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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Link Party No. 41!

I love the scrap book section at the craft store. Even though I am not a big scrap booker (I used to do it a lot, but my scrap book stopped at where Christopher was 9 month old and he is now 10 years old...).
They are always coming out with such cute products, especially embellishments, and I use them for other things besides scrap booking all the time.

I bought those bright colored roses several weeks ago, and have some ideas of what to do with them. For now, I am enjoying just looking at them.

I know my posts have been a little "blah" lately (sorry girls, I seriously could not squeeze out any time for creating lately, and being sick all of January didn't help the situation) but I have exciting news to tell you in my next post. I couldn't take good pictures today, but it is coming!

Meanwhile, show me what you have been working on, my creative friends!

Here are the rules:

1. Please post something YOU made. It doesn't matter if it is crochet, quilt, clothing, anything would be fine. I want to see it! If you use someone's idea or patterns please give them the rightful credit.

2. Link to your specific post, that way it is easier for everybody to find and read it.

3. Please grab the "Tea Rose Home" grab button, and link back from your post. If you can mention the party in your post or place the button on your side bar, that would be great! I want more people to have a chance to come and show off their creation.

<center><a href="http://tearosehome.blogspot.com"><img border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462799092490427250" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 160px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHA1Y3e8436nZvEAbFSLbjc96IlUlfua-zm3HLrEk8wOcmDu7rtB5aUbeM7KHX-A3lxmUNWmy0NtsfO-IXrRZ1GUEKB68Eib49R0FPw0jq81WBxGYcLCIkv_yT_UGQyCysfRkz7wH3S08/s200/GrabButtonLinkParty.jpg" /></a></center>

Thank you for your participation, and making this link party sucssesful and fun!

The Green Winter

Winter came early this year. But it seems that Old Man Winter used up his snowflakes all at once because it's looking a lot like spring around here. In fact, things are so green that we've been graced with our first show of flowers.

I caught sight of them from our bedroom window and still in my nightgown, decided to go outside and give them a proper welcome.

Here's a small bouquet that I brought inside. For such little flowers, they have an amazingly strong fragrance. It's a fragrance very similar to that of gardenias.

Here they are smiling after being in the warm house for a few hours. My friend Catherine told us that they are called Snowdrops and bloom in early spring.

Welcome sweet little Snowdrops.

So bummed

Well, the sunshine medallion panels that I was so anxiously waiting for came in yesterday. I’m terribly disappointed. The print looks nothing like it does in the picture online. If you take the print shown in this picture and pretend to use highlighter pens in place of the colors that’s pretty much what it looks like. The colors are so unbelievably bright. They look pretty muted in the picture but are very neon in real life, especially the orange [which looks like a spiced red in the photo].

Here’s the problem, I fell so in love with what I thought this fabric would look like. Now I have my heart set on something just like it for the nursery. I don’t think I can go back to my original plan. So, as of now, I’m on a mission to find something similar.

For those of you who said you had bookmarked it and were thinking of getting it yourself…BUYER BEWARE. I guess the positive side is that the panels I purchased can be returned. Oh the joys of online shopping.

LiveJournal Tags: Urban Outfitters,Sunshine Medallion Panels

this friday is first friday...

and that means time for our flea market!

We have some really great vendors coming this month and we are so excited! In addition to all our great vendors we will be offering 20% off all apparel and 25% off Michael Stars' tees! Friday only! Hope to see you here at the Willows this Friday from 10 - 2! Here's a peek at what to expect...

Our good friend Tesfaye will be here selling his organic vegetables...

Dos Fannies will be joining us this month with new one-of-a-kind pieces!

We will have more paper wreaths for those of you who missed them last month!

Some great French inspired pieces...

And these adorable handmade cupcakes (they are baby onesies!) and frames...

Stop on by and see what else we have in store! French pastries will be for sale as well!

A new SketchUp record!

Two weeks ago, we issued a free maintenance release that eliminated the much-loathed Shadow Bug (among other things) -- and the SketchUp community went bananas with paroxysms of delight. We felt like Oprah on one of her "Favorite Things" episodes. More of you downloaded SketchUp 8 in the seven days after the M1 release than had ever done so in any one-week period in history.

Some of my favorite quotes from around the social web:

Great work for all SU users! It's SU9! -- GENKI via the SketchUp Blog

My first full day of work with M1. halleluja! Not a single crash in SkU or LayOut. And no more subtly changing layout view to avoid the shadow bug! Thanks for such a fantastic update. My work life is so much better now. -- Hendrik via the SketchUp Blog

Congrats to the SU team. Now we can finally lurk in the shadows...hehe -- NVizeon via the SketchUp Blog

What's left for us to complain about now? -- Thomas via our Facebook page

To make sure you're running the latest (and most certainly greatest) version, open SketchUp 8 (free or Pro) and choose Help > Check for Update. If you're on a Mac, choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update. Let's see if we can break the record for 30-day downloads, too!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Free Valentine's Day Printables

I've had Valentine's Day on the mind today. I'm not quite sure why (my husband and I don't do much for the holiday), but whatever the reason, I decided to create some printable graphics/designs for you all to use for Valentine's crafts, cards or whatever else you can think of to use these fun graphics for in your life.

I hope you like them. The first one is one of my favorites. My husband and I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia" and I cannot get this quote out of my head.

The next two would be great to attach to a gift or for school treats.

The following five graphics are all similar, but I've changed the "us +" number in each one so it is customized to the number of kids you have in your family.

So just right-click and save any of these fun graphics to your computer. I would love to see how some of you end up using these. You all are so talented, so I know you will do some creative things!

I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate everyone behind High Gloss which launched today. I can't wait to sit down and scroll through it tonight!

Hello everyone,

Today we are back to winter here -well really it was always winter but I started daydreaming about spring. So with a storm heading our way in a couple of days I am giving myself a reality check. So, today it is a warm cozy tea with an English flair.

I love this teapot and teacup that have an English village scene on them.

I made some blackberry buttermilk muffins for us again- I still have lots of frozen blackberries from the bumper crop last fall that I need to use up.

It is cloudy today so my pics are off-sorry!

I bought this old needlepoint picture several years ago along with a second one of two kittens- I have always loved them and they remind me of an English home somehow.

I love this Victoria book about England and often enjoy a peek at it.

This is one of the pictures in it that I love.

I bought a half dozen of these pretty roses today for my weekly treat. I got my husband a big bag of trail mix - now I will let him look at my flowers so I think he should let me have some trail mix-don't you?Ha!

Another cup for you- I bought this at the thrift shop years ago.

Such a pretty delicate color rose- unfortunately not an English rose though.

This was the view outside my bay window a few days ago. Not spring but still a beautiful season!

All this talk about England brought back memories of our trip there in 2008. These are a few of the photos I took. I would love to go back and stay for a few weeks sometime in a charming little English cottage.

I love the doorways in England.

One of the highlights of our trip was going to the Chelsea flower show.

so many beautiful clematis.

How is that for spring color!

Today, is Teatime Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage and so I am joining in again. Thank you Sandi for hosting these lovely teas.
Also today is Kathy's Return to Loveliness Victoria party at A Delightsome Life so go and check out these lovely parties.
Thank you to all who have stopped in to visit and to all of you who have left behind such lovely comments, I enjoy all of them.

Take care,
Carolyn

{ The Mom Cave }

do you have one?
I want one.
And here's what I want it to look like.

it's next on my list.
Simple, right?
A few trips to IKEA and some elbow grease, and I'm in { Mom Cave } heaven.

Emily A. Clark recently wrote some articles for HomeGoods
about finding that special place in your home { The Mom Cave }.
Every mom needs a { Mom Cave }.
Even if it's just a corner of a room with special touches just for you.
So, go ahead, start planning your { Mom Cave }!
I have.
And, just to keep things real...
here's the "before" of my { Mom Cave }
go ahead, laugh.

great bones, check.
1977 wallpaper, check
{ peel-able, I checked, thank you God, cause you know how I feel about removing wallpaper. }

My original idea for this room was a kids playroom, like you see in Pottery Barn kids, with high ceilings, lots of different play stations, nooks, crannys, the whole sha-bang.

But, my kids have no interest in being in this room.
It's completely separated from the rest of the house.
Jackpot! The perfect spot for my { Mom Cave }.
'sept, once I built it, you know they will come.

Interior Design Show, Favourite Booth

In the midst of high end retailers and things we can only dream of having in our home, it was refreshing to visit the Style at Home Booth. They hit the nail on the head for what I feel the public loves to see - ways of mixing items to create unique personal spaces.

Since they aren't a retailer of product they had the oppertunity (and did!) mix from an array of sources - printing off the butterfly prints from VintagePrintable.com and painting the floor (and they even gave out "how to" cards). Mix it in with gorgeous Alanna Cavanagh work, and it's a perfect. I felt like I was stepping into a Style at Home spread.

The show in general was luxe, high end and dream worthy - was it somewhere where the public would go to see some decor ideas for their home? I'm not so sure the event achieves that - instead, we're introduced to manufacturers and brands that are not perhaps in your everyday store. I had an awesome time and look forward to next year!

Well..... what can I say.....I have reached the ripe old age of 60 !!!! I actually don't believe it and must check my birth certificate.....perhaps my mum and dad got the date wrong 'cos, I'm sure, at the most, I'm only 30..... but then, that can't be right because I have children of that age !!!! Oh well......60 it is and I shall embrace it with as much alcohol as I can !!!! I have taken a quick photo this morning, as the one on my profile was taken at our son's wedding and that was a couple of years ago now. Can't be pulling the wool over your eyes now, can I ? This one is nicely out of focus which, when you get to my age , is a neccessity !!!!

I was going to say 'here's to the next 60 years' but that's not possible so, here's to many, many more years of fun and laughter and good times, not just for me but for all of us.

CHEER'S !!!!!!