Lazy Cool Sunday

This morning when I went outside to drink a cup of coffee on the patio - the air was cool and it seemed like the heat of summer has moved on out.  It was 59 degrees and nearly jacket weather.  The sun came out quickly and suddenly before you knew it, it was over 80 degrees outside.  Certainly better than the 104's of last week - but can't wait til it feels like fair weather. 

Last April at our annual Mckinney Garden Club plant and seed exchange, I picked out a little 4" pot of Texas Rose Rock....it had a few sprigs and was about 6" tall.  I decided to plant it next my lamppost near other little bits of pink plants...JFK rosebush and also, pink salvia.  Here it is just over 4 months later in full bloom and gorgeous.  I've read its very easy to propagate and transplant around the garden.  Great great filler plant. 

 A few years ago, I picked up this really cute vintage worn bench at the 'Blue Door' downtain Frisco.  It was painted light yellow and I kept it outside in my flowerbeds.  This summer, I decided to strip it, repaint and distress it.  I made my own chalk paint with plaster of paris, water and paint....the color is deep aqua (Benjamin Moore) color matched at Lowes, then distressed it with black antiquing glaze.  My antiquing skills aren't that great...then I put a good coat of clear minwax and buffed it off after drying.  Now the bench resides in my bedroom for a little spash of color against all the gold.

A little Caramel goes along way

A few months ago, I decided to take on two of my closets...my sewing room and master closet.  First, my little boring closet in my sewing room....I was inspired by the beautiful craft closet redos on pinterest and across the web....especially this one...Pam Garrison's and this one...Everything Etsy! love her use of wire baskets.  I opted for the scrapbook paper instead of paint, stair risers and iron shelf brackets from Hobby Lobby.

 The paper I bought at Hobby Lobby too, its 12 x 12 sheets in a packet - of vintage reproduction papers.

 After lots of paint and sticky fingers from the spray adhesive - here's she is all finished.  I cut the sheets in various sizes and layered them on top of eachother.  I also added pics of my ancestors, because I love old pics and my family - always inspiring!  I accessorized with baskets, wicker and wire and finds from antique stores and of course Hobby Lobby.  I love how it turned out.  I've had to respray a couple sheets at tbe top.  But for the most part, its held up well - a lite layer of modge podge over the top helped too!

 This is my favorite feature.....a 1/4" dowel rod running through 4 shelf brackets, is a great way to store ribbon...can be a pain to add new rolls, but easy to cut strips and re-roll in place!

 Over Labor Day, I decided to take on my closet in my master bedroom.  As you can see - its a hot mess, from ugly plastic hangers, bins and lots of crap. 

 It was really bursting at the seams, I finally remembered to take a photo - after I had taken most of the clothes out.  Below, Jojo liked to lay on top of my jeans and capris!

 Decided to purge and donate lots of luggage, I had acquired through various sample sales at work to charity....wasn't sad to see this ugly red set go!

 Here's a big mess that in the bottom, an old TV (donated), lots of cables, old computer and more luggage!

 Found a gallon of paint that matched my bedroom, 'caramel' in the entry closet and still good after 3 years.  It took 2 coats and also used stair risers from Lowes cut to size and more shelf brackets from Hobby Lobby.  Bought storage boxes from the container store and also Hobby Lobby.  It took forever to paint - two coats! But really happy with how it turned out - below are a few pics!

 A small dress form holds earrings and a birdcage holds necklaces. 

 This rack is perfect for flip flops!

Still have two more shelves to add here, but will wait until the brackets go onsale at HL.  Love how this turned out!  It looks like Caramel overload in the pics, but looks good in person!

A Little Fall of Snow.....

Last night we had our first little snow here in Mckinney.  Big flakes fell for a couple of hours starting around 9pm and when I woke up on Monday morning, all that was left was this little dusting.  I took a couple shots, since its mid-February and this could possibly be our only snowfall of the year!

Yep, that's it.

This weekend, I wanted to try this heart potholder, from MarthaStewart.com. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to 'bias tape' and it wasn't perfect.  I made two, the first one a trial run and then got the second mailed off to moma for Valentines Day.  Fabric from Hobby Lobby and I used 'insul-brite' for the lining....and I think baby rick rack is just adorable on anything!

 Basting layers together

 Adding bias tape to the top layer

 Bias tape around the heart and a zillion pins later

The inspector is checking the quality of my work...

All done - two down and these were so cute, but i'm just not great at base or at the 'V' up top.  Check out these adorable potholders too from Big A Little a..... I love these, she really makes it look easy! The next one I make, i'm totally using the scalloped stitches...so cute!

I've also been working on organizing my fabric...and my sewing room..update coming soon!

Let' Catch Up!

Hard to believe its been 4 months since I posted my last update.....but after the holiday rush things are finally slowing down a bit.  I'm going to make a commitment to blog more in the New Year!

Dad and I went to DC in October.  He had never been and I love DC, so we got him a plane ticket for his 70th birthday back in April and he had to wait 6 months to cash it in.  We had alot of fun, did tons of walking and saw some amazing sites.  Below are some of my favs!

 A view of the monument at dusk....beautiful!

 Dad in the 1930s infamous lunch line at FDR's memorial!

 The Korean War Memorial....one of my favs!

 The WWII Memorial, probably one of the most beautiful War Memorials in DC!

 We hopped off in Chinatown and had some brews and egg rolls at 'Wok n Roll' formerly known as Mary Surratt's boarding house circa 1865.  (the infamous 'nest' that hatched the 'egg' to kill our beloved 16th President)

 Arlington National Cemetery.  I really had no idea of the magnitude of this cemetery.  Watched the changing of the guard, saw Custis Mansion (poor condition, ugh) and the famous gravesites.  Probably my favorite of all our stops. 

 Dad's having a little fun and decided to 'Fight the Power' with the other Occupy DC lunatics.

 This was our beautiful hotel, the historic Mayflower Renaissance just off the Farragut West and North stops, sure made riding the Metro easy.  I wish I had a pic of 'Potbellys'...that became one of our nightly staples...I think we ate there about 5 times - yum!  Daddy and I had a great time, we both got Library of Congress library cards and that was one of the highlights of the trip.  We also ate at Old Ebbits Grill and that was well worth the wait. 

 Here's my Halloween decor..haha - had a ton of Trick or Treaters and it was alot of fun!

I had Thanksgiving at my house, went and picked up Mom the day before and we cooked all day.  The turkey was so good!  We followed Barefoot Contessa's recipe and it wasn't pretty, but it was delish!  The Zerbos joined us too.  Becky and her family couldn't make it, and daddy had to work - but ther was 7 of us and we had a great time!  Here's Joey in front of the sign that Ben drew...so talented.  Mom got to stay a whole week and we had lots of fun.  We even made pepper jelly one day...except I don't know what we did, my jars never congealed!

 The dessert table....unfortunately, our chocolate pie - the one with the pretty meringue in front didn't set up - so it was just a puddle of pudding!  But the pecan was yummy and the pumpkin cheesecake was super rich!

 All the fixins - right before we said 'grace'.

 Right after Thanksgiving, I decided to put my trees up and this was a super cheapo one from Walmart that my mom picked up for me after Christmas last year for $20....it was really cute....and a great deal for the price.

 Ben was kind enough to draw a new sign for my entryway!

 Big tree is up and fire going - this was early December.  I miss Christmas already - already have it on my calendar for end of November to put up early and especially to get my lights on the house earlier.

Spent a few days in Oklahoma for Christmas, it was alot of fun, came home the Monday after and by Wednesday I was sick....hacking cough and congestion - no fun for the new year.