Sally's House

This time of year my book club has a progressive dinner. We visit three homes, we have appetizers at one, the main course (usually soup and salad) at one, and desert at the last home. We have a blast.  I wanted to share some pictures I took at our last stop of the evening, Sally's house.  I confess the pictures are not the best since I took them with my phone but I wanted to share them with you.

This white door leans against the wall in Sally's dinning room.  If you look close at the picture hanging on the knob you can see what the door looked like when Sally first got it.

I love this dancing snowman, he just makes me happy!

These snowmen are pretty cute too.  I love how Sally added the snowballs to the display.

This is her live tree.  The fragrance was wonderful.

I loved how Sally decorated her staircase railing.  Can you believe there is now greenery used?  It is all ribbon.  Gorgeous!!!

We had an ornament exchange and here is the gorgeous ornament I received.  I love my book club ladies and we always have a great time together.  I just added our 2013 book list so click on the book club tab if you want to see what we will be reading next year.

Linking up at ...
Common Ground
The Charm of Home
French Country Cottage

A Little More Christmas and a Sweet Little Deer

Nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit like seeing Christmas decorations and you know my favorite place to shop is the Paramount Antique Mall.  I tell myself every year that I don't need any more Christmas decorations but this sweet little deer needed a good home.  What was I to do?

You and I both know if I would have left him there I would have just gone back in a day or two to get him and bring him home.  Don't you just love the little bell around his neck?

It seems like my theme this year is simple. This little wreath attached to the back of the bench is about all the Christmas decorations I have in the kitchen.
   

 

Here I am back to the simple theme.  All I did here was put some candles on a tray and put garland around them and it looks beautiful.

 My sweet little Ollie sitting under the tree. 

I had better get off the computer and go wrap some presents because as you can see, Ollie is the only present under there so far.

Linking up at:

Common Ground 

The Charm of Home
Knick of Time
Cedar Hill Ranch
Cozy Little House

Christmas Buffets

I don't know about you but my Christmas decorating this year is a bit more casual than previous years. Some years I can't get enough sparkle and others I like the warm cozy feel of more casual decor.   Here are a few pictures of the two buffets in my house decorated for Christmas.  Yes, I have two buffets.  One upstairs and one downstairs. 

This Joy banner is from Mama's Porch.  If you want to see more things from Mama's porch you can see a previous post here.

I just love this little tree I picked up last year after Christmas.

This is the buffet I have upstairs in my living room.  I didn't change it much from my fall decor.

As you can see I am not a chalkboard artist but that goes right along with that casual homey feel I'm going for, right?

Hope all of your are enjoying the season and are not feeling to rushed.

Linking up at:
Common Ground
Charm of Home
French Country Cottage
At The Picket Fence

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Ginger Cookies is not something I have ever made before.  I don't even eat them often.  I would go as far as to say I have not really been much of a fan, but for some reason this year I have been craving them.  I searched the internet for recipes, considered a few, and settled on this one.  It was a good choice.  The cookies were fabulous!!!!  Click here for the recipe, make them, and ENJOY!

You'll be glad you did!

Joining the cookie exchange party at Stuff and Nonsense

Christmas Mantel 2012

The stockings are hung, the tree is up, now all I have to do is get the presents bought and wrapped.  I am so looking forward to this holiday season.  I love everything about Christmas!  Here are a few pictures of my mantel decorated for the holidays.  I hope they give you some inspiration if you don't already have your decorations up.

This year I tried to take some night time shots with my Christmas lights on.  This is the only picture that turned out.  About three years ago I used some old sheet music and some Modge Podge to make my NOEL fit into my color scheme better.  It was messy but so worth it.

There is nothing easier than putting a few picks and some Christmas balls in an urn and it always looks amazing. Oh, and see that fire I built in the fireplace?  : )

Thanks as always for stopping by.  Hope you have a great Holiday Season!

Linking up at:
Savvy Southern Style
Coastal Charm
Cozy Little House
Cowgirl Up Link Party
The Lettered Cottage

My White Whimsy Owl

I know owls have been popular for a while now but right before Halloween this year it seemed like I was seeing them everywhere.  I knew I wanted an owl to add some WHIMSY to my decor but I wanted to be able to leave it out year round if I wanted to.

Here he is on his new perch, my buffet.

Isn't he just the cutest!?!

From Mama's Porch

My friends at From Mama's Porch are gearing up for the Kansas Barn Sale this Saturday in Heston, Kansas.  It is a huge sale with lots of great hand made items and antiques.  Here are just a few of the thing my friends have been working on.

Aren't these angels cute!?!  Make sure you notice the details on them.  I love the chain hair.

It's never to early to start getting ready for Christmas.

I just love that they use a lot of old elements like these when making some of their treasures.

So if you get a chance, go on out to Heston and make sure you visit Mama's Porch.  You can visit the Kansas Barn Sales blog and get directions to the sale or visit them on Facebook.

Quick Furniture Makeover With Spray Paint

My daughter came home from college one weekend and said I need a TV stand for my dorm room.  So of course we went shopping.  I have to say the choices were not good.  They lacked character plus talk about expensive.  We had just about given up when I remembered this little table I had down in my storage room.

This is obviously the BEFORE picture.  Which I almost forgot to take.
But the AFTER.......

WOW!  What a difference.  I just love paint.  Since I knew my daughter would be taking this back with her the next day and there would not be a lot of drying time I decided to use spray paint.  It worked wonderfully.  I did prime the table first then sprayed on two coats of spray paint.  The paint I used was Rust-oleum satin Aqua.  We sprayed the handle white and ta-DA we have a cute TV stand with lots of personality for not much money.

A Graduation Party And Some Technical Difficulties

I am so happy to finally be doing a post.  I have missed blogging but have had some technical difficulties.  I tried to do this post a month ago and was not able to because I had used all my free picture storage.  I was not aware that I had a limit on picture storage so after cleaning up my Picassa account of duplicate photos I was able to add the pictures in this post.  I then tried to make this post and kept getting error codes every time I tried to login to my blog.  Has anyone else had similar issues?  I hate to purchase additional storage if I am not always going to be able to make posts.

Now on to the fun stuff.  This May my daughter graduated from high school.  I had so much fun getting ready for the open house.

May favorite thing that I made for the party was this banner.

 

I cut the pendants out using my Cricut machine and the graduation cartridge.  I then tore out pages from a paperback and glued them on the back of the pendants.

I just love the little metal clips I used to attached the pendants to the cord.  I found them at Hobby Lobby.

I also cut these numbers out using my Cricut and clipped them to a cord with some black and white photos.

Her school colors were red and white so I did a fun display with candy.  This was a big hit with the kids. 

 I also thought this was a great way to display her gown.

Thanks as always for stopping by and if you are a blogger and have any words of wisdom for me on my recent blogger issues, please leave a comment.  Thanks!

Linking to...
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Faded Charm Cottage White Wednesday

Spring Break Down South

I just love spring break, a timeout from the normal routine to spend with your loved ones.  My family and I took a trip to Nashville, Tn. and toured some beautiful plantations.  The first place we toured was the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tn.

If any of you have read Widow Of The South, this plantation is the inspiration for that novel.  I did an early post on this plantation, click here to see it.

One thing all the plantations we visited had in common was a beautiful garden. Since it was March things were just starting to bloom but they were still beautiful.  This pathway was in the garden.  Can you imagine how beautiful it would be with the vines in full bloom?

The next place we visited was Andrew Jackson's plantation, The Hermitage, located in Nashville, TN.

The garden behind this home was beautiful.

All of the gardens had pathways for you to walk along and benches to sit on to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

The final plantation we toured was Belle Meade, also located in Nashville, TN. 

This home was the largest of the three we visited.  Sadly none of the homes would let you take pictures inside, but let me tell you they are beautiful.

Another beautiful garden.

Between Tennessee and Kansas we made a stop at the arch in St. Louis.  It was such a beautiful day when we were there.

Thanks for letting me share some of my vacation photos with you.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Spring Break also.


Sharing at these wonderful linky parties:
Common Ground Vintage Inspiration
Stuff-and-Nonsense Fridays Unfolded
At The Picket Fence Inspiration Friday

Adding Spring Touches To The Fireplace

I wanted to keep my mantle this spring simple.  I have really enjoyed the little bit of sparkle the mercury glass has added to my mantle so I kept a lot of the same pieces I used at Christmas. 

You just can't have a spring look without bringing some outside in so I added some pots with greenery at the hearth of the fireplace.

 Here is a closer look.

Of course you must add a little nest complete with eggs.

I have spring fever really bad this year.  All I want to do is sit on the back porch sipping iced tea with big slices of lemon in it and maybe even a sprig of mint.

Thanks as always for stopping by!


Sharing at
Stuff-and-Nonsense Fridays Unfolded
 Common Ground Vintage Inspiration 
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Romantic Home Show-and-tell-Friday
Five Days Five Ways Feature Friday
Cowgirl Up Linky Party
Sisters of the Wild West