BEAUTY IS A LIFESTYLE THING

In my home Easter is most welcome, to my family it is the harbringer of Spring. I love to decorate for Easter;and I feel revived after a long and dark winter, I'll bet you do too. I think I have finally embraced the time change (if you have that where you live)and am looking so forward to summer and flowers and butterflies, but until then an Easter Tablescape is the easiest way to be creative and set the springy mood. *Remember that I always say shop your home first, and rethink the way your decorate. Use containers or ideas that you never have before, and you'll be surprised what you come up with. I love it when my spring flower bulbs start to pop up, it really gets me excited for lawn chairs, umbrellas and iced tea. This winter was harsh and the bunnies helped to prune numerous shrubs and ate some of my flowers already, while their wildlife buddy the vole was busy underground stealing a lot of my tulips! But here's what we have already. (most of the tulips that a...

I love decorating for the 4th of July. Usually, I'd have people over either the 3rd of July or on the 4th itself. This year is different, because of Covid19, the celebrations will be on the down-low. I still love to have decor with the red white and blue and the American flags everywhere as well as something on the front door to be seen from the street. But again, this year is different. I'll put up what is still useable from years past, but adding in new things without buying anything is the ultimate upcycle move, and I saw something on another blog and I thought I can make that! If I could remember who that was I'd credit that blogger. (my memory is so short these days)  Enter the twig star.   This craft is so super easy and involves only what you may have on-hand, and thank goodness for the big thunderstorm we just had because my yard is riddled with sticks and twigs. I went around and assembled a large pile of twigs. From those, I'll pick out enough to make some sta...

A craft you can make! Although I usually don't decorate for Valentine's Day, I thought I'd join in and present a very easy peasy craft for your home decor. I like easy. I also like to upcycle things that I already have on hand. When I make things to sell or to give as gifts, I make them permanent with permanent glues and fixatives. For this little project, I went shopping in my house and as you may already know, nothing is ever permanent here! I did purchase a bag of the scrabble letters from Target in the dollar section, the whole bag spelled out "You Complete Me" and it was $3.00. I purchased these because I have some mixed media art that I will be using them for, but for today, five of them will be for the little shelf sitter above. When I shopped my house, I found a ton of usable frames, but most are so old that the frames hinge on being ugly, or in need of some repair. The one used in this project is little, it is 3x5" and was an old 1970's ...

The tree is up. Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, it's time for us to get ready for Christmas. I don't know about your house but we dress our house up, which includes the mantle, the Christmas trees, and the outside. The hardest part is dragging everything up from the nether regions of the basement dungeon. I hope everyone has a built-in teenager that will substitute for the moving men that are needed to make this all happen, and thank goodness I do! I'm going to do a little mini-series on decor and small crafts that are not only easy but inexpensive and make a huge impact. I am slowly taking my decorating to a lower level. My time is always limited and I will be culling my decorations this year and I will be donating some of the things that I no longer need. I'm trying to make my life easier and that of my husband's too. My 9-foot tree is currently up in the front, one set of lights are out. This weekend, my husband the official l...

Spring is in the air and I promise this modge podge of mess will become great and beautiful spring crafts that anyone would love to put in their house!  And in fact you can easy peasy by using things from around your home and refashioning it into something else (some people call it upcycling), I save thing like ribbons, broken frames, candlesticks, and I buy grapevine wreaths by the bulk. I use my dining room to stage most things, it is a bright and uncluttered room that if I don't finish my projects no really has to walk directly through it!   I do use things from nature like leaves and sticks. I use things like old wooden box, covered boxes, candy dishes and even margarita glasses to make nests for bunnies and birdies! I'll post finished pieces soon. Have fun and Happy Spring! *Not                 pictured here are all of my bunnies & Easter stuff. Also things needed are patience & glue gun.