Tour of Ornaments

I've enjoyed seeing other blogger's Christmas tree decorations already and wanted to share just a few of my own. I have a small table-top tree, so it doesn't hold all the ornaments I've collected over the years. Some of what I do display are from...

Family

Some from special friends

And even some I've made myself

A Quick Peek At The Living Room Progress

Well, I'm not quite done, but close. This is a shot of the windows. You can see how the woodwork looks painted. This weekend we'll be going to get the blinds and then I'll put up my drop cloth curtains. Unless I botch the whole thing up, then I'll just cover my windows with a blanket. ;-) lol! Speaking of blankets, you're no doubt wondering what that pink blankie is doing on the love seat. Well, since we get a lot of sun I wanted to protect the couch. Once the window mistreatments are up, bye bye blankie. I'm not done decorating either. Haven't thought all that through yet.

Here's a picture of our tree. It's not fancy, but it's ours. You can see portraits in the corner leaning up against the wall. Great-grandma and grandpa will go up on the walls somewhere.

This week we start on the dining room!

Candleholders: Using What You Have

This post isn't necessarily about something I've made, but rather where I got a little creative and resourceful.

Who doesn't love candles? Pilars, votives, tealights...they can all be used in so many ways and in any room. Many times, we already have holders available in our own homes to set our candles in or on. Look around your house and see how many creative candleholders you can come up with.

I'm linking up with Cindy's Make It For Monday and Kimba's DIY Day.

A Happy Day of Thanksgiving

My mother with her girl

Me with my girl, Hannah

Our annual "three generations" picture

So Much To Be Thankful For...

SIL Steve, Hannah and John

Larry and I

♥ I am also thankful for all of you! ♥

Wishing you all a happy and blessed Thanksgiving surrounded by all you are most thankful for!

Christmas Plate

I'm joining in on two parties. Cindy from Cottage Instincts is having a party, "Make It For Monday". And Cheri from It's So Very Cheri is having a "It's So Very Creative" party. What the heck. I'm always game for a party! Or two!!

This is something I created with stuff I had on hand (wasn't that another party not long ago? lol!). I started with a white salad plate from Walmart ($1.25), mod podge, an image I found on the internet, clear acrylic sealer and a little white and gold rope trim.

I pretty much don't need to tell you what I did. It's kinda obvious! Just smacked the image down on the center of the plate with some mod podge. After it was dry, I put some more on top to seal it. But to make sure it was really sealed well, I sprayed acrylic sealer on top of that after it was dry. It seemed to need a little something yet, so I used my glue gun to apply the trim around the edge. Done!

My Favorite Things Party

I'm joining Melissa from 320 Sycamore for her "My Favorite Things" Party. Here's a list of some of my faves, in no particular order!

Bath & Body Works

Black Amethyst Frangrance

I just recently tried this fragrance and really love it! It's hard to describe, it's just a really nice scent.

Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter

I could eat this stuff every day. Wait. I think I already do. :D

Walking

I love walking. Preferably in warmer weather.

(image is not me)

Ballas Hough Band

Speaking of walking, daughter Hannah loaded my iPod with her playlist since we have very similar tastes in music. A few of the selections were from the Ballas Hough Band (which I had never heard of before). Love, love, love them!

Starbucks
It's the simple things in life that bring us the most pleasure. And coffee does it for me.
(thanks to Jessica from This Blessed Life who doesn't even know I snagged this photo from her. Thanks anyway. I'm lazy, but honest!)

Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum novels

Just plain fun. And funny.

Shopping. Anywhere.

With my shopping partner in crime, Hannah

New York & Company

Speaking of shopping, I like NY & Co.

I like their classic slacks, blouses and cardigans

Rice Krispie Treats

Who doesn't love 'em?

Only thing is, I don't eat them since they are a sugary treat.

But I still love 'em!

It's A Wonderful Life

I like watching this several times every year.

James Stewart is one of my faves

That does it for me. Head on over to Melissa's party. Lots of people are there!

Day With Mom, Repurposing, Buttons Galore and The Hired Man

Hey everyone! Hope it has been a happy Wednesday in your little corner of the world. Here, it was a misty/rainy day, but it could have been worse.

I spent most of the day today with my mother. I picked her up and drove her into the city for an eye appointment. Afterwards, we had lunch and the usual stop at Walmart where mom got a CD player, trail mix, light bulbs, pliers and Tylenol PM. Quite the combo, huh? ;-) I came up short of anything wonderful except for a tube of mascara.

When we got back to mom's house, I helped her unload repurpose some of her things in storage in the basement. One item being a coffee table from the 50's. I didn't take a picture of it since it's still shoved nestled in the backseat of my car. I plan on scrubbing it up good and painting it black. Some other things are pictured below...buttons, lace and ric rac. I've been meaning to pick some up at Joann's or somewhere to have on hand for embellishing more paper cones and picture frames. But when I was in mom's basement near her sewing area, I thought I'd do my best Al Gore green speech and beg some notions off her. Of course she was more than happy to get rid of it since she's in a declutter mode. Take a look at my haul...

See the unopened package of blue ric rac? It's Fruit of the Loom brand. Ha! And I thought all they made were underoos and socks. This package cost 15 cents way back when, probably in the 60's or 70's.

Here's my favorite treasure I found in mom's button tin. Fleur de lis buttons! I have no idea what I'll do with them, probably just look at them and go "ahhhhh". They are sweet!

Progress continues on the painting of the living room as the hired man hubby keeps up with painting the woodwork.

Happy Junking Day

Happy Monday everyone!

I met daughter Hannah from Turley Times for lunch at Granite City today. Then we did a little shopping. We both had to go to Michael's, although Hannah didn't end up getting anything. But she gave me her 40% off coupon...sweet daughter! I got a few crafting supplies, the best purchase being a tablet of double sided designer paper. It's so shabby and pretty! I'll use it for making more cones but the possibilities are endless.

We also stopped at Target. I only picked up a clear glass salad plate for a project (gonna copy Hannah's frosted glass project).

One of my best scores was even before I met up with Hannah. On my way into the city, I stopped at Good Will and the Salvation Army. Pictured below are my finds. I got the milk glass hobnail planter and all the goblets at GW. I'm pretty sure I already have a hobnail planter like that, but oh well! The silver tray was scored at SA for 99 cents. Yay!

Christmas Cone

Cindy from Cottage Instincts is having a fun party called "Made it With What I Had". And in my case, I made it with what I didn't even know I had, or remembered that I had. I'm also linking up with Kimba's DIY party at A Soft Place To Land. Let's get started!

Shout out to my friend and co-worker Kathy who makes these paper cones all the time and who showed me how to make them. As if there's any real secret, but she showed me some different ones she has made and all the creative things she has done with them.

Since the requirements are to make something with what we already have on hand, I had to dig and hunt for some of my supplies. I started off with some Christmas-y scrap book paper I got several weeks ago. I thought it was so pretty and bought it even though I didn't have a plan for it. Sorta came in hand for this project! Using a two-sided stock paper would have been ideal, but I made do with this paper. I used a spray adhesive to stick them together. I rolled them into a cone shape and hot glued it together.

Next step was to find my button box and dig around for some buttons that I could use. Some old, some new.

Dug around for some lace and trim...

And then I started to embellish. I really liked how it turned out. I was so happy I had the tiny string pearls on hand...they gave just the right finishing touch to the cone. And the buttons worked well, too. I punched holes on both sides and used some tulle as the handle. I also stuck some tulle inside the cone...and now it's ready to hang and enjoy or to use as a Christmas gift bag!

Sorry for my pictures. The batteries in my camera died and I didn't have any extra so I used my phone.

A Preview of Coming Attractions

I thought I'd show our progress with the painting of our living and dining rooms. The painting is done in the living room, just the trim needs to be painted. You can see dh taping off the walls before starting on the baseboards. Please disregard the nasty green carpeting. I do all the time.

It's hard to appreciate the color on the walls with my amatuer photography skills and my fisher price camera. The color is called weathered oak by Valspar. It's a nice neutral color. I like it, but wouldn't have minded a darker color. Dh thinks this is fine, though. It'll work because I think dh would have a coronary if I suggested he start over. And I'm just not that mean. Most of the time.

Below you can see just a little area where dh painted the baseboard to see how it looks. He gave the basebaords two coats. Please note! The paint really isn't slopped on willy-nilly at the bottom of the baseboard as it appears in the photo! The carpeting fibers stick up here and there giving the appearance that the paint wasn't applied very neatly. But I assure you, OCD Dh is pretty darned neat when it comes to painting.

So there you have it. I'll post more pictures as we move along with the jobs. We are slow, but sure!

~~~~~~Coming Soon!! A Giveaway!!~~~~~~

It won't be long and I'll have 200 posts! To mark that milestone I'll be having a giveaway. Keep your eyes open for it!!

Church Bulletin Bloopers

churchlady in her office

Remember those church bulletin bloopers we've all seen? Things like "food panty" instead of pantry and things like that?

Well, this church lady can attest that such bloopers actually do happen (I've even done the "panty" one).

Last evening I went to my church office to do a funeral bulletin for a little old lady from our congregation who passed away. Her funeral was this morning. On the back of all my funeral bulletins, I like to write a little obituary. Something just a bit different than the ones you might find in a newspaper. Wellllllll........

When it came time to write about her marriage, my line said, "She was untied in marriage to..."

Noooooooooooo! It's suppose to be united, Nancy!!! Argh!

How dreadfully embarrassing! DH said nobody else seemed to notice it. I wasn't able to attend the funeral due to my other job. But dh sang in the men's choir and as he was sitting in the choir loft reading the obit, he had to exercise some extra control because he wanted to burst out laughing!

I do hope nobody else noticed!!

DIY: Facelift For a Little Chair

A few months ago, I blogged about some child-size chairs I got at our church (free for the taking) here. I finally decided to do something with one of them. I liked how they were already a chippy green color, but still I decided to paint one. I gave it a few spray paint coats of black and distressed it a bit in order for the green to peek thru. Also, some of the natural wood comes through as well. I like the different "layers" of life to this chair. Here are some pics.

This little guy will more than likely find a home in our living room...if ever we get done painting in there and the room put back together!! I have a few ideas for what I'd like to do with the other chairs, but I'm not in too big of a hurry. Too many other things on my "to do" list! I'm linking up with Kimber at A Soft Place to Land for her DIY party.

An Award

Thank you to the sweet Zizette from Chez Zizi for the Kreative Blogger Award!

While I'm honored to receive an award, I find it increasingly harder to bestow awards. Many blogger friends have award free blogs. And I respect that. Some don't have awards on their blogs but don't have the "award free" button, so I am not sure. So...I will do what I've done in the past and pass this award on to whomever is reading this and wishes to accept it. You know I admire all of your blogs (why else would I spend so much free time stalking you?) ;-) And I would love to give this to more than just 6 people anyway. So grab the award and put it on your side bar. You deserve it! Yes, I'm talkin to YOU!

Part of the rules also say to share 6 things others may not know about me. I'll try to think of something I haven't shared in the past. Don't expect much tho, I'm not very interesting!

1. My older siblings used to tell me I was adopted when I was younger.

2. At slumber parties as a kid, sometimes there would be a game where one person put a piece of gum in her mouth and then passed it around the circle of girls. We were all to chew the gum and then pass it around. I had and still have very active gag reflexes. Guess who just couldn't do it?

3. One of the nicknames my husband gave me when we were first married was "mouse". SO romantic, huh? ;-) It was because I would always scurry around the house getting into things. I was a busy little homemaker.

4. I have four vintage rooster spice racks hanging in my kitchen. I just thought of that because I'm sitting at my desk right under them. Plus, I'm desperate for something to say.

5. I have really ugly feet.

6. I haven't bought myself any new clothes in a long time and I'm proud of myself for not being wasteful. I've been shopping my own closets and have realized that I still own clothing that is still in style and I can get along just fine without adding to the clothes stash.

There you have it. Everything you never wanted or cared to know about me!

DIY Show Off Giveaway

It's a giveaway...The DIY Show Off is having a spectacular giveaway. Go here for details!

I Roll My Own

Pie crusts, that is. Did you thinks cigs? Nope, not a puffer. I like making my own pie crusts, but on occasion I've used store bought. I really prefer making my own, though. They just seem to turn out better. Tonight I baked two apple pies. One for a church supper tomorrow night; the other one to put in the freezer for another time. I could have just made one two-crust pie for church, but I decided to make two one crust apple pies with a crumb topping.

They look pretty good, if I do say it myself. My mother was a pie baker and my dad would always refer to her pies as "world famous". lol She was good at it and mine don't begin to compare, but I try!

The New Man In My Life...

...is Ralph Lauren. He has been spending a lot of time at my house lately helping me with various projects. Take a look...

Before Ralph...







After Ralph...

Ralph's technique glaze is so much fun. Other bloggers have found out how much fun it is; he has been making his rounds. ;-) Here he even helped me with this $1 faux apple from Walmart. Also, the little white hanging shelf that I recently painted.

Ralph didn't help me with the living room painting; the hired man aka dh did. This is it with one coat. One more to go! The color is Valspar's weathered oak. It's hard to tell in the photo what it looks like, I realize that. I think the next time I take pics of our progress I'll ask Hannah if she can take them with her camera which is much nicer!

Tres Chic

Sorry for the play on words in the post title, but I couldn't help myself. This is a tray project alright; but it's hardly chic. I did it because I actually needed it to serve a purpose.

I started with an unfinished wood tray from Walmart. The only Walmart in these parts that actually still sells craft supplies and fabric, but that's a rant for another day and besides, I'll spare ya. Also needed: sand paper, spray paint, scrapbooking paper, mod podge, scissors, and Ralph Lauren's faux technique glaze in smoke (thank you Shanty2Chic!)

I sanded the tray a bit to get rid of the rough spots. It didn't take much. After wiping the dust away, I spray painted it Rustoleum's heirloom white. Next came the mod podge step. Slathered that on the bottom of the tray, slapped the paper down and smoothed it out. Once dry I gave it another coat of mod podge on top. I let it sit overnight, mainly because I wanted to get to bed. The next day, I painted on some of the technique glaze and wiped it off. Done.

It's not perfect by any means. But like I said, I needed it to serve a purpose which is holding my arsenal of hair products on the back of the toilet. I basically have no vanity space in our super small bath, so I look for all sorts of ways to have my stuff accessible. Take a look...and you will even have the treat of seeing my ultra uncool 80's wallpaper!

More hair stuff in a shabby hanging basket, which wasn't holding everything, hence the need for the tray.

Decorating Dilemma Party: Round 4

It's a par-tay! And I'm there! Amanda @ Serenity Now is hosting yet another Decorating Dilemma Party. Go here to check it out!

What does not belong in the photos below? Everything you say? You.are.right! We are in the midst of painting the living room, dining room and ALL the woodwork/trim! Can you say excited! I can .... cuz I am! Hubby is one who thinks it's breaking one of the Ten Commandments to paint wood. Any wood. But he surprised me tonite by saying that's what we'll be doing...cuz he knows how much I wanted to paint it. What a guy!

Okay, sorry for the ramble. Here's the thing (see photo below). This fugly built in shelf will be getting a paint job. It'll match the rest of the trim (soft white). I was wondering how it would look if all but the back part was painted white and we painted that back area the same color as the walls? (the walls are being painted weathered oak by Valspar). Or should I do it all in white?

(Sorry for the mess on the shelves).

Join Amanda's Party here and see all the other decorating dilemmas...or submit one of your own!

Weight Loss Challenge: Week 3

This is week three of Domestic Princess in Training's (Kendra) weight loss challenge. Here are my answers to this week's questions.

1. How was your week? It was pretty good. I didn't slip up and eat anything that wasn't healthy.

2. Did you have any challenges? Nope. There was even bakery cake served at church yesterday afternoon and I wasn't even tempted.

3. What are some of your favorite healthy foods that are a must have? Fruits, veggies, chicken breasts, organic lettuce, organic peanut butter, Nut Thins, organic brown rice cakes,(do you see a pattern here with organic?) organic granola bars and bananas. See photo below...

I looooove bananas. It's not uncommon for me to eat 2-4 a day. And these granola bars...Cascadian Farms organic. The only flavor I eat is harvest berry. They are to die for! They are organic, free of HFCS and taste so good!

4. Share a healthy recipe. I don't have a picture to share, but this is pretty simple. Take a low carb, high fiber whole wheat tortilla (only 50 calories), spread some peanut butter on it and roll up a banana in it. Mmmm!

Pumpkin Love

One of my favorite blogs is Shanty2Chic. Those sisters have the most fun and creative projects! One of them is here and I did my best to recreate these pumpkins*. I left out the step where they used Ralph Lauren faux technique glaze because I still don't have any. Hopefully today I'll get some.

*The pumpkin on the right doesn't look nearly as crappy in person as it does in this picture!

Painting

As promised, dh has begun painting the living room. I chose Valspar's weathered oak as the color. It's a very neutral color. I hope I like it! I'm very indecisive and I like a lot of colors. Choosing one was very difficult. I will probably help him some, but he's really better (and pickier) than I am at painting.

The next room will be the dining room. I'm planning on painting a built in shelf a contrasting color (something similar to heirloom white). This built in has been an eye sore for years. Hopefully painting the thing will make it look better.

A few years ago, we bought blinds for our dining room from Menard's. Paid through the nose for those custom things! I didn't exactly know how to approach dh about getting something new. I was afraid he'd frown on the idea since they cost so much. When I told him today, he was sure it would cost major bucks for new blinds. But when I told him I priced some roman shades at Menard's, he was more receptive to the idea after I told him they wouldn't cost that much at all! Yay for that!

I'm excited about sprucing up these rooms a bit. It's nothing major, but it'll still be nice. A fresh coat of paint makes a world of difference!