This Is The Year

Hello my wonderful friends! I'm late to a party! But first I need to say a heartfelt thank you! Remember for my birthday I had some wonderful bloggy friends make me feel so special? I talked about each of those ladies here . But to my surprise...I wasn't finished feeling special! Look what came in the mail last week just before I headed out of town! The fabulous (and I DO mean fabulous) Shawn at Seriously made me this personalized message board! It's a glossy tile that I can write on! Perfect for my grocery lists! Thank you so much Shawn...I love it! I also received an EXTRA something from Sare who had already sent me two PERFECT cards. She made me an "X" pendant! Only I forgot to take a picture, but I will post that soon...because I have more to share about her coming up! Now on to the PAR-TAY! The most awesome Amanda at Serenity Now is hosting a Decorating Dilemmas party! You should totally party with us! Grab the button from her sidebar, share your dilemma ...

Well, my month is up! It's time for the big reveal in Shortmama's Living Room Redo Challenge . Did I get everything done that I wanted to? Nope. Did I accomplish anything? Actually I did. And my procrastination isn't really what's to blame for what I didn't get finished. I just ran out of budget! So I'll share what I've done so far, and hope to come back with more updates at the end of June! "Before" pictures on the left, "afters" on the right. Some are labeled, but I got lazy! First was the west wall, where our piano is. It was cluttered up with boutique supplies, and I wanted to replace the end tables with different ones from our bedroom that I wanted to make over. I also wanted to add to the wall display. Successes: Got all the Ribbon Blossoms clutter out of there! I finished my end tables. Please visit Mod Podge Mania to see what I did, and also see some great projects from other bloggers! Failures: Was not able to add to my wall d...

The Masked Mommy is hosting a Powwow where we can share some of the ways we have beautified our home. I'm going to share my Mantle Makeover and Creative Drawer Pulls , as well as how I organized my spice cupboard here . To me organization is beauty! A beauty I rarely see around here! This post has some other stuff in it too, but you can just skip those parts! Go check them out if you'd like, and then link up with The Masked Mommy and share how you beautify your home!

I'm so excited to take up Shortmama on her new challenge! She is putting together a home-redo challenge, one room at a time! The idea is to post some before pictures of the monthly room (this month is the living room), and explain what you'd like to have done with the room by the end of the month. You link up on her site so everyone can see each other's "before" pictures, and see the goals for that room. Then at the end of the month, you link up again to show what you've accomplished! This is sooo good for me, because I see so many beautiful homes of my fellow bloggers, and great decorating ideas and I think "I want to do that!" But I never seem to get around to implementing all the inspiration I get! So I am beyond excited for this challenge! I'm asking for a lot of input, so sorry...it's kinda long! So, I'm being brave here posting my before pictures (no room primping allowed)...I always crop very carefully because everyone in bloglan...

So, I've had a naked mantle for awhile. I have been eyeing this picture for years - was dying to have it for the space above my mantle. Hubby tried to get it for me a couple of times, but was never able to get it and finally was told that it was out of print. THEN, at Christmas time there was a company showcasing their goods at Costco, and what did I find? My long sought-after picture, with a beautiful canvas finish and gorgeous fat black frame. I had to have it - Merry Christmas to me!! It's called Storytime in Gallilee by Del Parsons. Isn't it beautiful? Anyway back to the naked mantle part. Once I had this picture, and replaced the small one that was up there, it just didn't seem right to have other pictures competing with it on my mantle. So I moved my kids' pics that had been on the mantle over to the piano. So this is the look we've had since Christmas. I just haven't been able to figure out what could go on the mantle that wouldn't detract from my...

I got this frame a couple of years ago at Big Lots for $20 and have been wanting to put it up, but never got around to putting pictures in it. Then I saw this really cool idea over at Brassy Apple , and wanted to try it out! Her colors are more vivid than mine - she has a really bright, sassy style! But I do like how this one turned out. Now, where to hang it... hmmmm? Also, Pixie had her friend Jibbity over today, while her mom and I worked on our website. Please excuse the mess on my table - it is a combination of decor I just took down to replace, and some other mid-project clutter. They had a cupcake party - baking and decorating, then of course, eating! I don't know which is sweeter, the cupcakes or the bakers!

So yesterday I went with my mom, and Tanielle to a couple of DI 's. Here's what I scored! Please excuse the boxes of bow-making stuff in the background and the flash - the lighting in my front room is horrible! I want to redo my kitchen, and I'd like to incorporate copper into the decor. I'm on the lookout for some cool copper stuff - and found these. The jello molds were each 75 cents - I'm going to hang them on the wall. The bucket and basket will decorate the top of my cupboards - paid$1 each for those. I'm really scoutin' for a cool copper tea set - wish me luck with that! I found this amazing apothacary jar/hurricane vase looking thingy (if you want to tell me the proper term for what this is - feel free!) for $5. I saw something similar looking, but half the size at Walmart for $20! I'm thinking of making some mod podged decorative balls in earth tones and putting them inside, with a nice bow around the narrow part. What do you guys think? If you ...