Paper Leaf Wreath

Hi Bloggers and welcome to another Met Monday and Make Your Monday! Join our hostess' and all the participants at Between Naps on the Porch and Twice Remembered!

Is it too early for a fall project? I didn't think you'd mind...If you have a spare 15 minutes here is what you can accomplish with very little money.



Your local arts and craft store will carry this item, it's kind of a flat circle wreath form, very inexpensive at $1.99

We do love the Dollar Tree! Stop by and pick yourself up 3 packages of these beautiful leaves. To me, they look like crepe paper. They have wire and a stem too. They have 3 different colors, you can mix them up like I did, or you can use one color.

I cut off the stem and started gluing on the leaves, overlapping slightly, alternating colors










Proceed around the whole wreath





Until you have something that looks like this:





Because of the wire in the leaves, I was able to bend them up here and there...







I know I want to use ribbon as a hanger, and I love the gingham or the hounds tooth..........








But wait! What about the plaid or the check?

Decisions, decisions!!!










Ultimately, I chose the gingham, it offered the most contrast, but really all of them would be fun to use.

I plan on making 4 total to hang on the living room windows, and in the kitchen.









When I officially start to decorize for autumn, I'll show you pictures...I'm sure I'll have my camera handy! wink wink

Thank you for joining me for another Met Monday and my very first Make Your Monday! Thanks to Susan and Kim for hosting! I can't wait to see what you guys have been up to!

Tablescape Thursday

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday!

This is a particularly lovely week to participate because our dear hostess is celebrating her blogversary all week long! Congrats Susan and thank you for hosting! Make sure you run by and visit Susan and everyone at BNOTP!

At this time of year I get a little frazzled...it's BACK TO SCHOOL! I have to adjust as much as my son does!! This year Keegan is entering the 7th grade and I'm still shaking my head....

where does the time go....


So this week I thought I would do a back to school table in honor of my son, much to his chagrin...


I was shopping at my local thrift shop (why do most of my sentences start that way?) and I stumbled across some really cute chalkboards...they are about the size of a clipboard and I initially thought that they would be fun for Logan to scribble on...I found three of them for .99 each. All of them nicely seasoned, I could still faintly see the penmanship of another little child...how sweet!

I know I had Sunflowers last week...but...I just love them and how perfect for back to school.



My creamy sunburst plates and swirly yellow dessert plates are making their appearance...you're probably sick of seeing the little yellow ones huh?

An apple for the teacher....

I mixed and matched my linens...I have had the sunflower napkins for about ten years now, I bought them at Wal-mart...back when they had good stuff...and I paired them with a woven red placemat

I just love the linens...

I painted little wooden tags with chalkboard paint and used them for place cards...


I thought that the yardsticks were a cute addition to the table

Well thank you for joining me for another tablescape, hope you visit again soon!

Here is Keegan: My Jr. High Schooler!! Love this kid!!

Good Luck this year!!

Sewing Cabinet Re-do

Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday! Thank you Susan for hosting! Make sure to visit her and everyone at the porch!

Before I get started, I would like to publicly thank my 12 year old for photographing "the process".
The quality is low, not due to the photographer ;) but due to the low lighting in the garage and a lot of swooshing around of my hands.... Disclaimer: Please ignore any and all messes you see in the garage.
I have always liked things whitewashed, but I have began a love for all things limed a.k.a. pickled. It's a fast and easy process; I'd give it a beginner to intermediate rate :)
I began with a second hand sewing table that I found for the low, low price of $6.98 at a local thrift store. This is a great piece; solid and heavy.
Lovely legs hu? Yes, thank you....

The top was not in the best of conditions, water damage and general wear and tear...

The trick with liming vs. whitewashing is that you'll want to use watered down primer. That's right, primer, not paint. I used inexpensive primer and just added 1 part water.

The swooshing is gonna start....

I started on the top, using a brush on/wipe off method. I worked pretty quickly, you don't want to let the primer sit too long...

Wiping the first coat off...

I'm a little scared here...the top is not looking good...

swoosh, swoosh...

I think I'm crying here...it's not gonna work!! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....Thank you Dory.

Moving to the legs...

I'm gonna ignore that top for now...I'll deal with that later...

Because of the damage on the top, the overall piece is a little whiter than I wanted and I'm contemplating a little knock down with a little aging...but right now I'm happy with it.

I love how the body and legs turned out!

The entire piece took about 3 rounds of the brush on-wipe off method and finally the top started to even out...

The end result:

Close up of the top:

I actually like the handles, I just dipped them in the primer and let it run off...






What do you guys think?


I might actually put my sewing machine in it ! Hee, hee! :)





Thank you for joining me and if you would like to see more pictures of this piece just look at my last post!

Thanks again Susan for hosting!

Homework and Vintage Postcards

Hello friends!

I am a follower and an avid reader of Marley and Lockyer and when Ness assigned a little homework to her readers-I was ready.

Bonus: She's having a give away !


She asked her readers to take a stale area in your home and put together a display using your favorite things. You can read about it here.


I used just things from around the house, nothing is new, you've probably seen all of this already...sorry...don't worry I'll probably go shopping soon! ;)

I have had this collection of old postcards for ages now, I sorta hoard them like if I handle them too much they go up in a puff of smoke...but they are in terrific condition and this is my favorite one:

Hyeres is a town in the southeast of France. The town is often referred to Hyeres Les Palmiers (Palm Tree)

I bought them at an antique shop not really knowing what I was going to do with them, but I just like looking at them, (most of them are European) and reading the stories of the travels of the sender....very much like blogging in a way...reading a little glimpse here and there of people's lives....

I won't give too much away, but this also reveals a project that I've been working on for Met Monday...I'll be showing you the before and afters of a lovely piece...











I just Love these cards...they add such depth and character...I simply leaned a few of the cards on the artwork...





This kind of homework I can handle!
Thank you Ness for getting me cranking!




Even if I don't win Ness' lovely stars, I enjoyed putting this together....




Thank you for visiting...




I'm nearing 100 posts and hope to be having a giveaway of my own...more details will be coming soon...





I hope I have inspired you to freshen up a part of your home...




Update! I just learned I was selected to receive the prize for the giveaway!
(squeal & giggle!)

Stop by again soon!