I have in years. And it's all from my blogging, flickr, instagram and facebook friends. Friends I've never met in person, but feel as though I've known for a long time. Do you have a pen pal? I encourage you to reach out and share a little bit of yourself with a new friend, you may be surprised by what comes back to you.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow, I'm putting the final touches on a giveaway & freebie post. I'm knee deep in Christmas crafting and want to share some of my projects with you. Because giving is one of the best parts of the season, isn't it?

xoxo maureen

picture the holidays

2011-12-01T22:51:00.001-06:00

Really?
December first?
When did that happen?
A.Ma.Zing. the way this year has flown by. In an attempt to keep the last bit of the year from flying by without truly experiencing the best parts, I'm participating in Picture the Holidays with Tracey Clark and Paper Coterie.

We were given a class creed to remind us to focus on the season, {Not a bad reminder regardless if you are participating in the class or not.} and each day we will receive a prompt, a reminder, to slow down and record the magic.

Today we were encouraged to begin from a place of gratitude. I took some time to sit and enjoy a cuppa and reflect on Christmases past, and the promise of future Christmases shared with a grandchild. There are so many wonderful things to enjoy about the season, but there is nothing like experiencing the wonder of it all through a child's eyes. I'm grateful for so many things, but most of all for the blessing of a new little one to love and spoil.
I hope you find time to enjoy the magic of the season also.
xo maureen

grateful heart

2011-11-24T12:52:00.001-06:00

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity . . . It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~ Melodie Beattie

Today I have a grateful heart for so many reasons. So thankful for the love of family and friends. And this Thanksgiving, I have a heart overflowing with gratituide that I'm going to be a Grandma!

Yep. Blessed with my first grandchild next May. I still well up with tears whenever I think about a sweet new life welcomed into our family. So, if any of you have noticed me pinning sweet nursery ideas and baby photo ideas on my BabyPinterest board, that’s why. I’m thinking about re-doing my ~~dumping ground~~ computer room into a baby’s room. It gives me a reason to use all of those sweet little baby things I’ve saved and carted around for years.

Later today, when you are done with the turkey and fixins, and you have propped your feet up to relax and reflect upon the day, take time to view this amazing video. It is full of stunning images accompanied by the words of a wise man reminding us to open our heart to the unique blessings of life around us each day.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones.

xo maureen

texture tuesday two-fer edition

2011-11-08T01:19:00.001-06:00

It's Tuesday, time for some texture work for Texture Tuesday at the Cafe. When I saw the theme for this week was two, I fired up my Photoshop Organizer and went looking through my archives for two.

Two of anything. Here are a few of the photos I found. First up, two of my favorite vintage items on a shelf, an old falling down house with two windows.

Two vintage alarm clocks, and a photo of my two parents.

Two keys on a lovely old weathered door with enough peeling paint to have a luscious texture all its own.

And this one, two more wonderfully worn vintage items. And if you look closely, you can see that the dictionary is opened to the definition of the word photography. Heh. I'm clever that way.

Be sure to visit the Cafe for more lovely Texture Tuesday images.

xoxo
maureen

inspired by color

2011-10-15T06:00:00.057-05:00

I'm over at the i-Studio today sharing some flickr fabulousness from the i-Studio flickr group.

This week I was inspired by the color I saw in the group.

While I love neutrals, I do have a soft spot for a lovely vintage blue.

It always catches my eye when I'm browsing a flea market.

Perhaps that's why I can't resist those lovely old blue canning jars. {Don't even ask how many of those I have stashed in my basement.}

What color calls to you? What color do you find yourself drawn to over and over? Or does it change with the seasons? Because as much as I love soft neutrals and that lovely vintage teal, right now the glorious autumn colors make my heart sing. {The vintage child's hanger was my mother's. I have a pink one with a cat on it too.}

I hope you have a lovely color-filled weekend
xo maureen

tuesday and some purple

2011-10-04T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday my friends. I had another lovely weekend camping. And I made a visit to the magical purple field again. This time the light was better, and it was just as pretty as I remembered.

Although, I only had time to take a few quick shots, as it was being mowed, literally as I was shooting away. Now all the beautiful purple flowers are gone. I'm so glad I had a chance to see it before that happened.

Hope you have a great week

xo maureen

wildflowers and friends

2011-09-24T06:55:00.000-05:00

Wildflowers and friends. You can never have too many of either.

I love the way blogging has connected me with so many women. I've found support and encouragement, shared laughter, sometimes tears, and many, many virtual hugs. Which are just as powerful and real as in-person hugs.

{that tilted jar bugs me too}

I'm posting today at the i-Studio about inspiration and making new friends. And about how I recently 'met' Heather at Post Road Vintage. You know how when you land on a new blog, and you instantly feel at home? That's how I felt when I found Heather's lovely blog. Blue canning jars, white chippy paint, farmhouse style, *sigh* all the things I love.

I hope you have time to visit me at the i-Studio for some weekend inspiration, and to visit Heather's lovely blog.

have a fabulous weekend

xoxo
maureen

happy purple tuesday with a side of texture

2011-09-20T00:32:00.001-05:00

It's been a bit since I've posted anything for Happy Purple Tuesday, and this purple was a bit of a surprise. I was camping this past weekend and had a photo shoot idea in mind. I knew of a field in the area that I thought would be just right. But I never imagined it would be full of beautiful purple flowers and so many butterflies. It was almost magical, all the lovely butterflies dancing above all that gorgeous purple. These are a few of the photos I took that afternoon.

After I finally loaded some free PSE actions I played and played with these photos and tried out the new actions and a few recipes.

I've also been wanting to play around with a storyboard template from Kim Klassen. These are really fun to make.

And of course you knew the Bud Man wouldn't be far from my side. And since I didn't have any lovely female models, I had to settle for him. I think he's lovely. *smile*

We are sharing our inspiring corners at the i-Studio today. Pop over and have a look, you can even see my space where I sit until the wee hours of the night playing on my computer.

I'm also linking up for Texture Tuesday at the Cafe.

happy purple tuesday

xoxo

maureen

focus 52 & bokeh

2011-09-18T23:01:00.001-05:00

Good grief, I'm so far behind in my photography projects. I'm not sure I can even claim them as being legitimate projects for me any longer. *sigh* Me thinks perhaps I took on too much? I feel like I need an entire week, sort of a photography retreat week, to catch up. I've been taking photos, I just don't seem to have time to process and post them. Not to mention keeping up with flickr friends, IG friends and blog friends. Heh. But I keep trying. A little here, a little there. And I figure this winter I'll be glad to have so many photos on my hard drive to sort through. I'm posting these photos for Jan at twoscoopz for the weekly Focus 52 group. Jan asked for bokeh this week. Luckily I had these shots on my camera card.

I took these photos last week when I was planting some perennials in my 'new' landscaping in front of my house. This is a great time of year to add new plants to the landscaping. The plants have less transplant stress when planted in the fall. Not to mention there are amazing sale prices on plants at the local home improvement stores. One of my best deals was two containers of Knockout Roses for $2.50 each!

This plant, stonecrop, is a new one for me, I've always liked them, but never tried them in my own flower beds. From what I've seen, they look like hardy, low-maintenance plants. Exactly what I need. And apparently Mr. B liked them quite a bit too. What about you? Have you added any new plants to your gardens this year? Any favorite no-fail-perennials you can recommend?

hope you have a great week!
xoxo
maureen

going places

2011-09-17T06:00:00.007-05:00

I have exciting news!
I’m now a contributor at Kim Klassen’s Inspiration Studio!!!

happy dance

I am over the moon excited to be part of the i-studio.
Oh my gosh, if you haven’t been there this week, you should check it out immediately.
Wait!
I mean after you read this post, that is.
The i-Studio is back after a summer break with a new look, 'old' and new contributors and new categories!
So far this week there’s been a recipe, book review, DIY craft, and an inspired music playlist.
There are more categories of lovely inspiration yet to come.
Kim has done a fabulous job of revamping the site and offering new inspiring content.

If you are not familiar with Inspiration Studio{from the i-Studio website}:

the inspiration~studio is:

• all about inspiring others to live an inspired life.

• it's about spreading kindness & encouragement

• it's about showcasing the beautiful work of amazing talents all over the blogosphere.

So, hop on over, check out my first post say ‘hi' and have a look around at all the inspiration goodness there. I'm sharing flickr fabulousness today.

And while you are there, sign up for the new i-Studio newsletter. Just look for the box on the right side of the blog, enter your email address and you’ll stay up to date on all the juicy inspiration.

{These are some images I've been playing with recently, along with a mosaic template from the PhotoshopTest Kitchen.}

Have a great weekend!

xoxo
maureen

inspiration shared

2011-09-13T00:07:00.002-05:00

{ Scripted Autumn, and Autumn Burst textures used. Both soft light, 100% }

inspiration.

It's everywhere isn't it? And it's certainly to be found all over the internet. Some days after a long session of blog surfing, I feel almost overwhelmed with all of the creativity out there being shared. Thank goodness for Pinterest, right? Such a wonderful place to save all that inspiration.

However.

How often do you go back and look at your boards and at the lovely inspired photos you've pinned? How many times have you actually made the craft, painted the room, sewed the curtains, simply done anything with all those pins?

{I used Pioneer Woman's Sepia action, then Autumn Burst, soft light 73%. Oh, and I flipped the texture before I applied it.}

I'll admit, I'm as guilty as anyone. Pin, pin, pin away, without looking back. Some of the pins are simply fun dreaming. But, I've a lot of pins that I originally planned to make or do. So, I've decided to pick one thing each week from my pin boards and, as Nike says "Just Do It!" And then? Do my best to find the original source and when possible thank the person for the inspiration. {Heh. Once per week might be a bit optimistic, but it's good to have goals, right?}

The above photos are my version of this pin from my pin board. I loved that I had everything readily on hand, (wine corks? no problem here) and it only took me a few minutes to put it together. It makes a fun new centerpiece for my table.

Source: morningt.blogspot.com via Maureen on Pinterest

Right, so it's not a big project, no paint cans were involved, no sewing machine, no glue guns. I'm just warming up. Next, Halloween projects. Ha! or should I say Boo!

So, tell me, what have you been inspired to make from one of your pins?

Inspiration. It's a good thing. Share it.

xo
maureen

And speaking of inspiration. I'm linking up today at Kim Klassen's Cafe for Texture Tuesday. Always lots of good inspiration to be found there. This week's challenge is 'Do' guess this counts since I was inspired to Do it!

fortune telling

2011-09-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had your fortune told? I must confess, once on a trip to New Orleans I had my palm read. It was as strange an experience as you can imagine. Literally a small dark closet of a shop, located on a side street alley in the French Quarter. The woman's husband was out on the sidewalk hawking customers. I don't even remember how much it cost, what she looked like, or much of what she said, but it was all hogwash. I wish I'd had a camera with me, at least I'd have some fun photos for my money.
I have been holding off with the Halloween decorations. I don't want to get them out just yet. Personally I'm not done with summer. But this little guy was too cute to pass up, so I did a quick photo shoot with him today.

I do love fall colors and decorations and I still get excited about going to the pumpkin farm. So many pumpkins, so little time. I'd love to have all of the pumpkins and flowers in the photo above in my yard. Actually, I'll take that exact set-up for my yard thank-you-very-much.
I guess I'll start slow, I think I'll pick up some mums this weekend to replace my poor ~~dried out~~ dead petunias on my front porch, and spruce it up a bit.
What about you? Are you ready for fall? Or are you like me, holding on for dear life to the last warm days of summer? Have you begun to get out your fall decorations yet? Do you decorate with a Halloween theme, or keep it mostly autumn theme? I do a little of both. Halloween inside, autumn outside. I want to use more of my vintage finds in my Halloween theme decorations this year. Which means I really should begin digging through the boxes in the basement for that stuff. Hopefully I'll find it all in time.

And if you are on Pinterest, I have begun a Halloween board, check it out.

original image found here

This is one of the ideas I liked. Easy enough to do with my little typewriter. And what a cute idea to use calkboard paint on old books, perfect for Halloween.
If you have a Halloween or autumn pin board, let me know, I'd love to have a look at it.

Hope you have an inspired weekend!
xoxo
maureen

school days

2011-09-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

{I used Pioneer Woman's Sepia action on the photo, then brushed off just a bit on the box and blocks to bring back a bit of the vintage colors. Then added two layers of Cracker Jack texture, soft light.}

Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer for most all of us. The pools are closed, the kiddies are back to school, the weather here has even cooled off enough to throw on a sweater in the evening. (Well, for the last two days anyway.) With end-of-summer back-to-school on my mind, I went digging through my boxes of vintage ~~crap~~ treasures. I found this well used, well loved vintage pencil box and flash cards. Fitting for this time of year don't you think? And a perfect match for Kim's texture Cracker Jack.

I've had a lovely, busy summer break and I'm ready to be back.

I've done plenty of this.

{I used Pioneer Woman's Sepia action on this photo also, adjusted opacity to 71%, then added Kim's new texture Autumn Burst.}

Of course plenty of this also.

I'm feeling recharged and ready for cooler, colorful days of autumn and catching up with my blog friends.

I hope you've also had a fun summer, I'll be hopping around to see you soon

xoxo

maureen

I'm linking up at the Cafe for Texture Tuesday.

Lot's of good texture work there, why don't you join us!

digging in the boxes

2011-08-02T00:06:00.001-05:00

Some days I surf around on Pinterest, and I get so inspired I can't wait to dig around in my stash of vintage stuff and play. I have things ~~horded~~ stashed in boxes in my basement just so I can take them out and photograph them.

I love walking around outside, the flower gardens in the local park is a favorite destination, trying to capture the light and the beauty with my camera. But then there are times I like to get some of my vintage lovelies out and play. I love to set up still lifes with them. Layer them, rearrange them. It's almost like playing house when I was little. And it makes me feel like I'm at least getting some use from all of the ~~crap~~ treasures I'm always dragging home.

And then I can't wait to sit down at my computer and play. Create. Make art. Of course I love playing with textures and overlays, and now Kim has me playing with brushes. But I also have been playing more with actions. I can sit with one photo clicking and clicking and clicking different actions. And I wonder where the time goes, and why dishes pile up at my sink.

I'm linking up today for Texture Tuesday at the Cafe. Lots of beautiful art there, I hope you have time to take a look and enjoy the creativity and inspriation shared there. And for those of you visiting from the link up, welcome! I hope to make it around to see you too.

xo
maureen

inspire

2011-08-01T06:57:00.001-05:00

Another shot taken and processed with my iPhone. I've really begun to love my iPhone camera, well, that and the camera apps I have. I love how quickly I can take a photo, do a bit of processing and share it instantly.

We are celebrating our one year anniversary at Mortal Muses. It's my turn today, and I'm musing about inspiration and the fun we've had during our first year. I'm also sharing a bit of news too.

Hope you can stop by for a visit.

xo maureen

week in the life

2011-07-23T15:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, I'll say it "Hot enough out there for ya?" How many times have you heard that lately? Or perhaps you don't live where it's hot as Hades right now.

This little cutie doesn't run, the cord's old and frayed and I'm afraid to even plug it in and try it. But, I love the way the bold color stands out against the pale colors in the room.

And while it's been hot, hot, hot for this week in my life, that's not what the title of this post refers to.

Ali Edwards is beginning another Week in the Life series on Monday. And she has invited the whole internet to play along. Cuz she's nice that way. And she even has free print outs and idea sheets, and there will be a link up each day, and there's a flickr group for it too.

From Ali's blog:

A seven-day documentary project, Week In The Life is an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of your life with photos and words. The albums I’ve created using the basics outlined below are some of my most treasured in that they are wonderfully true representations of my family’s life at a particular point in time. From the mundane to the profound, it’s those simple little everyday moments that I treasure most.

If you choose to embark on this project, especially for the first time, I encourage you to read through the comments from previous years. There are many suggestions, answers, additional information, etc. that can be found within the comment sections of each post. And remember, there’s no right or wrong way to approach this album.

It’s an amazing adventure. Consider yourself invited

I plan to play along and probably post some of the photos here each day. I printed out her daily journaling sheets and a list of suggested photos. I figure after the first day, I could use some ideas, so that my days don't look exactly the same. (even though they feel that way most days) Ali gives suggested product lists for doing a more traditional scrapbook or hybrid scrapbook project. I plan to put together a photo book from Shutterfly or Snapfish with the week's photos and journaling when I'm done. It's the simplest way for me to actually complete a project, and her digital scrapbooking templates and fonts and supplies can still be used for that. If you'd like to play along, I recommend you have a look around Ali's blog, she has lots of suggestions and examples and links to get you inspired.

Stay cool,

xo
maureen

fence friday in the country

2011-07-22T00:11:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, so I thought I'd share a few of my recent fence shots.

If you're not familiar with the idea, there are a few groups on flickr for fence photos. Fench Friday and Fenced Friday are two goups that I participate in. It's a simple concept. Take a photo of a fence, and post it to the group on Friday. Then, look through the group pool and admire beautifully photographed fences from around the world. City fences, country fences, wooden fences, rusty crusty fences, lovely covered with flowers fences.

I'm partial to country fences, especially barbed wire fences.

But I love a good city fence also. More of my fence photos can be seen here.

Have a great weekend
xo
maureen

white

2011-07-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

I worked on this for Kim Klassens Texture Tuesday link up, and then totally forgot about it on Tuesday. I've been crazy busy this summer. Not complaining, I'm happy my life is so full I feel like I don't have time to turn around. That's the main reason I've not been posting or visiting blogs.

I've lots to share, projects around the house, a little bit of staycation travel, fun iphoneography, and a little bit of news. Hopefully I'll see you back here soon, and I'll be by your place soon too!

Hope you are enjoying your summer too

xo
maureen

what inspires you right now?

2011-06-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm musing today at Mortal Muses. Wondering what inspires you right now?

more crafting

2011-06-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

I've been a busy little bee these last two days. I've finished a few projects that have been half done for months. Hopefully they will sell at the sale this Saturday. I don't have all of the after photos just yet, but I do have a few photos of projects I completed.

First up a wreath made from vintage sheet music. I've been thinking of making one for months, and saved quite a few examples on my Pinterest board.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I did learn a few things. Mainly, full size sheet music makes a rather large wreath. I'd like a smaller one, luckily I have some books of smaller sheet music. This one I'll sell, and make another for myself . . . one day . . .

Oh! And did you know it's a white theme at the istudio all month? *sigh* I love white, if you do too, pop over to the istudio flickr group for some inspiration.

I used a set of cookie cutters to trace for the center flower. After I cut them out, I used an ink pad to 'ink' the edges of the flowers for some contrast.

Next up an old window frame transformed. Originally, I planned to paint the window glass with chalkboard paint, and make it a chalkboard. Part way into the project, I wasn't so sure, and emailed Anita to ask her opinion. Heh. It was the same day she posted about her window make over. I was sold. I totally ripped off her idea.

First I had to remove all the glass. Then I scraped all the loose paint, and sealed what was left. I then painted it a bright turquoise. (Sorry no photos. I don't know how you bloggers take so many photos of your projects. I'm way too impatient to stop and look for my camera.) After the turquoise paint dried, I went back over it with some white to tone it down and hopefully give it a beachy look.

Next I added chicken wire to two of the openings. Do you see all of the staples on the table? Right. I think I removed as many staples as I left in. (Because I seemed to have a bit of a problem aiming the staple gun. It's a miracle there aren't any staples inbedded in my leg.)

I covered foam core board with some canvas drop cloth material I had left from another project. I used twine to crisscross the front and sewed a vintage button where the twine crossed in front.

With the panels finished, this is what the back looked like. If I were keeping it for me, I would have stopped there and hung it on the wall and filled it up. However, I plan to sell this project also, and I wanted the back finished off a little nicer.

I cut a piece of brown kraft paper to cover the back of the memo board side and glued it down using hot glue. I think it finishes it off nicely.

It turned out so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it. I'm so tempted to keep this for myself. I just really don't have anywhere to hang it. Oh, right where it is? Heh. I've thought of that, but I like a mirror there by the door. And anyway, I'll put a nice price tag on it that will make me happy to let it go.

I printed out some vintage beach scenes I found at the Graphics Fairy onto some cardstock to hang on the chicken wire.

Aren't they adorable? If you've never been to the Graphics Fairy website, you really should go have a look around. She has the most amazing vintage graphics FREE to download for your projects.

Wow, that's a long post for me. I've another busy day tomorrow, but hopefully I'll get the other projects finished up and have time for some after photos.

xo maureen

textures, painting, befores but no afters

2011-05-31T13:13:00.001-05:00

I'm musing today with the Muses about self portraits. I tried a number of things for this theme. I'm still not comfortable in front of the camera. However, after taking so many different shots, I feel a little bit more confident about setting up a selfie. Not sure I'll do any more, any time soon. Of course, I had to try some with textures. I used Kim Klassen's newest texture Stained Linen, on this photo, it's my new favorite.

Hope you've had a lovely long weekend (for those of you in the states). I've been busy getting ready for an outdoor sale where we have our antique booth. I've a number of small pieces of furniture I'm painting. I don't have any 'after' shots just yet, but here are a few befores.

I love the lines of that little blue table. I picked up both of them at yard sales for $3 each. I had a few more before photos but they are on my missing memory card. *sigh*

I now have 364,576,755 projects started. Hopefully I'll get most of them done by Saturday morning. I do have one painting tip to pass along. When it gets dark, stop painting. See. That one tip is so worth stopping by the Cottage right?

Another before. I was going to sell this little table. But once I painted it, I really like it.

It's on my porch with my vintage insulator collection on it.

Okay, this post is all over the place. Pretty much what the inside of my head is like at the moment. Time to go pick up a brush again.

Don't forget to hop over to the Muses and check out my post and my other self portrait.

xo maureen

liberate your art

2011-05-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

Kat, from Kat Eye View, is hosting a Liberate Your Art swap. Such a cool idea, you have postcards printed of your art. Send them to Kat, and she will redistribute them to the other participants, and send you postcard art from other participants. Sort of a chain letter thing without the hassle.

I've received all of the items and prints in the photos in this post from internet friends.

Exchanging photos and small trinket items with my blog and flickr friends is one of my very favorite things to do.

I have a growing collection of photos from my friends all next to my computer desk. It's like having my friends hanging out with me while I work. So much beauty, from wonderfully talented people. And some of the sweetest people too.

It's not too late to sign up, just click on the button for more information and to sign up. It really is a cool opportunity. You just send off a packet of cards, and wait to be surprised by the beauty you receive in return. Go, sign up, the deadline is June 4. You'll be glad you did.

xo maureen

vintage fun with a little texture on top

2011-05-24T00:07:00.000-05:00

On this image I used Kim's textures Mad Love, Create, Yesteryear, and Sweet Treat

Tuesdays mean Happy Purple Tuesday and Texture Tuesday. I love when I can do a two-fer. A photo of purple that I can also play with textures.
For these shots I rummaged through my new stash of vintage sewing notions again and pulled out spools of thread.

On this image I used Create, Yesteryear, Sweet Treat and Dusty Rose

I love the soft pastel colors. Next, I'm going to try to sort out some more buttons. This really is a good stash of vintage goodies.

I'm participating in Kim's Texture Tuesday link up. Hello! to those of you visiting from there. I hope to make it around to visit more link ups this week.

I had to do just one more. I used Kim's textures again, with the addition of the post card texture that I found on flickr from borealnz.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great Tuesday!
xo maureen

tuesday purple and some texture

2011-05-17T11:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Purple Tuesday everyone. I've been busy, busy with a number of things, but I did want to share a few shots I've taken lately. If you're new here {so very glad to have you visit} last year I started a flickr group called Happy Purple Tuedsay. On most Tuesdays I try to post something purple that I've found. And somedays it's a stretch, but always fun. And if you are a lover of purple, I invite you to jump over to the flickr group and enjoy all the beautiful purple there. And I'd love for you to join us and contribute your purple photos.

I took most of these in a friend's yard, his front yard is nothing but one large flower bed! Overflowing with flowers, it's amazing.

Last Saturday I tried something new. My sister and I went to this wonderful little store full of nothing but beads. Oh, the amazing beads. It's so cool, you pick out your beads and they teach you how to make your own custom jewelry. I made the bracelet above in memory of my nephew, who lost his battle against brain cancer last month. He was a student at K-State and and I'm honored to have his sweatshirt.

Do you love purple? I've been thinking of starting a linky party on Tuesdays for purple link ups so we can share our love of purple. You could link up from your blog or your flickr photos. What do you think? Wanna play? Leave me a comment and let me know. If there is enough interest, I'll look into the linky thing and try to set it up for next Tuesday.

Oh! I almost forgot! It's Texture Tuedsay at the Cafe. Lots of great texture work over there. This week the theme is vintage. This is just a little bit of my newest stash of vintage sewing notions. I don't really need more vintage sewing notions, but really? How can I pass up this gorgeous stuff?

Thanks for visiting, have a great day!
xo maureen

magazine crate before and after and a winner

2011-05-16T08:00:00.004-05:00

Ta Da! The magazine crate project {project A in the contest} was mine.

I hope you had fun with our little game, we had fun putting the idea together. Thanks for playing along and sharing in our celebration. It was cool to have visitors I didn't know, I discovered new blogs too. I hope to get around to visit all my new followers soon.

I picked up this crate at an auction recently. The price was right - free. It was part of a 'lot' that someone bid on, and they didn't want the crate, so they left it behind. I felt confident I could give it a good home. *grin* I brought it home with me, stuck it in the basement and promptly forgot about it. Until one night, probably late at night, when I was surfing Pinterest and saw this.

And I remembered my little find, languishing in the dark basement, forgotten. It was the perfect project for our fun celebration.

My crate was missing a slat at the top, so making a liner for it was perfect. I started by dry brushing some white paint on the crate, and printed out a label using my computer. I've also been wanting to try creating the cool fabric rosettes I've seen everywhere on the internet. I had the fabric for the liner in my stash, all I had to do was learn how to make the rosettes. I watched a video tutorial here, and found another one here. The rosette was easy to make, except that I used hot glue as I worked and ouch. I think I'll try fabric glue next time.

Now for the winners. I had a total of 12 correct guesses for my project. I wrote the names on slips of paper and drew a winner for the copy of the Artful Blogging magazine.

And the winner is . . .

Yay! Brook, email me your snail mail address so I can send you the magazine. Don't forget to visit Anita and Suzanne to see if you are a lucky winner on their blogs.

Now for the Grand Prize winner.

But first, I want to take this time to thank all of you again for your visits and comments and emails over the last year. I really appreciate the time you take out of your busy schedule to stop in and offer your friendship.

Okay, okay the drawing.

My project was project A, so my commenters were numbers 1 - 38 for the drawing.

Suzanne's project was B, so her commenters were numbers 39 - 71.

And Anita's project was C her commenters were 72 - 104.

The winning number from Random Number Generator is

The winner is comment number eight on Anita's blog. Stacey @ A Sort of Fairytale.

Stacy, contact Anita with your info so we can get the prize out to you.
Thanks so much for playing along everyone, we had fun with this and hope that you did too.

xo maureen

peony spring

2011-05-15T00:56:00.001-05:00

Spring. ahhhh. It's about time, right? I haven't put in any flower beds here at the Cottage yet. There is only one thing that flowers in my yard. I love when these appear, I love the anticipation of what comes next. I check them each day and watch them unfold and offer up their simple beauty.

The blooming season is fairly short. I cut fresh ones each day and bring them in.

And take photos. Lots and lots of photos.

And of course I have to play with textures a bit. I've been asked about the peeling paint background in this shot. It's an old door that my sister gave me after it was removed from a shed on their property. I love to move it around and use it as a background for my photos.

This photo was taken at a friend's house, we've had *surprise* rain again. I was less than happy with the light in this, so I decided to play with it a bit. The shot above is SOOC {straight out of the camera} no editing.

First, I ran Pioneer Woman's Boost action on it. She has a free set of actions you can download from her website that work with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. If you haven't tried actions, I encourage you to try them out. Once click of a button and magic!

Here I've added Kim Klassen's magic scratches texture to it.

I love this Paris postcard overlay. This is from a set of French Laundry Photo Edges from 2 Peas in a Bucket. I used a layer mask, and removed a bit of the Magic Scratches texture on this image.

Another day, another peony photo shoot. This photo has too many textures to count. It was a bit challenging to shoot it light enough but not totally blow out the detail in the flowers. I ended up with a background that was darker than my taste. So, I used a number of textures that helped to lighten it up. I did use a layer mask to remove most of the texture from the flowers. The only texture left on the flowers and the jar is Kim's Magic Scratches texture.

This is a shot from last year, SOOC, because I didn't really know how to do much in the way of post processing.

Now this brings me to the pronunciation of peony. My Mom called them pi-nees. I say pee-uh-nee, and I've heard others say pee-oh-nee. How is it pronounced in your neck of the woods?

~~Don't forget, there's still time to enter a guess in the~~

~~Pin the Project to the Blogger~~ ~~giveaway.~~

{comments are closed, winners announced on Monday}

thanks for stopping by!

xo maureen

it's a blogversary celebration!

2011-05-10T08:00:00.012-05:00

Yay! Welcome to the celebration! I can hardly believe it's been a little over a year that I've had this blog. So much has happened in 12 short months. I've made so many new friends. I've become a Muse and I've been published. Whew! What a year. I'm not sure what this next year will bring but I know it will be hard to top the first one. Honestly, I feel really blessed to have had so much fun, and met so many wonderful people.

Way back when I first began blogging, my very first blog post had three comments. Today I'm good friends with two of the bloggers who left comments on that post. Anita who blogs at Going a Little Costal and Suzanne who blogs at Meridian Road. The three of us were all new to blogging at the time, and have been friends from the start. Not only do I love the creative ways they incorporate vintage finds into their homes, they are both incredibly funny and just plain 'good people.'

When we realized we had our first blogversary coming up, we decided to celebrate together. We wanted to do a little giveaway and make it fun.

Pin The Project to the Blogger

How well do you know your bloggers?

We each created a project for this game,

see if you can figure out which blogger created which project.

Prizes:The winner from my drawing will get a copy of the Summer 2011 Artful Blogging magazine. As usual, it's full of talented bloggers and gorgeous eye candy. Each blogger will give away one prize (for a total of three prizes) and there will be one Grand Prize of a $30 gift card to Home Depot/Lowes (winner's choice).

Rules:
You get one chance to win on EACH blog. Leave one comment on this post {make sure you can be contacted through your Blogger profile, or put your email address in your comment} telling me which project you think I created, A, B or C.

Comments will close Sunday night at 6 pm. I will randomly draw a winner from the correct entries on my post. And one GRAND PRIZE winner will be randomly chosen from ALL entries from ALL THREE BLOGS. On Monday, May 16 I'll announce the winner from my comments and the Grand Prize winner.
This blogging adventure wouldn't be nearly as fun without all of you visiting and taking the time to leave me sweet comments. I truly appreciate every time you stop by and every comment left.

Now, go, visit my blog best friends and leave a comment on Suzanne's and Anita's post telling which project you think they created. And while you are there? Have a look around, they really have shared some great projects.

Thanks for making this first year so wonderful and more fun than I could have imagined!

xo
maureen

monday, monday

2011-05-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday. I like Mondays. Mondays are a new beginning. We are optimistic about Mondays aren't we? We start diets on Monday, exercise programs on Mondays, quit bad habits on Mondays and start projects on Mondays. I've started running again. See? Monday. Last year I said one of my goals for this year is to run a half marathon, and then in the fall run a full marathon. Well. I didn't stick with my training over the winter, so I wasn't ready for the half marathon I registered for that was held in April. The weather was a factor, lots of cold and rain this spring. But, I just didn't stay committed to my goal. And I really didn't like the feeling of failing to meet a goal I had set for myself. This weekend, I spent some time looking at my commitments and reassessing some goals. I plan to be more diligent about my training, and make certain it's a high priority. I'm registering for the first Rock n Roll Marathon to be held in St Louis in October. My plan is to run a full marathon then. And then? I can check that off my bucket list. Have you begun something new today? I'd love to know.

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day, with your Mother, Grandmother, your children or grandchildren, or if you are really lucky, all of the above. My boys came over, brought me flowers and dinner and spent the day with me, just hanging out.

I did find time to work on a project this weekend. It's for a fun surprise I've been working on with some blog buddies. You'll have to stop by tomorrow to see the project and find out the details of the surprise I have in store. I think you'll enjoy it.

I hope you have a fabulous week, see you tomorrow.

maureen

purple with a side of flare

2011-05-03T00:07:00.000-05:00

1. everyday should be happy something day!, 2. morning glory {15 of 365}, 3. happy purple tuesday! (explored), 4. M o t i o n, 5. bogs on a bench 312/365, 6. Happy Purple Tuesday!, 7. I FINALLY GOT A 50 MM! :D ......edit, 8. purple robot, 9. Purple converse. Purple flare!

That's right, it's Tuesday, time for some purple. As usual, the photos above are NOT mine. All of these photos were added to the flickr Happy Purple Tuesday group. You can click on the links below the photos to go to the flickr photostreams of the photographers who took them.

I did take this photo, in my yard, where I have more of these than grass. My mother loved violets, she had them on almost everything in her house. They will forever remind me of her, and I have a hard time trying to kill them in favor of more grass.

And I have quite a few of these in the yard also

I have a new neighbor, she asked me what I was taking a picture of when she say me lying in the tall grass taking this shot.

I'm sure she is still wondering why.

happy tuesday

xo
maureen

waiting for the sun

2011-04-29T00:49:00.001-05:00

I've posted this photo before, it was taken one morning early when I dropped my son off at the local soccer fields, it was a beautiful sunrise scene.

I don't know how your weather has been, but it's been quite a wet spring season around these parts. We've had weeks of rain and storms and the sun has been a very infrequent visitor. Over at Mortal Muses, Tammy begins another nine days of musing, today begins the theme 'here comes the sun.' I'm going to be challenged to capture a sun photo this week, still lots of rain in the forecast.

Our next theme is 'Relax', we invite you to share the relaxing moments of your life with us in our Flickr group beginning today. One of my favorite ways to relax is with a mug or glass of a favorite beverage and a favorite magazine.

The photo above captures both themes, lovely early morning light, while I indulged myself with a relaxing morning enjoying breakfast in bed, with a few more of my favorite magazines.

This week over at Jan's place the theme for Focus 52 is April Showers. heh. Jan's funny that way. And as much April ~~showers~~ storms as we've had, I'm not sure I've taken many photos of the rain, but I'm certain I'll have another opportunity for some soggy photos this weekend. Jan's link up will stay open all weekend so there is still plenty of time for you to join us.

We'd love to have you join us in all of these photo prompts, you can jump in anytime.
And don't forget to pop over to Mortal Muses to see what sunshine we've found this week.

stay dry,
xo
maureen

catching up, purple and some texture love

2011-04-26T02:50:00.001-05:00

{the above photo uses Kim Klassen's textures Warm Grunge, Cool Grunge and Corrugated Crack}

Hey bloggy peeps. Whew. I've been busy. Busy with some fun stuff {more on that in a different blog post} and some serious stuff. A great big thank you and hugs to those of you who have left comments and emailed about my whereabouts. That's one of the very best things about blogging. It's been said before, and by other bloggers more eloquently than I, but the friendships and connections made through blogging are priceless. Now, hopefully, I'll have time to get around to your blogs, for a visit and to catch up.

{the above photo is a dish of pieces of hail that I picked up after a recent hail storm, BAH, Mother Naure has a warped sense of humor}

I hope you've had a lovely spring and Easter season. I don't know about you, but I'm so ready for summer. This spring stuff has been crappy. Here in the midwest it's been one round of thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes after another. Enough already. And while I fuss about the weather, I'm blessed that I've not been impacted by these violent storms like many people in my hometown, and the bi-state area. My heart goes out to these people who have to put their lives back together after such a devastating loss.

Today is Tuesday, and that means it's time for some purple. Yesterday I received the most wonderful surprise package in the mail from one of my sweet Muse partners, Christy. Not only is she a talented photographer, and not only does she have master ninja iphone skillz, but also? She is wicked with the knitting needles. In the best possible way. She sent me these amazing and beautiful purple fingerless gloves that she made with her own hands. Thank you so very much Christy, I love them. And? It was actually cool enough here to put them on and have fun with them yesterday. Of course, it's not cool enough for snowflakes, but I do have a yard full of something white and just as seasonal and fleeting as snowflakes {no, it's not hail}.

Also on Tuesday is Kim's Texture Tuesday party. This week Kim asked us to create an image using her recently released texture, Serendipity. This rose photo uses Serendipity, Chalk and Scratch and Cool Grunge textures, all by Kim. And? Kim's having a giveaway this week too! Some of her fab textures, stop by and check it out.

Happy Purple Tuesday!

thanks for stopping by,

xo maureen

purple spring

2011-04-20T11:05:00.001-05:00

texture recipes

2011-04-07T00:35:00.003-05:00

The small town where I live is surrounded by rail lines. {When I was growing up, there was only one road out of town that didn't cross railroad tracks. Waiting on a train was a fairly common occurrence, and is still today. When I was in high school it provided a perfect excuse for getting home after curfew.}
Recently when I was trying to think of a subject for the current Mortal Muse transportation theme, a friend suggested I have a go at shooting trains. Last Sunday the weather was warm and sunny, so off I went with my camera in search of a railroad photo.

I was pretty happy with a few of the shots I took and decided they would be great subjects for some texture work. I used quite a few textures on all of the photos, and have been asked about the layers and the opacity of each layer.

This is a copy of the layers used on the above image. All textures used are from Kim Klassen.

All texture layers are soft light, you can see the opacity adjustment next to each layer. Layer 1 is a blank layer I add last and put my watermark on that layer. It makes it easy to turn it off when I want to save a copy without a watermark for printing.

I posted this photo on Tuesday for Kim's texture link up. Hover your mouse over the photo for the before SOOC photo.

*****edited*****

So. In preview the magic mouseover worked. And once I published, it won't work for me. Does it work for you? arrrrggghhh!!!!!!!
I decided to add the before photo here, until I can determine if the mouse over is working or not.

All layers are Soft Light and I have noted the opacity adjustment next to each layer. You can also see where I used a layer mask on two of the layers to remove just a bit of the texture.

If you are new to experimenting with textures don't be afraid to add another layer of the same texture or a different texture. That's one of the things I love about doing texture work, the playing and trying different combinations of textures.

I'm musing today at Mortal Muses, stop by and see the photo and song I shared on my transportation musings there.

thanks for stopping by,

maureen

purple spring

2011-04-05T10:20:00.009-05:00

We had crazy warm weather here again on Sunday, highs in the 80s. Don't hate, it's dropped to freezing overnight again. {plants in, plants out, plants in . . . } Anywho, I spent a few hours out with my camera in the warm sunshine. Spring has sprung around here. This shot of lovely purple hyacinths is one of the nearly 300 photos I took for the day.
The purplicious mosaic below is made of photos from the Happy Purple Tuesday flickr group. If you click on a link below the mosaic, you will be taken to the photographers flickr stream where you can see their photo better.

All images are from the Happy Purple Tuesday flickr group.

1. ~ purple tulips ~, 2. Kind of *sigh*, 3. Spring has sprung, 4. Purple Tulip, 5. Eden Project - Spring in February?!, 6. Spring, 7. ♥ Here's to LOVE! ♥, 8. Celebrate the Everyday, 9. Afternoon light, 10. crocuspatch, 11. Purple Tulips w/ #grunge effect and Walden on #Instagram #iphonography, 12. spring purple, 13. Smith College March 2011

And today is another link up with Kim. She challenged us to use her free texture WarmSun on a photo.
I used WarmSun, Old West, Paper Stained Grunge and Nutmeg on my railroad spike photo.

thanks for stopping by!

maureen

gettin' crafty and a download

2011-03-30T23:50:00.001-05:00

Since the giant yard sale is over and I've gotten rid of quite a bit of unused, unwanted stuff, I can finally get to some of my crafting supplies. It's still a disorganized mess, but now I can usually find what I'm looking for. So, I've been inspired to do a bit of Easter crafting. Last year a dear friend gave me the darling vintage looking decoration above. And of course after studying it a bit, I thought to myself "I can make this." Sound familiar? How many times have you had that thought? I do it all the time. And half of the time I never attempt it, and a large part of the time I attempt it, run into a problem, and abandon the whole project. And then there are the few times I actually start and finish a copy-cat project in a reasonable amount of time. Usually those projects are something I want to use as a gift, so I'm more motivated to finish it. Case in point. I think these will make sweet little gifts.

The main thing I needed for this project was vintage Easter post cards. My other dear BFF shared with me a collection of vintage postcards to scan. And there were a few Easter cards in the collection. Perfect.

These are so super easy to make. The supplies are simple, I had all the materials in the house already. Since it's a small project, it's a good opportunity to use up little bits of ribbon and paper.

Here is what you'll need:

Chipboard or foam core board

white cardstock

adhesive (I like to use spray adhesive)

white glue

hole punch

ribbon to hang the finished card, and to cover the edges of the foam core board

sandpaper

colored eyelets (optional)

glitter

paint brushes

brown ink pad and sponge (optional)

vintage Easter postcard image (the download link for the images I used can be found the end of this post)

I used chipboard for some and white foam core board for another. I think I like the foam core board better. But the chipboard gives it a bit more of a vintage look, I think.

Print out the image onto white cardstock, you can get two images per 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, or you can resized them and easily get three to a page.

Cut your chipboard or foam core board to fit the size of the printed image and glue the printed image on top. Once that is dry, I used sandpaper to even and smooth the edges.

On the chipboard cards I sponged the edges with the brown ink to 'age' the cards. You could also add a layer of colored cardstock or paper to the back of the chipboard for a pretty finish.

I punched two holes at the top and set colored eyelets in the holes.

I then used white glue along the edge of the foam core board and attached ribbon all the way around to finish off the edge.

Once that was dry, I pulled the ribbon through the holes and knotted the ends to make a hanger. ( I use a small crochet hook to pull the ribbon through the holes.)

I watered down some white glue, painted it around the edge of the image, and dusted it with white glitter.

The above card I used foam core board, below are chipboard cards.

There you go. Couldn't be easier. {I won't mention that I have glitter everywhere, including on my camera. Like a child with the glitter.}

Don't you think these would be cute tied to Easter baskets? Or perfect to send in the mail to a special friend. If you'd like to try whipping up a few of these here are links to download the images I scanned.

Easter Chicks and Easter Bunny

Happy Crafting.

xo maureen

purple tuesday musings and a link up

2011-03-29T00:21:00.000-05:00

Hello blog peeps! I've been absent this past week and missed all of you. I caught a nasty virus and had some real-life household projects to catch up on. Well, I'm not caught up, but I've got a good start. And despite the crappy weather here, (snow AGAIN in the forecast) I'm feeling much better. I just wish it would warm up and stay warm so I could run outside. I despise the treadmill, and I'm woefully behind in my marathon training. But that's another story.

I took the above photo last fall in a St Louis neighborhood full of colorful characters as well as homes and business. That door makes me smile, and it must make everyone who approaches it smile. Isn’t that a perfect way to welcome your guests? Of course, as soon as I saw a purple door, I knew I had to take a photo for Happy Purple Tuesday.

So, lots going on today. Happy Purple Tuesday! yay! and I'm musing at Mortal Muses today about a totally different door. What can you say about a door? Well, pop over and take a look. I'm also excited about Kim Klassen hosting a texture link up at the Cafe.

Kim's textures nutmeg and celebrate used.

For this link up Kim asked us to choose our favorite textured image. That was difficult, I have a number of favorite textured images, and changed my mind three times. Usually my favorite image is the last one I worked on. *grin* Be sure to check out the link up at Kim's place.

thanks for stopping by

maureen

the view from here

2011-03-27T14:03:00.000-05:00

This week's Focus 52 prompt is "the view from here." I took the above photo last Sunday, the first day of spring. It was lovely and warm and the earth was beginning to come alive with color. I took a walk looking for signs of spring, and found quite a few.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin

And I found this fellow hanging out in my backyard. I live in the city, folks, so this was quite a surprise the first time I saw him. There is this very small stand of trees in my backyard, and this gorgeous creature claims them as part of his territory. I was sitting on my back patio when I heard the birds making a loud ruckus. That's when I saw him. This is the first time he let me get this close, and he never took his eyes from me while I continued to walk closer and closer.

So, that's the view from here from last weekend. Yesterday it looked more like this:

Yes, more snow. Snow that stuck. Snow that piled up. Snow that was enough to be measured. (I don't know how much we got, I just know they predicted between 3-7 inches.) I guess the good thing, if there is a good thing about a Spring snow fall, is that it doesn't stay for long. Today most of it is gone.

Hopefully it will warm up enough soon so that I can put these back on my patio.

I'm linking up at Jan's for Focus 52. Hope you are having a wonderful spring where you are.

{I know, I know, again with the font problems. I'm working on it. :) }

xo
maureen

texture to go

2011-03-20T11:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday! *sigh* today is the last day of my vacation. It's been lovely having the time off and getting some projects completed. Yesterday finished up the second day of a yard sale. I've never been so exhausted by a yard sale. But I'm quite happy to have so much 'stuff' out of my house and a bit of change in my pocket for my trouble. And the bestest part? My porch is empty! Yay! You may remember this horrifying photo {scroll down, it's still there}. I still can't believe I shared that on the world wide web. Once I get my spring/summer things out I'll share a photo of the cleaned up space.

I'm musing today at Mortal Muses about camera phone photography. I'd love it if you stopped by for a visit, and you can see the photo from the Mortal Muses Flickr group taken by JoGo that started me on this odyssey. Today I thought I'd share a little bit more about my process using my phone to get the final look that I like using my iphone and camera apps.

Using the camera app that comes standard on my iphone 3Gs I took this photo {above}. This is the original SOOC {straight out of camera} shot. That vintage camera is my newest addition to my camera collection. Sweet no?

I then opened the image using the Iris app. In Iris you can do quite a bit of post processing. First I slightly cropped the image. Using the Histogram I lightened it and using Adjustments I desaturated it. I then saved that image to my camera phone library. That allows me to open it in another app from this point. I like this image as a base photo to play with because it has just a hint of color left.

{image processed with Iris app}

Iris has quite a few nice textures and overlays. Using the same saved base photo in the Iris app, I went to Layers>One-Touch. My favorite texture is in the Vintage collection, Old Book. I applied that texture. There is a slider bar at the bottom that allows you to adjust opacity of the texture layer. After making my adjustment, I selected Apply and saved the image. Iris also has an undo feature. You can undo at this point, and begin again from here with a different layer for a different look.

Next I opened the Bad-Camera app. I loooove this app, it's by far my favorite post-processing app. Bad Camera has textures and overlays and frames, oh my. *grin*

{image processed with Bad Camera app}

This is the desaturated image from Iris with a words overlay applied using Bad Camera. I'm really lovin' the words overlay effect at the moment, can you tell?

The only thing about Bad Camera that I don't like, is that you can't apply more than one effect/layer to a photo at once. If you want to multi-layer, the image must be saved to the camera library with each layer and re-opened to add another layer. But what I do love about Bad Camera is that it allows you to mark effects as favorite making it easier to recreate the same look with a different photo.

{image processed with Bad Camera app}

For this final image {above} I applied an additional old-photo-grunge-type layer and a frame layer. I love all of the different frames offered in Bad Camera.

Seriously? I could play for hours with this, the combinations are endless. Ha! My texture addiction is now mobile. I am officially in love.

What about you? What are your favorite camera phone apps? Or what app would you like to try? Share your favs with us in the comment section and I'd love it if you'd share a link to your camera phone shots in the comments.

I hope you have a great week, thanks for stopping by

xo
maureen

1000 cranes for Japan

2011-03-18T22:31:00.001-05:00

Because she says it quite eloquently, from my Flickr contact, damiec:

The crane is a mystical, holy creature in Japan - it represents luck, good fortune, and long-life. The act of folding cranes, specifically, 1000 cranes, is said to make the folder's wish come true.

Strings of one thousand paper cranes are often sent to places where tragedy has struck as a symbol of hope & healing. Sometimes groups will fold 1000 cranes for an ailing friend in hopes of speeding her recovery.

Whether you believe in the power of the crane, or simply in the gentle act of beauty and kindness, there is something uplifting about this tradition.

. . . my shoebox of origami paper is out and I am folding cranes. If any of you feel inspired to do the same, I am including a link for an origami tutorial.

I think it would be a beautiful show of support and love for Japan if flickr was flooded with paper cranes. Is it too much to hope for a virtual chain of 1000 cranes?

And so damiec created a flickr group 1000 cranes for Japan. You can see some of her lovely cranes here, here, and here. Again from damiec:

some of my Japanese contacts have let me know how moved they are by the beautiful images in the pool, and by the notion that so many all over the world are holding them in their hearts and thoughts.
please help me spread the word till we reach 1000

This crane, above, was my first attempt.

The Muses have offered support for this project also. You can read about it here. {The photos in the mosaic above are from damiec and my fellow muses.}

Muse Mosey is offering an opportunity to own one of her beautiful prints and raise money for the relief effort in Japan through the Red Cross. For details read more here.

As of this posting there are 354 photos of cranes added to the Flickr group 1000 Cranes for Japan. We would love to have you add your photos and help us reach the goal of 1000.

I'm also linked up with Focus 52, this weeks theme is green.

{And if I can ever get the font straighetend out on my blog it will be a miracle.}

maureen

iphone textures and spreading joy

2011-03-16T22:27:00.002-05:00

Okay, so the snow is gone, and it warmed up today, and is supposed to be in the high 70s Thursday. I promise to stop whining about snow/cold. {provided Mother Nature holds up her end of the bargain, heh}

I have a post due at Mortal Muses Sunday on camera phone photography. Um, right. I don't do camera phone photography. Sooooo, I did a bit of research and realized that I can do textures on my iphone! How cool is that? I can play with textures in post processing anywhere now! As you can see, I have a few images from my practice today. I found the key to getting a feel for how the textures would work is beginning with a photo that is neutral in color. It helped me to see the subtleties of each texture.

The photo above is a bit over done with texture, because I found it to be quite a challenge to see detail on my iphone.

The text overlay could be a bit more subtle on this shot below, also.

This one is better, but still a little heavy on the texture.

I think this one is getting closer.

I really like this last one. Fairly subtle and I am totally in love with the old photo edges. I'm just amazed that I was able to do these on my iphone with $5 worth of iphone apps. {Curious what iphone apps I used? I listed them in my camera phone post at Mortal Muses. Be sure to check it out on Sunday. }

~ Spreading Joy ~

Jamie at Lyrical Journey is Spreading Joy by hosting a Spring Swap. From her blog:

What's a swap? It's simple - I'll collect the names of all those interested, match them up and then everyone will prepare, send and receive a little something special in the mail.

What should go in your package? Things that would bring someone joy: a much love book, a mixed cd, something you lovingly handcrafted, a beautiful shell you picked up on the beach, your favorite chocolate, prints of your best photos, the list of possibilities is endless. Just remember, it doesn't have to be expensive, with a bit of creativity you can make someone's day.

If you'd like to participate {and we'd love to have you} just hop over to Jamie's place read through the post and email her with your info. It's that easy. Of course, you get to spread a little joy as well as receive a little joy. And who wouldn't love a little unexpected joy in their mail box this spring?

xo
maureen

not yet spring

2011-03-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

Really? Less than a week before Spring? Two inches of snow. Ugh.
Sure, first day of Spring Break and I wake up to two inches of snow. I know right?
Isn't it ironic. Don't you think.
Could be worse, could be . . .
. . . like rain on my wedding day.
Oh, wait. I had that too. And that didn't work out well in the end.
But that's another story.
Ahem.
The snow yesterday was the pretty kind. Large fluffy flakes that stuck to everything. Lovely photo opportunities. Except I'm soooo over snow photos. And? Some of the trees are budding. That lovely tree above looks like this up close.

And some of the bulbs have begun to open. Like these daffodils.

I played with this photo in PSE quite a bit today. Kim Klassen posted a new texture technique in the Test Kitchen and I wanted to try it out. I wanted to do another one of those fun before & after mouse overs with these two photos. But gosh it takes me so much time to do those because I forget each time, and it's like doing the whole thing from scratch. So, because it's spring break, and I have lots of things to still mark off my to-do list, here you go, the before shot below.

I hope it's warm and sunny where you are today. :)

xo
maureen

variety

2011-03-12T18:15:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post today. I started my Spring Break this weekend and I am overly optimistic that I will get ~~everything~~ a few things checked off my to-do list. I kicked off the holiday last night with dinner and a margarita at a favorite Mexican restaurant.

This week's prompt for Focus 52 is variety. I have been so busy today, that I didn't take time for my camera throughout the day. I found myself, after I lost all natural light, wondering what on earth I was going to shoot today. I looked up, and noticed I had left my nail polish collection out.

hummmm

variety.

Perfect.

And I couldn't resist a little bit of texture. You can always join in the fun at Jan's each weekend for Focus 52. Hope to see you there.

xo

maureen

a new project!

2011-03-10T23:07:00.003-06:00

A new project! Yay! Because of course, that's just what I need. I've met lots of lovely new-to-me bloggers this week. One of them asked if I participate in the Ten on Ten photo project. I'd never heard of that one, so I hopped on over to find out more about it. Rebekah from A Bit of Sunshine hosts this each month.

From her blog:

". . . a fun and interactive way for blogger's from all around the globe to document a snap shot of their lives too, once a month on the tenth taking a photo an hour for ten consecutive hours. Finding much life and beauty amongst the ordinary things of our day!"

So, here you go, ten shots from my day:

Up early to give my son a ride to his new job.

Breakfast once I was home again.

A little time at my computer before I left for work. He is my shadow. Which reminds me, I'm musing at Mortal Muses today about shadow portraits. I'd love for you to stop an say hi.

Made some sweet tea, can't get through the day without it.

made my lunch . . .

picked out my jewelry . . .

bag packed . . .

on my way.

Plenty for me to do once I arrive.

This is where I fudged a bit. I didn't get my tenth shot in the hour after the ninth. Once at work, I got busy, and just wasn't able to get my camera out. This shot was taken during my lunch break. I made a quick trip across the river into downtown St. Louis. I shot this on the way back to work, as I turned onto the bridge.

Thanks Rebekah for hosting this, it was a fun project, easily completed and I'm looking forward to doing it again next month. The tenth falls on a weekend next month, hopefully that will make it easier and more interesting. I hope you consider joining in too.

maureen

projects

2011-03-08T19:20:00.000-06:00

This year has been a year of photography projects. I began my nifty 50 project last fall because I thought it would be a simple, no pressure project, and it has been. One photo per week, SOOC (straight out of the camera) all taken with my favorite lens, my 50mm. There is a tab at the top of the blog where all of the photos are posted. I'm on week 22 now, nearly half way through.

And then there is the 365 project I began January 1. I debated about it before the first of the year, and decided against it, then changed my mind at the last minute. Now into my third month I decided to take a good look at what I had recorded so far. This weekend I made a mosaic of my photos from the first two months of the project.
Most of the time I'm still excited about the project. I have had a few days where it was difficult to make time for it, but that's where the discipline comes in. I'm still happy that I began the project and am happy to have my camera in hand every day.

What about you? Did you begin something new in January? Did you make a New Year's Resolution? How are you doing with it? Still on track? Reconsidering? Forget all about it weeks ago? (heh, that's normally what I do). I'd love to know about your progress and how you feel about your decision to begin.
xo
maureen

aged or just right?

2011-03-04T23:40:00.005-06:00

If it's Friday it means it's time to link up to Focus 52 over at Jan's place. This week's theme is aged. Heh. That's not all that difficult for me. My house is full of aged things.

I love aged things. Rusty, faded, chipped, worn, peeling paint, it all makes my heart go pitter pat. Most of the time it just means some well used item is broken in just right. Often there is a lovely patina of age that cannot be replicated, that only comes with decades and generations of use. I'm not sure what is manufactured today that will stand up to decades and generations of use. And so I love rescuing and reusing vintage treasures and everyday items.

However, there is something I've discovered that don't particularly like aged. The old windows in my house. Single pane, aluminum frames, with no storm windows, let's just say it's been a cold, drafty winter here at the cottage. I'm hoping to have new windows installed this spring. Have any of you done that? There is a home show this weekend and I have been thinking about going to that to compare windows and prices and companies. Have you ever bought anything like that at a home show? Or do you think it's just a good place to look around? I can't decide if it's a good use of my time. What do you think?
Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xo
maureen

things I love thursday

2011-03-03T01:14:00.000-06:00

1. Untitled, 2. bookends, 3. Cheerful, 4. Spring Pastels, 5. "A room without books is like a body without a soul.", 6. My Sweet Rose, 7. getting the most out of my posies, 8. flowers, 9. All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of yesterday, 10. Glorious days..., 11. pink spring, 12. Sweetheart, 13. thoughts of spring

{The photos above belong to fellow photographers on Flickr. Click on the links below the mosaic, to see more lovely photography from these talented people.}

Lately I'm totally in love with pale pinks along with a touch of soft blue. The blue of a vintage Ball canning jar, or the pale turquoise of an old glass bottle, or that unmistakable robin's egg blue. It's such a lovely combination of colors.
Flickr is a wonderful source for lovely and inspiring images. Even if you don't have a Flickr account, you can surf through Flickr groups, or type in a few search words and surf through all of the uploaded images.

Some of my favorite groups are:
{of course} Mortal Muses Everyday Beauty, June a Beautiful Mindset, Country Chic Home, Creative Challenge, Kim Klassen Inspiration Studio, Shabby Chic, Shabby Pink Cottage, Vintage Feelings.

That's how I found the lovely photos in the mosaic I created. I looked though a few groups, and I searched my contacts photos for photos of pink. And what lovely images I found. Lots of inspiration to be found there. Thursday is Things I Love Thursday on Flickr, or TILT. It's been some time since I've created a TILT, these seemed lovely spring images to enjoy.

What about you? Where is your favorite place to enjoy beautiful images and find inspiration?

xo
maureen

time for an update

2011-03-02T00:22:00.001-06:00

I finally found time to catch up. Thanks to those of you who have sent emails checking up on me. Lots of friends have been wondering about me and the plunge. I have good news and bad news.

{Yes, I was dressed just like this, in police uniform.}

Good news, the plunge went off without a hitch and thanks to the generosity of many of you I was able to raise $280 for Special Olympics.

Bad news, I wasn't there to participate. My nephew has been battling brain cancer for some time now. Early Saturday morning, as I was ready to head out the door in my spiffy uniform for the team plunge, I got a call from my sister. She was heading to the hospital, my nephew had taken a turn for the worse. He was experiencing complications from a recent surgery to remove some of the tumor. I decided to change my plans and head to the hospital to be there with family. Saturday morning the surgeon did another surgery to remove a blood clot and additional bleeding, however he is still unresponsive. We continue to pray for his recovery.

I'd like to again thank all of you for your moral and financial support for the plunge and Special Olympics. I guess this means next year I have to plunge into the cold water twice, to make up for missing it this year. *grin*

I'm musing today at Mortal Muses about still life photography, I'd love for you to stop by and say hello.

hugs, and as my sister reminds us everyday, love your babies

maureen

a little of this and that

2011-02-25T00:39:00.002-06:00

These tea spoons are a recent auction find. My partner found them in the bottom of a box with some other items and gave them to me because they have my initial.

Another recent score. Have you ever seen a scale like this one? It was a first for both of us. I'm a sucker for anything white and rusty, and it's accurate, too.

However, I'm not certain that it's staying with me. It may take that one-way ride to the booth.

Isn't this little sewing machine adorable? There's a cover for it also. (behind it to the left) As much as I like it, and it is rather small, it's either going to the booth, or I'll set it aside for the etsy shop I keep threatening to open.

Well, this weekend is the big day.

I'm plunging. And there is snow in the forecast for tomorrow. eeeeek.

I've decided this is where I'm going to go in my mind. Think it will help? Hopefully, there will be at least one photo of the event. I promise to share it. There are costumes involved. heh.

What about you? What plans do you have for the weekend?

hope you stay warm!
xo
maureen

vintage collections and a question for you

2011-02-23T01:10:00.002-06:00

The above photo is my 365 photo for Tuesday. I haven't played with textures much lately, so I decided to give some new textures a try. I used two wonderful textures from CKC Photography, she shares her lovely textures free on her website, you can find them here. I purchased the book on the bottom from the thrift store recently. I love the title, Homemakers' Encyclopedia, and the nice turquoise color. I seem to be finding (and bringing home) vintage books lately. So that brings me to a question. How many items does a collection make?

You know how it begins. Something catches your eye at a flea market, or tag sale. It could be a colored glass jar, a lovely cake pedestal or *ahem* a vintage camera, and you bring it home. While at another early Saturday morning yard sale, you see another, and the price is too good to pass up. Without even thinking you bring it home. And then a maybe a friend notices that you have them, and gives you one she's had sitting around, unused and unloved. The next thing you know, you have three of them. I think three's the number, with three, it's official, you have a collection.

That's happened to me with vintage typewriters. I wanted one. One. I asked my friend and business partner if he had any. (We share booth space in a small antique mall.) Nope, but he sure has the connections. And now, I have five of them. Five.

The only problem is, I'm trying to downsize. I moved into my small house with the intention of sorting through my ~~old crap~~ treasures and keeping only the things I really love, and getting rid of everything else. Everything has to have a place, a home within my home. No more ~~hoarding~~ storing things in the basement. (I allow myself to keep seasonal decorations in the basement, but I've thinned much of that out also.)

I have to say, I love these old typewriters, each one is different but they all have a simple utilitarian beauty all their own.

I love photographing them also. They are perfect for using in a vintage still life and adding some texture.

And sometimes, even when you know you shouldn't, you can't help yourself. It's one you don’t already have, a color you've never seen or a price that you just can't pass up.

Like this Royal model. It's big. Big and heavy, and rusted and the keys are stuck (yes, I know all about WD40, I'm still spraying it). But just look at those key caps. They are glass and they are gorgeous.

The to-good-to-pass-it-up price on this one? $2.00. Yes. Two dollars. U.S.

This is the newest addition. It's in fabulous condition. I was surprised at how easy it is to type on it also. Nooooo, not as easy as my computer keyboard. But still. The keys are really smooth. Another interesting thing is each model makes a different sound when the keys strike the paper.

That's the bell. You know, to let you know when you get to the edge of the paper. Remember? And then you had to reach up your left hand and push the carriage back to the right? Oh. You don't remember? Heh. I do. I have to confess. I learned to type on one of these when I was in high school.

The bottom line? I can't keep them all. They are going to have to find a new home. At least three of them are going to take a one-way ride to the antique booth. I have it narrowed down to two that will stay, which one would you keep?

And about selling in an antique booth? It's always been a dream of mine. However, not surprisingly, it's not exactly as I had imagined. I had thoughts of getting all the ~~crap~~ great vintage treasures out of my house, finally.

Wrong.

Now I have even more lovely vintage collectibles in my home waiting for that one-way ride. This is what my back porch looks like.

In case you can't quite make it out. There are seven doors, three tables, one book case, two shelves, one dorm size refrigerator, four wooden folding chairs, a small white child's chair, a vintage high chair, a wooden bench, a set of wicker furniture, a wooden trellis, and if you look carefully, another typewriter. And a few other back porchy kind of things, snow shovels, ice melt, gas grill and recycle bin. And one dead plant. I know you are jealous now.

Just keepin' it real.

xo maureen

giveaway winner

2011-02-21T01:51:00.001-06:00

Thank you every one for your sweet comments on my Polar Plunge post. And thanks to all who were able to donate! With your help I've raised $250 for a great cause. It's been unseasonably warm here, high in the 70s today. As luck would have it, the forecast for the weekend is back in the 40s. But, that's certainly better than below freezing. Hopefully I'll have photos from the plunge, because the team I'm participating with is dressing up for the plunge. I'm certain it will be quite the spectacle.

Okay, according to Mr. Wizard Random Number Generator the winner is Kat, from The Kat Eye View.

Yay! Contact me Kat and let me know what color you would prefer.

Thanks again everyone, for your support for the Special Olympics.

After spending hours finding inspiration on Pinterest, I was motivated to do some of the projects I've had in mind for my living room. It's not all done, and I'm planning a post with some of the changes, until then, here's a sneak preview.

I'm totally ready for lighter, spring colors. How about you? Have you made any changes to your living spaces as we anticipate warmer weather and longer days?

I'm also musing at Mortal Muses today. I'd love it if you could stop by and say hello.

I hope you have a wonderful week,

xo maureen

very pinteresting

2011-02-18T01:11:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday. Hard to believe the weekend is here already. Hope you've had a good week, and are coming down off that Valentine chocolate high without any ill effects. I haven't posted much this week, but I have a good reason. Just as I am working out ways to make better use of my online time, I discovered a new website. A new timesucker website. But timesucking in such a good way.

*WARNING* What I'm about to tell you may cause you to lose hours of your time lost in inspiration.

Here goes.

Pinterest is a new website, and in my opinion, a brilliant idea for a website. Honestly I can't believe someone didn't think of this before now. {or maybe someone did, and I just have no idea}

from the website:

What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a social catalog service. Think of it as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can post collections of things you love, and "follow" collections created by people with great taste.

So here's how it works. Pinterst allows you to create virtual inspiration boards of all of those cool ideas you find on the web. You create your own boards, name them what you want and start adding images. As you surf the web and find an image you'd like to save, you 'pin' it to your inspiration board. It's different than copying, or downloading the image to your computer. And it works much better than bookmarking the URL in your favorites. When you pin an image it retains the location of the original image. You only have to click on the image on your pin board to be taken to the original location where you found it. Perfect. You aren't stealing a photo and it allows you to revisit the website for any additional information.
You can share your inspiration boards and subscribe to other 'pinners' boards. You can also browse pinned photos from all users in different categories and 're-pin' them to your board. I know, is your head spinning with it all? Trust me. It's good.

Okay. So enough talking about it. Go, have a look yourself. I have a link on my side bar to my pin boards. Or you can look at popular pins here. I think you have to have an invitation to join the site to create your own pin boards. If you're interested, let me know, I have a couple of invitations left. Happy pinning. :)

What do the photos in this post have to do with Pinterest? Nothing. Just some random photos on my camera.

Have an inspired weekend.
xo
maureen

happy valentine's day

2011-02-14T17:11:00.000-06:00

I tried all weekend to write this post. And real life kept me busy, that happens. All I’ve managed to do is take some photos of some of my Valentine’s Day decorations around my house.

So I decided to post them anyway.

I hope you have a sweet day, full of love.

And maybe a sweet surprise or two.

That sweet subway art sign in the back was a gift from Jan @twoscoopz. She may or may not still have the link up for you to grab your own copy. (Hurry, she said the link would be up through Monday evening)

That’s my Mom and Dad in the photo below.

The fabulous heart in the photo below, belongs to a friend, who let me borrow it for a photo shoot. It's a very vintage, very cool large, red, tin heart. Wouldn't it be the perfect prop for engagement photos or wedding photos?

Happy Valentine's Day!

maureen

I'm in denial

2011-02-10T19:32:00.001-06:00

I'm in denial. It's been going on for a few months now. But I have to face it. The big event is looming.

Before Christmas I agreed to become part of a team. A team of otherwise normal individuals. What makes this group of people different is one event. Each year, before spring is officially here, this group of extraordinary individuals gather at a local lake. Before spring is here, people. Once gathered, they throw themselves into the icy cold water. Before. Spring. Is. Here. That means there is very likely ice in the water, heh, icy cold water. Have I mentioned how much I dislike the cold?

I know you have to be asking yourself "woman why?!" by this point. Good question. It's for a great reason. Yes, we're Freezin' for a Reason, I'm doing a Polar Plunge. For the privilege to join this extraordinary team, I am raising funds for the Special Olympics of Illinois.

I'm currently training for a half marathon and I enjoy being physically active and competing. This is a great opportunity to help others experience the joy of participating and competing in athletic activities.

I am collecting donations to help provide this opportunity to more than 21,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities and more than 4,000 young athletes ages 2-7 of Special Olympics Illinois. I would appreciate any support you can give for this worthy cause. You can make an online donation of any amount, in my name, through a secure website directly to Special Olympics by clicking here.

And to reward your generosity I'm going to join more than 5000 people statewide and voluntarily jump into freezing cold water in the middle of winter. Did I really just say that? *shiver*
My plunge date is February 26, I hope we have an early spring thaw.

Wondering what the photo of fabric and camera strap have to do with this post? I'm also offering a giveaway for a custom camera strap cover. Leave a comment on this post for one chance to win. If you make a contribution, in any amount, to Special Olympics Illinois through my web page, you'll get another chance to win. After you make a donation, just come back here and leave me a comment on this post letting me know.

Once a winner is chosen, I'll contact you about details of your strap size and color preference. I'll leave this open for a week, and announce the winner February 19.

Thanks so much!
xo maureen

the color purple

2011-02-08T11:12:00.000-06:00

Happy Purple Tuesday purple peeps. Hope you are staying warm where you are. Today's high is in the teens here. I made myself a cuppa hot chocolate this morning and took a little time to enjoy my newest copy of Where Women Create. Have you seen this magazine? Such gorgeousness, you really should have a look at it.

Do you get emails from Etsy, with fabulous collections of items for sale on the site? Somehow I must have signed up for them, and they are so much fun. Always a collection of things for sale around a theme. I received an email collection yesterday and it was all purple items! Purple jewelry, accessories, fashion, bath & beauty, home decor and even purple for him. You can check it out here.

It's been awhile since I've done a purple mosaic. The photos below are not mine, they are taken by some of the wonderful photographers on Flickr, and added to the ♥happy purple tuesday♥ flickr group. If you love purple, you really should take some time and have a look at the amazing purple photography added there. You can also click on the link below the mosaic to be taken to the photographers photo stream.

1. purple gloriousness, 2. Do I look sharp?, 3. ¡, 4. Dahlia in bloom, 5. Kind of crayon, 6. snowy purple [wk3], 7. wild violet, 8. PURPLE BLOOM, 9. Mini-Frosted Fence Posts!, 10. “How many pictures of spring flowers in glass jars can she take?” they asked. , 11. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Mahatma Gandhi, 12. IMG, 13. stick figures

I spent a bit of time with PSE playing with my photo above. I can't quite decide which version I like best.
The photo below I used Pioneer Woman's Soft Faded action, to well, soften it. I really like the softness. But I also like the pop of color on the first image. I used PW's Boost action on the first photo. If you haven't tried actions, PW's set are a great set to begin with. Lots of different effects and they are free and simple to download and install.

What do you think? Burst of color or soft and faded? Have a great Tuesday!

xo
maureen

the color of winter

2011-02-06T23:11:00.000-06:00

I don't have much of a green thumb when it comes to house plants. They tend to be such needy things. You know, things like sun and water. I have a tendency to forget the water part, and sun during the winter can be elusive. But this plant has been with me for over 10 years, and many moves. When I taught, it was in my classroom and the children took care of it. I was only responsible for it over summer break. It always flourishes in the heat and humidity of Midwest summers. For the last five or six winters it's had to struggle through with only me to occasionally take notice of it. And for a few winters it was always in danger of being nibbled on by Queen Ripson, the house ~~royalty~~ cat .

This winter has been different. The only place in the house where I could find room and light for it is in my bedroom. It has been a pleasure to wake up each morning to be greeted by a vibrant green reminder of summer. And I have made a point to tend to it more carefully. We have both survived the winter better this year.

Perhaps it's been the company.

While I enjoy a bit of color in my room, it is still rare to find color outdoors right now. I took this shot last week during the ice storm we had. Recently as I watched some tutorials from Kim Klassen, I threw this texture on top of this photo as I was practicing some PSE tips. When I sat down at my computer the next morning it was still on the screen. And I thought, how true, there is beauty to be found during winter.

maureen

photo challenges and a winner

2011-02-05T19:25:00.010-06:00

This weekend I'm participating in two photo challenges. One is hosted at Kim Klassen's Test Kitchen. Players submit an SOOC (straight out of the camera) image to the flickr pool. Then each person chooses someone else's photo to process. I chose this lovely photo {above} of a vintage sled, taken by beachscooter. I then used three of Kim's textures to process it. Of course I wanted a vintage feel to the finished photo. I was pretty happy with the final image. {mouse over to see the original}

Over at twoscoopz the word for this week for Focus 52 is framed. It was the perfect opportunity for me to take my vintage Kodak Duaflex camera out to try some TtV photography.

You can find out more about using vintage cameras and TtV here.

Processed with Pioneer Woman's sepia actions.

Processed with Pioneer Woman's 70s actions.

I think I said I would post the winner of the copy of Artful Blogging on Wednesday. Um. Yeah. Well, it's been a busy week? Do you have snow where you are? Because we do, and while it's pretty, {until you have to go out and shovel it} can I just say I'm so over it? I woke up to another four inches of the white stuff this morning. *sigh*

Thank you to all of you who left such sweet comments on the Artful Blogging post. And welcome new visitors from Artful Blogging.

Okay, the giveaway. I did the random number generator thing and copied it, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to put it in my post. I know I did it before, but apparently I've used up all my brain cells getting the mouse over to work on my last post.

Alrighty then, drum roll please . . .
and the winner is . .
Suzanne from Meridian Road!

Suzanne, come on down . . . you're the next contestant . . . oh, sorry, wrong game.

If you're not familiar with Suzanne's blog, stop by and give her some bloggy love. She has a gorgeous home, and the most creative and inspired DIY and trash to treasure projects. Rumor is, Pottery Barn trolls her blog for ideas. See for yourself here.

These lockers are one of my favorite make over projects of hers. Aren't they gorgeous?

She created this trumeau mirror from an old wooden door, and won a montly contest at DIY club.

She is so clever and creative.

Congrats Suzanne, send me your snail mail info.

Hope you all have a super fun super bowl Sunday.

maureen

texture love

2011-02-03T00:09:00.009-06:00

Currently we are musing about applying texture layers to your photographs at Mortal Muses. (you can read my post here) Often I take photos with the express purpose of applying a texture, mostly of still lifes using my vintage finds. But I find that landscapes work beautifully for texture work also.
Once I have the photo open in Photoshop Elements, I begin to feel like an artist. There are so many options, and often I will lose track of time as I try layers of textures and different techniques I've learned from Kim Klassen's tutorials.

The photo above is a great combination of things I love. A gorgeous old red wooden wagon, with an antique sign, in the country and in the snow! It was sitting near an antique store and had another sign on the ground that I thought was distracting. Once open in PSE I cloned out the sign and began playing with layers of texture. I like the vintage feel it has.
For a bit of fun, hover your mouse pointer over the image and you can see the before image. I love before and afters!

I did a little PSE magic in the photo above also. One of the snowflakes has come off the mug, so there are only two large snowflakes left on it now. It really bothered me visually, so I cloned one of the snowflakes and filled it in where it should be. Then I applied one of Kim's magic scratches textures for a subtle look.

If you've never played with textures, I encourage you to try them out. There are many free tutorials on the web to get you started.

Here are a few places to get you started, these are often my first go-to places for information on textures. Muse Ashley has a new tutorial at Muse University you can also find them at Kim Klassen's Cafe, Shadowhouse Creations, and The CoffeeShop Blog.

You'll need textures also, and you can get them free from all of the sites listed above. If you already use textures, leave a comment letting us know where you find your favorite textures. I'm always looking for new ones.

Be sure to stop by Mortal Muses and say hello, and once you are there, take a look at the gorgeous texture work the other muses and our followers have done.

I know I said I would announce a winner for the Artful Blogging magazine giveaway today. Can I plead snowday? I promise to post the winner tomorrow.

thanks for stopping by

♥

maureen

winter sunshine

2011-02-01T09:34:00.000-06:00

After Christmas when the brightly colored decorations are put away, there seems a shortage of color and light for the rest of the winter season. Dull brown and gray dominate the landscape. There is a beauty to be found in the plainness of the season, but today I was craving color.

And I remind myself it won't be long before I'll find these blooming in my yard again.

Until then, I'll continue to look for and appreciate the unique beauty of the season.

I hope you are enjoying the beauty of the season where you live.

♥ maureen

i'm an artist?

2011-01-29T22:41:00.003-06:00

A few years ago, not long after I discovered blogs, I discovered a beautiful publication titled Artful Blogging. Published by Stampington & Company, it's as beautiful as all of their other publications. Fabulous photography beautifully printed on heavy paper. Each issue features many gorgeous "visually inspiring online journals". I read about my favorite blogs, Kim Klassen Cafe, Simply Hue, Madeline Bea Life Set To Words and found new blogs to enjoy with each issue.

Shortly after I began blogging last year, I participated in Creativity Boot Camp, an online class devoted to finding and encouraging your creative self offered by the incredibly talented Maegan from Madeline Bea Life Set To Words. During that course, participants were encouraged through daily journal prompts to explore the idea of being an artist. One of the prompts was to "think about one or two dreams that you have for your future. . . believing anything is possible, what would you wish for?"

I listed five things that were dreams for my future, things I wanted to achieve with my photography. And the idea of calling myself an artist? Naw, that didn't feel at all comfortable.

But now, six months later, four of the five things I listed, have come true. And today I got a note in the mail addressed to "Dear Artist. "

I think that Creativity Boot Camp was magical. { Maegan is going to offer the magic again this May, check here for the details.} Many other incredibly creative women I met through that class have become great friends, and continue to inspire me every day.

One of my dreams I listed, was to be featured in Artful Blogging magazine. I can't imagine anything more exciting than to be included in that publication with other amazingly creative and inspiring women bloggers. Today, I received my copy of the newest issue, with some of my photos and words published on seven pages tucked in among 16 other inspired women bloggers. *sigh* Bliss.

Last October I published a blog post about daring to dream. "If you don't have a dream, how can you have a dream come true?" I encourage you, dare to dream. When you believe in your dreams, they really do come true.

To celebrate this dream come true, I'd like to share a copy of the current issue of Artful Blogging. Leave a comment on this post, telling me one of your dreams. On Tuesday, February 1, I'll randomly choose a winner and announce it Wednesday.

Yes. I'm an artist.

♥ maureen