Decorating with Scent

When you have your house for sale they always tell you to burn a nice scent. It appeals to the buyer if the house smells like fresh baked apple pie or something "homey" like that. I always strive to have my home always be as appealing as a house that is on the market.

So clutter be gone..and lovely scents please fill my house.

I was so delighted when my blogger friend Sherry from http://theshantygirl.blogspot.com/

decided to start making the most wonderful soy candles and tarts. She sells her candles and tarts  here.

She has the most amazing scents! Not being from Texas I had never smelled Bluebonnet flowers before but Bluebonnets on the Prairie is one of my favorite scents! It smells so good.

These candles and scents are a real treat to my senses and in my opinion make the house more delightful.

The pumpkin pie spice scent was so appealing it inspired me to make a double layer pumpkin pie.

My kids were pretty happy about the pie!

There are several lavender scents I am just loving too--the fresh cut lavender even has buds in it!

Like an old song can bring you back to a time in your life so can a scent. I am a believer in the power of the nose!

Phoebe wanted me to mention that a cat makes a house a home. (another belief of mine)

I have been having a good time looking at everyone's Fall decorating. Please keep the ideas coming!

UPDATE:  The free shipping special on the candles and tarts has been extended to Oct 14th!
 

Thanks for visiting!

Burlap Sunflowers and Wee White Pumpkins

I am trying to improve my attitude about Fall. It just is my least favorite season..but you know, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. So I don't see Fall going away anytime soon so I am trying to embrace it.

My first attempt in decorating for Fall is that I made some burlap sunflowers.

 

I had seen these on pinterest and I really think they are just what I needed to keep with my white and neutral Fall theme.

I think they work perfectly.

 So just in case you want to make some yourself here is what I did.

I bought a small bunch of sunflowers from Dollar Tree! There were 5 on the bunch for $1.

   

I cut them apart, and then took them apart.

I pinned the flowers to a piece of burlap and cut them out.

I put them back together...and ta-da!

I stuffed my table box full of kraft paper filling (also from Dollar tree) and wee little white pumpkins that I finally found after looking at literally every grocery store in our area. Love these wee little pumpkins--but this year for some reason they were so hard to find! Next year I am going to ask my husband to grow me some.

I am pleased with how it turned out.

Maybe I can learn to like Fall decorating.

I picked what I think is my very last fresh cut flower of 2013.

I will so miss fresh flowers in the house!

I hope this finds everyone enjoying all the season has to offer.

Thanks for visiting!

Spotlight on Me!

I am so honored that one of my favorite blogger friends is spotlighting me on her blog! Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and Susan from Must Love Junk are spotlighting a different blogger every week as a way to more personally get to know that blogger.

So if you want to know even more about me please stop by at Kris' and see my spotlight!

 

Here is where to find it... Spotlight on me

 Thanks for visiting!

Hydrangeas and Birthdays

It is Fall. Love it or hate it it is here, for those of us in the US anyway. So I have been thinking of Fall decorating and decided I should dry some Hydrangeas from the yard. I did this a few years ago and those are getting dusty so decided to dry some more.

 

 

I have no special technique--I just wait til Fall and they start turning color on the vine and I cut them and bring them in the house. I don't give them any water. They just seem to dry all by themselves. Maybe I am lucky?

The different colors they turn are pretty and very Fall looking.

Now I am looking for some wee white pumpkins--haven't found any in the stores yet. Next year I am going to ask my husband to grow me some!

This is birthday time of year in our house. It starts on September 1st when Chantel turned 15. Old enough to get her drivers permit! I can hardly believe it. I think I forgot to share a picture from her birthday so here is one...

She is such a pretty girl. To me though it seems like she should still look like this...

When it comes to the kids, time just goes by too quickly!

The next birthday happened last Friday...when Janae turned 24. Janae, Chantel and I had such a fun girls night out for her birthday!

Here are some cell phone pictures from dinner.

 

My mouth waters when I think about that dinner. Janae and I love Sushi, Chantel not so much. The cooked Sushi is my favorite--with all the yummy sauces. If I could afford to I would eat it everyday!

After dinner we went and saw the movie "Prisoners"--we all really enjoyed it! It was kind of a dark movie, the subject matter being someone's kids getting kidnapped and what they were willing to do to get them back. I tell you--I am not violent at all...I even carry spiders out of the house and let them go outside...but if someone did something to my kids watch out. I would lose it. I pray everyday nothing like that ever happens to my babies.

You can see in the dinner photo how tired I look...it was because I basically stayed up all night the night before making this doggie dress for Janae's birthday. I am so bad about waiting til the last minute.

Lacie looks so cute in it! Chantel picked out the Barbie fabric.

Janae's main gift was this bracelet I had made by a lady on Etsy of Janae's furbabies.

Janae loved it--which made me very happy.

Coming soon...the boys turn 14 in October. See what I mean about birthday time of year!

Hope this finds everyone doing well.

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

For the love of Frames

I love frames. I cannot resist a pretty frame and I love to transform them. All the frames in my house get the same transformation and even though I claim to not like things too matchy matchy, I do love that they all coordinate so well.

I love this look of hanging several different sizes of frames together. The outside frame with the roses is my favorite of all time.

I decided to hang my favorite Halloween picture for awhile. This was 2000, and Janae was Cruella Deville...she didn't want to be Cruella because Cruella is mean. :) All the puppies are her siblings--both her Snyder and Brown siblings. I think it is the cutest halloween ever!

This is my little sitting area where these frames hang..and yes, I have big plans for that lampshade... I have been procrastinating about that one for about a year now!

You may recognise my favorite frame from my Niece's wedding...

Another friend of mine asked to borrow it to take photos of her daughter and her horse. I hope she does..that would make awesome pictures!

I like frames just sitting on the mantle and looking pretty!

One of my favorite walls in the house is above the livingroom couch.

If you want to see how I transform them you can find that post here.

Well, I have been thinking about decorating for Fall--ugh, not my favorite season. I am loving seeing all the beautiful white fabric pumpkins I am seeing in blogland though!

Thanks for visiting!

So many projects and procrastination

I have so many projects all ready for me to do them, and some of them I just procrastinate on. I think I do this because I want to do a really good job and I worry it won't turn out the way I want it too. I should do like Nike says, "Just do it".

My Mom found this foot stool at a garage sale for $3.

I like the needlepoint but it just didn't fit in with my house. So I fixed it.

When Wyatt saw it after school today he said, "Oh that looks so nice Mom, so much more you". I agree! I left the needlepoint underneath just in case someday somebody wants to expose it. The fabric was a gift from Janae. She bought it for me for Mothers day like 2 years ago! (see what I mean about procrastination!) and they sent this fabric which wasn't exactly the color she ordered. Later they sent the right color and let us keep both pieces!

I thought the darker would look good on the footstool and I have a chair I want to do in the blue on blue. I love the burnout velvet...so gorgeous!

So here is the chair I want to cover with this gorgeous fabric. Of course, the chair will be white too. If anyone wants to give me some pointers on recovering this they would be appreciated. I have never recovered anything beyond simple chair pads. Wish me luck!

The kids have started school now. None of them are happy about it. Chantel is in high school! The thought of that still freaks me out a bit. I can't believe how fast they grow. I talked Chantel into letting me take her picture today--I am loving the school clothes she picked this year. They match our house! Most everything she bought is lace--I just love it.

My other beautiful girl is doing well...

Sophia is totally part of the family now! So glad we adopted her. I adore her.

Thanks for visiting!