Family Compound

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Our house is very quiet. I love having kids home for the holidays, but I really hate it when they leave. When they were little, I encouraged them to do things, to learn things, to experience things. I didn't really understand that this would mean that one would do a stint at ocean fishing, one would swim with sharks, one would bungee-jump in New Zealand, one would become a lawyer, and one would bike and ski like the wind. I didn't really understand that they might go to school or jobs far away. I also didn't understand that they would become smart, interesting adults whose company I love.

I've decided what I'd like is to have a family compound. Not one of those scary ones that has the cellar stocked with canned food and water in preparation for Armageddon. Or one that has stockpiles of guns to do battle with federal agents. I'm thinking more of the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod - a lovely place where the whole family could live, each with their own space, but still close enough to be part of each others lives on a regular basis.

Generations living together isn't a new idea, of course. It used to be the norm and still is in some cultures. Turns out there is a resurgence , now called "multigenerational living". There are many reasons for this - some of course economic, some because elderly parents need care, and some because families have realized that the "it takes a village" approach can make makes raising children easier. Working parents appreciate having parents that can fill in for day care, older parents appreciate the security of having people around and young children get to form strong bonds with grandparents. What's not to like?

I think we could all manage quite nicely in the house pictured above. I hope I don't get assigned to washing windows, though.

Roadside Bouquets

California daughter is home for Thanksgiving and today we went out looking for fall decorations. Not to fear - we only harvested from the woods - no lawn foliage was harmed in this adventure! Here she is gathering some bittersweet.

The bittersweet looks great near the kitchen door. I replaced the mums in the pots with flowering kale. Honestly, I do sweep the leaves off the deck, but the deck doesn't stay cleared very long.

This beauty is new to me - Euonymus europaeus or the easier to spell and pronounce common name - spindle. I may plant one of these for some fantastic fall color. It is available here. I'm not sure why it was growing in the bushes on the side of our road, but eagle-eyed daughter spotted in on her run and knew I'd be intrigued. The little green spiky things are wild cucumbers from the farmer's market that I've had since July and they're still perfect.

Added some small branches with red berries to the bittersweet in this vase. The white beans keep the stems from flopping all over. Here's to free bouquets!

Altered Journals

Warning - sunglasses needed! These are the BEFORE pictures! These very bright journals were 30 cents in the clearance bin at Michael's. Really, not hard to understand how they ended up there, but I could see they had potential.

Since the covers were very shiny, I started with a coat of gesso to make sure any paint or paper would stick.

I covered this one with some wallpaper. I used the paste activator I used when wallpapering a real wall as adhesive. I dabbed on some white acrylic paint to tone down some areas. Then over stamped some flowers onto the vintage image, and added a strip of embossed edging swiped with Distress Ink - Old Photo. I glued on some small vellum flowers over the flowers in the image. Some ribbon and a grouping of flowers (stamped with text and with Distress Stickle centers) completed this one.

This UTEE embossed image didn't photograph all that well. I used some great black paper that feels like fabric and a brass hinge (rescued from a belt by my friend Shiela) and a few buttons. I sold this one today to a young girl - a budding artist who really wanted her mom to buy this for her. She held it carefully, rubbed her fingers over the embossing, and held it to her chest. Her mom thought it was for older girls, "like when you're 10". They left the craft fair, then a few minutes later, mom returned alone for the journal. She said, "Lilly will be 10 in January, so I'm getting it for her birthday". What a good mommy! I'm glad my journal is going to make Lilly happy.

This embossed paper looks like leather, so I made this one a more masculine style with a piece of map for the background and these great Tim Holtz stamps. I made photo corners from punched squares cut in half and sewed on a ticket. I added a metal tag to the compass stamp so the man with the umbrella knows where he's headed.

This one is covered in mulberry paper and embellished with a tag I've had for ages. First time I've added a ribbon bookmark.

These journals reminds me of the "Trash to Treasure" section on HGTV's Decorating Cents.

Estate Sale Find of the Week

I found this beauty for $5.00 hidden in a box at an estate sale last week. It was very sad, but I loved the shape, the swirls and the little feet. I think it took nearly $5.00 worth of silver polish and lots of serious buffing to rescue this tray.

Isn't this lovely? Now The Captain will be delivering my Sunday morning latte in style.

I just love these little feet - all swirly and shiny.

A word about "Estate Sales". I've learned that anyone can call anything an estate sale. Technically, it's the sale of a lifetime of collecting beautiful furniture, art, linens and china and is often conducted by an outside company. Those are the very best. In practice, many people call hauling out all their J.U.N.K. onto the front lawn an "estate sale". Trust me, used Tupperware and assorted Heineken memorabilia are not "estate" items!