Before and After

Here is a before and after shot of my breakfast room.
I like the color orange, can you tell?

Oh Those Summer Days

It has been very hot this past week, with humidity reaching 41 C .
Here are pictures taken of the cottage and the landscape.
Don't you just love how the sun dances on the river?

Sunflowers Everywhere

Here are a few pictures that I took on our drive home from the cottage. Don't the sunflowers look lovely, all standing at attention and soaking up the sun? The sun ,( something we haven't seen much of this summer) is hot and glorious and I guess they are taking it all in.

Gazebo

Friends at the cottage built this beautiful gazebo and asked if I could do some maple leaves on the bottom half of it, using my scroll saw.
Here is the before and after picture.

Easy Summer Dessert

Here is an easy dessert recipe that I found in Kraft's "What's Cooking" magazine. It was a big hit, and it looks like I slaved for hours. L.O.L.
Here is the recipe:
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 pkg. Light Philly Cream Cheese (250g each)softened
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
2 cups thawed cool whip
2 cups frozen pound cake, cubed
1 square semi sweet chocolate melted

To Prepare:
Combine strawberries and sugar and refrigerate.
Beat cream cheese spread until creamy.
Prepare pudding mix with milk and add to cream cheese mixture.
Blend in 1 1/2 cups cool whip and place half of this mixture into a 2 1/2 litre bowl.
Cut pound cake into cubes and place on top, along with strawberries and remaining cream cheese. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Just before serving, melt the chocolate square and drizzle over top and add remaining cool whip.

Lilacs, One of My Many Favoite Flowers

This painting was purchased about 30 years ago. I love lilacs and you can almost smell them, they look so real.

I decided to paint them on my next table project.

I don't think it turned out too badly, although they aren't as vibrant as the original. The reason for this is the different colored backgrounds, dark and light, I think.

Hummingbirds Are Back

Our little friends are back at the cottage this year.
It is amazing to watch these tiny birds in action.

They don't like to share too much, because every time one of them showed up, another one would push them away.

We have three of them around this year. There names are Henry, Harriet and Harvey Hummingbird. L.O.L.

The male is the more attractive of the two, with his ruby red throat that is really noticeable when the sun shines on him.

I was surprised he let me take a picture of him up close, but I guess he is used to us now.

Inside the cottage

Garden Table

Here is a table that I decided to put in the screened in porch at the cottage.
I painted it a cream color and then just decided to do some hydrangeas on top.
I'm thinking of adding some blue to the legs, what do you think?
I still have some touching up to do, then I will clear coat it to protect the finish.

Time To Open The Cottage

Its that time of year again.

Time to open the cottage after a long winter.

This Bird House is Taken

Looks like someone has moved in.
She is busy preparing for her family's arrival.
The house has only been up for about a week and already we have occupants.
It is so cute to watch her flying back and forth with twigs and branches to feather her nest.

Happy Easter Everyone

Hope everyone has a great Easter!

Latest Birdhouse

Here is the latest birdhouse that was just made for a friend who is retiring.

He said he always wanted to travel when he retires. L.O.L.

Wedding Centerpieces

When we decided on the color for the wedding (sage green) then came the task of deciding what we would make for centerpieces.

We found these beautiful fruit bowls on stems at a kitchen shop called Stokes.
They resembled an over sized wine glass, but were actually for putting your fruit into.

We also found (after Christmas) last year all of the ball ornaments ( some with glitter on them) and decided that they looked like bubbles in the glass. We painted chop sticks in the sage green and glued them together to look like straws. Then in the middle of the bowl we added a frosted glass with a battery operated candle. It gave a nice glow to the centerpiece. We also painted round wooden circles to look like fruit for the rim of the glass.

The final touch was a silk gerbera daisy, in the matching sage green, wrapped around the stem. The bowls were placed on a square mirror tile at each table and sprinkles with faux rose petals.

Wedding Invitations

Last year we saved a lot of money making our own wedding invitations for our daughters wedding.

We purchased the actual invitations at Wal-Mart. They come with the blank invitations, reply cards and all the envelopes in a kit.
They also tell you how to print the invitations right from your computer.

To dress them up, I purchased the green velum paper, (you could use co-ordinating velum to match your wedding theme). Then we made the jackets to cover the invitations, just by wrapping the velum around the invitation so that it met in the middle and creased it firmly. Then we folded back the corners, and punched 4 holes ( 2 on each side) at the middle of the velum and tied swiss dot ribbon in a bow on each side. I also added a daisy ( to match the border of the card) in the center of the invitation, so that it peeked through just above the jacket.

To enhance the envelopes I purchased a stamp and ink pad in the co-ordinating sage green to stamp initials onto the envelopes. I used an embossing powder to sprinkle over the ink, and with a heat gun ( used with embossing powder)I heated the powder, and it gave a nice shine to the letters. If we had ordered the invitations from a company, the price quote was $500. but by making them, It only cost under $100. Quite a savings.

Just click on photo to enlarge.