Date for Country Sampler shoot~~Faux Redware

Hi everyone...I hope you're having a good week!!!...Things are busy around here as usual...And even more so since Bill called two days ago and the photo shoot for Country Sampler will be on July 22...Still don't know the season yet..I will know what rooms on maybe the 15th....It's sooooooooo exciting!!!!!...But also a little stressful!!!

I forgot to tell you all about my eye appt...I do need some glasses, but he feels that just the store bought reading glasses will be fine for now since I just need them for reading and x-stitching....So I was relieved!!...Sure didn't want to have to spend the money on expensive glasses...We have been doing that for years for Taylor...So now I can get me some cute little designer spectacles..Don't they have different colors and designs?....I haven't really looked at them before, so I need to do that since it's been a week and a half since my eye appt already...Speaking of eye appt. it was interesting to say the least...Thank goodness Tim came from work to help with Luke...Taylor and I both had our eyes dilated...

Well, my cabinets are finished and 3 out of the 4 are in their places...I was going to take pics, but the bedsheets are in the washer and I didn't wat to take a pic showing the bed with only the mattress...So maybe I'll do that tomorrow along with the one in the family room...

But I do want to share what I have been working on...Yep!...Faux redware!...I love pottery!...In fact I've bought some new pieces this week..But I bought these dinner size plates in Myrtle Beach back in April at Old Time pottery...I didn't say anything because if they didn't end up looking good then no one ever needed to know...LOL...I've always wanted some with our names on them and then the others were just random designs I liked or adapted to my own design...So don't look tooooo closely!!!...I did these freehand...I'm not sure where I'm going to put them!!!....Here they are still drying on the kitchen cabinet awaiting some coats of satin varnish....What'cha think?????

Well, off to finish a late supper..Tim has been mowing grass since he got home!!...Have a great weekend!!!...hugs, Jen

Shaker cabinets~Tweaking~MY secret File

Hi everyone!...I hope you had a good week!...This post is going to be short, but full of pics...Dang, I bet you hate that!..HA!HA!....I know how we all like our pictures!!..So I'm jumping on here while Tim and Luke went to the store and to get us something to eat...

First off I've been working on my shaker cabinets this week..Had the first coat of black on them on Tuesday...Then on Wednesday when Tim went to sand them for me the sander dismantle itself right in his hand...Fell completely apart...UGH!!!! And double UGH!!!..So he ordered another one and I'm not sure when it will get here...Not soon enough I know...So we may be borrowing one...I want to get them finished and put in their new home...

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I re-tweaked the fireplace because I wasn't happy with the way the fireplace was photographing with the sweet annie...So it will be loved somewhere else and I've gone back to this...Looks better ya think??!!???

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Ok!...I want to share with you my secret file!!!...If I lost it I KNOW I would cry!!!...It is full of my favorite houses and articles...I have been collecting these for the 19 years I've loved country and then primitive decorating....This home is one of my all time favorites...It is shaker inspired and I inspire to have my home more like it someday...I have shaker elements here and there in my home and have always love the simple clean lines and simplicity of the style...And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shaker baskets!!..I always have!...I will be sharing some more pics of my favorite houses from time to time with you..

Beautiful!!

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And then I wanted to share some pics ...One with flash...One without...Of my freedom pinkeep that I made for myself....I have it in the dough bowl/trencher on my coffee table....

Oh, finished before they got home...So I will run and get to working on my laundry and Tim won't think I've been on the computer..HA!...At least until he reads my blog on Monday at work....Does your hubby read your blog???...Mine does!:]...

Until next time....hugs,Jen

What a busy Sunday afternoon!!!....I made my trip to Michael's to get some more shaker cabinets...They only had 3 and I came home with 3...I also got some small children's chairs on clearance for $9.99 each...I've been wanting a child size table and chairs set for Luke to eat snack and play at...And since the price was right I grabbed them up..So this week I will be getting them painted up while I do the cabinets...

So tomorrow unless it changes I will be going to get my eyes checked....Yes, the eyes are having trouble seeing the lines on the linen and evenweave when I'm x-stitching...I'm told at this age 40 to 42 that this will happen....Like overnight it happens...Well, mine did...It was like one day I had no problems and the next I did...And after about 8 months of it I've decided to go get them checked....So I have an appt at 1:00 and Taylor's is at 1:30...Actually it was her normal appt, so i decided as long as I was going to be there I should go ahead and get mine looked at...

I've been tweaking again on the fireplace mantel...You will either love it or hate it...I put a set of my boxes in place of the clock and I hung a bunch of sweet annie that I got from my friend Karen (KM Primitives blog) a while back...Actually I got two bunches and I've since cut the other one up and added around the house...I will share that one day with you...But in the meantime here is my new mantel...FOR NOW anyway!!!...LOL





And the Mercantile Gatherings!!!..Do you have a subscription???






























Until next time!!..hugs, Jen

p.s....You're going to have to bare with me on all these spaces between my pics...Since switching to mozilla firefox it seems no matter what I do I have them.....And I don't know what to do about them!!!!UGH!!!

the MERCANTILE GATHERINGS!!!!

Is in my hands as I type!!!!!!!!....It is finally here!!!!!.....8 pages of my home....22 pics....with article!!!....YEAH!!...I got to share the moment with Luke, then I called Tim, my mom, and sister!!!...Have a good weekend everyone!!...hugs, Jen

A NEW SAMPLER / PINKEEP......

SOLD!!!Hi everyone!...I just added a new offering on my selling blog...Just click on the pic on the right hand side...Simple Goodes Stitched By Jennifer...SOLD!!!...THANK YOU!!!

Have a great day!!!...hugs, Jen

THANK YOU!!!

I knew I could count on you all to come to my rescue!!...And if I hadn't found the one I was looking for then you all gave me alternatives...The site I was looking for was www.handcrafted-artifacts.com...Kris from Simply Prim blog emailed me....So when I got back late last night I was hoping that someone had found it...It had been on Kris' blog reading where she was doing a lighting project....I'm soooo excited!!!!....I had found several I like on that site and want to decide so i can get it ordered...It will replace the light fixture in the kitchen area...That chandelier has been a thorn in my side for the entire year we've been here...It is white with a iron vine of some sort....Definitely NOT prim or fits in in any way....So THANK YOU everyone that left me messages and emails...I will be checking out the other websites also.....

So now I want to share some pics of my patriotic picture I finally put over my fireplace...It is a Blackbird Designs....I stitched it in 2003....I left it out all year in my former home, but in this house it is switched out with my other sampler..I have also been tweaking the fireplace again...Someday i will be satisfied with it...The clock is no longer on it ...I added some of my blue boxes i paint and i'm adding a few more things...I will share at a later date...





















Here is my latest purchase...I've been wanting a sheep..http://www.lemonpoppyseeds.com/shoppes/psprimitivehomespuns/.I love the piece of coverlet on it....I bought it with money Taylor gave me for Mother's Day for $28...What a deal!!!...She made me promise not to buy "some creepy black doll" as she put it....She sort of has a phobia of dolls..And primitive dolls just aren't her favorite....She doesn't like my faceless prairie ones either...

And this picture I x-stitched years back spooks her, too....I didn't think she was going to let me leave it in the family room...Now does that face scare you???...I have to little girl pattern that goes with him to x-stitch someday...I guess i will wait til she moves out of the house...LOL...Oh, and he is solid x-stitch...It took a while!!

Until next time!!...hugs, Jen

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

I was on a blog recently that is redoing her kitchen or buying light fixtures...I can't quite remember...I had it bookmarked and since moving to mozilla I have yet to get it all figured out...Anyway...Now I can't find it!!!!....She had a website for artisan crafted lighting to click on where some light fixtures had been purchased...Does anyone remember which blog or the website?????....They were artisan crafted...it might be a blog where someone is redoing their kitchen or bathroom...Please HELP!!!!!..I had found some chandeliers on there I wanted!!!!

HELP!!!!!......And then go on down and read my previous post from today and last night....~~~~Jen

BILL CALLED!!!!!....BILL CALLED!!!!...BILL CALLED!!!!!

He called!!!..I looked at the phone and caller i.d. said Bill Matthews...I knew exactly who that was...It is the photographer that will be photographing my home for Country Sampler!!!!....He told me that they were planning on coming next month and if something happens then August...He wanted to know if there were any scheduling conflicts...I told him we had already taken a vacation and July was clear...And I can send any new pics of anything new I've done for Donna to see...Because as you know we are ALWAYS adding new things or rearranging which I will share with you...Still don't know about a theme...But I'm crossing my fingers for everyday pics....I'm sooooo excited and I'm sooooo glad that Bill is going to be my photographer since he is the one I've been corresponding with from the beginning as far back as January...And I have seen his beautiful pics in the Country Sampler....So that is what I know right now...I will share more as I get word!!!

Untul next time~~~~~hugs, Jen

Good Monday and a bargain to share!!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far....Today has been a busy day and I LOVE great deals...Last Thursday I stopped by Michael's after going to my oncologist to get my cell counts checked..They were good!!..Praise God!!!...Anyway I decided to run by Michael's to pick up some DMC thread...While there I walked through the store..I found some things I wasn't too happy about...For starters they no longer carry the Americana colors in the shades of blues I have used for YEARS...UGH!!!...I use them on my boxes and furniture!!...Then I had been wanting to get some small wood boxes made into pinkeeps to sell...I have had them painted for some time...Well, they no longer carry those...So I will be keeping the ones I have for myself and adding into my decorating...Sorry!..So I was very disappointed...

But one thing I came across was a smaller shaker cabinet...Now if you look thorough my home I have bought the tall shaker cabinets, cabinets in my bathrooms that have chicken screen and one in my dining room, the cabinet on my sideboard in the dining room, and big shelf with drawers over my faux fireplace in the dining room all from Michael's over the past 10 years I've lived here..They were all unfinished and I antiqued them up...But it's been a while since I've seen anything new...Actually several years...Well, way on the top shelves I saw the shaker cabinets..I think the tag said utility cabinet or something like that...Well, I saw they were $39.99, but with them being so high I couldn't check them out...

After I purchased my thread the cashier told me she had put a coupon in my bag printed out on the receipt...Well, I figured it was probably a 20% off your entire purchase coupon or something not worth my time...But when I got home it said 50% off...YIPEE!!!!!...So you know what I had planned for it!!!...THE CABINET!!!...But it wasn't valid til this week..So since I had to take Taylor over to the campus today to sign up for classes I had to drive right past Michael's...So needless to say I have the cabinet in my possession and at the cost of $21 and some change....AWESOME or what...Now I also got a 50% off for next week also and Taylor got one for her purchases...So you know what that means!!!...

So this is my new vehicle sitting in the driveway that we brought home from our trip to Myrtle Beach on spring break...In the back is my first purchase that I've bought that requires some space...



Here it is.....














Here it is sitting by my taller shaker cabinet....










My taller shaker cabinet has 2 shelves...And the wood on my taller one is thicker..It was made better...I wouldn't have paid $39 for it, but in a heartbeat I will buy another one at $21....I even put it next to my high 4 poster bed and it is the PERFECT height for a side table and I have always wanted this style for my side tables..It just goes to show if you hold out a real bargain will come along someday!!!...HA!

I will paint them up all at the same time, so you'll have to wait to see them and then I will have to choose some new "blue" colors to use now unless I can find the Americana colors at JoAnn's...Or maybe a nice shade of gray, brown, or deep red...Who knows!..Stay tuned!!

Can anyone tell me why I have sooo much space between some of my pics since switching over to mozilla...When I type it up there are no spaces and then I post and there they are...UGH!...I go back to correct and nothing to correct!!!..HELP!!

Until next time...Have a great week!!...hugs, Jen

A New Goode on My Selling Blog!

SOLD!!!!!!!...I just added this sampler on my selling blog...So go check it out!!!..Just click on the link on the right and add the blog to your favorites!!

Thanks!.....hugs,Jen..SOLD!!!!!