Au Naturel

Last Sunday afternoon my hubbs and I decided 

to take a little nature hike

into the park that borders our subdivision.

There are great trails that wind through the woods

which are frequented by joggers and nature lovers alike.

The post I did last Friday for Vintage Inspiration Friday

really had me ready to get outside and see what I could find.

I wanted to find some acorns since I've been seeing

 all the faux ones out in stores and blogland.

This girl was just not gonna pay 7 bucks for a small handful...sorry.

As you can see above our walk yielded some specimens

along with some walnuts in all their yummy "green-ness"

maybe I'll start a new fad...

decorating with stinky green walnuts!

(I actually love this fresh color of green!)

I've had this great little metal carrier stashed out in the garage

just waiting for this kind of display.

I used some faux and some real leaves in the mix.

Added two of the smaller "Salty Caramel" candles with the goodies,

all on a bed of dried moss.

Don't tell, but I had to glue the "caps" back on these little critters.

So, here are some of the sites along the way.

Lots of bluebird houses with little wire mesh stoops.

Pretty typical woods 

with a great display of color on the trees.

The fences on the back of the houses across the street.

Whatever this once was had been there a long, long time.

So we wandered around the trails for quite a while.

talking, laughing, picking up bits and pieces.

There were lots of bird noises, rustling in the grass, and leaves falling...

But I heard a noise and we looked in that direction...

can you see what we saw?

How about now?

I have to tell you my husband was beyond excited!

He loves to go to "Deer Camp" each year,

but really enjoys the "male bonding" and walking around in the woods,

and oh yea, not bathing for days at a time.

(wouldn't want the deer to smell ya...)

Wow, this was one handsome really big guy,

Couldn't tell if he was an 8 or 10 point.

But he was used to hikers so he wasn't spooked, 

he took his time and stood right in the middle of the trail

watching us for several moments...

then wandered on his way.

So we both enjoyed our afternoon.

Then I put this together today so I could share the fun.

I hinted at what my big project was Sunday afternoon.

I'll share more Thursday

when I search out some Fall Outdoor Dining inspiration.

Hope you'll come by;

Hope you're having great Fall weather,

xoxo,

Vintage Inspiration Friday #28 What can I do with that...?

If you're like me, and a junker at heart,

then you can't let a great find pass you by;

even if you don't know WHAT it is or what you could do with it.

A few years ago my hubbs located these

glass and hardwood whatchamacallits at a swap meet.

The first thing to be said was that OK,

... these are cool,

...what are they?

...what could we do with them?

...why are there only 3 of them?

After doing some investigation on the Internet,

I found out these rectangle boxes with glass inserts,

are old door window insets.

When I was young we lived in a house with these stairstepped on the front door,

sort of like this one, except our door was a blue gray.

(google images)

I try to grab every "Bird Book" and print I can find. The illustrations and information, especially if they are vintage, just fascinate the nature lover and artist in me. Soooo, my love for bird prints and old junk got married!

Below is my vintage Lefton birdie

Our rooms downstairs are more rustic with a lot of wood.

The mantel is really huge and with the red brick it's difficult

to keep the rooms from being too dark.

So I try to keep white and light on the mantel.

Some of my ironstone has found a happy place there and it just doesn't want to leave.

other birdie figurines from Czechoslovakia

I can't tell you how many times I DIDN'T make that purchase

that I later kicked myself for.

Go with your gut...

if something grabs your attention,

you'll usually find a use for it someday!

And speaking of birdies and Spring

can an old wire birdcage get by as a "cloche"?

joining Marty for Spring Cloche Party

And now for some wonderful inspiration from last week,

One of my favorite people,

Rebecca at a RE Purposed Life

Spring Wreath

Sissie's Shabby Cottage

Retro Pillow

Shanty Girl

Chippy Door

The Shabby Chick

Happy Spring

Honestly, there are so many wonderful posts just full of inspiration.

Thanks so much, all of you who link up for the party!

I'll be joining these great parties this weekend.

Just click to visit!

        

        

             

                     

And I'd love you to grab my VIF button for your sidebar

We're having our Spring Open Houses this weekend,

hopefully, next post I'll have photos!

Have a great weekend,

love you all,

Debra

Holy Matrimony

Today is our Anniversary and I wanted to share a little of what I did yesterday.

The urge to re-do the hall sideboard got the better of me,

but I'm only showing one shelf of my makeover.

I found this Marriage Certificate from December 30, 1924

and decided it needed to be the focal point for my creative project.

I love old documents, and the graphics and fonts on this are just beautiful.

It makes me a little sad to think this wonderful keepsake found it's way to a flea market.

December 28, 1972

Still in love all these years later...

 

(image from photofunia)

Today I'm linking up with Kathleen for White Wednesday

And Marty for Table Top Tuesday

Come join in for

 Vintage Inspiration Friday

 I'm showing the rest of my re-do.

(It's a silver extravaganza!)



love you all,

Debra