fall at terrain

September 20, 2013

If you read this blog, you know how much I love Terrain. I also enjoy taking you on a visit to this beautiful garden store from time to time since there are only two stores (CT and PA) and not everyone is as lucky as I am…I frequent them both!

Today, for Friday field trip, we are visiting the Westport, Connecticut store to see how they are preparing for fall…

I hope you will enjoy sharing a few photos…

I am sure we will make another trip sometime soon ;)

Especially since I decided on a woodland theme for my holiday decor this year…I will need some supplies. :)

This particular trip was special for me since I had a chance to talk to Joe…he is one of the creative visual team at the store – busy at work when I stopped by.

Every trip to the store is an adventure…I can’t wait to see what Joe is creating! Maybe I will stop by over the weekend to enjoy some s’mores by their fire and check out the latest inspiration!

Terrain also happens to be the store that helps satisfy my white pumpkin obsession…

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

Sharing at The Tablescaper.

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isn’t gardening a spring sport?

September 13, 2013

I think of gardening as a spring sport since I spend the most time on my gardens during the spring.

This certainly isn’t the case for my friend Wendy. And, it was strongly apparent when I stopped over to visit her on a recent evening. .. Her yard looked so beautiful that I have to share it with you for this week’s Friday field trip!

It is not that her yard doesn’t always look beautiful…believe me, it does! But, I was amazed at all the seasonal touches she had already added to her gardens for the fall.

She has one of those yards that is like a park…so many different areas to admire. I couldn’t possibly show you everything in one post, but I will share some of my favorite spots that may just inspire you to put out some seasonal touches in your own garden. (Check my facebook page this weekend for some additional photos of this wonderful space.)

I hope you enjoyed our garden visit for Friday field trip…thanks Wendy! We will have to make another trip in the spring…there is so much to see!

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

Sharing with Craftberry Bush.

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better in threes

September 10, 2013

Doesn’t putting any photo into a frame make it look better? In the same way, I think putting a painting on canvas immediately ‘legitimizes’ it. For this reason, I decided to create a quick ‘work of art’ on canvas for my daughter’s new apartment.

While helping her move in, I noticed that there was an empty spot on the bathroom wall – a long, tall shape. The bathroom was done in white and beige and had a hint of blue, so I thought a painting using beige and blue could tie everything together nicely.

What would fit the unusual space? A triptych! This is a painting divided into three sections. I would choose three canvases that would fill the space appropriately…I decided an anchor would be my subject matter since the painting was going in a bathroom space and my daughter has a love for anchors.

I put three canvases together and drew a very rough sketch of an anchor with pencil. I didn’t want to get too serious with it…just a very quick painting using the basic shapes and whatever acrylic craft paint I had left from previous projects…mixing beiges and blues.

Any basic pattern will work. Just be sure the picture hits all three canvases. If you don’t feel comfortable working with a pencil sketch, you can easily find something online to copy and trace. You can even use your computer or a copier to adjust the size of the picture. If that still seems intimidating to you, you can decoupage a picture onto the canvases – requiring no drawing or painting at all!

The painting took about 10 minutes since I just did a ‘messy’ impressionistic view of an anchor and added very little detail.

I was able to create a painting that used the appropriate color scheme and a favorite motif to add to my daughter’s newly decorated bathroom…fun! I’m hoping my daughter will send me a photo of this new creation when she hangs it on the wall. If so, I will share it with you on my Facebook page.

I hope this has inspired you to create your own triptych! Send me an email if you need some help or ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

Sharing on Shabby Nest.

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visiting brimfield

September 6, 2013

What’s better than socializing with friends? Socializing with friends while shopping! In this case, at the Brimfield Antique and Collectibles Shows in Brimfield, Massachusetts…this week’s Friday field trip.

My day with friends was really more about talking and sharing, but there was plenty of inspiration thrown in! And, with over 75 acres to persue, we also got in some serious exercise.

Brimfield is the largest outdoor antique show in New England with over 5,000 dealers and runs three times a year (May, July and September) for a six day period. Especially for those that may not live in New England, I thought you might enjoy joining me by sharing some of my favorites this year at Brimfield. The beauty of Brimfield is that everyone has their own favorite items…here are some of mine…

I really loved this large, distressed white frame…I had so many imagined uses for it!

My grandmother had one of these telephone benches, but it sure didn’t look like this!

In LOVE with these pendants created from old ledger pages…

I always thought I would like to create a sea glass fireplace surround…this one is so beautiful and inspires me to think about other possibilities…

One of the vendors thought this was a cute arrangement of the letters offered for sale…how about this for a Wednesday in the office?

I hope you enjoyed today’s peek at Brimfield for this week’s Friday field trip. I will post some additional photos on my facebook page over the weekend.

Have a really wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

Sharing with The Tablescaper.

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the pace of nature

September 3, 2013

Although the sun did not make much of an appearance this Labor Day Weekend, it was a bright one…I spent time with some special friends in a secluded retreat amid the trees in upstate New York and, for a short patch of time, adopted the pace of nature.

We had no schedules to follow or any particular plans – the beauty of our friendship is that we didn’t need to.

Appreciating our surroundings and embracing our friendship…

as well as enjoying some new friends…made for a memorable time together.

Being in the woods makes an appreciation of nature hard to ignore.

I collected some forest treasures this weekend and look forward to using the woodland/forest inspiration as the basis for my holiday preparations this year. And, in the spirit of this weekend, I will embrace the feelings of friendship and of adopting the pace of nature in all my holiday planning…

I am excited about starting some of the projects I have imagined!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my weekend inspiration…Did you find anything to spark your inspiration this Labor Day weekend?

Remember to take

pleasure in simple things, Jackie

Sharing with Craftberry Bush.

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may is national bicycle month

May 7, 2013

credit: Vitis Vinifera

May is National Bicycle Month. Because bicycles hold a very special place in the hearts of my family, I wanted to recognize them in a special way.

So, to pay homage to the bicycle, I would like to share a few of my favorite bicycle images from Pinterest.

credit: temp files

You are welcome to also share my favorite bicycle quotes…I will post them throughout the month on my facebook page. If you want to check out some more great bicycle images, check my pinterest board a love for bicycles.

credit: Images by Claire

credit: Anders Schennemann Photography

credit: unknown

I hope you enjoyed these beautiful cycling images in celebration of National Bicycle Month…

If you need more to satisfy your cycling self, maybe you would like to

listen to the best bicycle song ever

or, share some of my favorite bicycle items from around the web:

pick one of these cool bike bells or handle bar airplanes to add to your ride

get a book with a magnificent collection of cycling images

read the story of a very talented cyclist I know and like, or

a great book to learn about the Tour de France past doping culture first hand

hold your book collection with these cool bookends

watch a great film

find a special spot for this beautiful pillow with a vintage bicycle image

enjoy a post-ride beverage from these beautiful bicycle printed glasses

write a special note on extraordinary personalized stationery sporting a red bicycle….

Happy cycling! Cyclisme heureux! :)

Thanks for stopping by, Jackie

If you have any great cycling images, please feel welcome to share on my facebook page.

I am sharing at Coastal Charm and A Pinch of Joy.

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monthly book giveaway for may!

April 30, 2013

Congratulations to Nancy from New Jersey for winning the April book giveaway! Nancy has won a copy of Jodi Picoult’s newest novel The Storyteller. With the weather getting nice and warm, be sure to do some outdoor reading Nanc ;) Now, on to the May selection…

Since May is the month we traditionally recognize mothers, this month’s giveaway book is written by one of the most amazing moms I know. It is the newly published memoir My Intense and Meaningful Life with Cancer, A Diary of Healing written by Mary Ann Wasil. It is the touching, and humorous account of this mother’s battle with breast cancer.

The author of this book is the mother of three. Many are impressed by her beauty (both inside & out)…by her wonderful relationship with her children…by her courage…by her amazing attitude…these things are impressive to me too, but the thing that impresses me most about Mary Ann is her dedication to giving back. She is not content focusing on her own recovery. She has established a nonprofit called The Get in Touch Foundation to help others and to affect change. This foundation helps girls of all ages (starting in grade 5) to ‘get in touch’ with their bodies, information, and each other to help in the crusade against cancer. Mary Ann has made an amazing commitment with her life and I would like to share her story with you…I hope you win one of the three signed giveaway books!

Because this book is so special, I have decided to give away three signed copies! This month, I am asking you to say you are a cancer survivor, know a cancer survivor, or want to help eliminate cancer…just write this in a blog comment, in a tweet, in an email, or on my Facebook page and you will be entered to win one of the three copies I will give away at the end of the month!

Good luck! In the meantime, you can meet Mary Ann here.

Thanks so much for visiting! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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…a few more eggs

March 26, 2013

I know I already posted my favorite ways to decorate Easter eggs (including coastal style). But, I thought you might like to see the results of some of the natural Easter eggs I dyed. My grandmother always used onion skins and beets so I had to dye some in ‘old school’ fashion. I also dyed some using my gift of saffron I told you about in this post in addition to dyeing some with red cabbage.

If you don’t remove the insides of your eggs before dyeing, it is hard to part with the ones you really love..at least it always is for me!

I make egg salad from the insides of the eggs and recycle the outsides by using them in terrariums or houseplants…or to create mosiacs. You don’t throw out the colored egg shells, do you? When I was a kid I saved all the colored shells…I just couldn’t part with them. Over time, I discovered ways to use them…

My favorite was to create mosaics. You can do this too….or, as a project for the kids. I suggest giving your children the task of separating the shells by color (a good way to keep them occupied for a while!) and then use the assorted shells to create designs by glueing them onto notecards. A great gift to give grandma for Mother’s Day!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some more of my decorated Easter eggs. This batch used only natural dyes from plants.

You still have time to get some eggs dyed before the weekend! If you don’t want to use natural dyes, you can mix 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 tsp. white vinegar, and food coloring in a coffee cup and use that to dye your eggs…no need to buy a kit. I wish I knew this when I was a kid…we would split up the color tablets from the egg decorating kit between the four siblings and there was always a fight over a color everyone wanted!

Oh, and remember to save the shells so you can do some experimenting…

Have a blessed Holy Week my friends…remember to take pleasure in simple things :)

Thanks so much for visiting, Jackie

P.S. The natural dyes I used in the photos in this post: 1.saffron, 2.red cabbage, 3.onion skins, 4.saffron, 5.saffron & beets, 6.beets, 7.red cabbage, 8.saffron & beets

I am sharing at Coastal Charm.

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counting our blessings

November 9, 2012

Today’s Friday field trip is my first social gathering outside my house since Sandy hit. I was invited to have lunch at a friend’s house with a group of women. Of course, our conversation started by discussing the horific week we had been through…our coastal state being hit hard…many still suffering from loss of homes and; even life. So heartbreaking. We all felt truly lucky knowing that a loss of power and water and some fallen trees was a small inconvenience compared with what so many of our friends and family had endured. What we soon discovered, was that we were all able to tell of wonderful accounts of people we knew coming together to help each other since the storm hit…amazing accounts…everyone finding a way to help in their own way during a time of disaster.

It was hard to believe we were able to enjoy such a calm, relaxing afternoon after the week of turmoil caused by Hurricane Sandy. The afternoon turned into a time of reflection on how to help those we know…and a time to reflect on how thankful we all are for the blessings in our life. So, as we sat enjoying each other’s company and our surroundings, we also realized that this time of tragedy put a sharp focus on what is important in life. It gives us a strong reason to go forward in the best way we can. Being together on this afternoon was the perfect way to spend the day…

And, the perfect time to remember to take pleasure in simple things. Sincere prayers to all affected by Sandy.

If you would like to help with Sandy Relief and your way to help is through a monetary donation, consider texting a $10. donation to the Red Cross…it’s easy to do!

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps people affected by disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires and tornadoes.