Favorite Fall Garden Places

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by. I am re-posting one of my most popular Fall posts .My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax for a few minutes with a cup of hot apple spice tea while I share with you some of my favorite Fall garden spaces.  We have finally settled into beautiful Fall weather in Southern California after a severe heat wave and are enjoying glorious blue skies and nippy evenings. We are also expecting much needed rain later this week.

"Art in the Kitchen"  - another one of the little paintings I taught at Sherman Gardens "art in the garden" series.

Let's have our tea in the kitchen and then  join Bentley, my helpful Studio Assistant, in the garden where he is waiting to show you around. I use the old vintage wagon to keep small pumpkins and pots of Mums in for  guests pick up a few to take home with them - we call it our "welcome wagon".

Every year I decorate a vintage ladder with Mums and pumpkins.

The vintage metal cart is decorated each season with something new - this year I used pumpkins.

                                         This is one of my favorite corners for tea. Blossom faithfully keeps watch over the garden.

Love how the blue furniture looks in the Fall with oranges and yellows.

                                    This is another favorite spot where I like to sit and sketch.

                              Another cozy spot to sit and work in my watercolor journal.

We support our local farmers by buying lots of pumpkins at the beginning of the season and either share them with friends in our "welcome wagon" or donate them to our local soup kitchen to make pumpkin pies that will be served at the community Thanksgiving dinner for those in need of a meal.

One of my favorite containers for Fall bouquets - an old rusty funnel with a glass inside to hold flowers.

I love using seasonal signs to create little vignettes and  add interest and

A little " art in the garden".  My class at Sherman Library and Gardens painted this little pumpkin.

                                         Another favorite place to have morning tea.

It is starting to sprinkle so I will stop our tour and finish it after the rain.

Thank you for stopping by  I sincerely appreciate your visits, comments, e- mails and prayers for my continued recovery from a re-occurring auto immune issue. 

Have a lovely week.  Blessings,  Erin  I saw this quote on FaceBook and loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.          "Lord, let them see you in me."        


                   "With God are wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding." Job 12:13

Christmas Cottage 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.  The recent rains and cold weather really helped our gardens in Southern California and Christmas flowers are now in full bloom.  Let's join Bentley, my Studio Assistant, in the garden to show you some of the plants and flowers we are growing and ideas for simple and inexpensive Christmas gifts for our garden friends as well as fun ways to add pops of color to your winter garden.

The white Campanula's make wonderful little gifts for a teacher or neighbor and bloom for a month or so in a pot - add a cute gift tag and red bow for an instant little gift from the garden.

The living Christmas tree made it through our drought and is ready to be taken inside for a few weeks.

I love to use ladders in the garden for display and to add height .

The little snowmen paintings are a fun way to add a touch of Christmas whimsy to the garden and also made fun little gifts.  There are lots of instructions on how to paint them under Art 101 that can be found on my blog header.

Bulbs planted in cute containers make great gifts and the containers can be reused.  The Asparagus Ferns are so pretty and fluffy and look so festive with a cute pick, Christmas tag or red bow tied around the pot - they are one of my favorite gifts to give and I grow lots of them this time of year. Primroses are starting to bloom and they are fun little gifts to tuck in a basket of goodies.

Vintage boxes are great to use as containers to hold potted gifts.

Containers of herbs also make great gifts.

A cute tea pot with a missing lid makes an adorable container for a small ivy plant - this one is for a teacher friend.

I bring out the red and white check indoor/outdoor cushions for Christmas.  The reindeer cushions are new and I purchased them at a discount store.

The wooden sleigh purchased from a discount store  with several pots makes an adorable gift for a garden friend

A burlap bag makes a fun container for Christmas greens - wrap greens with damp paper towel and put in a plastic baggie to keep them fresh.

Another ladder adds interest and height to a corner in the garden.  The old funnel makes a fun planter for a pot of winter Primroses.

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I found the vintage bird house welcome sign at a flea market for $5.00.

Thank you for stopping by.  I sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those following my blog.

Have a lovely week.  Holiday Blessings,  Erin

                              "Let your good spirit lead me on a level path."  Psalm  143:10

Christmas Cottage Home/Garden Tour

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by. Since I  have had so many requests from my readers to see my home/garden decorated for Christmas  I decided to have a little home/garden tour.  My front door is open for you to come in and enjoy a cup of spiced tea and take a little Holiday  home tour - this is where my family and friends celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus and enjoy the joy and warmth of the season.


                                       The garden entrance to our home.

                     Bentley, my Studio Assistant, is waiting to welcome you.

 The red front door opens into the dining room that opens into the living room where the blue cupboard is.  I bought the  cupboard at a garage sale across the street - it was originally in a neighbors garage and used for tool storage and is one of my favorite finds for $25.00 .  I removed the bolted down vice and painted it blue.   With the exception of the dining room all of the ceilings are high and open beam.

I fell in love with the red front door and wonderful light in my house and bought it on the spot.

This shot shows the dining room table without a cloth -it is an early 1800's  pine 3 leg "cricket" table that I had strengthened to hold the weight of the round glass so it will seat six comfortably.

I am often asked what my decorating style is and I suppose you could call it  flea market  "coastal cottage". My home is very casual - filled with sea shells, baskets, flea market finds and my coastal cottage art.  Books are stacked everywhere  in the living room and we call it the "reading room"  as it is the perfect place to read -enjoy long visits- cozy fires - music - or just day dream!

I like to keep our Christmas decorations simple and natural and use  fresh greens, berries, sea shells, and little American flags and bring lots of potted bulbs and Poinsettias into the house from my garden. The Christmas tree is a living one that lives in the garden and is placed on a vintage fern stand in the living room.   When it gets too big to bring into the house - my gardener finds a home for it and plants it in the ground. 

I just painted the large coastal cottage painting over the mantel  - it is a little Christmas present for my house- and II decided not to add any decorations or greenery as the painting  already has so much color.

                     I love the way my old paint brushes look in a blue and white vase.

The French doors and window look out onto the garden.  The outdoor plants do very well in this room as there is so much light. The burlap wine bags are filled with greens, berries and tiny flags.

View of the garden from the living room French doors  all decorated for Christmas - the pillows are all indoor/outdoor so I can leave them out in the rain.

                    View of the garden eating area from the window in the living room.

                            My kitchen is furnished with more  flea market finds.

                                  The French doors overlook a little patio kitchen garden.

View of the little garden off my kitchen French doors where I grow herbs for cooking and have morning tea.  I use a lot of red accent pillows year round  in my house and garden - they are perfect for Christmas decorating - the rest of the year I mix the red with stripes and/or florals so it does not look so much like Christmas year round. I buy them in indoor/outdoor fabrics and they last for years.

This used to be the outdoor eating area of the garden and I recently switched it around and made it into a little reading nook.

This little nook is where I keep some of my rusty flea market finds.

                      Bentley is waiting on the stair landing to give you a little peek at the guest room upstairs.

                           Guest room decorated for Christmas waiting for guests to arrive.

Thank you for stopping by.  I sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those following my blog. I will be taking a blog break to be with my family and will return January 1, 2015.

          "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."  Matthew 2:10

May the Peace and Joy of Christmas be with you and your family throughout the New Year.

Thank you to our Service Men and Women and their Families who give up so much to protect our freedoms.

Blessings, Erin