Holly Doodle Designs

I promised pictures of my yummy sofa, and here they are.  I Love the robin’s egg blue fabric with the brown floral toile type print, and it has the cutest turned legs ever!  This cute couch was made by Four Seasons Furniture and was only $1200.00 RETAIL!  If you’ve shopped for quality slipcovered sofas, you know that price is a fraction of what most other companies charge.  If you go to their website, www.shopfourseasonsfurniture.com, you can see a better picture of the fabric.  Go to the tab labele “accent chairs”.  The fabric is on the “Riley” chair. It’s called Nantucket Robin (perfect!).  The frame is shown under “collections” and is the “Lily” frame.

The white slipcovered chair is from Ikea www.ikea.com and is called the JennyLund.  It wasy way cheap, $195.00 including the slipcover.  I want to buy a new cover, though, because now they make them with a cute little ruffle all around the bottom!  You KNOW I’m ALL ABOUT cute little ruffles!  LOL

I couldn’t resist showing you a closeup of my little end table here.  I love my alabaster lamps, got them for a song at an antique mall years ago.  You can search for them on ebay, there are usually several available.  I love the creamy color and beautiful carving.  Also here are a couple more special finds from my friend Kasse’s shop, www.missduffys.com.  I got another wooly lamb from her (needed one to represent both of my little lambs!) and a sweet vintage mason jar that I wrapped with a satin aqua ribbon and filled with a packet of robin’s egg blue and green speckled eggs she sells for $4.95 for a pack of 12!  Can you believe what good prices she has? I’m not a paid spokeswoman, just love her store and her prices…she’s my kinda GIRL!

 Hope you’re having a Wonderful, Marvelous day! Go do or create or BE something beautiful today!  I’ve been painting a lot lately and will be having a sell day soon….I’ll let you know when!  XO

I love robin’s egg blue.  Or aqua, or greenish-blue, or bluish-green.  Whatever you want to call it, I love it.  I also love pink and green, but I find myself most strongly drawn to that serene sea blue.  Here are a few things I’ve bought simply because of the color.  Of course, I would have loved these things in any soft color, really.

More Pottery….

I’m so predictable.  Again with the pottery! 

Here is one of my favorite things.  It’s a lovely vintage pie safe.  The tin sides are still there, but the tin on the front doors has long ago been replaced by wood.  I suspect that’s when it got it’s white-washing.  The white paint is old and shiny, but it’s not the original color.  At one time the whole thing was this gorgeous blue.  I can see it peaking through the white all over.  I imagine at one time the tin rusted, or busted, or came to some other demise.  The owner couldn’t bear to lose that lovely aqua color, so they decided to leave JUST THE DRAWER that beautiful blue!  I LOVE that! 

The fact that it’s missing one of it’s pulls did not disuade me from buying it one bit.  I’m still looking for the perfect pulls for this little gem. Someday I’ll find them.

So today I have a HAPPY case of the BLUES!  Tomorrow I’ll have to show you a picture of my new sofa.  Well, I got it about a year ago, so still pretty new.  It’s slipcovered in a lovely robin’s egg with a brown floral toile on it, almost like a transferware pattern.  The name of the fabric…..get this….is “Nantucket Robin”.  I knew it was for me!

I hope you are having the most wonderful day today.  Be sure to leave me your website or blog address when you visit so I can peak in on your beautiful world too.  I’m just having the best darn time! 

XO

I know, it isn’t even St.Patty’s day yet, and I’ve got my Easter stuff out.  I have spring fever!  A horrible case of it.  Don’t you love my little wooly lamb?  I think he’s so sweet peaking through the baskets…..very Easter-y!  I got wooly lamb from my friend Kasse’s shop at www.missduffys.com .  She has the most fanastic stuff!  Here are some more goodies I bought from her:

 Is this the SWEETEST pink Easter basket you’ve ever seen?  It looks delicate, but it’s surprisingly sturdy and heavy.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that it has little velvet millinery flowers on it and the ruffle around the edge…..oh so cute.  Looks very handmade, doesn’t it?

 Here are some sweet foil egg boxes from the same line.  Boxes!  I love boxes.  Again with the velvet millinery flowers.  The inside has the prettiest floral toile.  I may have to keep these around all year.

And last, but not least, a sweet vintage basket purse I picked up years ago.  I love the vintage millinery flower on top….are you seeing a pattern with me?! I think I shall carry it as my purse this week some time, just to make me smile!

My little 16 month old son had his first haircut yesterday. It’s such a bittersweet moment.  Any mother of a boy who has had a first haircut will probably tell you….You take in your baby and you leave with a big kid!  They still seem like such a little baby with their sweet little baby curls and downy tufts of angel hair.  But when the barber (or should I say butcher!?…) is done with them, they look like they could be applying for a job at a lawfirm or some other very adult thing.  So grown up, so….not a baby. boo hooo.  Our barber is the sweetest man.  My husband and his dad have used him for years.  He’s a real barber, old school.  Very cool.  He sweetly handed me a little curl that he plucked from the remains of the day on the floor.  I looked at him like ‘that’s it?” and promptly went around and gathered every single other corkscrew of hair I could find from the pile of fuzz on the floor!  I’m sure he thinks I’m crazy.  After I got home, I thought “why did I do that?  Why did I cut his hair.  What was the rush?” No more scooping his little curls with my fingers as I rock him.  No more silky fluffs of hair softly wisping across my face while his head rests on my shoulder.  I’m teary eyed right now just thinking about what I’ve lost.  Isn’t that life?  You mourn for days and things and moments gone by, but are excited for the future and new adventures.  He may look like a big boy, but he’s still my baby. 

The book in the picture is by Joan Walsh Anglund and is called A POCKET FULL OF PROVERBS.  I love the little proverb on this page, “Larger ships may venture more, little boats must stay near shore”  I always have it on this sweet vintage easel.  Love Anglunds sweet work.  Perfect reminder of my little boys.  I hope my little boats stay near shore for as long as possible, but I know one day, one day very soon, they will set sail for their own adventures.  I shall miss them so.

XO

I am so blessed.  My husband does not give me flowers or candy.  He gives me furniture! Not just any old furniture, he gives me stuff he builds.  Check out the Frenchy-fun armoire he just finished for our computer!  He built this FROM SCRATCH.  Not a kit, not a put-together thing, no plans.  I mean he had an idea in his head, went to Lowe’s, bought wood and stuff, came home, cut it, built it, painted it!  He’s so talented. 

Here’s a close up of the moulding.  He used vintage moulding and a vintage header.  He also used vintage door pulls, but the rest was all new stuff.

The Header:

a snapshot of the inside:

It’s great to have all this in a cabinet.  That way I can just close the doors and no-one sees all my mess!  Our entry hall was underutilized before, so we put the armoire in there.  Now I can surf while my kids are watching their morning cartoons or playing and still be right with them.  Love it!  I’ll show some more of his handiwork another day.

Lovin the bloggin!

Tonight I got to spend a luxurious hour and a half with my four year old son.  We had a snack together, talked about his day, and played in his room.  He said “come on mom, hold my hand”.  How could I NOT oblige him?  He tugged on my hand (and my heart) and led me to his room and said “take a seat, mom.  Let’s talk”.  After about an hour, it was bedtime and I got to snuggle with him for a while.  He has this plastic race car bed (I know. Don’t even say it.) and it does not have a box spring, so the mattress is kind of down low, with the plastic ‘walls’ of the ‘car’ around the person in the bed.  I felt a little cocooned, which made me happy to think he must feel that way too.  I remember a quote from a story I read once in Victoria Magazine a million years ago.  I don’t remember the author, but it stuck in my head.  It was “home is where you sleep deep in the mattress”. *sigh*

This time was a luxury because I also have a 16 month old son who thwarts most attempts at quality one on one time with big brother!  But, I let my little man stay up late tonight.  I’m so glad I did. 

This evening, I thought I would show you a picture of my favorite cabinet in the world.  It’s made from old doors, old windows, old moulding, old hardware.

Don’t you love it?  I especially love the original hardware on the windows-turned-doors and the scalloped salvaged trim put to use as a header.  The jars on top house my ever growing collection of velvet, silk, linen, and even paper millinery flowers.  Here is the original shot I took, which shows a messy cabinet, toys on the floor, etc.  I thought about taking a better picture, but then I decided to post this one.  Toys are in my world, and I’m grateful for the people who play with them.  Such is my sweet, blessed life!

I know I shouldn’t post more than one blog a day.  Ok, so I’m excited. 

I have these chandeliers.  Two of them, actually.  One in my kitchen, one in my entry hall.  When we were building this house (about 2 years ago), I wanted a vintage look.  On my budget, I couldn’t have an authentic old chandelier anywhere. Necessity is the mother of invention.  I found these repros with the round drops I love.  They’re nice, but a little bland.  Here is the “before” picture:

I liked them, but wanted to add some color and whimsy.  So, I bought some beads.  Crystal, glass, milk glass and even some natural stone (the green ones) and set to work.  I removed all the crystal drops, added a bead to the top, then rehung them.  I also added more beads/crystals.  Here is a picture of my supplies:

I’m not a beader (is that a word?), so I had to buy the wire and borrow my husband’s pliers and wire cutters (he hates this, as he fears he may never see them again LOL).  So, while my little one was napping I beaded and beaded, and here are pictures of the results:

Kitchen chandelier (love the opaque green beads!):

Here’s the entry hall with the aqua crystals/beads:

 

I LOVE the results!  The color really changes it, doesn’t it?  I think I prefer the opaque to the clear, so I may change the aqua one a bit.  Also I love this so much, I may add more colored beads.  Perhaps I should add some chains going arm to arm.  Hmm…. I’ll update you if I do.  This was fun and easy and quick.  I love instant gratification!

See you soon.

xo

holly

Hellooooo out there.  Hmm…. I need to get a counter on here to see if anyone’s reading this little blog.  I did get my first COMMENT today! Yay!  I’ve only checked about 3,000 times a day.  It’s so sad to see ‘no comment’ :(  So, if you’re so inclined, please do comment!

Thought I would share some bits of my home.  Funny, I realize I need to hang all the artwork I have stashed, now that I see the blank walls in pictures!  So, here is my kitchen.  Obviously, the color was inspired by my crazy/fun 1950’s Chambers enamel GREEN stove!  love it.  Works great, too.  I do all my cooking there (and the microwave of course).  It’s the only stove/oven I have.  Some day I would love to have a subway tile backsplash and marble countertops.  someday……(sigh)……

Here’s a view of my kitchen sink and window.  I love my little farmhouse inspired sink (although you can see it’s still under some construction) and the corner shelves remind me of a bungalow kitchen from the 1920’s.

Below you’ll see my prized jade-ite colored Chambers 1950s green stove.

Another view of the stove

My little eat-in area

I love these two little cherubs on my shelves.  I got one to simbolize each of my boys, my litte sweet angels (most of the time). They’re repros, done by an artist.

I’ll post some great pictures again tomorrow, so you’ll have to come back by.  And leave me a comment! Please!

XO

I’m a hopeless romantic. Truly. I love the romance of the family. I love to watch my kids learn new things, to see the glint in their eyes when they’re figuring out something amazing to them. 

I am fascinated by how different my husband and I are from each other, yet how similar we’ve become in many ways in the 15 years we’ve been together.  Wow.  15 years.  I was only 18 when we met.  To me, the ties that bind are true romance.  The fact that my husband bought me an easel for Christmas, an easel!  How thoughtful and funny.  My techy, computer-guy husband went to the arts and crafts store, talked to the teenage girl who worked there, and picked out an easel for me!  Oh, it just makes a girl’s heart go all a-flutter!  Not because he surprised me, which he did.  Not because I wanted an easel, which I did.  Not because it’s the exact easel I would have picked, which it was.  No.  I was touched because he displayed true thoughtfulness.  He thought about me.  He left his comfort zone and went into the estrogen arts & crafts store.  He thought about how I would use it (tabletop, not free standing.  drawer for storage.  Big enough to hold a large painting.  Compact….can be stored in that weird gap above my fridge).  I love it because he wanted to get me something I would love!  It truly is the thought that counts…..as long as you’re thinking “I’m gonna buy her an easel”!  hahaha…..

Anyway, that’s my idea of romance.  My easel cost about $28.00 (great sale at Hobby Lobby!), but I treasure it more than any diamonds that the TV tells you are about romance!  By the way, I hate those jewelry commercials on TV at the holidays.  Most gals I know would rather have scrapbooking supplies or ebay gift certificates, or a day of babysitting whilst we meandre through a flea market! Ya with me? 

Well, hello all!  Here I go, about to finally take the plunge into the wonderful world of blogging.  I’m an absolute blog addict, but until now have not taken those first baby steps….or are they giant leaps (?) into my own little……well into my own.

Doesn’t the internet amaze you?  I mean AMAZE you?  Here I am drinking coffee (yes, coffee at nearly 10:00 at night.  Am I the only one who only gets to be creative after the kids go night-night, let alone the husband?!), hangin out in my pj’s, imagining what little project I’ll try to complete in enough time to get a little shut-eye.  Wonder where you are.  Somewhere out there, as they say.  I’m so glad you’ve joined me tonight. 

I said earlier I’m a blog addict.  I should qualify that rather large blanket statement.  I am addicted to a few blogs.  I love to read blogs by creative women.  Happily creative (hence the title of my blog!).  I sooo enjoy gazing at beautiful photography of even more beautiful things that we use to beautify our lives!  What a pleasure it is to see the art of others, others who share a common thread of style or color choice, or design, but are completely unique to themselves.  Isn’t it cool?  This information superhighway?  I love that I can find other gals who I just get…..and who I would think would get me too!  haha….  It gives me a lift to read a fun blog, filled with beautiful words and inspirational photos.

I’ll try to do the same here.  I hope I will do the same thing here!