It’s raining here… I mean really, really raining – with no end in sight! I think the rain has given me spring fever. So I’ve been busy inside. I’ve been feeling as if my fireplace mantle needed a little lightening up, so I’ve been working on a spring fireplace mantle!

Here’s what it looked like before.  The painting is HUGE! and heavy.  I love it, but admit that I’ve thought of putting something else above the fireplace. My parents gave it to me years ago so it’s staying until I can find another spot for it.

So instead of a complete redo, I decided to go with a small refresh. After thinking about it, I decided that I wanted to add in all different shades of white. If you look at my painting you will see white flowers, I’m hoping that different shades of white will tie it all together.

The first change – the flowers. I loved all of the colors in my last arrangement, but recently they have just seemed so dark.  Michaels had 40% off of their spring florals, so I picked up two of my very favorite flowers – hydrangeas and peonies- for my new spring arrangement.  I already had some greenery and some fluff ( you know – all of the extras to fill in the arrangement – leaves, sticks etc.) to add to the arrangement.

After the arrangement, next up was the candles. Again, I went with white flameless candles.  I love being able to flip a switch to turn them on and off. Plus, no chance of me burning the house down with these! I toyed with white washing the candlesticks, but these are the color of the paintings frame and I didn’t want too much white.  I did add a tiny bit of black ribbon to tie in with rest of the room.

I really like how it lightened everything up. Isn’t color amazing?

I love my flameless candles at night too. The soft glow is so warm and inviting.

I think that my spring fireplace mantle refresh turned out pretty well. I’m toying with removing the fireplace screen… and that cat toy really has to go! You know that you have a problem when you don’t even notice the cat toy or dog bed in ANY of your photos, before or after, or even during editing! Oh well, at least it makes my animals happy!

Until next time….

                  Tammy

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The Creative Corner Link Up Party and Weekly recap

The Scoop #214

Thoughts on Home Thursday #6

I finally did it! I figured out how to decorate my Easter table using blue tones. I’ve tried and tried to get it to work, but it just wouldn’t come together like I envisioned. Until this year.

What made this year so different? My killer awesome, blue and white bunny plates! Thank you Home Goods! At $2.99 each, these plates were a steal!

I also found these white placemats at Home Goods ( no, sadly they do not pay me to say how awesome they are, I just love them!)  Only problem? They just didn’t show up. No pop.

I had these green ones from last year and loved them. So it occurred to me that I could just spray paint the white ones blue.

This is how they turned out. I LOVE them! I used the square polk -a-dot placemats and napkins from last year. White dinner plates, blue glasses and silverware finish off this place setting. I could not be happier!!

I recently bought a large wooden dough bowl and I couldn’t resist using it as a centerpiece.

Complete with bunny, hydrangeas and ribbon. I did use a little color!

I did purchase two other super cute items – these tiny jar lanterns.  A little bit of rustic glamour! These were $2.99 – less 40% off at Michaels.

I use these sweet little salt and pepper shakers every year. They are so tiny – they are perfect for my easter table.

My easter table is a little more simple this year, I ‘m kinda of lovin’ that. I am really excited that for the most part my easter table is all of the blue and white tones that I use in my dining room. Finally!

Until next time….

                         Tammy

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Wow Us Wednesdays #236

Stone Gable The Scoop #213

As sad as it is, summer is coming to a close. School is back in session and all too soon we will be decorating for fall, Halloween and (gulp!) Christmas. It just goes by so darn fast! So I thought that one more summer flower arrangement would help me keep summer here a little bit longer.

I’ve had this container for a lot of years. I’ve had it in my bathroom lined with towels to hold all of the girly bath bubbles, salts and creams. I’ve actually planted real flowers in it, so why not a faux summer flower arrangement?

As you can see it is not exactly solid, so lining it with sheet moss helps keep all of the arrangement from falling through. Once that was done I put styrofoam in the bottom.

Next came my hydrangeas…behind peonies these are my favorites. I am currently trying to actually grow real ones. The growing season here has been challenging at best. Torrential rains followed by record heat. Not so great for plants. So… faux plants it is!

After adding the flowers, I added in some leaves and leafy sticks to fill in any holes. Yeah.. I am a real technical flower arranger… Plus, the extra flora and fauna look good! It’s a win, win!

My summer flower arrangement looks great on my kitchen table. More than anything it makes me feel like summer is here to stay just a little bit longer.

Are you ready for fall? Or maybe your like me…holding on to summer for just a little bit longer?

Until next time….

                       Tammy