Let's Celebrate! 300th Post Giveaway!

(Today's music is Celebration by Kool and the Gang)

When I began blogging 300 posts ago, I never imagined where it would lead. I have met 100's of wonderful, talented and giving people through my blog. I have been fortunate enough to even meet a couple of you in person!

I feel honored that anyone wants to even read about my daily life here in the mountains of North Carolina! I have enjoyed sharing mosaic designs, decorating ups and downs and recipes with you all.

It has been so much fun to read all of your comments and visit your blogs too. I also want to thank all of my "silent" blogger friends out there. I would love it if you left a comment, but knowing that you are there is wonderful too.

So to CELEBRATE my 300th post, I am having a giveaway! Just leave a comment on this post before midnight EST September 3rd. I will draw a name from the entries. The winner will receive their choice of a custom made mosaic heart/wall peg or a custom made mosaic cross. You don't have to have a blog to enter, but keep watch for the drawing, so you can email me if you win. If you do have a blog, I will contact you to let you know if you are the winner.

Here are the unfinished pieces, waiting for the winner to decide....

Below are a heart and cross I have done in the past, so you can get an idea of what they look like with mosaics....

These two have sold, and yours will be different.

Thanks again for helping me reach this blogging milestone!

On Top of Old Smoky

(Song playing on today's post is Smoky Mountain Memories by Dolly Parton)

This is why they are called the Smoky Mountains.....(click on pic to enlarge)

When the rain stopped this morning, the sun tried to peak through. The "smoke" is actually wisps of fog.

Stay tuned! My 300th post blog anniversary is coming up!

Listen To The Rythmn of The Falling Rain....

(Todays song is Listen To the Rhythmn of the Falling Rain, by The Cascades)

Tropical Depression Fay, that inundated the state of Florida for days has now made her way to the mountains of North Carolina. We have been deluged with rain the past 3 days. We are under flood warnings at the moment. When Mr. LHS tried to leave our neighborhood today, there were two huge pine trees laying across our road. He had to gather a couple of neighbors and chain saw them out of the way.



The state of NC has been in a drought for the last two years. We really need this rain. You need to take the good with the bad..... It looks like we will have one more day of this tomorrow and then the skies will clear.

My Studio/Office Redo....Where I Create

My studio/office is done... I had many inspirations for my office. I love Country French and Toile. The first was Celestina Marie at La Rea Rose. Her inspiration and another one of mine was Fifi at Chez Fifi, who is the editor of Romantic Country Magazine. If you click those links it will take you to their studio/office posts. Both of these wonderfully creative women used black toile in their offices. I love red toile AND I was creating my "office" portion of my studio in my closet.....so another inspiration was from http://www.bhg.com/ . Below see the red toile office set up in a closet....from BHG.com (Click on any picture to enlarge - I don't know if the first pic will, but the rest will for sure).


Here are a couple of "BEFORE" pictures of my office/studio. First the computer area.

And below the before closet. It was filled with two shelves that stored some of my china.

Here is the after pictures....first the closet now. It holds my computer and my office stuff. Magazines, files, stapler etc...

Now, we are walking around the perimeter of the office/studio. Below you see the entrance door.


If you were standing in my doorway this is the direction you would be facing. The white shabby table we bought at a flea market in Tennessee about 4 years ago. It is where I do most of my mosaic work...the cutting and placing of china. But not the grouting. The grouting is done in my garage.

This picture shows the two shelves I decided to leave in my studio. It holds my favorite china and stained glass. The rest of the shelves of china (5 more to be exact) are in the garage. See the drop leave table? That was the red table in my kitchen nook, that you now see in my header. I waxed the top with Briwax and everything I placed on top left a mark. So I sanded it all off and now I am going to mosaic the top. I will show you the finished table in the future.

Here you see the blackboard I showed in an earlier post and two of the prints I purchased from Teresa at French Poppy. The third print from Teresa is over my desk, by the lamp I just remade the shade for.



Now you are looking at the closet/office. You can see a lot of the items I posted about this past week. One of the things I hinted about is......the curtains. I had planned on putting the bi-fold doors back on the closet to keep out the dust, but I would not have been able to open my file cabinet door if I did that. So my solution was to sew a couple of curtains from my favorite red toile and hang them from a rod at the closet opening. Now I can pull them closed when I am not using the computer.

The white magazine files and black storage boxes on the shelf are from The Container Store. More shots at the closet follow.


This is the wall I use as my photography studio. I am able to place plates or pictures on the wall for background and used the dresser and small table as props. All of my pictures for my website are created here.



This is a picture of a shelf in my studio. This mosaic piece is one of the FIRST ones I ever did. I keep it to remind me of how much I have learned in the past 8 years....You can see the sweet painting that Cathie of Catherine Holman Folk Art painted for me. And the two ladies came from my sister....

I purchased the memory board on ebay....

The mouse pad came from http://www.casualcottage.com/. The wire ETC basket came from an ebayer buyer named The Polka Dot Bear. The letter "P" came from Michaels and I spray painted it black.

The now newly painted red drawers (and file cabinet) were painted with Valspar spray paint in Wine. Purchased at Lowe's. Then I added some crystal knobs that I have had for a while. The cup with the Initial P came from Anthropolgie.

The chair cushion and the valance above the windows were made by Shelley at Judd Home Decor. I highly recommend her. She also made my dining chair and kitchen nook cushions (seen in my new header).

This little bundle below is a black board eraser. Simply cut out a circle of fabric, filled with cotton balls and tie at the top with ribbon. A black board eraser that coordinates with your room!!

If there is anything here you see, that I have not mentioned, please feel free to email me and ask...

The obstacles I had with my office/studio is that it is just that...and office and a studio. I do most of my mosaic work in my studio. So, there is a lot of dust and broken china flying. I needed a place to mosaic, take photos of the finished product for my website, storage (though most of the china is now in the garage and all of the shipping boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, furniture waiting to be finished etc is in the yellow barn). So for now, this will work. It it not the most beautiful office...not the most convenient studio. But, it is what it is. For now...it works just fine :-).

NOW, on to other things! I will be having a 300 post giveaway in three more posts! So stay tuned!!

p.s. if you want to see where more Bloggers Create visit Brenda at The Brenda Blog

A Rainbow Of Colors

I have a customer who has a very colorful and whimsical home. She lives in a charming town and all of the older cottages have been made into shops, antique stores and restaurants....Well ALMOST all of them.

Her home is just that.....HER home. But because it is so adorably cute, people are constantly mistaking it for a shop and wandering in. See below for an artists rendition of her home. Please click on any picture to enlarge for details.

Notice the heart on her gate? She asked me to make a "Private Residence" sign to hang there.

I chose the colors she used on her home for the sign. Cobalt blues and magenta's....

And added this sweet little bluebird....

A whimsical sign for a whimsical cottage....

She is coming here from a couple of states away this coming week to pick up her sign in person. I am so thrilled to be able to meet her! She has promised to take pictures of the sign when it is hanging on her gate. When she does, I will be sure to blog about it!

ABC......No It's a P!

Almost done......

Waiting on one more thing in the mail....then I have a little something to do with it when it arrives...

Oh! And this is my 296th post I think. So when I hit my 300 I am having a giveaway!

Edited: The "P" is not part of the basket. It is a separate letter standing in front of the basket :-)

The Finshed Shade!

(Todays song is Happy Together, by The Turtles)

My lamp shade is finished! Some of you asked for step by step instructions. Keep in mind, this might not be the "proper" way to do this.....Just the way I do it.

First I ripped off the seem coverings at the top, bottom and by each metal rib.

Next, I made a pattern for both sizes of panels that lay between the wire by holding a piece of 8x11 paper on the shade and running a pencil down the wire. From my pattern I cut out the fabric.

Next I glued the larger pieces of fabric onto the shade with regular water based white glue, using a sponge brush. Use a thin even layer and then smooth out on the shade, being careful to remove all bubbles (the picture above shows a bubble, but I did smooth that out after I too the picture :-) ).

After the first group of panels were totally dry, I repeated the step with the smaller panels.


Next, with a glue gun (please be VERY careful with glue guns! they are very HOT!), I glued gimp on all of the vertical seams and then around the top and bottom of the shade. See below.

And finally, I just tied a black velvet ribbon around the shade.

Here is is, below on the lamp with the light on.....

Speaking of having the light on...this method would NOT work if you have a PATTERNED lamp shade to begin with. The pattern of the old shade would show through the new fabric when the lamp is lite. You can only do this with a plain fabric shade.

Ok, on to other things! I want to thank Pat at Mille Fiori Favoriti for giving me the Tree of Happiness Award, which says the following: "You have just received the tree of happiness. It is scarcely a small plant, which depends on you to grow firmly and strongly. Plant it on your heart, water it with smiles and kindness, feel the aroma of its flowers, savour the sweetness of its fruits and protection under its shade whom you love."

This award requires me to list 6 things that make me happy right is moment, so in no particular order here they are:

1) Today's weather! It is in the low 80's with a cool breeze. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping. It is the perfect summer day!

2) I am happy that my office/studio is almost complete. I have been working on it for a few weeks now and it is coming together nicely!

3) OHHH and I am happy for the wonderful roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce on it, that I just finished for lunch!

4) My health

5) My wonderful supportive husband, who is busy getting ready to hang pictures in my studio.

6) And I am happy to have met all of you, my wonderful blog friends.

If you have not received this award and are reading this post, I pass this on to you! Please grab it and add it to your blog.

Salmon Times Two

(Today's song is Summertime, by Sam Cooke)
Last night we had Blackened Salmon Spinach Salad for dinner.

With caramelized onions, kalamata olives, feta cheese, fresh garden tomatoes and a warm bacon vinaigrette.


There was enough Blackened Salmon left over from dinner that I made a whole wheat pasta Salmon Salad for lunch today!


The tomatoes in both salads are from my Potager...see below.

Here are the recipes for the above dinner and lunch.

Blackened Salmon Salad on Wilted Spinach
Sprinkle blackened seasoning on the salmon.
Wrap salmon skin side down in parchment paper and fold edges.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on thickness of salmon.
Remove from parchment paper leaving skin behind.
Place on prepared wilted spinach salad.

Wilted Spinach Salad
Baby Pre-washed Spinach leaves
Feta Cheese
Fresh Tomatoes,
1/2 cup sliced onions
Kalamata olives
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Slices of Bacon diced.

Heat pan over medium low heat, add olive oil and onions and cook for about 7 minutes stirring occasionally. Be careful not to burn. They should be golden brown. Removed from pan and set aside. Add diced bacon to pan and cook until brown and crisp. Removed from pan and set aside. Add the white wine vinegar and sugar to pan and cook until sugar is dissolved. Place spinach in large bowl. Add caramelized onions and bacon. Then drizzle the warm vinaigrette on top, tossing until all the spinach is covered. Divide onto two plates. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Add kalamata olives and tomato and place salmon on top. Serve with a hearty wheat roll and a glass of Pinot Noir!

Salmon Pasta Salad
Boil whole wheat Fusili or small shell pasta, drain and cool. Add mayo, dill, seasoned salt, fresh cracked pepper, diced onions, diced celery. Cut left over cold salmon into bite size pieces and gently toss in pasta mixture. Serve over romaine lettuce.

Reds, Blacks, Whites....

(Today's song is The Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh)

Here is the lampshade from the previous post in the "during" stage. After removing the seem coverings, I simply made a pattern with paper of the two different size side panels and then cut the fabric to size. I spread white glue to the back side of the fabric, making sure to cover the entire pieces, with a THIN layer. Then I smooth the fabric onto the existing fabric shade. I start with the larger panels (every other one). When they are dry, I will glue on the smaller panels. More pics on this will follow as I proceed.


Now, here are some more pictures of things happening in the studio/office during the reorganizing, redecorating and refluffing!

Old drawers, that I repainted and added the knobs. You can see them when they were black in this picture here. It is in the second picture down in that post on the shelf of the computer armoire.

Some new magazine files....

Things are moving right along. I am not able to put the closet doors on like I had hoped to keep the dust out, I will explain that later and tell of my solution, when I can get it done.

A "Before" for the Studio/Office

(Today's song is The Naughty Lady of Shade Lane by Dean Martin)

Take one old used shade, black velvet ribbon, red toile, gimp trim, white all purpose glue, a glue gun and a foam brush and what do you have?

Stayed tuned for the transformation.

More Studio/Office Goodies...Ooh La La!

(Today's song is Non Je Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf)

I bought some gorgeous chandelier prints from a fellow blogger....I promise to tell you her name and link to her when I do my final studio post :-). A lot of you will recognize her work.

Here a little peaks of the prints.





Au revoir pour le moment!

Play Misty For Me

(Today's song is Misty by Johnny Mathis)

We had WONDERFUL rain today. When the rain ended this evening the mist came over the mountains. This is the view from my front deck and courtyard. (Please click on the pictures to enlarge for detail - the beauty is amazing).





Oh, I love rainy days, don't you?

A Little More Office/Studio Redo...

(Todays song is La Vie En Rose, I was feeling a little French today)
A few little peaks at my office/studio redo. Still waiting for a few organizing pieces to arrive.

"P" for Penny.

Red

Black Fleur de Lis, Herringbone and paisley.
Black Toile....

I just love red and black together....

Creating A Charmed Life

(Song playing on today's post is Watermark, by Enya)

I am trying to organize my life. As you know from a couple of posts ago, I am making over my office/studio. I am trying to make over myself too. I have always been a TYPE A personality. I am trying to relax and simplify.

Anyone out there have any SIMPLE tricks they would like to share in Creating A Charmed Life?

Doe, a Deer

Look what we spotted walking up our driveway this morning!
(Music for today's post is Do-Re-Mi, sung by Julie Andrews)

Isn't she precious?

Oops! She spotted me (below).

"Deer" Friends, Have a wonderful day!

p.s. Please visit a new blog friend. She just started her blog the other day. Her name is Elizabeth and her blog is called Home is Where The Heart Is. I am sure she would love to meet you!

What's Going On?

Remember a few days ago when I showed you a gold frame that I aged, HERE? Well here is the finished project. I made a chalk board to hang in my studio. This picture shows it sitting on my dining room floor....

Now, the reason I made the chalk board - other than it is cute :-), is that I am in the process of organizing my studio/office. It is very hard to have a mosaic studio that looks nice - there are always broken pieces of china every where. In fact, my studio/office is also my photography studio where I take pictures of my finished pieces for my website.

Currently my "office" part of my studio is pictured below. A rickety office system and an old dresser. As you can see, it is very messy. I have no place to write, there is very little storage. It just doesn't work.

Now, the picture below is the closet with the doors removed, in my studio. It currently holds two shelves of china and mosaic stuff. (and see, my little pig is STILL not mosaicked...)

Mr. Lavender Hill Studio is going to make an office inside of the closet for me. Then we are putting the doors back on so I can close it up when I am breaking china, to keep the china dust down. I am painting the studio/office a light cream called Heirloom Lace from Olympic Paints. I have to keep the color neutral for picture taking background.

You can see a toile memory board, waiting for a new home sitting on the floor in the picture below.

Stay tuned...in the next couple of days, I will show the closet office finished and organized.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words....

Please click to enlarge this pictures and then read on.....:-))))

Picture taken from my new Kodak Z1012 IS Easy Share Camera!!

I have my new camera! A lot of you asked what type of camera I had, and what I was going to replace it with. My camera that broke was a Kodak Z650 Easy Share. I really liked that camera. It was easy for someone like me - without any photography skills to take good pictures. I need to be able to take good pictures for my website. Mosaics are very hard to take good pictures of. I was devastated when I dropped it and it quit working.

Well, my new camera is the same style camera only upgraded with a few more features. Here it is!

It is a Kodak Z1012 Easy Share. I took it outside and snapped a few pictures with it, before even reading the manual. All of these pictures were taken about 4PM on a cloudy day. I set the camera on Auto and made no adjustments in editing except for reducing the original size. Please click on the pictures to enlarge and you can see what great pictures this camera takes!


A sunflower in my front courtyard - including a bumble bee.....

Sunflowers in my cutting garden.


A tomato ready to pick in my potager...

A pretty flower in an urn in at my front door.

A Zinnia in my cutting garden...

I think I am going to love this new camera!

Embarrassing Songs AKA Funny Tunes!

I have been tagged by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound to list the 5 songs that I am embarrassed to say I enjoy.

Well, you know I love music - of all kinds and I am really not embarrassed to say I LOVE the follow songs! These songs just make you laugh. And the world could always use more laughter.

I have added all of these songs to my place list. You can sing along with them if you want! I have even provided the words for the first one :-).

They are, in order:
1. Camp Grenada - Allan Sherman
2. Beep Beep - The Playmates
3. Alley Oop - Hollywood Argyles
4. Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
5. Splish Splash - Bobby Darin

Now.....here are the words to the first song....

Hello muddah, hello faddah

Here I am at Camp GranadaCamp is very entertaining

And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.
I went hiking with Joe Spivy

He developed poison ivy

You remember Leonard Skinner

He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

All the counselors hate the waiters

And the lake has alligators

And the head coach wants no sissies

So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.

How I don't want this should scare ya

But my bunkmate has malaria

You remember Jeffrey Hardy

They're about to organize a searching party.

Take me home, oh muddah, faddah

Take me home, I hate Granada

Don't leave me out in the forest where

I might get eaten by a bear.

Take me home

I promise I will not make noise

Or mess the house with other boys.

Oh please don't make me stay

I've been here one whole day.

Dearest faddah, darling muddah,

How's my precious little bruddah

Let me come home, if you miss me

I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me.

Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing.

Guys are swimming, guys are sailing

Playing baseball, gee that's better

Muddah, faddah kindly disregard this letter.

Now here are the tag rules:
1. Post the link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others that you like and tell why.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.

I know alot of you have already been tagged with this. But if you haven't and want to play, please consider yourself tagged. This is a FUN tag....

Camera Broken and A Contest!

Remember these photos?











Well, my camera is broken. I dropped it and now the lense won't retract. The estimate to repair it is sky high, so I have ordered a new camera instead. I will have it within 8 days.

So...since I don't have a camera to take pictures, I am so lucky that Debbie at Reflections of Debbie is having a contest. You simply need to post some photos you have taken and if you are the winner, she will draw a picture of your photo!

I know you have seen most of these before in past posts, but these are the photos [above and below] that I am entering in Debbie's contest.




























Have a wonderful week everyone!

Saturday Lunch and Art On Main Street

Today was a busy day! First we went to Staples Office Supply to pick up a new key board and mouse for me! Wireless!! No more messy cords. And I also had to pick up something there for my "frame" project from two posts ago. It is almost ready :-).

Then we went downtown. Hendersonville was having it's annual Art on Main Street Festival. Artists from all over the US come and set up booths.

First, since we were starved, we went to one of our favorite restaurants. It is called Never Blue. It is really funky inside. Tin ceilings, great art hanging on the walls. Richly painted walls. Great MOSAICS on the bar area....

Click on any picture to enlarge.


I ordered Greek salad with grilled shrimp and Kent ordered a Spinach salad with shrimp. They were yummy!!

The shrimp were so sweet tasting!

After lunch we walked out of the restaurant right onto Main Street. One of the things I love about my town is the beautiful landscaping they do each summer. All along the
street are beautiful hanging baskets and planters full of flowers.

It was hot today - high of about 96 degrees. See all of the people with their hats on?

It is hard to take pictures at an art festival. A lot of artists don't even allow pictures to be taken, for fear of copying I guess.

Loved this booth below! Fun hand painted tin tiles with roosters, poppies, sunflowers, roses, etc.




You could find all kinds of art from oil paintings, pottery, jewelry, garden art and more.

We bought a beautiful bowl made from a gourd. I will have to show a picture of it in another post. I dropped my camera, and it doesn't work! I have to take it in to be fixed. I am glad I kept my old camera. It will have to do for a while.

On another note, I am long overdue in thanking several bloggers who have given me some awards. I am always honored that someone even finds enough interest in my life to even read my blog! But to receive these sweet awards humble me.

A big THANK YOU goes to:

Sandi at Holding Patterns for presenting me with Sharing The Love award! Sandi passed along to all of her blog readers and so do I. Please grab this and pass it on.

Next a Thank You goes to Anna at Rusty Cottage , Kathy at Kats Corner and Mo at Mo's Cottage for passing on the Brillante Weblog Premio award. I really appreciate it! I would also like to pass this on to all of my blog friends!

And last but not least, Pat at Mille Fiori Favoriti and Melanie at Jelly Bean Angel for giving me the You Make Me Smile award! Thank you! All of you make me smile every day, so snag this award and pass it on!