Colorado Springs Fire

These were the scenes in my town yesterday evening.  We have over 30,000 people who have been evacuated and many homes were lost.  Personally, I know 4 families who live in the heart of this mess, 3 of whom still don't know the fate of their homes.  Landmarks have been lost, homes have burned to the ground.  The uncharacteristically  high temperatures and extreme dry conditions have only worsened the situation.  

After 3 1/2 days of the wildfire burning forest but not structures, a 65 mph wind gust pushed the fire up and over Queen's Canyon and a rapidly moving wall of fire came racing down the hill above this large subdivision.  Many of the residents in the area had been evacuated since Saturday, but those living in the area shown immediately above went from pre-evacuation status to mandatory evacuation Tuesday late afternoon and had very little time to get in and get their things.  As of now, there are no reported lives lost which is, in and of itself, a miracle.  Homes can be replaced, people cannot, so while we rejoice in that, we hurt for those who will have to start all over. 

My home is on the "right" side of the interstate.  We are safe and not too worried about the fire coming this way.  Regardless of this, I have friends who are displaced and uncertain as to the fate of their homes.  Our city has been deeply hurt by this horrible wildfire.  I hope you can understand that the posting of my pretty little pictures of my tschotskies seems trivial in comparison, so I will forgo that for a bit.  Please pray for the people of Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas and, of course, for our brave firefighters who are enduring almost unbearable heat and fatigue to try and keep this monster at bay.  I will post again when it seems more appropriate.

Until next time,

No Dear, the Irony is NOT Lost on Me...

 So Peeps,

Tell me...you can be honest.  Have you ever bought a little something, say, a cute stool, and it was old and chippy, and dirty and good bones but kinda distressed.  And then, you spend say a couple of hours over a couple of days a couple of times "refreshing" the piece, only to realize you now had a little something, say, a cute stool, that was old and chippy, and dirty and good bones but kinda distressed?  Only somehow your new and improved version was still better because it was clean and cuter on some level?

Not that that scenario has EVER happened to me...

I was just wondering about you guys...

And apparently, I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Now that she's been redone, I may have to find a place for her in my home...

But, since space is at a premium...

there's a good chance you will see her...

in an Etsy shop near you.  Specifically, Elegant Farmhouse.

Very soon...

In all of her chippy and distressed glory.  Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and clear and dark waxes rock!

 

 I'm glad you all "get me".  Mr. FL and I did have a nice laugh over this one though.  I missed taking "before" pictures, but trust me, it was worth the do-over.  Really.

Until next time,

Linking up with:
Feathered Nest Friday
Home Sweet Home
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Shabbilicious Friday

The beauty is in the details...

A tall plaster of paris pillar I fauxed many years ago

When I first started reading blogs, the thing I remember being most taken with was the photography (yes, I know, I'm a look-at-the-pretty-pictures kinda girl).  Specifically, I was most enchanted at the way some people were able to zero in on little snippets of an object and make the most  dreamy and wonderful photos.  Those photos made me look for and better appreciate the beautiful details of even ordinary objects...the way the sunlight streams through a window through a lace curtain, the crackle of an old painted finish, the tattered velvet of an old millinery flower, and even the sharp contrast of an old bowl filled with fruit.  While there were MANY talented women out there who inspired me, Heather Bullard, Suzanne Duda, Heather Kowalski, and Tiffany Kirchner-Dixon were the first that I remember just being in awe of; their attention to details in their art and their photography on their blogs made me drool, then and now.  Of course, I've grown the circle now to include so many talented bloggers and shopowners that I couldn't possibly name all of those sources of endless inspiration, but I do appreciate you all for showing me the beauty in the details and for helping me to stretch to find it and photograph it in my own surroundings.

For White Wednesday, I thought I'd share a few details of the many shades of white and gray and textures around my home.  I wish I could say that these little bits of minutia were some of my best photography, but sadly, the muse must have been on vacation today.  Oh well, some days are like that. 

Ironstone butter pats

Frame I made over with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint

Corner of a frame-love the metal wreath!

Antique hankies

Sweet millinery horseshoe for luck-probably from a wedding long ago

Detail of an ironstone mug

Beautiful pouch from Rhonda at A Little Bit French

Old French letters and various ephemera that inspires me

One of my favorite old gesso mirrors

Little faux enamel tags I made this spring

The tote I won from Tracey at French Larkspur ages ago...LOVE!

Antique hand towels

My favorite little statue

I hope you will join me at Faded Charm for a little more inspiration with all of the wonderful whites of White Wednesday.  Look for the beauty in the little details in your life...you'll be glad you did!

Until next time,

Also sharing at:
Share the Love Wednesday
Vintage Inspiration Friday

A Sunny Sunday and Time to Get Back to Work

Hello all and happy Sunny Sunday!  We had the most glorious warm June day today.  The kind of day that made you want to go walk barefoot through the garden sipping an iced tea or something like that.  But did I get to do that?  Not really...I have desperately needed to get back to my poor neglected little Etsy shop, Elegant Farmhouse and do some restocking.  I also had a shift at the hospital today (24/7, 365, you know how that goes), giving me limited time to do ANYTHING.  So, instead of whiling away the hours conferring with the flowers (any Wizard of Oz fans out there to get my humor???), I stayed indoors and got some much overdue shop keeping done.  I hope you'll forgive me the shameless self-promotion, but I do have some dandy offerings and they make a pretty picture as well.  That and I don't have much of anything else to blog about.  INSERT SHEEPISH GRIN HERE... Hey, I'm nothing if not honest...

The beautiful clock face above is a recent find.  It is Seth Thomas and get a load of the cool shape.  It is paint over zinc.  LOVE it!

The little bobbins you all were so complimentary of a few weeks back finally made their way to the shop as well as the cute cast iron urn.

Any Nebraska fans out there?  I found this awesome silk embroidered pillow a couple of weeks ago.  I just can't resist the old motto pillows and state pillows.  Such care was taken to embroider them.  If only I had some Nebraska connection...

Can't seem to resist picking up old photos.  These aren't in great shape but they'd been awesome incorporated in artwork, don't you think?  I have a couple of sets of them...

I got busy cutting and ironing some more wallpapers yesterday.  It is amazingly time consuming, but I just love playing with the pretty papers, even if it is just so I can sell them.

There are 10 sheets of different wallpapers, one large page from an old French dictionary, a vintage Bingo card, and a little romantic card all tied up with a yard of pink crinkled seam binding.

I also put together some wallpaper scrap packs of smaller pieces of a bunch of my favorite papers and packed them up in these cute little envelopes I made out of antique ledger paper.  OK, yes, I had fun playing so it wasn't all work!

I hope you all had a good weekend and are gearing up for a great week.  I have a boatload more goodies to add to the shop, so I'll get it done little by little. It's summer!  Woo! Hoo!  I don't want to get so busy that I miss it!

Until next time,