monday's tea i love tea and today i thought i would have it in my antique tea cups! instead of using my bulky pottery barn mugs, i decided to change it up! i love my tea cups and i kind of had forgotten about them. oh the tea taste better in these cups! :o) i love tea and i drink mostly PG tips and Harney's Earl Grey, yummy. now i need to bake some cookies! oh gosh, i should be cleaning the house. oh well...tea anyone? just a few ... continue reading...
Mason Jar Project
Happy Spring! My daughter and her friend made up this spring Mason jar project all on their own! They used a large mason jar and added moss, eggs, silk blossoms, sticks and Easter chicks! The possibilities are endless since there are so many cute craft items to add to the scene. I love that they both had the same supplies, and both jars turned out different. Creativity is so unique and awesome. They gathered up some twigs from the yard and found my fake eggs and moss. They used ... continue reading...
A fun Mason jar craft
mason jar project i've been busy for the last couple of weeks with teaching a craft camp at our local elementary school. i had so much fun teaching crafts to first graders to fifth graders. of course i found this project off pinterest and we added our own touches to the design. i love how the girls would make such awesome decisions on colors and decor, so fresh and cute! these jars almost have a island flair to them. as predicted, we had a few drops of paint on ... continue reading...
Easy Way to Personalize Your Iphone Cover
Iphone Cover with Craft Paper Ok, I totally love this iPhone case since I can change out the paper or image! If you can get a clear phone case, you should really try this. After searching on the internet, I finally found this case. It is an Adopted case... unfortunately, Amazon doesn't carry this brand, but I bought mine at the apple store. I have created a lot of other posts with this project: Iphone case My husband loves it too so now he wants one. I think the ... continue reading...
Kitchen Remodel Part 1
Our Kitchen Remodel We moved into our Northern California house three years ago and my husband bought the house without me! Our realtor and now friend has never had a client buy house without the spouse viewing it! I guess after 28 years of marriage our taste is similar and so we can trust each other's decision making. Or maybe we are just downright crazy! :o) Anyway, we lived in the house for a year before we began our remodel. We spent many hours trying to redesign our ... continue reading...
Springtime
beautiful spring blossoms... i hope it is springtime near your nest! ... continue reading...
Milk Paint Inspirations
milk paint i've been batting around some ideas for my next project. miss mustard seed has this wonderful milk paint that has inspired me to do a few paint projects. i need to paint my kitchen barstools and a highboy cabinet. i hope to order a paint soon...just can't decide on which color to use! visit her website for more colors and inspirations! here is the link: https://www.missmustardseedsmilkpaint.com/inspiration/ ... continue reading...
Rug Inspirations
Layer Some Color Event at One Kings Lane: Clean-Lined Design Event at One Kings Lane: One Kings Lane I love to shop at this on-line company they carry such unique things! They always have fresh new home decor every week. Check them out if you haven't already! Starting today, the Safavieh Event at One Kings Lane is launching! Don't know Safavieh? They are an ever stylish home furnishing brand offering incredible deals on so many of their products right now, so go get to ... continue reading...
Labels For Our Homemade Beer
paper-source canning and bottling labels according to my daughter, my husband's hobby of making his own beer is his new "drinking hobby"! of course we had to clarify this hobby to her so she wouldn't repeat this observation to her teacher or classmates at school! well, this blogging bug has even touched my husband! for the holidays, i bought him a beer making kit and during his vacation he made up his first batch of pale ale. of course it came out a little darker ... continue reading...
Master Bedroom
Today's Happy Decor Project is my Master Bedroom. Slowly but surely we are revamping our 1960's Ranch Style home. Our home has been a labor of love and of course patience! Master Bedroom Refresh When we bought our home almost seven years ago, the master bedroom was a bright yellow and the paint was a Restoration Hardware color. The little swatch appeared mellow, but instead of a soothing atmosphere is was more like a bright pre school rumpus room. Well, I wanted a more ... continue reading...
Spring Cherry Blossoms
Spring Cherry Blossom Branches it feels like people are celebrating spring these days. so i had to make up my own spring bouquet. i went out and trimmed our flowering cherry blossom tree and placed the branches in water. i'm hoping that they'll actually blossom, to be honest with you i have never forced tree blossoms. i bought a few bird ornaments at Michael Crafts as well as a package of feathers. my swedish friend, elisabeth told me that they decorate ... continue reading...
Paper Source Labels
Paper Source Labels I've been organizing and cleaning out my cupboards and I came across these cool labels at the Paper Source store. I just love everything they sell at that store! Now that paper is being eliminated in many parts of our lives, it is great to have a place that celebrates paper in a creative way. Anyway, I love their selection of labels. I thought maybe I would hand print my own labels, but then my handwriting is pretty sad. So, I went to the Paper Source's website and ... continue reading...
Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie
chocolate chip cookie this is my mom's recipe. i love how it is packed with chocolate chips in every bite. i've added a new ingredient and step to this cookie which is optional. i love having a salty chocolate cookie so i added salt to the bottom and top to bring out a buttery flavor, kind of like the yummy cookie we bought at Dean and Deluca. 1/2 cup shortening 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1 1/2 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ... continue reading...
The Best Chocolate Cake
the best chocolate cake this chocolate cake is extremely moist and delicious. the red beets give it the moisture and a denseness like no other cake. my husband is my biggest food critic and he loves this cake. recently, he mentioned that he isn't much into cakes, so for him to like this cake says a lot. this recipe is always the standard birthday cake that is requested in my family. my son just celebrated his 13th birthday, so these are the last two pieces ... continue reading...
Travel to Big Sur
the ultimate nest with color! for my monumental birthday last year (i won't mention the numerical year :o) ) my husband rented this wonderful house in big sur, california. it is an incredible house and such a feast for the eyes, bright colors abound everywhere you look. the house that we stayed at is called "the rainbow house" and it is perched on the side of a mountain with views of the pacific ocean. the room pictured above is where my son slept and it is a ... continue reading...
Antique Bottles
pottery barn inspiration the other day when i was window shopping at Pottery Barn i noticed these beautiful sea glass bottles. i must have filed them into my memory because about a week later, i had my husband unpack a few bottles from his antique bottle collection. we have carted these bottles around from house to house and finally we have a place that displays them nicely! i placed them on the bookshelf above my bed and i just love the beach style feel they evoke. ... continue reading...
Personalized Photo Candle Holders
decorated glass candle holder i had so much fun creating this project. it's easy and pretty during the day and incredibly cool at night when illuminated. the key is to find a fairly good size glass container and use a small votive candle...this prevents the glass, paper, and glue from getting to hot. i plan to make a few of them and also as presents! it is a relatively inexpensive project with great results. here's the glass container i used. i tried ... continue reading...
Chocolate Lovers Brownies
salty brownies my new salt and chocolate obsession all started with a trip to napa and a visit to the Dean and DeLuca store in st helena. my husband and i ordered a coffee and of course had to munch on something sweet, so we ordered a chocolate chip cookie. we were pleasantly surprised to find the bottom of it had a yummy salted butter taste. so i have been experimenting with a cookie recipe to recreate that wonderful taste bud experience (i'll post it later). so ... continue reading...
Decorated Tin Pot
rustic tin pot my living room has a lot of greens and whites and so i was inspired to make this container. in my entry from the other day i explain how i have always wanted to make a rose ribbon. so, ta-da... here is the final project. i'm still not sure what i'll place in the pot, but if my kitchen were these colors, it might make it a napkin holder. this design has a garden feel, so most likely will end up in my living room. i hope to post before and after photos next ... continue reading...
Rosemary Wreath
Rosemary Heart Shaped Wreath Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I thought it would be nice to design something festive. I've been dying to make something with all the rosemary that I have in my garden. Yes, I have hedges of it and they are in need of a trim. I came up with this rosemary shaped heart and I kind of let it evolve into it's own design. As you can see there is not an ounce of red or pink, huh... I don't gravitate towards those colors, so I'm not ... continue reading...
Decorating with Flowers
blossoms... my latest motto is...out with winter and in with spring! once the holiday decorations were moved back into our ever crowded garage, i got a bad case of spring fever. since moving into our northern california house three years, i have done nothing to decorate our entertainment center. since we were planning on remodeling and painting it white, i just ignored the sad shelves. it became a catch all for all the tchotchkes that didn't have a home. so ... continue reading...
