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. 

July 19

Teresa

From Magazine Your Home

Happy Saturday.  This week I am introducing you to a really fun and talented blogger, Teresa from Magazine Your Home.  Teresa and I clicked right away in blogland  and we have become friends.  Teresa is a special friend and I am so happy she finally said yes to doing Spotlight so you could come to know her like I have.  Thank you Teresa for doing Spotlight.  I am so excited my friend to feature you this week.

Teresa From Magazine Your Home

Hello fellow bloggers! I just want to send a big hug to Kris for asking me to share on Spotlight Saturday. I was so excited until the excitement turned to shaking in my boots as I thought uh... what do I talk about??? I'm so used to doing posts on painting furniture, sewing curtains or changing out my lamps. This is a switch to talk about real stuff haha, so bear with me.

Oh by the way, this is me...

I'm a mom of five grown children who took the Lord quite seriously when He said "Go forth and multiply" and they gave me 18 grandchildren! We like big families.

The majority of us got together recently to attend my grandson's graduation from Marine Corp Boot Camp on a cold rainy day in San Diego.

My oldest grandchild is in the Army and currently deployed.

I'm extremely proud of both of them. I'm proud of ALL my children and grandchildren . They are such a fun and exciting bunch!

I was born a Buckeye from Ohio and went West to California when I was 13. That's where I met my first husband Fred. We were high school sweethearts and we were married for forty years. I was a stay at home mom until my children were on their own, I felt very thankful to be able to do that.

 I then started my career working with Developmentally Disabled Adults and eventually became the Administrator for a group of day programs for the disabled. It was a very fulfilling time in my life and it actually prepared me for the sweet granddaughter that was soon to come. My little Savannah was born with Down's Syndrome and she has been a true gift from God, but I must admit that she sometimes has an angel perched on one shoulder and a little devil on the other hehe.

Let me tell you when this girl gets in a cleaning mood she doesn't want anyone interrupting her, you can't talk to her, you can't even LOOK at her! If you do she'll strike a pose with her hands on her hips  and say " I'm a woman, I'm working" (insert attitude)  hehe so cute.

Here's two more of my little cuties sitting in the chicken coop with me.

Yes we all grew mustaches, bushy ones.

The Lord called my first husband home eight years ago when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. Our faith in the Lord and the strength of our family held us together and got us through that difficult time.

 I did eventually remarry to my wonderful husband Toby who is a saint to put up with my never ending projects. I dream 'em up and he executes them. We moved from California to Alabama to be near his father. That's how I ended up living in a mobile home that I quickly turned in to a farmhouse, yep you read that right. See don't we look like farmers now?

 Hey who says a mobile home can't be a farmhouse? Throw in some chickens and couple horses and anyone can have a farmhouse right?

But it did take some imagination to transform that plain Jane mobile from this.......

To this....

Hanging a cow head on the wall always helps though...

But as some of you may know we recently moved from the mobile to the front house, a real farmhouse built in 1921.

We are currently in the process of painting and refurbishing.

Another kitchen redo....

to this...

It's a good thing I love anything having to do with making a house in to a home.

Like making a farmhouse table....

or gardening...

and furniture makeovers...

But about this thing called blogging, in the beginning it was just a way for me to document life things, but now it's turned into something more. I've discovered that you can make wonderful friendships through blogging, with people you have never met. Imagine that....it's a fabulous thing these bloggy friendships and I have been blessed to have discovered the most caring, interesting and creative women ever..

Thanks Teresa for sharing yourself and beautiful family with all of us.  Now that you have gotten to know Teresa please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another very talented blogger Elizabeth from Blue Clear Skies.

Have a great week end.  Thanks for your visits and kind comments to all the spotlight bloggers.
Kris
:)

Let you in on a little romantic secret about Mr. JCC

Hope your week is going great.

Happy Thursday.

I think most of you that follow me know when I purchase something from another fellow blogger I like to give them a shout out on my blog.  I think it is great to help each other out and to post about the talents of others.

A fellow blogger and wonderful artist Gigi from Old World Patina Blog has an Etsy Site of the same name.  Gigi makes some really beautiful pieces.

I recently purchased this wonderful piece from her to store all my poems and love letters that Mr. JCC has written to me over the years.

We will be married 33 years this September and  have known each other for over 35 years.  Since I have known this wonderful man and he has been in my life he has written some of the most beautiful stories, love letters and poems to me over the years.

Yep! that "Big Man of Man Fire Chief" has a poetic side to him.  Every card, letter and special occasion he writes some of the most romantic poems and thoughts to me.

I have them saved in a big old box but when I saw that Gigi made this special grey poem box I felt that would be good to put by my night stand and put some of his poems he has written me in there.

Love this box and how she white washed it with a light grey to give it a distressed feel.

Inside the box was a wonderful grouping of special treasures.  Tags, note book and scrolls of french book pages.  Love it all.

It is a perfect addition to my night stand in my bedroom.  I will put some of my favorite poems from Terry inside this treasure box.

Thank you Gigi for my beautiful treasure poem box.  If you would like to see Gigi's other creative and beautiful pieces please visit her Etsy Site Old World Patina.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and please come back on Saturday for Spotlight.
Susan and I have two wonderful bloggers this week.
Kris
:)

Living Room Changes

Here are some of the changes to my living room.  This is just the start.  I want to add some color to this room and I am working on bringing in some color to the creams and whites.

Part One the New Slipcover:

Lisa Harmon made my last white slipcover and now I received this beautiful Ivory/Natural color slipcover for my sectional. It is made in a 12 oz denim that washes so nice.  It comes out softer with each washing just like your favorite pr. of blue jeans.  You also can throw these into the dryer and they will not shrink.   I know peeps that have slipcovers and they had to put them on the sofa or chair wet.  That would drive me crazy so it is nice these do not shrink.  Lisa pre washes and shrinks the fabric before sewing.

 Lisa does amazing work and does everything by measurement and pictures and she is fast too.  So if you are in need of a slipcover for your chair, couch or sectional I would highly recommend Lisa. Lisa is so sweet and will work with and make your piece custom and unique. Here is her Etsy Site.  

I had Lisa make this in a light ivory/natural color this way I can add any color to the room and have it compliment the ivory slipcover.  I have creams and whites in this room now but I am thinking of bringing in some light blue and aqua.

Country Curtains where I get most of the drapes in my home are coming out with a beautiful blue and also a tan buffalo check pattern drape this fall.  I am excited to see the light blues in the buffalo check to maybe start the addition of some color.  It is so hard to find the buffalo check in the lighter blue and tans.  So I am excited to see what Country Curtains comes out with.

Right now I have my creams, tans and white throw pillows to add in this room. Little secret I do not have this many pillows on my sectional on a regular basis because my decorating assistant below likes to throw all the pillows onto the floor.  There is also a blanket on the couch where she likes to lay.  For pictures I put all of this on the sectional.  Normal life around here that would not work with little Miss Libby.
 

Yep my little decor assistant likes to lay all over my sectional so a blanket is a must on the sectional and a fabric like the heavy weight denim that is soft and washes easily.  Just keeping it real!

Excuse the wrinkles but I found with my last slipcover that if I put them on and let them hang for a few days the wrinkles disappear and I do not have to spend hours ironing all of these cushion covers and the slipcover.

You can see the old Library table I got at the flea market.  I painted the green legs white and just kept the top in it's original condition.  Love the history with this table.

This is the back of the sectional.  In time the box pleat will lay nicer and be a more definite box pleat look.  Just have to work on it a little bit.

So this is a good start to the living room to get my chippy whites and creams and now to wait on the drapes and some other things to bring in some color.  

This is my corner chair where I read and nap!  That chair is really comfy.

This is Mr. JCC's chair.  Shhhhhh we have a rule that I do not touch his chair with any crafts or fufu things.  So I put this throw and a fufu pillow just for the picture.  My Fire Chief has to have a manly space to call his own.  So I honor that and do not touch his leather recliner LOL!

I framed out my wall sconces with these old vintage white frames.

I have the old arched window and chippy shutters on the wall for a focal point.

My old vintage window and Our Nest sign hung over the corner chair.  These hearts hanging on the window are made from old metal ceiling tiles and the bling on them is old crystals.

Hung this chandelier over the library table instead of a table lamp.

This is the old vintage door I got from Jeanine Chippy Shabby at the Elkhorn Flea Market.  Love the chippiness to this old door piece.  Thank you Jeanine it looks awesome hanging over my old library table.

I have a few of my Madonna's and angel wings in the corner on my library table too.  The rosaries on the larger Madonna have a lot of meaning for me.  One is from Terry's Nana that she left for me when she died.  She and I were really close and she would always say if you had plans on a rainy day to hang this rosary in the window and the sun will come out.  On the day my daughter was married it was over cast and looking like rain.  I hung the rosary in the window and we had a sunny and beautiful day for the wedding.  The other rosary was given to me as a special gift from a special friend and I cherish them both.

I will finish up with my front entry way.  Some of you may not have seen it before.  I love the old chippy shutters and my old garden gate hung in the entry.

My little love birds in their cage that is framed out with a vintage frame.

My old chippy chair by the front door.

These are the cream and tan drapes I have in the living room now.  I am hoping to swap them out when the new buffalo check drapes come out this fall from Country Curtains.  I am hoping the lighter cottage blue buffalo check will be pretty with the creams and tans in this room.

That is a small portion of what I have been changing up in my living room.  It is summer so things are taking me longer to get done with all the activities and getting outside more.  It will all get done.

Have a great start to the new week.
Thanks for your visit and taking time to comment.  It is so appreciated.
Kris
:)

Parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday
Inspire Me Tuesday
What's It Wednesday
Share Your Cup Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
From My Front Porch to Yours

A few new treasures and little switch a roo with some kitchen things.

Happy Sunday.

I just have a  post this morning to show you some of the things I got junkin and a few change ups in the kitchen.

I got this old chippy arched window a while back and put it up behind my kitchen sink in front of the window.

I love the grey chipping through the white and the scroll pattern to the metal in the window.  I think it is a perfect fit in my French Farmhouse Kitchen.

I moved my old Cafe De Paris etched mirror and made it into the cabinet door.  I put on an old knob to match the vintage look of the framed mirror.

Then where I had the old Cafe Sign in the frame I added an old vintage framed mirror to reflect light and the chandelier in this kitchen.

I like how it reflects the chandelier and bounces light around in this room.  I have the hardest time getting good pictures in this kitchen with the way the light comes in to this room.

I think the mirror helps to reflect the chandelier and also gives more light reflection.  At night the chandeliers are so pretty when they reflect in the mirror.

It looks pretty at night to have the chandeliers reflecting in the mirror.

See this old and trashed table.  I had this in the garden with plants on it and it was getting really weathered and not very sturdy.  So instead of trashing it I decided to re love it.

Here she is all gussied up with new legs and a nicely sanded top to show her pretty wood top.

I kept a lot of her chippy flaws since that shows her character.  I added AS Louis blue chalk paint with AS pure white and now her legs and sides have a touch of blue.

I think she compliments the room nicely.  Loved that I spared her the trash heap and gave her new life.

This little sweet treasure is one of my favorite finds.  It is an old heater grate.  I love this sweet piece.  Vintage, chippy and too sweet with the scalloped bottom.
  

I got this old chippy stool from my friend Janet's shop Lucky Junk.  It had a back on it but thought she would work better as a side table then stool.  So Mr. JCC took off the back and now I have a new side table for by my reading chair.  So if you are wondering what happened to the cute ladder I had there well.......

It now resides next to Mr. JCC's leather chair.  He likes that he has a place to set all his remotes on for the TV and a place to set his drink.

Also found this great Vintage Garden sign while junkin.  So it fit perfectly on my garden vignette mantel decor.

I moved my flower market picket fence to this back window.  It is hard to get a good picture with they way the sun streams in this window but it really looks pretty cute in this window looking out to the back garden.

So there are a few of my new treasures and repurposed things added to Junk Chic Cottage.

Thank you for your visits.
Have a wonderful start to the new week.
Kris
:)

Parties this week:
Show and Share At Costal Charm
Make it Pretty Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
Treasure Hunt Thursday