A Winter Blues Solution - Stone Cottage Adventures

Hello to everyone at Inspiration Café!  I love being a monthly contributor!  My name is Marci and I blog at Stone Cottage Adventures.  Normally, you see me sewing, gardening and crafting.  Not today! 

When our clocks "Fall Back" and the evenings are dark so early, something changes for me.  Some folks call it Winter Blues.  Once home from work after cooking and eating, I do absolutely nothing!  This year I challenged myself to fight this strange behavior with reading!  My goal is to read one book per week until the clocks "Spring Forward".  With my schedule, that's been working out about right.  It has been a GREAT battle plan and my Winter Blues have not been so bad!  BTW...  I am so very grateful to live in a society where girls are allowed to read! 

In the comments, please answer at least one of the following questions: 

1.  What are currently reading?  I'd love to hear about it!
2.  Tell us your favorite line from a book.
3.  How many books have you read this year?  Do you set reading goals for yourself?
4.  What do you think are the best or worst book to movie adaptations?

If you are curious about the books I've been reading, just click on the title to see my review!  Here they are in no particular order:

One Summer in Arkansas by Marcia Kemp Sterling
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussman
Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford
I Want to be Her by Andrea Linett
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

My favorite line from a book is:  "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain."  Louisa May Alcott.

I am frequently disappointed with book to movie adaptations, but must admit I love Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.

OK!  It's your turn!  Let's hear your thoughts about books!

;-)  -Marci

REINDEER GAMES - Bliss Ranch

Hello Inspiration Cafe readers.  I'm Bliss and I blog at BlissRanch.  I think when Danni asked me if I would like to do a guest post she was hoping I'd show you a furniture creation, maybe something like this Kodak Dresser.....

or maybe a piece of furniture that rocks.....

But it's December for goodness sakes, and Danni is such a deer.....

So instead I'm going to tell you about the log reindeer we make for friends and family.

This is one project that I start for the holidays well before the snow flies.  My husbands Uncle Tony was our inspiration about 20 years ago.  He made fairly good size deer then strung lights on the antlers and one year he made some small ones for us to hang on the tree.

Uncle Tony's Mini Deer Ornament

That started my obsession with making them as gifts, plus we have plenty of the raw material laying around.

Future Reindeer

One Christmas Eve some "deer" friends of ours went to church and while they were gone we implemented operation "Not Tonight Deer".  The covert mission involved quietly placing "Oh Deer" and "Yes Deer" on their walk way to welcome them when they arrived home.  My husband Brawn and I thought we were pretty darn funny.

Over the years we have made lots of Rudolphs, and every one looks different.  The newest ones were made for each of the Grand kids with their names.

No I do not have a grandson named Rudolph.

 Our original deer had big wiggly eyes, but those didn't hold up so well in winter, and neither did their faux white fur tails.  And more than a few red noses have smashed to the ground.

Now we make most of their body parts out of wood.
Brawns in charge of the main body, tails and ears, I do eyes, antlers, legs and finishing touches.

They get a coat of glitter so they sparkle in the snow, some get jute with bells, and some get scarves.

 The scarf on this deer was an old knit hat with pom poms that I cut up.

Antlers are usually better looking, 

but there were mosquitoes out in antler making country when this one was made.

These ones are out to pasture.  Winter is hard on deer.  The one on the left is bark-less - Brawn made it that way.  These will get all cleaned up with new noses and scarves, fresh antlers, missing legs replaced, and soon they will line our walkway.

 The deer Uncle Tony made had noses that would light up.

Ours do not.

When this deer comes out of the shed it will go live at our oldest son's home, but first it will get some better antlers!

Thank you for inviting me Danni, I'm so very happy to be here and offer up a taste of Bliss Ranch inspiration at the Inspiration Cafe!  Everyone is welcome to stop in at the ranch.

DELUSIONS OF INGENUITY

Hi everyone!  I'm Andi from Delusions of Ingenuity and I'm thrilled to be sharing with you my very first ever guest post!  Thanks Inspiration Café!

Today I'll be walking you through the early stages of what I consider to be the ultimate DIY: building our forever home!

Forever home?  I sound like a rescue dog.

Speaking of rescues, allow me to introduce our rescue pooch, Eddie:

 

Sweetest. Doggie. Ever.  

Back to the project.  We've been planning and saving for what seems like forever, and 2013 is the year (unless God is UNwilling, and the creek DOES rise!). 

Lucky 13, says I!

If we had to hire a builder to produce our dream home "turnkey," it would actually be more of a nightmare than a dream.  We are on a budget, and that simply won't do. 

And where's the fun in that anyway?

Thankfully, my husband has home-building experience, and he's a genius, and quite the pack-mule...the perfect combination.  We will only be hiring out the things we can NOT do ourselves, or that are not cost-effective to do on our own.

First I'll give you a very brief rundown on our current home: a split-foyer in the midwest.

  
We knew this would only be a temporary home since we both wanted to grow old and crustified in a one-story.  Fewer stairs for my hubby to "fall" down, you know.  Oh wait...we are building a basement...

After 14 years in this home, the kids have all disappeared (really...I don't know where they went! {evil laughter}), and we're finally taking the plunge. 

We purchased this beautiful one-acre lot for a SONG.  We were able to snap up this lot because of the decline in the housing market.  We paid a fraction of the original cost (we're talking 25% of the original price).  We never in a gajillion years could have considered this lot otherwise.  Isn't it awesome?

Philly and I designed our new home all by ourselves!  We used this incredible design software called Home Designer Architectural 2014.  This program is SO cool...not only can you design your home, but you can also design all of your landscaping!  

Too bad it DOESN'T provide a highly-muscled-and-tanned yard-dude to do the planting for you too.  Believe me, I checked.  Boo.

Following are some basic preliminary shots of our new home.  We haven't chosen exact colors and finishings yet, but this is where we are right now.  Definitely subject to change!


The front:

The rear:

A dollhouse view (that's a really ginormous pergola I added in the back--one can dream, right?):

The floorplan:

Here's the room I'm soooooo excited about.  My kitchen!  I can't wait to cook and entertain here!  (Now if only we had some friends to entertain...)
  

Omigosh, I'm so excited...hold on while I get a paper bag...

Okay...I'm okay now... 

Following are some 3D shots of some of the other rooms.

Greatroom (we dedicated most of our space to the kitchen and greatroom area since this is where we will spend the majority of our time):

And no, we won't really have the Mona Lisa over our fireplace...that was my hubby's doing.  :)
 

See my little bistro area off to the right?  I can't wait to play with that little nook!

 
Master Bedroom:

 

Second Bedroom:

Piano Room (I am so blessed that my husband was able to buy me a beautiful Yamaha grand piano when we got married!):

Well, I believe I've yammered on long enough for now.  But once this particular project takes off, there will be no stopping me.  In the meantime, I'll continue working on projects for inside our new home.

As a side note, this was my husband's reaction to my recent plunge into the DIY world and Craig's List Obsession:

"So.....we're building a brand-new house...aaaaand...you want to fill it up with a bunch of old, crappy junk...??"

I put on my biggest, sunshiny-est smile and squealed a resounding, "YES!!!"

I'll leave you with a few of my latest pieces of "junk."   

You can read about this Musical Piece of Junk HERE.





This is actually my Husband's Junk.  Oh my, that sounds SO wrong.  You can see more on this HERE.





And some French Junk HERE and HERE:

Thank you so much for joining me today, and I hope you'll follow along on my Great Adventure!  

Coming soon:  Andi gets her very own culvert AND a hole in the ground!

Thanks again to the wonderful gals at Inspiration Café!

   

Chicken Dinner Menu - Call Me PMc

Hi friends, I'm Paula, but my friends call me PMc. This is my sweet family. They keep me busy. They make me laugh. They drive me crazy at times! I share it all with you at Call Me PMc where I blog about easy to prepare recipes and menus for busy families, time management and exercise tips, with a little crafts and DIY projects. I would love for you to come visit.

I want to thank Danni at Silo Hill Farm for asking me to guest post today. 

I found Danni's blog last summer and loved it.

I'm constantly amazed at her creativity

and her humor!

A couple of weeks ago she introduced me to a fun 'Hey Girl' party.

In life or in cyberspace, I just can't let a fun party pass me by so I joined in the fun.

I have been obsessed with 'Hey Girl' ever since.

I like to put together menus for my readers. This is one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes and a 'go-to' dish when I can't think of anything else. Have you ever stood in your closet and thought, 'have nothing to wear'? I do that in my pantry 'I have nothing to make!' Having pre-planned menus helps me during those un-motivated, un-inspired times.

1. Jalapeno and Cheese Grilled Chicken

2. Sweet Onion Cornbread

3. Easy Pasta Salad

4. Key Lime Cake with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

5. Peach Bruschetta

6. Skinny Margarita

Did you enjoy this post?

For more scrumptious recipes, fun projects, and exciting news, subscribe to Call Me PMc now.

A Good Marriage With Mistakes - One Day At A Time

Hey everyone, today Tasha from One Day at a Time is visiting the Cafe, so grab a coffee and join us in saying welcome...

I just so happened to make this around Valentine's Day, but this was not an actual gift.  Well maybe it was....to both of us.  I saw something similar to this for sell online and knew I could come up with my own version.  I always have "stuff" around to create things. 

I love this quote from Martin Luther!  Exactly how I think a marriage should be.  Always showing love and value for each other.  And the anticipation of wanting to spend time together.  Yes, I am still madly in love with my husband! 

And my nightstand was lacking some wall art above it.  This was perfect.

After Brant cut the wood I filed down the edges and painted it a country blue.  I had the scrapbook paper in my stash and simply printed out the quote. Then I used my trusty Homemade Mod Podge to apply the papers.  You'll notice the paper has an antiqued look. That is from the Distress Stain.  I have no idea what this stuff is really far, but I found it one day at Hobby Lobby and knew it would come in handy for my love of all things old and worn looking. 

I squeezed a little of the stain in a small bowl and added just a little Mod Podge.  Stirred it up and created a colored Mod Podge.

I started out only going to "color" the white copy paper with the quote on it, but soon painted it all over.  Even the wood!

As I started to go back and add the colored Mod Podge all over I saw this.  That spot was trouble!

Well GREAT!  Now what?  I knew I had to add some sort of embellishment to cover this up.  Quickly I started rummaging through all my craft boxes and remembered all my buttons.

Perfect idea!!!!

And here it is with the buttons glued and everything dry.

I love the way it turned out.  And now our bedroom has a pretty piece of wall art with a wonderful quote to live by.  I thank God for my husband and want to be a blessing to him as much as he is to me.

OK now I have a question for you all to see how observant you are.  Because let me tell you I literally did not catch this until I was typing up this post. 

Did anyone notice I spelled Luther WRONG?!?!

Yep, he is Martin Luther, NOT Martin Lutcher!!!  I have looked at this for days as I was working on it! And my husband who usually catches ANY error I make did not catch it either. 

Now folks that is very typical for me.  Spell check is my BFF!!!  But this time that did not work because "Lutcher" is an actual word/name.  But not the right one for this man. 

So what do I do from here?  All the work I have done will remain on my wall.....at least for now.

 It's the quote I love, not the man who said it. 

**And to the curious minds wondering why I even posted this since I messed up a project, well I like to keep things REAL!**