refreshed.

as i sat down to write this post this evening, the most exhilarating and refreshing thunderstorm hit our little town.  one of those cleansing downpours that just begs you to run through it, to swallow it, to join in its spontaneity and playfulness.
so we did.  my husband and i just ran, and let the water pull the laughter and innocence out of our chests.  it was wonderful.
we came home to freshly-made chocolate-covered strawberries. i made them earlier this evening from the strawberries we picked on our memorial day trip to the orchard...



here's to fresh rain... fresh fruit... refreshed souls.

- jessie  ;)

just because.

quite often gifts come to us in unusual packaging--

wrapped in the muddy fingers of a toddler,

tied up in a grandfather's laugh,

boxed in a bowl of white beans.

but no matter how they come,

the inscription is always

with love

enjoying a homemade meal given to us by a dear friend.
"just because," she said. 

night

it's nighttime. and we're outside. and the breeze is perfect and the day is over. and this is rest.

wooden flower press.

while fresh flowers are the perfect welcome to summer, i am never quite ready to throw away the beautiful blossoms when they start to lose their luster.  hence the inspiration behind this diy project...
i made these flower presses for my three sisters so that they could preserve their favorite blooms.  i followed this tutorial, and just used a more heavy-duty wood, screws, and nuts to ensure durability.  i also wood-burned my sisters' initials on each one to personalize.

after pressing flowers for several days, they come out beautifully preserved and ready for whatever crafts or gifts your little brain thinks up.  

...today one of my clients at work handed me a little four-leaf clover, which i fully intend to press, dry, frame, and hang in our baby-to-be's room  ;)

- jessie

i wonder what she was thinking about as she tied each knot, what she wore and where she sat. with each up and down of the needle and red thread, my great grammy agnus stitched the leaves and the stems and the flowers. i wonder if she thought about the heads that would rest on this - maybe first a child, sopped in sweat from a day playing in the fields. maybe her own tired head, resting after a day of caring for the babies while my great granddad worked at the sawmill. maybe she knew that three generations later it would find its way to our bed, a place to rest at the end of a long week.

$6 letterpress tray.

i was ambling along the aisles of one of my favorite stores, the Dollar Tree, when i happened across these dandy little boxes.  i decided to take home a couple of them with an idea in mind...

using some wood stain and nails, i was able to create a letterpress-looking tray for only $6.00.  the real versions go for anything from $50-$300 and up at stores, and a little sanding and wood stain on my version goes a long way to get that aged, antique look.  i now have a great way of storing my jewelry, but i also see this being handy for other trinkets.... flower seeds, buttons, figurines, sewing notions... 

i hope you are inspired to go and make one of your very own... ;)

- jessie

to live in

i'm planning on spending the summer in this skirt, either with a t-shirt or bundled up in an oversized sweater on chilly nights. i came across the fabric at goodwill and without going into boring details, essentially just cut some fabric and sew it onto elastic. voila, right?

most important thing i learned? it's really hard to take pictures of yourself in a full-length skirt.

button magnets.

several weeks ago i got together with some girlfriends for a crafting night.  i made these little gems, and i smile every time i see them brightening up our refrigerator or an antique tin. 
if you're interested in creating these, simply gather a hot glue gun, your favorite buttons, and some magnets at the craft store.  putting them together is easy as pie.
my favorite little fella' is the one with multiple buttons and glitter all over it... what a little cutie, wouldn't you agree?     

on another note, my husband and i are moving out of the old farmhouse this week into a smaller apartment in town.  i'm excited for the move, but it made me sad tonight to be taking some of our last pictures in this home that we have grown to love so much...  thank you, cumara farm, for so many exquisite moments and memories.

- jessie

On a calm, Saturday morning, I found myself with a free hour to make some sort of Easter gift for Beth, Jan and Mary, our mother-in-law. It was simple - find a few envelopes that I like and soak them in a bowl of water until the glue dissolved. It was then a pattern to make new envelopes, and a week after giving them, one was returned to me by Mary, filled with homemade tags. She cut them from a pile of vintage snapshots that she found at a yard sale and the gift came back into our home.

the little

fighting to live in these tiny moments, and letting them bear the fruit of contentment. fog at the cottage, a quiet, white bathroom, a best friend and spring flower. let these be enough.

wooden wall art.

i am not a huge fan of traditional wall art, and thus i love anything that plays off of my obsession with old wood and tarnished treasures.  my friend and i decided to make these wall pieces for our homes several months ago and i must say, i can't get enough of it.  using some wood, stain, and simple letter stencils or stamps, it's a fairly easy project and a lot of fun. 
we followed the tutorial on the lettered cottage blog.  although they no longer have it up, you can follow a similar tutorial here.

doesn't this piece just make you yearn for the warm breezes of summer?  i, for one, cannot wait...