Big Announcement!!

Do you remember my sister that I visited this summer? Here a couple of pics of her beautiful home.

Well she and I are going to start an ezine called Romantic Living! We're both so excited about this venture. The first issue is going to be in March and will be sent via email. However we will be starting a blog with lots of great things for you to enjoy until the first issue is ready. So visit us at the new blog Romantic Living and sign up to receive the first issue.

I will be closing this blog down so I can concentrate on the magazine. We're going to kick things off with a really big contest, so watch for that in the next few days.

Thank you so much to all who have visited me here and left comments. I sure hope to see you at the new blog.

Last Teaser!

Monday will be the big announcement! Here's the last teaser....

Teaser #3

Ok...this one doesn't have pictures....but I will tell you that soon this blog will be closed. Normally that would be a bad thing...but it's going to be fantastic cuz soon you will have something so much more to read!

PS- That was a BIG hint!

Teaser #2

Here are some pictures for the second teaser!

Aren't they romantic??

Cool Project and Big Tease!!

This truly is a junk project. I cannot remember what site I found it on, but it was created by Penny Carlson from Hendersonville, NC

Here is what it looked like before....hard to tell huh?

Now here is the after! What a gorgeous chandelier...so unique!

Now, I've got a major announcement to make...but I can't do it today. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait to share since I know you will love it too. The big announcement will be on Monday, but I will be posting teasers every day until then.

Giveaways!

I've stumbled across some amazing giveaways in the last couple of days...so be sure to check them out.

This one is from The Old Red Barn Co! How gorgeous are these?

Plus Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique is giving away some of her beautiful artwork!

Tips!

It has been a while since I've posted tips. So here are some good ones I've found!

1. Here's a great way to make a room smell great. Rub a little bit of your favorite perfume on to a (cold) light bulb. The next time you turn it on the scent will fill the room.

2. Need and easy way to clean your shower walls? Just use a sponge mop...cheap and easy!

3. Speaking of showers....here's a great way to make your shower curtain slide on the rod. Just spray furniture polish and it will glide smoothly.

4. Do you love shiny leaves on your plants?

Just apply mayonaise to the leaves and they will be so shiny and repel dust!

Head on over to Shabby Art Boutique! Kerryanne is having a giveaway of her beautiful artwork.

Mmm Mmm.....Good!

So this weekend was very cold and what is good on a cold day?? Ok, yes the real answer is Brad Pitt....but I was thinking along another line. Soup!!! Hmm...after the Brad Pitt thing....soup doesn't sound quite as good...

Anyways, I wanted to go to Olive Garden this weekend for their soup, salad and breadsticks lunch. Well wouldn't you know it we all got colds. There was no way we were going anywhere. I remember that I had saved a copycat recipe of the Zuppa Toscana soup that Olive Garden makes...my favorite. I'm always a little hesitant about copycat recipes when I know what the original tastes like. I never think they taste quite as good.

Thankfully, I was wrong this time. (did I just say that??) The soup was fantastic! Now this is not my picture of the soup. My camera battery was dead and the soup was gone before it finished charging. I also left out the kale cuz...well, we pick it out at the restaurant anyways. I got the recipe here. Enjoy!

A Good Idea

I found a glass fish bowl (at least that's what it looked like to me) at a garage sale and bought it for 25 cents.

Later I got the idea to fill it with my bath salts and add an old sugar scoop I had from a flea market. I love how it looks in the corner of the tub!

Comfort Drawer!

If you are familiar with Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance, you will know all about the comfort drawer. It is a drawer (or a box) to put special things that will give you a pick me up when you need it.

I'm actually using a box since I don't have a drawer and I have a 2 year old curious little girl. This way I can put the box up high and out of her reach.

First of all, you'll want to decorate your box with pretty paper. It must be pleasing to the eye.

Then add things that will put a little smile on your face or make you feel good for those stressful days. I have things like raspberry candy, taffy, a beautiful velvet rose, and silk ribbon. I still have some things to add to complete it. I mean what would comfort be without chocolate??

I also want to add a sweet book, some pictures of hubby and my dolly, a lace doily, bloomin tea, and special bath salts.

So tell me, what would you put in your comfort drawer??

A Fabulous Online Shop

I recently found the most amazing online shop. I found it through a blog of a blog of a blog...you know how that goes. Anyways, the shop is called One Hundred Wishes! When I saw her gorgeous goodies, I knew they would be perfect for my comfort drawer so I put an order in right away. Here is what it looked like when it arrived. Click on any picture to make it bigger and see more detail.

Andrea packages everything so beautifully. It's like opening a trove of presents!

The picture just doesn't do this glitter justice. It is gorgeous!

Here's a picture of what is in the boxes wrapped with a ribbon.

Everything was so perfect. Please visit her site if you can (I have no affiliation), you won't be sorry!

eta- I see her site is closed for a little while....but you can look at her amazing blog too!

Next post will be about my comfort drawer!

Button Swap

I received my package from my swap partner and it was just so cute I wanted to share it. It was wrapped up so pretty!

Here's a close up of the button wreath.

She put the pretty buttons in this cute little jar and tied fabric around the top.

She also included this little goodie...that just smells heavenly!

I hung the button wreath on my china hutch.

Entertaining Simple!

Do I need to say more? This book looks just fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands on one. Here is the man himself, Matthew Mead. Get a sneak peek of this book at his website Entertaining Simple.

Here are some eye candy pictures in the book!

If you are in Canada or the US....RUN, RUN, RUN to your nearest bookstore and pick it up. You can also try and win a copy on the fabulous blog Restyled Home!

Button Flowers

I hosted a button swap on the Juntique message board. This is what I came up with...a button bouquet! I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Footstool and Goodies!

I found this footstool at a garage sale recently and I thought I could make it over.

Here's what it looks like after I was done. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. Of course, I know where the mistakes are, but at least I know what to do differently next time. Not too bad for my first recover job. I covered it with a part of a sheet I also bought at a garage sale.

I also bought this creamer set at Marshall's this weekend. Aren't they just adorable? I just love the roses popping off.

I also bought other goodies, but I will share those later. I'm trying to redo my mantle right now and it's a work in progress.

What happened to the Outdoor Room??

You might be wondering where is this room she kept talking about doing?? Wel......ummm...let's see....first of all it rained and rained and rained and......oh yeah, rained!!!! Then it was hot, hot, hot!!! So needless to say, it just didn't happen the way I wanted it to. I have every piece for it, just was not able to put it all together.

I put the main parts together just to get an idea of what it will look like. I did get the patio painted...although it's very dirty and rusty in the pics below. Try to imagine this with things on the walls and white curtains draping along the edges.

Here's hoping for next year!

See what I mean about a dirty floor? Try not to concentrate too hard on it...it will burn your retinas.

Now I will add...as disappointed as I was in this year's project. Last night we turned the icicle lights on and laid on the daybed...all three of us....Ok, well little dolly kept jumping on us, but that's another story. Anyways, it was so nice...the weather was cool and the light was so soft and perfect. Hey, I may get some use out of this room this year yet!

On to other things....Last weekend I could not believe how many garage sales were around...man it must have been the big fall clean out for people in my little area. Anyways, I packed up Dolly and away we went. I got a few things (not a whole lot) which I'll show ya later since they are in transformation mode right now.

I also bought a fern for $6 from a lady selling all the plants she had outside this summer. Great idea huh? Well, for some strange reason I decided to pick the biggest one...hey, I gotta get the most value from my $6 right? Hmmmm.

I got the behemoth home and realized it is BIG! I put it in front of my window, but it blocked all the light. So for now it's beside the window and I just hope it will do alright. I named him Sideshow Bob! I'll just have to keep turning him to make sure all of him gets light.

Project of the Week!

I wanted to show this project because, first of all it's fantastic and secondly the before is actually a new lamp, but just not the designers style.

This redesign was done by Kimba from A Soft Place to Land. She started with this lamp she got on clearance from Target.

First comes the primer. Kimba uses painters tape and a plastic bag to protect the areas she doesn't want painted.

Next, a couple of coats of Kilz Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. This stuff looks amazing, I am definitely going to get some and try it.

Add a new shade from Big Lots and you've got a custom lamp!

Pretty ingenious Kimba...thanks for letting me share. I probably would have looked at the original lamp and walked on by because it wasn't my style. I need to remember that treasure doesn't always need to come from trash.