Calling All My Blogging Friends...

Hello!  How are you doing?  I have some big, big news to share with you!  Alexandra (my youngest sister who made me that fabulous apron for my birthday!) just announced that she is moving to Tanzania in Africa!  She has heard the Lord's calling and has answered!  Being a Special Education teacher, she will move there in August to aid in the development of Special Education programs in village schools where there currently are none.

Leaving all that is familiar behind and taking this huge leap of faith to help in Africa, she admits that she is nervous, but she moves forward within the Lord's will so she need not be afraid.  I am very proud of her for being so brave, but a little sad to say good-bye as well! 

Because she is volunteering there and will have to leave her job here behind, she will be furiously saving and raising funds.  We came up with a fun project that we think might help her.  We are putting together a cookbook!  But we need lots and lots of recipes, and even between all my extended family and friends, we can't gather enough recipes to fill it, so I am coming to you for help (she doesn't know it yet!)  How neat to have recipes compiled together from many different places in one book.  What do you think?  Would you be willing to pull a favorite recipe from your stash and share it for our cookbook?


It is very easy to pass along your favorite recipe, simply go to cookbookfundraiser.com.


Under contributor:  Type your name.

Under email:  Type your email.

Under username:  Type matthewseventeentwenty

 Under password:  Type goodfood


Next, just find and click on the Add a New Recipe link, and it is very self-explanatory from there.  Please feel free to add as many recipes as you like!  The more the merrier!  We will be selling these cookbooks later right here in my online shop.

I would like to THANK YOU very much for helping us!  Please let me give back a small token in return to show my appreciation!  We all love antique linens so how about one large French monogrammed tea towel to one of you?  Simply go add a recipe then come back here to let me know which delicious one you added.  Giveaway ends February 1.  I will select one winner by random.  Want more chances?  Just add more recipes and leave a comment for each one.


On another note,  I also want to thank Jennifer Rizzo for nominating our Christmas home as one of the top twelve finalists for her 2013 Holiday House Walk!  If you have a free moment head on over to her blog and check out the other finalists.  Wow, so much talent and inspiration there!

Well, that should do it for me!  I'll leave you to go through your recipes and thank you, thank you, thank you again!




Maria ~Rusty Hinge




Note:  Due to Blogger difficulties, I lost all of the previous comments on this post.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Please feel free to resubmit your comments!

It's a Pom-Pom Party!

 Yay!  I'm joining Jennifer Rizzo's Pom-Pom Party!  How fun and exciting to see all the pom-pom projects linked together!  A couple years ago,  I made an everlasting Allium bouquet from pom-poms.  When I read about Jennifer's party round up on her blog, I thought why not bring them back again just special for the party!? 

I made these pom-poms with a Clover Pom-Pom Maker, but they are very simple to make without one.  In fact, Jennifer gives an easy to follow tutorial on her blog!

I pulled this photo from the original post about these pom-pom Alliums.  If you would like to read this antique post in it's entirety, simply *Click Here*!

We have a bit of time before my live Alliums will bloom in the garden so while we wait, let's enjoy these for now!

Go get inspired at the party and make some pom-poms of your own!  Merely click on the button below to go check it out!





I will be back again soon with some Valentine decor and stay tuned for more news on the 'grand opening' of my new store!




Maria ~Rusty Hinge

My Sister Made It

Hello again!  How have you been?  Didn't the holiday season just fly by?  I am still recovering from it!  Have you removed all of your decor or does it tend to linger a bit afterward?  My take-down occurs in stages.  The first stage is removing all the directly Christmas-related items such as ornaments and trees.  I like to keep the garlands, faux greenery and pinecones around a bit longer to add a little winter interest throughout our home (we tend to have really long winters here!)  These will slowly get removed one by one as I make room for spring decor!  

 I mentioned before that my sister lives in Tennessee, so I don't get to see her very often.  Last time I went to visit her in September she surprised me with the promise of a homemade apron for my birthday.  We went to Hobby Lobby together and she let me pick out the fabric material.  When she came home for Christmas, she gave me the finished apron!  I love it!  Didn't it turn out wonderful!?  It matches my red kitchen perfectly!  Thank you, Alexandra!  

On another note, I wanted to share something with you before I go!  I previously mentioned that I desired to open an online store and that hasn't changed.  I have been thinking a lot about it lately.  As I am continually rearranging things here, I would rather see them passed along to you for use rather than store them.  I am thrilled with the wonderful success and turn out at my annual barn sales, but some of you live too far away to attend them, so I decided to push forward with starting an online option for some of the smaller items that can be shipped easily.  I am going to test the waters by listing photos of these items periodically right here on my blog and see where it takes us.  What do you think?  Would you be interested in seeing something like this become reality in the coming year?  I would love to hear your thoughts!


Thanks so much for coming back again and again!  I appreciate your comments and visits very much!



I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,




Maria ~Rusty Hinge

Festive Forest

Welcome to the first ever Rusty Hinge Festival of Trees where I asked you to send me a photo of your Christmas tree!  With no further words from me, let's take a look at them all and begin our tour!  So please sit back, relax, and enjoy this festive forest of glittering trees!

Amber from Grand Haven, Michigan is an avid antique collector and very talented decorator!  The garland for her tree was made by sewing together punched circles of vintage wrapping paper!  Very clever!

Suzy's tree is decorated with nature's bounty!  If you look closely you will find birds, nests, red berries and birdhouses.  I love her striped stockings hanging on the fireplace mantel.

Kris from Junk Chic Cottage displays her beautiful tree in a vintage wagon!  What a wonderful idea!  I love it, Kris!

Aren't these the most gorgeous trees?  They are so elegant!  Thank you, Lory of A Designer's Tale, for sharing them with us!

The gold with blue accents are stunning on Wendy's tree!  This glittery, gold look is made complete with matching gold and blue wrapped packages underneath.  I love your attention to such little details, Wendy!

Isn't Susan's tree from Homeroad gorgeous?  I love the gold ribbon wrapped throughout.  Very chic!

Fiona from Steptoe and Daughter sends us a photo of her lovely tree all the way from Australia!  Packed with beautiful ornaments and baubles it is wonderful eye candy!

Carola, I have one word...Stunning!  Carola from Welcome to Boxwood Cottage explains that since it is a tradition there in Germany, she only uses real candles and vintage German silver ornaments which are family heirlooms on her tree!

Erin from Collected Comfort has not only decorated her beautiful tree but also her staircase banister.  I love how she displays all of her Christmas cards there with the lighted garland.  What a great idea, Erin!

I recognize this tree!  In fact, we just had our extended family party here.  Marjon, (aka Mom!) decorates her tree with glowing white lights and sentimental ornaments.  Each one represents a different year of her four daughters.

Erica in California from Tin Roof Farmhouse shows us her most adorable table-top tree.  Notice the vintage door decorated with lights and ornaments as a backdrop for her retro gold tree.  Isn't the contrast between the rustic galvanized bucket and the glittered tree fabulous?

Look at Lorry's retro aluminum tree!  It is most fabulous with all the little putz houses surrounding it.  My jaw has literally dropped, so excuse me while I pick it up off my keyboard!  Love, love it all!

And I couldn't end the Festival of Trees without showing you our little tree.  All the presents have been opened so the base is decorated with an antique sled stacked with quilts and a vintage Swedish metal tree stand used to distribute candy canes.

These photos of our tree come with a funny story that I must share with you.  We normally cut down a fresh blue spruce right out of our back yard (you can read about last year's homegrown tree here.)  This year was no different, Karl and I selected the tree and proceeded to cut and haul inside.  After several long moments of fighting with it and trying to stand it up, we realized that it was very wide and overtaking our living room.  We decided that just a few pruned branches would help this situation.  But after several more very long moments of fighting with it to stand straight, we begin to see how hopeless it was and that this tree was just not going to work.  When one last effort to stand it straight cracked our tree stand,  back outside it went.

The story doesn't end there and we didn't give up.  We have a smaller stand that would work with a shorter tree, so Karl sawed the tip of our tree off to bring back inside.  Upon inspection, I realized that our tree has been reduced down to bush shaped and contained the same form anyway it stood.  In other words, it was very sad looking.  So back out the door it went again (and now resides as a lighted tree on our front porch!)

 That still left the problem of what to do for our indoor tree... so Karl and I decided to decorate our little faux four-foot tree with all our special ornaments and prop it up on a stone capital base.  So yes, our little tree is an artificial one.  Shhhhhh....don't tell!  (Karl says one year only.  Next year, we will attempt at a real one again!)

There you have it!  Our first ever Rusty Hinge Festival of Trees!  A big thank-you to those who sent me their beautiful trees.  It has been so much fun compiling them together and it turned out grand, don't you think?



I wish all of you a most Blessed and Happy New Year!




Maria ~Rusty Hinge

Guest Post at Dreamy Whites!

Merry Christmas!  It's finally here!  All the anticipation and preparations taper off as we begin to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  Family has all arrived and gathered together, the food is prepared and all the presents are wrapped.  Nothing left to do but enjoy and savor every moment!  What about you?  What are your plans for this special day?  I would love to hear! 

I am thrilled to be invited back as a guest on Maria's fabulous blog, Dreamy Whites!  Thank you so much, Maria!  I am sharing my French Favori mosaic platter there!  Please head over to read all about it.  *Click Here* 

On another note before I go, can I quickly ask a huge favor of you?  I want to try something new here.  Can you inbox me a clear photo of your beautifully, decorated Christmas tree to mgmarcusse@gmail.com?  I would like to gather them all together on my next post for our own little Rusty Hinge Festival of Trees!  If you would like to join in on the fun, please send them to me before Friday, December 28, including your name or blog for a link back.  

"And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Luke 2:7

I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Maria ~Rusty Hinge