Lucy and Ethel take a trip.

What a whirlwind of a week this has been!

My friend, Gisele, had a trip to Clearwater beach planned and invited me to come along.

Jim and I usually vacation on Sanibel Island, but our plans were cancelled this year.

This is my first visit to Clearwater. I had no idea what to expect.

We are staying on the fifth floor of the Marriott Hotel, and the view is fantastic!

This has been a total change compared to what I am used to.

We are right in the "heart" of it all!!!

We take a trolley whenever we want to go shopping, or out to eat, or just to see the sites.

By the way....the food here is delicious!!!

There are bridges everywhere!!! going back and forth over the bay to the Gulf.

Grand hotels, restaurants, stores, etc. are all along the coast....and white sandy beaches filled with people!!

We did some shelling, and found lots of coral pieces, sponges, and some nice shells to add to our collections.

The night life here is active.....we took the trolley downtown for supper last night, and it was very busy!

People out and about as if it was in the middle of the day!!!

Even dinner boats out on the bay for adventurous souls wanting to make the most of their stay!

Parties always going on around the pool here at the hotel in the evenings.

We would come back to our room after supper, or after a walk to enjoy the balcony and the moon over the water.

I am glad I came here with my friend. The weather has been perfect. Even though the pace here is much more hustled....you can slow it down if you choose to do so. Just being in the sunshine and warmth has been a blessing, and spending time with my friend has been a real fun experience....finding our way around and navigating through all the traffic and places we've never been before! I feel like we've both accomplished things in our lives that we would never have done if we hadn't taken this trip. Personal triumphs....overcome some fears, doubts, and dumped some of the things that have hindered us from stepping out of our comfort zones...enabling us to experience some spiritual growth in the process. 

You are never too old to do something out of the ordinary...like take a trip to Florida with a girlfriend. Spend a week on a beach and collect shells. Visit a place you've never been with that friend, and ride the trolley to dinner and shopping.  

We might act like Lucy and Ethel at times....but we did this!!!!

I will let you all know when we get home....THAT might be a whole new story...…

xo

I caught the bug!!!

As some of you already know from IG, I have caught the bug!

The dollhouse bug.

I bought The Big Book of a Miniature House by Lea Frisoni a few months ago, and had been wanting to build a dollhouse ever since my youngest daughter and granddaughters started working on one.

Then Amy Chalmers was really getting hooked on the habit, as well.

After talking to Amy about the book, I finally decided to try and make the brass bed.

My husband and I went to Hobby Lobby and we got a house, and are working on it....still.

I've had some unfinished dollhouse furniture stashed away over the summer, and am working on that, too. 

This photo is the attic bedroom....not finished...but it's getting there.

After making the brass bed, I worked, and worked, and worked on modifying the baby crib from Lea's book. I wanted a daybed.  Lea's work is impeccable!!! The daybed is finally finished. Not perfect, but I will admit, it turned out okay.

I made a duvet cover, pillows and mattress out of a vintage hankie.

Vintage lace and linens were used for the bedding on the brass bed.

The fireplace in the background was another unfinished piece.

Amy told me about the online Etsy shops that sell dollhouse furniture......oh.....over the weekend I really helped the economy!!! What cute stuff you can find on Etsy!!!

So, sometime next week a tiny UPS truck should be pulling up in front of the dollhouse with a huge delivery of furniture and other tiny décor pieces.

They will be bringing in a stove, fridge, and sink for the kitchen below.

The pieces in this room are more of the unfinished pieces I already had.

The linens were made using a vintage towel, and the valance and doilie were cut from a vintage pillow case trim.

I found these little garden pieces at the dollar store today.

The clay pots will be painted with sand mixed with paint, and splashed with moss green.

The trellis will get a coat of gesso, then white paint and some moss green.

Since we have two bunnies, I had to buy the little rabbits.

Once the outside is finished....these pieces will go around the outside of the house.

The winters here in Michigan are long and brutal. Working on this little house has been a blessing for me. It will take quite a while to get it all finished....but that's part of the fun...right?!

Hopefully you have been keeping busy, and staying warm!!

Debbie

xo