~CHRISTMAS IN JULY GIVEAWAY STARTS TODAY~

~BRUNDAGE BABY and GIRL~

Christmas Cottage Pillow

Happy Friday, Peeps!

I'm excited to share with you today what will be my tenth giveaway since I started my blog back in January '09!  

See the Pillow above?  Someone is going to WIN IT!  The Pillow was made using a vintage reproduced postcard image originally painted by non other than Miss Frances Brundage.  Fashioned using several pink rose cottons, vintage lace and buttons and even some aging ribbon.  It's sweet and very similar to ones I will be offering up closer to Christmas on my A Gathering Place Website.

~THREE HAND PAINTED ORNIES~

Pinky Snowmen

In addition to the Pillow the winner will also receive a set of hand painted Snowman Ornaments!  This charming little trio are made of metal and come sugar-coated in real ground glass glitter!

Like I said...it's easy to enter!  Here's what you do:

1.  Leave a comment on THIS POST for one chance to enter.

2.  If you are a FOLLOWER of my A Gathering of Thoughts Blog you are automatically entered once. 

3.  Do a blog post about my GIVEAWAY for a third chance to win (don't forget to let me know you've done this!).

4.  Grab my Pillow or Ornaments Picture and display either of them on your sidebar for a 4th chance to win (don't forget to let me know you've done this as well!)
(LEFT CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM...THEN YOU CAN RIGHT CLICK AND COPY THEM!)

And...that's it!!!!  You have FOUR chances to enter your name for these freebies!

The drawing will run from the time of this post and end on August 12th at 11:59PM and a winner announced the next day.  

Have fun and happy entering!

Love to you~

~VINTAGE BRUNDAGE GRAPHICS and a Fun New Giveaway~

~A Sweet New GiveAway Starts This Friday~

I'm excited to share with you that I will begin my Christmas in July Giveaway on Friday the 30th of July!  I'm barely getting it in before the end of the month because I've had a hoppin'-busy last 30 days!  I hope you'll come back and enter your sweet little self into the drawing!

Over the past month I've been busy working on new designs using some fabulous vintage graphics.  I'm always on the prowl for better, clearer versions of the images I've collected over the years as they are NOT all created equal.  I've come to understand that many of the old prints that today continue to peek our interest were sometimes reproduced using sub-standard versions of the original artwork.  

Take these graphics for instance...

Both of these Frances Brundage prints are versions of her original artwork.  The one on the bottom came from an old trade card and what I believe is closer to her original painting.  The cleaned-up version just above it is marketed a lot.  The babes face appears to me to be widened an/or shortened and her eyelashes look like spider legs.  I can see where both might be very desirable but there is a huge difference between the two.

Now...look at these...

Above are two more examples of the artwork of Miss Frances.  I actually think both of these versions are great but the one on the top I believe is closer to the coloring of her original work.

 The last example I'll show you are actually copies of one of my most favorites of all of Brundage's work.  The postcard on the top, although very, very old, was made using a copy of her work that came with several generations (copies) of the original print.  The image isn't clear and her eyes look incredibly dark and sad to me.  The one below it is fabulous as you can actually see her tiny eyelashes and detail in the beads around her neck.

    

I've made several sweet little pillows using the image from the postcard.  I finished a pillow earlier this week using the one with more clarity and I love how she came out.  She was nestled into a pretty pink rose frame...

Here's a peek...

I'll be back sometime tomorrow with details about the Giveaway!  Hope you have an awesome day!

Love to you~

~CELEBRATING LIFE IN MY LA CHAUMIERE DE BRIARWOOD~

(Left Click The Pictures To Enlarge)


July 27th is always a day of remembrance and celebration for my Mr. AGPMan and I for it was 18 years ago today we purchased our home, the one I lovingly call my La Chaumière de Briarwood.  Some of the photos I'm going to show you will be a repeat as it's been a while since I've snapped new ones.  Hope you don't mind!  I'm going to try and give you a few before and after shots of just what our home looked like in 1992 and what it looks like today.  It's easy to forget about ALL the work that has been done to make what was once just a shell of a house a real home.  

In July of 1992 I was 33 year old.  My children were still very young, my beautiful son Brandon was ten and my sweet Adrienne was only seven.  The years flew by...  During those years we found ourselves planting and painting, cooking, cleaning, repairing, decorating, teaching, loving and learning...and while we were all busy living life my two babies were growing up.  Today they are both happily married and making wonderful lives for themselves.  Life on Briarwood was always bustling with activity and quite honestly~since the day they both said goodbye it's never been the same.  I miss the two of them more than I can say.

~Hideous Wallpaper~

(It Stopped Half Way Up)

The day we moved into the house we still call home it was a total and complete mess (no wonder we got it for a song)!  There wasn't one thing updated in it since it was built in 1970. The wallpaper, flooring, cabinets and baseboard all looked as if they'd been beaten to a pulp.


And I hated most everything inside the house but I LOVED her bones!!!

~Our Stairway Today~


Noooo Nooooo Noooooo wallpaper for me...not anytime soon anyway!  After working so hard to get what was once on our walls OFF I have no desire to EVER hang anymore back up!

Now...if my guy sees that I've posted this picture of him in his bright red shorts he'll kill me (sniff...he's sooooo young!)!  Still...it wouldn't be right to show you pics without showing you WHO has done MOST of the major work in this house...

~Removing The Hideous Wallpaper~

1992


When we moved in the original wooden double doors were really torn up and the leaded glass diamonds were about to fall out.  After pricing new doors (they had to be custom-made) we ended up repairing the old ones and used them for eight more years.  Also...to the right of my guy you'll see the opening to another room (it use to be our formal living room).  This room was flanked with very dated turned poles and the space was a catch-all. We really disliked them so we took them out about 12 years ago and sealed up the gap... 

 ~Installing French Doors~


Last Christmas the opening was widened AGAIN and new (vintage) French Doors were installed.  We turned the room from a formal living room into a formal dining room.  As our brood has grown we've needed more room for big family dinners...  I love it when everyone comes over!  It's wild and crazy!

 ~My Favorite Room~


My guy does truly beautiful work!


The picture below is really terrible but it is the only one I have taken of our family room when it was still dark.  The entire den was paneled when we bought the house.  It was that thick expensive stuff and it took me about 6 months of begging before my Mr. He-Can-Do-Anything-Man would let me paint it.  I mean I BEGGED!!!!  Then...once I started painting I never stopped.  I wonder if he thinks he helped create the monster that now lives inside me! :):)

 ~Dark and Drab~


It's hard to tell in this photo but the ceiling had large beams across the top and there was this horrible gold and avocado wallpaper on it as well.  notice we had no mantle either.  Where would we hang our Christmas Stockings...?  The beams eventually came down and after unsuccessfully trying to steam off the wallpaper we opted to lightly texture over it!  It's stayed in place all these years!

~LAST CHRISTMAS~


I'm sorry I don't have a recent picture of our den to show you!  My chairs are now at the upholstery shop (gee...wonder what that fabric from yesterday is going to be used for!) and things are fairly torn up right now.  Still...you can see the lovely mantle my guy made for me...another one of my most favorite things he's ever transformed!  The fireplace is fairly wide but not very deep so he really had to get creative to get the look I wanted.  I'm happy to say he nailed it!  He also re-trimmed the bookshelves with new moldings...the original wood trim was that scallopy kind and again was very dated.

~Brandon and His Momma~
August 1992


Now...before you start cracking up over this picture and me with my BIGGOLA hair and Bran's pink shirt...let me tell you we had a shadow behind us and my hair (and his hair!) just wasn't that poofy.  It WAS poofy...just not THAT POOFY!  And...bright pink shirts for little boys were popular in 1992!!! :)   Anyway...in this shot you can see WHY I painted my fireplace brick.  We also removed all the bricks that were below the bookshelves.  This not only created more of a hearth but it also gave us about eighteen more inches of usable floor space.

~Adrienne and Her Momma~
Easter 1993


Now...see that red and hunter green peeking out?  EEEK!  The biggest mistake I've ever made in decorating was putting dark, dark, DARK blackish green carpet in this house.  I had to live with it for a LONG LONG LOOOOOOOOONG time, too!


My Adrie-Girl was about eight here...just a little older than my Miss K is right now!  She was such a little doll at this age and I miss her so much...I also miss my very YOUNG and THIN FACE!  BAH!


In the photo we are standing in the corner of what is still our breakfast room (where the three vertical plates are hanging on the wall below).  My guy pushed the wall back about a foot to give us more space in that room as well!

~Cottage White & Lovin' It~


Once we begin our total kitchen makeover (after the master bath makeover that we are currently in the middle of!) I'll show more of the original kitchen, downstairs baths, etc.  Right now we still have the tile we put in in 1992 but won't be changing it out until several other things are scratched off the list.


Lots and lots of work has gone into making our La Chaumière de Briarwood all we dreamed she would be on the day we first walked through her doors.  How thankful I am for answered prayer... 


(Thank you, God, for 18 years of beauty and bliss...)


I hope you enjoyed the mini-tour of the home we love.


Love to you this summer day~