framed spring mantel

Oh dear, what a wonky, bit-by-bit way this post has come together today!  (I started with one picture at 7ish, then added several, and am just now adding these words at 3:00 ;)  I had just got the first picture put on this post at 7ish this morning, when I got a call asking to schedule a house showing at 11:30 and then another and another - four showings scheduled in total!  We just put our house on the market yesterday, and I was not expecting so much interest so soon.  Neither was my house.   So, we dropped everything and began dashing about like mad for the next four hours.  It was mad.

So anyway, my Spring Mantel.  If you've been with me awhile you know I first put up these frames last Fall, and it has been fun to redecorate them for every season since.   

{See Fall Framed; Christmas Framed; Valentine's Framed Mantel}

I replaced the felted, magnolia-looking wreath I did earlier this month, with this little mossy number {will share the completely simple mossy-wreath-how-to later this week.}  

And added a little bird from Hobby Lobby.

Also covered my little "m" with moss, much like I covered the big "M" last year.

 

I really put together the whole mantel around wanting to feature this lovely orchid my sweetheart gave me for my birthday.

 

It's a month old and is as beautiful as ever.  Best part is that I only have to put a couple ice cubes on it a week to keep it happy - perfect for my spacey watering habits.

 

Oh dear, I do love spring...and a clean house.

Now to keep it that way. ha. ; )

{Linking to The Spring Fling at The Lettered Cottage
& Bowl Full of Lemons}

My Mantel Today

Albeit reluctantly, I did take down my Valentine's Mantel on the last day of February.  It was time to clean up the glitter. :)   So this is what my mantel looks like today.   No theme going on here - mostly just a little assortment of things I like. 

 Really I just wanted to figure out some arrangement that featured this amazingly lovely orchid my sweetheart gave me on my b-day.   It warrants some attention.

 I did make this little felt wreath that I thought would be my "spring wreath" but as I got about 3/4 the way through making it, it struck me as looking rather Christmas-y???  I don't know.  My vision of it seemed so spring in my head!   Obstinate, I still hung it up, but it probably will come down in the next couple weeks and show up again next December...

Realistically the orchid will fade, and the whole arrangement will come down in a couple weeks.



But it's something different and fresh for today.

My Christmas Mantle: Snowflakes & Candy

Seeing as it's just about two weeks to Christmas, I finally pulled my Christmas mantle together.  I decided to keep the frames I used for fall as that's really too many holes in the wall to deal with after only one season, and I really do like the frames.  So I added some Christmas elements, deciding that they would be be nice backdrop from some hanging snowflakes.

It's been years since I've made any and I had so much fun.  I looked on Pinterest to find these extremely easy-to-follow instructions put together by Kerli.  It truly is a quite a thrill to unfold each one and discover the design you've somehow managed to make.

I hung them up using red twine.

The red twine answered the red and white peppermint candies I filled my jars with.

I loved using these jars as a way to incorporate the turquoise I'm using in my decor this year, and the peppermint candies were a happy, inexpensive way to add color.   They were the only thing I spent money on for the mantle.  These here represent about two big bags of candy - I could've used at least 3 but they were out at the store.  My kiddos loved helping me unwrap them.

 For a wreath, I hung up this little number that I've used for years as table center piece with a candle in the middle.

 Overall I'm happy that I kept it simple: paper, candy, and leftover from the Christmas decorating bin.  Kind of shows what you can do when you already have good bones - or frames - to work with. 

 I hope very much that you have a lovely weekend

and take some time to enjoy this beautiful season. 
I'm off to turn on the Christmas music, light a mistletoe candle, make some muffins for breakfast, and enjoy being Home.

{Linking to Southern Hospitality & Home Stories
& Bowl Full of Lemons}

Simple Lovely Gift Wrapping Station

I love pretty packaging.  It can make even the humblest gift feel special. 

I'm not, however, particularly fond of the wrapping part or the mess of lots of supplies. 

Wrapping takes a long time, so I set out this year to make the job as simple and pleasant as possible.

This little trunk was made for me by Sister and Handy Andy for my birthday last year.  It was to be my "Crafting Trunk".  Sister had thoughtfully filled it with all sorts of helpful crafting supplies in nice little labeled bags and boxes.  
Since then my supplies have outgrown the space, so I turned it into my little Wrapping Station.

 

The trunk was from Hobby Lobby, but Andy fitted it with dandy little ribbon rod.  So clever - certainly one of my favorite gifts ever. 

 My goal was to keep my supplies as simple as possible...but still lovely, of course.

Here's my Christmas Ribbon picks.  All of this ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, found in the regular ribbon section {not the Christmas aisles, so even if your Christmas aisles are picked over - like ours our - you can still find some lovely "holiday ribbon"} I picked ribbon that matched my Christmas decor.  The twiney string on the end is also from Hobby Lobby - I found it in the shelf by the registers.

I love using real ribbon.  It can be reused again and again.

 And beautiful ribbon makes the simplest wrapping paper pop.  I'm using plain brown wrapping paper for all my presents this year.  This keeps me from having rolls and rolls of Christmas paper to store all year long.  Also, I can use it year round matched with any ribbon and "brown paper packages tied up with string" are always pretty charming.

These are my gift tags.  The ones on top are from Michaels and below from Hobby Lobby.  I found the top ones last, but they were the best deal - 20 for $1.99.  I'll try to get one size bigger for larger packages, but they were out at the time.

Then we have my much-loved typewriter letter stamps.

  

I used them to stamp the tags with "to" and "from".  I also like to just stamp out the whole name - with a bigger tag. 

 

So there's my little wrapping station.  

{the felt trees in the corner are ornaments I got last year on clearance to be used as gift toppers}

It made wrapping all of these such fun.

But don't be fooled - all of these gifts are those my ahead-of-the-game-sweetheart had already purchased for his dad and brother.  I still have almost all my Christmas shopping ahead of me... but at least now I'm looking forward to the wrapping part. 

{Linking to Life Made Lovely Monday & Bowl Full of Lemons}

My Yellow Iron Bed

Without further ado, here's my little iron bed - 

the one I got at the flea market for $40 - with a fresh coat of cheery yellow.

Here's what her finished looked like when I brought her home.  Though I saw potential for an "industrial" look, after cleaning her up she still was rubbing off lots of rust, and I've really always been wanting a yellow bed in my heart.

So first she got a little rub down with some 50 grit sandpaper.  Second, washed her off.  And then sprayed on coat of this spray primer meant especially for slightly rusted metal.

 This is my can of paint I showed you yesterday, but since I shot the photo outside, it looked a bit more sunny than it really is.

You can see the color better here on the paint chip indoors.

It's Valspar's "Golden Castle" {found at Lowes} in Semi-Gloss.

I used a regular semi-gloss latex paint because I wanted this specific color.  But I think this kind of paint job is really better suited to spray paint.  I had trouble with brush marks, and finally gave up and embraced the "brushed" look. :)

 Now, what's that you say?  You thought this bed was meant for my little man's room?

 Well, you are quite right.  I just set her in here and dressed her up for giggles, since little man's room is not at all painted yet...

 

And dressing up is just so fun.

 You can see my other decorating ventures {HERE}.

{Linking to Thrifty Decorating, Just a Girl,
Feathered Nest Friday, Bowl Full of Lemons,
Furniture Feature Friday, Tatertots and Jello; No Minimalist Here
Serenity Now}

Little Mirror Makeover

Today I thought I'd share about this mirror redo I did for our back entry.   Since I stole the cream one for my master bedroom collage wall.

Here's a rather inadequate "Before Picture".

Here the mirror was after I brought her home from the thrift store for $7.

She had that black speckled elm wood? look that I wasn't to fond of.

So I first painted on a coat of cheap acrylic paint I had lying around - mixed a little brown in with some black to tone down the black a little bit.

Then, with a piece of old t-shirt I rubbed on some of this fun stuff: Rub-n-Buff.

Have you used this before?  So easy!

As you can see I let some of the black show through 
to give it some depth and show off the lines.  

 

And here she is, looking quite fancy-shmancy.

I also replaced the table lamp with this floor lamp that grew up with me in my parent's home.

The chest of drawers felt too crowded on top with the lamp there...I might add a shade to the lamp. 

{And yes I need to do a better job hiding my tape holding the ribbon, and yes, I need to either get some Fallish pictures clipped up or do away with it altogether}

The pail serves to catch and hide all our phones and keys.




So as I've mentioned before this back entry is my problem area...
we'll just say it's a work in progress. 

And remember today is the Last Day to enter the giveaway for the Lollia lotion.

Click {HERE} to enter!

{Linking to Tatertots & Jello
Thrifty Decorating , Funky Junk Interiors, & Addicted to Decorating}