Goodbye Valentines, Hello Easter!

Hey Everybody!  I hope each of you had a wonderful Valentines day.  I certainly did!  Even though I had to work and had quite a busy day it certainly ended up very sweetly.  

My employer made an announcement during our morning meeting the other day that he heard on the radio that the average male spends around $180.00 something on Valentines and the average female spends about $130.00 something.  Can you believe that?  Not in my household!  I can honestly say, my first thoughts were, that must be before they get married.  LOL!  Then my greedy self said out loud, Can somebody please tell my husband that?  Haha! 

Seriously though, I am so blessed by my husband and he just get's better and better every year too!  There used to be a time when we first got married that he didn't take Valentines very seriously at all.  He was of the male mindset that thought it's waaayy to commercialized, so why bother.  His thinking was, I don't need a special day to tell you I love you, yatta,yatta,yatta.  But then, he quickly matured and learned the error of his ways (yes, I just said that) and got on board.  As far as Valentines spending goes though, we really don't do big.  Some years are more thoughtful little gifts but most years it's chocolate and flowers and I am just thrilled with that!

Here's what I came home to last night!  One of my most favorite gifts was the fire.  I am not kidding!  I love a nice warm cozy fire and he knows it.  That was definitely intentional! (blush)  

It was so cool to go on Facebook last night and see so many of my friends posting all their lovely flowers, cards and candy.  How neat is that?  I loved it!  It was kinda like when you were a kid in elementary school and shared all your Valentines with your other friends.  Remember that excitement?  I sure do, and it was so sweet to see some of my friends sharing that too.

Okay, now back to the title of my post....

 Hello Easter!

I know some of you are probably thinking....Seriously???

Well, the answer is yes, seriously!  That's what I spent the majority of yesterday doing at work, moving Valentines out and Easter in.  We actually started receiving Easter merchandise a few weeks ago. Yesterday it all came out in full force!  I set up six tables in the front of the store including a wall display at the front of the store too.  I love doing Seasonal decor, but it's kinda challenging because it's so temporary.  You really want to make the most impact you can for such a short amount of time.  Sometimes you have very little time between the holidays too and need to move and set things up quickly.    I am off today, and am already thinking of ways I want to tweak my displays when I get back in on Thursday.  Mercy!   I won't have much time to do this though, because we've got more sales to set up for and another truck to receive on Friday, which means more new merchandise that needs creative "vignettes".  Okay, yeah, I admit it, I am loving it!

This is what I really wanted to show you, though.  I just had to share this sweet bunny that I simply could not resist.  He really looks so much nicer here in my dining room then on that display don't cha think?

I was smitten from the minute I opened the box!  I knew he would be leaving the store too quickly with someone, so I decided it might as well be me!

Here's a few more close ups.  He has an off white ceramic glaze with a crackle look under the glaze.  His finish is very smooth though.  You can even put a little something in the basket on his back, like flowers or small eggs or something cute like that.

I love how neutral he is and think he will be a perfect centerpiece on my Easter table this year.  Don't worry ladies, I am no where near ready to decorate my home for Easter yet.  Well...maybe. Hmm???

Aww! So sweet!  

If you adore this fella like I do, I suggest you hop on over to your nearest Stein Mart, because I have a feeling these guys are gonna be quickly hopping right on out the door.

Happy Day after Valentine's Day Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

2012 Valentine's Day Tablescape

Well, it's almost that time and I've just about got everything ready for Valentine's Day.  I've done a little decorating outside and inside and I've got the table set now too.  Woohoo!  The only thing left to do is to find a few special sumpin sumpin's for my sweeties to let them know how much they are loved.  

I am very pleased with this years table scape.  I already had everything I used for this, except for one element.  

Do you know what that is?

Here's a hint...these are very precious, strong and fragile at the same time.  But, the ones I bought can't be broken. 

If you guessed the hearts, you are correct!  Yay!

I absolutely fell in love with these wonderful melamine heart plates I found at Target.  They had them in full plate size and salad size and pink as well.

I wanted the red because I just love how they sparkle.  Hard to tell in these photos but I think there must have been some type of glitter used in making these.

I love how they just pop right off of the white of my Butlers Pantry dishes by Lenox.

 And, I love how the white dishes pops off of my red place mats.  Do you remember when I found these last year at Ross?  They are made of vinyl and so easy to clean!

A Valentine's dinner deserves the very best for those you love so I pulled out the silver we inherited from my in-laws many, many years ago when my MIL passed away.   

Thanks to Cherry Kay at Entertaining Women I now know the pattern of my silver is called Francis 1 by Reed and Barton.  Luckily for me she recognized it and identified it for me along with my bouillon spoons that I posted about last week.  Thank you so much! 

I decided since I was using the silver to eat with we may as well use it for our drinks as well.  The goblets are our most recent inheritance from my in-laws last year when my FIL passed away.  He had kept the goblets and several other pieces when he remarried after my MIL passed away to use himself with his new wife. 

Our goblets are engraved with the initial of our last name as is all of the silverware.  It was very customary for people to do this back in the day.  Not so much now.  I didn't have time to polish the goblets before this post so you will have to excuse the tarnish please.  Maybe you could just focus on how cool the battenburg lace looks in this reflection instead.  

Speaking of the battenburg lace, I just have to share how I came up with this runner.  It is actually two battenburg lace valances that I have saved forever and a day when I used to have them in our bedroom.  I just placed them on the table back to back and then added my red runner right on top.

I think lace and hearts just go together so well, don't you?

My valentines runner was a project from last year.  I bought a plain red runner from the DT and painted it.  So simple!

I used these same exact flowers for one of my settings last year only in a different container.  The white milk glass vase was a nice find that I picked up last year from a thrift store for only .50 cents.

On my sideboard I created a Valentines cloche display using a crystal bowl that was a gift from a friend that I filled with hearts.  I thought is was perfect since it has roses on the side of it.

I mixed in a few of my shiny hearts with the glittery ones.  Love it!

I can hardly wait!  I hope the Mr. will cook us something good.  LOL!

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my Valentines table scape.

Wait!  I want to show you one more thing.  When I found the plates at Target I was actually there shopping for something else too.

 Here is a glimpse of a few things I picked up for a very special project I am working on.

I am going to create a very special Valentines card for a very special young lady this year.  I do not know who she is but I do know she is one of God's children who needs to hear how very special she is and how loved she is.

I was so touched by a post that Susan at My Place to Yours did HERE a few weeks ago about the girls they minister to at Hope Unlimited for Children.  I don't know how this escaped me before but I had not caught on to the staggering amount of young girls who are forced and subjected into prostitution in Brazil each year.

When she asked very simply for help in sending Valentines to these young girls so they would begin to understand their worth I knew I had to make one too.  I hope you will also consider taking just a small bit of your time to help as well.  You don't have to make something, you could just send a card and it would mean so much!  There's still plenty of time because Valentine's day is not until April in Brazil.  I feel so strongly about this I immediately put this on my FB page for my friends as well.  I plan to share this post with them as well, because I know every little card will help.  If you want to help too, please click HERE to see Susan's original post.

Thank you so much!  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

I can't wait to get home tonight to check at all the other wonderful tablescapes who are joining; BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday

Do People Really Decorate For Valentines?

I can't tell you how many times I have heard this question from my coworkers lately!  It seems to resurface every few days as we are tweaking, revamping and discussing our Valentines displays and sales.  Each time, I am always taken by surprise with this question.   Because in my head I am screaming of course they do you fool, it's Valentines Day for crying out loud! But outwardly, I am admitting, well, sure they do, maybe just not quite as much as for other holidays.

I definitely fall into the not as much as other holidays category.  But....after having the weekend off, and a little more time to get inspired and be inspired, I decided to pull out a little of my Valentines decor.  One thing I love about Valentines day is that I typically like to use this holiday as a time to explore my creative side.  This year I didn't do a lot of that.   I did however pull out a few things I created from last year and I did use one of them in a new way this year.  So, I would say that counts as being a little creative right?

Here is an old topiary stand that I have had for quite some time that used to have Ivy all over it that I removed last year.

And here is a close up of my old topiary today.  I added some glittery hearts that I bought from the dollar tree last year that I used on another Valentines display shown here.   

This year I decided they would be easier to use on the topiary instead.  The glitter hearts are simply strung on heavy fishing wire that was easily poked through the foam.  Then you just wind the wired hearts around the form.  How easy is that?

My thinking was that I wanted to create a Valentines display for the table by my front door.

The candle and greenery are constants out here.

Then I added a red polka dot bow to my faux ivy.  Sorry ladies, I just can't do real Ivy.  I would really prefer live Ivy and have tried, but seem to have such troubles growing Ivy in a pot.  I have no trouble however with growing Ivy all over the yard outside though.

It's just a small touch of Valenitines....

...to compliment the sign on my door.

I bought this door sign from the after season clearance sales at Kohls.  I tend to think Valentines is one of those holidays where people really do not like to spend too much on decorating.  I know I usually don't and look for the after season sales.  What do you think?

I do love how this red just pops right off of my black door!

After putting up some decorations outside I decided I just didn't want to stop there.   So, I did what I said I wasn't going to do and moved inside to the fireplace mantle.  I just had to see how my sweet little cupid angels would look on my new clock.

Aren't they just so sweet looking?

I think so!  I just love these!  Yep!  It's still 10:05 at our house.  LOL!

Then, I decided to just go ahead and bring out the garland I made for my mantle last year too.  You can see that post here as well.

This was one of the best (fun) and easiest projects I have done is some time.

All of the graphics used here were from The Graphics Fairy.

After the garland was hung, I was done!  

Well, kinda done.  I hope to be back later this week to share my Valentines tablescape with you.  I've only got time to do one this year but will try and share links to the three that I did last year.  That's right, I did say three.  So, if your like me and looking for a little inspiration at times be sure and stop back by later this week. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I am joining the following parties today.

Seasonal Sunday

Metamorphosis Monday

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Following with the Linky widget

Whew! I really don't know what I am doing here but am adding the "linky" follower widget to my blog because I have a few of you who are not on blogger that I want to keep following.   I hear some of you may fall off of my google friend connect grid.   So, in order to keep up with you I am jumping into this whole new way to follow.  I am assuming in order to follow you I needed to sign up too right?

One thing is for sure.  If you blog, facebook, pinterest, or use any other social media networking you had better be prepared to keep up with the ever changing cyberworld.  I admit I am often so far behind and usually rely on others to help me keep up.  Thanks yall!

My thoughts about blogging are...
Blogging is fun, but it is more of an experiment in "dabbling" in creative expression for me, then a way of life.  I'll never be a serious or big blogger and I am obviously not really striving to do so.  I've often thought about quitting when I get to taking it too seriously. The down side of blogging is that I've had my share of negative feelings of not measuring up, not being creative enough, popular enough and so forth.  Occasionally, jealousy creeps up too when I see so many bloggers talking about the number of followers they have and all the giveaways they offer when reaching these milestones.  Because, who doesn't want to be popular?  But then the reality of who I am returns and I get over it all.  Yes, I would love to have more followers but I figure if your interested you will follow, as I follow those I am interested in.  I know there are others out there who are like me who follow a wide range of bloggers.  Then there are those who only follow certain genres, or who only follow but never comment or who only look at blogs occasionally.  I've said it before and will say it again, it sure is a wide, wide world out there!

I am still here chugging away here because I enjoy seeing and learning new things.  I enjoy sharing it all, no matter how popular or unpopular it is, because it let's me express myself.   And finally, the coolest part of it all is that I have gotten to meet a few of you out there in the world whom I would have never known.  You may be only someone I know online but you are real to me and so am I.
So, if there are any of you out there who are inclined to do so, you may now also follow me on Linky.

I am enjoying a lovely (whole) weekend off .  Hope you have a great weekend too!
See ya!