Valentine's Decor

This post will mostly be pictures.  Just a few weeks after the New Year I put my Valentine's Decor out so don't ask me why the day before Vday I'm posting pictures.  I know it doesn't make sense, well nothing makes sense to me here lately. 

Of course, there is always some type of plate on my plate stand.  This one comes in second place to the Halloween plate that I made.



Dining Room

Kinda cheesy but for the holiday, I like it :)

Letters came from Hobby Lobby and then I added the

red polka dots.

The table runner came from Pottery Barn, years ago.

Kitchen Wall

I am so sorry that I can not find the link for the red Valentine print. 
It's a couple years old now.

The gray and white striped print can be found here.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

Psalm 28:7

Blessings to all ~

Carla

A Little More Fall

I am not sure about you but September flew by for me and here we are just days away from the end of October! We had a tease of warm weather or what some people would call an Indian Summer during the middle of October.  I will say that I certainly enjoyed the warmer days but now I am afraid we are getting ready to see the temperatures that do not agree with my body, the days were the wind is chilling.  I am not my any means a cold nature person at all.  I guess old man winter in right around the corner.

At the beginning of Fall I decided to dress up my galvanized buckets that hold my mums on the front porch.  I used my cricut to cut the words "welcome fall" out of vinyl.  I love the simple touch that it added to my buckets. 

Another Halloween decoration share before Halloween comes and vanishes.

I made this Halloween plate last year, actually I've made several, between friends and gifts, it's one of my favorites.  It takes the longest to make because of the different fonts but I love the colors and how fun it is. Notice my little FAT black cat, I am not a cat person at all, even when it comes to Halloween things, but I just adore this little FAT black cat that I received in a "BOOED" packaged about 9 years from my neighbor, isn't he cute!!!

"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer. You will cry for help, and He will say, "Here I am!"

Isaiah 58:9

Blessings to all ~
Carla

New Shelves with Fall Decor

  Finally, I have my shelves!!! Thanks to my Hubby!!!

 I have a 5 foot wall in between my dining room and my kitchen that is basically a walkway, so you really can't put furniture there or it seems crowded.  I've had in my head for some time to hang two three foot shelves on this wall.  I didn't want floating shelves, I already have those in my living room and I really wanted something that was made out of wood, real wood, so I could paint them  and change them up if I desire and they would last.  So this past weekend my hubby made them and painted them, I was as tickled as a kid in a candy store!!!

As you can see, I mainly used my Fall and Halloween Decorations as a quick fill on the shelves, I may just change out the seasonal items until at least after Christmas.  You never know about me, I may change it up tomorrow. ha!

My owl is new to the my Halloween decor this year, I fell in love with him the moment I saw him.  He's different from the everyday jack-o-laterns, witches and ghosts.

I found this Halloween Subway Art here and printed it at my local Sam's for less then two dollars.  The cute little pumpkins my MIL made several years ago, I have several of these pumpkins in different colors, fabrics and sizes through out the house that she has made.

I like my sign and in fact I am thinking about making a December 25 for Christmas in green and red.  I really think I should :)

Prior to hanging the shelves I took down this mirror that was, well out of  it's place on this wall since the day I hung it there but I did just because I really had nothing else to put there at the time and no where else for the mirror. 

                                    

What I had not realized though was that everyone seem to use it, so I found this cute round mirror to hang with the shelves. I love the color, however it's not really the right color for this area. I think I made tone it down just a little with some white paint but still let some of turquoise show through.

Happy October!!

In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

Colossians 2:3

Blessings to all ~

Carla

Cricut Time

Last night, I was able to spend a couple of hours in my scrapbook craft room, yes I've realize that I need to change the name of my room seeing how I spend more time on other craft projects then scrapbooking.   I purchased this ceramic plate at TJ Maxx for hardly nothing.  I love the shape of the plate so I added Phillip and my monogram to it in a beige, as of right now my plans are for it to go in our master bedroom, which is in need of a mini-makeover. 

 These are clipboards I made for a friend's kids.

 I love what you can do with vinyl and the cricut.  I made several of these Spartan clipboards for the guidance office last year.  Oh and don't you just love the capital T on my friend's inital, makes me want to put a T on something at my house.  Ha!!  Yes, I love making things for friends.  I get that honestly from my parents.  There's a true joy there when you make something for someone and you can see the appreciation that they have for what you have done.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor weekend!!! 

May the name of the LORD be praised.

Job 1:21

Blessings to all~

Our Dining Room

Don't ask me why, but this is probably my favorite room in my house.  I'm not sure why, maybe it's because of the colors, maybe it's the formal feel, maybe it's that it stays clean.  I'm really not sure why, I just like everything about our dining room, there's not one thing that I would change. 

The paint color is Coffee Bean from Porter Paints.  I originally painted only below the chair rail then I got brave and painted it all, after like 2 years.  Ha!  I was afraid that it would make the room seem small but it didn't, not at all.  I so love the way this room looks.

Phillip and I bought this cabinet at Hobby Lobby many years ago.  Everyone thinks it's an antique, it holds all my pink and green depression glass.  The curtains came from Target, a couple years ago.

Looking from the foyer into the dinning room, this room gets the morning sun, so it faces the east. Ha!

Looking from the kitchen into the dinning room.  The rug I bought in Dalton, GA, over 2 years ago on a whelm, should I add.  We were in the process of buying this house, feel in love with the rug and I thought what perfect colors for the dinning room.

This plate marks the centennial anniversary of my hometown in Florida in 1957 and has different landmarks of the city around the plate.  My dad let me have the plate years ago, it was my mom's.  My mom would have been 15 at the time the plate was made so it probably belonged to my grandmother.  I think it looks perfect in our dining room since we all lived in this town before moving to KY.

What do you think of my flower arrangement?  Consignment!!! The urn that the arrangement sits in sorta blended in with my table, so I thought that this heavy white square platter that it sits on adds to arrangement plus it helps with where to store it.

I love this of my family picture at the beach in 2004.

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

 Psalm 37:4

Blessings to all ~

Carla

Stepping Stones

Remember that 19 inches of concrete that they had to bust through for the deep end of the pool. Well, because of that rock, we now have these awesome stepping stones. I will say that the first one there that looks like Africa or if you look at it side ways it looks like Kentucky. It weighs close to probably 600 pounds. It is so heavy that the three of us couldn't lift it. We rolled it from the back of the yard up to the house on PVC pipes sorta like what the Egyptians would have done years ago. Yes, it took us forever, but was worth it. 

If you're wondering, the bare dirt to the left will be filled with rock and plants as soon the fence is put up around the pump.  These stepping stones lead you to the pump and to the side gate.

Trust in Him at all times...pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:8

 
Blessings to all~

Chalkboards :)

First let me thank a fellow blogger, Shannon for giving me the inspiration to finally create my own chalkboards.  For the longest time I've admired the use of chalkboards as decorative touches in the home but never have taken the time or investment to add them to our home.  Well neither the time nor the investment is not really that big of a deal if you know the how to's and the where's.  Again, I thank my fellow blogger.  Thank you, Shannon!!!

My first stop was my favorite thrift store, where I picked up these three items.  Yes, one is a silver platter and two are picture frames.  I was looking for something unique and also cheap. I paid around $5.00 for all 3, I talked him down on the black one because of the the condition of the frame, but I knew that I was going to be painting it (what can I say I'm a bargain shopper).

Next I sprayed painted the two frames with a white spray paint that you can use on anything (plastic, wood, glass, etc...).  I left everything in the frames since I would be painting over them with the chalkboard paint.

I painted two coats of the chalkboard paint on all three items.  I was a little frustrated with my paintbrush lines at first but after I was finished with the project and treated the surface with the chalk it was really hard to tell.  By the way....if you are wondering about by fancy "fruit" tablecloth.  Let me just say that this is the best way to go with any indoor projects.  Ever since the kids were little, I've had a vinyl tablecloth to spread out for them to color on, use for play dough, paint, etc.  Best thing is you can pick them up at the dollar store and wipe them clean and reuse.  Plus they are handy for my projects. :)

Here's my finished projects.  I am so tickled over them, especially this one which is in the hall bathroom.  Courtney wrote the word "LOVE" on it, she has such pretty handwriting, you would never know that she is left handed.  As you can see I attached a ribbon to the back to hang it from, I thought it dressed it up a little more.

I am happy with my little initial, even though this is the one that I keep walking by an writing something on and then going back to the initial, so there's no telling what will be on this chalkboard and again it's a chalkboard so I can change it any time I want. Ha!

I'm not in loved with my platter as much as I thought I would be.  Maybe it's my handwriting, or the location.  It's on a bookshelf in our bedroom right now, which is not where I had planned for it to go, so that may be my problem. 

I've already got my eye out for another frame, something a little bigger.  I have a spot where I would like to put another chalkboard.  So if you see me heading in the thrift store you know what I am looking for. 

"A merry heart doeth good"

Proverbs 17:22

Blessings to all ~
Carla

Saturday Finds......

There was no sleeping in at my house this morning. Courtney offered to help with childcare at church today which meant she had to be there at 9, so that meant I had to be up and ready to take her. Which I can't complain, since my body alarm doesn't let me sleep past 6 unless for catnaps. Anyway I dropped Courtney off and took advantage of being in town, I had a few things to return and then I hit some of my favorite second hand stores. I am looking for an old oval portrait frame about an 11x4 or and 8 x10. I didn't find one but I did find these....

From the moment that I saw them, they caught my eye, I immediately picked them up walked around the table put them down, then picked them up again and of course I put them back down until I finally knew that if I did not purchased them I would regret it since I feel in love with them from the first time I saw them and for $1.50.......what was I thinking????

I knew before I even bought them exactly what I was going to do with them. I think they turned out pretty cute. They are ceramic so if I ever want to write a name on them with a marker and use them as a place tag I could also.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday. Jonah was suppose to go flying this afternoon but it ended up raining so he is heading out tomorrow afternoon with a friend of his who is learning to fly. Jonah wants to start soon, this makes me nervous!

Blessing to all~
Carla

Ready for Spring

Yes, I am ready for SPRING! Next Sunday will be the first day of Spring and I can't wait, even though it never fails that we still have several days of cold weather to follow, especially around Easter. I am soooo ready for warmer weather and with warmer weather I always get a wild hair to redecorate. Of course, when I say redecorate I really mean rearrange or bargain shop for new accessories.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a picture of two trays that I picked up at a local second hand store. Well I thought that I would share with you what I've done with them...... This tray sits on our dining room table with Easter grass and yes, that is ribbon in the apothecary jar and a bunny plate that I have had for years.

The second tray sits on our kitchen table with just a few "fake" chocolate Easter bunnies and the plant Phillip got me.

Blessing to all~
Carla

My Bargain Finds

Let me just start out by sharing my African Violet that Phillip brought home a couple of weeks ago. They were throwing it away at the store because basically it was dead, completely wilted, looked horrible and now look at it...isn't it amazing what a little water and love will do :) I am working on a project so last Saturday I went out to the local thrift stores looking for white plates, I need about 7. I really thought it would be an easy find but I only found these four. Two of which I only paid 50 cents for (YIPEE!!) and the other two which I do have to say are antique milkglass I found for $3. Once I find enough plates and finish my project, I promise to share the result.

Also on Saturday, I ran across these two awesome trays and fell in love with them so much that the one with the wood bottom I carried around in the store and then decided not to purchase either one. Don't ask me why, because they were good deals. Well every since Saturday all I have thought about were these trays, so this afternoon while the kids were at track practice I had a few minutes to kill and went back after the trays. Let me just say that my waiting paid off! It saved me 20%, YES, between Saturday and today, both trays were marked down. Needless to say I quickly picked them up and now they have a new home.

I already have plans for both trays, maybe I'll even remember to post a picture or two. Hope everyone has a great evening. I have two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread in the oven that has the house smelling soooo good! I just may have to have a piece before I head to bed.

Blessings to all~

Carla