Home Decor – French Ethereal

Gardening, Holidays, Home Decor, Pinterest Challenge

Two Spring Chair Ideas to Inspire!

March 28, 2023March 28, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome, dear friends!! This month’s Pinterest Challenge has us creating a fun Easter-time Spring Chair. Yes, a chair ~ totally fun and unexpected! Our host and friend Cindy from County Road 407 has found a really fun idea from Jamie at Anderson + Grant!

Our inspiration ~ what I see

Welcome to everyone coming over from Michelle at Thistle Key Lane for the first time! Isn’t this beautiful antique chair so pretty with this gorgeous woven harvest basket filled with tulips, a sweet rabbit scouting the scene, and a soft white afghan cascading out of the basket and over the chair Lovely!

I loved it so much that I thought It’d be fun to create a couple of spring chair ideas to inspire you in your springtime decorating.

Love Cindy’s springtime Pinterest Challenge graphic!

I shot these photos with my cell phone so they are a bit fuzzy and I apologize for that. Since then, I’ve shot only with my Canon. 🙂

My first Spring Chair & Basket

I began this sweet vignette with a Longaberger cake-carrying basket set onto a chair I bought from my longtime friend Kathy. I recovered it with fabric from a dress I wore back in the late 1980’s to one of my brother’s weddings. I filled this basket with a small glass cake plate used as a riser for Momma & Baby rabbit.

Nestled in with our rabbits, I’ve scattered some soft green shredded paper used as Easter grass, glossy bright plastic Easter eggs, and a spring bouquet of mums and other flowers my husband just bought me! He’s a keeper… 🙂

The last thing I added was a lace curtain I hang up in our bedroom every year for summertime. I love its softness plus it added dappled light. Here this curtain adds its softness and texture to the scene!

Now let’s check out our second Spring Chair out in the Garden!

Our garden

Over the past four seasons, I have worked really hard creating small planting beds around one of our backyard oak trees, under the primary bedroom window and out here along the edging of the western and southern fencing.

This spot is against our new garden shed/greenhouse (how I am using it) and faces south.

Let’s check out Chair #2!!

Since my roses aren’t in bloom yet, I brought out some dried roses and set them inside our flower girl’s basket.

This outdoor spring basket vignette has lots of texture

This chair came as a set with a small end table we picked up at last summer’s end-of-summer sales. I call it my Titanic chair…

All of the dried florals add their own special fluffiness and refinement…

The sun was rapidly going down when I came out to film after school last week. It had rained the day before so everything was fresh and clean! And here is our second chair.

One of our cement rabbits came out to play, too. A little nod to Jamie’s sweet cement rabbit! In the background, one of our David Austin climbing roses is being trained upwards on jute twine. Fingers crossed it grows more canes on the other side!

The vintage tablecloth takes the place of the white afghan in the inspiration photograph. Sorry the whites are blown out. I had some trouble getting the light balance correct while photographing.

And those are my two second chairs for today’s challenge. 🙂 I hope you’ve enjoyed both of these chair stylings! If you like what you see, please consider subscribing to my blog and following French Ethereal on my other platforms. Thank you for stopping by! <3

Up next is Niky from The House on Silverado and her green vintage chair looks absolutely adorable with its floral bouquet and sweet rabbit! Please see below for links to visit everyone on today’s tour.

Happy spring, friends!

Barb 🙂

crafts, Home Decor, Tablescapes

Share Your Style #381

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome everyone to this week’s Share Your Style #381! A little bunny fun to brighten our Easter month as we check out this week’s featured posts… 😉

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

***Here’s what I shared this past week at* *French Ethereal…***

Happy St. Patty’s Day to You! And a little leprechaun story for you. <3

And here are this week’s featured posts…

First up this week we have these super cute carrot pillows as part of **Debbie-Dabble Blog’s** post ~ Changing Seasons and Crafting. Fun!!!

Colorful Easter Table- Karins Kottage — **Karin from Karin’s Cottage** brings us this cheery Colorful Easter Vintage Tablescape. Love it!!!

**Katherine from The Dedicated House** brings us a little spring updating idea in her post ~ Is Your Home Ready for a Refresh? Review Ideas to Consider. Love this!!!

Homemade Mother's Day Treat Ideas — **Claire Justine** shared this beautiful tribute for all mothers as we approach the holiday soon ~ Homemade Mother’s Day Treat Ideas. Delicious!!

**Penny from Penny’s Treasures** shared her sweet entryway all decked out in spring decor ~ Simple Easter Entry & 1st Spring Blooms. Soooo pretty!!! (Love pinks…)

And doing a fun double-header, here is **Penny’s** massive storage solution for
How I Store My Spring & Easter Decor. I am totally impressed!! Question: How many bunnies do you think she has??? Love ’em all!!! 😉

Spring Porch Tour with Hydrangeas and Spring Containers-The Crowned Goat — **CoCo from The Crowned Goat** wows with this festive feast of florals in her post ~
Cottage Inspired Spring Porch Tour. Look at those hydrangeas!!!

**Niky from The House on Silverado** shared her lovely home in this
Spring Tour 2023: 7 Simple Steps to Invite Spring Inside. Lovely!!

**Meagan from Decorative Inspirations** shares a how-to in this DIY post ~
New Life to an Antique China Cabinet. Beautiful job!!!

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Hoppy party, dear friends!

Barb 🙂

Holidays, Home Decor

A Happy St. Patty’s Day to You!

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023 French Ethereal

It’s that favorite day for wee leprechauns across the globe, this day is! And we are dancing a jig here to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick himself… Let’s have a bit of fun in just a quick post! 😉

According to the History.com, St. Patrick wasn’t Irish but…

{St. Patrick} found his faith while being held as prisoner by a group of Irish raiders.”

He was actually British but during his captivity in Ireland, he dreamed of converting the Irish to Christianity.

Our sweet lads and lassies are certainly happy that St. Patrick was adopted into Irish lore and are happily celebrating the day of his passing. <3

Probably, though, they are just celebrating because this year St. Patrick’s Day falls here on Friday, and it’s quittin’ time!!! Time to head to a pub for some supper and a pint…

Always good when it’s a Friday! 😉

This has been a fun month for me getting to write a few more posts and sharing this tablecloth yet again. I bought it at the Peterborough Antiques Faire back in 2005 while visiting my brother and sister-in-law and family over in England. The boys went to see an airshow and Linnea and I and our girls went antique browsing.

I have long suspected that it is an Irish piece. It has little clovers carefully wrought into its design. One wee clover can be seen just to the left of this little boy’s shoes…

Here is a cute clipart I found under free stock. A bit of silliness, really… I thought you’d enjoy something lighthearted today.

Being that I am roughly 38% Irish and another 48% Scottish, it’s only natural that we should celebrate a bit on St. Patty’s Day, don’t you think? Actually, it’s only a piece of pumpkin pie with milk as I am having.

Nothing stronger, lol!

And this is my St. Patrick’s Day post! Just a quick little vignette to celebrate the day!

Hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day and weekend,

Barb 🙂

crafts, DIY Projects, Fashion, Gardening, Home Decor, Recipes

Share Your Style #380

March 15, 2023March 15, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome back, friends! This week’s Share Your Style #380 is back after a two week hiatus. The first week I can’t even remember why I missed (exhaustion?), and last Wednesday I was recovering from eye surgery in the morning. So, instead of my usual photo I am sharing “Pirate Barb” with the eye patch I had to wear the first day ~ all day and night. Then I only had to wear it at nighttime. 😉

*I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜*

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

I apologize for not letting you all know I’d be off last week. I thought I’d feel good and be able to post that evening. I was home early enough from the surgery center, but I didn’t think about the effects of anesthesia on the body. I was sleeping pretty much all afternoon and evening as soon as I got home.

So, again, I apologize for not having SYS these past two weeks, but sometimes I just need some time off. 😉 And this evening, I was out planting veg in the garden and then critter-proofing the bin with lots of hardware cloth, chickenwire until 8:00p.m.

Better late than never! Let’s get this party started!! 🙂

***Here’s what I shared this past week at* *French Ethereal…***

Let’s Sew! Making a Balloon Curtain for the Kitchen ~ I’m back sewing for a bit! Feels good to get back to my roots. I’ll be back painting in the family and living rooms soon.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

First up this week is this beautiful tray post from **Debra of Common Ground** ~
Early Spring Garden Tray with Paperwhites. Love it!!!

leprechaun-centerpiece-supplies — Can you believe it’s already St. Patrick’s Day? OH! And Happy Ides of March today… 😉 Wasn’t a good day for Caesar, though… **Debbee from Debbee’s Buzz** shared this fun post ~
Quick and Easy Lucky Leprechaun Centerpiece. Soooo cute!

**Ann from Apple Street Cottage** brings us this pretty vignette of
Birdcages and Candles.Lovely…

**Jennifer from Curated by Jennifer** wears this fun outfit proudly in this post
It’s My Birthday!!!

IKEA shelving hack black and white dishes — **Karin from Karin’s Cottage** created this great shelf in her post ~ Ikea Shelving Hack. Great job!!!

**Meagan from Decorative Inspirations** shared this springtime post ~
The Best Spring Cleaning Practices for the Gardens, Yards and Patios. Great tips!!

**MaryJo from Master”Pieces” of My Life** shared this gorgeous tablescape in this post ~
Forced Spring Bulbs Tablescape. Love the green and pewter coloring!!!

**DeeDee from Clover House** shared Simple Spring Vignettes. Adorable!!

A DIY Dutch tulip crate filled with assorted Spring decor. A large bunny, wood beads, a wooden Easter egg in a clay pot, and a large vintage jug holding greenery. — Lastly for this week, we welcome **Leanna from Pretty DIY Home** who shared this sweet post ~
How to Make a Dutch Tulip Crate for Spring. Adorable bunny and look at those large plaid carrots!
So glad you made it over, Leanna. 🙂

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Ides of March, everyone!

Barb 🙂

Happy spring, y’all! Enjoy the party,

Barb 🙂

Home Decor, Sewing

Let’s Sew! Making a Balloon Curtain for the Kitchen

March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 French Ethereal

Happy March, everyone! This past weekend while I was recouping from eye surgery (cataract), I worked inside making this balloon curtain. Making one is super easy and here’s how to do it!

I found this inspirational fabric at Hobby Lobby (Slate “Friend” print cotton calico, #1415181) after my first follow-up appointment at the eye doctor this past Thursday. Gramma Gini was driving since I wasn’t allowed to be out driving yet, and we didn’t feel like going right home, so we went browsing for French toile fabric.

I didn’t find the fabric I was looking for but instead I found this soft brownish-grey, almost a toile, instead…

I’ve loved seeing words cut out and hung on other bloggers’ walls or sitting on their fireplace mantels, but I haven’t really got into all that… until now! This is my attempt at adding words in our kitchen. 🙂

How to make a balloon curtain

I have written this as if the reader has never sewn, so bear with me if some of this is repetitive. Feel free to jump ahead if you are more experienced! 🙂

I bought 3 yards of fabric for this project. When you make a balloon shade/curtain, you will need three panels of the same width and length.
I washed and dried my fabric, then cut the 3 yards in half crosswise to have two beginning panels the same length of 1 1/2 yards (54″).
Next, cut both pieces of fabric lengthwise down the center of each piece, creating four lengths of equal width fabric.
Choose three pieces and seam them together lengthwise: If you wish to make French seams, begin by sewing on the right-sides out ~ sewing a 2/8″ seam.
Iron the seam flat, then place right-sides together (the normal way one creates a seam). Sew a 3/8″ seam on the wrong side encasing the first 2/8″ seam. This closes the first seam inside the final seam so no selvage shows. Very clean! (see photo above)
Sew both side seams, turning under 1/4″ once, twice. Sew along the turned-under edge.

Make a header next by first ironing under 1/4″, then turn a second time 2 5/8″. I began with an extra 5 1/4″ of fabric to create the rod pocket and small ruffle.
Sew close to the turned under edge and a second seam 1 1/2″ from this lower edge. This leaves 1″ at the top for a small ruffle when the curtain is gathered along the curtain rod. To prevent “pulling,” sew from the middle outward in one direction, and sew the rest of the top-stitching from the middle outward in the opposite direction.

My sewing machine has measuring lines on either side of the metal sewing plate (see photo below) and also along slide-on table, which I slid onto my machine’s sewing arm.

This creates a rod pocket for a 1″ curtain rod with a 5/8″ ruffle along the very top of the curtain once run on the rod.
Sew a 1″ hem at the bottom of the curtain with 1/4″ ironed under first. (For a curtain without a ruffle).

If adding a ruffle, cut the remaining 4th panel of fabric into 5 1/2″ strips width-wise. Seam those together on the wrong side, then iron in half width-wise, right side out.

Sew a basting line 1/4″ from the upper edge of the ruffle and a second baste line 3/8″ from the same edge. Don’t do the “sew from the middle” here. No need as you want the pulling effect. *Sewing from the middle works really well for clothing to keep it from pulling around you, feeling uncomfortable when a garment is worn.
Pull the bottom threads and adjust your gathers to the fit the bottom edge of the curtain. Pin to the curtain.
Sew a 1/2″ seam at the bottom of the curtain after gathering the ruffle. Iron the seam flat towards the curtain. Tack the seam just to the bottom of the vertical seams, in those four locations.

Note: Here I’ve added the gathering rings. The lowest rings were too far down (shown in the photograph) and I removed them and moved them up two inches higher so the ruffle could be seen when the curtain is hanging.

I am getting a little ahead of myself but you’ll see more of these rings below. 😉

My inspiration

Years ago I found these pink rose curtains at Mervyn’s department store (went out of business sometime during the 1990’s, during a recession), and hung them at my first home in California.

I remember buying them one or two panels at a time as I couldn’t afford to buy them all at once! I think each panel cost $14.00 at the time. Maybe they were more, but I’d wait for a sale. 😉

These balloon curtain panels came with these slotted rings to gather up each row of rings making gathering each balloon curtain soooo much easier than adding strings and trying to pull them all correctly.

I tried looking at Joann Fabrics but found none of these special rings. I brought home little lobster claws to try but they were too tiny to gather four rings into each claw. They will go back to the store.

So, I “borrowed” four of these slotted rings from my inspiration panel to gather my freshly created Friend curtain.

In my stash of things, I had leftover large and small rings from when I made a blue calico balloon curtain for our USMC Camp Pendleton, California duplex we lived in when Mr. Ethereal was promoted to Captain. We lived on base for two years in that nice duplex! (1989-1991)

This is how I know about pulling the strings and trying to get them equally pulled across the curtain… ugh! You had to tie the bunch of strings off to one side to a hook thing mounted on the wall.

It was crazy…

For this curtain, I needed 16 rings for the whole curtain, with four across and four down. Begin them at the bottom of the header rod pocket and sew them to each of the side seams and middle French seams.
Sew the second, third and fourth rows, spacing evenly apart. My panel ended up being 48″ from the header hem to the ruffle seam (Sorry, I forgot to show!). Fix the bottom row of rings as needed to make a curtain ruffle show when hung in the window.

I am really pleased with how this balloon curtain turned out! Mr. Ethereal helped by hanging the curtain rod hangers on the wall about four or five inches above the window opening (maybe higher).

I wanted to let in a lot of light yet still have a lot of drape to the curtain, hence why we hung them so high on the wall. With balloon curtains, you can hook up all of the rings or less, depending upon the look you desire!

Love how this balloon curtain dresses up this window! Jewelry for the finished kitchen and its new paint job!!

Let me know if you’ve ever made balloon curtains before and if you have found these special slit rings. I’d love to know a good source and what they are actually called. Gini thought that I might find some at an upholstery shop. I might go searching as we have this week off from school.

Happy spring!!!

Happy sewing, dear friends,

Barb 🙂

Home Decor

An Early Spring Tea Tray & Tea

February 28, 2023February 27, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome to my Spring Teatime on a Tray, dear friends! I was joining a wonderful group of ladies who are sharing their beautiful spring tea trays with you… But, I blew it, so I thought I’d share this double-header post with you nevertheless. 😉

My Inspiration

{Sophie’s tea tray}

I began my spring tea tray with ironing a tatted tablecloth I purchased in 2005 from an antiques faire in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. My kids and I were visiting my brother and his family over spring break that year.

I love its vines and Morning Glories!

Next, I picked out a metal tray I painted white back when I was in a tea group in California (see 2014 posts) , a choice of two different dessert plates, chintz tea pot and accoutrements.

Last week I whipped up some mock Devonshire cream, so this was a perfect time to bring the remainder out for this tea tray. This sweet double pot is wonderful to fill with jams and honey or lemon curd.

I enjoyed looking in the linen closet and choosing these sweet napkins… I found these at another antiques and crafts fair.

And here is the beginning of my spring tea tray…

Here is a first look at our freshly painted dining room. It has gone from coffee-colored to a soft French grey.

Perfect to share this first tea tray and table!

And then I realized I had forgotten the teacups (it’s been a week, friends!)…

A lovely table but still needs those cups. 😉 I brought out some leftover heart-shaped scones, too.

Here is the finished spring tea tray! My favorite colors are shared here ~ pinks and whites.

With the finished tea table… Finally with teacups! I am really pleased with this table.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you will check out Katherine from Katherine’s Corner and the main tea tray tour!

Wednesday Tea ~ Peacocks & Pink Roses — one of the first teas I shared here on my blog (2014)

I love how this table and tea tray turned out. It’s nice to come full-circle back to where French Ethereal started ~ with tea tables and tea trays.

Spring blessings to you,

Barb 🙂

Gardening, Home Decor, Pinterest Challenge, Tablescapes

A Spring Garden Lantern + A Little Story…

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023 French Ethereal

Hoppy 4th Tuesday, dear friends! Our friend Cindy of County Road 407 has challenged us to create a Spring Lantern for this month’s Pinterest Challenge, and boy do we have cuteness inspiration ideas on overload for you…

Welcome, everyone! If you are coming over from Carol at Bluesky at Home for the first time, an extra big welcome!! For anyone who has never been to one of our Pinterest Challenges, Cindy finds a photograph for us to recreate in our own way, and we run with the idea.

Ann from On Sutton Place has created our inspiration tablescape this time. She has used a couple of white lanterns filled with coconut fiber bunnies, some easter grass, and a sweet pitcher of pussywillows. I personally love all the white!

How did I begin my Spring Lantern?

I began by sorting through my box of spring decor, of course! I looked at everything and pulled some things out and put others back.

I went to Hobby Lobby looking for an new lantern but they weren’t on sale, and I just didn’t want to spend a lot. So, I pulled out the lantern I used in a previous Pinterest Challenge to use again. 🙂

I didn’t come home with a new lantern from the store; however, I DID come home with these cute flower-strewn Easter eggs, some fun paper carrots, and a new vintage-looking sign!

Love ’em!!!

So, I set down this grey tobacco basket and began tucking in shredded green grass, then I added a tree cut as a base for my lantern, and picked a bunny and the whole lot of Easter Eggs to put inside the lantern…

That’s when a story popped into my head:

The Story ~ BunBun’s Jam

BunBun, our sweet little girl, busied herself bringing in Easter eggs to fill her glass lantern garden greenhouse. She worked diligently and swiftly prepping for the year’s early morning Easter delivery of eggs to good little girls and boys of the town.

She was so busy bringing in all of these freshly painted eggs, tucking them here and there inside that lantern greenhouse, she didn’t think about how she was going to get herself back out the door again once those eggs were all indoors…

All of a sudden, BunBun realized that she was stuck! Poor little bunny…

What was she going to do? She’d really gotten herself in a pickle this time.

Meanwhile, her friends were busy outside…

Ducky and Princess Chicky-Poo were busy with spring gardening. They were planting more carrot seeds, seeing that the fall-planted ones had grown so well (and they were still picking those delicious carrots to eat!).

The rabbits were busy setting out spinach starts, a few chive seeds, as well as some daisy and Texas bluebonnet seeds for future picking! The rabbits especially love purple flowers for their dining table bouquets!!!

Looking up and hearing BunBun’s muffled voice and seeing her tap-tapping on the glass, they quickly realized her predicament. The group thought swiftly and hatched a plan. They would lift one corner of the glass lantern so their friend could slip underneath without disturbing the carefully placed eggs.

“Okay, on three!” shouted Ducky to the others. “One, two, three!!!” Everyone grunted a bit while paws and palmate feet slowly lifted the lantern side skyward.

As the glass house was tilted up, BunBun slid down and underneath. She was free! Cheers arose from this gaggle of friends! Everyone hugged BunBun, and she hugged and thanked each friend in turn.

They celebrated BunBun’s release with a cream tea and, of course,…

a slice of carrot cake. :)’

*****

Thanks for stopping by, friends! If you haven’t subscribed to FE, I’d love it if you do. We swing back up to Cindy at County Road 407 next and I know you will love her lantern idea!! And please stop by all of our friends and check out what everyone has created for you.

Big spring hugs from North Texas,

Barb 🙂

Holidays, Home Decor

An Inspiration Challenge ~ Styling a Vintage Valentine Cloche

February 4, 2023February 4, 2023 French Ethereal

Happy Valentine’s month, dear friends! Don’t you just love the month of February? I love wearing more pinks and reds than usual, wearing the heart-shaped diamond necklace even more than usual which Mr. Ethereal gave me for Christmas 35 years ago now, and reading everyone’s Valentine’s posts. February is such a happy month with volumes of inspiration!!!

We had an unexpected extra four days off this past week with the “Icepocolypse” hovering over the mid-west from Jan. 31-Feb. 3rd, so it has been rather like a six-day weekend. Really wonderful to have an extra week off during wintertime to get things done around the house! With it, I have been busy painting and working behind the scenes on Valentine’s posts… This is my second Valentine’s post as I guess the Valentine’s cake I made last month counts as my first. 😉

💜 My Inspiration 💜

I actually got the idea for this post from our friend Amber of Follow the Yellow Brick Home who linked up a post sharing how she decorated a large cloche she has with vintage Valentines:

I loved this post and chose it to feature it along with others at this past week’s Share Your Style, as you may recall. I love all the ephemera with antique buttons, sewing notions, the little birds and, of course, the vintage Valentines!! Amber’s cloche was part of a Pinterest Challenge which I missed last year. I think I just couldn’t get a post together in time; it happens! 😉

In revisiting Amber’s post this past week, I became inspired.

I thought, “Why don’t I do my own challenge?! Challenge myself to do something similar.

It’d be fun to create a cloche inspired by a cloche which was inspired by yet another blogger! You’ll have to check out Amber’s post to see who was her inspiration and the cloche this person created. Really cute!!! 💜

Now I knew we had done another cloche post with Cindy from County Road 407′s Pinterest Challenges! Where is it?…

Found it! I thought I’d share this one along with the Christmas cloche as with just a changeout of decor items, you get an entirely different look. This pheasant cloche was the first time I’d ever used an actual cloche in decorating. My daughter and I would use our small, glass-topped marble cheese board as a cloche for little Christmas displays, but never a large cloche.

Anyway, I digress!

These challenges are all about taking an inspiration photo and taking the idea and making it yours…

How I made this Vintage Valentine Cloche my own

First, I retrieved my cloche from atop our kitchen cabinet. It has been hugging little houses since early December… I snapped a bunch of photos to try and get posts created that month, but they never materialized.

Eventually, after Christmas, I moved the cloche display up above the cabinets for a nice wintertime display (another unpublished idea; it’s been that kind of winter).

It’s nice to share these two photographs here with you today!

So leaving the three little cottages up on their cake plate village green, I cleaned the cloche and began with ideas!

The small pile of Valentine-sy books, antique and new Valentines made to look old, and vintage hand-painted rose plates were all tried but didn’t work.

The sun was going down so I worked quickly to get a few sunlit shots.

I started with a pretty painted serving tray I spray painted white when we lived in our Prairie Home trailers.

Next, I added this little book by Susan Wheeler called We Belong Together ~ a Holly Pond Hill story. It won the spot inside the cloche for its size and sweet rabbits… and their love story.

Very cute, if you’ve never read any of Susan Wheeler’s books. Her artwork is beautiful, too! Heartwarming and ethereal… Can’t get any better than that, in my humble opinion! Several of her books have been in our bookshelves since the early or late 1990’s/early 2000’s.

Rabbits are timeless!

Hardcover We Belong Together Book — Found on Thriftbooks.com

Sidenote: As a sometimes artist, when you create something which is all your own, if you believe in it, others will too. 💜

I wish I had listened to my heart way back when and studied more art, but my father told me artists starve and artwork doesn’t sell. In this country, maybe. But Europeans and others appreciate good artwork more, and nowadays we have Etsy and other places to sell our beautiful creations. (I’m preaching to myself, more than anyone else!)

It may be harder, but you’ve got to have a BFA in Art plus a BS in Business to back it up. You’ve just got to promote yourself, don’t you think so?

I look at all of your artwork and think, that is my retirement: to be the artist I dreamed of being when I was a little girl.

Thirdly, I flipped through my small stack of Valentine’s cards and leaned them, laid each one down. None of those worked. Rejected many as being too big, too small.

Then I found these two: one is a note from a friend last year, and the young girl on the right-hand card is a true antique…

Hard to photograph through wavy, curving glass; however, she still looks sweet and ephemeral in her white dress and surrounded by roses…

The addition of a tear-shaped antimacassar my grandmother Rosa tatted almost a century ago and a Shabby Chic rose napkin ring completed this vignette. I scrunched up the antimacassar a bit in behind the book.

I am very happy with how it all turned out!

Oh, and the pink heart napkin I made, (and another set when we were living in our trailer, is a tutorial), as a little under-cloth.

There’s my challenge for myself! 😉 And now…

A Valentine’s Cloche Challenge for You

Please link up your Valentine’s cloche idea below, just for fun!! Can be old, can be new. Take a few moments later on to visit some of the folks who share theirs. 💜

The party is open as of now through February 14th at 12:00 noon, and I can send you the link for the link party in an email so you can put it on your post.

Should be a lot of fun!

My email is: french.ethereal@gmail.com

(Warning, though: I’m not great at creating parties for others to share, but if you help me when I get stuck, we should muddle through. I do have the link on Inlinkz to share with you! Really only my second attempt at a party on my own, although I put up Share Your Style all the time! Lol!!! 😉 )

Happy Valentine’s hugs,

Barb 💜

Holidays, Home Decor, Tablescapes

Share Your Style #375

January 26, 2023January 26, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #375, dear friends! I’m excited to share all the cool features we have for you this week…

This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here… 💜

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

Can you believe we are coming to the end of January 2023 already? It was just New Year’s and now we are speeding towards Valentine’s Day! With that, I’ve chosen some wonderful Valentine ideas for you.

So let’s get to this week’s features!

***Quick update on Thursday morning: I fell fast asleep as I was writing this and putting together this week’s SYS features last evening, so… I’m finishing this morning and actually POSTING IT. Lol!

I took half a Benedryl yesterday around 11am because I guess I’m now allergic to Prednisone. Anyway, it knocks me out and so somewhere around 7:30p.m., I was out for the night. I did make it through the school day and the hives never fully erupted, but I still feel itchy…

Anyway, happy to get this Valentine’s-y post out for you! Plus a touch of football, too. <3

***Here’s what I shared this past week at* *French Ethereal…***

A Rosy Valentine’s Cake to Bake ~ part of this month’s Valentine’s recipes in our Pinterest Challenge.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

**MaryJo of Master”Pieces” of My Life** shared a bunch of beautiful tablescapes for inspiration at your own home in this post ~
Setting the Mood for a Valentine’s Day Tablescape. I loved this alfresco setting!

**Penny from Penny’s Treasures** shares this pretty in pink post ~ Vintage Valentines are the Stars of My Pink Valentine’s Tree. Love ’em!!! (I’m a sucker for pink!)

**Lynne from Thrifting Wonderland** shares winter whites in her winter cupboard ~ Winter Display in the Hutch. Love all the creamware!!!

**Lynne from Thrifting Wonderland** also brings us a couple of easy and fun crafts to make for Valentine’s Day. I can see this being so fun with kids!!! Our double feature for this week ~ Two Quick Valentine’s Crafts.

Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats are turned into Football Rice Krispie Treats for game day! They’re a chocolate treat base cut into football shapes then dipped in chocolate with white laces piped onto resemble footballs. This easy, no-bake dessert is perfect for tailgating, football parties, playoff games, and Superbowl parties. Game day desserts are the best part about game day foods so these are a must make dessert recipe! #gamedayfood #footballfood #ricekrispietreats #glutenfree #nobakedessert — Newcomer **Shay from What the Fork** shares this easy peasy recipe for
Football Rice Krispie Treats! Perfect for this weekend’s big Super Bowl Game!!!

20-valentines-day-ideas-table-crafts-decor — **Debbee from Debbee’s Buzz** shares her fun post (love all her tablescapes!) featuring
20 Sweet Valentine’s Day Ideas. Love it!!!

Hawaiian style pork spare ribs with pineapple served on a plate with fresh berries and yellow rice — Newcomer **Arlene from Flour on My Face** brings us her yummy recipe for
Sweet & Tangy Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Ribs. Seriously delicious!!!

Last up for this week we have **Meagan from Decorative Inspirations** with her sweet post ~ How to Make a Salt Dough Garland. Love it!!!

Happy linking!

Barb 🙂

crafts, Holidays, Home Decor

Share Your Style #374

January 18, 2023January 17, 2023 French Ethereal

Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #374, dear friends! As we come to the middle of January, we have lots of great features to share, including some Valentine’s ideas!

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

It’s always amazing to me how quickly Valentine’s sneaks up on us on what feels like just a few short weeks after Christmas and New Year’s Days. I personally am still putting away Christmas decorations but only because Mr. Ethereal hung a new I-beam style system of 4x4s from over our garage door.

Going up and down from the attic to retrieve boxes was getting to be a chore, and also a little unsafe. Both of us are over 60 years of age and falling out of the attic space is always a real possibility. Critters ate through a few things, too, which ticked my husband off so he brought EVERYTHING down from above to clean, repair, throw away, and to find new homes in the shed, in this new hanging rail system, or to be given away.

So, I am reboxing ALL of our spring, summer, fall and winter decorations into tidy, black and yellow Big Box store boxes. Ugly colors (to me) but they do hang well and are very sturdy. The used boxes will store something new, go to my mother-in-law’s garage to rebox things she wishes to store, or be given away.

But in all of this, I am finding beautiful things to put in our hutch and onto our mantel to share hopefully soon. 🙂

While doing this, let’s check out our features, shall we?