artful blogging

I'm loving the latest issue of Artful Blogging my sister gave me for Christmas.  It is full of inspiration and some pretty talented people and blogs I had never heard of in its pages:

Alisa Noble's lifeisabeautifulplacetobe.blogspot.com

Sibylle Roessler's fun.kyti.me

Kate Ulman's foxslane.blogspot.com

again, above, foxslane.blogspot.com

Tracy Leber's frenchlarkspur.blogspot.com

Lynda Naranjo's lynda-naranjo.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, my husband and I have been knee deep in the project of converting our basement into a play room for Leila.  Will post photos when complete in a few weeks......here is just a snippet of two parts of the project in process:

I love the power of paint!  Such a fresh new look for this otherwise traditional table:

And...can't WAIT for this project to be done.....TJ has finished studding and drywalling what will be a book nook for Leila to climb up into and read. Inspired by this blog, we had this closet virtually unused....what better way to create a special place for your little one to get lost in a good book....dreamy!!!  Again....will post pics in a few weeks when done.........so excited!

away

 

 

             
Out in the country enjoying a relaxing week before the temperature really drops and Winter arrives.  My parents have their wood stacked and are ready for cozy fires and the impending cold.  A heavy rain this morning left a beautiful and interesting fog. 
          

             

here's to you....

After 9/11 I was a fearless soul.  Deciding we can never know what tomorrow will bring, I set out to find more meaning in this crazy thing called life.  I left the stability and comfort of my job to open a store in Shab Row of downtown Frederick.  I called it, what else, apropos.  And there I sold my paintings, home decor items and also drove out to customer's homes and created one of a kind drawings and paintings for them.

While I only managed to stay open for two years, I learned very quickly the value of the dollar and more importantly, the meaning of life long friends.  To this day, I believe I was meant to open my store where I did to meet one of the most incredible people I know.

Shab Row is a lovely little area and it was thriving when I opened.  Just three row houses down from my little store stood another store, Evangeline.  The first time I went in I was overwhelmed with the smell of lavender, the vibrant colors and a woman with wildly curly, blonde hair running around speaking French like it was her job.  I was intimidated.  Apparently she was leaving for France the next day and was heading a tour. 

That was the beginning of a wonderfully fabulous friendship that has since blossomed into one of the most important relationships in my life.  Although we have a twenty year age gap, no matter how many years between us we relate on so many levels.  With a mutual love for art and creativity....we have spent countless hours in her store and back garden swapping ideas, plans...dreams.  Her store carries so much meaning for me....she hosted a sold out art show for me in 2006, the garden in the back was the spot for my bridal shower and it is a place I can go to breathe in lavender and always count on good conversation.

And so, it is bittersweet that after 13 years, Carol recently closed the doors of Evangeline and is setting out on a journey of her own.  She is moving to France.

We had a girl's night to celebrate all the wonderful things happening in our lives and simply had to share some photos.

Carol lives in a charming historic apartment in downtown

Her fabulous vintage sink

one of my paintings in her kitchen

Carol's vintage original Elf on the Shelf

the lights of frederick

tiara day

the canal

brought over my old college portfolio and talked about ideas

 

So, here's to you my sweet friend.  You are a source of inspiration!  May your travels bring you everything you have ever dreamed of.  Godspeed.

{ If you are interested in tours to France through Carol Etheridge, you must go here }

boo!

First, a little pumpkin fairy would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!  She has found mommy's wallet, I think she is trying to tell me we need to go to the store and buy candy...

Working on a big custom framing project at the moment and will post photos in a few weeks of the finished product.  In the meantime, I adore these old photos of my husband's grandmother on his mom's side. They are absolutely precious and I had some frames stored away in our basement and found them to be perfect matches for the old, vintage style.  I have the perfect spot in mind for them...in our room which is painted a rust, orangeish, redish tone.  (ps...don't you just love the porcelain doll?)



the handmade ornament

It's no secret that I am a sucker for all things handmade.  When I was growing up, like most, I loved decorating our Christmas tree each year and I loved even more all of the ornaments with photos.  You know the ones you make for your parents in kindergarten with your school photo...the older you got the more embarrassing it was to see.  My husband and I have a huge box full of black and white photos of us growing up which I made into ornaments and hung on tree branches to use on our centerpieces at our wedding reception.  Now, we use them as our Christmas ornaments so our entire tree is full of black and white photos.  love it.

I decided to make a few Christmas ornaments for my sister and brother in law using pics from the last year as a small gift to give them this weekend...they are Leila's Godparents.  They will be here for her baptism and first birthday party on Sunday...it's a small token of appreciation but I'm sure will get many years of use:

Gaining Weight Never Sounded So Good

It has been 6 days of intense nursing every 2 hours after our doctor let us know last week that Leila was not gaining enough weight. After a lot of hard work and determination, we were relieved to find out she has gained 6 oz., putting her that much closer to her birth weight! I've never been so happy to see a scale in my life :) Aside from that, the doctor said Leila is thriving and doing wonderfully! We are proud parents...here is a taste of some photos we had taken of her last week.