Meet our new secretary!

Antique secretary that is. 

Let me give you a little background.  Our home is 9 years old and we have a built-in entertainment center/cabinet in our living room.  You can see our built-in in this previous post.  When our home was built, these wide flat screen televisions were not the standard yet.  So...our entertainment center will not fit the television that Hubby now wants/needs/deserves.  He suggested that we modify the built-in to accommodate the new television - but that means giving up precious space for photos and accessories.

In steps the secretary.  This is how the corner in our living room used to look.  Basically, we bought the giant ficus tree when we first moved in to fill that large space.

This is how the corner looks now.

I just love the height of this piece. And I love the tall legs and open area at the bottom.

I realize there's a lot in there to dust, but have you cleaned the dusty leaves of an artificial ficus tree lately?

Consignment Store Finds

Since my Christmas shopping is finally complete, I was able to run a fun errand at lunch yesterday so I visited one of my favorite consignment stores.  I found three great ironstone platters!

I wish the picture could convey how HEAVY this platter is.  I just love the detail!  I noticed that my rooster would fit just perfectly so he has a special little perch now.

Then I found a set of these:

Sorry - couldn't get that detail to come out clear in the photo.  I haven't decided on a home for these two just yet.

Pleasant surprise

Don't you hate it when one of your favorite stores or catalogs disappoints?  You are so eager to visit only to discover there is nothing worth buying and the usually fantastic displays are underwhelming.  Well, the exact opposite happened to me on Sunday when I visited Stein Mart in search of a few last minute Christmas gifts.  I lingered in the home section and found some awesome French-inspired pillows!  I wish I would have had my camera on hand to show you all the different styles.  There were some great ones with red & black - hard as I tried I couldn't come up with a spot for them.  I did, however, find a spot for this one:

Oh, and I did buy some Christmas gifts too!

A side of ruffles please

This is how the bed in our guest bedroom looked earlier this evening.

The dust ruffle was quilted and the lines were straight.

This is how the bed looks now.

I love the ruffles and the change it makes.  But let's not talk about how hard it was to iron 6 layers of ruffles!

Blog Upgrades

You may have noticed the new buttons on my sidebar - silver German glass glitter tags - too cute.  I got these from The Background Fairy.  Karen's blog is awesome - she offers free buttons, headers and backgrounds.  She even includes blogger tutorials on her site.  Go check it out and add something new to your blog!

Simple Gifts Made Special

I really enjoy gift-giving.  At Christmastime, I give small gifts to my hair stylist and my nail tech.  We deliver gifts to neighbors and friends.  Tonight I made some homemade Holiday snack mix and dressed up the containers with these great vintage Christmas prints.

Here is a picture of the mix.  It's made with dry roasted peanuts, milk chocolate M&Ms and chocolate-covered peanuts.  Yum!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Mantel Revisited

Okay - you're right - I can do better.  I've added a few things to my Christmas mantel.  Now, I refuse to take down major pieces of wall art to bring in Holiday decorations and I don't want any new holes in the wall either, but I did manage to add something custom and homemade.

I had these two empty frames and I added jute ribbon to hang the angel wings and star ornaments that I picked up at Pier 1.

I thought the three sets of angel wings could represent our three children and the the two stars could represent me and Hubby.  Nice addition don't you think?

I need a Tinker House!

I stumbled upon this gorgeous blog today that I have never had the pleasure of visiting before - Hubby will be thrilled to know that I also discovered I need something - who knew?  Have a seat, grab some cocoa and take in this beauty.  Yes, Tinker House - don't we all need a place to tinker?  Here is a little bit about how Tinker House was built. I just love it!  Donna's newest post is swoon worthy as well so I have added a link for her blog on my sidebar.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Although I'm in denial that it's actually already December, we put up our Christmas tree and stockings today.  We always buy a real Christmas tree.

As much as I love decorating I somehow missed the gene for Holiday decorating.  I pretty much do the bare minimum.  It may also have something to do with the fact that I hate to move.  Something about packing up my normal accessories to bring out the Holiday ones reminds me of moving...and it's just no fun.  I love to see other people's Holiday decorations and I admire those who make packages look like works of art.  NOTE:  My presents under the tree have no bows - not even the cheap store-bought ones.

Since my mantel isn't very inspirational, I'm sending you here to check out fabulous mantels on Layla's linky party.  Enjoy!

Have a seat

Chairs seem to be the primary item I'm painting these days.  Here are pictures of my latest creations.  You may recall the coordinating match to this one that I shared in this post.

And here is a matching pair.  I loved the horizontal slats and thought they should be a different color.



If you have the perfect spot for one of these you can purchase them at When Pigs Fly in Denton's Golden Triangle Mall!

Fall is in the air

Let's face it - the Lone Star State doesn't experience Fall like some parts of the country and we do not make the list for the Colors of Fall Driving Tours, but check out these pictures - all taken close to home.

God is the ultimate decorator!

Thanksgiving

I pray that you enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving

surrounded by loved ones!

Recipe

I'm finally posting the recipe I mentioned here.  I don't even have a name for these treats - feel free to name them!  Here are the ingredients:

Yep, just three ingredients - you love this recipe already right?

Place a single layer of the Snyder's Butter Snaps pretzels on a cookie sheet.  Place one Hershey's chocolate Kiss on top of each pretzel.  Unwrapping the Kisses is the hardest part - some time during that process pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees.  Place the cookie sheet in the pre-heated oven for 2 minutes.  Remove - note the Kisses will still be in original Kiss form and will not appear very melted.  Place one Reese's Pieces on top of each Kiss and gently press.  And that's it - a salty & sweet treat that everone will love!  Next time I make these I might use the mint M&M's instead of the Reese's pieces - yum!

Paint, Glorious Paint!

It's just amazing how a little paint can transform!  Here's what I've been working on this weekend:


BEFORE



AFTER

What have you been doing this weekend?

Discovery

Over the past two weeks I have had two different friends tell me about a new shop in the Denton mall.  I had a chance to check out the shop - When Pigs Fly - on Tuesday.  Well, it's darling and full of wonderful treasures!  The owner takes consignment pieces so I asked for a card.  I have had quite a bit of inventory after our shows and I wasn't quite sure where it would find a home.  I was pretty certain my guest bedroom was no longer an option.  I've been tossing around the idea of renting a booth in a store...and comtemplating having a quarterly barn sale...and a variety of other options.  So, back to When Pigs Fly - I found something that needed to come home with me (shocking, I know) and while I was checking out I was learning more about the shop owner.  Can you even believe that we LIVE ON THE SAME STREET?!  Really, what are the odds?  And she was in need of some new items for her shop...and she came and bought almost everything I had...and she needs some great pieces made greater with a little paint and...well, I'm going to be one busy (but happy) girl!  How exciting is all of that?! 

Our 2nd Show

Mom and I had our 2nd show this past weekend.  This one was a two-day show but it was much easier because they provided the tables.  That meant we didn't have to rent a truck - nice.

Our space was smaller so we set things up a little differently.  And we lucked out on the space again - we got two wall tables and were in a great spot.

I've learned that your pieces get a little beat up when you take them from place to place.  We don't have any other shows planned in the near future.  I'll keep you posted on where you can find us!

Party!

Mom and I hosted our 8th Annual LUX Candle Party on Thursday evening.  LUX candles are made right here in the Lone Star State and they are awesome!  There is a "Tour of Scents" throughout my home so  friends can walk thru and smell a selection of the candles.  We so enjoy baking some sweet treats and spending some sweet time with wonderful friends! 



Mom's delicious white chocolate fudge

















I'll post the oh-so-easy recipe for these later



Flower Market

There's just something about fresh flowers.  I love to see the assortments of fresh flowers in our local grocery store.  All the beautiful colors, great textures, and how the seasons are represented.  It's fun to select a few different ones to make an arrangement.  And there's nothing quite like having a fresh flower arrangement in your home to make the day feel pretty and special.

The most amazing fresh flower market I have ever visited is at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Row upon row and layer upon layer of the most fantastic flowers!  I wish I could share photos from our trip but it was before we owned a digital camera.  I commented to Hubby that if we lived there, I would go to the Market and buy fresh flowers for our home every week!

I bought some fresh flowers yesterday and made an arrangement for a party being hosted at our home.






Those are pears in the bottom of the vase.

  

So the next time you are in the produce section, meander over to the fresh flowers and brighten your day!