weekend projects

a busy decorating weekend. but would i want it any other way?! of course not! we will crank the christmas music and put up the tree on friday.
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highly inspired by a photo in french style at home i ordered some cool wallpaper to give my entry a french villa look. Since putting up real stone isn't even in the budget for this decided on a whim decorating project.

saturday i will paint the dining room and kitchen area with sherwin williams warm stone. and the brick/stone wallpaper arrived today so i will get that up on sunday. i did not even pay for two day shipping but the paper came within two days! so thankful for the postal service this time of year!
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happy thanksgiving to all of you! thanks for checking out my blog on a regular basis. i will post photos next week of my completed entry and dining room/kitchen area. and promise to also get the basement remodel photos posted next week.

40 minutes and some leftover paint

this is my dining room table. sorry for the bad glare from the window, but you get the idea. i loved this table when i found it...at hobby lobby about 9 years ago. at the time, i had no where to put it, but knew that someday i would so i bought it...for the clearance price of one hundred and twenty bucks! it is heavy, solid and i really like the carving on it. most people asked if i purchased this while living overseas because it is quite unique.
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lately i have been still liking the table, but not loving it. i have been wanting a round table, i think it would fit the space better. but, since that is not in my budget i decided on a wee little change for the table.


like the title of this post says i literally had 40 minutes before i picked the kids up from school. leftover paint from the basement project...which reminds me, i don't think i have posted any of those photos here yet...i will ...soon! back to the table, i have also been inspired lately by lots and lots of blogs that decorate with all white. i went mostly all white in the basement and love it. that is slowly working it's way upstairs.


so this is the table with it's little 40 minute makeover. obviously i waited until the next day for the paint to be good and dry before i distressed it. i love the look! i am in love, again, with my dining room table.

i just had way too much brown on this side of the room. now it seems more balanced and i love how the table pops off the floor. before it just blended in. i purposely do not have a rug under the dining room table because with two little ones it is much easier to keep clean with out one.

so in true fashion around here, the decorating flood gates are open again. because as much as i love the table now... i am sick of the black diamonds on the wall! i have big plans for the color on the wall and for my entry way. stay tuned!

just be

i do not sit still well. lately i have been running around like a mad woman trying to get everything done. an october sale, a basement remodel, a november sale, being a mom, a wife, you know the drill. though i know that i should, it is rare that i take a moment during my day and just be. but today, i did just that.
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first i pulled this together on my buffet. it has been cold and rainy for the past few days and i just can not get warm. i pulled out the teapot and some tea, put it all together on one of my favorite trays. i also included my favorite leopard dishes that never get used. my hope is that each time i see this little set up that i remember to take a few moments to relax....and warm up!

so i had my cup of tea and relaxed. the laundry was done, the kitchen cleaned, C was napping and M was at school. it was silent and it was beautiful. i even enjoyed the misty gloomy day, it seemed so peaceful. i used to meditate on a daily basis. it has been awhile since i have done that but i tried again today. the hardest thing about meditating is clearing your mind, it usually takes me a good week to get into the groove of it. my mind usually goes to 'what's for dinner?' but since i have been meal planning and creating a menu each week....

the thought came to my mind and then cruised out because i have dinner covered for tonight. then i thought 'what am i missing on hgtv?' a favorite show? i also even thought of the quilt i should get started for C. i am making him a quilt by recycling some of the cowboy material that was used for his crib. my hope is to have it wrapped and under the tree by christmas eve. then the thought of christmas popped into my head....so much for meditating today. but you can be sure i will try again tomorrow. i think it is important to take a few minutes out of our busy days and ... just be. try it, and then let me know how it goes.

how fun it was

the cure of ars gift gallery is one great show! they do a fantastic job at getting the people there to shop. and shop they did...we had a great day of sales! here are some photos of our space before the shoppers came. a full booth most of the day and even a line at the checkout? who knew so much of our stuff would fly out of there. loved every minute of it!
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our space was in a corner, this set up was smack in the front.

the amount of furniture we took just for infrastructure seemed like a lot. but we needed it to show off all the fun things we had for sale. this old shoe rack held my trays.

shoppers were able to walk around the shutters and see this beautiful display.

trays, tuffets, lamps, flea market finds etc. all flew out so quickly that were constantly rearranging to keep the booth fresh. so thankful that we had cashiers to help us out. Thanks Jennifer and Olivia!

the petite gift bar was a big hit. lots of small gifts, all under $15 . perfect for teacher, hostess, girlfriend gifts.

everyday napkins for sale. great for being kind to the earth. so much better than paper towels or paper napkins and prettier to look at too!

more stuff.....

we also had a drawing for 2 hours of free staging services. we're so excited to draw the winner and start on that project. we'll contact the winner this week, but will wait until after the holidays to rearrange, using what they have, a room in the winners home.

thank you to all that came and shopped, commented how great our space looked, and to those dozen of you that asked "where is your store?!" we are certainly going to be on a high for a few days from this event.

new tray line

i think i have mentioned before that i crave change. i need it constantly. so when i was pondering in my tiny creative brain what kind of papers to look for to create my next line of trays something different popped into my head. what if i did not use paper at all this time? ooooohhh....i love the end result! the one says 'bless this house' in french and the handles i had in my stash. so glad i finally got to use them on a few of the trays.

lately i have been de-cluttering, and minimizing and these trays resemble exactly what i have been trying to do with my life and that is to keep. things. simple. i love how they turned out, they are so me. look how cool these two are.....

thanks to my ever so creative mom for helping me hammer out some of the details so that i can offer these unbelievably beautiful trays at the up coming Cure of Ars Gift Gallery. they will be available saturday in the Burlap JunKtion booth! yikes!! only 4 days until set up....i better get back to my studio. hope you can make it to the sale saturday!

special treats

if you trick or treat at our house you will get one of these special treats. i make these every year and the kids just love them. i am including a tutorial here on how to make them...it is so easy! a little late for this years goblins, but these also are beautiful for the holidays, party favors, teacher gifts etc.

you will need an assortment of pretty papers. you can pick these up at your local scrapbook store.

you will also need toilet paper tubes (or paper towel tubes cut down. i save these all year just for this project), tissue paper, scissors, tape, twine or ribbon, and the candy treats that you want to go inside.

start by cutting your pretty paper into strips. they should be a smidge smaller than the width of your toilet paper tube. for the length, wrap it around your tube and leave a little bit of overlap. cut each one to length.

you will want to cut your tissue paper a bit wider, on both sides, than your tube.

fill your tube with your chosen treats,

and then roll up the tube in the tissue paper.

carefully, not to tear your tissue paper, tie each end with the twine or ribbon.

next, wrap the pretty paper around the tube and seal with a piece of clear tape.

that is it....so easy! i think the most difficult part of this project is selecting the pretty paper. there are so many fun choices. good luck!