Hey guys!

So I told you earlier today that I was going to be sharing something.

And here I am to share!
 Here's a new wreath and my Valentine's Day mantle. I decided to go with the KISS method for my mantle. Keep It Simple Stupid.




All of these flowers and props are things I had, but I love all the reds and pinks. Especially the peonies. Love peonies! They're just so big and fluffy and happy. :) What flowers do you guys like for V-Day?

 Here's a close-up of the wreath. I used paper plates for the roses and just some scrap fabric to hang it up. The wreath took a bit to do, but I was able to watch two movies while working on it and it was nice that H slept the WHOLE time. Can you believe it? I got a two-fer movie nap! Yay !

So here's another angle of my mantle and the wreath.

I have to admit that I  really like the simplistic look going on here.

See you guys tomorrow!



Linking up to:

So the wreath I have front and center above the mantle seriously took like 5 minutes to make. Its quick and easy and super versatile. You could have a fun Christmas wreath out of the marabou or a proper feather boa.

You will need some supplies, and luckily they're not to expensive.

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 feather or marabou boa
• MDF wreath form
• Hot glue and gun
• Halloween decorations

I hit up Michael's for the wreath form and some of the Halloween decorations, Hancock Fabrics for the boas (sale!) and the Dollar Store for some more of the decorations.

What you're gonna do:

1. I glued my spiderweb to the center of the wreath form. Then glued one end of the boa to the back of the wreath form. 
2. Now just wrap away. You can pick how tight you wrap, but I did two wraps per spiderweb section. If you want it tighter or fuller, you'll need more boas. Glue the other end of the boa to the backside of the form when you get there. Then repeat for the next boa. 
3. Tuck your other decorations in and glue them down. Then enjoy!

One can never have to many wreaths. At least that's what I say.

The hubs says something else, but this isn't his blog, so we're going to go by what I say. :)

I'm sure you guys are familiar with How Does She?

Well they have a terrific tutorial on how to make a Balloon Wreath, and with birthday season approaching for our family I decided that it was high time we had some birthday decorations for our front door.

So I got the supplies, but accidentally bought a 16" wreath form, which meant I needed 3 bags of 72-count balloons, but that's ok. It added like a $1 to the final cost, which was not much. So it's a $7 wreath. :)

Here's my creation!


I  love the texture and  the colors, and I love that it was easy. I sat down and watched a movie with the hubs while making it. Its a bit heavy, but hey....it won't blow away right?

Well tomorrow will be more birthday ideas....Hope you're ready. :)

So last year I made this awesome late summer/early fall wreath, and I am of the firm belief that if it ain't broke then don't break it.

So I pulled the wreath back out, but this time I changed it up a bit.

Here's last year's version:

And here's how I put it up this year:

What do you guys think? I like it rotated. The flowers hide the wreath hanger, which is always nice.

Well I'll see you guys next week - I wonder if Dana is still on her baking quest. You'll just have to check back tomorrow to find out. :)

See ya later!

So remember yesterday's tablescape and I had warmed up to the heart shape. Well.....I think I've warmed up a bit more. :)

I am so impressed/excited with myself. Do you want to know why? Well I'm going to tell you why. I am excited/impressed with myself because this is the third month in a row where I've had an official 'theme' for my mantle!   Yay me!

Ok, please hold your applause to the end. I'm gonna start off by saying that I'm not really a fan of hearts. No, not the organ - the shape. I don't really care for them. Of all the shapes out there, hearts are my least favorite. I don't even know why I feel this way about hearts. I roll my eyes when I see a heart covered valentine. I laugh at those overly sappy heart-filled valentines day cards {or any card for that matter}. I don't do sappy. Let me clarify I don't do overly sensitive, guys crying while pouring their hearts out sappy. I will laugh. A lot. I may even point at you while doing it.

Suffice to say that I am not a sappy heart-loving person, which is why I did not include many hearts in the mantle display. There are three in this display, and I covered them in moss to make the more palatable for me. :) I'm awful aren't I? But eh....its my quirk and its my mantle......so there. :-P

So my New Year's Mantle and Tablescape has been up for a while now, and I dunno if you noticed or not but the colors I picked for them were aqua and copper. Love that combination. Really I love anything with copper. I love the bright orangey-tone to it. Orange makes me happy. H-A-PP-Y! So now we know why I have so much copper/orange in my decorating.

I used to have a winter wreath. It was from Target and it did not even last two winters before we had to trash it. Sadness. So I had a couple of old Christmas wreaths laying around that I knew I could recycle. So here's my first crafty post of 2011!

I took off all the picks and saved the ones I could. Then the wreaths took a trip to my painting plywood out in the garage and got a couple of sloppy coats of blossom white spray paint. I didn't do a terrific job because I wanted the wreaths to look frosted. After they dried, I brought them back inside and got to work on the fun part.

Well Dana was supposed to share the wassail recipe today but something has laid her low. I hope she is feeling better before tonight's festivities. I am writing this from my android while a girlfriend is getting a manicure,  so if there are more spelling mistakes than normal thats why. :) I also apologize for the somewhat late sharing of this.

But, I am super excited to share with you guys the finished New Year's mantle and tablescape! I did not get all  of the projects done for this that I wanted to, but I'm still happy with the outcome!
The paper cone wreath can be found here!

The wreath is done! I'm so happy with how it turned out too. Granted, its not as full as some of the ones I showed off yesterday, but then again my dictionary was not made up of 8.5 x 11 pages. So without any further ado lets get to the show!

 There are 43 cones on the center and probably close to that many on the outside. I had wanted to buy a 12" MDF form, but when I went to Michael's on Sunday all they had was the 18" size. My poor 1974 dictionary.
I'm actually glad they only had the larger size, because I think that the size of the finished wreath is perfect for the space over the fireplace. So yay! I will be showing off my New Year's Mantle hopefully on Thursday. :)

Have a great day guys!

I had been planning on showing you guys my new wreath for the new year, but yea.....that's not going to happen because it still looks like this:
Not very attractive, right?

So yesterday I showed you guys my window art {this post}, and I was quite happy with how it turned out. Then I hung it on the wall and I couldn't get it too look quite right. Then I started wondering how the heck I was going to get the main attraction {for this season} to hang correctly on it. So I went back to the drawing board, but before I get to  that I want to share my other project for the window.

Ever since I started blogging I have wanted to make a wreath for inside the house, but I did not have a good place to put one because of where I had put our art. So this started a long thought process over what I wanted to put above the mantle. Then fate stepped in and I ended up a with a bunch of windows, which I am thinking of selling some of them so if you're interested email me.


Oiy, I'm getting off topic, I'm so scattered brained today so back on track. A few years ago I saw a nut wreath in Martha's magazine {I think} and I have wanted to make it since then so without further ado.....On to the show!

Well it's finally cooling off here in Northern VA....and thank goodness! I was very sick of those 90+ days.

So in honor of our cooler days and the fact that September is upon us, I made up another wreath. I like my autumn wreath, but its a little too 'autumn' for right now. I mean its gorgeous out, but the leaves aren't turning quite yet, so I didn't want to put up a wreath full of full-on autumn colors yet. So I stopped by the Dollar Store and picked up my materials, but once I sat down to make the wreath I decided that I did not like my wreath form, so out came the rope!

I wrapped the wreath form with the rope, gluing every few wraps. Then I just started cutting the flowers just below the bloom and gluing them down. After I had gotten most of the flowers set, I started on the greenery. Then it all just came together.

So every year since we moved back to Virginia, Stephen and I have hosted a 4th of July party - until this year. This year my Mom and Dad have graciously offered their home and land for the party. It also doesn't hurt that their  neighbor has ever-so-graciously allowed us to watch his fireworks display.

That being said, my house is still going to look patriotic on the 4th and that's what I did today. Gave her a quick make-over and finished some lingering projects. So here's what she looks like now!