Book Cover Party over at Amys!!!!

I love Amy's BOOK COVER PARTY idea! I use book covers all of the time. They make a great canvas for my altered projects... I am so glad I finished this when she announced the party because I haven't been able to do another like I thought I would. And I'm sorry to say I have to make this short and sweet because I have to be somewhere...
so I will let the photos do the talking...
and I will visit again soon!
the next one is like cheating, you've already seen it, but the party inspired it so here it is again!
Have fun at the party!

Thanks for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

and the winners are....

First of all I want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful comments about the soap and dryer sheets... I appreciate them all so very much! I am loving the process of making everything for this new venture and all of your positive feedback really gets me charged up to mix, and fill and sew and everything else that goes along with it. THANK YOU!!! now...

Do you ever let days go by without really paying attention to the calendar? I mean I know it was Thursday, that part didn't get past me. What I didn't pay attention to was that it was the 26th and the day to draw names for the big (oh yeah I said it was big!) giveaway here at 612! Can you believe it? Now I just let you in on a little well known fact around these parts... I can be a little scatter-brained. That's right... I chalk it up to having so many things fighting for attention in my head that sometimes the one that needs the most attention doesn't fight hard enough! ;O
So last night I enlisted the help of my trusty toothless wonder and he was happy to draw the names out of the bucket. He drew 2 names, one for each 100 followers.

So without further ado... here are the winners....
Carole of Maynard Greenhouse and...
Coralie of A Vintage Cottage Home!!! (Max looks a little scary in this one) I think he was just trying to make sure you could see that he has indeed lost 4 teeth this summer!

O.k. ladies if you would be so kind as to send me your addresses (my e-mail address is on my sidebar) so I can send out your packages!

Thanks again everyone for leaving your comments and love. I love you right back!

On a different note all together, can you all keep my Aunt Jane's family and our extended family in your prayers? She passed away yesterday and she will be missed so very much. Aunt Jane is the one person in the family that kept all of the family stories alive. She made everyone in her life laugh out loud. I mean snort laugh, run to the bathroom laugh. You never went to her home without leaving with a full belly and a smile on your face. She was deeply loved and will be deeply missed. On a positive note, she was my moms best friend and her and my mom are I'm sure doing a joyful dance and telling funny stories right now. thank you. xoxo

Thanks for stopping by, Theresa xoxo

What? a 200 follower giveaway!!!

So I've been working on a little something, something for a while now, but I wanted to know I had it right before I put it out there in etsy land. I loved making our laundry soap so much that I am now making it to sell in The Old White House, along with reusable dryer 'sheets' made with vintage cotton bedding with wonderful prints and filled them with lavender. My kitchen smells heavenly!
This is the full sized bag of laundry soap, scented with lavender essential oil and all natural~safe for the earth and your family~ ingredients. It is double bagged, a muslin inner bag that you cut the top to open and a reusable/refillable cotton bag with a drawstring to close it. It also smells wonderful but is not overpowering on your clothes, and let me tell you... doing laundry has never been so RELAXING!!!
These are the dryer 'sheets' they freshen your clothes with lavender and are reusable, you just store them in an airtight container (I keep mine in the dryer with the door shut cuz we do A LOT of laundry) and then give them a good crunch in your hand before you toss them in with your laundry. easy peasy! No more chemical filled dryer sheets that are clogging up our landfills, and no more chemicals on your families skin!
This is my trial size... you get enough soap to do 8 or 16 loads of laundry, depending on the type of washer you have. The HE washers will get 16 loads or if you do smaller loads well then only 1 tbsp. will work for you! Yup, that's right only 1 tbsp. per load, how crazy is that?!!!
So there you have it... I have been handing out samples all over the neighborhood and to family and to strangers to get some feedback, everyone LOVES this soap and the dryer 'sheets' are a big hit too!
Here's where you come in... I don't know if you noticed this but I have recently acquired just over 200 followers! CRAZY!!!
I never thought that I would have that many people who care about what I have to ramble on about or see the silly things I do. And then ... there you are, waiting in the wings for me to post something! Cmon let me think you are waiting in the wings o.k.? ;)
Seriously, I love blogging ~ just ask my family ~ You all have been so welcoming to me, listened to me while I share a little bit about life here at 612. I have met some amazing people here, and am enjoying the journey so much! There are so many inspiring people out there in blogland and I have made so many friends with some of the best!

I really want to thank those of you who comprise those 202 followers, who for no other reason but my charming personality and slightly skewed craft photos have decided to follow me... now where we are going, I can't be sure but I will tell you this, Hang on it could be a bumpy ride! I vote we all take the bus and enjoy the ride!

So here's how it goes:
If you are ALREADY a follower, leave me a comment and let me know why you follow me.
That's it.
I tried to do this another way and just surprise a follower by picking a number between 1 and 202 but I couldn't figure out how on blogger to see my followers by numbers.

SOOOOOOO, remember this contest is just for those who are already followers...
Not that there won't be future giveaways for everyone, but I really want to thank those of you who follow me without the carrot dangling in plain sight! ;)

What do you win? Why, some fabulous handcrafted laundry items from The Old White House ~ The Clothes Line section of course!!! Plus you just know that I usually can't resist throwing in some extra goodies, just cuz I like you that much!!!

Go ahead let me have it... I will pick a winner one week from today... August 26th!

I'm linking this up to one of my favorite parties... White Wednesday stop by and visit Kathleen and the rest of the party goers!

Thanks for stopping by, truly! Theresa xoxo

Have you entered Rosemary's Giveaway???

If you haven't been over to Ozma of Odds to visit Rosemary and enter her birthday giveaway well you might just want to skidaddle on over there and get yourself entered! These pictures are not the actual prizes of her latest giveaway but one that I was gifted by her not too long ago. First of all it comes wrapped up all special, I almost didn't want to open it, just look at the hand holding my little card! LOVE IT!!
Then inside, so many goodies to play with! Love the crown tag and of course I adore vintage jewels of every kind!
Just adorable little dollface and the doily tag with the sweet pic on it...
fabulous pink ricrac, how did she know I have a thing for ricrac? I must confess that everytime I think I will use some of my ricrac stash in a project I talk myself out of it, thinking I am holding on to it for something REALLY special! crazy, I know!
I just love all of the goodies she sent me... she has a very special blog full of inspiration, one of those blogs that when you visit, your heart is full and you know you've spent time with a fabulous friend. So now you need to get on over and give her a visit to see all of the wonderful treasures she has set aside for her new giveaway! You will not be disappointed! I saw tags, hand painted clothespins, a clothespin bag, flowers for your hair... really get on over there and see for yourself!
Remember to wish her a wonderful birthday!

Thanks for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

White Wednesday Mother Lode!

There was an amazing estate sale in town this past weekend, and well lucky me my good friend Julie was watching out for me! She lives across the street from the sale and they are good friends of hers so when she didn't see me there by 8:00 she called to see where I was. Now mind you I'm maybe too polite of a saler and the sale didn't start until 9:00 so I was waiting until about 8:30 or so before I showed up just to see if they opened early. Well, they did... apparently they had already been open a good hour before I showed up! I still came away with a boatload of stuff, some to keep (maple table and 4 ladderback chairs=$20) and lots to put in theoldwhitehouse! Today I'm just highlighting the white stuff to show you. Just look at that sweet face on the old composite doll. It really doesn't look like her body, especially her hands, really belongs to the head but there you go.
This old scale is too cool, my memory card was full before I could take a seperate pic of it hanging somewhere. Yeah, I took alot of pics! There were some cool old kitchen tools, that metal piece on the right I have no idea what it was/is but it almost looks like maybe a cherry pitter?
I did find a few pieces of advertising, this old toilet pin box with pins is sweet and I can't help myself when it comes to curvy white dishes... not that we use bone dishes but I couldn't help it!
Sweet enamel coffee pot,
One of the many pieces of vintage linens I bought, this one is for my sister Molly, I just love the white on white embroidery on it.
Here is a good stack of most of the linens I bought. I was able to get some washed and ironed but really only about 1/3 of the stack. Her husband said 'why are you putting those out there nobody will buy them' good thing for me she didn't listen to him!!!
A couple of old hats, I bought the one on the left the first day and then I went back on the second day because she told me to come back and she would make me great deals... she was true to her word and some things like the hat on the right, she just threw in my bag! She was just so sweet and generous! We made lots of deals!!
Love the old Walgreen Drugstore bottle with label.
I didn't get this lightbulb there, I got it up north when we took the kids camping, but I just hadn't gotten any pics of it until now, so I thought I'd show you. It's huge and just soooo cool!
I got a few old books, mostly for using in my artwork, this one I love because of the sweet dick and jane like pictures.
See, I didn't even mention the galvanized pail, the vintage lamp, the old glasses, the sprinkler... let me tell you my little heart was beating out of my chest as I walked up the driveway! I'll have to highlight more later, but for now I have spent most of my day taking pics and now I need to get things listed!
I hope you are all having a fabulous White Wednesday! Stop on over to visit Kathleen and the other party goers @ Faded Charm to see all the fabulous white goodies we all love!
Thanks for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

Wordless White Wednesday (well almost wordless)

I had seen a few of these coin purse necklaces and thought they were so cool that I thought I would try one for myself. Chippys makes some really cool ones so if you want to see some spectacular ones check her out!
The number 5 for my 5 kids, a heart with a t. on it and I have been saving that fabulous bee for a while now, waiting for the perfect project. taadaa!


Cleaning house and so redecorated the white mantel... the dust alone told me it was about time!

I'm joining the White Wednesday party over at Faded Charm, Thanks Kathleen!

I recently took on a part time job and so need to get ready for work ( that sounds crazy to me) I haven't worked outside the house since Max was born!

Anyway... gotta go try to look presentable and not smell like furniture polish...

Thanks for stopping by, Theresa xoxo

Thanks Amy!

I have to start this post by thanking Amy from Mittens for giving me some fresh inspiration to alter something again... Thanks Amy! I sat this morning at my worktable (freshly cleaned off- but now looks a mess again, but a happy mess!) and took the time to make a couple of little creations. One out of the book cover like her upcoming party inspired. Now that I'm on a roll I figure I can have another one or two for the party :) Hers is absolutely beautiful, like everything she creates, you can just sense the soulfulness in her work. If you haven't met Amy yet do yourself a favor and get on over there, she is fabulous!
So here's a closeup of the couple that inspired this piece. They look to be celebrating their anniversary, see the cake and flowers on the table and the happy celebration faces? I just love this photo, whenever I find one of these I can't help but think how much simpler our lives are, physically anyway, than what it took for these people to get through their "daily grind". So even though I jest about their happy faces please know that I admire their strength and fortitude.
So I thought that Robert Browning's poem was perfect for them, and of course a little bling! The girdle/nylons strap hook was just so lonely so I added a little tape measure with 50 and 51 . Now mind you I don't know what anniversary they are celebrating but it's at least 50 right? Unless their newlyweds ;) a white chippy key hole from a dresser was also added.
As well as one of my last skeleton keys. I'm gonna tell you a little secret... that one might actually be from our porch doors, I'm not sure, but I was on a roll I tell you and well this piece really needed a skeleton key. Sooooo if it is well, I better find us a new one soon! Shhhh, Duane doesn't know yet!
All of this plus a corner of a vintage hanky and some cotton lace trim covers an old book cover.
Then I pulled out this photo of a family gathering in front of their home. There is a baseball game going on. You can see the players are under the piece of glass from a broken pair of old glasses. Another key... hmmmm no wonder I'm out, I just love these things!
Here's a close-up of the players and the words under the key... a house built of... I wanted to highlight with the key. All this and a grungy flag on a silver platter. I really enjoyed the process of putting these together, the places that the paper, the photos, the little extras take me, I swear when I'm working on this kind of stuff I'm in another world all together.
Just to let you know I haven't stopped making flowers, well here's one of my latest flowers. Not a rosette exactly but a wool felted mum or dahlia of sorts. I put this one on a purse my sister Molly made for me. Don't you just love the rhinestone closure and the rhinestone belt buckles on the handle? The yellows don't exactly match but I wanted to see it on a bag and this one is beautiful.
I've been working on a post to show you all some of the goodies I've found in the past few weeks. I'm still in the process of taking the pics of my goodies. I haven't gotten out to sales like I used to and keep trying to tell myself to use up some of the treasures I am already hoarding before adding to the piles but every once in a while I do get out and find things that I. just. have. to . have. really. Is anybody else out there regretting that their families (or maybe even yourself) ever even saw the show Hoarders? :)

Well that's it for now, I'm going to link up (kinda late) to Silver Sunday and see what the others are sharing today. Thanks for hosting Beth! Have a fabulous week!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

Some wonderful Giveaways out in Blogland!!!

You all probably already know about these wonderful giveaways, but just in case you don't... well Debra of Common Ground is giving away a gift certificate to her new store, or a one of a kind 'just for you' beautiful creations. Her new line of jewelry is soulful, beautiful, unique and absolutely something I would LOVE to wear! Absolutely gorgeous!
Jan over at Bobbypins Boardwalk is giving away an Earlex Paint Sprayer! I mean really who wouldn't love to be able to get all of our furniture and home transformations done in a fraction of the time! This gizmo looks pretty cool! Ends Aug. 15th.

And finally Miss Mustard Seed is giving away an assortment of her favorite things... all beautiful, all old, all things we all rush to purchase at the flea markets and sales we go to! There is a vintage black scale that I would love to have reside in my home in this giveaway!!! Ends Aug.6th.

So rush over (if you haven''t already) and enter these fab giveaways, who knows maybe it's your lucky day!!!

Are ya feelin lucky? well, are ya punk?... couldn't resist! ;)

I had hoped to have something for a WW post but I need to get put together for the day, I am going to visit a very special and LOVED aunt in the hospital with some of my sisters, brothers and Dad. Remember the photo a couple of posts ago... well I'm pretty sure we are her "Laughter is the best medicine" injection today! Gonna go and cheer her up, but I know that she will have us laughing more, she is one of the funniest people I know! Actually she is the little girl, second in on the left sitting on the ground, in my header picture. She will be 80 this coming March!

Thanks for stopping by, Theresa xoxo

Honored. Truly.

I had the best surprise last week, Melinda awarded me with such an honor as to consider me for the Blog with Substance award! Really I am touched and feel pretty darn special! I can't begin to tell you all how much blogging along with you means to me. You have given me so much inspiration and friendship. I am fueled creatively by your lovely comments, the warm sentiments and thoughtful encouragement. I love checking my dashboard to see that there is a comment or two to read! I hurry and press post so I can revel in you sweet words.

So as the award states the first thing I need to do is thank the person who gave it to me... no problem, Thank you so much Melinda!! I am thrilled that you chose me and coming from someone who I admire as an artist and overall genuinely kind spirit means that much more to me! O.k. I think like at the awards shows I hear them cueing the music so I will get off the stage, but before I do I also want to say that I was in wonderful company chosen by Melinda and if she wouldn't have picked them I would have!!!

The second thing I need to do is to TRY and sum up my blogging motivation, philosophy, and experience in 5 words. (this is going to be tough, I don't know if any of you noticed in the comments I leave but I can barely say anything in 5 words!) but here goes...
1. Inspiration (to give and to get)
2. Friendship
3. Creative outlet
4. Camaraderie (I do feel a natural kinship with my bloggerettes)
5. Freedom (the place to be who I am and share the crazy with you!)

So there you are, I tried to do it in 5 words honestly but my brain just doesn't work that way! I am not usually a rule breaker except for art, patterns, and well I can't share everything in this post or what will bring you back??? LOL!

Now to pass this on to 5 other bloggers who have those blogs I keep going back to well because they are full of all of those qualities I mentioned. seriously, this was the hardest part of the award... I don't want anyone to feel slighted or overlooked, I love so many blogs and all of you out there mean so much to me, that well I wish I could pick more. But I've already broken one rule with the whole 5 word thing and all. So on with the show...

1. Jane of Mamie Jane's. I love this girl, she has some of the best creative ideas that will just make your head spin! She is always encouraging and I get way too excited when I see that she has left me a comment! (it's o.k. she knows that about me, I usually share way too much info.)
2. Suzan of Old Grey Mare. Love her blog, love her! What an inspiration! She has started a link-up party about ways we can all share with one another about our ideas on saving this home we call earth. She is also wonderfully talented and genuinely kind. always.
3. Anne of Fiona and Twig. really. enough said. Anne inpires me always with her kind comments but her blog is a must read! She gives us peeks into her fabulous life with her beautiful photos but most of all she writes these inspiring posts that really. make. me . think. I love that and her! She is a thoughtfully kindhearted person that gives you the feeling that you are just meant to be friends!
4. Libbie of The Middlest Sister. OMG I love her too! She tells the funniest stories about her little ones and gets me laughing everytime! Her mothering skills are so apparent in the beautiful happy faces of her children. She teaches them to love all and sprinkle glitter whenever they can ;) She makes me really think about the job I'm doing with my children and to go the extra mile to do something special for them and with them.
5. Maggie of The White Farmhouse. Crazy funny! I love her for the down to earth keepin it real posts she shares with all of us! She too just makes me laugh every time I read her posts. She will show you the bugs in her garden and the crazy mess in her basement. You know the mess we all take our pictures around so people will think we are clean freaks? Yeah, I do that. Now see I've told you more info. than you really needed to know! But seriously, Maggie is the genuine article and has so many wonderful things to share with all of us, she is a crafty diva!

I'm telling you I could go on and on... There are just so many wonderful people out there in blogland that inspire, motivate and bless me with their humor, creativeness, love, hope, strength, faith, soulfulness and most of all friendship. Thank you all for those things and more!

So that's it for now, I'm gonna go spread the love and I hope you will too!

Thanks for stopping by!! Theresa xoxo

2 parties today: Project Genesis and a Grad. Party!

Today is my nieces graduation party at my dads house so I get to hang out with these crazies for the day!!! I know your jealous aren't you? No we will not dress like this, this pic is from our last family reunion on Carny Day, now your really jealous aren't you? :) It is by far one of my favs and all though not all of my family is in the picture I thought I'd give you a little giggle today!
The second party of the day is the ongoing link-up that Suzan is having on her blog...
I love that she started this party... Project Genesis. we can learn so much from eachother. I believe it will take ordinary people doing ordinary things that will help save our planet and immediately I wanted to join in. Last month we were away camping and so I could not but here I am today with a few little things that I do to help 'green' things up around here...
1. We don't buy plastic wrap to save our left overs and I don't use aluminum foil either... we just take a bowl from the cupboard (size depends on how much you have left over) and flip a plate over for the top! Simple. That way we aren't using plastic ones either-I recycle those. So cereal bowl-tea saucer on the top. I have to be honest though, I still have plastic freezer bags and storage bags in the drawer for snacks out the door and the cooler though so I need to come up with better plans for those things. I have seen reusable sandwich bags on etsy so maybe I need to give those a try.
2. I also started using our own cleaners...I found a recipe for a homemade disinfectant cleaner because my sister and I were having a conversation about bleach. This one works really well, my kids don't like the smell of the tea tree oil but to be honest I didn't have a dropper on my bottle and may have used too much! But tea tree and thyme oil (don't have any of that) are disinfectants so I say spray away and it's not like I always liked the smell of the chemical cleaners either. Here's the recipe: Combine 2 tbs. of borax; 1/4 cup of lemon juice; 2 cups of hot water; mix these 3 ingredients into a spray bottle, shake the bottle until the borax is dissolved; put in 20 drops of thyme ESSENTIAL OIL or tea tree oil; shake again. Use as you would a chemical laden disinfectant.
I just want to point out that you make sure it is essential oil and not a fragrance oil.

Also... I found metal spray bottles at my dollar tree! I know how exciting is that? They look like skinnier mini metal water bottles with a spray top. Unfortunately that part is plastic but we can't be completely plastic free I guess.

Mind you, I am by no means perfect in being green, but I am getting greener all of the time! I figure it's little steps that lead to one giant 'Mama may I' leap!

I want to thank Suzan for having this link up party, I can't wait to read and try everyone's tips so that I can incorporate them here at 612!

Thanks for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

This just in..... Lavender oil is also a disinfectant and I forgot about another cleaner that I mixed up recently... equal parts vinegar and water but because Hannah thought the smell was awful (and she was doing the cleaning with it) I poured a little lavender essential oil in the spray bottle. I was making a disinfecting cleaner without even realizing it! I thought I would check to see if Lavender was one, I knew it was used as a antiseptic, we use it for earaches.. you just put a drop or two in the little ones ear and it works every time! well it has for us anyway. I am not a doctor, I just play one on my blog! LOL!

O.k. I'm glad I came back with that because Hannah didn't mind cleaning the cupboard doors with that and it made my kitchen smell wonderful!

Have a Fabulous Sunday!!! Theresa xoxo