GypsyFarmGirl

Bathroom Makeover - Towel Holder

2012-03-01T05:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I shared my little chippy chair and today, I'm sharing the bigger picture! I am slowly working on renovating our bathroom. I was really needing a towel holder and this wall was blank, so I decided to hang this shutter on the wall. Two nails inserted through the hinges secure the shutter to the wall.

So you may be asking, " what's holding the towels?"

Farmall Man had a very inquisitive look on his face when I ask if we had any broken bungee cords laying around somewhere. With life on the farm, there is always a bungee cord somewhere. Low and behold, he had a drawer of salvaged metal S hooks. My man doesn't throw anything away ;) We recycle and reuse!

So the S hooks are used to hold the towels! No nails or damage to the shutter and an easy-peasy fix.

I already had the vintage shutter and bath sign on hand, I create a square rag wreath by using a picture frame base, and found the license plate for 25 cents at the garage sale last week. The shower curtain, complete with hooks, was found, new in package at a garage sale for a $1.00 last fall.

A recycled wooden picture frame was used to frame a basic mirror.

The old chair serves as a tub-side table.

I'm excited about my new towel rack and having towels hanging at an arm's reach from the bath tub.

Now on to the next bathroom project...I need a new vanity. I have something very unique in mind, if I can only pull it all together!

This Old Chippy Chair

2012-02-28T22:38:00.001-06:00

I happened upon my first garage sale of the season last week and found this neat little chair for $5.00! I couldn't pass it up, as I saw too much potential. Better yet, no painting or sanding was required to get the look I like!

Just the day before, I had been cleaning out a cabinet and found the rusty, vintage scale. For the life of me, I don't know why I've been storing the scale. I mean what was I thinking? I decided to use a couple of old encyclopedia books to elevate the scale. After all, my husband insist we keep the books, so I should use them to decorate with!

I decided to cut a few fresh jonquils from the yard and placed them in a fruit jar with a burlap tie. A couple of candles completed the arrangement.

I love the shabby chic style chair and am glad I stopped by that garage sale.

Tomorrow I'll share where the chippy chair is sitting and the bigger picture! Here's a hint - any guesses what room?

I'm linking to the following:

Vintage School Desk

2012-02-28T09:20:00.002-06:00

We came across this vintage style school desk at a garage sale last November and its been sitting in our storage building ever since then, begging for something to be done with it. Farmall Man just could not pass it up for $10!

Someone had already painted it aqua blue, but hadn't done a great job of painting it. Instead of repainting it, I decided to distress it some and sanded down the rough places to give it a worn and aged feel.

Paul apparantly spent lots of time in this desk and carved his name on top.

Lots of other students spent lots of time drawing and writing on the inside of the desk. I found a Jack and Clinton scribbled inside.

Someone must have been very aggitated with the teacher one day because you can see a Shut Up and Make Me!

Now that the desk is cleaned up and spider free, we've got to figure out just where to put our old desk! Our little house is so crowded. I really want to use it as my husbands end table beside his chair, but that would mean having to reorganize all his stuff and we nearly get divorced if I move all his books and papers! Maybe I can get him to fix up his space soon!

Turtle, Turtle

2012-02-26T08:45:00.000-06:00

Turtle, Turtle!

I made my brother stop his four wheeler so I could take a picture of the turtle on a log in the pond (below) when the bigger turtle above tried to steal the show!

Here's both the turtles together.

My brother says I take too many pictures!

I had already taken several pictures of Creeks...

Buzzard Eggs...

Trees...

And more tree reflections in the pond.

Oh well, he doesn't realize us bloggers like to take lots of pictures to share! We saw a pair of hawks and a pair of road runners, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get their pictures. Or should I just say dear brother didn't stop the four wheeler in time for me. Yeah, thats it!

Brenda Photo Challenge - Favorite Things

2012-02-25T08:15:00.000-06:00

Today's Brenda's Photo Challenge theme is These are a Few of My Favorite Things. Whew, I've got a lot of favorite things, so this was hard to narrow it down!

Going to Antique Tractor Shows with my "peeps" and then sharing ice cream afterwards.

Daffodils blooming at the end of winter and spending time in my yard are always favorites.

Road trips to see the Texas Bluebonnets rate high as well. I can't wait to go back again!

Moe is my favoritest horse of all time ♥ Such a fun horse to ride!

I've got a busy weekend planned, but I hope to visit all soon! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tom and Jerry

2012-02-22T22:33:00.000-06:00

Tom and Jerry took a rare break from playing and rough housing to take an afternoon nap!

I had been working outside, sanding on a desk, and decided to grab my camera to take a few pictures. When I came out the front door, I found these two taking a nap by the old wheelbarrow in the yard.

They were just too darn cute laying there together.

They must have been really tired because they didn't even notice I was there snapping pictures.

I left them sleeping to go take pictures of my desk project and promise to share pictures of it soon!

P.S. Tom and Jerry said to tell you their Mama is doing better and has been staying outside keeping watch over the place. She's still hobbling around, but she can make it pretty fast on three legs when the food bowl rattles!

Grandmama

2012-02-21T21:43:00.001-06:00

Today would have been my sweet Grandmama's 85th birthday. It's been 10 years since I last got to take her a bouquet of fresh daffodils.

Growing up, my brother and I would pick daffodils from her yard and run inside like we had this amazing bouquet for her birthday. Grandmama would always get a cup or mason jar and display the flowers on the table.

This is the best picture I have of the two of us. This was taken as we were leaving my cousin's wedding.

Daffodils always remind me of her and when I started my own garden, I transplanted some of her daffies to my yard. They just hold a special place in my heart and garden.

The sweet smell of daffodils wafting through the yard and the bright and happy flowers always remind me of my sweet and happy Grandmama. Oh how I miss her…

New Hats

2012-02-19T22:53:00.002-06:00

I added a few new Military Style Hats to my etsy store this weekend.

The first one has a fabric flower with burlap, sheer, and floral print material. Rhinestones flourishes scroll on each side of the shabby chic flower.

These caps with distressed crosses and rhinestone bling accents are always a favorite with my friends and great for bad hair days!

Peace, Faith, and Love Cap

This shabby chic cap has been in my store for a few weeks and has got several hearts! ♥ Who doesn't like burlap flowers and turquoise bling?

Don't forget for a short time you can use coupon code GYPSYXOXO to get 10% off each item as I continue to celebrate my one year anniversay sale!

Garden Ideas

2012-02-17T23:23:00.000-06:00

Today was a cold and rainy day in East Texas, with a forecast and possible flash flooding this weekend, but this girl was dreaming about gardening plans, starting seeds, planting those freshly sprouted seeds in the yard, dirt in my finger nails (that's a good thing), and what theme my yard will take on this year.

I look back on last years garden and look forward to this years crop of colorful blooms in our yard and I am thinking that vintage, rustic, shabby chic, recycled will be the prevelant theme this year.

I remember when I dug this shopping cart out of the junk out back and my husband saying I could use it "till he needs it for something else"! It's still in my flower bed and I hope he doesn't want to reclaim it this spring.

I think I will replant flowers in my old wash tub and in the gym locker attached to the vintage bicycle. I slipped multiple pots in the galvanized wash tub and I was so glad I was able to change out the plants in the bucket as the seasons progressed.

Ever since the gazebo makeover last summer, I have been pondering how the gazebo will look with spring flowers in bloom. I have visions of hanging baskets cascading with blossoms and rustic containers recycled with grasses and flowers spilling over the sides.

Suzy has sure enjoyed the gazebo and I will have to replace the chair cushion this spring. I'm thinking something burlap/feed sacks. I am ready for the warmer evenings spent outdoors with a glass of tea, lit with candle light and occasional sightings of critters among the plants.

For some reason Little House on the Prairie episodes come to mind when I think about our initials carved on the post of the gazebo! I loved Laura Ingalls and read all her books over and over when I was younger. (I still have the complete set.) I would dress up in my bonnet and skirt pretending to live on the prairie, and thought that the best thing about being sick and missing school was getting to watch Little House on the Prairie on television! I guess you could say I've loved vintage style since I was a young girl!

I'm ready for the lilies to be blooming along my rustic rope fence in front of the greenhouse

and ready for summer nights when the moths are fluttering through the yard feeding on the four o'clocks.

I patiently wait for the sunflowers to bloom and the frogs to show up again in the canna leaves.

I have a sign in my greenhouse that reads "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." I am thankful for the rain we are receiving this winter, as it is helping to ease our drought conditions and it is encouraging the thought of planting spring flowers. I believe tomorrow and next season will be better and aided by flowers in the yard, the coming days will be more beautiful!

I am linking this post to Funky Junk Interiors.

Ready for Spring!

2012-02-16T22:19:00.000-06:00

Ahhhhh! Valentine's is o-v-e-r!!! That means its time to look foward to Spring.

Confused? As a florist, Valentine's week is our busiest week of the entire year and I seem to measure time by: before Valentine's Day or after V-Day. I am sooo proud that we are at the after point. Now I can look foward to gardening seasoning, the days getting longer, daylight savings time changing soon, warmer days and shucking the long sleeve shirts and jackets, flip flops and some sun on my face. I know its a bit early for all the items on my list, but now they are on the horizon.

The past two days have been spent trying to relax after the insane hours we worked over the last week and a half, but now I am in the mood for spring and being creative. We had all the signs of an early spring, then we had a cold snap hit last weekend and Monday morning we had a light dusting of snow and some sleet. I'm glad it didn't last long and didn't stick on the roads.

Its just 33 days until the official start to spring!!! Are you ready?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T00:01:00.036-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day Y'all!

The Junk Gypsies shared this picture recently and allowed anyone to pass it on and share it.

Gotta love the junk gypsies, but most of all,

♥♥♥I LOVE Y'ALL♥♥♥

MY friends and customers who stop by and comment on my blog with an encouraging word, follow along and talk on twitter and pinterest, and support my etsy store.

You are the ones I love and appreciate!

I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!

As a token of my LOVE and to celebrate GypsyFarmGirl.etsy.com 's ONE year anniversary recently, I am having a sale in my etsy store. Use coupon code: GYPSYXOXO to get 10% off each item. Hurry as this sale won't last long!

As a florist, this is the longest and busiest week of the year for us. I scheduled this post ahead of time and will try to catch up with everyone soon. When I get home today, I will crash, because if history holds true, I will be running on about two hours sleep today.

XOXO,

Janice ♥

We got names!

2012-02-13T00:58:00.006-06:00

Hey Y'all!

Tom and Jerry here, writing for our owner today as she is really busy at work right now. She said something about Valentine's Day or something like that.

We just wanted to say thanks for helping name us last week! Its nice to have names other than Porky and Husky. What was our owner thinking? I mean yea, we had some baby fat, but we are out growing that. Names like those were making us feel bad about ourselves.

Thank you Jill, for giving us cute names! We now get called Tom and Jerry and thats great with us!

Our owners said to tell you that our mama is still recovering from her injuries and she is doing ok. Mama is hobbling around with her broken leg and they take her in the house at night. We are having to sleep by ourselves in the greenhouse when she goes inside. We aren't too happy about that though. We miss mama sleeping with us. She's getting all kinds of attention.

Mama's got a weird name, they call her PLT. They said something about taking her to the vet after they found her abandoned nine years ago and the lady at the vet's office looked over the counter at mama and said "aww, you Poor Little Thing" and entered her in the computer as PLT.

Jill, we are glad you give us some great names! Thank you to everyone who made some great suggestions. I'm sure we will be seeing you around sometime soon as our owner likes to tote her camera around a lot!

♥, Tom and Jerry

Chasing Down the Sun

2012-02-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

This afternoon on the way home from work and farm chores, I noticed the sun was setting with some spectacular views.

I was driving down the backroads, without any traffic, so I was able to stop in the middle of the road and take a few pictures.

I always keep my point and shoot camera with me in my purse for when scenes like these play out before me.

The sky was just kinda blah at this point along the way, but then just a few miles closer to home, the sky opened up to this spectacular view!

If you look close, you can see cattle silhouettes grazing in the field.

All these picture are straight out of my little ol' camera (with the exception of cropping one picture). I hadthe camera set on the sunset option.

I felt like I was chasing down the sun on my way home. I do believe country back roads make great places to photograph sunsets!

On another note, I'm worried about all the plants over the next two nights. We had all the signs of an early spring, with daffodils, jonquils, flowering quince, some tulip trees and bradford pear trees blooming in the area. Lots of other trees were beginning to bud, but now we are going to be dealing with 20 degree weather again. Arrrggghhhh.

This flowering quince is located at my brothers house and I took this picture about twenty minutes before the first sunset picture tonight.

Help Us Name Our Puppies!

2012-02-06T22:40:00.000-06:00

Help us name our puppies!

We seem to have lots of puppies on the farm. These two little, well not that little, guys are almost two months old and we haven't settled on names for them yet.

Their momma only raised these two out of the litter, so they have had plenty of milk and their fat little bellies can prove it! I had been calling them Husky and Porky, but my husband said we were NOT calling them that.

So please help us out and give us name ideas for these two boys! The black puppy is more out going while the yellow one is a bit more shy. They have lived most of their life in the shelter of the greenhouse and are now starting to run around the yard more.

On a side note, we came home last night to find their mom had been ran over. She survived, but has damage to her back legs, with one leg possibly broken. She's a tough old dog, so I'm sure she will pull through fine, but she is getting lots of extra attention.

Here is a list of animal names we have already used for other dogs, horses, and donkeys so we don't want to repeat these:
Bo (Duke)
Luke (Duke)
Rufus
Fido
Budro
Charlie
Jasper
Newton
Moe
Royal
Nicademus
Jack
Banjo
Leroy
Elvis
(Justin) Bieber

Can you tell little girls helped name Beiber? They also named a girl puppy Hannah (Montana)!

So what should we name these boys? Help us out! I'll be sure and let you know what we choose!

11 Fun Facts and Questions

2012-02-04T22:57:00.000-06:00

I was tagged by Pat from A View from the Edge to share 11 fun facts about myself, answer her 11 questions, and then ask you 11 questions. All games have rules, so here they are:

The Rules:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then
create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4.Tag eleven people and link them on your post
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

11 Fun Facts about Me
1. I never thought I would have animals live in my house - we have 2 dogs and 2 cats that live inside! One sitting with me now.
2. I love the color brown.
3. My etsy store turned one year old this week!
4. I love to cook sweets - there's a pan of fresh brownies cooling now!
5. My first paycheck was for $7.50. I drove a tractor for an hour and a half for my dad raking hay.
6. I was 11 when I got that paycheck.
7. I met my to-be husband when he was buying flowers to go on a date - with another woman!
8. I went to college on horse judging scholarships.
9. Growing up, the farthest I ever travelled for Christmas was 6 miles, usually just 9/10 of a mile!
10. I 'm on the search for a small vintage style camper trailer.
11. The only time I had cable tv was when I lived in a college dorm. The rest of my life 3 to 4 channels! I refuse to pay for tv.

PAT'S ELEVEN QUESTIONS

1. Do you have a hidden talent? Yes, I can team rope.
2. What is the best book you've ever read? The Bible
3. Do you buy popcorn when you go to the movie theater? Yes, but we share and its about 3 buckets a year!
4. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla
5. Best vacation place? The Grand Canyon when I was a child.
6. Do you believe in the afterlife? Yes
7. Who do you most resemble: Felix (neat-freak) or Oscar (slob) Hmmm, I can get messy, then have a fit and have to clean up everything.
8. How many hours a day are you on the computer? a) 1-3 b) 4-5 c) 6-7 d) all day A
9. How often to you comment on everyone's blogs? Not often enough. I sneak by and read some blogs from my iPod during lunch and don't have time to comment. We also have a daily download allowance with our internet and it limits how much I can visit other blogs (especially if my husband has been on You Tube!) Sorry...
10. Do you come from a big family? No.
11. Can you drive a stick shift? Heck Yeah! I started driving when I was very young. The first time I drove an automatic was in drivers ed and I kept stomping the floor looking for the clutch!

MY 11 QUESTIONS FOR YOU.
1. What is your favorite time of year?
2. Do you have any animals?
3. Whats your favorite candle scent?
4. Whats your favorite flower?
5. Do you prefer boots and jeans or dresses and heels?
6. How do you read or follow blogs?
7. Any concern over some people loosing Google Friend Connect?
8. Do you love or hate snow?
9. Canon, Nikon, or other camera?
10. Did you ever participate in 4-H or FFA?
11. Whats your favorite drink?

Okay, now I am suppose to tag 11 people to participate. I've seen several people already tagged (and my download status is running low, which limits how many blogs I can visit tonight), so if you would like to participate, just jump on in and let me know your playing along and link back to me. (Shoot it won't bother me if you want to answer the questions in the comment section.) Have Fun!

Brenda's Photo Challenge - Memories

2012-02-03T22:04:00.003-06:00

It's great to participate in Brenda's Photo Challenge again!

This weeks theme is Memories.

The week before Christmas, I went to the cemetery to deliver flowers to several of my family members. It was a dreary, cool day and I spent lots of time thinking. Can you imagine how many memories and how much history this cemetery holds? My five times great grandparents are buried here all the way down to my dad. Two years ago, I found out my husband's grandfather's infant siblings were buried here as well. This rural community cemetery holds a memorial service each year and I enjoy going and hearing the old timers tell stories and relive so many memories.

After I left the cemetery, I wasn't ready to get back in the fast lane on the highway, so I drove down a few back roads, alone with my memories and a few songs on the radio. It was just what I needed.

My yard is a place for memories as well. Many of the plants in my yard have been passed along to me by family and friends. Each plant has connections and special memories, whether they came from my husband on our first Valentine's or the plants we started when we first got married. Daffodils from Grandmama, all the flowers my mother-in-law shared and passed along from her yard that her mother had also grown. Friends, co-workers, and church ladies shared lots of plants in the first few years we were establishing a home and garden. I'll never forget the trip my great aunt took me on to gather plants from a friend of hers. Between the two ladies, I came home with a truck load of free plants. There are so many special memories in my front yard. If we ever move from here, I'll have to dig up half my yard and take it with me!

First Daffodils of the Year!

2012-01-31T21:46:00.000-06:00

So do you want to know what makes this Farm Girl happy?

Its Daffodils!!!

I notice one little daffodil bud Sunday night and when I went to check on the pretty little yellow bloom today, I saw several more flowers.

The daffodils are a few weeks early this year and I certainly hope its signs of an early spring. Groundhog day is coming and I hope he says spring is fast approaching.

The show is just beginning and it will be some time before all the daffies are in bloom, but oh the joy that can come from the first flowers of the year. They make me happy, bring a smile to my face, give hope that winters dreery days are coming to an end, remind me that its time to start seeds in the greenhouse, all the while bringing a sadness as I miss my sweet Grandmama. I always remember picking daffodils for Grandmama's birthday in February and its hard to believe that its been ten years since I did that last.

Burlap and Lace Bride's Wedding Bouquet

2012-01-30T21:20:00.000-06:00

I am seeing and hearing of so many brides incorporating burlap into their wedding. Of course I love burlap and the vintage themes that are being recreated at wedding cermonies and receptions.

I created this Bride's Bouquet by hand making chocolate, natural, and cream colored burlap and white lace flowers to complement the rustic, shabby chic, vintage weddings that are so trendy right now.

I listed the Burlap and Lace Bouquet in my etsy store this weekend and would be happy to custom make bouquets for brides and bridesmaids.

I am a happily married girl, but IF I was to ever get married again, I would want to carry this bouquet! I see so many things I would love to create and decorate with, but don't have the occasion.

The bouquet has been treated to help prevent fraying and you never have to worry about this fabric flowers wilting or trying to preserve a fresh flower bouquet.

Sunset Pictures

2012-01-28T09:37:00.000-06:00

I got up this morning, planning to participate in the Brenda Photo Challenge, but I got an email, saying the challenge has been postponed till next weekend. So how 'bout some Sunset pictures from last week? As I was downloading pictures to my computer, I found a few sunset pictures I had taken recently and thought I would share. Its been a while since we have had multicolored evenings like this and I ran and got my camera while we were feeding the animals

I'm off all weekend and hope to get caught up on several projects around here. I hope you all have a Great Weekend!

Woodpeckers and Land Mark Directions

2012-01-25T09:54:00.000-06:00

Our recent travels have taken us down several country back roads and we noticed this woodpecker perched in this tree. Farmall Man backed up, so I could get a couple of pictures of the bird.

We passed by the same tree three days later and the woodpecker was in the same location, observing the area.

Last night on my way home, I was talking on the phone to Farmall Man when he ask me where I was at. I told him I was passing the woodpecker's tree and he knew exactly where I was at! This bird has now become a landmark!

Around our parts, we like to give directions by landmarks. I've taken lots of directions to the tune of:

"once you pass the big pine tree" (ummm this is East Texas, and we all have pine trees, yet I knew I had arrived at the right place, cause yes, it was a big pine tree!)

"turn at the brown farm gate" (everyone on that road had a brown or rusty gate)

"just past the hay field" (hay is everywhere in the summer...err a typical summer anyways.)

"the road in front of the old store" (the store hasn't existed since I was a child, is now torn down, yet the road is still in front of the old store!)

"down at one-eyed horse corner" (when my dad was growing up, there was a one-eyed horse that lived at this particular corner - never saw him myself, but all these years later, I still refer to the place as one-eyed horse corner. I may be the only person left that refers to the place as such!)

"turn right and go two shakes of a pick-up truck" (had to bust out laughing after being told that one!)

"when you see the smiling dog, you're at the right house" (I never did see the famous smiling dog, but I found the right people to deliver to.)

We refer to lots of buildings by their previous tenants...you know, the old Wal-Mart, now turned three other stores, but its still "in front of the old Wal-Mart"

The old locker plant - never seen it in my life, but tell people where the beauty shop is and you must say "it's at the old locker plant" and you get an immediate, "oh yeah."

The drug store and grocery store changed names years ago, but are still occasionally referred to by the previous name.

I could go on and on about land mark directions...Do you give directions by "go down to such and such place, cross the creek, go up the hill, round the curve, yada, yada, yada" or do you use exact road number and mileage for reference? What's your favorite, funny directions?

Feed Sack Tote Bags

2012-01-22T09:36:00.001-06:00

I recently added some Feed Sack Tote Bags to my etsy store! The Tote bags are made out of recycled feed sacks, sewn with a zigzag stitched with triple reinforced handles. I recently used the totes for Christmas gift sacks, have been carrying my scrapbooking supplies in one sack and am using one tote for organizing paper work and farm records in my truck.

We generally have four different types of feed sacks on hand and each one is purchased for different animals. I named the sacks after each of the animals on our farm.Moe is my older horse, who we feed the Nutrena Life Design Senior Horse Feed.

Banjo and the donkeys have been getting a 12 % Sweet Feed.

While Trudy has been getting some Safe Choice Horse Feed recently.

PeneloPe likes her Producers Pride All-Stock Sweet Feed.

These reusuable bags would be great to use for carrying groceries, farm supplies or even your flea market finds. The sacks fold up small for easy storage in your vehicle, so you always have a green shopping bag when you need it.

Rooster Tale

2012-01-20T20:58:00.000-06:00

You know you live in the country when a Rooster greets you at the gas station!

This rooster is becoming quite a celebrity in our rural area as he hangs out all day in front of the convenience store, crowing to customers as they arrive at the pump and occasionally slipping in the store.

I had heard about the rooster from friends and Sunday I stopped to get diesel for the tractors, and low and behold if he didn't crow as I pulled in the parking lot!

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the red rooster. Now if I could only get a picture of the goat that hangs out there too. Oh yes, I said Goat! The house behind the store has several animals and the rooster and goat like to wander up to the store. I've seen the goat behind the store and eating something off the road, but never in the store parking lot. I'll be sure and share when I get the goat's picture!

I love life in the country and wouldn't have it any other way!

Purple Pansies

2012-01-09T05:04:00.002-06:00

Saturday on our trip to town, we entered Wal Mart through the Garden center and these purple pansies screamed at me and said "take me home"! Well I bought me a few pots of pansies, cause well I'm tired of the dull colors around here and my front porch steps are bare. The pumpkins are gone, Christmas decorations are gone, it was time for some fresh flower blooms.

So I planted the pansies in this old crock and a few in an old dish pan. Ahh, it felt good to get my hands in the dirt! I saw onion sets at the store too... that means gardening seasoning is getting close and since we are starting to get more rain, well I'll be eager to dig in the dirt very soon.

It's raining here as I type this and we actually got about 8 inches of rain in December, yet still fell over 20 inches short for the year. Hopefully 2012 will not see the terrible drought conditions like we did last year.

The purple pansies and a blog makeover this weekend have been just the color fix I'm needing!

They Stole My Snuggie

2012-01-08T09:16:00.000-06:00

I got a Snuggie for Christmas from a friend. I never thought about having a Snuggie for myself, but you know, its the softest, fluffiest, coziest blanket. I don't stick my arms through the sleeves, but use it more like a blanket when I do get a chance. You see my girls have stole the Snuggie!

Trixie has taken over the Snuggie, in fact she has only come to bed a couple of times since Christmas! New Year's Eve she joined us in the bed because all the fireworks were scaring her, but other than that, she rules the Snuggie!

Now Oakley has discovered the Snuggie as well and Trixie occasionally shares her blankie with the cat.

I took this picture with my iPod, when the girls actually shared part of the couch and Snuggie with me! I have to be careful, sometimes I get growled at for thinking I should be able to sit on my couch with my Snuggie!

76 Days till Spring!

2012-01-04T14:24:00.000-06:00

It a new year and that means its time to start the count down till Spring begins! Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love it when the flowers start to bloom and pretty colors return to the landscape.

With the drought this past year, I don't know if all my flowers will make it, but I am very excited that the daffodil, iris, and alstroemeria foliage is coming up!

There is more green in my yard now, than there has been in a long time. Now I can't wait till the Daffodils start to bloom and yellow blooms scattered throughout the yard! It won't be too much longer. In past years the daffodils have started blooming anywhere from the end of January to around Valentine's day.

The first seed catalogs of the year arrived in the mail box today! Yeehaw! That means more will be arriving soon and the local stores should be putting up their seed displays as they clear out the Christmas inventory!

Back Roads

2012-01-02T08:56:00.001-06:00

A few days before Christmas, I went to the cemetery where so many of my family are buried to take flowers to place on the graves. It was a somewhat cool and gloomy looking day as I travelled the country roads where I came from. Reminiscing and not wanting to get back to town and the hustle and bustle of grocery shopping and finishing my Christmas preperations, I drove the back roads for a while. Alone with my thoughts and a few songs playing on my iPod, I slowly wound my way down a few back roads that I haven't been on in many years.

Not a soul in the world knew where I was at that afternoon. Farmall Man knew I was going to the cemetery and grocery store, but I took a road less travelled as I took the long way around to get to where I was going.

We had received a nice rain the night before, and as I turned down the road, I began to wonder if it was paved the whole length of the road or if it might possibly turn to mud somewhere. I drove a few miles without seeing a single house or driveway and knew if I came to a washed out spot in the road, I would have a long ways to back out of my predictament. At one place, I finally saw a fresh set of tire tracks and knew the road had been travelled once that day.

I enjoyed my afternoon of back roads and memories, even if it only lasted for an hour or so.

Thank you 2011

2011-12-31T22:04:00.000-06:00

As the last few hours of 2011 come to an end, I think about all the events that occurred this year. A year ago, this blog didn't exist, I didn't have an etsy store, a Twitter account, Pinterest, or know anything about all the craft blogs that existed out there.

I am thankful for all of you that follow along with me here on my blog and all the other social media outlets, the customers who have purchased items from my etsy store, and the ones who have featured my work and pinned my projects. I appreciate your support as I venture along with my creative endeavors and share stories from our farming life.

I've yet to fully explore Pinterest, but am tickled these projects have been pinned this year!

The pictures above are from my blog and the items below have been pinned from my store!

I opened my etsy store, Gypsy Farm Girl on February 2 and my first item sold 3 weeks later...O happy day!

Spring is my favorite time of the year as flowers start to bloom and color returns after a long cold winter.

In April, we took two trips to view the Ennis Bluebonnet Trails. Our truck broke down the first day and Farmall Man used his incredible skills to rig our truck when the clutch bracket broke a hundred miles from home and all auto parts stores in the area did not have the part we needed. We had to drive home from Ennis without using the clutch. A hammer, channel locks, and card board from a clothes hanger held the clutch assembly in place. We had lots of rolling stops on the way home. That was an adventure, but the beautiful scenery was so worth it. I hope we can go back in 2012!

In May I shared some of my rustic garden decor and pictures from my yard. The drought hadn't hit yet.

June brought more flowers to the yard, but I was kept busy as Farmall Man was still recovering from his broken collar bone. The horses helped me mow the yard this summer! A motorcycle wreck slowed down his activity and I had to complete almost all the farm chores for a while as he heeled.

We celebrated the 4th of July by photographing a fireworks show on the lake. I learned about new camera settings for photographing the fireworks.

My Burlap and Belt Buckle Chair Covers from August were featured on Tip Junkies Top 10 Crafts to Make this Week and is my second most popular blog post to date! I jumped up and down and squealed with delight when I found out I had been featured!

August also brought about an opportunity to be an affiliate with My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software. I held my first giveaway on my blog thanks to My Memories, and anyone who uses the promotional code : STMMMS41634 can receive $10 off My Memories Software and a $10 coupon to the online store!

I've enjoyed working with the software and have actually used the scrapbooking software more for blog work (designing headers and photo collages) and for making my Christmas cards this year.

August also brought about a Makeover on our Gazebo. I love how it all turned out!

By September, the Texas drought was becoming drastic and wildfires were occurring everywhere. Our county was struck hard and one large fire happened less than a mile from our house. I was mentally making evacuation plans as we watered everything we could as the ashes dropped on our property. I've never been so scared of fire before.

December has been kind to us in the way of rainfall. Thankfully we have begun to see regular rainfall again, the burn bans have been lifted, and the ponds are filling up. I know that some of my plants in the yard have died from the drought, along with lots of trees in the area. Its sad as you drive down the roads and see the toll the drought has taken on everything. Many farmers and ranchers are hurting and hay for animals is in short supply.

I entered my moth picture in our county fair photo contest and received honorable mention in October.

In October, I received some photography advise from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors and in November, she featured my Rag Wreath on her facebook page. The wreath had already sold before her feature, but another fabric wreath from my etsy store sold that day! I love Donna's junky style and have linked to her Saturday Night Special several times. She suggested I take my photos with natural lighting and have started taking my product pictures under the gazebo.

Christmas shoppers purchased several items from my etsy store this season. I will definitely be more prepared with more items in stock for next years holidays. My rope wreaths were featured by Handmade in Texas and all the Christmas wreaths sold. I am making more wreaths and hope to get more items restocked soon.

I took down my rustic, junky, shabby chic Christmas tree today. I've never left my tree up this long and was kinda sad to take it down. I'm trying to figure out how I can decorate with the pattern paper ornaments and bed springs in the house. I'm thinking some type of wreath or garland. I'll let you know what I come up with!

I didn't realize how long this post would be or the time it would take me to write it, but as I look back on my blog and through my pictures, overall, its been a great year! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following along on my journey and supporting me with your comments and encouragement. I appreciate you ALL! Now I can't wait to see what all 2012 has to offer! I'm dreaming big and hoping its a great year for us all!

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T23:05:00.000-06:00

I hosted my first Christmas at my house this year. It was just my brother and his family. We are a small group, but we had a lot of fun together! I finally got use all the Christmas dishes I have been given over the past ten years! I cut fresh pine, cedar, and holly and layered around my serving platters.

The Menu:

Ribeye Steak

Hasselback Potatoes

Macaroni and Cheese

Baked Beans

Carrots

Rolls

Pecan Pie

Chocolate Delight

Sugar Cookies

Hay Stacks

This little man had lots of fun playing!

I made everyone take pictures before we ate! My brother hates to take pics, but I told everyone they couldn't eat Ribeye without taking a picture for me! Bribery Works!

Me and Farmall Man!

After opening gifts, my brother and I got into some pretty serious boards games! I wooped him at Connect 4 several times, but I got beat at checkers. I've got to work on my strategy before we play again! That's the checkerboard we grew up playing on at our Grandmama's house. Its a round metal set with chinese checkers on the other side.

Annie, our cat was pleased thatsome of the gifts were moved from her roost.

I was disappointed that my good camera didn't make it back from repairs in time for Christmas, but I found out today that I will get a new replacement! Thank goodness, I purchased the extended warranty.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, but if you are like me, you are glad its over and looking foward to what the new year holds.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T10:44:00.000-06:00

I want to wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas!

I am thankful for all of the friends I have made this year since I opened my etsy store and started blogging about my creative life on the farm. I appreciate all your support, comments, and words of encouragement you leave for me.

I hope you all have a wonderful time this weekend and enjoy the holidays!

{There's no snow this Christmas for us, just lots of rain for which I am thankful. After the drought we have had this year, I will not complain about rain!}

Repurposed Feed Sacks

2011-12-20T16:07:00.001-06:00

Here is the scene:

we buy feed for our animals each and every week,

we were under a burn ban for months,

feed sacks accumulate,

husband looks for cool ideas to repurpose feed sacks,

he sends me an email for feed sack tote bags,

I get out the sissors and sewing machine and make repurposed bags!

Now enter in its Christmas,

its actually started raining regularly again,

we have mud,

my coworker has horses to feed,

says she keeps getting her good boots muddy,

I found cute boots for her.

Recycled feed sack turned tote bag turned gift sack!

Every horse person needs a tote bag to carry brushes or tack in, so she will have a carry all bag to go with her new boots. I think she will like it!

While I was sewing, I made bags out of the four styles of feed sacks we have on hand right now. I love all the scenes that are printed on the sacks.

I washed the inside of the sacks, hemmed the woven feed sacks, and added ribbon handles. When the feed companies changed from paper to a more plastic style feed sack, I was upset, but now I like the idea of being able to recycle and reuse the bags!

I think I will use these for my green grocery sacks and might make me one to carry as a unique purse!

Handmade Man Gift!

2011-12-19T21:40:00.001-06:00

Each year I try and make as many of my gifts as possible. Each year I struggle with what to give the men on my list. They do not care about decorating items, wreaths, picture frames, jewelry, or candles.

We didn't draw my Father-in-Law's name for the Christmas at their house this weekend, but I still wanted to give him a little something. My husband has been in love with these vintage inspired coke bottles and had drank a few of the cokes, so I had empty bottles. I decided to refill them with a few goodies!

I looked for snacks that would fit in the bottles and came up with peanuts, red hots, and M & M's. I left one full bottle of Coke in the 4 pack. My f-i-l doesn't need a lot of sugar, so I got him some sugar free candy so he won't get in too much trouble and I'm sure he will share the other candy with his grandkids!

A few ribbons to fancy up the bottles...

Now I'm not usually the type to use shiny wrapping, preferring to use more rustic tones, but I'm also a frugal person, who accidentally got this foil type wrapping several years ago. The roll has been in the closet for several years and its perfect to gift wrap baskets with, so I used it. The paper is more like a printed cellophane than regular wrapping paper.

Now I have a little something for my f-i-l, we have left over candies and nuts to eat or make sweets with this week and my husbands is happy because he got to drink the cokes! Win-Win all the way around!

Gift Wrapping

2011-12-16T22:37:00.000-06:00

My gift wrapping is done...there's just one problem...my gift making is NOT. I still have 2-3 sewing projects that I keep putting off and I've got to get busy this weekend and finish making a few things. I love to creativly wrap my gifts and my family says there is no need to ever sign who my packages are from, because they just know!

When blue jeans are too worn out to use, I cut the pockets off and add the pocket to a natural colored gift sack. I come from a family of Cowboys, so Wrangler jeans get repurposed for gift wrap!

Can you believe this is a Foldgers Coffee Can covered in burlap? A great gift "box" and useful storage container.

Pretty bows are a must!

I had the instruction sheets that were part of the patterns I got at Goodwill to make my Christmas tree ornaments and decided to wrap a Pioneer Woman Cookbook with the vintage instructions. Since the paper was small, I wrapped the box top and bottom seperate, so the lid will just lift off the box. I took a strip of the pattern package and made a flower with names on the leaves.

Basic brown craft paper is my favorite thing to use. I can use so many different types of decorations and colors to finish the wrapping.

So are you finished with your gift buying/making and wrapping or are you like me and still have a few things to go?

Friday Funny

2011-12-16T07:21:00.000-06:00

I came across this recently and thought I would share with y'all! Hope you have a great weekend!

Live Your Dream

2011-12-11T10:18:00.001-06:00

This week I went shopping and came across a sign that really spoke to me. I loved all the words it said and new I just had to have it. The only problem was that the colors did not match my house and I refuse to pay top dollar for something when I can make it for much less.

This was the original sign and photo I took with my iPod. Please forgive my pictures as I had to take my Canon camera for service at Best Buy after it started giving me an error message. I'm glad I purchased the extended warranty and hopefully I will have a working camera before Christmas. In the meantime, I still have my point and shoot camera to work with.

On my shopping trip I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a canvas (and lots of other supplies) and came home and cut out a template with my Silhouette machine and painted the sign in colors to match my house.

My project was completed for less than a third of the store asking price and they claimed their price was half off the suggested price! Now I have a sign I like in the colors that fit my house much better. I have several gifts still to make for Christmas gifts, but this sign was something I felt I had to make right now. I think I need to be reminded daily to discover my dreams and to start living them more.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-12-09T21:06:00.000-06:00

Today I celebrated my birthday! Girls don't share their exact age, so I'll just say I'm 30-something!

My day started off with Farmall Man cooking me breakfast, then I got several funny cards and gifts at work, and text and emails from friends. The dog in the picture is the front of one of my birthday cards.

All in all it's been a great day!

Poinsettia Watering Tip

2011-12-06T21:04:00.001-06:00

Christmas and Poinsettias go together like a hand and glove, the only problem is, so often the poinsettias die from lack of care. I wanted to share a little tid bit of info with you about watering a poinsettia.

Actually, you don't "water" at all - use ICE CUBES instead! Yes, you read that right. A plant wholesaler shared the tip with us one time and it really does help.

Poinsettias like consistant moisture - not too wet, not too dry. A few ice cubes a day keeps a happy plant. The ice slowly melts and waters the plant and you don't have to worry about water splashing on the leaves and causing spots.

So each day as you fill your glass with ice, give your poinsettias a 2-3 cubes as well (for a 6 inch plant) or when you finish your drink, place the "used" ice cubes in the pot. One time I had a customer tell me that she gave her poinsettia the last drink of her coke each day and her poinsettia was thriving the next summer!

{I wanted to say Thank You to everyone who has voted for my Christmas Wreath

in the Better Homes and Gardens Pretty Wreath Contest! I'm currently in first place for the week and would appreciate your VOTES each day through December 11.}

Please Vote for My Wreath!

2011-12-05T19:16:00.001-06:00

Hey Everybody!

Its my Birthday Week and I could really use some help from all of you! I entered the Christmas wreath in my gazebo in the

Better Homes and Gardens Pretty Wreath Contest

and now I need you to please go VOTE for my wreath.

You can vote once per day, everyday this week. So please go vote on all your devices - computers, phones, ipods, and ipads.

Pretty Please!

It would make my birthday really special if my wreath was the weekly winner and gets to compete for the grand prize.

You don't have to have an account with Better Homes and Gardens. Please click the vote button and enter the words in box and then tell all your friends to please vote as well.

I would greatly appreciate your votes for my wreath and helping with my birthday wish!

P.S. Just want to shout out a "Welcome" to my new followers! Glad to have y'all as new friends and followers!

December Roses

2011-12-04T10:34:00.000-06:00

Frost has killed all the cold sensitive plants in my yard this week, but there are still a few roses blooming!

It's a rainy Sunday here! Yeehaw!!! Now I need to get busy in my sewing room as I've got orders to fill and gifts to make for Christmas. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

My Rusty Junky Shabby Chic Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T22:23:00.003-06:00

I finally finished decorating my Christmas Tree today! I don't think there is another tree like it anywhere! The best way I can describe it is Vintage, Rusty, Junky, Shabby Chic with a touch of Bling! The best part - it cost me less than $10.00!

I found this tree at a garage sale for $5.00 when I was on vacation a few weeks ago.

Our house is too crowded for me to put up our big tree this year {read we have way to much furniture in our little living room.} I set the tree on our antique Queen Sewing Machine that came from my Father-in-Law's Step Grandmother.

I found 2 vintage patterns at the Goodwill and made lots of tissue paper flowers. The patterns were from the 70's and cost 59 cents each. I made tissue flower balls, rolled roses, a star flower, and little puffs from the patterns. Not a single piece of pattern went to waste. That was over 40 ornaments for $1.18!

I found a few springs off of a seed drill for rustic ornaments while bed springs made a rusty garland circling the tree.

I used a few of the ornaments I already had and then tied some of the strips of material that I use on my rag wreaths to the branches.

I came across three vintage, cross-shaped rug beaters recently and had intentions of listing them in my etsy store, but they found their way on the tree instead!

This ornament was made by my sweet Grandmama. I would stay with her at night (because of her health)and we would make ornaments together. She made this one just prior to her last Christmas. I will always cherish those memories and even though the ornament is not perfectly stitched, its perfect to me.

This little angel was given to me many years ago by an elderly man at church. We shared the same birthday week (coming up soon) and we would always stand up together as the church sang Happy Birthday to us.

I made a star flower out of the pattern paper and added touches of gold, brown, and lime glitter branches for a little sparkle.

My only other purchase was one string of lights. The tree was pre-lit, but needed some more lights. Everything else on the tree is upcycled and reused. I used an old burlap potato sack for my tree skirt.

I got a few gifts wrapped today and now I have to get busy making the rest of my gifts! So what do you think about my rusty, junky, shabby tree?

P.S. Please come see my Gazebo decorated for Christmas. It has some unexpected decorations as well!

I'm linking my Christmas tree to :

Sew Woodsey

Savvy City Farmer Thrift'n on a Thursday

New Rope Wreaths

2011-11-30T13:31:00.000-06:00

If you missed the western rope wreaths that sold in my etsy store last week, I made a couple more new cowboy Christmas rope wreaths and listed them this week!

They are rustic with a touch of bling, because all cowgirls and cowboys are rustic and one of a kind, but always in search of a little fun and bling!

You can click the link on my side bar to go straight to my store so you can have one of these country wreaths hanging on your door to greet all your Christmas guest!

Christmas in the Gazebo

2011-11-28T21:19:00.004-06:00

When we completed our gazebo makeover in the summer, I knew that decorating it for Christmas would be so much more fun! Now I've had a few months to plan...but I didn't...I just flew by the seat of my pants decorating it this weekend! That's the way I roll and when I feel the most creative!

Last month, while looking for a place to take photos with indirect, natural light for my etsy store items, I propped this door up in the gazebo. Its been a great backdrop for my wreaths and to be honest dragging it back and forth is not appealing, so I have left it in the gazebo.

I started decorating by hanging my garland up around the gazebo and found an old green wreath in storage and tied it to the old window frame and hung on the door, but it was just too blah. So I set out to spruce up the wreath. I went out back and clipped a few snippets off several cedar and pine trees and gathered a few pine cones. The fake green wreath provided a good base for the fresh greens and I was able to tie the fresh sprigs to the base with the wired branches. A wide scrap of burlap provided the finishing touches to the fresh Christmas wreath.

While I was digging out my decorations, I decided to place my pencil tree in the gazebo. (Its the tree I usually put up in the house.) It already had lights on it and I placed it in my wash tub along with a few pots of fountain grass. I decided to display some of my watering cans on the tree as ornaments. Then I placed my small gardening tools on the tree as well. After all, its the time of the year when the garden tools aren't used for anything, so on the tree they went! The pencil tree looked kinda blah as well and I had a few extra cedar sprigs left over from my wreath, so I started tucking in the fresh greenery into the fake tree. Ahhh, that made it look so much more natural and fit in with the outdoor rustic feel. Why haven't I done this before?

Suzy always finds her way into a gazebo photo shoot! She loves this place!

You know, I might just have to add fresh Christmas greens to my junky tree in the house! That would give the house a wonderful "Christmas" smell....the wheels on the bus are spinning right now!

I had a customer at the flower shop tell me today, that a Christmas Tree Lot give her a few broken tree limbs for free. She was going to make her own centerpieces with free Christmas Greens! We have plenty of trees on our property, but if I didn't I would certainly stop by the tree lot to get a few branches to decorate.

I'm tickled pink how it all turned out and you know the best part - it didn't cost a penny! A nature inspired tree and wreath with fresh tree clippings and ornaments straight out of the greenhouse - no trip to the store for this project! I've had the garland since our very first Christmas here and now that I look at it, fresh greens would be so pretty added into it as well. Hmmm...my next day off project!

I'm linking to:

Help Me Choose a Christmas Card

2011-11-26T11:39:00.000-06:00

Help! Ever since I bought my "good" camera last year, I have lots of pictures on my computer. I take all these pictures, but don't do that much with them. This year, I have decided to use my pictures to create Christmas cards. Now the hard part - I can't decide which card to send out! I created these cards in the

My Memories Suite Scrapbooking software and can print them at home on photo paper. I should be able to get 2 cards per 8 by 10 paper and mail in regular envelopes.

The first card is very simple. Just a scene from last winters snow storm on the same road I took the fall pictures last week.

Card 2 and 3 are basically the same, except for the font color. This cardinal graced our yard during the snow and ice last January.

So, I need your help! Which card do you like the best?

Black Friday

2011-11-25T20:38:00.001-06:00

I had to work a couple hours at the flower shop today and then I went shopping for a few hours! Don't fret though, it wasn't bad! Our town doesn't have a mall or any of the huge stores that lure the masses of crazy people. I had a 20% off coupon for Bealls and found a pair of warm and fuzzy lined boots already on sale for 50% off. $75.00 boots for $30.00! Next week is suppose to be much colder and my feet are always cold, so I'll be wearing my new boots alot!

Then I decided to venture to Wal Mart. I was needing a few crafting items and had a few items in the sale paper circled. Wal Mart seemed calmer at 1:00 today, than 5:00 any other day of the week. I didn't even have to wait in line to check out! I wasn't in search of the big tickets items, so there was no disappointment here. I got a iPad accesory kit for $15.00 with a screen cover, car charger, USB plug, and stylus. We looked at a stylus last week for $12.00, so it was a good deal. I found some cute clothes for my little nephew and got him a Cars table and chairs. I found a new jacket for me too! Hey, its gonna be cold next week...Me cold = bad mood!

When I got home, I decided to decorate my gazebo before the frigid weather gets here. We are expecting rain in the morning, so I didn't know when my next opportunity to decorate would be. I finished at dark tonight, so I'll take pictures and share soon. I have a garden themed tree in the gazebo.

Never before have I put a tree up before Thanksgiving, but I did get started on my indoor tree last weekend. I'm not completely through decorating it though. I got the tree at a garage sale a few weeks ago and decided the small tree would fit in our house better than my large tree. Our cat, Annie, loves to sit by the tree on top of the sewing machine and gaze out the window. The tree has a very vintage theme and I will share more pictures soon.

So what did you do on Black Friday? Shopping, Decorating, Eating leftovers, Spending time with family?

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T11:17:00.000-06:00

I want to wish each and everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We are heading to my in-laws in a little while. My sweet mother in law said not to bring anything, but I feel as if I can't go empty handed so I made a pecan pie this morning.

My grandmama's pecan pie was always my favorite. Every pecan pie she ever made had chopped pecans, because my granddaddy didn't have teeth! I was in high school before I realized most everyone else didn't chop their pecans to make pies! Of course I always think the chopped pecans make a pretty pie and it's just the way I was raised, so I follow the tradition and chop my pecans .

I am thankful for each and all my blog friends and hope you all have a wonderful day and don't eat too much!

Fall Flowers

2011-11-21T21:07:00.000-06:00

Frost killed some of my flowers last week, but thankfully there are a few blooms left in the yard for the butterflies to feed on.

A few marigolds and the oxalis survived the frost as well.

Yard clean up is now in progress as I clean up the frosted plants and tidy up the flower beds in preparation for winter days to come.

I don't know about yall, but I'm ready for spring! I despise daylight savings time and cold weather, so we can fast foward a couple of months and all will be well here!

A Fall Drive

2011-11-20T22:09:00.000-06:00

With the drought this year, we feared the fall colors would be rather boring. Lots of trees have died and turned a sad brown color, although over the past two weeks, the leaves on many of trees have transitioned into brilliant colors.

This winding road takes me into town each day and one afternoon last week I stopped a few times to take a few pictures.

Sometimes you have to look back on your journey and see where you have been. Its true what they say about turning around and taking pictures of the scene behind you.

We had our first frost last week and some of the plants in the yard were damaged, yet it was over 80 degrees today. (I was wearing shorts while putting up my Christmas Tree!) So what are the leaves looking like around you?

You Shoudn't Try This Pumpkin Cheesecake!

2011-11-13T20:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, the Mr. and I went to do our usual town shopping and decided to go out to eat. No big deal, you say, but we don't eat out much and eating Mexican food is a treat for us. When we walked in the restaurant, a stack of newspapers and brochures greets you and my man can not pass up reading material! As we sat down and glanced through the paper full of advertisements and very little content, I noticed a few fall recipes and one for Pumpkin Cheesecake caught my eye.

I didn't give it too much thought, but then when Farmall Man saw the recipe, he said "wow, that sounds goood!" Just so happens our next stop was the grocery store and we made a check list of the items we would need to pick up in order to cook the cheese cake. (And we just thought eating before the grocery store would help us save money!)

This morning I made my very first, from scratch cheese cake. Let me tell you, it is delicious! So with Thanksgiving coming up, I think I just might be making another pumpkin cheesecake with maple pecan glaze.

Here's the recipe, if you really want to try it. (I made a couple changes from the printed recipe in the paper. It called for raisins in the glaze and I didn't like the sound of that. You could add them if you want to)

Pumpkin Cheese Cake with Maple Nut Glaze

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (Tip - buy the whole crackers and make crumbs yourself and save several dollars and have crackers to eat later. About 12 crackers or one tube makes 1 1/2 cups crumbs. A potatoe masher worked good to make crumbs.)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 melted butter
3- 8 oz packages of cream cheese
1- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1- 16 oz can pumpkin
3 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (I thought I had nutmeg at home, but didn't so I substituted pumpkin pie spice - it has nutmeg in it after all.)

Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press firmly in springform pan.

With mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy; gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until edges springs back when lightly touched, (center will be slightly soft.)

Cool and chill.

Maple Nut Glaze

2 Tablespoons water
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 chopped nuts (I used almost a cup of pecans)

Combine water and cornstarch. In small saucepan, melt butter. Add syrup and cornstarch mixture. Cool and stir until slightly thickened. Add nuts. Spoon over chilled cheesecake.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it. I would love to hear what you think about this cheesecake!

I was featured at Handmade in TX!

2011-11-11T21:16:00.000-06:00

Cindi from Handmade in TX, showcases arts and crafts handmade from all over the state Texas.

I recently came across Cindi through Twitter and began following her blog recently. She lets you link up your etsy store and products for sale that are made by Texas artisans. I love the idea of her blog and supporting the residents of our state. What could be better than supporting fellow Texans and their creativity?

Last week I linked up my Western Lariat Rope Wreath with Pheasant Feathers to Lonestar Showcase #11. I recently listed this item for sale in my etsy store and was excited this week that Cindi picked my rope wreath as one of her favorite 3 items in the showcase!

Ever since I was in Floral Design in my high school ag class, I have been making rope wreaths. You see, my dad, brother, and I were all team ropers and we always had used ropes laying around. I remember the first rope wreath I made with yellow sunflowers that hung on my bedroom door. Soon after I was making a rope wreath for our FFA banquet decorations and have had a rope wreath in my house ever since. I've made rope wreaths for wedding presents and have made several "Little Cowboy" wreaths for baby shower gifts as well. A few years back, I sold the wreaths in a local western store, but a change of management didn't allow me to continue with consignments.

I want to say THANK YOU to Cindi for all of your efforts to showcase Texas Artist and for featuring my

Lariat Rope Wreath. You made my day!

If yall get a chance, stop by Handmade in TX to see all the showcased items!

Did you see the Moon?

2011-11-11T16:45:00.000-06:00

Did you see the "Full Beaver Moon" last night?

According to the Almanac, the Beaver Moon is a time to set your beaver traps before the swamp freezes, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs or its a time for the beavers to make ready for winter. Either way, we now colder weather is coming soon.

I love to photograph the moon and have figured out the manual settings to get the moon to be focused correctly.

The only problem was, it wasn't quite dark and I wanted to see the silhouette of the trees and still get the moon correctly. I played with some settings and didn't have any success.

I got to noticing the moon was trailing in my picture, as I had ever so slight movement while perched on top of a fence post. (I left the tripod in the house, when I went out back.) Then I remembered reading about "writing" with the camera. Well, my attempt looks like scribble and I obviously have a long way to go before this is anything fabulous, but I thought it was very interesting. Can you see the "J"? I started out by attempting to write my name then it just turned to jibberish!

By this time, it was really dark and I was cold, so I called it quits and still don't know how to photograph the moon as it rises through the trees at dusk and get the whole scene in focus. If anybody has any great tips, please share with me!

Rainy Day

2011-11-08T22:50:00.001-06:00

We had a rainy day in Texas today! Yahooooo! It's so nice to have a rainy day after such a long dry season.

All the girls had the rainy day blues laying around the house, while I worked on a few sewing projects. I captured these pics and created the collage with my iPod of Oakley, Punkie, and Trixie.

Vacation Week - Part 1

2011-11-07T22:50:00.001-06:00

This week, I am celebrating a week of Vacation Time or as a friend says, "Vaa-caaation"!!! Its more like a stay-cation, working on projects around the house and some creative time. We have too many animals and no one to see after them while we are gone, to be able to leave home for any length of time. But thats ok with me, it's great not having to set an alarm and hear a ringing phone all the time.

I made this ribbon and material wreath this weekend.

Last week I heard people talking about stuffed burlap door hangers. I saw a couple pictures on Pinterest and had all the material on hand, so I made this stuffed, burlap cross. What do you think? A friend let me put this in her store in town and I've had a couple orders for more, so I have broke out the sewing machine to create some more crosses. I'm thinking these will be great Christmas gifts for a few people on my list!

Here is a sneak peak of my bathroom project. This bathroom had new wall board put up around the tub several years ago, but if the board gets wet for an extended time, it swells up (the sanded places on the left side of picture). Needless to say, we only take baths in this tub. My other shower needs work as well, so something has to be done. We found a paint for counter tops that is water proof, so we are trying it to see if it will seal the wall and allow us to take showers in here. I've got one coat on the wall and ran out of paint. I will get some more paint Wednesday and paint when the humidity is better for curing the paint. Stay tuned for the results!

The paint STINKS, so I had to take a few breaks. One time when I went outside for fresh air, I found this worm on my yellow 4:00's by the back door. I went back for my camera and experimented with different settings.

While it sounds like my vacation has been all about work, we did go to a car show Saturday. I can't tell you the name of all these cars or hardly any details at all. Farmall Man tries to tell me stuff about them, but I just know what I like to photograph at events like this and what I think is pretty!

I thought these tools used as the gas, break, and clutch pedals was awesome! I would let FM do this to my truck. How junky cool is that?

So thats how my first few days off from my regular job have been.

Now I have a question for you - How early is too early to decorate for Christmas? I have never decorated before Thanksgiving and I'm sure my husband will have a fit, if I decorate earlier, but I have had these random crazy thoughts of decorating some towards the end of the week. Maybe just decorating my gazebo and porch area with garland and lights and inside more at Thanksgiving. I don't know yet, it'll depend on what other projects I get involved in and the weather.

A Photoshoot and New Items

2011-11-04T23:02:00.001-05:00

I have been busy making new items for my etsy store and had fun with my photo shoot recently. I decided to not use a solid white background and flash photography in my house and headed outside under my gazebo. I pulled an old door out for a "background" a found a few props to help display my new caps.

Please don't tell my Father-in-Law that I used his boots to display caps and even had them filled with

glitter twigs at one point! ;) I hope to add several Western Christmas Wreaths to my shop this weekend.

Burlap flowers on hats!

For this Sweet Cupcake Hat, I ran inside to get the muffin pan and a vintage flour sifter! This cap was inspired by a bakery owner and friend, who wanted to wear a cap instead of a hair net at work. Now who would choose a hairnet over cupcake bling?

I'm on vacation ALL next week! Yipppppeeeee! We don't have any big plans to go anywhere, but I have lots of projects that I would like to get completed...

I hope to continue adding more items to my etsy store, start working on a few Christmas gifts, makeover my bathroom, paint some furniture, and maybe build a stall for one of the horses... My list is longer than than my vacation! ;)

For anyone visting my etsy store and wanting to to a little Christmas shopping, I have added a coupon for my etsy store - so if you head over there, use coupon code

HOLIDAYS11

to receive 10% off each item and I will always be happy to give shipping discounts for purchasing multiple items.

Speed Scrap!

2011-10-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight I participated in my first My Memories Sunday Night Speed Scrap. Here was my entry. The more I play with the software, the more I am learning. For the spped scrap, you are given specific elements to include on your page and then use your imagination to implement the directions.

I figured out hot to make the scalloped edges tonight and "found" more of the embellishment goodies that are included in the software. I had fun experimenting tonight and hope to participate with more of the Speed Scraps soon!

Fall Means County Fairs!

2011-10-29T22:59:00.001-05:00

Fall means that it county fair time! Our local festivities were held last week.

As a 4-H and FFA member growing up, I competed in the livestock show and have always loved this time of year. As an adult, I can't compete in the livestock events, but there are several other contest that I entered.
I entered the Yam Pie Contest in the footsteps of my Grandmama and Aunts. Needless to say, we have ate a lot of sweet potato pie during October! Sadly, my pie didn't place this year:( I think they must have dropped it or something.

I submitted five of my favorite pictures in the photography contest and my moth picture received an honorable mention! I was excited about that.

I captured a few pictures of my nephew exploring his first county fair! He didn't ride any carnival rides this year, but by next year, I bet he can convince me to join him on the hobby horses or bears, or motorcycles! In about 8 more years, he can follow in the footsteps of his dad and aunt and start competing in the livestock contest. (You have to be 9 years old or in third grade to show livestock.)

It was a fun week. I got my yearly corny dog and walked around the fair enjoying all the sights and sounds and sharing the festivities with my nephew and his mom for the first time. I enjoyed the fair while it was here, but I'm glad town is back to normal now.

No Faces

2011-10-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

The My Memories Blog is hosting a No Faces Allowed Challenge.

Here is my submission with Farmall Man and Trixie at the Tractor Show we recently attended. I love to capture pics of them on our adventures, even if they have no idea I'm taking pictures.

Daddy Let Me Drive

2011-10-27T15:51:00.000-05:00

While driving to work this morning, I heard the Alan Jackson song, Daddy Let Me Drive and I had a flash back to the first time I remember driving.

It was a dreary, cold winter day and my dad and I were out checking cows in ol' blue, our 1980 Ford three-quarter ton truck. Ol' Blue was a standard transmission truck that haunted me til right before I was 16, but that's a whole other story! My mom was pregnant with my little brother and she stayed at home that day, while we went to check cows.

(This is not the pasture I was driving in!)

We pulled up to the hay barn and loaded square bales in the back of the truck and headed out to the field to feed the cows. That's when Daddy put me in the driver's seat, stuck ol' blue in granny gear and told me to "Drive Straight". He was going to get in the back of the truck and throw out the hay to the cows as I drove the truck.

Now I was scared of my daddy and did just what he said, so I drove the truck straight across the field. I came to a big water/sink hole in the field and my four year old brain was worried about what to do. Should I go around the hole or drive straight? Hmmmm, but daddy said drive straight and why would he point me in the direction of the sink hole if he didn't want me to drive through the hole? So I drove right into the water hole and when the truck got stuck, Daddy ask me why I did it and all I could say was, "But Daddy, you told me to drive straight!"

Yes, I was 4 years old, the first time I remember driving! Of course he couldn't get on to me, because I was just following his directions. Daddy shouldn't have pointed me in the direction of the sink hole and said drive straight!

We had to walk to our house and we got on our John Deere tractor with my mom and all went back to the pasture and pulled ol' blue out of the water hole.

I will probably remember that day for the rest of my life and took a ride down memory lane this morning, thinking about the time that Daddy let me drive. Truth be told, I think I had driven before this day and drove crooked. I think that was the reasoning for Daddy telling me to drive straight, but I don't remember that day!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2011-10-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

While I'm not the Halloween, ghost and goblin type of person, I do love fall/harvest decorations and the taste of fall foods.

Occasionally I get to gut a pumpkin at work so that I can design a floral arrangement inside the pumpkin. When I clean out the pumpkin, I always save the seeds to roast when I get home. I came across the original recipe in a magazine several years ago, although, I seldom follow any of the measurements.

So for all of you who are carving pumpkins this week, DO NOT throw away the seeds, roast them instead for a great snack!

I rinse off the seeds and place in a sauce pan with salted water and boil for about 15 minutes. Drain seeds, blot dry, and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil. On a foil lined baking sheet, spread out seeds and then you can add any seasoning that you please. The original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon of paprika and 1 teaspoon of salt. Here is where I stray from the recipe and leave the measuring spoon in the cabinet! I generously add the paprika and salt, then break out the chili powder, ground red pepper, or cumin...whatever I am in the mood for. I have a few friends who really like the pumpkin seeds to have a spicy kick. Then I put the seeds in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees until light golden and crisp.

Its that simple! So next time you clean a pumpkin, save the seeds for a great fall snack!

Moth on the 4 o'clocks

2011-10-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

I'm using the Blog This Button on Picassa and testing to see if this photo is visible to everyone. So please give me a shout out whether you see this picture or not. Thanks!

Butterflies and Fun Free Stuff!

2011-10-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to catch up on some scrapbooking this weekend.

I look at the calendar and realize this year is almost over and I've hardly scrapped since Christmas of last year. What have I been doing all year? Hmmm...Taking lots of pics, but not getting them successfully in my scrapbook.

I think I have pictures screaming to get out of my computer! Remember that commercial?

While I haven't had many butterflies in the yard this summer, I happy for the ones that stop and visit and felt as if they should have a spot in my scrapbook!

I've been doing some digital scrapbooking to with My Memories Suite as well as using up a few of my 10,001 pages of paper I have in my stash! I need to start printing my digitally scrapped pages and get them out in the real world!

Speaking of My Memories, they are having a fun giveaway on their New Facebook Page. If you go and like the new page you are entered to WIN an iPad2! When the new facebook group gets to 10,000 fans, they will choose a winner for an iPad2 plus there is a

EXCLUSIVE Fan Freebie kit

available to facebook fans!

But that's NOT all! My Memories is offering

FREE Designer Packs!

Yeehaaaa!!!

Who doesn't like a great deal? This 2 page pack with all the embellishments comes in two of my favorite colors! I can't wait to rescue some pics that are stuck on my computer to use with this layout. Hurry and Click on the link to go to My Memories and get your free scrapbooking goodies! They will be hosting new pages every two weeks, so if you like this page, GO NOW!

If you haven't got the My Memories Software yet, you can use my

code: STMMMS41634

to receive $10.00 off the software purchase and a $10.00 coupon for purchases from the My Memories store!

Now that's lots of fun, great bargains from My Memories!

What are you waiting for, we got pictures to RESCUE off our computers!

Happy Birthday

2011-10-14T07:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my Farmall Man!

I baked him a Yam Pie for his birthday and got him a card that has a COW on the front that says

"OH, POO! I lost my recipe for Birthday Cake!

Hope you like pies."

Judging by the amount of pie that he's already ate this morning, I think he likes the Yam Pie better than Cow Pies!

Tractor Shows & Gypsy Markets

2011-10-12T23:17:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we headed out to the Autumn Trails Tractor Show and then headed down the road a spell and checked out the Gypsy Market. Twas a great day for a Gypsy Farm Girl...lots of tractors and an arts and craft fair, all with my man and my dog!

I knew on our first date, that we were meant to be, because we both grew up driving Farmall tractors! We both worked on our families farms growing up and were fond of our Granddaddy's red tractors. Today, we have quite the collection of our very own Farmalls on our farm.

Trixie likes going to town, but hasn't been able to travel with us much this summer because of the heat. She knew that there was something different about our travels Saturday and that this was not just a routine trip to the grocery store, were she would have to sit in the truck. Trixie demanded that we were taking her with us and said she really wanted to go to the tractor show, after all she had a new Farmall collar and lease to show off!

There were lots of antique tractors on exhibit of all brands and sizes, some restored with shiny paint, while others were original. Some exhibited plows and hay balers, while many showed a patriotic spirit with Texas and American flags.

There was even a pink Allis Chalmers tractor! I didn't get close enough to see if there was a story to go with the paint scheme or not.

Some of the owners participate in the tractor pull event. Tractors are divided into different weight classes and compete against each other to see who can pull the sleigh the furthest down the track.

My peeps are checking out some more Farmalls!

We went to the Gypsy Market after we left the tractor show. I'm not sure how I managed to not take a single picture at the downtown arts and crafts event. I would love to be a vendor at the event next year! Farmall Man and Trixie decided that we needed to visit the Dairy Queen and get a Pumpkin Pie Blizzard before we headed over to the feed store, so we stopped and enjoyed a cool treat!

While we were at the Gypsy Market, we noticed the one screen theater was showing The Help on Sunday afternoon, so Farmall Man promised to take me to see the movie. We had made plans to see the movie right after it came out, but our schedules didn't allow it to happen. Have you seen The Help? I don't want to spoil anything if you plan to see the movie!

It was a great weekend travelling about and enjoying the fall festivities in the area. Our big county fair is next week and we are making preparations to participate! Do you have any favorite fall festivals/fairs that you attend each year?

Summer's End Garden Party

2011-10-07T22:02:00.002-05:00

Donna from Funky Junk Interior's is featuring

SNS's Summer's End Garden Party 2011.

While Summer 2011 has been a rough one for us with the Texas drought and with Farmall Man getting hurt , there have been some bright spots along the way. The blooms have not been as abundant as some years, but we enjoyed them all the same. We were excited to complete a makeover on our gazebo and built a privacy fence as well.

Enjoy Summer's End Garden Party 2011 with a few of my favorite pics from our yard and garden this year!

Let's go shopping in the yard!

Trudy the Lawn Mower!

With grass in the pasture in short supply and an injured husband, we let Trudy help with yard mowing duties this summer. I think the lawn mower has been cranked less than 5 times this year!

I'm always glad to have butterflies in the yard.

My favorite project of the Summer was the Gazebo Makeover. I love how it all came together for less
than $20.00!

Suzy enjoys sitting in the gazebo!

Our privacy wall hides some of the equipment behind the house. If next spring brings some rain, I hope to add landscaping in front of the fence.

Thanks for stopping by and joining my Summer Garden Party! Hope you enjoyed your time here!

My Vintage Kitchen Makeover

2011-10-06T22:00:00.003-05:00

I've been pondering ideas for re-doing my kitchen for a while now. I seem to repaint my kitchen every couple of years or so. Recently, I've been inspired by everything I see in the Flea Market Style Magazine and lots of things in blogland, so when I got a surprise three day weekend, I had a kitchen makeover project!

My cabinets were already painted white and had a sanded, antique look, which I love. The walls had been sponge painted shades of brown, several years ago. I liked it at the time, but wanted something different. I have been seeing all the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint buzz; but really $39.00 a quart, yes I said quart, is not in my budget. (I'll share how I created my own chalk style paint in another post!)

I managed to get one before picture, prior to everything coming off the walls!

My chalk-style paint went on really easy. It was the fastest I had ever painted my kitchen. It was really thick and I only used about a quart to paint all the walls. The best parts were that it matched my cabinets, I did not have to sand or distress the wall to achieve the same look as the cabinets, and I didn't have to purchase anything! The paint dried really fast and then came the fun part!

I used vintage family heirlooms, garage sale, flea market, and Goodwill finds, farm junk, as well as some gifts and free items to decorate the kitchen.

The wine bottles have been gifts from friends (who drank the wine) that know I love the vintage style labels and signs. I found the red pedestal at a estate sale, the softball stripped of its outer shell came from Canton, and the ice picks were my great-grandparents. The measuring cup and funnel also came from my great-grandparents and made great decor resting on the wine bottles. The "Dinner is served at the sound of the smoke alarm" sign was a wedding gift as was the big wooden spoon. The sign has been right a time or two and I was told that when I have kids, I will know what the wooden spoon is for! The shutter came out of a house that was torn down and I covered the bottle that holds the sunflower with old seeds. Each utensil hanging on the shutter came from my great-grandparents as well. I was told the hand-made chicken wire gadget was a egg whisk.

My canisters were a Christmas gift a few years ago, the yellow coffee pot was my dad's, the old jars came from my grandmother and mother-in-law, the blue bowl was my great-grandmothers, the sifter was Grandmama's as was the green tray leaning against the wall. I can remember eating many meals in the hay field off the green tray. When I was little, Grandmama would fix dinner and we would go eat in the hayfield where Granddaddy was cutting hay - good times. Some of the tins and signs have came from garage sales over the last few years.

Previously, I had a cheap wire utensil rack hanging on the wall and decided that an old rake would be much better suited for our house.

I never, ever, ever, ever, never thought I would have a lace curtain in my house, but now I do! The May Basket burlap sack was my previous curtain, but I was ready for something different. I had picked up the vintage lace at Goodwill a few weeks back. I didn't know what I would use it for; but felt like it called my name!

There was a garage sale across the street from work last week and a couple of us walked over to the sale. Nothing I was interested in was marked and when I picked up two metal sconces, my friends both said "the glass is missing." When the lady said 25 cents a piece, I said "sold". I hung them on the wall and the lace is draped through the holes!

When I took the wooden rectangle shelf off the wall, I realized there was a American Beauty Lettuce advertisement painted on the back and decided it was time for it to be displayed for a while.

A Happy Home Recipe always hung in Grandmama's kitchen and now it hangs in mine.

I took on my first upholstery project over the weekend as well. The only thing I bought specifically for my makeover was a few decorative tacks. I bought two packages for $1.29 each at Tractor Supply. For several years I have had a canvas style apron that I could never find the just right place to display. Low and behold, I decided that it would look great on one of our bar stools!

I'm really excited how my make over project came together. I feel as if our kitchen fits our personality better; its a collection of who we are and tells the story of where we came from at the same time.

My weekend

2011-10-03T22:26:00.001-05:00

I got a surprise 3 day weekend and was excited to feel good on my days off!

My weekend consisted of:

~decorating my yard for fall and scaring the dogs with my huge scarecrow

~feeding lots of animals

~cleaning and organizing my storage building/workshop

~deciding to makeover my kitchen

~making my own chalk style paint

~ painting my kitchen

~redorating kitchen with items from garage sales, Goodwill, and vintage family heirlooms

~washing and folding lots of clothes

~a trip to town for groceries for us and the animals

~cooking several meals

~breaking out the award winning sweet potato recipe from the vault and making two yam pies

~baking an apple cobbler

~reupholstering a bar stool (my first upholstery project)

~and then I came down with the head cold :(

All in all it was a Great weekend! I can't wait to share more pics from all my projects this past weekend!

We are hardly ever sick and now we have both had the virus followed by a cold in 2 weeks time - I hope we are getting the sickness out of the way for the year and this isn't a sign of what is to come this winter.

Now I'm ready for another long weekend to tackle some more home projects!

A Stinky Suitcase Makeover with Mod Podge & Burlap

2011-10-02T16:45:00.008-05:00

I've been working on this suitcase for what seems like forever. After some mod podge, burlap, spray paint, and trim, it is finally finished...yee haaaa!

It started like this... old, ugly, and STINKY. This Samsonite Case was one of my Flea Market Finds from Canton Trades Days in July for $3.00. I was excited with my purchase, but then realized how bad the inside STANK, I mean give-you-a-headache-kind-of-stink. I began to wonder if I had wasted my $3.00. I googled ideas to get rid of the smell...I tried the baking soda trick - it didn't help. I tried Mother Nature's way with some good ol' sunshine and fresh air for a while - it still stank, but I was determined something must work. I brought the suitcase back in the house and started ripping out the lining. Yep, I ripped and tugged that old vinyl out and away went the smell into the trash can!!! Problem Solved! Now for the FUN part!

I spray painted the metal trim aqua blue, then mod podge the outside with various shades of blue and brown scrapbook paper. At some point I decided to glue in the chocolate burlap liner, then I added some vintage looking lace trim around the edges.

I finally decided just to paint the handle aqua blue - I wish I would have completed this step before I glued the paper, but I didn't. When I was painting the handle, I decided to use a doily as a template and spray paint the design onto the suitcase. I over did it a little and decided to cover up some of the spray paint with more paper. I did leave part of the painted pattern showing though. It just didn't need as much as I painted. That's the great thing about mod podge, if you don't like something, you can just layer over it with more paper!

My suitcase is ready, now I just need somewhere to go!

I will probably use this suitcase as some type of storage in our bathroom, since we never seem to go anywhere overnight! I am planning a makeover for our "big" bathroom and plan on using these same colors. I can see towels displayed in the suitcase or makeup and the such organized in it. Of course earings hang great from burlap, so who knows exactly were it will wind up! So what do you think?

I'm linking to:

Single Tree Farm Junk Curtain

2011-09-30T22:31:00.001-05:00

So farm tools and upcycled junk has become popular decorating items recently. I guess I've been part of this movement long before it was trendy. As I promised in a earlier blog post, I am sharing part of my farm tool decorating ideas.

I got this single tree from my great uncles estate a few years ago. A single tree was used to hook a horse or mule to horse-drawn farm equipment such as a plow.

As I was redoing my bathroom, I realized that the single tree was the same width as the window. We put a big rusty nail near the ceiling to hang the single tree on and the small curtain rod that was previously used on another curtain, slipped perfectly into the hooks. I made the curtain out of some material I found in the fabric bargain bin. I tied the curtain back with a few strands of raffia.

I'm linking this post to Donna's

non traditional WINDOW TREATMENTS

Fall Blooms

2011-09-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

I have been blessed with a few fall blooms in my yard! A few of my day lilies by my porch have bloomed over the last week. It was quite a pleasant surprise to have the repeat lily blooms.

No matter how much I water, there is no replacement for real rain water. Last week we got little over an inch of rain and it helped some of these flowers look revived and happier. Its amazing that the morning glories have survived with out any water from me. They are growing on a fence too far away from my water hose and somehow have managed to bloom during the drought.

This butterfly fluttered about recently, feeding off the zinnias growing around our porch. My yard is usually full of butterflies during the summer, but we've only seen a few passing through on occasion. I'm glad I had a little something for them to feed as they stopped by.

I just found out I get a three day weekend! Woohoo! I've got a lot of projects that I would love to work on, so hopefully I'll get a few of them accomplished this weekend. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

A Letter from Moe...

2011-09-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Yall,

I need your help...

My owner is mad at me...like really, really mad.

See my beautiful tail, flowing nearly to the ground back in the spring?

My owner screamed with fear when she saw that my tail was missing last week. She thought I had got my tail caught in the fence or something crazy. I think she nearly cried, ok maybe that's stretching it.

She finally figured out that ol' heifer PeneloPe chewed off my tail because I stood too close to pen where PeneloPe stays. My owners really mad at us. She said I was stupid to stand so close to the fence and let the heifer eat my tail, but really, it was hot and I was standing in the shade a dozin' off and didn't realize what was going on. I don't know why she's so worried about it. She fusses over my hair and likes to comb on me a lot, but really whats the big deal, it'll grow back, won't it?

I learned my lesson and I'm not going to stand near PeneloPe anytime soon. Please tell my owner to forgive me. I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Moe

Happy Fall Yall!

2011-09-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th Day of Fall! Bet ya never heard that one before! ;) Whew, its hard to believe its been a week since I last posted.

What a week it's been... it was homecoming week at the flower shop and we both have suffered with a virus. Thank goodness both are past us now. I hardly ever miss work for sickness - usually once every two or three years and I missed a day during the week that no one is allowed to take off!

Finally this week, we are both feeling much, much better and can finally take notice that fall arrived on Friday!

I changed my picture frame wreath to suit the season. When I dug out my fall decor a few weeks back, I found the wooden pumpkin welcome sign and decided it would look great on my picture frame door wreath.

After

I cut off the cross and welcome sign and wove the wire on the pumpkin stem through the chicken wire on the frame. It took a whole 2 minutes and I never took the wreath off the door! I like it much better...I wish we could decorate with pumpkins all year. I love the oranges, yellows, reds, and browns of fall.

Before

With the fall season upon us, the days are getting noticeably shorter and our chores must start earlier to avoid being caught by dark and feeding animals with a flashlight.

Fall means county fairs are approaching in the coming weeks and its about time to dust off my Yam Pie Recipe in order to defend my Champion Pie Title at our fair! I won the pie contest last year and I need to defend my title this year. Can you say p-r-e-s-s-u-r-e? I'm sure my family and friends won't mind me making a few test pies for them to taste test!

I'm seeing all the fall antique/junk sales and blog post about Warrenton, Round Top and other big markets and its making me sad I'm not there. I MUST make plans for next year.

Fall means cooler temperatures and hopefully some much needed rain. We did get little over an inch of rain last week and our pasture has a little bit of a green glow across it. The animals are sure happy to see some grass growing again. I have had a few new blooms on my flowers and hope to share some pics sometime this week.

Fall means the new season of tv shows. I haven't been watching much television lately, but was ready for the premiere of Castle. I usually watch Dancing with the Stars, but haven't got excited about it this season. We are waiting to see how the new Tim Allen show is going to be. Farmall Man misses the days of Tool Time and he is ready to see Tim on TV again. We only get ABC, NBC, and Fox at our house as we don't have cable at home. The Junk Gypsies are getting a show on HGTV this fall, and I sure hope I can get them through iTunes on our iPad! So what are your favorite fall shows?

After the summer we have had, I hope this fall is much happier.

So what is your favorite part about fall? Anything you are looking foward to doing this season?

My Little Brother and a Privacy Fence

2011-09-19T04:52:00.001-05:00

This is me and my little brother. He has been unemployed for about a month and thankfully today he starts a new job! We are so thankful that a great opportunity has came along for him.

He helped us out on a few projects while he was out of work, with this privacy fence being one of them. Waldo (my brother's nickname) and Farmall Man built this fence from an old stack of pickets and I got to decorate it, all the while the fence hides some farm ~~junk~~ stuff. My husband and my name start with the letter J and 2002 is the year we got married. Waldo's real name starts with a J as well and one day we were both dressed up in good clothes, so I decided we needed to take a picture in front of the fence. Afterall we were J and J first and we have very few pics together (he's camera shy)!

The new Flea Market Magazine has an article about decorating with farm tools...I think I'm a little ahead of them and the Picker Sisters are paying crazy amounts for old farmjunk...I think I would like to sell them some stuff! ;) We just might be sitting on a gold mine of farm implements and tools!

Maybe I will show some more of my farm junk decorating soon! Hope you all have a great Monday!

Since the Fire...

2011-09-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

After dealing with all the fires in our community this week, it is hard to

but we have. I drove past part of the fire scene one afternoon this week and it is so terribly sad. It has been confirmed that 15 structures were lost, I believe 9 to 11 of them were homes.

Since the wildfires have been burning in our area over the past few weeks, we have had conversations at work were we ask: "what would you take, if you had just a few minutes to pack your things?"

You never think you will actually have to pack your items up, but the three of us at work have all had wildfires within 2 miles of our houses, with me being the closest and actually told to be ready to evacuate. Thankfully, we didn't have to leave our home, as the fires got under control and the wind died down near dark.

I had thrown a couple of things in my truck, but Farmall Man made me keep watering the yard and house down, as we kept finding burnt leaves, pine bark, and pine needles all over our place. Fortunately, the burnt debris was not on fire when it landed on our property, but we were ever so attentive to the piece that could have been.

All the while I watered, I was thinking of the things I would grab up out of the house if the fire got closer and we had to leave. I knew I would grab my Grandmama's quilts, her sewing machine, pictures, and grab an armload of clothes out of my closet. I had already thrown my purse, jewelry, computer, camera, and gun in the truck. I was also concerned about all of our animals and how in the world we would load them all up and get out. Our pasture is an open field without trees to burn and the grass is so short as we are down to the dirt, so we knew that would have been an advantage to our animals if the fire got that close to us.

Later in the evening, I looked around our house and saw more odd and end things I would like to take if I had the chance and that got me to thinking even more about my evacuation plan. For one, I know what I would take if I was here to load the stuff, but my husband doesn't know were everything is located that is dear to my heart, in the case if I wasn't home when a fire broke out. I pointed out to him what drawer my quilts were in and showed him were my pictures were located under the bed and a tub of hand sewn items from my great grandmother.

I ask him what he would want saved from the house if I was here and he wasn't. My pictures were all contained in a bundle some old bag, so I bought a plastic tub that fits under my bed and organized all the pics. I bought another plastic tub and put a few odd and end items that I would want rescued as well. I still want to find something to put my quilts in that will make them easy to grab and go.

I'm thinking about getting an old suitcase (that passes the smell test) from the Goodwill and packing some things neatly away in it. A suitcase makes great storage, is really cheap to buy, and slips under the bed for out of the way storage. (I live in a small house - storage space is so limited.)

I have always viewed leaves in my yard as mother nature's free mulch. I've never minded a few leaves in the flower beds in the winter as they provide more insulation for my plants. This year, I have a different opinion. Leaves are fuel to a fire. We have raked all the leaves and debris out of the yard on several occasions. In a normal year, we wouldn't have leaves till November, but with the drought, our trees are dying and leaves are falling steadily.

Just a couple days before the fire, my water hose nozzle had broke. I had yet to buy a new one, but when we desperately needed the water hose, I was having to look for an old nozzle in the greenhouse. I now have two new nozzles ready to work!

I never really thought to much about fires. Under normal circumstances, a house fire 2 to 3 miles away wouldn't have been such a big deal to everyone in the community, but with the drought this year, things are so much different. The fires rage out of control quickly and before you know it, many structures are in lost or in danger.

The Bear Creek Fire in adjoining counties to us, has burnt over 20,000 acres. I can not begin to imagine how large of an area that covers and it all began with a simple spark. It has definitely made me think more in depth and make a plan for what we would do if fire comes near us again.

My questions to you are:

Do you have a plan and have you talked it over with your family?

What would you take with you?

Please don't ever think it couldn't happen to you. Its scary and serious business. As we listen to the scanner this week, I have heard numerous reports of illegal burns occurring. Texas is under a burn band, wild fires are everywhere and yet some fools thinks its ok to burn. Some counties allow outdoor grilling and many people are wrongfully taking advantage of this, by burning the garbage in the grill. Some people have no common sense or respect for everyone else's property. I personally think all grilling should be banned at this time as well. Three houses burnt on Labor Day weekend because of a cookout.

On a positive note, we did get two light rain showers this week. We just need it to rain and rain for a long time.

Fire in my Neighborhood...

2011-09-14T12:06:00.000-05:00

I got a text while at work yesterday that fires were burning near the 4 Corners Store. This is just a couple a miles from our home. A few minutes later lots of emergency vehicles left out of town. Then I get a text that Raintree Lakes were being evactuated. Ummmm this is way too close to home...We are one road away from this subdivision. The fire started at 4:04 pm and I got off at 5:00 and headed home. This was the view as I crossed the lake. Knowing that this was near my houses made me extremely nervous. Then I got a text that burnt catalpa leaves were falling in our driveway. OH NO!

This was my view on the way home from work as I crossed the lake.

When I got home this was the view looking west down my driveway. My husband had me immediately get the waterhouse and water everything in our yard and around the house. Panic was setting in as officials started voluntary evacuations and warned us to be ready to go if need be.

The view from my driveway when I got home.

I have been making mental checklist all week in case we did have to leave our home. All the fires in the area have started lots of conversations like - "what would you take if you had a few minutes to pack up your stuff and get out of dodge?"

I knew my Grandmother's quilts and sewing machine were on my list. I put my computer, camera, and gun in my truck and was locating pictures and getting ready to grab a few clothes out of my closet. The fire was kept a mile or so away from us and we never left our house. We have found lots of burnt debris around our place and were on high alert looking for burning ashes falling on our property. We had water hoses running and buckets of water ready in case.

The airplane looks so tiny compared to the smoke.

Several airplanes worked the fire and were miracle workers in our opinion. You could watch the progress as the smoke thinned out with each pass they made. There are reports that at least 12 houses, 2 buildings, and 350+ acres have burned.

Another plane in the smoke.

The subdivision is located on a lake and is heavily wooded, which made it very difficult for fire departments to get in from the ground level. Power lines were also causing issues.

Two planes work to combat the fire.

Late in the evening the fire was under control and most of the fire departments went back to station. We were about to go to bed at midnight, when we heard on the scanner that crews were needed just a mile west of us. We set in the driveway and watched the orange smoke billow up over the trees. We heard the bulldozers and equipment working through the trees. The wind was taking the smoke to the north instead of west towards us at this point. About 2:30 am things were calming down again and I went to sleep for a while.

The Midnight Fire flared back up.

The crews are still on the scene today. Flare ups are occuring at several locations and the winds will be posing a challenge this afternoon as a front is expected to change wind speed and direction. This helicopter had been working this morning, dropping more water. There are a couple of large lakes located in the fire area that they are able to get water from.

Helicopters are on duty this morning.

A Forestry Service plane has been circling all morning and conducting air command of the scene. My airplane loving husband is liking the air show that is happening right on top of us - we just wish it was under different circumstances.

So for now we are just on high alert and keeping aware of the surroundings. I keep thinking of things I would take with me, if I have the chance to pack a few things and praying this front brings lots and lots of rain.

Brenda Photo Challenge - Dog Daze of Summer

2011-09-10T10:18:00.001-05:00

Its time for the Brenda Photo Challenge and this week the theme is the Dog Daze of Summer. We have had plenty of these type days around here this summer. Texas has just had the hottest summer on record and now we have record number of wildfires burning across the state. Its just unbelievable. Thankfully the fires are under control in our county, but smoke still drifts through the air from large fires in surrounding counties.

As I finished up my Gazebo Project and was taking pictures for my blog reveal of the gazebo, Suzy just made herself right at home in her favorite chair.

Trixie thinks she has an extremely hard life on the couch. If she only knew how lucky she was...

{I am saddened to hear that Miz Brenda has lost her husband this week. My thoughts are with you and your family Miz Brenda.}

More Fires...

2011-09-05T18:32:00.001-05:00

Fires are continuing to rage across the area today. One of the "big" fires last night has now burned over 1000 acres and is about 50% contained. These fires are jumping roads and taking houses in their path. There are at least four large fires burning in our county now. Other fires in the East Texas area are still burning as well and have taken at least two lives.

These pictures were taken just a few moments ago of 2 new fires burning to the northeast of us about 10 to 12 miles. The wind will not bring this fire towards our house, but we have to worry about fires starting closer to us.

My brother is on the scene of one of the fires. We have heard on the scanner that the third house was fixing to burn at his location. The last picture shows darker smoke starting to billow up and we expect it was the third house. The other location was threatening several houses and racing across fields. There are actually two seperate fires burning in these pictures. They are very close together and the smoke is joining together and travelling south.

On my way home from work this afternoon, our community VFD was dispatch to a illegal trash barrel burn that had got out of control just 2 miles from us. What are these crazy people thinking???

This is scary people. I'm sure half the USA know Texas is under a burn ban, yet we have people trying to burn trash and BBQ today.

We heard Volunteer Fireman from several counties away are on their way to help our guys. I'm thankful for all our men and women who are working these monstrous fires this weekend.

There have been 2 airplanes flying over ALL day. We have determined that these are Air Tractors are helping fight the largest fire by dropping chemical retardant from them.

The darker smoke on the far left in this picture is a house on fire.

I know it will be a long night for all the firemen working these fires and now that my brother is one of them and these fires are so close to people I know, I am really concerned for all their safety.

Update: At last check only three fire departments were still on the scene, with my brother's crew being one of them. The fire was contained, but they are staying on scene till the fire is out. We only know of the three houses being lost to the fire. Once I get to talk to him, we will know much more info. I heard on the scanner that someone was being fined for burning trash, although I cannot confirm if that was the cause of this particular fire.

I have also been reading about the huge Bastrop County fire in central Texas that is just devastating.

I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers as we continue to pray for all the firefighters and victims of these fires.

Scared, paranoid, and worried...

2011-09-04T22:32:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, Texas is under severe drought and we have had almost 80 days of 100+degree heat since June . The weatherman said Friday might have been our last 100 degree day. That should be good news, right? Well, Im not so sure about that right now.

You see crazy, crazy winds and clouds have emerged on east Texas and brought a little bit cooler weather. The winds have blown all weekend, but very little scattered showers have developed. The dust blows in huge sheets across the fields and roads. It reminds you of scenes from history books discussing the dust bowls. Our trees are dying and leaves are falling like its mid November. And now tonight, we are listening to the scanner, checking the news, and reading about massive fires all over east Texas. At one point the news reported over 25 fires, forcing evacuations, and claiming structures.

There are more fires in our county than I can count right now. Thankfully for us, they are mostly on the other side of the county, but two new fires have been reported since I started typing this post. So yes, tonight I am paranoid, scared, and worried. The dispatchers are listing roads and places I know. We have family and know of people who live in the vicinity of all the fire locations.

Hundreds of acres are being scorched tonight as trees limbs fall on power lines, people are so intent of BBQing this weekend, throwing out their cigarettes, and burning their trash, all while Texas is under a burn ban. One of the last reports on the scanner said the newest fire looks intentional. It's just all so sad.

So please pray with me that all these fires can be contained and for the safety of all the firefighters working tonight and that people will have common sense about avoiding fires.

The news has now come on and it's nothing but fires and the weatherman now says the winds could be worse tomorrow due to the tropical storm Lee.

My brother is a Volunteer Firefighter and is just a few weeks away from graduating from his fire academy. If it wasn't for him being out of town this weekend, I know he would be fighting these fires all night. When he gets home tomorrow, I'm sure he will be on duty.

Now we have yet another structure fire reported in town that has police looking for suspicious vehicles.

This is just getting plain ridiculous. In the words of Farmall Man "Don't play with matches."

Sorry for the rambling, I'm just really tense and worried tonight.

Winner Winner!

2011-08-31T10:00:00.001-05:00

The winner of the My Memories Suite Giveaway is Donna from Cottage Days!
Woo hoo, Congrats Ms. Donna!

Donna said:
"I would love to win and use their papers for my blog backgrounds. That would be so cool! I could spend hours on their web site, but the Aquarella Dream Set papers and the Vintage Harmony packs would be terrific to use on my blog.

Thank you so much for this great giveaway!"

I'm liking both the paper packs you chose - I can't wait to see how you transform your blog Ms Donna! Please email me and I will get the instructions to you for downloading the My Memories Suite.

{The Discount code and coupon DO NOT EXPIRE, so be sure to use the code on my sidebar if you are interested in the $10.00 off scrapbooking software and $10.00 coupon for the My Memories Store.}