Rustic Natural Fall Grapevine Wreath: Mushrooms, Pinecones and Moss

Since it is officially "Autumn" and I've finally located the boxes with the decorating supplies in the attic, this week I  made time to do a little Fall decorating.

Flowers for an Autumn Wedding: Pinecones, Roses, Burlap and Cotton

Every now and then, I'm invited to be a part of something magical. This week is one of those amazing times. Sometimes the magic involves pine cones, roses, raw cotton, and burlap. Other times, it involves the phone company.

EASY DIY: Patriotic "No Sew" Stenciled Burlap Table Runner With Grain Sack Stripes

I'm so glad that you stopped by today! Happy "almost" July 4th! First, let me say that I can't believe that it's JULY already, can you!?  Today, I'm sharing a quick and easy DIY project: A Patriotic, no sew, stenciled burlap table runner with grain sack stripes.  It's my favorite kind of project...the one that's free...and can be done in under an hour!

White Spray Painted Metal Patio Furniture and Tea in My Garden

Happy Friday! I'm so happy that you stopped by today so that I can show you the "after" photos of my spray painted metal patio furniture!

Getting Ready for the 4th - Scenes from my Home and Gardens

We're getting ready to Celebrate America's Birthday in our home. My vintage milk bottle carrier is at the ready. The empty spots in the holder will be filled with condiments on the big day and daisies from my garden will be added to the flags.

The ledge on the hood above the cook top gets treated to a little "Americana" with an old porch newel that has been drilled and filled with American flags.  And who can forget my crazy American Flag Party Pick Wreath?  I know that I'll be shaking my head about that one for a long time!

When I made the patio cushion covers in May, I purposefully made one side solid white. This enables me to change the look for special occasions like this.

The 4th of July has always been cause for celebration in our family. The tradition was established by my parents and their life-long friends before I was born. I grew up having a party to celebrate the 4th and it's a tradition that became one of my own when I had my sons.

On some July 4th's, the party has been an all day event that starts with Red, White and Blue breakfast and a trip to the parade and ends at 11 p.m. with fireworks. Other years, it's been a simple cook out with family and friends. One thing that's always consistent, however, is that we always celebrate!

There's not a doubt in any one's mind that I love the 4th of July. At least I don't think there is...you can tell, right?

Here's the vignette that I created in our foyer using one of my favorite ironstone pitchers and some vintage books about flags.  Of course, my beachy starfish are also a part of the display. I think that they fit right in!

I found this cute pillow cover at Pottery Barn and added it to a "not too red, white, and blue" vintage quilt.

My favorite vignette is on the yardstick-covered chicken carrier that acts as a coffee table in our family room. It's a simple nod to the Great American Past time ...

                                                                                      ...and to the fact that I live in a house full of men! 

Of course, then  there's the outside decor....

The gardens are putting on a show of their own this year!  Daisies and larkspur are waiting to be picked!

Hydrangea, day lilies, monarda...the whole garden is ready for the party!

The decorating will be wrapped up today. Then it's on to menu planning, shopping, cooking and baking. Just as soon as July 1 rolls around and end of quarter/end of half at work is behind me because by then, I'll be more than ready for some celebratory time with family and friends!

How do you celebrate?

xo,


Linking to:
Common Ground 
Home Stories A to Z 
Not Just A Housewife 

Happy First Day of Spring! - My $6 Spring Mantel

At long last, Spring!  

We've had some unusually warm weather in Illinois these last few weeks. In fact, many of my friends are referring to 2011 as the "best winter that never was".  But today, Spring has "officially" arrived!

I decided to keep my spring mantel simple this year. Since mother nature is cooperating, I simply snipped some forsythia branches, a few pussy willows,  and some of the daffodils from my yard. I added some of the smaller pieces from my collection of ironstone, a couple of nests, some lace, and a statue of a garden fairy that  was a gift from one of my girlfriends last year. 

The only purchase was the "SPRING" letters which I found in the $1 bin at Michael's earlier this season.

Speaking of spring and growing things and GARDENING, I'll be announcing a new weekly feature for this
blog tomorrow....Don't Miss It!

Have an incredible day!

xo,

S

Linking to:
The Lettered Cottage
Romantic Home

Bedroom "sneak peek"

I can't really call it a "reveal because there are still chairs to slipcover, faux painting to finish and a cabinet to paint but the bedrooom is finally finished "enough" (my word for the year) to show it to you.
This was the "before" photo:

I loved the wallpaper and the drapes but it was time for a change.

Here's how it looks today:

The room looks larger and much brighter now that the ceiling is painted a pale powder blue instead of yellow and the  border paper has been removed. I think that taking down the dark brown drapes and the valance also helped to "lighten things up".





The wallpaper is probably my favorite paper of all time! Other than the two week while it came from the U.K., it is AMAZING!  Heavily painted paper with raised sections in the design and the fact that the instructions called for pasting the WALL instead of the paper made it a breeze to hang! Truly, it took me about 2 hours to do it by myself.  I also bought three old barn window frames from my friend, Diane Passi. I like the way that they act as a frame for sections of the wallpaper! 

The white pin dot panels (Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic) came from Target as did the white throw. The rest of the room was "repurposed" from the guest room and other rooms in my house. 

I'll post a few more photos later in the week....this is the corner that I'm still working on:

The cabinet may or may not stay. If it does, it's going to be painted...the chairs will (obviously) need reupholstery. The rest is anyone's guess. I do have a collection of frames to paint and put on the walls but I can't do that until I decide about the cabinet!

xo,

S

Valentines Day Felt Wreath and Pillows



Remember the cute felt wreath that my friend, Diane Passi told me how to make?  The hot pink one on the mantel in the prior post? Well, I liked it so much that I made another one! It's red this time, for the kitchen. Since a couple of you asked, here's a recap of the materials and a couple of close ups of the wreath in progress:

Materials: Heart wreath form, 1/2 yard of wide felt cut into 3 inch circles, ribbon in the same color as your felt, straight pins.

 Wrap the wreath form with the ribbon, fold the circles into quarters and pin them to the form...that's it!

Since I had some felt left over and my sofa was looking a little bland after the holidays, I decided to make a few felt pillows to make things a little more "cheery". Here's what I came up with for the family room:



I love working with felt!!!! It is pretty inexpensive, doesn't fray when you cut it, and it comes in fabulous colors! I used the least expensive felt at JoAnn's Fabric and had a 50% off coupon. I think that I ended up paying about $2.50 per yard for 72 inch wide felt. 

These pillows above are a combination of hand stitching and machine stitching but there's absolutely no reason that they could not have been done entirely by hand or using hot glue and/or spray adhesive. I decided to stitch mine since I hope to use them for a couple of years. I downloaded the pattern for the Cherub and made up the rest of the patterns as I went along.

I have a sewing machine that embroiders which I used to embroider the word "Love" on the cherub pillow and the "Be Mine" on the heart pillow. You could hand embroider or even use fabric paint for these.

I'm currently working on the family room mantel. Here's the ribbon and fabric garland that I'm using (it's easy to make. Cut cotton twine to the desired length leaving some on the ends to hang with. Cut 6 to 8 inch lengths of ribbon, felt, fabric, tulle, lace, or what ever else you have around (you may also want to add some hearts and wire "curls") tie the ribbons on the twine and, viola!, "almost instant" garland!

I'll show you the mantel and a few other projects that I'm working on in a few days. Until then, they're finally forecasting some snow for the 'burbs, so I should probably at least try to find my mittens! 

xo,

S

"Behind The Scenes" info on the Living Room Makeover

I thought that I'd share a little behind the scenes "scoop" on the elements that make up the living room that I shared in Saturday/Sunday's post. For the "untrained" eye *wink*, the following may not be obvious:

Items in living room that were purchased at Goodwill, Salvation Army and Garage Sales:
All small, green, Christmas trees, silver coffee pot, green and white porcelain lamp (and the table that it's sitting on), sweaters and lace for pillows in the window seat, vintage silver Christmas tree, chenille "tree skirt", oval mirror, milk glass vase, white Christmas tree candles, small silver candles, lace doilies, white and silver ornaments, fireplace screen, tall blue/gray basket and the vintage lantern on the hearth) (I happened to have the silver candlesticks and the ice bucket but I've seen scads of both at both GW and SA).

Items that I made myself (or that Ann and I made): Pillow covers from book bags (no sew), pillow covers for the pillows on the sofa, yarn and jute wrapped balls on coffee table, burlap wreath on coffee table, family tree on the side table, "snow balls" on the mantle, embellished grape vine balls on the mantle, large "artwork" behind the sofa, knit throw on the sofa, burlap ball ornament and embellished angel cutout on the side table, white wreath from coffee filters and glittered pine cones in the opening to the fireplace, white painted branches for the "artwork" and the basket near the fireplace, ice skate cutout on the side table, jingle bell pillow on the window seat (don't look too closely, it's not finished).

Items that were "free": Small side chair,  basket near fireplace with logs in it (curbside finds two years ago); Great Grandma's sofa (from my parents' basement); coffee table, magazine rack and floor lamp (inherited);  lace "throw" (tablecloth) from my Grandmother, Birch logs, Pine cones, White Xmas sign (a gift from my friend, Laura, at B & B's Nest).

Items that came from Hobby Lobby or Michaels: Angel on side table, clear glass balls, grapevine balls.

So, as you can see, most of what makes up the room was either free, homemade or purchased at a "thrift type" location;  proving, once again, that you can make rooms beautiful on a budget. 

I'm working on Thanksgiving tablescaping today. Here's a hint: so far, it involves a painter's drop cloth, an old wooden shipping crate and borrowed dishes.....details soon.

xo,

S

An Unlikely "Blogger"

I'll admit it, I'm shy. I've never been comfortable putting myself out there. I'm the one who's always happiest working behind the scenes to create beautiful settings for other people's parties and beautiful things for other people's lives.  So, you see, the mere concept of writing about the things that I've done all my life is, for me, more than a little daunting but the desire to create things is as natural for me as breathing.