TAX DAY PROTEST

I just had to share my son and his family at the April 15th tax protest in Santa Ana, California. Of course, he had the biggest sign there. It doesn't look like it in these pictures but he said there were hundreds of people there. Good for him and his family! They took the boys and had a blast! This feels like it did the day after 911 where the whole country pulled togethar for one cause, OUR COUNTRY AND OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!

HANDMADE HEIRLOOM PILLOWS BY SHARON OF C'EST CHOUETTE

Today I am so excited to share with you what Sharon of C'est Chouette made for me. I found the needlepoints at a couple of estate sales and immdiately thought of Sharon. She rescues needlepoints and turns them into valueable heirloom pillows. I have never seen anything like what she does. They are the most stunning pillows I have ever seen with detail that shows the pride and passion she has in her work. This picture is taken in front of my store window newly decorated for spring http://www.teacupsandtwigs.com/.

If you want to own one of these heirloom pieces, visit her website http://www.cestchouettehome.com/. You will be amazed!

RED HAT FRONTIER FLOOZIES

Say howdy to two of Cheyenne's fun loving frontier floozies, Judy and Rena. They came shopping at Teacups & Twigs all decked out in their red hats ready to shop. They weren't coming from a tea party or going to one. They were just having fun dressed up in their favorite outfit. We should all be so free in spirit. God Bless'em!

NEBRASKA JUNK JAUNT

I could not have staged this picture of the kittens on this old chase lounge if I wanted to. This is how we found them at the Thompson's place. Just relaxing on a beautiful warm Nebraska day. ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!

This is one of our most favorite buying trips of the year. We set out for Grand Island, Nebraska, which is only 5 hours from where we live. We stay the the Holiday Inn Express and park our cargo trailer in a lot next to the hotel. We take our truck out each day and fill it up and come back at the end of the day and off load the stuff into the trailer. It is so much fun. We meet the nicest people.

One of our favorite places to stop is in Sargent, Nebraska (Thompson's Treasures). Dave and his wife have a beautiful old house loaded with architectual salvage, western stuff, and stuff they make. We get a lot of our salvage for our products at their place.

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

The Dove. Did you know that a dove keeps the same mate for life. They are quiet and serene birds. She is sitting in her nest in our big pine tree out back.

YEA! SPRING IS HERE!

My apple trees are finally blooming. Living in Wyoming where the winters are long and cold, I love how everyone celebrates spring and summer. Something we used to take for granted in Southern California. I am ready to plant my flowers in the cottage garden and welcome people into my store.

One of the things I love to do is use old china plates as a border in the garden. You can use them in a half circle in the center of an area just to highlight some of your favorite flowers. It looks sooooo shabby cottage!

ANOTHER FABULOUS CREATION BY T&T

We had so much fun creating this piece for our store. This is a Hall Tree made from an old door that we painted and distressed to look shabby chic. We collect old legs from different salvage pieces we find and that is what we used here. Inbedded in the top shelf is a silver tray so keys and change can be put. We used 4 new silver hooks for coats and hats. We also used an antique header at the top and added a cottage furniture decal made of wood for the cottage look. I love this piece and it welcomes my customers in my store.

VALENTINE'S DAY AT ITS BEST ACCORDING TO KEVIN

You will crack up at this. My grandson, Kevin, and some others decided to have a little fun on Valentine's Day. Now he is almost 13, and this was totally a shock to us that he did this. He made the large gold heart that you see and wore it around his neck all day. As you can see, the heart said "free hugs". And yes, he got a lot of hugs. As the day wore on he forgot about the heart around his neck and would be caught off guard when a girl would come up and hug him. This school is awesome. They really let the kids have fun and so does the school. How cute!!!!!!!!!!!

HEAVEN ON EARTH

This picture might look depressing to some of you, but the picture doesn't do it justice. This is in front of my store (my cottage garden). Yes, everything is dead and covered but still very beautiful. This is the entrance to Teacups & Twigs. It may look a little shabby, but I love shabby. I surrounded the garden in old found fencing. Each section of the fence is a different style. Adds character. I have old wicker chairs in the garden, carts, birdfeeders and houses. Anything goes, to me.

Here is a look at our island with the old wagon. This day was a very grey-white day. It looks like the sky is the same color as the snow. I love this look.

Another wintery look. Our home. Hazel, our dog, loves the snow. Doesn't she look relaxed on her stroll up the driveway?

Having been born in Texas and raised in Southern California, I love the seasons, and this is my favorite (WINTER). Just look at those trees. How beautiful.

TEACUPS & TWIGS CHRISTMAS SHOW

I love decorating my store for Christmas. I have always done a tree in each room of my home and now I get to put up multiple trees for my Christmas Show. We have the show throughout the house as each room gets remodeled. I have so much inventory, it helps to spread out. Everyone loves to come and see what progress we've made, not to mention, getting unique ideas for their own homes. I love to share the things we are doing and creating. We have a shabby area in the store, a primitive area, and unique looks thoughout the house.

CUSTOM BIRCH HEART WREATH FOR RUTH

The wreath I am featuring today can be made by anyone with a gorgeous mature white birch tree in their yard. This on is fairly large in size, but depending on the size branches you cut, a smaller one can be made. This takes minutes to create. First cut about 5 or 6 branches. Not thick ones, thin ones with a base of about 1" round. Make sure there is enough at the top that is weepy (which birches tend to be). Divide the branches up in each hand and bring togethar and wire. You can use any wire or florist wire if you have some. You have formed the bottom point of the heart. Now go to the top and bring the bunch you have in each hand togethar and wire the top weepy part. Be sure to leave some of the branches hanging below the wire, now wire togethar. Leave a long string of wire hanging down. Now pull the string of wire down towards the point of the heart and wire to the point of the branches. This forms your heart shape. You can also wire the sides of the heart if they seem too fat or bulgy. Now decorate to your hearts content. LOL. You can use a combination of silks and drieds as I have done on this wreath. This was created for Ruth Welter for her home. She is an extremely talented artist and has a web site called Artful Creations. You can visit her site at http://www.artfulcreations.biz/ and take a look at her work. She paints mailboxes, old windows, and does beautiful watercolors. I highly recommend her.

TEACUP WREATH FOR MY FRIEND VICKI

This wreath was specially created for my friend Vicki of Wyoming. She loves the victorian style and has a lot of it in her home. She wanted me to add a special silver sugar & creamer to her wreath which gave it a unique look. Her colors are very victorian which give her wreath lots of depth. I added an old shoe pin to the middle of her bow which gives her wreath bling. Vicki is very supportive of me and my business and I appreciate her so much. She to loves the Lord and has a porcelin scroll added that has one of her favorite scriptures.

CUSTOM TEACUP WREATH FOR JILL

I just finished this wreath for Jill of Minnesota. She sent me 3 sets of her own teacups and saucers but I was only able to use one set. These are all of her favorite colors which mostly consist of pastels. This wreath looks so light and airy to me because of her choice in colors. She is also a collector of teacups and saucers and wanted this to be an interesting addition to her home. I used an old brooch in the bow and some very old spoons. Some of the teacups are vintage and some are new. This was a fun piece to make for her.

SPECIAL TEACUP WREATH FOR MY FRIEND

I will be featuring some of the teacup wreaths I have made over the years for some very special people I know. This particular wreath was made for my friend, Sherry of Wyoming. She is a Christian and loves the Lord. She also loves teacups. Her home is immaculate and perfectly organized. You should see the beautiful teacups she has. They too are all organized and displayed perfectly in her dinningroom. I added a small porcelin scroll with a scripture on it. This was very important to my friend because HE is the center of her life. The bow was left over fabric from her kitchen curtains. I added wire so that I could crunch it a little.

MY OTHER PASSION

I wanted to share my other passion with you. I have so many, I tend to bounce around between them. These are before and after pictures of a sofa table we made this weekend. I love these old narrow windows. To me they make perfect sofa tables. We used old spindles for the legs and, this time, some ornate iron brackets. Usually we frame the window in wood and then frame out the bottom for stability, but I wanted this piece to look a little more delicate and cottage. I still have to paint and distress. I have another window the same size that I think would look good as a coffee table. It is just narrow enough that it won't feel too big for a room. If this is something you have been wanting to do and don't know how to tackle it, just contact me on my website and I will be happy to email you back and send you written instructions.

COTTAGE MOSAICS BY T&T

Well, I'm finally getting back to doing my mosaics. I first started doing mosaics about 10 years ago when I worked at a little store in Cheyenne (Grandma's Attic). She was kind enough to let me sell my florals there and some of my mosaics. I love to do picture frames in the blue and white china and the pink vintage china. One year I had my husband do some teacups in watercolor and then I framed it in a mosaic frame with different types of old lace for the border. It was beautiful! Now I'm trying to get him to do some more paintings for me so that I can do more mosaic frames, but.............well, I guess I should be patient. After all he does have a full time job. Check out my website for more pieces. This piece is going to end up a small lamp. As you can see, the shade is vintage. I think it is perfect.

PAPPA AND GRANDSON

We thought it might be wise for Kevin, our grandson, to learn to drive where it is safe. Also, we thought a slower vehicle would make it easier on Pappa. Summers in Wyoming are gorgeous.

Now winters, on the other hand, are a different story. They are wonderful and everyone enjoys being outside when it is snowing. Especially the dogs.

OUR DOGS

Here are a couple of the most important members of our family, Hazel and Oliver! Hazel's full name is "Hazelmaywho". She is our dog. She is an Aussie Shepard mix. Actually I think she has part Cocker Spaniel in her. We named her Hazel after my Aunt Hazel who was a very elegant lady. I think Hazel has a very elegant coat. We love her mink colored spots. Now, Oliver is the our daughters dog. He is the HUGE black dog standing next to our Hazel. He is a Bernese Mountain dog. He loves everybody! In fact he thinks he is small and would sit in your lap if he could. He's quite a cuddler. He loves to sit at your feet and lay his HUGE head in your lap. He loves coming to our house,(picture is taken in front of our house). However, Hazel is such a primadona, she is totally disgusted by Oliver. The picture is decieving, we caught her in a rare moment! He, on the other hand, loves Hazel to death. Anyway, these are our pets and we hope you enjoy our pics.

MY TEACUP WREATH

I just wanted to show the product that got me started in my business. I just loved the idea of putting beautiful procelin teacups and saucers, (which are very delicate), with rustic twigs. That is the way I love to decorate my home. I started with gorgeous roses and added, not just teacups and saucers, but old spoons, laces, and pearls. Sometimes I will add old shoe pins to the bow I put in the wreath. I make them in many colors, also. I have done quite a few custom wreaths with the customers own teacups and items. To me, this is fun to look at. They are just so soft.

MY BEAUTIFUL BLOG!

Well, do you see my new blog? I didn't do it. A very dear woman did this for me. She belongs to Make Mine Pink, as do I, and knew that I was having trouble trying to figure this out. She decided to give me a hand and just do it! Well, this is the prettiest blog I could have ever imagined. She used a picture of a section in my store and the perfect text on how I got started in business. Awesome person. Visit her web site (C'est Chouette).

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would blog. This is a lot of fun. I will be sharing my life and the lessons I learn and my walk with God. I want to encourage women to take risks to follow their dreams under God's umbrella.

HOW I GOT STARTED

PSALMS 139"

"YOU ARE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE"

This is my favorite scripture! The older I get the more I rely on this chapter in psalms. The part that I cannot comprehend is how often He says He thinks of us.

"How precious are Thy thoughts of me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand".

About 10 years ago my husband and I had to leave our home of over 40 years in Southern California. We left our two grown children and a perfect little grandson. Driving away from our family was the hardest thing we have ever done. God had a plan for us! We moved to a place in the middle of the plains of Wyoming with no family or friends. Bill had gotten a job as the Fire Chief for Frontier Oil Refinery in Cheyenne. In California I was very active in tennis not only playing but running a tennis league I had started about 20 years ago. Here, I felt lost. I still played tennis but it wasn't enough. I used to make a lot of grapevine wreaths from the vineyards in California, so I started making them here. I got into making large teacup wreaths. The first one I made I SOLD! I couldn't believe it! I found my nitch! We have since opened a store and we are now into making furniture out of old salvage with a shabby chic look. We meet the best people in our travels for antiques and love what we do. Now 10 years later our daughter and perfect big grandson are living close in Colorado and we are hoping our son and his wife and new perfect little grandson will follow someday.

Who would have thought I could have brought a little of California Shabby Chic to the great cowboy state of Wyoming!