Featured in Print...

Circle and Sprout (the jewelry line I design and create by hand, with my wonderful and talented business partner, Sarah Millis-Kujawa) was featured in the April issue of Rochester Magazine.  Our Apple Branch Necklace is available via our website: www.circleandsprout.com

Fondant fun...

With Easter and my oldest daughter's birthday coming up, I decided to experiment with fondant for decorating her cake.  These are the very first things we made.  We were having so much fun we didn't want to quit to eat dinner last night.  I see many more fondant flowers in my future.

Blue doors...

When we moved in, I was loving the brick red accents in the house.  Three years later, I am getting sick of red. The walls in our family room area and up our staircase are a light yellowish-off white and since the staircase has very high walls and ceilings, painting it would be really difficult right now.  So, I decided to switch things up and paint just the doors and the space below the railing.  These photos show the before and after results.  What do you think?

This is a photo of the bottom of our stairs before (taken when we looked at the house).

This picture shows the area under the staircase, where the previous owners kept their computer work area.

Bottom of our stairs after.  This is the way it looked today.  I really wanted "ink" blue doors.  This color is called Blue Coal from Valspar at Lowes.

When we built our master bedroom addition (the large door on the left) we decided to take advantage of the extra space under the stairs and build an extra closet.  K built it in one afternoon the day before the drywall guy came.  I also recently changed the painting just beneath the staircase railing.  It was nice before, but I really wanted something a little less "flowery" and more colorful.  It took me an entire Sunday to complete, and I used every left over paint color from every room we have ever painted (we have painted a lot of rooms!)

Another view of our blue doors and the closet under the stairs.

Our kitchen...

We really love most everything about our kitchen.  After gutting and completely renovating the kitchen in our previous house, while searching for this house we decided we wanted a kitchen with a layout we really liked.  We really haven't done much to our kitchen since we moved in.  It has a very open, country style which we think is pretty nice for an old farmhouse.

The previous owner must have had an abundance of rough cut/weathered wood to use in our house, because they used it everywhere.  I think it really adds some rustic character.  I store cookbooks and kitchen linens in the cupboard with the windows.

When we first saw our kitchen I couldn't imagine not having any upper cabinets, but when I saw this pantry I was convinced!  I love having a pantry because everything is all in one place, and I can see what I need in a quick glance.  It also allows us to keep a good stock of dry and canned food so we don't need to grocery shop as much.

This is the dining area in our kitchen which opens up into our sitting room.  The red door is the entrance from our mudroom.  Above the dining area is a loft where I hang some quilts from my collection.

The doors in this photo hide our laundry center.  Above them is a large shelf where we show off interesting objects from our collection, including a metal milk can that my 91 year old aunt used to carry milk when she was a child.  

We attached old wooden cheese and fruit storage crates to the wall to hold our bills and other mail.  They also serve as a shelf for my dog figurine collection. (Yes, we have a lot of collections).

An old ladder holds our pots and pans and keeps them in easy reach.

This old store cash register holds pens, pencils and note paper.

 We really like the "lived in" feel of our kitchen and we spend a lot of time here creating memories and good food!

Our house... before...

This is a photo from the realtor's listing the year we purchased our house.  Although it was built in 1880, it has undergone some major renovation.  Since this picture was taken, we have done quite a bit of landscaping, added a one story master bedroom addition, renovated the garage and built a studio and other small interior projects.  Over the next few weeks I will share more before and after photos of our Old ~ New house that we call home.

Spring has sprung, but I am thinking about summer...

Yes, spring has sprung unusually early here in Western, NY and all this nice weather has me wanting to freshen up the house, open the doors and windows and get the porch furniture out of the shed...But most of all, I have been thinking about my gardens.  I love planning new plants for the perennial gardens and deciding what we will attempt to grow in the vegetable garden.  Last year was a tough year for us landscaping wise because I was pregnant the whole warm season which meant I couldn't do a whole lot and everything became quite overgrown.  The bouquet in this photo was a sampling of our perennials from last year.  What do you plant in your garden?

Here goes nothin'... I have been meaning to start a blog now for years, and I mean many many years.  I remember when I first heard the word "blog" and I honestly remember thinking to myself, "What a silly idea.  Who is going to read and follow other people's mundane thoughts everyday?"  Well ladies and gentlemen, here I am and I too would love to share my mundane thoughts with you.  Enjoy.