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This window was missing two panes, no worries, I’ll still show it some love!

At first, I was going to do an owl with a paint chip body. Influenced, perhaps too much, by all the owl and paint chip art I’ve been seeing on Pinterest. It’s all so cool and I plan on still doing something with it.

This just looked plum silly, but made me think of a peacock’s tail.

I printed this out to trace, I stink at drawing.

Still not what I had in mind.

Lightbulb! Mosaic tail! I went to Goodwill to find glass to break, ended up at getting a glass frame and wine glass, two glass tiles at Lowes, and a bracelet on sale at Wal-Mart.  I double bagged them, wrapped them in a towel, and smashed them with a hammer. The glass tiles had to be hit extra hard. Tia was not happy with all the banging.

I had already made a banner across the empty sections with a necklace,  also found on the sale rack at Wal-Mart. That is really a good resource to find cheap, beady things. I’ve also found jewelry to use at the everything’s a dollar store.

Stapled on with a regular stapler.

Next step was to do a dry fit of the broken glass tail. I then used E-6000 for the first time. Have you ever read the label on that stuff? It says it can cause cancer! The project relocated to the deck and I broke out the face mask. I didn’t even let any animals out there, I have no puppy size face masks.  I used a pencil eraser to apply the glue to the tiles. I recommend you use something else. It fell apart.

This is the best place to catch the sunshine, but I’m not loving it here. When Honey gets home from his trip to MO, I’ll see how he feels about hanging it on the french doors that lead out to the sunporch. That gets some sun too, just not as much as here in the living room. I’m still waiting on him to cut me some barbed wire for my plow wheel light fixture PIP.  Whatever would I do without that hunka handy man?

Now for you- GO BREAK SOME GLASS! It’s fun! Happy day to all!

Strutting My Stuff Here:

The first time, only one item got pushed to the next week menu. So, I hope you enjoy the recipes, but this is more for me than you. Click on the pic to get the recipe from original source.

If you want to see the entire collection of recipes, here is my board for that:

Things That Make You Go MMMMMMM

(Sorry about the weird spacing. Sometimes I can fix that by adding dividers, but this time it wouldn’t work. Can we say FRUSTRATING!!!!)

 Lasagna Roll Ups

Strawberry/Spinach Salad

Throw together:

 Baby spinach leaves

Cut up strawberries

Blueberries

  Nuts (we like almonds or walnuts)

Feta cheese crumbles

Raspberry-Vinagrette Dressing

Deluxe Ham Breakfast Bake

Be warned-this recipe requires part to be refrigerated overnight

Fresh Pineapple Fruit Mix

 I like to mix whatever fresh fruit we have especially the pieces that need to be eaten before the fruit flies attack.

 Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

 We love anything with Frank’s Hot Sauce and my kids have always been mac & cheese fiends!

with Parmesan-Roasted Green Beans

  I have a feeling I’m going to have a long, tasty relationship with Ms. BudgetSavvy Diva.  She has an awesome blog. Click on pic to go there.

  Taco Cupcakes with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa, and cheese on the side.

 Those ARE wonton wrappers for the “shells”! I thought that might be interesting.

 Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Also from the BudgetSavvy Diva.

  I love these in restaurants, so I’m hoping these come close.

Tossed Salad on the side.

I love having so many recipes to choose from. Pinterest has changed my life!

Happy menu planning my dears!

I’m off to go break some glass for my PIP-Project In Progress!

 Hope all is well with you and your families.  There are no words to express the importance of family, so I’ll just shut up and get on with the project.

It started with the shutters. Shown here with 2 other PIPs (Project in Progress).  Oh, and my beautiful Kate Cat acting like a game show model displaying all the wares.

FYI-Plow wheel is the base for a light fixture, wheely excited about that (waiting on Honey to go cut me some barbed wire). Window will be a summer deco, but I’m not sure about adding all the color to it that I’m planning, just not sure! Summer should be fun though, right?  Must refrain from black & white!

I figured the shutters would be great for a photo display, so I added some frames I had and a few cheap ones. Black paint made them all brothers and sisters, similar but different.

Added dictionary pages, loving me some black & white.  The blue ribbon proves it’s a good thing to step out of your comfort zone. Each letter of F A M I L Y was used to express a few fitting words. Look closely!

friend

always

memories

important

laughter

yours

Finished product is now housed in front of the fireplace, but might be moved once I take the Spring pretties down.

I really like how this turned out. Using the photo corners will make it easy to change out pics. That was the hardest part of the whole thing- choosing which pics to use! Pictures and videos have become life savers for us now since we live so far away from so many of our loved ones. If you’re one of  my MO folks-miss and love you all!! XOXO

I could go into a whole long spiel about how it is to live far away from family and how to NEVER take any time with them for granted, but I’m sure y’all already know that. *tears here

Scrapbook paper used for background and to affix the corners to so I can switch out the photos.

The folks you see are my two sons, Chayce & Bryce, and my parents, Charlie & Lauri.  Also, Honey’s (aka James) two sons and daughter, Justin, Elijah, and Jamie.

Honey & Me, Billie & Elijah

The mustache photo booth was only part of the fun at our Teen Boy New Year’s Eve party. To check out the other fun and games check out one of my very first posts here:

I Mustache You to Please Smile

Chayce (pronounced chase) & Bryce are our youngest and were the only family to move to TX with us. We wish EVERYONE would have come. We even built an upstairs for them!

Happy day to all! (Only 21 school days left for me-YIPEE!)

And the party shall begin:
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No, but honestly, who can get dressed in the morning without a good dose of BLING?! Not this chick

Jewelry makes your outfit complete, you look finished. It’s like make up–the outfit might be naturally beautiful, but the jewelry will bring out it’s best features. Heck, I’ve bought outfits solely for the purpose of matching a piece of jewelry I adore.

Like all good collectibles, jewelry has it’s issues. Number one being-storage. It’s hard to use what you can not see. Jewelry girls must move beyond organization onto a display. I gave up on a traditional jewelry box long ago.  My last organizer was a two-tiered shelf with nails and hooks tapped into all fronts and sides. This led me to the bright idea to hammer a line of nails directly into the wall. Honey was not happy about that.

Blogging once again pays off! I found Becca at Blue Cricket Design. Her blog is fabulous and she has a cheap, awesome solution to the earring display problem. (Those little trees from the jewelry store are never big enough, I’d need a whole forest!) I also figured out a way to display my bracelets and rings, but the necklaces…let’s just say Honey is still not happy.  If you have a way to display a hoard of necklaces, long and short, please let me know. We can make Honey happy!

Befores & Afters

$2.50-gutter guards (Lowe's) & $14-spool organizer(Hobby Lobby)

Before: Everything overlapped and most bracelets/rings were in a drawer.

After: Now I have my bracelets/rings out and everything is visible to match up with my outfits right in my closet!

Do you have an “Otter Box”? They are very practical but not at all pretty. If I could manufacture a phone case that is as protective as an Otter Box but pretty with prints, and designs, I would make a million dollars. Just like all the other ideas I have for products, just a thought, never brought into fruition.

My solution is clear case plus scrapbook paper. You can change your cover to match your outfit or purse, or your mood or your eyes!

I’m thinking of adding some embellishments of some sort. Maybe stickers or a monogram.

Last, but not least, is da JUNK!  I love da JUNK! If someone would have told me that when I was a kid and my dad was dragging me around to flea markets and auctions, I would have never believed it. But, it happened, he did turn me into a junk addict.

Here are my latest treasures. They will become the base for something fantastic! I plan on starting in on it today! YAY!

Kate Cat loves da junk too!

I hope you have a lovely day!

{One of  THE BEST CARTOONS EVER knows what’s cool: Tom & Jerry “The Zoot Cat”.}

Silly me, being silly.   Ask my kids, I do that often…although they (too-cool-for-corny-teenagers) don’t find me quite as hilarious as I find myself-which is usually right around the corner of awesome and bombdiggity! Tee to the Hee

I love all those “I’m so special” inspirational signs all over Pinterest. Seriously, I DO, I love them. One of these days I’m gonna post all my fave sayings around my mirror (like ya see in the movies), so I can skip out the door each day whistling a happy tune.  I’m sure my boys will be whistling right along Now, THAT is funny! You can find some inspirational signs here: Signs, signs, everywhere a sign or True. Deep. Sweet.

If easily offended, do not go to the “Chuckle, Giggle, Snort” board. I’m sorry, I do have a wild hair dark side sometimes. Please go back to the inspirational boards to judge me

Anywho, back to the jute.  Did you know jute is a vegetable fiber and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses? Learn something new every day.  Now stop being impressed by the jute and imagine wearing a shirt and pants made from it–YOUCH! Not so great now, huh?

Cone made from poster board wrapped in jute. Just add a little dab of hot glue here and there along the back while wrapping to keep it in place.

It is, however, a mighty fine craft material. It adds texture, nature, neutral, itchy-scratchiness, and it’s cheap!

After moving furniture around, again, I found a little nook in need of a table. It’s not exactly the perfect size, but it’ll do.

Needed height, had a $5 planter, inspiration hit, Wah Lah the Jute Suit Tree- she is born.

I pinned the ribbon design on before committing to the glue. Don't you find hot glue kinda scary?

Couldn’t just put plain ribbon on, oh no, had to braid it up and make it more interesting.

The longest part of the whole project was deciding on what to embellish with. Here are several prototypes. I really wanted to make a string flower, but to no avail.

I went with linen and ribbon flowers. I like it, not love, but like.

1. Fold at a 90 degree angle

2. Fold back over itself and repeat

3. The more you fold, the more your flower will stick out

4. Slide the side with the end of the ribbon showing down until you get a flower

5. Cut flower off and glue end of ribbon to back of flower

These paper flowers I made for practice around Christmas have been great to fill in here and there. I have a serious addiction to print and paper, if ya didn’t know.

I drug the birdhouse off of the laundry room shelf,  the crookedness is not a flaw, just added charm.  Like Honey’s crooked nose

Now for something unrelated: We hung stained glass windows at the bottom of our picture window. I do love, not like, but love!

I hope all is going well with you! I really appreciate your visit and hope you like what you saw. Maybe you have or will make something similar?

Have a great week

Link it on down
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I know I’ve been MIA lately, so busy with this other thing called LIFE!

I’m curious to know how you other bloggers out there keep up! Of course, family is numero uno, and then you have the job, the house, the friends, the extra responsibilities that pop up-all with total disregard to the HOBBY! It seems like projects always take a longer time than planned and bada bing bada BAM- it’s a week later! Cue the dryer buzzer, right?!

I know y’all are in the same lovely, little boat, the SS MOM- the boat that keeps it ALL afloat! By the way, you’re doing a great job Pat on the back for us! Big X to you!

Anywho… On with the pretty!

I’m always on the lookout for something with height. I think balance is one of the most important things about creating a vignette. Topiaries are a great way to add height, color, and texture.

I had some styrofoam balls leftover from other stuff, but next time I’m saving money and making my own balls. I hate I can’t remember where I saw the idea, but it’s easy to make them. Just wod up newspaper and duct tape it into a ball.

I love the gray and yellow paper.

To make the flowers, cut out heart shapes. I found it best to make 1 inch squares and fold in half and cut hearts to keep them uniform size. You could also use a punch or a cutting machine.

Fold the hearts in half, pattern side facing in. Then fold back the sides of each heart, pattern side out. It gives the flowers some depth. Glue them slightly overlapping around a circle.

When you pin them into the ball, it takes some bending and shaping to get them to cover everything. I liked keeping it simple by using plain, yellow buttons for centers. I tried out different beads, sequins, pom poms, even squiggled up pieces of pipe cleaner, but the buttons were best for this one.

To make the ric rac roses, first cut two pieces the same length and braid. Then roll up, keeping it tight at first and then a little looser. This will help when you start bending the pedals back.  Glue the two ends to the bottom and glue a circle of fabric to the bottom to keep it all from unraveling.  Starting with the outer edge fold each pedal back going round and round til it gets too tight near the center. When you’re pulling them back, push them down-you really have to show it who’s boss or it will flip back up.

When you glue it onto the ball, you have to let some of the edges overlap to cover it all up. There were a few little gaps that I covered with some rolled up balls of the ric rac.

I knew this one was going up on the higher shelf, so I cheated a little and didn’t cover the entire foam piece in grass. I’ll add some more later, but I got tired of messing with it.

So here’s the whole tablescape! TA DA! Once again an old bench- imagine that-me having an old bench! Honey is just SO happy-(not).

I’m really loving using scrapbook paper for a table runner. So many possibilities!

I found these old metal letter shaped cookie cutters while out junkin with my daddy. They’re so sweet! As long as your word doesn’t need more than one of each letter!  I can’t seem to stop using these $1 lamps I junked up with a minnow trap shade. I thought I’d add a little color and pizzazz with a little button garland. Love the little bird cloche with ribbon nest and stone eggs!

The linens were embroidered by my very own grandma. I’ve had that shelf for about 25 years! It’s been through a lot!

I know it’s time to take down the bunnies and the Easter tree. I’m waiting for inspiration for what to do next.

If you missed the post about the “Let’s Party” paint stir sign, check it out here: Spring: LeT’s PaRtY!

I’m really leaning toward an antique bicycle theme for early summer deco. Watcha think?  What are you doing for summer?

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Sorry, April, we couldn’t wait for your showers. It’s the end of March and we have already been in the 80′s more times than I can count! {The 80′s was a totally tubular decade, hoser! I do not have big hair anymore though!}

Our Easter lilies have long gone and I’ve had the top off the jeep for a week-JOY! I’m just wondering how hot it will be by June. I’m a Missouri girl, who is used to four definite seasons. Now that I’m in Texas, it’s like

Honey is so good to me! He took me out and let me junk and also buy flowers to go in my junk! What a sweetie! I like flowers you can plant, I always feel sorry for the ones that have been cut and put in vases. They’re like on death row! I feel the same about live Christmas trees- who can be merry when you’ve got a tree on life support, fixing to be thrown out, without a care. I know, TOO EMPATHETIC! At least I’m not pathetic! Maybe a dork though

Anywho, here’s the pics, no crafts, just craftiness with the planters!

Is that chicken feeder not the most perfect planter you’ve ever seen?! I’m sot real sure what that cart thingy was, but it is super rusted-LOVE IT!!! It may disintegrate before summer’s end.

The Gerbera Daisies are in an antique water cooler that has the cutest spigot, drip catcher, and handles!

Another rusty water cooler, bucket, and well-used ammo box made my front entry divine! Here’s how they started:

After a long day of planting:

I added one of my many old benches (I have a thing for old benches and shelving-weeeeird) along with a $1 lamp I topped with a minnow bucket.

It has a twin that is part of my Spring tablescape which you will see very soon! Here’s a sneak peak:

On the other side of the door is an old, camp stool with a rectangle, galvanized planter. In the bucket is an orchid, I’ve never seen one so big and it’s able to live outside.

Here’s an old painter’s bench. It has a hole to put a bucket in and is held together with rusted wire. If it’s not pushed against something, it leans WAY to the right. If you come for a visit, don’t sit here! Or well, maybe you should, we could use a good laugh   I’ll help you up after I get up from ROFL!!

Yet another old painter’s bench with a hole to carry it with and a shelf underneath for brushes and such. Honey is thankful all the old benches are making their way out of the house. He’s not a fan. Can you believe I came home one day just in time to rescue one from the burn pile!  “Oh sorry babe, I didn’t know that one was any good,”was his reply to my fit. Ya, right!

These double wash tubs and antique wheelbarrow made the long haul when we moved from MO.

These director’s chairs were on sale for $20 each and the old milk jug for $10! Lucky day! These chairs are too cool with hinges to make them foldable. They don’t match my green patio furniture, but that’s ok- I’m working on that no matchy matchy thing!

Unfortunately, everything isn’t rusty and old. I still love these other planters.

I can’t wait for all of the plants to mature and be full of blooms!

I’m on the search for some unique things to replant these hanging baskets in. I’m in heaven with all these flowers everywhere you look!

Please keep in mind these flowers are freshly planted. They will be taken care of with my loyal feeding, watering, and love!  Just like my other babies, who tried to help me garden all day.

Tia just wants Mommy to stop and hold her.

Boston saying "Get off the phone, let's go back outside!"

Kate follows me everywhere just like one of the dogs.

My teenage boys were helping Dad plant shrubs and none of them wanted a sweaty picture taken.

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am decorating outside! Just like inside, garden choices, be it plants, flowers, containers, and placement, reflect our personality too. Happy Spring shopping!!! FUN!!

See y’all soon!

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DOIN’ THE HAPPY JITTER BUG DANCE WITH JAZZ HANDS WAVING!! 

My lil’ ole blog, with just a few of my favorite things, has won (cue trumpets)

<DA DADA DAAAAA>

THE LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD!

****GIRL POWER!!!****

]]> http://swirlygirldreamsndecor.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/liebster-blog-award-yay/feed/ 5 swirlygirldreamsndecor signature butterfly http://swirlygirldreamsndecor.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/spring-lets-party/ http://swirlygirldreamsndecor.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/spring-lets-party/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:13:16 +0000 making dreams into decor and decor dreamy daily http://swirlygirldreamsndecor.wordpress.com/?p=1007 Continue reading →]]> “SPRING is nature’s way of saying LET’S PARTY!” -Robin Williams

I thought that was such a cute quote and I also wanted to make a picket fence sign out of paint stirrers-perfect match I think!

Blogland is so inspiring. These ladies created really cute signs!

  What an awesome blog I found when I pinned this onto my SwirlygirlSwag Spring Board: LandeeSeeLandee Do She has some really cute Easter decor and her mantel is AdOrAbLe!! This is actually a free printable, which she has even more of!

This is such a cool idea from The Craft Monkey, I was dying to find something to make out of it!Look at those sweet little pennants! She is so talented and I love her style!

My version is a nice marriage of the two, I think:

See, it really began as paint stirrers and paper

It was already a bit busy (ya think), so simple flowers were the way to go. You might recognize them from my Springy Thingy.  There are paper punches for this shape, I used my Cricut. To get the best dimension, stack them with sticky dots between each layer and also to attach to the board. Then take a pencil and curl each petal around-don’t forget to froo froo!!

This is the first piece of a shelf I’m re-doing for Spring.  Weird to see snowmen displayed, I know, but they are special to me. One thing my dad and I love to do is go junkin’ together. We are always on the lookout for new snowmen cookie jars to add to my collection. There are many memories behind each smiling, carrot-nosed face. I have a difficult time saying goodbye to them.

The next addition is a flower topiary. Ya didn’t think I was going to leave it as a plain styro ball with two flowers, did ya? These darling flowers are my inspiration. I hope I can come close with paper!

This shelf has a long way to go, but this is the first step of my process. I guess, I’m a “visual” type person. Sometimes, most times, very few things remain. It’s like a “rough draft” due for many edits and revisions. I hope you come back soon to give me your opinion of the finished product! Open invitation to all!

How do you begin changing your scenery? Inquiring minds want to know

HAPPY SPRING TO YA!  TIME TO PARTAAAAY!!!

Revision complete:

Here’s the table it sits above:

If you’d like to see how I made the yellow, paper topiary and the purple, ric rac rose one, go to this post: Two Topiaries & a Tablescape

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