Fifi and Mark visited!

Last Friday was a special day - beloved magazine editor Fifi O'Neill and fabulous photographer Mark Lohman visited our house!!!!  I'm still pinching myself that they were here.
You can imagine how nervous I was, prepping our home for a photo shoot. I don't think the house has ever been this clean.
They were such fun to meet in person.  Fifi is beautiful on the inside and out, with her sweet French accent and her kindness.  They are both very easygoing and have a great sense of humor.  Mark had my kids giggling when they arrived after school, appreciating their Animators' Workshop (a.k.a. my son's room).

It was intriguing to see how these two pros work....checking out each room for potential shots and then styling the room with vignettes, flowers, food, etc.  I was happy to fill in as an assistant, moving around curtains and such, trying to do anything useful.
There were a few tips I picked up, such as you can mix the morning's cold coffee with water to make faux 'tea' for a shot.  Also, dried lavender comes out too dark for printed photos.  Who knew?  Fifi and Mark of course!  Mark also taught me the trick of snacking on the grapes at the back of the bowl during the photo shoot.  

Since our home's shoot was the very last day of a two-week trip, Fifi needed a well-deserved nap here:

She also found some great reading lying around...the new Prairie Style magazine!    

But before resting, she worked hard reviewing photos and arranging the gorgeous flowers...

It was such a delight to have you here, Fifi and Mark.  I love how you captured our little home in pictures, and made this nervous girl feel at ease.
Safe travels and more wonderful success to you both!

Lilacs!

Hello friends,
I picked some lilacs from our white and purple bushes a couple of weeks ago, and am just now getting the photos posted.  They were gorgeous while they lasted....

Sweet potted geranium outside the shed

This blog has been neglected lately, as I was cleaning and primping for a special guest - the wonderfully talented editor Fifi O'Neill!  I'm still pinching myself that she visited our house last week, along with the amazing photographer Mark Lohman.  For real!!!
Needless to say, I was on cloud 9 the entire day and will share more about it soon.  In the meantime, look what Fifi found to read while she was here.  The latest Prairie Style magazine!

 

Prairie Style Patina

You know how some visits to the flea market are better than others?  Some days you don't find anything to your liking, and other days you see eye candy galore.  Well, my last visit to the flea was a very good day.  It seemed like items on my 'wish list' were there just for me to find, plus I found a parking spot easily!

Our homestead is getting spruced up for a special visitor in the next few weeks, and these pieces really fit the look I'm going for.  I have to give a shout-out to my husband who has been a very good sport about all the tweaking I've been doing.  :)

Behold this prairie style cabinet...

I absolutely love its' chippy patina and soft gray and rose colors under the cream paint.

For a long time I've been dreaming of a farmhouse kitchen table.  I knew this one from the flea market was a keeper, with its' wonderful gray/blue faded paint :

Love the drawers, too...

These furniture pieces were cleaned and sealed once I got home, just to be safe.

Last, but not least, I found this adorable white cubby cabinet and vintage wood box.

They've made their way to my little studio in the bedroom, which I'll try to share soon.  Just love the grayish tint on this box!

Have you hit the flea markets yet?  Ahhh...gotta love spring!

I'm sharing these over at:
Blissful Whites Wednesday
Grey Dey Thursdey
Feathered Nest Friday
Shabbilicious Friday

Artful Blogging Summer 2014

Hope you all enjoyed a joyful Easter!  We had family in town visiting and it was wonderful, followed by a week's vacation for the kids.  Now I'm getting back into our routine, and I wanted to share some fun news with you.  Back in January, I was contacted by Christine Stephens, the editor of Stampington's Artful Blogging magazine.  She asked if I'd like to contribute an article, and of course I was thrilled to do so!

It will be published in the Summer 2014 issue, set to hit newsstands May 1st.  I received my artist's copy last week, and it's a great issue.  I was super excited to see that Maria from Rusty Hinge also had a article in this issue.  I love her blog!

It is so surreal to see my words and photos in a magazine, and this was a fun article to write.  I shared a treasure hunting story that I knew fellow bloggers could appreciate.  :)

(so cool to get a shout-out on the cover!)

We're finally seeing some spring blooms around here, so thought I'd give you a look at some vibrant forsythias on our dining table:

And I couldn't resist these soft-colored carnations at the grocery store today...

Happy spring!

At Home with White - 2014

This past weekend I was so fortunate to spend a lovely morning at the Wrentham Country Store's annual At Home with White Event.  It was better than ever!  My first visits were in 2011 and 2012, and I was so happy to return this year.  Sandi and all the shop girls did an amazing job in that gorgeous white tent.  I'll let you take a peek around...

(that rusty stool came home with me!)

One of the highlights of the day was meeting Kris from Junk Chic Cottage.  She and her hubby Terry came all the way from Chicago!  Kris was such a joy to meet!  She had a warm, bubbly personality, just as you would expect from her friendly blog.  Terry was such a good sport, taking lots of photos with all our cameras and helping Kris score some treasures.  She and Terry arrived early in the morning on Saturday, and from what we hear - it was a mob scene!  By the time Michelle and I arrived around 10:30am, the place was hopping and the lines were long.  Way to go WCS shop girls!

Here's a photos of us bloggers.  It's hard to believe that Michelle, Sandi and I all met at this very same spot just 3 years ago!

(Michelle, Kris, me, Sandi - photo courtesy of Michelle)

We spent so much more time chatting than shopping (shame on us), and I was a bad blogger by not getting any indoor shots or pictures of the gorgeous porch.  I was too busy ooohing and aahing over everything!
Michelle did get a picture with her camera as we visited inside with sweet Karen.  Karen used to blog at Shabby Moment in Time, but she hasn't found the 'time' for that these days.  :)

Ladies, it was a joy to spend that morning with you - laughing, hugging and talking about sour cream in freezers and such (funny story Kris!).  We advised Kris and Terry to check out Concord, MA on Sunday and I'm sure Kris will fill you in on that visit, especially since she stopped in at the wonderful Nesting store.

My sweet sister Michelle lives nearby and she joined us, too, and even scored a cute Victorian chair.  It was fun shopping with you sis!  (darn, wish we got a photo together)

So...wondering what I brought home?  3 fabulous treasures!
This rusty stool and this chippy old box...

Look closely at their fabulous patinas....sigh....

I also nabbed these vintage math flash cards.  Thought I'd make a vignette on the stool using the flash cards and some $1 baker's twine I found at Target recently:

Well ladies, it was a wonderful time to be had at the event - all those whites never disappoint.  Oh and Jan from Todd Farm, if you're reading this it was so nice to see you!  You ran off and we never got to chat more with you.  You looked amazing and we hope you scored some treasures.

I'm joining in at these great parties this week:
Blissful Whites Wednesday
Grey Dey Thursdey
Be Inspired Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Shabbilicious Friday

Fun with Stencils and At Home with White this weekend!

Hello friends!
First off I wanted to let you know that the spectacular At Home with White event is this weekend at the Wrentham Country store!!!  Woo hoo!  Are you jumping up and down?  If you are in the area, please make sure you don't miss this annual extravaganza.  I've been twice (see here and here) and have been amazed at all the yummy white and neutral treasures to be found.
Once again, Michelle and I are making a trip down to Wrentham and we are looking forward to seeing Sandi & all the WCS gang there, as well as meeting Kris who's travelling all the way from Chicago!!

The only challenge will be to stop hugging and chatting and laughing in order to snag treasures before some other lucky shopper grabs them!

I also want to share with you results of a recent project.  Some of you may recall that our dining table, chairs and buffet are a dark mahogany.  That finish was a compromise reached by hubby and I many years ago.  I'm not fond of warmer wood tones and he's not fond of too much painted furniture.  Bless him, he puts up with a lot of white in this old house.
Nevertheless, I grew tired of looking at those dark chair backs in our dining room.  Slipcovers to the rescue!  I had already covered the backs of 2 armchairs, and decided to cover the rest.  I simply stencilled on some words to canvas dropcloth using letter stencils and a black fabric marker.  I wanted them to look French grain sacky (is that an adjective?).
Here is the result...

I continued having fun with stencils by making these little bags from more canvas drop cloth:

They look right at home next to a bunch of lavender in this old fruit crate.

I got the lavender at the cutest Frenchy shop nearby, called Brissonte.  Michelle and I took a fun shopping trip there yesterday, as well as an antiques mall next door.  I got this funnel there, just because I liked the patina.  A woman in the store asked what I would do with it.  She and another gentleman thought it would be fun for a Tin Man costume.  I'll just display it for now, but will keep that in mind next Halloween!

I also found these lovely vintage bobins at the antiques mall.  Heavenly...

Well friends, hope to see you Saturday at the At Home with White event.  We'll be sure to post lots of photos of the event next week!

I'm joining in at these great parties:
Grey Dey Thursdey
Be Inspired Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Shabbilicious Friday