Go shopping in your Pajamas!

Howdy Ya'll! I've been in the mood for all things AUTUMN this week. Browsing through your creative photos on Pinterest, facebook and blogland has really inspired me. I wanted to do some sort of festive fall "welcome" display in the entry of my house. I had the opportunity to go shopping this week all by myself (no kiddos). I went just about everywhere! I visited Hobby Lobby, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Walmart, Target, Dollar Stores, Home Goods even the thrift shops. But, just like when you want something to eat and nothing sounds good, nothing called my name to be bought. After all that wasted gas. :?

I kept returning to the thought that I owned everything I needed to make a great display. And what I didn't have, mother nature could provide. So I shopped my house! We've all done it right? You root around in the closets, garage and attic to rediscover your castaway items. They suddenly become treasures again!

So every single thing you see here came from the "Farmhouse Porch Market" and yard. 

Before adding the "fluff"...

So there it is. Natural and neutral...and best of all FREE! :D
I think I may be getting better at this "arrangement" business. Here's what I did last year FARMHOUSE FALL TABLESCAPE. Looking back at old projects is like looking at a dated hairstyle. I always pick it to pieces...do you ever feel that way too? 


You yankees send me some of that crisp, cool air down here in Texas okay?

♥Linsey


Sharing at:
Chic on a Shoestring
French Country Cottage

Common Ground
The Shabby Nest
Faded Charm
Knick of Time

Welcome to Week 34 at The Cowgirl Up! Link Party!

Welcome to Week 34

at

The Cowgirl Up! Link Party!

1 Party, 4 Blogs

Hope you like our "new" look!  Anita at Cedar Hill Ranch revamped the Cowgirl Up! banner and buttons, so that we have a more stream lined, easy on the eye look.  Plus, we added new photos of ourselves . . . who doesn't like to look pretty?!?!?  Thanks for all of the hard work, Anita!

You Host this week is . . .

Amanda @ The Ivy Cottage Blog

Not only did Cowgirl Up! get a makeover, but The Ivy Cottage Blog did too!  If you haven't seen my serene green style, stop by and check it out.  Plus, the lovely lady who did my makeover, Jennisa of Once Upon A Blog, is offering YOU a discount on a blog makeover as well.

What is it about the fall that just makes you want to take a deep breath?  Our hot Texas temps are starting to drop and there seems to be a cool breeze in the mornings.  My kids are off at school and we are attending open house next week . . . already!  Today, we picked up some lovely containers of mums, coleus, and purple fountain grass as well as a few pumpkins.  The front of the house is feeling like autumn and I will be sharing a unique door decoration this week.

With that said, here are the features for this week!

My jaw dropped when I saw the Fall Rag Garland by The Creek Line House.  So beautiful, easy, and a great idea for recycling old fabrics.

This frugal pumpkin creation by Posed Perfection would be a great project to try with your kiddos!

In my head, I could be a great seamstress . . . just getting there is the issue, but I love this sketched artwork pillow by About Blogging Time.

Wait til you see what Ashley from Domestic Imperfection does with this old piece . . . she actually creates two amazing pieces!

This little girl's room is stunning and dreamy!  Check it out over at Shabby Soul!

These custom ribbon fring curtains are to die for over at Beyond The Screen Door!

Fall Apple Jars by The Enchanting Rose . . . A MAZ ING!

If you were featured, please grab the button below . . .

Now about the party...

You link up on my blog and your link shows up on four blogs.

More exposure, less time.

We are looking for the latest and greatest projects, tutorials, ideas, crafts, recipes, decor, and inspiring stories. Anything that you are proud to show off.

Cowgirl Up! is the link party that saves you time and brings you inspiration. Doesn't get any easier than that!

What blogs will your link appear on? Check us out below!

Linsey with The Farmhouse Porch

Anita with Cedar Hill Ranch

Amanda with The Ivy Cottage Blog

Samantha with Crafty Texas Girls

The four of us are all Texas bloggers, but you don't have to be Texas, country, western, or own horses to participate in Cowgirl Up! You just need that "can-do", cowgirl spirit!

Cowgirl Up! Link Party Guidelines:

(Please read the guidelines before participating)

* When you link with Cowgirl Up!, your link will automatically show on four different blogs. Awesome!

* Please follow your host blog before linking up on GFC (and if you have a linkyfollow account, then please follow that way too.)

* You may link up decor, DIY, crafts, guest post, recipes, giveaways, sewing, inspiring stories, and anything that you feel related to the listed categories.

* You may link as many links as you want.

* Be sure to include the Cowgirl Up! Button or text link to Cowgirl Up in your linked post, (mine can be found on my sidebar.) Mandatory to be featured!!

* Be courteous and visit the two links before yours. Several projects will be featured each week!

* By linking up you are agreeing that we may use your photos to feature your project in a blog post, on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter with a link back to your blog of course.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

About once a week in our house we have something we call "Veggie Dinner" night. It is exactly what it sounds like. An all veggie dinner. I usually do a baked potato or cauliflower and cheese, a big salad, roasted root veggies...stuff like that. Today I made my go-to soup, and my kids LOVE it. Maybe because it is so simple yet satisfying. You don't understand what a miracle it is that they both devour every single vegetable in this dish.

I love how the creamy potatoes thicken the broth into a "somewhere between broth and cream" soup. You will be surprised at how filling and hearty this soup is! Super low cal, and healthy too! I like to make enough for lunch leftovers to take to work.

I buy certain veggies in mass quantities and freeze them in labeled bags. I can't believe I am organized enough to pull it off, but I do. Hard work in short spurts allows me to be lazy the rest of the month.  I keep a HUMUNGO bag of chopped sweet onions. I don't know about your recipes, but almost everything I make calls for them. I also keep celery, bell peppers, broccoli, corn, and green beans in the freezer.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

6-8 cups of chicken stock. When I don't have homemade (which is most of the time) I use "Better Than Bouillon" . Expensive but SOOO worth it. It's a creamy base that stays refrigerated.


1-2 c. chopped celery
1 chopped sweet onion
1-2 c. chopped carrots
1 c. corn
1-2 c. green beans
1 huge potato, diced
1 t. minced garlic
2T EVOO
1 t. Tony's Cajun seasoning
dash onion powder
freshly ground black pepper


In olive oil, cook the onions and carrots till tender, add garlic. next add all other veggies, then stock and seasonings.

Simmer on low/medium, covered, approx 1 hour. 
Serve with crusty farmhouse bread and love.

Bon Apatite! 
(and just to make you smile, spell check just tried to change that to bone ape tit)

♥Linsey

Welcome to Week 33 of Cowgirl Up! Link Party

Welcome to Week 33 of

Cowgirl Up! Link Party . . .

the party with a cowgirl can-do spirit!

1 Party, 4 Blogs

With Your Host

Linsey from The Farmhouse Porch

     If ever there were a time of year I longed to be back in New England it's Fall. I'm not sure if I ever told you but I was raised a Navy brat. The daughter of a sonar officer, we moved every 3 or 4 years until my senior year of high school. People always assumed this was a sad thing, but it wasn't for me. I loved the adventure of starting fresh in a new city. I learned how to make new friends easily and how to road trip like a pro, beagle and pesky little brother in tow. And it created in me a wanderlust spirit that I still have to this day.
      I was able to live in Japan, one of the greatest experiences of my life. I also lived in Charleston and near Seattle. But my favorite place of all was Connecticut. Specifically...Connecticut in the Fall.

             

 
     I am yearning to see my breath in the crisp morning air and shuffle around a snapping fireplace in my dad's Eddie Bauer fur lined slippers, sipping mulled cider fresh from the cider mill. But I live in Houston,TX. And as my daughter likes to say "Yeah...THAT'S gonna happen."

     So I will live vicariously through all of you and your wonderful fall projects, pics and tutorials. If you live in New England, feel free to send me some apple cider and a few of those gorgeous autumn leaves. :) Here are my favorites from last weeks party...

The Farmers Better Half

Domestic Imperfection

Timeless Treasures

 Graceful Little Honey Bee

All Things Beautiful

Me and My DIY

Moonbeams and Fireflies

Common Ground

If you were featured here, grab a Featured button. Be sure to like our Facebook pages, since we also post many other favorites there too. If you got featured on Facebook, then feel free to grab a featured button also.

Now about the party...

You link up on my blog and your link shows up on four blogs. 

 More exposure, less time.

Halloween Hutch

Ok, I know I said that THIS was the extent of my Halloween decor. But I fibbed. I just couldn't help myself.     I was watching "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movie with my girls this evening, and it was the Halloween scene. While most people would be sitting there actually following the story line, I was noticing all of the cute Halloween decorations in the Wimpy kid's house. 

And to totally skip topics...have you ever noticed how right after you move you know where everything is because you just got done schlepping it around? So, since we had just moved into this house a year ago, I knew exactly where these items were. I got up quietly, placed them all over the china hutch, and then called my girls into the dining room (lights off of course, for the spooky factor).

I wish I had videotaped the reaction. Isn't it fun how children delight in the simplest of things? Squeeels, ooohs and ahhhs.  :D LOVE it! Hubby wasn't so entertained. "It's, like, 6 weeks till Halloween..."

A couple of the items are very special to me. The first is the glass pumpkin up on top. My mom would put that out every Halloween. That, and this Fitz and Floyd haunted house cookie jar, were about the extent of her Halloween decorating. Somehow it was always enough to make us happy. Of course I begged her for them.

I also love my candy corn candles. I can't bring myself to light them, they're too darn cute.

Alright...SO...this may or MAY NOT be the last of my Halloween decorating.

♥Linsey

A Question about these Crusty Zinc Thingys

Good Morning

I unearthed these crusty old zinc cups in my junk closet this morning. I love rediscovering stuff I forgot I had. It's like it's new again! 

I only have two of them. I'm wondering...what would you do with them? Any ideas?

Are they destined to just lie around, stacked up and empty?

Your thoughts for a penny...

♥Linsey

Using my Powers for Good!

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Art Project

Not sure if ya'll know this about me, but I am an elementary art teacher as well as a Mommy, Blogger, and Studio Artist. Yeah, pretty busy. Good busy though. :)

Anyways, I was in my classroom today for several hours going though all of the cabinets of supplies and doing inventory. I started getting sad because every time I thought of a cool project I noticed I was missing an ingredient. Or I didn't have enough for the hundreds of students I see in a week.

So I thought I'd appeal to you for help.

If you live in the Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth area, or have a way to get it to me, I need your weird but usable odds and ends! Your industrial left overs! Your grandmother's 2 ton collection of yarn and buttons. Beads, foam packing peanuts, blank ball caps, restaurant supplies, anything you think we could use in art.

One of my greatest connections ever was a stationary/ paper company that gave me tons of paper, envelopes and misprinted products. Another great resource was a pizza store that had closed. I got tons of pizza boxes and chinese take out boxes, etc.

If you have a family business or know of anybody with supplies/ materials like this, or even have a massive amount of crafty stuff yourself, we would be thrilled to have it for our classroom!!

If you are in the Houston or DFW area I can pick it up. Help me spread the word please. I know someone out there has connections!

Thank you bloggy buddies!

♥Linsey

A bird got into my house!

Maybe it is the cooler weather...

The shorter days

... or the sound of football on the TV. 

But Mr. Raven wanted to come (in) to play.

He and two of his friends landed on my hutch.

 With some old crusty bottles and a severed hand. :D

Yup...they are fake of course. I found them at the dollar store of all places! This will probably be the extent of my Halloween decor. Besides a few pumpkins and my haunted house cookie jar. Oh, and maybe a wreath. And my little pumpkin lights. But that is ALL.

I guess Mr. Bird and his "crow"nies can stick around until Halloween.

As long as they don't mess up my old books.

Have a spook-tacular week my little punkin's!

♥Linsey

Sharing at 
Coastal Charm
Faded Charm
The Brambleberry Cottage
Savvy Southern Style
My Romantic Home