On We Go

 We are almost done with this year's Valentine's Day tour...and it's still January. Lol I thought I had learned not to wish my life away but I guess not...I can't stop thinking about my next decor-St. Pat's-and then I can't stop thinking about how fast I will have to hustle to get that down and put up Easter. I think they're only about two weeks apart this year...but, I digress. While I am still living in a sea of red, let's head into the family room.

I am amazed at how many decor themes I have used this black vase in. I think I found it in HL and I'm pretty sure I bought it with Halloween in mind but I just seem to keep finding new ways to use it. Best part is that I am pretty sure I would not have bought it until it was 50% off so, win, win!

I still love my heart garland that I made out of hearts that my mom crocheted for me. I'm pretty sure I have told the story before but many, many years ago I saw a hutch in Country Living magazine that was decorated with hanging white crocheted hearts and they offered the pattern for the hearts along with the picture. Crocheting is one craft that I never really learned. My mom did teach me just enough to make some little gifts for my Brownies and my Sunday school classes but it just wasn't a favorite of mine so I was never interest in learning more. 

In any case, I asked my mom if she could make them for me and she made me a whole set. And, I used those hearts for many years on my hutch in my dining room...until my taste changed and I didn't want that country hutch any longer. The hearts got put away for awhile and when I found a new way to use them-since I no longer had a hutch to hang them individually from-I was excited. And then I decided that they needed glitter-lots and lots of glitter-and that is how we ended up here.

 

This is still one of my all-time favorites-a dozen long stemmed "poses"! My grand children and I made them years ago as Valentine gifts for the family. Every time I post this on a craft blog, it gets so many "likes". It sits on the table next to my TV watching chair so I get to look at these sweet faces every day...and wonder where the years have gone.

I have to smile as I see this picture because it is not taken from the same angle that I usually get this shot...and that is because my Christmas tree was still up and I was practically standing in it when I took this picture. I didn't want the tree in the shot.

Although I did come back later and take this to send to my family. Lol

And, as so often happens in my world, this is what is now going on in the family room.

As so often happens when I am posting a blog, I look at things with "new eyes" and notice things that need to be done. I think I have noticed that the hearts were losing glitter along their edges for a year or two-without addressing the issue-and so, this is the year. I can only do a few at a time because of the way they are threaded-and, the backs need to be done as well, so this will take longer than originally anticipated. But. it's another thing I can cross off of the to-do list as soon as I remember to write it on said list. Lol

It's definitely chilly outside so I think I might try to do a bit of weeding and edging before calling it a day and maybe getting another fire going. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Hippity Hop

 I'm feeling so much better today but still don't think I should be out and about sharing my cold so I decided to see if I couldn't pull off an Easter inspiration that I saw while scrolling somewhere without having to purchase one thing. I will say that my picture taking leaves much to be desired once I got to the painting stage because this is a project that requires much layering of paints to achieve the look-which is sort of "old, peeling wallpaper". Once I started, I was having so much fun that I never stopped.

I wish I had had a better floral paper but I found some with roses that kind of matched the rabbit image that I printed so I went with it. I also tried my hand at spreading paint with a paint spatula- although I don't own a paint spatula so I used a small butter knife and, except for the point on the end, it worked OK.

So here is where I started initially.

I had the large canvas that grand daughter #5 started but never finished, the decorative wood pieces that I removed from my kitchen valance before adding the wood and 3 small frames. My inspiration piece used an oval frame so I was leaning towards that but my frame is very HEAVY. And so I started the day rummaging through my wood pieces because I thought it needed something stronger to hold that frame than the canvas.

That was a no-go so then I decided to try to just add a piece of wood to the back of the frame for support. When I found this old Valentine sign I bought last year to make over and still haven't and it was the EXACT correct width, my old friend "chop saw" came out and in no time I had a backing that fit perfectly. I added some E6000 and was good to go!

 While that was drying I decided to take any extra weight off of the frame.

I wish that my paper had been 12X12 and I could have gotten some larger pieces but I used what I had. My paper is also card stock so it's thicker and doesn't tear as nicely. But, again, beggars can't be choosers. I played around with placement and then glued on the paper.

And that, I am sorry to say, is where I stopped taking pictures. I got so caught up in the layering of the paint, then some distress ink, more layering, etc. until I got to this point. Then I added the decorative wood and the bunny in the frame. I found three flowers that were the perfect size and color and two soft leaves. And this is where I am.

And, as I now look closely at it, I am thinking it might still need a bit more tweaking. I have got a huge mess everywhere because this is one of those projects that required lots of STUFF so, I am on my way to clean up and then I think I will call it a day. I'll let you know how it ends up. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

It's Fri-yay!

 With all of the germs going around these days, I guess I am lucky to have only been caught by the "common" cold yet it aggravates me none the less. Lol I'm not feeling all that bad but I am coughing so I don't feel comfortable going around others and sharing my germs...which has given me a few very quiet days. I would totally be out in the yard if we hadn't had just enough rain each day to make things wet and honestly, it's just gloomy out there. And so, I have been doing little odds and ends here in the house and this happened...

I was looking at pictures of last year's St. Pat's decor and started thinking that I should probably go back and double check what I already have before I just start adding new things because sometimes I buy things at the end of a season and then completely forget that I did. lol And so, I pulled out most of the things that are stored in the house-other than the things that are St. Pat's decor just by virtue of the fact that they're green like pillows, candles, etc. And, of course, this has me chomping at the bit to start the green...but, even I won't do that...just yet.

And so, I thought we could move along to the sunroom. I've got to be honest-I'm about over all of the red.

The sunroom doesn't seem to ever change very much. Of course it now houses the majority of the holiday photos but the rest of the room stays at a minimum so that we can actually use it without much effort.

So that's all I have for today. Grandson #2 had to have emergency surgery the other day and I, with my germs, have still not been able to visit so I am hoping that I can spend some time with him this weekend. And then, I spied on Pinterest something that really struck my fancy but since I really don't want to have to shop for supplies, I've kind of been scrounging things I already have and I might be able to make it work.

That's all the hint I am going to give you but I will take you along on the ride when I get to it. It won't really resemble the original but it will give me a new Easter item and, fingers crossed, it will turn out pretty. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Sob!!!

 Don't worry. This is going to be the next stop on our Valentine 2024 house tour but, I must first address the elephant in the room...or maybe the elephant who has finally left the room. I don't think I have had as much trouble taking down a Christmas tree in many years. Maybe that was because I knew it could actually stay up until next Christmas if I wanted and still wouldn't lose a needle. Or, maybe it was just because it was soooo pretty. I loved nothing more than sitting next to it at night and just enjoying the warmth that it exuded. I actually-for just a VERY brief moment- thought about making it an all year tree. But, honestly, that isn't really my thing-not to mention that where I have the tree blocks the door to the pool and garden. I knew that wasn't happening so, it was time to just rip off the BandAid.

And, because I didn't really trust myself to do it, I just went in there and started grabbing off ornaments and pulling off lights. I had a moment of "stop-put that right back on"...but, I didn't listen to myself and before I knew it, I had this.

And honestly, the picture from this angle doesn't even show it all! I have never had a faux tree before so I figured taking it apart would be the opposite of putting it together even though I knew that now that it had been "fluffed", it wouldn't go back to its original size. The top came off-no problem-but I could not get the next two sections apart! That is why I ended up laying it down...and still I couldn't budge it. I finally walked away for a bit before coming back and literally wrestling with it until I succeeded! It then took the rest of the day to drag it into the office where it will stay until daughter #3 can pick it up and get it to her warehouse. Of course, I also then had to address the tangle of 12 strands of lights and get them sorted plus all of the other things involved. It took me 3 days to get that tree decorated so 1 day to dismantle in comparison wasn't too bad-and, hopefully I will know more of what I am doing next year!

In any case, let's get back to Valentine's before I cave and put out St. Pat's. Let's head to the dining room.

I added the string of hearts that used to be in the living room here. I really didn't know what else to do with them and now that they're here, I love the pop of red it brings to the shelves. It's kind of fun when I make a new craft and it takes the place of another and then I have to walk the house to see where the poor displaced item can go. With all of the STUFF that I have, you would think I might consider just not using everything but, honestly, that isn't in my make-up...unless it's one of those craft fails that I seem to have a lot with Valentine crafts. Lol

I also changed up the side board a bit. I brought back the window and hung the stained glass hearts there and I kept out the silver and got rid of a few of the urns that I used to use. I like the romantic feel that old silver seems to add.

So that is it for today. Since the family room looks so bright and new without the tree, I think I'm off to do a bit of cleaning and freshening up in other areas of the house. And, I think I will be spending tomorrow out in the yard since our temps are supposed to go into the 80s. It's crazy and I know that it is way too soon to do any trimming but I'm chomping at the bit to rake up leaves, leaves and more leaves and then to tackle some of the weeds that seem to thrive even through almost freezing temperatures. I'm also dying to do some pressure cleaning so we will see where I end up-even I never really know until I get there. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Moving On!

 Even though my decor is still Valentine's Day, I am ready to move on and begin to think about St. Patrick's Day. I just finished looking back over last year's blogs and I must say, I just love green so much. I think if I could only decorate with one color, it would have to be in green and all of its beautiful shades. I was talking to my brother about getting some dates on the calendar and he was the one that broke the news to me that Easter falls on March 31 this year. An early Easter happens every so often and it does make me question putting out my St. Pat's decor when, after taking it down and putting out Easter on March 18, it won't have all that long to be out. But, that being said, there is NO way I would skip St. Patrick's Day so...I am starting to get some new crafts found and actually already done.

When I last ran by $Tree, I grabbed a St. Pat's Mason jar. It actually wasn't horrible but I wanted to be crafting so it was perfect for a simple re-do.

All I actually did was sand off the glitter, paint some antique wax on the Mason jar "lid" ,scuff it up a bit so some of the original metal still showed, ModPodge on a piece of St. Pat's scrapbook paper cut to shape then added a free downloaded image and re-attach the little shamrocks that were on the original...simple but, I think it will look cute in my kitchen maybe propped in the old carpenter's box.

And then I was on to the glitter shamrock shape that I had left over from a craft I did sometime in the past. I think it had something hanging in the middle that I used for something else but I truly have no clue what. Lol Since I seem to be "hooked" on the faux $Tree tile crafts...and, spoiler alert, there is an edd probably coming soon...I decided to go that route. I cut a shamrock out of poster board so that I could glue it into the middle of the glitter shape so I would have a flat area on which to add my image.

I also traced and cut the heart shape from the tile, cut out the center and gave it a coat of green chalk paint. And then, it was the same old, same old...a bit of sanding, some grunging with the antique wax and then the cinnamon-ModPodge treatment and then another round of grunging with Tim Holtz distress ink and black ink.

While that was drying, I added some ink to the image so that all areas of it would be filled in when it went behind the cut out of the tile. And, this might be a good place to add my feeliongs about those blending brushes I bought the other day. I have seen crafters use them for a long time but I always just used a small make-up sponge and thought I was fine. Well, I was wrong...I wasn't fine. These blender brushes are incredible! The set I bought came with 4 different sized brushes so no matter how large or small the area you are blending, they have you covered. I actually thought they were just little rubber spomges on the end of sticks but, they're not. They actually have bristles but I couldn't begin to tell you what those things are made of...they are soft and wonderful and do the job of blending so much better than I ever accomplished the other way. And no, I am not getting a kick-back from them...just really excited to have found something new that actually isn't all hype! Lol

Then it was a simple matter of gluing everything together and embellishing. I used rusty wire for the hanger and then made another messy bow from ripped strips of St. Pat's fabric. It still didn't look finished so I added a scrapbook shamrock embellishment to the bow and then glued some small shamrock "confetti" onto pieces of rusty wire, "squiggled" the wire and inserted them into the bow.

I think I like it! So now I am truly off to begin to take down the Christmas tree. I have honestly had the hardest time doing that this year. It just makes the family room so warm and cozy and with the weather we have been having, we need all of the warm and cozy we can get. I'm thinking that if I had the usual "real" tree that this would have happened a long time ago so I guess that is one more reason to embrace the artificial tree. But, come on, enough is enough! Lol Stay safe and stay tuned...and I'll be back with more of the home tour soon.

I almost forgot to show you...here is where the "Be Mine" sign ended up after it lost its home to the new heart that I made on the top shelf of the baker's rack. I will say, I never really liked it there after I added the poster of Valentines so I think it may be here for awhile...or at least until I get another idea.