From somebody's trash to my treasure. I like to re-style & re-create what was once a cast off. Isn't that what Jesus does with us?


Monday, December 30, 2013

She's Down

Hi Friends --

Have you put Christmas away? 

Normally I'm all gung ho about getting the tree down the very next day. (That's because it's usually up sometime in early November!) HA!  This year was different. We went for our real tree about seven - 10 days later than normal. I was just behind! Ya know? 

I took the Christmas tree down yesterday.  I lingered as long as possible to stare at her beautiful, twinkling lights. The tree always gets me that way. Beautiful. Romantic. Not to mention the fragrance. A pine scent better than candles! Ahhhhhhhh!

Saturday I put the ornaments away. The tinsel and fake wrapped packages.

Away went the garland.

The Christmas teapot.

Snowman nutcrackers and wooden soldiers.

And then away went Mary and Joseph.

 "Mom did you put Jesus away?" 

"Girls, I put baby Jesus away for another year."  Pause. "But He still lives daily in my heart."

I can talk to Him moment by precious moment.


I can sit and linger as I read His Word. (Like sipping a cup of coffee. Enjoying it's rich flavor)

I am engaged with Him as I read.

His presence is felt.

Sometimes I'm there because I want to continue my "habit" of being alone with Him.

Sometimes I don't "feel" his presence, but I know He is always with me.

How sweet is that?

So to answer the question, I can never put Jesus away.
 He is always with me. He will never forsake me. And He will never forsake you. Just ask Him to come in to your heart today.  It's the best decision you can make for a brand new year.

New Year Blessings, My Friends --
Tammy

Saturday, December 14, 2013

She's Up!

Christmas Greetings Everyone --
We finally got our Christmas tree last Saturday! Is anyone else a little behind like I am? It's unusual for us to have our tree up so late in the season. Oh well. It's up now! Today we strung the outside lights and glory of all glories.....it is snowing right now!!! Big, billowy snowflakes flying through the sky. It's so beautiful looking out the window! And they are coming fast!! Lots of them. WOHOOO!!!!!
Earlier this week I made dozens of cookies.... chocolate, peppermint brownie bites, chocolate chip; chocolate chip caramel; blueberry oatmeal bars and chocolate chip bars. Can you tell we have a little chocolate chip thing goin' on? HA!
More pictures to come as I download them from the computer. Until then .... enjoy the season whereever it might find you.
Love,
Tammy

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Little by Little Part I

Christmas Greetings Ya'll!

(I've got a little Southern twang goin' on!) smile.

How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was good. I've taken a few notes for next year though. More serving spoons. Somehow we just didn't have enough. Probably too many in the dishwasher. HA!
I am so loving the way my fireplace mantle came out this year. You've seen the clip boards with pictures on them, right? I downloaded a copy of chalkboard Christmas art I found somewhere online, and attached that so easily to my clipboard. Also a recent purchase is the apothecary jar that I've been admiring for years. I finally bought one. Maybe someday I'll have three. HA!
The two vintage windows are a gift from a house - builder friend. So Love Those!! I also love the collection of little Christmas trees and especially the vintage - like cider jar we hauled home from a trip to South Carolina two years ago. It was one of those super cute farmers markets with tractor-churned ice cream.Y.U.M.
still looking for a miniature '50's truck to load a tree on top of to complete this vignette!!
I've been working hard on painting Christmas trees. YUP! You read that right! It seems they are all the rage at a little antique market I've recently visited. I'm trying to duplicate them. I'll have pictures coming soon! Plus another vignette that came about over an evening and morning. OH! I almost forgot. I finally painted some of my brown baskets with some paint too! Now they are all vintage-hipped out. Pictures coming soon!!

Hope you are enjoying the season!!

Warmly,
Tammy

 

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Little by Little ...

Hello!
Have you happily begun your decorating? I so enjoy this time of year when I can pull out all my Christmas decorations again and see what I've kept hidden away all year. 
That in itself is like opening gifts!
I am excited to share with you what I have been doing. This series, Little by Little, will showcase some vignettes I've been working on.
I've never really had an ample Christmas supply. What I've had has been sufficient, but each year I find myself wishing I had a few more pieces for here and there. This year on a recent trip to Lucketts, Virginia I scored not only a fabulous piece for everyday, but a whole load of fabulous ideas. Thanks to my sister's camera phone, we photo journaled all these wonderful ideas and over the next several weeks will try to copy some of them.
I plan to share those creative ideas with you here as I include them in my little vignettes throughout the house.


This is my silver plated dish that I found at Lucketts Antiques. It was love at first sight. I don't know if you can tell, but the two little dish compartments are attached. Does anyone have a name for this kind of dish? I just love it, but don't know what to call it. For Thanksgiving we put some candies in it and the kids enjoyed helping themselves! 
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the Christmas season.
Until the next time we meet here,
Tammy

Thursday, October 31, 2013


                                                
These are my cuties! Recently I went on a ladies retreat and Daddy had them for the weekend. They were into all kinds of craziness. Like climbing tall peaks and leaning out over where the sun doesn't shine! HA! I would have been a little nervous had I been there. But since I wasn't, all was well!!
Really, they were fine. This area is known for migrating raptors. Hundreds and Thousands of them!
Unfortunately, this day, they were few and far between.
A few days ago we went to a local corn maze. What a blast. This place is so creative in their use of tires and hay bales and thousands of corn stalks and bamboo.
A wonderful way to wrap up October and look forward to Thanksgiving and beyond!

Enjoy the season!
Tammy




Sunday, October 6, 2013

Local Artists

My girls and I have been busy crafting these days!

Usually by now the weather is cooler and we are hunkering down for continued cooler weather to come. But this autumn season has been a wonderful mixture of 70's and 80's. My kind of weather!
Nonetheless, we are thinking and painting Fall things to remind us of the time of year.

I love their colorful pumpkins. We just finished an African adventure to the Congo and made face masks. We watched wide-eyed as wildebeests crossed the dangerous Mara River to get to the Serengeti plains in Africa.  It's wonderful how you - tube can transport you to another continent in seconds!
I love visiting Farmers Markets year round. There's nothing like picking some crisp and sweet apples right from the tree. Or taking a hay wagon ride to the pumpkin patch to score a fat pumpkin or two.
Be blessed friends!!
I hope you are having a wonderful Fall where ever you are!
Tammy


Thursday, September 12, 2013

God's Delight .....

God's delight is my delight!!
Even though the season is approaching Autumn, the weather here still says summer. We've been enjoying God's creation so much lately. From the monarch butterfly that spent an hour flying back and forth to my arm and sitting there for 10 minutes at a time(Boy, did it tickle!!); to the voraciously, hungry turkey vultures that spare no time swooping in for a feast.
 I am so gleeful and filled with joy to just behold these things. It seems like it's a "show" just for me. My eyes are open. Watching.
I'm getting away for a little R&R in the Adirondacks this long weekend, and I'll have my camera ready. I can't wait to see what other creatures will show up in front of my lens!

Enjoy your weekend!
Tammy 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Summer Re-do

A friend tipped me off recently to an antiques dealer in the area that sells chalk paint. C.C. Caldwell. I was thrilled and rushed over that same day to get me some. I've been reading about Annie Sloane's chalk paint, but there's no local retailer. I was glad to get some and finally check it out. The sample I got is Blue Montana Sky. I thought I was going to come home and paint a couple table runners to look like french grain sacks. However my eyes lit on my neglected desk in the corner and the race was on to cover her in this chalky wonder called paint!
This is my desk, Lucy. hee hee I thought it would be fun to name her just now. (smile)  In this picture I am in process of covering up the wilted, dilapidated gray with a cooler shade of blue. I've never used chalk paint, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've read that you don't have to strip or sand the furniture before painting, so I didn't. I think it would have made a difference in the color of the piece had it not had peeling gray already on it. I kinda like the blue in the paint bottle better than on the desk. But it's growing on me. It's not too bad for my first shot at it. What do you think?
Here's Lucy all painted and just awaiting some creative styling. I have some more pictures on my camera to download and I'll show them to you. I found this darling mini lamp that matches my full size living room lamp. They look so sweet together!
I hope your Friday is getting off to a good start! We are hoping to head to the tennis courts tonight when the rain lets up.
Happy Weekend!

Tammy

 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Roughing It

I don't think you can say you went camping unless you roughed it! Know what I mean? Camping is not pulling up in a pull -along trailer that stretches out to twice it's size with a flick of a switch. That's like being at home!! Know what I mean? We saw plenty of these "homes-on-wheels" recently when we roughed it with our six person tent. I know.... there's plenty of people that would say our tent is not roughing it. We are only four and we have enough room to stand tall and move around and dress comfortably. We even have a "rain jacket" over ours. It's great and spacious. We are quite comfortable in it.
However this weekend of camping has made me re-consider if I want to rough it anymore. It was HOT!! We came home a day early because my man didn't like the oppressive heat. It was many degrees hotter in the tent. I'm sure an AC unit would have made all the difference. hee hee   I can just imagine what that would look like now in our tent window. It makes me laugh! 
But it's not just because of the heat. Actually I found it quite do-able under the shade of the oak trees that framed our tent. It's the sweaty-dirty-no-clean-shower-nearby-having-to-go-to-the-bathroom-in-the middle-of-the-night-kinda-thing. Anyone with me?
So I'm not sayin' I'm against the "homes on wheels" kinda camping, I'm just thinking you can't really call it camping when you have all those indoor plumbing luxuries!! I sure would have loved that this weekend! HA!

This little caterpillar above was so cool!! We found him crawling on my man's grill. Soon he will turn into a Swallowtail butterfly. He made the camping trip for us!!
Hope you're enjoying your summer.
BE COOL!
Tammy

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

It Started with a Grill

This was one of the best gifts I   we could have given my husband. A weber charcoal grill! S.W.E.E.T It all started Friday night, two days before Father's Day. The girls and I had just picked it up Thursday afternoon and by Thursday night we were giggling through dinner and winking back our secrets to one another. Are you good at keeping secrets? I can keep a secret. No worries there. But it's the excitement and delight within that just wants to bubble out until the gift is finally given. Know what I mean?
So Friday night AFTER dinner we surprised him with it! It was a good thing we did. There was so much more to it than I knew! He researched the best way to start a charcoal fire and what accessories he needed. What a joy to share in his joy! As I type that, I can't help but think that must be how the Lord looks down upon his children as we enjoy His wonderful gifts. 
I was so blessed not to have to cook ALL WEEKEND! In fact, I'm still not cooking. I love this grill!! hee hee.
Sunday we took a wonderful hike on the Appalachian Trail. We walked through the most wonderful horse pasture. The horses were not near the trail this time, but other times it's been wonderful to pet them along the way!



At the end of our hike we finished off our day with slushies and Doritos. You know....like any good mother would feed her kids for dinner! hee hee 
Hope your week is wonderful!
Tammy 

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Welcome to Spa Night

Woohoo! Who doesn't like a little relaxin'?   
 We are avid home schoolers here! Part of our mission in life is to encourage and bless others who also have been called to this wonderful alternative to public or private schooling. I recently led a Spa Party for home schooling moms. It was fabulous!!
We had four stations set up for the ladies to enjoy A Mani/Pedi Station. A craft station to make their own body scrub. My favorite was the lavender. Another favorite was mojito made with a little lime juice and eucalyptus oil. Who knew it could be so easy!!!
 We had a facial station where the ladies tried a home made mask made of greek yogurt and egg yolks.
 We also had a wonderful foot soaking station with beautiful flowers floating in the scented foot tubs. It was a serene and beautiful night. Prizes were given out every hour and there was lots of gourmet food to enjoy. My favorite was the chocolate bomb cake. It was the bomb, let me tell ya!!!!
 I so wish I had a picture of this chandelier that was made. MADE out of cardboard no less!!! It was huge and fit our foyer just perfect. The cardboard curves were covered with silver glitter and blue baubles hung from each arm.

T




This sign gave me a great deal of anxiety. It started out light blue and then when the paint dried I noticed I did not paint some of the sides. So I used some blue-ish green to patch it up and then realized in horror that the colors were not the same. Several coats later (adding white to match the colors)  it was fixed. I was so thankful. I was down to only 12 hours before the Spa night and I just had to have a sign. WHEW!!!


I hope you have a relaxing weekend! I am heading once again to The Tomato Pie Cafe next week with some friends and I'll let you know what yummies we have.
Tammy

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Peonies and Blueberry Bars

Hey There --
Just lovin' the sweet scent of my beautiful peonies this time of year. I decided to cut some and enjoy them indoors. Usually I don't like to cut them. But you know what? It's such a shame that they just can't keep their big heads standing up. They drag along the ground and get so droopy. Nobody really enjoys them then. So this year it's different.
I have two ball jars full and may bring another bouquet in later this week. I'll watch to see how many are drooping first. Friends of ours have pink and white peonies. I'm hoping we can make a little trade sometime soon. I'm so thankful these flowers are so hardy and are very hard to destroy.  I want to cut the bulbs in the Fall and transplant some of mine to the side of my house.
Girls -- I've got a great recipe to share!! It is truly scrumptious!! It's called Blueberry Oatmeal Bars. We call them Blueberry crumble. They are so delicious and so easy to make!
We've been enjoying hand-picked blueberries all winter long. Now I'm scurrying to use up the remainder so I can pick some fresh ones soon. So it was quite by coincidence that I happened upon this recipe, not really knowing for sure how well they would turn out. They remind me of mini blueberry pies. I might try to make some in pint mason jars next time. Wouldn't that be cute?
Our local berry pickin' place is open for strawberry season next week. I can't wait to go out and turn those into something yummy too!! 
Hope you are enjoying what the season has to offer! 
Tammy 

Monday, May 6, 2013

A New Place

Hello Girlfriends --
We have THIS NEW PLACE in our area!! That's big stuff!!! We don't see THIS KIND OF PLACE too often. It's exciting. First a friend introduced me to The Tomato Pie Cafe and then I took my mom and sis. I can't decide if its more about the food for me or the ambiance. It's so hard to choose. Do I have to?  
The bar and wall unit in this picture were found at an auction by the owners. When they purchased them they were one unit in it's original condition. SWEET!


Check out the mason jar chandelier!!! L.O.V.E.
You may not see this picture clearly, but they hung two windows with the breakfast selections marked on them. So cool!  Love this antique buffet!!
Looking forward to going back again real soon! Kandi and Patty are you in?
More about the ambiance and food next post.
Enjoy your week!
Tammy