A Marshall's Gift Card

What is a girl to do when her hubby gives her a gift card to Marshall's for Christmas??

{She found out right quick!}

She heads for the nearest store and spends it! lol

I had seen these spools of ribbon and trim in TJ Maxx and Home Goods before Christmas
and loved them, but did not purchase any.

I was trying to be good and I am downright proud of myself :)

I also picked up this gray throw.

With everything half off you can get twice as much..

WIN, WIN!!

Blessings~

Kitchen decor redo

I have wanted to change up the decor in my kitchen for awhile now and finally accomplished
that today.  I didn't purchase one thing, but rather went shopping throughout my home and
 I thought it turned out great. Something different and fun.   I made hubby a coffee station
which I also turned into a tea station for me! :)

{I was inspired to hang the clocks on the window from Tracey's  blog over at
French Larkspur...and also the 3 tiered metal stand. I am in no way an expert
like she is, but I like to play anyway. lol}

If you remember I used this chalkboard at my Fairy Party this summer.
The coffee pods are in the hanging basket which I JUST realized says
FLEURS!! How funny is that!! Maybe I should turn the basket
around. HA!

Crowns are always in style. Funny story here...I decided I wanted my crown gray so
I spray painted it, totally forgetting that it had rhinestones on it {fake}. I thought
I would clean them off , but never did. Oh well...:)

These cutie pie chocolate eggs were found in the cupboard from Easter. They had not
even been opened yet. I can't believe that! Ferrero hazlenut...yumm!!

Still in love with my french style totes and use them a lot!

Would you like to come for coffee...or tea? :)

Some of my pretty vintage spoons ready to use.

My painted table and mismatched chairs. I still want either a rectangle table or a chippy
white island...someday.

Hmm...I am NOT good at noticing things in photos until I actually post them.
 There isn't anything in my cloche on the table! A few days ago it was full of
blueberry scones! Someone in this house must have liked them, but we won't
say who! Maybe two someones...???

Clock face and linens...what can be better?

Pretty vintage plates with tiny aqua roses on them perfect for a treat with coffee or tea.

I love this candle-holder above, but most of the time it sets on the floor as it is
very large. {That little tiny piece of bittersweet is NOT supposed to be up there
on that shelf. ha! Another oops! Looks kind of silly all by itself }

What you can't see is that I have made a mess of my border up at the ceiling. I don't even
want border, but until we remodel this kitchen {hopefully in a year or two} it is what it
is so I got the brilliant idea to paint it.  I did three layers of paint in different colors and
then appliqued a fleur-de-lis on with drywall mud. LOVE the concept and it turned out
okay, but the color is NOT right at all. Haven't figured out what to do yet. At this point
I have tried three different things and UGH!

Hope you enjoyed my attempt at redoing my kitchen decor.
Happy Thursday!!

Making a new crate look old

First off let me  put a disclaimer on here. I am not a professional nor do I profess to be one, but I was pretty
happy with the way these crates turned out. I am not that great at tutorials either because face it gals,
I paint with my right hand so I can't paint and snap a photo at the same time , but I have tried to show you
step by step what I did. I do hope that you get some good out of it and try it on your own new crates.

Okay first off I started with two crates like the one shown above and also a smaller one.
I picked the larger ones up at a garage sale this summer and the smaller one at Goodwill.

Isn't that quite a difference?? Finished product on the top and original one on the bottom.

First, I painted it all with white paint {see I told you...I am NOT good at tutorials. I forgot
to put that picture on here! oops} Hopefully you don't need that step. I just painted the crate
very loosely  with some of the original color still showing through.

{I used  eggshell/satin *country cloud* from Walmart.  BHG brand that I have had for a couple years}

Then I got out my *drizzle grey* paint and my antiquing medium in
*apple butter brown*.

{truth be told I have had this antiquing medium FOREVER}

You can't tell it very well here {in fact I wonder if it is the right photo!}, but I just loosely painted the gray on concentrating on some of the spots that didn't get the white paint, but kinda overall as well.

Then it was time to antique it. The brown antiquing medium was thick just like paint, so I put some
in a cup and added water until it was runny. I slathered it on with another paintbrush...again here and
there. Some spots got more than others.

Then I wiped it all off and wa -la!! Instant old looking crate. I was kinda scared to do the antiquing because
I thought I might not like it so I tried it on the bottom first and decided it was a GO!!!

Two finished crates that I think look so much better than when I started.

{Yep, I recycle my old McDonalds cups. They work great for paint or for cleaning brushes out!!}

Please let me know if you try this technique and how it turned out. I will say that my gray paint seemed to
be thinner than most paint and I am sure that worked to my advantage. I could even wipe some of that off
 if I thought there was too much on.  I have had a fun morning making these crates over. {I also
painted a chair, but that was not so fun! ha!}

HAPPY MONDAY and enjoy your week!

Mini crate makeover

I found this cute little crate at the Goodwill and while it is not from France I still thought
it would be cute fixed up. It started out a grayish/ blue color and it just didn't do anything
for me so I gave it a light gray/white paint makeover and then rubber stamped it with a script
design. I do like it much better this way. :)

I grabbed a handful of lilacs yesterday and brought them inside to showcase the mini crate.

This little crate can be such a versatile piece. It can be used for flowers or you can put glassware in
it, drinks, silverware etc. The sky is the limit. { I was too lazy to put any actual food or drink in today}

I found six of these glass pieces at the Goodwill the last time I was there. They are marked
 Ikea and made in Italy on the bottom. I paid 55 cents each so I think I got a bargain. :)

I so want some white lilacs and we did plant a bush about two or three years ago, but so
far no flowers. This year it looks like it MIGHT have one flower on it. I sure hope
 it flowers more next year.

I hope you enjoyed my lilacs today. Can't you just smell them? I went out on the back porch
this morning and was hit with their fragrance as soon as I opened the door. Scrumptious!!

Linking up with White Wednesday over at Faded Charm today.