Tag Archives: decor

Top 5 Projects of 2012

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Can you believe that 2012 is almost over?  It seems like it has flown!  Tadd and I are ready for 2013.  If it’s anything like the past year has been, then we are in for some good stuff.  Can’t wait to find out!

Instead of a typical year in review post, I thought I would share my top 5 most popular project posts of the past year.  I always find it interesting to see what posts people like to read the most.  And it’s always fun to reflect on all I have done in the past year!

5. REUSABLE PRODUCE BAG

This reusable produce bag was one of the first sewing projects I completed at the beginning of this year.  I believe it was the first time I boxed a corner!  And it was one of the first projects that seemed to go really smoothly from start to finish.  Successes like these are what encouraged me to keep going with teaching myself how to sew this past year.  And on top of that, it’s just plain cute!

4. PINK SANGRIA

I love a good sangria recipe.  And although I do love this very popular pink sangria recipe that I made last May, I think my all-time favorite version is the peach sangria I made over 4th of July weekend!  It’s my new go-to summer drink of choice.

3. FALL TABLE RUNNER

If you know me, you know that fall is my favorite season.  When I saw this adorable fall fabric at JoAnn Fabrics, I knew I had to think of a project to make with it.  This lead to this reversible fall table runner, which was my very first ever sewing project where I made something just based on what I wanted, as opposed to following someone else’s tutorial.  It was also the first time I used a decorative stitch.  It obviously wasn’t anything super complicated, but I was still so pleased with how it turned out.

2. CHOCOLATE CHIP CHEESECAKE

My chocolate chip cheesecake post from last spring has REALLY taken off in the past several weeks.  As I mentioned previously, this recipe has been pinned and repinned a TON of times now.  It’s super easy and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients.  I not only made it for Easter 2012 dessert, but made it again last week for our family’s Christmas dinner dessert!  It’s always a big hit.

1. TERRACOTTA POT SAUCER COASTERS

This is, no question, the most popular post EVER on my blog.  It’s the closest thing I have gotten to going viral and it still gets a ton of hits almost every single day.  As a matter of fact, this post has gotten more pageviews than my blog’s regular main page!  Everyone loves these terracotta pot saucer coasters.  I’m glad everyone loved this project as much as I did, although I certainly did not come up with the idea.  I was inspired by this great post from the Joy Is At Home blog, and she was inspired by someone else and so on.

What were your favorite projects that you completed in 2012?  Any goals or ideas for 2013 projects?

Green Tree, White Tree

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I realize I missed the 3rd Holiday Home Link Party on Tuesday.  I have no excuse, except that things have been crazy around here to say the least!  Work has been nuts.  My husband’s work has been nuts.  Then we get home with a million regular chores plus holiday chores (we finally got our Christmas cards mailed out yesterday!).  Add to that the fact that it’s dark both when I leave for work and when I get home, so taking nice pictures suitable for posting has been challenging to say the least.

I figured I could at least join in for the Christmas tree party today, since I already had a few pics of our trees to share.

Our main tree is this green one in our living room.  It’s filled with a hodge-podge of sentimental and fun ornaments.  At some point early in our marriage, I decided I wanted blue, green, and silver ornaments, so there are a lot of those mixed in with everything else.  Also, there are lots of snowmen.  I have a “thing” for snowmen ornaments.

This is also the cats’ favorite tree.  Logan, our 8 year old Russian Blue loves nothing better in life than to sleep or lounge under this tree.  Christmas is definitely his favorite time of year.  The other two kitties enjoy it too, but not as passionately as Logan.

Our white tree was something I bought for dirt cheap during one of those post-Christmas sales a couple years ago.  I wanted a tree just for me to design and make pretty for our front room.  This is in the dining room, near our front door.  We have a green/brown/white color scheme going on in our dining room, so I kind of wanted to keep this tree in that family, but with lots of red too.  I also love little bird ornaments, and Tadd has always loved squirrels, so I decided to go with a loose “woodland creatures” theme.  I chose ornaments that were rustic and natural, but also bright and festive.  I think one of my favorite items on this tree are those red birds (like the one in the lower right hand corner), which I found at the Dollar Tree.  Gotta love great dollar store finds!

Last year was my first year decorating the white tree, and it was quite a bit more sparse.  I went a little nuts since then buying ornaments for it, so I think I have enough now.

I must admit, I love looking at everyone’s tree pics.  Everyone’s trees are so different, yet so pretty!  Decorating the tree is definitely my favorite “Christmas chore”.

Linking up!:

Christmas Non-Mantel 2012

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As I have mentioned several times before, my house, lovely as it is, lacks a fireplace.  As a matter of fact, there are very few newer construction homes in the Orlando area that do have a fireplace.  I envy the houses who do have one to decorate for the seasons.   I make do with my entry table as my makeshift mantel.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8067/8242516711_9fa61044cd_z.jpg

This year I kept it pretty simple.  My snowflake finials, a cute snowman plush figure, and a mini Christmas tree placed on a silver tray.

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I used a bunch of Target Dollar Spot ornaments for filler on the tray, which I think gives it that holiday sparkle.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8243584062_c33d7c305d_z.jpg

I love these snowflake finials!  Got them on sale at Hobby Lobby last year.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8242515665_fdc613635f_z.jpg

Nothing fancy.  Just cute, simple, sparkly, and festive.

Linking up!:

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The Lettered Cottage

A little more fall & Halloween decor…

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , ,

I realized that in my prior posts about this year’s fall decorating (here and here), I missed a few items I wanted to share.

This was one of my JoAnn’s finds from several weeks ago.  I could not pass it up!  Especially since I have a kitty named Stella.  I love all of the Victorian-inspired Halloween decor that seems to have been all the rage the past couple of seasons!

 

Just like last year, I have my fun Black Cat Cafe plate on display in the kitchen!  Now that I have my very own REAL black cat, all of these black cat Halloween decorations delight me even more.  So fun!

 

I placed a few little Halloween touches in our powder room.  And yes, I even temporarily relocated the Target Dollar Spot owl in here, just for the season.

 

I recently  moved this very tiny corner shelf unit to our stairwell to give it some pizzazz.  Eventually this piece will get a makeover with a new coat of paint, but for now I have decorated it with a hodgepodge of some of our smallest fall/Halloween items.

 

A handful of our neighbors have full light displays and outdoor graveyards going on!  I have seen skeletons and giant spiders and pumpkin carriage lights and all kinds of fun stuff.  Sooo cute and creative.  I am jealous, and maybe one day my love of Halloween decor will expand to my yard.  But for now, this will do!  Seeing all the fun items displayed all around the house makes me smile.  I love this time of year!

A Halloween Non-Mantel 2012 (and more!)

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , ,

I can now officially wish everyone HAPPY FALL!

This is always the time of year when I regret not having a fireplace & mantel.  I make do with my entry table, which is where I tend to do my seasonal decorating.  This is what I came up with for Halloween this year…

My favorite parts are the little potted tree in the woven container (both tree & container from Ikea), topped with pinecone and pumpkin filler, placed next to a pair of rustic wooden ravens (filler and ravens from Hobby Lobby)!

I suppose you could say that my wall of shelves in the living room is a good mantel substitute too.  This is where I am displaying most of my Boney Bunch collection.

Linking up with…

Halloween Mantels

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Fall Table Runner


				

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I recently found some really cute fall fabric at JoAnn’s and decided I wanted to make a really simple reversible table runner for my kitchen table. I got a yard of each fabric, eyeballed the size that I wanted, sewed them together with some light batting to give it some weight, and then top-stitched with a decorative stitch. Simple, but really cute!


This was my first time using one of the decorative stitches, and I have to say, they are fun! But also take a ton of thread. This entire project took almost my whole spool of beige thread.






And here’s the finished product. Excuse the battered scratching post in the background! Maybe I should have staged a little better…






And here you can see the other side, which is a really pretty orange print.




Linking up to the It’s Fall Y’all link party at The Lettered Cottage and Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Creek Cottage!




shabby creek cottage

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Buy all the things!


				

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I had promised myself that I would pull out all my fall & Halloween decor last night, but I got something in the mail that I had been waiting for, so that derailed me for the evening.  However, I have now re-promised myself that TONIGHT will be the night!  Tadd and I stopped by JoAnn Fabrics on the way home from work yesterday and it was Halloween-palooza!  They have some freakishly adorable Halloween stuff.  I wasn’t as keen on their fall stuff this year, but they had one aisle where I seriously wanted to BUY ALL THE THINGS!




I bought a few items, but will probably go back for more.  And I need to stop by Dollar Tree.  Even though I REALLY don’t need anymore Halloween decor.  I think I have a problem.  I started shopping for this season hoping for more fall stuff and less Halloween, but for some reason I am always drawn to the Halloween stuff.  Go figure…


I didn’t buy any of this stuff, but I wanted to!








I also bought some fall fabric, which I am HOPING to turn into something pretty.  My idea is simple, but since I am still fairly new to sewing, I sometimes worry that constructing something very simple on my own (without a tutorial) will still conclude in failure.  But I don’t know until I try, so I suppose we will see.


I bought about $54 worth of stuff, but only paid $18 out of pocket, thanks to my favorite shopping combo: sales + coupon + giftcard (I still had $10.78 left on one card from my birthday).  Tadd was impressed with how much stuff we got for so little.


All that rambling to tell you that hopefully I will be able to share my new purchases, and some of my old items in new ways starting tomorrow!  Bring on the fall decor!

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Jacoby’s Halloween Doppleganger


				

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When I got home from my trip, there was a package waiting for me from Yankee Candle.  I had seen this black cat tea light holder in the 2012 Halloween catalog and absolutely fell in love.  But it wasn’t in stock when I attended the Boney Bunch preview back at the beginning of August, and when I tried to order it online, it said it was out of stock.  A few weeks later, I checked the website again and it was available, so I snatched it up (along with a small jar candle in the Pumpkin Pie scent so I could use my $10 off $25 coupon…it’s my FAVORITE of all the pumpkiny Yankee Candle fragrances).


When I opened the candleholder, I was absolutely delighted with how much it reminded me of my Jacoby-kitty.  Don’t they look like they could be twins?




So happy with this purchase!  And even though I haven’t pulled out the rest of my Halloween & fall decor yet, this one is already on display.  I just adore it.  And so does Jacoby!

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
A cute little owl.


				

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Recently Tadd and I were at Target in the Dollar Spot.  I don’t know about you, but I cannot make a trip to Target without making a stop at Dollar Spot.  I don’t always end up buying something, but I love that you just never know what kinds of things you might find.  I have bought wine stoppers, personal water misting systems (for hot days at the theme parks!), headbands, seasonal stuff, etc.   It’s also a great place to find stocking stuffers during the holidays.


While we were there, Tadd pointed out this one lonely little ceramic owl vase with a chip on his beak, priced at $2.50.  I love owls (Tadd randomly bought me owl pajamas several years ago for Christmas and I have been smitten with them ever since), so I had to take him home, beak chip and all.  Isn’t he cute?




A couple coats of spray primer and white paint, and he is looking pretty on my kitchen windowsill!




Quick, easy, cheap little projects like this make me happy.


Enjoy your weekend!


Linking up:


Home Stories A2Z

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Festive summer entry table, two ways.


				

			Posted by sunshineandsometea in
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Hope everyone is enjoying the first weekend of summer!  I will be honest and say that summer is my least favorite season, but I still believe that every season has their merits and there are some things I love about summer.


I’m a little late, but I finally started pulling out my few 4th of July decorations.  I thought I would share my transition from my beachy/summer themed entry table to a festive 4th of July entry table.


Here is what my entry table looked like at the beginning of the weekend (excuse the crappy photos…camera phone plus very overcast day = extremely mediocre pics).




And here is what it looks like now, ready for the 4th!








I also recently picked up these three wooden decorations for $1 each at the Target Dollar Spot.  Love them!  Interrupted my husband’s game of Skyrim to take this pic.  Hee!




I think this one is my favorite: