Winter Mantle

 Hi.  We had some snow last night which got me thinking about changing a few things in my house.  The mantle in our TV room had been pretty bare since I took down the Christmas decorations and the snow got me thinking more about winter. So I decided to do a winter mantle.  I didn’t want to spend any money, so …

 I “shopped the house”.

                                                                  … a couple of old books 

 …a pair of yard sale plates with a snowflake on them that I bought in the summer and totally forgot about!

                                                                               a blue chicken

                                         And if you have a chicken you’ve got to have a rooster.

  Some fake flowers to remind me spring is on its way.  Yes I know “they” say you are supposed to have real flowers, and fake flowers are a big “no no” but I like these and they last much longer than the real ones.  Who are “they” anyhow? . Besides these flowers look very lifelike.

 Something for sparkle.  These 2 little deer are something my mom bought when we lived in PA to remind us of all the deer we had there.

                     Some cozy quilts rolled up in  a basket all ready for those chilly winter evenings.

                                      Some little hearts for Valentines Day that I made from an old shirt.

                                                                  a decoration from Christmas

                       A garland made from all the buttons off the thrifted shirts I have used to make quilts.

   I attached the hearts and JOY decoration to the button garland.

Here is the completed winter mantle.( The photo isn’t very good because I need a new camera.)   In real life my winter mantle  is much warmer and cozier looking, not nearly as bright as in this photo.  I hope you can use your imagination.

Rhondi xo

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Valentine Tablescape

Hi

So glad you stopped by. How is your day going?  I often wonder as I write this who is going to read it.  Will someone randomly find it surfing the internet?  Will they come from another blog where I linked to?  Are they a subscriber? If you’ve never left a comment here. I would love to hear from you today. I am always excited to receive your comments and I always try to reply to first time commenters. No matter how you landed here, I am so glad you came to visit!

I seldom do any decorating for Valentines Day, but yesterday I found a couple of goodies at the thrift shop which inspired me to do a Valentine tablescape.  This is what I found:

                                                           four square plates with hearts on them

 a heart shaped candle and  a heart dish that is blue and white, perfect color for me to use year round 

                                   and a nice bright red ceramic candy dish.  I spent a total of $5.25.

 I covered the table with the red and white quilt I made a few years ago.  FYI…the walls look SO bright in these photos.  They  are so much paler in real life.       Come take a closer look at my table.

                            The little hearts I make for my family every Christmas hang on each chair

 I made napkin rings from a toilet paper roll covered with gift wrap and a garage sale snowflake glued on.  We used them for our Christmas lunch.  Since they were red they are great for my Valentine tablescape , and especially fitting for all you northerners with the amount of snow you’ve had this year!! The napkins are vintage.

                                                                     Some milkglass goblets

and a knife and fork with pink gingham handles complete the festive place setting.  I got 8 sets of knife, fork and spoon, 4 pink and 4 pale purple for only $1  at a sale last weekend.

 My red and white tea set had to make an appearance.

Just had to show you this beautiful soup tureen I got recently. I have found several tureens lately at very cheap prices so my collection has grown rapidly.  The white provides a nice relief from all the bright red.

                     A heart shaped dish which I’ve had for a few years.  It’s great for dips and crackers.

Finally some flowers for the center in a red pitcher.  A table always needs flowers and  daisies are one of my favorites.  These aren’t real, but they are so cheerful.  In the movie  You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan said, “Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower” and I have to agree.  (By the way, You’ve Got Mail is one of my favorite movies.   I always cry at the end as soon as “somewhere over the rainbow” starts.) That has nothing to do with my Valentine tablescape…

So this is my dining room table all decked out for Valentines Day.  I’d like to leave it like that but we use our dining room table every night for dinner.  I use the quilt for special occasions as a tablecloth,but don’t want it there every night, too much chance of it being stained.  Maybe I’ll use it again on Valentines Day.

If you happen to drop by my house today we can sit there and have a cup of tea, before I take it off.

Rhondi xo

Sharing with

The Style Sisters at Centerpiece Wednesdays

Tablescape Thursday at NOTP

2013 Year In Review

Hello dear friends

The tree is down.  The Christmas decorations are all back up in the attic.  It’s a new year with a fresh page on a brand new calendar.  My calendar has pictures of the grandkids all over it, a gift from my sweet daughter in law, who along with our son and their two boys moved to Hong Kong yesterday!!

Do you write goals for the new year?  At the beginning of each new year I write a few goals in my journal. This morning I looked at my goals for last year.  I didn’t complete one of them!

But that’s not going to stop me from making goals for 2014!

I always choose a word for the year.  This year’s word is GRATITUDE and a by product of that will be JOY.  I have been counting GIFTS for a couple of years along with Ann at Holy Experience and yet I still struggle with being grateful.   So GRATITUDE is my word for 2014 .

Looking back over my blog I was surprised to find that I got quite a few projects done in 2013. So here is my year in review in photos.

                      Removed white paint and refinished dining room table top to original wood.

                                             Made a quilt for our youngest grandchild on his first birthday.

                                       Painted a little thrifted table with Annie Sloan chalk paint.

Used  some old jeans to make a slipcover for this chair and ottoman that my husband likes to sit in.  It is so durable!

Slipcovered the couch in our TV room with 2 thrifted matelasse bedspreads.  Made new cushion covers for the back from fabric I already had.

 Recycled some sweaters into pillow covers.

Tried my hand at sewing hexagons.  The plan was to make a quilt but got impatient so I made a pillow cover instead.  I am working on a second one which is almost done.

Made a new quilt for our bed.  I also sewed 2 other quilt tops that are just waiting for me to quilt them.

 Made slipcovers for our 2 wing chairs, but didn’t like the brown and white fabric when they were all done 

                               Painted the front hall walls white then stenciled the upper section.

            Found this great dresser at Salvation Army and painted it with Annie Sloan Louis Blue chalk paint.

                                      Spray painted our ugly brass and black chandelier with white paint.

                                                             Painted the living room walls white.

Make another set of slipcovers for these chairs using matelasse bedspreads from a garage sale. Total cost $20  Which is a good thing since I wasted money on the brown and white ones.

Last and by far the best project of 2013 was our daughter’s wedding which was in October.

So that’s 2013 year in review.  I didn’t get any of my written down goals completed I did manage to do a few projects around the house.

I am looking forward to 2014 being the best year ever! How about you?

Rhondi xo

Linking up with Common Ground  Be Inspired Party.  Be sure to go and visit!