:: a place to create

With the holidays fast approaching, I have so many crafty projects I want to tackle. So far time hasn't really been on my side, so no real crafting has been taking place around my nest...but I do have plans. Now, maybe if I had this cool studio/craft space I would be more likely to get going.

Image via pinkwallpaper via  the vintage wren pinterest

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: my rustic wish list

This year I'm quite taken with Rustic decor, especially Christmas decor. In my humble opinion you can never go wrong with rustic natural items...they never go out of style. While shopping around on ETSY, the items above were just a few of my favorites. I can never get enough silver rings, pinecones, burlap, natural wood, or aprons especial with ticking stripes {this one is in my cart as I type}. Many of these items I would love to duplicate for my home & the rest I would like to see in my stocking or under the tree {hee hee}.

So what's on your wishlist this year?  Are you a fan of Rustic decor? How are you decorating for the holidays? Rustic, Traditional, Modern....a mix?

Items can be found here....1....2....3....4....5....6....7

I have a pretty good start on my Christmas decorating and i've decided once again to keep it fairly simple. I'm hoping to go later today to forage through my little five acre forest for some live greenery to liven up what I already have in place. I hope to have some snapshots to share of this years holiday decorating very soon, I love seeing how others decorate their homes for the holidays don't you?

Happy Wishing & Decorating : )

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll

Just a few instagram snaps of my Thanksgiving decor. Sadly no-one will see it this year as we had to pass on our hosting duties due to the flu. Thankfully everyone is now well ...so off to Grandma's house we'll go. Blessings to you all & a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Safe Travels.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: coffee bar details

Hello Friends, it's been a while. I've missed getting here to spend time with you, but hopefully now that Fall is here & I'm beginning to be forced inside I will have more time to share.

After many comments and e-mails I've decided to share some of the details of my coffee bar with those of you who are interested. I've tried to answer most comments & e-mails, but I'm sure I've missed a few along the way.

As per my original post here, I purchased the industrial wire basket shelf at Hobby Lobby. When I first found the shelf I picked it up immediately because I knew the space above my cabinet was the perfect place for it, and I knew I wanted to turn this into a coffee/beverage bar. However, when I saw the price which at that time was 99.99 I reluctantly put it back on the shelf & walked around a bit more. Once thinking about how perfect it was I decided to purchase it & wait for a sale or a coupon to bring it back for the difference as I was afraid it would be gone later. Hobby Lobby often has items 50% off, and offers a 40% coupon nearly every week. So, I brought it home hung it up decorated it {photo below} & waited for the sale to come...which it did within my 30 day time frame. So, as inconvenient as it was I took everything off of the shelf took it off the wall and went back with my receipt for the 50% off sale price. It would have been nice if I could have just taken in my receipt for the price adjustment, but Hobby Lobby does not work this way....anyway, for me it was worth it to save nearly fifty dollars.

Now, on to the cabinet. I get comments and e-mails daily asking where I purchased this piece. I found this piece nearly 8 years ago when we first moved into our home. It took me a while to find something that would work on this wall that wasn't too deep to get in the way of traffic. I purchased it from a catalog "Through the Country Door" & though the catalog still exists unfortunately the cabinet itself does not. My little black cabinet/side board measures 44" wide, 36" high {counter height}, & 15" deep. I've also had people inquire about the baskets, I believe I purchased them at Target and they are 10" x 10", I have a 3.5" piece of wood in the back of the shelf to stop the baskets from recessing since they didn't fit perfectly. Oooh yuk, I apologize for the poor picture above, at the time I couldn't find the little piece that attached my camera to my tripod & I was so excited to share that I let it slide.

So, there you have it, all the details you have inquired about. I'm very flattered that many of you have decided to create your own versions of my little coffee bar in your own homes...I know how much we love ours & what a great countertop space saver it has been. I've already seen a few replications using the exact same shelf from Hobby Lobby & I love to see how each person has used this inspiration to create their very own version.

I love the little blue dresser & wire baskets used by Stephanie at Life More Lovely.

'

Another version minus the Hobby Lobby shelf. I like the pieces CrestWoodModern used from IKEA to create their own coffee haven.

Here's a cute little corner that Holly created for her own coffee shop, again using the same Hobby Lobby shelf. I really do love this shelf...it could be used in so many areas of the home.

So, do you have you're very own coffee shop in your home?

Happy Weekend!

{peace, love & COFFEE}

Carrie

:: vintage appeal

Hello friends,  I hope you are all well. I snapped this photo today on my way home from lunch with my dad. I so wish I could buy & restore this old house. I love everything about it...the front porch, the green tin roof & that lovely old screen door. I want & need this house,  it would make a perfect antique store...vintage...knitting shop...don't you think. It makes me sad that it sits there empty & in disrepair. I think it needs a new owner & some TLC....wish it could be me. 

Now let's move on to something I can actually afford to buy. How about this little vintage dental cabinet for instance. Another little something I love everything about. All those drawers & handles, the stripped down drawers & that great chalk paint finish. I just couldn't let this piece get away. I can't wait to get it into the house & figure out where I'm going to put it. Unfortunately the hubs went hunting this evening & is making me wait till morning to get it out of my truck for me. So, as soon as this guy finds his new home & gets gussied up I'll share some new pics with you. Pics from a real camera and not a phone I promise. 

I can't wait till morning : ).

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

:: heaven is for real

Just finished reading this book just a few minutes ago, and the tears are streaming. I can't even put into words. This book is a must read for everyone. It makes me so thankful for God & the gift of my faith. My Faith is why I feel so strongly about bringing his love to everyone, even those who don't know him yet. I am in love with God & God loves me & all of us beyond measure. I know all of these things in my heart to be true, but what an affirmation of what is to come. I truly can't wait to meet Jesus in Heaven. 

Heaven is for Real

Prince of Peace by Akiane Kramarik

I just realized how appropriate this post is for today when so many of our innocent fellow americans were lost. My Blessings go out to America & to everyone who lost someone on this day in our country's history. Those who were lost will never be forgotten.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

:: citrus artwork

Just a little preview of what I've been working on today.  

Happy Holiday

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: cool weather garden

I'm working today on my fall/winter planting. I don't usually do this, but before I put my plants in the ground I decided to do a quick layout to decide where I would place them. Using Sketchbook Pro 6  to create my artwork & Carrots love Tomatoes & Roses love Garlic by Louise Riotte as a reference for companion planting I drew up this plan for my fall/winter garden.

So there you have it, my fall/winter garden plans. Now, I'm off to buy some Black Cow & Epson salts to amend my soil & get my plants into the ground before the rains come.

Have a wonderful weekend.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: beadboard vs. barnwood

Beadboard vs. barnwood, this is my dilemma. I am currently in the process of getting a new pantry {I recently posted about it here}. In approximately one week we will have the new pantry installed. So...the pressure is on to decide what I want to do to the back wall of my pantry. Do I simply paint it, or do I add some panache by adding a great looking wallpaper? Do I do it before it's installed, or do I add it later? Right now, I'm leaning towards just having it painted because it's simple and less work. However, I'm loving these great wallpaper choices that are available, especially these great distressed looks.

So what's your opinion? Do I go ahead & try to have it painted? Or...do I add the wallpaper, and if so do I hang it before or add it after the install? So many questions & decisions to be made, so little time. 

Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend, my kids & I are off to the mountains for a weekend of treasure hunting at the Hillsville Virginia Labor Day flea market.  Hopefully I'll come back with some awesome goodies to share with you. If you are close by, I highly suggest going it's a great event & the whole town is turned into a treasure hunters dream.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

Source Images:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

:: macro monday

{ d a n d e l i o n }

On a recent trip to the mountains I captured this photo in a meadow covered in dew. 

Happy Monday

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: dream pantry

                            Spaces design by Other Metros Design-build Witt Construction

{ p a n t r y   l o v e }

This is what I've been dreaming about lately.  I love this pantry....every last thing about it. Due to a recent failure of our lovely builders wire shelving, we are now looking to redo our pantry.  This is the look I'm going for....to a point of course...but you get the idea.

This is as good as my current pantry gets. It's just impossible to keep it looking this neat.

So, wish me luck & I'll keep you posted on our little pantry project. 

Hopefully I'll end up with a pantry worthy of Houzz { fingers crossed }.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

:: cherries

{ c h e r r i e s }

Yum. Yum. Aren't they simply { l o v e l y } 

Just another one of summers simple pleasures gone too soon.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

:: country fresh eggs

{  c o u n t r y   f r e s h   e g g s  }

Pure perfection. A lovely friend gifted me some of her fresh laid eggs, from her very own chickens. I must say I'm on the backyard chicken bandwagon, and I was so excited to meet someone who already has her very own. Hopefully in the near future I can join her and have my own backyard chickens too. 

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: collecting cilantro seeds

Hello sweet friends, hope this post finds you all well.

Just thought I would pop in & share how I started my morning today.

Well, first I started my morning doing my daily devotionals with my sweet hubby.

Then I headed outside to take care of the gardens before the heat kicked in. It has been one hot summer here in North Carolina, and I'm dreaming of Fall every day now.

Anyhoo I digress. While I was looking around my gardens I decided it was finally time to do something with my fading cilantro. It went straight to seed this year without even one clipping for my kitchen. I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time with it this year, in years past I've had so much I couldn't possibly use it all. Now....n o t h i n g.....here it is shortly after planting....already flowering.

Here they are a few weeks later, turned to seed. To prepare for collecting the seeds I simply pulled the plants out of their pots root & all. 

Here they are before I started to remove their little seeds. Actually, these are quite large as far as seeds go. The seeds of Cilantro are also known as the spice Coriander and can be used as such, or like me you can collect them & use them for starting new plants.

Once I pulled up the plants, I simply held the dried bunch over an open paper bag & gently rolled the seeds between my fingers to release them from the stems. This is very easy to do, however, it is a little time consuming. This is a self seeding plant so at some point they would probably fall off more easily on their own & then you could probably just shake them off into a larger container. However, mine needed a little more help to drop from their stems.

{ c o r i a n d e r }

or

{ c i l a n t r o  s e e d s }

The seeds are so lovely on their own that I can't wait to place them in little jars to store & display them. I'm pretty sure I have some vintage spice jars that will be just perfect for seed collecting.

 So, this is what you do when your cilantro plants bolt straight to seed in the hot weather. You wait patiently, enjoy their flowers & collect their seeds for next years crop. Or you can be like me & try to replant some right before the weather cools just to see if you can get a second crop in during the cooler months to come...they do prefer temperatures between 68 & 74 degrees after all. Wish me luck. 

 I was also able to collect a few seeds from a few of my basil plants that bloomed & seeded while I was on vacation. I'll try to share them with you next time...they are really tiny seeds. I'm becoming obsessed with seed collecting, it's so fun.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

:: potager garden

Welcome to my new & improved potager garden. 

The picture below is my end goal, and as you can see we have a ways to go. 

Here it is just the other day, via instagram.

 It's grown a lot in a few weeks, but as you can see I still have some bare spots to fill in.

 {  roma tomatoes }

 { squash }

{ cucumbers }

First fruits, I love this time of year.

How are your gardens coming along?

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

:: keeping up with technology

Keeping up with technology these days can be quite a challenge. It seems that I'm always a step ahead, or is that behind? Each time I step out and get the latest gadget, a new version comes out mere months later ie: apple I pad, got it for my birthday when it first came out, now I'm the only one in my family who doesn't have a 2. Same thing with my I phone, finally decide to get a 4 and then the 4s comes out. 

I know it's impossible to ever have the latest, especially with my much loved Apple products. Fortunately, they make such great products that minus a few minor features they still function great year after year. I'm currently debating on a new MacBook pro with retina display to replace my MacBook Pro purchased in 2006. In fact I just took my current MacBook Pro in today for some refreshing to help it run the best it can, and boy am I happy I did...so much better now. Gotta love the Genius Bar. The only problem I'm facing is do I want to be the first on the bandwagon, or do I want to wait awhile to make sure something better isn't around the corner. That retina display is so amazing, blog type is amazingly clear, and photos, as long as they are already very good quality they are amazing too. It may take a little while for apps to catch up and support the resolutions this display offers, but there is no doubt that this is a giant improvement over all other displays.

Oh my, I could go on and on about this subject. I would really love to hear your thoughts. Are you a Mac user? Will you be making the upgrade?

Speaking of technology, I'm probably far behind on this one...but I'm happy to say this is my first post using my I phone. This is definitely going to be a game changer for me. I'm so excited, no more excuses about not being near my computer, except of course when major photo editing is required.

So, how are you keeping up with technology? Or do you even try?

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

P.S. I'm nervous about posting this wondering how it will look....here goes....

:: tiered lettuce & herb garden

I'm happy to finally be able to share this project with you, it's been on my list since last year when I created my :: back door herb garden . I am a girl of symmetry, so I knew then that I wanted to create another garden for the opposite side of my back door. So, this spring/summer was the time to get to it, having a graduation party gave me just the push I needed to finish this project up last week.

I purchased my galvanized tubs again from Amazon, the sizes are :: 16.75 gallon tub {bottom}, 4.25 gallon {middle}, and a 10 quart bucket for the top. I knew that I wanted to create a salad garden this time so a few weeks ago I purchased my lettuces at my local farmer's market, they are romaine & curly leaf lettuce. I planned to fill the whole garden with different lettuces, but my basil from last year wasn't doing so great so I decided to add some to this new garden....you can never have too much basil...yes. I also added a few other herbs for color & variety. In the top bucket I have a beautiful healthy lavender plant, it's going to be so pretty when it blooms, and in between the basils I added this lovely wispy silver Artemesia "Satiny" Wormwood I love the look of this herb.

 { Romaine lettuce, Sweet basil, Artemesia "Satiny" wormwood}

 {Sweet basil, Artemesia "Satiny" wormwood, Lavender}

I love how beautiful my lettuces look, it's going to be so hard the cut them for eating.

Below is my tiered herb garden from last season, in this one I have Lemon Balm, Sweet Basil, Cilantro,  Golden Thyme, Parsley, & Oregano. My basil that I overwintered are very slow growing this season, and want to go right into flowering so I'm constantly pinching them back. Hopefully as the season goes on they will perk up. My cilantro also wants to shoot right up to flower & I just purchased them this season so I'm going to have to do some research on how to best grow it. My lemon balm however is very vigorous & I've trimmed it back several times always bringing it in for use in flower arrangements, it smells so lovely. My Thyme & Oregano are doing well also.

{Cilantro, Lemon Balm}

{ Oregano, Cilantro, Parsley, Thyme}

I'm finding that I'm not minding too much that my Cilantro is going straight to flower since it is so lovely with it's delicate little white flowers...so pretty.

Here's how the two gardens look at my back door right outside of my kitchen. I love them, they bring so much life to this area of deck {which coincidentally needs some re-staining soon}

I also thought I would share with you my go to book on herbs, I'm constantly using this reference to learn more about what I'm planting & how to use it.

{found here}

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

p l a n t    s o m e t h i n g

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie