FRONT PORCH FLOWERS

I look forward to THIS weekend all year! I think about it in the cold and dreary winter months... and as the time approaches the excitement builds!

This is the weekend Bobby and I go flower shopping! We peruse our local greenhouses. I want to hit every Amish greenhouses dotting the countryside!  Bobby is really there to lift and carry... and watch me as I dance down the isles filled with all sorts of plants, lost in a floral frenzy...

EASY PEASY HORS D'OEUVRES

This beautiful plate of hors d'oeuvres took minutes to make an assemble. And doesn't it look yummy!

A  plate like this can be used as hors d'oeuvres or even as part of a meal. It has those scrumptious Mediterranean flavors we all love!

No one will care that you didn't spend hours slaving away in the kitchen when they can nibble on such great savories...

BREAKFAST ON THE BACK PORCH

Today is a beautiful, sunny spring day here at StoneGable. The kind of day made for being outside all day long!

I can't think of a better way to start my day than with breakfast on the back porch....

PILLOW LOVE

Pillows are like jewelry for a home!  And I LOVE bling!

They add color, pattern and texture. They add seasonal panache and warmth. Pillows can change with our moods!  

And they are a mini facelifts for any room...

ON THE MENU

I just got home from a RELAXING girl's weekend on the Chesapeake Bay. What fun to eat lunch on a big sailboat in a beautiful marina! The owner of the boat was kind enough to offer her boat as a setting for a tablescape. You bet I'll be traveling down to the Chesapeake very soon with a big box of dishes.

Don't we all need time to relax? I love to go away. No laundry to call for me, not pets needing my attention, no dusting, no cooking, no responsibilities! I sleep so well when I am away (as long as I have my own pillows!)...

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE ~ April 22, 2012

For by GRACE you have been saved by faith. And it is not your own doing, it is a gift of God.

Eph: 2:1     English Standard Version

STONEGABLE'S NEW DESIGN AND A FAVOR REQUEST

Do you like StoneGable's new look! 

When I made the decision to continue blogging I wanted to start with a fresh new look. This time I decided to let a professional handle the design. And I am so glad that I did! 

I researched many blog designer's... looked over their web-sites, perused portfolios and read testimonials. After much investigation, I chose Julie at BLOGGER BOUTIQUE to give StoneGable a facelift. What a great fit!

Let me show you around the new StoneGable...

HERBAL INFUSED WATERS

Elegant and refreshing... there is nothing boring about herbal infused waters.

These satisfying, easy to make waters are and light and oh, so interesting...

POTS d'herbes TABLEAU

One of the very first plants to go into my garden each year are my herbs!  There is something so therapeutic about going into the garden and snipping a big handful of herbs for a bouquet or a meal.

Today's table brings the herbs inside and they become the inspiration for this tablescape.

Sweet pots d'herbes spread their green happiness all over this table!

WHITE DRESSER PAINTING TECHNIQUES

I've caught the "Painted Furniture" bug in a big way! It started with a little round side table and now there is almost no piece of furniture safe from my paintbrush! 

I find myself eyeing up pieces and dreaming about the color I would like to paint them! I have even taken to collecting furniture that I'll someday paint!

The little white dresser that lives in the Gable Guest Room went through a recent paint transformation... here's my painting technique... 

ON THE MENU AT STONEGABLE

This week I am hosting a luncheon for the "Nursery School Lunch Bunch". We have been friends since our children were in Nursery school together... over 20 years ago! Although we don't see eachother as often as we would like, when we get together we just pick up where we left off as if we had all just chatted yesterday. I am so comfortable with these beautiful women!

The thing that I love so much about this group is that we are all very different. I respect and love them all. And I can be just who I am too and they love me in spite of it!

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ APRIL 15, 2012

Ruins of The Jewish Temple at Capernaum not far from where Jersus stayed, Capernaum Israel

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you; take your everyday, ordinary life. Your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life. And place it before God as an offering.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without ever thinking! Instead, fix your attention on God! You will be changed from the inside out! Readily recognize what He wants and respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to it's level of immaturity... God brings the best out in you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12: 1-3, The Message

STONEGABLE LAUNDRY SOAP

One of life's simple pleasures is the smell of fresh laundry! It is the smell of clean.

I have been so intrigued with all the homemade laundry soap recipes floating around the internet, I just had to try making it myself!

This laundry soap smells WONDERFUL! And I have been using it for 2 weeks with great results...

BREAKFAST COOKIES

I am not much of a breakfast person. But as I am getting older I notice that my body runs better with a little nutrition on board in the morning!  A pot of coffee before noon does not do the trick anymore!

I needed something that I could easily grab when I am headed out the door early in the morning.

I have been working on a breakfast cookie... one that would taste good, be easy to make and give me a little lasting energy. I love peanut butter and a little bit of chocolate...so I wanted to make a cookie that satisfies that desire too!

DAFFODIL PROFUSION TABLE

What does one do with hundreds and hundreds of daffodils that are gifted to you? Well, you gift them to others, of course... but not before you set a table with them first! What inspiration!

This table was hands down the most simple yet extravagant table I have ever set... and the most fragrant too!

It was all about showing off the daffodils... so put on your sunglasses...lots of bright yellow here... the sheer color will make you happy!

WHITE PAINTED DRESSER

This is a project that has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Originally, this little dresser was piece of my daughter Jacqueline's nursery set. I parted with the crib twenty years ago... but I kept the dresser. 

It is a great solid oak piece, just a little dated and tired. 

The dresser lives in our Gable Guest Room... I painted it white to accent the furniture already there. The Gable Room had new hardwood floors installed recently... so the whole room it is getting an update!

Here is the BEFORE...

WEEKLY MENU

What does your refrigerator look like after a special weekend or holiday? Does it look like mine? Filled to the brim with leftovers? A little of this and a lot of that? An unorganized  frig full of leftovers is enough to give me heartburn!

I am not really a leftover kind of gal... especially eating them several nights in a row. Here are a couple easy tips to use up those leftovers and keep your refrigerator free from the remains of a holiday meal...

EASTER SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ THAT'S MY KING

AMEN!  (Amen means "so be it" or 'that is the truth")

That's MY King... Do you know Him?

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

   

John 3:16 Amplifed Bible

WHAT'S THE SCOOP~ Repurposing Teacups

Finding a new purpose for an old or unwanted item is such a thrill to me!

Sitting on my farmhouse kitchen counter are large glass jar holding cereal, flour, sugar and granola. But there is something else in these glass jars... somethings repurposed... that adds a gracenote to my kitchen...

NATURALLY DYING EASTER EGGS

An  Easter tradition, here at StoneGable, is to dye Easter eggs with onion skin. This practice goes back generations and generations in my maternal family. Not what most would consider a traditional Easter egg color, these eggs say Easter to me!

Onion skin eggs take on beautiful, deep rusty orange hues with lots of marbling and character. They are works of serendipitous art... each subtly different from the next.

I expanded  the Easter egg color palette a tad this year to include peach, purple and lavender too! I think there is room in the Easter basket for a couple new colors! Making these eggs is a soul-satisfying endeavor, and they are splendid... much richer and interesting than than dying eggs with store-bought dyes.

DESTINY IN BLOOM RUSTIC LUXE TABLE

We are giving Spring a big "welcome back, we have missed you" celebration! A springtime brunch with close friends will mark Spring's happy return. To set the mood, spring elements abound on the table.

Moving away from a pastel palette and traditional spring florals, this table pays homage to a softer side of Spring... invoking the natural elements and organic textures of the new season. By tucking a few rich details here and there, this tablescape takes on a rustic luxe look. The repeated theme is birds and nests and naturals...

See the rest of my tablescape at DESTINY IN BLOOM, an uplifting and inspiring e-zine. I was so honored they asked me to write an article for them.

As a bonus (I don't know if I can call it that!!!!!)  you can see a picture of me! How I dislike having my picture taken! This may be the only time, folks!

Please pop over and tell them I sent you! Thanks!!!!!

I am participating in:
LET'S DISH at Cuisine Kathleen's
Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch

LESSONS FROM MY GARDEN

Spring beckons me to dig in the dirt.

I have been perusing the seed catalogs all winter and planning, dreaming and scheming about my summer vegetable and herb gardens. 

I am not a fancy gardener or one that likes to spend my days weeding and fussing. What I do love is watching my garden grow! 

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ EASTER WEEK 2012

I love anticipation and preparation! It seems to give extra meaning to my life... extra UMPH to my step... something to work towards.


I am happily puttering to get ready for Easter and to welcome family home to StoneGable. 

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ April 1, 2012

Garden of Gethsemane,Mount Of Olives Israel

Gethsemane is  GAT and SHMANIM in Hebrew meaning "the place the olives are pressed"

CHAIR FIND!

I knew EXACTLY  what I wanted to put in the corner of a guest room we call "The Gable Room".

A chair... one that I could makeover... but not just any chair...

THE CHAIR!

I had been casually looking for THE CHAIR  locally when I was out and about.  But when I got serious about finding it I headed to Lucketts! That great General Store/Antique Mecca in Leesburg Va. 

BUNNY BREAD

When my children were little they called white bread "bunny bread". 

This bunny bread is hippity-hoppity easy and would be a delightful surprise with your Easter meal!