Thistlewoodfarm

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

Okay. So do you want the good news or the bad news?

Me?

Good news first, please.

Super exciting news for thistlewood farms! I have just updated the blog to a .com. The new blog is www.thistlewoodfarms.com. It has been a work in progress and there have been a few bumps along the road. But I am so happy and excited with the new format! It allows me so much more freedom to write even more stories about Captain Crunch and little pieces of paper and recipe walls and the general pandemonium that is known as thistlewood farm.

And I can’t wait to post about building the plate rack and turning a window into a transom and state burlap pillows and what I think about the Pottery Barn catalog. And I promise you there will be a lot of !!!!!!!!! and ?????? and maybe even a 🙂 or two.

So here’s the bad news.

You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up in the e-mail box at the old blog.

This feed will be discontinued.

And WordPress doesn’t allow to the old feed to be re-directed from wordpress.com.

So this will be the last e-mail you will receive from the old feed 😦

Sad.

Disheartening.

Downright depressing.

But there’s no need to lose heart:) This doesn’t have to be the end of the journey. You see there is a brand new feed at the new blog www.thistlewoodfarms.com. And there’s a brand new place to sign up to continue receiving the e-mails.

And I hope you do.

I really hope you do!

So if you have an extra minute, I would love you to visit the new blog at www.thistlewoodfarms.com and subscribe by e-mail.

All the dustbunnies thank you 🙂

The View From Here

Do you remember the Village People?

I sit out here on the back porch sometimes and think about them.

I wonder where they are and what they’re doing and if they are still wearing cowboy hats
and Indian headdresses and staying at the YMCA. Did they end up starring in their own videos or
ABC movies or start an exercise craze or maybe become CEO of a leather chaps company?

Or just join the Navy?

And sometimes I feel like the Village People live here.

Except instead of cowboy hats and construction gear they are wearing pearls and high heels and a tutu or two.

Or a pair of knee-high water boots.

Or they are carrying skate board.

But there are so many projects and plans and inventions and tiny pieces of paper floating around that it wouldn’t surprise me if
one day my “villagers” formed their very own group and took it on the road….tutu skirts, skateboards knee hight boots and all.

The other day I sat on the porch and watched as my husband calmly directed the antics and general pandemonium of our “village people” starter kit.

In one corner someone was starting a wildlife sanctuary with cardboard boxes and “natural habitats” for a frog and a daddy-long-legs and
a turtle. There were heaps of grass for the residents to eat and a few dead bugs and fresh water and I think one of the twins even gave their brother
a chair from the dollhouse for the turtle to sit on.

I know the Nashville zoo would have been proud.

Over here another “villager” was constructing the longest genealogy chart known to man. There were grandparents and great-great grandparents
and cousins and second cousins and eighth cousins twice removed.

All on a lime-green chart.

That stretched from one end of the porch to the other.

In Spanish.

Really?

You heard me. Spanish.

He definitely likes a challenge……that miniature genealogist of mine.

So there I sat.

On my back porch.

Drinking tea.

As my husband directed the egg project and the skateboard ramp and the wildlife sanctuary and went and looked up how to say great-great -great-
great-great grandmother in Spanish.

All the while looking so handsome and calm and collected and generally in charge of all the village people goings on.

And my heart smiled.

My heart smiled because I knew that one day, when the village people had their reunion tour. The would never forget these
carefree days in the backyard and the gift of the ability to create.

Whatever.

Whenever.

Then they would remember when they could feel the grass between their toes and the wildlife sanctuary looked like it had great potential
and they could speak Spanish and there were all the pieces of paper they could ever need or want to for any project. Ever.

And as my husband stood there in the midst of such utter pandemonium, our eyes met and I saw that twinkle that made me fall in love with him and I couldn’t help but tell him….

“You look just like a CEO.”

He looked back at me with a grin and laughed the laugh of a father who has seen it all…..

…..standing in the middle of that green field with the sun shining and the wind blowing and the birds chirping.

Then he shrugged, winked and without missing a beat replied,

“The CEO of chaos.”

And turned his baseball cap around and walked away to once again, direct the pandemonium.

Chaos. Hmmmm.

The CEO of chaos. Maybe he’s right.

But from where I’m sitting chaos looks pretty wonderful to me 🙂

PS Thanks for all the sweet words about the new website. It has been a work in progress with a few bumps along the way. Unfortunately, I lost all the e-mail subscribers from the other feed. You are receiving this e-mail because I posted to the old blog. If you want to continue to read about the village people and wildlife sanctuaries and turtles and the people who love them, please sign-up on the sidebar in the e-mail box on the new blog 🙂

Not a Level In Sight

If you own a level and you actually use it. Stop right here.

This post is not for you.

We have plenty of other posts here at thistlewood. We have posts on old Christmas decorations and posts on why people were late to book club and even a post or two on simply nothing at all and a variety of other scintillating topics for all our level-owning readers.

Take my advice. I’m not really sure you can handle this one.

You see, this post involves painter’s tape, scissors, a plate rack and a vinyl maker named Greta.

Not a level in sight.

However, if you like to wing your way through home decorating projects with a shrug of your shoulders and a flip of the hair and a throw-caution-to-the-wind type attitude…..

……start taking notes.

Recipe Wall

1. Start the recipe wall project by reading blogs. Read a lot of blogs. Get inspired by said blogs. When you are reading these inspirational blogs, stumble across a project where someone has put a recipe on a wall behind some plates.

File the idea away.

Wait two years.

Start planning your recipe wall and try to remember where you saw it featured, so you can give them credit for the original idea.

Keep thinking.

2. Call Greta or your own vinyl maker or plug in your Silhouette Cameo.

If none of the above apply, read this tutorial on how to make your own vinyl letters.

3. Dust off your plate rack and choose your favorite recipe.

(Unfortunately, I didn’t use my favorite recipe. I couldn’t use it because my favorite recipe is found on the back of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box and only has four ingredients).

And it’s not really cute.

And a recipe wall always starts with a recipe that looks cute.

Or maybe just tastes good. That trumps cute every time.

4. Once your vinyl cutter has finished your cute plate rack recipe, cut it into strips and attach it to the wall with painter’s tape. Tape the entire recipe to the wall.

Stand back.

Decide you don’t like the layout of the strips of vinyl and take them all down and tape them up again.

And again.

5. Repeat step 4 as many times as necessary.

Do not use a level.

Remember….you have thrown caution to the winds all while shrugging your shoulders and flipping your hair.

You are a care-free project maker.

6. When you are satisfied with your vinyl placement. Pull off the backing and attach vinyl to plate rack.

Add plates.

Position the plates to hide the places where your vinyl placement might have benefited from using a level.

This step may require a lot of plates 🙂

7. Stand back and stare at your plate rack. Think how great it is to be a carefree, shoulder-shrugging project creator. Think how much time you saved repositioning those letters over and over and over again instead of just using a level.

And then start saving your pennies to take Greta to the Caribbean 🙂

PS I am featuring this over at The Rooster and the Hen and Funky Junk and Kim’s 🙂

I Don’t Know Where to Start

I don’t really know where to begin with this post.

It’s inside my head. Thoughts and ideas and questions and stuff mixed up and rolled into a jumbled mess.

And I don’t know where to start.

Actually, it all started with this incredibly thought-provoking post and these comments on Beth’s Facebook page.

I read it last night.

And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

You see, I love linky parties. Actually, I like going to them much more than participating. I’m not really good about participating. I just start cleaning up all the Captain Crunch and all the little bits of “freshy decorating” and I forget when to link up to the party. And sometimes I don’t really think anyone really wants to see my glue-crackled table or my dust bunnies or my Bingo pillows.

Well, okay. Jen did e-mail me once about the bingo pillows.

But the fact is, even those I usually am not good about linking up, I love to visit. And I love to host. I love the camaraderie and sharing and the incredible ideas. I have been known to spend hours at a linky party. It’s kind of like being at a one-of-a-kind-get-together thrown by Andy Warhol at The Factory.Continue reading “I Don’t Know Where to Start”

Julius Caesar Would Have Been Proud

As my Latin teacher used to say:

Venimus!

Vidimus!

Vicimus!

“it’s a Cinch” projects that is.

I really wanted to say “amazing” in Latin, but it didn’t translate. I don’t think Julius Caesar was really up on the “amazing” lingo in 44 BC.

I guess he was too worried about the Ides of March.

Even if Julius Caesar didn’t say it. I will.

This party was ah….ma….zing.

There was inspiration with every link.

There were incredible letter projects like this stamped pitcher from Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy.

And this simple but stunning Monogrammed Beverage tub from The Delectable Home.

(Can you say Sharpie Marker and Lowe’s sells tubs like these for $10.99?)

It’s like easy and cheap had a conversation and told me I needed a tub like this!

There were Easter decorations made from paint chips.

Like these eggs from Claire at A Little Something in the Meantime.

And Easter decorations made from Peeps.

Like this wreath from Doublewide In the Sky.

Or this cross from Chipping With Charm.

Pieces of old discarded junk made into something truly wonderful.

Incredible.

Each and every link.

If Julius had been here, I know he would have been proud. And saluted you in Latin.

Incredibile dictu.

Or as we say here at Thistlewood,

You rock!

So grab a feature button and party on.

PS Want to know what else is “incredibile dictu”?

Stop by my incredible co-hosts and see.

it all started with paint

Ecletically Vintage

The Cottage Market

the space between

A Note of Thanks

Dear March Madness Organization,

Can we talk?

Just for a moment. It won’t take long, I promise. I know you are busy and all, what with big game tonight.

See that television in the corner?

That’s where we have been watching the tournament for the last month.

On these couches.

In this living room.

And I just want to say thank you.

I couldn’t let the tournament come to a close without saying thank you for allowing McDonald’s to sponsor the March Madness Games.

And not just as a once-in-a-while sponsor,

with an occasional commercial, where you might only see it now and then.

No.

I wanted to say thank for allowing McDonald’s to sponsor every segment of every game on every channel each and every night.

And play that incredibly witty and overwhelmingly enticing Shamrock Shake commercial.

You know.

You know which commercial I’m talking about.

The commercial where the girl walks up and she stares at her boyfriend or husband or significant other. And then she sniffs him and tells him that he smells like mint and then she tells him that she doesn’t like him and then he brings out a shake and she says she loves him.

Kind of like a mini-romantic comedy.

Brought to you by McDonald’s.

And that Shamrock Shake.

*sigh*

I might have seen the commercial a few times.

Right here on these couches.

Watching this television.

Staring at that coffee table and all of its freshy decorations.

Wondering how fast I could get to McDonald’s for a Shamrock Shake.

So March Madness folks.

I’m glad it’s April.

And McDonald’s has quit selling the Shamrock Shake.

And I have a treadmill.

However, I did see yesterday that they have a new Strawberry Shake coming out.

Really.

It never ends.

I truly hope they aren’t sponsoring the world series 🙂

P.S. Go Wildcats!

P.P.S. I am linking this up at Kim’s.

P.P.P.S. All pictures, freshy or otherwise were taken by RTM Connect.

I’m Stuck On You

Elmer’s Glue has come a long way.

I remember when I was in first grade, we didn’t really have glue. We had paste. The paste came in a tiny little jar with a tiny little spoon. It was kind of a flat spoon and it was supposed to be used for scraping the paint out of the jar onto the paper.

Some people skipped the paper and just used the spoon to eat the paste.

I remember being fascinated with the paste-eating kids. There was one in particular who ate it on a regular basis. All the time. Every day. I waited to see what would happen to him. Would his hair fall out? Would he turn sticky? Would he start eating the crayons, next?

The weird this was nothing ever happened.

All that glue and he still knew that the capital of California was Sacramento.Continue reading “I’m Stuck On You”

Monkey See Monkey Do

Am I the last one to the party?

Am I the last one to know?

And I would still be sitting by the phone waiting, if it weren’t for Shannon and Kelly.

The question here is how?

How?

How have I lived and breathed and taken tables out to turtle-filled fields without knowing about Pic Monkey?

I think Pic Monkey is to photography what the DVR is to television.Continue reading “Monkey See Monkey Do”

Watch Out For Crumbs

I am a little in awe of the artistic photograph.

You know what I’m talking about….the photographs taken from incredible visual angles with tight shots and wide shots and close-ups. Photographs taken on tractors and horses and beaches and lakes and sandboxes and gardens and fields.

This is not one of those photographs.Continue reading “Watch Out For Crumbs”

It’s A Cinch Inspired by Freddie Mercury

I was in a 5K this past weekend.

It was miserable.

It was cold and raining and in the middle of the race there was a very steep hill. The kind of hill that makes you fall to your knees in agony and cry and feel like your leg ends at your right knee. I stared at that hill and it stared right back.

I braced myself, gritted my teeth and started up the hill slowly one foot at a time.

As I went on, I got slower and sl……ow…..er

and s….l….o….w….e….r.

It seemed like that hill took on the proportions of Mount Everest.

I wanted to give up.

I wanted to cry.

I wanted to turn and run back down the hill.

And then….

….We Are the Champions started playing on my IPOD.

And the sun broke through the clouds.

I took it as a sign.

And I dug in my heels and crested that hill with my hands held high as Freddie Mercury screamed out, “We are the champions of the world.”

On that day I owned that hill.

And if Freddie can inspire me to make it to the top of faux Mount Everest without a stretcher, I know he will inspire you to link it up at our “It’s a Cinch” Party.

Today.

Here.

And we want to see your project in all of its “cinchy” glory.

Join me and these incredible bloggers:

it all started with paint

Electically vintage

The Cottage Market

the space between

And here’s the truly Freddie Mercury champion part…..if you link up…..your link is automatically featured on all of our blogs.

Seriously.

That’s right champions….1 link = 5 links.

We are partying like its 1099.

1. Any easy project qualifies.

2. No linky parties, please.

3. I also think the world will be a much better place with more “Cinchy Projects” so I am going to be posting your projects on facebook and twitter and pinterest. I want the world to see just how talented you are.

4. If you want to join in all this after party fun, you can follow me on facebook here or twitter here or pinterest here.