Waiting for Spring

I am longing for springtime and the time when I can get in the garden and start digging. Meanwhile, it is still cold and wintry here. The chilly temperatures aren't keeping me from doing some spring painting however and I want to share a few pieces with you.

The first is a door crown that is a Terrye French Design. My dear friend, Diane, who lives in England is the new owner and I know it will look lovely in her home. We exchange notes about the comings and goings in our lives. Her writings of trips to Sweden and working in her cottage garden just sweep me away!


I have another friend, Linda, who is suffering through the long winter as I am. Living to the north, she is receiving more than her share of snow and frosty temperatures. We both talk of how spring is surely around the corner and how we are waiting impatiently for its arrival. She recently purchased this "springy" prim bread board. Don't you just love the black bunny and the little robin's nest with its blue eggs?

Wendy, who lives in Japan, is getting her share of snow too. I hope this prim sheep skillet will give her a glimpse of springtime. We have become fast friends through our convos on Etsy. What a dear she is!

Snow is in the forecast for today so my beloved pup, Suki, and I will stay inside my warm little studio. I tell her to be patient but she wants a warmer, sunnier day. Hugs go out to all of you from the both of us!!!

More Building Block Houses....

Oh, I just love making these little guys! I decided to go ahead and make a set for Christmas, Halloween and an Americana set for all the patriotic holidays! I continued using all sorts of ephemera to cover the sides and bottoms of the houses. A large variety of three dimension items such as rusty stars, an old brass key, buttons and typewriter keys were used for embellishment. I am going to make a set with a chicken/rooster/egg theme for my kitchen I do believe. My dearest put his foot down sometime back about halting the addition of any more feather fowl there but these will be small so maybe I can sneak them in!!!! :o)

Little Building Block Houses

I found a bag of the most precious old building blocks at "the yellow house" antique shop last week and I am just now getting to play with them. Isn't it fun to take something and turn it this way and that until that little light bulb in your head goes off and you have idea??!!!??? That is exactly what happened with these little houses. Actually, my work space was a huge mess with buttons and snippets of papers scattered here and there. Out of that mess came my idea for the blocks and since my band saw is only a paintbrush throw away from where I work, I was sawing then sanding to add even more "age" to the blocks. Here is what I came up with. A little prim village of cottages covered with ephemera, antique buttons and stamps. I think I am going to make a set for each season.... Christmas, Halloween, Easter, 4th of July!!!!! FUN! FUN! FUN! The workspace will stay in disarray for a while longer ---- I am having a swell time!

Spring Challenge - Part 2

I finished the last two projects for the Spring Celebration Challenge by Old Farmhouse Gathering on Etsy. I kept the theme going with this little baby shoe light, painted with a spring peep from a Terrye French design. I love to think about the little chubby feet that once wore this tiny shoe. I found a sweet vintage baby picture to put on a round hang tag. The candle light has been cut down to the desired length and has a flickering silicone bulb.


The final piece is a shadow box with a tea party them. The little cup and saucer came from a set I found at a tag sale. They were just the perfect size to tuck inside and sit on a paper doily. The little girl photo is a favorite of mine. I thought she needed a pink hairbow to wear to this fete. And what party would be complete without some posies? The pink forget-me-not nosegay is tied with a sheer pink ribbon. The frame is painted ivory and antiqued for and aged appearance. The heart on the frame reminds me of a locket a little miss might wear to a party.

Spring Challenge

Old Farmhouse Gathering on Etsy has issued two celebration challenges to be posted in the near future. One is for Spring and the other is for Easter. I love a challenge.... the chance to stretch my creative thinking is always a good way for me to "turn up the volume" as Ina Garten would say. I have completed two out of four projects that I have planned and I am pleased with the results so far. The first is a wonderful piece of vintage 1934 sheet music, "I believe in Miracles" that I have painted with an apple tree branch and a bird's nest. Just to guild the lily I added ephemera, wood buttons and and old key. After all, isn't the promise of Spring really a miracle?

The second piece is perhaps my favorite of all gourd pieces that I have created. This is a little peep all ready to celebrate the first day of spring. She has on a polka dot party hat and is carrying a little "chicken wire" basket filled with spring berries and eggs. She stands atop a bandbox that has been decoupaged with vintage sheet music and trimmed in robin's egg blue. Her wings and tail are cut from gourd pieces as is her beak. I love the quizzical look on her little tilted head. Is there anything sweeter than a little downey, yellow chick? Her papier mache cone party hat has a whimsical little medallion that says simply, "Bliss." Her momma has instructed her to stay inside the little picket fence until she is old enough to venture out on her own. I would say that is a wonderful idea! This little chick has been named KaDee for one my precious nieces.

All hung up....

I smocked so many little dresses on bonnets when Megan was little. She was always decked out in some creation that had tiny flowers and bunnies, ladybugs and strawberries or just her monogram. I keep one on display always --- I can't bear to pack them away. I wanted a special way to display her little frocks. I cut a piece of wood to make this baby hanger and I love the way it turned out. I made two little hangers..... one to keep and one to put in my shop!


Here is another idea using a premade wood hanger... a whimsical way to display your lovely old doilies and handiwork. These are old family pieces made by my mother-in-law years and years ago. I think I will make another to put in the cottage kitchen --- perfect for a dishtowel collection I think!!!

My little bird friends......

The mockingbirds are once again preparing for a new family! They have begun to build a nest in my now bare crepe myrtle. Mr. Bird takes this construction very seriously and makes a great show of flapping wings and loud cries if anyone, including Suki my dog, gets near. I decided that this would be the perfect inspiration for a painted and decoupaged canvas. The bright blue egg and robin are the ideal heralds of what Shakespeare calls the "best season of all." Now, off to my little studio to see what else I can dabble with today.

Capturing Fairies

Do you remember as a child when you would take a jar your mother had given you and go exploring in the grass, seeing what you could find to trap and observe until it was released? I spent hours capturing various bugs, butterflies, worms and other "critters" and watching them through the glassy walls of my container. Having a wild imagination, I believed that one day I would find a fairy or other little nymph that I could keep for as long as I wanted, sitting her on a table and watching her for hours. Years passed and those illusive fairies remained hidden from my view until I can now capture them in bottles, jars, glass bubbles and shadowboxes. What fun to make up whimsical stories about them, to tuck moss and twigs here and there and even add a tiny nest with eggs. At last my quest has been completed!

Cottage Attachements

The buttercups have been blooming for almost two weeks and the tulips are getting ready to pop open. But the queen of all flowers, the rose, has been my favorite since childhood. These little "attachments" are meant to be the ultimate cottage organizers for a bulletin board and fridge. The small glass bubbles are thumbtacks. One clothespin has a magnetic strip attached to the back for holding lists and notes on the fridge and just in case there is more than one reminder to pay attention to, a large glass bubble magnet with lovely shepherdess will do the trick. The button clothespin can hold recipes, calling cards or photos.

Vintage Paperweights

I bought some wonderful ephemera from an Etsy artist recently. I have always been fascinated with paperweights so I decided to give it a go with snippets from my treasure trove of goodies. Almost everything I used is from vintage pieces although I did add buttons, stickers and words here and there. I love the way they turned out! See more in my shop at appletreecottage.etsy.com.