Spring has Sprung on my Front Door!

This past weekend I enjoyed the wonderful spring weather that we had here in Atlanta,  and came to the realization that Spring has officially sprung! No more sneaky storms. I don't mind a thunderstorm during the spring, just no hail or other solids falling from the sky.  I saw some really cute ideas for welcoming Spring into your home decor at a workshop that I attended on Saturday. I thought about my home and decided to change up a few things. More to come on those projects real soon. I'm starting at my front door. I want something different. Right now I have the same flower wreath that I've had since my days back in Michigan. I like the color but really, it's time for something new. After launching a search on Pinterest ( where else!!) I saw lot's of cute ideas. Here are a few of my favorites...

     Lot's of variations of the Flowering Water Can, but I really like this one ...

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And this just shout's Spring,  don't you think?

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Again, Monogram Love shows up,  what can I say.
..

  Just one more..

                                             

 

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    Now who wouldn't like this April Showers bringing May flowers Door Decor?...

 I really like this and  I'm kicking myself for throwing away my broken animal print umbrella. It would have been so cute with white Tulips on my red door.  UGGH!!

Oh well, there are lot's more to love, like this vibrant explosion of tulips.

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Think I'd like this out of the new colored burlap, maybe pink!

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After a late night on Pinterest ( still haven't kicked this insomnia thing)  I realized that most of the ideas I really liked had tulips and of course monograms.  But, I remembered that my fall wreath has a monogram, so maybe not another one. After "shopping"  in my garage I came up with this Seagrass basket and some ribbon. I bought this basket  about 15 years ago at the Wyandotte Art Festival in Wyandotte, MI. Maybe it's time for an enore...

Going with pink and white tulips (that just says Spring to me!), I added them to my basket.  I'll probably play around with the tulips a bit more but I kinda like this.

    

... and made a burlap and herringbone ribbon bow. 

       Is your door dressed for Spring?

I'm already thinking about something  red, white and blue to put in this basket for the summer months. Do you change your door decor for each season or holiday?

Monogram Love - Part 2

Well, I said I might be back with Monogram Love and here it is.  I told you in  Monogram Love Part 1 that I love, love, love monograms, and I wasn't kidding. In case you needed just a few more ideas of how to use monograms in you r home...

How about the welcome mat on your porch:

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This has given me a great DIY that I plan to try this weekend. Here's what it starts out with, this door mat from Ikea ...

going to add some painters tape, paint and a stencil. Already have all the supplies needed so I feel a super savings coming.  I'll be sure to share this project in a future post.


Still thinking about the floor, I  love this rug...

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What about a not so ordinary bulletin board for your office or home.... I made this for a dear friend's office.

 

 W hile this design was made with a Silhouette, I'm sure you could use a stencil to recreate this look, of course I really want a Silhouette but until then....

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  Now this was meant for me, I mean really it must have been,  it already has my initials on it!! Well, if it wasn't, it should have been.

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   This Silver Plated tray has been restyled into a personalized accessory that could sit on a bookcase shelf or hang on a gallery wall.

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And since Spring has sprung here in Georgia, thought I'd show you a way to add a monogrammed item to you patio or deck.

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Well, that should give you lots of ideas for personalizing your home using monograms. Of course, you can also add them to your wardrobe too. Not just on your jacket or sweater but....

 

 How about grabbing a cute pair or two of leather or canvas shoes and getting busy!!
Major score x 2 :  white canvas shoes- DSW $7.98 at 80% off!! and red leather shoes with silver trimmed laces on clearance at Target for $8.37!!  Even without an embroidery machine you can get this look with a steady hand and a Sharpie.   Do you think you'd try to make a pair ?  Leave a comment and let me know.

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Here's What I'm Thinking... Monogram Love!

Here's what's got me thinking...

I love monograms. And after moving to the south, I've found my people. Southern folks also love monograms. They monogram just about anything you can , and I love, love, love it. I'm way past monogrammed shirts, hats, bags, that's too normal. After starting Motor City Embroidery Works in 1996, I've monogrammed my share of apparel. What's got me thinking is how cool it is to use monogrammed pieces to personalize your home. Not an original idea, I know, but so many people are missing that little touch of you in your home.Well, I looked around my home and found a lot more than the ever popular Initial that you see gracing bookcases and gallery walls ( including my own) in magazines and on Pinterest. You can read about my unique B here.  I am really thinking about and loving the images I have seen of monogrammed chairs and more. Here are a couple of my favorite monogrammed chairs..

                                                           I love these dining chairs.

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This was my office chair.

I also am loving these: 

What a cool shower curtain! 

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                                                              This bed is awesome.

and I really think I'll be putting something like this bench  in my Etsy store soon

 This color combo may not work for everyone, but the style is great.

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                               What a great combination: an upholstered headboard and monograms.

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                                       A wonderful addition to your gallery wall. Another great piece from Etsy.

                 

                                     What a great place to put a monogram, totally unexpected!

Well these are just a few of the examples of ways you can use monograms to personalize your home. There are many more and hey, I might just do a part 2 and share those with you too!! Cause, I'm thinking I just can't get enough of monograms!

Budget Friendly Bathroom Encore Part 2

Hi all,

In my last post I shared the beginning of the budget friendly bathroom encore. After finding a way to get custom washcloths for a great price I was in the home stretch. The wrought iron pieces that were on the wall had no place in this brighter bathroom. I really wanted something very similar to the flowers in the shower curtain.

What's a girl to do?

Well, if she could draw or paint she would create 2 canvas art pieces with these flowers on them. And, if she can't draw a straight line with a ruler, she fakes it!!

Remember the paint by number kits that  everyone got for Christmas? Well, here's my version, paint by letters.  Using a 12 x16   Artist Loft  canvas pack from Michaels, and a pencil, I got busy.

             I sketched the flowers and indicated with a d = dark, m = medium and l = light for the shade that was to be painted in each section. I was so eager to get started I forgot to take a pic before I started painting.

You can see that the details aren't that exact, so I crossed my fingers and kept painting. To create the 3 shades I used the acrylic paint straight out of the bottle for the dark, added a little white for the medium and even more white for the light shade.

                          To add the final details I used a brown marker to outline the petals.

                                                 Smaller flowers and leaves were added.

                       Here are the two finished pieces. What do you think? I'm still deciding if I want to frame them or not.

I "shopped " my house and found two candle stick holders and scored a couple of candles super cheap at Ross ( $2.99 each) and finished with a turquoise mercury glass piece and flowers from my dining room.

                            I finally found somewhere to use 3 turquoise finials I've had for a few years.

Ross was really my saving grace when it came to finishing touches for this bath room. I found the 2 bathmats for under $14.00 

.                           This bathroom went from drab...

                                                                     Dated and grab...

to...

  All is all, I'm pleased with the encore. Do you think you'd try a paint by letters or numbers piece for your home?

Budget Friendly Bathroom Encore Part 1

Hi all,

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen a little teaser about the bathroom encore that was in the works at my house. If not, ("or really now Tina you expect me to remember"!!), here it is:

My daughter has been asking me to change the color of her bathroom for sometime now. Since the bathroom that she lays claim to is also the one used by guests, I spent some time really thinking about the colors. After 4 years and two different houses later, with the same blue and brown color scheme, I really wanted to brighten the room .If I owned this house, that room would be getting a major budget driven gut, but since it's not mine to do as I please... I have to change what I can.

 

                                                    This color combo has a dated look to me

                                                            

                               The wrought iron pieces have relocated to an apartment in Nashville!

Having selected a deep coral and turquoise ( yep, more turquiose, it's my favorite) I went in search or towels and a new shower curtain.  I spotted towels on sale at JCPenney. The towels were the perfect color (Intense Coral) and a great price, on sale for  $7.99.  Armed with a coupon for an additional 15% off,  I was feeling really good. The shower curtain was also on sale. Arms full of towels, shower curtain and bath mat I reached for the washcloths. WHATTTT! The 13x13 wash cloths were on sale for $5.99!! Let's look at this closely, a  30x56"  towel for $7.99 and a 13x13" washcloth for $5.99, anybody else see what's wrong here? 8 washcloths would cost me $40.00!! No way,

So here's what I did, I bought one extra towel, cut 8- 13x 13 washcloths. I planned to turn them under twice when hemming them, but decided to do something a little different. I bought a turquoise and white cotton print and cut 2" wide bias strips

 

 This fabric became double folded bias tape. 

 

 

 I double folded the bais strips and finished oiff the edged of the washcloths.  The fabric for the bias strips cost me $1.63

To personalize it a bit more I embroidered a combined monogram for Cassie and myself on a towel hanging up in the bathroom. You know the just for decoration one!!

                                           A combination of both our first names and last = CBM.

Remember, I was trying to brighten up this room. with a budget friendly encore. I got 8 washcloths for less than $10 in materials. The time is hard to calculate because I basted the bias strips while watching the Friday night lineup of Bride shows ( Say Yes To the Dress, etc) with my daughter. I stitched them on the machine when I sat down to make some pillow covers. I can say it didn't take more than 30 minutes at the machine to finish them.  In my book that's a great deal. What do you think?

Part 2 of this post, including  custom art work later this week.