Cement Angels and a Hallway Mirror

 

I love angels.  All kinds of angels.  I found these cement planters a while back and had them on layaway.    I placed one on each side of my porch on a cement pedestal. 

Last time my friend Diane was down visiting from Fort Worth, she and I saw this wonderful chippy, shabby mirror at a neighborhood antique store.  It was not for sale at the time, but I talked the owner Jeanne into letting me have it.  It looks perfect in the hallway!

Fall is here in South Texas!

I love when the temperatures start to cool down!  We don't have a change in colors, but anything lower than 90 degrees feel good.  I start decorating for fall the day after labor day! 

I especially like decorating trees.  I think I have a tree for every holiday except Valentine's Day.  I collect HMH red plastic cookie cutters from the fifties like the ones my grandmother used when she made sugar cookies.  A few years ago I went to the Antique Show in Roundtop and found some orange cookie cutters with halloween figures.  I use those and a few other ornaments to decorate a small black tree.    This year, I bought a bow to put on top of the tree.  The bow it a little big and overpowering, but I still like the colors.

 

I found a rickety, orange chair a few years back to use for halloween decor.  I put an old suitcase on top of the chair and added a candy bucket, black speckled colander and a pumpkin muffin tin on top.

 

 

 

 





Turquoise, Red Checkered Kitchen. What?

Don't you just love when you find proof that your eclectic taste isn't wrong?  Like when I painted my house lantern yellow and added a blue roof.  My daughter came home and asked me, "Mom, have you lost your mind".  Or when my neighbor stopped by several months after I moved in and told me that he and the other neighbors thought I was one of them artists from Austin.  You know the kind.  That is just too funny! 

I always dreamed of a mint green kitchen with red accents.  So when I moved into my dream house I got what I wanted.  Of course when I hung red gingham curtains my kids thought it was weird. 

 

 

I particularly love Red Rose Tea metal signs.  I found this one in French on Ebay from Canada.

 

 



I was at one of my favorite stores yesterday called "Gatherings" here in Corpus Christi and came across a new line of kitchen textiles from a company in Holland called Pip Studio.    The tea towel I found has all the colors from my kitchen including turquoise, red, and mint green! 

 

 

Grandma Mary's Shadow Box

I love shadow boxes.  They are a great way to display the things you love, family treasures, pictures, etc.  I found this one a few months back and found it irresistible.  It took me a few days to gather together the momentos I wanted to put inside the box.  

A few years ago I went to visit my Grandma Mary in San Benito at her farmhouse.  Grandma's husband had passed away a few months before and I stayed over night.  She was sharing stories with me and showing me things from her past and I began to have an epiphany.  I realized that the thing I collected and loved were all the things she loved as well.  I didn't know my Grandmother very well so it was startling.  I got to know here over the next couple of years until her death in 2008.  We have a lot of the same talents.  Genetics is so fascinating.

So I filled my shadow box with things my Grandmother gave me as a dedication her memory.

Romantic Prairie Style

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It seems that I like what they call Romantic Prairie Style.  I saw things I have in my home in the book and now they are coming out with a new magazine in two weeks.  Yahoo!   So now I can justify my purchase of a Pottery Barn downfilled couch as my gift to myself when I retired.  Well, and all the things I bring into the house that most people would throw away.  I am all about salvaging and repurposing.  And of course I love all things old.   This is the back side of my couch, but you get the idea. 

I have to use a lot of cabinets for storage.  The problem with old houses is that traditionally they have really small closets and limited storage space.  Thank goodness for big attics!

Children's Book Wreaths and Pinwheels

Old Reading Books have the best pictures in them.  They remind me of when I was growing up as a child.  You know the ones I'm talking about that look a lot like Dick and Jane books but use different names.  I can't afford the Dick and Jane collectible books.  Well, I wouldn't tear them apart and use them for pinwheels and wreaths. 

One of my favorite blogs is called Miss Mustard Seed.  I have been a fan for several months now and have really enjoyed reading about her life and learning how to create some of her decorations. 
When I started reading her blog it was really small and she had just a few followers.  Now she is in magazines and the like.

Here is her pinwheel tutorial that I found really to follow. 

I used an old Children's music book to make a wreath similar to one I had seen on Miss Mustard Seed's website.

Recipe Wreaths

I absolutely love recipes. . . . . . recipe books, recipe cards, recipes online.  I love recipes.  I saw a wreath on pinterest that someone had made with old handwritten recipe cards and just had to make my own. 

I used some old scraps of shelf paper that had used in my hoosier cabinet years ago to create the middle of the wreath.  I folded several sections of paper accordian style and then used a needle and thread to sew the sections together in the middle.

I used a medium sized flat wreath that I had purchased at Michael's.  Note:  I never buy anything at Michael's or JoAnn's without using 40% or 50% off coupons that can be scanned straight off my phone app.  I love that!  I don't have to worry about cutting out coupons and carrying in my purse.

I used a glue gun to glue the vintage, handwritten recipe cards that I found on Etsy to the edge of the wreath.  Then I glued the shelf paper piece to the middle of the wreath.  Lastly I placed a vintage hand crocheted potholder in the very center of the shelf paper.

I couldn't stop with just one.  I made one for my friend Sandra too.