Serene places.....

All things feminine

I have not always been in touch with my "feminine side" nor have I always appreciated feminine things. Here are a few things that make my girlish heart swoon.

Oh *Sigh*

This picture epitomizes comfort. I love beginning my day with a steaming cup of chocolate soy milk sprinkled with cinnamon. Hmmm delicious.. It's alway nice to sit somewhere beautiful when enjoying a warm mug. I can just picture myself curling up on one of the chairs overlooking this stunning view.

Lovely Bedrooms

Right now I have a small, cramped bedroom but I have done my best to make it cozy and welcoming. I look forward to one day having a large bedroom flooded with natural light, a four poster bed, and mounds of fresh beautiful linens. I adore pillows and always think that they make a bed look cheery.










One day I hope to have an antique claw foot like the one in the photograph below. It was my mother that nurtured my love of all things old. At the moment my mom has a antique tub in her garden underneanth a grape vine. In the summer she fills it with cold fresh water and soaks the day away. Perfect bliss. I have been contemplating using that lovely tub for the birth of my little one in a couple of months.

A few lovely random things...

These are just a few things that inspired me today.













How I love cloth dolls, esspecially ne as sweetly made as this one.



and last but not least... this delightful little felt pear

Cardmaking.....a delightful pastime

I can't quite remember when I started to fancy scrapbooking and card making, but I certainly love it now. I have collecting various tools and techniques over the years and I am starting to feel more confident about my abilities, although I still agonize over layouts once and awhile. . My husband bought me a fantastic digital crafting tool for Christmas that makes incredible silouhettes and I can't wait to start making my own embellishments. So fun!!!!

An adorable grumpy knitted frog:

Artistic Endeavors.....

I have always longed to be more crafty and artistic, but I have come to realize that this is something that cannot be forced. When Nathaniel and I bought our first home I had an entire room set aside for artistic endeavors. I bought a sewing machine, lovely cloth boxes to store craft supplies, and painted the room an inspiring lilac color. Unfortunately, I rarely spent time in that room… either because it was too hot during the summer or I had other pursuits that demanded my time. Now my husband and I are renting a small room from my parents, as we recently returned from traveling the world and my craft corner, (a small closet with a table and some shelves) has become a frenzy of projects and inspirations. I have been scrap booking, baking, sketching out my future home, designing outfits for the exotic fabrics I collected from overseas, and stringing together wreaths and other Christmas embellishments for my cookie tins. I have been finding an enormous amount of fabulous European craft blogs on the internet, which I find to be an endless source of ideas and inspiration. Today I recently found an incredible website where I could order a custom made stamp with my name on it. I am very excited and I an think of a few friends that would love to have a customized stamp as well.



In the new year I hope to start working with felt, sewing children’s clothing and knitting. I think that felt is such a beautiful and versitile medium. Here are a few pictures of felt creations I found on the website: http://vlijtig.blogspot.com/2008/11/order-you-own-unique-hand-carved-stamp.html Enjoy











I have throughly enjoyed baking this winter. I am looking forward to making some delicious Ginger Crinkles from a recipeI found online. I have definatly eaten a decent amount of goodies these past few months. Hmmmmmm



I think that other the next couple months of my pregnancy I would like to do more sewing projects. This bunny is just darling.

The beauty of the Christmas season....

There is something about the Christmas season that awakens the child in me. I relish digging out my scarves, mittens and wool jackets. I look forward to that first gulp of apple cider, decorating gingerbread and picking out a Christmas tree. I still get excited about the first frost and well as the first snowfall. I doubt I will do any sledding this year as I am nearly 7 months pregnant.



This year I decided to decorate little tins and fill them with baking for my friends and family. I made buttertarts, gingerbread decorated like snowflakes, thumprint cookies and oatmeal applesauce cookies. I also made some handmade cards, as scrapbooking has become one of my newfound passions. I have also been gathering armloads of evergreens on my morning walks.

I can't wait to start decorating the few gifts I have bought this year. Ussually I love bright gypsey colors, but this year I been drawn to natural fibers, linen, lace and evergreens.

children's delights

I love looking around on the internet for whimsical children's rooms and toys.......










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Dreaming of my future home

I love to dream and I particularily love to dream of the home I want to one day build with my husband. I have always had a fondness for old character homes, but I also like barn style homes as well. I like exposed beams, wood floors, big schoolhouse windows, window seats and slanted ceilings. I love homes surrounded by evergreens, but I delight in open meadows as well.



I dream of one day having a garden laden with vegetables, and fruit trees. In the summer I would pick blueberries, cherries, and rasberries to my heart's content and freeze whatever I didn't eat. I would collect apples in my apron and gather sweet carrots from the warm earth.



I dream of a flower garden heged with boxwood and filled to the brim with hydrangas, dahliahs, columbimes, delphiniums, hollyhocks and peonies. I want to gorw lots of cutting flowers so that I can filled my home with fresh blossoms every day.