Custom Dress {Vintage Circus}

We've never actually had a design your own oufit, custom listing in the shop. I guess it's because we've always had enough new business to keep us as busy as we'd like to be (sometimes even more than that). I just finished up this sweet dress for a vintage circus birthday and love it.



We were so lucky to find one of what must be only 5 yards left of this fabric in all of the internets. And Moda's Hullabaloo was the perfect compliment to it. Kudos to Amy for sleuthing that one out.



The buttons are a dark steel gray/blue and are just lovely in person (not as dark as they seem in the shade here).

We won't be able to make any more design-your-own customs this summer, but our goal in the fall is to put up a listing in the shop for just that.

Hope you all have a sunny week-end!

Backyard

For the past month I've been landscaping our backyard. We've lived here for almost 12 years and until now the back of our house had a huge pile of rock next to the foundation, that had been dumped there by the builders and was probably meant to be spread out for planting beds like the other sides of the house had. I never did take a before photo because it was such an eyesore. I am so glad to finally have that gone and to have the beginnings of a beautiful backyard.

Here, let me show you around...

First, we'll work our way up the hill from the neighbors behind us.



I'll be adding burning bush lilacs and hydrangea along the ravine so we'll have a nice backdrop for photos spring, summer and fall.



We are also planning on adding a garden off the back of the playset, extending down the hill about 10 feet. We'll do that this fall so it's ready for planting in the spring. We gave up our old garden for the playset a couple years ago and we've really missed it.



I love that I can see some of this when I look out our back windows. It's so much nicer to step outside and see this everyday and David really loves not mowing that hill under the crabapple tree too. You can barely see the retaining wall David built for this areas too. That huge pile of rock used to be right there. Did I mention that I'm super excited to see that gone? Oh, I did? I'll try not to bring it up again.



A burning bush will be planted along our property line behind the new bench as well. Makes me excited for fall already.



I still need to dig the stepping stones in so they are level with the mulch.



There's still lots more to do. A few plants to move around (my clematis and more black-eyed susans from the front yard), more to buy (hollyhocks, honeysuckle vine, Japanese lilac tree for the side yard) and trellis' to hang, but most of the hard labor is basically done. Two weeks, 23 bags of mulch, 12 split hostas from a friend and a gazillion edging stone slater, and I've lost 5 pounds. I guess getting off the couch and away from the fridge really does help. ;)

Now we love the view from David's new hammock. Happy Father's Day Honey!









The sole reason for getting this project done was to have this bench here for my dad to sit on with my kids all around him while I snap some photos of them together. We'll finally get to do that next week. Yay!













This little guy couldn't wait to be outside with me.



Until I started snapping photos of him. Then he wanted nothing to do with me and ran back inside. But that's ok, it gave me a chance to show off my new spring jacket from Tarjet that I found for $20. Which was a perfect find this week since it's only been in the 60's. Where is summer!?!?

Still checking me out. He came in and out about 10 times that funny boy.



One of our next projects is to plant all along this crazy hill that's also no fun to mow. But first we need to figure out how to add stairs in front of the new retaining wall that David built last year. Oh and we can't forget to paint those siding pieces that he replaced last year too. Hmmm...that reminds me of something "...and miles to go before I sleep..."



So, there you have it, our new backyard. I'll be back soon with more fun things to show you.

Pinterest love

My new time-waster errr love, is Pinterest. I'm sure you've all been "pinning" for some time now, but just in case you haven't discovered it, you really need to try it out. It's like bookmarks, for all the pretty stuff on the internets, only better. I used to save photos that I loved, to my laptop, only to realize later that I couldn't for the life of me remember where it came from. Pinterest solves that by letting you "pin" any photo from the net and then it keeps the link back to the site, for you. So go sign up and get started pinning, you'll love it. If you like, you can view my pins too, I'm under Angel Eagen. Warning: it's highly addictive.

Here are my favorite finds as of late...

And if you haven't yet read the book "The Help", please please please put that on your summer reading list. You'll thank me. ;)

Girls Getaway

{Lisa K, Mindi, Stephanie S , Kathleen, Stephanie K and Lisa L}
*missing, me and Heidi

I had the privilege of being invited on a wonderful girls week-end away by a dear friend. Lisa K spent the last year ridding her body of cancer and now has a clean bill of health. Praise the Lord! We are so thankful to the Lord for carrying them through this terrible year and bringing them closer to Him in the process. She and her husband have been such an inspiration to me personally. They are also in our couples Bible study that meets at our house. We were thrilled to have them join our little group. This week-end was one that Lisa had been looking forward to for some time. She knew she wanted to celebrate being done and give herself a much needed break with girlfriends. Thank you Lisa for inviting us and we can't wait to do it again in the fall.

Would you like a tour? Be prepared, it's a loooong one.

Care-taker's house


Road leading up to the old farmhouse.


LOVE the HUGE screened porch!


This "retreat center/farm" was donated to our church by a family that just didn't use it enough anymore since their kids are older now.

This table would seat 5 on each side, easily.






The front hall, the railing is actually lower than what we are used to now days.


Parlor


Living room


Kitchen, the HUGE island came from the old Grain Exchange building in downtown Minneapolis, from the 1800's.


Top of the stairs. There are five bedrooms, in addition to this sleeping space. Only one bathroom though, it is an old farmhouse after all. I should have taking a pic of the gorgeous clawfoot tub in there. :(


I chose this room because it has the same bedding that I used to have. ;)


Loved the chippy blue dresser in here.




Next to our room.


And across the hall.




Another favorite spot. Past the clothesline, there was a greenhouse and beautiful garden.






Next to that, the "new" barn with 4-wheelers, a work-out gym and an office.


And across from the house is a horse barn that no longer has horses in it. But it still smells like it does. ;)




Stalls are downstairs.


The backside.


A short ride behind the stables is the bunkhouse and gym.






With a pool...




a rock-climbing wall inside a silo...


with two bunk-rooms like this that each sleep 10...


and a gym.


Right outside is the tennis court, soccer and baseball fields.




And a tubing hill with a toe-rope that you can hook to your tube and pulls you right back up. It's quite steep which you can't tell from this pic.


Beyond that is their own chapel. A wedding with 50 guest was here last summer.
















Then along a very long, winding, hilly, rocky road you come to the paintball fields and shooting range with archery and clay pigeons.


And on top of the highest hill is a very rustic cabin they built, but no one has ever actually stayed here. The view is pretty amazing though, with a valley down below it.








A little further, ok a lot further LOL you get to the grass air-field that we had fun racing up and down.








On the way back from our tour, we stopped at the Cottage.

{Lisa K and me}

My what big eyes you have!








Another beautiful porch.

The next day, we drove in to Stockholm, WI which isn't far from Red Wing, MN. I grew up driving here in the fall, with my parents. Love this place! Evidently it's pretty popular with motorcyclists too.











Thank you Lisa, for such a fun week-end!