Announcing: 31 Days With M.E.

You guys are going to think I'm crazy, in fact, I think I'm crazy. I am going to participate in the "31 Days" series. I'm scared to death!!! My blogging rate has, let's say, gone down hill with the whole cancer/chemotherapy thing...how can I even begin to think I can pull off 31 solid days of blogging? Eeekk!Well, first of all, I am going to stop thinking about what I can't do and think about what I can do. What I can share with you, what I can teach you, what I can show you.

So why did I title my series "31 Days With M.E." ? Well, my initials are M.E. (Michelle Edwards) and not only is it a fun twist for the title, but I want to take you through 31 days with me. Me, the decorator, me the artist, me the designer, me the mother, me the cancer patient. I can't guarantee every day will be sunshine and butterflies, because, let's face it, not every day is...don't get me wrong though, I don't want to talk about cancer for 31 days, but it is ok that I do talk about it some days....and we'll do fun stuff on the other days. :)

I have also started scheming up some projects, tutorials, and tablescapes, I really hope you will join me.

So tomorrow is October the 1st and the beginning of this personal challenge, Lord help me! See you tomorrow!

Another Fall Mantle (My MIL's!)

My MIL's birthday was yesterday so as a gift, I went over to her house and decorated her mantle for Fall (free decorating is a good gift, right?:). She was at work while I did it so it was a really big surprise when she got home. 

 Remember when I made the 'Give Thanks' banner for her (Click HERE to see the tutorial)...well that's what started the whole idea....I could have just given her the garland...but wouldn't it be even better if I hung it for her and did a little foo-fooing too?

 While I live in Suburbia, she lives in a nice old country farmhouse. This brick fireplace is right in the middle of the living room. The unfortunate thing about the fireplace is the placement of the vents. Right smack dab in the middle of prime decorating real estate.

 Anyway, I knew that the banner would do a great job disguising the vents. Plus, it's not fire burning season quite yet. I can't wait to hang my Happy Halloween garland at my house!

 I also picked up these velvet pumpkins for her at Hobby Lobby and thought they would look really great on her rustic wooden mantle. I plopped the big one in her amber compote that I robbed out of her china cabinet. The little one is coming off pretty dark in the pictures, but he is a pretty chocolate brown.

 A couple of candles in a pretty caramel color, and pictures of the boys. I nabbed some branches from outside and laid it all along the mantle for some interest and used some silk hydrangea for additional color.

I hope you are inspired! This is quite different than mine, but I love it all the same.

I waited and waited until I thought she was home and finally got the phone call I'd been waiting for...she was really surprised and happy with her 'gift'. It was the least I could do with all she does for me.



Autumn Mantle 2012

This is how my mantle has looked all year long. I usually like to change it several times a year, but because of chemo, I haven't touched it. You remember when I got those urns right? Click HERE if you don't remember.

 I started by taking everything down and giving the mantle and hearth a good dusting. I had a few ideas I wanted to execute starting with the making of the extra big "Fall"...Justin did the grunt work I just painted it and applied a finish. I will show you how it was done later this week.

 This wall basket is one of the purchases at Nell Hill's. I originally bought it for the front door, but tried it up on the mantle and liked it. I filled it with branches, leaves, berries and some other stuff. I put a picture hanger in the wall and hung the basket, it worked out pretty good since it didn't stand by itself

  Sprinkles of pumpkins, gourds and berries soften around the "Fall". A faux book to elevate one of the L's and  a cute little wooden squirrel (Kohl's) finish it off.

 Typically, there are white candles in the non-working fireplace, but decided to change it up for my wicker sphere thingies (from Target a few years back). I especially like how the grey wicker talks to the grey finish of "Fall".

 I love these candle holders (Big Lots) and decided to use them again, just changed the candles out.

 I can't wait to show you how we built this, it's really a statement piece.

 Clearance curtains from Z Gallerie, not sure if I totally love the look of them yet, I'm going to leave them up for a little while to see if they grow on me.

 I've been making some other fall touches around the house I'll show you that soon!

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you are inspired!

Good news! The nice people at Kohl's is offering you (my readers) 10% off at Kohl's.com now through October 24th, just use code UBLOGTEN , just because I mentioned where I got my little squirrel from, cool hu?

Joining Kate at Centsational Girl

New Wreaths

TGIF! Anyone else feel that way? Thank you for all the visits and comments on the potting bench tablescape. Click HERE if you missed it. 

Enjoy these wreaths as we head into the weekend...believe it or not I am wrapping up my Fall wreath making (unless you order one) and starting Christmas wreaths and swags next week! Ahh!

This first wreath is sporting some of the new ribbon I got at Nell Hill's. Isn't it fantastic? AND it's burlap too, it had me at gingham, but burlap too??? It doesn't take much to make me happy. :)

 Sunflower Wreath with Gingham Ribbon

 Mini Sunflower Wreath

 Sold

 Lotus Pod and Leaf

Pumpkins and Plaid

I hope you all have a great weekend! We are suppose to go to a Bluegrass Festival tomorrow if I'm feeling good, so I might have some pictures to share next week. I've also been working on my mantle for fall, I hope to get that done too.

P.S. Are you on Instagram? I just recently signed up and been having a lot of fun with it. If you want to see a lot of behind the scenes and a bald Michelle, look me up...I'm sweetsomethingdesign (no kidding:)

Talk to you next week.

Potting Bench Tablescape

Hi, my name is Michelle and I love to do tablescapes.

It's been a while though, such a long while, this is the first this year....

Here in Missouri the weather is still quite warm with slightly chilly mornings. The leaves have not started turning yet, so I didn't do a full on Fall tablescape, just a hint of the season to come.

I took advantage of the warm, slightly overcast day to photograph outside on my table, the table that I have yet to find any chairs for. I'm still working on it.

Let's talk about the centerpiece first. It's a big table, so a big centerpiece is in order, but a lot of the elements can certainly be used on a smaller scale to fit any table.

I used standard terra cotta pots, a 12" and a 10", each with a cylinder vase, that you've seen me use, oh, about a kajillion times. But darn it, I just love them. I also used some broken pieces of terra cotta to lay on the table as well.

 To soften the edge where glass meets terra cotta, I used lichen (aka reindeer moss) in a BRIGHT green. I think they sell this type at craft stores, but I found this bright green at saveoncrafts.com. It comes in nice big bags too. Some moss is nestled along the broken pieces of terra cotta too then berries and pumpkins tucked in. Finally, grapevine circles around everything, sort of a halo effect.

 The napkins (Home Goods) tucked in a vintage walnut napkin ring and my Mother's flatware.

Now here is a question. Can you Mix vintage Mikasa and Dollar Tree plates together? Yes! The crackle Mikasa salad plates really help the cheap inexpensive rusty orange plates have some class. :) 

 Charger/placemat (I can't decide which) from Pier One. Glassware from Nell Hill's.

 Isn't the green and orange great?

 I didn't use a tablecloth or anything, I really like the old rustic wood to show and it plays off the color of the grapevine

 I hope you are inspired to create your own "Potting Bench" tablescape!

Joining Layla at The Lettered Cottage

***
Thank you for the comments (and emails) yesterday on my health update, you guys are so supportive and are really helping me, thank you!

Christmas At Nell Hill's (An Update Too)

Well, I hesitated on whether to show you the Christmas that was on display at Nell Hill's, but what the heck. If I don't do it now I will forget and it's never too early for Christmas right? At least it isn't in the retail world. Last week I showed you how Garrity's was decorated for Fall, and this is Mary Carol's main store: Nell Hill's, decorated for Christmas (although she said they were not finished). I haven't been to the Briarcliff location yet this year, but I'm hoping to go for the Christmas Open House.

At all three of Mary Carol's stores there are two things that impress me the most. The furniture and the artwork. It is woven through the rooms with the fluffy stuff (like Christmas) on top.This is a beautiful distressed hutch chock full of happy whimsical Christmas.

Natural Christmas, I love the lidded basket on the bottom shelf.

Check out this ginormous cow bust. It is life size and would require a nice large room.

See what I mean about the artwork?

Pretty mantlescape

Ribbon Alert! Ahhhhhhh!!!

Bright and fun colors for Christmas

Love the painted wicker chairs

Beautiful Hutch

Striking Navy Room

Cute fuzzy trees, look at that reindeer too!

Pretty, pretty Christmas, and not too shabby for "not being done"! I can only imagine how beautiful it will be when it is. Hope you enjoyed the field trip!

***
I had my dr's appointment about the results of my latest CT Scans. I wish I could announce some awesome news, but I can't. The lung tumors are still stable, the liver tumors have grown...insert 'pout' here. So this week, I will hear from the doctors at NIH and might be taking a field trip to Bethesda, not nearly as fun as Nell Hill's. :) So I will just keep plugging along, doing as much as I can and not get discouraged over all the things I can't/don't do any more...that's not to say I haven't been down, I have. Questions like why the heck am I doing chemotherapy when it is yeilding NO results except more growth (just to name one)...but I have to keep moving forward. I just can't give up.

***
I will hopefully be back tomorrow with a,  guess what....a tablescape. I wanted to play along with tablescape party going on at The Lettered Cottage. I haven't done a tablescape in 2012, which I can't believe! It's been forever...so I will be back tomorrow and have a pretty Fall table for you to look at. See you then.

Fall At Garitty's

After touring Mary Carol Garrity's home, my MIL and I spent the rest of the day shopping and looking at her stores, Nell Hill's and Garrity's (both within walking distance of each other). Interestingly enough, Fall was displayed at Garrity's and Christmas occupied the main store, Nell Hill's.

I was a little surprised to see Christmas (It was Fall Open House), but it makes sense being the biggest retail season of the year...it didn't hurt my feelings at all...I'll show you those pictures a little later.

 I like the set up of Garrity's, it's very open with high ceilings, and a few rooms to explore.

Lovely displays full of pumpkins and foliage

Tablescapes...

Pretty vignettes...

Impressive furniture

Beautiful centerpieces

I loved this little nook. The finish (or lack there of actually) on this hutch was so beautiful, and the chicken wire in lieu of glass is so quintessential country french.

Most all of the chandies featured beautiful fall foliage

Bounteous urns

Beauty everywhere I turned.

Inspiring, right??? It was really a fantastic day. My MIL and I just looked around and took our time (which is why we didn't make it to the Briarcliff Village location :) so I didn't get tuckered out.  I did make a few purchases, I knew it would be a while before we'd be back...I found some glorious ribbon which I feel sure you will soon see adorning some of my wreaths coming to my Etsy shop...I can never resist a good roll of ribbon.
Now, I can't wait to get started on my own fall decorating!