It's a Rooster party!!!

Oh my!!!! I'm late to the rooster party. My rooster didn't cockadoodledoo this morning. So I over slept!!!

Truth be told, I am the queen of procrastination & I didn't take my photos till late last night. Then as I was trying to upload them to my computer the battery died. So I had to charge the camera battery overnight so I could finish. Right now I am running late to work as I wanted to get these posted before I left. Cause heck, it's already almost 11:00am on the east coast.

So without further interruptions, here are my roosters. I do have a disclaimer though. No cleaning was done prior to taking my photos. We have a lot of pet spiders in my house so if you see any spider webs, it's Charlotte's (as in the spider) fault.

This rooster is on top of my kitchen cabinets. I got it from an antique store for less than $5bucks a few years back.

This rooster cookie jar came from Burlington Coat Factory years ago. The metal barn box came from the thrift store for 99 cents. Top of kitchen cabinets.
This rooster came from trade show along with the chicken wire basket. This sits on top of my kitchen cabinets.

These salt & pepper shakers you will see later in my tablescape. Can't remember where I got them. This is also on top of my kitchen cabinets.


The last display on top of my kitchen cabinets. The rooster on the left came from a dollar store. The rooster crock I got at some craft mall & the rooster on the right came from a trade show.
I bought this rooster bucket at a craft show years back. It is on the side of one of my kitchen cabinets.

I love this plate on my kitchen wall. I got it from Welcome Home store years ago. Did you see the rooster?

This is really not a rooster but a chicken. I got this sign on clearance at Joann Fabric a couple of months ago. I have it hanging on the side of my fridge.

I have a rooster rug under the table in my kitchen/family room. I didn't take a photo of the table or the entire rug, as I didn't vacuum & the table was covered with crap, I mean, stuff. We really don't eat at our tables. I just pile all my stuff there until I do something with it.

The rooster lamp is on my china hutch in my family room. I got it from Welcome Home store years ago.

This rooster pitcher came from Marshall's earlier in the year.

Now I will show you my rooster tablescape. Because I am such a procrastinator I didn't get photos posted for Tablescape Thursday. I'll probably post all the photos for that next week. But don't hold your breath.

This is my newest rooster from Joann Fabric. I got it on clearance.

Did you recognize my salt & pepper shakers from on the top of my kitchen cabinets? I did clean them up a bit for their debut in my tablescape.

My Waverly rooster napkins. I also have 2 table runners that match. But I didn't use them for this tablescape.


And the star of my tablescape are my new rooster plates from Target.com. Oh, I guess these are my newest roosters. I lied before. Sorry!!! Don't you just love them? I love everything about these plates. These are officially my favorite roosters right now.

Lots of roosters on this table.


Another set of salt & pepper shakers. These match my rooster cookie jar. Must have come from the same place then.

And one final look at my rooster tablescape.

Well I hope that you have enjoyed looking at all my roosters. I know I have more hidden away, but since I procrastinated so long in making this post & I have already overloaded you enough, I will spare you the rest.

Be sure to visit Barb over at Bella Vista as she is the one hosting this shin dig. You'll find links to lots of rooster lovers. But before you go, be sure to leave me a comment & let me know which rooster is your favorite.

Beach Party

Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage is hosting a beach party. Who doesn't love a beach party? And this is the best kind, you won't get sunburned.

For those of you who are my regular followers, you will have already seen my beachy decor. But it's definitely worth a second look.

We will start off with a little cabinet that I have tucked in at the end of my kitchen cabinets. The large conch shell on the left belongs to my hubby. He has had it since he was a kid. All the other shells I got from my son. He has been collecting shells since he was a kid as well. He was cleaning out his room last month & came across a box full of shells. He said I could have them. Boy did I do the happy dance. Don't you just love the purple starfish? I know I do. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will notice a sea horse in the apothecary jar.

Next is my china hutch.
I just started collecting blue canning jars. So far this summer I have found 4. I filled the larger one with shells that came from the Dollar Tree. The medium jar is filled with clear glass beads. They remind me of bubbles. They came from the Dollar Tree as well. I bought the glass beads 2 years ago to use at my parents 50th wedding anniversary. The smallest jar is filled with all white shells. I bought these at Marshall's or Ross a few years back to use for my step son's wedding reception which was a luau.
On the top shelf of the hutch I have four little plates that look like sand dollars that I got from Kohl's. I got them on a 50% off sale, plus I had a coupon for additional 30% off. So I got them for about $1.50 a plate. I used shells for tea light holders. I am using battery operated tea lights just to be safe. I have displayed 3 plates that I got at Marshall's a few months back. I thought they looked beachy. These are the smaller plates & were $2.99 each. The larger plates were too big for my shelf. Here are a couple more of my white pitchers. The one one the left is an antique and the one on the right I got from some catalog years ago. It was a little pricey but I loved it's lines. I added this dessert glass (can't remember exactly what you call this right now) filled with shells.

A close up. I got the little starfish & sand dollars from Oriental Trading Co catalog a few years back to use for my step son's wedding reception. I think these shells came from the Dollar Tree back then as well. Under my cheese dome cloche I have a small bowl that I got from Kohl's. They match the sand dollar plates on my top shelf. They were on sale, buy one, get one free. I also had a $10.00 off purchase coupon. So total paid for 4 little bowls was $2.00. That's 50 cents a bowl! Woo hoo! I filled the bowl up with shells & then sprinkled blue glass beads around the outside of the bowl. The white ironstone plate was a thrift store find a few weeks back for $1.00. I already had 3 that matched & was happy to find a 4th. And of course Harold & Maude my Target S+P shakers couldn't be left out.
I have another pedestal cake plate that I placed a white plate on top of. This white plate matches the blue plates displayed that I got from Marshall's. I bought both the white & the blue plates as I couldn't make up my mind which color I liked better. I placed a large shell, a large starfish & some shark teeth (all snagged from my son) on the plate. I sprinkled in some blue glass beads.
And what would a beachy theme be without some bottles? I put a collection of 5 old bottles under this cloche. I guess I should have put a message rolled up inside of one of them.
Next we will move onto my fireplace mantel.
On the right hand side I have 3 glass jars full of shells. The little apothecary jar on the left came from the thrift store a few weeks back for $1.00. The middle compote & the vase on the right I got on clearance at Marshall's a few years ago. I used 2 of the larger blue dinner plates from Marshall's on my mantel. The star fish I used on my mantel are resin & came from Kohl's. I got them at the same time I bought the sand dollar plates on my china hutch. They were also 50% off & then I used an additional 30% off coupon. That is they only time I buy anything at Kohl's. The item must be 50% off & I must have an additional coupon.
Here is a close up of the left hand side. The 3 apothecary jars came from Big Lots a few years ago. I think they were $10.00 for the set of three. The jar on the right is filled with shell necklaces from Oriental Trading Co from my step son's wedding reception.
The welcome sign I got at a trade show in Las Vegas. I have 3 or 4 of them & was going to sell them, but most of them are damaged at one end. So not sure what I will do with them. I used shells as tea light holders. Again, battery operated tea lights are being used. I learned my lesson using real tea lights. I burnt the frame above at Christmas time using real candles. I thought they were far enough away but I was wrong. I've also used my new bowls from Kohl's to hold a couple of tea light candles. I filled them with sand & sprinkled in a few shells. I also sprinkled the blue glass beads all around my mantel. I think they look like bubbles.
A shelf in my family room has 3 shells. The starfish is hiding behind one of the green balls. I also have 3 green balls on this shelf that are being elevated by 3 candlestick holders.
And finally on the white trunk by my window I have 3 stacking glass cake pedestals with a collection of shells & my small collection of swans. The stacking cake pedestals came from Brylane Home catalog. I got them for free with a gift certificate that I earned from using my credit card. I love reward programs. My swan collection started with the smaller glass swan on the left on the middle tier. It is Swarovski Crystal that I bought in Innsbruck Austria. I then found the larger crystal swan on the left of the bottom tier at an antique store for cheap. The crystal & silver swan on the right of middle tier came from a thrift store. The Lenox swan on the bottom tier was an ebay find.
So there you have my beachy decor. Doesn't it make you want to go to the beach? Don't forget your sunscreen.

Kim

It's all about family, but it started with a coupon

I originally posted this back in May for Met Monday on my family blog Manning Family Tree. But since I am moving all my blog party stuff to this blog, I thought it would be the perfect post for Its So Very Cheri's Knock off Knock Out blog party as well. And I will also be linking this to Kimba at a Soft Place to Land's DIY party on Thursday. Enjoy!!!


I went to Kohl's to use my 30% off coupon. I was excited as it was my first time that I actually got the highest percentage off coupon on my sale brochure. Now I don't normally shop at Kohl's, but the 30% off coupon kept calling my name. I had to go.

So I get to Kohl's & looked through the kitchen items. Didn't find anything I couldn't live without, so I ventured over to the frame department. Now besides having a plate addiction, I also have a frame addiction. Just ask my hubby.

While looking through the frames, I came upon this one. I liked it as you can use it vertically or horizontally. Now normally this wouldn't be a frame that I would buy, but I had a plan for some artwork & I needed a frame that would hold 6 photos.

So what do you get when you combine 1 frame,

One wall cabinet,

One Eiffel Tower garden statue, One Gothic window mirror,
One garden finial,
One french flower basket,
And one mini greenhouse.

Why you get this: Family
Have you seen letter or alphabet art like this? I've been seeing more & more of it & I love it!!! And I wanted one, had to have one. I had seen a "Family" one similar to this in Deseret Book awhile back for $90.00. $90.00 bucks!!!! Are you kidding me? Mine cost me $10.00 (cost of the frame which was 1/2 off plus my 30% additional off with coupon).

When I saw the one in the store I thought, I could make this. Don't you always tell yourself the same thing? Well I do, but I rarely ever really make the item. Oh I buy the stuff to make a certain thing, but I never actually make the item. But I was determined this time, I was going to make this a reality.

I really wanted to make mine with photos of stuff I had around my house & yard. I was really too lazy to drive all over creation looking for items to take photos of to make the letters. But using stuff around my house & yard, that made it a little harder as I had less to work with. But it's amazing when you start how you see letters in almost everything.

Here are the close ups of the "F" and the "A". For the "F" I took a photo of the left hand side of the wall cabinet in my master bedroom. I like how the 2 Paris prints show up with this. The "A" is my Eiffel Tower garden statue from my back yard.
For the "M" I used my Gothic window mirror. I originally was going to use this for the "Y", but hubby thought it made a better "M". My garden finial from WalMart was used for the "I". I had seen this finial on someone's blog (sorry but I forget exactly who it was) from the Procrastination party & I went right out & splurged on one. It was on clearance, but still more than I would usually pay. I love it! Hubby hated it.
I took lots of photos of things to use for the "L", but ended up using the "L" on my french flower basket. The basket originally had succulents that had died. I got it on clearance for $6.00 at Costco at the beginning of the year. The "Y" is part of one of the windows in my mini greenhouse. I was going to use photos of this for the "M" originally, but switched them around with the Gothic window mirror. I got the mini greenhouse from Big Lots years ago. It is getting quite shabby from being out in the weather all these years.
I put the artwork on my mantel in our family room. I put a "Families are Forever" plaque in front of it. I picked this up at Deseret Book on 50% off clearance. I paid $8.00.
And one final look on my mantel. Doesn't it look good? I am so happy with how this turned out. And it will mean so much more to me since I made it myself & used my own items for the photos.
Since this post originally ran back in May, my mantel has changed twice since then. The "family" art now sits on my white trunk in the family room.
I also made one that said "Love" for my husband's niece when she got married back in June. But dumb me, I forgot to take a photo of it. I need to find a frame with 4 openings so I can make another one to post about. See, now I have an excuse to get another frame.

Thanks for visiting & be sure to visit all the participants for this week. You can find the list here. And I also have another post today for Rhoda at Southern Hospitality's "Today's Thrifty Finds", so be sure to check it out as well. I found lots of thrifty items while vacationing in Arizona. You can find it here.