Advertising my favorite author - do you know her?

I love Alexander Stoddard. She is one of the most interesting designers, self-help teachers I have explored. I purchased my first book entitled "Tea Celebrations" over twenty years ago. Since then, I've found many more. I wasn't using this cute metal planter urn so I placed my small collection there. It looks good and I enjoy having all of Alexander's books in one spot. And, better still - I'm making great use of this great piece of garden piece.

Cottage accents for any place

Found these two cute picture frames painted white with bead board added as a background. The large chrysanthemum flower was added for color. These were a "quick fix" for a previously owned B&B cottage. I think they add a punch of cottage accent any place. On a porch, perhaps a hallway, even a guest room. The cottage look is always neat and refreshing.

Let me introduce my favorite plant to you

I love geraniums. I've never seen one I didn't love, want to bring home and nurture it and give it a home. This little gem was given to me as a gift from a good friend who had planted many annuals around her patio and had this cute specimen left over and had no place for it. I happened to be visiting her later the same day and she kindly presented it to me, knowing how much I loved it. I brought it home, enjoyed it all summer and when the late October nip in the air settled in, I brought it inside and placed it in the only available spot to receive light in our basement. It was meant to survive the high traffic area it was placed in and the occasional drink of water when I passed by and saw its drooping leaves. But I prevailed and all winter, watched the little plant take on a few new leaves and when March came around this year, I planted it in a larger pot and gave it a prominent place in my kitchen window. The first photo (if I uploaded correctly) shows the bloom as it emerges and the second shot displays the gorgeous color in full color. Don't you just love geraniums - they are so..........easy to maintain. Please try one.

Borrowed idea to stunning enhancement

My cousin Patty used a cherished teapot and inserted an ivy plant in the bottom of it and displayed it on her living room fireplace mantle. It looked great; however my ivy is in a huge pot and the area I wanted to use something like this did not allow sufficient light. So............I sought to do a similar project, using one of my teapots. I must have checked every Christmas packed box in the basement for the electric lights that I planned to place in the bottom of the teapot. Finally..............they were located and then I proceeded to find suitable flowers or greenery to complete the project. It packs a big punch, didn't take too long to do the thing and I love it. Thanks cousin Patty for a great idea.

New found treasures - ripe for picking

Had to run an errand this morning, so while I was out, stopped at our local and my FAVORITE thrift shop - DAV to hunt for some neat items. Was I lucky or what? I love the books - if you can't make out the titles, one is BH&G Cottage Style dated 1998 - hard back for a price of $2; another great find is: Katie Brown's Weekends dated 2005. Little more at $5. Ethan Allen's New American Style published in 2001 for $2.50 and the last book was BH&G Small House Big Style published 2000. Picked this one up for $2. All hardback and in great shape. I wonder about the person who owned the books previously. I usually write my name and perhaps something about why I purchased it and usually write down the date. None of these had such a personality attached to them. But they have a home now - notes in all four and they will reside here with me for now. The beautiful water color painting was only $2.50 and the nice green/brown fern fabric runner was only $1. How fortunate I was to be out and about this morning. Oh - almost forgot the wicker sleigh - how cute it will be this Christmas on my window frame exhibit with some deer in front. Of course the nice linen drying towel was a neat find at $1 too.

From a favorite linen skirt to neat accent pillow

Here I go again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Needing to share a post with you, I rummaged through my old clothes - many of which I can no longer wear, BUT BUT BUT I love the thing, kept it in my closet for years, hoping to get back into a size 8, but as we all know, as we age, our bodies do too. I'm in a 10-12, but recently decided to "go with it - face it and know that I will NEVER get into some of these clothes AGAIN". Rather than give them to Goodwill, I opted to make something really cute and enjoy that favorite garment in another way. I loved the simple white linen skirt with the ever so slight dark beige thread that made up the edge of the flowers on the bottom of the skirt. Lots of top stitching on this skirt, which adds to its beauty. I cut two sections of the skirt, leaving a good edge to allow for hem and created this cute pillow. I love to hang pillows of this type EVERYWHERE. I recently completed my bedroom walls with sheet rock compound to cover up some really BAD plaster. Didn't know what to hang over the bed, so I opted to hang a cute item and thought about the pillow - I think its really cute and is just the right amount of simplicity to compliment the rest of the room. You can see just a small portion of the neat silk brown/turquoise cornices - IF you don't have a favorite skirt to use in this manner - a cute initial done on a pillow would work well.

From bedspread to setee cover

When this nice all white chenille bedspread was purchased years ago, I didn't realize it was a full size - it has been stashed away until yesterday when I decided to look at it closely. I have no full size bed, so the next best thing to do was to recycle. The wicker settee on my screened porch needed a quick fix for the summer and the other cover I made earlier was beginning to fade. All I had to do to make this work was measure the length for the hem, being careful to not cut into the basket work design of the spread. Hems on each side gave sufficient coverage to allow a portion to drape over the back of the settee. Using the same four bed pillows makes for an easy fix to last until fall. Love to recycle anything - that's my goal. Do you recycle items - move them to another spot in your home - most any item serves multiple purposes - as Gayle says "think outside the box". Oh - the small tablecloth on table was made earlier from another bedspread.

New purpose for a small corner shelf

Don't you love it when anything can be used in more than one spot - an item that takes on a new personality when placed with other things you love. I have always loved SMALL books and have many. Displaying these tiny treasurers is sometimes daunting. Last week I redid our bedroom and took everything off the walls, including a cute, wooden small hanging corner shelf. I think these were popular in the 40's and I had hung it in the corner of the room displaying a small collection of the famous Little Gallery Pewter Collection from years ago. Tired of this look and always having to dust them, I took the shelf down, cleaned it and wondered off and on during the painting project "where to use this shelf again". Then I thought of my small books and decided to use the shelf in a horizontal position and place the books on it. Looks really cute - reinforces my purpose to re purpose a treasured piece. It looks great on the shelf, above the tv.

Have you seen this type of bookend?

Just wondering if any of our followers have seen bookends like this pair? They were spotted in our local DAV thrift shop, priced at $2.50 but were half off. Each one must weigh more than five pounds and are made of glass. I loved them at first glance, paid the $1.25 and could not wait to get the pair home to wash them and find a place among my bookshelves to display them. I chose to display them alone in order to show them off - aren't they neat? Would they be Art Deco or what?

Recycle/repurpose when you can

Recently picked up a great looking Eileen Fisher 100% silk jacket at the Salvation Army while visiting my cousin Patty in Alexandria Va. The size was way...........too small (PSM) which clearly is a petite small. I knew the instant I spotted this treasure that it would become a neat, one-of-a-kind pillow for my bedroom. I love anything that resembles tucks (after all - it's my last name). Removing the sleeves was first, then I simply cut the front of the jacket ACROSS from seam to seam, turned it wrong side out and using the front opening (no zippers or buttons were on the jacket)sewed the appropriate size to fit a pillow form I switch out all the time. I used a complimenting ribbon down the front of one side and it was complete. Took less than 10 minutes to re purpose this gorgeous jacket. Now - what should I do with those neat sleeves? Any suggestions???????????