~On the Bookshelf~

Let me begin this post by saying that I love books.  I have books everywhere in my home and can never find enough places to put them.  Since we homeschool there is a need to have great books on hand.  As a someone who loves creating I need books for inspiration.  Of course, my husband would need another job if he were to be able to support my book habit, and that is why I love our library.  We have a great system and I can request books from any library in our state and they will bring them to my local library for me to pick up.  It is just amazing for me, a lover of books.

Here is a sample of what I have been dreaming through lately.  I picked them up yesterday.

I love just about everything in this book.  I had better get busy.

Great projects in this book.  I love their simplicity.  The pictures are absolutely wonderful.  I can look at them over and over again.

This is my kind of style.  Flea markets and yard sales are filled with so many treasures.  Great photos to dream by.

I love the title of this book.  Another wonderful book to sit and dream with.  Great photos to inspire you.

I have been crocheting for a very long time but I am self taught.  I have a lot to learn and this book has all the answers.  I love it.  Such great pictures and diagrams to help you.  I think this will be on my need to buy list.

I loved this amazing book.  I read it all and knew that it would fit in with our theme for this year.  I have been wanting to have nature as our theme for a while now.  I am looking forward to trying some of the wonderful suggestions in this book.  My kids are older but I know that there is definitely nature deficit disorder there.  I want to get them outside and enjoying everything nature has.  I look forward to incorporating this into our days more and more this year.  I have also requested Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.  I am so excited for this book to come in.

I purchased these Note Sketch pads at our homeschool convention and we will use them as our nature notebooks.  I am determined to remain focused on our theme for the year and incorporate projects that include nature and follow our lessons.  This my be tricky with one student in high school and one in middle school but we will try.  I will keep you all updated on this project.

The only bad part about our great library is that in the end the books must be returned.  I keep a list of those books I truly loved to either purchase them eventually or borrow them once again.  

Do you have a love for books?  What's on your bookshelf now?

Thrifty Treasures

I posted some pictures of these thrift treasures a little while ago.  I wanted to show you what I had done with each of them.  

This tureen is sitting on our dining table.  I still haven't decided what I will do with it.  I would love any fun suggestions.  For now I am enjoying it's simple beauty.

This cloche is filled with shells, some from the thrift and some from our collection, and is sitting atop our coffee table.

This is a jar I found at Michaels and fell in love with it right away.  I filled it with some more shells.  Next to it is a pair of ladies leather gloves from an antique store that I loved but it closed down.  They are the smallest gloves I've seen, for very thin hands.  On the other side is a great bobbin that I found on a trip to Pennsylvania.  I have to add some lace to it.  Or do you have a better idea to share?  I would love to hear them.

On the other side is another jar filled with sea glass.  This is all from our collection.  Most of it coming from a little seaside town we love, Little Compton.  Such a beautiful place with wide open spaces and beaches.  Behind the jar I have some little books I have collected, some old, some new.

This great shell is a thrift treasure.  It is from a local beach but I did not find it, on the shore at least.  I did find it at the thrift and was happy to bring it home.  Below it are some more books from my collection, old and new.

I hope you have enjoyed these treasures.  I know I have been thrilled that I found them and could bring them home.

Favorite Things Swap & My Crochet

I joined the Favorite things swap that Connie was hosting.  My partner Laurie does not have a blog so I wanted to show you the package I sent her.  

I sent her some shell buttons, a market bag I crocheted, a vintage bureau scarf, a piece of fabric with travel themes, and some Patons Bamboo and silk yarn.

I received an amazing package from Laurie.  I forgot to take a picture before I ripped into it.  Each item was wrapped in a beautiful pink rosebud paper.  Look at all these wonderful goodies she sent me.  I feel absolutely spoiled!!!

As much as I love other crafts my favorite by far is crochet.  I have started on another bag.  I made this with some leftover yarn.  It is a practice bag because I wasn't sure how it would come out but I am happy with it so far.  It is done in single crochet so it's quick and easy.  I am planning to line it and add some handles.

This is the bottom of the bag.  It came out great and I will be adding something sturdy to the bottom before I line it.

My sister in law is having a baby and I decided I would try to make my first baby sweater.  This pattern was very old and some of the directions were not easy to understand but I muddled through it and the end product is not too bad.  I was quite happy with it for the first sweater I have crocheted.  Somehow the first time I crocheted the sleeves they were huge and I had to redo them but otherwise it came out great.

Crochet is my favorite hobby and I love to try new patterns.  Next, I hope to try a tunic for me that I saw in a book recently.  Wish me luck.

The ac has been fixed.  It is another very hot day here and we are thankful it works.  It will be a better night to sleep with it on.  The man who came was very nice and he checked the fuses first, that's what I thought might be wrong, and that was it.  The total bill was $170 which was not bad.  I was so thankful.  Then that night our monitor decided to stop working.  It wouldn't do anything.  I had no idea what was wrong and hubby was not home.  The next day he worked on it and it came to life.  Thank you God for such a handy hubby.  

Sweltering

There won't be any pretty pictures to go with this post.  There is anything pretty here today.  The temps are in the 90's the humidity is high and during the afternoon-at the time of the most intense heat of the day-the central air just stops working.  No notice-no sputtering-no clue that this was coming.  It is so dreadfully warm here.  One bright hope is that I had dinner in the crock pot and didn't need to use the stove and heat us up anymore.  I was out with my daughter, enjoying a leisurely afternoon at Michaels craft store and Barnes and Noble.   We were enjoying an iced latte, cool and relaxed, peering through all the books we would like to own and my phone rings.  It's hubby to let me know that the central air has died and no one can come take a look at it until tomorrow morning.  The best part is that just for them to look at it they would like a small fee of, hold your breath now~ $125.  Of course, they did mention that any work done will be an additional fee.  Boy, things seem to choose the worst time to happen.  Thankfully, hubby is home to deal with all this craziness.  Not wonderful for him while he is on vacation but it does take the load off me. 

At least, I have a new short haircut to help keep me cool and a freezer full of popsicles.  We'll eat those until our lips turn blue and try to think it's really cool in here. LOL

I am working on a great new bag.  I can't wait until it is finished and I will share pics.  It is so cute and I think I will be making more of these.  They are so much fun to make.  Maybe it's time to open an Etsy shop.  Been thinking about it a lot.  Will have to see.  I may need some extra dollars by the time the ac guy comes tomorrow.  Oh, who am I kidding, I already need quite a few extra dollars.~LOL!

The poor dog looks like she's ready to melt.  I have been giving her ice cubes to try to keep her cool.  

I will share pics of my most wonderful swap package I received when I have a chance to post again.  

Swaps and New Haircut

I have had so much fun participating in some great swaps lately.  It is so much fun to send out some treats in the mail and to receive some yourself.  Makes the mail a whole lot more fun than usual.

I received this great bamboo yarn from Gwen.  It was part of the Yarn and Chocolate Swap that Alessandra hosted.  How awesome~two of my favorite things~yarn and chocolate.

I received this wonderful package from a vintage swap I did with an online group I'm a part of.  My partner Florence really spoiled me.

Look at all these goodies!!

Love this vintage apron!!

Yummy tea and spearmint sugar.  Can't wait to try them.

Love this soap and shea butter lotion bar.  They are by my kitchen sink.  Citrus and basil scented.

I participated in the My Favorite Things Swap that Connie was hosting. I sent off a vintage bureau scarf, I love all things vintage, some shell buttons, a market bag I crocheted and some great bamboo and silk yarn to my partner Laurie.  She doesn't have a blog.  I hope she doesn't peek on these before she gets her package.  I also sent along a piece of fabric I found at the thrift store.  It has a Paris theme and she loves Paris things.

Here it is all wrapped up and ready to go.

This is my new haircut.  I can't take a good picture but I just love this cut.  It is very short in the back and so easy to take care of.

Not too good but a side view.

It has been fun sharing all my goodies with you.

Happy day!!

Makeover Finished

A while back I posted a tour of my home.  I don't know if you remember these pictures of my daughter's room but it has gone through a complete transformation.  She is 16 now and wanted to change everything about her room.  We started this project with demolition two weeks ago.  

The storage bench under her window was taken apart and we got rid of this desk.  

The clutter was gone through and most of it is in the basement waiting for a trip to the thrift store.  She pared down to one bookcase.  All her American Girl dolls and their accessories are stored away.  I just couldn't get rid of them.

Here is the first after picture-new paint color and a new desk.

The other side of her room.  New bedding and everything is fresh and clean.

New window treatments.  I found these great panels for $6.99 each at a local discount store-Christmas Tree Shops.  I don't know how many of you are familiar with it.  I love their good bargains but you have to be careful you don't leave there with too much clutter for your home.  I went just looking for window treatments and didn't look at anything else-left with just window treatments.

This is the area that had the window storage bench.  It's all cleaned up and I think it looks great with the bookcase.  The bookcase will eventually move to the other wall and we want to put a chair there.  We just can't agree on which one.  I prefer this one from Ikea.  She would rather have one of these.  We'll see what happens.

I hope you liked her room transformation as much as we do.  Now she needs some accessories but she is taking her time to find just the right things.