Fox Attack!

 I was attacked . . . by this ferociously cute fox scarf!  Isn't it just the wackiest, craziest, cutest thing!?  I first saw this at my friend Stephanie's blog (The Enchanting Rose) at her weekly Roses of Inspiration Party.  This scarf was one of her features.  You know how when you see something that just 'grabs' you -- you can't stop thinking about it?  So I headed straight over to the La Sportina and contacted this talented blogger, Roberta, asking if she sold these scarves.  And much to my delight -- she does!

Roberta lives in Italy (always amazes me how blogging makes the world accessible to everyone!) and after a few emails back and forth I ordered two of these as Christmas gifts for my twin daughters (who are traveling and working in Honduras right now with limited internet access so I HOPE they don't see this post haha!) as Christmas gifts!  Yay -- I'm ahead of the game for Christmas 2016!

The scarves so remind me of those mink wraps that our mother's used to wear!  These are made out of lovely, soft wool and are so cozy, I didn't want to take it off!

Roberta sent these quickly and with these cute little tags attached (I LOVE details!).

I think that it's extra cool when you have things from other countries with labels like these -- such a nice, added touch.

Thank you Roberta -- now hopefully I'll remember where I stash these come Christmas time!

Love Is All Around

It's no secret that I LOVE and ADORE Valentine's Day.  Not for the commercialized aspect -- I just love the decorations and how it brightens one of the dreariest months of the year here in the Midwest.  I try to add little touches just about everywhere inside.

 I have many favorites but this vintage tray is definitely at the top of my "love" list.  I have little drawers here and there that I fill all year long with interesting little pieces.  The photo holder used to be the front of a mailbox slot at an old post office.  I knew right away it would make a great photo display -- wish I had picked up more!

 There are several spaces that I love to "dress up" for the holidays and one is this ledge in my living room.  These glass cherubs were all purchased at different times through out the years and at different places but I love how they all fit together.

This old ladder is another piece that gets "dressed up" often.  This year I added a garland of lights with pieces of tulle tied on.  It was one of those "mindless" projects where you sit and watch a movie and just keep tying and tying and tying.  It is a 50 light set and I used 5 spools of 7" wide tulle.  I bought the heart lights last year on clearance and love how they brighten that little basket on the floor.

Vintage valentine decorations are getting harder to come by at a reasonable price but I still try to pick up at least one candy box and some postcards each year to add to my collection.  Sheet music is another inexpensive way to add holiday touches.

 I didn't make this art originally for Valentine's Day, it's just one of my favorite hymns.  But I thought it a perfect fit for the holiday so I just attached the wooden heart with sticky tack.  Sadly, in a week I'll have to take all of this down but then it will be time to start decorating for Easter!  Happy Valentine's Day to all of my friends!

Valentine Porch

I LOVE Valentine's Day!  It may be because red is my favorite color.  It may be because it adds color and fun to a typically, dreary month of the year around here.  It may be because after taking down all of the Christmas decorations, the house looks so sad and bare.  It may be because I LOVE chocolate and this gives me an excuse to indulge.  Whatever the reason, my Valentine decorations go up immediately after the Christmas ones come down so I've had these up since around January 2.  I started with my outdoor decorations since I was excited to continue using my grapevine and lights from my fall porch.

 Now when doing this post, I realized (sadly) that I didn't take pictures of my Christmas porch (how on earth did that happen??).  But it was really pretty -- take my word for it!  For Valentine's Day, I decided to keep up the white lights and just add in a few strings of red and pink, along with some red netting that I got in the Christmas clearance aisle.  (I always look for lights and red decorations in Christmas clearance to add to my Valentine stash!).

 I got this cute wooden "XOXO" banner in the dollar spot at Target (does anyone else have a hard time avoiding that space???).  Of course this was in the "$3.00" dollar spot but a deal nonetheless I think.

 I kept out the fence board section that I used in the fall (and Christmas -- which remember I didn't take any pictures of) and added this bling-y heart from Dollar Tree.  The metal, heart-shaped lights were also from the Target Dollar Spot (the $3.00 spot).  Now these surprised me -- the batteries last a really long time in these!  In fact, we went away for a few days and I forgot to turn them off -- they were still lit!

 I love being able to carry over decorations and modify them for different holidays so the porch will probably take on different colors, lights and decorations for Easter!

 Happy Valentine's Day!

CanvasPop Love

 A long time ago I was approached by CanvasPop to receive a free canvas print in return for a review/post of their product and services.  I finally got around to selecting the photo I wanted and now to posting my review.  First of all, I can't say enough great things about this company from customer service to quality and communication!  I have no experience with any other online canvas print companies but honestly, I would not even go anywhere else -- I'm just that pleased!

The process was SUPER simple:  I chose the photo, walked through my options on their website (which is really user-friendly) and ordered the canvas.  I received an email confirmation immediately and the next day received a proof of my canvas for approval.  That's it -- just a week or so later it arrived, ready to hang if I chose to simply hang the canvas as is.  On the back are nice, protectors on each corner to protect the wall.

 One word of advice, if you DO want to frame your canvas, be prepared to pay a LOT for custom framing (around 90.00 for this 16X20 size picture).  You can order it framed from CanvasPop though and while you will pay extra of course, if you are not interested in fiddling with other frames, I'd suggest paying them to frame it.  The issue is that the canvas is thick -- so it sticks out of a standard frame.  MY solution, I used a frame I had in the 'donate' pile, painted and distressed it and added a rustic braid to the edge that stands out from the frame which you can see below.

To me, it was worth saving 90.00! 

Now here's the REALLY fun part . . . this was a gift for my husband for Christmas which I arrived at from seeing the picture below in a gift shop on St. Simons Island, GA where we vacation every year.  We saw the picture, fell in love with it and then looked at the 200.00 price tag and said, "forget it!"
So, unbeknownst to my hubby, I began snapping pictures of seagulls on the Island . . . LOTS of pictures of seagulls.  After we got home, I found the one I thought most looked like the one in the store and used that one for my canvas print.

 Now the best part came on Christmas morning when my hubby opened his gift.  He went from joy, to shock, to this face that said, "Oh no -- you didn't REALLY spend that much on this gift for me did you???".  So before he could have a second heart attack, I told him "No" -- that I had taken the photo, got the canvas for free, the frame I had so instead of 200.00 it cost 2.00 (that was for the braid on the edge).

We talked about where to hang it and he said that when he originally saw it in the store, he thought it would look perfect over the bed in the 'beachy' guest room.  So that's where it hangs . . . okay, so maybe this was one of those gifts that we are BOTH enjoying ;)

Embracing Fall . . . Outside

Those who know me well, know that 'my' season is summer and that fall, while beautiful, makes me sad because I know it means winter is around the corner.  However, THIS year, I am committed to 'embracing' fall (we'll talk about winter later) and seeking to enjoy the beauty of it.  I am really working on being grateful for each day and not complaining about the things I don't like.  So in keeping with that theme, I began with outdoor decorations.  My first inspiration was this beautiful porch.  Now, I have looked and looked for the source of this photo to no avail so if you know where it originated, please let me know.  I love the fact that this porch made me see fall in a new 'light'. 

In my attempt to recreate this, I began gathering what I had and filling in with pumpkins, mums and gourds.

 The chair and stand were already on the porch from summer.  I added the mums in baskets I already had, threw a fall tablecloth onto the stand and added gourds.  The battery operated lamp was a Christmas lamp. I just replaced the Christmas greenery with a silk mum.

 I put plastic bowls in the baskets so I can water these without getting the chair or table wet.

 

I saw this cute idea of adding bows to the pumpkins at fynesdesigns .  I really like how it adds something 'extra' to a plain pumpkin. 

 

 Did you notice how shiny my pumpkins are? I did a little research on how to keep those pesky squirrels from eating your pumpkins and spraying with hairspray seemed to be the one that most recommended so that's what I did.  Day two  . . . so far, so good!

 This old minnow can was on the porch all summer as well with the white lights in it.  I simply put a metal bowl on top of the lights inside and plopped a mum plant in!

 I didn't have a cute metal gate or crib mattress frame but I DID have a few of these fence panels that a friend gave my hubby because he KNOWS how I like all this kind of 'stuff' and he just KNEW I'd find something to do with it!  I just added a little screw and hung the welcome sign on the fence panel and propped it against the wall.

 And finally, my favorite part, the grapevine and lights! Now this took some 'thinking' to come up with a way to hang the grapevine from the soffit.  I know there are siding clips you can buy but I opted for suction cups.  Of course, they wouldn't stick to the aluminum so what did I use to attach them?  E6000 of course!  I know some people are gasping that I glued suction cups to my siding but honestly, no one will see them and I plan to use them year round to decorate the porch.

 I found these at the Dollar Tree.  I removed the hook part because I wanted to feed wire (or in my case, twist ties) through the hole and wrap around the grapevine and lights to attach.

 I added a few leaf garlands (also from Dollar Tree) and so far, it's all staying in place.

 I'm really happy with how this turned out.  It will also transition easily into Christmas with some simple changes!  I am grateful for each day, grateful that I have a home to decorate, family to share the season with and so much more so again, I am working to embrace fall!  (I'll let you know if I'm as successful with winter!).