Home Decor: Red Continued

Yesterday I showed you the living room with its latest decor addition- my Turkish print rug that Dear Husband sent for our anniversary.

Did I mention that he sent rugs... plural?

Here's our den:

Home Decor: Red

Dear Husband sent home Turkish print rugs as an early anniversary gift, remembering that my favorite color is red.

Here's our front room:










That man knows how to make the gypsy in me ~*happy*~...

Heart to Heart Swap: Valentine Goodies!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to participate in a crafty swap... nothing ~teacher related~, but something sweet, creative and fun to help keep me busy while Dear Husband is deployed.

Sarah over at Makin' Projiks hosted her fourth annual Heart to Heart Swap, giving me the opportunity to place a check mark next to that particular resolution.  My offering?  Bitty banners of course!



I received my box of valentines yesterday morning, and loved decorating my twiggy branches with them (the vintage-y valentine cards interspersed on the branches are the same designs featured on cards *I* gave out as an elementary student years ago!):



Sarah's valentine was the beaded forget-me-not flower posie with beaded bee!  Cute!

Here are some more photos of lovey-dovey-ness found around the house:









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The kids and I also had the opportunity to have our portrait done as a valentine gift for Dear Husband.  Our photographer Peter was funny, helpful, and oh-so-patient with us as he worked to take the perfect picture:

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our friends and family, especially those unable to spend this cuddly day together while their loved ones serve our great nation.

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My One World One Heart winners will be announced tomorrow, and another checkmark will go next to another resolution!

My 40th Birthday... Yep, I'm Officially Part of a Demographic

For a few years now, I've been aware that I belong to a spending demographic.  When Ritz ran their holiday cracker commercial with Modern English's "I Melt With You" as the theme song, I knew *my* wallet was officially their target.

I was a grown up.  An adult.  Someone whose opinion mattered.  Someone who earned more than weekly babysitting money.  Or allowance.

It worked.  I'm still hooked on Ritz, especially the snowflake shaped crackers they release each winter.

But I digress.

D. and I attended an art show promoted by Odd Folies (you remember Sheila and Craig, the talented cabinetry/collectible/ephemera folks?) last weekend and encountered artist Joseph Blake, a guy who didn't try to bait us as 80's kids, but caught us, hook, line, and sinker with his flowers.  This one came home with me:




The petals are metal, cut from collected tins and containers...

... and why yes, those are Army guys, legos, scrabble tiles, game pieces, and corn cob picks surrounding the rooster!

The red is sooooo *me*.  The Army guy, Dear Husband.  The Pre-Schooler loves dinosaurs and Dear Daughter is a Dr. Pepper drinker (see the bottle cap?):

D. and I couldn't stop squealing, smiling, pointing, and laughing with delight as we looked through all of the flower wall art Joseph had on display.  Folks, he even had a Holly Hobby flower in all of her brown and yellow glory, a la the 70's!  Smurfs, religious icons, political displays, sassy flair buttons and even King Kong were well represented in Joseph's booth.

He soooooo needs a web site.  Hint.  

Until then, if you'd like to contact him to ask for photos of more of his work, he can be reached here.

My red rooster with poinsettia/plaid/Monticello/saltine cracker leaves is now hanging in my crafting nook, right where it can continue to inspire me, elicit smiles, and make me feel good about turning 40.

When the Web Isn't Available...

...I end up hiding away making banners!

Not sure why we had "an outage" in my neck of the woods, but the down time from the Internet gave me *extra* time at my craft table.

Funny how that works out, eh?

Halloween pennants with three dimensional glitter spiders:



...and a baby banner for a colleague:







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The spider banners ended up draped across our webby branches in the foyer:

S'More Summer Decor and Links

I love decorating for the holidays and seasons, and each summer I really look forward to tracking down more Americana/Patriotic themed items to add to my collection. This year I simplified (don't you think, *wink wink*?) and kept most of the red, white, and blue corralled in my den on our fireplace hearth:



Flags, stars, stripes...



...and of course, two bitty banners as swags across the front...







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~ My friend D. posted her status to "s'mores" sometime yesterday on her FB page. It was enough to remind me that a few days ago I stumbled across a recipe for S'Mores CAKE over at Baking Bites...

Perhaps the summer heat has you dreaming of snow (or is that just me?)...or a s'mores snowman (and *score*... he's edible)?

...or bathing suit season has you dreaming of s'mores but not eating them...what to do? Crochet one obviously!



Think Buck Howdy would make me one of those MONDO-multi-marshmallow sticks?

Goodbye Messy Desk, Hello Cool Stuff!

Glass of soda...check. Computer...check. Tons of mail, correspondence, addresses to save from Christmas cards...check. Re-writeable c.d.'s...check. Magazines, banners, and ziploc bags full of craft pins...check.

Elbow room... Elbow room...

Elbow room?

Time to clean the mess and reclaim my desk!



Paring it all down...then arranging the essentials:







MUCH better!

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*~Cool~* stuff:

~ PhotoJoJo tells you how to Make Your Own 3-D Camera for $15 or Less

~ Popular Mechanics helps you Build a Bat Cave With Hidden Rooms (many thanks to the AntiCraft Blog for sharing the link!)

~ Candice shares a tutorial for adding trim to crepe paper (make sure to click "next" on each of the screens near the top of each photo to move step by step through the process)

I've Been "Snow Busy!"

I've taken some time for me, myself, and I downstairs in my crafting nook this week~

Mom said "red:"





... while G.G. gets green:



Dear Sister gets a large red/blue/khaki plaid (that didn't photograph well, of course!) along with banners for my nephews and niece...

...and here's the preschooler helping me show you the wreath on our front door:



What a helper he is!

Finished the Tree

We have eclectic Christmas tree ornaments, many given to us by friends and family. Opening the ornament box each December brings back so many memories- though we occasionally find a bulb broken thanks to our frequent relocations (way to go Uncle Sam). This year we found three, shattered to tiny slivers of light, making me glad we had found another box of bulbs to add to our collection a few weeks ago.



Before the treasures were added:



...and after:

When in Doubt, Change it Out

The thought "It's not quite right" has been nagging at me for the past three days. A visit to Hobby Lobby yesterday *convinced* me to listen to my inner voice, use a 40% off coupon (or two~ it's *so* helpful having Dear Daughter along to make multiple purchases!), and buy plain ol' artificial greenery for the mantle and hallway (it's too dark now for hallway photos, I'll try again with the camera tomorrow).

Before:



and AFTER:



No more fabric (as cute as it is):







Much better!