I made a wreath! So I had to change up my mantel.

Updated 6/15/10: Linking to The CSI Project for their Dollar Store Challenge. The Thesaurus book I used to make the wreath came from Dollar Tree. There are a lot of paper wreaths out in blogland. This was my version.


Guess what? I decided to change up my spring mantel. Imagine that!

And what caused me to change it up? I made a paper wreath.

Now, I'm really not a crafty girl. Oh, I buy tons of supplies to make all sorts of crafty things. But I never seem to actually get anything made. I usually only make things if in a group setting. You know, when you are with girlfriends or family and you all make some crafty thing together. When I'm by myself, nothing usually gets done.

So I am so excited that I actually made something, all by myself. No friends, no family. But then it was because it was super easy. You see, I only do easy.


I've been seeing paper wreaths all over blog land. I've been wanting to make one for months. I finally told myself it was time. I didn't need family or friends to help me. I was a big girl. I could do this all by myself. And you know what? I did.

This was my kind of project, easy, fast (made it in one evening while watching TV) and cheap. My wreath cost me less than $2.00. I was happy!

These were my supplies. Glue gun & glue sticks (OK, I had to go to Michael's & buy new ones. I couldn't find mine, so I had to pay about $13.00 for the glue gun & a huge bag of glue sticks), Distress Ink (already had on hand), small grapevine wreath (25 cents from the thrift store), Webster's Thesaurus ($1.00 from Dollar Tree), scallop circle paper punch ($10.00 from Joann's, 40% off), pencil (already had on hand). Ok, so this wreath really cost me $25.00 as I had to buy the glue gun, the glue sticks & the punch. But I can use the glue gun, sticks & punch for many more projects. So if you take the cost of these items off, I only spent less than $2.00 on this project.

I used about 15 pages total from the thesaurus book. I used 3 pages at a time & punched out as many flowers from each page that I could. I then distressed the edges with the distress ink. And a splotch or two in the middle. I liked the thesaurus better than the dictionary as the words were bigger.

I placed the flat end of my pencil in the middle of the flower & wrapped it around the pencil. I then hot glued the middle of the flower & placed on the wreath. I just kept doing this until the wreath was completely filled in on the sides & middle.

When finished I hung from a green ribbon & tied it to my frame that is sitting in front of the mirror on my mantel. The wreath was the perfect size. The only thing I am not completely happy with is that it turned out darker than I would have liked. I guess I got a little carried away on the distress ink on the edges. But I can live with it.

I love it hanging from the vintage frame that I painted last month. I took down the botanical rose prints & moved my topiaries to the outside edge.

I never did show you the before photos of the frames on my mantel. All the frames started out a gold color. The larger frame I got at a thrift store for $4.95. I actually have 2 of them. The smaller frames also came from a thrift store, but I got 3 of them for 25 cents a piece as they didn't have glass.

Since I'm not a "gold" fan, I spray painted the frames Heirloom White. They were still too white for me. I decided they needed some contrast, but I didn't have any glaze. So I just used regular brown craft paint. I watered it down & slathered it on. Let it sit for a minute & wiped most of it off. I'm happy with how the frames turned out.


You can see how I left some of the watered down brown paint. It actually gave the entire frame a pinkish color. I like it.

I like how the smaller frames turned out too. You can barely see the etching in the frame. But I like it that way.

Close up of the one of the two smaller frames.



The other reason I changed up my mantel a bit are these fabulous mercury glass candle holders or vases that I picked up at Big Lots last week for like $2.40 each. I bought them to use as candle holders. But I decided to place my balls on top of them (as I didn't have anywhere to store them right now, hazards of being a closet hoarder) & was happy with the look.


They had them in blue as well. But I like the silver better. That way I can use them all year round.

I'm really enjoying my revamped spring mantel. But then I also liked take 1.
Here is my original spring mantel (take 1). You can read all about this mantel here.

And there you have my revamped Spring mantel (take 2). Which one do you like better?




Linking to:

Still Spring Fluffing

I managed to venture up to my attic space in the garage to get down my Easter box this morning. I haven't had time to decorate yet. But while I was up in the attic, I did find a spring wreath. I thought I would add it to my trunk vignette.

Are we ever done fluffing or tweaking? I didn't think so.

It's perfect surrounding the candles.
I even placed a small nest with some faux eggs in the middle. The wreath already has 2 nests and some eggs & even a birdy.

Here's a closeup of the birdy sitting on her nest.

I moved these Dollar Tree birdies to this cake plate to sit next to this nest.

I was going to paint these birdies, but I think I like them the way they are. Or is that the lazy person in me saying that. lol.

I also fixed the birdy in this nest. Now her back isn't to us.


I'm much happier with this vignette now.

And it looks good sitting underneath my shelf vignette.

If you want to see the first attempt at this vignette and more of my shelf vignette, click here.

Now I just need to go through my Easter box to see what will come out to play. Stay tuned. Not sure what will change for Easter. Most likely will be my mantel & china hutch that get an Easter makeover. I better hurry up though, Easter is like in 4 days. Yikes!!!



Linking to:

Ready, Set, Vignette Party @ The Storied of A to Z

My hutch is finally painted!

Did you hear that one of the signs that we are in the end times is when Kim's china hutch is finally painted? What? You haven't heard that? Well, that is what I thought.

If I'm the only one who thought that, then I guess we can all relax a little. As I have finally done it! I finally painted my china hutch.

Those of you who have been following me know that I have been wanting to paint this hutch like forever. Or at least for 15 years since I purchased it. But I could never decide on white or black.

I'm not good at making decisions. So hubby finally made the decision for me. He said to paint it black. That way it would go with our table & chairs.

Plus it sits right next to a huge white TV armoire. And my walls are white. It would have been too much white. But I do love white.

And you know what? Hubby was right (but don't tell him I admitted that). Black is the perfect color for this.

Here she is all dressed up in her Sunday best. She even got new pulls, knobs and hinges.

And here is the before photo. She was just a plain Jane. And I hated the hardware.

Here I am painting the hutch. What do you mean that doesn't look like me? What is hubby doing in the photo? Ok, I'll admit, hubby did the actual sanding and painting of the china hutch. But I was a great supervisor.

I even got hubby to put on new glass knobs & pulls. So much better than the ugly ones that were on it. I purchased these years ago from ABC Distributing online. They were cheap. Four knobs or two pulls for $4.95. I still have a bunch more knobs. And they are glass, not plastic. Too bad they don't have them anymore. Don't you hate that I just had to rub that in?

So I admitted that hubby actually did the sanding and the painting. But I got to do the fun stuff, decorating. I pretty much set it back up like I had it before painting. My plan was to decorate it for Easter, but I've been too lazy to climb up in the attic to get down my Easter stuff. And since Easter is this coming Sunday, not sure I will bother at this point. But then again, you never know.

I did pick up this little birdhouse ornament at the thrift store this past weekend for 50 cents. It kind of matches the one I had already that is on the left side of the same shelf (see photo below).
I put the 2 bird finials from Michael's on the this shelf. When I first showed you my Spring decor a few weeks back, I had the smaller finial on the top shelf where I now have my new birdhouse.

I did add a little Easter sign to my cloche I had picked up at Michael's last month for 99 cents. The sign was 99 cents, not the cloche. I wish Michael's had cloches for 99 cents.

I love how the white ironstone pops against the black.

It's fun to find stuff to put in apothecary jars. Almost anything will work. I may change mine out for candy for Easter. But if I fill them too early, they will be all gone by Easter. So I'll probably wait till Friday to fill them with candy.


I just love how my china hutch turned out. It's going to be much more fun to decorate now.

Maybe I will climb up to my attic to get down my Easter stuff.

And speaking of Easter. I did add a little decor to sit on top of my hutch.
The bunny usually sits outside in my yard. But gets to come inside for Easter. I've been having lots of fun with this photo holder. I added letters to spell Easter as well as some Easter prints. All came my collection of vintage image CD's.

I hope that you like my china hutch makeover. I love it!!! I am so happy with the result. Except since it is black, I will now have to dust it much more often. I hate housekeeping.

And I still want to distress the edges. But I was too tired after all this work to do so. I'll have to do it later. Hopefully it won't wait another 15 years.

Did I tell you I was lazy?

I think I will go and take a nap now.

Thanks for visiting.




Linking to:

Furniture Feature Friday @ Mustard Seed Creations

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Its So Very Renovated @ Its So Very Cheri

Ready, Set, Vignette Party @ The Stories from A to Z

Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Weekend Wrap Up @ Tatertots and Jello

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors