MAILBOX SURPRISES

Recently I won a giveaway over at Karen's blog A Scrapbook of Inspiration. I was so excited. Karen's gift to the winner would be a hand painting, done by her, in your wish or idea. When I found out I won, I told Karen to just surprise me. Everything she does is amazing and I knew I would love any art form from her.

Well, when the doorbell rang, I opened the door to see this welcome surprise waiting for me.

Inside was this beautifully wrapped package with Karen's wonderful gift wrap.

Pretty paper with birds, nest and flowers on a gorgeous background of greens, earth tones and rustic hues.

First I opened the card which looked so familiar. As I read what Karen wrote, I realized she had painted something very special. This special watercolor was to be a corner of my newly decorated shabby rose room. My goodness her creation took my breath away. She painted it exactly like the spot I just decorated.

The gorgeous card!

The gorgeous watercolor.

The room. And,I just added the pink shoes I painted from a vintage find on etsy. Added the clip earrings to accent. Karen saw the pic before the shoes.

There are no words to explain just how thrilled I am with this giveaway gift. Karen is so talented and did such an amazing job,like everything she does from the heart and through her talented hands. You must go visit Karen and read her blog posts to be inspired by this creative lady. Not only is her artistry amazing, but she is a writter and great photographer too.

Now I will share how I framed the card which I will keep in my studio to enjoy. I found a wonderful carved black frame to fit perfectly. As you might remember my studio is decorated in black toile. The framed card looks amazing.

For the large watercolor, I took it to my framer and picked out 2 pretty mattes to layer and a large carved white frame. This will hang in my shabby rose room near the corner of it's origin. I will have to share that pic in a later post when it is finished from the framer. I am so excited to see it done. It will be wonderful.
Thank you so much dear Karen. I hope you know how much I love this and am so honored to own such a beautiful piece of art work from you. Visit Karen's blog and from there, visit her etsy boutique to view many creative designs she has to offer.

Well the postman has been extra nice and also brought another wonderful package from the talented and giving Marie from Marie Antoinette's blog. As you may know, Marie has peacock's on her property and they are molting now. She collects the feathers and uses them for creating. She surprized me with a box full of these beauties to create with too. But I decided to enjoy them on diplay in my entry way.
Here is a close up of the beautiful color.

Here are a few more up close and standing all together. She even added an all white feather, which is rare.




Could you see the white feather in front? It may be a little hard to see in the pic, but in person, it shows up so pretty.
Here they are in the entry.

Thank you so very much Marie. I love them and think of you and your generous heart everytime I pass them. Everyone, you must go visit Marie's blog She designs dolls and is so talented and creative. Her dolls are amazing using Victorian style themes to display gorgeous creations. She even designs an upside down Christmas tree that is a show piece. You will surely enjoy your visit.
Thank you for letting me share my mailbox surprises. I also want to share what I have been up to in the last 2 weeks, but that will wait till next post. However, I will tell you this much, it has something to do with makeovers and windows.
Till next time, Blessings and Blue Skies Always, Celestina Marie

THANK YOU FROM LORRI AND ELLIE

Lorri sent me an email thank you to share with all of you for the many visits and sweet comments you left on her 3 part home tour. It was so much fun. So I share her note and my thanks for stopping by and giving so much support and encouragement.




I would like to thank Celeste for the lovely portrail of my home on her blog. It really was alot of fun to see my home through someone else's eyes.She is so talented with that little camera of hers, thanks Celeste!
Many thanks to all who stopped by and left their lovely comments, it really gave me a lot of pleasure to read them.

Our house had been a rental when we bought it and really was a labor of love to bring it to it's present condition. To those of you who asked the question, is it always that clean?The answer is no!
Celeste and I were originally only going to do a few rooms upstairs and then the day of the photo shoot decided to do the whole house. So there I was running ahead of her at break neck speed tidying and throwing stuff out of view of the camera, that was one for Americas funniest home videos.I am so glad you all enjoyed it and thanks again for stopping by, sincerely Lorri and Ellie.

Thank you Lorri, for a fun day and allowing us to visit your beautiful home.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I will be back next week to share what I have been creating lately, and some mailbox surprizes. I have also been busy filling the shelves in my etsy boutique and invite you to visit anytime. Till then, I will be in the studio creating and enjoying life! I'll leave you with a peek at a few of my new creations.






Blessings always, Celestina Marie

HOME TOUR AT LORRI'S~~ PART 3

Welcome once again to Lorri's home tour part 3. As our tour comes to an end, we will visit the first floor rooms and go outside on the patio.
Let's start in the kitchen. Take note of the beautiful cabinets. These were dark wood in their old life. Lorri painted them all white, distressed and antiqued the surface to uncover the perfect French Country look and style. The island is painted black and all the counters are a lamanite granite, once again installed by Lorri's talented hubby.




These next pics are looking out from the kitchen to the formal living area, wet bar also painted to match the kitchen. Also, along one wall between the kitchen and dining room showcases Lorri's hand painted roosters painted on cabinet doors.




The Living area is gorgeous and accented with greyhound collectibles and Oh Look, here is Ellie. Hi Ellie, we will only be a minute passing through. Go back to sleep sweetie. Isn't she a cutie and so very sweet too. Miss Beazy loves her.



The Fireplace is another wonderful redesign by Lorri. The tile around the fireplace was originally black. Lorri gave it a make over by painting a faux finish to look like travertine tiles. It turned out great and lightened up the area nicely.


Next to the kitchen is a wonderful half bathroom where Lorri also finished the cabinets like the kithen. The walls are textured, wood floors, gorgeous granite sink and again all done by Lorri and her hubby.


Moving on to the Dining Room you will see gorgeous furniture accented with pretty heather lavender. The chandelier is gorgeous over the table. Lorri has a beautiful collection of tea cups and the hutch graces beautiful dishes and vintage items.






This next area is the Family room off the entry and across from the dining room. The big screen TV cabinet was also a redesign by Lorri. She painted it black, distressed and added frosted glass paper to the doors. It turned out fantastic and the area is a cozy place to relax. Accented with Western treasures and Lorri's horse collection.



Let's peek into the darling laundry room. Lorri accents this area with bunnies and garden style accessories. It is so cute. Who wouldn't enjoy doing laundry in here?


This ends the tour of the first floor, but before we go, let's go outside and view the patio, pool and recent furniture cushions redo. It is fantastic. We were at Ross, when we found some great tableclothes for indoor and outdoor use. Lorri and I thought it the perfect color fabric and design for her patio wicker. So for very little money, the redesign began and it is amazing. Who would know, these were tableclothes. I have shown the before and after pics, although the after pics were sent in an email and once again I could not enlarge them. I hope you can see how gorgeous it turned out. The color is perfect and gave her patio a great pop of color.
Look at that gorgeous Morning Glory from the porch post vine. Such a pretty color.









Our home tour at Lorri's has come to an end. I want to thank you for coming and a special thank you to Lorri for letting us view her lovely home. It has been so much fun to bring these pics to you and share the talents of my dear friend. Now that you know Lorri, I will share before and after redesigns that she does in the future.
If you missed part one and two, scroll down and view the rest of Lorri's home. See you soon Lorri. We are due for a shopping and lunch day.
Till next time, I'll be in the studio. Blessings, Celestina Marie