~somewhere in france~

Is it really Friday already?

this week has just flown by!

we are still enjoying an amazing

fall....it was in the 80's yesterday

with a gentle breeze....ahhhhhh!

the weather is so perfect for going

to farms, outdoor markets & such...

yesterday I stopped in

at wonderful farm just up the

road from us.....

{which I'll be sharing with you next week...}

and picked up my corn stalks for

front porch decorating....

which I'm just getting started on....

~love this time of year!!~

it's an annual tradition around here

to go to the corn maze

and pick out some pumpkins...

and now that the girls {2 of them anyway...}

are a little older....

~gulp~

and in high school....

~ double gulp~

I'm sure they'll be getting all their

 friends together on a Friday night

 to run frantically through the

maze.......

ahhh the days of high school....when you get

an absolute JOLT

of energy at 9:00 on Friday nights.....

and why is it we as parents

are on the exact opposite end of the ol' energy

spectrum at that particular hour??? 

ah, it appears I'm off track....

haven't said a word about this amazing home....

where to start....um it's uh....well...amazing.

pretty much.  in a nutshell.

....what I really love about it is

the charming rustic floors.....

they almost look bare right?

I'm sure there's some kind

of sealant on them but

they just look amazing....

I am loving the natural furnishings

against the white backdrop....

and you see those vintage decoys

up there above the door??

I am in LoVe with those!

always wanted some....

and that door has the most amazing

patina....love it too....

ok...this bedroom....

the wood ceiling...

 the white walls...

the ruffles on the all white bedding....

~purrrrrrrr~

and a wall of books!

mmmmmm..........

and here we have more of that off-the-charts,

yummi-fied, de-lish-ess-ness, 2die4,

seriously-in-love with

 w  o  o  d.

weathered, & wornout  w  o  o  d.

yum.

love it.

do you notice there's no baseboards?

it seems to be quite common in Europe!?

makes remodeling easier for sure!

before I let you go....

thought I'd just share with you a new

product in the Ticking and Toile Linen Shoppe

rustic burlap ruffled tablecloth

this was a result of a custom order this last

week, and I love the way it turned out so much....thought

you might too!

It's perfect for holiday gatherings....it fits

right over a 6ft folding table....

... I'm thinking side table for Thanksgiving

or for a display table for all you junkers

out there.....

well enjoy your weekend girls!!

I'll see you next week with

Zelda & Darnell

and some creepy critters I'm making

to scurry about.....

aren't these awesome???

:)

xoxo,

Shellagh

P.S.

I don't know if any of you are having the same

issue with blogger & leaving comments.....

but I haven't been able to leave comments

on many blogs!

I'm so sorry!!!

P.S.S.

Ria from It's Me...

please leave me your email address....

thanks!

{images via art & decoration, except last one bhg.com}

~kitchens...european style~

Happy Wednesday friends!

Seriously, I can't believe it's

already hump day!!

all this fall like weather has

definitely gotten me in the

mood for cooking!

why is it, as soon as the weather

gets cool I get the urge to

 cook up a bunch of

homestyle meals????

in fact, I was feeling so nostalgic

a couple nights ago.....

I actually made my family,

shhhhhh......come close......

a little closer.....

can you hear me?

.......hamburger gravy......

oh and it gets better.....

ready?

are you still close?

.....served over toast......

wow...

~*~

disclaimer.....

for all of you "gravy over toast types"

my deepest apologies right now

and know that I love you just the

way you are!!

 anyhoo.....

Mr. T & T comes into the kitchen

and says, "what is......that??"

like seriously shocked....

you see, we've always been the

"clean protein with salad & veggies types"

{boy, you'd think I'd be skinny or something....} 

I mean, we never eat gravy anything...

except at Thanksgiving.....

but my mom used to feed us that

and I was just feeling like

"hey, let's give it a whirl...."

my girls were saying..."how about

biscuits instead of toast, mom?"....

"really mom?  on toast?"

I'm like, noooooo, you gotta eat it

the way I did! hee hee.....

so you're wondering.....did they eat it?

was it yummy?

well, of course!

do you know the fastest, easiest gravy recipe??

this is from an vintage {of course!} southern

cookbook.....brown the meat, whatever it is,

add 2 cans of evaporated milk & bring

to a gentle boil while stirring constantly.

If it still needs thickened, use the corn starch

in cold water method.

{mix a heaping TBSP of cornstarch with 1/4 cup water,

mix well, add to the gravy & stir}

but ya know~ all the home cookin' doesn't really

do much for the ol' figure....

but the running does....

it is helping.....apparently...

so says Mr. T & T anyway.

I can't tell that much~

 but if he can ~ great!

so after my last post on Monday

I went running in the cool wet weather~

it felt great!

and I ran...drumroll please.....................

33 minutes!

woo-hoo!!

oh is this kitchen just so fabulous?

love the cozy quaintness of it!

Hope you're all having a fabulous week!

xoxo,

Shellagh

{all images via pinterest}



~meet Zelda & Darnell~

Good morning bloggy friends!

Happy Monday

&

Hello rain!!!

it was soooo blustery here yesterday!

it's a good thing

the leaves haven't changed much yet because

the wind & rain definitely would have blown

them all off the trees!

I guess fall has officially arrived??

~*~

I'm so excited to introduce you to

Zelda!!

finally got her all finished

and just loving her!!

and her scary black cat

Darnell

I know I confessed to you all last week

approximately just how long

I've had this pattern.....sitting on a shelf....

in fact I think I thought about throwing it

away about a gazillion times.......

but this is proof that it pays {on a rare

occassion} to hang onto stuff 'til

"someday when I have time"  :) 

so you wanna see the process???
I've got lots of pictures so

hang tight!

the pattern

is downloaded & printed

and comes with a little grid to put together



there's about a million pieces to print, so

make sure you've got plenty of ink you don't

mind using!

the graph is all labeled so you can see where to put

each piece A1, A2 etc....

I got smart after doing the big one &

got my kiddos involved!

they love helping me do this kind of stuff!

in fact after we were done, Kenzie (the one

in the floral top) said ....

"Momma, it's gonna look like a huge

halloween bomb went off by the time

we're done decorating....and I'm gonna help you!!"

{seriously, bestill my beating heart....music to my ears....what a sweetie!}

Once the pattern is all cut out,

the directions recommend using spray adhesive

to glue it to the plywood, but

I found outlining the pattern on the plywood

worked better than sawing

all around the edge of the paper.....

{the paper would get all bunched up under the saw

and it just made it annoying & difficult!}

use your trusty ol' jigsaw to cut her out

....you might need more

than one blade (I broke one in the process)



then once you get her all cut out

grab yourself a spare kiddo

and some black paint

and paint her up real quick!

I didn't even bother sanding at all

in fact, I just barely wiped off all the sawdust.....

easy peasy lemon squeezy!

ah, Mr. T & T was so darn sweet

on Saturday!!!

he did tons of gardening, cutting down,

yanking out & digging out all sorts

and manner of various overgrown

vegetation Mrs. T & T has had no time for....

and he still wanted to help me

with Zelda & Darnell!!

I was basically glee-ful!

completely thrilled at such generosity! ;)

.....no seriously, I was!!

can you tell he was soooooooo

excited to get his picture taken?

I mean who wouldn't after working in the

yard all day, all hot & sweaty

and feeling nasty........

right?? hee hee hee

so what do you think of her?

you like??

I do!  And you know what?

it wasn't really that hard at all!!

and the total cost of the project was

less than $20

$12 for 1/2 inch plywood from Home Depot

and $2.50 for the insulation pole to stick

her in the ground

and less than $3 for the insulation clamps

and I already had paint on hand!

for complete details & directions go

here where Martha Stewart

will give you the supply list, templates etc...

{but I wouldn't spend the extra on the 3/4 in

plywood....the 1/2 inch worked just fine!}

well girls, I'm off for my run....

*update*

30 minutes running.....no walking....

yep......crazy huh.......?

we'll see how it goes in the rain....

haven't done that yet....

sure it'll be awesome! ;)

have an awesome week!!

xoxo,

Shellagh

~a little french inspiration~

It's Friday!

My favorite day of the week!

So full of promise for the weekend.....

It's a bright sunny day here~

but I did notice some low fog

on the fields this morning,

while driving my kids to seminary

{very early....I might add....ouch!}

mother nature's just setting the stage

for fall & halloween :)

the tips of some leaves

are just starting to turn.....

but by mid-afternoon it will be 80.

not too shabby, eh?

we are so fortunate to have beautiful

"indian" summers here....

I think it's just a little bonus

 for suffering through

our very wet springs!

I'm heading out this morning...doing a little

"shoppe" shopping

and then home to make some sense

out of my completely out of control

overgrown, everything is humongous back garden....

wish me luck....;)

what do you have planned?

friends?

family?

cleaning?

gardening?

thrifting?

yard sale-ing?

crafting?

all of the above?

or

???

whatever it is.....

enjoy!

xoxo,

Shellagh

{all images via pinterest}



Hello bloggy friends!

It's hump day already!

2 more days til the weekend ~ whoo-hoo! :)

don't  you love the anticipation of the weekend?

I really love this darling french home....

greys, whites, creams oh my!

did you notice the little doggy chair?

how cute is that????

I don't know about you ~ but I am

currently obsessed with grey furniture,

moldings, and doors.....

of course I am because we just redid all of ours

white! ha ha ha! ;)

I just love the way grey looks against white walls ~

yum.

Little sidenote here ~

been working on a little halloween project

yep ~ if you follow me on facebook

you might already know that I've been

working away on this.....and I've been

diligently taking pictures so I'll be

showing you all just as soon as I'm done!

{come by and Like me!! I'm moving up in the world....

from 5 friends to 34! yippee!!}

*anyhoo*

where was I?

oh yes....drooling over this amazing

french farmhouse......

{but I was just so excited to share my project with you ~

especially since I've been wanting to do it & have had the

pattern for, um, well, let's just

say a good 4 or 5 2 -3 years......}

oh you see the plank walls back there?

I just saw an   a  w  e  s  o  m  e  

idea for that.......

recycled pallet boxes!!

I see those everywhere!

don't ya think that could work??

I am thinking...yes!

now this picture (above) I'll admit is a bit

heavy on the fabric factor.  I'm thinking

either the slipcovers or tablecloth, but both

on this table, seems a little too much.

Kinda cute the way they have the slipcovers

secured with the rope/twine/? though!

k, this room....love it....

love love love it.

oh, behold the grey door....ooooh love that

dark tone.....



by the way....am I the only person

left without a mannequin?

I'm thinking so.....and I'm thinking

I really need one now.....Oh, I'm sure

it's a   n e e d   and not a want right? ;)

and isn't that day bed just amazing?

 ~sigh~

beautiful home ~ hope you enjoyed it!

Talk soon!

xoxoxo,

Shellagh

{all pics campagne decor, with the exception of witch pic which

is from Martha Stewart)