Blogging up close...It's not perfect

Suzanne of Pink Roses and other passions shared this post recently "Blogging up close..." with her readers and followers, and it has really inspired me as a new blogger. I love her attitude and appreciate her transparency.  She needs her own button for this! I would proudly post it on my blog next to Jodie's "Looking to start a new blog" button from Everything Vintage. As a recent convert from blog stalker to blog writer, I can tell you it is super intimidating to get started after following all these lovely blogs with beautiful pictures and creative posts. The bar is set very high. I told myself for several months, you can't have a blog. I knew I had plenty to share and that I was passionate about my blog theme, but my house doesn't look like those beautiful  photos. There is dog hair on the floor and backpacks by our front door. I assumed these women and their homes were as perfect as their pictures. I thought to have a blog you had to do projects all day and spend hours staging photos and drafting posts too. That is what a blog looks like "up close." But, I was missing the big picture.  Thank you, Suzanne, for helping me affirm my decision to get started blogging. I do fit in after all. I can handle this delicate balancing act of family, work and creativity. I deserve my happy place and want to get to know new friends. Having a passion and the desire to share is enough to get started because none of us are perfect and that's okay...it is just one more thing we have in common my new friends.

Quick fall project for you! Get back to nature

So a project that begins with a dead tree branch is one of my favorite pieces of artwork right now in our home...really! It is a simple piece that makes me smile when I think about the trip into the woods with my friend Jodi and our daughters, Kara and Sydney, searching for the perfect branch. We started out just looking for the right size. You know, something that would fit inside the bottle and not tip over once we made the table top displays.  Then we started to appreciate the shapes, the colors, the bits of lichen and tiny pine cones still attached.  It became hard to choose, and we collected so many they barely fit into her car!

Once we got home, I filled a vintage inspired bottle with popcorn to add some color and to help hold the branch in place.  I decorated the bottle with some coffee stained cheesecloth, an old chain and vintage clip on earring.  

Now I was ready to decorate. I had so much fun rummaging through all my junk looking for items to hang on my tree.  I used more vintage clip on earrings, some vintage drawer hardware and skeleton keys.  The possibilities are endless. You could try some vintage cookie cutters, spools, tins, watch parts, small bottles, little nests, flashcards...you name it.

I was in a fall mood and decided to add a few inspired words to my tree as well. I had picked up a pad of what appears to be a vintage receipt book. Perhaps for a farmer's market? I punched hearts in some and a random decorative shape in others then added words like "grace," "thanks," and "love."  Here's a close up of the paper ephemera -

I love the simplicity of this project.  The only things I had to purchase were a bottle from Ikea and the popcorn.  It is a great way to display some small pieces I had collected that were stored away in cigar boxes. And, the pieces can still be recycled for other projects. Nothing is permanently attached. You can even add odds and ends. I plan to use the tree project as a centerpiece on Thanksgiving, but it has earned a permanent place in our home.

Special thanks to Sheri Deluke Photography for photographing this project and several you see on my blog header and buttons!  I appreciate your help and advice so much! I've linked this project to SNS Funky Junk Interiors "Sticks, Twigs and Branches"   Come take a look at all the great projects.

Welcome to Rusty Rooster Vintage!

 Welcome friends old and new to my blog! Come on in and look around a bit. For this beautiful blog design, I need to thank the very talented Karen Valentine of Valentine Designs. She did such a great job of listening and asking questions. It was so easy to work via phone and email together. The end result is exactly what I wanted. I couldn't be happier.  It helps that Karen is a mixed media artist herself. She loves vintage and cottage style and has a great blog that I enjoy following My Desert Cottage I hope you will stop over to see her at either link.

Are you ready to decorate for fall? I am just getting started and will enjoy sharing my home and my art projects with you. I really like to add a bit of homemade and vintage flair to our modern life style.  You'll find glimpses of this all over our house, even at my front door. I love this old wooden drawer with a rusty hinge. It helps add some height to the corner.

This rusty old plant hanger usually holds my assortment of fall gourds.  For now, it is holding some fun and crafty pumpkins as we wait for the pumpkin patches to open and all the gourds to arrive.  It is still in the 90's here in Florida. Fall is a little slow getting started. I'll just keep decorating and making sure my favorite pair of jeans are ready to wear. One morning I know I'm going to wake up to less humidity and cooler temperatures.

Thanks for stopping by! I have some fun homemade fall projects that I've been working on with my friends and daughter. I can't wait to share with you.