I love to feature blogs, shops, websites and people that share a love for handmade, vintage, beautiful things and a creative life! If this is your passion too, I'd love to see you join our monthly sponsor section!

Please visit my updated sponsor page for statistics, package options and design info. Feel free to contact me with questions or to book a large or small November space (xl is booked)!

Thanks! Love Leigh-Ann

frecklednest[at]gmail[dot]com

*

November Special!!

Free ad design with Large Ads (design $30 value)

Fuzzy Friday "Cyrus"

Dog: Cyrus BeanMom: AlyciaLocation: Sunnyvale, CA

Cyrus' best quality is his sense of humor. Half the time he doesn't even know he's being funny! He likes belly rubs, car rides and trips to the park. His best trick is 'High Five' and he'll do just about anything for a treat! He was the inspiration for the Curious Pug (Alycia's Blog and Etsy).

Share your cute phrase photo for Cyrus in the FN Flickr group too (OR, just type what you'd write in his thought bubble here in the comments. Mine would be: Cyrus: "Trick or Treat?" (in a grumbly old man voice). To download Cyrus' bubble photo, right-click the image and select "save image as". Then print and add text manually or via photoshop.

*

Thanks so much Alycia! Cyrus is such a cutie-- I couldn't resist the pumpkin pictures! xoxo, LA

"did I just feel a fum?"

This just made my day... oh Ricky ;)

I got my dream car!

I have a little story :)

Friday evening I was heading to the mall when I spotted this beautiful car. My dream car was driving right beside me and I was da-rooling. As I turned left, he turned right and that's when I squealed-- a for sale sign in the window! I stalked it like prey, where was it turning, I needed to hunt it down! To my delight, it quickly turned into the McDonalds parking lot and that's when i made my move! U-E!!! I raced my little red car to meet it's future big brother and met Mel, the owner.

He was the sweetest man, wore a jacket that matched his car and we talked and talked. I asked a million questions with a grin ear to ear. It's very unlike me to show my cards because i'm a wheeler and a dealer, but I couldn't help it... i wanted to buy this wagon so bad! 

The interior and 3 rows of seats sold me! I took down Mel's number and drove to Keith's work (btw, we're back together, YAAAY) to tell him that I wanted to (was going to) buy this car!  Keith took this pic of me while I babbled on and on about how great it was. Being a car guy, Keith said he would take a look under the hood for me, so we set up a test drive that evening!

We drove the car and it was the sweetest ride I've ever been in! The car is a 74 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (similar to That 70s show Vista Crusier) and has only has 60,000 original miles, original paint, amazing condition and no restoration. It's minty! PLUS-- a beautiful inside-of-a-banana-yellow paint with woodgrain and plaid interiors. Hai-yai-yai! Oh- and an 8-track and roll down back window (and a Rocket 455 motor, but I'm more about the color scheme)!

I went home and slept on it, woke up, and knew it was right for me :) I went to the bank and...

He's all mine!!

(lol, click on the above pic for my full, sincere expression)

Drove to my sisters house and took 8 people for a ride, then folded down the seats and headed off to pick up furniture across the city :) I'm storing the wagon through the winter to keep it in great condition, then this spring/summer/fall, we're taking Manitoba by storm!

Oh, and you might wonder what I named him? Well, my best friend Jill has a '76 Boler Trailer named Eggie... so my wagon is appropriately named, Bacon :) Totally doing a "Bacon and Eggie" photoshoot next summer with vintage suitcases on the roofracks :)

4 Stories "Childhood Games"

This weeks topic is "Childhood Games"
One. ImaginationsThis weekend I was thinking about all the little games that kids love. I started a list in my phone that keeps growing as memories come back. So far: - Checking for change in payphones and vending machines- spinning on chairs at mcdonalds- dropping stones down the sewer- saving worms from puddles after the rain- making fake boobs with those pantyhose eggs (or inverting your top to make a halter style with 'knot' at the front)- making soap hotdogs (we'd rip the pages out of tiny popeyes books, fold paper and put a line of soap for the weiner. We did this often and mom never noticed... probably thought we were really good at washing our hands)- talking with accents & reviewing movies at the kids dinner table- doing flips off the top bunk bed- singing "I'm a g-n-u i'm a Gnu"- underducks- moving our bedroom furniture around in the middle of the night (amanda and I shared a room downstairs)- Spaghetti eyes (push your closed-eyes hard into the pillow for a bit, when you lift up, you see dancing spaghetti noodles)- And when we couldn't stop talking at bedtime, we'd make a deal "No more talking starting---now!"What were your games?

Two. Fort BuildingGoing to my cousin/friend Tanner's house was magical. We were two peas in a pod with the same interests & big imaginations and I admired her sense of carefree individuality even at a young age. Her parents let us turn the whole basement into a fort central, flipping furniture, pulling out blankets, hooking things from the walls, etc... she taught me the art of fort building and I was so hooked after the first time!  After that, I saw everywhere/thing as a potential fort set-up and my siblings caught on too! We'd make forts with our bunkbeds, under the hide-a-bed (and roll in behind the fold-up capsule), in the forest at our grandparents cabin, in the tree-house, and the jackpot location = at our other Grandmas, we were allowed to use the big living room and all of grandma's linen closet to make the ultimate fort everytime we had sleepovers! I lovvvve forts :)

Three. The IntercomAt night, we would crawl out of our room (stelth-like), whispering and slowly scaling the floor. The goal was always to the reach the stairs, peeking downstairs at our parents & the tv. It was nearly impossible to get all the way to the stairs because somehow, Mom and Dad always heard us and called upstairs "BACK TO BED". We were constantly perplexed, "how do they hear us?!". Years later, we learned that square thing on the wall was an intercom and they could hear us very clearly from downstairs. Foiled by advanced 80's technology.
Four. Writing ContractsI'm the oldest child of three and tended to like 'being in charge'. So when I'd convince my sister or brother of a trade or deal, I'd write up a contract and ask them to sign & date it. I was about 9 or 10 and they probably hated me ;)

4 Stories Details:

- You can read about the 4 Stories Group Blog Series here (all stories here). Everyone is welcome to join :)
- Feel free to use the header/topic pictures in your weekly post :)
- If you participate in 4 Stories, please link back to FN in your post and invite others to participate.
- Find 4Stories widgets in the bottom right sidebar (if you like).
- I'd love to read your 4 Stories! Please leave a link in the comments here if you join in :)

Happy Birthday Daddio!!

Love Sweetpea

Fuzzy Fridays "Sunni & Peanut"

Dogs: Sunni and Peanut (Peanut is Sunni's Aunt!)

Mom: Lindsay

Location: Calais Maine

Peanut is the black lab (because my family has roasted peanuts for a long time) and the yellow puppy is Sunni (probably because she's yellow... that was her name when we got her). Peanut is pretty relaxed and Sunni is the opposite... always shaking her butt and carrying something around in her mouth (bowls, socks, washcloths, toys, stuffed animals, etc).

Last Christmas my mom had everything all ready for the stockings... we went out for the evening and when we got home, we noticed there were pieces of wrappers on the floor. We soon realized that Sunni (Peanut probably sat in the corner thinking 'you are going to be in so much trouble") had eaten three chocolate oranges, a whole bag of hershey chocolate kisses and two trays of chocolate minds. The weird thing was that she actually ate most of the packaging. We could only find some of it, but all of the chocolate was missing so we know she had to of eaten it. Thank goodness, she was fine afterwards-- although she did get sick a few times. I would have to say that Sunni suffered somewhat of a chocolate hangover!

Share your cute phrase photo for Peanut in the FN Flickr group too (OR, just type what you'd write in her thought bubble here in the comments. Mine would be: Peanut: "You shoulda been a chocolate lab." Sunni: "Har har Aunty Peanut!"

To download Sunni and Peanuts bubble photo, right-click the image and select "save image as". Then print and add text manually or via photoshop.

*

Thanks so much for sharing Sunni & Peanut with us Lindsay... I bet Lola would love playing with them :)

CD Giveaway!

When I have children and they go to school, "my dog ate my homework" will be a legitimate excuse! While I was sleeping last night, Lola ate my collection of Tegan and Sara postcards and pieces were all over the room ;) Instead of focusing on just one, she enjoyed a little of each one, little bum!

Tegan and Sara are my all-time favorite musicians, ever! Remember how excited I was when I met them and I helped Tegan with her chair?!...eeeeek! lol. Today I want to giveaway one of their albums, 'so jealous'. To enter: share YOUR very favorite band and why plus your name/email. Giveaway open worldwide; next week I'll announce a winner! 

Coming this evening, the cutest Fuzzy Friday pair!

Thursday Morning (+Winner)

I had a dream last night that I was an extra on SNL. I had to play a band groupie, jump off a dock and turn invisible and keep on schedule with the snl crew. While backstage I saw some stars... Molly Shannon, short hair Michael Bolton and Kevin from the Office.

Today I woke up at human time... I don't know how people do this ;) Amanda and I are going to pick up more furniture this morning and Olivia (my nearly 4 year neice) called me last night asking if we could go for breakfast at Mitsy's beforehand (aka Smitty's). I couldn't say no to that little voice making her own phone call... so here I am up at 7:30am and Lola is perplexed (I usually go to bed between 2-4am and wake at noon). Marking it on the calendar! 

*

Winner of the Dainty Woods Giveaway is Suzanne!!

xo & zzzz, Leigh-Ann
(pics from my date outfit last night)

These are Potholes!

I saw this intriguing, humorous, genius photo series earlier this year and I still have it on my mind... MyPotholes.com is perfection and I hope you chuckle lots and feel inspired to look for creative & whitty opportunity everywhere you are.

Fun Facts:

- The images are not photoshoped, just color corrected sometimes.

- Traffic is not closed off (but they are very careful).

- Each shoot takes approximately 5-10 minutes with sketches and prop searching done ahead of time.

- The series was born from a married couple, Claudia Ficca & Davide Luciano

- The Potholes Project has a website & blog :)

Local Guestbook

I'm really excited and curious to know how many local readers I have. If you're from Winnipeg or anywhere in Manitoba, please sign "Winnipeg" or "Manitoba" in the comments (+ optional: you can sign your name too or be anonymous). Strangers, friends, family, shy-birds, etc... if you're local, please sign :)

I'll be writing a "Favorite Places in Winnipeg" post in the next month and I've been photographing some of my favorite spots and beautiful places. If you're local (or have toured Winnipeg), please feel free to share yours as well!

xoxo, Leigh-Ann

furniture sneak peak!

Four pieces of furniture were delivered this weekend, the perfect couch & chair, a walnut credenza, and my first furniture investment (Nate Berkus encouraged me) a late-50's teak Buffet! They are just sitting in their places right now till my new floors are in and Amanda does her magic, but I'm so excited, I wanted to show you :) And to break the blogger perfection, my house is in it's regular pile-mode and not staged for a house photoshoot ;)

Fun fact: I delivered 3 of the 4 pieces! I rented a u-haul box truck and drove that baby around the city all by myself! Big bear! Then Keith helped me take away the old furniture and unload till 2am = sweetie!

And on a sidenote, I'm growing my hair long :)

*

(4 Stories and Fuzzy Friday back next week)

My Colorful 1st House (2002)

Orange Kitchen (I think I was 21 here)

'Elk Tan' Dining Room (minus ex, lol) Look at puppy-Lola!

Dark Greyish Purple Living Room

Green Bedroom used for storage and office (now a guestroom)

Pencil-Yellow Master Bedroom (this color was kinda alarming to wake up to)

We bought the house for a crazy low price because it was owned by a Biker Gang (lol, true) and needed a lot of work. My Dad is super talented and with the help of his leadership & experience, the labor and generosity of family & friends and my Dad's connections, we gutted the house and made it new, efficient and awesome inside! The house is from 1918 so a lot had to be replaced and upgraded! We moved around walls, doors, opened up the space a bit, made it high-efficient and now, it's so incredible and built with a lot of love! I consider this (pictured) my first house and the one I live in now my second house, but they're actually both the same place (I bought this house out when I went through my divorce and reclaimed it as my new home and just mine) :]

[See the front porch here]

How to: Resizing Youtube Videos for Your Blog

This commercial always makes me giggle but the overhanging embedded video above is rotten right? Today I'll teach you how to fit youtube videos perfectly to your blog so they'll never overhang again! [proper video width shown at the bottom]

*

1. What is the center column width of your blog? (mine is 400)

To figure out the width of your blogs center column, right click on one of your landscape photos, then click 'properties' or 'view image info'. The first number in your dimensions is the max width.

(Sidebar: As long as you don't have a custom-coded blog layout, your center column is probably 400 and your landscape photos will  load at a 'medium' format. Instead, select 'large' so that it fills the blogs ideal column width)

*

2. Now 'copy' the embedded code from the Youtube video.

*

3. 'Paste' the Youtube code into a blog post. Then open a new canvas  in Photoshop (file>new) and pop in the dimensions found in the Youtube code (see the highlighted 480...385 in my code to locate where yours are). A blank canvas will pop up in Photoshop.

*

4. Now we'll shrink that canvas to figure out the new width & height for your video code. Go to 'Image Size' in Photoshop (Image>Image Size) and enter your blogs' center column width (from step 1) into the width box. The height will automatically adjust/scale and now you have the correct ratio for your Youtube video (that will fit perfectly)!

*

5. Using the new dimensions, replace the width & height into the code on your blog (see the 2 bolded spots above). The width goes first, then the height. Save your blog post and go back into it and the code will've turned into the video preview (or you can switch the 'edit html' tab and back to the 'compose' tab to achieve the same transformation).

Publish and you're done :)

*

BONUS! Learn how to size portrait photos to the perfect width on Blogger.

nighttiming

Last night, Jill and I went to a park near her house after supper. It quickly became dark and we decided to stay and keep working ...and it was AWESOME! We took these pictures using only the light of my computer and a camera remote with my new Nikon, set up on a makeshift tripod (my backpack).

We were sitting right by the river with the row boat club practicing one side of us and off-leash dogs running past us on the other side. I always have 2 or 3 blankets in my car because I love being at the park as much as possible... it's the best office!What's your favorite outdoor place?