Playing With My Blog Background

I have discovered a wonderful blog called The Graphic Fairy. It is through her that I now have the pretty pink damask background. One simply must visit her to see the ease of changing backgrounds. She offers beautiful free backgrounds. I may not end up with this one. But for now I enjoy it very much!

A Magazine Clipping of Sally Weaver Art

I have enjoyed this clipping from a magazine for many years. Sally Weaver, a miniaturist, created this adorable vignette and I have to share it with everyone.  Be sure to click on the picture to make it bigger.

From Grace, my 4 year Old Granddaughter

Just had to share what little Grace made for me on Mother's Day. I didn't get around to getting it scanned until moments ago. I love art work by children and the things they say about it.

:-)

My Next Door Neighbor's Dogwood Tree

I so love this beautiful dogwood tree. Of course, I love them all. This is in the yard of a next door neighbor. The house in the distance is mine with scores of bluebells. I love spring and fall the very best of all seasons.  Happy continued spring to everyone!

Pink and The Kid's Room

I have favored the color pink for all of my life, with my second favorite being pale, robin's egg blue. I grew weary of the pumpkin shade of woodwork in my "guest" bedroom and have whited out that color so that I could have as much pink as I want. Well, I told my four year old granddaughter, Grace, that said room is now "the kid's room". She loves to come to Mimi & Baba's house for a "Sweep over". Yes, that does translate to sleep over. 

I found the lovely pink panels above and the sweet balloon curtain below at Target in the Simply Shabby line and I just love them. I tell you I drink pink in as if it were medicine.

I stenciled that pretty "fantasy vine" as it is called from my Jan Dressler stencils and I knew I only had to do one patch of it right where it is, otherwise it might have been too much were I to have surrounded the entire room in it.

The next step is to go to Toys R Us and buy new things for Gracie to play with rather than to subject my antique dolls to torture. I am having such fun with my  "kid's room"! And indeed, I know it would  be nicer to call it "The Children's' Room", but hey, this is 2011, not 1888. Tee hee.

Happy Easter Everyone!

It is so beautiful here today with the sun shining and the temperature 60 something. I even sat out on my balcony today and got a few minutes of fresh vitamin D. It was a pleasure to snap some shots of  some of my spring flowers. 

Bleeding Heart

Creeping Jenny

Just Ivy

Bluebells

More Bleeding Hearts and Lavender

Giant Evergreen Tree, so no not a flower.

Hot  Pink Tulip

More tulips and some beginning Holly Hock and of course more Bleeding Heart

Something wild and beautiful. Most likely a weed, but I rather like it.

Dwarf Periwinkle

Forget-me-not

Trillium

More Bluebells

More of the weed or whatever, but so pretty and all over the yard!

Clematis

Happy Tax Day Everyone, From My Art Room!

Yesterday I emptied most of this room in order to receive that smashing black and white checked linoleum that I found in a shop nearby. It was a remnant and I had to have it, because my floors have begun to yield an occasional sliver. Just the floors in that room.

I just finished putting everything back. It was so lovely while empty, but I need all of my supplies, and this isn't even all of them, since some are squished into that little closet and some are also in the basement.

I love that glitter WITCH sign that was gifted to me from my dear friend, Stacy French.  We did a show in Pleasanton, CA that year and it was such fun! Recently I finished hooking the witches rug. I was inspired by the design from an old woodblock image from the 1600's.

Greg and I watch TV in this room, hence the two Queen Anne chairs (that I picked up at estate sales), and I even painted black his, because I didn't like the original upholstery of red, white and blue plaid. 

Pictured below is this corner near where I sit and paint and do so much of my work. It shows my serger. I almost never use it. I don't know why I had to have one, but I cannot part with it, because one never knows.

That lamp was a gift Greg and I bought for each other many years ago, and then one day, our dear grandson, Alexander, accidentally broke it and it shattered into many pieces. I just glued it all back together and let it reside in this room for sentimental reasons. I did not get angry with Alex. Accidents simply do happen.

There is my next Hannah doll waiting for her attire.

Ah, there it is again, the witchy goblin hooked rug.

Below, do note the ironing board. It is draped in that silver type of fabric that most ironing board covers are made of. I had to buy some, because my ironing board by Rowenta, is now discontinued and there are no more covers being made to fit it. So I've kept the last one and will simply make a cover with this stuff from now on. Bummer about "planned obsolescence", but hey, one must use one's ingenuity. The name of my ironing board is "Precision".  I mention this in case some of you have the same one. I even contacted Rowenta themselves, and they verified that it is no longer being made.

What a messy cupboard. No matter how hard I work at it, it gets messy. Fabrics! And the top shelf is my soldering supplies. See that closet through there. Some day I might redecorate it. It has the same red and white wallpaper that was there when we moved in. I think it was probably put there in the 1960's.

There it is, below, our home entertainment center. Yep, that's all we have and all we want on that order.

Greg is the kind of man who would send it back were I ever to grace him with a recliner. I am so grateful for that! He simply cannot stand them. Yay! See where I put myself on TV.

I love my table. It was created in southern, Ohio by the great Sally and Donnie Whims. I believe you can ONLY buy their wares from Olde Glory which is owned by Bea Sparrow in beautiful Waynesville, OH. Her name is so cute ~ like the birds and the bees! I bought that table when I wanted to be solely primitive in my decor. Since then, we bought a lovely Victorian house and I do not want to make it all primitive, so I just use that wonderful table for my art projects.

Note the teflon nonstick sheets that are taped to the table top. I have three brand new ones there. I LOVE THOSE THINGS! You can spill anything on it and it comes right off. They are indispensable to a crafter/artist. Of course, my trusty Costco box of rubber gloves is right there on the floor.

I had better fill those cubby holes up! It won't take long. You can see my crown adjacent to this little cupboard. I had to place my name right near it.

I hope you've enjoyed today's tour of my Art Room. It is my favorite place to be. And, I do have the TV on as long as there are some very entertaining programs to keep me company as I paint, solder, sew, cut paper, decoupage, dream and play dolls.

Tabitha Brown, "Mother Symbol of Oregon" by John Terry from The Oregonian, March 31, 2002

I am using mostly the words of John Terry, but here and there I've used my own. This is to assure Mr. Terry that his writing is superior and respected; mine is not of much use, because I am NOT a writer. Because of his story I have for these past 9 years loved verbally sharing about Tabitha Brown. When my husband and I moved to Ohio from 2003-2005, I kept this story with me and folded the newspaper clipping so as to  always have Tabitha's sweet face on my desk. For you see, Oregon is my beloved home.

Born Tabitha Moffatt on May 1, 1780 in Brimfield, Massachusetts.

Father was a doctor.

Educated as a teacher and married the Rev. Clark Brown on Dec. 1, 1799.

He died in 1817, so she taught school in order to raise her three children.

"Grandma" Brown was nearly 66 when she left Missouri for Oregon in 1846 with her son Orus, his wife, Lavina, and their eight children; her daughter Pherne Pringle, her husband, Virgil and their five children; and her 77 year old brother-in-law, John Brown, a former sea captain.

Tabitha and her brother-in-law and her daughter's family took up with a "rascally fellow who came out from the settlement in Oregon assuring us that he had found a new cut-off, that if we would follow him we would be in the settlement long before those who had gone down the Columbia River".

They were lead across the parched deserts of northern Utah and Nevada, and the frigid mountains of Southern Oregon, which culminated in disaster and destitution. The party had 98 men, 50 women and a number of children.

"I rode through (the Umpqua Mountains) in three days at the risk of my life, on horse-back, having lost my wagon and all that I had but the horse I was on," Tabitha reported. Mind you, she also had a bad hip and walked with a cane.

At one point, the captain "had a swimming in his head and a pain in his stomach" and "became delirious and fell from his horse." Tabitha made a makeshift camp and waited out the night, fearing he "would be a corpse before morning."

Eventually they were rescued by her son Orus.

She arrived in Salem and had little left in the way of possessions, but in the fingertip of a glove found a coin – "I supposed to be a button" – worth 6 &1/4 cents. She bought three needles, traded some old clothes to native women in return for buckskin and "worked them into gloves for the Oregon ladies and gentlemen, which cleared me upwards of $30."

Over the course of time, Tabitha Brown founded Pacific University in Forest Grove. She died May 4, 1858, in Salem and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery there. The legislature awarded its official recognition in 1987.

My Faery School House

Recently I discovered Terri Heinz' beautiful blog, Artful Affirmations, with her wonderful free video tutorials. I was instantly enamored of her Faery School House and set to creating my very own via her thorough tutorial.

I am so happy that my yard this year is resplendent with rich, Oregon moss, for I did not have to buy any moss in which to adorn my faery school.  I have discovered a whole new world in which to explore, and Terri has led the way.

Enjoy visiting her!

Christine

Old & Good, My New Online Antiques and Collectibles Venue

Happy spring, everyone, for it is now the time for me to announce that I have started an antiques and collectibles selling venture.  My new venue is what I affectionately call Old & Good. This offers me the opportunity to continue enjoying "the hunt". I will be adding new items often. I will be sending out a newsletter to my faithful followers this week. If you are not on my list to be notified of new offerings, just  click on my Mail List link and add yourself if you so desire.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Christine

More Signs of Spring

I went for a walk this morning, first thing, just around the block. The pink blossoms are just beginning to  pop through on the tree by the church that is on the block behind ours. Many of the pink trees throughout the valley are already in beautiful bloom. This one is so pretty when it is finally bloomed, and it is a late bloomer.

 A closeup of a lovely camellia tree in a neighbor's yard. This camellia is in a shady spot and therefore it too is a late bloomer, because most of the camellias in the area area already losing their blooms.

As seen below, a camellia in another neighbor's yard is beginning to turn brown, but oh how splendid it was!

And below is the beginning of some candytuft.

My columbine in its planter is beginning to creep forth.

The neighbor with the candytuft also has a forsythia beginning to bloom. 

Here sits my Mad Hatter amidst much ivy.

Something purple from another neighbor's yard.

The Queen of Hearts among ivy and soon to be blossoming bluebells.

The neighbor with the candytuft and the forsythia has some pretty white flowers beneath her  rhododendrons. There are two of them there, and each is a different color! So beautiful, and soon to be in full bloom.

And in my own back yard is this lovely white daffodil!

Moss & Daffodils

Here I go again, lauding the beauty of all of this rich, green, Oregon moss. Yes, I do love it. Of course, we do live in the only rain forest in the northern hemisphere, so it's best to actually make the best of what many do not care for; that being inclement, rainy weather, moss and lichens and gray skies throughout much of the winter. But this winter hasn't been so bad here this year.

I'm sorry for all of you in the snowy climes where it has been horrid from what many of you have said.

Our "yard" is not a garden, as many like to call their yards. And it is a weird one, but we're happy here. We have an over abundance of bamboo, not much of which is pictured here, and of course the ubiquitous ivy that has become a problem in this state. Laurel and evergreen trees abound. You cannot grow a flower garden or a vegetable garden in this yard either, because the property was built on mass basalt. So we make the best of it in admiring the rich, green moss during the winter and spring.
When I spot a flower in this yard, I am elated. And we do have many lovely bulbs that keep multiplying. Here are some daffodils. I took these pictures a couple days ago. Today the daffodils are more resplendent as well as abundant, but it is very rainy today, so I'm not going out there to photograph any more.

Soon there will be bluebells that virtually carpet this entire property. I love that.

I planted these pansies just the other day. I'm glad the extreme rain and wind have not caused them harm.
Just wanted to share the pretty moss. I do harvest some of it, dry it and keep it in bags for artistic use. I will show you one-of-these-days what I'm doing with it.