Every year since my son was born we have made ginger bread houses. When he was really little we made houses out of graham crackers. That is the easiest to do with little ones.

Then when he got to be  about 4 or 6 we bought the prepackaged houses and would add our own candy.

It wasn’t till a few years ago that we started to make our own houses from scratch. I found a recipe  from a friend and we made our own dough. I drew the house out first and everything I wanted on the houses.Then I cut that out and put the houses together to make sure that it would fit. I actually had a few templates until I came up with one that worked. I then used those templates to cut out the dough.

After rolling out the dough, lay the templates on the dough and cut around. Place these sections on a bake  sheet and bake to temperature in recipe. As soon as the baked ginger comes out of the oven, clean up the edges with a knife. This will make it easier to put together when it is cool. Make sure the ginger is fully cool when you go to ensemble it. I found it helpful to have something for the walls to lean against when putting it together. Start with 2 walls and wait until that is dry before putting up everything else.

We love going to the candy store to find our decorations for the house. The other thing we do is save candy from my son’s trick or  treat bag. We put it in the freezer until December.

These pictures were our houses last year. I’m behind on doing this years houses. Hopefully we will get to it this weekend. I made the dough yesterday during our snow storm. This year I’m going to try a recipe from Martha Stewart. I down loaded her templates and cut them out. I’ll share it when we are done.

Enjoy this wonderful Christmas season.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Tracy

MY TO DO LIST is growing.

Organizing, Sewing, crafting, gardening, cooking and scrap booking ( My son is ten and I only have till he was one. I need to catch up)

So I’ll be spending a little less time on the computer and more time creating & catching up.

Here is two projects I recently finished. It’s a great way to make clutter disappear and look pretty at the same time.

My husband made me this art table a few years ago when I was taken Interior Design classes.

I made a skirt to hide all the container under it. The front I attached with furniture nails. The sides of the table have metal edges ,  I used Velcro to attach the fabric.

This table is an old examining table that belonged to my husbands great grandfather. He was a doctor during the 1920-1950

Sorry for the poor quality of the two pictures above. I’m down to using my cell phone to take pictures. Working on saving $ for a new digital camera. The duck tape isn’t quite working anymore on my old one.

Here is an idea for fall window boxes. These are hardy enough to keep in your window boxes until the snow fly’s.

I’ll leave you with some images of  fall in New England. We are not quite at our peak yet. A couple more weeks of cools nights and the forest will be on fire with color. Everyday puts on a new show.

Enjoy the Fall!!!

Take Care and Have Fun!

Tracy

School is out  & Summer has begun ! ( If it ever stops raining that is) I’m signing off for a couple of months while I enjoy my family over the summer holiday. I will be back in the Fall when the little one is back in school.  I hope you all enjoy your Summer!

Take care!

ox,

Tracy

Colored pencil

I have been so busy lately I really haven’t had time to post . I wanted to share some art work that I have been working on. Drawing nature and people our my favorites. I’m hoping to get a lot more done over the summer. There is so much inspiration in the garden right now. I’m working on some prints right now that I’d eventually like to put in my Etsy store. Myprettypoppies.Etsy.com

Pencil

Pencil

Colored pencil

Ink & colored pencil

Hope you liked them. Enjoy the rest of the Spring! I’ll be back soon with more from Granite Farm.My garden is calling me!

Tracy

I hope that I leave my son with memories of friends &  family gatherings, the way my mom has given me all my wonderful memories.

My mother and I would  go along old country roads gathering wildflowers to put in old crocks and glass vases. We’d gather them and  put them through out  the house. We would  leave some for any outside  tables. Everybody would bring food and their own drinks. My mom’s knack for putting a party together has rubbed off on me. My son gets so excited when he knows we are going to be have company coming over.

I like to add little touches with  candles,  in glass jars. I fill the bottom of the jars with pebbles. ( You can find them at a craft stores or where they sell fish. That’s where I found mine) Make sure not to put them where they would get tipped over by little ones or pets.

Here is some photo’s of how I added a personal touch to the picnic  table, by displaying the food in  a beautiful and unique way. The good dishes are not  just used for the holidays. Take them out of their cabinets and show them off.

As dusk sets in the kids keeping asking when the S’mores are coming out. Having a camp fire and S’mores is a  must at all our outdoor gatherings.

Make a fire pit in your backyard for free.

1-Dig a hole wide and deep enough to hold a few pieces of wood. The fire department said that you have to be able to step over it. So no huge circles.

2-Make sure that there is no grass on the outside of the circle. We put About 4 inches of stone around the fire pit

3-Gather rocks around your yard. Place them on the outside of the circle and on top of the stone gravel you put down.

4- Call your fire department and get a permit.VERY IMPORTANT. They will come out and inspect it. Each town and state is different so call ahead before you go and build it. It would be very disappointing to have to take it apart.

5-Gather your Kith & Kin, food & drink, and great conversation.

6-Don’t forget the marshmallows.

7- ENJOY

Do you have a favorite smell of Spring?

Mine is the scent of Lilacs.

I just love the look of these flowers. In my yard I have three different kinds of Lilac bushes. White , dark purple, and the kind that are above in the photo.

I wished I could remember all the Latin names for them. I do know what I like and how they look though.

I had a bunch of off shoots that I dug up  a few Weeks ago. I’m hoping in about 5 years I will have two areas in my yard that will be in full bloom this time of year. The house will be chuck full of cut Lilacs.

In this part of New England you can drive along any old dirt or paved road and see rows upon rows of Lilac bushes. If you see an old farm house, you can be sure  there is  Lilac bush near by. When I was younger my mother & I use to go around and cut Lilacs from old abandoned properties. One place we use to go to, the Lilac bushes were really full and tall.  Unfortunately that farm house got torn down to make room for a gas Station.

As I write this, I realize that anyone living south of us has already had the treat, of seeing these bloom this year. For us it is a welcome treat from a long , long, cold Winter.

Hope your enjoying your Spring and smelling the flowers.

Enjoy!

Tracy

Over the next few days I will be adding the matching table cloths and napkin ring holders. The table cloths would fit a child’s 24 x24 table.

They would make a great gift for a little girl or even a mom who would like to add a little whimsy to her home.

I just love these colors. They are from the Tutti Frutti collection. The tea cup is from my china tea cup collection. When my mom moved the last time and we bought our house, she gave me all her tea cups.

When I was little we would have tea time. She would purchase lose tea, seep it, and then strain it into the tea cups. There is nothing like fresh tea made from flowers and herbs.

Take a few minutes out of a busy day and grab a cup of  herbal tea. My favorite scenes in Masterpiece Theater Productions are those where the women and men are all dressed up outside enjoying tea. Zoe Wannamaker in The Old Curiosity Shop is shown in a wooded area sipping out of her tea cup when  the main characters in the show come up on her.  A scene from Emma ( I think it was that one) shows all the help lugging tables, food, and linens up a steep hill so there employers can have a picnic up on a hill. How romantic.

Enjoy and I’ll hope you join me in a spot of tea.

Have Fun!

Tracy

Make this Chic looking  bulletin board.

I started with an old frame. I found this frame when I was helping my in-laws  unpack their storage container. They had just moved back to New England. This frame was really dirt, torn and ready to be discarded. I  ripped out the old mat, sanded down the frame lightly, wiped down with a damp cloth, sprayed with  primer, and 2 coats of desired color.

I bought foam board and cut it to the size of the frame. The frame was so big that I had to use 2 sections of foam board. I taped them together with clear duck tape.

After I made sure that the board fit tightly, it was time to wrap the fabric around the foam board.

I used clear duck tape to secure the fabric to the board.

Lay fabric out on table and leave about 3 to 4 inches extra to over lap on to the back of the board.

Iron your fabric first before applying to foam board. Start on the right side of the frame  half way up the board( Start on the longest side of the frame).

Tape and then press down on the tape to make sure it holds securely. Now go to the opposite side you just did and repeat the process.

After you do those two sides move to ( the shorter sides of the frame ). Repeat the process again. Work your way around the board pulling tight all the time. Flip the board over frequently to make sure the fabric is staying taunt.

I used a stapler to fasten the fabric covered foam board to the frame. I used the same method I did with the fabric.

Check out the thumb Tacks. I made them with vintage beads and colored wire.

I wrapped wire around the thumb tack. Once that end was secure to the tack I threaded the beads on to the wire.

To make the flower petals. I threaded seven beads on tot he wire  and twisted the wire around the tack twice and repeated the process two more times.

To make the loops I just added as many beads as I wanted and then twisted the wire around the tack to secure it.

These would make great custom gifts for friends &  family. Think of all the paint and fabric choices. They are endless.

Hope this has inspired you to breath life into some old frames you may have around your home.

Have a great night!

Tracy

I wanted to share this child room with you. My sister-n- law and I designed and decorated this room a few years back for a client. She wanted to move her three year old out of their bedroom and into his own space. They had a  funky little space at the top of their stairway. We gave them hope that it could be a great space for a child, with the right planning.

In a small space lots of storage in necessary. We had my brother-n-law build a custom cabinet to fit in the corner. The higher shelves were for mom, so she could store toys that could be rotated & extra linens. We found the bins at Pottery Barn.

Next on the list was a place for him to sit and draw. And as he got older, he would have a place to do homework. Chalk board paint was used on the desk  top. Kids really enjoy drawing on chalkboards. We  found a red colored coordinating chair. I’m not sure if we got it at Pottery Barn or the Mill Store and the client painted it. We found a wheel around bin( for more toys & extra sitting)  that could also go under the desk.

The book rack on the wall came from the Mill Store. The store  is a great place to find items if your on a tight budget. You can stain or paint them yourself.

The bed we spray painted to match the wall cabinet. The curtains were shower curtains we had found at JC Penny and my sister-n-law made them into Roman shades. We found coordinating  fabric to make cornices. They were very easy to make. Some day I’ll do A tutorial on them.When using Roman shades make sure their our no hanging strings. It can be dangerous. I know in the picture they are hanging but the mother was going to buy the hardware after we left to put the strings up high and out of the hands of the little one.

The bedding came from Pottery Barn. We started the whole design process with that. The client had bought the quilt first and we took all are ques for  color from it.

On the walls we used Benjamin Moore paint. We used a lighter shade blue on the ceiling. This helps make the room feel and look a little bigger. Your eye doesn’t stop at the ceiling /wall line. On the wall that the bed is up against, we used a magnetic paint. We did this so he could put little magnetics on the wall, letters,cars ( another surface to play on).However we were not happy with the results( We had used five coats of paint). It could only hold a very thin magnetic. Maybe the paint has improved since then (this was done 4 years ago). We found the paint at our local Ace Hardware store.

Hope this gives you some great ideas for storage and getting the most out of a small area.

Have a great night & Enjoy!

Tracy

It’s that time of year when families are  in full throttle . Running with the kids to games, school concerts, plays, recitals. The weeks blend into each other until Summer vacation hits.

It’s also one of the most beautiful times of the year. The trees & bushes are in full bloom. They are  decked out in glorious  colors. Each a little bit prettier then the other. It can be a wonderful inspiration to anyone that opens  their eyes and just enjoy the beauty. Even if it’s only for a moment.

Live in that little moment because, like a magnificent Magnolia flower, the moment will not be there for long.

I was talking to a client the other day who was about 20 minutes away from our home town. She said she was driving along and  thought how beautiful all the green and flowering buds looked. She spent the whole time driving home admiring each town as she passed through it. When she pulled into her drive way she realized how beautiful her road was.  She couldn’t get over how she had missed the beauty on her own road, until she took a minute to really look.

So if your life is spinning at a fast pace try to step off the merry- go-round for just a second and admire all the new life that is popping up.

Up here in the Northeast our growing season is not long. We learn to appreciate what we have before the next season begins. Slow down and smell the flowers.