Freedom

is so very sweet.

Hope you are enjoying your freedom & your 4th!

summer salad

This weekend we will be going to my grandmothers to celebrate the 4th with my family and I cannot wait. I look forward the spending the 4th with my family @ my grandmothers place all year. Fried chicken, homemade ice cream, sparklers, a screened in porch ... what more could you want? Because my mom has been a saint and had my children all week, and because my sweet Maw does not need to be worn out cooking for our whole crew, the duty then falls to me, the next eldest female in attendance to pull the meal together.


On the Menu:
*Fried Chicken
*Summer Salad
*Mom's Noodle Slaw
*Maws Potato Salad
*Chips
*Homemade Ice Cream
*Fresh Watermelon

Here is the recipe for what I am calling Summer Salad - hands down our favorite salad of the summer thus far, which is how it got it's name! It is somewhat similar to a tabbouleh salad, and anyone who comes into my house when there is a bowl of it in the fridge cannot keep their hands off of it - it is that good!

Start
*Boil 1 1/2 Cups Stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)
*Pour Boiling Stock over 1 Cup plain Couscous
*Set aside to cool

In a large bowl combine:
*1 peeled and thinly sliced large cucumber
* about 1-2 cups of Grape Tomato's, Sliced on the diagonal
* 1 Cup of Feta Cheese (more if you love feta!) crumbled
* 1 small purple onion, sliced very thinly
*Take 2-3 Fresh Ears of Corn, cleaned and slightly cooked (enough to not be crunchy) and cut the kernels off the cob

Next,
*add Couscous to veggie mixture
cover with
*the Juice and Pulp of 1 large Lemon
*2 tbsp of Sunflower Oil
*2 tsp Sea Salt

Mix thoroughly, cover and set in fridge for 1-5 hours.
You can serve this right away, but it is better if it has some time to soak.

If it is too dry for your taste add 1 more tbsp of oil.

I love to eat it with a bowl of it with a huge Mason Jar full of Sweet Tea.
So fresh and yummy!

Also, I have decided to extend my CONTEST through the weekend, so sign up if you haven't already and I will post a winner on Monday!!

home life

I have tried to take advantage of my kids being away at Camp Meme to get some projects done around the house. Currently my Sweet Man & I are working on the long awaited Master Bedroom Make-Over. There is paint on some of the walls, 2 tables have been given a facelift and a chair has been slipcovered... There is still a lot to be done, but we are making progress and it feels so good.

Also on my "to do" list this week are a few more signs like this one here, if I get the chance.
Again I am having fun playing with my new tools. This is one I did as a gift for a friend's birthday and I love how it turned out. I think it may even have looked better in person...
On my list of signs I want to do in this style are:
Make Do & Mend
Keep Calm & Carry On
and
Be Kind
for starters....

Saint Meme

My Mother is a Saint. She and my father both, but especially (and he would agree) my mother.

This week is Camp Meme, which means my 2 boys have gone to my parents house for a week (yes, that 7 whole days my friends) full of wonderful adventures!!

Each summer my parents put on a week long camp-like experience for my boys - complete with Flag raising & Pledge saying in the morning, Arts & Crafts in the afternoons and KP duty for those who don't make their bunks. Or so I've heard. See I don't get to go to Camp Meme, but I do get to follow along with the adventures of both the staff & the campers on my Mom's blog, and so can you.

This years camp theme is Pioneer Days and already Saint Meme has got those boys baking bread and stitching a quilt, oh what fun to be a camper at Meme's!

playing with tools

Thanks for all the love my friends! I really have enjoyed reading each of your sweet comments about my magazine feature so much - I feel like I am about to burst from all the love and kindness!
Remember you have until next Wednesday to spread the word and get more entries!!

Here is a little project I finished today that I wanted to share...



A Birthday Queen sash for a 13 year old's birthday party, per her request...

This was a fun project because I got to use one of my favorite new tools - a shadow letter punch die cut set that I got for a song at a going-out-of-business sale.


I have loved playing with the letters & papers - the layering options are endless and I love mixing and matching the colors & patterns. I am still working on my technique and mulling over new ideas and ways to go further with the process, but as a first start I am really happy with how this turned out...

belated birthday, a dream come true and a giveaway

So in all the hub bub of April (and there was so much!) I totally missed my 3 Year Blog Birthday.
my little life all started with this little post in 2006, and so much has happened since, I can hardly believe it. I cannot believe the friends I have found through blogging, the opportunities I have had both personally and professionally that have come out of blogging, and the great inspiration and encouragement I have found through blogging. My life has changed in a lot of ways in the past 3 years, and I know there are still more changes ahead - some hard, some planned and hopefully some more wonderful happy surprises like this one I received this month:

My house, in a magazine.


It happened like this: Back in April, the lovely and talented Diane Carroll, new Editor in Chief of At Home in Arkansas (the home design magazine around these parts,) while working on a story for the June issue, found my house & my banners on Etsy.

She called, we chatted (me, of course trying to remain super cool & low key.) She asked if I would make a Welcome Summer Banner similar to my Welcome Spring Banner for their Cottage Issue, oh and would I mind them coming to my house to shoot the picture?

Would I? Oh my!

As you could have guessed I said "yes, of course please come" and
" just let me know when!"
Then I hung up the phone and did a happy dance - very uncool and chic I am sure, but I could not help myself. This was a dream come true.

The day itself, was even more fun if then I could have ever imagined. Once of those special days, where you do feel a little bit like all the stars align and God is smiling on you in particular.

This is my little scrapbook from that day....

Superb photographer Nancy Nolan & At Home Art Director, Mandy Keener ponder the setting for the shoot. I tried to stay out of the way, while still helping when needed as much as possible.
I had more fun with Nancy & Mandy than I could have ever hoped. They are very cool, down to earth, creative and a lot of fun. Oh, and they love Starbucks as much as me. Kindred Spirits as Anne Shirley would say.

Mandy & Nancy move a few things around to get ready. For color & contrast Mandy brought this great piece of framed fabric for over the mantle. After we had booked the shoot they realized they had already used a white mantle/map image in a previous issue. Even though the style of the rooms are completely different, they didn't want to repeat themselves too much, and who could blame them?

I love the framed fabric and have thought about doing something like that there eventually... If I ever find another great place for my beloved map...

The mega camera set up. The natural light was so great that day they didn't need lamps or funny white reflector thingies.

Nancy showing Mandy the shots on the computer so they could decide what needed adjusting or changing. They ended up just doing one arrangement and sticking with it, even though they had planned on doing a few just to be safe. This one just turned out so lovely I guess they didn't think they needed more...
Hurrah!

How the shot looked from my perch in the back.
Ahh....

The actual glossy magazine... Amazingly beautiful.

My page.
Wow. That is my house, and Nancy and Mandy made it look so good.
I have to say I am pretty darn proud.
I am also extremely grateful for all the little things that made it into the shot - like the floor pillows that my mother made for me, or the old quilt on the bottom of the chaise that came from my Great-great grandmother, or the family pictures on either side of the mantle - my Maw as a young mother surrounded by her kids, my Paw as a little boy with his parents on their farm.
All the things that help make my house a home were part of the finished shot, and that really makes me as happy as any of it. Those are the bits make it personal after all....

Also featured in the June Cottage Issue are several Etsy Sellers from Arkansas, and I was again honored by having my candles pictured along with some other amazing products, which you can read about here.

This years Cottage Issue is one of my very favorites issues ever, and I was even more excited (if that's possible) to have been included in this edition once I saw the whole issue.
If you don't live in Arkansas or have access to a hard copy, make sure you take a moment and go look at the Digital Edition which I think is the coolest new feature on the At Home website.

But if you would like a hard copy to have for your very own self, then make sure you enter my Belated Birthday Giveaway!!

To celebrate my Blog Birthday & all the wonderful blessings I have received over the past 3 years in Blogland I would like to give a few things back - 3 in fact!

So here are the details:
There will be 3 Giveaway Items and 3 Winners

1) A $25 Gift Credit & Free Shipping @ Storia HOME

2) Your choice of Candle from the ones you see above as featured in At Home in Arkansas plus a few more treats

3) A Vintage Goodie Back & Copy of At Home In Arkansas, June Issue

You can enter the following ways:

1) Leave a comment telling me which items you would like to win - if you have a preference.

2) For extra entries you can blog, twitter or facebook about this giveaway. Then come back here & leave me a comment with a link to your blog/tweet/fb post.

the giveaway will close at 11PM on July 1 and a winner will be announced on July 3rd


Thank you all for coming by my blog week after week, thank you for the inspiration & encouragement you bring - through your blogs and your comments (which I love!) You all make blogging so much fun!!

Good luck!

Summer Sub Fun

These are the boys under the dining room table - their "submarine" for the day, from which they launched torpedo's and such. Of course.
Things have been pretty busy around here and this week in particular seemed to fill up fast, but with lots of fun stuff.
Saturday the boys are off to Camp Meme for the week and before you know it we will all be celebrating the 4th of July together at my grandparents. I can't believe June is almost over - I have not been to the pool nearly enough!

OK, well I do really have a fun giveaway and lots of news, but you will just have to wait a tad longer...long enough for me to get these boys sent off at least!

Spoonful of Sugar

Sometimes when reality - or reality TV - becomes too much for me, I have to go to my Happy Place and get a Spoonful of Sugar - visual sugar that is!

Today, in the aftermath of Jon & Kate's ridiculous announcement I had to make just such a trip to my happy place - Martha Stewart.com.

I don't know about you, but I was hoping against hope that some good sense - or a stern Dr. Phil - had gotten knocked into Jon & Kate, and instead of "separation" and "divorce" their announcement was going to be "cancellation" and "counseling." For the good of all involved.

But no. Good judgement and sound minds, great mercy and faith did not win the day yesterday- as they usually don't when emotions, pride, checkbooks, and paparazzi seem to converge and then run amok. And I am sure there are many layers to this story, more than we can see - as there usually are. But regardless of who is to blame (why do we always need to figure that out?) it made me very sad to watch. It made me sad for them, and for their kids, and for all the things you can do over, but never take back, and for all of us who some days hang on by a mere little thread, but hang on all the same.

And so I had to go visit Martha's site and look at all the 4th of July pretties, because there are so many there. And because sometimes you just need a really great Spoonful of Sugar to make it all go down a little easier...