It was time for “Monday Night Football”, last night, so I headed to the craft store. I found these really sweet mini grapevine wreaths for $2.99 each, at Joanne’s. Since I buy lavender in bulk, from a farm here in California, I had plenty of it on hand. For me, lavender is one of the most wonderful scents on earth! With my trusty glue gun fired up, I cut about three lavender stems down to just about a half inch below the flower and glued them into place. Once finished, I Used some jute twine, to hang it from. Yes,…
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Have you ever looked at the nutritional information on a bag of Quaker granola cereal? There is just about as much sugar in a bowl of their granola as there is in a chocolate sundae! Yet, I love granola, so I came up with a healthier version. There’s no sugar and no oil. Instead I use agave nectar. If you aren’t familiar with agave nectar, it’s a natural sweetener that comes from the agave plant. The best part is, that it’s low on the glycemic index. Where sugar is 100 on the glycemic index, agave nectar is in the 20’s.…
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Can you get carpal tunnel syndrome from painting? Or is this simply old age? I’m sticking with carpal tunnel syndrome. Sounds much more exotic! The shop looks more like a chemistry lab than an antique shop. Hopefully this will pass. Over the weekend, I painted the doors and drawers of the cabinets with a new brand of chalk paint. It’s called Maison Blanche and it comes from guess where? You guessed it! The U.K.! I think that making paint is all they do over there! No? I tested out the clear and dark wax application on the inside of one…
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I’ve been wanting a pair of porcelain Staffordshire terriers for some time. Here’s a little history I’ve found… Starting in the 1700’s, Stafford, England became known for its porcelain. The town was located close to the natural materials needed and by the late 1800’s, had become a world center for pottery. The dogs, made to resemble King Charles Cavalier Terriers, we’re found on fireplace mantels during Victorian times, from the 1840’s to the 1890’s. Queen Victoria and her husband brought the breed into popularity and had many in their own homes. These timeless accessories can be found in a variety…
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After friends and I converge at the Mes Amis Antique Fair in Old Roseville, Saturday morning, I will get back to painting my very long stretch of cabinets, at the shop. Just the drawers and doors are left to paint and wax (with chalk paint), but there are a lot of them! The wood laminate flooring was scheduled to be picked up today, for installation, but it’s still on a slow boat from China! Who knows when it will arrive! I’ll share more pictures soon, So stay tuned! All the best, Barbara Wish me luck!
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Whenever I get the chance, I visit The Nesting Place This week, she wrote a beautiful post, entitled Dear Me. She invited us to write our own letters of advice, to our 16 year old selves, in honor of her sister’s new book debut. Her sister writes the blog, Chatting at the Sky, and I see writing is a skill sharing by both of these young ladies! While I don’t have the great pictures to include in this post, as they have, I hope the words are sufficient. 1. NEVER let your mother give you a perm. No, you’ll never…
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Greetings, dear lovelies! You may or may not be interested to know that I slept like a boulder last night, thank goodness…without ibuprofen p.m., even! Just because I am obsessing over working on the new shop, I have no thoughts or energy to create Halloween masterpieces, like some of you…so why even try?! While I was blog hopping this morning, at the Farmhouse Porch, she had her Cowgirl Up! Party going on … …where I met Gwen, at the appropriately named Gwen Moss Blog! Now, Gwen and I haven’t really formally met yet, but I’d guess that she has two…
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I’ve been suffering from some pretty annoying insomnia, these past days. It’s all about the new shop! I’m getting hooked on ibuprofen p.m.! I lay in bed at night, listening to the crickets sing outdoors in the night and think about nothing but the SHOP! Enough, already! I’m heading over there shortly, to talk to the contractor and do a little measuring. But for now, I wanted to show you a couple of things I picked up over the weekend. It’s a good thing we don’t have any parties planned soon, because our dining room is in total disarray. Same…
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