Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday January 11

Sandi A Cottage Muse

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to another special blogger this week.  Her name is Sandi and her blog is called A Cottage Muse.  I have followed Sandi's blog for awhile and share her love all things vintage and white.  So enjoy getting to know Sandi.

Thank you so much Kris for inviting me to be a part of your Saturday Spotlight!  My name is Sandi and I blog over at A Cottage Muse where I dream in vintage whites!  I blog about my home and family as well as being a Shop Girl and the Creative Director at a local vintage shop, the Wrentham Country Store.

My husband and I have been married for 28 years and we have 2 children.  My family is so supportive and are always 

encouraging me to chase my dreams!

This photo from 2009 is of one of our many trips to Walt Disney World...one of our happiest places on earth!  Another one of our happy places is Pinewood Lodge Campground, where we have been seasonal campers for almost 18 years!  It has been a wonderful experience for us and I would recommend it to everyone!  We have made friends over the years that are more like family and feel very blessed.  Truth be told, we are actually glampers now, having just bought a new trailer last year...

My love of vintage began when I was young and I'd go to yard and estate sales with my Mom and watch her repurpose old treasures and use them to make our house a home.  I learned from the best and those memories still inspire me today.  I am so lucky to be part of a vintage shop.  Having this venue is wonderful when I want to change things up around my home, which I do quite often.  I am almost done with my master bedroom makeover...

One of my next projects is to makeover our den.  Most pieces will stay but I'd like to paint the walls a very soft grey...

Since I do like to change things up often at home I try to stick to the rule of one thing in and one or two things out which end up in my space at the shop...

Being part of the blogging community and following along with amazing and inspiring bloggers like Kris here at Junk Chic Cottage is such a wonderful experience!  I am excited going into a new year with so many possibilities and dreams still left to chase!

Oh and if you are reading this Jim, another trip to Aruba would be wonderful!!

This has been fun Kris, thanks so much.

Happy New Year!!

xo

Sandi

  

Thank you Sandi for sharing the personal side of you.   Loved learning more about you and your beautiful family.  Now hop over to Susan's blog and 

you can learn about another talented blogger

Martina from Northern Nesting.  Have a great weekend. 

Kris

:)

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at my new  skirt I sewed for the kitchen.  Yep! I actually sewed !!!!!!!

Got out the trusty ole Sears sewing machine I have had since I was in High School!!!!! Sewed a few straight lines.

Fabric I had in my storage bin.

Old skirt.

New Skirt!!!! I got the walls painted.  The hubby is going to paint the trim and crown molding and ceiling this week end and then I can finish decorating this kitchen and putting it back together.  So far only money spent was the can of paint and there will be a whole new look to this French Farmhouse kitchen.  Stay tuned for the reveal.
Make sure you come back tomorrow for Spotlight Susan and I have two new sweet bloggers for you to learn about.
See you tomorrow.
Kris
:)

Freezing is an Understatement!

Just have to have a sense of humor when you live in Chicago during the winter months!!!!!!!!

This was the wind chills for yesterday and today.  Hoping to come above freezing before the week end.  Wooo Hooo! Even us Northern Seasoned Winter People are having a hard time with these sub zero temps.

My daughter's little Penny can totally relate to the situation here in Chicago!  She is wondering where her grassy area is???

Yep captures it!!!!!!

Yep!


Hope you are staying nice and warm where you are.  Just trying to keep my sanity and hope for the temps to come above freezing soon!!!!!
Stay Warm
Kris
:)

What do you do when you have Cabin Fever?

With this happening outside I need some inside projects to get me through these next few months.

I am such a summer girl and just hate the snow and cold after Christmas.  So I decided to do some inside projects to keep me sane.  I going to stick to my new year project challenge to do these changes spending very little money and using what I have.

I am starting with my kitchen.

Just to show you how much snow we got in the past couple of days.  We had to shovel a path for Libby our basset hound to get off the deck to the backyard.  Her little legs and short to the ground body would have been buried.

This is the driveway.  We got 13 inches and then another 6 inches after I took these pictures.  Today the high is only going to be 17 below and wind chill of 40 below. Ughhh!   So indoor projects it will be.  Just to think a few short months ago I was watering pretty flowers out here! 

I started to take everything down off the walls.  I will have the hubby take the shelves down when he gets home tonight.  He has them pretty secure in the studs.  Then I can spackle and prep the walls for paint.

Got everything down and just need to spackle and get the walls ready for paint.

My husband had some crown and an old closet door in his scraps of wood so he is going to finish the top of the refrigerator cabinet and the pantry cabinet to the left of the stove.  I am excited he has enough scrap material to finish those cabinets and give them some bling.  I get on him about not getting rid of old pieces of woods left from projects but not anymore since he is going to create some magic on these cabinets with scrap pieces.  Love repurposing.

I will be making a new skirt for the farmhouse sink.

In case you were wondering where all the decor from the kitchen went well it was moved into the dining room for now!!!!

I will be playing and rearranging things that will go back into the new kitchen.  Going for a different look other than farmhouse so a lot of this stuff will not be going back up.

I keep gravitating towards the color picket fence.  Looks grey in this picture but it really is white with a hint of cream/ivory.

These are the colors I picked for my 
walls and cabinets.  The one on the bottom in the middle is picket fence and I think the color I will go with.  You can see in this picture it is really a creamy ivory.  Almost all of these colors of white have a tint of cream in them.  I am down to picket fence and white on white.   I think I will probably stay with white cabinets and fairly light walls. I am going for a cottage/nordic look.

Well stay tuned for the transformation.  Only money that might be spent will be on a can of paint.  Two of the colors I have picked out I already have the paint from other rooms in my house so if I pick those colors I won't spend a dime.  If not then the only money spent on this transformation will be the paint color.  I have some big pieces of architectural elements in the shed and  Terry has a lot of old wood and crown molding scrapes so we are going to see what we can come up with. I am excited to get this transformation going.  Stay tuned and Stay Warm!
:)
Kris

Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind The Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday January 4th

Michelle from "Petite Michelle Louise"

It is my great pleasure to start the New Spotlight for 2014 with the lovely Michelle from Petite Michelle Louise blog spot.  Sit back and enjoy learning more about Michelle.  I have gotten to know Michelle this past year with our shared loved of vintage, white and all things french.  You will love getting to know her on a more personal level.  Enjoy.

Bonjour....my name is Michelle, better known as “Petite Michelle Louise”. I am so very honored that Kris invited me to be her first “Saturday Spotlight” of 2014! I started my blog & opened my ETSY shop, both called “Petite Michelle Louise”, just about 4 years ago after our only child left for college. It was at that same time that I lost one of my most lucrative contracts as an Educational Audiology Consultant and, with a husband who traveled frequently, I was facing a completely “empty nest.” It was my mother who said to me: “You need to go back to doing what you love...you need to pursue your artistic passion once again.” And so....with no direction or vision to follow but with the unwavering support and encouragement of my loving husband...I listened for that whisper in my heart to guide me on the path that would lead me back to my heart’s true passion...my “art.” 

Never could I have imagined that in doing so..... my life would change in so many ways. 

“Moi” with my husband, Mark & our son, Tim

Summer 2013

I found  ETSY while perusing a creative magazine. I went to their website and was amazed at the “caliber” of artists who owned shops on the site. I would describe it as a community of artists, creators, collectors, thinkers and doers. It’s a wonderfully-supportive community that allows artists to own a small (and sometimes larger) creative business and helps them to introduce their products to a world-wide audience. 

Opening my ETSY shop led me to the world of blogging and now, I can't imagine it not being a part of my life. I must admit, I was hesitant at first. I wasn’t sure if I would have anything  of “value” to share or that there would be anyone out there interested in reading about it. Slowly but surely, I started to share my creative passions and then, without intending to.....a very big part of my heart & soul as well. In doing so, I have had the great blessing of meeting incredibly wonderful women whom I know will be lifelong friends.  Each and every one of them has added their unique beauty to my life and I consider myself blessed beyond measure because of them.

I hope you will consider stopping in at “Petite Michelle Louise”. I look forward to getting to know the unique beauty that lies within “YOU.”

“The desire to create is one of

the deepest yearnings of

the human soul. No matter our

talents, education,

backgrounds, or abilities, we

each have an inherent

wish to create something that

did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t

need money, position,

or influence in order to create

something of substance. Creation brings

satisfaction and fulfillment.

We develop ourselves and

others when we take organized

matter into our hands and mold it into something of

beauty.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Merci” Kris for sharing your beauty and inspiration with us all and allowing me this opportunity to share a little bit of “me” with all of your lovely readers.

Thank you Michelle for sharing your lovely family and life with us.  Now after getting to know Michelle better head over to Susan's blog and learn more about another sweet blogger Kathy from Creative Home Expressions.

Have a wonderful start to the new year.

Kris

:)

Can you Say Let It Snow!

Happy New Year Everyone.  Ours is starting out with a bang here in the Chicagoland suburbs.  Mother Nature is packing a punch for all of us.

The snow fall started on New Year's Eve and has not stopped.  We are suppose to get around 11 to 15 inches before it is done tomorrow.

Look at the size of these icicles hanging from the house!  Baby it's cold and snowy outside so I am staying inside.
Hope you are staying warm and cozy where you are.
Might have to go outside later and make a snowman or stay inside with hot cocoa and pinterest! Yep, Hot Cocoa and Pinterest wins!!!!!
Stay warm and cozy.
Kris

New Year New Changes

As we approach the new year.  I decided I need change ups but this year my new challenge will be to do the transformations and not spend any money.  To rediscover and use what I already have to get a new and fresh look.

After taking down the Christmas decor I decided to start the  change up a few things that were easy peasy.

I flip flopped my bedroom drapes with the living room drapes.  These are not as fufu for the living room space.

The Shabby Chic Rachel Ashwell curtains with the ruffles are better in the bedroom.  I love that I have a big picture window in my bedroom.  It lets a lot of light in and I can see out into the garden area so I really do not want a heavy cover up on this window.  So these curtains from the living room let in a lot of light.

Easy Change up just switching out curtains and getting a whole new look in each room.

I have had this old grandfather clock for years.  I got it a Montgomery Wards years ago.  It is not the real deal and it has been several colors through the years.   I have always loved this clock.  It stopped working a while back so I just did not want to part with it so this is what I came up with.

I married the clock I had hanging on the wall with the grandfather clock.  The hubby attached the wall clock  to this grandfather clock.  Easy fix and I still have both the clocks I love but now this one is working.

It was just a matter of taking the door off and attaching the new clock to the top of the grandfather clock.  Then I painted the non working pendulum and weights to shabby it up some.  Now I have a "new" old grandfather clock.

I am excited to start to transform my kitchen.  Just some fresh paint and a little cabinet up do and restyling.  I hope to start that after the first of the year.  No money spent transformations are about to begin!

Have a wonderful New Year.  Thank you everyone for visiting my blog and leaving your sweet comments.  It  means a lot to me to get the feed back on my decor change ups.  I appreciate all the wonderful friendships I have made in this past year.
Kris
:)