Innovative Wedding Shower Gift Idea

My friend's daughter is getting married in September. She grew up in our neighborhood when it was a tight-knit community. A group of us decided that we would pitch in for a gift that would remind her of the great times spent growing up in Annapolis. We pitched in for a fire pit and a party tub, filled with fix in's for s'mores, beverages, and other outdoor items.

To present it in a pretty way, I decided to mimic the look of ice with bubble wrap -- the square bubble kind...I love the results! It looks just like ice in my opinion. We also decided to use tulle to give it a wedding look.

 I found some other innovative shower gifts on Pinterest:

Source: Pinterest

Workin' It

Very busy, but I had a custom order that made me smile. I have little time to devote to my Etsy shop with my job, but really enjoyed making these baby blocks for a customer.

My son and I ran a race this weekend. It was a gorgeous morning for 5 miles (ugh), but we did it! I posted my second best time and he actually won in his age group. (He's lightning fast.) Other than that, we've just been plugging along with work, work, work, lacrosse, lacrosse, lacrosse and end-of-year school events.

Here's a glimpse of my dining room...300 grab bags, which I agreed to fill. (What was I thinking?)

Sweet Spring...Barn Style

Beautiful sunny weather greeted my friend and me when we visited the Barn Show this weekend. And, the trends I saw were bright and saturated color along with those pretty chalk paint colors that bedecked most the furniture. Since we had such a snowy cold winter, my eyes were naturally drawn to the bold and bright colors. Check these out:

Of course, there were not so bright findings, too. I'm always drawn to maps and printers blocks.

Here's to more sunny bright spring days!

10 bags down, only 30 to go...WHAT?

Well, I have 10 bags/boxes already packed up ready to go for my 40 bags in 40 days project. My house is neater and less cluttered already, but I still have way too much stuff. I started with my craft area...which was growing. Actually, I'm so busy, I paid my youngest to organize it...and organize, he did! I apologize for the poor quality of photos. I was using my phone camera.
Here's the before:

Now the after:

I've been going through my office, too. Getting rid of things. Feels good. Hope I will be able to show you more as I clear things out. A new project, too!

Another Try at 40 Bags in 40 Days

My favorite blogger, Sarah at Clover Lane, just reminded me that it's time to do the annual 40 bags in 40 days challenge. Here's how it works: the challenge is to use the 40 days of Lent (starting today) as a way to simplify your life and give to others.
"The gist of it, says Sarah, "during Lent, rid your house of 40 bags of stuff…things you don't love, don't use, junk, accumulated stuff, clutter, garbage."
After you fill the bags, donate them, recycle them or toss them. I have done this for two years now and have managed to fill 24 and 26 bags, respectively. The bags can be filled with items or trash (mud room here I come!). I probably won't have that many this year because I gave away so much in previous years, but hey, I'll try.

You can visit Sarah's blog as she goes into much more detail. Wish me luck!

50% off Everything in my Country Tag Sale Shop

I am so busy that I've decided to close one of my Etsy shops, Country Tag Sale. I will combine my shops into one at Where The Grass is Greener.
To take advantage of this sale, please visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/Countrytagsale and use the coupon code: CTS50 at checkout.

Enjoy shopping … items are going fast!

B&B's: Ever Thought of Opening One? Here are Some Pros and Cons

I love staying at a Bed and Breakfast. I stay at one whenever I can. We've even found several family friendly ones in our travels. Above is a photo of one of my favorites in Ipswich, MA. The owners actually became like good friends to us since we stayed there often. It's called Kaede, which means maple in Japanese. The ambience of the house combines Japanese and New England Culture (and food). Click on the name if you want more information. I highly recommend it. Tell them Renee sent you.
 I've always dreamed of owning a B&B and I suppose many people do dream of it. I mean I love to entertain, I love to meet new people, I love to bake and cook and I love to decorate. However, I do like my privacy and being "on" 24/7 doesn't appeal to me much. A while ago, I had the opportunity to get an inside look at owning one -- I wrote an article for a local magazine and interviewed three owners about the pros and cons. (I also got to tour three incredible places.)
Here is what I discovered:

Pros

§     You’re an entrepreneur and you can control your own time (to a point).

§     You get to meet interesting and nice people from all over the world.

§     There are great tax advantages.

§     You can live in a beautiful and expansive home.

§     You can have cleaning people and expense it.

Cons

§     To be successful, you have to be flexible and that means you may not be able to travel when you want.

§     The initial financial investment is always more than you project.

§     Your privacy can be invaded even if you try to draw the line with your guests.

§     You are responsible when things go wrong – if your technology doesn’t work, a storm appears, something breaks – you have to take ownership even if it’s not your fault.

Have you ever dreamed of owning a Bed and Breakfast? Or do you own one? If you know of a great one, why not share it in the comments?

Inspiration for my son's room

I have a 13-year old who is happy with his room, but is thinking about moving onto his older brother's room (for a bigger bed). Of course, we could move the bed into his room, but I'm not sure the two twin beds (currently in his room) would fit into his big bro's room. So, he doesn't really care at this point what the room looks like (quite obvious with the clothes all over the floor), but I'm dying to create!
I'm looking for his feedback so I' gathering some inspiration from the web. Thinking of a subtle ski theme.
Such as these shelves (snow ski, of course) from Junk Market style:

Or these from Liftopia (above)

This would be a cool headboard, shown on skicycled.com

See where I'm going with this? Send ideas my way...

Happy New Year!

Well, I thought I posted this on Monday, but I forgot…so goes my life!
Anyway, my New Year's resolutions for blogging:

• Post at least one blog post per week.
• Provide a useful tip in each blog post.

We had an awesome time visiting our parents in Pittsburgh. My husband's parents and my parents live 10 minutes away from one another so it makes life easy! We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope your holidays were great, too. Here are some photo highlights from our past week:
Christmas morning:

Before everyone gets up

new beer brewing kit -- best present ever for him

My talented son, Nolan, designed this tee shirt for my oldest (Houston).

Very surprised at his gift (it involves going somewhere…more to come in a later post).

Christmas Dinner at my sister's:

The celebration continues in Pittsburgh:

Photo fun with my niece and sister-in-law

Chatting after dinner.

 "Reverse Charades" fun:

This one …I just can't figure out!

Birds?

New Years and Skiing:

Everyone gets champagne or sparkling cider.

Gigi plays some tunes

My niece sharing the celebration via "FaceTime."

My brave son, trying telemark skiing!

Useful info:

How to take great photos (obviously, I didn't actually listen to this advice for all of my photos…hey, the lighting was pretty bad forcing me to use a flash! Excuses, excuses)

1. Make sure photos are in focus and light enough to see the subjects. Use a tripod if the setting is too dark so you won’t get a blurred image.

        2. Remember composition: Try shooting photos from a different perspective; for example, from above or from the side. Step closer to your subject. Questions to ask yourself when taking a photo: Where is the point of interest? What would happen if I zoomed in? For more information on composition, search online for “photography rule of thirds.”

·       3.  Use natural light when you can. Using flash is OK; just make sure the photo isn’t taken against a reflective background (such as a window). Also note that using flash may or may not work depending on how far away you are from the subject.

                  So, that's it! How is your new year going so far?