Thursday, January 23, 2014

Pink Tea

A nice surprise when I made a pot of tea.
It was pink!
I just picked out a new tea bag- 
Harney & Sons Organic Passion Plum .
It made a lovely pot of tea!
 I never leave the tag hanging out of the
pot after the tea has brewed, but I wanted
to show you before tossing the bag.
 The pictures don't show the true color pink!
 It's so pink even Larry noticed it when he 
poured himself a cup! "Hey, this tea is pink."
 That's how pink it was!
 Goes perfectly with the Pink Willow tea set.
 A little Valentine decor in the family room.
 It's been chilly here in Florida, 
so a tea break was welcomed. 
Even Lucy found a nice warm place nearby
on the red down throw.
 The wooden stars and hearts on jute string 
were used with evergreen garland in the 
family room at Christmas. I get another use 
for them in February and again in July.
Of course we'll need a treat for our tea.
Oatmeal~Pecan Jam Bars
More pink...
(click for the recipe)
Cheers!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

North Carolina Bedroom

Today I'm sharing the pictures of the master 
bedroom in our place in North Carolina.
 Last week I showed the 'bear' themed
 The master bedroom was put together with
things we had; some older pieces of furniture
 that were used in previous homes,
 and great sale and found items.
Very budget decorating.
 A Longaberger basket filled with colorful
yarn and knitting supplies.
 I'm still working on that chunky colorful scarf. 
That's the extent of my knitting skills.
All the bedding: matelasse' cover and shams, 
log cabin quilt and shams, pillows
  and lamps were found at the 
JCP outlet on sale for 80% off. 
The original watercolors were from Larry's 
parents. We had them reframed with new
 matts. They look better here than anywhere 
we've had them in the over the years.
 Now, the log headboard was a real find!
 It was a twin bed that was discarded in 
my Florida neighborhood on bulk trash day. 
You should have seen me trying to load 
these heavy pieces by myself into our van. 
They are perfect here. Larry joined the 
two pieces; the headboard and footboard 
(luckily they were both the same size) 
to make a king size rustic log headboard,
for FREE! The rest of the bedroom 
furniture were family pass-downs.
Drapery panels were $10/pair. 
The set of 4 oil paintings were also 
 found on sale
at the JCP Outlet store.
The colors work great in this room

The ceiling fan has a rustic mountain motif.
It has two lights and the top one 
can be used as a soft night light.
The wild oil painting above the mirror was
 from a church yard sale here. 
I got it for $4.   
Larry built the rustic wood frame from a
 discarded pallet, as he has done HERE
My other thrifted painting is HERE.
A Jack Schmitt watercolor is another one
we've had for years.
 It's great that our art works so
 beautifully with the decor we have here. 
Rustic frame I found on sale at Target and
an old lamp.
A collection of thrifty throws. 
I find these handmade afghans at 
the many thrift stores here. 
I wash and dry them, so they are 
fluffy soft to snuggle with.   
Some are stored in a Longaberger basket.
This branch ladder was found at a local crafts 
show. I've added a few lap blankets, 
a cowboy hat and rope I found in the garage.
The top of the dresser had an old oil lamp 
that I've added electric to, a dough bowl 
filled with sweetgum balls that I gathered 
on a road trip stop by a Florida forrest. 
That's a poster sized picture of me
 a few years ago....OK many years ago.
~~~~~~~~~
TEMPUS FUGIT
That was carved into the stone walls above 
the entrance of my junior high school in 
Florida, Robert E. Lee. 
I never knew what it meant, but I do now!

Cheers!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Cupcake Liners

Pretty Little Liners.
I love collecting pretty cupcake liners. 
Whenever I'm at Michael's and don't find 
what I'm looking for I always use my 
40% off coupon to pick up a 
small pack of fun cupcake liners. 
They are too pretty for a dark cupboard,
so I save cupboard space and store them
in these large vintage jars.
 I keep the jars on the top shelf of the 
hallway bookcase that is on the other side
 of the kitchen wall. You can read about how
we built that in THIS post.
 On the center top shelf.
 I think they would look cute on a shelf
used as bookends for cookbooks.
 I  also have a few other vintage kitchen
 items on the shelf to the left.
That's my Mother's hand grinder from Germany.
 Finding storage space in unexpected places
 is always a good thing.
Finding a cupcake in one of the liners...
even better!
 Good Ol' Cupcakes.
(click for the recipe)


Cheers!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

The Bear Bathroom

Here's the guest bathroom that connects with
 the bear bedroom I posted about earlier
 (HERE). It also had a rustic bear theme. 
It's at our Smoky Mountain getaway
 in North Carolina. 
Here's how it started.
"Bear" bones guest bath before. 
I found these cute bear and evergreen tree 
shower curtain hooks and I also found a
natural color waffle weave shower curtain.
before
After accessorizing. I used the colors, red, 
oatmeal, and a little black.
 Bear and tree metal counter accessories: 
tissue cover, mug & holder, and toothbrush
 caddy. It's the image I used for the lighted 
bear headboard we have in the bedroom.
Lotion dispenser & holder, soap dish & holder.
Got to use more of my collected watercolors.
I did have a thing for snow and barn scenes.
I found these cute bear themed hand towels
 and reused this saved gift basket 
made with rustic twigs. 
A deep whirlpool bathtub is perfect for a 
nightly whirlpool bubble bath. 
A basket of extra large bath towels is handy.
Opposite the sink. Watercolors in the room
 are by artist Frank Staral. We bought these
 at the annual Fall Art Show in Barrington, IL
I found all of the bear accessories at Target.
Cheers!