Invincibelle Spirit!

First of all... *HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY*!!  I hope you enjoy the day celebrating this great country that we live in. Although it is not a perfect country, it is still the best in the world and I thank God for that. 

My Invincibelle Spirit hydrangeas have really taken off and blessed me this year with tons of gorgeous blooms.  I purchased two of these plants a couple years ago at Menards during their end of season sale. They were on clearance for $5 each {regular $24 each} and I hoped they would live for me and thrive...and they have! I am so happy with them. 

I took the opportunity yesterday to take a few goodies outside for a photo shoot. I am not an expert in styling at all, but I  try to put pretty things together and see how it goes. I love the elements that I chose and love the way the photos turned out. 

Such delicate and gorgeous flowers ~ 

Pretty pink blooms laying on my french style napkins from Pottery Barn ~ 

I love adding vintage clock faces in my decor so I added one here as well ~

We will be heading out to my moms soon for a fourth of July cookout and it is shaping up to be a fun day! We usually go to a local parade, but I don't think we will have time for that this year.
Happy fourth everyone!!

Joining Fishtail Cottage Garden Party # 11. Click here to visit!

Blessings~ 

It's all in the details...

My nephew and his wife recently welcomed  their first little treasure into their house and she is a beauty! Of course that meant Sandi had to go shopping for a sweet little girl to welcome her into the family. I know it is a hard life, but someone has to do it. lol

As soon as I saw these adorable little shoes I knew they were meant for Karleigh Brynn.

I put them in a cellophane bag, sprinkled in a few silk flowers petals...

...added a tag and a string bow and they were sent on their way.

I think she will look adorable in them...what do you think?

Shutter finally up and a WINNER!

I have still been working in the kitchen ,but seem to be pulled in fifty different directions lately so it is taking longer than I would like. The lighting here today is not good at all  either so it is what it is.

  Hubby attached these brackets to the wall for me to hang my shutter on.  Remember in a previous post how the shutter was just nailed flat against the window as a valance? I have had it that way for several years and although I still love the shutter up there, it was time for a slight change and I love it!!

I got 20 of these *chippy, shabby, grungy* brackets at the Peacock park warehouse sale last year for free! From what I understand they were originally table legs,but I love them as brackets! We also used them on a shelf in the kitchen, but I will keep that for another post.

Next project will be working on some type of curtains for underneath the shutter. I have an idea brewing in my head so we will see how that turns out. I have to have something here because the sun just beats in as it is on the west side of the house. {please ignore the clutter ...this place has been clutter city for a few weeks since I took on this project, but it will all be okay in the end right?? lol}

My collection of pretty vintage silver spoons ~

okay...now to the winner of the vintage strawberry boxes...drum roll please....

  I used a random number generator and these cutie pie boxes are going to be winging their way to

SARA of SWEET MAGNOLIAS FARM

Congratulations Sara!! I think I have your address, but please get it to me just in case and I will get these in the mail next week. I also wanted to share them with more than one person so I choose a couple more names to send ONE box each to. They will go to Trisha and  Dawn so please send me your address ladies :)

Happy weekend everyone!! 

Strawberry Season GIVEAWAY!

With strawberry season upon us here in Michigan I wanted to do a giveaway and I knew exactly what I would offer! I haven't done a giveaway for quite awhile now so it is time. :)

I have had several of these vintage strawberry boxes laying around and I want to share them with you. Truth be told, when I decided I wanted to do this giveaway, I had to go on a search and find them first! ha! Story of my life. You would think by now that I would have a organization "system" in place, but nope, not me. Don't get me wrong, I am a pretty organized person, but I still can't  remember where I put things half the time.  :)

Aren't these the coolest old boxes ever?? I love them!! They are so cute at their small pint size.

The winner will get five of these adorable boxes shipped right to their doorstep. How fun is that??!!

Entries limited to USA and CANADA only please.

To enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Share this giveaway on facebook
3. Share this giveaway on your blog sidebar or with a post

PLEASE leave a separate comment for each entry that you do. Thank you!!

So you have chances for three entries. This will be a quicky giveaway as it will end Thursday
{June 29} and I will pick a winner on Friday. So get your fingers clicking and ENTER NOW!

As a side note, I am still loving my new computer and high speed, but yesterday hubby transferred over all the photos etc. on the external hard drive from the other computer and goodness!! I was looking in my folders last night and it transferred everything at least TWO times and some folders FIVE times. I think it will take me weeks/months to get these duplicates/triplicates etc. cleaned up. Wow...:) Happy Monday!!

Kitchen Wall Tutorial

As promised I am sharing a tutorial with you on how I did my kitchen wall in the previous post and as usual I did not think to take a photo of all the supplies needed...so here is a list:

1. white tissue paper
2. assorted rubber stamps
3. black rubber stamp ink pad
4. paint
5. paint brushes
6. wall sizing
7. old rags
8. ladder {just don't miss the last step on your ladder and fall off like I did a couple
times...I have the bruises to prove it. ha!}
9..the will to actually take the time to get this project done

First, I took several pieces of white tissue paper and stamped the images on them that I had chosen.( I stamped them on the dull side of the paper and not the shiny)

This is what mine looked like and no two were alike believe me. That is the beauty of this project...you can't mess it up no matter how hard you try. 

After stamping several sheets I ripped them in four strips and then ripped the strips into pieces. All sizes and all shapes. Every now and then I would run out of pieces so had to get more tissue paper out and stamp, stamp, stamp. :) I also made sure and ripped off all the straight edges that were along the outside of the paper.

Next, I added some drizzle gray paint to the walls ...Ceramacoat brand . I used it out of a 2 ounce bottle and I still have a lot left. {the walls were already primed with rustoleum white painters touch paint, but I would call it a light gray instead of white} I just squirted a little on my paintbrush like the photo above shows.|

Then I smeared the paint on the wall. There is no right or wrong way to do this at all. Just slap some paint on your wall.
As you can see this shade is a  tad bit darker than the previous shade that is painted on the wall.

Next, I took a wet rag and wiped it in swirly motions to spread the paint around and to give it a "mottled" look.

The above photo is what it looked like when I was done. Again, you can't mess this up! A lot of this will be covered by the tissue paper pieces, so a little of the darker paint will show up between the pieces and it will be just perfect.

After smearing the wall with the darker paint {confession time here...I did small areas of the wall as I went along} I mixed up some wall sizing {you can find this in the wallpaper section of a home improvement store} and painted a little on the wall where I was going to attach one of the tissue paper pieces.

Then I took a piece of stamped tissue paper and put it on the wall.

Like the photo above...it does not matter if it has a few bubbles, but mine rarely did.

With the paper being so thin, you can dab the bubbles out with a dry brush or...

...with your finger...this part may seem a tad daunting but it is not. I didn't rip one piece of paper while doing this. It went up so fast and so smooth.

I will say also that if you get a piece up that you don't like or if part of it messes up just take a dry paper towel and carefully wipe it of the wall.  Being thin tissue paper, it will ball up and come right off.

This will be your finished project!! 

I really do love how it turned out. Up close it literally looks like old stone and with the applied paper being so thin, it just looks like part of the wall.  My son and daughter-in-law came over a day or so after I finished this up. As soon as they walked in the kitchen they noticed the wall right away and went right over to it. My son could not believe it was tissue paper because it seriously looks and even feels like a stone surface! {I am sure it helped that I have old uneven walls to start with lol}  He kept saying, "NO, it is not tissue paper....NOPE it can't be"...lol. 

I haven't sealed it. Still thinking that over. I am not sure if it would smear the stamped part or not. Probably not because I used archival ink , but I am not sure. Will have to test it first on a piece that isn't on the wall. I hope some of you give this a try and if you do please let me know how yours turned out. I did get a new window treatment partially finished so will show you that next. I do love simple projects even though this one took a few days. What can I start next...hmm...:)

Happy Sunday!!