So, so cute!

I can't read a word, but found this blog. It is some of the cutest handmade dolls ever! I have never seen Grandparents before. So, so cute!
The pink hair is so cute. And the orange. But the pink! The fabric. Oh my! It gets my creative side all worked up.

When you can't sleep... Dream!

I found a new blog tonight. Knack Studios is in South Carolina if you happen to be lucky enough to visit in person. If not, you can still drool over some of the items in her shop. She has a blog showing the before and after of all these pieces. I love painted furniture. I love when you take an old, ugly, out of date piece and transform it with a new color and new knobs. I have been thinking of painting the table and buffet in my foyer a shade of green. I like this shade or one in this shade but with a darker tone.

I have a three drawer end table that I am going to paint. It is on a narrow wall at the entrance when you come in our garage door. My table set in the kitchen is a color similar to this. I think I am going to paint the table similar to this.

Can you picture the ugly '70's china cabinet that this was. Do you usually see no hope for those pieces? There is hope.

Oh, my! This looks like it came out of a French castle. Absolutely love it!

This would be fun to paint on the top. I know this is either fabric or wallpaper, but you could copy a piece of fabric and make a stencil and paint on a design as well.

Fabric Giveaway

Sew Katie Sew is having a giveaway of fabric. Fabric that I want! Amy Butler. Sandi Henderson. Erin McMorris fabric. I am dying to get back to crafting so I really want this for myself but I have to share it with you to be eligable for 5 more entries. You don't really have to go enter, you can leave it all for me, me, me!

I won bows!

I entered Tami at Muddin thru Motherhood's contest and won these adorable fall bows. The turkey one is so cute. I teased when I entered thatI would tortur my 12 year old and make her wear them. Don't you love the look on her face. Total embarrassment- priceless! I sent them off today to my sweet little one year old niece. What is your niece's daughter? A great niece, a niece, what?

Meg's new playroom

When I was out boo-ing Meg at Whatever had put up a new post of her redone playroom. I totally love it! She has many other photos of it's greatness so take the link to her site and check it out. Fabuloso, Meg!

Boo You!

I've been boo-ed by Valarie. I am supposed to put the picture above on my sidebar to show that I have been boo-ed and you are too so somebody please tell me how to do that. Valarie, are you sure that you are playing a game and aren't just booing me cause I stink?

These are the people I am boo-ing. And, people, I do it because I love you and want to see you screaming with your hair stand up. If I don't really scare you pretend andyway, okay?
Kari and Kijsacool decorating sisters. Please tell us how to pronounce Kijsa- I have always wanted to know.
The frugal chick- she's such a frugal chick!
Tami at Muddin thru motherhood- my good friend that I will one day meet.
Rhoda from Southern Hospitality- One day we will shop together, okay, Rhoda?
Maggie at the Erratic Homemaker- The girl can cook and inspires me.
Michelle at Tiddly winks. She was already boo-ed so hopefully I scared her really good!
Meg at Whatever- She just got her pumpkins ready and everything. Put on your wig for us again, Meg. Sing us a little song.
Thrifty Florida Mom- she is one of my first blog friends. Soul sister in saving.
Susie at Bienvenue- Check out all her recent crafty projects. She is a fellow Mississippi girl. Wish we could craft together.
Connie from Laughter by Lakeside- The queen of the faux painting world- she has a new business with her own designs, she decorates. When are you coming to visit me?

Kroger $25.00 gift card giveaway

Stretching a Buck is giving away a $25.00 gift card. Be sure to enter to win! If you are not familiar with this site, they post the Kroger deals each week and offer ways to stretch all your hard earned bucks.

A Blogger Award

I woke up to an award on Saturday! It came all the way from New Zealand from http://romansmummy.blogspot.com/. Isn't it so cool to be able to be a part of things that go on half way around the world? Becky blogs about her life in New Zealand and her little boy is just adorable.

I would like to pass the award on to these great bloggers.
Meg at Whatever. Maybe I will be able to take fabulous photos of my kids if I watch her long enough. She reminds me to have fun with the kids. To let them make a mess. To find the small ways to bring joy to our lives.


Susie at Bienvenue gives me such great inspiration for projects. And, you have to check out her gardening shoes! They are as great as the high heel flippers without the zany quality.

Angie at Thrifty Florida Mamareminds me to keep chugging away at living a frugal life. She keeps us posted on the weekly store deals and isprires us to continue on even through house fires and setbacks.

Check out these ladies and leave them some bloggy love.

Getting and Filing Ideas From Other Bloggers

I have been sick the last two days so I have spent more than my share of time blog surfing and watching HGTV. One of the things that I have been doing is going through some of my favorite blogs that give me inspiration and copying their photos to my picture manager. Wait! Don't call the blog police! It is similar to me tearing out inspirational photos from magazines and filling them in my binder so I have a quick reference place to go to for ideas. I thought I would share a few of my favorite bloggers for you to check out. What creative women there are out there!

Notes From a Cottage Industry



The Nester


Shabby Apple



Laughter By Lakeside



A Soft Place to Land



Rachel Ray


Bienvenue


Southern Lagniappe



This is in no way my complete list. When I save photos I always note the blog in the file name so I can either credit them or return to their blog for directions or other pictures for making things. A few of these ladies are making a living with their crafts so be sure to check them out and remember them in your gift buying.

Look, My same plate I got!

Remember this platter that I bought at Kohls off of the clearance table? Well, I had saved the two table settings from Rate MY Space onto my computer for table setting ideas. It is the same plates! They did not have the shell square plates that are below the shell shaped plate but they had a stack of the shell ones. I have some money left on the gift card plus birthday money from my MIL left so I am going back to see how many they have.

I absolutely love this table setting. On Rate My Space it is the table of Moonlight and Magnolias. She has some beautiful rooms so go check her out.

This site is hilarious!

This site shows real house listing photos that are so funny. These people really need some staging help. Some need to clean up. It is amazing that people do not have any more sense than this to try to sell their investment. I am showing a couple of samples but you have to go here to see some more.The captions on the site are what really make it funny so be sure to check them out. I was laughing out loud and my kids are making fun of me so be warned!

An Award!

I received this award today from both Tami and Muddin Thru Motherhood and Julie at Blessedwith5
. Tami is a stay at home mom of four precious kids. She shares her life and great store deals with all of us. Tami serves the Lord by going on mission trips and working where she can. Julie is a stay at home mom to five kids. She is also under construction at her house and shares all about her life with the kiddos. I think she has to get the comment award from me because she is always first to comment almost on every post. Both these ladies are great cheerleaders and great to have around.

I am passing on the award to these five bloggers:

Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers I think I found a soul sister in Sandy. She shares my love of entertaining, but she is so much better than I am! She lives too far away to invite me over so I have to pretend. So, go pretend, too. She will show you what you would eat and how her table would look if you could have been there.

Mrs. Darling at Peter Pan and Family. Mrs. Darling has childhood experience of a large family and is a great storyteller. She seems so wise beyond her years. She and I are fighting the fat together and we are going to be skinny one day. She shares her life with her precious kids and all their adventures in Sherwood Forest. For some reason I picture Mrs. Darling talking with an English accent. Whether it is true or not I picture her and her family living down a lane with a fence and flowers. Oh, she has to have a front porch so she can serve me lemonade in the rocker.

Valerie Lea from Tennessee now in AL She lives about 30 minutes from me but I have never met her in person, just blog friends. She is absolutely gorgeous. We have kids of similar ages so really need to get together. She shares the greatest photos of her family and lately is getting all crafty on us. She seems like she would be so much fun to be around.

Melissa at Off the Wall is newer to blogging, but oh my, go check her out! She has a business and can paint anything. She faux paints and decorates for actual money! I am amazed at her treatment to make metal garage doors and regular shutters look like European wood doors and shutters. I get so much inspiration from her.

Connie at Laughter By Lakeside is one of my new finds in blogworld. She is an interior decorator that specializes in faux finishes. She shows photos of homes she has done and is fabulous at glazes and paint treatments. She lives on Smith lake and is so sweet she invited all of blogland over for the 4th of July. Check out her site because it will give you lots of inspiration on how you can mistreat walls and cabinets and mantels.

Some inspiration photos

I am slowly going through some photos on the decoration blogs on my reader. Some I just found and added to my reader but have not looked through their whole blog. I am copying inspiration photos to my photo album so I can have them in one place. These are from min lilla veranda. Enjoy