A Stay at Sweet Bee Cottage

Welcome my dear  blogging friends.  I have THREE special guest bloggers today.  First is my daughter, Baby Bee, then my two nieces, Reader Bee and Cutter Bee.  All three girls stayed the night here last night at Sweet Bee Cottage.

Reader Bee is so creative.  She decided that this was the perfect opportunity to turn Sweet Bee Cottage into a small boutique hotel in New York City.

Please give these darling little bees a warm welcome . . .

Welcome to the Sweet Bee Cottage!  We hope you enjoy your visit. 

 

During this visit of yours, you will bee staying in Baby Bee's Suite.  Here is your key!!!!!!!

Welcome to the suite!  

It has many things that most cottages don't have.  You have a desk and a trundle bed.

Did we mention that Sweet Bee Cottage has a spa?  

We have the one-of-a-kind Blossom Beauty Spa.  Do you want the Blossom Beauty, Cherry Blossom, or Jasmine Takeover.  They all come with a massage and scrub.  Enjoy your time at the spa!

We have an assortment of dining specials.   

 For breakfast we have eggs, toast, and berries.  

For lunch and dinner pizza with as many toppings as you want.  

Thank you for your visit.  We hope to see you back here soon!

Reader Bee, Cutter Bee, and Baby Bee

Sweet Bee back now . . . . 

Can you believe their imaginations?  So creative.  Cutter Bee worked and worked that pizza dough to make it so nice and round.  My pizza was not nearly as nicely shaped.

The girls even made a phone directory.  

Thank you for stopping by.  I'm sure Reader Bee, Baby Bee, and Cutter Bee would welcome your stay at their little boutique hotel.  If only I could check in myself!

If It's In My Kitchen, There's A Good Chance It's Red

I do love me some red - especially in my kitchen.

Thought I'd share a few vintage kitchen tools I've collected over the years.

See - more black wire thingies - I definitely have a thing for black wire thingies.

Many of these were gifts from the Crafty Bee's mother.  She is a champion thrift sale/yard sale/estate sale shopper!  

When I was a little girl, I had a miniature rolling pin just like this - red handles and all.

Well thanks for taking a trip back with me.  Be sure to see all the other reds that are being shared today - Rednesday - at It's a Very Cherry World.  Sue has the best parties don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by for a little visit.  I'm sure I'll have more reds next week. 

Happy Easter!

We Have a Winner . . .and Is This a Crazy Idea?

My goodness this giveaway has been fun.  You have all left such kind and encouraging comments.  So many of you were so kind about posting about my giveaway.  Isn't blogging just wonderful?

Well enough about how great you are - I know you're just dying to know who won the giveaway.

Baby Bee and I cut and folded and she had the honors of pulling out . . . . .

Oooh - yeech!  Can you guess who was helping paint benches and posts black?  The fingernails ought to give it away.

Carol at Old Glory Cottage!

She is one lucky duck!  I've had exactly 4 giveaways on my blog and Carol has won half of them!  (On the first one her odds were a lot better - there were only 5 entries.)

Baby Bee has been busy buzzy too.  She found a poster in one of her older American Girl magazines that she has been coloring ever since Spring Break started.  I have no doubt that she will have it finished by the time break is over.

Now, I have to ask, do you think this is a crazy idea?  I'll probably do it even if you tell me I am out of my mind, but it's always fun to ask.  We have all these GINORMOUS tree stumps from the removal of Mr. and Mrs. Liquidambar and I had a crazy idea.  I've always wanted to make some of these . . .

and I've been saving my chipped and broken china for just such a project, but - the bees started buzzin' and - I thought wouldn't it be great to take some of these stumps and make some broken china mosaic tables and plant stands?????  So - what do you think?  Am I nuts?  Did the warm weather yesterday and the paint fumes get to me?

Yes, you're not imagining it.  Those are three big piles of broken dishes.

Are we klutzes here or what?  

I think I can guarantee that I will not run out of broken china to make my mosaics!

Well, I'll keep you posted on the progress of the kitchen garden and my crazy idea.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your comments, for becoming a follower, and for just coming by for a visit.  

If I could, I'd take you all out for lattes!  (or tea!)

No Pictures?

I can't seem to load any pictures onto blogger this morning.  I have picked a winner, but, cruel giveaway holder that I am, I will not announce the winner until I can post pictures.  Heartless, I know.  I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Anybody else having this problem?  Pictures aren't even loading on some of my favorite blogs.  Hope it gets fixed soon if it's a Blogger problem.  

Don't worry, I won't wait forever!  I'll post later today with or without pictures the winner of my cardboard canister giveaway.

Happy Monday!

The Kitchen Garden Is Coming Along....

Well we came up with a plan for our raised beds.  We found these . . .

at Home Depot for $2 each.  We needed 18 of them.  This was much cheaper than buying boards or anything else we came up with.  But, beeing the busy bee that I am, I couldn't leave well enough alone and I thought they needed some embellishing.  

Our house is this lovely taupey/gray color, the trim is ivory and the windows and most of the doors are black.  (Our front door is red.)  I believed with all my buzzin' heart that these boards needed to be painted black.  So we bought some cheap exterior paint in black from HD.  I then watered it down about so it was half water and half paint.  

They look so much nicer.  While I had all the supplies out I painted a bench we had too.  It will also become a part of Sweet Bee Cottage's Kitchen Garden.  

I'm also trying to persuade Worker Bee that we should string some lights across the beds for a little more ambiance.

Tomorrow we finish assembling them and start filling in with topsoil and some amendments.  Now we are planning what veggies, herbs, and flowers will fill up our kitchen garden.  

Whoa!  Those look crooked.  No need to straighten your computer. 

Don't forget, tonight's the last night to enter my 122nd post giveaway!  Just enter by commenting on that post.  You can go there by clicking on the picture on my sidebar.  I'll be drawing a winner tomorrow morning.  (Spring Break, don't you know! No school!)

Now I better go finish scrubbing black paint out from underneath my fingernails.

Thanks for stopping by!

Plates - It's an Addiction

If God came down to earth today and said, "Sweet Bee, you can only have one collection!" I would say, "Okay God, it'll have to be dishes."

Thought I'd share some of my personal favorites (okay, I cannot tell a lie, they're all my favorites) today at Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Here's a couple of my Blue Ridge plates . . . 

A couple of flow blue . . .

Yes they're chipped and that makes them affordable.

The plate was a gift from my MIL.  These were the dishes her family used at the lake cottage when she was a little girl.  I have several more of them.  I just LOVE that vibrant blue.

I have no idea how old this last platter is, but I got it on ebay.  Its label says Sea Earth Enoch 1784 Ralph 1750 Woods Burslem England. 

Hope you enjoy your Vintage Thingie Thursday!  Be sure to stop by Suzanne's to see all the lovely vintage treasures out there.  

And if you like vintage style, be sure to enter my 122nd post giveaway. (I somehow missed a giveaway for my 100th!)  Just click on the picture on my sidebar and leave a comment to enter this giveaway. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Where's the Red?

Do you see the red?  

These are shots of the bookcases on either side of our television armoire in the living room.  Can you tell I love red?  

These were unfinished bookshelves we bought that we painted white several years ago.  As I was painting them I thought, I don't want just boring old white backs on these so I decided to paint them a Laura Ashley red called ________.  No luck on the name of the color!  Worker Bee just went out to the garage to check on the name - none left I guess. 

The backs of our library bookshelves are painted a Laura Ashley green called verdant green that I still love!

Like the milkglass urns?  I actually have 3 of them on that shelf.  I was at a sale in Atascadero this past May and I kept walking by these and then walking away.  Finally I bought one of them.  Then I thought I have to have a pair, so I bought a second.  Then we were in the car and I told my mom, Sewing Bee, that I had to go back for the third one if it was still there.  Yeah!  It was. 

Did you notice the brown apple on top of the books?  One of my students made that for me about 13 years ago when I taught sixth grade.  It has always meant a great deal to me so I keep it at home and I have it on display all the time. That kid is about 25 years old now!  Yikes!  

Below that is another one of Amy Jo's paintings.  I like having the tray/bowl of faux pears in front of the painting of a pear.  

Then I have a small collection of green pottery.  I just love red and green even if it's not Christmas.

And finally, I have part of Worker Bee's globe collection sitting on the cutest gingham suitcase I picked up at the Susan Branch store when it was still open.  That was just the BEST place to go shopping and get inspired.  I only went there a few times, but I loved it and miss it.  Maybe she'll open it up again sometime.

Whew!  That was a lot of talking!  I better take a sip of my iced latte.  Would you like one or maybe you'd prefer a nice hot one with whipped cream?  Come on over any time and I'd love to treat you to one.  

Thank you Sue for hostessing the reddest party in Blogland!

Please stop by and admire some more reds at It's a Very Cherry World.

Oh, and if you want more reds for yourself, be sure to enter my giveaway!  Just click on the photo on the sidebar to go to my giveaway post.

Happy Rednesday!

It's 122 Posts and Counting Giveaway! Mini Transformation Bonus!

How did I miss this milestone?  I've posted over 100 times.  This is my 122nd post!  My how time flies!

In honor of writing 122 posts, I'm having a little giveaway.  (That I meant to do at 100 posts!)

I purchased this set of boxes from Gooseberry Patch and they have been in storage ever since.  

To enter, please leave a comment on this post.  To get a second opportunity mention this giveaway in your blog and let me know.  You don't have to be a follower.  Please feel free to become a follower if you like what you see, but don't feel you have to.   You can enter until midnight, PDT on Sunday, March 28 and I'll announce the winner Monday, March 29.

So sorry, but this is only open to U.S. and Canada due to shipping costs.

Also I didn't have time to do a lot this weekend, but I did perform a mini transformation . . . 

Started the morning shiny chrome - 

Now much more fitting with the future direction of Sweet Bee Cottage's kitchen.  Just took about 3 coats of Krylon's Oil Rubbed Bronze paint.  

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Plans are coming along for our new kitchen garden and the transformation of the kitchen (don't see that getting done over Spring Break, but maybe we can get started) to my new love.  I'm so glad you took a little time out of your day to stop by.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter my giveaway!

Happy Spring!