My New Table Runner...

Remember my post about the Etsy stores a few days ago? I mentioned how much I loved the table runner from TheShabbyChicCottage? Her burlap table runner was so gorgeous, I felt inspired to try and make one myself.

It turned out pretty nice, I'm really happy with it. I love burlap! Thanks for the inspiration, ShabbyChicCottage!

Ohhh, I love Etsy!

Of course I need a vintage map of SC. Of course I do. This one's from Holcroft.



I have 4 children and 1 husband. So I need at least 5 numbers. Maybe I should get another husband just so I can have another number? Numbers from MyPrimitiveBoutique on Etsy.



Pretty Blue Fan from MustLoveJunk on Etsy



Gorgeous Burlap Table Runner from TheShabbyChicCottage



Pretty Stars from Christayy. (Bought them and will paint those bad boys black or white!)

Do you love Etsy as much as me?

~*Steph~*

The Basket Light? The Aluminum Lamp?

Decor8

We had a similar discussion at JustBeachy recently about the basket lights. I'm not sure how I feel about them, I think it's great that they are easy to make, but, I just don't quite *love* them, for my home anyways. I'm afraid it would look like an afterthought, an accident... Now, I don't mean to generalize because there have been times that I've LOVED the basket lights, I just don't know about putting one in my home.

So what about the industrial clamp lamp? I mean, I have this lamp laying around waiting for something to be done with it. I used it to warm my baby chicks when they were little. I told my hubs, Jeremy, that I had seen them all over decor blogs. He looked at me and said, "Really? Do we have to do everything you see in decor blogs? There has to be a line somewhere."

But... But... I have the lamp. It's ready to plug in. He sort of hurt my sensitive little decorating feelings ;-) Humor me, honey! I'll do the same for you the next time you want to buy another tool you won't use to build me furniture. ;-)

One of the first times I saw the industrial clamp lamp was over at Savvy Southern Style in this post about Kim's sister's house. The lamp looks so charming! Go check it out!

Then I started seeing the lamps in other places, like apartment therapy's site. These for example:

So what's your take on the aluminum clamp lamp? How about the basket lights? Love 'em, hate 'em?

Thanks for visiting and for being such inspiring bloggers!

~*Stephanie~*

It's the little things...

My husband thinks that I am really easy to please. "Low Maintenance," he calls me. I guess he's easy to please because he overlooks that my hair costs us $175 every 2 months. What a dollbaby!

But aside from the expensive hair visits, I guess I am pretty easy to please. I'd rather have $10 and a trip to a couple of good thrift stores than almost anything shiny and expensive. Perhaps it's the hunt that I love. You know you'll find something pretty at Pottery Barn or Anthro, but it's more fun and challenging to make something pretty for just a couple of bucks.

This watering can is not a great example because I found it as lovely as you see it, I didn't have a challenge making it pretty. S-c-o-r-e!

Last week I ordered some dried hydrangea from JoBunch on Etsy. I really didn't have anything pretty to put them in, so I started window shopping on Etsy, trying to find something to vase my flowers. I was thinking a metal milk jug or a couple of pretty Mason jars. I saw this pretty pitcher below at ZinniaCottage on Etsy, but it's just out of my price range at $75.

I did my usual weekly visit to the thrift store yesterday. I never really have anything in mind that I'm looking for, I just hope that I happen upon something special. Well yesterday I couldn't find a single thing. I decided to do another walkthrough before I left, sometimes you miss things on the first browse. And I saw this beautiful watering can. I heard an angel chorus when my eyes landed on it! And for $6!? In my opinion, it's as pretty as the pitcher above but a wee bit more affordable. And wouldn't you know, I got home with my watering can and my hydrangeas had arrived in the mail. They look great in that watering can, no?

Originally I thought I'd paint it white with black accents like the pitcher, but I kind of like the old dirty coppery look of it. I might just leave it alone. I love the number/letter on the side-- I wish it popped out more and that's kind of why I wanted to paint it. But it's all good, I am keeping the watering can on top of my china cabinet anyways, so you wouldn't be able to see the number/letter anyhow...

I love the little things, like a good thrift store score!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

~*Stephanie~*

Easy Ornament Recipe

When I was a kid my Aunt taught me to make ornaments with the simplest ingredients-- flour, salt, and a bit of water. Since I am in desperate need of some cutesifying in the Christmas decor department, I figured I'd make some Christmas ornaments with the kids. I used the old ornament recipe to make starfish and sand dollars. The kids made Gingerbread men.




Funny thing is, once the ornaments cooled from baking, the kids pulled their Gingerbread Men off the tray and played with them for HOURS! Who knew? My Middle Man loved his so much, he slept with the poor, haggard, legless Gingerbread Man who lost his legs somewhere in those hours of playing. Let's see you run now, Mr. Gingerbread!



I'll probably paint those starfish and sand dollars a pearlescent white and baby blue. We used to just dip the ornaments in polyurethane after painting them. You can also get an aged color to the dough, if you don't want to paint them, by using a bit of instant tea or using leftover coffee instead of water. Then did them in polyurethane. I think it would be fun to use chalkboard paint to paint stars and then write some cute words on them to hang on the tree-- "Christ", "Love", "Family", "Santa"... etc...

The dough is very easy to mold with, so you can make just about anything. Just add little bits of water if dough gets crumbly while you're working. Just make sure you don't put too much water in, it really won't work well if you do. You can always add more water, but you can't take the water out.

The ones in the first picture are finger starfish. I'm happy with how those came out. I poked little holes with a kabob skewer to make them look a bit more real. You can hot glue bows, ribbons, hemp string for hangers after you're all done. You can also put half of a paperclip as a hanger before baking and it will just harden into the dough.

With my first batch of ornaments, I made these "starfish" which didn't turn out quite like I wanted (ok, nothing like I wanted). They look cartoonishly bubbly. But they will work for gifts maybe. I just hot glued some hemp twine for hangers.


Ornament Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
approximately .5 to 1 cup hot water

Mix dry ingredients, add water slowly until you get the dough right. It will be very similar to playdough textured. Don't add so much water that it gets sticky. If it happens, just add a bit of flour until texture is right. Bake at 285 degrees for 2 hours, or until hard.

It's that easy! Let me know if any of you make some ornaments with this recipe, I'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by!

~*Stephanie~*

Newby question here...

I feel like a total dork asking this, but I tried to find the answer and no Google search helped me at all. When I visit your blogs and leave a comment, a blogger profile pic shows up next to my comment. The thumbnail it uses zooms in on my boobs from my profile pic... And, well, that's just a little bit weird. I'm sure y'all must think I'm some kind of exhibitionist or something, leaving comments on your blogs with my boobs all poked out. :-)

Anyone know how to alter that thumbnail for the comment picture? Maybe I have to change my pic all together? I'm going to go try messing with it some more... Maybe I'll figure it out.

Thanks for suggestions!

Love me some Graphic's Fairy

Oh, I just love the Graphic's Fairy. She uploads these pretty little vintage images for free. And there are so many it's hard to choose!

I searched the sight for seashells and found these. I framed them last night. I took some printer paper, soaked it for a second in my coffee pot (filled with this morning's coffee) laid it in the microwave and zapped it for 1 minute. When I took it out, the coffee stained paper was a little wrinkled, but had lots of character. I then just ironed the paper to get it ready for the printer. This particular image prints with an aged look anyways, as it was scanned out of an old book. But it's even more authentic looking after being printed on coffee (or tea) stained paper.




The frames were 8 x 10, and the image is more like 6 x 10. So I got some pretty paper at my local art supply store and put it under the image to fill in the space. I had the frames stashed in my closet, I just spray painted them to liven them up a bit.



Total cost for this image: $2 for the pretty paper. That's all! And there's plenty of paper left to use on another project down the road.

Thanks for stopping by & thank you all for your inspiration!

~*Stephanie~*

The little things...

I've been doing some smaller projects, but they make a difference, don't they? I wish I had a before picture for this vanity chair, but it was beyond bad, so it's just as well that I not show it to you. I'm going with the coastal look in my bedroom too, but I couldn't resist putting a little zebra pop in there too. I mean, I've never actually seen a Zebra at the beach, but... If I were a zebra, I would most certainly be at the beach.






Sorry about the picture quality, I think it's time to change the battery in the Nikon.

Anyhoooo, the chair was dark stained and had a uber thin pad for the seat. I laid a standard size pillow on top of the chair and it was exactly the size of the chair's seat. So I just slapped that pillow on top of the existing seat and stapled the fabric over it. It looks pretty good and I love the fluffiness. I did a sloppy whitewash paintjob but liked the look of it. So instead of painting a 3rd coat to correct my sloppiness, I just went with it and did the sanding to age it. I didn't prime it but it didn't yellow, which is more than I can say for my dresser. That's another story. Inexperienced furniture refinisher here.

I've been busy doing little things like making this little starfish garland. I got this mirror at a yard sale a few years ago, it's one of my favorite little finds. I didn't have to do anything to make it pretty, just hung her up on the wall. And she was only $15!



When my hubs and I were in our early 20's, I loved pretty vintage things but we just couldn't afford them. We lived in Asheville, NC at the time and there were amazing antique stores and Vintage Flea Markets. But, alas, I only window shopped. One day my husbands truck broke down. While he waited for me to come fetch him, he looked off on the side of the road and down an embankment there was a pile of trash-- old mattresses, a fridge, rusty old lawn furniture. Someone had sadly dumped their junk on the side of the road. My husband looked closer and saw a gem amidst the trash, all wet and covered in leaves. He dug it out and we brought it home. It spent years in our sheds, and traveled with us from NC to Colorado. I just pulled her out of the shed the other day, determined to finally use her. As long as she is hiding in the shed, she won't inspire anyone. Hopefully my hubs will get tired of seeing her on the back deck and will help me do something special with her. We've tossed around some ideas and have finally settled on what we'll do. Now I just have to motivate my husband, or bribe him with chocolate, whatever it takes. :-)




So here's the plan... We're going to hang the door behind our front door, on the wall. This is where we normally throw our shoes when we come in the house. We're going to build a little seat with cubbies under it to store shoes. We'll put coat hangers on it, somewhere, to hang jackets and scarves. But what about those windows? One of the pieces of glass is missing, which I can replace for $5 or so. No biggie. But should I replace it with glass? Mirror? Maybe just some wood and paint it with chalkboard paint? I like the latter idea, but am thinking that bulky jackets hanging on it would end up getting chalk dust all over them. My husband, Jeremy, likes the idea of putting mirror in it. But I worry it is too busy looking? What would you do?

Anyhow, these are just a couple little projects that went down over the week. I want to get started on the door this weekend, while there are a few drops of outdoor sunshine goodness left. But, I also want to paint the living room sooooooo bad. So, we'll see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by, for leaving comments, and for inspiring me with your creativity. Have a good night!

~*Stephanie~*

Been Busy

I have been busy decorating, despite that I haven't been great about posting pictures. I guess I'll bombard you with all the pics soon. I've most recently been working in my bedroom. I decided not to make the duvet cover like the Anthro one, with the linen. I just figured that 1.) by the time I buy enough fabric to do one in that style, I might as well just buy one, and 2.) linen is too heavy to get that effect anyways. It was a good idea, maybe I'll do it one day with a lighter fabric, just for fun. But right now I've got enough to do. So instead I bought the kissing pleat duvet from Target, in an aqua-ish color, for $70. It wasn't quite the right color, but it'll do. I made some pillows and painted my walls. I also painted my dresser and vanity. I gave my vanity chair a little makeover as well. Oh, I hate talking about all of it and not posting pictures. So I'll get on that tomorrow!

I made some pillows for my "Momma Bear Chair" as well, and that I do have pictures of! (As if you haven't already seen the chair a million times already. I just love her so much!)



Anyhow, just thought I'd update the ol' blog a little. I'll get around to posting some pics this week. My bedding is so soft and delightfully squishy, I have to show it off. Until then, I think I'm going to go cuddle up in it with my handsome husband right now!

Good night, Friends. Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for inspiring me!

~*Stephanie~*