The Birth of the Holiday Shelf

So I'd been noticing all these Pins on Pinterest and these pictures on blogs that I follow about holiday decor on mantles. Very inspiring! Problem is, I have no mantle. Short of going out and buying one of those tacky-looking fake fireplaces, or moving to a house where there IS a fireplace, I wasn't sure how to remedy the situation. So I kept on gazing in awe at the lovely pictures all these creative folks continued to post...thinking of how I would creatively decorate my own mantle for different holidays...and decided I would do it someday when I had a fireplace!

Then I stumbled upon a lovely blog post from Brieanna over at Darling Doodles. It was called "Holiday Shelf". And THIS I could work with!

So began my quest to create my home's perfect Holiday Shelf. I explained the whole idea to my husband, who scratched his head and looked at me in confusion.

"I don't get it," he said. "We have shelves here. Why do we need a Holiday Shelf? Where are you going to put it? And are you going to change it out for every little holiday? I mean, how much is this going to cost?"

I reminded him that I had wanted to keep the Christmas tree up year round and change out the decor for every holiday, and he had very firmly told me no on that front. I explained that a Holiday Shelf would be MUCH more cost effective than a Holiday Tree...and he had to agree on that point. He still didn't understand, but I promised him that once he SAW my creation, he would love it. I knew he would!

Now, where does one go to begin any major crafting project? Why, Hobby Lobby, of course! I happened to find a lovely mirror and a nice shelf, the mirror for 80% off and the shelf for 30% off. I do love a sale! The problem was that they were both black, and I didn't want black. I wanted white. A can of primer and two cans of glossy white interior spray paint later, I was set.

Here is my lovely coat of primer being applied to my shelf. (Please excuse the garden rake and flower pot...it was windy that day and my fruit cobbler proclaiming newspaper was blowing quite violently!)



I also picked up a few different-sized frames at The Dollar Tree, and proceeded to paint those white, as well. The first picture is from before any priming/painting had begun. (Doesn't anyone sell white frames?) The second is in process. (Notice the lovely splattering? The can of primer decided to protest for some reason. Thank goodness we cleared that up.)

It would have been nice if I had remembered to take a shot of the mirror in transformation. Alas, I did not. I DID, however, happen to take a picture of how messy my hands got. Quite lovely.

After several days, several coats, several more explanations to my husband, and several very near misses with our very black kitten and this very white project (not to mention an entire episode of me trying to hang the mirror and shelf while my husband valiantly asssisted....that's for another blog)...voila! May I present, the Holiday Shelf!

Obviously it was decorated for the 4th of July when I finished with it - I was so excited with how it turned out!!!

The bunting was created with scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby and some twine I had in my craft stash.

I snagged this cool printable from A Little Crafting and placed it into one of my new white frames.

The red vase came from Beall's Outlet, and the small blue jar from Hobby Lobby.

I LOVE this printable from Landee See, Landee Do! I inserted it into another of my Dollar Tree frames made over. Might just be my favorite thing on the shelf =) But I also really like the American flag decorative ball...another Hobby Lobby steal!

All in all, quite festive, right? I'd LOVE to see YOUR pics of your holiday mantle! Don't have one? How about a nice Holiday Shelf? =)



Sad Yet Sweet

Last week I had to say goodbye to a very dear friend of mine =( I'm well aware of her reasons for moving away, and I understand the situation, but it was still sad to see her go. Road trip soon!!! But here are a few shots of what I did with the plain ol' classroom we used for her reception!

We both have a love for inspirational quotations, so I covered the white board in the room with all these quotes that I printed out from Pinterest. At the conclusion of the reception, everyone in attendance was able to pick quotes off the board and take them home, as a reminder of our friend!

I LOVE me some good quotes!!!

I've found that I can use things I already have to decorate - this "theme" (I guess we'll call it "Spring Lilacs") originally came from the Dollar Tree, as that's where the plates and napkins were discovered.

The vase: Given to me by my Prayer Daughter (full of fresh flowers)
These flowers: Dollar Tree (they have a great variety in all varieties and colors!)
The sign: I created it on the computer
The mosaic ball: Part of my office decor...I think it was originally purchased at Burlington?
The paper: I created it on the computer, as well.
The tablecloth: Dollar Tree

If you can tell, the sign says, "Please take time to leave a 'note' for Kristy!" (Kristy was our piano player and rehearsal accompanist for the Worship Arts Ministry at our church - Plant City Church of God), so I thought it was only fitting that we should leave her "notes" on cards decorated with music "notes". (I'm so clever...or corny...you pick!)

I created a scrapbook for Kristy using a Hobby Lobby find that already had the pages created! (We found out she was moving and planned this party in less than a week - I had to work quickly!) The scrapbook is filled with pictures of members of our Worship Arts Ministry...and I'm not posting THOSE pics, because I probably wouldn't live to see our next rehearsal :/

We always want to give our Worship Arts folks an opportunity to bless others!

The sign: I created it on the computer
The vase and flowers: I believe those were another Burlington find
The hourglass: (more like a 10-minute-glass) was a Kohl's bargain
The cute miniature green filing box: A set of these was one of my 25 gifts from two of my fabulous girlfriends for my 25th birthday! I use the set in my office currently.

The whole shebang!

Paper flowers garland: Dollar Tree

Gift basket: I believe it came from Walmart several years ago (set of three nesting baskets)

Thanks to Kathy's Cakes for the fabulous cake! It was so beautiful; everyone loved it!

Closer shot at the details - fantastic!!!

I just realized that I failed to take any pics of the other table :/ Gotta work on capturing the details!

It was another purple-clad table with lilac-themed plates, napkins and forks, the cake, some yummy sausages wrapped in bacon, a gorgeous crystal punch bowl and some clear cups for the yummy pink punch. (I think by the time it was all set up I was distracted by all the friends entering the room!)

Maybe all of this sparked your imagination a bit? I'd love to know what you thought!

Concentrating on Chocolate Cake

I learned something new about myself last week. (Well, I learn new things about myself all the time, but this one kinda hit me right between the eyes, if you will.)

Apparently, I cannot bake AND talk at the same time.

Oh, it's true, I say. And I kind of knew this already. But not really. I mean, I'm aware of the fact that if I'm talking to my husband while I'm cooking dinner, I normally end up pausing to rehash my last few steps and make sure I did indeed add the correct spice, or boil for the proper amount of time. But with dinner, if I make a little mistake like forgetting an ingredient, I can throw the omission in, mix really well, and everything turns out fine.

Baking is totally different. TOTALLY.

I was making a chocolate cake last week for my husband's team at work (they were celebrating a birthday, and normally, along with that comes a request that I make them a cake). Chocolate was the desired delicacy, so I broke out my recipe for the 3-layer prize-winning best-chocolate-cake-in-the-world. (Did I mention that I had just been hanging on to this recipe and had not actually ever used it?)

So, I was knee-deep in baking supplies in the kitchen, and I was having a grand ol' time. Everything was blending perfectly, it was starting to smell very chocolatey and delicious, and I was thinking about just how amazing I was... (Okay, just kidding on the last part, but I was pretty happy with how everything was turning out.)

Oh, and did I mention that, due to my gluten allergy, the majority of what I create in the kitchen has to be taste-tested by my husband? He doesn't mind a bit! But that's how I cook in my kitchen - by my sense of smell and sight and my husband's sense of taste! It's worked out pretty well so far!

As I scooped the batter into my three round cake pans that I had already greased and floured, I remember thinking, "Wow! This batter is SO thick - I wonder what the consistency of this cake will be? It's definitely WAY thicker than any cake I've ever made. I hope it doesn't turn out dry..." I shrugged my shoulders and placed the pans in the preheated oven. Time to clean up.

But, before that, for some reason, I checked the recipe one last time. And then I proceeded to kick myself.

I had completely missed the part about adding 1.5 cups of boiling water to the cake batter.

Well...crap. Crap crap crap crap crap.

Out came the pans. Into the microwave went 1.5 cups of water. I scraped all of the batter out of each one (yeah...including the greasing and flouring - there was no other way to do it!). Once all the batter was back in the bowl (thank goodness I hadn't handed it over to my husband yet - he LOVES a bowl of leftover cake batter!) I washed, dried, greased and floured the pans all over again. I dumped the boiling water into the bowl along with the batter, mixed well and back into the pans it went. Then back into the oven went the pans. Again.

At that point I made a new rule: don't talk to me while I'm baking, and if I start talking while I'm baking, tell me to shut up. (I was less than amused at the way my husband's eyes lit up at the "tell me to shut up" part...I had to take a moment to clarify LOL)

The cake turned out fine, everyone loved it, blah blah blah. What disturbs me is that I am normally pretty good at multitasking, but apparently NOT when it comes to baking!

I guess my project of watching "Cake Boss" on Netflix hasn't helped me the way I thought it would. Perhaps it's time to watch "The Next Great Baker" and learn a thing or two!

Oh, and here's the cake =)

In the Midst of a Mess

The majority of April and the entire month of May were both absolutely ridiculous, as far as how much I had to do...hence the reason I haven't posted in a while. We were able to slip in a week in the mountains of North Carolina; that was wonderful!

But it seems now things have died down, so I wanted to take some time and post a blog! The following was my article that was actually featured over at www.ducksnarow.com - what a fun experience to be a guest-blogger! But I realized I didn't share it with all of you, so here goes!

In the Midst of a Mess

I meet regularly with a particular business associate of mine, and, although the meetings are generally filled with creative ideas and inspirational conversations, I typically dread them. Why? Because it all happens in the midst of a mess.

Now, it's been said that "a messy desk is the sign of a creative mind"...and I'm inclined to agree with that...to a certain extent.  However, I don't think it's EVER been said that "a clean desk is a sign of a stale consciousness"...and I wouldn't believe that for a moment.

Here's the thing: how can you be productive and unleash all of your creativity to make a positive difference in the world, when you can't even find a pen to write yourself a reminder with? A clean sheet of paper to write the reminder on? A flat space on the desk to write without poking holds in your piece of paper?

Whether it's a small space on your kitchen counter, a cubby under your stairs, a home study or a corner office with a view of downtown, there MUST be some form of organization if you are to ever thrive in your environment.

So, here's a simple task for today.

Make stacks.

That's all! Make stacks! Three stacks, to be exact. You can make three stacks!

Stack #1: Garbage (And don't say that everything you have is important and can't be thrown away...that's a whole different post! I guarantee you that you will find at least three things to put in your Garbage stack!)

Stack #2: Action (Whether it's a bill to be paid, a paper to grade, software to return or a picture to hang on the fridge, it requires action. Don't DO it...just put it in the stack.)

Stack #3: File (In order to keep yourself from having to continually work in the mess, some things just need to be put away. Again, don't DO it right this minute...just put it in the stack.)

Hey, guess what? You've just made sense of the mess! Shred your Garbage stack, and come back tomorrow! When you return, file a few papers and take action on a few items.

If something new arises, add it to one of your stacks! Before you know it, your work area will be wide open and even more conducive to your creative genius.

Try it. It'll work. I promise!

I got a couple inspiring comments on this one!

"It sounds so simple, yet we don't do it on a regular basis... life seems to get in the way of being productive...sad, I know. Your post has motivated me to go and do this right now! Thank you :)"
--Janel

"Great advice! I'm a little OCD when it comes to my desk. Everything has a place, except for papers LOL. At the end of each month, I go through everything with the goal of leaving my desk clean. I have the pleasure of enjoying the clean look of my desk for about 3 days until the clutter starts all over again =)"

--Mary

So what about YOU? What does YOUR desk look like? Are you in the midst of a mess?

Easter Dinner 2012

I decided to try something a little different for ME this post, although it's very similar to the blogs I follow on a daily basis.

If you follow any other "domestic" blogs, you watch them redo rooms, or complete craft projects, or plan parties, with lots of photos and links included. So, I'm gonna give it a go.

Allow me to walk you through our Easter Dinner this year!

My husband and I hosted the Saturday evening dinner at our home, since my mom had company in town for the holiday. Mind you, we are currently in a cozy apartment, perfectly sized for us and CoCo the kitty, but a bit small for 11 people. Yep. ELEVEN.

I dressed up the area above the dining room table (where I had the buffet set up) with Tissue Paper Pom Poms. I had made these for our Wedding Celebration, but somehow I think I used a kit...because these didn't turn out exactly how I wanted them. But they were still pretty and added some spring color. (Tissue Paper Pom Pom Tutorial)

This is the Lemon Trifle that I made for the occasion. I thought it looked bright and springtime fresh, too. I received this Pampered Chef Trifle Bowl from my dear friend Rhenda for our wedding, and I had yet to use it! I've got a stash of trifle recipes now - can't wait to make more in the future! (Lemon Trifle Recipe)

This is a Key Lime Dessert I made at the request of my husband, also spring-like. (I have a Betty Crocker calendar hanging up, and this was the picture and recipe for April.) "How many times do I have to walk by this and look at it before you actually make it?" he questioned. (Key Lime Pie is his FAVORITE, so I guess he figured he'd like this, too. And he did!) (Key Lime Dessert Recipe)

I also baked a ham, some rolls and a green bean casserole, my aunt brought salad and dressing, my mom brought a sweet potato casserole and my cousin was in charge of the drink. Quite a spread we had...I guess I forgot to take a picture of it.

Since we were eating on the patio, I decided to do a little bit of decor out there. This is my Happy Easter bunting. I had to explain what a bunting was to my husband and my mom, and my husband proclaimed that if I had just called it a banner he would have been good. My mom wondered where the baby was, if I was making a bunting. Anyways...I thought it was pretty and festive! (Bunting Tutorial)

Believe it or not, I actually stumbled upon these pretty paper lanterns at Dollar Tree. And I'm all about a bargain, so they were snatched up to hang along the patio, as well.

This is what the place settings were SUPPOSED to look like, alas, we live in the Florida where the weather tends to go from calm to crazy in no time, and due to the wind, I wasn't able to actually "set" the table with these. But they were SO cute! The plates and napkins were another Dollar Tree find, and the place cards were a free printable from...I can't remember, I'm sorry! The clothespin idea came from the dark recesses of my mind, I guess. I added pretty scrapbook stickers to them to dress them up a bit. I also used them for holding down the edge of the tablecloths against the wind.

Here's our seating area, complete with pale yellow plastic table covers and cute watering pots (more Dollar Tree finds) and the sweet flowers inside the pots came from our local WalMart Garden Center.

The other thing I forgot to do was set up the camera and tripod and get a group shot of everyone seated at the table. But all in all, we had a wonderful time! Hope you enjoyed the description; do let me know what you think!

Check out this blog featured at Delightful Order!

On Doing Things Alone

I've been working on an article recently for a digital magazine. The title of the article is supposed to be, "Are You TOO Independent?" (It's set to run in the July 4 edition of the magazine, who's target audience is women from their 30's to their 60's.) I took on the offered assignment quickly, mostly due to the fact that I feel I have a LOT to say on the matter.

But I'm finding my confidence wanes the more I work on it.

One of the recurring discussions in my household between my husband and I goes something like this:

Husband: What can I do to help you?
Me: Nothing, there's nothing you can do, I'll take care of it.
Husband: Baby, just give me one thing to do, I want to help you!
Me: I don't need help, I'm good!
Husband: You're not good, you're stressed, I can see it and I can hear it - please let me help you!
Me: Well, I don't know what to have you do, and I don't have time to show you how to do it, and you shouldn't have to come home from work and do MORE work, anyways!
Husband: Will you PLEASE let me help you?
Me: I'm fine, really!!!

This goes on more often than you would think. I don't know what it is inside me that makes me think I have to do it ALL. For some reason I'm just bent on it. And the fact that I'm married to a man who really does like to help me has seemed to reveal my "independence" (I'd rather call it THAT instead of "stubbornness") even more!

I don't think it helps matters that I'm honestly quite the perfectionist. There are days when I curse that trait, and just as many when I thank my lucky stars for it...depends on the "crisis" at h and! Many times I want to do things on my own because I feel that I'm the only one who will complete the task correctly...which is a VERY skewed way of thinking, might I add.

So where do I draw the line? How do I land in neutral territory when the valley between "I can do it all" and "Thank you for helping me" looms?

Better yet, IS there a line that needs to be drawn? Who says I'm not supposed to try to be "superwoman", and if I don't I'm spitting in the faces of all the women who have ever begged and pleaded for women's rights?

In the midst of all the questions, I DID discover something: sometimes letting go actually feels good!

When I come home on Mondays, and my husband (who has Mondays off work) has completed all of our laundry, that feels really good to me! When I leave a half-cleaned-up kitchen and take a break for a shower at the end of a long day and I come back to find that he's cleaned up the rest of the mess, that feels pretty good, too. And when we work together as a team to complete a task, it feels even better because, not only have we spent time together accomplishing something, but also because we have even more free time to spend with each other once we're done.

Now, I'm not saying that this works every time. The stubborn...errr...independent streak still rises up often (he can attest to that if you don't believe me!) I'm just saying that I think I found where the line must be drawn for myself.

What about you? Where do YOU draw the line?

Why Wait?

We've finished out the first week in January - are you still following your New Year's Resolutions? Still gung-ho and hell-bent on keeping each of them in good order? Don't tell me you've given up already!!!

I'm kind of surprised myself, but this year I didn't make any resolutions. This is rather odd for me, anal one that I am. I normally have all my resolutions charted out, color-coded, with action plans, timelines, deadlines...are you tired yet?

But for some reason, this year I took a bit more "break time" after Christmas than I normally do. I ended up with more short-term goals that were easier to accomplish...things like finding a place in our home for all the Christmas decorations that we never had to store anywhere before, realizing that I planted my cucumbers in the wrong season and they just weren't going to grow and making myself pull them up and plant some in-season sugar-snap snow peas, and teaching the kitten to eat solid food. Yep. Not really resolutions, just tasks, I guess. But they all got done!

I did start a diet on January 1, but that was more motivated by shock at stepping on the scale in December and realizing that I was 12 pounds ABOVE my "heaviest I've ever been mark". That was pretty durn disconcerting, and rather upsetting, I must say. Took me a few days to research and meal-plan, and then it just happened that Sunday, January 1 was the best day for me to start.

But here's my question: why do we wait until January 1 to do something that we know good and well all year long we should be doing? Why do we have an epiphany over the summer, and add it to the list of things we'll resolve to do the next year? Why wait?

Perhaps it's the fact that we've just always done it like that. Maybe it's because a new year seems like the perfect time to begin something new. Or could it be that it's what everyone else is doing...

Napoleon Hill once said, "Don't wait. The time will never be just right."

Isn't that life? When is the time ever perfectly "right" for anything? How can you tell?

So why don't we DO things when we're inspired to? Why don't we ACT when we're moved? Can't we implement our decisions without having to do it on a certain day?

What's the holdup? Life's short. Do good things.