Romantic Prairie Style Giveaway

Here is a beautiful new book that is being given away here.http://networkedblogs.com/g2qbf

It looks really lovely and would be a gorgeous edition to your coffee table collection!

Where I Grew Up

People look at me strangely when I tell them my dream home would be a small cobblestone house in the country with lovely wild gardens surrounding it. Until I read this article I didn't realize why people did not even know what a Cobblestone house looked like. I think they are beautiful. I'm betting God is making me one in heaven right now! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/nyregion/16cobble.html?_r=1

Read this article for your education in Cobblestone and you will see why I love them! I grew up with them! I lived for 18 years in this area!

Country Living British Edition

As I hop around the internet, I have read wonderful things about the Country Living British Edition. I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday getting my magazine fix, and I found the February issue! Immediately I was in love! The cover is SO ME! I just had to have it. Of course, I took the issue toward the back where no hands had careflessly flipped through it and "damaged" the precious pages. The paper is glossy and thick and the photos are just stunning. It was $7.99 which I thought was reasonable. It is thick and FILLED with glorious offerings. I'm not sure I will be trying the Rabbit Stew anytime soon , but I appreciate the beauty of another culture. I decided to photograph a few of my favorite pages. I am nibbling my way through this awesome magazine and find I love it much more than the American version. What do you think?

Nature Poetry Pockets of Ephemera

I am having such a great time creating these adorable little paper pockets filled with bits of ephemera and nature. They truly reflect who I am and what I love. Spring is coming soon and I am filled with anticipation! Out in my yard, I peeked under some dead leaves and my hollyhocks are peeking through the hard brown earth.
I have been tearing,sewing,inking and creating these dear little pockets as I am thinking about spring and summer and fall. I love textures and threads and birds and wildflowers and little twigs. These little nature pockets make me happy and I hope they make you smile too!  In the meantime, my worktable is a beautiful jumble of gorgeous nature snippets and ribbon jumbles and the tools of my craft!

What's coming up in your yard?

Tiny Fairy Cottage

A dear friend showed me this blog. I just had to share the story of this sweet little fairy cottage in the Catskill Mountains. Enjoy!

http://sharonadesign.com/tiny-victorian-cottage/?sms_ss=google&at_xt=4d701f3130c4defa%2C0

Nature Study

When my sister and I were little girls we had the privilege of living on two acres of land in upstate New York. In the summer there was a huge garden to help care for and heirloom pears to be plucked off a tree and eaten at will.( I loved them when they were a bit underripe and crispy) There were tiny wild strawberries hiding in the woods and brambles of black raspberries growing in the hedge rows.The bees would buzz in the heat and weeds would grow fast in my mother's vegetable garden. My mother taught us the names of wild flowers and pretty little birds. We didn't have a lot of money but we were very creative and we worked hard. In the winter, my sister and I would feel sorry for the bunny rabbits and deer and wild creatures who had a hard time finding food (or so we thought) because the snow was so deep. We would talk my mother into letting us make "food" for the wild creatures. We would mix oatmeal, chopped apples, whatever vegetables were sprouting that my mom didn't want, and stale cereal and combine it all in a big bowl with hot water. We then would take it out to the back yard and make little piles of food for the animals. Then we would wait and check daily to see what footprints might show up in the snow and who came to nibble the delicacies we offered. More often than not, we would find our "animal food" covered with new snow and turned into a block of ice. These little tags that I made remind me of those days. Snipped from one of my favorite Victorian nature books (reproduction), I have added silky fiber strings to attach to your special pkgs or to use as bookmarks.

My Dream Fleamarket

I have this recurring dream that I stumble upon a flea market/estate sale/junk market. I find treasures that no one else has seen in dusty old boxes under dark tables. I thought it would be fun to create my Dream FleaMarket from treasures I found on etsy. Wouldn't you just love to find all these sweet things all for yourself? Maybe this treasury that I have created will fill your head with dreamy visions of sweet and shabby treasures.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d58863470ed6d9137049a8a/my-dream-flea-market