Backyard Collard Greens...

When we were in Georgia last week, my Mymommy's  (which is what I call my Grandmother) next door neighbor gave me some collard greens from his backyard garden. They were beautiful. We ate them last night. :) So happy that our children (all but Madeline, that is) loves greens. Any kind, collards, kale, mustard, turnips....

We also had a delicious squash casserole, baked sweet potatoes, and grit cakes. Wish the picture would have turned out better.

Tonight we are having enchiladas stuffed with grilled sweet red, yellow, and green peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach and avocados.

Well...I've got so much to do today to catch up from being out of town... I need to get to it!

Have a beautiful Monday and a wonderful week!!!

Simply Worn

My sweet Etsian friend Kelly Thomas of  Simply Worn  made mention of me in her new blog simplyworn.blogspot.com along with some wonderful Etsian artisans. I felt honored to be included among them. Kelly is one of the many kindred spirit friends that I've met through Etsy. She is always so encouraging and uplifting, not to mention inspiring.

I want to share with you some of Kelly's wonderful creations so you will all be amazed and inspired by her talent and ideas and fall in love with her shop as I have.

Back home from home...

Me and the kids just got home from visiting friends and family in Destin and Santa Rosa Beach, FL, Dothon, AL, and Albany GA. We made quite the rounds and had so much fun! I didn't get to see and spend time with all of the people that I would have like to. It's so hard to see everyone. I'm thankful and blessed to have so many wonderful friends and such a wonderful family.

We had some wonderful quality time with our little nieces and nephew! I brought my little nephew Shep this owl that I made for him for his birthday. He's so stinkin cute and reminds me so much of my brother. I'm really wishing I took pictures of everyone! I'm bad about having so much fun and forgetting to stop and take pics.

Treasury Thursday on a late Friday night...

Felted Wool Napkin Rings...

Just listed some felted wool napkin rings in my Etsy shop. They were fun to make! Here's some pictures of the three sets....

Madeline & Daniel

Thought I would share a couple of things that I made for my oldest daughter Madeline. She and her first love Daniel snuck off and got married a few months ago. We love Daniel, always have and are happy and excited for them. They are living outside of Charleston where Daniel is in this science school with the Navy. He's really smart and actually enjoys physics. This I will never understand.:)
Madeline is enjoying their new life together and making their first of many homes a home. I love her so much and am so thankful to have such a beautiful, sweet, smart, wonderful, and above all... happy daughter.

The first piece is a junk art, assemblage piece. It has maps from all over the world decoupaged in the background, symbolizing their future military travels together. Their home will be all over and yet really within one another...

The next one is an abstract painting. I love to paint. It's only something that I play at, but I love to mix and play with the colors. Madeline wanted an abstract and this is what I made for them.

Blessings on my Madeline and her Daniel. I love you both and am excited for y'all and your new journey and life together.

Treasury Thursday

'Retro Fun' by EmilyGibbs

Nonteam Treasury for Snookums & Mehttp://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/

Robot Plush Toy for... snookumsandme $35.00	Cars and Trucks Pro... AppleBlossomPr... $20.00	with bells on top. artyfactz $35.00	Vintage Cherry Red ... estatehound $55.00
1930s Felt Pennant ... pumpkintruck $15.00	Silver Metallic All... buildersstudio $20.00	Vtg 70s Sheer MODER... vintageurbanre... $32.00	Vintage 1960s Drive... TheFancyLamb $42.00
Juicy Red Vintage L... wesbenn $245.00	Vintage silver kitc... retrolabs $5.00	Personalized Vintag... GenXBoutique $29.00	1971 Red and Grey I... LemonLimeVinta... $15.00
Lovecity 3 yumalum $32.00	Vintage TV Tray lucyeths $10.00	Super...Olivett 21... LovelyVintageE... $125.00	Vintage Flower Arra... anythinggoeshe... $18.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

If I could live in a tree...

I have always loved tree houses.  I imagine everyone does. Much of my childhood was spent in the top of a huge old magnolia tree that grew comfortably in my favorite woods in the small town of Pace, Florida.  It's funny really because I am usually afraid of heights and have a fear of falling. It didn't seem to bother me when I used to spend so much time lying in the top of that old tree though. 

                                                                            
 This next photo is a tree house that is featured in my favorite coffee table book Gypset. It is so much more than a coffee table book, though. It covers, history, design, travel, and so much more. Can't tell you how many times I have read it. :)

                                                                         
And then of course, there is my all time favorite. The tree house from Swiss Family Robinson....

                                                                            

Save your wine corks...

I know most of you have already seen these. But, for those of you who haven't, they are super easy to make and I think that the warm brown of the corks adds such warmth to a room. Not to mention the fact that it is useful. Beautiful, Useful, and Upcycled. Three wonderful things.:)

I made this cork board from wine corks (obviously) and a recyced frame. It was a bright silver that was too bright for me, so I toned it down with some stains and paint mixtures. I glued the wine corks to the original cardboard that was in the frame just using tacky glue.

 I got most of these corks from my wonderful brother n law Stuart. He's a wine distributor and he's good about saving them for me. Of course, they didn't all come from him!;)  Always save your wine corks! I have also gotten my favorite restaurants and wine bars to save their corks for me. They are usually more than happy to do it. Just make sure that you are faithful enough to drop by and remove them at least once a week or as often as they would like you to. I've done this also with bottle caps from this Mexican grocery store/restaurant that we used to frequent in Santa Rosa Beach. I have some really great bottle caps that I collected from there just by leaving a tin can labeled bottle caps near their bottle cap opener thingy.;)

I've heard that they can also be useful in the garden...I need to look into this and see what for. I'll get back to you on that. My good friend and permaculture expert, Kat Provincher says that the cork tree is seriously endangered. We may not always have wine corks in our wine bottles....So, hang on to those wine corks!<3