The In-Between

I may have mentioned this before but I decorate for every single holiday.  Including (but not limited to) Labor Day and Veterans Day.  In between holidays, however, I like to change out the colors of my pillows, throws and candles to fit the time of year.   I grow tired of the same old stuff.   I like how new colors and textures always make the main room feel fresh and clean for me.  Also I like to follow the seasons, light colors for spring/summer and dark colors for fall/winter.  However, that constant change was becoming a costly hobby until I discovered pillow covers and the wrapping of candles with yarn and/or ribbon!

I've heard of pillow covers and have seen them many times and I was never too excited about them until my girlfriend told me her throw pillows were pillow covers!  I would have never guessed -- the fit was great!   She bought hers at Bed Bath & Beyond - no less than $19.99 each.  In my opinion that was just like finding a good sale on a pillow.....not really worth it.   Until I ran into the pillow covers at Hobby Lobby.  Good old Hobby Lobby does not disappoint!

The green and white chevron pillows below are pillow covers from Hobby Lobby.  I spotted these on Saturday while out browsing.   When I go to Hobby Lobby with the intention of not buying anything, I call it browsing.  Anyway,  each pillow cover was 6.99 but I got them for $4.19 with the coupon from the Hobby Lobby app that I have on my phone.   The solid green pillows with the flowers on it I already had.   Pretty, yes?  My old pillows became new again!  And they fit perfectly.  I just stuff my old pillow in the new one and zip it up!

By the way, the birdcage pillows from my Valentine day decor are also pillow covers from Hobby Lobby.  See what I mean?  

And because I love to change it up in here, I can just keep buying new pillow covers for $6.99 instead of $24.99 per pillow (from Marshall's or TJ Maxx or even Target).   I add a throw to match the pillow and I'm all set.   And storage has become a non issue.  I just take off the cover, fold it up and put it in the linen closet. 

To tie it all together I added the apple green candles (that I already had on hand) from Ikea.  It was a perfect match:

And because I love to change out the candles to match the pillows, I've started using wide ribbon (I used yarn through the fall/winter) to cover the candles and candle holders to change those without making a major purchase.

I bought this burlap ribbon with white polka dots from Hobby Lobby for 3.49.  I covered all my glass votive holders:

For Valentine's decor, I used a heart ribbon for the same glass votive holder:

I love the fresh look I get with that simple change:

I also used it to wrap around my white candles:

Which is what I did for Valentine's day too:

Now when I'm "browsing" at Hobby Lobby this coming weekend, I'll keep an eye out for potential pillow covers and ribbon for my Easter decor! 

The Ladder Shelf

A couple of weekends ago I starting working on a project that I had in been wanting to get started on for some time.   My idea involved my ladder shelf and some black and white family photos.   I have had the shelf for many years and it had been in nearly every room in the house before ending up in the garage.   During our after-Christmas garage clean up, I decided to bring the shelf in and my project to fruition. 

I had some old black and white photos of my family but I didn't have any of Sweethearts and I really wanted to incorporate his family and mine on the shelf.   So I went on an internet hunt and low and behold I found some old photos of his family on his uncle's website!  I printed the photos (that were in color) and took them to Target to have them printed as black and white and I also had them sized to fit the frames that I already had in place.   It worked great!

click to enlarge

The first shelf has a picture of my mom and her brother, my Uncle David, in Tiger, Arizona.  Circa 1937. 

Next, I have a picture (on the left) of my great-grandfather working at a Bakery in downtown Tucson.  I'm not sure of the year.   The photo on the right is Sweetheart with his dad and two brothers.  Circa 1978. 

This one is a photo of Sweetheart in the back of an old station wagon.  Sweetheart is the baby on the right and his brothers Roberto in the middle and Mario on the left - 1973.

This is a picture of Sweetheart with his brothers and his parents:

And last, but not least, my favorite.  A picture of my dad when he was an infant and a picture of my mom and dad's wedding photo:

It took a lot of tweaking to finally get a good balance of the photos; I am happy with how it has evolved.  Sweetheart suggested I add some pictures of me and my sisters.  Which is a great idea!  Next time I'm in Tucson, I'll grab a couple.

I have another project that I'm working on for the wall on the left.   I'm working on some black and white photos of sites we've traveled to.  The ceilings are vaulted so I plan on large photos that go up to the ceiling.   That's the plan -- we'll see how it works out! 

Valentine's Day

My Valentine's Day decor is simple.  Red, hearts and lots of love:

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By the way, I made the red pillow:

I just noticed Grievous' (dirty) chew toy on the couch.  That's where he likes to keep it. right next to my pretty pillows.....

It was a red placemat that I stuffed (I took apart a Christmas pillow) and painted a white heart on it:

This is a glass votive holder that I covered with a burlap ribbon.  I made a few of them because it was so easy and they are so cute:

And because my Fall and Halloweem banner was such a (self proclaimed) success, I made a banner for Valentine's day.  I used white paint to add polka dots to the banner and then added red "x's and o's'":

This is how my V day crafting started:

I love the love that is displayed throughout the house during Valentine's week.  

Sweetheart bought me an iMac for Valentine's day.  I know, right?????

Happy Valentine's Day

xoxoxox