It's Not About The Glamour, It's About The Function

Long time no see. I am so sorry for taking so long to post. I love you all so much and am sorry that I've been a bad bad blogger the past few months. It's been beyond hetic around here for me.

I have so much I want to post about and have been busy trying to get things in order.

First off, my daughter and SIL moved out, so I moved into the master.



I know, the wall color is beyond hideous! And ignore my birthday balloon (photo taken in January). Oh and ignore me leaning against the bathroom door trying to be inconspicuous. I would absolutely love to paint those awful walls when time permits.

Broken China Mosaic Birdhouses and Design Inspiration

Hellooooooo bloggers and bloggerettes! Lovely to see you! So sweet of you to stop by for a visit! I hope that all is well (and warmer) in your world! It's been raining so much here in the SF peninsula, might need to build a boat! ha!

There is always a lot of talk about inspiration here in the blogosphere. We also have lots of before and after post.

For this post, I thought it would be fun to show you the inspiration behind the broken china mosaics I created.

I was looking for some inspiration for my mama's 75th birthday present (she will turn 85 this year). Since we are Russians, I thought it would be fun to create a design in the spirit of Russia.

Here, the inspirations...

Wreath much? The tale of a faux rosewood wreath (aka paper rose wreath)

UPDATE: MARCH 22, 2012 The complete tutorial is now available HERE

Greeting! So sweet of you to stop by for a visit! I hope that all is well (and warmer) in your world!

Do you have a cuppa and a comfy seat? You know my post are photo filled ha! But I must confess, I love spending the time with you!

Let's begin with this interesting little diddy. According to Dictionary.com, a glutton for punishment is: someone who habitually takes on burdensome or unplesant tasks or unreasonable amounts of work.

Hmmmmm now why does that sound somewhat familar? ha! Let's see shall we?

First, credit where credit is due!

Most of you may be familar with Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming and her post and tutorial about her stunning faux rosewood wreath here.


I was so inspired by Stephanie's gorgeous creation! (Thanks so much for sharing with us Stephanie!)

Faux Hydrangea Wreath with a Twist

Greetings snow bunnies and non-snow bound bloggerettes! I am so ready for spring, aren't you?! The weather here in the SF peninsula has been amazing around 75 degrees. Poifect California weather! See, this is the reason we put up with the earthquakes, insane state politics and high prices ha!

I'm sure you seen faux hydrangea wreath all around the web. I thought I'd make one...with a little twist of my own...

Hearts Wreaths For Valentine

Lovely of you to stop by! Hope all is well in your world!

We celebrated orthodox Christmas this past friday marking the end of the holiday season!

I always find packing away Christmas takes much longer than brining it all out. I dread it, don't you?!

I tucked away my Christmas header and did a little tweaking here in my blog.

Since valentine is just around the corner, I thought I'd share some of my heart wreathss I recently finished.

I just love hearts, don't you?

I made this pretty in pink heart wreath with vintage pink buttons and added some faux pink gems for some sparkle...

My (Late) Holiday Decor Post ~ Last Post for 2010!

Happy New Year! Have a fun party to go to? Or perhaps you are having a quite evening in? Or maybe you are reading this post with a bit of a holiday hangover...yes? ha!

This is my last post for 2010, so I thought I would share my holiday decorating.

Here is where I left you....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas darlings!

So sorry I've not posted but it's been more hetic than the norm!

It's early Christmas morning (1 a.m.) and I wanted to say Merry Christmas to you!



Have you been naughty or nice? ;)

I'm be posting after the New Year.

Hope you and your loved ones are safe, warm and having a lovely holiday!

See you next year!

Cheers!

Dazzling Holiday Banners and Glitter glitter Every Where.....

Hellooooo darlings! So sweet of you to drop by!

Holy Mackanolie! Is time flying by for you too? I desperately need it to slowwwww down a bit!

I'm no where near getting any holiday decorating done. Been much to busy with other things...such as....

  

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS AND A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

Lovely of you to stop by! I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Thanksgiving and hope you didn't get trampled during Black Friday!

I know it's been a few days since my last post. So sorry! So much going on, my darling daughter and SIL moved to a townhouse across the bay; so this place was turned upside down and of course all during the week of Thanksgiving (crikey!). Between making a few trips over and back and preparing the turkey feast, it's been a bit frantic.

Yeppers, I managed to cook a 20+ pound turkey and all the fixins in my teeny tiny kitchen ha!


It's a juggling act; organization is an absolute must or it's disaster! ha!

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY! PRETTY IN PINKS HOLIDAY WREATHS TO SHARE!

Greetings and Happy Pink Saturday Pinkettes!! Thank you so much to our fabulous Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you haven't already, do stop by Beverly's blog and say hello. Get comfy, grab a cuppa and enjoy all the fabulous pinks the other wonderful and clever participants have posted.

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I so adore Christmas and all the holiday trimmings!

In celebration of Pink Saturday, I wanted to share some of my past and current holiday wreaths....starting with this little cutie patootie!

PEACOCK SILVER LEAF OR SPRAY PAINT REVEAL AND SOME BEAUTIFUL PAINTED FURNITURE

Time to reveal how I transformed the peacock. *drumroll*

Tahhh Dahhh

WHADDA YA THINK?! MY PEACOCK WANTS TO KNOW!

Greetings! So lovely of you to stop by!

I need your help with a scientific test! Nah, just kidding, but how about a bit of fun though! I do hope you will participate *batting eyelashes* ;)

I picked up this sad, very blasé peacock a while back.


I saw the potential but couldn't decide which way I wanted to go to achieve my vision.

HOW TO ~ BOOK PAGE SHIMMERING WREATH USING PUNCH OUT FLORETTES

Hello you! I hope this post finds you and your loved ones safe and warm!

As I promised, here is the step-by-step tutorial for creating a shimmering book page wreath using punch out florettes!

These wreaths are dazzling! There is so much to love about this type of wreath (plus you are recycling ha!)! I could go on for ages about how stunning these are, but maybe you should just make one...yes?!

FABULOUS FINDS! BALLARD DESIGN CLOCK, LAMP WITH BURLAP FRENCH SCRIPT LAMPSHADE WOOHOO!

Greetings! So lovely of you to come by! I hope all is well in your world! I wanted to share some fabulous finds I was lucky enough to come across.

My sister loved this Ballard Designs Alexander Martinot 30" clock $(249.00).



It's currently on sale for $229.00 at Ballard Design here.

Guess what I found on craigslist for $20.00!!

LOADS OF PROJECTS! SILVER LEAF PUMPKIN, HALLOWEEN WREATH, GLITTERED BOOK PAGE WREATH AND HOLIDAY KISSING BALL OH MY!

Happy Halloween!! So great so see you! Love your costume! ha! just kidding!!!

Just wanted to put up a quick post to show you Tween Hearts fabulous Halloween projects and share with you a couple of holiday projects I finished last night and this morning. So lots of photos and little jabbering ha!

I took Tween Heart to Michaels and this is what she picked out (no coaxing from me...really!)

BOOGEYMAN IS IN THE KITCHEN ~ OR ~ A FRACTURED FAIRY TALE

With all the fabulous Halloween decorations and wot-nots running rampid across the blogosphere, I feel the need to....contribute.

My Halloween offering is a true story about a "Boogeyman" followed by a couple of fabulous halloween creations by my darling grand-niece Tween Heart.

Note To all you fly by viewers : please feel free to speed right on to the photos and thanks ever so much for stopping by! *waving*

For those of you easily amused and enjoyed Rocky and Bullwinkle back in the day, please do read on.

BOOGEYMAN IS IN THE KITCHEN
...OR...

MY SPIN ON A BOOK WREATH

Ellooooooo! So sweet of you to stop by! I hope all is happy and well in your world!

I'm sure you've seen the book wreaths that have been making the rounds here in our blogosphere. Well, I've finally gotten around to making one myself; but, with my own little spin on it ha!

BUT FIRST! let me preface that my photos are horrid! My terrible indoor light and my poor little camera was a bad bad combination. So why post? I dunno...ha!

Ok, here's the best photo I could get so far.