Sneak Peek

Hello my friends!  I thought I'd never get this sneak peek of my family room up!  I have been terribly sick with an unrelenting cough and so have my girls, so taking pictures has not been at the top of my list this week.  But, finally, I did manage to snap some pictures of one corner of the room where we put up an old mantel that I fell in love with...it has the perfect amount of chippy grey paint on it {don't worry, I did seal it!}...

As you can see, I decided to go with a light grey for the floors as this is a high traffic room...I am so happy with how they turned out!  This room flows right into the kitchen, which is just beyond the mantel.

My flowering branches are just beginning to open.  I have 2 old sap buckets full of them in the room right now to give things a bit of much needed Spring cheer...



I topped the mantel with some of my favorite things...

A lovely little French clock from Maria's new shop...

A stack of old books topped off with some of my French letter collection...



I tucked one of my vintage French ledger pages and a very old print of Paris that I bought at the flea market last month into an old frame {I love the patina on this frame}...

...and old reels of film from the 20's complete the mantel...at least for now, I'm sure I will change this out often :))

In the reflection of this mirror, you can see part of the other side of the family room where I have set up a "craft" table for the kids...





I will be back next week to show you the rest of the room...I am almost done...we still need to hang the curtains and finish painting the tv cabinet, but other than that this project is finally winding down!

I'd like to acknowledge some great sources that helped me complete the look I was going for in this room...

Dreamy Whites Online

Denise's Adornments

Whimsy

Jeanne Oliver Designs

Horton's of Tipton

White Flower Farmhouse

Diane Passi  {one of my favorite vendors at the Kane County Flea Market...for those of you on Facebook, you can check Diane's page for where her amazing finds can be found}

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Tracey

Garden Fresh and a Winner

Happy Friday!  A big thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway!!  In keeping with my whole Winter pick-me-up theme, I thought I would share with you a few more pictures of the Fresh from the Garden shoot I did for Belle Inspiration emagazine last Summer.  As all of my seed catalogs continue to arrive in my mailbox almost daily, I am dreaming of warmer weather and spending time in my garden {as I write this it is -7 degrees here}...

***The winner, chosen using Random Number Generator, of my Winter pick-me-up giveaway is Allison {listed under the link ESM on your comment}.  Congratulations!  You left your email address on your comment, so I will contact you for your address!***

Stay warm my friends!!!  I hope to have at least a sneak peek for you on Monday of the new family room...

Tracey

Winter pick me up Giveaway!

Hello my friends!  As promised, I am back with a giveaway today!!  I thought we could all use a little pick-me-up during the long Winter, so I've put together a few things that might brighten your day a little if you won them :)

First up, is the large burlap bag  {pictured above} with French graphics on it.

And to go inside your lovely new bag, how about a copy of the new Jeanne d' Arc Living magazine...

if you are in need of a little Winter inspiration for you home, this is the perfect decorating magazine for you...there are so many beautiful homes in this issue, all decorated in the signature French - Nordic style that Jeanne d' Arc always brings to us...

And speaking of Jeanne d' Arc, I will also tuck into your new bag one of the French Ledger pillow slips from my SHOP...this pillow is made of 100% white flax {linen} and has beautiful graphics taken from an old French account book dated 1900...

And last, but certainly not the least, included in this giveaway you will get to choose some amazing new products from Eco Natural Soap company...you will receive

any two soaps from their website

As I have mentioned many times on my blog, I am a "green" girl and believe in living an organic lifestyle, and that includes using natural products for myself and my family.  These soaps are completely free of the harsh, toxic chemicals that conventional beauty care products have and are very affordably priced!!!  I love these!

you will also get to choose one of their fabulous body butters

I've started using the Citrus Grove scented "Pure Delight" body butter and let me tell you, it is like sunshine is a jar!  It smells divine and is just what my Winter weary skin has needed!

oh and let's not forget about the super moisturizing lip balm, yep, you get to choose one of those too!

If you have ever thought about making a switch to healthier personal care products for you family, you must visit the Eco Natural Soap website, it is absolutely full of useful, detailed information on why you should be using natural products!

Phew!  Ok, so here is the recap of your Winter pick-me-up giveaway, one winner will receive:

the burlap tote bag

a copy of the new issue of Jeanne d' Arc Living magazine

a Jeanne d' Arc French Ledger Pillow Slip

any 2 soaps from Eco Natural Soap

a body butter of your choice from Eco Natural Soap

and

a lip balm of your choice from Eco Natural Soap

Contest is open world wide and will end on Thursday, January 20th at midnight.  I will announce a winner on Friday morning!

All you need to do to enter is visit the Eco Natural Soap website, take a peek, and come back here and tell me which product you would love to try!  Easy, right?!!

***If you would like to blog, Facebook, or Twitter about this giveaway, you will get additional chances to win!  Just please comment separately for each of those.

Thank you all for stopping by my giveaway!  Good Luck!!

{images 2 - 4 courtesy of Jeanne d' Arc Living}

Tracey

Vintage French Goodness

{French bottle carrier}



Hello!  I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend!  I wanted to let you know that my good friend Maria from Dreamy Whites has {finally} opened her online shop...

DREAMY WHITES ONLINE

If you LOVE all things vintage and French like I do, then this is most definitely the store for you! 

Maria and I have formed a close friendship over the last year...one that I know I will treasure and appreciate for the rest of my life.  She is incredibly talented, with a passion for decorating, but most importantly, she has a heart of gold and a kindness that shines through in everything that she does...including starting up her gorgeous new shop!

{French canning jars}

I hope if you get a free minute this weekend that you will pop over to Maria's new SHOP and see what she has been working so very hard on over the last 6 months to pull together...the styling and photography alone make it worth a peek!!



{Antique grain sack pillow}

{Lavender pillows}

These pictures are all from my home, but are ones that show items I have bought from Maria over the last few months...you see, as Maria was stocking her inventory and grabbing up all things French, we would chat about her new finds and I would kindly ask beg her to allow me to make a few purchases early :))

DREAMY WHITES ONLINE

**I'll be back on Monday with a giveaway!**

Tracey

To Brighten a Mantel

I am all about simple ideas when it comes to decorating, and this is one I have been using for quite awhile now...mismatched tea cups, sugar bowls and creamers as vases.  This time around, I decided to gather a few of my favorites and group them together to brighten up my mantel...



I also tucked a few mercury glass votives and rolls of vintage papers for interest...



I love being able to find a use for all of the mismatched and chipped china that I can no longer actually use for it's intended purpose...they are just too pretty to throw out!  And by taking a couple of grocery store bunches of flowers and breaking them up into all of the smaller "vases," it makes more of an impact while stretching the dollar a bit :)



Happy Thursday and Happy Weekend!

{the hardwood floor in the family room is in!!  but we still need to paint it and put the trim up...it'll be a busy weekend for me}

Tracey

Crafting a little bit of Spring

Hello and good morning!  It's not often that I share anything deemed crafting on my blog, but I was inspired this weekend by  Karla's use of peat pots in the recent issue of Somerset Life.  I have been wanting to add some Spring freshness to the house lately, so I thought this little project might be a good start!

I bought these little peat pots last summer at the French Flea Market I went to in Tipton, Indiana...all because they had "France" stamped on the bottom of each one...I know, silly, but what can I say, that's what sold them to me :))

I wanted to be able to hang little bunches of flowers from my chandelier in the dining room and these peat pots worked perfectly for the job.  All I had to do was punch a hole in the sides and string a little ribbon through...then I embellished each of the pots with simple touches to pretty them up a bit...



Since the peat pots couldn't hold anything heavy, I chose to fill them with dried lavender I had left over from all of those fresh lavender bundles I bought at Trader Joe's over the Summer and baby's breath, which I knew would dry nicely right in the pot.  

The hardwood floor installation in our family room is moving along nicely...my husband finished almost 3/4 of the room!  I will NOT miss the noise of this project nor the mess it has created in the rest of the house, but I am having a ton of fun trying to plan the "new look" for that room!!

What January "get through the Winter" projects are all of you up to???

Happy new week!

Tracey

Snow and Hot Chocolate

Happy New Year!!!  I'm back and trying to get into the swing of things again after my little holiday break.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  I thoroughly enjoyed taking time to just relax, be with family, and slow down for a few weeks.

But, alas, it's time to get back to projects and to-do lists :)  I have started working on tweaking some things around the house...you know how it goes, it's the after you take down the Christmas decorations re-do!  Every year, after all of the Christmas decor is packed away, I feel the need to go around the house and infuse a little bit of new life into each of the rooms...this might just be a vase of fresh flowers added here and there, a fresh coat of paint for an old piece of furniture, or a little rearranging of furniture in some of the rooms...but it helps get me through the hum drum of the long, cold winter.  So I hope to have some things to share with you over the next few weeks!

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of my children playing in the abundance of snow that we had in the month of December...

We made homemade marshmallows for the first time over break...they turned out absolutely delicious and were quite easy to make.  I followed Alton Brown's recipe on the Food Network and was very happy with how they turned out...



My husband will be starting to install hardwood flooring in our family room this weekend, which we will paint {white or light grey, I'm still debating} like we did in Braden's room this past summer, so I am VERY excited about that!!  The house will be a mess in the process, but hopefully in a few weeks I will have a whole new look for my family room to share with all of you. 

Enjoy your weekend ahead!!!

Tracey