Hi-tech Hide Aways!

All of us have them........... you know all those chargers and wires for our phones and gadgets that are lying around looking unsightly. I have found a pretty way to hide my cords and wanted to share my idea. :)

I had these vintage boxes on my vanity............

One day I was cleaning and picked up the Hershey Chocolate box and the bottom came loose. I was upset until I thought, how can I make this work to my advantage..........you know the old saying, "when you get lemons, make lemonade". :) I decided if the bottom was loose I might could put something inside that needed a cord. Then it hit me- chargers! Here's a pic of how I threaded the cords up from the bottom........




Here's the chargers inside the boxes............



And here's the box from the top after the cords have all been threaded through.......just plug up your phones etc and close the lid. :)


So much better than black cords all tangled and lying about don't ya think?! :)
Have a great day!

OOOOOHHhhhhh, Look What I Got! It's SO Pretty Polly!

I got a box! :)
You wanna see what came in the mail today?? I was so excited to see this box cause I knew the treasure that awaited inside! I was the lucky girl that bid on a vintage barkcloth drapery panel. :) I've been wanting some fabric for new pillows for a while and when I saw this panel I knew I had found the piece of fabric I'd been searching for. I wanted something with some browns and pinks...that's hard to find, but this has it all! Have you ever seen something and just knew it was calling out your name........that's what happened with me and this panel- love at first sight! When I opened the box this is what it looked like, didn't she do a lovely job wrapping it up........it felt like Christmas!

How wonderful a seller this lady is, she had it tied up with a sweet piece of ribbon and even had a hand made thank you card inside! :) The sellers name is Polly and she's downsizing a bit and is selling off a bunch of her lovely fabrics. My mom bought a full pair of barkcloth drapes, but I fell in love with the pattern on this one panel. :) I can't wait to start making my pillows.... I want to make some for my living room and a couple for my back porch area! (I have chocolate brown wicker, won't this be pretty on there?!) Yay!!
Here's the pretty little handmade card...isn't that just the sweetest thing! If you'd like to look up some stuff for yourself, her ebay seller name is love_of_horses, she still had lots of pretty stuff the last time I looked and she said she would be putting up more. Her name is Polly, tell her Melissa sent you! :)
Okay, now here is my lovely drapery panel all laid out on my bed...isn't it scrumptious!! It's almost edible it's so pretty! lol I do LOVE fabric!

Here's a close up of the pretty bouquets....aren't the colors just wonderful! I promise I'll blog on the pillows when I get them all done........but it might be a while, I have several projects ahead of this one. :-) (who me?, do projects?!) LOL

Thanks so much Polly for my pretty fabric!

I am doing a Show and Tell Friday from Cindy's blog, My Romantic Home. Here's a link so you can go check out some more blogs. :)
http://romantichome.blogspot.com

Fireplace Before and AFTER! What'cha think?

First let me apologize for how long this post is............hope you like novels. :)

Our house had so many flaws when we bought it, but one of the ones that bugged me most was the "blue" 12 x 12 tiles that flanked all sides of our fireplace. It wasn't an attractive tile.......well not for a fireplace surround anyway. After much searching and yearning for a mantel, I found a GREAT deal on one at JC Penneys! (of all places!) I saw it in one of their sale books and it was marked down from $1,000.00 (yes a thousand!) to $400.00, so I thought I would get online and look at it more closely. Well when I got online to check it out, it was only $350.00 on there! woo hoo! I was lucky enough to have a 20% off coupon which brought it down to $280.00 AND it was free shipping if I had it delivered to the nearby store. :-) I was a VERY happy girl! I anxiously awaited the arrival of my new "baby", and finally got to bring her home. :) lol As my husband and I began to assemble the few pieces I found a hairline crack on one of the columns (you can't really see it because of the distressed finish, but who wants to buy something only to find a boo boo on it) Anyway, it didn't really bother me much, but I called the store to tell them about it.........Guess what??!! They took another 15% off! My once thousand dollar fireplace was now $238 bucks! hee hee hee (can you tell I'm giddy about the price!!) lol So now that we had this amazing fireplace, we had to do something about that "blue" tile! YIKES! One day, while my honey was at work, I thought I'd just start "popping" some of those tiles off the wall...........they should pop right off, right? WRONG! The first 2 popped with no problem, but the farther into it I got, the more the sheetrock came off than the tile! UGH! Soooo, to make an already long post shorter, we "popped" (lol) off the rest of the tile and had to re-sheetrock the whole surrounding area. I picked a nice neutral tile color to replace the dreaded "blue" tile and also got what was called a pencil tile (just a long narrow strip) made of stone for an accent on the bottom, also in that neutral color. I began the labor intensive task of laying out how I wanted the tiles, cut all the ones that needing cutting with the wetsaw (yes ladies, you can use a wetsaw....not hard, just messy) and then I began laying the tiles, one by one. Laying tiles horizontally is not a hard task, but vertically is a little more challenging...........can you say tape?...........I used lots of it to hold them in place while the adhesive dried. :) After all that mess and grouting, we were finally ready to assemble our whole project and be done! My honey helped me attach the fireplace mantel to the wall, it was definitely a two person job! I didn't think to take the typical before and after pictures, but I do have Christmas pictures that are before and after.........isn't it a huge difference!!? What'cha think? It's so nice to finally have a real fireplace to hang our stockings on. (well, I didn't actually hang them on the mantel........didn't want to make holes in it!) lol So, you think the story ends here, right? Well we finally get our friendly neighborhood Southern States guy out to hook up our gas logs so we can have our very first fire and guess what? Someone (the crazy person that built this house) had put in natural gas longs instead of propane! There's not a natural gas line within 5 miles of my house! (well maybe, but not in my backyard!) So began another search, this time for logs that would fit my fireplace.....let's just say Ebay is my friend. :) I also sold the natural gas ones for $150.00 (they had never been lit...........wonder why?! lol) on craigslist which almost paid for my new ones. God is good and gives us what we need. :) Okay, so we now have the Southern States guy come back out to install it all and he says we get the install for free cause we used them for the propane! (see God is REALLY good!) :) We now have a fire after close to 3 years in our house, how wonderful is that!! It's now so warm and cozy sitting around that fireplace............not to mention rewarding because ........1.I got a great deal on the mantel 2.we did it ourselves and 3. God had a hand in it all. :) I love it when I can see God's fingerprints on my life. Have a great day, I think I'll go sit by the fire. :)

Before...............

After...........................

Sorry the pics are so dark, and you can't see the fireplace as well as I'd hoped, but can you see the nice neutral tiles in there.........sigh...so much better than blue! :)

Winter Memories

I live in KY and remember getting snow when I was little. I remember one year we had so much snow we didn't go to school for close to a month! We had snow that was measured in feet, not inches. :) It seems like we get left out of a lot of the snow anymore..........it either goes to Indiana and Ohio or Tennessee and Virginia. It's like we've been under a bubble and everyone gets snow but us........until THIS year! We've had snow, snow and MORE snow! It's been beautiful, fun and especially exciting for my 8 year old, Carson. We've had a blast! We had 7" of snow in about 2 days last week, we had snowball fights, built forts, drank hot cocoa and ate snowcream. Do you know what snowcream is?? Could it be there are people out there that's never had snow cream? Well if you have no idea what I'm talkin' about it's snow, sugar, vanilla (or any other flavoring you like) and cream all mixed up like ice cream......boy is it yummy! It's such a treat because you can only eat it when it snows. We've been waiting a while for our bowl of snowcream and it sure was good! It's so nice to be able to share things with our kids that we did when we were little isn't it? What are some things you did when you were little that you do with your kids now?

Here's our street


This is Carson's fort wall :) (it got higher!)


Icicle weaponry!
We've had a blast with our snow this year..........wonder if we'll get more!
Hope you have a blessed day...... and go eat some snow cream! :)

Join in on the MckLinky blog Hop!

Spring Wreath!

If you've read any of this blog, you know I have Spring fever! It's cold and snowy outside, so I decided to do something today to remind myself that Spring really isn't that far away. (although if you could see outside my window, you wouldn't believe it.) Remember the "finds" I got the other day........... you know, the pastel eggs and grape vine wreath etc.... :) Well I also found some really sweet pastel flowers at the Dollar Tree, (Don't ya just love that store!) and decided to take all my goodies and make a Spring wreath for my front door. I will have to get another grape vine wreath for my outdoor planter project, but I couldn't wait any longer to start this project so I just borrowed the one I had. :)




Okay, so I started out with this....




(LOVE this ribbon!)





and these...............







and ended up with this..............

(Yes, I painted the birdie...he didn't match all blue and brown!)


and THIS~!


I'm just crazy over these eggs!


AND FINALLY this........

Sorry the lighting is a little dark, it took a while to put it all together and it was getting dark. :)

Passion for Plates Part One! :)

Today I thought I would share some of my favorite plates with you. I have a fetish for plates...... well dishes in general. I'm not sure how many actual sets of dishes I have, but I can assure you, it's more than a "normal" person should have. Then again, I have never been accused of being normal. :-) I just can't seem to turn my back on a beautiful set of dishes, especially if they're pink, floral or a lovely cottagey looking set. (as you can see in my pictures, pink florals are a must to have!) Hope you enjoy looking through my collection! :-) Oh, this is only a few...........I'll post some more later!


I found this marvelous old plate on Ebay!
I love how it's worn.......the older the better, I say!

I scored five of these beauties at a garage sale for $2.00!! Johnson Brothers plates for 2 bucks makes me a happy girl!

I can't remember if I got this one from ebay or my mom...........where did you think I got the passion for plates from?! LOL

This one definitely came from Ebay.. 9 bucks!

This one is just so cottagey (is that a word?!) :)

I got this beauty at my favorite local shop........Peddler's Mall. (all my local friends know what I'm talkin' about!)

That's it for now...........so do you share my love for old plates? What's your favorite things?

Our House...........what does it need??? I want your opinion!

It seems we're going to have winter FOREVER! It has been a very cold and snowy winter so far this year...........and they're calling for more snow on Friday of this week. :-o I took my little boy outside to play in the winter wonderland yesterday and snapped some photos. I took one of the front of our house and it got me to thinking. Our front door is always exposed to the elements, sooooooooooo...... what do you guys think the front of our house would look like with a small covered porch. Well not porch really, but an "awning like" structure just over the door.......you know a shingled overhang with corbels instead of posts...............a PORTICO, that's what it's called! lol Wow, it took me a minute to get to the name huh! :-)


Like this one!!! This photo was borrowed from http://www.nuconceptswindows.com/ They have some great before and after shots of their work.........wow!


Okay, here is my house.........imagine something like that portico, only smaller, above my front door. Maybe with a copper or metal roof.......maybe shingles, I already have those. lol What da' ya think? :) (that's my little boy by the mailbox)

I would LOVE to be able to do something like that....of course I'd have to find the funds to do it with or find a friend that can build that owes me a favor. (wish I knew of someone! lol) I just think it would be a really cool solution to the constant beating my front door takes from the weather. What do you guys think? I may not have funding, but I love to dream for the future! :-)

Snowflakes and roses!

My husband bought me the most beautiful red roses for Valentines Day....... a full dozen. He is so thoughtful. :) We went out to lunch and took our boys with us, so nice spending time with them all. We went to church and after it was over, we went outside and huge snow flakes were coming down like giant puffs of cotton.......my son and his friends were trying to catch them on their tongues. :) The day has been so lovely........a wonderful meal, the love of my husband for 25 years today, gorgeous roses and snowflakes from Heaven. Who could ask for anything better?! What did you do on this lovely day?


God's handiwork is so amazing~ !



I made my honey chocolate covered strawberries...yummy!

My little boy watching the snow fall and catching it on his tongue. :)

Highs School Sweethearts........25 Years and Counting!!

Ok, you guys will have to tolerate my blog today.................I am doing this one to celebrate my love for my husband...........Sunday will be our 25th wedding anniversary. You see, my husband and I met my sophomore year in high school....... yes we were high school sweethearts. I was in a high school musical and my husband was the drummer. While I was up on the stage performing, he was sitting floor level playing his drumset. I looked down and he mouthed the words, "you're cute" and winked at me. In an ironic twist, someone on the yearbook staff snapped a picture at that exact moment..........capturing my red face and giggle. :) It's forever chronicled in the pages of the yearbook from that year. It's not often you get to have a pic of the exact moment you start falling for someone. We fell hard for each other and dated for a year and a half. He asked me to marry him in April 1984, while feeding ducks, at a local historic sight and we were married on Valentines Day 1985. I can honestly say I love him more today than I did the day I married him...........I'd marry him again in a heartbeat. He is my one true love.
Happy 25th Anniversary honey!
(I told you guys, you'd have to tolerate this one....gettin' a little sappy there at the end.)



25 Years Together!
Wish he didn't have glasses on.........he has the most beautiful eyes! :)

Valentine's Day Tree

Happy Valentine's Day

I have this lovely little reproduction of an antique feather tree that we keep in our kitchen. My little boy and I decorate it for each season or holiday. I thought you might be interested in seeing some of our valentine's day ornaments we made ourselves. We found some reproductions of some old valentines and cut them out and glued them on white foam meat trays. (your butcher will give you a couple if you ask nicely) :-) You could also use foam core board if you're scared of your butcher. :-) I like the meat trays because they're thinner, but you can use which ever you like. We used tubes of glitter glue to "highlight" some of the more interesting parts of the valentines that we cut out. You can get glitter glue at Dollar Tree, Walmart etc. We used straight pins with decorative colored heads to hold white ribbon on the tops of our ornaments for a hanger. We just put a dab of glue on the pins as we stuck them down into the foam trays. We left the ornaments alone to dry and presto, pretty little valentines decorations for your tree. (or where ever you want to put them) I found some little red plastic hearts on a clearance rack to add to our tree and we were done. Oh, the tree also has some sweet little pink flower buds hot glued to the tips of each branch..............it makes it so romantic and cottagey. (there's that word again, I really need to look that up and see if it's a real word!) lol

Hope you enjoy our Valentine's Day craft!

Have a Blessed Day!

Kitchen Backsplash ...before and after!

When we moved into our house 3 years ago, it had some very ugly issues in the kitchen, nothing seemed to be right. It had some seriously ugly tumbled tile as a backsplash, the cabinets were two different colors (one color was the original color, one was some kind of stain that someone had smeared all over the original color), and the stove wasn't centered under the microwave. (not good for someone like me who is OCD about things like that!) I actually tore out my bottom kitchen cabinet (the one to the right of the stove) and moved it over something like 3 inches to the right to allow my stove to be centered under the microwave! Now who would not center a stove by that much!? It was a long, tedious task, including cutting off the bottom of the cabinet on one side to make it work, but I finished it and am much happier now that my stove is centered under my microwave. :) Since I had to move the cabinet over, the counter top size no longer worked and there was also a 3" space to the left of my stove. ......... *sigh* I built a spacer piece for the left side of the cabinets (we were painting the cabinets, so it didn't matter......more on that in a later blog!) and installed it. Since we had to get new counter top I wanted to do something interesting to the backsplash. First I tried to do it the cheap way and just paint the tiles out white..........I did it, but didn't like it at ALL! Then I thought maybe we could use beadboard and cover it up..........not a bad idea, BUT while we were at Lowes shopping around I found the most wonderful product........"tin" panels. They are reminiscent of the old tin ceilings from way back when, but these are made specifically for a backsplash....perfect sizing and all! (located in the cabinet dept) :) Oh and they are made from some kind of pliable plastic, so they are SUPER easy to cut and install but look unbelievably real! People NEVER know it's not the real thing unless I tell them, or they go touch it. :) I am SO happy with my backsplash now............wish I had known about this product years ago! :) Here are my before and after photos............you be the judge of how it turned out!

Before.

Sorry this pic is kind of dark, but I was one of those buyers who took pictures THROUGH the window before we actually got the keys. :) Note the backsplash tile and the color of the cabinets..........blah! Oh, and not one thing in this photo is the same now, except the tiles on the kitchen floor. :)





After

This is the after shot of the backsplash.............much better than the old stuff don't ya think?!

How Lucky Am I???!!!!!

I visited my favorite shop (Peddler's Mall) where I live a couple of weeks or so ago and got a STEAL on a gorgeous set of dishes! I was just walking around the enormous store with my mom, when she told me there was a booth in there that always seemed to have lovely dishes. We decided to walk over to that booth. :) Lo and behold the owner of the booth was there and showed me a set that she was putting out. I was so excited to find the greys, greens and pinks on this pretty set of dishes. (since that's the colors of my KITCHEN!!) It's trimmed out in silver all around. The lady had $22.00 on the WHOLE set, but said I could have it for $20.00...........we're talking an 8 piece set with veggie bowls. sugar and creamer.

I quickly agreed to the price and started putting the pieces in my cart.........like someone else was standing there and they were going to grab them up while I talked pricing. :) I brought my treasure home and hand washed each piece with care (like I'll have to do when I use them). I wanted to put them in my antique jelly cabinet, but it just looked too plain to put my pretty new dishes into. Soooooo... I set out on a quest to find something to put in the back of the cabinet to give it some pizzazz. I started out with a cranberry fabric, but it didn't quite match the color in the roses on the dishes.........then I tried some wallpaper scraps I had left from my kitchen (a pretty pink and cream toile) but that didn't do it either. I finally decided on some "tin" ceiling panels.........the silver looked good with the trim on the dishes and it didnt' take away from the dishes themselves. After much cutting and liquid nailing, the cabinet was finished and I put all my pretty new dishes inside. :) I love it when I find something unexpectantly and can find a place to put it too! (especially when I find it for such a great price!) I'm a happy camper! :-)

Now, off to do some more shopping!