Time is Flying By!!

I thought I was doing well with getting things ready for summer, but boy here we are in June, and still I have so many things to do. Usually by this time, my garden is complete, but this year as so many of you, we have battled the most unusual weather, and it has been almost too wet to plant on most days. So for now, I still have annuals to plant which I am hoping to get in this weekend, just those bright spots of color in an othewise green and peaceful shade garden. My friend Sandy and I are off to the greenhouse today to see what new and different things we can find, and as always, I will come home with way too many things. I am on the lookout today for some lupines, hollyhocks, morning glories, and miniature roses. Although the garden is primarily shade, I do have one area that does get a good bit of sun, so I have taken advantage of that and developed a cottage style garden in that area. It has been trial and error with this garden, as gardening in the shade can offer quite the challenge.

On my to do list for this weekend is repainting a garden bench that was made for me by a dear friend. I purchased a new sign to hang from the back of the bench and I can't wait to see how it all looks together. This bench sits in the first section of my garden, and I just love it! So be sure to check back later on to see how everything turns out! I will be taking many photos as the summer goes on to share with you how my garden evolves over the summer months.

Wow! Just wanted to let you all know that OFG, my Etsy street team, is going to have another great challenge coming up shortly. The challenge this time will be "Patriotic" just in time to kick off the Fourth of July holiday.

What is a challenge? Well, all the members of OldFarmHouseGathering are challenged to create a piece with the topic of patriotism. There will be many talented, and artistic designs for you to view on Etsy during this promotion. As the time draws closer I will post a link for you to view them on Etsy.

We did a Mother's Love challenge in May, and it was so much fun. The creations that came from that challenge were amazing and resulted in many sales for the team. Also during this promotion if you visit the OldFarmhouseGathering blog you will have a chance to vote on your favorite patriotic creation.

I believe that all artisians create from their hearts, and just as the Mother's Day Challenge brought emotions to the surface, I am sure this challenge will tug at a few hearts also. The pieces that were created for the Mother Love challege were just so full of love, treasured memories, and each piece held a story in the heart of the artist/crafter. All of the gals and gent do an awesome job on these.......I just can't wait to see what they come up with this time. So stay tuned, and I will be writing more on the topic as we go along......for now, though, I need to decide on my entry, so I am off to do a little painting........have a wonderful weekend!...Toodles

I wanted to share with you another of my sampler paintings. I love the way this one turned out! I hit a few tag sales here in Sandwich, and found this wonderful frame! It was perfect for this design. I brought it home, sanded, painted, and sanded again and now it looks to have been around for years. You can see other painted samplers in my Etsy shop

It has been a few days now since I have been able to get back in and say hello. Life just tends to get in the way of that somedays. It started as a rather dreary morning here but we are seeing some sunshine as the day prgresses, and maybe we can dry out a bit from all the rain we have had the past couple days. My garden is loving it though......hope to add some pictures soon.

Also I wanted to mention that if you love decorating in the primitive or country style, this Ebay Top 100 Primitive list is just full of wonderful artisians. If you have a brief moment today, check us out, and of course I would love your vote. To vote all you need to do is click the banner name of the shop you are interested in.

I have a rather busy day today as I am trying to get so many things done at once. I am headed out to the garden here in a few minutes to try and stay ahead of the weeds, and then it will be back in the house for more painting time. I have discovered that I really like to paint on canvas, so I have been working on a few primitive samplers. Many years ago, I used to do allot of cross stitch, but I just never seem to find the time to do that any longer, so I thought I would stitch my samplers in paint!

I am hoping to do a series of samplers for all four seasons, and of course for the Christmas season. I will be sure to post pictures as soon as they are finished. Well I have to go for now, the weeds are calling my name, and always I wish you all a very blessed day! Be back soon.......toodles.

Check These Out!

I have had the best time playing with new ideas for my spring line of soaps. I was really going after a very prim effect, so this is what I came up with. I applied crackle to each one, let the black show through, and then antiqued, shaded, and washed, until they were very old in appearance. I really like the way they turned out. I have a crow, sunflower, pipberries, rusty tin star, black star and pips, and a willow tree. These soaps make the cutest little tuck in gifts to add to gift baskets, or I have had many customers purchase these as house warming gifts....just that little something. I am hoping to add to this selection with a line for fall, halloween, Christmas, and winter, so be sure to stop back by and see what new designs I have added in a few weeks........hope you enjoyed browsing!

New Soaps!

Good Morning! I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! Today, it is rather chilly again, so I am going to use the day to get back to painting. On of my favorite things to paint on are soaps. I have several ideas running around in my head today, so I want to get them down in paint before I forget....LOL. As with most of my art, all of my soaps of late are painted with the primitive or cottage style home in mind. These little soaps make wonderful gifts for co-workers or just those hard to buy for people that have everything. They also make wonderful stocking stuffers around the holidays. Be sure to stop back by, and see my new additions. It won't be long and I will start my holiday soaps too, so there will be lots of new pics to view. Have a blessed day........God Bless.

Oh my, I have found muscles that I never knew I had! After the long winter's nap, my body was not ready for gardening.....:) It was a beautiful day, so I headed to the greenhouse to get my endless supply of annual color, and made it back in record time to get these beauties in the ground. I look forward to this trip every year, and the minute that calendar page turns to May, I count the hours. There is just nothing more rewarding to me then to add beauty with flowers. I know my neighbors just giggle as every year they see the truck come in just loaded down with every kind of blossom available. Some people love clothes, I love flowers. It is heaven on earth to go out in the morning with that first cup of coffee, turn on the fountain, and listen to the morning sounds of nature, and just reflect. It is my favorite part of the day.

I truly believe in simplicity. It is reflected in my home, my garden, my art, and in my lifestyle. I love to repurpose old things, the wonderful aroma of a scented candle, and music that is soothing to the soul. I believe in the neccesity for quiet time, just those few precious moments of the day that are yours, and yours alone. So grab a few moments each day, your spirit will thank you, and so will your family.

It has rained here again, great for the plants and flowers but sure does change my plans for the day. So thought it would be a great time to add to my blog. I received the nicest gift this morning! Carol, a friend from the OFG Gathering group, sent me the cutest little siggy with my name! Isn't it adorable? I love cottage style decorating, so this little jewel was so me. Thank you Carol!





So this brought to mind a great topic for discussion.......what are your favorite things to decorate with? If I had to describe my home, I would have to use the word cottage country style. I have a mixture of primitive, antique, colonial and cottage. Sounds like quite the mixture doesn't it, but it all seems to work. I believe that your home should reflect who you are, and if you love it, it works. I tend toward the the simplistic way of life. I love the hardwood floors, old cabinets to hold my treasures, and lots and lots of light. I am forever moving pieces and collections around just to get a different look. Most of the things in my home are treasures,that have come from the hearts of family and friends. Everywhere I look is a memory of how blessed I am to have had such wonderful people grace my life. So how about you? What are your favorite decorating styles? I would love to hear all about it. Along with painting, and gardening, I am always looking for new and different things to add to my home, so I would love to hear about yours!

Primgal's Primitive Palette

As you can see, I am very excited about Etsy! I belong to a great group called "Old Farmhouse Gathering" and we have been working very hard to promote primitive, folk art, cottage style, and vintage items. We are now over 100 members strong, and growing. If you love to decorate your home in any of these styles, introduce yourself to Etsy........you won't regret it.

I do have a store on Ebay also. I started my online business with them, and I have had a wonderful selling expierience there. Through Ebay, I was put in contact, and was introduced, to so many wonderful people. Many I can now call dear friends. If you would like to see what I have to offer on Ebay, just visit My Ebay to see handpainted home decor items for your home. I have had a wonderful response to my handpainted switchplates. There are many different ones to choose from, and I keep adding more as time allows. If you have any ideas that you would like to share I am always open to suggestion. I handpaint everything especially for the customer so color choices are always an option.

Well I am going to go and get everything I need for the holiday weekend. It is alway a tradition here to use those three days as a chance to open the garden, spruce things up, and officially kick of the summer season. So I will return later on, and in the meantime I wish everyone a very blessed and safe holiday weekend. Toodles..........

It is a simply gorgeous day here today. We have had so many days of rain and chilly weather, that seeing the sunshine is a gift to behold. I am so anxious to get outside and really play in the dirt. Along with painting, flower gardening is something that brings me so much joy. I have just a small area, compared to many, but to see everything coming up is like getting a present every spring. I have some perennials to split and divide, and then I get to do the really fun stuff and get my colorful annual baskets done. So a shopping trip is in order before the holiday weekend, and then I can just sit and enjoy all the beautiful blooms. My garden has been a true labor of love and it has given back tenfold. There is just something wonderful about connecting to Mother Nature through the soil. Hey I even think dirt smells good.......LOL. Okay off to grab you a photo of my bleeding hearts in bloom........enjoy!

Whew! I finally made it! I have been wanting to do this for so long, and through the encouragement of a dear friend, here I am! I hope you have tons of patience as I weave my way around learning to blog. This is definitly a new adventure, but an exciting one! I can be real chatty when I get behind these computer keys, but I really want most to share my love of decorative painting, and my other little passion.....my garden. So here we go...........