Saturday, March 31, 2012

Wall of Happiness



My family is my life.


This is not something unique to me, but I know all of you feel the same way. 


So when everytime I'm able to decorate my home with things that mean a lot to our family, it makes me really happy. 


So one day here's what I did with this boring wall...


BBbb-ORING..
It Became like this....


Much, much better indeed!

I had our recent vacation photos blown up c/o Walmart photo, turned some of them black and white, and viola - a wall of happiness!!!


More views
These are 11 x 14 faux canvas prints, cost me $20 each - I say, worth every penny!


Day time view


Now every morning, I wake up, go out of our bedroom and see these - my reason for living!




Have a wonderful day everyone!!!!!











Monday, March 26, 2012

Our informal family portraits

On our visit to Cancun, we did something which we have never done before as a family - had a full blown pictorial/portrait-taking session of our very own.

We did have this before...

Nice but a little "stuffy"


But we did this with the rest of our family and we did not have a lot of pictures to choose from.

So, when I saw this Photography booth at the resort hotel we were staying in, I immediately thought it would be a great way to document this wonderful vacation memory in the form of a souvenir book of REALLY NICE PICTURES! And of course to get nice pictures of the WHOLE family, we needed someone to take the pictures, someone who was a professional and knew what they were doing.

And so here are some the family portraits we had during that vacation...

Garden Photo session

Memory of his lost two front teeth.. :-)

Becoming a young man...

Just tryin' to show how much fun we're havin'! 

Sweet moments



Nostalgic moments...


Quiet moments...

Active moments...

Just plain happy moments


I really love these- we were all relaxed, looking naturally-coached, taken outdoors and the best part was, we all had fun!!!


Have a wonderful day!!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Re-decorating the living room for Spring

All winter long (except during Christmas season of course) our living room looked like this...

Ok for me

huhmm
So this spring, with the beautiful weather outside and the gorgeous Spring-filled scenery, I decided to tweak our living room a bit...

More in touch with the season I think...

I added white plastic eggs inside the lamps, switched my pillows and added some of my houseplants.

making use of what you already have :-)


I think now it looks more in touch with the spring-feeling we have and the greenery outside.

Hope you have a Lovely day!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Easter/Spring Wreath

Ok, I know I said Easter is my "least favorite" holiday, 
but I can't help but make something when I see all these super cute things in the stores...

Ok not so cute now... 
Now, you have to agree, they are nice

And these, just TOO CUTE to pass up!


SO with all of these, I decided to make wreaths for our doors!

The wreaths are $3.99 each (50% off now, so I only paid #3.99 for 2 - Ka-Ching!) from Hobby Lobby. The carrots ($4.95 for 3 - yes, more expensive than the wreath) and the moss-covered bunnies ($2.95 each) are from Pier 1 Imports.  I also bought these...

$1 at the dollar store

59 cent flowers from "Steven's" - is used 2 for each

After I decided the placement of my ornaments, I did this...



The carrots come with it's own jute rope tie, so I just tied it to the wreath, then, used floral wire to attach the bunny stick on the wreath. I did not break the long stem of the bunny, I just bent it and hid it behind the wreath.

Then I added Mod Podge and Spray Adhesive to attach my moss...

Must-haves for any crafter

I cut the flowers and glued them on using glue gun. The finished product is this...

Not bad for my first wreath 
Bunny tries to hang-on

Door is now all set for spring

Doorway for spring - almost done!


Well, there you have it, my simple and super easy craft project. Total cost is about $11 for each!

Have a nice Spring day!




DISCLAIMER: I saw a wreath very similar to this one on etsy. However, when I tried to find it again to give credit to the original idea, I did not see the wreath anymore. The wreath there cost around $35 each + shipping. 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Something for FREE at last!

It's not everyday that we get something for Free. Particularly in home decor, these deals come by once ina  blue moon.

So when we got this...

Add caption
For FREE - we were ecstatic!

We got them after buying a new recliner for our basement, and since we have been loyal customers at our local furniture store-  Bryan's, they rewarded our loyalty with a pair of these lamps!

I mean, our old lamps had to go....

Has definitely seen better days

Actually, the Shades have to go, but the bases are still ok, they will have a new home in our basement once I get new shades. 

Past glory

We have had these lamps since we got our first house. It came as a set - 2 table lamps and 1 floor lamp for $45 at the Homedepot.  Aside from it's sentimental value, the brushed nickel finish can still go anything, so just wait and see it's eventual "resurrection" in my future posts...

Now, back to my Freebie lamps...

So many options!!
It is a container lamp, and I've always wanted one of these because I can easily change the look of the lamp by changing it's contents. But as of now, I'm still unsure of what to put inside.

Oh well, I guess, you can't have a Freebie without any "Hang-up"! 

Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Easter Decorating

As you all know, I go CRAZY, when it comes to decorating for the holidays, just check out my Halloween and Christmas posts!

But among all the holidays, Easter is my least favorite when it comes to decorating.

I know, I know, it should be AS glorious as Christmas, since I am after all, a Catholic
But somehow, growing up in the Philippines, the importance of Easter wasn't brought up into my consiousness until I was much older. 
Plus the fact that we didn't have easter egg hunts or gift baskets given to us during Easter. 
So growing up, there wasn't much to look forward to after the "somber" (actually, usually fun-filled for family outings) Holy week. 
Actually, come to think of it, Easter to me, when I was little, meant going back to school soon! WHHHHAAAAAAHH!!!

Anyway, enough about my excuses. Somehow though, when we came to live in the U.S., I  started to realize the improtance and beauty of this holiday. Easter egg hunt, bunny rabbits, pastels... and of course, watching and reading  Martha, you cannot, NOT go wrong with trying to enjoy and decorate for this holiday.

So as per my personal tradition, my Dining room at least, has come into the spirit of this cute holiday...



My not-so-eager Easter went a little overboard! :0



Up close and cute

Another angle

Just love the birds


My versatile apothecary jars now filled with eggs

I know what your thinking, "How can she decorate with all those FAKE EGGS?" . Well, I think that at least, even if I have not crossed that fine line of EGG DECORATING, I am STILL decorating USING EGGS at least! :-)

Call me lazy, but I still need a little more "push" (or maybe patience and time) to decorate my own Easter eggs. So for now (I hope), I am using all these more than Half-priced, plastic eggs I bought from last year (and the years before). Even the green plastic grass was from last year!

Almost everything Easter in this set-up were from the dollar store ( ceramic egg containers at the bottom, baskets holding the orchids, plastic eggs, nest grass) or cost much less than that! Exception is the capiz-lined egg at the very top of the cake stands ($4.99 at TJ Maxx). All the "expensive" looking things are mine from the get-go, bought by me for other purposes ( cake stands, small bowls, bird salt and pepper shakers).


Egg-stra special Centerpiece

My Dining table center piece just consisted of 4 green felt placemats ( bought 3 years ago at Homegoods on clearance), used as a runner (I used green sewing thread to tie them up), the brown wooden egg decor underneath the center bowl is an old Easter yard decor of mine that was broken.

Fancy Fancies

The flowers were from the dollar store and so were the baskets.

What is looks like daytime
If you also noticed that I placed the extra eggs around my display cabinet and switched all my silver/metallic accessories for my white millk glass collection.

Well, I hope this gives you an idea of how to decorate on a budget  ( or on a whim- all bragging aside I did this in less than 30 minutes because we had to go somewhere the next day!) for this coming Holiday!!!



Happy Decorating!!!!! 

Spring is in the air!!

After the long winter months here in the Midwest, signs og spring is such a welcoming sight.

Just take a look at the first signs I took pictures of just last week!


Blooming starting




Just a very hopeful sight

Tree in our yard

Just pretty



Hope you have a beautiful Spring Day!!!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Storm room

With all the storms down here in the south, we were glad to have a Storm room to go to just in case things get out of hand.

For all of you Easterners and Westerners, a storm room looks something like this...

Steel doors

Concrete all around including ceiling

Air vent on the ceiling

Phone line access


Of course, in case we ever get trapped in here (God-forbid) for a while, we need to have basic necessities at hand...


Matches, candles, flashlight, extra batteries, lighters, can opener


Water, toilet paper, canned goods

Copies of important documents

I am still trying to complete this room with ample supplies - I still need  a first aid kit, a cash stash, extra phone... etc....


I really hope we never ever use this room for real, but it doesn't hurt to be ready somehow especially with my family's safety at stake.

How 'bout you? What would you put in your storm room??

Have a blessed day!!!