Ladies who Inspired Me

Congratulations to Vanessa for starting such a wonderful new party!  Yesterday, when I first visited her blog and saw this wonderful new party I thought to myself, what a great concept!  She is hosting a party where you get to post about something that has inspired you.  While I was sitting there thinking how wonderful the concept was I was also thinking, but I don't have anything to share.


With everything I have been up to this week, it has left little time for reflection so I didn't think I had been inspired very much by anyone or anything in particular.  Oh but I was wrong!  This morning, while I was breaking out my newest goodies from Michaels and thinking of all the wonderful bargains I got it hit me.  I have been inspired this week!   All of my purchases from Michaels were inspired by a few very wonderful blogging buddies.   So I am thrilled to give credit where credit is due. 

Everything shown here was purchased on sale!  Most of the items here are part of the Tuscan Home line which was on sale for 50% off, tucked away in an obscure part of the store.

Now let's get to the inspirational part of my post.

I went shopping at Michaels because I wanted to find some more things to add to my fall decor.  I have been seeing lots of fall decor pop up here and there in blogland.  But one such post in particular that inspired me to "get started" was from Pat at Back Porch Musings.  I just loved her simple and elegant fall tabletop, it inspired me to start looking for things now.  While this urn is not one that she has, it's one I could envision her using as an accent piece on one of her side tables.  Not to mention I also got it at a bargain price of 40% off.

This simple fern is also another item I could envision her displaying.  Sometimes the simplest items can make such an elegant display.  It was on clearance for 80% off and came to only .99 cents.

I almost didn't get the red tall watering can.   It was the only one left and had other flowers sitting in it.  It is part of the Tuscan Home line so it was 50% off also.  I kept picking it up and setting it down again.  I already had another vase I was buying the stems for but this one just kept calling me back.  Why?  Because other then the style being so fantastic it was the color, red.  I have been inspired by so many of the red accents from Kim at Savvy Southern Style.  I have never really found myself that much of a red fan until I saw the way she brings red into the home.  Can't you just see her using this pitcher too and all the flowers as well in her french country decor.

The birds I could say have been inspired to me by so many of you.   I have always used birds in my decor too, but there is one blogger in particular who's birds have always caught my eye and brought a new light to them for me.  She is the one I always think of when I see a new bird, especially one for a bargain.  When I saw these, I literally was thinking, Oh Marty at A Stroll thru Life , would love this deal on these birds.  They were 50% off of $2.99.

The little brown ones are cute but I'm not a fan of the gold swirls on these, but again I was inspired by Marty because I remembered how once she posted about adding some glaze to one of her small birds.  She even had a post about fixing a rooster just this week.  I plan to paint the swirls on these birds black or a dark brown, since they are to be my fall birds.  What do you think?

Now please do not despair over the flowers. I have not yet arranged them. They are simply sitting in this container. I have four different bunches here. I'm thinking I may have enough to do an additional arrangement in another container too. 

It was our friend Debbie at Debbiedoos who inspired me to go get some flowers this week.  These sunflowers in particular!  She just did a post of hers this week that really spurred me into action.  I just adored the cute little crow she used in hers but just could not get those big bright yellow flowers out of my system.  I knew they would look great on my front porch!  Especially with this new container too!

Thank you so much to all of you lovely ladies for making my home more enjoyable!  I guess I really was inspired this week and have been for some time, little by little.

Hope you enjoyed this post today.  Please be sure and visit Vanessa at http://southerninmyheart.blogspot.com/ for Inspiration Friday and

for more inspired bloggers!

Thanks for coming by, have a great weekend!

Mary

Blue Summer School

Good Morning Miss Jenny!  How are you today?  Yes mam, I am here today!  No mam, I did not skip your class last week, I just failed to show up!  No mam, I am NOT trying to be funny, see I did my homework and everything.  Heck, I was even a day early on that, I just forgot to show up on the right day!  If you don't believe me, just look, I brought it with me to you can see.  Here's my homework from last week, can I please still get credit?  Come on!  Purrrtyyy please!!!


See, I been so busy it's hard to tell when I'm coming or going lately!  Ever felt like that?  I do all the time!  Yes mam, I do know that's none of your concern but I thought you'd want to know, me being your favorite student and everythang!  Urr, I mean every thing! Why yes, I was feeling a little blue about missing out on my favorite class too!  That didn't last too long though, since I got so much going on ya know, I don't have time for no whining and poor pitiful me stuff!


Let me show ya what I been up to.

I've been painting this here blue room!  It's been blue since the day we moved into this house.  Well, it ain't blue no more!  I did such a good job on it and my husband said, "Well it finally looks like it belongs to the rest of our house now!  LOL!  You'll have to visit me on Monday to see that!

Blue is one of my favorite colors, I know I say that about each one but it's true!  Let me show you all this blue stuff I got and then you'll see.

I got blue pillows, I made myself!

Most of my pictures have blue matting.  There's more then these but I was in a hurry and forgot to photograph them.

This picture and..

... this picture are Madeline Carols, she does ghost image prints, very cool stuff!

I just love my blue Lampe Berger!  It' a cloche Berger now! 

My favorite candy dish from when I was a child.

A new blue addition, I have two of these seeded candle holders

Blue faux (that's fancy talk for fake) hydrangeas.  I got me some real ones too, but they done bloomed.

Speaking of outside I got blue out there too!

 

I painted this little table myself this summer.  No mam, I didn't do that tile work myself.  Yes, I do think it's a great match now, your right!

I also painted this garden chair blue too!  Lawsy, Miss Jenny you are so funny!  That's just a little old bitty chair.  It ain't for sitting, it's just for show.  Mam?  Yes man, I meant it ISN'T for sitting!

Yep, same ole blue was put on my lanterns!

Now here's a different blue for ya, it's a turquoise watering can.

This blue here was my favorite, but it's gone now!  We had a storm come take it out this summer.  Broke my heart it did!  That's right, I will always have my memories.  Sniff..sniff.

No mam, I don't want you to start feeling blue now, I gotta another one now.  It's got blue in it too.  As a matter of fact, Miss Jenny, you would love it cause it's got every color of the rainbow!

See!  Beautiful!  That' should give me extra credit for sure!  I hope this class goes by quick today cause I gotta run, so much to do, so little time!

Be sure and stop my Miss Jenny's today if you got the time for more Rainbow Summer School @

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by ya hear!  Holler at me too!

Little Missy (aka Mary)

Bakers Rack Vignette and More

I'm starting to see more hints of autumn popping up all over blog land.  I just love decorating for this time of year, don't you?  So many beautiful colors!  I just couldn't help myself, I had to do another area of transition.  Mind you, we are not there yet, but are moving in the direction.


 I'm sharing a few pre-season changes to my bakers rack for Tabletop Tuesday @ http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/  and for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/.


 I am so glad I got this piece!  It was a fantastic yard sale bargain you can read all about here.  It is going to be so much fun to have a place to display seasonal decor on the porch.  It really is taking tons of will power not to pull out the pumpkins and such but I've got to save something for you to look at for later. right?  So, here is my modest new make over on the bakers rack.

So sorry for the overcast look but I was up late working on this last night and then had to snap the photos early this am.  I've got quite a busy day so I just can't wait for the sun to appear in all it's glory.  Besides, I really don't want to deal with the heat when it comes either!  What's that on floor there, are the leaves dropping already?

Only the leaves off a few branches of my potted Ivy that I didn't water enough.  I thought those dead leaves my get you excited for fall though, is it working?

I am loving the colors I've used on this so far!

Let's start with the top shelf.

The blackbirds are back!  They were a steal on the Hobby Lobby clearance shelf.

I added an old small floral swag with beautiful fall flowers.  It looks great with the metal on this lantern I got at a yard sale this spring.

I just love the color contrast around the black birds.

Now for the second shelf...

I kept this bronze scrolly thingy because I really love the color and woven design, Hobby Lobby clearance isle $2.00!

Then I added two small woven baskets just big enough for a lemon each.  I know, I know,  work with me here okay?

And finally the bottom shelf!

I just love this little trio!

I added a few flowers to my little black tin watering can.  It's the one I got for $1.00 from Hobby Lobby.  Do you recognize that stand?  Yep, it's those wonderful votive holders we all got from the dollar tree this year.  So versatile!

My husband added this compass to our bakers rack this summer.  Word of advice to you younger ladies, for a happy marriage never discard your hubbies decorating ideas.  Work with them!

I love the colors on this compass and only recently thought to put it on the stand, even though he insists a compass is supposed to be lying flat!  Men!  Tip No.2, they must learn to work with you too!  It's all about compromise!

On the opposite side I added my beautiful blue bowl filled with nuts from our yard.  I collected these nuts years ago and put them in this dish.  It comes out every fall!  I just love it!

It will be beautiful to see the sun reflect through this bowl, when it comes out today.  I will have to make a point to come see since I am going to be working upstairs.  Here's a peek at my latest project in the works.  I am so excited!

Can you guess what I am doing?

That's right I am taking over my oldest sons room!  Don't worry he still has a place when he comes home.  See, this child actually had 2 rooms, since we have 3 rooms upstairs.  My youngest son claimed the largest room that has an attached bath and my oldest son claimed the other two rooms and the hall bath.  One room was where his bed and dresser were and the other room was where his desk, TV, guitars, etc. were.  It was the room to hang out in with his friends.  Pretty smart, huh? 

While he's been away in college I have taken over the larger hang out room and set it up as my craft/sewing/guest room.  You have seen it before.   I have now decided to turn that into a total guest/hangout/oldest sons room for when he does come home.  Does that make sense?

That leaves this small room completely open for my office/craft/sewing room!  It also means I can leave it as messy as I want should guests come.  LOL!   Those drapes are so coming down!

I totally emptied the room and am using more Ooops paint I've had laying around.  I told you I collect those cans didn't I?  I just can't hardly walk away from a $5.00 can of paint in a color I like because I know I will use it someday.

 

Just so you know I'm telling ya the truth, here's a peek at the green room now!  It's piled high with furniture for the moment, but I've got a great floor plan for it too.  I know my son will enjoy it when he comes home and hopefully so will guests too! 

Well, like I said, I've got a busy day and I'm already a few hours behind.

See ya later!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment if you do!

I love hearing from you.

Lamp Fix And...

Yay!  I fixed my lamp!  Nope, it wasn't broken, just hideous!  It surely didn't start out hideous, I can take ALL the credit for that.  Me and my impatient self.  Let me show you how my lamp started out when I first acquired it. 

Here it is when I brought it home from the yard sale.  Do you remember I told you I bought this lamp with the shade for only $3.00?  I would have bought it at the $5.00 they originally had it priced at but they offered it to me for less.  It was closing time and they certainly didn't want to take it back inside.   I really liked it as it was but wanted to give a little something extra special.

So I added glaze to it!  I used my Burt Sienna glaze and really should have known better but I was trying to use what I had on hand.  It wasn't a horrible look but was waaaay bronzier then I wanted it.  I just kept thinking in my head I should have used a Mocha glaze.

This is how it looked going on...

This is how it looked after drying a few days, very bronze!

I let it sit as it was for the summer until a few weeks ago when I finally went out and bought some Mocha glaze.  For some strange reason I seemed to think I could just add the Mocha right over the Burnt Sienna and all my troubles would be solved.  I probably came to this conclusion after trying to wipe off the Burnt Sienna but it wasn't coming off easily.  I thought to myself, I'll just cover it up then!  So I did, and it certainly wasn't as bronze as it was before but...

This is what I ended up with after two coats of Mocha glaze when I made myself stop and take a breather.  It sooo wasn't turning out the way I had envisioned it in my head!  It was time for a break and to rethink this project.

Hideous!

I really wanted to just add an off white glaze and be done with it.  But I wasn't thrilled with the streaks from the glaze that I left on the lamp either, I left too many!  Since the glaze was not wiping off as easy as I had thought it would I was contemplating starting over.  You know, spray painting the whole lamp and then doing a mocha glaze.  But there had to be an easier way.  Then I saw the lamps that Kim @ Savvy Southern Style did and realized what I needed to do, so I did it and Woohoo!

 I went down to the basement and picked up a fresh piece of sandpaper and went to town.  I sanded and buffed until I got the look I wanted and then added the off white glaze.  Perfecto!  Thank you Kim, sanding was the extra step I had not thought of.  It really gave the lamp a wonderful blended look and helped the final coat of glaze achieve the look I knew it would!  I really need to work on being less impatient!

 

While I like some streaking I wasn't digging the whole lamp being as streaked as I had it before. Not any more though!

I love having the gold shine through again too.  I have lots of gold frames and accents in my dining room  where this lamp is.   The gold of the lamp was never really the problem I just didn't want a solid gold colored lamp.

 

I think it looks aged to perfection now!

And the off white glaze on top softens the whole look beautifully.

Whew!  I am finally well pleased with this project!

I am happy to be joining http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ for Metamorphosis Monday.  It's the party where we all get to show off our latest transformations.

Follow the link above for more wonderful stories of change.

Ooops!  I almost forgot..I finished all the yellow pillows for the couches!  This project is not totally finished since I still have the red pillows to do yet, but I thought you'd like to see a little more progress.  Amazing how much easier it is to sew in a room with air conditioning that works.

Looking better, 4 down and 4 more to go! 

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me a note if you do!  Hope you had  a great weekend too!

Mary