diy chalk holder...

First, thank you all so much for your kind comments about our kitchen.

It was truly a labor of love and it's definitely my favorite room!

I'll post more details for you within the next couple of days.

While I was wasting time at Home Depot today 

(waiting for my paint samples for detail boy's room - yes, we have another decision!)

I remembered a simple DIY project I saw on Pinterest, and picked up the lone supply for...

my new chalk holder.

In the hardware section...it's a $2 cup pull...turned upside down,

and hot glued onto my chalkboard.

That's all!

Quick, easy, simple, inexpensive = my favorite diy projects! 

Have you done any quick and easy projects lately?

good news, bad news...

I'm a good news first type...

Here's a diy that will take you about 10 minutes max!
I made it on Easter morning.

I printed 'Count your Blessings' out on my printer and inserted it

into a frame!

  

I saw this piece on my friend Lisa's blog, Shine Your Light, here, last week.
She shared a scary incident that could easily happen to any of us,
and how grateful she was for the outcome.
(I'm not sure of the original source, there are several versions on google and Pinterest)

This is on a small wall in my kitchen.
I made the shelf a couple of years ago with an old board I found in
our garage and brackets from Hobby Lobby.
It's a fun spot to include seaonal touches, I brought the tulips in from our yard.


The bad news...

and the reason I made something to make me feel good.
No kitchen artwork reveal today.
So far it has turned into a diy gone bad,
I'll see if I can rescue it today and share the ugly details tomorrow!

outdoor planters ~ fast & furious

When we first moved into our home this rustic, old work bench was in the garage.

I loved it!

A corner on our deck became it's home, I use it as a potting bench,

or it makes a perfect drink station for parties.

Since we see it from our kitchen, I like to decorate it for the seasons.

For Christmas I added blue spruce branches from our yard,

dried asters, that escaped the fall clean-up, and faux red berries

 to the wrought iron planter.

It took me about 15 minutes to cut a few branches and dried plants and plop

 them in the planter, and the best part,

 it will look nice until spring.

Do you have a sad, lonely looking pot that you see everyday?

Take 15 minutes and perk it up!

Have a wonderful weekend sweet friends and thanks for visiting!

florals ~ fast & furious

                          mr. simple brought me flowers today from his favorite florist,
                                                            Costco.
                                  He was beaming with pride as he pronounced,
                "I picked a pumpkin color, see they're kind of orange, for Halloween!"
                                                                              
                                       Here's my fast & furious arrangement.

                   
                 ~     Cut stems and place in an 8" cylinder vase
                 ~     Cut your choice of ribbon and hot glue it to the outside of cylinder
                 ~     Place the cylinder inside a large hurricane, I chose this one with
                         black to coordinate with my other fast & furious Halloween decor
                 
                        It gives the popular look of stems wrapped with ribbon.
       After Halloween replace the ribbon with warm fall colors to match your decor.

                           ~   thank you, mr. simple, they're the perfect orange  ~   

       

halloween decor - fast & furious

                                 
                         Since I'm not big on Halloween decorations but still want to appear festive,
                                               here's my fast and furious formula,
                                                spending only about 20 minutes!

                                                 ~ family room bookshelf ~

                              ~   printed letters onto copy paper and put in frames
                              ~   spray painted some sticks from our yard and added to vase
                              ~   stacked orange and black books
                              ~   printed out the word Boo! and put in a mini frame
                              ~   added this fun eye chart saying to our kitchen chalkboard

            To see another fun and clever way to frame letters, go check out this cute blogger,
                                                     Courtney's easy ideas here.

                 

These frames make fun little hostess gifts,

 here I just tied it around the wine bottle.

The possibilities are endless, you can personalize them to suit the occasion, family, etc.

One of my favorite things to do is include a couple of other words or sayings for the next

month or two, just put them behind each other.

I'll tell my friend there is a new message for November, I wrote:

~  thankful for friends ~

               Remember the shelf on my gallery wall ~ it's a nice spot to add seasonal touches,
                                                    these mini-frames fit perfectly.

   

Do you have any fast & furious tips?