Best Salt and Pepper Shakers

I was looking to find a Christmas gift for the women that works with my daughter everyday and decided to check Zgalleries.  I showed Tom these beauties and he said get them for us too.  They are a nice size and quite a little art piece.  I've spent $10.00 on worse things.

Seriously...... So cute.

Poinsettias

Black Friday I bought some poinsettias for $1.00.  I bought quite a few of them, not knowing what to do with them all.  I moved them around a hundred times keeping in mind the cat and the kids couldn't be around them. It then hit me like a ton of bricks, hide the endless mail I get daily with this wonderful plant.  I am putting Christmas cards in between the plants for now. Here are some pics.

Cotton Ball Snow

I asked my Mom if I could have the manger my Grandpa made her decades ago.  My Mom hasn't used it in a long, long time so she said sure.  I didn't want to take her nativity scene people because I have little ones and worried they would get lost or broke.  I stopped by Goodwill hoping for a Christmas miracle that they would have some and they did (score) and they are unbreakable.  I had to fix the manger up a little with new cotton balls.  I had quite a few left over from that so I made some cotton ball snow hanging from the window.  I love how it turned out.  I just used fish wire and a needle to string it.  I had to tie a knot around each cotton ball so they didn't slide down.  I also put some battery operated lights inside the manger to make it visible in the dark.  Here are some pics.  I took quite a few because I love it so much.

Oh yes I did get the Stockholm rug from Ikea.  It was love at first site.  I will post more on that later.  I am going to try and get better about posting for the new year, no promises though.  Our daughter was diagnosed with Autism this summer, so I have people here everyday working with her.  I don't have the time I used to, but I think helping my daughter right now is more important.  She is making huge improvements by the way.

The Mantel

I purchased these stockings at Walmart last year probably a week after Christmas.  The price on them was I think $2.00 a piece. I also got the letters that are hanging on them at Walmart for a $1.00 a piece. I was so excited to see these when I was getting out all my Christmas stuff, I totally forgot about them (bonus). I have some brass stocking holders I would love to use, but they are too dangerous with little ones around so we nailed a ribbon across the mantle to  hang the stockings.  I had the deer, greenery, and elf on a shelf.  Here it is.

We all have regular miss matched stockings that we have grown up with that Santa will be filling at Christmas, but it's nice to have matching ones as decor.

Plaid Flannel Pillows

I don't know about you, but I am loving plaid right now.  I wanted to add some touches of plaid to my living room so I did some shopping on line that pretty much turned up nothing.  There was some stuff, but was way to expensive for my budget.  I decided that I was going to have to take matters into my own hands (ughhh). I went on a shopping trip with my Mom a few weeks ago and hit the mall. I went into JC Penny, a store I don't go to very often and found these mens flannel shirts.

                                                                                                                                                                 

I bought a couple XXL mens shirts in flannel Christmas plaid, and another awesome plaid that was greenish. I cut them into squares the size of the pillow I was going to use.

 Next step was ironing something I never do.

It was then time to pin it around the square reverse side up.

I dug out the sewing machine and started to sew around the square.  I did this with the reverse side facing me.  It was an easy job because the shirt had buttons down the front of it that I would be able to unbutton and put it right side out.  That part of it is awesome because it makes it easy to wash them when you need to. I plan on keeping these babies out after Christmas.

I loved them so much I ending up making two more. I love them.

The shirts also had a pocket so you can hold your remote or phone if need be.

So then I had extra fabric from the shirts that I was not going to waste.  I decided to dress up my horse in the dining room first.  He looked like he needed a scarf.

Then I made some garland for the stairwell.  I pretty much used as much from the sleeves of the shirt that I could, along with anything else I had left.

I sewed the arms together to make this look. 

I bought old leather belts from Goodwill to hold it all up.

I love the rustic feel it gives.  The shirts were $11.00 with coupon at JCP. In total it cost about $47.00.  I love it! Oh and I also dressed up a Christmas wreath I got at Lowes on black friday for $5.00.  I used a belt as well.

Needless to say I love it all!  Making this stuff was the way to go!

Tropicana Love

I so love the Tropicana plant. It is so beautiful!  We have two on our newly stained deck.  I love how they make the deck look tropical, without the worries of bees for the most part.  They only flower once at the end of summer (for me anyway), but when they do they are drop dead gorgeous! I also love the fact that they are a bulb that I can cut down in the fall and bring inside during the cold months.  When summer rolls back around, I replant and enjoy all over again.  It saves on the cost of buying new plants year after year.  I do this with hostas and arborvitaes as well.  

Front Porch Tiled

This is a long time coming for us.  The porch was started several years ago, click HERE to see the post.  Tom is a serious perfectionist, and knew that it was a job he didn't want to tackle, not to mention with a bad back.  Tiling and backs do not go hand in hand.  We ended up hiring a guy who had done some tiling in the past for Tom.  It took the guy about three stretched out days due to the weather.  We are very happy with it!  We have not really styled it yet, but with it being end of summer I probably wont until next year.  The tile is done though and we love it.  You do not see tiled porches that often here in the Northeast.    

We did get some landscaping done as well.  We planted that weeping cherry tree, so cute.  I can't wait for it to grow and form an umbrella shape.  We will also be hanging a big american flag soon, I'll be posting a pic of that.

Here is where we started....

Sunglass Holder DIY

I saw this DIY on Pinterest and had to copy it.

  It was so easy.  The only thing you need is a picture frame, some ribbons, and tacks.  I found my picture frame at a garage sale.  It was missing the glass, which I didn't want anyway.  They were asking $1.00 which I thought was expensive, but it was the size I wanted so I had to bite the bullet.  The frame was brown, but I I wanted white so I spray painted it.  I got my ribbon at AC Moore for $1.99.  I had the tacks.  I simply attached the ribbon behind the frame with tacks.  I then added sunglasses.  I love how convenient it is to just grab and go!  It is pretty cute too!

Today is also my special little girls birthday!  She is two today!  Happy Birthday Molly!!

Popping Tags

I did go to some garage sales this past weekend.  It wasn't  one of those days where you hit the streets looking for sales all over town, they kind of found me.  The sale where I got this little treasure was just on the side of the road, but the items were on a faux Tulip table like the one I have, so I had to see what they were getting rid of.  I got this little treasure.

I loved the tag, one for the price, and two there was no mold.  It is such a cute display item.

I call that popping tags!

Deer Head

I finally found a deer head the other day at Home goods   I have wanted one for awhile now, but they were expensive so I decided to just wait it out.  I was super excited when I saw this deer that I didn't even look at the price tag.  (Well I did, but it wasn't the very first thing I did.)  It was $24.99, not to bad.  I knew I wanted to spice it up a little, so I spray painted an old frame I had glossy red. Check it out!

I will show more pictures when I do the downstairs reveal.  It is a work in progress right now.  Love the red, I am usually a black and white chick, went out on a limb with the red.

Ta Ta!

Horse Makeover

I am on a wicked horse kick right now.  I see them all over the decor blog world recently, and it's great because I love horses.  I went shopping with my Mom a couple weeks ago and picked up this horse sculpture at Homegoods   I loved it, but wanted to spray paint it white....I had a vision.

 When Tom saw it he was like, "very Marlboro".  That was so not the look I was going for. With that being said, it was time for the glossy white spray paint.  Here she is....

I love it!  It is a major statement piece.  (Whatever that means.)

Much better than the Marlboro country horse.

We had some drippage from the spray paint on the bottom base of the horse.  We were not sure if we could fix it or not.  I was like "hmmmm what to do?, maybe I should paint that part black, hmmmm"  and Tom was like, "hmmm you could put like a garter belt around the bottom"  I laughed so hard.  I wasn't sure if he was serious or not.  We fixed the drippage, damn I hate when that happens.

I love!!

Oh and Happy Fourth of July.... Love the fireworks!

Love our flag!