Back to Reality....

My family & I just returned from a week long vacation at the beach!!  It was very relaxing and as always none of us wanted to return.  Even though you have the same chores of washing clothes, cooking, & cleaning, it just doesn't seem so bad when you are away from home.  We stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom condo overlooking the gulf on Orange Beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  This was our first trip to Orange Beach as a family. 

While we were there I was thinking of ways that I could have fun making things with shells.  We collected shells the whole time we were on the beach & I bought a few at the souvenir shop in town.  I found some old picture frames & glued the shells around the edges to display our beach photos.  I still have lots of shells left.  I was thinking about making some jewelry.  Any ideas??

Old wallpaper to Old World....wallpaper solution

After 2 yrs of searching for the perfect house, I finally found it. The only problem, if you can call it that, was it was not decorated in my style.  It was a very beautifully, professionally decorated home, but it was more of a "country elegant" style & I prefer an "old world casual" style.  The former owner was not afraid of color & me, well I just prefer earth tones.  After bringing in our furniture & things we realized the dark pinkish red master bedroom & bath just didn't go.  The 1st thing on my list was to paint the walls a more neutral shade of beige or green.  We began with the master bedroom. we primed the walls & then painted. It was during this process we discovered we were painting over wallpaper that had been textured & painted.  I suppose it wasn't a bad idea to do so because the paper was in very good shape & who enjoys taking that stuff down.  However, we found that we had to paint in very light coats and let them dry well between coats.  After this I found out  most all the rooms had wallpaper...ugh!!  Now, on to the Bathroom.  I decided I would try to remove this wallpaper.  It was horrible.  The paper was on there way too good.  I don't think they primed the walls before papering them.  I removed most of the wallpaper & some of the sheet rock paper too.  Now, how do I fix this?  I originally wanted to paint with the Venetian Plaster so since I had it I got started.  As I began, I realized if I used a little more than what was suggested I could actually use the paint as plaster & that would camouflage the damage I caused to the sheet rock. After 3 coats of V.Plaster I then decided to use a coffee stain over it.  The results were awesome!!!  I will be adding more photos later.

Mini Faux Chandeliers

Do you like the way some people are using chandeliers in every room?  You can find them in bedrooms, bathrooms, & even closets.  Well, I have a daughter who loves to re-decorate her room quite often. Due to this, I try to find thrifty ways to recreate these high $$ designs.

I found these tree toppers at Christmas time on clearance & my imagination went wild. I bought 4 of them.  I hung them in 2 corners of my daughter's room using silver mardi gras beads & cup hooks.  Of course they don't give off any light, but they do add just the right sparkle to the corners of her room. 

FYI, I'll add some more pics of the toppers with before/after shots later.

FLEUR DE LIS WINE GLASSES!!

One of the biggest trends going right now are wine glasses.  I love all the different designs you can get on them.  I guess being from Louisiana and loving the Saints, I love Fleur de Lis everything.  I just had to try my hand at decorating wine glasses.

First, I went in search of wine glasses, at a budget price.  My beginning purchase was at Dollar Tree, then I found a deal at Ross.  They had a box of 12wine glasses for around $10.

Next, I scoured craft stores and discount stores looking for  fleur de lis's.  I knew I could paint them, but what I truly wanted was a much more eligant feel for these glasses. 

I stumbled across these cute little brads for scrapbooking at Michaels.  Wow, these would be perfect.  8 brads in silver & gold for only $4. 

Now, how do I get them to stay on the glass?  I did a little combing the asiles & found Glass, Metal & More Glue.  (not sure of the price) 


It worked!!! Now with some clean up with alcohol & cotton swabs my glasses are complete.

What do you think?      (I'm just embarking on the world of blogging:)