Lovely Little Corner

It getting closer!  It's almost that time of year to show our loved ones how much we love them.  I have always loved Valentines!  It is one of those holidays that hasn't always seen a lot of decorating in our house, but I do have a few things I've collected over the years.  Today I want to share a few NEW things with you.

Do you remember me showing you this glass block my BFF gave me for Christmas?  Remember she made one for her mother and for me and in turn I showed her how to make the bows to go on them.

I was so thrilled when I got one too, because like I told her I wasn't putting this up after Christmas.  I plan to keep it out and enjoy it here in my kitchen.  Only, I had to make just a few changes.

Just a few changes for Valentines that is!  How do you like it now?

I simply removed the old ribbon and added a few cling on hearts I purchased from the Dollar tree.  Aren't these the cutest, retro looking hearts?  I really had fun arranging these on here.

For the top I used a mixture of ribbons.  One large red and gold wire ribbon goes around the side of the block.  Then I used a few more smaller ribbons to form the bow on top.

Next to it I placed one of my newest salad plates.  These were my Christmas gift from my husband.  They are from the Lenox Holiday Gatherings pattern.    My husband gave me 12 of these for Christmas to compliment the Butlers Pantry dishes that I won.  I have wanted these for some time, because I love the plaid.   They are sold at Belks but not online at Lenox that I can see.  I'm not exactly sure why.  For some reason Belks did not get them last year to sell, then Lenox sent them to them again this year.    

They are Christmas plates but I think they will function very well as Valentines plates too. 

I  also added one of my Home Interiors candles.  One of the local consignment stores I frequent had a Home Interiors booth that was closing and everything was at deep discounts.  I stocked up on so many different scents.  They are that great!

As promised...here's my lovely little corner in the kitchen.  I am so excited about how this turned out. 

Please be sure and visit the links below for more posts at; 

Tabletop Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday

Kim's Before and After Party

Wassup Wednesday

Rednesday

Transformation Thursday

Thanks for dropping by!

Mary

Dodging Seasonal Hazards

How are you at dodging seasonal hazards?  I think I'm doing pretty good, but there have been a few downfalls lately.  Like this...

My back deck!  What a mess!  I was able to clean up the front porch stairs and walk but I just can't tackle this.  It was frozen over solid ice.  I was hoping mother nature was going to clean this up for me, but apparently she has been too busy spreading this all around to come back and clean it up.

This is my yard this Sunday AM.  Still covered in snow.

I'm hoping this will clear up soon.  Luckily, I haven't wiped out on it..yet.

I have also been pretty lucky to avoid all the colds and bugs that have been going around like crazy.  Well, until this past Friday night that is, when I started with the congestion and sneezing.  However, I've done really well so far by heading it off with this taken Friday night and Saturday night.

Thank goodness for NyQuil, and the Walmart brand.  I don't care for antihistamines but this really helps when taken at night.

As I've said I've done really well dodging these seasonal hazards.  Really well, that is until I made these.

Yum!  Cheese Garlic Biscuits.  We went to an oyster roast last night and I needed to bring a little something.  I decided to take the easy way out and make these.  If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend it. 

 They are quite delicious and soooo easy!  Just add water and spoon them out on the tray.  I made these smaller so I would they would be appetizer size.  I was quite surprised how many smaller bite sized biscuits I was able to get out of one bag.  I love these baked standard size though, to eat w/soups and chili.  Just pop them in the oven and in 8 minutes you have delicious cheesy garlic biscuits.  You can even melt butter to go over the top of them if you like.  I've made them both ways and actually prefer no butter on top, but they are delicious both ways.  

However, they can be a major seasonal hazard!  Especially, when you have leftovers to bring back home and munch on all day.

Please be sure and check out more interesting posts at

Seasonal Sunday

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday afternoon, staying warm and drying out!

Mary

Organization Inspiration!

I have been so inspired this past week, in a very good way!   Not by just one, but two of our fellow bloggers!  Both Melanie at Southern Comfort in a Northern Life and Melissa at Melissa's Heart and Home, were my inspirations this week.  What have both these two ladies done that inspired me you ask?  Well, they showed off their organized spaces.  I sooo needed to see that!  There is nothing more convincing then your conscience screaming, "You really oughta do that!". 

So today, I tackled a few spaces of my own.  This is terribly embarrassing but worth it to show you what a difference a gentle nudge can do for you.

This is one of my very small narrow drawers in the kitchen that are in the area between the kitchen and the dining room.  I keep my small candles in this drawer.

 

Miscellaneous linens in this drawer.

And, extra napkins in this drawer.  What a mess they were!

Now... here's the small candle drawer.

And another one I forgot to show you the before of.

Here's the miscellaneous linens drawer.  I only have things like bread basket linens, small runners, linen wine totes.  It looks so much better! I was even able to add all my Christmas dish towels that were cluttering up the everyday dish towel drawers.  That was a big Whew!

And here's my table napkin drawer.  I love what I did here.  I layered them so now I can see them better.  In this drawer I have multiples of napkins.  The ones you can see are sitting on top of a bottom row of more of the same.  This way I can see all the variety rather then having them stacked on top of each other and having to take out a whole stack to see what's underneath.

 

That led me to redo this little napkin holder I also have in the dining room.  It holds just a few of the same napkins that I use more often.  It was getting rather messy too so...

It got it straightened out as well.

Then that led over to one of my pantry's that was really a mess!  I didn't take a lot of before photos, but did take one of the candle area.

Here we have the candle shelf spilling over onto another shelf. 

Here's my after.  I got rid of a few candles I just don't like anymore and had room for the ceramic toppers too.

Above that was my napkin shelf and it is much more organized now too.  I have all my decorator napkins in the back and now have room for the everyday napkins on this shelf too.  I used to have them in the bottom of this cabinet.

Above that are my baggies and other paper products shelf.  Can you believe I had 3 rolls of aluminum foil?

And below is where my outdoor tablecloths and paper towel rolls, (which I need to restock) are stored. 

Then on the opposite side my broom and dusters.  This really is so much better.  I had stuff piled in here too and the broom kept falling out when the door opened.  LOL!  No more!

Now I bet your thinking, Wow!  That was a lot.  I'm not done yet.

I have one more area I tackled to show you.

The bookshelf cabinet.  This is above my bar in the kitchen.  When we lived in the old house I had built in bookshelves and thought I was doing good condensing my books down this much.  But over time they started stacking up again.  It was time to purge.

This is so much more manageable!

Here's my little giveaway collection.

Well, minus the salt and pepper basket in the middle.  Whew!  This really feels good! 

Oh, and Yes Melanie, I still have my food pantry to tackle.  Maybe next week!

Please be sure and visit the following linky parties;

Vanessa's Inspiration Friday

Kim's Before and After Party

BNOTP Metamorphosis Monday

I hope all of you are looking forward to a wonderful weekend.  I certainly am!  If all goes well, God willing, we are headed upstate to an oyster roast with family on Saturday.  I am soo looking forward to getting out of the house after all this snow.  I know most of you are too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mary

The Snow Queens Table

Calling all Snow Queens, you are cordially invited to a winter's brunch. 

I'm offering a cool refreshing taste of blue and silver?

Would you prefer snowflakes or snowballs?

  

Thank you for joining me.   Shall I serve Burrrr...unch now?

Earlier this week I did a winter mantle vignette.  I was inspired to do this table scape after creating that vignette and with the arrival of snow here in SC.  You are welcome to go here to see that post.

    After deciding a theme and color scheme for my table, it all came together well, using the things I already had on display around the house. 

I hope you enjoyed my Winter Table this afternoon and will visit Tablescape Thursday for many more beautiful table scapes.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog.  Please leave me a comment if you do, I would love to hear from you. 

Mary