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Cross Wall

I love my cross wall. I have been collecting crosses since Greg and I got married in 2004.

Greg's old youth pastor and his wife made that one with the red and blue beads.

Overtime we just started getting more,

and more,

and more!

Some are ceramic ones that I hand-painted myself. Some were bought on sale/clearance. Lots were gifts.

It really is my favorite collection!

This is what it looked like in 2007, in our house in La. It wasn't nearly as big.

Right now I have it in our entryway, and I still have plenty of room to hang more crosses.

Linked to:
Funky Junk Interiors
Under The Table And Dreaming
Cottage Instincts

Ornament Wreath

I told y'all here that I bought all new Christmas ornaments on clearance last year. That means that I was left with all my old ornaments. What is a girl to do with all those ornaments? Well you're in luck because instead of listing everything that I could have done with them I am going to show you what I did.

Yup I made that!

Here's how:

I gathered my supplies. For this project I needed 1 plastic wreath from Hobby Lobby, 2 strands of red garland from Dollar Tree, old ornaments from my garage, and lots of hot glue.

(sorry for the blurry pic)

I took the red garland and I wrapped it around the wreath. I put a few dots of hot glue to start, and then put more on after every 10 wraps or so. It did pretty good staying in place without a ton of glue.

I just kept wrapping until it looked like this:

I loved it just like this, and thought about keeping it as-is, but I didn't.

I started gluing my ornaments on there.

It takes a lot of glue. Seriously, I probably burned through at least 10 sticks., but the finished product made it all worth it.

I love it! It is hanging on my front door looking all pretty!

Linked to:
Todays Creative Blog, Frugal and Fabulous Design, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Cottage Instincts

Barn Star Ornaments

I have always had a red white (silver) and blue themed tree. I love the colors. I have always just used the plastic ball ornaments, but last year I found these cute ornaments for 90% off at Kohls.


The problem with getting Christmas ornaments on clearance is sometimes you can't find enough. I could have just had a scarce tree this year and looked for more ornaments after Christmas, or I could have just pulled out my shiny Christmas balls that I have used before that didn't quite match. Neither one of those options would have really worked because I am too anal, and too much of a perfectionist (not about everything, just some things).

Found these bad boys on one of my million trips to the local Dollar Tree.
I love it! well not the snowman that is on there, he is just okay, but not really the look that I am going for. I love the shape! It is a barn star shaped ornament for only $1. I have seen them at other stores for $3+.

To fix this and make it match I used my new favorite thing in the world, well not really, but it's up there on my list of new favorite things.


Look at how great my barn stars look now, I love it!

These ornaments are a really good size too. Well worth their $1 price tag. Here is what they look like on my tree. I tried several times and could not get a great picture of the tree. I promise it has lights, lots of them, and they were shining bright.
I am still trying to decide if I want to paint the star on top white also. What do y'all think I should do?

(If you are eying that beautiful gingham garland and wondering where I got that from you can find out more about it here.)

Linked to:
Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Mornings
Under the Table and dreaming
Cottage Instincts

Easy Cloth Garland

This is a great craft for a lazy person like me. It's easy, takes little time, cheap, customizable, and in my humble opinion, very, very pretty.

I went to the fabric store and found some fabric that I liked.


I cut the fabric into strips, I didn't really measure or anything, but I would say they were 1.5 inches by 8-10 inches.


Tied the strips together


Then I just wrapped it around the tree (probably don't have to tell you guys that, anyone who is smart enough to find this blog probably knows how to put garland on a Christmas tree.)


I took the rest of the fabric and laid it at around the bottom of the tree. Much cheaper than a tree skirt, and it matches perfectly.


I used 4 yards. The fake tree skirt could probably use a little more fabric, but I am too lazy to go get it. Actually I will say I am too thrifty to go get it. That sounds better.

The Christmas tree is not quite done yet, but I will have pictures soon to show you the whole thing.

Linked to:
My Romantic Home
Frugal Fabulous Design
Finding Fabulous
Fingerprints on the Fridge
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Paisley Passions
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Freckled Laundry
Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Mornings
Under the Table and Dreaming
Cottage Instincts

Christmas Present Fail

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... and if you are like me that means that it is the time of year that you start planning what you want for Christmas. Well actually most of you are probably a lot less selfish than me so you probably haven't put any thought into it, but I start planning out birthday and Christmas presents several months ahead.

Back in 2004 I was a young bride. Greg and I had only been married 5 months. We were strapped for cash, and didn’t have a lot of extra money that we could spend on Christmas presents for each other. What would a person in my predicament ask for? I don’t know. I can’t tell you what normal people would ask for, because it has already been established that I am not normal.

I asked for (drum roll please) a spice rack.
Have I ever cooked with spices before you ask? No, no I have not. I was young, naïve, and trying to become a better cook. I had received several cookbooks as wedding presents, and they all called for fancy and exotic ingredients like thyme, rosemary, and parsley (stop laughing Peggie). I decided that is the reason why nothing that I made tasted good. I was only using salt and pepper and if I wanted to spice things up I might sometimes use garlic salt or lemon pepper. Yes, I decided that in order to become a good cook I needed a spice rack.

You know how in A Christmas Story Ralphie yearns for the red ryder bb gun. His family, teachers, and even Santa try to talk him out of it, but Ralphie is convinced that this is what he wants. I think that I wanted the spice rack more than that. I had dreams about how the spice rack would change my whole life. Who knows? I might even become such a great cook and so efficient at it that I would even have time to freshen up, throw on some heels and pearls while my freshly spiced dinner was in the oven. My husband, family, and friends were not exactly supportive. Instead of hearing “you’ll shoot you’re eye out” I heard constantly “you’ll never use it.” I was going to prove them all wrong if I got that spice rack. Come December 26th, 2004 they would be eating their words and all of my wonderful culinary creations.

For Christmas that year I got the $50 spice rack that I had wanted so much. It was beautiful. It swiveled for easy access. The spices were all alphabetized, you know so I wouldn’t have to waste cooking time finding a certain spice. The bottles were clear. I thought that would be perfect when I started running low I would know immediately and could rush to the store.

Fast forward and here we are almost 6 years later. I bet at this point you are thinking to yourself: “wow, I am glad that she got that spice rack, I bet it has really come in handy.” Well actually you are probably not thinking that because that wouldn’t make a very good story now would it? Here we are 6 years later and out of the original 20 spices in the rack I have opened 6. One of them being thyme and I only opened it because I wanted to know what Thyme smelled like. I have dusted the spice rack more than I have used it, crazy right? It gets crazier, since we have moved 4 times since 2004 I have actually moved the spice rack more than I have used it.

(the lucky spices that actually got opened)

(poor spices never even got a chance to show how good they were)

Don’t worry, I have learned my lesson. Every year since I have asked for jewelry or handbags and they have gotten a lot more use than the spice rack.

On a side note, does anyone know what the shelf life is for spices? Will 6 year old spices hurt us? Who am I kidding? In order for them to hurt us I would actually have to use them.

First Day in the New House

Just sharing pictures of what our house looked like before we moved in and junked it all up.

Front of house:


Living room:




Play Room:
Don't you just love how the room with the wet bar in it is the one that we are using as a playroom? Eventually we are going to tear that bar out and put in shelving. I am sure it will be a while, so don't hold your breath or anything.

Kitchen:



Office:
This is supposed to be the formal dining room, but we will be using it as our office area.

Master Bed and Bath:




Emily's Room:

Letter Wall

I really love how Emily's playroom turned out. I will be writing a post later to show you the whole room, but for now here is a peek of my favorite part, her ABC wall.


I know this has been done on several other blogs, but I loved it. It is the main wall in our playroom, and I think that it adds so much. I would post a tutorial, but that has been done, and it is pretty self explanatory. I just found lots of different letters. If they were plain, or I did not like what was on them then I covered them with scrapbook paper. Most of the letters came from Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I really, really love the I, O, and U. They are not letters, the I is a wood ruler. The O is a decoration that looks like a life preserver that I bought this summer at Hobby Lobby. My favorite, the U is a horseshoe. The G and the P were both painted by Emily, and I love the way they turned out. Thanks for looking, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Check back later to see the rest of her playroom, it is still a work in progress, but it is pretty cute! Hopefully I will have a post about it in the next few days.

Linked to:

Under The Table and Dreaming
Funky Junk Interiors
Cottage Instincts
Making it With Allie
The Shabby Nest
Saturday Mornings

Making Candles Pretty and Festive

I love decorating with candles. They are pretty, they are great for adding height, and they smell so good. The problem? They can be a little expensive to switch out for different seasons. I would rather spend my money somewhere else where I will get more bang for my buck.

Well this is a problem no more! For the price of 1 roll of Christmas ribbon from the Dollar Tree I have completely transformed my plain vanilla candles from Wal-Mart.

Here's what you'll need:

plain candle

pretty ribbon

straight pins, and thimble

Just wrap the ribbon around the candle and cut down to size.


Use thimble and pins to attach ribbon to candle. I only needed two pins, but if your ribbon is wider, or if it is not staying secure with 2 pins then use as many as you need.


Now you have beautiful Christmas candles for only $1 and a few minutes.

Linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors
The Shabby Nest
Under The Table and Dreaming
The DIY Showoff
Today's Creative Blog
Tip Junkie
Making it With Allie
Saturday Mornings

Painting the table red

Like I have already told you, I am crazy. I do things that normal people would never do. Most people, if after moving into a new house, their husband asks them "do you think we should get a new table?" A normal persons response would be go to the nearest store ASAP to pick up a new kitchen table. My response: "No this one still is good, just a little worn out, I am just going to paint it, I'm thinking red." Stupid, I know.


This is what we started with. A very sweet family from Greg's church gave it to us when we were young newly weds, and had no furniture at all. It has been a great table for the last 6 years. It was just starting to look a little worn out. So I decided that I would paint it red, and I got started.


You've probably heard people say that red is a very hard color to work with. It takes a million coats, blah, blah, blah. Let me just set the record straight right here and now, they lied, they made it seem to easy. Red is a horrible color to paint with, it takes a billion coats, and it is the biggest pain in the butt ever. Run away from the color red, and don't look back.

I love, love, love the way it turned out though! I have 2 more chairs that I still need to paint. The 2 end chairs are the original chairs. The 2 chairs along the back are from the salvation army. I bought a set of 4 from there.

Cottage Instincts
Under The Table and Dreaming
Coastal Charm
Making it With Allie
The Shabby Nest
Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Mornings

Wanted to answer a readers question about what color red I used. It is called Tuscan Red by General Finishes. I bought it at a unfinished wood store. Here is a picture of the can in case you want to go looking for it.

Organized Closet

Put your clothes in Rainbow order! It makes it so much easier to find what you need, and makes the closet look very nice and organized!



Or even if you don't have them in rainbow order at least have them in some kind of order. My husband doesn't have a colorful enough wardrobe to have them in rainbow order, so this will have to do for him. I just put all of his like items together.


I also prefer to have all the same hangers. All of our hangers are the white plastic kind that you can buy from wal-mart, target, dollar general, etc. I do not keep any hangers from dry cleaners, or from stores, or anything. All of my hangers have to match. I get a panic attack at just the thought of a non-matching hanger. I'm a freak, I know.

Linking up on:
Organize and Decorate Everything