Let's Go to Old Town Orange to visit the Vintage Lady

Welcome.  I m so glad that you stopped by.  Let's leave my garden today and go on a little trip to one of my favorite places, Old Town Orange, to visit one of my favorite friends Cathy Jarrell and her charming shop and garden. Cathy lost her long time business to a devastating fire last year just two weeks before Christmas. With the help and love of her family and friends and her strong faith in God  she relocated her business to Country Roads  in Old Town Orange, a fabulous 12,000 square foot antique shop with an equally fabulous 5,000 square foot garden.


                                            204 W. Chapman Avenue, Orange, California - 714 532-3041

              Let's take  a peek at her Home and Garden shop inside before we go into the garden.

Cathy's shop is filled with charming vintage items, one of a kind home goods and beautiful living plants.

I love to buy my indoor house plants from The Vintage Lady as they are always so beautiful, fresh and healthy - she has a magic touch with her plants!!

Let's go into the garden to visit with Cathy in her charming little garden filled with beautiful and healthy plants, topiaries, and hard to find vintage and heirloom plants.

                              She also specializes in vintage garden furniture and garden accessories.

                 Cathy designs and has delightful garden signs painted by a local artist.  

                       She has a wonderful collection of birdcages filled with beautiful plants.

                    She also creates adorable "fairy gardens" and will custom design one just for you.

I was intrigued with the D and I letters in her garden and after looking around I was thrilled to find another letter  - a G - (under the birdcage) spelling DIG which is perfect for my garden. I could not resist them and  brought them home with me to put in my garden.

               Cathy also designs "Courtyard Gardens" and can be reached by phone or e-mail at the following:

Before we leave Country Roads I wanted to share with you a few photos of the rest of the 5,000 sq foot garden - if you like vintage - rusty - weathered  and  old  - and vintage heirloom plants - this is the place to find them.

The garden is so big - they even have an old pickup parked in  it filled with heirloom plants and goodies.

The garden also has lots of vintage garden furniture and accessories and is my very favorite place to shop (next to the Vintage Lady of course).

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those of you  who follow my blog.  I will be taking a little blog break for the next two  weeks working on some custom art for the Heart of the Island Gallery as well as Christmas paintings.  See you in two weeks.

Yes, we will have an art 101 Christmas  lesson and will paint Gingerbread Men and Women!!

Have a lovely week.  Blessings, Erin

                                          "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you."  John 14:27

"An Autumn Welcome" -My First Published Column/Southern Guide To Life

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of hot spiced apple tea.  I am very excited to share with you that my first column was published by Southern Guide to Living Magazine - www.southernguidetoliving.com - an on line magazine about   "The Foundation of the World is the Heart of the Home".

The magazine shows you how to  create the best of Southern hospitality no matter where you live and features articles about Home - Food/Entertaining - Home and Gardening -Life/ Culture/Travel and Faith.  Most of you probably know that I am a North Carolina native living in Southern California who brought my N.C. roots and love of the South and its lovely traditions to my garden.  My new column is appropriately called " California Gardening with a Southern Accent" and I am so honored that the magazine invited me to join their family as a Contributing Editor 

Let's join Bentley, my Studio Assistant in the garden to share a small portion of the article about creating our "Welcome Wagon." 

Southern seasonal traditions are something that I treasure and brought with me to California.  One that I brought with me from the South was sharing the season's bounty with friends.  I have fond memories as a child of my family visiting dear friends who were great cooks and entertainers.  They always had a festive basket on the front porch loaded with homemade jams, apple butter and teats to welcome guests and announce the season and no one left empty handed.

I wanted to keep the tradition going and created a tradition in my garden to welcome guests - my "Welcome Wagon."  I park my old vintage red wagon on the porch and fill it with pots of mums or simple jars of flowers picked from my garden for guests to take on their way out.  The welcome wagon is decorative and my guests love it.  

You can also easily create your own welcome by using a big basket, large tin bucket or any container on your porch and fill it with ll sorts of items that will welcome guests to your Autumn garden.

I purchase small pots of Mums in a variety of colors and then replant them in terra cotta pots and tie with a colorful ribbon.  I also add tiny pumpkins to give to young visitors.

Sometimes I use my "Welcome Wagon" to serve tea to guests.

Today I have friends coming over for lunch and I am going to make little bouquets of flowers for them and use the welcome wagon as a container.

First I gather old jars and my Martha Stewart chalkboard labels.

Next I fill the jars with an assortment of Fall flowers - nothing fancy as I want them to be whimsical.

Then I put the jars in my Welcome Wagon to greet my guests in the garden- such a fun and easy way to say Welcome to My Autumn Garden.

                       You can read the entire article by going to www.southernguidetolife.com 

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those of you who follow my blog.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see my paint something special.

Have a lovely week.  Blessings, Erin
P.S.  I am trying to change my posting date to Monday instead of Friday.  

                                       I just added some new items to my ETSY SHOP.


                              "The Lord remembers us and will bless us."  Psalm  115:12

Finding Inspiration In My Fall Kitchen Garden

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art. We are having glorious Fall weather in Southern California - the sky is blue - the birds are singing and the air is crisp. 

Let's join Bentley, My Studio Assistant, in the kitchen garden  for tea and look for inspiration for a new painting.

My kitchen garden is where I grow my cooking herbs in pots  and have lots of colorful seasonal flowers in pots - I often paint outdoors here and like to have lots of color.  I warm it up with outdoor fabrics and old rugs.

I have often said that I am inspired by and love to paint the beauty and simplicity of everyday life. The simple arrangement of Sunflowers in the blue and white vase inspired me to paint them.

Thank you for stopping by.  I sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments, and those of you who follow my blog.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week.  Blessings,  Erin

                               Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love."  Psalm  143:8

It's Beginning to Look Like Autumn In My Garden

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art.  We are expecting cooler weather in Southern California tomorrow after two really hot days of Santa Ana winds blowing off the dessert and we are looking forward to our Autumn weather returning. 

Let's join Bentley, My Studio Assistant, in the garden to look for inspiration for a small new Autumn painting. 

My vintage red wagons are used for all sorts of things - today I am using it as a little table for serving tea by putting a tray on top. The wagons are one of my most versatile collection of old objects.

Switching out the Summer and Spring colors are an easy way to add touches of Autumn to my garden - the rugs and Fall pillows come from the discount store and can be thrown in the washer if they get wet.  

 I like to paint the little signs - they  can be hung on a fence, door, or even tucked into a seasonal wreath and can be saved from year to year.

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits,  e-mails, comments and those who follow my blog.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see my paint something special.

Have a lovely week.   Blessings,  Erin


                       "Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony."  Colossians  3:14