Uncategorized

Share Your Style #225

Welcome to Share Your Style #225! This link party is for home decor, diy and crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share your family-friendly posts with us all! As always I am glad that you are here and there are so many great posts to choose from to share with y’all. 

Forgive me for getting SYS out each week and continuing to add features after it is published… (You might see that happening!)
It’s because as anytime I sit down to type and add, I literally fall asleep (I wake up between 4-5:00am everyday for work) ~ like today. And it isn’t because I am bored, I just nod off as my body tries to catch up on zzzzz’s.   
😉


I am your host 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!



Here’s what I share this week at

French Ethereal…


We Interrupt This Program… is the title of this post and I shared an update on creating a 1920’s Downton Abbey style dress and an update on the t-shirt quilt I am making for my son.

This month’s Pinterest Challenge is a fall-inspired outdoor table setting and my friends who decorated their tables didn’t disappoint. Stop by to check out everyone’s posts and find some inspiration! Hosted by Cindy of County Road 407.



And here are this week’s featured posts…

Lake House Basement Project Update Two
Paula at Virginia Sweet Pea shared an update on the lake house she and her husband are renovating. Looking good!



Oh, my goodness! These pumpkins are gorgeousness wrapped up in velvet!! Rachelle of My Hubbard Home shares how shemakes her velvet pumpkins ~ a tutorial.



Debra of Common Ground shares her entryway with its earlyfall decor… LOVE this table and vignette!

Jocelyn at Just a Little Southern Hospitality shares
her table set for company in a post called Transitioning.

Ikea Pax



Newcomer to SYS Ceres at The Pink Dream shares an Ikea Pax System hack dresser built into a closet ~ brilliant idea!!!


Pumpkin Pie Bars Facebook

I am pretty sure I speak for all of us here when I say that fall is synonymous with pumpkin anything and this Pumpkin Pie Bars by Nicole of Mama of Many Blessings is on the list to try! Had to share… just saying.
;)’




Katie at The Preppy Empty Nester shares her summer with her adult kids and what’s up with their family ~ My Summer in the Rearview ~ fun! Plus she is from Connecticut, which is close to my heart since that’s where my parents retired to years ago (Southbury, off the I-95, about 45 minutes above the Connecticut/New Jersey/New York borders).

One Room Challenge Laundry Room Reveal

Hannah at Handmade Weekly shares her One Room Challenge Laundry Room Make-Over. Love how it turned out!!!



Lastly Stephanie at The Style Safari shares some sewing tips and tricks and the best presser feet for sewing here in this video. I love her videos!




Let’s get this party started!!!
Now that I am awake again.
😉


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Uncategorized

It’s Our Anniversary Today!

Happy Anniversary!  I found a few old photos this summer while doing computer backups and I just happened to come across this lovely one from just a while ago…

I thought you might like to see a few wedding photos of my husband and myself and our wedding party from good old 1987!
Here in this photograph is my sister-in-law Jodi, my longest known best friend Janet, then myself of course, our little bridesmaid and I cannot remember her name sadly, and sister-in-law Linnea.

If you are stopping by from the Fall In Love With Texas blog tour I’m glad you are here!  


Still love this photo of my mother-in-law Gini and my husband Charles who was just going into the US Marine Corps at the time as a regular Marine, in a few months (1988) ~ partly why we married in October when we did.  Being married, one was paid more ~ made sense to us!


Out geocaching on a nice fall afternoon the day after Thanksgiving.
This is Janet a few years ago with her daughter when we were out hiking around Auburn, California ~ about a year before we moved to Texas.  Her daughter had her 29th birthday this week; where does time go??
😉

Hubby and I on a trip over to Arizona for a collegiate invitational track meet where our son and the USD team flew in.
We may go up and down in weight, up and down with everything else, too, but there sure are a lot of fond memories, fun and love.
🙂

I’ve shared this one of Mr. Ethereal’s family from the 1970’s before
but it’s always a good one to share ~ three generations of love.
They were dressed up for an Odd Fellows and Rebekahs 1776 Bicentennial celebration and photograph session.  I think they made the Sacramento Bee newspaper, too!

Silly me with blogging friend Courtney of French Country Cottage
at Design Bloggers Conference (now Design Influencers Conference).
This is me a couple of years ago when I won a trip to go to the
Design Bloggers Conference for the first time.  I posted about visiting Buckhead Atlanta itself here.

And of course here are our three lovely children ~ our sweet Amy on the very left in lavender, and our Peter and Justine his bride of two years now!
We will be seeing P and J later today as we head north for a visit.

Another fun post created the year they were married.
Don’t you just love weddings and all that goes with them?
So many ways to decorate ~ so ethereal, really!


My mom wore her sister’s wedding dress and both looked lovely in it!
Of course my parents were at our wedding then.
Love this photograph of my mom and dad in 1959!
They had a fall wedding, too.

And what would a wedding anniversary be without a little…
LOVE.
😉

Thanks  for sharing our special day with us today.  If you’ve enjoyed this post or have been over in the past, I hope you’ll consider following my little old blog if you’ve been enjoying reading my ramblings.  I love sharing my home with you and
I appreciate you!!!
🙂

 Fall In Love With Texas blog tour

Here are the links for today’s hosts on this 3rd day of the
Fall In Love With Texas blog tour {see below}.
Also for Day 4 ~ since I didn’t have a post up for that day.

If you haven’t been over to previous two days my post about My Little Texas Home was part of Monday’s tour along w/ Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles  who we thank for creating the party. 🙂

There have already been some wonderful fall table settings shared, a fun garden she-shed decorated with the cutest scarecrows on Day 2 + much, much more! If you haven’t been over to the previous two days yet, here are the links below.

Stop back by tomorrow to see what’s up next…
The links will be live then.
🙂

Monday 


Tuesday

Wednesday 

Thursday 
Sharing with
A demain {until tomorrow},
Uncategorized

Dishing about Graphics on Day 2 of FILWTexas

Happy Tuesday to you all!  I know it’s late in the day and I had my Bible study earlier today so I’m just getting this posted, but I wanted to be sure and share more with you from the Fall In Love With Texas blog tour…



Both  the lead photograph and this one were created by my very talented friend and fellow blogger Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles.  If you’re stopping by from Katie’s blog or from any of the bloggers on the tour, welcome!!!   I’m glad you are here.  Katie has worked hard on this tour and is creating a collage for each day.  Don’t you just love these sweet graphics?

So that got me thinking, if you’ve never created a Pinterest collage on Canva or Pic Collage {like Katie did here}, especially in the beginning they can be a real challenge!  I enjoy making them now and probably should do more as they are real eye-catchers.  I did make this one for a past post on decorating with white:

I love decorating with white and am looking to do more here for the holidays.
This particular post can be found here.
Whichever company you decide to use to format your graphics
they all have pre-formatted templates to help you with your design.
I’m always making Pinterest graphics on Canva.com but there are a wide variety of things which can be made:

*presentation slides
*posters
*Instagram posts
*Facebook covers
*email banners
*cards


Since we are heading towards the holidays; you might like to make this


How to create your graphic

Take one of your photographs and imported it into your graphic design site, then cropped it large. 

Pick out what type of item you want to create, such as a Pinterest graphic.  

From there play around with highlighting the different template’s words and entering your own.

Then play around with different fonts and colors ~ this is the hard stuff in the beginning but gets really fun as you start creating!

Save your graphic and “publish it.”  You can send your graphic straight to Pinterest, Twitter and other places, or  board you have on just download it to your computer to save and add to an upcoming post.  This is what I tend to do most of the time.  Your program should automatically save any work you create so you can use it again at a later date.


Well that’s basically it for creating a Pinterest graphic!  I haven’t created too many other things yet but I once you start using a graphics program you’ll immediately see its future potential.
🙂
Coming tomorrow  I’ll keep this post short and sweet as
I have a much longer post one coming out in the morning… 
It’s Mr. Ethereal’s and my wedding anniversary!

Here are the links for Days 1 and 2 of the tour and each day goes
“live” that morning. 
Stop back by tomorrow to catch the next day’s party-goers and please visit the previous day’s Texas bloggers if you haven’t already. Lots of wonderful fall decor and ideas being shared.
🙂
Monday 


Tuesday
Jusqu’à demain {until tomorrow},
Uncategorized

My Little Texas Home ~ Fall In Love With Texas blog tour

Happy Fall  to y’all and welcome to Texas!  Such a beautiful state all year round but in the fall it is especially lovely with all the farmers harvesting golden fields into giant rolls of hay bundled for winter livestock feeding.   Leaves on the crepe myrtles, red oaks and sugar maples are beginning to show their fall colors, and the days and nights beginning to cool off after the heavy heat of summer.  
Welcome!  I am happy to share my little slice of Texas with you as part of the Fall in Love with Texas Blog Tour…

We are so happy you are here!  These next five wonderful days will be filled with true Texas grit featuring much lovely fall decor and gardens decorated for the autumn season featuring bloggers from all across the state.  

We are sure y’all will fall in love… 
🙂

Grab a cup of tea  and let’s get this party started!  If you are new to my blog and are stopping by from Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles ~ welcome!  🙂  As always, I am happy you are here! 

An evening tea party with scones and English Breakfast.
Above is a favorite look I shared last fall that I loved creating~ hospitality is my thing and I love having friends in for tea luncheons and for dessert.   Our home is in Sanger, a small town in North Central Texas.  We have some rolling hills here in Denton County and we are currently situated up on a plateau looking down towards Dallas and Fort Worth, about an hour to the south and west of us.  We are also just about 40 minutes from the border of Oklahoma so we get a lot of wind and cold weather here in the late fall and winter, then a whole lot of heat in the summer off the Gulf of Mexico ~ such a dramatic change from the weather we had in sunny and warm Southern California ~ but we are loving the changes!

Make a fall centerpiece with a faux pumpkin vase.
Setting a beautiful table is something I really like to do to show  my guests that they are truly appreciated.  For fall I like decorating with real and faux pumpkins then using some of my real china even though our Prairie Home is a giant fifth-wheel.  It is truly more of a glamper than a camper! Most folks when they are camping full-time tend to use plastic plates and cups ~ and we do use those too ~ but I love having real china and have several sets with us.  

These two plates I picked up at HomeGoods and similar ones can readily be found there and other stores this time of year.  Dressed with sweet paper napkins {a snowy owl in a purple crown!} and silver tableware this table is all fall elegance.


I went for a less cluttered look this year still using flowers but the faux variety instead of dried.
This year I changed up our fall decor a little by adding in this sweet whitewashed tobacco basket with wine, rust and navy velvet pumpkins.  I’ve actually redecorated this window a couple of times and am having fun tweaking this vignette a little more each time!  Do you like to do that, too?  Someone recently said she thought she had “decorating ADHD.”  I’m borrowing that thought, lol!


Here’s the latest window styling I finished sharing a tutorial on creating a small chalkboard ~ love its addition to the holiday decor with its frame’s lovely antique gold patina!


Shall we go outside  and check out what’s blooming for fall?  I am still getting used to gardening with Texas’ wide swing from cold + dry winters to hot + humid summers, so… I lost three roses this year but two have survived and are ready to share their blooms here now for you.  These are English roses Sceptre d’Isle and The Generous Gardener by David Austin Roses.  I am not sponsored but I love these roses and thought I’d share a little more about them today.  

Ever since we moved two years ago to Texas, everyone has told me that only Knockout roses grow well here and they are right.  You’ll find these lovely single petaled dark pink and red blooms all over the Dallas area, but I am on a quest to get English roses growing in my garden.  Many species of roses do grow beautifully in East Texas where the weather is less humid.


Replanting those pots I brought in some more of that lovely deep fall color I have indoors with these sweet mums ~ really loving them every time I wander in or outside!  Try popping a few mums in with your usual garden plants for a burst of color.

My usual color of choice is a much lighter pink in flowers but this year I’ve been drawn to these deeper colors.  Guess I’m wishing I could see some of New England’s fall colored leaves like I used to when visiting my now-deceased mother and father at their last home in Connecticut ~ Oh, Happy Columbus Day to you, btw!!!

Our leaves are beginning to change here on the crepe myrtles, oaks and maples up here in Sanger but really they won’t get going until November.

Last of the evening light falling gently on this colorful trio of gourds.
It was fun finding all these different colored pumpkins and just playing outside figuring out where each would look best.  Really love this deep orange speckled pumpkin this year ~ it’s a new type for me.  For some fun information on pumpkin types, check out Growing Produce.com.


One last look in the waning light ~ can you find the forgotten sticker??  😉
Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you’ve enjoyed my little home and garden tour.  I hope too that you’ll wander over and visit all of the ladies on this week’s tour. Feel free to stop back by to follow their links throughout the week.  

Laura of Decor to Adore is next up in the Fall In Love With Texas blog tour and I know you’ll enjoy her home and features.  

Here is the list of who is hosting each day ~ just click on each link.

A great photo for you to pin!  Thank you, Katie of Let’s Add Sprinkles!

Monday 


Tuesday

Wednesday 

Thursday 
White Spray Paint 

Sharing with ~
Sundays at Home ~ Maison de Cinq
Waste Not Wednesday ~ Faeries and Fauna
Style Showcase ~ Shabbyfufu
Friendship Friday ~ Create With Joy
Hearth and Soul ~ April J. Harris



Happy fall and enjoy the tour!

Uncategorized

A Year of Giving Thanks

This has been a year of
giving thanks
for us…


First of all, I’d like to welcome you if you are coming
over from Katherine’s Corner today with the
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Give Thanks Tablescape 
Blog Tour
W e l c o m e !!!


We are recent transplants to Texas via many years
in California.
My husband was blessed with a new position
here in the Dallas area last November.
We are very blessed to be here and for his work ~
our first reason to give thanks…


My former home’s backyard garden in Murrieta, California the year before we sold our home.

Giving Thanks

We have much to be grateful for ~ the least of which
is that we weren’t homeless over the past two
years while Hubby was out of his normal work.
We made it through having to sell what I thought
was our “forever home” and instead took up
a slightly nomadic life
living in a 27′ Coleman travel trailer for about
1 1/2 years before we traded it in for
our new 41′ fifth wheel
which we love for its room!

Looking west over neighboring rv’s here in North Central Texas.

Just a few photos from earlier this fall of my
kitchen and dining areas.
The lemon poppy seed cake on the back counter
is one I often bake when having friends
over for tea.

The garden area in September just after putting in the little square stepping stones.

Our little prairie rv home

This is the garden area just outside our fifth-wheel.
We had no “pop-outs” on the previous trailer so we were
really cramped and constantly having to move a box
to sit down to eat, watch tv, to do anything.

In this beauty, we have the luxury of five slides which makes
the inside about 16′ wide throughout most of the trailer.
It is really a small apartment in many ways.
We are staying nomadic for just a little while longer as we
begin looking for land and a house.
🙂

My friend Peggy came for an impromptu tea one day recently.

“One is silver and the Other is gold”

I am thankful also for my “old friends” in California,
whom I can visit with anytime via Facebook and Instagram,
and I am thankful for the “new friends” I have made
since moving here to Texas.
I believe God has provided for this need for friendship
with park owners who really care in every sense of the word
for the people and animals who live here.

Little Skidboot at his first shearing.  He is one of 13 alpacas here at Wagon Master
RV Park and Alpaca Farm, Sanger, Texas.


It is a great blessing for everyone here,
whether as short-term campers or as extended-stay residents,
 to be able to stay here.
The owners really act as caretakers of the land and
have a heart for people.
🙂


A tablesetting I did earlier this fall.


New beginnings

We are grateful for a chance to start over
and work on rebuilding our nest egg.
We also are rebuilding our household ~ of which
this “prairie home fifth-wheel” is a big part.

Traveling to new places as I work on making
my little blog into a real business
is also an exciting part of the new here in Texas!
I am grateful for the chance to do something
I love full-time.
🙂

A  recent Thanksgiving tablesetting with pumpkins and pansies.


Grateful for the little things

Mostly I am grateful for all the little things which
have “coincidentally happened” this past year…

Our daughter moving to Texas before we did to
move out and live with her friend
then…
my husband finding and getting his new position
also here in Texas.

Or like last Christmas time when I found a
J Broadhurst Constable series set of china
minus the lid for the teapot in an antique mall
I just happened to visit for the first time.
It had been in my heart for many years to have a set
of pinkish-red china like this as it so beautiful to me.
God knew it and led me to it!
Of this, I have no doubt.

Lastly, for meeting a new group of friends and a
Bible study being offered here at the park and farm
by a new wonderful friend.


Coincidence?

I don’t think these things are coincidences.
I believe they are gifts and blessings from our
Great Creator.

I hope you do, too.
😉

Our kitchen table set for a little Thanksgiving tea!

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Thank you for Visiting!
And follow me on any of my sites if you’d like.
The links are above and here in the sidebar.

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Thank You.
😀

Many blessings to you and your family
this Thanksgiving…

Please enjoy visiting with all of the lovely ladies
who are linking up today.
There are many wonderful and inspirational
tablesettings and ideas out there for
your holiday decorating…


Also sharing with
Tablescape Thursday ~ Between Naps on the Porch
https://betweennapsontheporch.net/nora-fleming-servers-and-minis-perfect-for-holiday-parties-and-special-celebrations/

No Rules Weekend ~ Life As We Know It by Paula



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Uncategorized

A Pumpkin Muffin Recipe and a Fall Blog Hop Party!

Happy first day of fall to y’all!
Today I’m joining a lovely group of
decorating ladies sharing all kinds
of ideas to help you decorate
for the season 
in a 
Fall Blog Hop Party
with
Southern Hospitality





If this is your first time visiting here
I’d like to welcome you!

My husband and I are recent empty~nesters and we live in 
Southwest Riverside County, California.  This area is very Mediterranean~like in its climate and with that we grow all types of citrus, avocados and grapes. 
The City of Temecula which is just to the west of us is known for its award~winning wines and wineries.  I like to think of this part of Southern California as being affectionately known as…
The Other South{Magnolia trees DO grow here though not always so well as out your way.}   We just had a gentle rainstorm over here after quite literally 4 1/2 months of NO RAIN and we all are quite happy to have some
different weather to get us in the mood for fall!
Our fall really starts here late in October and I joke about the season’s changes as being mixed~up and overlapping as: six weeks of fall, then six weeks of winter, and finally six weeks of spring, followed by eight months of summer.  The math doesn’t add up but the crazy seasons of Southern California is pretty close to the above.
😉

***

Here’s my go-to:
Pumpkin Bread Recipe 
I’ve made it a bunch of times and I’ve adapted it over the years by adding pecans one time then maybe walnuts the next and, of course,  chocolate chips ~ my secret yummy weapon!
Let me know how you like it!
Ingredients:
3 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cold water
3 cups granulated sugar
1 c. chopped nuts
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 c. canned pumpkin pureé

*chocolate chips, as desired
Directions:
* Sift together dry ingredients, including sugar. 

* Make a deep well in the dry ingredients and add
remaining ingredients.

* Mix well until smooth.

* Divide into three large loaf pans which have been 
greased and floured (or small pans or a combination thereof).  
Can also bake as muffins.

* Bake at 350* F for 1 hour or until a tester
poked into the bread comes out clean.
This pumpkin bread freezes well after it’s cooled and wrapped in plastic wrap or foil.  The mixture can be left pre~mixed in the 
refrigerator and baked the next day.  A note I wrote years ago on the bottom of my old hand~written recipe says that this bread tastes better [cooked] the next day.  My mother gave me this recipe ~ it was always the one she baked for us as children.
My living room coffee table decorated two years ago ~ still loving that deep orange candle!
With this party I thought I’d share some of my favorite fall photos with you!  These were taken at our former home ~ what I now call “The Big House.”
I shared about meeting Sarah, the Dutchess of York at a Macy’s event at the Costa Mesa Mall in Orange County, California.  During this time period {the early 2000’s}, was when I received this tea set as a Mother’s Day gift from my husband. My friend Cheryl and I drove over together to attend the Duchess’ talk and afterward she signed tea items for guests ~ it was a fun time and the Duchess was very gracious!  

Of all the tea tables I’ve created so far for my friends when they would come for our tea~luncheon parties or just for our family
I think this one has been my favorite!  If you like, you can check out that story here.
The combination of the cream~colored baby boo pumpkins with the very soft velvety brown and green pumpkins tucked in then
the white creamware dishes atop an older Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic tablecloth… it’s a combination that I love.
{I’m kinda gaga over all the Shabby Chic line of linens ~ I have a 
bunch of comforter covers and they will start coming out soon!}

Of course, what would fall be without a picture
of gently fallen leaves strewn about the yard??
😉
And a stack of Cinderella pumpkins
waiting for a handsome prince to come wandering by…?

Then finally a pretty basket of posies filled to overflowing with homegrown and market provender… sigh!  This beauty will be making an appearance in some new fall photos this weekend internet~willing!


I hope you’ve enjoyed your fall tour over here
at 
French Ethereal.
Please do visit the rest of the bloggers
who are part of the tour!
Thank you for stopping in & I hope to see you 
again soon!
If you’d like to receive email notices of future blogpost, please drop me a line
at french.ethereal@gmail.com or sign up here along the sidebar.
I look forward to visiting with you!
Blessings to you,
🙂

Sharing with ~
Fall Blog Hop Party ~ Southern Hospitality

Create Link Inspire ~ The Crafty Blogstalker

Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage

Today’s Fall Blog Hop Party People ~