I visited Amanda at a pop up shop she had at West Elm this past weekend... ... where she was selling her art prints, postcards, Christmas and Hanukkah cards,  ornaments, stickers and so much more! She is so talented!!! But that was this weekend and this is today, and I'm already a day late in announcing the winner of a pair of Amanda's "hand" earrings! The winner is... Henny from Henny Penny Lane!!! I'll be contacting you, Henny, to get your address and find out if you'd like the silver or gold earrings! And thank you to everyone who entered! All my best, Donna ..read more

I'm SO sorry to be so late in posting the Hand Earring giveaway!  What is that old saying, "the hurrier I go, the behinder I get?" Yup, that's me!!! I'm so excited to be hosting this giveaway for a pair of  "Hand Earrings" designed by my daughter, Amanda, and created by RA-HA Jewelry! (Amanda wearing a pair of the earrings) Together they came up with the most fabulous limited edition offering of 50 pairs of 'hand' earrings. Amanda was inspired by the hand-shaped earrings that Picasso created for Frida Kahlo.  (Sterling Silver pictured here) These gorgeous earrings are av ..read more

We are ready for all the little goblins, witches, and ghosts that will be stopping by for treats tomorrow night! Most of the Halloween decorations in the yard have been around since our own girls were little trick-or-treaters themselves! I love this 1990 photo of them dressed as little Dutch girls!  But back to the yard decorations. There's old Mr. Jack-O-Lantern, the windsock... ...and his friend, Mr. Ghost, also a windsock. Witchy-Poo is a more recent addition. She's probably been making an appearance for the past 6-8 years or so. She likes to hang out on the backyard gate. Mr ..read more

For the past two years I'd fully intended to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project and put out a teal pumpkin so trick-or-treaters with food allergies would know that we also have non-food goodies to hand out... ...but I've always forgotten to get the teal pumpkin and non-candy treats - until this year! I picked up a paper mache pumpkin from A.C. Moore, some "Mermaid Teal" paint and voila! So from now on it will be our annual Halloween tradition to provide candy as well as some fun little non-food treats for whoever comes knocking on our door! If you enter your zip code into the followi ..read more

It's been quite some time since I posted.   I'm afraid I have a sad update on our sweet Midgie girl.  We adopted her on August 28, 2016. She was 10 years old. Silly me assumed she would be with us for at least six years since most of our cats have lived to be 16. That was not meant to be. She got very sick in May and test showed she had severe kidney disease. Despite ours and her Vet's best efforts, in less than a month's time we had to have this little beauty put to sleep. It had become clear that no treatments or fluids or medicines were going to help her and she was cle ..read more

Little by little the studio office is taking shape.  (I'm a slow mover - it's been years in the making!) I know I've shared photos of this writing desk before,  a favorite "Sidewalk Sale" find from many years ago. I paired it with this antique St. Cecilia framed print, which was also a great find. My good blogging friend, Claudia @ Mockingbird Hill Cottage,  put me in touch with an antique store in her neck of the woods so I  could purchase this vintage parakeet lamp. It was love at first sight! The chair was a floor sample from Target a few years ago and the unicorn bo ..read more

I wanted to share my daughter Amanda's BEDROOMS Coloring Book that was published earlier this year (available here in her Etsy shop). It is a beautiful hardcover book, filled with many bedrooms to color as well as  DIY pages for you to finish and color! Earlier this month Amanda had a signing at  Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street in Boston. Her family and many friends were there to support her and we all had such a great time! (Birch Tree sample page done by Amanda) If you're looking for a special Christmas/holiday/birthday gift  for someone who could use ..read more

with two cats in the yard (house). (I've always loved that song!) Ms. Midgie wanted to thank everybody for all the compliments sent her way!  They made this little shelter cat feel very special!!! However, I'm afraid Baby cat's little nose is out of joint with Ms. Midgie being the focus of the last post. After all, she's used to being the star of the blog and having the camera pointed at her. So she and I had a little photo session the other day while she sunned in front of the slider. It didn't take long for her to start working the camera in the way that only Baby can! Y ..read more

 Hello again to everyone! It has been a very long time since I've posted anything; over a year, in fact, right after we lost our wonderful Mr. J. I thought I would check in and let you know that we are all doing fine here in New England. I also thought I'd introduce you to the newest member of our family... ... this little Black Beauty (which also would have been a great name!). She's a little lady - always with her dainty front legs crossed! We adopted Ms. B "Midgie" Cocoa Bean at the end of August from the Lowell Humane Society. She is a very affectionate kitty and loves to spen ..read more

Today we said goodbye to this special little guy... As you can see from my sidebar, we've been through this many times over the years. It never gets easier. For the past week, Jarrett has been sneezing a bit harder than normal. He's so low to the ground that when he sneezes, he bumps his snout on the floor (which for the past week has given him a tiny bloody nose - not a lot of blood - one swipe of a tissue and it was gone). We assumed it was maybe a seasonal allergy, but decided to have it checked this past Monday. We were shocked to learn that he had an aggressive cancer on the roof of ..read more