Visiting Kennebunkport

My sister and I had a marvelous trip together last week. We flew into Boston from Salt Lake City and then rented a car. We drove up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and shopped in a wonderful historic area called "Strawberry Banks"  Our next stop was Kennebunkport, Maine.

I had always heard it was beautiful little town, so we went a bit out of our way to see it, but I'm so glad we did.

The town was quite crowded since it was the last week of August and it is clearly a tourist destination, but we still really enjoyed looking around.

There were amazing beach homes everywhere. I love New England homes. On the West Coast we just don't have the same historical perspective.

There really was no end to the many "colonials" I could have taken pictures of. This picture doesn't do this one justice. It was enormous and very grand.  I will tell you more about the rest of the trip and our ultimate destination in a later post. Just a reminder: This is the last day to enter my giveaway for the apron you can see on a previous post.  Good Luck. The drawing will be tomorrow!

Backyard Summer Supper & Giveaway

We gathered recently at my son and daughter-in-law's home for a family dinner and I was inspired by her back yard. Veronica spends a lot of time with her yard and her flowers and it was really beautiful. She collects these vintage aqua Ball canning jars, and she put them inside the tray you would use in the big canning pot and made a gorgeous centerpiece with them. She used flowers from her garden and the effect was perfect.

I have always loved her gift for display. She does such a great job of it in her home and down at the "Olive Kat".

Matt built this planter box in a spot that had been dominated by an old hot tub - BIG IMPROVEMENT!

I'm including one peek at the inside of their home. I will show you more in the next few month, since I love how they decorate for the holidays!  I am off on an adventure today. I am going to Maine with my sister for a family reunion of my Mother's family. I have never been to Maine, but I love New England, so expect some fun pictures in my next posting.  

 A Reminder!! You still have until August 31st to sign up for my drawing for the Apron pictured below in my previous posting.  Thank you SO much for visiting my blog!

Cherry Apron Give-A-Way - My First!

This apron that I designed and made is the prize in my first ever Give-A-Way.

The cherry motif on the yoke and pockets are hand appliqued. The Apron is fully lined with a coordinating red and white polka dot fabric as you can see below.

The winner will be decided by a random drawing of all my followers. There aren't too many of those yet, so your odds are good. The Give-A-Way drawing will happen on September 1st so there is plenty of time to join if you like. You just need to set up a Google account if you don't already have one (takes about a minute). If you would like to improve your odds, I will enter your name a second time if you leave a comment (after joining) on this post, and a third time if you mention my Give-A-Way on your blog. Thank you so much for visiting and good luck!

"Vintage Gathering" Flea Market

There was only one "Vintage Gathering" Flea Market sale this summer, which is sad, but it was great. I got to take my daughter, Heidi who was here visiting for our family reunion.

Heidi found these cute dish towels with a raw edge muslin pleated ruffle. They were unadorned so she asked me to applique something on them for her, so Beehives it was.

Love these plump organic looking pillows.

There were gorgeous flowers everywhere - my favorite thing!

So many fun vintage items. I found a very old (1909) book titled "The Rose Fairie and Other Stories". Of course, it had to come home with me.  I am putting it to use on my pages for the Fairie Book Swap at karlascottage.typepad.com.

Who can resist blue and white?

My daughter bought this old painting. She will clean it up a little and paint the frame and hang it in her daughter, Ashey's room.

Fabulous Hydraengas

This color is amazing!  Thanks for visiting. Watch soon for my first "Give-A-Way". 

It will be awarded randomly to one of my followers.

SEABROOK, WA. Summer Dreamin'

A couple weeks ago, I had the occasion to visit a friend on the central Washington coast. She lives and works at the "Ocean Crest Resort" which her family has owned for years in Moclips, Wa. It is a beautiful resort with stunning Ocean Views.  Just a few miles down the road from there was the village of Seabrook, WA.

I had heard of Seabrook, but had never seen it and I fell in love with it. Each cottage has it's own charm, reminiscent of Eastern seaboard beach houses.  Seabrook isn't right on the beach but very close by.

It's a planned community with a little central shopping area. We had lunch at the only restaurant and the food was wonderful.

I believe the developers of this community are the same ones who have one in Lincoln City, OR.

I find the small cottages rather irresistible.

I love exploring the Pacific Northwest and finding these gems. Maybe one day I will be able to take some pictures in actual sunshine!  :-)
For more information on renting these cottages, click here: 

Seabrook Cottage Rentals on Dwellable

Seaside Oregon Family Reunion

We just returned from our Family Reunion at Seaside Oregon. It was a wonderful week and the cousins had the time of their lives. Obviously the beach was the main attraction, both day and night.

The weather was quite perfect for us and we stayed at the Worldmark by Wyndham resort right on the beach.  Most of the kids visited the beach AND the pool daily.

This is my daughter, Holly with her youngest, Delaney. Holly is our family photographer and my technical support person! We were so happy that she and her 4 girls and my other daughter, Heidi and her family could come from Utah to be with the Washington contingent of the family!

Our teenage kids loved the bonfires on the beach at night, tanning, and shopping in town!

Cousins Katherine and Heidi employed a luggage cart for their "photo shoot" in their matching outfits.

Before leaving for the beach, I was lucky enough to have all my grandchildren (but one) together for family pictures. We took them at the Peterson's fabulous Party Barn in Woodland Washington. As you can see, the girls outnumber the boys, 11 to 3 ! How blessed I am to have these sweeties in my life!

Miss Manners Tea Party

I promised pictures of the Tea Party/Manners Class that I have been preparing for and here they are.  We had 8 classes over two days for 8 - 11 year old girls and it was very fun. My grand daughter Gabrielle, decorated the cakes and did most of the baking and food prep for me.

This was a little exercise for the girls. I covered a piece of sheet metal with fabric and used magnets to attach it to the chalk board. Then I put magnets on the silverware, plates and cup and had the girls try to set the table properly. They had fun with it, although very few actually knew where everything should go.

We served a small piece of sheet cake, a mini muffin, sesame cracker with cream cheese and marmalade spread, strawberry and homemade mints.  We added a scoop of sherbet a bit later in the class.

The girls were so sweet and enthusiastic and asked lots of good questions.

These were a couple of the posters I used in the class.

"Please and Thank you never go out of style"

We had 24 girls at a time and 5 minutes in between so it was hectic but I had a couple grand daughters and friends helping in the kitchen. A few of the girls wrote me little thank you notes for the class, so at least some of the lesson sunk in!