Wren's Nest

As good as gold

This week's Shades of Inspiration color is gold - I don't have much gold around (I would have thought there'd be more), but here are a few things~

A crown I got for my birthday

A part of an angel's wing

 

A bird's nest I got at the Alameda Flea Market a long time ago - I think it was from Willow's Nest and it came under a cloche. It has gold tinsel on it.

 

Last, though it isn't gold - here is a cool birdhouse I got at a little shop here that opens once a month for like 4 days - it used to be called Room with a Past and is now Paris Flea Market - it's HUGE and only $32! I love it!

Just around...

Not too much going on around here. We went to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz on Wed with some friends, but my little camera isn't working, so I didn't get any pictures (not that anyone was in one place long enough anyway). So, some stuff around the house...

I've been bugging my husband about these Sid Dickens memory blocks forever (one of my friends has a bunch and they're so cool), so he surprised me with 3 for my birthday. Here's one ~

He and the kids also gave me this large ex voto (the big heart thing on the window). It's so pretty! We hung this old window in our dining room - it had been in my daughter's room (it's pink on the backside, which was perfect in her room and cream on the other side - perfect for the dining room - we didn't paint it at all, just how it worked out). She's not into vintage-y stuff anymore, so we moved it into the dining room. I love how it all looks together! (Ignore the reflection!)

Last, but not least, a little treat I got myself from Lidy at French Garden House - these amazing robin's egg blue cafe au lait bowls. I loved them so much, I ordered two more! Really pretty! Check them out in her shop - her picture of them is much better than mine! Have a great Friday!

 

New beginnings

Today is my birthday - #43. Yikes! Where has the time gone? I still feel like I'm 19 and who gave me all these responsibilities anyway? I sort of think of my birthdays as new beginnings as a time to try to set some goals for myself about what I'd like to get done before the next birthday. I think for this year I'd like to not be so afraid of stuff - not so afraid to travel and try new things. Being a stay at home mom, my life really revolves around my kids, husband, house and community (school, PTA - all that stuff). My husband has been traveling a lot lately and he always wants me to join him, but the timing always seems wrong - who will watch the kids, I don't have a new passport, school stuff and all that. So for this year - I would like to take a couple of trips with him. I'd like to go to New York (I've never been to NYC) and on a fun shopping trip to LA (to visit some great shops who have blogs that I read) and hopefully he'll have to go to Paris (he's been to Rome and Lisbon)- that's where I really want to go. I have been there several times, but not in the last 20 years (yikes - really - that long??). So, here is a picture of eggs that hangs in my dining room and that I can look at from my living room - eggs seem to symbolize new beginnings, new opportunities - I just need to take them!

Cool Jewels

OK, in keeping with my crazy cross obsession - here are a couple of lovely pieces of jewelry I've been compelled to purchase. It's so weird because since I've gotten interested in this kind of stuff, I'm seeing it everywhere, so either I'm actually sort of trendy (who'd have thought) or it's been around and I just never noticed (which is probably the more likely scenario). I've been seeing a lot of items like these and like the religious icons in shops around me and noticing things of TV - of course on The Tudors (my favorite show) - they wear GIANT cross necklaces and have all kinds of amazing props and then on Weeds, I noticed the scary guy Nancy deals with wearing a rosary (which my Catholic mother always told me not to do for some reason...).

Anyway - both these ladies have amazing etsy shops, so make sure you stop in and take a peek!

These are from Jamie at Simply Me Art - here shop is here and her lovely blog is here. I'm not sure how I found her blog, but we have very similar taste and I love her jewelry.

This necklace is from an etsy shop called Angels of Olde and Brenda who makes the jewelry is a real sweetheart.

Pretty cool and fun to wear! Hope everyone is staying cool - it's much cooler here today and the bunny is much happier!

Shades if Inspiration - Brown

Brown is one of my favorite colors - I love it - all shades of it. I have loads of brown in my house - loads of brown fabrics. So many of the quilts I've made have brown in them - the new quilt on our bed is brown. So, since my brain is mostly fried today with the 109 or something degree temps here in No. Cal. (mostly we're on rabbit patrol since that little angora was not made for the heat, so she now has her own fan outside!) - I'll post some of my brown pictures for Shades of Inspiration (that's about all the energy I can muster).

 

Have a great Wednesday - stay cool!!

Good Eats

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July! We've been having a big eating fest here over the last few days!

On Thursday night we had Clams and Sausage (from Cooking Light's July issue) - it's a great dish - you grill the clams, which makes it super easy (you use one of those disposable aluminum pans - though I just made my own foil pan and grill them covered for 5 minutes and uncovered for 5 minutes). We used chorizo sausage - I wanted to use linguica, but they didn't have any at the store (the recipe calls for spicy chicken sausage) - I'd imagine you can use whatever you like. The chorizo was pretty spicy in it. I'm half Portugese, so I like me the linguica! Anyway - even my kids liked it - we just ate it with crusty bread - YUM! Now that I feel more comfortable with clams - I can't wait to try this!!

Yesterday we just hung out and BBQ'd flank steak and I made this yummy dessert (sorry the lighting is not great). It's also from the July issues of Cooking Light - I just substituted peaches for the blueberries. Really good and pretty easy!
  Enjoy your weekend!

Sweet

I am not very good at tooting my own horn, which is sort of a problem when you make little things to sell ...I have had an etsy shop for quite a long time now and it has sat empty for quite a long time too. I've been usure of what I'm doing with it, but decided to just put little items in as they get made - nothing big - just for fun. Here's one...
It's a sweet little pincushion made of wool and some beautiful Japanese fabric that I love!! Topped off with some pretty little millenery flowers. Pretty summery, huh??