Farm Fresh

Hello, my friends!

Another cold & rainy day here on the central coast of California…I LOVE storms like this…we don’t get them very often!

Just one project to share with you today using some of my favorite things…a 3D Shadowbox card…

…the brilliant design of  Vicki Chrisman (available through Crafty Secrets), and their new “Farm Fresh” Creative Scraps…

Here’s what I came up with:

These Shadowbox cards are SO much fun to work with!  Just chose a theme…start laying it all out, and go! 

Here’s the far left panel…”Farm girl at heart”, it says…so sweet!  A grunged-up paper doily, a little tuft of blush-colored vintage netting, a trio of vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, and that’s about it!

I LOVE this center panel! (Sorry it’s so shadowy!)  A sassy farm girl is the focal point, with a “Farm Fresh” banner stamp from the new “Farm Chicks” stamp set to top it off…

…I then took a milk bottle “lid” from the Creative Scraps…

…put it in an old bottle cap and filled it with Glassy Glaze…

…the “cornstalk”—a small bunch of raffia…gathered together with twine, with “The Simple Life” tag from the Creative Scraps tied around it.

And finally, the far right panel…another delightful image from the Creative Scraps…another grunged-up paper doily, a netting rosette from Prima, (which just happened to match my vintage netting!), and a “Fields & Farm” label from the set to finish it off.

Hope your day is wonderful!

See you soon with something new…

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,3D Shadowbox Cards,Farm Fresh,Farm Chicks

A Domestic Goddess Giveaway!

***Giveaway is closed…will be back soon with the winner!***

Hello, my friends!

Hope your day is going well… Got a little giveaway fun for you today!

But first, a little card I made last night to get our theme going here…(it’s been dark, gloomy & rainy here…sorry about the photos!)

 

The Domestic Goddess in all her kitchen glory—complete with wings!  One of my favorite images in the “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps by Crafty Secrets…

Didn’t do too much to this one…just some aging of papers and seam binding with “Vintage Photo” ink, and some framing with Platinum Stickles…

 

…and some perfect vintage jade-like buttons to finish it off!

Today’s post will be a little bit different.  I’m so excited to introduce you to a true Domestic Goddess…and one of my very best friends—Barb Romero.

Barb is one of the most talented and interesting women I know…She was a theater major in college, and is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever heard…can enthrall a room full of wiggly  children in an instant.  

A  professional seamstress, she excels in costume design, (has been called on to make or alter beautiful wedding gowns!), interior design, gardener extroardinaire…

…and is also an expert on wildlife—she’s my boss at our County Park’s nature center—what a joy to be able to teach the school children of our area with her!

(Here’s what one of our typical “work” days looks like—not bad, huh?!)

But best of all, Barb and I share a love of  our family histories and all things vintage—I so wish you could see her house—one of my favorite places to visit…oh, and her garden…aaahhhh!

Well, this wonderfully talented friend of mine is now in business with her daughter, Brynna (very talented as well—creates the most beautiful clothing for girls!), and is offering up her beautiful, vintage-inspired aprons in their Etsy shop, “Varinia Rose”…

Here’s what Barb said about her inspiration:

“One of my many memories of childhood was wearing a very large and very long apron that covered all of my Sunday clothes. It actually did hit the floor but I never got one spot on my Sunday best.

“I later found out from my mother (Granny Ann) that this had been one of her mother's aprons, so years ago, I very carefully unpicked this worn and faded turkey red and blue apron apart and started making them.

“Before I knew it my sister got into the mix and we'd spread a tiny bit of our history to the women in the family. I did take another batch to a church Christmas fair and realized that I had a good item! So, after taking one deep breath I'm ready to share them on “Varinia Rose”.

“Each one is a little different. The aprons are made from 100% cotton decorator fabric…

“…the aprons are French seamed to prevent fraying. The binding is made from a coordinating decorator fabric. They are machine washable and have a tie in the back just in case you want it to fit a little snugger. I usually just pull it over my head and ‘go’!”

Another page for my heritage scrapbook made last night, inspired by Barb and her new venture…

Apron-inspired, of course…two more of my favorite Domestic Goddesses…my two great-grandmothers, Mary & Pauline—sharing a piece of pie on Pauline’s front porch…girlhood friends, their children joined in marriage, neighbors, lifetime friends…

…so happy to have this beloved family image now a part of Crafty Secrets’ “Vintage Photo” Creative Scraps…

I also used elements from “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps for this layout—a bit of the collage for background (complete with a recipe for “Fairy Cake”—yum!)…popped-up an apron just for fun…

…some framing with Platinum Stickles and a bit of rick-rack trim, of course!

And some perfectly perfect plastic vintage buttons found in my button jar—two of them with rhinestones—love them!

Now for the fun!

To get Barb and Brynna kicked off in their new shop adventure, I’m going to have a little giveaway here…

* One of Granny Ann’s fabulous aprons…

* “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps

* “Homemade” Images & Journal Notes booklet

and

* “Little Chef” stamp set

A big thanks to Sandy, the lovely owner of Crafty Secrets, for donating these items for our giveaway!

All you have to do is leave a comment here to be entered—nothing fancy!

Leave a second comment if you’re a follower, and be entered twice…

Leave a third comment telling me you’ve been to visit Barb at “Varinia Rose” and be entered three times!

That’s it!  I’ll choose a winner using Random Number Generator on Friday, Feb. 18th at midnight.

Well, that’s it for me today—thanks for joining me for some Domestic Goddess fun!

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Barb Romero,Varinia Rose,Domestic Goddess,vintage aprons

A Vintage Valentine Story…

Hello, dear friends!

Hope you’re all in the middle of a wonderful weekend with your families & friends…got any Valentine’s plans?

I have a sweet vintage love story to share with you today in honor of Valentine’s Day…

Back in the spring of 1904, a cowboy rode into town…tall and lean in the saddle, bringing a herd of cattle to his uncle’s ranch.

After delivering the cattle, his cousins and friends invited him to a big dance that evening.  He declined, saying that he “was not dressed for society”…but, being coerced successfully, he went along.

While there, a beautiful young woman began doing a dramatic reading—part of the program for the evening.  The young cowboy fell instantly in love…but he felt very unworthy of such a girl.

Hating to leave the next morning, he vowed to return as soon as he could to try and win her heart…

Soon came the town’s Basket Social.  Don rode the 40 miles once again to his uncle’s house…hopeful for a chance to be with his dream girl…Mary.

For the basket social, the single women would make a basket of food for the men to bid on.  Whoever won a woman’s basket, would also win the privilege of eating lunch with her.  (Remember the basket social scene in “Oklahoma”?!)

Don bought several baskets before he finally got Mary’s…and after that came the hayride…

Soon, everyone in town knew that when the tall, handsome cowboy rode into town, he was coming to court the beautiful, young schoolteacher…

Don and Mary were married in 1907…this is, I believe, their wedding photo…

What a wonderful and eventful life they had together…always loving, always faithful…

Another page completed today for my heritage scrapbook…

Simple black and red…perfect for a sweet Valentine story…

 

The photo framed with a bit of Platinum Stickles…three roses alongside…

A lovely vintage Valentine poem—a free printable image from Crafty Secrets, which you can get here…

Don later was completely blind…the effects, they said, of so many years spent in the saddle under the blazing Arizona sun…Mary wrote and published two books about her beloved family history, for which I am truly grateful…

Here’s the newspaper photograph from the article about their 50th wedding anniversary…Don listening as Mary reads to him from one of the books she had written…I love this picture…

So grateful for the people that helped to make me who I am…so many stories to learn and to share as I go along on this journey…

…thanks for joining me on the journey today…

Please stop by Crafty Secrets and enter into their wonderful Valentine giveaway—so much vintage goodness just waiting to be won!

See you soon with something new…

Julie

(Vintage Valentine images found online.)

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Valentines,Don Frederick Riggs,Mary West Riggs