painting the dining room ceiling
Well, I finally did it. I’ve been dragging my feet for over a year, but I painted the dining room ceiling. I have been hung up on working on this room just because I knew the ceiling had to be done first and I just really didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t the painting […]
tonal floral still life sketch | oil painting tutorial
It’s been a little while since I’ve done a painting video tutorial, so even though this was just a sketch to get into the groove of oil painting again, I decided to set up the camera and turn it into a tutorial. Really, it’s more of a paint-a-long than a tutorial since I wouldn’t consider […]
redefining what it means to be bad at something
One theme that often comes up in e-mails, comments, and messages from blog readers and social media followers is being good at something. I get all sorts of comments in that vein… I’m not good at that. I can’t do that. I’m bad at that. Is there anything you’re not good at? That last question […]
a bench, a fountain, and garden lights
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus. As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own. Do you remember some of the lighting fixtures I’ve gotten from Lamps Plus for our house so far? We updated the 50-year-old exterior lights with the classic Stratton Street Lights… We added a lot more […]
Taschen Book Sale
One of my favorite publishers/booksellers, Taschen Books is having a huge sale, so even though I typically don’t post on the weekends, I thought I would share some of the titles in my own library that are on sale. Their books are always a feast for the eyes with gorgeous photography, and high-quality paper, and […]
pressing & mounting flowers | video tutorial
Last month, I shared how I was taking cuttings from my garden to preserve them in my gardening notebook. As various other herbs and flowers have reached their peak, I have clipped them to add. I decided I would make a quick video on pressing and mounting flowers in a notebook while I was at […]
a rug, the first dried hydrangeas, & a cloche
Do you remember the jute rug in the kitchen eating area with the scalloped edge? I loved the detail around the border, but I have some sad news. After about a year in a heavy traffic path, the scallops around the corners started to come loose. I learned this is the kind of run that […]
avoiding decorating mistakes
A couple of unfortunate things have happened to my blog over the years moving servers, changing platforms, getting a new camera, and a few mysteries that have caused some glitches in thousands of old blog posts. Certain links from posts have disappeared (along with the words that were linked), some internal links have a superfluous […]