Spring Fever.

I sure hope it's...

right around the corner.

Happy Friday!

A SA-WEET Day!

Didja have a happy Valentine's Day?

I think I'm starting a tradition of baking Valentine's cookies to hand out after church on Valentine's Sunday. But, I enjoy making them....and the folks sure seem to enjoy taking them!

I cheated and used refrigerated sugar cookie dough, and store bought frosting. Shhh....don't tell.

I made a special Valentine's dinner for my sweetie...

I got a picture of the sweetie, but I forgot to get a picture of the dinner... so, I'll have to leave that one up to your imagination :)

It was all well and good.

BUT...

My most awesome Valentine's gift was a complete accident.

We went over to my Mom's for refreshments Sunday evening, and I got to rummaging around in her apron drawer. And I found it. One of my Granny's hand made aprons.

I pretty much flipped for it, and begged Mom to sell it to me on the spot. But she had mercy on me and just let me have it. Granny was short. Like me. So her apron fit me to a T. (Aprons are usually way too long waisted on me.) But I just LOVE the ric-rac trim and especially the rose fabric - spots,holes, and all! I'll never get rid of this one. I won't even spray paint it.

Mom had several others, too. We got cracked up when we found an old kleenex in the pocket of one of them - it had probably been there 15 years :) Granny ALWAYS carried a tissue in her pocket. Brought back lots of memories. Happy memories...

A Chocolaholic's Dream...

My sweetie brought my Valentine's gift early.

Oh, yeah. Come to Mama...

Strawberry and Chocolate Cake from Coldstone Creamery.

I'm telling ya, this is one thing that will chase those winter blues away.

It's gonna be one SWEET Valentine's Day!

FOF- Repurpose that cabinet door!

What's a gal to do with a stack of extra cabinet doors?!

Make 'em into chalkboards, of course!

Ooops...I forgot to take a before pic. But it was your typical ordinary plain old oak door. Oak Schmoak...Blah, blah, blah. Enter some chalkboard spray paint, white spray paint, and a few pretties to jazz it up ....and Voila! A super easy project that really dresses up that empty spot beside my desk/office.

The best part is that I had everything to make it with except the 3 little hooks. I found those at Wally World for a buck each. Pretty cheap project!

I've had these little buckets (from the dollar tree - 3 for a dollar!) for awhile...now I have the perfect place for them :) And candy just makes ANYTHING look better!

Just for fun, I added the vintagey glass knob. Loooove me some glass knobs!

The secret to the chalk is CHALK MARKERS! The best thing since sliced bread. Writes on easy, dries hard, don't smear, and wipes off with water. Lovely. I'm completely hooked.

I'm linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday party.

Happy Friday, y'all!!

Just a little Thrifted Redo...

I'm always on the look out for chunky detailed frames, nomatter what color they are. This one was my latest Thrifty find...

I love the frame, but the painting didn't really do anything for me.

So I changed it. I seem to do that a lot...

Ahhh...Love me some pink roses.

I antiqued the frame with some green spray paint and sand paper. Then I printed the picture from my computer. I had to print it as if it were a banner, it's 2 pages long. But hey, where there's a will....

The seam isn't TOO obvious..... I hope.

I'm slowly getting more done on the remodeling project. Pictures will be forthcoming. Eventually. You ever tried to paint with a 6 year old helper who brings along his 4 year old sidekick?! Things can get a leeeetle bit interesting...

LOVE is in the air!

My house is starting to look like Cupid's been in here...

But I LOVE (hehe, no pun intended...) to decorate for Valentine's Day! Or maybe I just like having an excuse to use some pink...

I finally dug down into my scrap stash and made this Valentine's banner. Don't know why I put it off so long - it only took a jiffy to make!

And now every time I walk through the dining room, I have a strange urge to sing "His banner over me is love..."

This little group is in the hallway...which is a project in the works right now. I'm in the process of painting a couple of miles worth of paneling in the hall. (OK, give or take a few inches...) And it's S.L.O.W. going. But the finished parts are really inspiring me to hurry up and get 'er done! It's SOOO much brighter! Makes me HaPpY!

Here you can see part of the freshly painted crisp white wall, and in the reflection of the mirror you can see part of the very dark unfinished wall - Ye-ah, it's that dark. Well, lookie there...another one of those birds flew in here. I declare, they're gonna take over.

I've been in a major what-to-do-now-that-the-Christmas-decorations-are-gone funk. I've been waiting for a month for some inspiration to smack me in the face, but it just wasn't coming. Eventually I did grow rather weary of looking at a pathetic bare mantle....so I made myself spiff it up.

Hehe...No, you will not see a before photo. I'm not that crazy. Just trust me - it was depressing. Imagine...stray limbs from Christmas garland, a few unsightly cords, several rusty old nails, a few little army guys... Not exactly Better Homes and Gardens material.

It was indeed time to reclaim the mantle. (The army guys were forced to retreat.)

I swapped out the ornaments in the urns for some red roses. I thought it would make a nice Valentine-ish touch.

And I couldn't resist some bouquet bokeh.... hehehe.

So what are you doing to spread the love at your house?

And now...the REST of the story...

WooHoo!!! Our bedroom is finally FINISHED!

Here's the before shot.

And after 2 gallons of "quiet rain"...

Before shot of the window side...

And after.

I know that's an absolutely pathetic photo...but I can't for the life of me get a decent shot of windows in the daytime, and I'm too impatient to wait till evening.

Here's the other side of the room.

It's my happy place.

Oh look - there's my 35.00 craigslist special dresser.

And I was really happy with how this shelf turned out. It was dark brown before I got ahold of it. I just love all the pretty details in it. I think the birdie likes it, too.

Whew! One more room crossed off the list -hApPy DaNcE!!

I had originally planned to share some Valentine's projects for Finished Object Friday today, but.... I never got them done. But Chari got hers done! So go check it out - it's "sweet"!

Decorating on a dime...

...Ok, so make that a dollar. But really, what can you get for a dime these days? I get pretty excited when I find pretties for a dollar! Like these little bird tea light holders from Dollar Tree.

I had to get me a handful of them...

And now they're all scattered around in our bedroom...

They look cute anywhere! And they would have looked even cuter had the author had enough sense to light the candles prior to taking the photographs. Note to self...

Then I found this beauty at the Thrift store for 99 cents! What? It's NOT a beauty?

Well, let's just fix it up, K?

Ahhh. Love it. Love it.

It shabbied right up! And it looks right at home hanging in the dining room.

It's amazing what a buck can do!