Dear Son, Happy Birthday!

Dear Son, 

It is hard to believe the years have gone by so quickly, and today is your birthday. What a blessing you are to both your Dad and I. 

The day was a warm August 10th much like today when I heard your first cry and counted your little fingers and toes.

 I was already in love with you before birth and meeting you in person was the greatest joy of my life. 

From the time you were born, your wonderful ways taught us so much. 

Your constant staying power has lead you to great success in your life. 

You have brought us joys untold and shown through your spirit your big heart and kindness in all situations. 

I remember a time when you were a young teen. 

We went to lunch for a quick sandwich after school supply shopping. 

As we left the restaurant, you spotted a young mentally challenged boy trying to empty his tray.

 As we walked by you said, “hang on a minute mom” as I watched, you went over to the boy, helped him and then walked back over to me as we proceeded to leave.

 I knew then, you were very special and had a big heart, nearly the size of Texas. 

Through the years you have always shown love of family. Ready to help in any way.

 I am forever grateful for the help you always gave when Grandma was sick. She loved you and your care in her last days were more help then you will ever know. Along with her,

you were the pride and joy of your grandpa!!

You have always come to my rescue too, like the time the hot water tank burst and water was spraying all over, the time when the refrigerator broke down and the kitchen flooded with water from the ice maker, and when the long black snake was stretched out across the driveway and I feared it went in my studio. I could go on and on, but you know the times and for your love and support, I am deeply thankful. 

You always amaze us with your knowledge and wealth of information.

 Your patience is something I admire about you so much.

 Oh we’ve had our growing pains through the years as a teen and so on, but you always showed great respect for your dad and I and held back comments or rolling your eyes when we weren’t so cool. 

I always knew when you were being nice, and I love you for that.

 With each and every work related move through the years, you held your courage, even when I knew it was hard for you to leave your friends and start over in a new school. 

I don’t know if I could have been so strong. In fact, I know I could not. 

Now at this time and place, as you face another birthday, I pray that God continue to bless your journey and the life he has created for you to follow. 

Stay true to who you are, never forget where you came from and where you are going with God’s direction.

Talk to God often and remember to listen for direction.

 Care with your heart, it will keep you humble and remember to show compassion for your fellow man.

 Give all that you can to those that need your help and grateful for all your blessings.

 And as Grandpa always said, “never let your wants, be greater then your needs.” 

Enjoy your birthday to the fullest my son and know you are loved very much for the little boy you were, the wonderful grown son you are now and the blessing you will always be. 

Love you,

 Always your Mom 

How To Design Watercolor Photos Using PicMonkey!

Hi Friends~

Happy August!

Hope everyone is enjoying a great summer!
It's been Hot here in Texas and to be outside means
you have to be in the water or stay in the AC.

Lot's going on here at Rose Garden Cottage
and I hope to share a few home updates soon.

Today I have a tutorial for editing your photos
into watercolor pics by using PicMonkey.

I have shared this one in the past  but thought it worth passing on again.

Recently I cut a few long stems from my garden to bring inside and enjoy.

Lovely blooms of pink, red and yellow.

Using my photo programs, I created a pretty watercolor of this bouquet.

I use PicMonkey, or for quicker edits, PhotoScape.

Each has it's own specialties.

Here's another idea~

The photo was a little blurred.

  But perfect as a watercolor.

Lastly, a little bouquet of knock out roses.

 
From real to watercolor.

These watercolors were all completed using PicMonkey.

If you use this program and do not know how to get this look,

open the edits section under Effects then scroll to Posterize.

I had to experiment a lot to find this for watercolor. 

You would never think posterize would contain this edit, but it does.

From there you can raise or lower the percentages and degree of the changes then save your work.

In PicMonkey, 

I have the Royale version

 which is a pay ever two years program, but I'm not sure the free program has this edit version for watercolor.

You can try and see.

Have a great first week of August and thanks for stopping by.

Washboard to Herb Garden

Hi Friends,

Today I'm sharing a fun project

changing an old washboard to a Herb Garden

for the fence.

One of my dearest friends  turned sister, gave me this old washboard to redesign.

I looked at it awhile before I decided on taking it outside

and creating a planter of sorts to hang on the fence.

The washboard had an ad graphic on both sides

and this is actually the back.

I liked the vertical wood members and the graphic better here

so I turned it around.

Sorry I don't have a before pic.

My friend really took good care of this treasure

as you can see the metal area is still like new.

Being outside it will show some patina soon and be perfect.

The planter box section has been added by my talented hubby.

He cut fence wood and formed a box and drilled drainage holes at the bottom.

He then added the wood box to the legs of the board. 

Next I stenciled the word, Herbs to the front and we added dirt then planted a few herbs.

I love how it's begun to weather a bit and show some distress around the box.

Perfect little herb and flower garden in my side yard.

I planted, basil, thyme and parsley.

Soon a lot of growth will take over

and it will be lush and full.

You can see I had some fun with photo editing too.

Hope this gives you an idea for a washboard if you have one

and no place to display it.

Take it outside and let it be pretty in the garden.

Have a great last couple days of May!!

~See you soon~

Little Bathroom Reveal

Hi Friends,

You're probably tired of my projects

and well,

I am too.

But as promised I'm ready to share

the finished rooms

starting with

the first little bathroom on the first floor.

This  bath is tucked down a little hall 

off the entryway next to my guys office.

The door sign was a little find

from Magnolia Market when we visited last winter.

Since I used dark browns and chocolate with tone on tone neutrals throughout,

I created a designer mosaic niche in the shower with those colors

to tie the room together.

Subway tile in white was used for the shower wall and we kept the pretty white tub

now considered vintage.

Remember the sweet vintage coral colored tulip vase

from my tea cup gift last week?

Look how pretty  it is here.

The floor is Rialto in a natural Terra Cotta color

so it makes the perfect  accent 

and I love it!!

Thanks again Martha.

Rubbed oil bronze fixtures are used throughout my cottage

so once again I added them here.

Slowly over the last few years, we've said goodbye to the old brass fixtures.

This ivory shower curtain was in my stash so I 

used it once again.

It's great how treasures you already have look like new when

you use them in different ways from other areas.

Inside the shower is a high window

and again, I had this tone on tone valance 

and it worked great.

I hemmed it a bit shorter and was in business.

The granite sink top was done a couple years ago when we 

updated our master bath.

Since we had a whole slab of granite to work with

we used it all by adding it here and also to a counter top

 in my sewing laundry room.

This way, there was no waste of granite and we utilized the whole slab.

Keeping with the tone on tone of ivory and white.

I added a wood applique to the cabinet front painted white.

This sink cabinet was also a reloved piece with chalk paint

and a little distress.

You can see why I used the colors in the shower niche 

to pull the room together.

This vintage cabinet was a sweet gift from my Grandmother

many years ago.

Again, painted ivory with the addition of wood appliques painted white.

The little basket wrapped in burlap carries the colors of the room

in the wash clothes.

A simply accent that pulls the room together.

The mirror, another gift from my grandmother

many years ago,

was originally a flat wall mirror.

My hubby created a boxed cabinet

behind it,

 making the mirror become a door

and

 now it serves as a medicine chest with shelves inside for essentials.

I painted the mirror frame ivory with lots of distress.

Can you see the etched design on the mirror?

That's original to the mirror 

and the white etching

picks up the white from around the room

and ties in the design to the wood applique on the cabinet front.

This little helper table

was one I found on a junkin trip.

Again it was  painted  ivory and I added a French graphic to the front. 

Here I used a transfer technique by naking a reverse copy on an inject printer

and rubbed the design onto the wood.

I then went over the design with a black sharpie to brighten it up where needed.

A few fall towels from my stash for the season.

The fun part of this room, I can change out the accent color to anything.

Right now I have fall colors

but I am looking forward to Christmas 

with pops of red and green or maybe all white winter accents.

A few fun pieces from junkin finds added for wall art.

Two sweet bathroom drawings I found and painted the mattes brown.

For this wall piece, I added a French graphic 

in layers to the front 

and

rubbed oil bronze for the frame.

Well, that's it for this bathroom 

using most of what I already had and reloved

with just the addition of subway tile and granite.

The dust is cleaned up now and after many hours of hard work,

I can tell you  I am so glad to be finished

before the holidays too.

Next time I'll share the second  floor bathroom

redesigned and complete.

Wishing you a great week.

See you soon.

The Autumn Garden

Welcome friends!

With the temps still a bit warm,

my garden is blooming and giving a pretty show

for the last of the season.

This wreath greets us when we walk to the side yard

and potting bench.

Stunning Purslane is still blooming each day when the sun shines.

One more hydrangea bloom pretty in pink.

Mums blooming with fall color.

In the Meditation Garden,

sweet mums take a seat on the old chair.

Ivy has grown beautiful this summer

and my potting bench is

wrapped in green.

Pansies are just beginning to give a pretty show for fall.

I love these sweet blooms.

Think I'll paint a few~

Mr. Frog is still enjoying his spot on the red bike

and mums replace the summer blooms.

More mums among the ivy are filled with buds soon to open.

Summer flowers and begonias are

 not ready to end their time in the garden.

Lantana giving a seasonal blooming in shades of rust.

This bush is called Texas Bush Rose.

I've never seen a rose bloom per say, 

but it's huge vines produce a stalk like flower.

And

 this garden must have 

a garden house for the birds to enjoy.

Here we see a gorgeous fall bloom on the purple potato vine.

These are going strong and loaded with flowers similar to a trumpet vine or morning glory.

Not all purple vines bloom however!

Warm afternoons will find me enjoying

some time here for tea when I can catch a few moments

for a break.

I'm currently working on two bathroom makeovers.

The process is fun, but hectic at times.

It's a bit busy here at Rose Garden Cottage

but I'll be back to share more of my renos next week.

Blessings to ya'll