The Stork Made a Big Mistake!

I think when the stork dropped me off he was lost! I should have been taken to a Tuscan hillside to live out my life waking everyday to the sweet smells of lavender. I harvested the first of the figs off of my tree yesterday and I have to say it was the best tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth. I took my youngest to a lavender field this week and we giggled and harvested lavender for an hour or so, imagining that we were in a field outside of Tuscany! (yes she shares my dream to live abroad someday) Then there is the whole Cotswold sheep endeavor, I am still working on my husband on that one, he has however agreed to help me start a lavender field of my own. I love my husband for his never ending support and for the fact that he loves me enough to help me chase my dreams. So here I sit in Oklahoma when I should be in Tuscany or Provence. All kidding aside, I love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything.....but a girl can dream!

All photos courtesy of google and Eddie Ross

So Clever!!!

I have had my eye on all of the great pillows and bags that are being made with burlap and I have to admit I have visited Ebay a few times to scout out the goods. Then I came across this website and fell in love. I have to say they win the award for "The Most Clever Use Of Burlap".

Uncharted Territory

I usually don't do my own florals for my jobs but I had some inspiration on this one. I saw a beautiful planter done in succulents and my client fell in love with them, so I gave it a shot. This is the finished product and I have to say they were so much fun to work with. The are large and so realistic, not to mention a huge trend right now. So if you are out and about and come across some of these give them a try they are perfect for large containers as they have great scale!

Rainy Day Fun

I am going stir crazy with all of this rain! What is a girl to do? Craft of course! I had some left over muslin and some new stamps....this is what I came up with. The Paris ribbon I purchased here, and the other I made to keep my sanity. I am loving my new crown jar from my dear friend at Bliss Studio. Thank you Miss Brandee. Here's hoping it's sunny where you are!

Update on Tuscan Kitchen....

The client I am working with right now has more taste than anyone I know. She doesn't follow "rules" she just knows what she likes and runs with it. Her home is a mix of french country, tuscan and a whole lotta ecclectic....my kind of girl. She loves antiques, rustic and bling. There has to be a catchy name for this....."French Cowgirl", "European Bling". or maybe "Farmhouse Chic". If you ladies have a suggestion on a new and trendy term let me know I would love to hear them. I found the wine crate above her cabinet at a trendy antique store here in Oklahoma and it is stamped on the side with the year her and her husband were born so we grabbed it up and the old bottles were even included in the price. I got so tickled because she saleswoman said "You HAVE to take the bottles that are in there, they come with it" (like we would put up a fuss) SCORE!!!!! My client collects knobstoppers for her wine bottles and I have to say I have a new addiction for them myself, they are so ecclectic and a great conversation piece when you host those little get-togethers. I have had a ball looking for things to play off all the fabulous "stuff" she already had, not easy.... but fun! This house is amazing I am hoping to take lots of pics when I deliver window treatments this week, I'll keep ya posted.

A Blogger's Best Friend!

Besides all of the wonderful people I have met through my blog there is something else that I just love....Site Meter! I had this installed over a year ago and would "sometimes" check in, but here lately I have had reason to check it everyday. It is so neat I just wanted to tell all of my fellow bloggers about it. First of all it's free! (www.sitemeter.com) It's password protected and it gives you such insight to your blog and everyone who visits...even blocked IP addresses. You can monitor who looks at your blog, where they live(down to latitiude and longitude) what time they looked, how they logged on to your blog, what pages they visited for how long and even if they read your comments or not. This thing is so interesting I tell ya! For example I had over 100 visits yesterday from as far away as Turkey to as close as a small town here in Oklahoma called Tecumseh (you know who you are). It's amazing to see how far blogging can reach....I have had some friends that have had to shut down their blogs due to their professional photography being stolen so I am glad there is a monitoring system out there, even if I don't have fantastic photographs I like to know who's looking! Thanks to all of you for stopping by .....now I know exactly who you are:)

Birthday Fun!

A friend of my mom's asked me to help her with her secret pals gift for her birthday, she wanted to do something special for her and knew that we had the same taste.This was a challenge since this pal is a very talented friend of mine with exceptional taste. I had wanted to do a box for a while but just never had the right occasion...now I had the chance! I decorated the box with scrapbook paper in "Neapolitan Ice-Cream" colors and filled it with some millinery that she loves purchased from this great etsy store. Her secret pal gave her the box and her first words were "This has Paula written all over it!" Well so much for the great birthday sneak! She figured out I helped her secret pal but I'm not telling!