Growing Paperwhites for Christmas is one of my favorite holiday traditions. There is something about their tall stems and pristine pure white blossoms that dress up a room so perfectly. Plus, with everything so bleak and barren outdoors, fresh new life and bright green stems just make me happy. If you would like to add this lovely touch to your holiday decor, you need to purchase your bulbs now. I have had Paperwhite bulbs start blooming two weeks after planting them....but some years they have taken three weeks or more to bloom. Bloom time is not an exact science. … [Read more...]
Today I have some tips on how to dry and debug pine cones. Or...as I prefer to call it...how to make pine cones pop. Okay...some will make popping sounds and some won't. Anyways.... What we're really trying to do is take those recently gathered pine cones, all closed up, damp from the rain and ground, dry them out and help them bloom (pop open) to their full potential. Pine cones are the flowers of the evergreen family. You gotta love any flower that stays beautiful almost indefinitely after it blooms. I have boxes and boxes of pine cones. Many of them are from the … [Read more...]
Welcome to Day 24 of 31 Extraordinary Days to Be... Or...simply: Be... Together, we will learn to Be… to live fully and beautifully in our “skin” and in our homes and beyond. If you missed The Introduction or you'd like to follow the entire series, you can find each post listed here. If you've been following this blog for even a little while, you have a pretty good idea of how much I enjoy God's magnificent creation. So for fun, I thought I'd put together a little vignette. As so often happens...one thing morphed into another. It started … [Read more...]
Since I couldn't go to the beach....I decided to bring the beach to my house this summer. It's amazing what you can do with some sand, shells, and stuff from the stash. Join me for a super simple seashell art DIY project. Who knows why I purchased this small square photo frame at The Dollar Tree some time ago. As I was trolling my stash, I was so excited to find it, and the wheels started turning. This post contains affiliate links. Then I remembered I had some scrapbook paper in coastal colors. Yay! Originally I purchased it for making some masculine … [Read more...]
I couldn't wait any longer. It was time to get out my can of spray paint and indulge in a little coastal decor DIY makeover! This summer I really started missing the Great Lakes. I'm a 'Mitten State' girl who grew up a bicycle ride away from Lake Michigan. And more recently we lived 20 minutes away from Lake Erie and 40 minutes from Lake Ontario. Spending time at the beach in the summer is one of those things that renews my spirit. Since I wasn't going to be making the trip to the beach, I decided to bring the beach home. It may not be the same. But, I have had a ton of fun … [Read more...]
One of my favorite things to decorate in my home is a vintage window. It hangs like a piece of art on my wall. The beauty of a vintage window is that it's a wonderful blank canvas for giving your room some seasonal decor. Its shabbiness provides a textural contrast in more traditional or contemporary decor. It's fun to be creative with ideas in just a small space. It can change with the season or your whim. It's great for whimsical paper-crafting projects that just don't 'work' elsewhere. Last November my friend gifted me with a lovely window. It's perfectly imperfect. And hung sideways it … [Read more...]
When you live in an older home, circa 1950, with a basement laundry area, you just might not have all those wonderful modern, out-of-sight hook-ups for the washer and dryer. So what's a gal to do when she doesn't like looking at the vent and the water faucets? Create a cute laundry room skirt to hide the "unmentionables." It really is an easy solution. And a pretty cute one too!! Last year, I happened upon a bag of miscellaneous fabrics for $1 at the thrift store. It was truly a mixed bag. When I decided to create a skirt to hide the "unmentionables" in my laundry … [Read more...]
It's been a busy week, but the laundry room makeover is almost complete! And today I'm going to show you some of the art that I created for my laundry room decor. As you come down the stairs and turn to the left, this wall is the focal point of the laundry area, here's the before shot. Because I wanted the area to look whimsical and inviting to do laundry, I decided on my zero budget to create art for my laundry room decor with what I had on hand; some clothespins, black cardstock, leftover paint, and a thrift store find. My laundry room decor began … [Read more...]
Last night I had an Oh, No! experience. It was one of those heart-sinking realizations. "My readers must think that I am too good to reply to their thoughtful comments on the blog." Those were my thoughts. I was sure you thought I was a blogging snob. "She must think_______." Or something equally not true. I had no idea that when I took the time to reply to all your sweet comments that you had no idea that I did. Somewhere along the line I neglected to add a plugin, something called Comment Reply Notification. When I started this blog I worked really hard to get the … [Read more...]
It's time to display our red, white, and blue! Stars and stripes! Buntings, banners, garlands, wreaths, and.... Old Glory! It's time to get in the spirit of the holiday! Here's a simple, but festive way to.... Decorate a Vintage Window with a Patriotic Wreath and Garland for the 4th of July This garland might look a little bit familiar. I made a similar more simple star garland for my sunroom, which is all decked out for the Fourth of July! A handful of stars were left over from that project...just enough to create a garland for the vintage … [Read more...]
Are you waving the flag for Memorial Day? I thought it would be fun to share a super easy little project to add a little patriotism to a wall or front door. Easy Flag Ribbon Wreath & Tutorial Here's the "how to"..... One. Gather some red, white, and blue ribbon. You can see that I got mine on deep clearance a while ago. Keep your eye out for out-of-season trims for the best prices. And...really when I bought it I had no idea how I would use it. But, the colors were just right. It would be great to use three solid colors, too. Two. Use an existing wreath that is … [Read more...]
Don't you love these Snowball Viburnum blossoms? My neighbor has a huge bush of them and I was able to clip a few stems to make some floral arrangements for the house. You might remember last week I shared about Snowball blossoms in the post, Look what the wind blew in. This time, I wanted to do something that was more traditional, dressy even, for the chest in my great room. The Snowball bush's stems are not very orderly in nature and I was trying to figure out how I could arrange them in a compact, as opposed to floppy, manner. So, I went scouting through the cabinets … [Read more...]
Do you have a framed print that you like, but the mat needs to be refreshed? Several people have commented about this wall art which makes an appearance whenever I share a new vignette on my piano. This is the latest iteration. Today I'm going to show you an Easy DIY Book Page Mat Tutorial. Last year I picked up a typical pink floral print with a mauve mat in a gold frame from the thrift store. It screamed early 90's and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. So it sat in my studio whispering my name. By now, you must know that I am smitten with book pages. Is it because … [Read more...]
Spring! Where art thou? How would you like to bring a bit of spring into your home without it breaking the bank? Yes, please!! Patience, please. I'll get there in a minute. If you've been a reader for a while you may remember that I stuck branches up in my sunroom this winter for Christmas and hung red snowflakes from them. It was part of transforming my sunroom into a Swedish Christmas room. I loved those snowflakes and left them up all winter. After I cut the snowflakes down I was left with these bare branches. Oh my...they couldn't stay like that. I had a choice...either take … [Read more...]
Welcome! From the moment you step foot on the brick pathway to my front door, I want you to feel welcome. For me, hospitality starts outside my front door. When you come to the door, my goal is for you to already be sensing that you are important and valued. In addition to laying down the welcome mat a great way to make our homes look and feel inviting is to add a seasonal wreath to the front door. Beautify the Front Door for Easter with a Burlap & Pastel Grapevine Wreath As you might guess, I have a few seasonal wreaths that I change out … [Read more...]
Welcome to.... Decorative Paper {Pennant, Garland, Flag, Bunting} Banner-Making 101* By the time you complete this easy DIY tutorial, you should have a lovely pennant banner to grace your wall or mantel. Are you ready? Let's start! For way too long I have been admiring the lovely pennant banners that grace walls, mantels, porches, windows, and more. I wanted a lovely flag garland to drape somewhere in my home, but I needed a pattern, a how-to. One day the desire overcame the need for a how-to and I created my own lovely pennant flag banner. Keep in mind that beauty is in the eye … [Read more...]
The other day I wanted to do something fun for St. Valentine's Day. And I wanted to do it quick. Let me present to you this sweet... Framed 3-D Valentine Heart & Tutorial This is a quick and easy bit of Valentine home decor to make.... using a photo frame, a piece of fabric, magazine pages, scissors, and glue. This day of love will be here before you know it! Here is a great way to use things you already have on hand to create a sweet, heart-moment for that perfect spot that needs just a little bit of loving. But before we take off on our little … [Read more...]
