whole wheat blueberry lemon pancakes

using my basic pancake recipe, but substituting half of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour, and throwing in some blueberries and lemon zest, these pancakes literally taste like summer.

and look sensational too! don't you think?

 three mini pancakes garnished with fresh mint, a blackberry, a wedge of orange and a wooden skewer ...

borning pancakes no more!

no pattern required

a few short months ago i could barely sew a camera strap cover.

now i'm making pillows and bedskirts without a pattern or tutorial.

i suppose the saying is true,  'you can do anything if you put your mind to it.'

sunny and 72

i honestly didn't think winter would end this year.

thankfully i was wrong.

fear of yeast

even though it rained most of the day, that was a really good easter.

and i think i've finally over come my fear of yeast. i did it. and it was delicious! click here for the recipe

be back soon.

via

sorry i haven't been around much these days. i'm looking at life through a new set of eyes ... happier, less frustrated eyes ... change is good. be back soon.

in the meantime you are always welcome to stop by and say hi ... here too.

a human being

trying something new today...

... i'm taking a break from 'doing'. kinda like she did yesterday.

 what about you?

this week on pinterest {4.4}

hello lovely people. i hope your weekend was wonderful. i'm a day late with my pinterest weekly review ... but as they say, better late than never. and i'm pretty sure you'll forgive me after you pursue the awesomeness below.

so first and foremost the lovely and amazingly talented jen from notes from the heartland has opened an etsy shop! she is hands down one of the most talented sign painters i've ever seen.

now i know i've painted a sign or two, but i seriously need to have one of her creations. if you haven't seen her blog or visited her shop or liked her shop on facebook you must stop what you are doing and do it now.

and not only is she super talented, but for someone i've never officially meet, she has one of the biggest hearts i've ever encountered. seriously. so go share the love.  

in other news i think spring is finally here. i hoping we've seen the last of the snow. and even though it's rainy and miserable outside today, its still progress.

so next week i am planning my 3rd annual spring open house in my gift shoppe. the 'theme' is 'dancing in the rain', which looking at the forecast, will be quite fitting. so i thought i would try my hands at this 'rain'bow cake to serve at the open house.

it looks super fun. and super delicious. i've been waiting for an excuse to make one and now i finally have the reason too! so if you can, please stop by for a piece!

to continue with the 'spring topics', isn't this pillow amazing!?

love the colors. love the rough patchwork. beautiful. you can read more about it here.

owning a bed and breakfast i always have my eye out for breakfast recipes.

and while i don't think i'll be making these for my guests, i still think the idea of cake batter pancakes is super genius and sounds super yummy. i love, love, LOVE cake so i'm sure it would be pretty easy for me to gobble up a short stack of these pancakes.

and talking about genius - i'm loving this diy artwork!

a blank canvas with pictures in the shape of a heart. super simple, yet striking. wouldn't this be great for a wedding guestbook type thing ... people could sign around the pictures? or to celebrate an anniversary. love this!

This is probably one of my favorite finds. i've always had a thing for porches, patios or any outdoor space. there's nothing better than sitting outside on a gorgeous night (or day) with friends or family over good food and good wine.

and since any outdoor space can benefit from the flicker of a candle or the glow of fire, i just love the use of these old wine bottles to serve the purpose. it looks stunning and the cost is minimal. what better way to light up an outdoor space?

i know, more food!

these are s'more pops. and i wish i had more info on them but the link via pinterest doesn't seem to be 'working'. thankfully i'm sure the recipe is fairly straightforward. place marshmallow on a stick ... dip in melted chocolate ... dip in crushed graham crackers. sounds deliciously simple to me!

and last, but certainly not least, i'm loving this wreath from in color order. 

can you believe it's made from vintage bedsheets!? so unique and beautiful. adding this to my never ending to-do list.

hope you enjoy my pinterest finds for this week! i know i did.

and as always if you want to follow me on pinterest you can do so here.

you can also be my friend over on facebook where i'm always posting fun little inspiration quotes.

or you can 'like' old charm on facebook for more great stuff.

i don't know how i manage to keep up with all this stuff.

garden suite curtain reveal and tutorial

i think i teased you enough by showing you little snippets of my curtains over the past week. i knew this post was going to be quite long (bare with me), so i wanted to give myself enough time to put everything together. so here they are....

i am beyond thrilled with how they turned out. i seriously adore them and felt they were super easy to make (in comparison to my last attempt at curtains).

i actually got all the fabric at wal-mart, yep... wal-mart! recently the wal-mart in town decided to close their fabric section. all the material went on sale for 50% off. talk about the right place at the right time. with the sale i was able to make each panel for only $10 a piece (not including hardware). ah-mazing!

so, i'm going to attempt to share the whole process with you, but before i do ... a small disclaimer.
i'm not a master sewer or curtain maker. this means, as i explain my process, my terminology may be completely wrong. my methods may be goofy or downright silly. i know this. i just did what i thought would look and work best. but, with that being said, i am beyond happy with the finished product, wouldn't change a thing and highly recommend my method.

so hear goes.

my windows had ample molding. so i added two 2x4s (one in front of the other) to the top ledge of my window. both pieces were screwed into the wall. i was careful not to put any screws in the middle as i knew i was going to be putting my forged nails there.

all the seams were sealed with joint compound, sanded and painted.

next it was time to install the forged nails. i showed you these a while back. they are reproductions. (i got them on ebay for a steal but can't seem to find them now. maybe they are sold out?) i measured 1.5 inches down the 2x4 and ran a piece of masking tape across the whole board to ensure my nails lined up.

then i marked every three inches. this is where i'd place each nail. (i chose all the these measurements randomly - not for any specific reason. it seemed to work out perfectly. - can you tell i'm not a huge planner - i'd just rather do it and home for the best. - which isn't the best advice but it keeps life interesting.)

then i pounded all the nails in with a hammer. they all went in fairly easy unless i hit a knot in the wood which required a little extra hammering.

coming along nicely.

and finished! it was actually a very easy process.

i decided to use this method to hang my curtains because i didn't need/want them to move, just hang. i think they call them 'dummy panels'. also, there are radiators in front of two of the windows. this is another reason i didn't want the panels to move ... the last thing i need is a fire!

alright, now that the hardware is installed lets move on to the curtains ...

first, i measured the curtains to length. i knew i wanted my curtains to slightly sit on the floor. once i knew how long i needed them to be,  i added an extra 6 inches for the bottom and an extra 2 inches for the top (i'll get to that in a minute).

i kept the width the same measurements it came off the bolt. i think it was 54 inches? that sound right? i then cut off the salvage edge as i was told this could cause curtain panels to pucker.

then i was ready to sew. for the sides of the panels i folded the edge over onto the back 2 inches, pinned and sewed a seam.

once that was sewn, i folded it over again, pinned and sewed another seam. this step really wouldn't be necessary, but it gives a nice, crisp tailored look (should someone decide to look behind my curtains). also, these panels are not lined. i choose not to add a lining since they wouldn't be used in front of the actual window and wouldn't be effected by the sun.

this photo illustrates pure laziness. my pin cushion was on the opposite side of the table and i didn't realize it until i started sewing. so instead of getting up and grabing it, i used my hood sleeve instead.

once the two sides of the panel were finished i did the bottom and top in the same way. for the bottom, i folded up three inches, pined, sewed. folded up three inches again, pined and sewed.

is this all making sense?

for the top i only folded over one inch, pined and sewed. folded over one more inch, pined and sewed.

sound good? i did that for six panels and then i was finished.... well almost.

i needed a way for the curtains to hang on the nails. so i used a piece of chain link (the stuff you use to hang up your hanging baskets outside or the chain that is used to hang a light fixture.) i separated each individual piece and sewed them on to the top of each curtain. i used 6 or 7 rings for each panel.

i went around several times to  make sure it was secured. the rings were sewn (equally spaced) directly onto the back of each panel.

if you ask sebastian he would tell you that this sewing was all pretty boring ...

but i actually loved every minute of it. and don't tell, but i think my sewing skills are improving! i'm quicker and my lines are straighter! yippy!

with the curtain panels complete, it was time to hang.

so, what do you think?

with the rings and nails, the curtains hang so nicely. they have the most beautiful, even looking folds/pleats (or whatever you want to call them).

the window in the separate bedroom area got the same treatment with the reverse of the fabric.

dramatic, right!? i just love it! there isn't as much red planned for this space so i think it will balance things out quite nicely.

that's if folks! i hope it was worth the wait. and trust me ... if i can do this. so can you! seriously.

and if you have questions or are completely lost, leave a comment below and i'll try to answer everything in a separate post.

and be sure to check out those before pictures again. we've come a long way baby! i'll be back next week with more fun stuff to share!