Monday, March 18, 2013

Easter Decor 2013

Here is our mantel this year....
 I have been loving all of the pallet art that I've been seeing all over blog land & have been wanting to make one.   Then I found this on clearance at Hobby Lobby & couldn't pass up the good deal !  
I was going to use it in my daughter's room, but decided it would look cute on our mantel for spring!
 It looked cute with a strand of eggs under it for Easter!

Then I used my egg wreath that I used last year...


Then I filled my glass jar that usually goes on my hall tree with some eggs & added a bow...

 I think it turned out bright & cheery for spring!

Then in our dining area, I  hung some Easter eggs from my chandelier...
And  put my bunny under it for the center piece...
It's one of my favorite decorations!
 I found him years ago at T.J. Maxx.

Then in my living room, I kept my decorating super simple...

I just added a plant & a bunny.


I tied a wreath to the bottom of my lamp.

I enjoy having a piano to decorate & change for the holidays.


 Happy Easter!!
I'm sharing with these blogs:
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia
Home Stories A to Z
52 Mantels
Lolly Jane
Fireflies & Jellybeans
The 36th Avenue
Tatertots & Jello
Thrifty Decor Chick
The House Of Smiths
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Monday, March 4, 2013

Inspiring Easter Decorating Ideas....

It's hard to believe that Easter is in March this year!  I haven't gotten my Spring Decor up yet, have you?
Here are a few inspiring ideas ...I always love a cute wreath!
This one is adorable...

This is a creative way to make a bunny....Combine a heart wreath & two round wreaths.
Pinned Image

I love how colorful this one is...

A few more decorating ideas for around the house...

This is such a simple & cute idea!

I love this basket...it's perfect!

I think this would be a fun dessert to make...
Easter Bunny Cake

Here is my Easter Mantel from last year...
You can read more about it here.
I guess it's time to start my spring decorating!
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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Simple Valentine's Front Porch

Welcome...
 I placed a heart wreath with some polk-a-dot ribbon on my door.

I'm never sure what to put in my pot holders in the middle of winter...
 So I tried to make a topiary.... 
I just placed a greenery ball on a candle stick to add some height.

 Then I tied the same polk-a-dot ribbon that was on my wreath to the top of the pots.

Here is how the whole porch looks...
Happy Valentine's Day!!
It's hard to believe it's next week!
I'm sharing with these blogs:
Mercy Ink
The 36th Avenue
Beneath My Heart
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Saturday, February 2, 2013

And yet another thing breaks...

Seems like everything around here is falling apart.

This morning when I went to turn on my laptop, absolutely nothing happened. Well, not nothing. The power light comes on and the light that shows that the laptop is plugged in came on too. But no POST, no display, or anything (no hard drive activity or fan noise or anything). Before you suggest any fixes, here's all that I've tried:


  • Connecting to an external monitor and my TV - still nothing comes on the screen
  • Holding down the power button for a minute without any power source (battery or adapter) plugged in, then trying to turn it on after that - still nothing
  • Taking out RAM - tried turning it on with no RAM, testing one stick at a time in both slots - still nothing, not even any beeps or error messages
  • Cleaning it with compressed air


The computer doesn't even show the Acer screen that you see when it starts up, so I'm guessing it's a faulty motherboard. But I don't want to spend money on a motherboard since I'm not sure if that will really fix it - I don't want to waste money on something that might not work because that money could go towards buying a brand new one. Plus, I kind of wanted a new laptop anyway. :P

But still, it's not a very good time and I hate unexpectedly having to spend money on things like this, especially since a new laptop with the specs I want don't come cheap.

Here's what I DON'T want:


  • Windows 8 - kind of hard to avoid this (along with the other things I'm trying to avoid) unless you custom configure one
  • Integrated Intel graphics - no thank you! I plan to play games and most don't work so well with integrated Intel graphics
  • A touchpad without buttons - I want a real button for right clicking, not to use a multitouch gesture of some sort
  • Something prone to overheating - I think this might have contributed to the death of my last laptop (it lasted about 2 months shy of 3 years). My Aspire 4540 would always overheat and shut off whenever I'd do anything graphics intensive. It would even sometimes overheat with a Cooler Master Notepal X2. I always had to keep an eye on my core temperatures to make sure I stopped what I was doing as soon as it got anywhere near 107 degrees Celsius (not sure how hot that is in Fahrenheit because it was easier for me to look at the degrees in HW Monitor in Celsius)
So that's all I don't want. Even just ONE of those in ANY prebuilt laptop configuration that I look at is a deal breaker. I'll probably end up getting one with Windows 8 though - I'm looking at maybe getting the CyberPowerPC GXX6-9220, but the prebuilt configuration of it comes with Windows 8. It's cheaper to get it prebuilt from a retailer than to custom configure one through their website. Just the shipping cost alone on their website adds $49 to the price of anything I configure - I can get the prebuilt one from a few retailers with cheaper or even free shipping. Plus, if I custom configure it, I'd have to wait a lot longer to get it, which is why I might end up settling for a computer with Win 8 even though I'd rather have Windows 7.
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Friday, January 25, 2013

Valentine's Decor In The Living Room...

I wasn't too excited to put up my Valentine's Decor this year...
I don't know why, but I still feel a little overwhelmed from putting away all of the Christmas stuff!
I wasn't sure if I was ready to put up more "red" decor already, but I did it anyways!
Here is my piano...


 I got this adorable free printable from the blog Simply Klassic.  
You can download this chalkboard print from her blog HERE.  Then just print & frame.  
I love It!
Then I hung the hearts with some ribbon and added a red & white wreath to my wire bird cloche.
Next, I put a tissue paper pom-pom on a candle stick.
I used them on my fireplace last year, you can see it HERE.

Lastly, I  moved my wreath up & added a bird garland to my mirror.

I got it at The World Market & then I just added some paper hearts!
It was a fun little change this year!
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Baby Boy Shower



I had the opportunity to host a Baby Shower for a friend of mine.  
It was a neighborhood shower so we sent out about 50 invitations! 

I found the best site where you can make & print your invitations for FREE!
They turned out great!
I just printed them & glued them onto some colored card stock.  
When you are sending out a large amount of invitations this really saves you some money.
The site is called Ontobaby.com you can find it HERE.
They have great ideas & different choices of invitations to print! 
I used the Bunting Baby Shower Suite that looks like this...
It is really easy to use & they have a lot of color choices to choose from!

I also found the best site that makes the most beautiful Diaper Cakes!
They would make a wonderful gift!

Then for decorations I actually found most of my decor at Walmart.  
I was going to make a banner,but this one was only a dollar...which saved me some time!  
Then  I bought a package of tissue paper & made some tissue paper flowers to decorate the window, chandelier & cake!
Then I purchased napkins & a table cloth that matched the banner!

I placed the forks in a mason jar with a blue bow...
For dessert we served pie, mini pies, & homemade Oreo cookies...
We also served up a lemon bundt cake....
And some yummy Caramel Pretzels... These are so easy to do!  
You can find the recipe HERE.
Then for a little more decoration & a gift I hung some onsies with clothes pins across my fireplace.
It turned out to be a fun night!
I'm sharing with these blogs:
52 Mantels
The Girl Creative
Craftomaniac
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Projects For The New Year...

Happy New Year!
It's really hard to believe it's 2013!
Are you the type that makes New Year's Resolutions?
 I definitely have a few things I want to do to our house this year!
I definitely want to add more wood molding!  

We have added some to our entry way...
And in our daughter's Nursery....
I love how it changes the whole feel of a room.

My goal is to add some chunkier wood around the front door & living room windows.  

Here are a few inspiration photos...
This is from one of my favorite blogs Down To Earth Style...
Her whole house is inspiring, but I just love the wood molding around the door!

Next for the window casing...I found quite a few inspiring ideas!

Then on the main wall in my living room, I'd love to add a wood planked wall!
Photobucket
I love the look of this!  
When I asked my husband if he was ready to help me get started? He replied, "That's a lot of wood!"  
That is true, but it would look great!
 It only took about 5 years to get around to adding the board & batten in the entry way, but it sure turned out nice when we finished!
Just look at this entry way...
Source
I don't think you can really have too much wood molding & casing...it makes this room look amazing!!

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