it doesn't hurt to ask

for as long as i can remember, whenever i needed help, guidance or assistance from someone, and struggled with asking that person, my mom always told me, "it doesn't hurt to ask".



this advice has has helped me in countless situations. i can't even begin to tell you...

...during my first year of college i was at a satellite campus. normally, the university requires two years before you can move to the main campus. i had the courage to ask and i was transferred after one year.

...when i went to buy a bed and breakfast with very little change in my pocket, i took a chance and asked the bank and other small-business-loan-fund-organizations to take a risk on a guy with a big dream and a big heart. they did. maybe regrettably, as my payments aren't always prompt, but they did.

...when i asked the editor of a magazine if he needed a 'resident innkeeper' to write for his magazine. he did, and now i'm published, in a real magazine.



if i wouldn't have asked these questions for fear that i would have heard 'no', i honestly don't know where i'd be. but because i asked, i have a college degree from an amazing school, i own my own dream business and i'm published.



i don't know why i'm thinking about this today, but i am, and i hope you don't mind me sharing. today i find my head and brain are very confused. they are somewhere lost in the clouds. i can't seem to concentrate. my heart is heavy, but full and delighted at the same time. and i'm not sure if i'm going to throw up or if i have butterflies in my stomach. do you know this feeling?



if you've been following along on facebook and/or twitter you know that i've finally emptied my shoppe of christmas and i'm planning for new things and the spring (hence, all the gift shoppe pictures).

i think this is why my head and heart are a bit bewildered.

even the weather has me perplexed. it's the end of january and it's 51 degrees and sunny outside. it's wonderful and amazing and i'm not complaining, but it gives me pause.



on top of all of this, over the past couple of days i've been receiving a flood of the most amazing emails from new and old followers of the blog. your words have utterly warmed my heart and have left me completely twitterpated. word can not express my gratitude.



i suppose i feel like i'm on the verge of something great. that in some weird way i'm ready, or being pushed towards another dream, and this has me so excited. yet, i'm scared and cautious. i have responsibilities here. i have bills to pay. i have job to do. i have to remain focused.

thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to do what i do. for listening to my stories. for excusing my often poor grammar and spelling. for looking at my pictures. and for your amazing words of encouragement and praise.


thank you, more specifically to wonderful people like shannon who has featured me on her blog today.  her kind words and comments from her followers had me crying like a baby as i was sipping on my coffee earlier today.

thank you to donna who inspires me with her stories (most recently this one) and her journey. her help, support and friendship over the past several months has been invaluable.

and thank you to the newly discovered 'life as an artistpreneur' who reminded me this morning that it doesn't hurt to ask, that i should not fear the word 'no.' that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.'



thank you. thank you. thank you.

here's to a beautiful today and an even brighter tomorrow!

FOLK Issue III Subscription Giveaway

as promised i have a pretty awesome giveaway today! 


if you are new to my blog, or haven't heard of FOLK magazine, you seriously need to check it out. it's simply amazing! each issue is filled with creative ideas, recipes, stories, and a shared love of America. the magazine shares the American story. part lifestyle, part editorial, all heart.


for the past two issues i've been part of the editoral staff writing a column called 'inspired by...' in this issue, as i mentioned on friday, there is an amazing feature on my bed and breakfast with a column i wrote about my story and how i made my dream come true. i also have an article on how to make some pretty awesome  artwork using maps. i'll share pieces of the that with you later in february. 


if you want more information (and i know you do!) you can visit their website, the FOLK blog or the facebook page. 


Now onto the details of the giveaway...

The Prize:

There will be a total of SIX winners!! 

From the comments of this blog post:

One person will receive  a single copy of FOLK - Issue III - Our Land! PLUS one full year subscription (6 issues) of FOLK magazine.

Two people will receive a single copy of FOLK - Issue III - Our Land! 

From the Facebook post comments:

One person will receive  a single copy of FOLK - Issue III - Our Land! PLUS one full year subscription (6 issues) of FOLK magazine.

Two people will receive a single copy of FOLK - Issue III - Our Land! 

How to enter:
There are FOUR ways to enter...

You can enter TWICE on this post and TWICE on Facebook. 


To enter here ... two ways: 
1. leave a comment below telling me where in America you'd like to visit most. (one entry)
2. tweet, blog or Facebook about this giveaway ... OR ... become a follower of inspired by charm or FOLKblog.  Let me know that you did by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (one entry)
***please be sure to include your email address so that i can contact you if you are the winner.


To enter on Facebook ... two ways:
1. visit Inspired by Charm on Facebook then leave a comment on the Facebook giveaway post (one entry) 
2. 'share' the Facebook post by clicking the 'share' button on Facebook. Let me know that you did by making a separate comment on the facebook post.  (one entry)
***here is the link to the Inspired by Charm Facebook page. You may need to scroll down to find the post. You'll see the picture above, 'FOLK Giveaway', that's where you want to leave you comments.


Get it? I hope it's not too complicated. 
Enter twice here. Enter twice on Facebook. That equals FOUR ways to enter. 


This giveaway will end Wednesday, February 1st at 9PM EST. I will announce the winners shortly after. 

And thanks to the editor of FOLK magazine for offering two one year subscriptions for me to give away here today!

Good luck everyone! And remember...

have a fantastic week!!

very PINteresting {delicious dips}

happy weekend everyone! i hope you are enjoying your sunday. with the super bowl just a week away (it is next sunday, right? i'm clearly not the person to ask) i thought it would be smart and fun to put together a delicious collection of dip recipes for your parties. i mean, come on, if it wasn't for the food and commercials i would never attend a super bowl party. and every party needs a good dip!

so here is a pretty awesome collection of dips, enjoy!

Reuben Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip  <-- click link for recipe.

Beer Dip  <-- click link for recipe.

Pizza Dip<-- click link for recipe.

Sun-dried Tomato Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Cake Batter Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Bacon Double Cheeseburger Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Hot Corn Dip  <-- click link for recipe.

Cookie Dough Dip  <-- click link for recipe.

Mini Seven Layer Dips <-- click link for recipe.

Artichoke Dip Bread <-- click link for recipe.

Spiced Caramel Apple Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Caramelized Onion Dip <-- click link for recipe.

Jalapeño Popper Dip <-- click link for recipe.

amazing stuff, right!? i freakin' love a dippable food. like seriously.

i've tired a couple of these. my favorite (and my families) is the sun-dried tomato dip. to die for! i make it ever summer for my dad's pool party. insane!

and don't forget to stop back here tomorrow. i'm hosting a fantastic FOLK magazine giveaway. you'll have several chances to win a one-year subscriptions and/or a single copy of 'Issue III - Our Land!'.

and don't forget to join Inspired by Charm on Facebook 

for even more delicious, wonderful, beautiful and happy things! 

be sure to click that 'like' button. come on, i know you want to. 

the long lost quilt {inspired by charm}

last week a friend asked whatever happened to a quilt {inspired by charm}. i realized i haven't talked about it for quite some time. shame on me! i actually haven't worked on it for a while either so it gave me a little motivation too.



here is the original post for any new followers that have no idea what i'm talking about. i'm at the point where i no longer need fabric. so, thank you, but no need to send anymore.

the quilt is coming along wonderfully. better than i ever expected. and even though i said my 'dream on' quilt was my first quilt, this quilt actually is my first quilt. 'dream on' was just the first quilt i actually finished.



as i now know a little more about quilts, this is essentially a scrap quilt. it's made up of pieces of you, my followers. all of the fabric used to make this quilt top is from you. thank you, thank you, thank you.



all the squares are officially cut. and all the rows are together. i'm currently in the process of paring up the rows. i only have about four more pairs to stitch together.

then, i will pair the pairs to make sections of four rows. like this one.



i'll continue to piece the sections together until its finished. i'm using this pattern.
do you see any of the fabrics you sent?



i still have no idea what i'm going to use for the backing. i'm thinking some sorta of black and white polka dot. what do you think? it needs to be simple and work well with the wonderful scrappiness of the top.

 i'd really, really like to find something like this (a black and white stripe) for the binding, but i haven't been super successful yet. i also haven't searched super well either. i'll let you know what i come up with.



so that's where i stand. i'm really, really, really hoping to have it done before summer gets here. i have plans to hang it in my gift shoppe as part of a display to share it's amazingness with everyone.

either way, i think it looks fierce and i'm so excited to see it come together.


in other news....

thank you for all the amazing 'ask me' questions. i'm going to trying and get everything together this weekend to start answering some questions next week.

so, if you do still have some burning questions feel free to continue to leave those in the comments section of that post or via email.



i'm also so overwhelmed at the respond of 'going american made' in my gift shoppe. thank you! i've already stumbled across some amazing products.

 if this all goes well, i'm hoping, over time, to be 100% american made in my shoppe. wouldn't that be spectacular!? please, please continue to spread the word. tweet it. facebook it. pin it. thank you! thank you!


and finally, the newest issue (issue III) of FOLK magazine is out. this issue happens to contains an amazing 10-page feature on my little inn. yep, 10 freakin' pages!! talk about a dream come true! i took all the pictures for the feature and wrote the articles to accompany the pictures. it's somewhat of a day-in-the-life/ making dreams come true/ how did i get here type article.



because of this, and because i've surpassed 1000 followers and because the editor of FOLK is wonderfully generous, i'm going to have a little giveaway here on monday. you'll have multiple chances to win a copy of this issue and/or a one year subscription. so be sure to stop over on monday.

this weekend i will be doing some painting (walls not signs), some quilting, some bookkeeping and lots of other fun and not-so-fun things. what do you have planned?

my little shoppe seeks american made

so i assume by now most of you know i own and run a bed and breakfast. inside that bed and breakfast, in what used to be the living room and entryway, i have a little gift shoppe. again, if you've been around for a while, you already know this.

so, this weekend i'm finally packing away all the unsold christmas items. yes, they are still up. but don't worry the rest of the house is christmas free. i'm been thinking a lot about the direction i want to take the shoppe, what items sell well, what makes people happy, etc.

right now i do order from a couple wholesale companies who products are mostly made outside of the united states. they do have nice things and the price is right, but i just don't enjoying seeing all this stuff coming in that says made in china. nothing against china, but i'd like to start supporting more local and/or small craft businesses, artists and designers. make sense?

also, over the years i've built quite the inventory in my shoppe and it's becoming a little too 'full' for me. my goal for this year is to simplify. i need more empty space. i'm feeling overrun with 'stuff'.

anyway, back to my point. i need your help. i've tried searching the internet and places like etsy for great products but i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. so i thought i could turn to you for some help and input.

how, you ask?

well, are you an artist/crafter/small business person person that has really cool products and are willing to ship products for me to sell in my shoppe?

if you are not an artist/crafter/small business person,  is there a product you love that is made by a small shop (or larger business located in the US), local artist/crafter/designer that you think i should carry?

if you answered 'yes', then you can totally help! ...keep reading.

i do attempt to have some sort of theme or feeling in my shoppe. the look is contemporary/traditional meets rustic/vintage. ... i guess that's the best way to describe it. i'm not a country store. though i do have a touch of primitive (more vintage) here and there. i love more contemporary things that'd you'd see in west elm. but i also love traditional things like that of pottery barn. i also love crafty, colorful and whimsical things that you'd see at a local craft fair. (though, no crocheted toilet paper roll covers.) again, if you scroll through my blog or my pinterest account you'll get a pretty good idea of what i'm looking for. i also included some pictures in this post for inspiration. oh, and the look of things is very important to me. i love pretty unique packaging.

i'm really hoping to find an amazing line of bath and body products: lotions, bath salts, bath bombs. i do sell this soap from indigo wilds - a company based in kansas city missouri. Also looking for maybe some crafty/stationary things? possibly a jewelry line? unique wall decor? home decor? some sort of hard candies?

some other american brand products i currently sell are bridgewater candles, curly girl designs, bebop biscotti, stone house dip mixes, goblin chocolates (actually made right here in st. marys!)

i'm aware that the response to this may be limited but you gals and guys are so amazing i figured it was worth a shot. and i know most of you can't visit my shoppe (due to distance) and that's a really bummer, but i hope you can help me out anyway. maybe, just maybe, i can start an online shop some day. wouldn't that be awesome!?

with so many talented people and artists right in my own backyard i kind of feel ashamed that i don't have more 'locally' made things available. and there is not better time to change this than right now. i came across this quote/image the other day and it's really what got my brain in a tizzy.

via

i'd really appreciate, if you can't help, if you could pass this post/message along to your friends or someone you think may be able to help.

feel free to leave a comment below with any response or suggestion. you can also email me at inspiredbycharm@yahoo.com if you'd prefer to keep things on the down low. if that's how you roll.

i will be tweeting and facebooking and pining my our finds, so feel free to follow along in the excitement!

i thank you in advance for all your help. and always remember to support small business and all things local.

and please know i'd love to sell everyone's work, but i do have a small space and i'm searching for a specific look, so please, please don't be offended if i am unable to sell your products. thank you again.

via FOLK magazine