A Birthday & happy hearts

I'm a Raggedy Ann doll in a Barbie doll world.  I saw that on a blog this week on a cute button. lol 

I brought these 2 to the shower and set them up on the Hostess' park bench at her front door to greet

the guests as they arrived.  Now, they sit on my entry console...I'll show the full table top next time. 

Andy was hubby's childhood toy...vintage/2nd time around usage?! And, my M-I-L had Ann made for me to match with him.  Look at her "tattoo'd heart"...  

    

Is that the sweetest touch...the lady stitched I love you on her heart?  You can kinda spy it under her blush pink blouse. I got kinda choked up and had to call MIL and thank her for gifting this to me several years ago as I was setting them up.  She always thinks of the coolest ways to gift something.

My next door neighbor/buddy/prayer partner with Mom's In Touch has a Jan. 31st birthday.  I had fun putting this together for her.  I sent off those baby gifts without getting pics for ya'll so I got a few of her gift before handing it over.  My friend has been so strong during her several month kitchen reno--I had to get

her something for the new kitchen.  Apparently, this 3 pc crock set goes with an entire set of gorgeous kitchen ware but I stole this for $3 at some random Home shopping network outlet while driving home from a trip.  The 3rd piece is a crock hot pad. I have 1 just like it with blue highlights.

I used my Blessings blue ribbon to wrap and secure the entire package.  I always wrap up the gift, say a prayer and annoint the ribbon and ask the Lord to bless my beloved.

  See the little handles?  I was able to hold it there to carry it over and present it to her. 

I shredded a piece of scrapbook paper in the paper shredder .  I needed the cushion to protect the breakables from bumpin'.  There is a Paula Deen candle nestled in the crock.  Did ya'll know that Paula Deen has an entire series of candles with kitchen inspired fragrance?  This is 7 minute frosting and I got this scent 1/2 price after Christmas at Krogers grocery.  It is a 2 wick.  I tucked 3 Raspberry chocolate hearts in for good measure too.  Her 1st grader spied it immediately and begged for 1. 

Next week I'm gonna show you my 1st give-away package to celebrate being at the over 50 follower mark.  I'll highlight the 2 that I've won here right before the lost camera and Christmas season...stay tuned.

I'm dippin' in to several parties again so I feel like I'm getting back going again with my blogging:

Show off your Cottage Mon with Cielo at The House in the Roses

Blue Monday with Sally at Smiling Sally

Tabletop Tues with Barb at Grits and Glam

2nd Time Around Tues with Diane at A Picture is Worth 1K Words

Rednesday with Sue at It's a Very Cherry World

Vintage ThingyThur with Suzanne at The Colorado Lady

Show n Tell Fri with Cindy at My Romantic Home

Friday Finding Beauty with Claudia at Dippity Road 

Pink Sat with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

I hope you'll go join the fun at these inspiring and uplifting blogs.  xoxDeniseMarie

Love is in the air, sparkly glitter too

I got a pack of 6 sparkly pink hearts at the $1 store back on New Years day.  This is a purply-pink mum $4 worth of fresh and loveliness with 2 of the heart picks added in.

This is a rusty, crusty tin I got at a resale shop and the stems are boxwood that I splurged on last Spring break at a high end floral shop in a little old town in Texas when we were camping in Rusk, TX.
This is above our TV so I get to tweak it seasonally.

I'm tuning in to 3 blog special events today:

Show n Tell Friday with Cindy at My Romantic Home

Friday Finding Beauty with Claudia at Dippity Road

Pink Saturday with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

Have a fabulous weekend,  xoxDeniseMarie

Sonic and the Walrus

SonicKitty welcomes you in to a new and exciting week with his Walrus toy.  He has a gray seal too and he is hysterical when he gets ahold of them.

This is a huge pile of blue and red. 

I have many projects to show ya'll thru-out the Winter and Spring.  Here is a peak at where my heart is when the laundry is still sitting in a pile....

My mom and I hit my fav resale shop and I got the bottom frame for $1.01 to re-vamp to put this treasure into.  This hangs in my youngest son's room in this cheezy blue frame and I want to give it better prominence.  I may matt it with fabric or posterboard.  My mom did this in grade school.  I love using olden frames. 

I bought this beautiful ribbon at Hancock fabrics on a 70% off clearance table.  I love it!!  It is a by the yard roll and I bought the whole roll.  It says Blessings in silver down the center.  I want to use it for baby gifts and Easter and teacher gifts this Spring.  I would have paid top $$ to order it on line as a custom ribbon so I had to have it ($6 for 15 yards).  I have 3 younger cousins right now all over the country that have had babies so as the oldest girl cousin I'm trying to send love gifts to babies...Tegan, Nathaniel and Chaibella.  I like to wrap the gift in white tissue and I used the ribbon to wrap all the way around the items and tied a bow on the top so the 1st thing they see when they open the gift is the blessing ribbon. 

5 gorgous blue plates that coordinate beautifully with the piles I have going in my cupboard.  I'm working on this cupboard to gussy her up a bit. 

Hubby is not as much into the mix and match that I love for our dishes and sheets, but I cant' help it. 

Love and Blessings, DeniseMarie

I'm tagging into Man Cat Monday with Cindy

Blue Monday with Smiling Sally

2nd time around Tuesday with Diane

RedNesday with Sue

Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville

Vintage thingy Thursday at ColoradoLady

More Wedding Shower lovelies

I get to help with a wedding shower next Saturday for a girl at our church.  She has a Valentines Day theme so here is more of what I am contributing in the way of paper goods and decor.

I hope I don't get there and find out that the other hostesses are shocked about my choices.

I have refined my selections per an e-mail after sending the pics of what I had done last week.  I found this awesome silver bells that match the paper goods at a warehouse party supplier.  I'm gonna set that I love you peep out near the cake.  Have you seen all the awesome Peeps for Valentines this year?

These are the raspberry truffles I found to place into the silver heart containers.  I need to fluff the inside under the chocolate, so I put shredded pink paper.

The plates are so cute and I want to put the pink napkins in with it to expand the colors.  I think at the shower I'll set up each plate with it's napkin.  Look at that $2 Big Lot engagement ring in the back!  I got coordinating confetti with pink hearts and wedding rings at the warehouse.  It is all just coming together.

trying to show you the ring and confetti better.  Love is in the air...

Have ya'll seen all the felt stuff that is so cheap?  This beauty was in the Valentine's section at BigLot for $2.

I want to hang it on the front door of the hostesses house.

This just makes my heart sing.  $3 worth of chocolates in $15 worth of 30 heart tins scattered all around the shower either for the guests to take home or the bride to use at her wedding for favors.

Awww....sweet and new love, can ya'll remeber those days?  xox DeniseMarie

I'm joining the beautiful posts at:

Show n Tell Friday with Cindy at My Romantic Home

Friday Finding Beauty with Claudia at Dippity Road

Pink Saturday with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

Valentine's wedding shower

I've been collecting things for a Valentine's themed wedding shower coming up at church.  The Bride to be chose red, pink and silver as her colors.  I'm providing the decoration and paper goods for this soon college graduate.  I love the heart shape!  I got 2 bags of those yummy puffed red hearts at JoAnn's Fabric 40% off, all paper products at Party City and those 30 heart silver tins too for $15.  pink hearts $1Tree.  Those tins would be cute scattered on all the tables at the shower with a single heart shaped chocolate. I found Raspberry truffles with red wrappers and pink mini hearts all over to place inside. 

My 10 year old is gonna give this out for Valentines at his 4th grade class.  My girlfriend and I were at her Dollar Tree on New Years and I snagged this up as they were putting it out.  Red, pink and white lil' plastic heart boxes to house a chocolate each.  We'll use a red sharpie to put the names on the top. 

Is that sweet or what?

I got these 4 heart bowls at Michael's this weekend for $1.29 each.  Is that the sweetest ruffle edge ever? They have white, red and pink.  I envision V-day fruit with creme bkfts treats.  I want to go back for 4 pink or maybe 8 to go with some new dishes I've got for Easter to show ya'll.  They also have ramekin dishes with hearts there.  I got the pink napkins on clearance for 4/$1 at Marshall's.

Can you tell my heart is bloomin' with love for the Valentine's season?  xox DeniseMarie

Join the fun 3 or MoreTuesday at the Gypsy's Corner

Wednesday at Sue Loves Cherries

Name frames

This is the $5 frame I got at Wal-Mart on the after-summer clearance aisle.  I used scrapbook scraps and letters to fill in the picture areas for now.  I've never quite pulled off the Americana idea that I've had in my head for the boys so Nate gets it in his room to match his new Ralph Lauren plaid comforter.

I made this for Jake a few years ago for his room.  The e has slipped but I used scrapbook stickers, di-cut machine (at my church), paper cutters and scrapbook paper.  I got the frame 80% off in the Hobby Lobby clearance aisle for like $6.  That littlest star is him at bat.  Can ya'll imagine how hard it will be to paint over his Dinosaur walls to make it the UT athletics looking room he needs during his teen years??  I might shed a tear but they can barely remember loving dinos!  I gotta let them grow up, right. lol  I'll show ya'll the before and after when we get going on his room.

This was made by "Aunt Lori" a dear friend who is a crafting maven.  It was when Nate was into soccer.  Please excuse our dust bunnies.  Is it not cute?  It'll have a prominent spot in his room and those are his colors.  I love the way there are tags on the tags.  I'm gonna use that approach to make some clearance frames into a baby Tegan name frame for my cousin and a 50th anniversary gift for a friend at church.  Wouldn't it be cute to put tags with birthdate, weight...and for the anniv the date established.

I'm tagging in to Blue Monday with Smiling Sally

and    Make it for Monday with Cottage Instincts

Bloom girlies!  xox DeniseMarie

Monogram

I love what everyone has done with their monogram or their last name initial around here. 

I was so inspired that I brought a favorite book bag in to Embroid Me to have my monogram stitched.  This is a Tommy Hilfiger bag I got on clearance 1 year and love the linen and raspberry accent. They matched the pink almost identical.  I love it.  A simple thing for less than $10 that made me happy.  The bag still comes in at a good deal even with the extravagant beautiful touch.

I'm tagging in to 3 parties with this post...

Show N Tell Friday with Cindy at My Romantic Home 

Friday Finding Beaty with Claudia at Dipity Road

Pink Saturday with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Have a blessed weekend! xox, DeniseMarie

Fireplace Mantel

This is my fireplace mantel.  I tried to get a picture posted for you of the before, Christmas decor but it is over on my son's log-on page and I can't figure out how to bring it onto my account...argggghhhh.

Hubby and I are still wrestlin' over whether to beadboard transform this old, ugly brick or paint or fake stone wall it??  We actually had someone come out and they never gave us the estimate on stoning it, I guess we'll keep our $1,500 it probably would cost.

This is our tribute to Hubby's parents homestead.  They live on a Historical Plantation site in North Carolina.  That's Papa pulling a wagon full of grandkids, a birdhouse to remind me that Papa helped each of my boys build a birdhouse we have hanging here in Texas, Cotton blooms that I had her send me this Fall and a painting that was done for her.

The mirror behind will be a chalkboard or magnet board when I get to it.  The glass is old and pock-marked.  MIL gave it to us from their auction left overs so it will be fun to eventually transform it.

Those quilts you can see in the mirror were made by MIL too.

I'm tagging in to TableTop Tuesday at Grits and Glamour today. 

Blessings on your tabletops!

All american boy

Well, I'm trying to finalize decisions on Nate's bedroom.  He just turned 10 and my big gift is to get his room complete for an all american boy theme.  The comforter on the right is his old (since he was like 3) twin bunk blanket (he is very attached to it).  On the left is the new one I found this week at TJMaxx, it is a double and fits the current bed.  It even had 2 shams which the 1st comforter didn't have.  They are both Ralph Lauren.  I love his bed and he loves his bed it is a french antique.  I've only tried like 6 comforter sets on him and he ix-nayed every one of them over the past year.  It has to be soft, fluffy and down comfortable for him or fortget about it. lol

I think that $5 Wal-Mart summer clearance frame  in the center of the pic is my inspiration for the redo.  I got a Ralph Lauren navy paint to match the new comforter but he is thinking red or green too.  I will cover that sponge paint nursery blue with it.  I also got a taupy/gray from the new comforter and will paint above the chair railing.  I guess I could stencil red or white stars every so often for a border and some words like are on the frame.  He painted that flag in Kindergarten and I love it.  He is my artsy kid.

Well, this photo looks terrible but that big black whole is my fav dresser that we moved in here where his bed use to be.  I gotta decide whether to paint it or re-stain it.  Any help??

I loved his bed here because it had a tree-house feeling and the eves of the roof makes a nook.  But, hubby and santa had other plans you'll see in a second.  Hubby custom built these bookshelves for the nursery and I need to clean them up with great cubbies and baskets for his toys and stuff.  I love this room it has wonderful baby memories and it was my craft room and now it is Nate's personal pre-teen space.

My mom and I are making a cornice with old swatches of denim and red and blue flannel shirts that the boys wore when they were littler. won't that be nostalgic.  This nook is 1 of the neatest little corners in our home.

And here it is.  My nemesis!!  My girlfriend and I had worked for 1/2 a day on this closet and hubby changed the whole room around so the tv and Wii could live here....uggghhhh.  I gotta work around it to stay happily married.  I would like to paint out the closet since it'll be open a lot.  I just did my 1st Wii fit yoga session last night and am thankful for it!

Any advice might help me stay sane...always a delicate balance for an anxiety girl.

I am tagging in to Blue Monday with Smiling Sally

and Rednesday with Sue Loves Cherries.

Christmas Reds

Ok, I hadn't dusted off the bottoms of the Nutcrackers here.  Our collection just keeps growing.  I had to put them all up in their own bin this year.  

Our youngest has been collecting them since he was like 3.  We have teeny tiny up to that biggest 1 above.

I'm always running a repair shoppe because he loves to get his hands on them. lol

Here's a bag of Snowman cups I made for NASA dudes.  Hubby had me make 14 the 1st day and 24 the next.  I usually give them Snowman soup (cocoa) and Christmas chocolates.  It was lots of fun.  1 guy told Hubby that no one had ever given him a Christmas gift...you never know how you may brighten someone's day.  Blessings!  xox

I'm joining in the fun at Rednesday with Sue Loves Cherries for the 1st time in a while.

Silver Aluminum Pom-Pom tree

I absolutely love this tree.  This will be my last post about it until it comes out again. 

My Mother-In-Law gave it to me several years ago and my youngest begs for it.

We get it out every 2 or 3 years.  You have to build it up 1 branch at a time very delicately.  People love these or hate them.  I even bid for a table top e-bay tree $40 but didn't get it.  And, an extra bundle of 50 branches that was going for $20 to build another 1...missed both.  These can go upwards of $370..wow!

It came with a rotating stand that has never worked for us but look at our spinning light.  We love the blue when it hits the tree.  I only used snowmen and nutcracker ornaments.  See upstairs our newest addition wants to pounce it so I never got out my blown glass ornaments.  I can be smart sometimes. : )

I also enjoyed using my G'ma's afghan as a tree skirt extension.  Everything felt so vintage this Christmas.
What is it in us that loves vintage?  For me it isn't about G'ma's kitchen...I just love the stuff.

Here's the retro box for your psychadelic veiwing pleasure. lol

1 branch at a time these go back into their paper sleeves until they come out to play after Nate begging for a year or 2.  I'd love to get to the place where I could do 2-4 trees thru-out the house but it is a pipe dream.
I'm plugging in to 2nd Time around Tuesday with Diane and 

                          Vintage Thingy Thursday with the Colorado Lady.

Happy Bloopers Monday

Hubby had to take like 12 shots to get a good 1 for the Christmas card mail-outs.  Here are some bloopers.  I thought ya'll would like this shot because Jack's tail is wagging.    Look how dressed up they got, oh well.  Old funky white and blue baseball shirt?  Such a 12 yr old. lol

The dog looks terrified that the cat will pounce any second.

The dog is like, "All right already!" Yawn  The cat looks scary.

 The cat is like, "I'm coming for you next if you don't stop with the pictures." hahahahaha

There is my aluminum pom-pom tree in the background that MIL gave me.   Happy Monday

I'm posting in to Man Cat Monday with Cindy and Blue Monday with Smiling Sally