Shades of Grey (I am talking paint)

I have been loving all the shades of gray on Pinterest, (I haven't read the book, have you?) I bought paint, and it sat for about 6 months. I wasn't sure if grey paint would feel to cold or gloomy during our long North Dakota winters so I hesitated. But this past weekend I was ready to make a change.

Lots of pictures...

I painted two walls the darker shade of grey, and the other walls a lighter shade.

 The picture above and below capture the two different shades.

 I have yet to figure out what I want for a head board here.  I had a screen door above the bed before.

Those pictures provide a quick overview of a very small bedroom that serves as our guest room.

This is a lovely old dresser I found and left in all it's shabby white charm.  Some of my favorite type objects sit atop it:  candles, old silver, tin, mercury glass, vanilla candles, nature, dried roses and hydrangeas,  linens, and ephemera.    That is a lot of elements in one small space.  And the grey and white are not at all cold, as I had feared.

I love this old metal tin.  I still regret that I did not buy a second one I ran across a year later.

And yet another picture, just because.

This room holds a lot of the treasures I find.  An old tin box sits beside the dresser,  An antique circular metal piece leans against an old screen door.  Ribbons from one of my horse shows this summer add a touch of yellow to this side of the room.

Old linens add softness and warmth and further hold any coldness at bay.

This is a fairy I bought for myself many years ago and holds a lot of meaning for me.

And another collection of 'things'.  Spare and clean is evidently not my style, huh?

Do you like my shades of grey?

Witches invited...

..to park their brooms!   LOL!  Sometimes I have way too much fun doing pointless things.

We live out in the country.  Wind and rain will probably do a number on this display, so it may not last long.  But it was 70 degrees today and likely to be the last day that warm until next April.  I had to find something to do outside after work, so I decided to play.

A recent snow fall broke a lot of branches off our trees so I had a lot of choices for broomsticks.  This bright green broom is made with day lily leaves.  

This broom is made with peonies that had been trimmed back for the winter.

And this broom is made is made from dead evergreen branches.

All witches are invited to park their brooms at my house....  who knows, I may even have a roaring bonfire to sit around while enjoying the cool fall evenings before snow starts falling.

Drinks anyone?

Halloween is one of those occasions that lends itself to having fun.  A little imagination can go a long way with simple additions to vignettes.  A few leftovers, items from the dollar store, and a few moments of craftiness add a touch of the macabre.

Gotta love the dollar store!  Skeleton parts, skull, and two glass candlesticks and a candle holder for a total of $5.00 add a little Halloween fun.

I glued together two glass candlesticks and spray painted them black and then glued a candle holder on top to hold the small skeleton parts which came from a garland.

The bottle of arsenic is a label found online printed out and glued to a salsa jar painted black.

 Appetizers anyone?  I am sure they are tasty......

And you can wash them down with a nice glass of Graveyard Spirits or Embalming juice....  mwahahaha....
(Beacon 527 glue is great for gluing labels to bottles.)

Arsnic and lace perhaps?   Your welcome to come visit, if you dare.

Here the labels I found when looking for free clip art in case you would like to use them also:

Sharing this post at a few parties:

Introducing Finn

Finn is our new kitten.  I hadn't realized that when I was told he was a Snowshoe kitten that it referred to a breed and not his coloration.   His ears are smudge collored and he has a ring tail.  It will be fun to see how much the dark points darken as he gets older.  Sorta cool having a rare breed of cat.  He is such a snuggler and the only kitten we have ever had that goes to bed with us and stays curled up and sleeping until we get up in the morning.

Textures

Warm hues and rich textures resonate with the season.  Autumn leads to shifting attention and projects indoors.  Celebrating the warmth of home.

Old yellowed book pages rolled and wrapped with twine then gathered in a basket.  Simple items that bring richness.  Contrasts of paper, basket, lace and smooth metal.  Lights and darks gathered together.

 
Curves and lines reminding one of classic shapes and architecture.

Inviting one to touch the pages.  Warm colors that invite one in.

Simple and complex at the same time.

Fluffing the front yard...

It was a beautiful fall day today.  85 degrees at the end of a September is a real treat here in northern North Dakota!  I took advantage and did some 'fluffing' of the yard.

The chair is handmade and a gift from my sister.  Works great for outdoor for decorating purposes.  The plant sitting on the chair seat blooms part of the day and then hides overnight....

Definitely fall here.  We have had several hard freezes so most of the flowers are done and over for the year.
Nevermore says the raven (but I am counting on spring bringing everything back to life)!

My husband surprised me with the old red wagon one day.  He knows what makes me smile!

Had to add some spider webbing for fun.   Will have to see how it holds up to 20 to 40 mph winds as we are sure to have some days like that in the near future.

My son that farms was kind enough to let me steal some corn.  Given the state of crops with the drought and price of corn, I appreciate his generousity.

Yep, both sides of the entry.  Notice the well trained dogs who know they can't go past the fence.  We live on a well traveled highway and need to keep them safe!

Hmm, that spider looks more like a fly.  But guess that works also.  So a little fall and a bit of Halloween thrown in for fun!  Hoping we can make it to Halloween without any snowfall.  Seems like many Halloweens have been the first snowfall of the year.  Makes me really appreciate the 85 degrees today.

Enjoying the outdoors with a toddler

My 1 year old grand daughter spent an overnight visit with my husband and I.  She clearly appreciates being outdoors!  I just had to share some pictures of this precious little girl enjoying her day.

She discovered the crab apples on a low branched tree and was quite determined to pick these.

She picked, and tasted, and shook the tree.   Then went back to do it all again.

Our kitty Cocoa was not sure what to make of Lydia and stalked her most of the time she was outside.

Evidently you have to find just the right apples to pick!

Curiosity got to Cocoa....   She had to find out what was making noise dropping into the bowl.

Not sure if this face means "come and help"  or "enough with the camera!"  LOL!

Cocoa was a bit disappointed to discover there was nothing of particular interest to her in the bowl.

After the apples, it was time to check out the garden.  Lydia quickly decided that cherry tomatoes taste much better than tiny crab apples!

It took a few tries to learn to bite them in half first and not worry about the dirt.

Yummy!  Do you want some of these too?