Sunday Blessings

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God: believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions.

John 14:1

Spicing Up the Kitchen Cabinet

I must start by saying how desperately I want to paint our kitchen cabinets.

Problem is, dear husband refuses to allow me to do it. The conversation usually goes something like this:

me: I want to paint the cabinets.

him: Absolutely not!
me: Why?

him: Because they're fine just the way they are. They're perfectly good oak.

me: Yes, I understand that but I can't stand oak. It makes the whole kitchen look very outdated. Wouldn't they be so pretty painted a warm, creamy white with just the perfect amount of antiquing in all the right places?

him: No.

me: But it would really make them pop against the red painted walls.

him: I don't want the cabinets to pop.

me: come on...PLEEEEZZ???

him: No. I always let you do the things you want in the house but I really don't want you to paint the cabinets. I like them just the way they are.

Anyway, you get the picture. In his defense though, he did let me paint our bathroom cabinets which are also his beloved oak.

So for now I must improvise.

I was reading through Angela's blog, Parisienne Farmgirl and I saw something that she did, which I love!! You can click on her blog name above and it will take you directly to the post I'm talking about.

She does these great posts called "Design On a Centime." I have come away from these posts so inspired. I did something else too that was directly inspired by another one of her posts. (I'll share that in another post) She totally rocks. I'm sure most of you already know exactly who I'm talking about, but if you don't, go check out her blog. You will LOVE it! I can promise you that.

Okay, so she has this cabinet and she removed the doors, installed beaded board in the back and then created a gorgeous vignette inside. She has a beautiful kitchen as well as creamy white cabinets that I'm pining for - haha!


So I thought, I could do something like that to hold me over until maybe one day Mr. French Cottage relents - fingers crossed.

I removed the doors and put up some striped ticking fabric in the back.

Then I filled it with some of my favorite copper pieces, cookbooks and other pretty odds and ends.

I like the way it turned out and it does detract a little from the oak cabinets

It's the unused, hard to reach cabinet above the refrigerator so it was the perfect cabinet to try this in.
I put my rooster lamp with the toile shade up on top of the fridge as well as my cherub fountain.

Here is the whole thing.

I'm liking it!

Thanks Angela, for the inspiration!

Alright, now I have to figure out what to do with all of the JUNK that was up there. It was a landing spot for EVERYTHING that never had a proper home before. I should probably go and get rid of it all. It's only been up there for 10 years or so and if I haven't used it before now, I probably don't need it anyway. Right?

Have a great Saturday and enjoy the weekend!

xo and God Bless,

Kathleen

Fun With Sheet Music

Here's a fun, quickie project with great results! I know I have come across these types of candles several times while happily skipping through blogville but of course can't remember specific blogs that had them. So...here is my version of it:
First, I started with a prayer candle from Wal-Mart. I got it for $1.00 and I purchased the plain glass ones because I just don't have the heart to cover up the candles with pictures of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin Mother on them.
The only other supplies you need are some sheet music, hemp twine, burlap scraps, scotch tape, and some scissors to cut the twine. Figure out how wide you want your sheet music to be and then carefully tear it to give you a nice, worn looking edge. Wrap it around the jar to cover the candle and then tape it into place. Now all you have to do is place your burlap where you want it and then wrap some twine around the whole thing. Tie it up all pretty and voila! You've got yourself a super cute, Jeanne de Arc-esque candle!

Oh, and one more thing. When you make your candle, please remember to make sure that there is not ANY paper in the way of the flame. We don't want to start any fires now do we?

Enjoy!!

xo and God Bless,

Kathleen

Enjoying the Sweet Summertime

Yes, I know it's been awhile...we've been really enjoying the summer. I guess I took a much longer break than I realized!

We spent some time in South Carolina...

enjoyed a day at the park here in our own town for a fantastic 4th of July celebration!

Continue to eat WAY too much ice cream - is there such a thing as way too much ice cream? I think not!

AND...look who's growing so fast I can hardly believe my eyes!

She's got quite the little personality too. She's so incredibly sweet and mild tempered and her brothers are just smitten with her.

Anyway, we've been living it up, having fun and just thoroughly enjoying the summer. Been spending lots of time at the swimming pool

Lying around in the backyard...

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to kick off our shoes, spread a blanket on the grass and pull out the books - after a lovely hour or so spent at the library picking them out and doing puppet shows in the kids area of course!

We just started Nicholas today.

It's about a French schoolboy and all of his mischevious adventures...so far so good.

Of course, what is an afternoon spent reading in the yard without a little Beatrix Potter?

One of my guys is off playing with his friends, so he didn't join us this afternoon. You've got to take advantage of this time when they're young because all too soon, they want to be playing Star Wars with their friends and sitting on a blanket in the backyard is not quite their favorite activity any more. He and his friends would rather pretend that our blanket is the enemy ship and come after us with their light sabers than sit quietly with us - haha! However, I still have 3 who like to read with me so I won't cry too much - not yet anyway!

And when all is quiet and naps are being taken, I come here

or here

or here.

They're perfect spots in the evening too with a candle burning, watching the kids chase lightning bugs through the yard. Oh...the summer is such a heavenly season. I love the way everything just slows down for awhile and I especially love the long days.

Take some time to enjoy the summer today and I will be back (sooner this time) to show you some fun little projects I have been working on. Have a great day!

xo and God Bless,

Kathleen