Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind The Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

April 26

Judy from 20 North Ora

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to a wonderful and talented blogger.  It is Judy from 20 North Ora.  Judy and I have become great blogging friends and I cannot wait for you to get to know her better.  Enjoy.

Hi!  I'm Judy Clark from the blog 20 North Ora.  I have been blogging about 1 1/2 years.  Here are some things you might
or might not know about me!!

I love to paint.  I have painted one actual oil painting in my life.  I did this for my husband for Christmas for his office.  I have taught tole painting, acrylic and watercolors. 

I recently bought a dollhouse and am eagerly awaiting the time to start furnishing it.

My favorite thing to do is sew.  I love to sew.  My Etsy shop is comprised of mostly pillows.  I started sewing at the age of seven and have really never stopped.

I have collections!  Boy oh boy, do I have collections! 

I collect:

Shoes

 Vintage Mother's Plaques

Noah's Ark Items

Vintage Dishes

Coca Cola Memorbilia
Vintage Lace and Doilies
Vintage Hankerchiefs
Clocks
McCoy Pottery

I do a weekly Saturday Treasures on my blog showing what I found at Estate Sales and Garage Sales that week.

In the Fall, I do a weekly "Christmas on Monday" series where we make items for the holidays.

I love taking old vintage items and using them in my home.

Last year, I created Miss Begonia out of an old dress form I purchased at a garage sale.  Miss Begonia made it into Romantic Homes!!

I love making wreaths for my front door.

My husband and I have been married almost 46 years.

We have one son, one grandson and four granddaughters, three great-granddaughters and one great-grandson (Landen) in Heaven.

I went back to college at the age of forty-five to get my degree in Interior Design.  I dearly loved every minute of school.  I had been doing a lot of interior design work but decided that a degree would help and it did.  I retired from that when my husband retired four years ago.

I have lived in the same house for almost 44 years.

My Dad's name is John Smith.

I am the oldest of four girls.  This photograph was made just days before my youngest sister was born,  I am the oldest, followed by blonde Jeannie and then dark eyed Rita and then baby Jane came along.

My folk's home was 20 North Ora.  It was where they lived their whole married life.  Hence, the name of my blog and my Etsy shop.

I love red!

I have a precious dog named Bella.  She is a mix of Australian Shepherd and Blue Heeler.

And, last but not least, I do have a Coca Cola cooler in my
back yard.

So, there, hope you learned some things about me.  Thanks to Kris for this opportunity and hope you'll visit 20 North Ora.


Thank you so much Judy.  Now that you have gotten to know Judy please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another great blogger Pam from House of Hawthornes.

Have a great week end.
Kris
:)

Part 2 visiting Concord Ma. and Wendy's Nesting Shop

Just a little show off before I start the post on the 2nd part of my trip out East.  

This is our Granddaughter Abby with the Easter Bunny.

It was a wonderful day here in the burbs of Chicago.  In the 70's and beautiful.  Abby had fun with the visit of the Easter Bunny and hunting for eggs outside.
Hope you all had a great Easter.

Now on to the post:


It is the middle of the week.  Wooo Hooo.  Hope all is going good for you.

Here is the 2nd part of my trip out East.

Michelle, Wendy, Myself and Susan.  Wendy has a great shop in Concord, Ma.  So it was fun to visit Concord for her shop and all the other cute places to shop and eat there.  Concord is a typical old history filled Eastern Town.

The name of Wendy's shop is Nesting.  Such a sweet name.

This is a view of the front of the building Nesting is in.  There is a little cafe down below that we had the most yummy lunch.

This is a front view of the building where Nesting is and also the down stairs Main Street Market Cafe.  If you look to the upper left where the stair lead that is Nesting.

Great old window frames around her flower boxes outside the shop.  Really sweet.

As you enter into the shop it is a fantastic selection of gorgeous treasures.  Don't you love that Picnic Area Sign.  I mad I did not get that.  How cute would that be on an outside deck table and chairs area.

One of the many many things I loved about Wendy's shop is she sells and displays beautiful architectural pieces with the merchandise. 

Everywhere you looked there was so many sweet treasures.  Look at that amazing clock.

Ahhhhhhh this stopped me dead in my tracks.  Oh la la that old architectural church steeple piece.  Too gorgeous.  I wish I could have packed that in the suit case.  It is a stunning piece.

Wendy's partner makes beautiful jewelry pieces.  I loved seeing all her beautiful necklaces and jewelry.

Cute displays everywhere.  I wanted those chairs too but again could not put them in a suit case.  So... bringing a U Haul on my next trip out there!!!!!

Look at all the fabulous Easter pieces.  The birdhouses she had were amazing.

This was the cabin and rustic room.  She had so many great pieces of home decor made out of wood and natural things.

There you have it.  Wendy's shop is so cute.  I loved making a visit.  This town was gorgeous and full of so much history.  We had a great day exploring Concord.
If you want to visit Wendy's Facebook go here.

Have a great rest of the week.  Come back on Saturday for Spotlight.   Susan and I will have two wonderful bloggers for you to get to know.
Kris
:)

At Home With Whites Show and Meeting Wonderful Blog Friends

Good Morning.  Hope Easter was wonderful for all of you.

I am finally getting to my post on my trip out East to Boston and going to the At Home With Whites Show and meeting up with wonderful blog friends.

So here we go.

Here we are all together.  Michelle, me, Susan and Sandi.  We were all looking into the sun so squinty eyes LOL!  When we all met up it felt like we were life long friends.  It was so much fun.

  

Look at this gorgeous display of yummy whites on the porch entering the store.  Just beautiful and so full of many wonderful items.  I am coming back next year with a U Haul!!!!!!

Look at this cute bike.  Adorable.

So many vintage and beautiful white chippy treasures.

This bed vendor did such a beautiful display of all her treasures she was selling.  White love!

One of the vendors inside the store.  Gorgeous items in her display.

Look at the sweet Madonna.

See those sweet slipcovered chairs in Liz's booth.  Yep the covers came home with me.  You will see what I did with them in another post.  They are so sweet and have a lace pocket in the back of the chair.

This pillow in the middle I also got from Liz's booth.  It was a perfect pick for my chair.  The cute bunny pillow a friend gifted me for my birthday.  Too cute with the buttons.

Not a great picture of the great couch in the back ground.  Oh la la that couch by Liz was so fabulous.  I just kept saying I want it but it would not fit in the suit case.  Seriously, I am coming back with a U Haul next year.

This is Sandi's booth in the shop.  She has some really fabulous items for sale.

Sandi has the best stuff in her booth.  I loved this farmhouse sign and that chippy white garden table.  If I lived closer I would be her best customer.

This is the sweet towel Sandi made and gifted to each of us.  They were all different cute designs.  I love that she gave me the french rooster.  Thank you Sandi.  I just love it.

This was my heart break that I could not bring it back with me.  Look at this old vintage fireplace.  I would have loved that for my faux fireplace mantel.  It was all iron and so so  heavy.  It had the cutest legs.

This was just some of the doors I had to say good bye too.  Oh the door addiction in me was on over load with all of these lovelies.

Windows Galore!

Some lovely garden urns.

This is all of us girls again with Wendy the 2nd over from the left.  Wendy does not have a blog but she has a great shop in Concord.  So Terry and I headed to Concord the next day to visit Wendy's shop called Nesting and also to take in the old colonial town of Concord and all the wonderful history there.  I will have that in the next post in a few days.
Just did not want to put you on picture overload in one post. LOL!
Have a great start to the new week ahead.
Thank you again for all your prayers and sweet wishes for my father in law.  He is doing better but we still have a long road ahead.
Kris
:)