Baby Shower Extravaganza!

Hi all!
Missed seeing your blogs this weekend.
I was a bit busy with my daughter Amanda's baby shower.
It was really hot here in Southern California. We had a wonderfully cool summer, but this past week was really hellish.
We were expecting over 50 people for the shower, so on Friday my husband and I decided to attempt to make some sort of canopy. I saw a picture of one I liked, so we tried it. It took the entire day, but we did it. It provided a nice shade for us in the back yard. People loved it!! It looked pretty too!!
Everything went very well, except for the heat. The decorations were fun, as were the favors. The food was great! Amanda's friends, Jennifer, and Jackie along with me were throwing the shower. Jennifer was in charge of the food, Jackie was in charge of the games and prizes, and my job was to provide the venue, as well as the decorations and the favors. Of course I went a little crazy with that, but that is what I do. I am very mad at myself for being so busy, that I forgot to take photos of the front of my house, and the cake. I hope someone else did. I did get shots of the inside and the backyard.
The smiley girl is the mommy to be. A little less than one month to go. She is due at the end of Sept. Can't wait to meet baby Jake!!
I will try to get around to visit all of you this week.
The shower was fun, but it was very time consuming. I like everything to be just so.
Have a great week!
Chat soon.
Love,
Rosemary
UPDATE!! Please go to my daughter's Blog to see more photos, including the front yard and the cake. Yay for you Amanda for getting more photos!!!

A Little Change

Hi all!
Hope you had a great weekend!
It's baby shower central around here. Only 5 more days til the big, and I do mean big event. We are hosting 55 ladies for the shower. So it's non stop stuff!
Anyway, I decided to make a small change in the corner of my family room.
I had an old book shelf in the corner for ages, and I had gotten this really cool door a few months ago at a flea market. I put the small bookshelf in my workspace to hold more seam binding and craft supplies. Moved the door in the corner where the bookshelf had been. I really love this door. It has a great chipping and cracking.
I also found this cool doorknob hook thing at a garage sale a couple of days ago.
I had a different smaller one in it's place. Door $20, doorknob hook thing $5, new look, priceless.
So that is my show and tell for this week, as I am getting my home, decorations and other various things ready for the baby shower. I will have plenty of pictures to share with you.
Have a great week!
Love,
Rosemary

Madeleine's, Not As Easy As Pie!

It all started a couple of weeks ago. My daughter and I out and about on a Saturday morning garage sale run. We came upon this really great house in an area where we live called Ventu Park. It's very hilly, quaint, and all of the homes are one of a kind and very interesting. This particular home looked like a bed a breakfast lodge type home. The people were moving so they were selling lots of stuff. We were perusing the goods, when I spied it, a Madeleine pan. I thought to myself, I have always wanted to try making Madeleine's. The lady said it was a brand new pan, and she had never used it.(Of Course) We all do that, buy stuff with good intentions and never use it. The best part, was she only want a dollar for it. So for a dollar, I had to get it. I took the pan home, ran it through the dishwasher, and it sat on my counter for the next week, while I looked on line for Madeleine recipes.
I found the perfect one on Epicurious.com. The recipe calls for cake flour. Interesting, I have never used cake flour. I usually use the regular kind for baking.
So 3 stores later, I find it, by the way it's in a box, not a bag.
Today was the day!
It wasn't as easy as I had hoped. (Is it ever?) A lot of sifting, mixing, zesting etc. Once baked they were suppose to fall out of the pan, as you brushed it with melted butter. NOT!! I had to get them out using my handy dandy KNIFE!
Now the recipe says use 3 Madeleine pans, I only have one. I had to bake them, wash the pan and start over for the next batch. This time using PAM and brushing with butter. For some reason this next batch has too much of something because butter was at the bottom of the oven burning, and smoking. WHATEVER!
Well, let me tell you, after all of the mess and work, they taste delicious. They are lemony, buttery goodness. I don't even eat that many sweets, but of course I tried these.
I guess I will impress my husband tonight!!
Not sure if I will make them again, or if the pan will be in my next garage sale.
We will see.
Hope you are having a great day!!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary
PS, back to cleaning my kitchen.

Baby Shower Sneak Peek!

Hi all!!
Hope you had a nice weekend!
Mine was so busy. My brother, and his family were visiting from Northern California,
so we were hanging out with them, attending a birthday party, going to the eye doctor in Malibu, more visiting, working on baby shower stuff, and the normal weekend errands, brunch with the family, then dinner at my daughter's house. Today I'm planning on adding a new coat of cement stain to my patio.
I thought you would like to see a tiny sneak peek of some of the baby shower decorations. You can't see too much yet. I want to show you the photos of the whole party when it happens a week from Saturday. We have 50 guests coming, so it's not a small shower.
Anyway, have a great week!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Another Little Redo!

Hi all!!
Hope you are having a good week!
So, I'm sitting in my family room which looks out at my breakfast nook. I am staring at this cute corner cupboard that I have had for awhile now. It's cute, has lots of storage and fits perfectly in the corner of the breakfast room. The only problem was that the front of the cupboard door was blue. Bright French blue! It never really bugged me before, but as I sat there and stared at it, I really began to notice that nothing else in and around this cupboard was blue. In fact nothing in my house is really blue. I am sitting there thinking, why does this have to be blue? So I tore up some of my old French dictionary pages, antiqued them a bit and glued them on to the front of the door. Then the 3 blue glass knobs had to go of course. I was just going to replace them with some metal ones, until I walked into Anthropologie on Friday night!! Ooh, I see these really cool metal and ceramic knobs made to look like old clock faces. That was it, I had to buy them. I bought 2 of them, I get home and realize that I need 3 of them.(Crazy Girl) I don't know why I had it in my head that I needed only 2. I went back the next day and bought another one.
I think they look adorable. I love the small change in the cupboard, and now I am not staring at the blue door, just the cute knobs.
I really like it now, and I hope you do too!!
Have a great afternoon!
Chat soon.
Love,
Rosemary
PS, You gotta love the stuff at Anthropologie!!

Finished Project!

Hi all!
Hope you had a great weekend!
Mine was busy!! I finished painting the vanity, and getting the bathroom back in shape. I had to match the faux finish behind the toilet. I painted the vanity Light French Gray by Behr. I did a silver glaze over top of the French Gray. We added some feet/legs at the bottom to give it more of a furniture look. Now I am just trying to figure out what to put in and on the vanity for decoration. It's a little tricky now that the vanity is smaller. I love the way it turned out though. Everything is fresh and new. It wasn't a complete redo, but here is what we did.
We took out the old counter and sink. Tiled the counter and added the glass border.(Had a tile guy) Put in a new toilet and sink.(Had a plumber) Painted the vanity, and painted behind the toilet.(Me) Added some legs to the vanity,(My husband) and got a few new accessories.
We did not get a new floor or change the walls. We also kept the faucets.
In the photos I think it looks more tan than gray, because the lighting casts more of an amber color.
Now I can get back to work on the baby shower and Halloween!!
Have a great week!
Chat soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Before and During

Bathroom progress report!
Hi there, still working on bathroom redo project.
As you can see we had a cultured marble counter and sink from 1981, pretty huh?LOL!
So bad! The counter went all the way across behind the toilet. It looks much more open now that it's out of here. Also pictured is the old toilet from same time period. There is a newly tiled counter, and pretty glass tile border. I am repainting the vanity, and painting the wall behind the new toilet. Tomorrow the plumber is coming to reinstall the faucets. I am keeping this faucet you can see in the picture. It is fairly new, and was expensive, and I still like it. It will go much better with our pretty new white sink by Kohler. Our new toilet is the same one we bought for our master remodel last summer. It's also by Kohler. I know you guys like to know the brands etc.
As soon as everything is complete I will post the finished project all painted and decorated. It will be complete for our daughter's baby shower in a few weeks.
Hope you are having a good week!
Chat again soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Witchy!

Hi,and Happy Tuesday!!
Just wanted to show you the finished witch decoration that I was working on in a previous post.
It can be worn on a statue like this or set on a table. A fun Halloween decoration.
I added the clock striking midnight, as we all know as "The Witching Hour"
I'm thinking of adding this to my Etsy shop.
Anyway, I have to get busy taking everything out of my guest bath today, as my tile guy will be here tomorrow morning to start on the little remodel that is going on.
I will take before and after pictures. We all like that!
Have a great day, and chat soon.
Love,
Rosemary

Tea Party Queen

Personalized Glitter Graphics


Hi there,
Just trying out this blingee thing to see if I could do it.
I guess I can. Very fun!!
Hope you are having a great weekend!!
Chat again soon,
Rosemary