It's a Friday Flower Tradition-12/03/10

I apologize for being a little late with this Friday Flower. My husband plays in a jazz trio and all my "blogging time" on Friday was spent getting ready for and enjoying his gig.

It's become a bit of a tradition for me to dedicate my flowers to my new followers. Blogging has added something new to my life and I'm really enjoying it! It's so fun to share the beauty that is around all of us with each other. It has made me slow down and take a closer look at things. Light has become important to me.

These are white carnations that I arranged in my favorite December tea cup. It was a gift from my mom and step-father several years ago. I took the whole thing outside and photographed them in the snow. I thought it felt whimsical and, because I have a new follower in Australia and one in Georgia (USA), I thought I would send them some snow with their flowers!

My new followers:

Kathy at A Delightsome Life. She writes about many lovely things including Victoria Magazine. I find that we enjoy many of the same blogs. She will be hosting a blog Christmas party on December 6.

Saminda at Ferns By the Fireside is in Australia. I enjoy reading about her family and life in Australia. After perusing her blog, I find that we have many similar interests.

Melissa K at Hand Made Me. Melissa K's blog says "I'm an Aussie currently living in Cumbria, in the north west of England. I'm passionate about beautiful homewares, sewing, textiles, drawing and photography." She has some beautiful handmade things on her page! I look forward to exploring it some more!

Carol at Our Sears Kit Home. Carol inspired this post about my home. She has been so helpful to me and I plan to do more research on the origins of my home in the new year. She has wonderful pictures of her home, kitties, and other vintage goodies.

Simone at Dobermans by the Sea. She recently ran a series about German traditions that I really enjoyed. She is also hosting a Christmas blog party.

Thank you all for following me!

I'm joining Laura at A Place For Tea and Melissa at Miss Sew & So for Friday Flower. Stop over and look at their lovely, lovely flowers.

Give*Away!

It snowed last night! What a wonderful way to start December! It just changes how Christmas feels to me when we have snow. The lights seems to sparkle a little brighter and house feels a little warmer. It was nice to curl up in a quilt while I read my Bible this morning with a hot cup of coffee.

I've seen that many people have a give*away when they reach 100 blog posts. Well, this makes 82 for me. I picked up some really fun things, but they are all Christmas-y and by the time I reach 100 posts, the season will be past. So, in honor of my birthday, which is this week, I am having a little give*away.

Just leave a comment between now and Sunday, Dec. 5 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Just for the fun of it, why don't you tell me how old you think I am;) I promise not to get mad. I'll have one of my kiddos pull a name out of a stocking or something unless I can figure out how to do the random number generator thingy. I will ship internationally, so all my Canadian, English, and Australian readers can join in the fun as well.

Because it's dark and snowy today, my photography leaves a little bit to be desired. I promise these all look lovely in person:)

Oatmeal mint soap by Hugo Naturals. The bag says "Handcrafted from vegan, cruelty-free ingredients, our luxurious soap produces a rich, creamy lather that pampers the skin while it cleans." The soap smells divine!

A reproduction postcard.

Two gift tags.

A "mercury glass" ornament

Two cloth napkins

Good luck!

Comments are now closed. Thank you to all who entered. I will be posting the winner ASAP.

Where Women Create Is Having a Giveaway

Where Women Create is having a 12 day giveaway!

How fun!

Their magazine is chock full of inspiration.

Is It a Sears Catalog House?

I've often wondered if my house was a Sears kit home. I've recently started visiting Carol's Our Sears Kit Home blog and she recommended Houses By Mail by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl. I've just started reading it. I recognize many of the houses in my neighborhood in this book. What I find interesting about my street is that in a three block span, it contains houses from many different decades. At the "beginning" end of my street, are houses built before 1900. The house across from me was build around 1940 and the house before it was built in 1950.

This is a very informative article by Cleveland Magazine written about Sears homes in northeast Ohio.

Our house was built in 1920. The garage was built about 1936. It has a living room, dining room, kitchen, basement, attic, one bathroom with the original claw foot tub. It also has this little "kick-out" off the kitchen that could be used as a breakfast nook. We use it as our computer room. The other side of the front porch is an enclosed porch area with wood floor and heat. Because of all the single hung windows, it is very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Right now we use it for toy storage, but I hope to someday decorate it.

Unfortunately, someone got the home-renovation bug in the early 80's. The kitchen has been redone (not very well.) It has a hideous drop ceiling that I would really like to replace someday when funds allow. The kitchen cabinets have been replaced. I've painted them white. They put up barn siding on some of the kitchen walls. I've painted it with a high gloss white and it looks a tad better. We have the original claw foot tub but the sink has been replaced with a stock cabinet-style sink with "modern" fixtures. Someone added a linen closet and you can see that the entire bathroom used to have tiles halfway up the walls at the back of the closet. All of the original light fixtures have been removed except in the covered front porch. Fortunately, they didn't paint any of the downstairs wood work. Solid oak doors and trim. Wood floors in the living room and dining room. Window seat in the dining room. I will have to do a post on the interior some day. All of the upstairs closets have the original wallpaper still on the walls. I love that!

Right now you're probably wondering why I would call my blog "Lovely Little Cottage" when my house does not appear "little" or to be a "cottage." When we were getting ready to add our third child, a friend asked if we were going to move. "Why?", I asked. She replied, "Well, it's a lovely little cottage, but it's not very big!" From then on, I've referred to my house as my "lovely little cottage" because I think her idea absurd. I love my home and find it just right for the five of us!

December On My Front Porch-2010

This is what my porch looked like in October and November:

And this is my porch for December:

I'll probably putter with it some more

as I unpack more of our Christmas decorations.

The sticks and holly are from my garden.

The kids helped me make paper snow flakes for

this little tree so that you can see something on it during the day.

At night:

This post is for Metamorphosis Monday on Between Naps On the Porch.

Decorating Has Commenced

Decorating has commenced and I don't think Oliver is too happy about it.

Friday Flower 11/26/10

Today's Friday Flower is dedicated to my fourth follower, Carolyn at Aiken House & Gardens. Aiken House & Gardens is one of the first blogs I ever started reading. I've read it for years, but just only recently started to comment. I absolutely love, love, love Carolyn's blog. She is so welcoming. Her house and cottages are beautifully decorated. The blog is filled with beautiful photography of china, teacups, and flowers.

I also love to flower garden, so I find her garden posts very inspirational and educational.

Aiken House and Gardens feels special to me for two reasons.

One, my grandma was born and raised in Canada. She loved beautiful dishes. Carolyn generously posts many pictures of her beautiful collection.

Two, L. M. Montgomery, who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series, was one of my grandma's favorite authors. Many of L. M. Montgomery's works were set in Prince Edward Island. Aiken House and Garden is on Prince Edward Island.

So, thank you, Carolyn, for your beautiful blog and for following mine.

Please join Laura at A Place for Tea and Melissa at Miss Sew and So for Friday Flower. You won't be sorry.