Bye Bye Blue

Six years ago, when we moved into this house, long before we even started our renovation, we had all of the walls painted.  For our bedroom I chose a bold blue, something beachy, with hints of green in it.

Originally I had picked a paint that was a much more mellow color, it was almost white with just a hint of blue/grey in it, but after seeing how well the bold color in our son's room turned out I changed my mind and went with this blue instead.  I had had a bold color in our bedroom in our last house which I loved, so I thought what the heck, it's only paint, and went for it.

After a few years I began to see this color all over the place and that's when my fond feelings for it faded.  I'm weird like that, and as soon as something becomes popular, well I tend to hate it and want to move on.  You know, kind of like when they play a really great song over, and over, and over on the radio...and that song you once loved just becomes annoying?

So, about 4 months ago I began the hunt for a new wall color...yeah, I have lived with a paint color I didn't like anymore for about 4 years and 4 months!  Just because I don't like it any longer doesn't mean I feel like changing it.  I used to not bat an eye at painting a whole room, but I did it for so many years, that now I just cringe at the thought of re-arranging furniture and clearing a room out to paint the walls.  I think a whole house renovation will do that to you, it sucks the remodeling/changing things up life right out of you!

But as much as I detest the idea of painting, I'm even more tired of staring at 3 different color paint swatches on my walls.  But I have finally settled on a color, and we even have the new paint, so there really are no more excuses I can use.

I thought I wanted a soft grey that had a lavender undertone, but once I put it on my walls, and even though this room gets a TON of light, it just looked muddy.  Instead, I ended up with a soft pale grey that looks almost white.  This from a girl who swore she would never want an all white room...well besides my kitchen.  Oh, and white walls are all the rage right now...so forget what I said earlier about things being popular...blah, blah, blah.

But I think I'm going to like it.  It has enough grey to make it interesting, and it still looks nice against the bright white trim in there, so fingers crossed it will work.  But the blue won't all be gone from the room when it's finished because my ticking stripe duvet and new bolsters will make sure that the blue isn't really gone.

And in a separate act of craziness, Mr. Tide and I have decided to try and tackle our kitchen backsplash tile installation ourselves.  After having numerous installers come out and say it seemed too complicated, or wanting a fortune to do it, we've decided to just do it ourselves.  We've done tile work before, and after being so frustrated with not finding someone to do it I was actually looking at buying different, more simplistic tiles we could do ourselves.  But after pricing out new tiles that I would actually like, we thought what the heck...the worst that can happen is that we have to get all new tiles if we screw up, and we are thinking about doing that anyway...so why not at least try!

I think this might actually drive me a little buggy before all is said and done!

To my Canadian readers, I wish you all a very lovely long weekend in celebration of Canada Day! :)

The Rose

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.  ~Henri Matisse~

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.  We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.  ~Dale Carnegie~

What a lovely thing a rose is!... Our highest assurance of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.  ~Arthur Conan Doyle~

I hope your week is off to a good start! :)

The Dream You Never Knew You Had

Last June I wrote a post about how I would soon be selling my artwork online.  I thought by the end of June that would be a reality, but the reality is that these things take time.

The truth is that what I've been doing since over a year ago has finally brought me to the place where I'm supposed to be.  The road I've traveled has been bumpy, winding, and sometimes downright depressing, but in the end I have learned something at each turn.  I won't bore you with the long winded version, but what I thought would be a dream come true back in January turned out not to be.  And although I was horribly disappointed at the time, it turns out that everything really does happen for a reason.

Back then I was flying solo, talking to big name stores, and within a hair's width of selling in some of them.  After a deal with Home Goods fell apart due to the fact that I couldn't compete with the low cost of imported merchandise and I couldn't find a good framer here in the US that wanted me to also make some money on the deal, I was completely bummed!  But thanks to one amazing Home Goods buyer, the one who believed in my stuff from the very get go, I was motivated to keep going.  She and I even agreed when the deal fell through that we were sure that our paths would one day cross again, and I truly hope they do.  She had a dream to design jewelry, and I hope that she is doing just that....following her dream the same way I am!

All the while, my good friend Mary Beth was also on a path of her own...and often feeling the same sense of frustration I was.  We both knew we had good saleable artwork...or at least we hoped like heck we did, but how could we get it out there, find a way to sell it?!

After traveling parallel paths for over a year, it finally dawned on us that what we both needed was each other.  She felt like some of her artwork, created using traditional painting methods, was lacking something, and I felt like my images and graphics needed something to make them more well rounded too.  So on a lark we decided to see what we could create together.  She would paint certain elements, and I would add my touches to create artwork we felt was lacking in the marketplace.

So far we've come up with some wonderful collections...several of which may be licensed by companies for things like wall decor, dishware, and who knows what else.  That's all in the very beginning stages though, so we are taking it day by day and learning to not sweat the small stuff.

Did I mention how stinking talented Mary Beth is!!!  I swear, all I have to do is ask her to paint something, like the butterflies above, and poof, she creates something beyond my expectations!

So once we had decided to start working together, we needed to settle on a name...and Bay Studios was born.  Add to the mix an amazing online art company I had found while searching around, and we were off and running...so to speak!  Well if running at a snail's pace can be considered running.

The company we have teamed up with has been in business for years, so their guidance has proved invaluable in so many ways!  It's because of them that we've been taking our time, making sure we get this right and that we are offering customers artwork they can't get any place else, and hopefully filling a niche that hasn't been filled before.

Very soon, we will be offering some of our artwork for sale, and I have my fingers crossed that you all will love it as much as we have loved creating it for you!  It truly has been a labor of love for the two of us!

In addition to the Bay Studios pieces, I will also have some of my own images for sale on the site, like the floral above.  Because the paint is not dry on the walls so to speak, I won't put a link to the website quite yet.

But I did want to share with you why it's taken so long to get from point A to point B...or maybe point Z in this case!  And in the not too distant future I will be letting you know about some artwork you can pre-order and I will give you a coupon code as well.  It's a gift from Mary Beth, the gallery, and me, to say thank you for your patience and for your support, even when it seemed like the dream might never become a reality!

I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that even when you think you are following your dream, sometimes it is the dream that has to find you.  And when that happens, it's bigger than any dream you could have ever imagined!  Now get going and start your dream so that it can find you too!

I would like to give a special shout out to Kim, Kate, Michelle, Connie, and Linda for keeping me going when I was ready to throw in the towel.  Your friendship, support, and great taste has all been invaluable...thank you!!!

                                                             

Summer Style

It's been a very looong time since I've shown you any changes we've made to our house so I thought today I would show you the new chairs we just bought for the sitting area off of our kitchen.

Truth be told we haven't really made very many changes to the house lately because I've been so busy working and I haven't been concentrating on things like making the house look nice.  But last week my in-laws were coming to town and having company is always a good excuse to spruce up your house!  Because we had given our son and daughter the blue checked chair and wooden rocker that used to occupy this space it was time we found some new chairs.

I knew what I wanted, but I was having trouble finding just the right chairs to go in this spot.  It's located right off of the kitchen and to the left is where our office is located which is open to the whole room.

The door to the back yard really prevents you from putting anything in the middle of the room,  and I knew I didn't want a couch or loveseat because I wanted people to be able to take advantage of the water views, be able to chat with Mr. Tide and me while we are working, and be able to converse with someone while they are busy in the kitchen...so swivel chairs seemed like the perfect solution.

Have you ever looked for pretty swivel chairs?!  Let's just say that the majority of them have those gawd awful bases that you can see below the chairs and they aren't what I would call attractive.  After searching for awhile I settled on a look from Lee Industries who makes beautiful high quality furniture which is still made in the USA.

And after visiting one of my favorite local stores, Traditions of Loveville, which just happens to be a distributor for Lee Industries in my area, I hit pay dirt!   I'm not known for being a big "plan ahead" sort of person, so it was serendipitous that Traditions had not one but two swivel rockers and in colors that matched my color scheme and the vision I had in my head just a few days before my in-laws arrived...score!  One of them was even on sale, so I ended up getting a great deal on these two chairs...thanks Becky!

These babies are not only comfy but they are also slipcovered so you can slide those puppies off and throw them in the washing machine in case another set of pups, ie. Misty Belle and Mr. Quinn bring a bit of their muddy fun inside and onto the furniture.  And if I decide to change the look of the room at some point I can always pick out new slips with different fabrics or colorways.

You may have noticed  Miss Misty in one of the photos above, she is the perfect photographer's assistant...and what you can't see in any of the photos is that Mr. Quinn is right beside her.  I think Misty was a stylist in another life, she's always right there helping me set up the shot.  Quinn must have been a male model in his former life, as he is always ready for his best shot!

After my in-laws left last Sunday I decided to do a little rearranging and I finally brought in an old Coca Cola cooler I had found in the attic at the farm property we own.  I cleaned it up and brought it inside to sit underneath the sofa table made from an old shutter that I've had for years.  That whitish swath you see on the cooler is actually an old hunk of masking tape that I'm sure bore our family's name on it once upon a time.  Growing up crabbing, boating, camping and picnicking meant having your name slapped on everything so that you could claim your stake if something fell overboard or wandered away.  I thought about trying to remove it, but I think it just adds to the piece, so I decided to leave it on.


 

I also decided to take down the license plates and horse pull and put up one of my images which is printed on metal and has a high gloss finish.  The seagull picture, which I took awhile ago at the beach in Chincoteague, has been sitting in a box for over a year and I just didn't know where I wanted to hang it until now.

Throw in a few summertime accessories like these old croquet balls from a set my parent's once owned, a pair of binoculars to help you see the herons, osprey, and eagles outside, and a few books about the Chesapeake Bay area and you are all set!

So here is the room before, last December complete with a blurry Mr. Quinn, the kitchen table which is now in the dining room, the old furniture, and previous wall decor...

 BEFORE

And after...ready for some summer fun!

AFTER

Hmm, now what other rooms can I rearrange and buy new furniture for... ;-)

I hope everyone is staying cool and if you are getting too much rain, please send some our way, we've been hotter than the hinges and dry as a bone!

Feeling Blue

Today it finally hit me that I have an empty nest.  As I gathered up laundry and began cleaning my house, I realized that I didn't have as many towels and sheets to clean, and that the hall bathroom sink and shower were dry as a bone from lack of use since our son moved out a week ago.

For the first time in almost 25 years, it was just me in the house, that no one besides the dogs needed tending to today, and I have to admit that I broke down in tears.  I know this is the way life is supposed to work, but dang it, nobody really prepares you for that last little birdie to leave the nest.

I decided that instead of feeling sorry for myself, I would do what all momma birds must do when they find themselves alone in the nest, so I set about cleaning, rearranging, and embracing this next phase of my life.  And I brought in a bunch of pretty hydrangea blossoms that my dear neighbor said I could have and plunked them into a lovely mason jar that once belonged to my grandmother.  

I know it will take time for me to adjust to my youngest having flown the coop, but I managed to do that with our oldest, so I know it's possible.  And even though he, and our daughter, are both not far away, today it felt as though they were continents away.  I also know that if I still had little babies to tend to that I wouldn't be launching into a whole new career, so there is always a silver lining to be found, even when you wonder where the last 25 years have gone!

On Thursday, Mr. Tide and I will celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary, and for the first time since a year and a few months after we got married, we will be celebrating in a house built for 2 again.  Change is good for the soul I think, even if it comes with a few tears and feeling a little blue every now and again!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments and emails about my new venture...at least I can't say I'm bored now that my kids are grown and living on their own, eh?!  

Enjoy your week, the weather is near perfection here!

Summer Breeze

Today has been warm and breezy...the kind of day where you just want to be outside and on a beach somewhere.

Actually I did a little bit of both.  This afternoon I had lunch with my dear friend Anna, and we ate outside which was so wonderful this early in the year.  She filled me in on her recent trip to Costa Rica and some cool coastal ideas she has in the works, so when I got home I had to go hang out by the water for a bit, just to get a little beach vibe going.

I know summer is just around the corner and my whole being is craving it. Even my pictures reflect it with their beachy blues and greens.

If we continue to have weather like this, it won't be long before my flip flops are out of the closet and shorts and t-shirts become my new uniform.  Ahh, is there anything quite as wonderful as those warm summer breezes?!

Did You See Me?!

First of all, thanks everyone for your wonderful feedback on my last post where the talented Kelley of The Polished Pebble guest posted and rocked the  house!  I knew you all would love her style as much as I do.  Thanks again Kelley!!!


And before I forget, to the reader who said she couldn't get the subscribe thing to work on my blog, thank you for letting me know!!!  I will look into it and try and get that fixed ASAP.  And to the nice person who liked my kitchen, thank you so much!  Your email isn't enabled, so I couldn't reply directly back to you or the reader who was having trouble subscribing...:(

The photos in this post are what you would call random.  They are random because in a way they signify my day yesterday and today, kind of crazy and a little disjointed.

And that's how my brain has been too, a little wacky and all over the place.  But hey, you get what you get when you pop by this here blog, some days it's awesome vintage bathroom beauty, and other days it's a votive holder and some bird photos.  I like to keep you all guessing, or at least that's what I tell myself as I cobble together posts every now and then. ;-)

The reason I wanted to show you this votive holder, which was a lovely gift from my mother in law a few years ago, is because I think it would be such a cool project for all of you super crafty bloggers out there.  Notice I did not say "us" but instead said "you."   As you read further through this random post you will see why I don't have time to be crafty.  I have time for another c word...namely to be CRAZY, just not crafty.  Those years ended when my children entered middle school and I realized I had been forcing that craft gene for far too long.

Anyway, back to this pretty votive holder.  It's actually bigger than it looks in these photos, but you could use any size you like, just keep in mind the size of the tissue paper you will be using on it.  What the crafty person who made this did was to take a glass bowl and then to decoupage pretty tissue paper inside the bowl.  Simple right, yet so so pretty when it is all aglow, like tonight!

Now you crafty people probably know what to use to make this work.  I'm assuming you select something to adhere the paper to the glass that is non flammable, I think that would be a wise idea.  So if anyone has an idea of what to use, or has done something similar, be sure to comment away and let us know so that the crafty readers of this blog can get crackin' and make one of these pretty votive holders for themselves.  One which won't catch their houses on fire please!!

Today I wandered out to take more photos of the bluebirds.  I truly think I need a 12 step program for my bird photography these days!  And I want to give a HUGE thank you to Laura from 52 Flea for helping me out with some beautiful new textures!  She provided me with this very cool ephemera!

Ok, now on to a brief run down of my day yesterday.  I got up, did the usual work stuff, and then headed out to visit my friend Ms. M and take her some chocolate chip cookies I had made for her.  After a nice visit, I headed out to run some errands, including hitting up the bank.

I had some cash from the sale of my dining room table that I needed to deposit, so I pulled up to the drive-through window at the bank and put the nice crisp bills and a check into the little drawer.  The paperweight they had in the drawer was way far back, and in my big honkin' SUV it was hard to reach.  So as I was reaching for the paperweight to hold down the bills and the check, a big gust of wind came up and started blowing the money out of the drawer and all over the world.

Now let's just say that a few choice words flew out of my mouth as I screamed at the poor young guy working to shut the #*$% drawer before it all blew away.  At this point, I tried to get out of my big ole vehicle, but you know what?!  You can't get out because your door won't open!  So I may, or may not have gunned it and gotten up to a point where I could exit my vehicle and I began running like a mad woman chasing down my money which was truly blowin' in the wind!

You could cue a version of the song Blowin' in the Wind right now if you like, but it was more like that Charlie Chaplin scene where he is blown all over the place.  I mean it people, I was running, all the way to neighboring parking lots, major roads, you name it as those nice crisp bills were gleefully floating away.  We're talking $20s and one $50, not chump change, so I was determined!  It was like I was on one of those game shows where they put you in the booth and turn on the wind machine and you grab as much as you can, only I was lacking one key feature...the booth!

I'm sure the rest of the folks at the drive through, and anyone else in a large radius was wishing that they had a really good video feature on their cell phone so that they could post it all on You Tube!  Finally, out of breath, frustrated beyond measure, and mad at myself for not using the drive-through window the dang tube things that I hate, I ventured inside.  I'm sure I looked great, kind of a like a crazed wild woman.

A nice young man working as a teller asked if he could help me...poor dear soul, he didn't have a clue.  So I began to tell him how I had been at the drive-through, that my money had flown the coup, and that I was REALLY hoping the rest of it and the check were still in that drawer!

He went to talk to the guy in the booth, and quickly came back to say that he could see more money flying around outside and he would go try and get it.  In the meantime another teller, a woman about my age was NOT very helpful and acted like it was my fault that it was windy outside and that their window was inadequate to handle such tasks.  She pointed out that that's why they have a paperweight in the drawer...really?!!!!  

Before I could put the smack down on her, oh yeah, I was close, the nice young man came back in with a crisp $20 bill and we sat down and counted up what was left in the drawer and what I had collected and all was accounted for, thank goodness!  I had chased down $190 in fast flying cash and he had found the last rogue $20 bill!

At the point when we discovered that all of the money had been recovered, we then realized that my driver's license was missing...sigh!  We found it outside too!

Ahh, all's well that ends well right?  But I think it will be awhile before I go back to the bank again.  My family reminded me that maybe my grandparents weren't so happy about me selling that furniture after all...yikes!  Or more likely they just wanted to have a little fun with me!

So there you have it, a typical day for me, and the reason I don't have time to do crafts!!!

Have you done anything that could land you on You Tube?!

The Winter Blues

I'm so excited that so many of you felt a connection with my post from yesterday!  I think the Year of US is full of endless possibilities!

Now that almost all of my Christmas decor is snugly packed away for another year, I thought I would throw a little color around the house.  My collection of blue Ball jars and old insulators will now be providing me with a much happier version of the winter blues.


 

When I come into the kitchen each morning I will be greeted by their various shades of blue and aqua.  And at nighttime I might just throw a few tea lights up there to illuminate their beautiful blueness.

And I will smile when I see the light dance through these wavy, undulating, bubbled, glass vessels.

Yep, now that's what I call the perfect winter blues...maybe I'll even sing the blues.  What makes you sing this time of year?

Vintage Christmas Memories

Each year...

When I rummage through my Christmas tubs...

And come across the things that have been in my family for as long as I can remember...

And some things that I've picked up along the way, that were in someone else's family...

Things that someone else didn't want to remember, or forgot about years ago...

I think of those who are no longer with me during the holidays...

And for a moment I am sad...

But then I remember, especially as I hold an ornament from my childhood in my hand, that those we love are always with us, celebrating right alongside us.  So even though we aren't together in the physical sense, we are forever connected, and for me, that's what makes Christmastime so special.

Merry Christmas to all the family and friends who are no longer here on earth with me, but are always by my side and forever in my heart!

There's No Place Like Home

Sorry about my wonky watermark, and apparently Photoshop wasn't interested in watermarking the other two images...maybe it's smarter than I am and realized that I hadn't downsized it properly! ;-)

Today, as I snapped these pictures of the bluebirds in my backyard who were busy trying to make a place to call home for the winter in our bluebird box, I couldn't help but think of what this day really means to me.

I've mentioned before that politics are not something I very often discuss, because I feel we all have biases, personal reasons, and ideology that shapes what we think about various things from religion to politics.  So like the old saying goes, I think it's best to steer clear of those discussions unless you are with close and very open minded friends, but certainly not in a public forum, unless you don't mind the mud slinging that ensues.

But as I watched these sweet creatures making their nest, I couldn't help but think that no matter where you live, who you vote for, or what you believe, we all want a place that we can call home.  And as I thought that, my mind wandered and began to think about all of the men and women who throughout history have sacrificed, some during wartime, others not, for something they believed in.  Something that often took them, or continues to take them so far from the places they call home.

Today I will honor those people by wearing a red poppy and hoping that for those who lost their lives so far from home, or for those who are now so far from home, that they will take some comfort in knowing that at least for today, they will be remembered.  Happy Veterans Day!

When One Door Closes

Just like the old saying goes...when one door closes...even if it is a beautiful door, and one you didn't really want to close...

You have to be ready for the one that opens.  Because the door that opens may take you to places you never imagined, and lead to opportunities you never knew existed.

A place where you can spread your wings and fly, or simply sit and rest awhile.

You may have noticed that I have not one, but 2 of my galleries now set up on my sidebar with flash.  Mr. Tide decided that it was time I spread my wings to fly and after lots of discussions where I said things like, "but that seems pushy, and in your face," I think I am finally ready to close the door on being afraid to put my photography out there, and instead, to embrace this new venture fully by promoting myself.

I am also thrilled to now be represented by a wonderful gallery, and extremely supportive man named John Zaccheo!  John is an internationally acclaimed artist and has become a wonderful mentor for my fine art photography.  Thanks to my dear friend Mary Beth, who introduced me to John, I am now shutting one door and leaving behind the comforts of the "known" world, and stepping through another door in search of new and exciting adventures.

Sometimes it is scary to put yourself out there in the world, but if you don't then you will never know how high you can fly. 

When one door closes, do you bang on it and hope that it will reopen?  Or do you go in search of the next door, hoping and knowing that what lies beyond it may be far better than you ever though possible?  I dare you to swing that next door wide open and walk inside.  You may be the only one who knows you stepped inside, but do it anyway, do it for you!!!