Sheer Bliss...

What does this...

this...

and this...

feel like?

sheer bliss...

That is how I felt on Friday night. 

*sigh*

Guess what...

You can feel this way too.

I picked up an extra copy, just recently
 released Flea Market Style magazine
for one lucky Whimsy reader...

Simple to enter,

Just leave a comment letting me know 

if you are a follower/or are now following and...

A question.

 What do you enjoy, 
or would like to see more of?

See...s.i.m.p.l.e.

You are on your way to sheer bliss too...

This giveaway ends Thursday,
 March 4th at 9p.m. pacific time.

Good luck!

Beautiful Rooms...

I will be announcing the winner's of My Favorite Things...Blog Anniversary on Monday.  Excited to see who the 5 winners are!!  If you haven't entered there is still time...at least until midnight pacific time tonight!  It is easy and you could be one of the lucky ones with a fun little package coming your way.

Thank you to everyone who has given me such nice compliments...your thoughts are treasured and mean a lot to me. There is so much I want to share with you all and working hard on creative ideas and projects.  I hope you know how great I think all my readers are! I feel blessed. 

I wanted to tell you all... I was featured by Jen@Tatertots and Jello blog last week for my Open Shelving project on the Weekend Wrap Up Party. It made my day!  I adore Jen and just think not only is she so very talented, but just such a genuine and beautiful person!  Happy to call her friend.  Thank you Jen...that meant a lot!  If you have not been to her blog for a visit, it is a must.  You will be so happy you did and want to follow along on her journey as well.

Thought I would share some rooms that I think are serene and beautiful.  These photos are inspiration to me and what I want to create in my own home.  Enjoy...

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

 

All photos via~Google

 Love all of these!

I hope you all have a relaxing or productive weekend.  I will be lost in my kitchen working away to show you more projects next week.  I am hoping mine will be productive!

Hugs to you all,

The Question...

I have a question for all my readers and hope you can help me in narrowing my decision.

Mr. Wonderful and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last Thursday.  We usually exchange a special gift with one another...something we put our thought into. This year I had been telling dropping hints that all I wanted this year, was...a new camera.

The camera I have been using for all my photos has been good, just not "good" enough.  Being that I am a very visual person...a picture really does tell a thousand words.  Many times I am drawn into following a blog or interested in wandering through a blog, website, etc. because of the beautiful photos.

I have a love affair with photos that show vibrancy of color, fine little details or a washed romantic feel.  Here are just a couple of examples of some photos I liked from Google....

 

  

Via~Google

I would love to try and capture photos that look like this. 

Mr. Wonderful originally picked out a nice camera for me.  I told him not to spend too much and stay within a certain price range.  He has dabbled some in photography and has always had a preference to Canon cameras.  One of the cameras we have is a Canon that uses film instead of a memory card. I would use it, but I know then I would never have any pictures to show you all,  because I want instant results. 

So...back to where I was...he had picked out a camera that he thought would get the pictures I wanted but was not a DSLR.  He ended up buying a Nikon P90 and I was happy...that was until we went out to dinner.

Mr. Wonderful had set up reservations for our anniversary dinner at a very nice restaurant in an area that is know for historical Inns and places.  We were looking forward to an evening of just the two of us enjoying a unique meal of different foods we don't normally eat...such as wild boar, elk, red deer.  I thought, I better bring my new camera and have someone take some pictures of us,  I wanted to take some of the food and surroundings.

As the evening went on and I kept snapping pictures here and there...(is it just us bloggers that do this?)  I could see in the view finder that the pictures were not coming out as I had hoped and they had a yellowish hue.  I wasn't too worried thinking that once I edit them in paint, they should be just fine.  That was not the case at all...nothing was helping them. I usually take some good pictures, but for having a new camera that was a higher quality than what I already owned....I was not happy. 

We both agreed, it needed to go back and we would look a little further to see what would be a good camera for me.  

I have decided to go with a DSLR.  I don't need anything too fancy being that I still am in the beginning to intermediate stage of photography.  Something just enough to keep me content and easy enough for me to learn how to use it.  We are looking at two different cameras and are wanting to see how each one stack's up to one another.  They both are in the same price range.  

So the question I have for all of you...which camera do you prefer and why? 

Here are the two brands we are looking at....Canon XSi/450D vs Nikon D3000.  I have heard good things about both....just thought I would ask the experts...all  my bloggy friends! Would love to hear your thoughts before I make my decision.

 

VS

 

Don't forget...if you haven't entered My Favorite Things Giveaway there is still time before this Friday Febuaray 26th to enter to win! You can click the link at the top of my page on the side bar and it will take you there. It is a fun giveaway and lets you know a little more about me.  5 lucky winners will win 1 of the 5 pkgs I have shown.  

Look forward to reading your comments. Thanks!!
Hugs,

My Favorite Things...Blog Anniversary

Amazing how fast a year can come and go.  When I started blogging a little over a year ago, I never realized how much it would change my life. 

The fall before 2009 I had decided to start designing and sewing handbags, aprons, pincushion's, and more. I wanted to do something from home that would allow me to be with my family, but also give me a little extra income for things I wanted to do in our home. I started doing some research on the computer for things I would need to do in order to start my business and came upon a site called Etsy.  


This was an amazing site to me...full of creative, talented women and their businesses...I felt an instant connection.  Women just like me that loved to sew, design, paint...women who still wanted to be home with their families, but also to fulfill their dreams of creating.  I started noticing on some of their Etsy sites a thing called...a blog.

I had heard very little about blogs and wasn't even sure how to start one. I knew it was something like a journal and had a couple of friends who had blogs about their families. I for one very rarely wanted to use the computer, in fact most of my friends and family knew I was not very good about checking  my e-mails...my thought " I just don't have time." 

Little did I know that my world was about to open. Blogging was going to add many new friends, inspiring ideas and new possibilities to my life. How grateful I have been for the happiness it has given me in being able to share my thoughts, ideas and design with all of you. Thank you!

With unexpected news of moving last year, I decided to wait on opening my Etsy until after we had moved and settled. I wanted to be able to focus and give my energy into doing what I love...creating! I am happy to say, that I am hoping to open my Etsy late Spring and have lots of  ideas I am excited to design.

I thought, what better way to celebrate my blog anniversary than to share my favorite things.  I wanted to give you a little more insight about who I am.  Here are just some of the things I love...

 

Pictures via~Google

A few of my favorite things... 

 1. Cellos...one of my favorite instruments. I used to play and miss it.  I want to play again.

2. Janet Hill...I love her beautiful paintings!  I have 3 of her prints I am excited to frame and display in the dining room. 

3. My favorite color...turquoise! I love splashes of it here and there in my home, just puts a smile on my face. 

4. Chandeliers, you can never have too many!

5. I love when my toes are painted red...it just makes me happy!

6. Cake design fascinates me.  I like to dabble in it, but would love to devote time to learning so much more.


7. The Beatles is my all time favorite band!  I grew up listening to all their songs on the record player and still love their music.

8.I have a love for flowers.  Peonies is just one of my favorites along with Dahlias, Hydrangeas and Gerber Daisy's!

9. I love to drink ice cold water!  I very rarely order anything else when we go out and it is what I always want at home. 

10. Tanya Whelan is an amazing fabric designer!  I have fallen in love with all her collections.  Beautiful!

11. My favorite food...this was a toss up between Chinese and New Mexican...being raised in NM, it won!

12. Blue Topaz is one of my favorite gems. It is gorgeous!

13. Carrie Raphael is my favorite Interior Designer. She is so inspiring and love her pops of color with soft pastels.

14. Cheesecake is my very favorite dessert...plain or topped with blueberry's!  Yum!

15. I have a dream of going to France.  Not necessarily to see Paris, but the countryside.  Someday... 

16. Ina Garten...great recipes!

I hoped you enjoyed learning a little more about who I am.  I put a lot of thought in what I wanted to giveaway for my Blog Anniversary. There are many parts that make up me.  What better way than to give you all a chance to win some of my favorite things! 


 Here is how it will work.  I have 5 different pkgs. to giveaway to 5 Whimsy readers/followers.  I want you to decide which one is your favorite and that is the one you will leave a comment about to enter.  I am going to give 2 other ways to make your chance of winning even better...  

1. If you follow my blog or are now following, leave a second comment.

2. Post on my giveaway gives you a 3rd entry.

It's that easy...o.k. maybe it won't be that easy trying to pick just one of the pkgs. for your favorite, but entering to win...that is!

So here goes, more of my favorite things that you all can win...

 Beauty

1. Of course one of my very favorite things is my beautiful daughter...but the giveaway is the scarf! I love scarfs...this one came from Macys.  

2. I get told all the time that I couldn't possibly have 5 kids and that I look  like I am 25...I am turning 37 this year!  I have been using Oil of Olay since I was in High School...proof that it works. ;)  

3. My very favorite scent...Love Spell by Victoria Secrets! I never tire of it and everywhere I go I get compliments on how "good" I smell. It is after all my secret...   

4. Winter time is the worst on my skin.  I am constantly having to keep my feet moisturized.  This foot scrubber is the best one I have ever used to keep your feet smooth!  The foot balm is extra protection.  Keep all your cuticles soft with almond oil...it is the best!  It also helps your polish dry faster and smells good too!

5. For beauty and health tips, Allure is a great magazine! 

6. Mentha Organics from Bath and Body. The greatest lip gloss e.v.e.r!  A friend gave me some as a gift years ago and I have never gone to anything else. Keeps my lips soft and kissable...a nice peppermint taste! 

Creative

 

1. Every creative person needs a glue gun...enough said!

2. Somerset Life...this is not only a beautiful book, it has so many great ideas to create!

3.I use my craft knife for all kinds of projects!

4.I always keep a little notebook in my purse...you never know when you will be inspired!

5.I treasure my fine tipped pens...Great for scrapbooking, photos to adding a fine detail in a drawing.

6.Love, love, love...did I say love?  These are the best scissors for fabric! They are spring loaded so your hand won't get tired from cutting. 

 Foodie

1. I don't drink coffee, but I do enjoy a hot cup of herbal tea every now and then. One of my favorites...True Blueberry!  It has a great blueberry taste...so good!

2. You can never have enough great kitchen tools.  The ones I go to all the time... my Kitchen Aid kitchen scissors and fruit/vegetable peeler. 

3.  This Sea Salt has a great taste and comes from France.  A tiny bit goes a long way!

4. I love a good chocolate!  For me the darker the better!  A little taste of Heaven with each bite of Godiva truffles.

5.  These are so cute and whimsical.  Recipes that read a smidgen, pinch or dash...you now have a measurement for!

6.  Taste of Home always has great recipes that my family loves!  This magazine has recipe cards ready to be cut and put in your recipe box.

Home

1. A cute cottage jar.  Love the tiny beading and simplicity!

2. I could look at this magazine over and over!  So many beautiful and inspiring rooms!

3. As I have posted before...the smell of your home is just as important as the feel.  I love Vanilla Buttercream tealights from Pier One...so good!

4.  A sweet birds nest and some pretty robin egg soaps are so cute together.  

5. Scalloped eyelet trim, embelish these cream 300 count pillowcases...add sophistication to your bedroom.

6. 20 Porcelain number orbs big and small will give your home some Whimsy!  Would be so cute in an apothecary jar.

DIY

1. Always great to have a level handy!  No more tilted pictures and with a magnetic torpedo level you can check just about any angle.

2. I use my needle nose pliers all the time. They are great for cutting wire too!

3. With all the spray painting I do, I love this nozzle holder...makes it so much easier!


4. Purdy has some of the best paint brushes I have ever used!  I love this angle brush.


5. This DIY book from the Handyman has so many great ideas and instructions on storage and projects.


6. I never leave home without a trusty tape measure in my purse...you never know when you might find that just right piece!


There are so many more favorite things.  I hope you have found your favorite and are ready to enter!  Don't forget:


Comment on the 1 that is your favorite by putting either Beauty, Creative, Foodie, Home or DIY...and you can enter your chance of winning it 2 more times by being a follower and posting about it!


I thank you all for reading my blog, leaving such great comments and staying with me through this move/remodel.  I look forward to another great and exciting year ahead with lots more to come!


Have a wonderful week and good luck!  This giveaway ends February, 26th 2010 Friday 12 am pacific standard time.  Make sure I have your e-mail or a way to contact you if you win!


Hugs everyone,

Treasures...

Looking on Craigslist the other day I found a beautiful antique mirror. I have been in search of a mirror for the powder room we remodeled and have had no luck finding "just the right one". 

This mirror that was before me was the right shape, style, color but...wrong size.  I decided this was too beautiful of a mirror to pass up and the price was just right at only $20. This would be the right one for the living room... facing the opposite wall in front of the big picture window.  It will reflect all the beautiful sunlight, trees in the backyard and open the room.

  Beautiful oval shape, gold underneath a white 
milky paint and delicate appliqued resin leaves.
Quite large at 40x27 and surprisingly heavy!

Never did I think that finding this beautiful mirror would lead me to several other wonderful treasures!  Funny how things can happen like that. 

I called on the mirror and told the owner I would like to buy it. We exchanged information and I went to pick up the mirror.  Once there I was welcomed buy a very nice woman named Deb and her husband Greg.  I went inside to see the mirror and we started to talk.  They too had been in middle of a remodel just like me.  Deb's style over the years had changed and she was going through her storage unit selling all the stuff that she didn't want anymore. It was my lucky day!
 
Deb,Greg and I decided to go over to their storage unit just up the road from their home to see what else she was going to sell.  I of course was giddy and excited to see what treasures I might find.  There were quite a few things that I fell in love with.  Some of the pieces she was keeping, being that they were family heirlooms. All the while we were going through their storage we talked and realized we had much in common. I left feeling quite happy for the treasures I did buy, but not only that...I have found 2 new friends as well.

Here are some of my treasures...  

*Click to enlarge

The small wooden turquoise spools I bought at an Antique shop.  I am thinking the tall wooden spools would be great with twine wrapped around them. Will be painting the 2 tables white. Love the wooden box.  Not sure if it was for tools or gardening.  I was given the white 3 tiered parlor table back in NM.  My new beautiful mirror *sigh*.  I think all these things will look great in the Whimsy French Cottage.

I hope everyone's weekend was wonderful! I will be posting my Blog Anniversary on Tuesday February 23rd...mark your calenders!  I have a great giveaway for my readers and followers...don't want you to miss it!! 

I am linking this post with little red and her Mosaic Mondays.  Make sure to stop by and see so many other great mosaics.  I love the one she has up today!

Hugs to you,

In The Moment...

Lost in a deep thought a month ago...it came to me that I am either looking to the future of  "what's to come" or re-living the past about "what used to be", but how often do I stop and really live "in the moment"?  This became a thought that hasn't left me and I realized I want to make sure to take in the "now" and as the saying goes~"stop to smell the roses". 

I don't want life to pass me by and realize that I haven't really appreciated the simple moments of the now.  My blog is a journal of my life and what better way than to post each week... living in the moment. I want this to be something I stop and reflect on and take in...a feeling, smell, sight, sound...all of it. My kids are growing so fast, days seem to blend one into another, I am getting older...sometimes you just want life to stand still.  This series of posts will reflect just that...In The Moment.  

It might be as simple as a smile from one of my kids, dinner with the family, a toy left on the stairs or even the pile of laundry waiting for me.  This is about life and the moments we have everyday.  I want to capture the moment through a picture...with the time, date, place, thoughts and feelings.

I would like to share in this with all of you and see what your moments are as well. I will share a few posts and in a couple of weeks if you all would like to share your moments, we can do so with a linking party. Make sure to have your camera ready and start living "In The Moment"...

Fluffy Snow

 

  

Febuary 9th, Tuesday 2010

at 8:57 a.m. Colorado Springs, Co.

Waking up to a beautiful white winterland. The morning air is crisp and cold. Gleaming, sparkly big snow flakes...look's like millions of tiny diamonds. The snow is so light,airy and fluffy. Picking it up and blowing on it, it scatters out of my hand. The sun is shining on a brilliant blue day...the snow will melt fast. The need to capture this...to embed it in my mind. Feeling's of joy...wonderment of this amazing world God has given us to live in.  

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Sweet Surprises...

This was my Valentines Day post from last year that I wanted to share again. It was so romantic and thoughtful of him to personalize each wrapper...it melted my heart. I love this man more than anything and feel soo blessed to be married to him! Happy Valentines day Sweetheart!!

I never know what to expect from my husband. Every now and then he can get something past me that I have no clue about.

This year a day before Valentines day I received a sweet surprise at my door. My husband who is in the Air Force was TDY (foreign code for "gone" lol) in Baltimore. He had mentioned a couple days before that something would be coming to me that he ordered but not sure what day. (We both are so bad about trying to keep surprises from each other. We get excited thinking we have done something great for one another, that it's hard for us to contain the secret.) 

That same day the door bell rang and I saw that there was a package at my door. It was in an M&M box, so I knew it had to be something very yummy and chocolate. I opened it and found this very pretty wrapped box that said My Dove. With a big smile on my face I proceeded to open the box and found the sweetest surprise yet...

Mr. Wonderful had personalized a message on each wrapped chocolate just for me. He had written 4 different messages. The sentiment of what was thought of and written on each wrapper will forever be cherished. My beautiful box...

The message before you get to the chocolates...

Dark chocolate, my favorite!

The sweetest part, the message...

What a great Valentines Day!

Have a Wonderful Valentines everyone!!