Gettin' Festive

The Berthamobile ready to spread some Seasonal cheer to the roadways. My daughter was inspired by my love of folkart.

If your in the market for a mural, portrait, pet portrait, illustrator....you can contact her through Instagram at http://instagram.com/piva_art.

A trip to the dog park

In Memory: Cameron Scott McColl

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Magical Barn Wedding

A wedding my daughter was recently in. She's the one doing makeup in the beginning and in the blue sunglasses later.

Just magical.

Pinterest Inspired: 4th of July Wreath

I have fallen in love with pinwheels and have several projects featuring them on my 4th of July Pinterest Board and this year I was bound and determined to create a wreath full of em'. 

Wrapping the straw wreath in strips of blue jean from an old ripped pair came from  Fox Hollow Cottage. 

I finished my wreath a full two weeks before the 4th!

Sharing at:
Six Sister Stuff: Strut Your Stuff
A Vision to Remember: Check Me Out Saturday Craft Party
Tatortotsandjello: Weekend wrap up party

Silhouette Cameo Project: Grad Banner

Today I made a graduation banner for our neighbor, you would have thought I'd planned it to coordinate with this shade canopy.

I selected a variety of shapes and added some embellishments.

Instead of spelling out Congratulations which would have taken 15 pennants alone, I added the sentiment as one word using only one pennant. The SDH our the high school initials.

A personalized banner. Sweet. 

Well Done, SDH and Yeah! 2013!

Almost party time!

Sun is shining, the world is bright for this young grad!

Sharing at:
The dedicatedhouse:anything-blue-friday-week-12
Serenity Now: Weekend Bloggy Reading Link Up
Suburbs Mama: Sunday Linky Party
DIY Showoff: that-diy-party

Instagram Montage

I love Instagram, and as you can see I make good use of it!

Painted Linen Matt: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

The frame features a linen matt in country blue, the blue that was oh so popular in the 90's. The era of hunter green, mauve/rose and this particular hue of blue. I've heard of fabric paint, but with this strong color I would have had to go with black and I wanted a lighter color for this project. I went with my go to paint, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, using a flat craft paint brush it took a few coats to achieve a solid color.

Although this is a beautiful picture, it just isn't my taste, but I held onto the picture for the frame.

In this close up you can see how well it turned out. 

The old white colored matt goes perfectly with my daughters poster from her first gallery show. I'm quite happy with  this match up, the ornate frame goes well with her Victorian inspired art.

embellish.blogspot.com: a-round-tuit-154

Life is like riding a bicycle

Random Book Club: Eat Cake

In Eat Cake Jeanne Ray touches the issues of the sandwich generation, adults who find themselves raising their children while simultaneously care-giving their parents. Compound this with her husband's layoff from a high paying executive position and his decision to go out on his own and restore sailboats for profit. Her mother lives with them, they have a son in college with the financial burden that implies, a teenage daughter who is in the rebellious stage, top this precariously charged household situation with Ruth's estranged bar-hopping piano player father who breaks both wrist and moves in. Did I mention that her parents can't stand each other?


How does Ruth navigate the craziness and keep her sanity, she bakes cake! She not only bakes, but she escapes through visualization,  "A place [to] feel completely safe and peaceful" when she needs to center due to immense stress: " . . . I finally closed my eyes and tried, what I wanted came to me with complete clarity. The place that I went, the place that I still go, was the warm, hollowed-out center of a Bundt cake."

Eat Cake is a story of family, forgiveness, connecting--or reconnecting, growth and recreating yourself. It's a book I remember fondly and recommend often. So many laugh out moments. Finally, the book is about dreams, and following them.

I highly recommend Eat Cake.

Mother

In honor of Mom's everywhere, a gift of flowers.

Random Book Club: The Peach Keeper

I love Southern fiction and Sarah Addison Allen's, The Peach Keeper was as satisfying as biting into a sun ripened summer peach. Sarah writes the story in multiple point of views, effortlessly switching from one character to the other, the story grows deep into the history of the mystical town of Wall of Waters, delving into the past of two generations, and how each generation grows from their high school image of themselves.This excerpt from the Peach Keeper will have you downloading the book, requesting it through your library or buying a copy, this, I am certain.
"The day Paxton Osgood took the box of heavy-stock, foil-lined envelopes to the post office, the ones she's had a professional calligrapher address, it began to rain so hard the air turned as white as bleached cotton. By nightfall, rivers had crested at flood stage and, for the first time since 1936, the mail couldn't be delivered. When things began to dry out, when basements were pumped free of water and branches were cleared from yards and streets, the invitations were finally delivered, but to all the wrong houses. Neighbors laughed over fences, handing the misdelivered pieces of mail to their rightful owners with comments about the crazy weather and their careless postman. The next day, an unusual number of people showed up at the doctor's office with infected paper cuts, because the envelopes had sealed, cement like, from the moisture. Later, the single-card invitations themselves seemed to hide and pop back up at random. Mrs. Jameson's invitation disappeared for two days, then reappeared in a bird's nest outside. Harper Rowley's invitation was found in the church bell tower, Mr. Kingsley's in his elderly mother's garden shed.

If anyone had been paying attention to the signs, they would have realized that air turns white when things are about to change, that paper cuts mean there's more to what's written on the page than meets the eye, and that birds are always out to protect you from things you don't see."

Willa Jackson a rebellious teen and outcast in high school has returned to her hometown after the death of her father. She has opened Au Natural Sporting Goods and Cafe, even though she herself has no interest in the outdoor lifestyle the shop caters too. She likes the down to earth patrons though, and prefers them over the local country club crowd. Where Paxton has followed the expectations of her family and society, she is struggling with who she really is; Willa Jackson is combating her old wild ways and is now trying to become a responsible adult her father and grandmother wanted her to be. Both Paxton and Willa are striving for the part the other woman has, by nature they are seeking a balance and in the process realize they are not so different after all. 

Paxton is overseeing the renovation of the mansion into an inn, the mansion, the Blue Ridge Madam, where Willa's grandmother had grown up before the family lost their money in the 1930s. To coincide with the inns grand opening Paxton is planning a gala in honor the Wall of Waters Women's Society Club's 75th anniversary. Willa is none to happy when she receives an invitation to the gala, since her grandmother, Georgie, and Paxton's grandmother Adele, were the founders of the WWWSC and there is no way she can send regrets. 

A skeleton is discovered beneath the lone peach tree by the grounds crew. With the discovery, long hidden secrets are revealed, secrets of a mysterious man who held the town captive under his spell. Secrets belonging to both of their grandmothers. As Willa and Paxton face their intertwined family history, The secret brings them together, in an attempt to protect their grandmothers. 

Some romance, a dusting of magic, and southern tropes. Settle in and enjoy.

Random Book Club: A Week in Winter

Stone House is the west of Ireland home of three elderly ladies until hometown girl, Chicky Starr, returns to Stoneybridge and buys the house to turn it into a hotel. The townsfolk think she is crazy because it is not a great tourist area and they expect her to fail. This book follows the stories of the guest from the opening week. Each guest has a problem or a tragedy in their lives and most of them are sorted out amid the bucolic countryside and Atlantic waves that crash on the shore near Stone House. An easy, absorbing "listen" focused on memorable characters and their modern day dilemmas around love, family, friends and work. Maeve Binchy makes you care about each of them and her simple style of writing means your not distracted from their stories. She writes better about community and forgiveness than any other author I know and with humor that is Irish through and through.

The world has lost a great author, this is Maeve's last novel, completed just before her death. 

Have you read A Week in Winter? Any memorable scenes? Did you relate to any of the characters? 

Randomness: A Bit of Magic

Paper Flower Prayer Garland

Today was overcast and perfect for working indoors on paper crafting.

I recently purchased a Silhouette Cameo. Oh, the fun things you can do with this machine!

St. Louis Spring Garden Walk

I'll start this walk with a glimpse of Washington University's Hilltop campus. This picture is facing Graham Chapel and the gargoyle is one of many on its facade.

The campus itself is beautifully landscaped, but today I want to explore some of the neighboring streets. The homes that grace the periphery of Wash U's campus and Forest Park are filled with mature landscaped gardens and an eclectic mix of architecture.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint: Old White Magic

Yesterday I was busy emptying out one of the bedrooms for what we have dubbed the Pullman Bedroom, the room will be outfitted with two iron beds (Craigslist finds), paired with two Pullman Resort posters (Cafe Press)and the waterfall rail travel themed dresser I completed a few weeks back.I can't wait to see all of the elements together and have that big reveal! 

Spring Fresh Wreath

It's spring!The daffodils have come and gone, my tulips are in bloom, and the redbud is budding. I love Spring and its time of reawakening and renewal, don't you?  

A Visit to Warm Spring Ranch home of the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales

Not long ago we purchased a sweet blue mustang with a white convertible top.  Hubby and I selected Booneville, MO for our inaugural convertible day trip, home of AB's Clydesdale's. 

Things I Love Thursdays: Spring Babies

I must confess, I am a Flickr junkie. I love all things Flickr. One of my favorite groups is called TILT, which stands for Things I Love Thursdays. This group is all about spreading Flickr love.  The premise is simple, pick a topic of your choice, select photo's and created a mosaic. Share. The love you ask? The pictures cannot be your own, you must select photo's from others. I use Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker to create my masterpiece.

If you want to join in the fun, sign up for a Flickr account, search the groups and join in.

Things I Love Thursdays -- Springtime Babies.

Mosaic includes photos from these talented Flickr Photographers:

1. .heirloom.

2. The Joys Of Spring

3. Baby Bunnies

4. .

5. Not so ugly Ducklings

6. Offspring

7. Gold Star Angel, Jenni's Cria

8. Kitten

9. puppy love

10. proud to be pink

11. BAA BAA BLING

12. Baby chickens hatched out:-)

13. Calf

Happy Easter

My daughter and I each have our own distinctive style. 

Crayon and basic Easter egg dye.

Where she's influenced by Tim Burton

Vintage Rail Travel Themed Dresser

A fictional railroad line departs at 5:30.
All aboard! Sorry about that, couldn't resist. :)

Both my father-in-law and my grandfather worked for the railroad and we have inherited many of their memento's, from pay stubs, Pullman wool blankets, to railroad lanterns. When I came across this Winter Resort poster I knew instantly our guest bedroom had its theme. I purchased two versions of Winter Resort from Cafe Press and couldn't be happier with their quality. In lieu of framing them, I plan to decoupage them to wood slats so they appear as old signage.

Signs of Spring

Spring has finally arrived--the calendar informed us of this fabulous occasion yesterday. In St. Louis,  we are still stuffing ourselves into winter coats and snow is falling in the counties south of us. To honor the new season, and to remind myself that yes, spring is here, I'm posting a photo taken in May a few years ago.  So on this chilly overcast spring day, these hanging baskets of Petunias, Marigolds, Lantanas and Geraniums can warm this gardeners heart.

End Table Redo

My daughter bought this end table at the Salvation Army store to use in her gallery show, Beautiful Blight, last May. After the show it ended up in our garage, as the piece isn't even wood, my hubby was ready to donate it to charity. I liked the lines of the table and decided it would be perfect for our guest bedroom makeover.

I painted the entire piece in Annie Sloan's Duck Egg Blue. For the handle I painted in Old White, highlighted in Pure White and added some Duck Egg Blue details.

Happy Pi Day!

Today is all about Pi, or the mathematical constant π. The American Pie Council has adopted the date as National Pie Day,

as in pi(e). I'm not a mathematician, but I do love pie.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Top of my list, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. This pie brings back memories of my childhood, my Nana baked this concoction to its sweet and tartiest best. Unfortunately I don't have her recipe--I'm unsure if she even required one--here is Eating Well's version of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.

Happy PIE Day All!

Happy St. Patrick's Wreath!

Happy 2013!

Our Merry Christmas