The Twice Remembered Cottage

Make Your Monday Week 15 - Add Your Link!

I t's time for another Make Your Monday link event! Show us where your creativity has taken you lately by joining in! {see instructions - please use the proper "link back" coding for the Make Your Monday button below}

Here are a few projects that I especially enjoyed from last week. Please take a moment to check them out!

Modge Podge Magnet Tutorial @ The Tidy Nest

Dollar Store Bird Remake @ A Lovely Place to Land

Bird in Branch @ Diamond in the Rough

Not So Lazy Suzan @ Bird Crafts

A New Take on Family Rules @ My Backyard Eden

Contact Paper Chalkboard @ Northern Cottage

Cabinet Door Makeover @ Noting Grace

Flea Market Artwork You Can Do @ Three Ring Cottage

Now let's have another creative Make Your Monday link event! To participate, just follow these 2 easy steps:

1) ~First, create a blog entry about something you made yourself. **Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that others can discover this great list of Make Your Monday links and have an opportunity to contribute. To get this link, just click on the post title above and then copy the address that appears at the top of your browser.

2) ~Next, add your Blog name down below along with a short description of your project and then add the permalink of the blog entry about your project {not your blog homepage}. Where's the permalink? Just click on the title of your Make Your Monday entry and then copy the address that appears in the address bar and paste it down below. It should look something like this:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/2009/07/your_project.html.

Don't worry if you come back and your blog isn't listed anymore. You can just make the needed adjustments and add your link again. You can grab the Make Your Monday button for your site, too, if you like.

<center><a href="http://twiceremembered.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-your-monday-week-15-add-your-link.html"><img src="http://www.twiceremembered.com/blog/makemonday1.gif"/></a></center>

That's it! We're looking forward to seeing what you've been up to! Have fun visiting all the creative projects below!

{This list will open on February 28 at 9pm Central time and will close on March 2, 12am central time}

Edited to add: If you don't know about it already, please check out a really fun contest, "So You Think Can Decorate" sponsored by Alchemy Junk. This contest is going on for the next few weeks and each week, you are able to vote for your favorite decorating projects. Let me tell you, this isn't going to be easy considering the talent of the contestants! This is the first week of the contest, so make sure you drop in and join the fun!

Sunday's Quote

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
-Flavia Weedn

{Photo: Dorothea Lange, December 1935, "Resettled Farm Child"}

The Make Your Monday link event will begin tonight at 9pm Central time. {I may put the post up a little early, but you will be able to add your links at 9pm as usual.) If you have a project, please come back and share it!

Under the Weather

A few aches and pains are keeping me confined to my couch and under a cozy blanket today, and Ruby is determined not to leave my lap until I'm all better. Then again, even when I'm well, Ruby is determined not to leave my lap. She's just a sweetie pie that way.

Somehow between a party the little ones are going to today and a hobby themed event {geocaching} that they are attending today as well, hubs was able to get the garage straightened up to make room for what we'll purchase on our next big shopping trip to the Home Depot. We'll be getting our baseboards, door trim, beadboard wainscoting, and a few other odds and ends we need for the main areas of the house {living room, kitchen, and hallway}. I've been working on drywall mudding and am just about finished with the areas of our house that need to be completed before beadboard installation. If I'm feeling well enough tomorrow afternoon, we'll go ahead and get the materials. I'm not even sure I'll know how to act in a house with baseboards and door trim!

For now, back to my blanket and heat packs and trying to rearrange Ruby without disturbing her.:)

4th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway Day! May 29th - Mark Your Calendar!

I've been so excited about announcing the date of this year's Cottage Charm Giveaway! It will begin on Saturday, May 1st and end on Saturday, May 29th, so please mark your calendars!

For those that may have never heard of it, this is a multi-blog, month long event beginning May 1st where bloggers give away on their blogs items they feel exhibit "Cottage Charm". Anyone can join at any point in May before the 29th. On May 29th, all participating bloggers will announce their winners and post it to their blogs. An ongoing list of ALL the giveaways and participating bloggers is maintained here at Twice Remembered during the entire month of May. The list grows and grows the whole month as bloggers add their Cottage Charm Giveaway to their blogs.

This benefits both bloggers and blog readers because blog readers are able to discover many, many new blogs they might not have otherwise found, and bloggers benefit in that they are able to introduce their site to new visitors for the entire month of May.

To join, in May you simply post what you are giving away on your blog {your Cottage Charm Giveaway}, include in your giveaway post a link back to the Twice Remembered entry containing the master list of all participating blog giveaways, and then come back here and add your link to the master list of giveaways. {I'll be using MckLinky this year as I have with past Make Your Monday link parties...so you may already know how easily this works.} All giveaway winners will be announced by individual participating bloggers on May 29th.

Use your own definition of "Cottage Charm" for this giveaway- the possibilities are endless! You can give away books, your own crafts, thrift store finds, new items, yummy treats, gift certificates to your shop, vintage goodies...whatever to you represents cottage charm. Don't worry - you don't have to live in a cottage or personally decorate in cottage style. However, if you would like to give away something to those that do, please join in!

I'll have detailed information near the beginning of May, but I just wanted to let you all know early so that you can decide if you are going to participate {I hope you do!} and also so that you can start thinking about what you'd like to give away.

Here are the giveaway lists for the last three years. As you can see, this event is growing each year as more people are learning about it, so I'm hoping that the 4th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway will be better than ever!

2009 {68 giveaways}
2008 {54 giveaways}
2007 {40 giveaways}

Please join us if you can. The giveaway participant list officially opens on May 1st, so now is a great time to be getting those giveaway entries ready to go! The official link back to the giveaway party will be posted on May 1st as well. Again, I will be posting more details soon. Thanks!

Dear Daisies,

Dear Daisies,

Oh my goodness! The response from my last entry {"Compared to Others"} has been truly overwhelming. I knew that more than likely, a few others like myself have felt...hmmm...perhaps a little "less than" on occasion, but I had no idea how many readers it would strike a cord a with. I've learned that though it is often in our nature to try and see how we seemingly measure up to others, it is almost never a good idea. It will always be an apples to oranges scenario because we're all so different - different circumstances, different walks of life, different outlooks, different goals, different talents, different strengths, different weaknesses. There is simply no comparison!

In just about every way you can imagine, when I say that I do understand the temptation to compare, I really mean it! Well, you already know that I live in a tumble-down house which I'm not always particularly proud of. My neighborhood is far from charming and on my negative days, I see it as downright hopeless! Our budget is small and my time and energy are limited, so we're not the speediest DIYers in blogland, that's for sure! In our darkest times, we nearly lost this tumble-down house in it's far from charming neighborhood - and I remember thinking..."How depressing to have to struggle so hard to keep such a money pit in this ugly neighborhood! What's wrong with us?!"

But then there is the part of me that knows it's fruitless to compare - that as long as I'm trying my personal best in all areas of my life, then that is all that ever matters. As far as Twice Remembered goes and the neighborhood it happens to be in, I try to remember two things: There is potential in everything and Bloom where you are planted. Somebody has to take the steps to start improving a neighborhood. Why not me? Why not Twice Remembered?

For those of you who have been in or are in similar circumstances, or who are struggling to keep up with the heavy demands of taking care of a family, or who are working hard to get a business off the ground, or who are trying to grow a blog...just keep doing *your* best. That's all you can do. Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy getting lost in all those comparisons we talked about, lose your enthusiasm, and just want to give up. No one wants that to happen!

Thank you for all your wonderful comments...I loved reading and rereading every one of them. And thanks for hanging in there with me as we slowly try to bring this place to life.:)

A couple of notes: Tomorrow I'll be posting some information regarding the 4th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway event. I can't wait!

Also, please take a moment to visit Deborah at The Fairfield House. She is having a postcard exchange link party and would love to have you join!

Until next time, take care and have a wonderful evening!

~Kim

Compared to Others (Life, Homemaking, and Blogging)

When it comes to your life, your home, or perhaps blogging, do you ever feel like the flower you see in the photo above? That flower right there. Come closer...

That flower - that little white daisy there in the middle, hiding among the masses of large, beautiful, vibrant flowers. Sometimes we may feel that our lives aren't perfect enough, our homes aren't fancy enough, or our stories and thoughts aren't interesting enough to inspire others. I know I've felt that way before. Have you?

We may feel like compared to others, our ideas about how to care for or decorate our homes, our projects, our words of wisdom, or our creative endeavors are small, so to speak. "After all," we think, "Who can compare to this...

Or those...

Or these..."

You might think...."I'm nothing at all, nothing beautiful, nothing inspiring, nothing big."

Well, just remember, everyone starts out somewhere...

Whether we are just beginning, starting over, or working from very limited time and means {like me}, we slowly grow over time as we work to make our house a home. Growth may not be visibly dramatic right away - but ultimately the most important kind of growing has nothing to do with our houses or even our talents and hobbies. If we are human havens for our family and friends, it doesn't matter in the least how our furniture is arranged or how crafty we are or how much traffic our blogs receive. Though we all so enjoy reading and writing about fluff, life boils down to our priorities and the people we love.

If you find yourself lost in a bouquet of comparisons and overwhelmed by thoughts that begin with "I wish I..., If only..., or I'll never be..."

Please know that it's all a matter of perspective.

When we compare ourselves to others, it's easy to forget how beautiful...

...how inspiring...

and how big we are in reality. You'll never be? But you already are!

Everything else, the fluff, will grow and progress and change over time. Enjoy doing what you do to make your home a sweeter place, but while admiring the beauty and inspiration of others, never underestimate your own. ♥

A Twice Remembered First

Did you know that in all my years of homemaking and cookie baking, I've never owned one of these practical kitchen accessories? A good old fashioned cookie jar! I found this gem on clearance for $7 at my local Wal-Mart. I love the large, oversized pull at the top.

I also like the fact that the lid is black. It goes well with some of the other dark accessories in my kitchen. {Have you ever heard it said that every home should have a touch of black? I believe this!}

So now I'm going to be making a lot more these...

...to keep this filled! Isn't there something so homey about a full cookie jar waiting for the children when they return from school, or for a husband who wants a late night snack...or for you just because?

Do you have a cookie jar? I would love to hear about it!

Make Your Monday Week 14 - Add Your Link!

I t's time for another Make Your Monday link event! {I'm posting this a little early tonight...I'm helping a friend move and I'm not sure when I'll get back in! As usual, links can be added starting at 9 pm Central.} Show us where your creativity has taken you lately by joining in! {see instructions - please use the proper "link back" coding for the Make Your Monday button below}

I hope you enjoy these inspiring projects from last Monday...Check them out!

Bunkbed gone headboard @ All Thingz Related

No cost kitchen table makeover @ From Here to Zerr

Pottery Barn inspired Nest pillow @ Girls in the Garden

Slipcovered chair @ Mustard Seed Creations

Painted sideboard @ Mom and Her Drill

Now let's have another creative Make Your Monday link event! To participate, just follow these 2 easy steps:

1) ~First, create a blog entry about something you made yourself. **Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that others can discover this great list of Make Your Monday links and have an opportunity to contribute. To get this link, just click on the post title above and then copy the address that appears at the top of your browser.

2) ~Next, add your Blog name down below along with a short description of your project and then add the permalink of the blog entry about your project {not your blog homepage}. Where's the permalink? Just click on the title of your Make Your Monday entry and then copy the address that appears in the address bar and paste it down below. It should look something like this:
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/2009/07/your_project.html.

<center><a href="http://twiceremembered.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-your-monday-week-14-add-your-link.html"><img src="http://www.twiceremembered.com/blog/makemonday1.gif"/></a></center>

That's it! We're looking forward to seeing what you've been up to! Have fun visiting all the creative projects below!

{This list will open on February 21 at 9pm Central time and will close on February 23, 12am central time}

Sunday's Quote

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be. - Shel Silverstein

The weekly Make Your Monday link event is coming up tonight here at Twice Remembered at 9pm Central time. If you have a project to share, please come back and add your link!

Sponsor Love: Naomi Lynn..For the Love of Paper

I am honored to introduce to you today one of my talented sponsors, Naomi Lynn...For the Love of Paper. Naomi specializes in beautiful personalized stationery and offers a diverse array of styles and colors.

Naomi says in her shop:

"Ever since I was a little girl I have loved paper. Found it, wrote on it, stashed it, hoarded it, collected it, you name it, I loved it! And I still do. For a lover of paper, what better career to have than being a graphic designer? Working in the printing industry, I use my trusty ol’ Mac to design all sorts of business-like things (brochures, magazines, menus, etc.).

Being an artistic-sort, at the end of the day I still needed something to express my own creativity. Stationery and cards just seemed a natural thing to design."

Below are few of my favorite items at Naomi Lynn's right now - but she loves new projects, so if you have something else in mind, just let her know!

I love these vintage style calling cards...

...and how classic are these "Let's Get Together" note cards?

Or these personalized cards in beautiful script?

This set reminds me of vintage wallpaper!

You know I love the old fashioned images Naomi uses, like this quill pin and inkwell...

and this bicycle....

or how about this old typewriter?

Naomi's Kraft botanical illustrated cards are especially pretty.

And for the animal print lovers like me, I thought this purse themed card set was too cute!

With most of the paper goods Naomi Lynn has to offer, you can choose from 25 eye catching colors.

To see even more of Naomi's creations, please visit Naomi Lynn...For the Love of Paper and enjoy working with her to come up with just the right personalized stationery or calling card for you!