Family Treasures

Hey everyone!  It's a brand new week and Spring is definitely in the air in lots of places -- here for sure!  I've been so excited to share this post with all of you, about our newly acquired family treasures.  The Man's sister and bil were kind enough to deliver these items to us all the way from the Great Northwest.  These are things that had belonged to The Man's mom and dad and were very much treasures, especially to my sweet mil.  No one else in the family had a place for them except us.  So, yay, we feel so blessed to be the guardians of these lovelies.

New Looks from Old Stuff

Hey everyone!  Happy Monday of the first normal week of "2013!"  School starts here today, and I look forward to watching from my blogging spot as the children walk, skateboard, bike & scooter their way to school.  It's a chilly morning here in the Arizona desert, 37 degrees, so I'm glad I can watch from the cozy warmth inside my home!

Bwaaaa......The Spooky Night!

Hey, everyone!  Happy November 1, 2012!  Has this year flown by, or what?  Anyway, hope ya'll had a wonderful and fun-filled Halloween.  We really enjoyed being in a neighborhood full of Trick-O-Treaters for the second year in a row.  We didn't try to keep count, but we went through two Costco bags of mixed candies each with about 150 pcs.  Of course, everyone got two things, and the last few got more than that so we wouldn't have any leftovers.  I'm thinking we had about 125 or so.  I know some folks don't like giving treats to older children, but we don't mind.  We even had a few adults and that was okay, too.  Halloween and Trick-O-Treating is all about having fun!

Most of the folks in our neighborhood just set up shop out in their driveways, rather than running to the door a gazillion times during the evening.  That's exactly what we did, and I thought I'd share some pics of the decor and a little crafty project I did.

First the craft project!

I actually have a number of different things going on in my craft-sewing room, but we shall concentrate on this super-easy one for Halloween.  Do you know what those 5 glass things are?

"WELCOME!"

Hey, everyone!  Can ya'll believe Christmas is almost here?  I would surely love it if time would slow down a wee little bit so I could enjoy the fruits of my labor, but I guess I'll just have to make the time.  I wanted to share my front entry, because The Man put up house lights for the first time in almost 20 years!  The rest of the exterior decor was my doing, but I was so excited when he took the initiative to purchase the lights & the apparatus needed to string them around the eaves.  So let the tour begin!

The Man doesn't like that some of the lights are sticking up, but after a few days of warmer, sunny days, they will relax and hang right.  Could he be more fussy than moi.......lol!

The new lights are LEDs, so they have a bit of a blue cast.  I kind of like it -- it's rather moon-like.  Huh?

I like that I was able to incorporate my little black wicker chair into my Christmas decor.  Santa may want to sit a spell to catch his breath!

The lit wreath is hanging on my craft room window, so I get to enjoy it all the time.

I made the Teddy Bear and quilt a few years ago.  We had some below freezing nights (yes, here in the desert!) and Teddy needed that quilt to keep him warm and toasty!

This is the second tree of the 4' pair I purchased at Big Lots earlier in the season.  The other tree is my Kitchen Tree.  I used silver, white & red balls, sparkly snowflakes & red mesh ribbon to keep it simple.  I used some unprinted newspaper (leftover from our move) to wrap an assortment of boxes, & tied them with some old gift wrap ribbon that I don't like anymore for real presents.

Santa is waiting patiently below for his big night!  I found him last year in July/Aug at GW for just a couple of dollars.

 

On up to the front door, I reused my large Mexican pot (that I used for an Autumn arrangement) again & just changed out the floral to poinsettias, greenery, a cluster of old bells & some mesh ribbon. 

Most of you have already seen my door wreath, but I just love it & wanted to share it again.  I started with a very nice, very large wreath from Costco -- thanks "The Man!"  I added sparkly snowflakes (like on the tree) & the big poufy mesh ribbon.  I bought the sign on sale at HL, & love how it seems to fit perfectly.  I've since added a battery-powered string of lights but forgot to get a pic of that.....lol!

I think it pretty much sums up the look and feeling I was going for -- Welcome to our home!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are all staying healthy and enjoying family and friends.

CAS

I'm merrily linking to the following parties:

Wow Us Wednesday

Strut Your Stuff

Inspiration Friday

Fridays Unfolded

Cloches & Apothecaries -- Oh My!

Hey everyone!  Hope ya'll had a wonderful Halloween.  We enjoyed our new neighborhood so much.  I may have mentioned before, that we had a total of maybe 15 Trick-or-Treaters over the 17 years we lived in our old neighborhood.  Well, we certainly surpassed that with about 200 treats handed out this year.  The entire neighborhood participated with tons of activity and endless fun.  And the kids had fun, too.....LOL!

Anyway, I'm so excited to participate in Marty's Fall Cloche Party this time around.  Only had time to do one new cloche arrangement, but threw in some older pics as well.  Hope you don't mind.

I have one new glass cloche that I've been wanting to use, & this party was the perfect opportunity.  Before I show it, I'll show you where it's going, and what the vignette looked like before.

My large handmade pumpkin (for the "how-to's, go HERE) looks good here, but.......

I think I like this better.

Again, before and........

After.  I just used a Fall Leaf charger that I purchased at Walmart last year.  Got the large tray there, too.

I love the reflection of the window.  I found this in Ross's several months ago, & it was less than $10.

The ceramic pumpkin just needed the addition of the sparklies!

Have several apothecary jars & got them all at Michael's with coupons.

At home on the kitchen island.

Got this little "Individual" mini cake server at HL -- again, on sale!

You can display anything in an apothecary jar, & it looks great!

My little thrift store cheese server all "spooked out" for Halloween.

Same piece with lemons & limes in our previous kitchen.

Okay, this is a pretty short post for me, because we have some major things going on this week.  Hope you enjoyed seeing my small (at least for now) collection of cloches & apothecary jars.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and please come again soon!

CAS

I'm happily linking to:

Marty's Fall Cloche Party

Wow Us Wednesday

A good deal? You tell me!

Hey everyone!  If you've been reading my blog for awhile, or at least since we moved, you know I mentioned that I really wanted to get a kitchen table to replace the bar-height table.  I really had a vision of a round table that would accommodate at least 6 people, maybe more if I could get one with a leaf.  I wanted to have casual family meals in the kitchen eating area where we (me) wouldn't worry about little ones & my light-colored carpeted dining room.....lol, I would try not to fret about that, but I know I would. Well, I had been watching Craigslist with no luck until a couple of days ago.  The seller was located in my town -- can you believe that?  We drove over last night, liked what we saw, bought it and brought it home. Do you want to see?

First, let me share a description of what I purchased......I know, I'm such a tease!  I got a 48" round, claw-foot, oak table with a 24" leaf, 2 captains chairs, 4 side chairs, & a complete set of custom table pads, including one for the leaf.  The seller told me it was 30-40 years old, so not in pristine condition & that the chairs needed a bit of TLC.  So, in actuality, 2 of the side chairs need quite a bit of work but the others aren't in bad shape.  Soooo...........

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I'm only going to use the 4 best chairs until we (meaning The Man) gets the other 2 repaired.

The set was in bad need of cleaning, & it was very thirsty!  Oops, Abby had to give the set her approval!

Someone had actually used a couple of the chairs when they were painting, because the seats were very scuffed & there were paint spatters all over them.  Who does that?  And yes, a spindle is missing.  We'll replace it with one from the really bad chair!

Love the base and legs -- both were in good shape with little or no scuffing.

Here I've used Old English on just half of the back -- amazing difference.  I love the detail in the carving on the back of the chairs.

Here I have one finished & one not.

Now on to the table top.  Before......

.....and After.

The base & the feet came out beautifully!

Ta-Da!  I just love it!  Now, would you like to know how much I paid?  Of course you would.

I paid $125.  Yes, I said $125!  I'm absolutely "giddy" with excitement about this purchase, but you tell me, did I get a good deal?

CAS

I'm happy to be linking up to:

Wow Us Wednesday

Strut Your Stuff Thursday

Treasure Hunt Thursday

Transformation Thursday

Inspiration Friday

Favorite Furniture of 2011

I Went Shopping!

Hey everyone!  Hope ya'll are having a great weekend.  I went exploring and shopping today & scored some great finds!  Thanks to Liz at  Savvy Seasons for the heads-up about some interesting things at Big Lots -- I went, I saw, I bought....lol!  It just happens that the Big Lots I found was in the same shopping center as Kirkland's and Marshall's -- who knew life could be so sweet!  Anyway, I thought I would share my purchases.

Did I have fun or what?

I purchased 2 bags of these adorable acorns at Kirkland's.  They are super-light weight, beautifully metallic in several Fall shades & different sizes.  They were $7.99 a bag which I thought was a very good price for the quality.

The Chinese Lanterns are from Big Lots for $7.  I know exactly what I'm doing with these!

This is a lovely wrought iron bowl that I found at Marshall's for $7.99 -- can you believe that!!!

This wrought iron pumpkin filled with the floral embellishments is also from Marshall's -- $7.99.  

That cute little red rooster is from Kirkland's for $5.99

I will be using this 6' garland (Big Lots - $8) on an outside project.

Have ya'll seen these?  Of course you have.  I'm the only one who's been living in a cave!  They are illuminated branches from Kirkland's.  They were $16.99, which was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I decided on this very simple style so I can use it all year in a variety of different ways.  Yep, that's my story, & I'm stickin' to it!

Love the iron fleur de lis knick knack & candle holder.  Thanks, Liz, I found these at Big Lots.  They were $5 & $6 respectively.

Another cutie from Big Lots -- little candle with a ceramic topper for $5.  I also bought a package of 2 candle chubs for $5 in the Ginger Pumpkin -- smells so good!

Bought this cute little hook for hanging a kitchen towel -- Kirkland's $2.99!

These are nice, heavy candle holders from Big Lots for $5 & $6.

Big Lots also had quite a few tassels.  This set of 2 was $2.50 -- SCORE! 

Okay, a pant hanger, right?  When I saw this at Marshall's, a light bulb went off, & I saw a great way to store and display my scarves.  I've already implemented this & it's working great!

Of course I had to get some things for the "Grands!"  We have a large concrete area on the side of our home that will be perfect for chalk art, hopscotch, whatever they want to do.  This Jumbling Tower game looked like it would be fun for the older children.  The game was $6 & the chalk was $2.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by.  I'm still busy unpacking and arranging and having a great time.  Hopefully, I'll have more spaces to share with ya'll real soon.  Thanks to all who've left such sweet comments and for all your positive support.  I'm really trying to visit blogs as often as I can, but I'm falling short, so please be patient if you haven't heard from me in awhile.  Sometimes I "stalk," because I just have to see what everyone's doing, but just don't have time to comment -- sorry.  Anyway,  the "Welcome Mat" is always out, & I love company!

CAS