.50 Picture Frame Makeover with Vintage Script

It has been impossible to go outside to spray paint with all the extremely cold weather, wind and snow. Since I have neither a garage or basement, I must impatiently wait for warmer weather to do any big projects.

However, winter is a perfect time to take advantage of being snowed in to complete a few smaller scale projects.

One of the smaller projects I worked on this week is a small angel picture frame I found at Goodwill for only .50 cents. It had a wrinkled piece of plastic inside the frame instead of glass. I simply removed it. 

I painted the frame a soft off-white and instead of putting a picture inside the frame, I placed a piece of scrapbooking paper that I had stamped with words in a beautiful French calligraphy script and cut to size.

 I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE FINISHED PRODUCT.

Snow Again! Asheville becomes a Winter Wonderland!

Here it is the first of March and we already have another snow, seven inches this time!!  Here are a couple of shots of my front yard.
The snow turned Asheville into a beautiful winter wonderland. Although it is cold, there is no wind, so it has been very tempting to go outside and enjoy the scenery with everything coated under a beautiful blanket of white.





Shabby Chic Decorating

BH&G and Country Living magazines have many beautiful pictures of Shabby Chic decor.

Shabby Chic is a comfortable and casual decorating style that uses vintage accessories, pastels, comfortable furniture, lace, soft floral fabrics, sheer curtains and white painted furniture.

Paint is an easy and expensive way to update outdated, dark and mismatched items into an unified fresh look.

But you don't have to stop there, old picture frames, mirror frames, lamps, vases and baskets can also be transformed into beautiful accessories with a little white paint. Just choose your favorite hues, which can range from a snow white to a darker creamy white color, and you will have a totally shabby chic look in no time!

There is no limit to what you can do with this decorating style, some paint and a little creative imagination. Go for it! Let's see what we can do!

Winter Photo

It has been so cold and windy with temperatures way below normal and snow every week, definitely not normal for spring in western N.C.  To pass the time indoors, I found myself playing around with my digital camera and I found I can add sepia tones to my pictures right on the camera! I also figured out how to add frames around them too! The best part is that I did all by my lonesome which is a major accomplishment as I am very technologically challenged. I guess there is hope for me after all...Ha Ha!
So this is what I came up with. Well it's a start anyway.

Fabulous Goodwill Finds

One of my NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS was to complete several decorating "projects" that for various reasons had gotten placed on the backburner. However, because of my addiction to treasure-hunting and thrifting, instead over the past couple of weeks I have succeeded in finding new projects to add to that to do list.

I have been searching to no avail for a vintage chandelier for my bedroom. Well, I still haven't located that perfect one, however, I did find this wonderful candelabra at the local Good Will store for $2.00. It holds ten pillar candles and will be a wonderful source of ambient lighting on the desk I am PLANNING to paint and use as a nightstand. Now I just need to decide what color to paint it, hopefully before I go back to Goodwill.

Another fabulous find was these Dollar Tree photo frames. I absolutely LOVE the detailing of the appliques. I plan on painting them white and possibly antiquing them for a wonderfully distressed look. So Shabby Chic!!

My last little treasure of the week was this cute 2-drawer chest that I picked up for a mere .50. It will add a little extra storage for small items and will look great after a centsibly chic makeover.

So now that I have added three new small projects to my plate, I really have to get some of these finished so I have something to blog about next week. Stay tuned for the transformation. It begins now.......

Southern Snow

We don't often see this much snow in western N.C., much less two major storms with major accumulation within 6 weeks of each other. The first snow caught people by surprise and created a lot of havoc, putting Interstate-26 at a complete stand still and stranidng motorist for hours.


After experiencing the 14" blanketing of Dec. 19, everyone was much better prepared for the Jan. 29 snow. Even though they were predicting a foot or more we actually only got around 8 inches the second time. However this is still much more accumulation than normal.

So the area has truly been a winter wonderland lately. Look at this wonderful view view from my front porch. I have found that it has been a wonderful time to stay home, build a fire and get to work on some of my decorating projects.

Floral Pillows

Bright, colorful, patterned fabrics can make dramatic changes to any space, indoors and out. Small splashes of color from throw pillows is an excellent way to lighten, brighten, and add vitality to your decor.

There are several options to cover your existing pillows and some don't even require any sewing knowledge at all; howver, I did sew these.

Look for fabric remnants at various fabric and thrift stores, and even yard sales. If you really want to be creative, you can use pillowcases, sheets, shower curtains, or old clothing items to create unique, one-of-a-kind handmade designer pillows for your space.

I really love the additional pop of gentle color that the fabric adds to my front porch, and how it softens the hard lines of the wrought iron railings and metal bench.