Spring has Sprung!

I don't know about you, but I have wondered back and forth if Spring really is here?! We have been having blips of winter still visit us and in the last 2 days it feels like summer...did we skip Spring all together? It has been so weird!

I have so much to share with you on this post. I am showing my pretty spring table in a double post! Susan at Between Naps on the Porch host's "Tablescapes Thursday". Leigh at Tales From Bloggerville hosts "Thrifty Thursdays", today she is co-hosting with Chandy at "What Now?" make sure to stop by and see their great blogs as well! I am all about a beautiful tablescape and making it budget friendly so this double post was great for me! I am sharing with you all a little of my Spring decorating I have done as well.

Oh, the most wonderful thing has happened here too! I received my first blog award! So excited to have this award on my blog! The very gracious Cathy at The Stylish House awarded this to me and it meant so much that I was thought of! Thank you Cathy, I am very honored! Make sure to stop by her blog as well,she is an amazing Interior Designer and has such great blog!

Attitude of Gratitude Award

I so believe in having an attitude of gratitude in life! We have so much to be grateful for! I am extremely blessed! I have a wonderful husband, 5 terrific kids, and the Gospel in my life! I know that I have been through many trials that has only strengthened me and made me realize how blessed I truly am. I now feel too with blogging and meeting so many amazing and talented new friends I have even more to be grateful for! Thank you Cathy again, it truly touched my heart!!

Here are 10 other inspiring and great blogs to visit that have an "Attitude of Gratitude!

1. Living my life outside the box
2. Stich in Thyme
3. Grits and Glamour
4. Reese and Marie
5. She's Crafty!
6. Sweet Cottage Dreams
7. It's an Evolution
8. Sew Shay
9. His Pink Princess
10. Rue's peanut butter and jelly life 

So here is my beautiful Spring tablescape. All dressed up in soft pinks, blues and greens...

I have had these plates for over 7 yrs. now and they are still my favorite! I bought them at Wal-mart when I lived in Iowa. They were having a clearance sale on them so I bought enough for 12 place settings! They were $.50 for each small plate and a $1.00 for the big ones! I bought 12 of the flower, and there are other small plates that look just like the big plates. So pretty and such a great thrifty find!

The light rose colored glasses I just bought at Pier One...on sale for a $1.49 a glass! I bought 8 in the light rose and 8 in a turquoise blue. Great for water. The goblets came from Wal-mart as a set of 4 for less than $5.oo . They are nice and heavy and I love using them for strawberry lemonade.

Aren't these flowers gorgeous?! I again found a great sale on these very pretty pink roses...Albertsons! They were selling them a dozen for $6.oo!! I bought the white flowers at Wal-mart and unless you look close, the green hydrangeas are...fake! I saw a florist in a magazine show that you can mix fake flowers with real ones in arrangements to save on money, as long as they "look" real. Such a clever idea! My runner is from Target, of course on sale. I only paid $4.oo for it. I bought the candle holders from Michaels a couple of years back and paid $.50 for each of them.

I bought some pretty pink candles that smell great too at Pier One. The green napkins came with a tablecloth on sale at Kohls that I bought a couple years ago. I just wrapped some sheer pink and gross grain ribbon around them and hot glued little name cards on the ends. I bought these little cards at Wal-mart for about $1.50. Sprinkled some white and clear vase filler beads on the runner and dropped some rose petals here and there. The only expensive thing I have on the table is my stainless steel silverware, even then I bought it on sale for such a great price!

Here are my cute birdies on my table as well. Remember all I did with my Spray Paint Magic?!

It just goes to show you don't have to spend alot to have a beautiful tablescape!

Here are some other areas Spring has sprung in my home!

Spring definitely has arrived on my front door! I love the mixture of pink, whites and reds!

I adore my apothecary jars! I change them out with the seasons and love to group them together.

Here are those cute little moss bunnies I posted on ... They were such a great deal!

Of course I had to show you some pretty eggs! Love the green moss peeking through.

Here is my sequined bunny I love! This gorgeous turquoise vase

 was a gift from some great friends back in Utah....I cherish this!!

So I guess even though the weather has been a little weird everywhere, Spring has at least sprung here! Thank you all for so many of your great comments and following along on my blog. I love getting to share my ideas and creativity with you all! Just a reminder that I will be doing a giveaway soon...don't forget to follow along! A very cute birdie bag I designed just might be yours!!

Lots of hugs and smiles sent your way!

My Chandelier Transformation...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I know that my family did! Lots of ham, eggs and chocolate! The most important thing was to take time and reflect on our many blessings and be grateful for the sacrifice that our Saviour Jesus Christ has made on our behalf. I love this time of year. Spring brings about so many new things and a revived feeling to our lives!


I thought I would join in on Metamorphosis Mondays at BETWEEN THE NAPS ON THE PORCH today. Make sure to stop by and see what other great transformations are there as well!


What better time than to show you my chandelier transformation. This has been no ordinary change. I have now given this Chandelier 2 different looks, than it started out with. Being that I love so many colors and styles I am always changing things. This Chandelier started out as a "not so pretty to me" gold chandelier. I thought, "o.k. I don't love it, but it has a good form...I will change it!" Of course I used some of my spray paint magic and I now smile every time I see it! This chandelier really has been through a metamorphosis...here are it's many looks.


I didn't take an original picture before, but this is how it started it's 1st look out as...*yawn* boring....









So I changed it to this! I used a bronze/brown spray paint that had a hammered metal effect to it. Added some fabric, shade, trim and...yes...crazy, maybe...hand strung all the beads! The look was soo worth it though. I had to drill all the little holes in the metal rims for the beads to clasp onto with some wire.







I did this change about 2 years ago, and recently have decided I am definitely done with the yellow in my kitchen, dining room, living room....o.k. about everywhere! I have a very open house that blends rooms one into the next, so I had to do a color that would work with everything. I still like the yellow, just am tired of seeing it everywhere! So I am thinking of re-painting the kitchen, dining room and possibly the living room a very pale blue grey... (lost in a little dreamy thought for a moment) so, back to my chandelier. Of course if your like me that means add one project, why not add 10 more! I decided, let's add some more work and change the chandelier again!

Here is my prepping for me to spray it. I used plastic wrap and tape to keep the beads from being sprayed.





Painting this Chandelier to a lighter color took 2 cans of the matte white paint (less than $1.00 each!) from Wal-mart. Finished it with a matte clear coat.




Here's some of the "Darla" fabric I showed a peek of in my last post. I love the greens, reds and pinks! So pretty! I had some small red and white gingham ribbon and the thrift in me found these shades at Ross for only a $1.49! Normally in any store for $5.00 or more.




After lots of hot glue and a *ouch* here and there, I had such pretty shades! I made the ribbon look like it was a little skirt at the edge.

Doubled the length of some gingham fabric from Tanya Whelans collection "Darla" for the chain cover and hot glued it together too! I love it! It is so refreshing and chic. Every time I see it I just feel happy! So glad I changed it again.

Who knows how many more times this chandelier will transform. For now I love it just the way it is! Again, it doesn't have to cost a lot to give something a whole new look.

 I would love for you to follow me and stay updated on new posts! For all my followers that have become my new friends, "thank you" it really does mean so much! I love hearing your comments and getting to know you as well!!

Thanks Susan from BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH, for letting me be apart of your Metamorphosis Monday!

Hugs,

My great finds!

The last couple of weeks have been busy ones! I have been working on at least 8 different projects. As I have said before "always something creative going on in my head!" It seems I can almost finish one project and already I am thinking about the next. In all of this "creative chaos", I have also managed to find some more great finds to add to the 101 project list! I just can't seem to help myself. I do have to say at least they do eventually get finished!

In my quest as of late,I have been looking to find a dresser to replace the one I have in my master bedroom. As I was searching I came across something else that I fell in love with! As I was clicking through all the listings of furniture on Craigslist, a picture of the most divine piece of furniture popped up on my screen! I felt my mouth water and my heart swoon...I felt giddy... I had to have this exquisite...buffet?! I know, you all are thinking..."wait wasn't she just searching for a dresser?" This is a great question. How did I go from dresser to buffet? Well that is the funny thing about Craigslist, you just never know what your going to find. The price on this beautiful antique buffet was a "GREAT" price! I just now needed to convince Mr. Wonderful that I...aahem...(excuse me) WE needed to have this gorgeous, antique buffet in our dining room. So I called him and what a great husband I have, the only question he ever asks is "how much is it?" My answer is always "the right price and it will work in our budget". Feels great to know he trust's my instincts on what works and how I design our home. I truly feel blessed!

So, back to my buffet. It is beautiful...distressed, curvy details, and the original hardware. I love it! The only thing I am contemplating is changing the color to be a little more white, it now is more of a beige white and with my (so over it!) yellow walls (this is a whole other post, be forewarned) and white furniture I think it needs to be lighter and still be distressed. I love that the paint is so old, cracking and peeling...love distress! With all the boys I have in this house, distress is good! It keeps me from being stressed and I don't have to worry about it having a nick, dent or chip on it.

Swooning...

I have to say that buying this buffet has truly been a blessing! I have also made a new friend in finding this. Her name is Cathi and we have a lot in common. Not only did I buy the buffet, but she gave me an even greater discount on it. So generous. She wanted to say "thank you" to my husband for serving our country in the Air Force and me for being the support behind him in our home. This moved my husband and I, you could see how important this was to her and her husband. Thank you Cathi. She also gave me an old stand and a very cute metal flower basket for the wall. In a future post you will hear more on this new friend and her amazing husbands creations with woodworking. Wow, little did I know that finding this beautiful buffet would also lead me to a great new friend! God does bless us with new friendships at certain times of our lives, how grateful I am.

The sweet hanging wall basket and some (real) 

pink baby roses I bought for a great price at Trader Joes. 

Here is the cute stand she gave me.

Some new paint, remove the decoupage and add some rope 

molding where there is metal molding. Should be even cuter!

Here are some of the other good deals I found.

Love this shelf! I am thinking painting it more of a cream white than this soft yellow. Found this at Ross. The adorable bunnies were a find at Michaels on sale.

Sequined glass bunny was 40% off, I paid only $5.99!

Sweet moss bunnies. They were only $2.39 each!

Whimsy and fun 12x12 scrapbook paper 4 for a $1 at Michaels!

 Normally $.59 each, another great find!

Little birdies I bought for only $1.19 each.

The sale at Michaels is still on...run quick before it is all sold! I can't wait to show more on my makeovers on the stand and shelf. I love to hear your comments, so please feel free to leave your thoughts! I have many more ideas and new handbag/purse designs coming up, make sure to follow so you don't miss out! My Etsy boutique will hopefully be opening in the next month. I thought I would give a little taste of coming up Whimsy posts. Have a great weekend!

Creating something with my favorite Tanya Whelan fabrics "Darla", Using scrapbook paper as a background, and having fun with some numbers and more "Darla" fabric.