It’s the time of week that makes me so happy.  It’s Field Trip Friday.  Today we have Ann visiting What Meegan Makes.  I am thrilled to have Ann on my blog.  Especially for all of you to see her talent and creativity.  It’s your turn Ann…

Hello! I’m Ann and I write the lifestyle website called On Sutton Place. I’m a reluctant empty nester who got a wild idea a few years ago to start a blog that focused on all the various aspects of my home. The house itself, the garden, the porches, the kitchen and the family that lives there. What started as something to fill the empty hours has turned into a full time job that I love. I am a DIY, self-taught decorator and a firm believer in surrounding yourself with things you love.

When Meegan invited me to visit her readers and tell a bit about myself I wasn’t quite sure what to say. So I’ll just start from the beginning. When I decided to start a blog, I had no idea what I was doing. Deep down I knew I just had to try. I was a magazine junkie and devoured every issue of several different home and garden publications.

My sewing skills came in very handy as did my ability to use a paint brush. I wasn’t afraid of hard work and I will be the first to tell you that hard work really does pay off.  For more on that read The Story of Our House.

I love a collected-over-time and classic look…but if I really like something that doesn’t quite fit, I do my best to make it work. Even if it isn’t the right style or color. I decorate in layers so it’s easy to change the look of a room by just switching out a layer or two.

I especially love being in my kitchen. I am a very basic cook and I enjoy making family dinners. A good place to start to see what comes out of my kitchen is Family Favorites. I also share some basic baking tips that I’ve picked up over the years. The perfect recipe, in my opinion, has no more than 5 or 6 ingredients. Simple is almost always best!

Other than my kitchen, my two favorite places to hang out are my yard and my sewing room. We’ll start with the yard. It’s come a long way since we moved in and I recently rounded up my ten best gardening posts on what I’ve learned. Nothing makes me happier than decorating with flowers from my garden.

Shortly after I started my blog, I opened an online shop called Sutton Place Designs. I make and sell textile home furnishings from vintage fabrics, ticking and linen. I usually list items in my shop once a month and always let my readers know on my blog and through my social media. I’d love to have any of Meegan’s readers stop over and take a look around.

So that’s the story of my blog in a nutshell. I want to thank Meegan for having me and invite you all to stop and visit On Sutton Place anytime!

 Thanks so much Ann for taking your time to be a guest on Field Trip Field. It means a lot to me.

Okay, did you love Ann as much as I thought you would?? I already know the answer to that.  A resounding YES!

Thanks for visiting my blog today for Field Trip Friday with Ann From On Sutton Place.

Make it a field trip Friday.

I share little bits and pieces of my blog and life on: Pinterest Facebook Hometalk Google + Stumble Upon Bloglovin’ twitter Instagram  

It’s Field Trip Friday!  One of my favorite days of the week.  This week I am sharing 4 Field Trips for you.  Each one has been a guest on Field Trip Friday at some point.  I thought it would be fun to look back at  The Best of Field Trip Friday.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did both times around…

There is a small snippet from each field trip so you can get a little taste of what each blogger’s forte’ is.

Let’s get The Best of Field Trip Friday started!!!

First off, we start with one of the best bloggers around:

 Julie, the redhead from redheadcandecorate.com.

 Maybe some of your followers can try one of our ideas.

Here’s our most recent project:

Winter Beach Lodge Living Room

My husband, Richard, and I, transformed our dark living room by selling our sectional on Craig’s List, updating the furniture, painting, and adding some inexpensive custom trim to the walls to open the space.

I also integrated several DIY decorating ideas into the space such as:

Thrift Store Lamp Makeover

&

Illuminated Photo Door

We also used a dead elm stump from our yard to make an end table.

This was really easy, and almost free.

Just had to buy a can of polyurethane.

Stump End Table

Click here to see the full tour from Julie.

Next, it was a delight to have:

Anne from White Lace Cottage

My kitchen has changed a lot!

Painting my kitchen cabinets was the best decision ever!

They have held up well and make my kitchen nice and bright even in the cold winter months.

Before Photos Of My Kitchen

One of my favorite things to collect is white ironstone.

I love my open cabinets, it now gives me more room to display my growing collection.

My kitchen was not the only room changed when I started my blog.

I transformed our whole house!

I painted all of my walls with a creamy white color.

This allows me to add any color to the mix,which is fun to do since I love to change!

More of Anne’s home tour here.

Another classic blogger:

 Julie from the blog, Lilacs & Longhorns.

Our home is a blend of leather and stained woods (his favorites) as well as fabrics and finishes I love.

To view Julie’s FULL home tour look here.  

And finally, this week, a fabulous DIYER:

 Jeanette from Country Design Style.

I made the bed, not just pulling the sheets up. I made the bed, using plywood and wood leftover from a house construction across the street in our old neighborhood. The chair was made copied from one in a local furniture store window, except I added the “bowtie” a family symbol. The cabinet on the right was made to hold a TV but in this house it’s only duty now is to hold pillows.

Our TV now hangs on the wall in the master bedroom. My grandson helped make the shelf under the TV during summer break.

This is a faux or fake fireplace and one of my personal favorites. Many broken and scrap wood pieces were used to make the mantel. This picture does not show it well, but the firebox area is painted with chalkboard paint. That makes for some fun chalk drawings.

 Now let’s run back through the downstairs to the front door. I forgot to show the powder room sink. It was made with a leftover log from the living room ceiling.
I did not make it!

To view the full tour of Jeanette’s home click here.

I hope The Best of Field Trip Friday was a lot of fun for you today.  I certainly had a great time enjoying the talents of each of my blogging friends.

Make it a Field Trip Friday for yourself…

Happy Weekend!

It’s Field Trip Friday with Nancy from Artsy Chicks Rule!  It’s a real treat to have Nancy here today.

Nancy is more than talented. She can transform furniture, make crafts, and has a beautiful blog full of inspiration.  Take it away, Nancy…

Hi Everyone!

I’m so happy to be here today to share a bit about myself and my blog.
Thank you so much for inviting me Meegan!

My name is Nancy and I am a mother of 2 and wife to one fabulous guy.
I write a blog called Artsy Chicks Rule about my love of DIY, design & decor on a budget.
I love re-inventing thrifty finds, making signs & graphics and a little bit of everything else.
My husband and I have been DIY-ers for many years.

Here’s one example of a DIY project we completed in our home….

Kitchen Cabinet makeover with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.
You can read more about our home here and see a few room tours here.

I also love doing anything “artsy” and have my entire life.
Which is why, when I started thinking about writing a blog, my husband came up with the name….Artsy Chicks Rule.
He’s called me his “arsty chick” for 25 years so the name was a perfect fit!

My motto – Re.store, Re.style and Re.love.

I’m a thrifty girl. Always have been!
I love a deal…..and I love to decorate on the cheap!

Above all, my favorite thing to do is paint and bring new life to old pieces, either thrifted or those I already own.
I move things from room to room and re-invent things constantly around here.

This Aubusson Blue Chalk Painted Thrift Store Dresser  is one of my all time favorites.
This also happens to be one of my favorite colors in the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint line.

Isn’t that blue fabulous?

Another DIY is this tile back splash I completed in less than 24 hours with the help of this super fabulous product.
DIY Kitchen Backsplash

 I also love signs and graphics and love “writing” on everything. Well, almost everything. ;)

Here are a few:
Estate Sale Sideboard

Coastal Custom Graphics Chest

 Dated to French Fabulous Bread Box

I’m so happy to have had this opportunity to share some of my favorite things with you!
And again, many thanks to Meegan for having me here! :)

You can also find me on Pinterest, Facebook & Instagram, among others!

Hope to see you soon!

I couldn’t be happier about today’s Field Trip Friday with Debbie from Debbie Doos.  She took me under her wing right from the beginning of my first blog post.  So, it is an honor for me to have her here today.

Hi there everyone, so nice to be here today at What Meegan Makes.

Meegan and I go way back, like way back to when she first started blogging. It has been a pleasure getting to know her through this journey of creativity.

My name is Debbie and my blog is Debbiedoo’s.

I share, budget friendly home decor ideas, crafting and thrift finds, some even freebies that I make over.

This was my past year round up and I do hope you enjoy and come by and visit me sometime.

 I did not have a whole lot of BIG diy’s this past year.

 My largest project was

probably painting the fireplace surround.

You can read all the deets about it, but is sure was a lot easier than I had aniticpated.  I even asked myself what took me so long.

I started off the New year pretty heavy into crafting.

I started to get the hang of it more and really had fun just going with it.

Stenciling a tea towel.

by the time March came along I am sure I had at least 30 or more crafts on the blog.

January archives

February archives

These burlap utensil holders were a fan favorite indeed.

I loved them too and can’t wait to get them out again before you know it.

March was a really big month for my family and I.

We got to take a trip of a lifetime to The countryside of Ireland.

Our son marched in the St. Patricks’ day parade.

March archives

I was pretty whipped after that trip and did not do much for the rest of the month.

April came along and I started getting into my upcycling/repurposing projects

I never thought this old chippy window turned chalkboard would be so popular,

but y’all really liked it and it still hangs proudly in our kitchen today.

and since the rooster stencil was out,

I decided to make a pillow out of a drop cloth

You would have thought this thing was made out of gold on pinterest.

I always question what makes something so popular, and you really never do know.  I just do things I love and if it sticks, great, if not, that is fine too, I LIKE IT! and it is our home.  You have to enjoy your own surroundings and be comfortable with your own style.  That is one thing that has been the toughest for me in blogging.

NOT changing everything on a weekly basis!

I almost forgot another big diy of ours was painting the pantry door red.

We are so happy with this project, still.

It is holding up great and just adds such interest and conversation to the kitchen.

I later found out the history of a red door and was fascinated by it.

And

then

there was a sharpie.

First time at a sharpie project.

This dollar tree plate with Sharpie set the tone for more sharpie projects to come.

April archives

May archives

If you notice I am highlighting the archives as I go, there are a lot of crafts and home projects in them for you to check out according to the season.

JUNE was a huge month for me

JUNE archives

July archives

August archives

September archives

Probably the biggest boost for my overall morale and self esteem since blogging.

I actually came up with a never been done before concoction of painting on glass with mod podge and rit dye.

I tried it stricly as an experiment and thought I would take pics as I went along, just in case it turned out OK

Mixing Mod podge with Rit dye turned out better than OK.

I went on to do some pretty cool stuff with the Rit dye and Mod podge combination.

Rit dye archives

Glad I kept in mind you’re only a rock star for a short time, then it is back to same old same old.

Not complaining, I like my same old same old, but like I said this little boost was certainly good for me at the time.

Then before you knew it, in a blink of an eye,

fall was here and that truly is my favorite.

My garbage picked Painted with rit dye, burlap and chicken wire pallet shelf is probably my favorite of all.

 Have I mentioned it fell off the wall once?

Yes, it did, and not a thing broke off of it.  The nail actually broke, very weird, but hubby fixed it and all is good now.

Ocotber archives

November archives

The fall season is gone before we know it, and people quickly move onto Christmas. In fact, people I noticed started pinning Christmas decor in October.

cray cray indeed.

But that is how this biz rolls, very quickly, competitively and  rush it along.  Hey, I don’t make the rules, if I did, we would still be in Fall mode.

Christmas was easy and very stress free for me this year.

I decorated lightly

even bought myself a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree from Target.

All the Christmas decor, but the tree is down now!

In fact, this sucker is staying up for a while and I plan on decorating a few more seasons with it.

Next,

Valentines day

Here is a sneak peek at Mr. Charlie Brown tree and our Family room for Valentine’s day.

So, that is my year in review.  Like I said, a lot of crafts,

oh and even more cooking and baking for me this year.

Recipe archives

I appreciate every single one of my friends and readers that come by to visit me.

Wishing you all the very best in 

2014!

XOXO