Good evening, everyone!
I just finished watching the latest episode of Downton Abbey on PBS tonight...ah, SO GOOD. (Season One is available on Netflix and Season Two episodes are viewable on PBS's Web site.) I've been completely sucked in by this beautiful-looking and drama-filled series. I cannot recommend it enough!
Anyway, hope you've all been better than I was this past week. Monday night the flu descended on me and I spent the next 4 days in bed with chills, aches, and fever.
Blurgh.
Needless to say, I haven't been up to much! I'd had high hopes of making a pair of flannel pajama bottoms but perhaps I can give them a go this week.
Anyway, when wondering what to blog about after a week of doing nearly nothing, I realized I never posted photos of our guest room for the house tour I kicked off in the fall.
So, let me get back into the blogging groove with a few shots of the guest room, which is furnished in a simple farmhouse style.
So, have you been lucky enough to escape the flu, or other sick bugs so far this winter?
-Erin
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Free Access to Picnik's Premium Features
Hello everyone,
Hope your weekend's off to a good start! It's raining here, so we're holed up in the house today, listening to music and poring through seed catalogs as we plan for our garden this year.
I took a moment to check my email earlier and received a note from my father-in-law that Picnik, the free (and paid, for certain features) photo editing Web site, will be closing on April 19th.
Since I don't have Photoshop, I've relied on Google's Picasa and Picnik to edit photos for Carolina Country Living from the beginning. So the news that Picnik will no longer exist in three months is a bit of a bummer to hear.
However, from now and until then, Picnik is offering all its premium photo-editing features for free!
I'll be taking advantage of this offer and I thought some of you might want to do the same! Visit Picnik here.
And now before I resume laying on the couch by the woodstove, I wanted to share these camellias I clipped yesterday at my parents' house. (Photos edited using Picnik!)
We're having a freakishly warm winter so far, and these camellias are in full bloom. I placed a few in a thrifted silverplated sugar bowl in my bathroom and they are a welcome touch of color in the middle of winter.
-Erin
Hope your weekend's off to a good start! It's raining here, so we're holed up in the house today, listening to music and poring through seed catalogs as we plan for our garden this year.
I took a moment to check my email earlier and received a note from my father-in-law that Picnik, the free (and paid, for certain features) photo editing Web site, will be closing on April 19th.
Since I don't have Photoshop, I've relied on Google's Picasa and Picnik to edit photos for Carolina Country Living from the beginning. So the news that Picnik will no longer exist in three months is a bit of a bummer to hear.
However, from now and until then, Picnik is offering all its premium photo-editing features for free!
I'll be taking advantage of this offer and I thought some of you might want to do the same! Visit Picnik here.
And now before I resume laying on the couch by the woodstove, I wanted to share these camellias I clipped yesterday at my parents' house. (Photos edited using Picnik!)
We're having a freakishly warm winter so far, and these camellias are in full bloom. I placed a few in a thrifted silverplated sugar bowl in my bathroom and they are a welcome touch of color in the middle of winter.
-Erin
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Dollhouse for Abby
This past weekend was spent with Linnet and Nora, two of my oldest girlfriends (oldest as in we've known each other forever...not that we're old...yet!), in Tennessee. Nora and I are both in NC, but Linnet lives with her husband and daughter in Nashville so we're lucky to see her a couple times a year.
We had a wonderful three days of lazing about, talking, going out to eat, getting pedicures, watching the entire first season of the very addictive Downton Abbey, and playing with Linnet's adorable daughter, Abby.
Abby turned two in November and I've been planning for awhile to make her a simple dollhouse.
This CD holder from Michael's served as the perfect little house.
The pictures on the bedroom wall are one of my favorite details and are Cath Kidston's Provence Rose pattern. I cut the paper from a CK notebook of stickers that I have and the circles were Mod Podged to painted wooden disks, then hot glued to the wall.
Downstairs, the kitchen accessories were simple and equally fun to make. The table is a wood disk glued to a wood spool and painted red.
The fridge, stove and sink are all 1-1/2" wood blocks, hot glued together and painted accordingly. The bit of fabric on the sink front is supposed to be a skirt. :) The black details were drawn in with a permanent marker.
And here is the full kitchen. The fabric found on the sink--a vintage rosebud pattern picked up at the Liberty Antiques Festival last year--was also used to create cafe curtains in the kitchen. The gingham fabric, from JoAnn, serves as a rug. The artwork is another bit of Cath Kidston paper Mod Podged to a wooden disk.
The Abby Doll is a girl peg painted to resemble her namesake. The dress is a floral fabric from Marie-Madeline Studio (a wonderful source for floral and vintage-inspired fabrics!) which was simply Mod Podged onto the peg doll and then coated with another layer of Mod Podge to seal it on.
All painted items were topcoated in Triple Thick, a glossy, acrylic paint-on sealer for extra durability.
Abby seemed quite taken with her dollhouse and I hope she has many, many happy hours playing with it!
-Erin
Sharing at:







We had a wonderful three days of lazing about, talking, going out to eat, getting pedicures, watching the entire first season of the very addictive Downton Abbey, and playing with Linnet's adorable daughter, Abby.
Abby turned two in November and I've been planning for awhile to make her a simple dollhouse.
This CD holder from Michael's served as the perfect little house.
With an assortment of craft paint, fabric, and various miniature wood pieces, I made Abby a cottage with a vintage feel.
| The exterior is Vintage White and the roof and trim are Barnwood - all colors by FolkArt |
| Upstairs is the bedroom with walls in Buttercream - Downstairs is the eat-in kitchen with walls in Seamist |
| The completed house with furniture and Abby Doll |
The bedroom features curtains made of scraps of a Simply Shabby Chic sheet thrifted from a local Goodwill. The same fabric faces the white bedside table, made of a 1" wood cube found in the woodworking section of Michael's.
The bed was made by my dear friend Sara who crafts wooden playsets. The bed was wrapped in a sweet floral fabric, topped with a scrap of vintage chenille for the bedspread, and completed with a pillow made from a bit of dotty Tanya Whelan fabric. The rug is cut from Cath Kidston's Provence Rose fabric.
The pictures on the bedroom wall are one of my favorite details and are Cath Kidston's Provence Rose pattern. I cut the paper from a CK notebook of stickers that I have and the circles were Mod Podged to painted wooden disks, then hot glued to the wall.
Downstairs, the kitchen accessories were simple and equally fun to make. The table is a wood disk glued to a wood spool and painted red.
The fridge, stove and sink are all 1-1/2" wood blocks, hot glued together and painted accordingly. The bit of fabric on the sink front is supposed to be a skirt. :) The black details were drawn in with a permanent marker.
And here is the full kitchen. The fabric found on the sink--a vintage rosebud pattern picked up at the Liberty Antiques Festival last year--was also used to create cafe curtains in the kitchen. The gingham fabric, from JoAnn, serves as a rug. The artwork is another bit of Cath Kidston paper Mod Podged to a wooden disk.
The Abby Doll is a girl peg painted to resemble her namesake. The dress is a floral fabric from Marie-Madeline Studio (a wonderful source for floral and vintage-inspired fabrics!) which was simply Mod Podged onto the peg doll and then coated with another layer of Mod Podge to seal it on.
All painted items were topcoated in Triple Thick, a glossy, acrylic paint-on sealer for extra durability.
Abby seemed quite taken with her dollhouse and I hope she has many, many happy hours playing with it!
-Erin
Sharing at:







Labels:
Cath Kidston,
crafting,
dollhouse,
Tanya Whelan
Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday Morning Music: The Decemberists
Another installment of Monday Morning Music to kick off the week and this time I'd like to introduce The Decemberists, a folk indie rock group from Portland, Oregon.
Now, they've been around for a decade and have quite a following, so they're hardly a new or obscure group. However, they're relatively new to me as my mom gave me their 2011 album, "The King Is Dead," for my birthday over the summer.
I immediately loved the album as the instrumentation in the songs is just lovely with its old-fashioned sound. And lead singer Colin Meloy's voice, with its hints of plaintiveness, is unique, and pairs perfectly with the stories told in The Decemberists's songs.
So, without further ado, here are The Decemberists:
January Hymn
This Is Why We Fight - Live
Don't Carry It All
And this song is just pure sunshine and makes look forward to summer.
June Hymn - Live
-Erin
Now, they've been around for a decade and have quite a following, so they're hardly a new or obscure group. However, they're relatively new to me as my mom gave me their 2011 album, "The King Is Dead," for my birthday over the summer.
I immediately loved the album as the instrumentation in the songs is just lovely with its old-fashioned sound. And lead singer Colin Meloy's voice, with its hints of plaintiveness, is unique, and pairs perfectly with the stories told in The Decemberists's songs.
So, without further ado, here are The Decemberists:
January Hymn
This Is Why We Fight - Live
Don't Carry It All
And this song is just pure sunshine and makes look forward to summer.
June Hymn - Live
-Erin
Labels:
Monday Morning Music,
The Decemberists
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Harmony Farm Candles Sale
Just a quick note that the remaining Wintergreen and Mulled Cider candles in the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop have been reduced by 15%. Click on the SPECIALS shop section to be taken directly to the listings.
Even though the holidays are over, these candles are still wonderful to burn during the winter months!
-Erin
Even though the holidays are over, these candles are still wonderful to burn during the winter months!
| {Harmony Farm Candles} |
-Erin
Labels:
Harmony Farm Candles
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