July 4th dilly

What does this remind you of?

Aerial "peony" fireworks?

Instead of traditional red, white, and blue whatevers,

how about bringing these bursting "fireworks" to your buffet table

for the decorations?

A large bouquet for a fountain-effect centerpiece or several smaller vases

festooning the length of the table will bring the highlight of the day's festivities to mind.  Pyrotechnics!

This bouquet is made with dill.  This is one flower head. Arranging this couldn't be easier.  Cut one flower head and put it in your selected container, and then add a stem or two of contrasting leaves.

Dill is easy to grow and sometimes you find it growing wild.  

This dill was picked from my garden. 

It volunteered from a plant grown last year. 

Fourth of July or not, I think this is a nice way to bring a bit of the

outdoors inside, whenever dill is found.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

sticky fingers: stealing* from ANTHROPOLOGIE

*in the creative sense that it

posted by:  jennifer

while flipping through a recent Anthropologie catalog last month (making a dog ear corner every other page.... so many things from calling to me), i came upon a page where a table had been set for a feast.  and while looking at the picture, i knew that i had to make my own version of it come to life.  

the main thing on the page that jumped out at me was a bunch of grapes, hanging down from above.   suspended over the table.   i thought what a great idea.  have a hanging center piece.   table space is so precious.  

i decided to expand on the grape idea.  along with the grapes, i added eucalyptus boughs and
vintage rhinestone baubles.  

this is what i ended up with:

i loved the way it turned out.  in fact, after i took everything down, it just seemed something was missing.  so i returned the rhinestones above the table.   they are now hanging among the snowflakes.  

when i host book club next sunday, i plan on adding some greenery, maybe grapes again, or whatever strikes my fancy.     i highly recommend when decorating for a meal, if you don't want to use table space for your centerpiece, look up, and your probably won't look back.  

thank you anthropologie for letting me steal inspiration from you.  

as for my many favorite pieces of clothing from your store.... those were always acquired quite legally.  i am a good girl after all.

cheers!

Spring Mantle

Spring Mantle....

*A garland from  This Etsy seller I had various styles of these glass garlands in my favorites on ESTY for a good year... Then one day I just cracked and bought it before I could talk myself out of it. I have never regretted that purchase. It's one of my favorite things. 

*A "Chocolate" bunny. It's ceramic but he looks so much like a chocolate bunny! And he holds candy inside. There was a decent sized earthquake here last night. Many of my friends who live close by lost things. I was certain this bunny was going to be broken. I was so happy when I arrived home and found him whole. This morning he got a good helping of earthquake gum to hold him in place. :)

*“Happily” on the chalkboard. Because yes, Happily. 

*Daffodils. About $1.00 at Trader Joes in the spring. I buy a bunch just about every time I go.

I love spring!!!

XO,

April

Family tree mural

Every family has one.

The preserver and curator of names, dates, stories, and photos.

The family historian.

An arborist...

the keeper of the family tree.

I started charting my family tree circa l982.  My paternal grandmother loved to tell stories about her childhood and her family. 

  I heard the stories, but I needed a chart to keep them all straight.

  

 I was in the full throngs of mamabrain at that point in my life, and I instinctively knew that I would never remember the names of my grandmother's 8 siblings, or the name of the town in Germany where my great grandfather was born, or much of anything else, if I didn't write it down.

I certainly didn't have much knowledge about making a genealogical chart. Never the less on recycled paper, in pencil, I started a makeshift chart with boxes and lines connecting people.

During the years, I added to this chart any new information I got through relatives.  The chart is mainly names, dates, and places.  But there is an occasional tidbit written such as, "named Bill, by father, because bills come in on the 1st of the month."  Bill was born on February 1st.

This was the beginning of my gathering and recording of family history. 

 At some point, I was inspired to paint a family tree on our hall wall. 

Again, I proceeded without much of a plan. 

The Duke of Earl and I are noted at the top of the trunk where the branches spread.  On bottom part of the tree, extended family is recorded. Our roots. The upward reaching branches are for our 4 children and their children.  God-willing I'll add some great-grandchildren up there, too, someday.

The tree is a jacaranda.  I had an aunt who visited us from England while the jacarandas were blooming and she absolutely loved them.  I wanted to honor my Auntie Jean's memory by painting jacaranda flowers around the trunk and branches.

Some in the family are not interested in their descendants.

Some are not interested in photos of their forerunners. And that's o.k. But word does get around about the "tree" in our hallway.   I see enthusiasm  whenever a member of the family checks the mural-tree for their name, or the name of a recent addition to the clan.  I like that they know they are an important part of a continuing epic story.

Because the tree is visible to every family member, it generates conversation.

I hear more stories, add new names, and correct mistakes as I go.  

The other reasons I like genealogy are:

I am naturally curious about things and I like to solve mysteries.  

I like restoring a forgotten ancestor to the family's conversation.

I like being a homework helper.

I like the link with the past, the present, and the future.

I like knowing what shaped my family.

I like that I am creating something important to pass on to future generations.

I have 3 file folders filed with various papers: documents, stories, newspaper articles, letters, and my original genealogical chart.  I just recently connected with a distant cousin and am inspired to get all the stories written to enrich  the names and dates I have. 

After all,

our ancestors are our history and I want to keep that circle of kinship vivid.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

December tablescape

It's still December, right?

Here is my display for the Christmas month.

It has elements that are important to me:

Candle light

Little white lights

The angel my mother crocheted

The snowmen my daughters made

A Nativity scene music box that plays Silent Night

My favorite pitcher, English made and inherited from my mother-in-law

I hope your Christmas preparations are full of the things you cherish

and you are enjoying the getting ready.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

for a festive celebration table, i've got you covered. diy

posted by jennifer:

in my last post i mentioned a table covering i made (with the help of my children) for our
thanksgiving table.  today i wanted to share what i did.  i was so happy with how it turned out.   plus, it was economical which is a good thing, but didn't look economical which is even a better thing.

**how to make a chalkboard tablecloth**

you will need:
-a roll of brown butcher paper
     i used paint masking paper from home depot.  a roll of a million feet was like $9.00.  so
     i will be using the same roll until i am 95 years old
-chalkboard paint (i used rust-oleum)
     i had leftover paint from another project, and this used so little i still have leftover paint
-painters masking tape
     i thought it could  free-style it at first, but um, not so much
-a big ol' paintbrush
-chalk
-hairspray


1. measure your table you will be covering, and if you want to wrap it around the ends of the table, don't forget to add several inches to the measurement.

2. cut your butcher paper to determined length.  it will want to roll up again, so find something to weight it down.

3.  using your masking tape mark off the area you want to paint.  i did about a 2 foot stripe down the middle of mine. but you could be creative here.  maybe placemat size rectangles at each persons place?

4.  paint in your masked off area.  i only used 1 coat, and was good.    let it dry, which here in southern california was fairly quick, but if you are in a cold climate, you might want to find a low  traffic area of the house for this.  the wet paint here was almost stepped on several times, a couple of times by me as i was yelling at the kids to  be careful not to step on said wet paint.  ah, parenting.... it  is humbling is it not??

5.  after it is dried you can start decorating.  i didn't wait for any curing time on the paint as i knew this was going to be a one-time use project.  i the project was done start to finish in about 1 1/2 hours. 
i used colorful chalk, you could go with standard white for a cool look, which is what i originally thought i was going to do...  but i didn't have any white chalk.  magenta (check!),
periwinkle (check!), burnt sienna (check!), chartreuse (check!), white (okay, with color we go... and i loved it. )

6.  so thinking about smudging.  i knew that if i didn't use something the sharp lines would start being blurred lines.  which would be pretty.  like looking through a kaleidoscope when you are crying.  but not the look i was hoping for.  i tried shellac at first, but it just made the chalk disappear.  so after googling it, hairspray it was. workable fixative would work as well.
i used extra on the ends where i was worried people would rub up against the chalk. and i wanted to avoid people's sleeves and shirt fronts from  looking like my 3rd grade teacher's butt  looked like after she was standing against the chalkboard... remember those days?  ha!

7. roll it up until it is ready to use. 

so that is it.  it makes a beautiful tablecloth.  it can be customized to any occasion or festivity.
and at the end of the night, when it is covered with grease stains, wine spills and water marks, you can roll it up and into the recycling bin it goes.   or is it the trash can.  i always am questioning the recycling rules. 

oh, and to carry the theme a bit further, i made place cards using brown cardstock.  i painted a stripe of chalkboard paint on it, stamped the first initial with acrylic paint, and wrote the remainder of the name with a white gel pen.  the finishing touch.

cheers!

November Tablescape

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving

for my friends,

the old and the new.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 These ceramic turkeys (salt and pepper shakers) were my Grandmother's.  I am a grandmother myself, so

you know they are old.  They were made in Japan. 

The velvet pumpkins behind the turkeys were made by my daughter, Jennifer.

This cornucopia was my mother's. She got tired of it and gave it to me years ago.

I got this odd shaped pumpkin at Trader Joe's.   

This is a vintage ice bucket.  It is silver plated copper.  Circa 1930.  It is glass-lined.

I have candles in it, which creates a beautiful soft glow.  

The gnarly gourds were bought at the Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

Italian Proverb

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol 

October tablescape

Man's end,

a mound of gleaming

bones:

a flowering and a fading.

Hamei  -  1837

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

a breath of life into old crows

posted  by jennifer

years ago, i bought some crows from michaels (the craft store).  they found themselves perched each year come october on the arch at our front porch.   they served themselves well as they were for several seasons.   however, as i was putting them away last year, i remember  thinking that they were starting to look a bit scraggly. when i pulled them out this year, they were at the state where a complete overhaul was in order.

the first step was taking the remaining feathers off of the birds.   they had lost many over       

the past years, but there were still many more remaining.  i figured pulling the feathers          

off inanimate birds was good practice for down the road when                                                       

a. i get the guts to process a chicken or a turkey or                                                       

b. i am forced to process a chicken or turkey                                                                

after you have the majority of the feathers off soak the birds in hot soapy water to remove    

any stragglers.                                                                                                                                            

after the feathers were off. i realized the crows needed something to replace the tail feathers 

i had removed.  they were a bit off balanced.   i used some thin pieces of wood ... mine wasn't balsa, but that would work, as would cardboard.  cut your  tail feathers into a rectangular        shape.  the crows i used had a slit in the plastic where the original tail feathers had been.         just slide your new tail feather replacement in that slit.                                                                    

crows reborn by paper mache

i decided to use paper mache to cover my new crow forms.  i used tissue paper as i wanted just a bit 

of texture.  my paper mache glue of choice has always been flour and water.  for 1 cup of flour start  

by adding about 1/2 of a cup of water, and adjust until the flour water mixture resembles thin              pancake batter.                                                                                                                                                                               

                                          

                                                         

i cut my tissue paper into piece approximately 1 inch wide and 6 inches long.  then dip each piece      

of tissue paper into the flour mixture and the smooth it over your base, which in this case is the crow.

continue until all the crow is covered.  i used about two or three pieces of paper overlapping each       other all over the crow to form one layer.   i stopped at one layer, but if you choose to do more than  

one, be sure to allow each layer to dry before adding the next.                                                              

                                   

                       

after the paper mache was completely dry, i painted my crows with black acrylic paint.  they could   

easily be done at this point.  i chose to add embellishments to mine.  this included sequins, beaded   

trim, baubles, fabric, buttons, velvet leaves. have fun.  be creative.  make your crows as traditional   

or as untraditional as you like.  maybe instead of black paint, yours will be hot pink. or white.  or      

maybe instead of painting them you will decoupage them.   let you imagination take flight...get it...  

crows...birds...flight.   tee hee hee.                                                                                                          

                

 now smile because you just gave a breath of new life into old crows. 

 

     

                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                         

Autumn

In less than a week we will bid adieu to summer and 
Welcome fall.

Today began my welcome for this beautiful season.

“Pumpkin trees” replaced some Eucalyptus

  trimmings on the mantle and next to them are some pumpkin candies in a jar. 

I enjoyed the perfect late afternoon light.

Oh, and fall food! 

Biscotti and Coffee for breakfast and Chicken pot pie for dinner

, April

September Tablescape

The inspiration for my September tablescape did not arrive until this morning.  Better late than never!

From top to bottom, left to right:  class photos from 1953 and 1954

                                                   St. Paul High School, Whittier annual 1962,
                                                   School Days Sheet Music
                                                   California High School, Whittier annual 1963

                                                   McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader Copyrights 1879-1920
                                                   "C" flashcard
                                                   Silhouette of me
                                                    "T" flashcard
                                                    Dean's Intellectual Arithmetic 1861
                                                    Spelling and Anagrams game
                                               
                                                    Superman lunch box 1978
                                                    Good Reading Sixth Reader 1928
                                                    Marbles
                                                    Globe bank (can't find date, but still shows USSR Russia)
                                                    Report card 1957

                                                     "A" flashcard
                                                     School bell (I wish you could hear the sound of it. It is loud and has a
                                                     distinct tone.)
                                                     Slate board
                                                     with anagram letters in front.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol