Will We Ever See Spring

This past weekend I found this bunch of Daffodils at the grocery store. I am so ready
for Spring, I want a yard full of flowers, I want to grow them, see them coming up in
my yard. I get at least 5 flower and vegetable emails or catalogs daily, but I know that
winter is not over.

I found this beautiful 5 legged French Chair at our Habitat Restore for a song
and I plan on recovering it and putting it in my bedroom.

It has beautiful details.

This velvet French slipper chair I bought from Habitat years ago and left it
as is because I saw on on Etsy that looked just like this one and it was pricey.
It has become loose on the back from being in my spaces and I plan on tightening
it and recovering it.

I bought this sewing table from the Mission Thrift and chose an enamel paint in
a crazy yellow, what was I thinking. It takes forever to dry, four coats later!!!!

This is my car this morning through my screen door, it started snowing late last night
and we woke up to 10-12".  Say it's not snow.

Here is my car this afternoon after they plowed my street and I dug myself out so that
I could run to the store. They are calling for more snow this weekend. Were is Spring?

New Painting, Pillows and a Floor Move for My Spaces

I finished another painting I copied from a picture posted on Facebook. It is a
sunset reflected in a pond.

I made two lumbar pillows with discontinued fabric samples, one a Rose Cummings and
another is a Kravet. Love the elephant. 

And yesterday, I rearranged my spaces to get ready for spring. It was time for a fresh look,
plus two new upholstered chairs came in.

 Last but not least, here are the newly upholstered chairs that finely came in, before they
were in a crushed orange velvet, you can see them in previous picture in my den. My ex
said they looked like they came out of a trailer park. Ha! Now they are in a Magnolia Home
Fabric and my upholsterer  forgot to skirt them.

Happy March!

Marching Into 2018

We finally made it to March, no major snow storms, a couple of warm days'
a little wind storm and we are counting down the days to Spring. While stuck
indoors i have made some improvements to the house, read past posts and am
focusing on the store spaces

 You may have not known this but going up I wanted to be an artist. I started taking
art classes at a young age in school and in the summer. I won a few awards, sold a few
paintings and studied graphic design in Atlanta for a few years. I have dabbled in painting
every now and then, a couple of weeks ago on my day off, I went to Michaels and bought
some canvases. Here is the result.....
LANDSCAPE #1

 Painting is very relaxing, I just let the day and start painting. I use acrylics and the gold
leaf frame is from Blick. I also reordered more candles, sachets and diffusers from the
all green company that i carry called Greenleaf out of Spartanburg, S.C.

It makes my space smell amazing and I added a new item from this company, they now
make soaps. All ready for Spring.

Revamping My Bathroom

I have been working on revamping my bathroom, it started with a framed  rectangular
mirror that I replaced with a mirror I found at Walmart.

I need to paint were the old mirror was. Then I added a wicker shelf I found at a thrift
store, it was supposed to go in to my antique space. It was a good way to display all my
nail stuff, as opposed to having it thrown in a basket.

My long bathroom rug was becoming thread bear and I replaced it with one I found
on Amazon when I bought the living room rug. It is cotton, very push and in a trellis
pattern.

The last step was to replace the shower curtain, the embroidered bee one had served it's
purposed and it was time for a change. I found this Hotel Collection one at TJ Maxx.
love the pique and the stripes.

Don't judge me, I do not IRON!

New rug for My Living Room

After a year and a month of searching for a new rug for my living room,
I have finally made the move and found what I wanted. I wanted the rug
to be brighter than what I had, more yellows, greens and creams, I wanted
it to be elegant with a pattern and a border and be 9' x 12' and it cannot cost
a lot. I wanted it to wool and thick and hand made. I am asking a lot, I found
rugs on Wayfair and Ballard Design but wanted to search more. I even searched
on Ebay were I found a rug that lead me to Amazon were I found a great rug, but
it had too much blue in it. So I went onto Amazon and put in my colors and my
size and found exactly what I was looking for and under $400 including shipping.

 It is just the right color, not too dark or too light, warm and elegant. It is by Safavieh, hand
made, 9' x 12' and wool and feels amazing. It lightens up the room. I dragged it in and laid it
down by myself. It will be shifted later when I can find some help. Below is the rug that I had
in the room, I bought for the house I lived in at 317 East Beverley St. , the room was huge and
had lots of light. For pictures see the Staunton Christmas tour in 2014, any way I needed a
lighter colored rug, in here it was just to dark.

This rug is a wool/silk Art Deco Chinese Oriental Chinoiserie Rug and it will go on
my Ebay and Etsy site and also is sold in Queen City Marketplace.

Valentines Day in Bloom

This Valentines day is in full BLOOM.

I have several orchids in full bloom.

I also treated myself to some tulips to have on my dining room table. Happy Valentines Day.

Game Day Snacks

The Supper Bowl Game is all about the snacks for me.
You can do the typical snacks, like nachos, chips and dip
and your pizzas. I came up with two appetizers that are not
your normal ones thanks to the help of blogs, emails and Food
Network.
First up-
Italian Sausage Bites with Tatse Dipping Sauce

I cut Italian Sausage into bite size pieces and cook them in white wine and chicken broth
for 40 minutes. While they are cooking, I make my sauce. If you are a fan of Virginia Beach,
then you a fan of the gourmet store Taste Unlimited shop and their sandwiches with the special
secret sauce. It is mayo, ground mustard and the key ingredient is Pickapepper Sauce. I added
Sriracha for a kick. Pretty tasty.

I browned the sausage in the oven while my next appetizer was cooking to give them
a crust. Don't you love my French Gien tray?
Second Appetizer-
Baby Bellas with home made French Herb Cheese

The French Herb Cheese recipe is one of my favorites and I have been making it
for years. You can have it by its self with French bread and crackers, or use it to
stuff things to bake or not to bake. This recipe comes from the cook book, Beyond
Parsley, a junior league cook book from Kansas City. They suggested stuffing it in
mushrooms and baking them. I chose baby bellas or baby Portabellos. Yummy little
morsels.

What is your appetizer for this years game? Here is to a good game!