Inspiration

I always am so inspired by all the awesome ideas you all have!  I always love what Whitney and Sarah come up with at Shanty2chic!   I especially loved their cute photo display holders!  My mother in law is recuperating from a broken hip and I thought this would be a cute gift for her.

Here is their idea .  And here is mine.

Sorry for the fast pic, no in process ones,  I took this as we were on our way out the door on Christmas Day!

As you may have heard here in So Cal we had 5 days of rain and we got 12 inches here in South Orange County, so not condusive to spray painting!  Bummer :( 

I added a envelope to the back and printed off a few pictures so she can change them out as she wants.  I really loved how it turned out, now if we could get a few days of sunshine maybe I could make a few more!

Have a great week,

Toodles,

Laura

Christmas has arrived at my house!

Yes, finally I dug out the bins and began setting up my vignettes! 

Can you tell I like snowmen!  This is only half of the buffet!  Here is the other half.  I have always put my snowmen on the buffet, and when we had this awesome one built for us a year ago, I got more space!

 

Here is my mantle, my santa collection!  Again this is only half.  The bottom pic is the right side.

 

 Hard to get a good pic.  My husband is Norwegian so I have started a collection of rosemaling, still have a few to get.

How is your decorating coming?  We have the tree up but no decorations on that yet!

Have a great week!

Toodles,

Laura

Christmas Ready or Not!

I am trying, really trying.  When you have a child in Marching Band your year isn't yours until after Thanksgiving!  So.....  

I was inspired by Ali at Honey and Maple Syrup and these great ornaments!  Inspired by Ballard, and we know how awesome their stuff is. 

 We have a small gathering of friends and I was wanting something to make as a small gift.  So I took this idea and ran with it.  I bought the glass balls at Michaels and Joann's when they were Buy One Get One FREE, so $5 for 8 or .63, then I got the cream paint at Michaels for .39, since these are larger balls it lasted through about 3 or so.  Than I bought the stick on letters, all about being easy, right, these were $3.99, but have lots of letters!

 Spray painted the tops black and here is what I got!  I made one for each couple, using their last name initial.

I had these cute alphabet tiles I got last year and tied them on with twine.  Since I don't have a tree up yet, this is what you get.  Tree will probably go up this weekend.  I think I will get the little chinese food containers to package them in.  So one project down, a few more to go.  

Have a great day!

Laura

 

Thanksgiving is here!

Hi All!  Sorry it has been so long, but once Marching Band season starts, usually mid October, we are crazy busy!  But last weekend was State Championships so we are now officially over!  It was a crazy weekend, with rain, thunder, lightening and hail!  The kids came in second in their class so that was an awesome end to a great season.
Are you getting ready for Black Friday Sales?  I have my list and DD wants to get up early to hit Target at 4!  Oy, we have a wedding later that afternoon, so I will have to take a nap when I get back!

Hope you and yours have a great Thanksgiving!

Toodles,


Laura

Happy Fall!

Hello all, Sorry it has been awhile.  Are you glad Fall is finally here!  I am happy, but done with the rain, mist and overcast skies.  But being stuck in the house, not really stuck just don't want to go out in the rain, I start to think about certain projects that have been rattling around my brain!  Ever have any of those?

When we redid our house 2 years ago we didn't touch the family room cause it had been painted and crown added a few years before.  But now after seeing so many cool ideas in blog land I have a few thoughts on what I want to do.


Here is the fireplace, dirty red brick and the old builders oak mantle.

I need to clean the brick, paint the inside black and really want to 'chunk' up the mantle and stain a little darker.  Since it is off center with the window, hard to really do anything else!  We really don't use it, but I would really love to get some of that cool fire ice, then I would use it!  Now just have to decide if I should reface the brick or paint it!








Here is the wall behind the couch.  Yes I am making it real, blankets and all.

Sorry used the flash for this one, this room gets dark.  I really want to do a board and batten treatment here, it would lighten up the room, and really should be that hard from what I have read.  Have you seen the cool wall treatment Miss Mustard Seed used in her guest room!  That would be cool as well.  I love her stuff.  And you must see Jan's wall that she did like Layla at Lettered Cottage, Amazing!  Check it our here Grams!




So what do you think!  I really don't think either project would take that long.  And I am home all day, well most of the time.   We are hosting Thanksgiving here this year, so that is my motivation.

Have a good day!

Toodles,

Laura

Another cloche!

I have a good friend, that knew I love the little cloche's.  Last month when I was sick and couldn't get out to shop, she found this lovely for me!

Isn't she cute!  Well a few weeks ago, that same friend and I went out garage saleing!  She is a huge Halloween fan and throws a huge party every year!  So she is always on the lookout for 'spooktacular' things!  Well she found a carful of 'spooktacular' things and I found this:
It is heavy and looks like alabaster, but not sure.

I then remembered I had an old hobnail plate that was clear but with a milk glass rim, now where was it!

Found it!  What do you think?

Now I just have to find something cloche worthy to put in it!

Hanging out inside today, supposed to be hotter than yesterday and that was 102!  I thought it was fall?


Toodles,


Laura




visiting these cool parties today!

Before and After

 Edited to add:  Of all the things we have done this year, this has been the bestest!  I know that is not a word.:") DH was so proud of his efforts and we have had many gatherings of friends and family over to enjoy.  Just goes to show not to give up and to persevere!  Of course the recent rains have made my shade garden a muddy mess, but after it finally clears up, will get some more awesome plants and rain gutters!

I know I have talked about this here and here.  But since we added new plants and I am so loving the side yard, I am posting again!  We live in So Cal in a typical tract house with a very small back yard.  Most of it is a large patio and we used to have grass on the side for the kids.  But they are now 21 and 17, and we wanted an area that was useful and that we could enjoy. 

Here is a before/after side by side comparison!




This is Before, taken in March

This is After taken this morning!  Love it!

This is before                                                        









 After taken today!




We have had fun growing veggies, more squash than we know what to do with.  Unfortunately some 4 legged creatures have been eating our peppers and eggplant, so only harvested a few of those.

This is a pic of the 2 wine bottle tiki torches I made.  I love how they light up the side at night!


Here is a pic looking from the gate, which is at the front, to the back.  Love how this turned out.  The plants on the left are up against the house and get more shade, while the veggies get sun all day. 

This just proves what a little hard work can do.  DH made the raised beds and we both worked 9-5 one day to put in the paver patio.  I really thought at one point it wouldn't get in.  I love that I can now say our yard is done!



Have a great week,

Laura


Posting to

Bingo!

History - Both my kids did Marching Band, DD is a senior this year so we are almost done!  As with any extra there is a lot of fundraising involved.  Last year we started hosting a Bingo game to support the Music Boosters.  It is a lot of work but a lot of fun.  This week we are celebrating our 1 yr anniversary!  This was the inspiration behind this.

When I saw this scrapbook paper I knew I had to do something with it.  With our Anniversary approaching, I figured what a better way to commerate that event for the Bingo Board, than to use this cool paper, but how!  Art Canvases were too expensive, finally I found the cork squares.  That is it a small cork board!

I love the old writing and the 'Yell Out Loud'. We are always telling our players that! I just used spray adhesive to glue the paper onto the cork square, perfect fit!

I put the grain of corn on the center square as instructed on the top left!
Then I came up with thumbtacks using Marble Accents and flat thumb tacks.
I printed off the name of our Bingo.  THHS Music Boosters Bingo, then cut each word out to fit on the back of the marble.  Glued the words on, then when they were dry, glued the thumbtacks on.

Tomorrow at Bingo I will surprise the board members with one of these.  I have tags cut out to put on each one!  I am real excited for tomorrow as it has been a year of hard work, but a year of success!

Have a great day,

Toodles,

Laura

Thrifty Receipe!

What do you get when you take a platter from Ross ($4.99 on clearance)

3 African Violets from the clearance rack at Lowes, ($5.22)

3 small clay pots .87 ea








A bag of colored stones from Michaels on clearance $1.39. Sorry no pic :(

Add in a can of spray paint, left over stain and some foil!

A really cool plant tray!
I am going to put this in the master bedroom.  We have a corner where there are 2 windows and I have a table ready to go.  I love how it turned out and the big surprise will be the colors of the flowers!

Have a great week,

Laura

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