A Couple of Quick Projects

It's been ages since I spent much time in my studio.  Summer seems to go by so quickly - gardening, sailing, room re-do, company and then, there's all that beach-watching! 

I took a trip to Ikea recently and picked up these plain white magazine holders  for The Captain's growing collection of sailing magazines.  Clearly they needed some help!

I painted the boxes blue, then used pieces of an old nautical chart on the front and inside back.  I added a small circle tag, smudged on some colored chalk and stamped random numbers/signs.

I came across this fun tassle idea while blog-hopping at Quick Fix Momma.   Since we are a family that embraces the Mimosa, it wasn't hard to find the corks.

For the ones on the left, I used pages from a very old French novel.  The pages were extremely fragile, so I used newer pages for the one on the right.  You could rub some Distress Ink on the edges if your pages are too new.

First step is to cut 4-5 pages in half and trim off the bottom edge and one side edge ( the parts with no text).  Then hot-glue the top edges of the stack of pages to secure.  I cheated on one and just stapled it to the cork - worked fine.

Next, hot glue (or staple!) the stack around the cork. Then, cut the pages into about 1/4 wide strips, making the "fringe"- no need to be OCD about it - just eye-ball and cut away .    I wrapped these with black wire to cover the top of the paper stack.  The one on the right above was wrapped with ribbon instead.  

Insert a screw eye into the top of the cork and thread ribbon, twine or more wire through it for a hanger.  I only had some gold-colored screw eyes so I scrubbed them with an emery board to tone down the bling!   Notice that the wider ribbon on the larger one covers the screw eye completely.

  

Here's the larger one, dolling up my old button lamp!  I don't dare use the more fragile ones here as someone (ahem) who uses this light might not be considerate of the delicate fringe!  I may cut off a bit of the length after I live with it awhile.

Can We Just Move In?

The Captain and I decided on an impromptu get-away this week and he found an inn in northern New Hampshire that looked promising.  The Adair Country Inn in Bethlehem, NH delivered on every promise! 

The Inn was the private home built for Dorothy Adair and where she lived with her husband for decades.  In 1992 it was converted to an inn with 9 quest rooms  the care of owners  Nick & Betsy Young and innkeepers Ilja and Brad Chapman.   The Chapmans are the perfect inn keepers- friendly, knowledgeable, professional , and interested in their guests without being intrusive.

We stayed in this room - the Huntington.  Attention to detail makes this Inn special - fresh flowers, beautiful linens, ribbon-tied towels, and a  personalized welcome sign.  The special tradition of warm cookies on the bed at turn-down is quite a treat!

The view of Mount Washington from our room:

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Dorothy  was a fashionista of her day, with a thing for hats.  They are displayed throughout the house with this fun group  on the stair- landing perched on little stands.  Note all the books - one of the largest private libraries of the day.

The gardens were designed by the Olmsted brothers, designers of the gardens in Central Park.





Fortunately the weather was spectacular, so we were able to eat out on the terrace, overlooking some of the gardens. 

Again, attention to details make all the difference- who could resist this sweet cup?

These popovers were the best I've ever had.  I tried to squeeze the secret out of Brad Chapman, the Popover King!  Turns out he has a few tricks - not over-mixing the batter , in fact, leaving it pretty lumpy (I've been doing mine in the blender!), refrigerating the batter overnight, and baking the popovers in heavy Pyrex cups sprayed with Pam.  Since I had to chisel my last batch out of the "non-stick" pan, I've thrown it away and am on the hunt for the heavy glass cups.  I also took home their cookbook, so I hope to be turning out some of these beauties soon.

We're already planning a return visit - maybe for fall foliage time. 

(In the interest of full-disclosure,  the Adair did not pay me for nor solicit this glowing review !)

Thrift-Store Makeover

I found this book on one of my afternoons at Barnes and Noble.  I've been known to buy clothes at thrift- stores just for the button, and have made some Martha-inspired pillows from shirts , but that's been the extent of it for me.   This fun book shows how to make all kinds of "new" clothes and accessories out of thrift- store finds.

I must admit, some of these projects seemed like too much work for me, but I liked the idea of turning a T-shirt into a scarf.  Off to the thrift store to find on that would work. (Do you have any idea of how many really ugly T-shirts there are out there?  LOTS)!!    Anyway,I finally found this blue striped Lands' End one that I thought would work well with jeans:



To make the scarf, you cut the T-shirt apart under the sleeves/armholes so you end up with just the bottom "tube" of the shirt (sorry, I deleted that photo!) .  Then, start cutting narrow strips about 1/4 inch from the side seams  on the unfinished edge.  Don't cut the hemmed edge!

And, voila, a fun scarf for pennies. 

A couple of hints in case you want to give this a go:

• The bigger the shirt,  the wider the scarf!  My shirt was a 2X and as I was cutting the fringe, I realized the whole thing too wide, so  I had to take off a few inches from the width - not a big deal if you like the print, but something to keep in mind.
• It's a bit tricky to cut the fringe evenly.  I pinned the shirt together so it wouldn't shift all over.  Use really sharp scissors and take your time.  Keep in mind that the cut edges will curl, making your fringe narrower.
• Depending on the size of your shirt and how long you want your scarf, you can cut the shirt off closer to the armholes or further down.  I 'd cut the next one  so I only ended up with a "tube" around 10-12 inches .

Not Hermes, but fun!

Presentation is Everything

Rachel Meeks, of Small Notebook for a Simple Home , recently posted this picture under the heading "perception" and asked her readers what they saw first in looking at this picture.  Many saw the fruit, others the nice arrangement of wine, books and food, but many, me included, saw the mismatched plastic and wondered why anyone would go to the trouble of arranging a lovely tray using odds and ends of plastic containers. 

Rachel's point, and I agree, was that things don't have to be perfect to be lovely.    I think making this tray perfect  doesn't mean it has to be expensive, perfectly matched and in pristine condition - it means putting in the effort to bring  beauty into what we do everyday.  Think how much nicer this tray would look with even mismatched china or pottery - hey, I'm even good with a chip or two -  replacing plastic containers.  Honestly, I can't imagine going to all the work of carefully arranging this tray and thinking that containers great for holding last night's leftovers would be just the thing!

So, look what I found wandering around our local farmer's market today.  The owner of this stand understands that presentation is everything.  When I asked him if it was OK to take pictures, he said, " You wouldn't believe how many people take pictures here".  Of course they do - it's just lovely!    I don't think it took much more time to set up than the stand next to his - the one featuring vegetables dumped into bright orange laundry baskets!





 Love  this huge metal bowl.

 Assorted baskets make great containers.

The broccoli looks like a flower arrangement in this little basket.

Attention to detail can make all the difference - slate sign, carefully printed in peach-colored chalk!

Tongue in Cheek's Corey Amaro said it best in her posting today" "Snippets of beauty  in ordinary places is a key to my happiness".   And mine.

Gray is the New Blonde

I talked about going gray earlier this year and promised that if I was brave enough, I'd give an update on my progress.  Here's the saga:

Started with a new hairdresser - one who didn't recoil in horror when I dropped the G-word.  In fact, she was pretty enthusiastic, recommending a cut and of course, products.  I try not to get twirled into the product-purchasing as I already have options for all kinds of actual or potential problems - frizz, fly-aways, curls (too many or too few), and the out-right "hair having a moment lifetime" event.

My last color was in October and by May the blonde was gone.   I kept my hair cut fairly short to  avoid having an obvious divide.  I'm not going to lie, for awhile I felt like I should wear a sign, " Not being lazy.  Intentionally looking like this".  It's amazing how  stylish  an old Red Sox hat looks when it's covering several shades of growing-out hair!

 It's been a long time since I saw my natural hair color and I was surprised at how dark it is.   I was also surprised at how gray it is!  I'd been thinking that I had "some" gray on top, but the rest was mostly not gray.  Not so much - turns out the gray is pretty evenly distributed and really lots more than I imagined.

So, for better or worse, here's the new look:

I'm going to try to grow this out a bit longer and see what the curls do.  I'm pretty sure I can do the Carol King look, maybe aiming for a bit less exuberance, but then again, may just let it rip as I've been known to do ! 

Is this color a keeper?  Who knows - it works for me for now.  One of my daughters pronounced it "more sophisticated" so I'm riding that train for now.