PINK SATURDAY & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event!

Happy New Year to all my friends out there in blogland! I wish you blessings for this new year! It's been so nice to get to know you all and share all our decorating and fun ideas to make our homes and lives sweeter!

Today Beverly wanted us to write about a project that we have planned for the new year. I have a very big project that I have started this past week while on Christmas break. As many of you know I live in a big old pre-civil war farmhouse. When we became empty nesters we moved our bedroom downstairs in a back room, well I have decided that I missed having a bath in my bedroom, the big walk in closet to add to that I've also read that if your bedroom is on the second floor you will be healthier and live longer. So I've decided to switch my bedroom and sewing room around. A huge job because both rooms need painting, papering and wainscoting. Not to mention all the stuff one can collect in a sewing room. Well the job is well underway and I'll share the final results with you as soon as it's done. I am doing a major destash in my sewing room and I'm feeling really good about it. Sixteen boxes went to Goodwill this past week!

Today I thought I'd share some last of my Christmas with my foyer all done in pink.



Below is a pretty cross stitch that my daughter Jen did for me years ago, this year I made it into a pretty pillow using scraps of fabric.

I wanted some pink roses for my swags in my foyer and was not able to find any in the pale pink that I like so I made them from tissue paper.

I also wanted to share with you these pretty sea shells that my daughter Jen painted for me for Christmas. They will be perfect with the decor in my bedroom when I finish the big move!

OK back to my pink foyer, here's my white tree all done up in pink.

Please ignore the staircase we are in the process of doing it over in oak.

Some closeups.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was nice to visit with you and have a wonderful week and a Happy New Year!

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY & BLUE MONDAY

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Stop by to visit her and get a list of all the other participants.

Today I am doing a double post, I hope I'm not commiting a blogging crime! LOL It's just that I only get time to do one post a week and I have been missing out on Blue Monday so I'm doing both posts together. This gives me all week to visit other blogs.

Today for my pinkness I have a cute little teatime cross stitch that I did several years ago. I've framed it in a little frame that my daughter Jen painted for me. I'll be using this in my new pink guest bedroom that I hope to show you soon.


Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event!

Blue Monday is hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants. I've missed several weeks of posting in this event since I've started back to work this fall and I have missed chatting with all of you Blue Monday bloggers.

Today I have a blue tapestry to share with you. I found this beautiful winter tapestry in a Dollar Tree for $1.00. Isn't it a beautiful winter wonderland? I just love it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it into a pillow or a quilted wall hanging.

Thank you all so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you. I'm looking forward to all my pink and blue visits this week!

Blessings, Shirl

BLUE MONDAY

Hello and welcome to Blue Monday hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally.

Today for some blue I have these pretty teal suede brand new Thrift Store find for 25 cents. Great buy huh? They are my daughter Jen's size. I have not given them to her yet so she will be surprised when she visits my blog. I thought they would be so cute with a pair of wool dress slacks or dress jeans.

Next I have found these pretty vintage blue plates in another Thrift store for only a dime each.

My friend Connie over at Living Beautifully sent me this pretty (hand painted by her), little painting of all my favorite things, a birds nest with eggs, roses, lilacs and on a blue background. Thank you so much Connie this was so sweet of you! I will treasure it always.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful week.
Bless you, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.



Above is a picture of the pretty little tray that I purchased from my friend Celeste from Celestina Marie Designs. Her work is just stunnning and I'm so thrilled with this purchase. I bought it for the room that it's pictured in here but I had to bring it back downstairs so I could look at it everyday. Much to pretty to leave upstairs. LOL

I just love birdnests with eggs so this just called out to me!

Look how pretty Celeste wrapped it, also enclosed was a hand painted card.

Celeste also sent me this adorable pink cupcake ornament. Perfect for my teatime/cupcake guest bedroom. (I will be posting that room soon I promise) Pretty recipes cards and yummy herbal tea's.

Some pretty pink wildflowers that I picked when my husband and I went for a walk through the farm one evening.

Thank you so much for stopping by it was so much fun to visit with you. I will be back on Monday with a Blue Monday post.

PINK SATURDAY & TUSSIE MUSSIES

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday! This fun event is hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.
This week I went to visit friends and before going I made them each an herbal tussie mussie. I love using herbs to make them first for the scent and second is that they can use the herbs to cook with later in the week.
Usually I will put a rose in the center of these but since my stargazer lily's were in bloom I used them and that made the scent so much more intense.


The second one. The pretty vintage cake carrier was painted by my daughter Jen of Jen's Petal Palace.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you. I will be back on Monday with a Blue Monday post so stop back if you can!

Have a great weekend!

Bless you, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound.
Above I have a pic of my Blue Jacob's Ladder plant. My cats got to running and playing today and broke it down. Oh I was so mad at them. LOL. I thought I'd bring it in to enjoy rather than just let it die. Also in the vase a pink waterlogged rose from my garden. It's been raining for a week now. They are calling for a nice weekend, I've got my fingers crossed!




Next I have a pretty millinery hat that I purchased at an antique mall last weekend. It was only $8.00, I was going to take it apart to use flowers for crafting but I've not been able to do that. LOL For my WV blogging friends this antique mall is "Buckhannon Emporium" on Main Street in Buckhannon. It's a fun mall and I always come out with something when I go, prices are usually great!

I found this pretty teacup in the same antique mall, it's not vintage but pretty just the same. It was only $6.00. I have my Mother's teacup shelf that I'm still trying to fill up so I'm always happy to find one at a good price.

The back has a white wild rose on it.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I'll be back Monday with a Blue Monday post. Have a great weekend!

Bless you, Shirl

PORCH PARTY & BLUE MONDAY

Hello and welcome to my Southern Belle Porch Party hosted by Rhondi of Rose Colored Glasses. A big Happy Birthday to Rhondi! Thank you so much Rhondi for hosting this fun event!
I'm so glad you joined me today. We are having some rain but hopefully the sun will be out soon. If not we have a nice sheltered porch to relax on. I'll let you stroll through the garden on the way to the porch.

The porch sticking out to the left of this pic, is in the old pre-civil war side of the house, we are in the process of turning that porch into a Florida room. It will have steps, brick walk and a door leading into this picket fenced side of the house.

My beloved peonies are in bloom now and the wild roses in the hills are all in bloom so the scent is heavenly!

Clemetis is also in bloom now and my David Austin roses are just starting to open.

Some flowers just waiting to be planted.

Lets go up on the porch and have some tea or lemonade.

A little Vintage Southern Belle pillow to greet us.

You may sit at the little ice cream palor table if you'd like~~~~~~~

Some sweet little faux pastery party favors made by my daughter Jen of Jen's Petal Palace.

More of Jen's faux pasteries here.

This china pattern I recently found at a Flea Market. I remember my Mother buying this very china pattern when we lived in Newfoundland. I always loved when she used it and don’t know what ever happened to hers. When I saw these plates they just had to come home with me. Now I’m going to have to search the Flea Markets to find other pieces to go with it.

Or you could set at the larger table~~~~~~~~~

We have some tea, pink lemonade, fresh cherries from the market, buttercream frosted cake, pinapple~orange cake (recipe below), Ferrero Rocher chocolate.

These pretty plates I purchased last year on vacation in the Outer Banks. They just had the two plates for sale but just perfect when having my daughter or a friend for lunch.

A pretty Southern Belle joined us at each place setting. These pretty little gals are made by Lenox.

Some pretty party favors.

The pretty peonies are from my garden. They are one of my favorite flowers. Just glimpsing the showy petal is sure to make you smile! The scent is heavenly, kind of like a Ragusa rose.

This pretty tattered and tarnished Vintage Gorham Sterling Silver was recently given to me by husbands Uncle. He found it while cleaning out his cousins estate. Since I love all things vintage, he thought I would like to have it and he was right, so they were spared from the Goodwill Box and have a good home now. LOL The initials are M C and there are some pieces missing but I love them just the same.

A pretty old millinery hat.

Some cozy places to set and relax with a cup of tea.

It looks like the sun is trying to peek through those clouds!

A cozy place to sit and read this wonderful book by illustrated by Susan Rios, my favorite artist. I strive to make my home look like one of her paintings!

Here is my favorite spot to sit and relax with a good book or some needlework. All I need here now is a crystal chandelier for cloudy days and I'm good to go!

The pretty little floral ice cream soda my daughter Jen made for me back in 1983 when she was in floral design school.

A pretty little market bag that I made to take to the market and pic up a few things and of couse flowers!

Speaking of reading a good book, today I’m going to read the last two chapters in this wonderful book, “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young. If you have not read this book treat yourself to it. The Shack is a beautiful story that is like being on a fellowship with God. It answers the lifelong question of how God comes to find us in the midst of our sorrows, trapped by disappointments, betrayed by our own presumptions. He never leaves us where he finds us, unless we insist!

When I finish reading that wonderful book, (which I hate for it to end) I'm going to get back to this needlework project designed by another great artist Paula Vaughan.

I'll let you stroll around the porch, and do make yourself at home.

Spring is a busy time for me, I still have some flowers waiting to be planted.

A few more books to sit and look at. Sentimental Living from the Porch is just the most beautiful book, a porch for every season.

Another one titled Relaxing on the Porch.

This sign "Cat Nap Inn" does describe our home. Although there were no cats around for these pictures there are nine of them living here. There is a chill in the air so they are inside the cozy cottage! We have a big problem of people tossing cats out in the country and I won't turn away a hungry cat. I feed, bath, take for a check up, have them spayed and nutered, then just love them! There's a little cat door on the porch so they come and go as they please.

As I promised earlier in this post here it the recipe for the yummy Pinapple~Orange Cake. I found this in one of my husbands diabetic magazines. It it light~ not sugar free~ but you can lighten it even more with some of the new Splenda products available today. I now use the Splenda cake mix.

PINEAPPLE ORANGE CAKE
1 Pkg Yellow Cake Mix (I use Splenda cake mix)
1 Can 11 ounce Mandarin Oranges, undrained
4 egg whites
½ cup unsweetened applesauce

TOPPINGS:
1 can 20 ounces crushed pineapple, undrained
1 Pkg. 1 oz/ sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
1 carton 8 oz. reduced fat or sugar free whipped topping
In large bowl, beat cake mix, oranges, egg whites and applesauce on low speed
For 2 minutes. Pour into a 13-in. x 9 in. x 2 in. baking dish greased.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 min. Cool on a wire rack.
In a bowl combine pineapple and pudding mix.
Fold in whipped topping just until blended. Spread over cake.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

So that's it for my Southern Belle Tea Party! I hope you enjoyed youself, it was so nice to have you stop by! Your welcome anytime!

BLUE MONDAY

Hello and welcome to my Blue Monday post hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally. Thank you Sally for hosting this fun event!

Today I have my handsome grandson dressed for his High School Graduation. Since he's dressed in blue he's just perfect for Blue Monday. He graduated Friday evening, he's my first born grandson and we are so proud of him. He plans a career in physical therapy. His graduation was beautiful, I was so happy to see that they still had prayers at his gradutaion. I really hate that they are taking prayer of out our everyday life! (My opinion) I showed his prom pics a few weeks back if you'd like to see them just scroll down a few posts.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it has been fun! Have a great week! Now I'm going to sit on my porch and look at some Porch Parties and Blue Monday's.

Bless you, Shirl