How to Make A Simple 5 minute Christmas Wreath!

This was the easiest wreath in the world to make! It literally took me 5 minutes. I was going through my decorations and I had a strand of wimpy garland left over and nowhere to use it. I said to the hubs...I wish I had one of those wire wreaths I could wrap this on. Light bulb idea!!! And before he could answer me I said, "Oh my gosh! A hanger!" Yep. Grab a hanger, shape it out, wrap the garland around it.

 
   Add a few little ornaments or wreath decorations, (I used bells) and......... Voila! Done deal and I love it! Seriously, c'mon...could a Christmas decoration be any easier? And it looks even better in person. Its green and gold glittery garland so it shimmers. And I love it on the door. Pretty proud of myself with this one. :)

YELLOW! -The new little black dress for decorating!

Isn't this little darling of a lamp gorgeous?? Don't you just love this yellow lamp??? Well, I do. I am doing my family room in black, white, charcoal grey and YELLOW! Who'd of thunk it? And because my family room is the great room that opens to the kitchen, my kitchen is following along. I remember reading a loonnnng time ago (before decorating blogs existed and I felt alone in my world obsessed with HGTV)) that every room should have a touch or whimsy (the owl) and/or a touch of yellow. It makes your room happy. Well, it does makes me smile. I walk into my living room or kitchen now and actually smile. I love the happy yellow. So I have always done that. A touch of whimsy or yellow. Mostly when it came to yellow though, I used flowers in the room.  Because I never really thought of yellow as a design color for accents until the past year. Now of course it's everywhere I look. I always ask myself why is it that when I choose a color for a room....it seems like everybody else jumps on board. (I did think of it first right? I didn't just jump on board myself did I?!! Oh my....)

Well, anyway..YELLOW it is. Mostly I am going with a "mustardy" color. That's a word, right? And thanks to the wonderful world of spray painting EVERYTHING it no longer matters what color something is when I buy it!
I bought this adorable little red lamp from Hobby Lobby just before last Christmas. (Sorry about the horrible "before" picture...(new camera is on it's way!)

I toyed with the idea of red as my accent color but could never quite get on board with it. And believe it not, red didn't "pop" in the room at all. I even bought some other items that day that were red. (Now yellow). I left them red during the holidays and then made the switch. I am horrible with "before" pics. Just as I am finishing up a paint job, it's always... "Ah geez, I forgot to take a picture!". So this is the best I can do for the before. It was cute -just not what I wanted.

So...don't let color hold you back when you see something you love in the wrong color. If it's a paintable surface -paint it! And believe me, this lamp does not look like it was "painted". Even up close in person, it looks like I bought it yellow. So thank you Lowes for a wonderful assortment of spray paint colors!!!!!!!!!!!

What kind of Blogger am I ?????????

I read somewhere that when you chose to blog you have to choose one topic and stick to it. You can not blog about a bunch of different things. (like DIYs, recipes, decorating, faith, family or egads! -opinions!) oops! haha...I guess I've blown that...

Here we go again...BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So..............I'm just going to say it. BLACK FRIDAY. If you don't want to shop on Black Friday, don't. But I don't get all the negative posts on all the social medias and judging and mocking of others about it. Now don't get me wrong I am NOT talking about Thursday. -That's different. Thursday is Thanksgiving and family time and I too hate to see it commercialized and I won't be a part of any shopping on Thanksgiving Day..

But Friday? C'mon it is NOT a holiday. It's just another day. It has nothing to do with family or holidays. It is no different than shopping on Dec 13th or January 23 or any other day. Now don't think I am taking offense because I take it personal. I don't...

Double duty for all those Pumpkins laying around from Halloween???

Here's what you do  -Paint them! I simply took a spray can of primer and then sprayed them with a bright white paint. 2 coats for a really white look. While it's a little damp you can sprinkle it with gold or silver glitter if you want. They look festive with the glitter. I chose not to this year. I did last year and I am so done with glitter for a while. That's just me but so done... lol  A very fun and CHEAP decoration for Christmas and I really love the look of them white. 

SWEET CHILI

Sweet Chili -see this particular recipe here or go to the recipe's tab above to see all my recipes!!!

ha ha ha...

Do I have to post my own thing today or can I just give you a link to a hilarious story I read a while back? lol..I will post later but I have to share this. It's just to good not to. :)

http://hahasforhoohas.com/the-fart-that-almost-altered-my-destiny

Holiday Decor

Horrible pic (new camera on the way!)

So.... the holidays are coming. YAY!!! I love this time of year!!! I also like to decorate for the holidays. Well, I love to decorate for anything! And I think I do a pretty good job for an amateur in home decor, (unless my friends are all lying to me! cuz I seem to get a lot of compliments). But I seem to have a hard time with tablescapes and mantles. I always have the best of intentions and then when I put them together they just don't seem to quite impress me. In fact, they fizzle. I get no "wow" factor. So I could really use some pointers if anyone cares to give me some????? :)

This is my fireplace now. It's kinda barren -if you saw my previous recent post you'll know it's because we just re-did it. And I just felt like less is more for right now. And that is VERY odd for me.
Here are a couple ideas I have. I walked through Pottery Barn the other day and saw some decoration ideas but whoa......they are pricey! So I'm gonna make my own. Here is a sign I ran across on Pinterest which led me to a great little blog called http://growingupgardner4.blogspot.com/

I just love this sign and the simplicity of the mantle.

So that's one idea. I really like the sign and might try my hand at making one. Don't you love it? She also has an etsy store where she sells them. And I'm thinking some different size poinsettia's to the left, maybe 2 and an over sized candle on the right or a basket of pine cones?

At almost 40 bucks for these at Pottery Barn, I can make them myself cheap!

 










Or maybe...

...this potted Christmas tree on a much smaller scale next to the sign? I usually do lots of reds, greens and blues but I think I want to do more "natural" this holiday season. What do you think?

Healthy Eats!

OK  -TIME TO START EATING HEALTHY AGAIN! I GOT OFF TRACK FOR A WHILE OVER THE SUMMER AND GAINED FIVE  SEVEN POUNDS! AND I AM SO MAD AT MYSELF. SO....

BACK TO IT!

YOU CAN SEE THE RECIPE HERE.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!!! ( And 30 bucks! )

YES!!! ONE DAY LATER... AND MY FIREPLACE LOOKS LIKE THIS....!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE....DID I SAY IT ENOUGH???????

INSTEAD OF THIS PLAIN JANE LOOK THAT IT HAD YESTERDAY !!!  

YAY! Love it!

AND IT COST JUST UNDER 30 BUCKS!!!  And let me tell ya...

By the Sea...by the sea.

North End Pier

Every time I go down to the ocean, God shows up! I live about 1 mile from the ocean. ( although I have to drive 5 miles to get access!). That's one of the reasons we moved from cold Northeast Ohio here to the beautiful ocean side city of Wilmington, North Carolina. We love it here! We've been here now just over 6 years. You can read about that journey here.
But back to the ocean. It is simply inspiring. I go there and I am truly amazed how blessed I am to live here. Every time. The city of Wilmington is surrounded by water and I am a water person. I don't mean for swimming or surfing. I mean it quiets my spirit. It is peaceful to me. And it reminds me

My New Curtains!

Impressions Curtains 

I LOVE these curtains I bought from Wayfair. Overstock carries them too. They're called Impressions and I love them! A lot! Only sad point is my daughter Jessica (we usually like the same) hates them! So am I wrong about how beautiful they are???? haha...
And why does my wall look so aqua-ish blue? Its not an aqua color hue at all it's actually a deep darker blue...hmmm...but it sure makes my beautiful curtains stand out!!  :)

Fireplace Mantel Surround

I can't wait! Tonight I am starting on my new fireplace "surround". My fireplace is very bland with just the wall above it. None of that beautiful white moulding. My daughter has an amazing white surround and crown moulding around hers and it looks beautiful. I always wanted mine to look like what I saw it pictures and then when she bought her house it definitely made me want it more! So, thanks to the internet and Pinterest ideas...... It starts tonight. :)

HERE'S THE BEFORE....

STAY TUNED FOR THE AFTERS TO BE PUT UP HOPEFULLY TOMORROW.... 

AND YOU CAN SEE THE AFTER HERE

RE: A SEASON IN TIME

I follow a lot of blogs. Mostly lots of DIY blogs and a few that aren't. One that I follow is called "Right on the Mark". I love how he writes about the Lord. I thought this particular blog was worth passing on to y'all to read. :)
Please enjoy!

http://right-onthemark.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-season-in-time.html

Transitions....

SO THIS IS WHAT MY FAMILY ROOM LOOKS LIKE NOW.....

When we bought the house back in October 2007 the walls were barren white and the floor was ugly  uh..not very pretty. Sorry just not my cup of tea! And the furniture was just a mish mosh of different things. It's a good size house so I am still working on it. This room has gone through so many transitions and different looks but here is the beginning and then.... 


 AND THEN WE DID THE FLOORS.....

WELL MICHAEL WITH MAD HOME IMPROVEMENTS DID......

 AND THEN WE HAD NEW FLOORS....AND IT LOOKED LIKE THIS!!!

THIS IS HOW IT LOOKS NOW! I LOVE MY NEW DRAPES, NEW FLOORING AND THE COLORS....IT STILL NEEDS LOTS OF TWEEKING BUT IT IS NOW A ROOM THAT FEELS COMFORTABLE AND INVITING...

THE ONE THING I DESPERATELY NEED IN THIS ROOM IS A RUG AND I CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND ON WHAT I WANT SO THAT'S IN THE WORKS. DO I GO BLACK? DARK CHARCOAL GREY? LIGHT GREY? YELLOW WOULD BE GREAT BUT I HAVE DOGS SO..........

A CLOSE UP OF MY NEW "IMPRESSIONS" DRAPES (that I spent way to much on- but then I found them on overstock for a good price too) AND THE FIREPLACE THAT WAS IN DESPERATE NEED OF HELP. :(

BUT WE FIXED IT!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEE HOW WE DID IT...HERE   STILL HAVE WORK TO DO ON IT. I REALLY NEED TO FIGURE OUT THE DECOR FOR THE MANTLE.  THATS IT FOR NOW. I WOULD LIKE TO EVENTUALLY DO SOME CHAIR RAIL AROUND THE ROOM.....