25 Days of Christmas

The Farmhouse is in a bit of chaos at the moment.

The kitchen is gutted down to the studs, the sub-floors are exposed, most of the cabinets are pulled out & a two-burner stove & toaster oven serve as our stove. The living room is standing in as a storage room for our jackets, because we have no closets. Our clothes are in piles with no closets & our awesome King sized bed is sitting on the floor in our bedroom until we have time to build the closet & a bed frame. My craft room / office is piled high filling every square inch of space with all of my rental items & everything else crafty that I own.

And I could go on & on...

But, it's the holiday season & I love decorating. So,

the one thing I can still do is to make lovely little vignettes

& capture their images. I will be posting an image a day

until Christmas via Instagram & Facebook

under the #25daysofxmas.

Below are the images from the past week...

Cheers ~ Erica

Sharing on...

Amaze Me Monday

Rain on a Tin Roof

So Much Better with Age

Commona-My House

Averie Lane

Maison de Pax

Sunday Still Lifes...Thanksgiving Inspiration

I truly love Thanksgiving. I love that it is one of the

few holidays that isn't centered around giving gifts,

but instead giving thanks. It is all about

coming together to celebrate gratitude,

the season's bounty & community.

This year we'll actually be spending it at

The Farmhouse, with just the two of us & our animals. Our kitchen

is gutted right now, with a two-burner electric burner,

toaster oven & microwave.  Our gorgeous Viking is sitting

in the garage waiting to be hooked up.  So we'll see

what we end up with this year.

Some images from Thanksgiving at my parents last year...

They have a gutted kitchen as well this year,

so won't be able to host dinner again.

Sweet little Sammy girl's dirty paw prints from our

annual hike out to my parents last year.

We are so very grateful to be starting

our new life & creating our dreams up at

The Farmhouse.

What are you grateful for this year?

Sunday Still Lifes...Packing up the "beach cottage"

Well it's bitter sweet...

We're starting to pack up our little "beach cottage" rental

for the BIG move to The Farmhouse.

I can't believe it's been almost nine years since we moved

into our little shingled shack. It definitely doesn't seem to fit

on the street anymore with all of the houses around us

being remodeled & doubled in size. It seems that the house

and us have run our course on Ash Street.

That being said, we're going to miss this place.

So many amazing memories...

all the improvements that we made

our gorgeous garden beds that we built

and provided us so much nourishment over the years

bringing little Buckaroo and Samantha Sue into our home

(our adopted cat and dog)

and

all the great parties with family and friends. 

A picture journey through our beach cottage"

Cheers to CHANGE!!!

Sunday Still Lifes...Place Settings

I found some pretty sweet pieces at my favorite thrift store. Excited to get these great plates ready for the next event.

I love how the fresh sprig of sage looks with

the silverware on the linen napkins.

Two completely different looks...

They just make me happy.

Cheers!

Sunday Still Lifes...Cupps Farm, Kansas

My grandma passed away this past week. She lived an amazingly full life. She was 94. She still lived in her 2 story home that my mom grew up in. She drove until she was 88, when she decided it would be better for her not to anymore. She went to church daily, did water aerobics twice a week and quilted until just recently. She was a tough little cookie and hung on for over 10 years after my grandpa passed. She was a very kind soul with a quirky little attitude. She definitely passed that along to my mom & myself.

I am grateful that I was able to visit her last month for a few days. She was doing well and I was able to show her pictures of my husband and our wedding, my vintage rental items (she was a big antiques fan) and chat about life a bit.

I feel fortunate that I was able to have her in my life even if we didn't spend a ton of time together over the years. I see her in my mom often and know she lives on through all of us.

Out of this hardship came a beautiful family reunion of sorts. My husband and I were able to fly back to Kansas, along with my brother, his wife and their two boys. My mom was able to reunite with some high school friends, visit with her brother and sister,  say a final good-bye and show off her side of the family a bit. We all got to go see the Cupps Farm which has been in the family since the late 1800's.

All around it made me appreciate family even more and know that even though I'm part of the crazy California family, I have a little midwest country girl in me as well.

Seasons come and go.

Projects are completed and new ones arrive.

Life continues.

We grow.

Here are some images from the weekend in Wichita, Kansas...

Sunday Still Lifes...Spring is Here!

Spring has definitely Sprung!

The sunshine was a welcome addition to this weekend.

I'm looking forward to a productive week ahead.

Five Faves for Friday...Antiquing in Wichita

I'm in Wichita, Kansas visiting my 94 year old grandma.  I've taken advantage of the fact that my mom is out here as well. It's been a fabulous few days catching up with my sweet lil grandma & my wonderful mom.

My mom & I spent the last two days scouring her favorite antique shops for some great finds. A couple items I drooled over...

And one I need to go back for tomorrow.

great worn texture

incredible patina

milk glass hobnail on grandma's bedside table

perfect for a table display or buffet

Spring in a glass

What are your favorite antique finds?

Midweek Inspiration...Spring is near

I feel it in the air...

a sense of re-growth fills my mind

looking forward to new inspirations on the horizon

new dreams just around the corner...

Follow me on Pinterest for more inspiring images.

As I mentioned, I am taking some graphic design courses

this Spring. I just finished up my first class; InDesign. So, I'm having fun playing around with textures, images & fonts.

image source

texture source

Sunday Still Lifes...bottles

I've been so busy with work, taking InDesign classes and

taking care of my sick husband, that I haven't worked much on my

blog or projects for either house. But I have been on

Pinterest way too much and I've been thinking a bunch about my

collections that I'll be able to pull out of

the attic (or my craft room turned crap room) once we finish the guest bedroom at The Farmhouse.

One item that I have collected over the years

and that make beautiful additions to

table decorations are {bottles}. See what inspires me.

My all time favorite color of old {bottles}.

White candles in clear {bottles} of differing heights make the perfect table decor for an intimate dinner party.

The perfect option for a group that chats late into the night.

I love this simple chic display for a wedding or shower. It could be perfect for a winter or spring event.

I love the single flowers and the table number.

Rustic yet sweet.

This is such a fabulous idea and could be used with

any color scheme. You could use Starbucks jars

which would be just as cute, free and it just wouldn't be right

to alter vintage milk jars.

I absolutely love the bright green flowers with the

rustic wood and cool {bottles}.

Cool for a chic vintage event. Funky yet stylized. You could make it sweet and cottagey with garden roses or super chic with a single bright green ranuncula. You could

use address numbers, paint or stamped hang tags.

For a group that appreciates wine this would be the perfect accent for table numbers. I like the vintage vibe it projects and  think the terra-cotta pot filled with herbs is perfect. This would fit a Wine Country wedding perfectly.

The perfect alter for a spring or summer wedding.

All of the images were pulled from Pinterest and can be found on my new Tin Roof Farmhouse Pinterest site: http://pinterest.com/tinrooffarm/.