Christmas greenery!

I have been very busy with Christmas since I am hosting and haven't had much time to blog! What I love to do is clip greenery from my yard and enjoy bringing nature into my home. I clipped some boxwood shrubs and set my vase on top of ... I think the only college book that I kept and never sold. It was a keeper since I now use it a lot in my decorating. At least I put it to good use and it comes with a lot of memories!

Flameless LED Candles!

 

The "Flameless LED Candles" are a safe way to add soft light to your decorating. They even have timers on them so you never have to turn them off! If you have a Hobby Lobby near by, they are 50% off and tomorrow is the last day! Happy safe decorating!

A Colorful Thanksgiving!

 

When my husband brought these "baby bell peppers" (about 2" long) home from Walmart, he thought I would love these to add to a salad...Yes indeed I thought they were cute, but the first thing I thought of was decorating for Thanksgiving and perfect to fill my cornucopia with. Pictures first and salad later!

 

 

If everyone is like me, they still have a collection of "Beanie Babies" tucked away. I usually try to save a seat for this special bird since he only comes out once a year!

Happy Halloween!

Just before the big candy day,  I decided to add a few simple decorations for Halloween.

My mother-n-law bought the painted gourd 20 years ago at a craft fair. When gourds dry, they become very light and when you give a shake, you can hear the seeds inside.

Ann from "On Sutton Place" has a tutorial on how to make a gourd beautiful and pictures of other craft ideas you can make from gourds. She has a lovely website full of creativity and inspiration!

Mr. Owl has been on vacation since guarding my fig tree early summer. I decided to put him to work for Halloween, then he can rest for the winter. Hoot Hoot!

Have a happy and safe Halloween...Boo!

Fall wreath with "Dollar Store" flowers...fast & easy!

I usually shop for flowers at "Hobby Lobby" but decided to give a go at making a wreath from the "Dollar Store" floral aisle selection. I know at first you can be overwhelmed by the bright colors they offer, but I was able to pick out a selection that seemed to be surprisingly, fairly nice.

I started by using my old trusty grapevine wreath that I have had for years. The flowers usually come in a bunch of about five blossoms each. All you have to do is leave a few inches of the stem on each flower and clip them with your wire cutters. Start out with randomly poking one color of flowers throughout your wreath and then add the other color. Easy, fast (took about ten minutes!) and cheap to make. No need to glue so later you can change out for a new season. Do you have any "Dollar Store" floral projects that you have made?

Fall decorating

Fall is falling a little behind down south. It takes a while for it to get here, so we have to push it along with a little decorating.

 

This is my Magnolia Wreath I made over a year ago and I added fresh leaves turned upside down which has a velvety texture and a burnt orange color.

Coffee Table Makeover!

 

At first when I found this table at a garage sale, I was hesitant if I really wanted it or not. Since it was the end of the day and the lady was slashing prices, I got it for $10. I thought...well I can at least practice on trying out making homemade chalk paint.

I lightly sanded it and gave it two coats of my homemade chalk paint I made with the Valspar sample size satin paints in soft camel from Lowes and  Pottery Plaster from Hobby Lobby and of course water, which if you don't work fast enough, you have to keep adding more because it starts to thicken! For the accent color, I used Martha Stewart Living metallic paint in Golden Pearl.

A couple of days later, I gave it a couple of coats of clear paste wax. I was going to try giving it a coat of dark wax too, but everyone seems to like the look of it now. Maybe I will just keep it like this for a while. Thanks for all the inspirational blogs out there...I did it!