More Time With the Puppy

Meeting Lucan

Gar went over to our neighbors yesterday, to let out the puppy they are sitting.  Shane is as cute as a bug in a rug. Gorgeous coat and a very sweet puppy. Gar brought him over to meet Lucan.

The hound didn't know what to think. They walked in circles around each other for a few minutes, did nose touches and then walked away from each other.

Lucan is trying out the 'if I avert my eyes maybe he'll be gone when I look back' method.

It didn't work.

As you can see by the state of the next picture, when the little one was going, he was going. Moving and grooving. It was hard to get a good pic.

Then he plopped right down and took a break. Can you stand it?

Then my terribly mean husband said, "OK Shane, it's time to go back with the other doggies." To which I made a pouty face.

I think Shane goes home today. What a bummer. It's been nice having him next door. He immediately picks up your mood. How could he not with that much cuteness going on?

Bye bye for now Shane. See you next time.

Freeform Friday

I can't believe I haven't posted this song before. It happens to be one of my favorites and one of my all time favorite albums for that matter. Video quality isn't great, but the song is. Enjoy The Waterboys, Fisherman's Blues. Boy does this always bring back great memories. If you're reading by email, click here.




Have a fantastic kind of Friday in your corner of the world. No big plans for the weekend here. I think we'll both be doing a bit of work. Please tell me your plans are better than that!

Gotta Have It/Gotta Blog Blog It Link Up Party!

Where's The Party?

Right here of course. It's another promotion party on Mercantile Muse, where you can link up your online business or your blog, or both. Those of you who don't have an online business or blog, think of it as a sort of pop up shop where you'll find neat stuff all in one place.

It's potluck again, because it was so much fun last time. If you're 'bringing' something to share....a coctail, a mocktail or food, please mention it in comments and include a recipe link if there is one.

Please read the Rules of the House, before linking:

*If you take part in the link up, you will go on a list of particpants and receive an e-mail from me (and from the address pbates@speakeasyinfo.net) in two weeks reminding you that the next Gotta Have It/Gotta Blog It link up party is underway.

*If you like Mercantile Muse enough to link up at the party, won't you consider becoming a follower (there's several different ways to follow in the sidebar to you're right) if you're not already? Can you do me another favor?How about liking us on facebook too? That'd be so sweet!

*Post one link. Two if you link one under Gotta Have It (for shops)and one under Gotta Blog It (for bloggers).  Be sure you’re posting your link under the right link up!

*Don't link and run, be kind and check out each other's links.

*Share a link to the party, 'you two tell friends, and they tell two friends, and so on and so on'. It benefits us all--- blog, tweet, facebook, etc. If you blog and are so inclined to grab a button (from Mercantile Muse's button page) and feature it on your blog, that would be, as we say 'round these parts, wicked awesome. 

*Leave a comment and check back Monday when I feature some things I've found through the link up. It could be you!

First up, the shop link up (scroll down page for blog link up)!

Take and look around, get to know each other and most of all have fun at the party. Thanks for coming!

One Thing Leads To Another

via craftedbylindy

Go Ahead, Click

Over in my sidebar you'll find Duni. She's a fellow etsy shop owner and fellow blogger.

via dunistudio

Her blog, Duni's Studio is always full of lovely pictures, great craft projects and more.

This week Duni featured Mollie Makes Magazine, and wanted her followers to know that they also had a website where there were lots of tutorials and crafting how-to's.

via molliemakes

I took the bait and she was right.  They even featured one of Duni's tutorials for a flower headband. Cute!

Then I found this paper flower post.

via molliemakes

The tutorial led me here Crafted By Lindy, another blog by yet another fellow etsy shop owner. Talk about going in circles!  Oh yeah........circles.........check out this garland Lindy made.

via craftedbylindy

Have you guessed what's it made out of? Yup. Cupcake liners. Fantastic idea-- what a cute way to dress up a party!

Don't you love the way that happens? That you go to one site, and it leads you to another? So cool.

Here's another one. Melinda is a follower of the Muse, and another etsy shop owner (who knew there were that many of us) who always post the sweetest comments (thanks Melinda!). 

via inspiration-earth

Well, I stopped by her blog inspiration-earth the other day after reading one of her comments here.  I found this awesome tutorial Melinda did on natural wood stains.

via inspiration-earth

Guess what Melinda used to get that wonderful aged look? Go ahead, guess. I'm not spilling the beans, you'll have find out for yourself right here. But don't you LOVE it? It looks like weathered barn wood. The tutorial is so simple, you'll be amazed.

While you're there, check out what she made with the wood blocks.........

via inspiration-earth



How cute is that?

So many interesting, fun, crafty, artistic places to discover, so little time.

Enjoy your Wednesday. Mine is busy, busy and filled with design, ad planning, meetings and more. Hopefully I'll get a chance at the end of the day to take walk over in the field with Gar and the dog.

It's Revealed! The Spring Mantle

A Burst of Color & Flowers, Just Like The Season



After my white winter mantle, I needed a little bit of color for Spring. Well, maybe a lot.  My mantle turned out to be all about color and flowers.

The forsythia bloomed this week, so that was the start of my inspiration. Boy, I just love the pop of yellow the forsythia brings. Then, when I was out and about doing errands, I found a lovely pink hiacynth. I'm not sure if it comes across in the pictures or not, but it was a pink I'd never seen before. Really sweet.

Of course, it smells heavenly too.  I put it in this pretty blue bowl I have, and because the pot was still too tall, I wrapped the top in a pink dresser scarf.

Probably could have neatened it up for the photos. Sorry about that.

I kept the opium jar that I had on the Winter mantle. However, for Winter, I had it turned backwards so you couldn't see the pretty flowers. It's a perfect fit for the Spring mantle.

My Mom gave it to me years ago, probably becaue we both love Opium perfume.  I got the Van Gough print from my best friend Tina because she knows I love art. Pretty, pretty Iris.

To add some blue to the other side of the mantle, I used my old mason jar full of stones I got from my parent's house. 

Then I found the chevron pottery box I made in high school. Apparently I've had a thing for chevrons since then. I was way ahead of the curve on that one.

The painting was a score on one of our trips to Ireland. We were actually visiting Tina in Blarney. She fell in love with an Irishman too, but moved there.  We were having dinner in a little restaurant in town and the painting was on the wall. I took it home with me. Love the colors.  If you're wondering, it's depicts a town in West Cork and yes, in areas of Ireland some of the houses would be that bright. Cobh and Kinsale are good exampls of towns with lots of color.

Check out the sweet violets vase my Mom gave me recently. So delicate with it's gold trim.

You can finally see the whole painting in this one, and the entire mantle for that matter. Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid the glare from the sun.

As the season continues, I'll change the forsythia out for Apple Blossoms and then Solomon Seal which is always so regal looking. 

It's one thing I love about Spring. There is always something new popping out to fill all of my vases.

Have you brought Spring into your home yet?

Have a great day.

Favorite Finds: Sort Of....................

My Post Was Just Eaten

Well guys, I was putting together a lovely post about my favorite finds on etsy that speak to the new season. However, my post just disappeared. Gone. Zapped. And now, I'm running out of time. So won't you play along instead and post a link to one of your favorite finds?

Here's one of my Spring favorites from etsy, by buligaia.  It is all about Spring from the flowers to the colors. I think it's as sweet as can be. 

via buligaia

Now, it's your turn. Include a link to one of your favorite Spring things in the comments. It doesn't have to be from etsy (although, that of course makes us etsy shop owners happy), just something that says Spring to you. Ready, set, go!

Thanks for helping with today's post after the unfortunate demise of my initial post. Can't wait to see your picks!

Ciao for now,

Spring Mantle Tease

A New Season

I figured it was way past time to spruce up my mantle for Spring and get rid of the Winter white and gold them.

Call me a tease, but I'm only giving you a peek today.

Lots to do, so off I go. Hope it's a great Saturday in your litle corner of the world. We'll be working hard on making ours the same in our little corner.

ttfn,

Away With The Fairies & Freeform Friday

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

Terrariums, Dish Gardens & Fairy Houses, Oh My

I've mentioned before that my sister-in-law Kelly and her Mom have a shop in York, Maine. Backyard Birds & Garden Frills is chock full of fantastic stuff for gardeners, bird lovers, and people how love beautiful home decor.

I designed the above postcard mailer for them a couple of years.  The shop is gorgeous. It's that simple.

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

There are so many beautiful things to look at in every nook and corner.

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

My talented sister-in-law creates 'magical little landscapes' for the shop.

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

A local business owner just bought one of her fairy houses to display at the her restauant.

How sweet is this birch bark fairy house?

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills

Seriously.........even windows with window boxes and flowers. Too sweet for words.

via backyardbirdsandgardenfrills



Back to owner of the restaurant On The Marsh, she was nice enough to offer to display a card with the fairy house, and suggested something with a 'fairy style' would work well.

So, that's what Kel and I worked on last night. She sent me some ideas, I sketched some things and sent them back to her and last night we tweaked until we decided on this design.

What a fun project!

Freeform Friday

It's been absolutely summer-like here this week. Yesterday probably hit 80. Did I mention it's still March?  I am in my flip flops! Who I am I to argue? In honor of the nice weather, here's one that always reminds me of summer because it was a huge summer hit. Love Rob Thomas and Carlos together.....because they're so 'smooth'.  Click here if you're reading by email. 

have a great day,

Spring Has Sprung

In The Yard

I got outside at the end of the day yesterday. We went for a walk in the field and then I came back and did a little raking and weeding. Oh my, is there a lot of that to do. That's ok. Free therapy. 

There are things popping all over.

My forsythia is longing to burst.  Chartruese in all it's glory before it's full-on sunshine yellow.

I think I already mentioned the other day that my vinca is up too.

There is nothing more beautiful than nature. Look at the symetry of the white markings.  Lovely.

The tiger lilies are all over my yard. Probably my easiest plant to care for. They could care less if the chippies are digging under them. They just keep multiplying and blooming. My kind of flower. My other day lilies are pretty good that way too so I just keep adding more.

This one was pushing up with a dew drop on it's leaf. Good morning sunshine.

Next door I got to have a puppy fix this morning. The neighbors take care of 2 border collies Tanner and Rio. Well, Tanner and Rio just got a new brother, Shane and he's over getting used to his sitter's place.

So sweet. Made my morning.

Muppy puppy head.

More puppy time later, for sure.

In other news 'round these here parts. Do you remember my paper star tutorial?
Well, lucky me. It was featured on 'OrSoSheSays' yesterday. Many thanks to Mariel.

Have a fabulous day in your corner of the world. I'm going to do the same in mine.