LET YOUR ART GUIDE YOU

I recently saw the movie "Julie And Julia". It was superb. It was not only entertaining, but spoke to me in many ways. I related to Julie and her search for something more than the day to day humdrum of her government job that was uninspiring and did not fulfill her real potential. Like her, I am just starting my 30's, trying to figure out in more depth who I am, and wanting to see more of my creative side.

I am sure I am not the only mother or artist who gets in a rut. Being both a mother and artist can be hard! As a mother you are very often last on the "totem pole" because of the desire to be the best mother you can be for your family. As an artist you can doubt yourself, sometimes get in a rut and need inspiration. Mix the two, and finding time to paint, craft, sew and generally create much of anything, can be a struggle. I often struggle to find time in the day to do things that make my heart pump a little faster and my creative voice start to sing. Like anything in life, if you don't outline a goal, it will never will be achieved.

So, just like Julie who put herself under immense pressure to cook through Julia Child's cookbook in 1 year, and blog about it, I am challenging myself. I am hoping that the pressure will turn my skills and my abilities that are untrained and potholed with doubt, into diamonds just like it did for her.


Here's the goal. I will create a painting each week that I am proud to share with you all. Or I should say that I will share with you, proud or not. It may not seem like much, but for me, this is an undertaking, one that I am gladly going to embark on. I need it. I need to push myself and find more of "Emily, the artist" and hone my skills.

~I WANT YOU~
to join me!

Each Thursday I will show you what I created that week. I want you to do the same. I will have a link that you can sign up with next Thursday and we can all see each others "ART" .

My hope is this will spur all of us on to finish projects, or start some we haven't had the courage to do. Like a group of friends going walking together, we are creating together and putting ourselves under the pressure to do it! To really do it! Through our comments, we can cheer each other on.

Anything goes, a sewing project, a drawing, a scrapbook page, a recipe. It is all art when it is created by our own hands in my opinion.

Are you pumped- are you excited?

I am.

This is my painting for this week.

I made it into a poster for you to use on your blog post. I will have a button next week for our sidebars. I hope you will not be scared, but will join me as we grow together.

Let your ART guide you!!

I promise- we will all grow in ways we could only dream of, if we let our "art" guide us.

xo Emily xo

One World One Heart Giveaway

This is a fabulous blog event going on right now around the world and I have decided to take part.

I am going to be giving away a custom 8x10 monogram to one lucky winner.

All you have to do is leave a comment and the winner be randomly selected on Feb 15th.

Make sure to visit all of the other blogs participating.
Click here to see the full list.

Here is some views of the custom prize you could win.



I totally forgot to share the latest monograms I have made too. Before the holidays it was Monogram madness here. I had so many orders come in for Christmas.

Here are just a few of the newer ones...

More of an modern artsy one.

This style is one of my favorites. Finding the right pages from a very old encyclopedia is like a treasure hunt.

Another abstract kinda thing going on with this one.

And last but not least, a classical beauty.

I sure love making these for people.
BE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE ENTERED IN THE GIVEAWAY

If you are interested I can make them to exactly your specs.
Decorate your shelves, your walls, your front door etc.
They really add a special touch to your home.

Click here to purchase one.

xox Emily xox

And...!!Exciting news for all of you artists!! Click here

Thoroughly Besotted...

For those of you who are unaware, I moved to England from the US when I was 14. It was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. My love of the English people and traditions are deeply cemented in my heart. 17 years ago England was still a slower paced, simpler land. Each day we would go and get our fresh produce, cheese and milk to bring back to our tiny little fridge and home. A huge change from the overwhelmingly big fridges and big everything in the United States, but that was better. It was simple and smart. You took more of the world in on the walks to the High street and took time to think, instead of rush around. It was like that in many aspects of living there. There was so much family and social time as everything shut there at 5:30 pm-everything!! It has now changed and gotten a lot more Americanized with late night hours in shops and fast food chains popping up. Of course it still retains it's classic British nature but it has changed a bit since 1993.

I made such good friends and learned so much about the world outside of America. My outlooks and ideas were broadened. My life has been enriched forever by the 10 years I lived there and marrying an Englishman has only continued my love affair with all things British.

I am sure that any of my readers that have been with me for awhile, will have seen that I am thoroughly in love with an English designer named Cath Kidston. Her English, vintage, country style just really speaks to me, and evokes the beautiful feelings I had whilst I lived in England.

There is talk of a store opening here in the USA but until then, I can just dream of the day when I can buy these dishes. One by one I will collect them, and I know they will look beautiful in my green dining room. Don't you?

My beautiful mother and sister in-law gave me these books for Christmas. My heart jumped when I saw them.

*****LOVE*****


It even included the fabric and tag to make this bag.

Look at this adorable bag with classic scenes of London on it!! Adorable. And it is made out of oil cloth because she is so smart like that.

*Drool*

To all of my English friends and loved ones who read this...(Yes, I can see who visits my blog ;-)
I love you and the time we shared together. You have forever imprinted joy on my heart.
And to all of my other readers- you guys are the best. My readership grows every day and the places from across this earth that you come from daily, just blows me away.
Hello
India, Brazil, China, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, France, Portugal, Denmark and so on.

Muah and thanks for coming to hear my ramblings.

xo Emily xo

Dazzling, Divine, Dining Room Do-Over

Don't freak out!!
This is not the finished product. I bought this baby at Goodwill in Maryland 9 yrs ago for $10. The top was ruined so I refinished the bottom and and marbled the top. It worked then- for the room I needed it in, not so much now.
3 moves later it is in need of some TLC and a face lift.
A coat of white paint would do the trick.

It was built in the 60's and made so well, with such beautiful lines. I wanted it in my entry at first but then I had a miracle take place. I found a brand new Broyhill buffet topper at a discount furniture place for $50- I crossed my fingers, prayed a little and hoped it would fit.

This is the dining room where it would reside before I went to work on it.
So cold, so blahhhhhhh.

And here it is after...

The topper fit like a GLOVE, a glove I tell ya. Like they were long lost lovers reunited!!

This light was on clearance at Lowe's for oh just $30 BUCKS!! I traded out some photography with a friend who wired it up for me. Some holly wrapped around just made it pop for the holidays.

My white tin ceiling tiles with mirrors glued in the middle, off set the other side of the room perfectly. Clearance wreath $ 9-used as a centerpiece with a candelabra I found at a consignment sale for $1.

No, my tree is not still up, that's just how behind on posts I am. ;-)

Inside the buffet I kept a green and white theme going. Most things I already had and just added a few bits and bobs.

This was a simple idea that was really stunning. Christmas bobbles set on some moss and placed under a cloche.

Most of the white dishes came from Goodwill for like .20 cents except for the crown ones.

Such a cheap and beautiful makeover if I do say so myself.
Work with what you have when designing.

Now I just need to find my curtains. I want to find ones exactly like the ones in
"The Sound Of Music".
Remember, the ones Maria cut up to make play clothes?
I'm not having much luck...

xo Emily xo

Denver L-O-V-E birds

This is my sister Mary (and y'all know me) right after we arrived in Denver, Colorado for my brothers wedding. I was so excited to wear a winter coat again and feel the cool crisp air on my face and in my lungs.

I made the "lovebirds" a painting as their wedding gift.
What do you think?

I love the texture and colors of this painting. The sad thing was- in transit a huge hole was ripped in it.

Here are the actual love birds. That's my new sister-in-law Kara and my adorable brother Ben.

They were married here on a glorious sunny morning.

The snow set such a beautiful back drop for pictures.

Look at these wicked purple shoes Kara was rockin'.

And to see my brother wearing a wedding band...weird but so awesome!


At the reception we left messages for the bride and groom on this old typewriter. So cool huh?

My cousin Alison drove 4 hours with her little girl Ella just to see us for 2.
We could all be sisters I think.

This Art Deco hotel was were Ben and Kara honeymooned and it was too beautiful not to show.

Denver is an amazing city and now holds a special place in my heart.

To my sweet lovebirds...congrats and good luck in all that your new journey together will bring.

xo Emily xo

Ghosts of Christmas past...

So Christmas was just 13 days ago and it seems like it was months ago. For me this holiday whizzed by and now is just a beautiful memory. My in-laws made it after going to hell and back with delays and lost luggage but they were here for Christmas and that was all that mattered.

Here are some of the deposits I made in my memory bank...

My little Annabelle forever primping herself or the trees.

Enjoying my house, the warmth and coziness after the crazy dash to get it "done"
(even though I still have curtains to put up).

The abundance and blessings of the many things we have, especially here in the US.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping.

Making our gingerbread house masterpiece that would fall apart minutes after finishing it.

Being with family and the joy it brings.

Enjoying my new dining room and the delicious food we ate there.

Being in the outdoors and cuddling this little lady on a cold walk.

Long walks and watching the bonding with Grandma.

My new boots....LOVE THEM!!!

Canoe rides until the sun went down.

Dress up dress up and more dress up.

Just being with my kids.
Realizing that as each year passes, they grow up a little more, and this time is precious.

For now they are still excited to listen as Grandad reads our traditional "The Night Before Christmas" before they are tucked into bed on Christmas Eve, but that won't always be the case.
(check out my red head trying to make us laugh LOL)


Hoping you and yours had the most amazing memories this year too.

xo Emily xo

Keep Christmas with you all through the year...

This is Christmas to me...
Warm lights, bright colors and spicy smells.

The anticipation of family coming and knowing there will be bonds strengthened again.

Baking and excitement in the air.


Celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world.

Watching little children play, laugh and experience the magic of this season.

(This was Santa riding in on a fire truck a few nights ago with sirens blasting and candy being thrown)

I feel so thankful as this year nears it's end. Thank you for all your support and love here on Art-n-Sewl. Your comments build me up and give me courage to share and try new things.

This feeling of love and joy I hope we can keep with us all through the coming year.
I hope all of you will have a wonderful Christmas and focus on the true meaning of the season!

xo Emily xo

Cheap and Stunning!

I bought these urns awhile back for my porch but I brought them inside to use in my foyer. They were 75% off. I think I paid $5 a piece. I have vacillated on what to do with them and BAM all the sudden it came to me.

Simply use some Christmas lights in the urn and then pile up the cinnamon scented pine cones on top. Sprinkle with snow and Voila...

STUNNING!

This year I am really digging pine cones and a snowy icy effect, not to mention how cheap it is to decorate with them.

Hopefully you are enjoying this Christmas season. I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but it is all going to be worth it.

xo Emily xo

BEST DECORATION EVER!!!!

Well, there is good news and bad news about my Christmas decorations this year

Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.

Kind of feel like I gave in to the man by taking him down but my neighbor did confirm to near miss accidents on the busy street next to my house. I think I made him too real this time

So it was fun while it lasted! Merry Christmas!

(I should clarify...I did not do this trick, though I wish I had. Someone very clever thought this up and I'm just sharing the fun)

I think this is so hilarious I can't stop laughing. It's a sick twisted joke to play on people and somehow that is hilarious. I don't know? ;-)

My hubby wants to do this next year!?!

Have an awesome weekend y'all and get that last minute Christmas shopping done!

Love Emily

Echo echo echo.....

Is anyone still here ?

I'm so sorry. Things have been quite hectic here the last little while. As well as moving, I am busily preparing for my in-laws arrival in just over a week. Can you say pressure? I want everything beautiful and the house just right for Christmas. I have been unpacking, and decorating rooms on a TINY or should I say tiny budget, and actually it has been very rewarding.

I am going to share my downstairs bathroom with you guys today. I am so excited. I still need to do a few more things like put up a little glass shelf and hang the beautiful curtain but I couldn't wait to show y'all.

Here is my theme..."by the sea".
Original I know
;-)

I had to have stripes on my wall. I did this exact same thing 8 years ago when I lived in Maryland and I had missed it. It's a show stopper effect. The glass shelf and my big white coral piece is missing from below the painting, but you get the drift.

I'm in love with this wall. I could sit on the toilet all day and stare at it ;-)

The canvas was made by my sponsor Bags of Love and they are amazing. Please check them out!

This next idea I owe to my friend TiNeill. The first time I went to her house I used her bathroom and in her bathroom sink were all these jewels. I thought she had been doing a craft project and left them there. Well, they were supposed to be there and the water just flows on down the drain over something pretty. SMART!

So I picked sea glass and shells for my sink. I tell ya, I love to wash my hands and watch the colors change when the water hits it and it does make you feel all fancy. Who knew?

I really love how this room turned out. I still have some empty wall space to find some treasures to add to my "by the sea" bathroom but for now I am pleased with it.

Now, I said I did this for cheap... I did. I had almost everything already in my house but when it came together it was harmony, like ebony and ivory, OK someone stop me.

An easy project to do was the shell frames. I bought them at a yard sale for basically nothing.


Cute- but not for my room. So I tore the back off and took it apart. The glass went in the garbage and I got my hot glue gun heating.

I cut up some burlap and frayed the edges and glued it right on the picture.

Then I put a huge dollop of glue on the shell and placed it on.

So effective right?

I am very happy with the results considering the budget and the fact that this room was the only room the previous owners painted. I don't know what they were thinking, but we dubbed it the poop cave. The walls and ceiling were painted poopy brown.
Who would do that ????

I give you photographic evidence of the crime.



Well, I told you I had many things coming up to show all of you. I am so happy in my new home and you know there will be more to come. Can't wait!

xoxo Emily xoxo

Free Christmas gift!

How's everyone doing today? Who braved the Black Friday crowds?
I couldn't do it but I sent my personal shopper to get some sweet deals, otherwise known as...
my husband, sugar bums or honey bear ;-)

To help your wallet this Christmas I thought I would share this with all of you.

This is for a free personalized photo book worth $39.95 AND the shipping is free.

AWESOME huh?


Click here to get yours.

Enjoy gorging on Thanksgiving leftovers today.
Well that's my plan anyway.

xo Emily xo

Winners and wonderful...

Alrighty folks, the giveaway has ended and the winners have been picked.

Drum roll please.......


The winner of the headband is Terresa who said:

"Love the "picnic behind the waterfall" hair band. It is gorgeous. And the tshirt art is lovely, too! What creative genes run in your fam!"

&

The winner of the custom shirt is Jenna who said:

"I LOVE the headbands! I would definitely wear them. And the shirts are adorable! My girls would look too cute in some of the creations.

The family talent runs DEEP! Dang! LOL"

Congrats girls!! Email me your info and I will forward it to my cousins.

I just wanted to share some images from a photo shoot I did this weekend because they turned out sooooo wonderful!
(In my humble opinion)

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving week everyone.

xoxo Emily xoxo

All in the Family... GIVEAWAY !!!

I have some pretty amazing family members. I think there is a creative gene that runs through our families blood and I want to show you why I think this. I have these 2 amazingly talented cousins that are just beginning to show the world what they can do.

First we have Lara. She makes these flipping GORGEOUS headbands and she wants to give y'all a chance to win one.

Aren't they so romantic and vintage.

I bought this one above. LOVE IT! Isn't she so beautiful?

This grey beauty is the one some lucky person will win.
LUCKY!
How cute would this be with some jeans and a white tee and a pretty sweater. Or you could dress it up with your best dress for a night on the town . Oh the possibilities!
Visit her new shop here

Next we have Alison. This girl's sewing puts me to shame. She is brilliant at it and she has decided to start selling her cute things.
She is going to give away a custom monogram shirt to one lucky reader!!

Check out some of her darling shirt designs...






You can see more of her awesome designs here

To enter this giveaway simply leave a comment after visiting their Etsy shop and telling us how cute their merchandise is by Sat Nov 21st.
That's it!

There will be 2 winners announced on Sun, Nov 22nd.

Happy almost Thanksgiving ;-)

xoxo Emily xoxo

I know it's late but...

I had to show you guys my little witch. This picture was taken by a talented photographer named Mindy Edwards at Forever Making Memories Photography. Her button is over on my sidebar now, so go check her out and book a Christmas session with her.

I promise I will be back to full blogging soon. We are still in boxes, eating way too much fast food, but gloriously happy to be in our new house. I have loads of projects and revamps to share as I get this new house decorated. Can't wait for y'all to see.
*insert giddy laugh here*

In other news Alyson at New England Living highlighted a banner I made for her for the Thanksgiving holiday. There is also a beautiful portrait shown by the artist "Audrey Eclectic" of one of Alyson's ancestors who was tried as a witch in Salem, MA.
Interesting stuff, check it out here.


In the famous words of Arnie...I'll be back ;-)

xoxo Emily xoxo

Twists and turns...

I will make a very long story short. In one of my previous posts I described how I felt as though a tornado was nipping at my heels, well, I feel like it is moving on. Finally!! Stick with me till the end because it gets interesting ;-)

We moved to the Charlotte area 3 years ago and decided to rent until we knew that where we were starting out, was where we wanted to put down our roots. We moved into a lovely rental and fell in love with the house and area. We asked our landlord if he would sell the house to us, he agreed and so we began to think of the house as "ours". We did a few improvements and generally felt like this was "home".

6 weeks ago a man came to our door to serve our landlord with papers. We told him we were just the renters and he proceeded to tell us that our house was in foreclosure and that the landlord hadn't paid his mortgage for 11 months!!! We paid him on time, each and every month, only to have him put our money in his greedy little pocket. This sent us in to panic mode and then immediately into action mode. We found a beautiful house that was in our same neighborhood and decided that needed to be home.

Well~ it was a short sale, so we needed approval from the bank which we were told could take up to 6 months. It didn't. They got back to us quickly and last week we closed on our new home!!

I'm in complete love. We were very blessed each step of the way and it has felt like this was all part of our "plan". Like it was meant to be. I won't go into the specifics because we would be here all day long but suffice it to say, the list is long and we were blessed.

Right before we closed we made a very interesting discovery. Hold on to your hats....

I have a graveyard in the woods behind my house!!!! No kidding!!!

I was a little taken back at first but now I find it amazing and strangely comforting. There is a huge old tree that looks over all the graves. The graveyard is abandoned and grown over. Time has forgotten it and the people who were buried there so long ago.

Many of the graves are just these rocks, stuck into the ground, with no markings or any way to identify the person who was laid to rest there. It pangs my heart. Who was this?

Others have names and were buried in the 1920's and 1930's.

This headstone is the first one you see as you walk into the woods.

There are about 40 of these unmarked rock headstones. The neighbors have been told that they could be slave graves or a poor mans burial ground. *sniff sniff*

Some of the graves are knocked down and sunken in.
Ahhhhh...this is a bit creepy.

I plan to take care of this sweet discovery with my kids and not let it be lost in time and grown over. Hopefully there is no lingering ghosties that want to say hello :-)


Have a very
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

xoxo Emily xoxo

Ghost Stories & Haunting Love...

Today is the Halloween blog party at A Fanciful Twist. For the party on my blog, I want you to stop a while and let me tell you some ghost stories and a haunted love story.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Charleston S.C. The city is intriguing and enchanting. You feel as though you are traveling back in time. I also had the pleasure of going on a "Haunted Graveyards" tour at 10pm with my husband. It was exciting and scary. Your blood got pumping as you walked through the cemeteries that have been there since the 17oo's.

We heard scary stories about ghosts who are often seen there. A story that has stuck with me was about a young girl who had influenza, was thought to have died, and was laid to rest in the family crypt but wasn't actually dead. She tried in vain to claw her way out of the crypt even using her relatives bones to boar out of the door. Only 10 years later when her brother died in the civil war did the family know the horror of what had happened. Here is the top of the family crypt...


and as the story was being told I moved away from the group to take some shots of the cemetery and side of the crypt. A strange shadowy figure seems to lurk in my photos. To me it looks like it's wearing an old pirate looking hat but then again it could be nothing. Right behind where I took this picture was the "hanging tree" for the pirates who were caught around the port town. Strange eh...


The night was eery and exciting. The Spanish moss that hung down from the trees, added a spooky feeling to the night. Not to mention when I looked back through my photos and saw what looks like an old scraggly man's profile and cloaked figure in the very right hand corner. Click on it to look closer. Maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me. Or are they....


This headstone was from 1755. The rest were so beautiful in a creepy way.

Now this haunting love story leaves me with chills and a heavy heart. Having known the feeling of true, burning love, I can't help feel such sorrow and sadness for these two lovers.
When we had our little girl Annabelle, my grandmother who is in her 80's, read me a poem that I had not heard. It was called Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allen Poe.
Here it is in Poe's very own handwriting.
Please read it...

I thought it was beautiful but didn't quite understand it until I went on our cemetery tour. Here is our tour guide outside the cemetery where Annabelle Lee was buried, telling us this tale..

Edgar Allen Poe was a young man serving at Fort Moultrie in Charleston. He met his love Annabelle Lee and carried on a relationship in secret with her because her father disapproved of the relationship. She was "high society" in Charleston ( the kingdom by the sea) and her father didn't like her being in love with a lowly soldier. He secretly proposed to her and they planned their life together. She became ill and her father would not let Poe into the home even when it was apparent she was soon going to pass away. She did pass and Poe was banned from the wake and the funeral. The father was so hateful that he would not even erect a real headstone up for his daughter because he didn't want Poe to know exactly where she was actually buried.

Edgar Allen Poe was obviously destroyed by losing his true love and would go to the cemetery at night and would talk and cry over each and every grave, not knowing which contained his love, so that his tears would fall on her.

He was never the same and many say he became an alcoholic and so "dark" because of what happened to him and his Annabelle Lee by the "kingdom near the sea".


It is said that he roams this cemetery still in search of his Annabelle Lee. I think I may have caught him looking for her. If you look closely you can see my shadow taking this picture.
I was the last of the group trailing behind snapping pictures, so I know that no one was standing by me casting this shadow in the distance.

Maybe it is him, in search of his love...


To enter the giveaway for a special Halloween treat from me...

become a follower of this blog and leave a comment.

Have a Haunting Halloween!!!

xoxo Emily xoxo

Tornadoes and Tombstones

Imagine this is me right now. Except I have blond hair, and I'm not rockin some eighties looking outfit, or risking my life for a crazy good picture, but this is how I feel. There's a tornado of chaos and CHANGE nipping at my heels right now, so please forgive me for not blogging as often as I should.

I had such great plans and posts ready, but this "tornado" is engulfing everything right now. I won't be so cryptic soon I promise.

I promised the tutorial on the headstones and they are such fun to make, plus year after year you can get something out that you created with your own two hands. Very satisfying!



So~ here are the ones I have made and I really wanted to make more this year but that pesky tornado won't back off. I can't even decorate for Halloween!!!!
!!!!!ME!!!!!

What you will need is some foam insulation board available at home improvement stores for like $4. I think you can get 3 regular stones cut out of one board or a big one like my Celtic cross above out of one sheet.

Cut out the foam with a good serrated knife or a little power saw if you have one in whatever shape or style you want.
Then I cut out some cracks and nicks to make it look more weathered. Look at the previous photos to see what I mean.
I found these tutorial pics at Martha Stewart. Here is a more detailed tutorial if you like.

Paint the foam a slate grey color. Then start dripping and mottling some watered down black paint onto the stone with an old rag to get the aged feel. This may tale several coats till you get the depth you want.
Add the names and sayings with paint or a big sharpie. It's a lot easier with a big permanent marker.

Here is a site that has some funny sayings to put on them.

Now this where I differ from Martha~the crafting Goddess. I think the moss color should be more green and less pukey colored. The green really pops and looks better in my opinion. Again- scroll up and see the green on my tombstones. Just make sure the paint is very watered down and that way it trickles and runs over the surface more organically.

Take some doweling and hammer it into the ground gently leaving about 5-6 inches out of the ground, then carefully stick the headstones down on it and you are good to go. Those babies are not going anywhere unless of course people steal them from your front yard like they did to me.
I guess they were some pretty good looking tombstones for someone to steal them. ;-)


Have fun and if you make these, I want pics people!!

xo Emily xo

It's here!!! It's here!!!!

~OCTOBER~
is officially here! The best month of the year (in my humble opinion).
Everything is warm and inviting. The smells are spicy and calm, the sun falls on the earth in a softer way. The crisp air in the mornings feels amazing after such a long hot summer here in the Carolina's. I LOVE it.


Exciting news...I was featured here on this cute blog




by Kim at



who was making a guest post. She loved this tiny graveyard I made last year.
Awesome huh?

I will give a short and quick tutorial on how to make it.

I bought the tiny headstones at Micheal's. They are for the mini spooky town's and haunted houses. I can't remember the exact name of the company that makes them but they have a whole aisle for all the things you can buy to decorate them.

I took some green moss, piled it in and make some mounds a little bigger than others. Just go for it. You want it to look organic, not perfect.

I placed them where I thought they would look best, then simply hot glued them onto the moss.
Voila~ a mini graveyard.

Everyone who came to my house had to go close to it and inspect it. It is enchanting.
I called it my fairy graveyard ;-)

Here is the link when I blogged a little about it last year. The post was for a Halloween blog party and all of the pictures are mine, and all of the decor was mine, and I will be explaining how to make a lot of the projects in the next few weeks.
The headstones in my yard are a blast to make and last forever. So come on back y'all.

It's October!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

xo Emily xo

Fall in the country and LOVE in my heart...

The US Country Living has a great issue this month. Here are a few of my favorite pics.

I just want to move to wherever this enchanting place is.

OH SO DIVINE!

I would be a happy woman if I could sit here and read. Isn't this just beautiful?

Awww Fall... I love thee, but not as much as my darling husband. (Close though ;-)

We had our 12th wedding anniversary yesterday.
How has the time gone so fast and who knew you could love someone more than the day you got married? Meeting him in England all those years ago is one of the greatest gifts that God has given me.

I LOVE this man and he does complete me!

xo Emily xo

Autumn Wreath Ideas

Another easy project for you all. An easy Autumn wreath.

I had this old one laying around and it used to have 12 pumpkins or gourds on it. They have been plucked out by my little ones and used as balls or whatever they have decided to do with them *rolling eyes*

Micheal's has these little baby crows on sale. I think it was $1.25
I originally bought a few to put on my "tree" but one needed to perch out on the wreath.

The fake feathers were bought for $2.99 for about 50. I have plans for the others but a few popping out looked great to me.

I made a small monogram to hang in the middle of the wreath. I think it looks fab and I can still make some custom ones if any of you want.



Quick, easy and cheap!

Recycle, re-use and make do I say.

xo Emily xo