Snow Day At The Tin Palace

The trees in the Orchard styled in their Winter "wardrobe"

It is cold at the Tin Palace this week.  Today the high is reported to be about 33 degrees. BRRRR!   I am taking the time to enjoy the beautiful gifts the snow has given us.

The Trees in the Orchard are always beautiful in the Spring when they are covered in apple blossoms.  Then I see them in the Winter and it takes my breath away. Snow makes everything beautiful!

The Tin Palace License Plate......

Even the license plate gets some icicle accessories!  How many of you have these on your house?? ( I even have backup lights).

Though not frozen enough to ice skate on, the snow and ice have made the pond look so calm and peaceful.  Matt and I love to look at the pond when it snows.  Matt dreams that someday he will get to ice skate on this pond like his Mimi and his Great Aunties when they were little.  Sadly it has not frozen solid in many many years.

Now time to enjoy the rest of this Snow Day!

On The Good Ship Lollicake!

Hmmm boxed cake mix what to do with it.......

Today I found myself wanting to bake..... as I looked through my cupboards and through some recipes I discovered I had a boxed cake mix that needed to be turned into something!  After I while I remembered seeing Cake Pops on the Bakerella website.  What a fun idea to use up this cake mix.  Of course hers are BEAUTIFUL and she gets really creative with them.

Baked bites, dipped, and waiting to be packaged!

This was an interesting thing to try!  As you may know I love to bake, and cupcakes are my #1 favorite treat to bake!  This was a fun messier twist! I will definitely try and make these again, maybe add some sprinkles?? 

Packaged and ready for delivery! 

Today I felt like a baker and a candy maker! WHAT A TREAT!

Please Mr. Postman....

Deliver the letter, the sooner the better.. (The Beatles).

Beatles Apron I recently made.

Some time ago I found this Beatles fabric and coming from a family of Beatles fans, I could not in good conscience leave it in the store!  I am glad that they only had a fat corner of it left cause it would have been pretty pricey to buy the entire stock of it.

It took me awhile to figure out what I was going to do with the material, was it going to be a pin cushion or an apron??  And finally I decided!!  I think I made the right choice!


Close up of The Beatles.

 Coming your way soon Whitney, With Love, From Me To You!

Here Comes The Sun

The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day at the Tin Palace!  I am feeling very motivated today. I am trying to get the royal interior of the Tin Palace cleaned and organized so that I can spend the rest of this weekend doing something fun!

On one of my trips to the garage to put something away or start a load of laundry, my eyes caught a glimpse of my pathetic flower beds in the front of the house.  They are sad looking from the winter and just plain sad looking from lack of attention.  Well I have a feeling that this is the year that the flower beds will bloom into something amazing.  Now if I can find some fun beautiful things to bloom at the Tin Palace .... any suggestions??

I am a little embarrassed about this .... but here is what one of the flower beds look like now......  as you can see there is some weeds getting comfy in there and the plants have been beaten by heavy rain and cold temperatures, not to mention lack of love from me.

Part of the beds - they need some new soil, plants and lots of love!

The plants may look sad - but I have garden art!

Gardening Advice Wanted!!!!

Cupcake Love

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day with your sweeties!!  I shared with you the Valentine's that I received in the exchange with my family but I didn't share what my contribution was.  I decided to send a little cupcake love.

Cupcake Love    

I sent the ladies each a flour sack dish towel with a cupcake embroidered on it with a little heart on top.
They are a lot of fun to make.  I found it really relaxing to do them. I would just cuddle up on the couch with a good show on t.v. and embroider away on them.

Hope the ladies enjoyed their Valentine's as much as I enjoyed making them.
Everybody needs some cupcake love!

Happy Valentine's Day

Vintage Valentine courtesy of "The Graphics Fairy"

                                                        How Do I Love Thee?

                                     How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
                                     I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
                                     My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
                                     For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

                                     I love thee to the level of everyday's
                                    Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
                                    I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
                                    I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

                                    I love thee with the passion put to use
                                    In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
                                    I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
                                    With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
                                    Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
                                    I shall but love thee better after death.

                                             ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

         


Happy Valentine's Day from The Tin Palace!                                     

Be My Valentine

This year my Mom, Aunt Marilyn, and Cousins Megan and Whitney decided that we were going to do a Valentine's exchange with a homemade heart.  It was such a fun thing to do- but the best part was opening the amazing gifts that these wonderful ladies created.

Here they are:

My Valentine's

A Heart made out of Antique Barbed wire and game pieces.
My Valentine From Whitney



The inside of the alter made by Mom. The outside of the Alter is a cigar box.
A little interactive art project that we can expand on and add our personal touch to.



A small sack of honey spiced filberts from Marilyn. (YUMMY).
Also sent from Marilyn was a valentine of pictures of us over the years with a
beautiful poem. (not pictured).

Steampunk Heart by Megan.

Thank you ladies!  I love my Valentine's!! 








A Love Letter.

LOVE



With all the new technology, email, instant messaging, texting and Facebook- people rarely correspond the "old fashioned"way.  So when I get a little card or a trinket in the mail it thrills me to my fingertips!! I just received this sweet little Valentine's Day greeting from my Auntie in Nebraska.  It was so cute I had to share.
Hope you all are taking the time to send a Valentine's greeting to your family and friends.  Instead of an email card or a text, send a fun little card- heck who doesn't love getting something in the mail!!

A Little More Steampunk In My Life....

Just wanted to add a picture of this steampunk necklace I have.  This didn't get posted the other day because I was wearing it and forgot.  I got this necklace as a Christmas gift from my Mom a few years ago.  She found it on EBAY .

Steampunk Necklace made out of a vintage pocketwatch.

The Tin Palace Goes Steampunk.



Whether in fashion or interior design I love the Steampunk look.  Here is a look at a few of the Steampunk items around the Tin Palace.



An old Singer Sewing machine that is in my living room.

 Not long after I got this antique Singer sewing machine, an article in the Seattle Times about the British Store Allsaints Spitafield new store opening in Seattle.  In the article it describes the display window as having over 500 Antique Singer sewing machines hanging in the window.  WOW!!  I loved the look of the display window - but I also loved the clothes!!  Hopefully soon I will head to the Seattle location and check it out!!


A few years ago my Dad took Matt's old Ikea bed (used to be like a bunk bed) and cut it down and rebuilt him a new bed out of the pieces.  Then for Christmas my Dad made Matt a new headboard.  It is so amazing. Matt calls it his time machine bed.  Take a look..............

Fun old gauges make up the headboard for Matt's bed.

A closer view

Matt LOVES it!

It's so interesting how you can take something old and reinvent it for a modern use!  I also found this Steampunk Blog  it has some really cool pictures!  Check it out!!

I Love Books!

A portion of my personal library.

Books are my drug of choice.  Whenever I walk into a bookstore, my pulse quickens and the adrenaline starts flowing!  I just can't say no to a good book.  I am often reading 3 or more at a time!

My books have come from all over, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Third Place Books, but my favorite stomping ground for books ..... DUVALL BOOKS.  A little used book store in Duvall Washington,
www.duvallbooks.com   I never walk out of there empty handed.  It is a book lovers paradise.

Last night my friend Sam and I were able to take advantage of the extended hours that they keep on Saturday evenings.   Sam found a First Edition of the Time Traveler's Wife by  Audrey Niffenegger- one of her favorite books - in great condition for an incredible price.  I walked out with a few great finds myself.

Some of my recent finds at Duvall Books

Can't wait to dive into these books!!  So if you are ever in the Duvall area - make a point to stop by and have a look around - hopefully you will find some great books too!

Netflix.... I Think I Am In Love!



Netflix Logo

So about two weeks ago I discovered the awesomeness that is Netflix. With no Blockbuster close to home I was never a big movie renter, so on a whim I signed up for Netflix, currently offering a free month trial.  I know that Netflix has been around for about 10 years or more - I will admit I am a little behind the times.

Renting movies always seemed like a chore - drive to the video store, wander the store and try and find something in stock to rent that you will actually like.  With Netflix - I get to rent from the comfort of my home!!  The movies just get sent to me in those beautiful red envelopes.

Thank you Netflix for making me love movies again!  I am no longer a social pharaoh because I haven't seen the current "it" movie.  I also get the joy of renting my old favorites and catching up on TV shows I haven't seen yet. And don't get me started on Instant watch.  I am in Movie heaven at the Tin Palace!!

Well this may sound like a commercial for Netflix - but I figured since watching movies has kept me from blogging the last couple days - I would blog about it.

Well now time to go and watch something fun on the Instant Watch.  (No I do not need a Netflix Intervention!!)

Have you Netflixed today??  :)
(okay that was a bit much!)