Summer Decor

I am always on top of my game when it comes to Fall and Winter/Christmas decor. I have a few boxes of decorations that I've collected over the years to put a little anticipation in the air and make things feel festive around here. But for some reason, when it comes to Summer, I always fall short. I want to have a fun festive home and really set the mood for the season but it never happens... until now! The problem was, I just didn't have anything to decorate with and the only way to change that is to start building up a collection of things TO decorate with. So that is what I am doing.

I started off with the fun flags that are all over the stores for about $1 a piece. Stick those in a vase that I wrapped in rope holding a faux olive branch- instant summer, in my opinion. 

inspiration

Add in a fun handmade patriotic banner and things really start to come along!

I love the red white and blue...

The texture created by layering paper doilies and circles and stars on top of medallions...

Those tiny little mini clothes pins are the cutest ever...

Strung across our rustic red hutch in our dining room- I'm in love!

 And lanterns... what is it about lanterns that scream summer? Really, they work year around. They are awesome like that. Find a spot for 'em and leave them up all year round! This one came from Ikea. My little 4 year old boy wanted to pick something out for Father's Day and this is what he picked. Good Choice! I may have pointed him in the right direction.

And last I leave you with this little collection on top of our green hutch by our front door. We've had it for a year now and I'm still trying to find the right goodies to fill it up with. Currently, this is what is on top of it. The lantern is from a Christmas market in Germany (a gift), the house painting from here and the Jesus holding a child statue (my favorite) was a gift and the City sign in front of the house came from LL Bean.

Not a bad start to a well put together Summer home if you ask me!

Happy Weekend!

The Story of a Chair

This little and some what beat up white chair has traveled with us from Mass to Texas and from one house to another. It started out as a freebie destined for the trash ... until I came along.

You see, when my sweet hubby and I got married we have very little money and very little furniture living in a very little house. When I saw this chair, I knew it would make a great "desk" chair (aka very small cheap end table size desk from Target) in our bedroom. And it did! Well, as the years went on and after a major move across country and as we started replacing old furniture with nicer pieces, this chair has stuck by our side.

 It has gone from its original ugly fabric on the seat, to a bit nicer (we thought so at the time!) fabric, to even nicer fabric. This sweet little chair actually is very heavy weight and has good bones. I love the lines of the chair and it is very comfortable to sit in, too. When it was no longer needed as a desk chair, it made its way to our living room. Anyone who knows me knows that I love flipping through magazines. In an old issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I saw a living room arrangement that spoke to me. It had the standard pieces... a couch, comfy chair, end tables and coffee table BUT it also had a white wooden chair at one end of the coffee table making a nice little arrangement. So that is the story of how this little chair destined for the trash made its way into our living room.

With little kiddos running around our house, our white chair needs new paint from time to time. After a while, it begins to get grungy looking and occasionally someone decides to add a little crayon to it... their idea of "sprucing it up?" maybe!

Before, I just used white spray paint. But not this time! This time it got Heirloom White Painters Choice spray paint. It is a much softer white and is very soothing. It might just be my new favorite place to sit!

And from time to time, I get tired of the fabric covering its seat and change it up. This last fabric that I picked, I actually really love... at the time. It worked well with the red couch and chair that we had. Now that the couch has been replaced with something so much more comfortable and soothing and throw pillows were changed out also, this fabric on the little white chair didn't go with anything.

A few weeks ago I came across a diy french linen table runner tutorial and fell in love. I might still make the table runner but for now, started out by making my own french linen fabric for the chair! I. AM. IN. LOVE with how it turned out.

I taped, painted, washed, sanded and washed some more for a very nice soft broken in look. You can't even tell it is paint now! As for paint colors, I used Folk Art "Skyline" (same used in the diy tutorial) and for the fabric, painters drop cloth of all things! It sort of looks like linen but for much less- and is so nice and heavy weight, it really makes great upholstery fabric.

If you haven't done any fluffing lately, whether big or small, I highly recommend it.

I hope I've inspired you to fluff something!
 

Hello Summer!

There is something about summer that slows us down ... makes us more carefree. We spend more time outside soaking up the warm hot sun, sitting on the patio enjoying every minute we have. Oh, how I love summer. I love when seasons change, to be more exact. I am a seasonal type of girl who is influenced by her surroundings, whether it be warm and inviting plaids and flannels in the winter, pumpkins and purple mums decorating the front porch in the fall, getting my hands in the dirt planting a garden in the spring or enjoying the carefree days of summer, I look forward to every new season equally. That is just who I am.

Now that summer is just days away, that means one thing and one thing only- SUMMER FUN LIST time! We made our first summer fun List last summer and it was a huge hit. Who doesn't love lists, anyways ... and FUN lists are even more FUN(um...ER).

One thing on our list is to make a Smash Book of all of the fun we do this summer. So we started out by making our Summer Fun List in our smash book. Clever, I know! It is a little short right now but there is still room to add more and I'm sure we will! 

I threw all of the goodies in a basket on top of a book shelf in our living room- that way we remember to do it. Also, I am going to make a point to order prints so we actually have pictures to smash! I'm so bad at that part- actually getting the picture off the camera, edited (meaning deleting the bad ones, nothing crazy!), uploaded and submitting the order. It all takes so much time! If anyone has any systems in place for organizing their pictures, please share! I'd love to hear about it :)

These smash books are so much fun. I love how random they are. I first found my books on amazon and then later found more loot at Target! Oh how I love Target! I particularly like this page. I am thinking about making a copy of it to go in my craft room. Or maybe I'll just steal this page from the book... there are like 39 other pages, we won't miss one little page will we? Anyways, I really like this page.  

Another fun thing on our list is making pickles. We already made 3 jars with cucumbers from our garden. Pickles are so easy to make and taste so good. One huge bonus over store bought pickles is that homemade don't have food coloring in them. I don't really understand why yellow needs to be added to pickles but they do it! I'm sure you can get some from a Whole Foods or Central Market type store that don't have stuff added. Anyways, these are yummy and easy to make so go ahead and give them a try!

I added a scrap of fabric and made a cute tag to go on each jar!

Here is the Recipe:

Garlic Dill Pickles

3/4 c. salt (this is to salty for some;
may be reduced to 1/2 c.)
4-5 cups white vinegar
8 c. water
cucumbers (enough to fill 6- 1quart jars.)
18 cloves garlic, peeled
6 T. dill seed (not weed.)
Wash cucumbers, cut into spears, and pack in jars. Add 3 cloves garlic & 1 T. dill seed per jar. Place jars on baking sheet (or pan.) in oven at 250. (this keeps jars hot so they’ll seal when you add vinegar.) Boil vinegar, salt, and water, pour boiling mixture into hot jars, and immediately put hot bans & lids onto jars. (keep lids & bands hot by boiling them first.) Let cool on counter. (they should seal while cooling.) Let sit 10-12 days before using (this is the hard part! If you can’t stand it, only wait a week!)(Our favorite dill pickles!) makes 6 qts.

This is really such a great recipe. I found it last year on the Duggar Family Blog. Yum!

 And last of all (not something on our list but a good one) I am going to try to drink as many of these drinks as possible this summer!

 What is it you ask? It is iced tea sweetened with a little Crystal Lite Pink Lemonade. A point-free beverage on my weight watchers diet!

Happy Summer, Friends!

A Recipe and a Plan!

About 6 weeks after our 5th baby was born, I was really ready to lose the extra weight gained during that pregnancy. Frustrated that it wasn't coming off even with exercise, my sweet husband suggested we do weight watchers together... OKAY! I did weight watchers after our 1st baby was born so I already had the books and knew how the diet works. Now, 5 weeks later, the weight is almost completely off- just a few pounds to go and I am feeling good! My husband and I are eating better than ever and are loving all of the new recipes that we have tried from the weight watchers cook book since starting the diet. It really isn't a diet, it has been a lifestyle change for us. We have made it through 2 birthdays and mother's day and stuck to our diet and new healthy eating style! 

One of the things that we love most about weight watchers is that we really can eat whatever foods we want, as long as we don't go over our allotted points for the day/week. We enjoy ice cream for dessert, weight watchers ice cream bars and cakes for sweet little pick-me-ups... Imagine a diet that you can have your cake and eat it too? Yep, with weight watchers, you can do that! 

Now on to the recipe! This isn't from the weight watchers cook book, it is one that we've had in our recipe binder for a few years now. It originally came from an issue of Southern Living Magazine. I simplified it from the start by just tossing everything in the crock pot and letting it cook all day. 

Two cups of this yummy Veggie Chili is only 2 points on weight watchers! And as for the corn chips, 16 homemade chips for 4 points. Before this lifestyle change, we'd load it up with cheese and that is yummy but an once of cheese is 3 points, we like to save those points for the ice cream... priorities people!

On to the recipe:

2 large carrots, diced (or throw in a bunch of baby carrots- 0 points for both ways)

1 medium sweet onion

1 (8-oz) package sliced mushrooms

1 large zucchini, chopped

1 tsp dried basil 

1 tsp tony's seasoning (if you don't know about tony's find it- it is a staple in the south!)

1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce

3 cups tomato juice

2 (14 1/2-oz) cans diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen corn

1 can each- pinto beans, black beans, great northern beans and red kidney beans, drained/rinsed

Throw it all in the crock pot on low for 8 hours and enjoy!

As for the chips? Cut 4 corn tortillas into quarters and spread out on a baking sheet. Lightly coat with non-stick olive oil cooking spray and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until crispy. Keep an eye on them so you don't burn them- sometimes they cook faster than others!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy day!

Bye!

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