:: fall vibes

Well, it is finally starting to feel like fall here in Charlotte NC. I actually had to turn on the heat this morning when I woke up. I'm excited, I can finally have confidence purchasing pumpkins for my porch. I love the simple display of the shiny & bright pumpkins layered upon the steps of this home in Old Salem. If you aren't familiar with Old Salem, it is a Moravian Colonial living history museum located in Winston Salem, North Carolina and it's one of my favorite places to visit, especially this time of year. In fact, I'm going to try to get the family to take a day trip with me this weekend for a visit...then I will surely feel like the season is upon us :).

These photos are from a visit several years back, but they are a perfect representation of why I love visiting. I love history and old architecture, just look at that handmade glass, how beautiful is that.

If you ever get the chance to visit, the bakery will be a favorite for sure....it is for me. Be sure to get yourself a Moravian sugar cake, and cookies...my mouth is watering just writing about it. I loved this display of rolling pins and cookie cutters in the window of the bakery. Most days you can watch as they make the bakery goods on site in the wood fired ovens just like they did during colonial times, the smell is simply amazing.

In one of the kitchens on site, they have spices they would have used displayed on a very old farm table. It is so interesting to see the homes & spaces, and imagine yourself living during this period.

Here is just one of the many beautiful saltbox homes in the Village of Old Salem. Many of the homes are inhabited by folks just like you or me, I can only dream of living in one of these beautiful historic homes. Look at that beautiful Chevron wood door and the adorable little split stair porch.

Everywhere you walk there are beautiful gardens surrounding the homes encased by beautiful fencing. In the fall things in the gardens are winding down, but the foliage & leaves changing more than make up for it.

So if you live close by, or if you are even passing through NC, this is a beautiful time of year for a visit to Old Salem. You will be so happy you did.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: simply beautiful ... sunday inspiration

1

Spending a little time this Sunday searching for simple beauty. 

This little stand with cloche is perfection covering the spiny cactus.

2

Tree stumps, apothecary jars, a votive & a eucalyptus cutting.

Such a simple and beautiful image.

3

A beautiful floral arrangement, books & a lovely mug...

looks like a perfect Sunday morning to me.

4

Dark & moody amber bottles with wildflower cuttings on a beautiful windowsill.

5

Oh the verdant green in a simple white bowl. 

How I long for spring.

6

simply sparkling, a lovely glass jar with a simple bare bulb....gorgeous.

I'm always sad to see the weekend come to an end, 

but I'm thankful for the time to search for beauty & renew for the week ahead.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

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:: 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

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:: memory tree

I'm baaaaack...

two days in a row, wow I'm doing good.

As I said yesterday I have lots to share with you, and this is just one thing of many. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity in our nest. First, we celebrated my 39th birthday on the 4th of June, yes, I am officially on my victory lap as Papa put it. Second, we celebrated our youngest daughter's 5th grade graduation, so Elementary school is now a thing of the past for our family. Last but not least, is the greatest of our celebrations....High School Graduation...our oldest daughter graduated from High School this past Saturday.

As part of the decorations for her graduation party, I created this memory tree. I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I recently attended a birthday party for a friend & she had done something similar to this for a decoration so I thought I would create my own version.

All I needed to do was raid my yard waste pile from this springs tree pruning. I stripped what remained of any leaves and brought it inside & popped it into my trusty mason jar vase.  Saturday morning on my way home from the farmer's market I pulled off the road and plucked my lovely wildflower's from a ditch. I just love queen anne's lace, it is just so lovely and delicate.

The most difficult part of this project was going through lots of photo albums choosing photos and scanning them all {most of her photos are pre digital camera}. Once I had all of my photos scanned I made a layout on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet in adobe illustrator. I probably placed about 10 photos per sheet and tried to pair them up by size so I could cut them out and hang them back to back so it could be viewed all around...this sat on the center of our island for her party.

Once I had the photos laid out I printed them from my ink jet printer & took them to the kitchen to age them. I put the whole 8 1/2 x 11 sheet on a small baking sheet and poured our morning's coffee over the sheet to cover it. I popped it in a 250 degree oven for a few minutes then pulled it out & drained the excess coffee back into the pot to be re-used for the project. Then you put the sheet back in the oven to continue the drying process, once it's dry it will pull away from the baking sheet, it's a good idea to check it often. Once it was dry & ready to go I cut out the photos placed them back to back punched a hole in the top and tied them onto the branches using thin yarn. It's a little time consuming waiting for the paper to dry out, but over all this is a really simple project, and my daughter loved it. In fact, I think this may be a keepsake she can take with her to college and display in a vase or hang upside down as a photo mobile.

This is a great idea that could be used for so many occasions. 

So, why not make someone you love feel very special and share all of those wonderful memories....make a Memory Tree. This could also be used to display family photos on an every day basis, in fact I think I'll be trying something very similar soon, hmmm so many possibilities.

I hope to check in again with you next week, for now we are off to Nationals with our oldest wren. This will be her last club soccer tourney before she goes off to college to begin her soccer career there. We are so so proud of her and all of her accomplishments....

We Love You Squeezy!

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: feathering a nest

Someone's feathering a nest, but it isn't me this time. As I was sitting on my patio this afternoon taking a break from planting I heard a rustle coming from underneath my hammock. Then all of a sudden I saw this cute little wren jump up onto my candle holder, and then over to my fountain where it appears to be building it's nest.

I sat watching for the longest time as it made the same trip over and over bringing bits of leaves & twigs and diving into it's nest. It was so precious. Once it was inside you could see the little mound of bits moving around while she fluffed and tucked all of her little finds in.

After watching a few trips I ran inside to grab my camera hoping she would still be there when I returned. This is one brave little bird, she didn't seem to mind me one bit. At one point I couldn't have been more than four to five feet away. It was a bit tricky catching her in action though. I simply trained my camera on the lip of the candleholder and guessed which side she would land on so I could try to set my focus correctly without having to depend on autofocus which would have taken too long.

The real key to catching these shots was patience, and a good prop for my arm : ). I truly enjoyed every second of it, and I think she knew it too, look at her looking around over her wing so coy. She was quite cautious, she would pause to look around before leaving the lip of the candle holder to flit up to the fountain. I did get a little overzealous and moved over just a bit closer which sent her off into the trees to spy on me instead. So from now on I'll be sure to keep a proper distance for her comfort of course.

T H E   E N D


{peace, love & hugs}
Carrie

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:: macro monday

{ g e r a n i u m }

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:: red barn

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: a year in photos

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Happy New Year !

2011 was a fantastic year for my family & I,

and so far 2012 is shaping up to be just as great.

I've enjoyed a little break from blogging over the holidays....miss me?

Today was the first day back to school for the kids, work for the hubs, and blogging for me.

It's good to be back in TWENTY-TWELVE

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: creepy crawly - neoscana crucifera

It seems as though my home is going to decorate itself

for the upcoming Spooky Holiday.

How would you like to walk out your door into this???

Ummm yeah, 

it wasn't very fun this morning,

talk about the heebie jeebies.

I screamed...danced around, 

then had the hubs check me for the webs inhabitants.

OOOh yuck.

Granted my home is quite spider friendly,

we usually gently help them find their way back outside,

or we just leave them be...especially the cute little jumping spiders...

Did you know that they will hunt for other insects {roaches...ick}

and eat them and their larvae, they are good to have around.

So we just leave them be.

I just couldn't resist getting up close and personal

with this gal this morning.

Enter stool, and macro lens.

I obviously didn't destroy her web with my head...lol.

Isn't she cute...{just kidding}

really creepy.

I'll give it some love though,

after all it is one of God's creations.

Neoscona crucifera

A little research discovered that my little friend is indeed a female,

as during the fall season the females become diurnal,

which would explain why her web was waiting for me this morning.

Ordinarily they would have packed up shop by daylight.

Pretty cool huh.

Are you spending any time decorating for the season?

Or are you like me and letting nature do it's thing?

For now anyways.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: a library table & etagere

Hello sweet friends. I've been missing for several days now, I've been very busy working.

Well, I always work...but right now I'm actually working for someone else for a change.

Now that everyone's back in school, and our schedules are becoming routine I am

back at work decorating my friends home...so lots of shopping has been on the agenda this week.

Don't get me wrong, I love shopping....but do you ever have those days when you find n..o..t..h..i..n..g.

Very frustrating, especially when you are trying to get a job done...

of course I know that soon I will hit the mother load,

that's just how it seems to go....for me anyway.

Actually today has been a very productive day, and I feel like I'm making some headway. Yay.

I've been hanging curtains & art, and of course more shopping.

I can't wait to be able to share some pictures of her spaces with you.

For today though, you have to settle for a shot of my house.

Above is the view into my living room from the foyer.

Sorry the shots not so clear, I have a really hard time photographing my spaces.

Anyhoo, this is my library table in the foreground. 

I love library tables....and books....oh my, I can never get enough.

Books make me feel happy and surrounded by coziness,

I use them as decoration all over my house.

Here I have books & magazines all stacked on this round table.

I love this table, it serves multiple purposes....right now it's a library table.

During holidays it's set for more dining as it is directly adjacent to the dining room.

The best part of all though is that it's Libby's house...her ugly wire kennel fits perfectly below.

This makes me very happy because I hate when things feel out of place & that thing is definitely that.

I splurged a little while back and purchased the burlap fringed tablecloth from Ballard.

That's definitely the most expensive tablecloth I've ever owned....but soooo worth it I love it.

I loved it for a very long time before I finally took the plunge and committed to it.

The table underneath is just a pop up I purchased from an office supply store online.

The tables at Ballard were a little too expensive for me, and this one was just right...

now I just need to invest in the glass top to finish it off.

The etagere on the wall came from a favorite furniture store that has since gone out of business : (.

I really like the details on this piece, and the fact that I have someplace to display things.

The artwork flanking either side is my own photography from a trip to London, England...

it doesn't get any less expensive than straight from my printer into ready made frames.

Below the artwork is an old pair of violin back chairs found at Goodwill for like eight bucks,

someday I'll get around to painting them and recovering them but I'm ok with them now,

they are perfect for pulling up as occasional seating when we have larger groups.

Well, there you have it another little snapshot of my home.

Sorry for all of the babble, you may not even care about my awesome tablecloth ; ).

I really do love it, and that's the most important thing of all about things....you must love them.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far.

Now I have to go and spend some time with my awesome 12 year old...

BIRTHDAY BOY!

Take Care

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: nighty-nite

 

 

I love vintage nightgowns. 

I love their colors.

I love their details.

I love their nostalgia.

I love the way they make me feel.

*peace, love & hugs*

Carrie

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