Bye Bye February.

.... Hello March! It was a lovely month but the

snow today has made me more excited for March.

The month of Spring, the month of Leprecauns,

the month of hope and promise for new growth.

Are you excited to say bye to February?

And a happy hello to March and Spring?

~ Chy

Home Tour #2.

Welcome to the 2nd instalment of our

little home tour as I guide you along.

Our piano, gifted to our family from

my grandparents. It is from the 1930's.

Still shiny with beautiful wood, pretty

curves and an ambiance that is perfect.

We the piano in our sunny turret when

we moved in and then moved it to the

dining room that Christmas when we

needed room for the tree in the window.

On top, we have a pretty lace runner

we found at the antique mall. Love it!

And a cake stand with candles and tags.

I made these with my Cricut. So pretty.

It ended up being the very first thing

that I made with my Cricut. I'm still

practicing and getting the hang of it.

I see how it will benefit my projects.

The little candles were from the dollar

store. They shine and sparkle nicely.

The tiny shadow boxes on either side

of the piano. A great frugal find from the

charity shop in town. I love when we

can find items that are mint and cheap!

We still need to finish the curtains but

again, we are getting there, one baby

step at a time, one project and one list

of items to still tackle. So much fun!

That's the end of the 2nd Home Tour.

Stay tuned for the next post for #3.

~ Chy

Blizzardy Day.

We woke up to a blizzardy landscape

of snow, sleet, wind and low visibility. 

My pots blew over and the wind was

pushing the snow across the sidewalk.

The road was now covered and we knew

the drive in to town would be not great.

But we made it home, safe and sound,

to our little warm and cozy cottage.

~ Chy

Turret Desk.

I love writing at this desk, on quiet days,

when everyone else is at work or busy.

The sun right now is not too hot, so I

can sit for quite a while. Once Summer

hits, I'll have to move but for now, I am

loving the view and the sunny warmth. 

~ Chy

Shadow Boxes.

We have 6 shadow boxes all lined up in

our upper hall, waiting to be filled up.

One for each of our living children (4),

one for each of our babies who died at

birth (2) and in time we'll find smaller

versions for our babies who were all

born between 6 and 16 weeks. Each of

our babies, grown up and forever tiny,

have been named, and all deserve to be

remembered and cherished. Hence the

shadow box project. The big job will be

to decide which items to place in each.

~ Chy

Spring Mantel.

I've started to figure out what needs

to be decorated around the cottage.

Came around the corner of the foyer

and found a few holiday decorations

I missed. They came down and now

the tiny mantel at the front door, with

its matching mirror, is all ready to be

decorated for Spring. The "picture"

in the middle is actually an allusion.

It's a fabric picture hanging on the

back of the front door. It looks like

it's part of the mirror but rest assured,

it's not! A neat shot though. I didn't

discover it until I was downloading.

Are you starting to think about Spring?

Do you have some decorations in mind?

~ Chy

My Haven.

My sweet little office in our tiny hamlet

is almost all renovated and set up. I still

have a few more boxes to unpack, some

pictures to hang on the walls, and one

more cabinet to paint. I've been using the

space since we got the key last year and

have had to reno it in between the other

work that always comes first. It is very

slowly coming together. Found out that

the paint color is called "Haven." Perfect!

~ Chy

Light & Shadows.

The other day, I stepped out on the back

deck and marveled at the light and the

shadows reflecting across the icy snow.

Pure silence in the air, with a tiny breeze.

Our stone bench where we are planning

to create a Memorial Garden. A sweet

little oak tree that has lots of growing

to do. But we have time ~ lots of time.

My potting shed, sitting pretty and set

for Spring. It's all organized inside, just

waiting for the snow to melt and the air

to warm so we can start planting again.

~ Chy

Bulletin Board.

Creating a bulletin board for our laundry room.

For schedules, receipts, notices and coupons.

Matching the paint for the trim to the sage

cabinets. I created almost an exact match. 

Once it's dry and I hang it up, I'll post the

end result. Looking forward to our finished

communication board. Should help us stay

organized and set each week in a busy house.

~ Chy

New Mattress.

I discovered by accident a local artisan who makes

miniature bedding and linens. And I ordered ....

.... this sweet little mattress for the iron bed I have

on order for one of the dollhouses. I love the details

and even the way she packaged and sent this along,

with an extra gift and the card she makes for each

order. I have her listed now as one of my favorite

stores to shop from. I so love talented miniaturists!

~ Chy

Night Cottage.

I often wonder what our cottage looks like from

the little lane we travel down to get home. We

don't typically see much of this sweet view as our

entrance and driveway are on the left hand side.

It was lovely the other night to stop on our walk

and take a picture of this view. We are currently

thinking about adding a secondary entrance through

the trees on the left so guests would see more of

the front of the house. But it's not a cheap expense,

so it's something we'll really have to consider. Our

guests have a lovely drive in and then once parked,

they start to walk along the path and the house

kind of blossoms as the walk continues. And we

are in the middle of creating a "Secret Garden"

theme between those trees and the house. Lots to

consider as we work on the landscape of our home. 

Can your guests see your home as they drive up?

Or, like ours, is it a bit of a mystery at the start?

~ Chy

Evan Hansen.

We have season tickets to one of the

big theatres in the Big City each year.

For this year, we've see "Waitress" and

"Rent." Both were incredibly well done.

The theatre staff always creates a drink

special for each show. The creation for

the show we saw last week was blue,

with chocolate hearts on the side. The

performance we saw was on Valentine's

Day, hence the amazing chocolate hearts.

The show "Dear Evan Hansen" was in

the moment, the best show we've ever

truly seen. Brilliant. Inspiring. Heartfelt.

I want to see it again it was THAT good.

We're now singing along to the songs

at home and when we're driving along.

If you have a chance to see this show,

do. I highly recommend it for all to see.

~ Chy

Sun & Snow.

Winter continues to be strange this

year, just like our weird Summer was.

We've had no snow, lots of snow, melting

snow, falling snow and now raining snow.

However, we've also had a lot of sun and

that somehow always makes the snow ok.

Another sunny day here in our neck of

the woods. Melting will occu all week

as our weather forecast is for 2's to 4's.

I cleared away the snow from the sump

pump area and the long downspouts to be

ready for the onslaught of fast water that

is bound to happen with all this melting.

Spring is almost here ~ I can feel it!!

~ Chy

Home Tour #1.

I see so many posts of little tours around bloggers homes, so I thought it was time to do a more intentional post (or many!) of our little cottage. Today, our bookcases that surround our fireplace. Actually, just one. I'll show the other one another day. This one is actually my favorite but don't tell dh that! We both took over one unit each once we moved in. His bookcase has his items. My side, my stuff. 

We all love to collect books and have a number of spots to house them. I chose books that I love, books that I still need to read, books that are vintage, books that are gifts and books I hope to pass along to my children and grandchildren. All have a reason for being where they are, and this is true for all the bookcases and shelves around our little house.  

I love this goblet. I originally had a plant in here but as bright as the house is, it just wasn't a light spot and the plant did not thrive. Now I have soaps and some memory items and a sweet little mesh butterfly. Hanging from the butterfly is a Willow Tree collectible I received as a gift. A tiny china teapot from a child's set, a four leaf clover thimble and a sweet little pot of flowers that one day will go in to the garden of the finished dollhouse. I won this item the first year we attended the Annual Dollhouse Show. 

The Valentine's card I gave my dh this year. There is a funny story behind this card. I may have to share it one day!

And the card he gave to me, which also happens to have a funny story. We both spend quite a bit of time choosing cards and I have kept all of them over the years. Now they are securely stored in our art studio. One day, they will be tucked away in to a scrapbook or two. Precious keepsakes.

Last year, we found this amazing candle on sale at Indigo for just a few dollars after Christmas. It was originally expensive but the Boxing Week Sale was perfect. I love the scent of trees and this one delivers. It should have done in to the storage boxes for holiday items but I've kept it out for now. I often walk by and talk the lid off to enjoy the smell. 

Vintage books holding up that sweet smelling candle and a tree of life a dear friend crafted for me. I found these three small volumes at the antique mall one day. I haven't read them yet but loved how they looked stacked up. 

So that's the end of this first tour of our little cottage in the big woods. I look forward to showing more corners of our home. I love home tours on blogs and hope you enjoyed this little one from our cottage to yours, on this snowy, windy, cloudy and now sunny day! Enjoy your weekend ....

~ Chy

Driving Home.

 

I'm sure you're tired of pictures of
snow and ice. Believe me, so are we!

Our drive home the other day. No

sun, just sleet, ice and more snow.

As we pull up to the cottage, you can

see the back garden, our pergola and

my tiny potting shed in the distance.

It's pretty now but Summer is better.

Home! Thinking about adding some

gingerbread trim to the dormers. I

love homes with added architecture.

What would you do with this space?

~ Chy

First Audition.

This tiny boy had his first big audition

last week for a movie shoot this Spring.

Get tips and pointers from his grampa

(filmmaker/actor) and his uncle who

lives on the coast and is very involved

and even teaches acting. This tiny boy

did amazing and even if he doesn't get

the role, it was a really great first time

experience for him. He's happy with

his first audition and has his fingers x'd.

~ Chy

Project Update.

Our tiny bakery is starting to develop

it's personality. The door is now black

and the exterior walls are now a sage

green. White trim around the windows.

Still have to decide what kind of floor

to put down. I'm leaning towards a nice

scrapped wood floor but have to google

to see how to do it well. Research is so

much fun ~ I get so many great ideas.

Wish I could do them all. I know one

day we'll have more time but for now,

I carve out time once my work day is

done and do as much as I can when I

can. It works. No time limit. All good.

~ Chy