It's a Cloche Party with Marty!!

Welcome to the 1st ever Cloche Party with our lovely hostess Marty. She is one of the sweetest ladies in all of blog land and you should hurry over and see all the beautiful Cloche's she has created! There are so many talented ladies with an army supply of cloche' s that I feel a little bit embarrassed posting this. However, I hate to miss a good party, so here goes, my one and only cloche!(actually it's an apothecary jar, but I guess that works too)

You may have seen it before! It has a rooster decor hand-painted on it and was a mere $7.00 @ TJ Maxx. I am a bit limited by the rooster but thought I could make a little centerpiece for my table. The cute little tray was a recent find and I added some yellow roses freshly picked from my MIL's garden. My little tea- cup was a mere .70 cents at TJ Maxx and I also added some baby's breath picked from my garden and some red ribbon from the craft box.

The apothecary jar is filled with some wooden eggs and a wooden baby chick found at a local gift shop. ( You can actually see them better in the first pic) The roses actually look prettier today because they opened but I took pics last night, and didn't have the energy to redo. I laid it all out on a green and red plaid table runner that I already owned, I love red and green together, and I don't think I will ever tire of it. On another note, we are leaving Tuesday for a little road trip. We are heading south hopefully to N. and S.Carolina. Although our itinerary is a bit sketchy we may head into Georgia and then back up through Arkansas. The weather is like perfect here right now and so it may seem crazy to go south when it's hot, but hey, I'm married to a teacher and we have to travel in the summer! One summer we went to Las Vegas with 2 -13 year olds and it was a 113 each day! I do not recommend this if you want to keep some of your sanity. But since mine is already a little affected why not! LOL, just kidding( kind of). If you live in any of these states please feel free to e-mail me, I would love to at least give you a call if we happen to be passing through your town. thanks for coming to visit me, and a special thanks to Marty, Cindy

Outdoor Wednesday/The Beautiful Mississippi!

Welcome to another Outdoor Wednesday with our lovely hostess Susan. Be sure to visit her lovely blog and check out some great posts for Outdoor Wednesday. My son and his wife have been visiting us from Tempe,AZ. They are now on there way to visit her parents in Southern Wisconsin but we will meet up with them again on Saturday. Yesterday, we took a ride up the Great River Road to a little town called Alma, Wisconsin. This is a beautiful little town along the bluffs of the Mississippi. There is a look out point high above the bluffs called Buena Vista. The scenery is spectacular and I thought you might enjoy these pics!

Overlooking the locks and dam.

A sweeping view.




I posted some pics a few weeks ago of the apple blossoms in bloom. Look at all the little apples that have appeared! Can you all come visit about the middle of August?

I love baby's breath ! I planted this last year and it's really taking off.

My painted daisies.

The ivy on the side of the house is now flowering!

My pansies are still looking pretty good!.

I hope you enjoyed the scenery! Thanks for stopping, I love hearing from you. Cindy

Sunday Favorites/Outdoor Wednesday/ Mackinac Island and a Bear!!

Welcome to Sunday Favorites with our lovely hostess Chari! It's been so much fun getting to know Chari over the last several months. She has a beautiful blog with so many interesting things that you will want to stay a very long time. Thank-you my friend for hostessing this meme! I have been so busy getting ready for my son to visit that I haven't been up to posting much. I haven't seen him since last October and it's been tough. I will keep you all posted on our visit. My DIL and son fly into Minneapolis tomorrow and then it's about a 2 hour drive to our home. I can't wait! On another note, I am still shaky and a bit excited. Last night I saw a bear! I was driving towards town and had only gone about 1/4 mile when I saw something Big and Black coming from the side of the woods. It was about 8:30 and dusk was just starting to settle. It takes your mind a minute to process what your are seeing. I thought to myself, what is that big black thing? Is that a big dog? And then, OMG, it's a bear!!! I stopped, and he scampered across the road while I sat in my car with my mouth wide open . He started up a hill into the dense woods near us and when I called his name, (here Bear, here Bear) lol, he would pause and look back at me. Oh I so wish I had my camera with me! This is my 2Nd bear sighting in 2 years and it's quite an experience. It wasn't that long ago, when there were no bear in our county. Only the most Northern parts of Wisconsin had any left and they were dwindling. The DNR put them on the endangered species list, and they have been multiplying and migrating farther and farther south. We happen to live in a county with a lot of big dense woods. There are other counties North of us with a smaller bear population. Well, enough said about that. I hope you all are having a lovely weekend. Cindy

This is my 2nd go at this, so please let me know if this works. I have been having trouble with my blog all day. Welcome to another Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by the lovely Susan http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ please check out all the other great outdoor Wednesdays.While walking the streets of Mackinac Island, Michigan last summer we came upon this little boy and his dog. I swear he looked like he was right out of central casting and he wasn't posing, he just happened to be sitting there with his dog.

The Mackinaw Bridge is 5 miles long and the longest suspension bridge in North America. It's longer than the Golden Gate. If you have a fear of bridges, as I do a bit, then this drive will be quite the rush. On one side of the bridge you will see Lake Michigan, on the other Lake Huron. The bridge connects residents from the UP to the mainland.

A small section of some of the gardens at the Grand Hotel. They are incredibly lovely!

A view of Mackinac Island as you are coming in on the ferry. There are only about 600 year round residents, however summer is very busy! If you ever get to visit, this is one magical place.

A side view of the beautiful Grand Hotel. We would have loved to stay here, however rooms start at $450.00 per night and coat and ties for the men and dresses for the women are required after 6:00 p.m. The movie, Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour was filmed here. They have an annual lilac festival every June and I sure want to get there again this summer.

Thanks for coming by, Cindy

My Favorite Met Monday/ The Armoire!

I am so excited to be sharing this Met Monday with all of you! My longed for Cottage style Armoire is complete! When you are finished here, be sure to visit our gracious hostess Susan for more amazing Met Monday's! One of my pet peeves has been my little broom closet. It's hardly big enough to fit a broom in and not to mention any other kind of storage. With that in mind, hubby (Dan) had me looking for pics of the kind of armoire/storage unit I would like.

I was unable to find the pic when I went to post however it kind of pales next to the design hubby came up with! Above- the main cabinet assembled with fir plywood shelves, sides, top and bottom. The face frame is pine and so are the legs which were turned on the lathe.

Above, the bottom molding turned on the lathe and cut in half. Routered trim piece made and installed above rounded piece. Crown molding was installed and small trim routered and placed below crown molding. First primer coat. In case your wondering, I don't speak shop so hubby coached me here! ( I am learning the lingo, well kind of)

Above. The doors are complete! He simulated wainscoting panels by routering grooves in 1/4" plywood. The cabinet was painted a light brown for the crackle base coat. The doors and shelves were primed.

TaDa!!!! The finished view still inside the shop. This baby is a big one measuring 93" tall, or just under 8 feet and 4 ft wide. I am thrilled and I can't wait to get it home. There is only one place this will fit and it's going to be exciting. All together there are 7 coats of finish on this piece.

An inside view (now look at all that gorgeous storage space)

It's home and after a little arranging we have a decorative upper view and a strained back. LoL.

A closer view of the doors with the crackle finish. The crackle finish is quite the process and labor intensive.

And another view.

Not to test the storage. It only takes a short time and I have it partially filled. Well maybe a little more than partially hehe.

The Grand Finale! I think my hubby did a fabulous job! Now, if you read this blog you will know that he is a Building Construction and Woodworking teacher at our local high school. This is his passion and he does it for a living. I am one lucky recipient of some wonderful pieces of furniture. Thank- you Dan (hubby) for all your hard work! And thank-you all for sharing this post with me, Cindy

Tablescape/Thrifty Thursday A Colorful Country Table

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday with our hostess Susan and Thrifty Thursday with our hostess Leigh. Please visit these lovely ladies by clicking on the links below. I had been looking for an apothecary jar for some time and when I came across this one at TJMaxx, I was pretty darn happy! It had a rooster hand painted on it and it was also marked down to $7.00. Oh I knew it was calling my name. I am using it as my centerpiece today even though it's a bit tall. I love it and it fits my theme. ( click any pic to enlarge)

I recently moved my antique hutch closer to my dining room table. Hubby made me an armoire to put where the hutch was (future Met Monday) and I really think it fit's better here and the dishes are nice and handy!

A different angle of the hutch and table. It makes for such easy access and since this is a Country style kitchen, nothing too formal looks right in here anyway.

My table is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I would use this for a casual lunch. My place mats and tablecloth are from Homegoods. They are from the Country living collection. The lemonade glasses were a recent purchase from the dollar tree. The coffee cups are from a 2nd hand store and I used some white plates for chargers that I had purchased last summer at a garage sale.

Those little green apples are candles, but for some reason they wouldn't stay lit.

I bought these cute little napkin rings at Hobby Lobby last winter they were only $2.00 for the set of 4.

The cute little table runner was made by my MIL and she used all scrap fabrics. I just treasure it.! The little birdie salt and pepper were purchased last winter for about $3.00 at a local gift shop.

These next two pics are rather dark, but I wanted you to see the view outside the window. It's so green and pretty right now.

The view.

Thanks Susan!










Thrifty Thursday is right up my alley. I found this adorable little baby chic and the wooden eggs at a local shop.

I think they look cute nestled in the moss.

My MIL made this cute table runner, using scraps of fabric that I already had.

A thrifty country centerpiece and a darling table runner made with love! The apothecary jar only $7.00 at TJ Maxx.

I needed a shelf for my narrow hall that wasn't too wide. I found this cute black one at GW for a 1.99. The little pics are old postcards that were in a box I found at a recent auction. I bought dollar tree frames and used scrapbook paper as the background.

My favorite kind of thrifty! These were on a free table at a recent garage sale. I think they fit perfect on my back splash.

A closer view.

Another closer view and the price was just right! Free! Thanks for stopping my friends, this is a crazy week with graduation , weddings and moving my Mom to her new house. I still wanted to get one little post in. I hope you all have a happy week.. Cindy

Thanks Leigh!