Anchored in Love or Romance in the Kitchen?

What's your Valentines style?  I am sure it wouldn't be to big of surprise to hear I'm a little bit of both.  Sorry friends, no true confessions or seedy love stories here today just a few pretties around the house all dressed up for Valentines. 

Yesterday while I was thumbing through Pinterest looking for more cork hearts I came across a pin for an anchor and well let's just say it was the bomb for me. You know the big OMG bomb!

I have had all these corks (minus the one bag I just about emptied on todays project) for quite some time.   I knew I would do something really cool with them eventually but had yet to find anything I was super inspired to actually try.  I have found a few really beautiful cork wreaths yet they looked so intimidating.  This project however was just right up my ally.

So last night, I lined up my corks to make the anchor and then got my work station in my craft room all ready.  This morning after coffee and my last blog post requesting help, I popped upstairs and fired up the glue gun.

 This project took so little time once the gluing began.  I was amazed at how fast it went without any issues, with the exception of one blistered thumb that got in the way of progress.    I know some of you may be thinking what's the big deal?  Well, the big deal is I didn't just pin it, or share it, or like it, I actually did it and that is a big deal!  Anyone can be an observer, but I am in action mode now days.

 I just love how cute these are!  This Valentines display is definitely one I can relate to.  Besides being sailing partners, I have always referred to my husband as my anchor here on Earth.  He is the one who keeps my feet on the ground and keeps things stable when needed.  He reassures all will be well if all is well between us.  What a blessing from God is our relationship!

 I decided to put this display on the coffee table with some faux roses I have used for Valentines many times over.  Sorry, no fancy smancy floral display in here, I like keeping things simple sometimes.   I did think the Rewine candle next to it was quite appropriate though.  I love the smell of these candles.  If you haven't tried one yet you really need too they are wonderful!

One more little small update in the den was I added a metal X and O to the Love plaque I made and have sitting on the mantle.  I found these yesterday at Michaels when I went to buy some more glue sticks.  They are part of the Mark It collection they have and are on sale this week.

 While I kept things simple in the den, I couldn't help but get a little more lavish in the kitchen.  More specifically on my tiered metal plate rack.  Love, love, love how this turned out as well.  Why have I not used this for displays more often?  Let the romance begin!

I've had this pretty metal dish rack in the kitchen for some time now. I have recently been tiring of its location and I tried moving it several times but due to the height this is the best spot.  I even thought about getting rid of it before I decided to try using it more for a display piece as opposed to a functional piece.  Sounds kinda crazy I know, to be so excited about this.  But I'm glad to have a new focus for this rack and I really enjoy putting these types of displays together.

 The first thing I knew I wanted to use was my heart plates.  These are just some inexpensive melamine salad size plates I picked up a few years ago.  They sure do make a cute display when their not serving up a whole lotta lovin!

The next things I knew I wanted to use were my cupid angels.  Aren't they so sweet?  I've had these plastic angels forever.  They are what set the tone for the rest of the display.  I think they are so romantic and somewhat Victorian looking.   After looking around the house I decided polished and tarnished silver would be a nice fit for the Victorian look and how perfectly appropriate in a romantic theme.  Yeah, see I'm really thinking it though here, the ups and downs of romance and all!

Talk about the downside of romance, this little beauty is sitting on her jar of hearts. She has quite the collection doesn't she? 

Poor dear, maybe one day she will also find someone with a heart of gold to lavish her with hugs and kisses daily.  These sweet X and O's also came from Michaels yesterday. They are quite heavy little things.  Very cute and all letters are available in the whole alphabet.

I am linking up to one party today.  I may join a few of these from time to time but taking it slow so I can be sure and check out the other party goers posts as well.  Let's see what going on for... 

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Thanks so much for stopping by dreamer friends!

Hugs and Waves!

Sharing a Little LOVE

Good morning again dreamer friends!  Two posts in one week, whew, look out!

Yesterdays post was mostly all about letting go with a few sneak peeks at my latest embroidery adventures.  I am sure some of you who have followed over the years were not surprised to see such long windedness though.  Don't worry, it's not going to be a habit here at the Decorative Dreamer, but if you know me you do know I can go on a bit from time to time.  No worries here, it was closure and we are moving on!  Life is good!

Todays post is definitely back to norm sharing pretties and such.  These flowers are just a few oldies that I have hung onto forever and day and never put in a display.  I pulled them out at Christmas and have kept them out for Valentines too.  I am thinking they may not make it back to storage.  I may have to donate them to someone who will appreciate them more then I.  However, they will get their show of a little love for the season.

Yesterday I finished up the plaque I was working on and wanted to share it with you today.

As I showed in yesterdays post this is the beginning stages.  I first embroidered the word LOVE using a font that I purchased for my machine  I like the swirly look to all the capital letters of this font.

When I stitched it out it puckered a bit because I guess I didn't have quite the right stabilizer.  I'm still in a learning curve so give me a break on that okay?  Okay! 

I found an old piece of wood in our garage where I keep my husbands scraps and spray painted it red.  I used Krylon Cherry Red.  I love how deep the color is.

 
Then after cutting out the word, I added a little modge podge to the underside of the fabric and the edges.  I even tried to give them a frayed edge look but it was kinda hard to get this fabric to fray.  I was definitely going for a more rustic homemade look. 

 I already had the black and white jute, flowers and floating glitter hearts on hand as well.  All it needed was a little glue from the glue gun and I was done.  Sew simple, and sew sweet!  Those are terms I am picking up from my embroidery group. 

I still haven't really gotten into full on Valentines decorating yet.  Have you?  I am getting there a little bit at a time.

I am taking my time with pulling it all out so I can think on it more.  You know dreaming a bit!

Well, that's all I've got to share for today.  Oh wait, let me reshare this plaque from my kitchen one more time with you.  It's kinda filled with LOVE inspiration too.  Don't cha think?

  It's been such a strong focus of mine to live by these words everyday. 

Look how the camera flash highlights God.

Love it!

I'm linking up to
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Stop by the link above to check out lots more treasures.

Hope your day and weekend is filled with all that bring you joy!

Thanks so much for dropping in again,

Hugs and Waves!

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