Easter Decorations

I haven't decorated for Easter for a few years because no one was around who really cared if the house was decorated or not. Life is busy, so I just skipped it. This year the kids are here so we got out the decorations, yuck! We have a lot of ugly ones. I didn't show you any of those. (Maybe we should have a contest to see who has the ugliest.) Grant had fun putting them around the house though. After they leave, it is off to the give away pile. Here are a few new decorations and a few old favorites. This is a close up of a table runner I made a long time ago but I still like it.

I love this one. It is on a little cupcake stand. (My daughters and I have been into making cupcakes this year. I've noticed lots of other cupcake lovers in blogs this year too. I guess it is the "Year of the Cupcake.")

Here is the table runner and vintage reproduction rabbit. (I purchased it new this year.)

Here is a great picture of my Easter garland. The pink background is nice pink glitter. It is purchased not homemade although we made an awesome Halloween Garland this year.

Here is a fakey chocolate bunny from JoAnn's. These are ceramic colored eggs. I don't even remember getting them. They were in the Easter box. I told you it's been awhile since I decorated. lol If you have posted Easter Decor, please direct me to your post. I'd love to see them.

It Was My Husband's Birthday Today

Yep, today is my husband's birthday. He got an exercise bike...hey, he asked for it. He really wanted one...he truly did. These are his parents Margrett and Byron. His mom is really hip and with it. You should see their house. It is full of all kinds of fun treasures. She is the one who made some of the earrings for my contest. Here we are at the Bombay House having an Indian dinner. It was really good.

Here are my husband, daughter Candice, and Cole and Grant. I should have taken pictures of the resturant itself. They have Indian wall murals, arches, etc. It doesn't look like anything special here but it is a fun place to eat.

Here is my husband blowing out his candles on his ice cream cake. He really wanted one of those too. Don't worry, he shared with all of us. Happy Birthday BABY! I love you. And, please stay around for many more birthdays so we can share them together.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my contest posted on the 10th of March.

I'm Having a Contest to Celebrate Spring

I'm tired of winter so I'm trying to celebrate Spring by giving away a pair of earrings that the winner can wear with her Easter outfit. (I know the first day of Spring isn't for another week and a half but I'm anxious for it to come.)

I want to meet more of you so I am offering an incentive for you to post to my blog. These earrings were made by my mother-in-law or sister-in-law who both have jewelry businesses. They are all fresh water pearls and the metal parts are all sterling silver. You can pick the pair that you want and I will mail them to you. (So, you have to give me some way to contact you if you don't have a blog.) You have until March 15 to enter. I will have my grandson pick the winner.

Happy Spring! I look forward to making new friends.

I Love Things That Have Meaning

Candice took a color class at BYU and she had to do a project. Being a photographer she wanted to tie that in as well (or maybe it was part of the class.) We got inspiration from a poem I had and put the first line of the poem on the quilt. "Home is where you can be silent and still be heard." The pictures are of my grandparents, great grandfather (in the kilt from Scotland), and other relatives. The flowers symbolize that they have passed away and are honored by their posterity. The quilt represents that even though my ancestors have passed away their character traits, genes, testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and talents live on through us. Hence, "Home is where you can be silent and still be heard."

I fabrics started out as white cotton that we dyed in the bathtub with acrylic craft paints, cut up into smaller pieces and sewed them back together. The stippling/quilting was done on the sewing machine. The jewelry is all inherited and also represents them. It is pinned on so any piece can be removed and worn. I have other jewelry that I put on there but I like to wear them and don't always put them back. I'm sentimental and they mean a lot to me. This small quilt hangs in our study.

This stitchery represents my other grandmother, Mildred Hunt. She was always looking out for us before she passed away. I still think she is up there, looking down on us, and watching out for our welfare. The purse to the left was hers. It is hand crocheted and very old. (1800's) These are in my studio. The walls are filled with all kinds of treasures that don't fit with my style anymore but I still love them.

Here is a close up. The angel represents my grandmother, our last name and the year we were married are stitch in their along with a heart that represents my husband. My children's names are stitched as well. Saundra White (I think that was her name), was the artist who drew the design for me. I sold her patterns called "I done My Best," in my store, Heartland Manor, and she was doing an artists open house for me. I did the stitching myself.

What do you have in your home that honors your ancestry? I'd love to hear.

I'm Ready for Easter Decor

I have so many Christmas decorations that when I take them down after Christmas, my house feels empty. This year I decided to leave up some garlands a little while longer. Today is the day to take them down so I thought I'd take a few pictures for you.

Here are a couple of chandelier pictures. I added crystals and a glitter glass ornament.

I had garlands over the arches full of icicles, glittered snowflakes, and mercury glass ornaments.

So, bye winter decorations make room for Spring!

I Love QUOTES

I love quotes. I collect them and write the ones that I love in my journal. Years ago I decided to help my children be inspired so I painted them on the wall in the bathroom. I'm getting ready to repaint that room so I thought I'd share a few of them with you. They are somewhat distorted because of the camera angle. (It is a small bathroom.)

If any of you would like me to do a tutorial on how I did this, let me know. I didn't want to take the time to do it if no one was interested.

I have a quote painted around the ceiling of my family room. It reads, "For by wisdom a house is built, and with understanding it is finished. By knowledge the rooms are filled with joy and peace eternally." Proverbs 24:3-4 (From the new christian version)

I did all these before vinyl lettering was the "in" thing. Now I am ready to move on. We are trying to design a family room addition so that room will change too.

Even More Door Ideas

I know the title says more door ideas but I decided to add in old windows too. Above is a display of old windows that contain some of my husband's photographs. Candice is staying in this room and has added a few things like the Christmas tree sign and a picture that Ali Edwards gave to her. (Lucky Duck, huh?) Below is a close up of one of the windows.



Sorry these pictures are blurry. My camera battery was dying and so I did the best I could. I would have taken more but it is now dead. I thought that it would be better to post blurry pictures than to not post at all. I only have so many windows of time. I don't know how so many of you post every day and such complex posts too. Amazing! These pictures are of some doors in a cemetary in Paris. Humm...I think my husband has a love of doors too. No wonder I love him so much.

Here is a close up of another window and sunflower picture. (If you want to see his current work, click on his name on the right side of my blog. It will send you to his website.)

Below is another close up. Can you recognize this famous architecture? Think French. This is in a guest bedroom that my daughter is currently residing in. Can you see the reflection of my chandelier? I love chandeliers in bedrooms. Cotedetexas.blogspot.com has a great post on chandeliers.

This is a painting that I picked up in Ohio. It it hand painted on an old window and I carried it home on the plane. I couldn't resist and it was a great price.

Here it is on my studio wall. I'm still trying to get it reorganized in there. My sweet husband did assemble my new table, that he got me for my birthday, so I'm making progress. I'll post it soon...I hope.

The next door is a new door so I painted it to look old. It is just a hollow core door that they use in new construction. The hinges and key plate are hand painted directly on the door. This is in our son's room who is on a mission in Brazil until June. It is currently occupied by two of our grandsons. Needless to say, I won't be showing the rest of the room until after they leave. It has a ship theme. We added mortis and tenon/post and beams. My husband built the shutters on the windows. It has a loft bed, more leaded glass windows,...I'll show you it in about a month.

As I looked around my house, I realized I even have a picture of a window. It was painted by my neighbor, Robert Barrett. It is a copy of a watercolor he has hanging in his house of a window in an antique store in Park City. (I think I own the only copy.) I had admired it for years and offered to pay for the printing, etc. He agreed but it just never happened. One day he called me and said he would trade me for it if I would help frame about 30 pictures for an art show he was doing. I gladly took him up on it. Lucky me! I love it. Again I apologize for the picture/photo because it really is wonderful in person. (My husband made the frame and I cut my own beveled mat and framed it. Are you picking up in my blog about what a wonderful, talented husband I have?)

I have three old doors that we took to a door framer and put in our basement when we finished it off. This one has the original hardware on it. The glass is original to the door too. My brother found this one. It was in a junk pile by his old apartment. We finished the basement so he and his wife could live there while they finished school. We loved having them.

This last picture is really bad but it is all I could eeek out of the battery. It is a shelf I have yet to hang. I found it at this great store called "Brambles and Blossoms." It is 1/4 of an old panel door with an antique door knob, reproductions hooks, and extra wood and bracket added to make the door into a shelf. (I'm waiting for my husband to help me hang this project. It is a little too heavy for one man to do the job.) ;)

How have you used old doors and windows? I would love to see or hear about it.