MY NEW BLOG BUTTON...

Hello everyone!  I hope your week went well!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I have created a new button for my blog.  I wanted to tie my button in with my new header picture to give it a more unified look.

Sorry for the small picture.  I had to copy it off of my sidebar, because for some reason, the picture I saved from Picnic wouldn't open in Blogger, so I  had to re-save it off of my sidebar.  When I tried to enlarge the picture, it was just a blur...  wish I knew why these things happen...

 

Anyhooow, If you've grabbed my old blog button, I would greatly appreciate it if you would replace it with this one.  All you need to do is just copy the picture and add it to your sidebar with the link back to my blog.

Thanks so much to all of you who grab my button... I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH!! :)

You're all probably tired of hearing about my giveaway coming up on Monday, but this is just a reminder to those who may be new to my blog... I hope to see you all on Monday for my giveaway announcement featuring a gift package from Maria of Dreamy Whites and a little something extra from Tracey of French Larkspur! 

Speaking of these two lovely ladies... have you seen Maria's fabulous mantle redo and Tracey's fabulous Fall Cocktail post?  They're definitely worth a looksy... I just loved them!!

We're going to my youngest daughter's school Halloween Fun Night tonight and then trick-or-treating on Sunday.  Both of my daughters are going to be witches, but they have different costumes.  They wore them to school today... they looked sooo cute cool!! :)

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Hugs ~

Jo :-)

P.S.  Please know that this is NOT a solicitation for anyone to grab my button, but rather for those who have already chosen to do so on their own... so that they can change out my old button for the new one. :)

WHITE WEDNESDAY COLLAGES...

Hello friends!  I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far.  It's time for another White Wednesday!  I know I'm a little early, but I'm going to be super busy later today with parent teacher conferences.  This week I decided to put together some collages of pictures from various posts I've done over the past many months.

Since it is the month of October, I had to include a couple of Halloween collages... sorry to those of you who don't like Halloween.  I hope you enjoy them...  :)

Head on over to Faded Charm, to join in on the fun or for creative inspiration in white.  Thanks for hosting White Wednesday every week, Kathleen!

Next month, I hope to do a table setting post for Thanksgiving, and I have a couple of projects I'm working on that I want to share with you. :)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

**I'll be back Nov. 1st to announce my Thanksgiving giveaway featuring a gift package from two very sweet and super talented lovely ladies... Maria of Dreamy Whites and a little something extra from Tracey of French Larkspur!  Hope to see you there!**

~ Jo :-)

WHITE WEDNESDAY...and Giveaway News!

Hello my blogger friends!  I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far.

Every October there's an Apple Festival held in Springville, CA, not far from our home.  Sometimes we
go... sometimes we don't.  We decided to go this year, so we loaded up the family on Saturday and
headed up to Springville.  I have to admit, it wasn't the best experience I've ever had at the Apple
Festival.  It was unbelievably crowded.   We had to wait in a traffic jam for 20 min. just to get into the
parking lot.  Once in the parking lot, we had to wait another 20 min. just to get on the shuttle bus to
take us into Springville.  Once in Springville, there were lots and lots of people, but not a lot of
beautiful crafts... unfortunately.  It was a nice day spent with the family though, and our girls seemed
to enjoy it, so it was worth it. :)

I did, however, buy some beautiful little apples and an apple pie.  The apple pie was delicious! :) 

They're tiny, little apples.  I'm not sure which variety they are (forgot to ask).

For those of you who are visiting and may be new to my blog, these are French Lace roses from
our garden. :)

This is one of my pitchers from my white ironstone collection.  It has wonderful crazing that you
can't see in these pictures and is marked Lord Nelson Pottery, England (with a crown) on the
bottom of it.  I adore the shape of it. ♥

It recently rained, and these roses were still filled with rain water when I brought them in from the
garden.  You can see the rain water glistening off of the petals of the roses in the picture below. 

**Now for the giveaway news.  In honor of Thanksgiving coming up, I'll be having a giveaway

starting November 1st to show how grateful I am to those of you who follow my blog.  I'm excited

to tell you that the giveaway package will be coming from none other than Maria's soon to open

online shop!!  We all know and love Maria through her blog, Dreamy Whites... so stay tuned,

people, to see the beautiful gift package that Maria came up with for the lucky winner! :)**

**(This giveaway is no longer running)**

Linking to:

  White Wednesday

Thanks for visiting!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

~ Jo :-)

THE FIRST RAIN...

Hello everyone!  I love the first rain of the fall season.  It makes me want stay inside all day, where it's nice and cozy, curled up on the couch with my knitted throw, reading my Jeanne d'Arc Magazine. 

We managed to get our gardening chores done today before this storm came in and washed clean what was left of summer.  

We enjoyed watching the downpour from our front porch.  I had to grab the camera to take some pictures.  I only wish you could hear the thunder and see the lightning that was happening as well.

You can see the French Lace roses I share with you so often in my posts in the foreground of this picture.  The pink roses in the distance are Scepter'd Isle.

Here's a closer look at the French Lace roses.

The field and hills will be green before long.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

See ya for White Wednesday!

~ Jo :-)

ANOTHER FAB GIVEAWAY!

Hello my blogger friends!  I'm back to tell you about another giveaway going on, this time over at Kim's blog, Savvy Southern Style.  It's to celebrate her reaching over 1,000 followers... WOW... congratulations, Kim!

She is generously giving away a $40 gift certificate for Lisa Leonard's beautiful jewelry.  Aren't these sweet?!

The talented artist herself, Lisa Leonard. :)

Kim is also offering a $40 gift certificate to Target, Pottery Barn, or Home Goods... the winner's choice!

To find out more about this fabulous giveaway, click here.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I will soon be hosting my own giveaway to show my thanks to all of you who follow my blog... coming November 1st... stay tuned!

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

'Til next time...

~ Jo :-)

FABULOUS GIVEAWAY OVER AT DUSTY LU'S...

 Hello everyone!  Lu over at Dusty Lu's is hosting a fabulous giveaway, and I wanted to help her spread the news.

She's hosting the giveaway for her friend, Janette Mallory, whose  generously giving away these gorgeous Aidan Gray candlesticks.  I LOVE them!

I don't know why I'm helping to spread the word, because it's just going to lower my chances of winning... haha! ;-)

To find out all the details, click here.  Good luck everyone!

Thank you Lulu and Janette for the opportunity to win these fabulous candlesticks!

I hope you all of have a wonderful weekend!

'Til next time...

~ Jo :-) 

PICTURE FRAMES...

 Hello friends!  When you think of picture frames, do you think of the traditional frame holding a family picture perhaps, or maybe a piece of art?  Yes... I do have a few of the traditional frames holding pictures of my family, but that's not what this post is going to be about.  This post is going to be about frames I've used in non-traditional ways... or non-traditional frames.

Here, I have one of my favorite vintage frames and used it to frame one of my vintage ironstone plates.  I'm a simple kind of gal, so I like it just like this...

... but you could add a little bit more to dress it up for fall.

You could add even a little bit more for Halloween or whatever holiday it may be.  Now the frame is not just a frame, but the plate is, too. :)

  

I LOVE collecting white ironstone.  I have much of my plate collection hanging on the walls of my home.  I think they look wonderful displayed by themselves...

...but, I think they make wonderful frames, too...

I've used this plate to frame our family portrait. 



You can click on the picture to enlarge it.  The portrait is about 7 years old.  My girls are nine and 13 years old now, and let's just say I'm quite a few years older than that now. ;-)

Vintage windows, with or without the glass, make wonderful picture frames.  Here, I've placed postcards with images of people from the early 1900s at the Giant Redwoods, not too far from where I live.  These postcards were a souvenir from a trip we took there... I wish I had bought six... darn!

  

I just recently brought these vintage french doors in from the garage.  We used to have them hanging in our previous home.  I've had them stored in the garage for years... and it just dawned on me to bring them in... duh!  haha! :)  Here, I've used them again to add some Halloween spookiness to my home, but they could be used to hold any kind of photos or artwork. 

Another vintage window I have displayed in my dining room.  It actually used to be a sidelight to a front door.  This is how it is normally displayed throughout most of the year... 

... again transformed for the holidays.

Vintage frogs make fabulous picture holders.  I have a vintage business card displayed in this one.

I'm linking this post up to Donna's themed SNS link party... starring picture frames, of course!  Head on over to Donna's blog, Funky Junk Interiors for lots and lots of fabulous inspiration... or to join in on the fun. :)

Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to leave your comments.  That goes to those of you who comment anonymously, too.  I read all of them and appreciate them so much!

We're heading to the Apple Festival in Springville and the local pumpkin patch this weekend.  I wish you all a wonderful fall weekend!

'Til next time...

~ Jo :-) 

FALL ROSES AND BERRIES FOR WHITE WEDNESDAY...

Hello my blogger friends!  Time for another White Wednesday!  The roses in our garden are loving the cooler fall weather and are producing what will probably be their last blooms of the year.  Cooler fall weather for us here in central California is highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 50s.  It's so nice to actually enjoy being outside in the garden again and not be melting from the summer heat.

I clipped some roses and berries from our garden to share with you for White Wednesday.  I hope you enjoy them. :)

These deep blue berries grow on our Verbena bushes in the fall.

A French Lace rose bud in one of my vintage stoneware bottles.

 

It's hard to believe that this rose is from the same French Lace rose bush as the rose bud above... that's how much this lovely rose changes from start to finish. :)

Head on over to Kathleen's White Wednesday link party  to join in on the fun or for creative inspiration in white. Thanks for hosting every week, Kathleen!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far!

'Til next time...

~ Jo :-)

SOME MAIL, SOME THANKS... AND SOME WINDOW SILLS?

  Hello friends!  I wanted to share with you what I received in the mail today...

I recently ordered this wonderful vintage bottle holder from The Old Painted Cottage.  I fell in love with it the moment I saw the picture on Jennifer's online shop.

Look at the sweet extras she sent with my order.

Before she shipped my order to me, she sent me an email asking if there was a word or phrase that had special meaning to me... with no explanation.  She had my curiosity flowing.  The first word that came to my mind was family.  This is what she sent me...

What a thoughtful gift to include in my package... how did she know I LOVE vintage keys, too??? :)  THANK YOU, JENNIFER!

The lavender in my garden is flourishing again with the cooler weather,
so I clipped some just to put a quick vignette together to share with you. :)

  

I love this unique vintage piece... now I need to find me some beautiful vintage bottles to display in it.  I wonder where I will find a place for it in my home... :)

**********

On a different note, I was so honored and humbled when Donna from Funky Junk Interiors did a feature on my Halloween post "Some Spook, Part 2".  Donna has an amazing blog where she gives amazing DIY tutorials and hosts uncountable DIY, decorating, cooking... you name it... link parties.  Her posts are always an inspiration to read, often full of wonderful stories from her life experiences.  Donna is a fabulous photographer and has taken some of the most beautiful photos I have seen in Blogland... and has given me some wonderful pointers to boot! :)  You can click here if you'd like to see the feature Donna did on my post. 

DONNA!! ♥

*************

Speaking of those fabulous link parties Donna hosts, her theme for her SNS link party tonight is window sills, so I thought I would share with you some of my window sill displays.

My displays are constantly changing depending on which season or holiday it is.  Here are just a few pics of window sills around my home from the past few months.

   

Head on over to Donna's SNS link-up party for some wonderful inspiration!  Thanks for hosting for us so often, Donna, and for all of the wonderful inspiration you give us all! :)

to all of you who visit and take the time to leave your wonderful comments... they mean so much to me! ♥

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

'Til next time...

Hugs ~ Jo

:-)