It's Time for Snow Angels in South Carolina!

What?  Did I say that?  Shut my mouth!  Girl, you know that ain't gonna happen.  LOL!  

Sorry folks, just having a little fun this morning and sharing some very common phrases or comments you might hear when mentioning snow in our state.  The weathermen are saying there are parts of SC that might get a little snow but I do think it is going to be further north then where I am.    Snow in SC is such a rare thing that we all have quite the strange love hate relationship with it. I think for the most part we love it temporarily at best.  We love short lived storms with very little ice where people can get out and play for a day or two and then it's life back to normal.  Right???

Gurrrl, you know it's true!  One of our most favorite things to do in the snow is make snow angels.  I often wonder if its more of a southern thing or do they enjoy doing this up north too?  When ever there is snow my Facebook is lit up with pictures of snow angels.  It's not uncommon to hear people say, we had so much snow we able to make snow angels!  Wow, now that's a lot of snow!  LOL!   

Now friends our winter has been so tame this year I wasn't going to do a winter mantle.  I just wasn't going to do it.  Honestly, I wasn't, noooo, not me, scouts honor!  In fact just thinking about it seemed so ridiculous to me because our winter has been so very warm this year. But then I got to looking at blogs on the internet and oouuing and ahhing and such.  Then the weatherman was on TV (every hour) suggesting that we may be getting some flurries, this weekend, maybe.  You know where this is going right?  Yep, one thing led to another!  

 I'm not exactly sure how it all came to be, but somehow I remembered these pretty little metal angel wings I purchased a few weeks ago from Hobby Lobby.  I guess my little old pea brain just put two and two together and decided I wanted to make a snow angel even if we didn't get any snow.  So I did!

I realize some of you might find this quite comical, but honestly, I love it! 

 I bought these wings because eventually I want to hang them in my bedroom.  But first, I want to attach them to some wooden boards.  I haven't had the time to finish up that project yet so they were still sitting in the bag on the dining room table collecting dust.  But not anymore!

Love, love, love this!

I am even sitting here now just adoring these beautiful wings with a great big old smile on my face. 

 After remembering the wings, I went and found the one small little bag I had of a few things I have collected for winter decorating.  I felt like the little white star wire garland was perfect for making wisps of clouds around the wings.  Maybe it's just my imagination in overdrive, but it's just so magical for me!  I can see it!  Do you see it too?  No?  Here, take another look!

Oh, now you do, that's better now, right?

Next I added just a few snowflakes here and there because it's all I had on hand in my little winter bag.  I suppose I could have gone out and bought more but remember I really wasn't decorating for winter this year.  Nooooo siree!  Not meee!!!

I then scattered a few snow balls here and there and I was done.  The cute little white sparkly styrofoam balls and white sequined balls were all purchased a few years ago at Michaels after Christmas sale.  I've used them once before.  They were all sitting there in my little winter bag too.   Sooo, I guess it's a good thing I CHANGED my mind.  

There's that word again.  My word for the year, CHANGE.  It just keeps poppin up over and over again.  I think it's going to be a great year!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I really do appreciate your visits.  If you live further up north where the snow storms are please be safe, I'll be praying for you.  I hope you all stay warm and if you get a chance to get outside and play, maybe you could make a few snow angels.

I promise it will be fun!

 Enjoy!

Hugs and Waves!

Mary

New Wall Groupings

Hi Friends!  Did you think I disappeared again?  Naw!  I've just been really busy jumping back and forth from project to project around here.  I am sure several of you know how that goes, right?  I am reminded of an old friend who's family used to refer to her as popcorn because you she jumped around from subject to subject constantly and you never knew what was going to pop out of her mouth next.  LOL!  True story and seriously how it's been with me and all that I've been juggling around the house.  In addition to reorganizing cabinets, bookshelves, painting, refinishing, and reorganizing my sewing and craft room,learning to embroider, I've also been taking time to ponder on some of my wall spaces.

  I've been scoping out blogs and google for images on wall groupings. I like a lot of what I've seen in regards to Charles Faudree but in some respects I also tend to lean towards a cleaner less cluttered look..   I feel like a lot of what I've been looking at and reading has been the most helpful in helping me to determine "what" to put on the walls.  So with all of that in mind, I've added a few items here and there.


Let's start in the den...Here's how the wall above the mantle in the Living room looked last summer.

  I had actually decided and already purchased what I wanted to add here a few years ago.  But for some reason I held back.  I think it was because maybe the rest of the room had not evolved enough yet for me to feel comfortable adding what I had in mind for this space. 

Here's what I had in mind for this wall,  it's plates of course!  Not just any old plates either, but beautiful sea blue and green Mediterranean style plates.

I cannot believe I waited so long to add these.  I am so glad I finally did though, what a difference.  They really add just the right amount of color and definition to the space.

Now for the other side of the room, my nautical corner.  This is how it looked last summer.

 And this is how it looks now.  I've always had this picture with the blue matting of the lighthouse on the wall here above the lantern.  I did move it over towards the corner just a bit more.

The main difference now is that I added the photograph of the lighthouse to the wall as well instead of having it here in front of the lantern.  I loved moving that picture on the wall because now it gave me space to bring in another favorite photo of mine of a sailboat from a Charleston artist.

One of the things I like most that I learned about doing wall groupings was to focus on a theme or something of that sort, especially when using pictures. 

Lastly, let's take a look at one more area that got a new wall grouping update.  This is the foyer last Easter. This photo was taken before it got the new paint job shortly after.

 And here's the foyer now!  Not only did I switch out the lamps yet again, but I added another set of mirrors.

I already had these mirror and they were just sitting upstairs in my craft room unused because I didn't like them where I originally had them.  I had even been frustrated every time I saw them sitting there because I couldn't find the exact spot to use them.  I had been focusing on using them as single accent pieces somewhere.  Not as part of a whole group. 

  I love them as part of this grouping.  I am still tweaking the rest of the foyer décor, but it will get there.  I'm holding out for Valentines décor for this space.


I hope you enjoyed this post and can see how sometimes adding groups of things can totally update the look.  I am well pleased with my choices and am enjoying them without feeling like I cluttered things up too much.  Thank you all for sharing your wall groupings because it really helped me to be able to focus on my choices as well.

Have a great day everyone!

Hugs and Waves,

Mary

Fantastic Thrifts!

Good Morning friends!  Feeling so happy to be able to share a few of my thrifty finds today with pictures from my camera.  Until today, I have been using the IPhone to download pictures and blog off of my chromebook.  Without getting into all the complicated issues with that, let's just say, what a pain!

I popped into one of my favorite thrift stores a few weekends ago and scored big time! First item up for sharing is this beautiful mahogany colored bookshelf.  It has nary a scratch or nick on it and has beautiful trim with molding.  It was only $5.00 too, what a deal right?  Wellllll, it's missing it's shelves with the exception of the built in one in the middle.  Strangely enough it still has several pins in place for where the adjustable shelves were.  I was still thrilled because I just happened to be in Lowes the other day and saw they had laminated shelves in this color.  I knew the price on those and when I added in the cost of the bookshelves I was still thrilled. Should be an easy fix, if not we'll just have to buy some wood and stain them.

 I don't know about you but bookshelves are a premium in my house.  I've been scarfing them all up for my craft/sewing room.  I was thrilled to find this one to put in our upstairs foyer between the bedrooms.  I already had a white one in this same exact spot until I took it for the craft room.  The dark colored wood fits the rest of the pieces in this small space so much better.  Please excuse the mess on the sofa, this room is still a work in progress.  It's such a tight space and I've wrestled with how to make it useful for so many years. Now, I finally have a plan.  It's going to be a reading, game and TV nook for family and guests.  We are planning to add a flat screen here where the mirror is above the small built in below.  That space was originally intended for a TV when the house was built and is cable ready so wiring this wall is going to be a snap.  We just have to recoup from Christmas and then we can look for the right sized TV, so that's the plan anyway!  Love when a plan comes together, don't you?

 Okey dokey, next up is a little something I have wanted forever!  It's one of those things I've never wanted to buy because it's like something I knew the Mr. could make.  Butttttt, it's one of those things that's never been high on my priority list to beg him to make.  I said beg, because it looks like it might be kinda annoying to make. Maybe not so annoying for some of you handy dandys, but the Mr. stress's over stuff like this. All those holes would have driven him cray cray.  LOL!  So without dragging this out and teasing ya anymore, anyone know what this is?

That's right!  It's a casserole carrier.  It's what helps keep the casserole dish from sliding all over the back trunk of the car when your off to Grandmas house or wherever you need to take a dish.  It still needs some pegs but cutting a dowel is low stress compared to drilling all those holes in precision. Don't you think?  I am going to change out the handles to some fancier ones I already have and repaint it.  I promise I will reshare when that little project is finished.  We got this!

Lastly, this little find was quite the treasure and quite the deal!  In fact it was such a good deal, I'm not even going to give you the exact number but I will say it was a single digit amount.  I don't want to say how low it was outloud because well, they are still quite in demand.

Do you know what this is?  Right again!  It's a Pampered Chef deep covered Baker.  I just love their stoneware and have a few other stoneware pieces but not this one.  I have wanted one of these for awhile now.  But once again, I'm a thrifty kind of a gal and not real big on cooking so again it's not one of those items I really wanted to spend money on.    Just as the bookshelves, this bargain find does not have one scratch or nix on it. In fact its what I would call pristine condition.   Judging from how beautifully it cleaned up it almost looks like it was never used.  It was actually dirtier on the outside then on the inside when I got it.  I was so excited I even called my local Pampered Chef rep about the proper way to thoroughly deep clean it.  I didn't want to mess it up but wanted to make sure it's been cleaned very well because I'm funny about stuff like that.  She said I only needed to use baking soda and then to cook a whole chicken for it's first seasoning.  Still haven't made the chicken yet, but hey, I got the bakeware!

Since I'm starting to get back into blogging a little more, I am going to share this post at a few parties today. I thought it would also be a great way to let some of you know I'm back to blogging some again.  It would be so nice to hear from a few of my old blog friends if your still around.  You can follow the links below to see more posts and pretties at;

Treasure Hunt Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Hope you all are off to a great day, and a great weekend too! 

Hugs and Waves!

Mary

Winter Comforts

Hi Friends!  I hope your week has been going well.  Mine sure has!  I've been so busy around the house getting things organized and ready for the new year ahead.  I have such a wonderful feeling about 2016 and feel so very grateful to be able to be home, organizing, cleaning, and creating comfort.

The other day, the sun was shining so brightly in the morning I just had to snap a few shots. Still snapping photos on my phone for now, but I'm much closer to resolving that and hope to return to my camera soon. 

It turned out to be a beautifully sunny but cold afternoon.  It was the kind of day where everything just seemed so right in the world.   Maybe, it started out that way for me because I felt so cozy and comfortable inside before setting out and about to brave the cold outside.

In my previous posts, I've been sharing with you how I've been making a few changes in the kitchen.  One of the biggest changes I made was to add curtains on the french doors.  Last weekend we got the curtain rods up and I hung the panels that I had made for the dining room a few years ago.  I had to make a few easy length adjustments and they were done.  I love the look of these so very much, I may not even worry about making any others with the darker fabric I have.  

I really haven't tried too hard to create a wintry scene in here but I did want to have the centerpiece on the table reflect the season.  These whispery white flowers I purchased a few years ago from Kirklands always make me feel so good.  They are such a great transitional look and remind me so much of paper whites.  Don't you think so?  I added in some plain willow branches to give my centerpiece a more wintry look and I was done.  I already had both the flowers and the branches.  It really could not have been an easier.

  

These are the hurricane lamps I purchased last fall on sale at Pier 1.  I think they will certainly be a new staple for me in my decor.  You may recall I used them in my centerpiece on the coffee table at Christmas. You can see that here, if you missed it.  Since I already had the snow filler inside them I decided to leave it.  I did switch out the size of the candles to a smaller set.  

I love how the snow sparkles from the reflections of the sunshine.  I wish you had better pictures to see just how pretty it really is.  These candles are electric.  If you are like me then you have these candles everywhere.  I think I may be addicted to them.  It's a good day when I find these on sale.  LOL!

I really am loving having curtains in the kitchen now.  It has just made my kitchen so much more appealing.  It's made the whole room more cozy, comfortable and inviting.  I am just so amazed that I have gone so many years without even considering them.  Of course, the Mr. has pointed out over and over again already how he has wanted to put curtains in here since day 1.  He has wanted them to help keep the sun out during our hot, hot summers.  I don't enjoy closed curtains and I especially don't like feeling too closed in.  I think I'll be safe because when I made these I didn't use lots of fabric.   I only made them just large enough to give a somewhat full look but not large enough to cover these doors certainly.  We shall see what the summer brings, but for now the winter is feeling very cozy so far!   

We're still working on more changes in here, slowly.  We getting it done though, just in between getting more organized and learning how to use my new embroidery machine.  In between, working on our sailboat and finding some time for thrift sale shopping.  Finally and most importantly getting it done in between taking care of my family and my pretty little pup too!  

Life is Good and God is Great, feeling so very thankful for all this winters comforts.

Thank you also for stopping in again and I hope you'll come back by and catch up again next time.  

Have a wonderful Thursday friends!

Hugs and Waves!

Mary

My word for 2016 - Change

Have you seen those little, "what's your" this or that type quizzes on Facebook?  I know you have, right?  I'll be honest here, I get suckered into them every time.  Usually when a friend of mine shares one, it's a good one too and I just have to play along.  I just love those crazy test things!

I have found my inspiration!

Hello!  It's me!  Hello...Can you hear me? Hello, from the outside!  Yes friends, I do believe 2016 is going to be a wonderful year because I have found my inspiration again.  Sorry for the tease, no this post is not about being inspired by the beautiful voice of Adele.  Though that could be partially true because I  have found myself pulling towards music quite a bit lately and feeling quite inspired by it.

This post is about finally feeling inspired and finding some direction with a few changes I want to make in my kitchen.  I absolutely love my kitchen, always have.  It's very large and very pretty if I must say so myself.  In fact its one of the rooms our guests gush over the most and want to congregate in as well.  Now mind you... all is not perfect in kitchen land, there are flaws.  Some of the flaws I just have to live with others not so much.  

Over last few days while waiting to take down the rest of Christmas I have found my inspiration.  Yes that's right, I am waiting. While I have taken down the kitchen Christmas decor, the rest of my house is still full on Christmas.  I have this crazy idea about taking things down before New Years.  I usually spend New Years day breaking it all down.  Last year I took everything down before New Years and let's just say, it wasn't a great year, Okay?   Sooo, this year we're sticking to New Year day breakdowns.    

Now back to my topic at hand before I bore you to tears.  I have spent the last few days thinking of ways to improve the cozy factor in my kitchen. I decided what I needed was curtains in the kitchen.  I need some textiles!   I love the Country French look I see in so many photos, blogs, pins, instas,etc.  I really want that look.  However, I think my look might be a bit more Country French Mediterranean, if there is such a thing.   I love florals and checks and such but I also love patterns and the colors of the sea.  My husband and I are sailors, so my heart also leans towards nautical as well.  Crazy mix huh?  Yeah, I know.  

Here are two different options of curtains I've been playing with that I could use in my kitchen. I've tacked them up to see if I would like having curtains before I invest in rods.   Both would work very well.  The lighter florals are some panels I had made for my dining room some time ago.  While I do like them I would need to alter the tops some as I'm not crazy about the plaid on them.  It's not a problem because the french doors are shorter then the window were so I've got the fabric.  The darker floral is yards of fabric I purchased years ago and never knew what I wanted to do with it.  I can see real possibilities here with both fabrics.  What do you think?  I also plan on strolling through some stores soon to see if anything else catches my eye now that I know exactly what I have in mind.

I have moved the smaller table over on the wall where the bakers rack used to be and love it.  I've got plans for shelves above this table.  I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and found some brackets that I just adore and they were on sale too.  I think the rustic brackets will go well with my chandelier and a few other accessories I have throughout the kitchen.  I chose brackets because I want to make a shelf that is deeper then most of the standard prepackaged display type shelves you see around.  Also they will be less difficult for hubby to mount.  Less difficulty means less fussy, and I like that!

Here's part of what has gotten me so bogged down with figuring out which direction to go in here.  I have these beautiful frenchy looking swivel bar stools that I just adore.  I have been searching for a way to bring them into the whole look without totally having to redo everything about them.  I would love to repaint them and my first thoughts were to paint them black.   

However, If I repaint them black then the seat cover is just not going to cut it.  I really don't want to have to redo the seat covers because well they are fantastically done.  They are a vinyl coated fabric and piped out and I just will not be able to recover these myself and don't want to spend money on having them redone professionally right now.    So how to mesh this look together has been the big question in my head for some time.  That is until.....I found my inspiration piece!

Did you notice it earlier?  I had it right in front of the drapes.  Ladies, I am so excited about this piece!!!   I also found it at Hobby Lobby.  I bought it fully intending to put in the den above my TV.  I had it sitting here in the kitchen and suddenly, I knew I would need to bring this color in throughout the kitchen to pull it all together.  I even think I can use this color of sea blue green on my bar stools and it will coordinate with the seat covers beautifully.  Can you say....Eureka?  This was definitely a Eureka moment. That's how I feel!  I already have several small splashes of this color throughout my kitchen but it's so drowned out by the black.  I just need to pop it back out again in a few larger splashes!  

Of course, now I've got to also find the right paint to use that matches this color.  Lucky for me this little iron piece will be easy to haul to the paint store for the exact match. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself to get started.

I love when a plan comes together, don't you?  Yes, you do too....I've seen yours and they are beautiful!  I just want to thank all of you again who inspire me so much with what all you do.  I love seeing your photos and getting inspiration for myself. That is so much of what this blogging is all about for me.   I hope maybe to share a little inspiration as well from time to time.  

And because I thought you might like to hear the music too....

Now, if you don't mind, I've really got to run because you know I just can't hold back any longer.

Have a beautiful and blessed day friends, even if it is cloudy and rainy outside.

Hugs and Waves!

Mary 

Clean up Monday

Good Morning Blogworld!  It's quite the dreary day outside again here in South Carolina.  We sure have had our fair share of rain this year.  In fact it's been one of the most unusual winter weather situations that I have ever seen.  All the rain and warmer weather temperatures sure has invited quite a bit of mold and mildew to pop up everywhere.  I have been doing all I can to stay on top of it, but gosh, enough already!  

Let's move on to bigger and brighter things, shall we?  How was your Christmas?  I really hope it was nice, ours was wonderful!  We have had what has felt like two continuous weeks of celebrations at our home.  It's been so busy that it's been almost comical to see the dog go retreat to our room for her own self imposed timeouts away from it all.  I say almost comical because she also hasn't been feeling very well and has gotten sick to her stomach a few times.  I am watching closely to see if we need a visit to the vet or if she has just overindulged much like the rest of us.  

Ooops, I promised to move on brighter things now didn't I?  Sorry about that!

Sooo, moving on!  Here's what is left of Christmas in our kitchen. The decor is all down now and I gathered up all the candy and put them all in this clear jar.  I am hopeful that Mr. and youngest son home from college will see them now and get to them quickly.  They really need to go bye-bye, know what I mean? 

Have you started putting away any of your Christmas decor yet?  Yesterday, I worked on the kitchen.  I still have 3 more rooms to do but it sure feels good to have one step down. I don't know why but for some reason I was feeling like I was on a plaid candy land overload in here.  Maybe it has more to do with candy overload but whew the plaid was getting to me too! 

 I also have another reason why I took down Christmas decor from this room first.  I want to get started on a little switch a roo.   I am going to move this small table in our kitchen entry over near the kitchen table where my bakers rack currently is.  Then I want to add floating shelves on the wall above it.  I've seen so many of you sharing your shelves and I love the look.

I've had this bakers rack here for awhile now and while I do love it, I feel it's a bit large.  It was fine when I had the round table in here but now that I have the longer rectangular table it seems a bit tight.  I am hoping the smaller buffet style table I have will fit this space better without sticking out to far.  We shall see anyway.  So that's the plan for today on this dreary day.  To shift more things around and possibly scout out some shelves.  That's the plan unless I get distracted, again, because....

I've saved the brightest of all news for last.   Look what I got for Christmas!  Y'all I am just so excited about this.  It's an embroidery machine.  I have wanted one of these for soooo very long friends.  Some of you may recall that I have worked in not just one but two embroidery shops in my retail history.  I was always on the retail end of things, working in the storefront and taking the orders for custom work to be done but not actually doing the embroidery.  Don't get me wrong, I loved working in the store, yes mam!  I can honestly say I have never been interested in learning embroidery as a trade, but as a hobby I am all for it.  I am so excited about this because now I will be able to continue to enjoy the creative aspect of embroidery.  I am also excited because hopefully one day I will have grands that I can spoil with monogrammed items and I get to learn how to do it now, waaay before that happens.  

The embroidery machine I have is a Brother PE770.  I have been scoping this machine out for sometime  and doing all the comparisons.  Like for years!  I feel it is the best choice for me based on what all it has and can do.  I decided on this one because the machine I would prefer, the Babylock, starts in the thousands.  I was not opposed to spending more for a good machine but I wasn't keen on the idea of spending thousands on something that I don't even know if I'll be good at.  After working with excellent embroiders you tend to be a little picky on your embroidery.   This machine has everything I need for what I want to use if for.  I think that's important to know right off the bat.  I has a larger 5x7 hoop to start and you can buy a larger one to use beyond that.  I feel like most of what I need for me personally will fall in the 5x7 hoop size.   It also has a USB port for me to transfer designs or fonts that I want to use after downloading them from my computer.  I am currently checking into a few different softwares for editing and learning all about them as well as about my new machine.  As much as I want to jump right in and stitch something out, I am taking it slow. 

 One of the best things I have also found is the amount of support I have been able to find for this machine.  I first started finding youtube videos online that others had made.  Then I found a few very active support groups on Facebook all specifically centered around the Brother PE770.  Interestingly enough there are several Babylock owners in the group as well.   I think that's because they also use the same PES files and have similarities to the Brother machines.  I even read that someone said that Brother and Babylock are like Ford and Chevy.  I don't quite know if that's true or not but sure did make me happy to read.  I especially have been very pleased to read how so many people in the embroidery groups who are doing professional embroidery still have their Brother PE770 even after adding newer more industrial machines.  They refer to the PE770 as their little backup workhorse.  Yay!  I feel so good about this choice and really don't want to screw it up.  I want to read and learn as much as I can about this to get it right.  Now that the holidays are winding down I hope to be getting a jump here soon.  Woohoo!

I truly hope all of you also had a wonderful and blessed Christmas as well.  I would love to here if you did.  I would also love to hear your thoughts on the shelves above the table as well.  Thank you so much for visiting.  

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!