Mantle in Bloom

I enjoyed the fireplace mantle this past winter with it's Johnson Brothers winter plate, berries, and burgandy.  But now it's time to brighten, lighten, whiten, and green it up.  Feeling the need for a Spring Mantlescape.

And so with great gladness, I gave my son a Spring Break day off of school and shopped my house for some Springifying decor. 

I bought this window in Plymouth, Indiana at a sweet little antique shop.  Guess how much I paid?  $1.60.  I know...ridiculously great!!  The quail was an after Thanksgiving find at my Schnucks grocery store floral department for $4.00.  The apothecary jar was a garage sale find 2 years ago, and I finally figured out how to use it!  The little square pottery vase on the right is new from The Ivy Cottage here in Evansville.  Love.  It.

Out with the winter plate, in with my favorite old church plate, a teacup from my sis in law's mission trip to Romania, and the best smelling summer candle ever...Lime and Cilantro.

Lightened up my $1.00 garage sale lamp with a $1 garage sale floral piece.  I don't like the dangly deals on the lamp and I wish the shade was white.  What to do about that?  Any ideas?

The Ivy Cottage, my favorite little shop, was decorated so cute for spring on Saturday and that's where I got this idea.  They had tons of these types of things on shelves, china hutches, tables, etc.  I used leftover silk flowers from other projects and the little sweet nest my daughter and son in law gave me after their wedding...to signify that they were starting their own nest and to commemorate that our nest at home now just had three.  It is precious to me.

I've had those candles for about 4 years.  Green is such a happy, fresh color.  The fabric is just temporarily folded and laid.  Never mind the sun faded stripe down the center from it spending the winter in my sewing basket by the window.

And so there she be!  Ready for Spring.  In full bloom.  Do I need something above the window frame?  Like a white organza bow that appears to be hanging the window on the wall? In a day or two I'll show you how the rest of my house lightened up for spring.  I love shopping the house!  Blessings on you!
This is linked to A Very Merry Vintage Style
Linked to Tip Junkie

$1.49 Makes a Pretty Tidbit Stand

Recently my sweet in-laws were here visiting from Kansas City, MO. My mom in law and I managed to go out shopping 3X!  Bliss!  Two of our stops were at my favorite flea markets.  I think Southern Indiana has a love affair with flea markets...which suits me just fine. Among my fun finds were the 2 china plates above as well as 2 glass candle stick holders.

 I especially love green...it's my signature color.  Both the spring green and the sage green of these plates caught my eye. These are Mayer China plates which apparently are collectibles. The pretty detail and shape of the candle stick holder was very appealing too.  99 cents for each candle holder and 49 cents for each plate.

I took my wonderful tube of E6000 glue and glued the candle holder to the bottom of the spring green plate.  I turned the candle holder upside down so the pretty detail would show better and it would have a wider base at the bottom.

 Voila!  A sweet little tidbit tray!  Or cake plate!  Or jewelery stand!  Or....

 I did the same to the sage green plate, and will look forward to using them both in decorating and in food presentations. 

 ...My bananas have a pretty sweet place to hang out!

And I'm really enjoying this little bit of Butterfly Beach, Santa Barbara, CA on my little stand this spring.  Makes me feel peaceful, just to see it.  Ahhhhhh.  This is linked to the wonderful http://www.tipjunkie.com 
and to Elements Interiors

Another Cute Trash to Splash Project!

It took just another 15 minutes to make this fun organizing set for my daughter. Two clean veggie/fruit cans and an ice cream bucket were saved from the dump and the budget was saved from purchasing caddies for storage. Just use some spray adhesive, pretty papers, punches, and buttons to make your own cute storage containers in just 15 mintues. Yay!

$185 for a month's worth of pantry and freezer goods!

Have you been watching Fox News? Reading articles on the inflation expectations? Seen that gas is going up? Then you'll know what I'm talking about. Stockpiling. I'm not someone who generally likes to stock up on things...I don't like the clutter or the full pantry and freezer of it. Maybe I'm weird, but I LIKE it when my fridge and pantry are on the emptier side of things...maybe because it feels more controlled, more open to my view, neater and tidier. However, since everyone is reporting that food prices are on the rise and I can easily see that gas prices are too, I decided to try an experiment. And boy was it fun! The picture above gives you a clue...just know that this isn't all of it...much of my purchase was already in the fridge and freezer.

I went to Aldi with the idea of buying a month's worth of pantry and freezer items. I stocked up on ice cream (my men-folk eat it nightly!) I bought 6 bags of frozen veggies and will get more at Walmart. I bought 4 cans of Fit and Active Chicken Noodle soup, 6 cans of beans, 4 cans of rings and meatballs (for my 13 year old's lunches), 4 boxes of kleenex and a package of papertowels. Cereal, chips, snacks, cheeses, tuna, and cans of Salmon. We also buy Aldi's cola now b/c we don't seem to get good sales on name brand cans of soda here in southern Indiana.
I bought 90% lean ground sirloin, frozen chicken, bacon wrapped beef fillets, frozen Flounder and Tilapia too. Wow...my cart was full and heavy! I purchased fresh produce for the week and yogurt, knowing I'll have to go back for more of those mid-month.
My husband also picked up these bottles of All at Menards for a steal of a deal...$2.99 each! So much cheaper than I have to pay at Walmart! Plus it has 25% more free in this size. I am excited that I won't worry about running out of laundry soap for months now.
My Aldi bill came to $185. That's a record setter for me! But it was so fun to bring it all home, lay it all out to see what I needed in the pantry for now, then bag up the extras in those cool reusable bags from Target, etc. Where to store them? Miraculously we still have a closet in our new house that isn't full. So these three bags are stacked one upon another in the corner of said closet. And I am feeling GREAT! Free as a bird! I have lots of meals on hand and don't have to worry that I might be out of canned tomatoes or beans for the chili that sounds good for supper. We got home from a big trip to Nashville on Wednesday night, and it was no problem to whip up some homemade pizza because I knew I had everything on hand.

I usually spend $300 a month for groceries (and a few paper goods) for the three of us. So it will be fun to see if this big stock up trip will end up saving money...I can't imagine that I will still need $100 worth of milk, produce, and dairy for the remainder of the month. Perhaps I can get by on $275 with this new method. And I figure that if prices go up in the next month at the store, I will be a month ahead of the game. Good savings in gas and time too. So are you game? Want to try this with me? Would love your comments. :)

Blessings!

Donna

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It's So Fun to be a Girl!

I just love being a girl. And planning girly parties. And Valentine's Day. So I hosted a little Valentine Luncheon for my mom and 2 friends. Such fun...happy sigh....
A wonderful chocolate cake with pretty topping...one of the ladies thought it came from a bakery. Here's the recipe from kraft foods.


Bacon Spinach quiche from Paula Deen...and I substituted a can of evaporated milk for the heavy cream...turned out perfect! Oh, and Phyllo dough made a quick, easy, pretty crust with alot less calories than pie dough. I'm linked to Today's Creative Blog.

Valentine Luncheon Preparation

Planning Girly parties is one of my very favorite things to do! So I am having a ball planning a Valentine Luncheon for a few friends this Monday. Today as I was considering what I would use for a tablescape for the luncheon, I remembered what I did to help me in planning the table decorations for our daughter's wedding 2.5 years ago....I set up a TV table with a tablecloth and just 'played' with ideas on it for several days.

Thus today, I set up a TV table with the magenta table covering that I plan to use (it is a sheer curtain panel!) and my white lace tablecloth over it. Then I put one of my white plates on it to consider using for the luncheon. Next I brought out some of my precious Pink Depression Glassware that my dear friend Lori shared with me from her mother's collection. Happy bliss! I LOVE that stuff! I also put on some of the strawberry pink heart marshmallows that I bought to use. The napkins I've purchased, some paint chips (hmmm...what will I do with them?!) and some scrapbook paper that I'm going to use. Now I'll be able to play with it for several days til I decide how I want to set the table. It will relieve me that I won't be making those decisions last minute.


I am also figuring out my menu. And since many of the items are things I've not made before, I decided to experiment tonight with the quiche recipe. I used fillo dough for the crust b/c it has soooo many fewer calories than pie crust. And my husband declared it equally tasty! I used this Paula Dean quiche recipe, substituting evaporated milk for the heavy cream and using alot less bacon. It. Was. Amazing!! And the presentation turned out cool too...very fluffy and alot of nice texture. But also reminded me of the Primitive Fruit Tarts I've made before...the fillo dough crust gives it that kind of rustic look. Husband went on and on about it. I love that man. :)
Last but not least, here is the Valentine I made our sweet son Jeffrey (age 21) and mailed to him today with a few treats. Who knew paint chips could be so crafty. I love these people who think these things up! It's not me!
I'd love to show you more! But some of my ideas are in my daughter's Valentine Day gift, so I can't spill those beans yet. :) I have plans for party favors and fresh flowers! This dessert might be on the menu too. And some kind of delightful muffins. Maybe Pina Colada muffins? Oh, and chocolate dipped strawberries will def. be on the table. Can't wait!!

So come back in a week and see the finished project! Happy February!

15 Minute Craft...Trash to Splash!

This past week while cooking dinner and preparing to throw these cans away, I decided they were such a nice round size and very sturdy. They would be great for holding craft scissors, etc. Hmmm. I decided to take them from Trash to Splash with a few craft supplies!

Like my craft room? It's called...the kitchen counter! :) That's where I do my best work.
I cut the paper to fit the sides of the can and then used spray adhesive to make them tacky on the wrong side. Again, the kitchen and some newspaper works just fine for this step!
I covered the cans, then used 2 different circle punches to create some coordinating flowers for the front. And found white buttons to be the crowning touch.
My little Snowman wanted in one of the pics. ; )
This took such little time that I went ahead and covered the lid of an empty ice cream bucket too. In just minutes I have three cute craft caddies made out of trash and on-hand papers. Fun! Thanks for looking...I'll let you go....I'm ready to go put my little caddies to work!