The Country Living Fair 2010

We saw Dr. Rob Sharp of Hillsboro who writes the "Ask a Country Vet" column for the magazine! 

HGTV's Taniya Nayak was there to give advice to those with decorating dilemmas. 

I took a picture of this from Taniya's tent since it is similar to what I am doing for my wedding table center pieces. 

The legendary pumpkin and gourd tower! 

The Jam Lady had a yummy display.

The town meeting hall at the Ohio Village was turned into a fall decorating extravaganza. Note the large, old-fashioned keys on the napkins and the pine cone-laden chandelier.

There were several inventive vignettes to catch the eye. See the moss-covered pooch statue "tied" to the table leg?

Mimsie poses outside the hall. 

Life-sized image of the current magazine cover on an entrance to the Country Living Store which was located in Ohio Village's General Store. 

I loved the creative displays in the vendor booths!

Mimsie n I found a new quilt in front of which to get our picture. 

But after much scouring, we finally found our old standby in one of the Country Living subscription tents. It is our tradition to get our picture in front of this particular quilt every year. We asked the attendants if we could come back to get our picture real quick and they gladly complied with our request. One of the nice attendants even took this picture for us! 

~~~

We made so many beautiful memories. I will post more from the fair soon!

The Country Living Fair

The fifth annual Country Living Fair is coming to the grounds of the Ohio Village in just under a week and I can hardly wait! This past Mother's Day, I presented my mom with a petite scrapbook to commemorate our past adventures together. Right now, though, I am really looking forward to sharing our next adventure.

It is my Mimsie and I's annual tradition to make the hour long journey down to Columbus and enjoy the pleasures of one of our favorite magazines come to life! We have our certain vendors that we make sure we visit every year. There are antiques, vintage bobbles, handmade creations, and absolutely delicious food!

Above, I am pictured getting my copy of Merry & Bright signed by the new editor-in-chief Sarah Gray Miller. I was so excited! 

Here is a snapshot of the album's final page where I made a collage of some of our favorite vendor's calling cards. And yes. That is my face stuck into that whimsical painting outside of the Homegirl booth. Hope it is there again this year, so I can make Mimsie stick her head through it! 

Take some...

...milk and chocolate...

...melt and stir...

...skewer...

...these...

...and...

...voila!

Bridesmaid's Invites!

Again. I found this set of 12 invitations for under two dollars. Even though they are not my wedding colors, I could not resist this cheerful box of happy lovelies. Pink was a wedding color contender in the beginning any way, so I thought, "Why not fit a smidge in?" (In case you are curious, my actual wedding colors are aqua, silver, and gold).

So I set to work, gathering a few extra bobbles that the kit had not included along the way. 

Carefully attending to every detail.... 




.... with a happy hum in my heart the whole time. 

Harvest time once again... that glorious season which allows me to festoon the house with fall-colored cozies to make our abode warmer and merrier.  

I snagged these wine bottle bags at the Dollar Tree clearanced down for 50 cents a piece! After pondering for a bit, I decided on stuffing them to the gills with buffalo snow to make decorative pillows. 

Finished product take 1. 
(Of course the ORC aka. Ornery Rotten Cat just had to ham it up). 

Finished product take 2.

And then one with all three of them for good measure... haha. 

Look at these beautiful posies my Mimsie put together. Such loveliness always makes me smile! 

And on this day of remembrance, it is especially important that we all take the time to remember the smiles, love, and laughter of those who tragically  lost their lives nine years ago today. 

They will never be forgotten.

I love yarn
(the sight, the color, the texture, the touch, the POSSIBILITIES)

Skinny yarn

(perhaps as a tiny flower on a fall sweater)

Fat, fluffy yarn

(cozy, cotton candy slippers.... mmm)

Multi-textured yarn

(woven lengthwise down a scarf would be nice)

Ultra-soft baby yarn

(snuggling an adorable, cuddly little body)