Simply Valentine's

I'm not a big one to get all into the different holidays.  I decorate for Fall and Christmas and that's about it.  But this year, I got sucked into Facebook and Pinterest.  Who doesn't?  LOL!  All the Valentine's stuff is so cute!  So, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do just a real quick, simple mantle.  Its nothing flashy and really, that's fine with me.  :D  But, it did turn out really cute for not a lot of work, so I thought I'd share.

I gathered up all my supplies:

Glass Vessels
Ribbon
Chipboard Letters
Glitter Scrapbook Paper
Felt
Buttons
Glitter
Spray Paint
Mod Podge
Computer Paper
White Card Stock
And some stray candy that the kids miraculously had stuck in my craft cabinet.  LOL!!! (Hey, it works!)

Y'all are some pretty smart people, so I'm sure you can figure out how I got from Point A to Point B, so I won't bore you with the details.  ;)

Here's the final result:

Like I said, very simple.

The felt rosettes are stuck to the glass with scotch tape, so I can reuse them.  In fact, these same glasses held my bleached bottle brush trees from Christmas.

The little fruit jar came from a last minute desperate attempt to fill space without blocking the bottom half of the banner.  It does the job until I can get somewhere to find something that fits.

Stuffed it with tissue paper and scotch taped the candy on it.  LOL!  Whatever, it works for now.  ;)

All in all, it pretty cute and Eva and Landon love it.  The boys...  Yeah, they made gagging noises.  LOL!

A little glitter and sparkle for Valentine's Day and I feel like I've done my duty for the season of love.  And that'll be as much pink as you'll ever see in my house because I'm definitely not the mushy type.  HA!


XOXO, :P

Marvelous Mantle Makeover

I've been on a roll!

I guess that's how it is, I get stuff done in fits and spurts.

So, you'll remember the mantle that I showed you a couple of days ago...

It was pretty much just sitting there with a bunch of Americana stuff propped up on it, for lack of anything else.  Poor thing.

This mantle has traveled a long way to get to Iowa.  It originally belonged to my Aunt Carrie, who lived to be almost 101 years old.  It presided over the living room in her antebellum home in coastal North Carolina.  Thankfully, when my mother heard that her family (distant cousins who we still shake our heads about) had made the decision to tear down that beautiful old house, she decided to go inside to see if there was anything left that could be salvaged.  When she saw the mantle and realized its historical significance to our family, she asked my uncle if he would go in and help her get it out.  It was sitting in my father's garage in Virginia when he died and I asked my mom if she cared if I took it home when I moved the rest of his things.  So, here it has sat.  Dusty and unloved, all lonely on the wall, where we hung it right after we moved in.

I've been threatening the hubs for a while now, that I was going to paint it.  He was aghast that I would cover up its originally maroon paint, but I just couldn't stand it.  Pretty much the only time of year it looked good was at Christmas.  So today while he was gone, I made good on my threat.  I painted it.  The whole entire thing.

And you know what?

I think it looks great!

He, on the otherhand, just shook his head when he saw it.  Oh well, I love it.  I love it so much, I very possibly could spend hours looking at it.  I might even want to marry it!  And I cannot wait to decorate the entire office around it!

It looks a little bare right now, but I'm sure I will find the perfect pieces to go on it, over time.  But for now, I'm happy.  Very, very happy!

So here she is...

Now, to paint the trim...  But first, I have GOT to finish the diva and the boys' room.  I'm so easily distracted.  ;)

Friday's Finds... #01

Today I got a rare opportunity to have the day to myself.  WOW!

While the hubs took the little man with him for the day, I had a whole entire day to do whatever I wanted.  WOO-HOO!

After volunteering for an hour at our middle school's book fair, I had a wonderfully indulgent hour sipping a Turtle Mocha Latte and chatting with two of my favorite people and fellow wrestling moms.  Can you believe I've never done that before?  Clearly I need to get out more often!

Well, what else does a mom that has freedom for the first time in who knows how long do?  S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!  Oh yeah!

What started as little stop off to grab a couple of cards from Hallmark, ended up being a full blown shopping spree - for me!  No football cleats or wrestling shoes or boys clothing or girls clothing or groceries!!!!!!!!!  YIPPEE!  I get so excited about the littlest things!  LOL

Here's my haul:

I found a fantastic chippy pitcher and bowl set at our local Hallmark that was an absolute must-have:

I see them making a new home for themselves on my soon to be painted (carefully!) pre-Civil War mantle.

Then, once I got to thinking about it (which is sometimes a bad thing in my case), I decide to drive to this really totally absolutely wonderful shop that I love but never hardly ever get to.  Taking a three year old in there would be akin to taking a bull into a china shop, so I get there maybe once a year.  And for this year, today was that day!  If you live anywhere in eastern Iowa, you should definitely make the drive to "Country Collections" in Dumont.  She has a fantastic collection of vintage and new items that are out of this world.  I could spend HOURS in there - which, I did today.

Here's some pics for my new weekly blog post:  Friday's Finds.  Considering I just conceived this idea about two seconds before I started this blog post, it's a pretty sweet idea.  Look for it each Friday!  What a great reason to buy myself a little something each week!  But don't always expect a haul like I got today!  ;)

These sweet little picture frames are going to get some spray paint, but for $1.00 each, who could resist?  The little box was $2.00 and the milk glass vase, $3.00.

Luh-ove the vintage wooden blocks!  I sat down indian style in the middle of the floor and sorted through her basket of blocks to find green ones that spelled our last name.  And the little miniature subway sign - LOVE!  LOVE!  LOVE!  The glass bottle, vintage books, and iron stars were must haves for the vision I have for our office space.  And the little iron votive candle holder was just because it was cute.

But I was a wee bit upset when I unwrapped the glass bottle and found this:

Hopefully, I can glue it back.

And for $1.50, I'm sure I can use these old horseshoes and this vintage matchbox somewhere...

I came across sheets of metal like this laying up against the side of the building.  $15.00 was a little steep, but I've got an idea for it...

And the piece de resistance:

   And old potato bin.  LUH-OVE!!!!

Check out the handle...

NEAT!

I found these pillows marked 50% off...

  $14.00 for the both of them.  

And this white one is so soft!  A perfect accent for our bed...

While I absolutely adore the crochet on this burlap feather pillow.  That's just a shadow on the bottom, its in mint condition.

These little letters that spell out WELCOME will be perfect on our mantle...

Speaking of the mantle, here it is...

The hubs says I can't paint it white because it has its original flaking and peeling paint on it, which gives it character.  Yeah...  Because its more than likely lead paint!  I want to seal it and then paint it.  What do you think????

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.  This has got to be the fastest post I've ever done.  Please excuse any typos!  We're off for more Friday night lights to cheer on our Go-Hawks!

Hope you'll tune in for next week's Friday's Finds!  :)