Shopping The 80% Off Aisle At Hobby Lobby

Hi everyone! Last weekend I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time since April (which is a long time for me~smile) and I went straight to the 80% off aisles. I should have taken my camera for those of you that don’t have a Hobby Lobby.


The deals in those aisles are just amazing! Picture shelves and shelves of all kinds of candlesticks, obelisks, frames, art, signs, decorative items etc….all 80% off the original price! Want to see what I got for $17?

I got these three things!


Love the black rooster (which looks very similar to the one I painted white from Goodwill).


To give you an idea of the pricing in those aisles - the rooster was $6 and the cross was $3 and the picture was $8.


I added the new cross to the crosses that are in our hallway (top right).


It’s hard to photograph that wall since the hallway is small (I had to stand in the hall closet for this one LOL)!


It was fun to shop Hobby Lobby especially since my Husband and Daughter left me there while they did other errands. Usually they walk around a bit then sit at the front waiting for me. This time I could look at everything at my leisure. Plus I hadn’t been in a few months so there were a lot of new things to see!

A few things that will be coming up….Friday I’ll have photos of my living room china cabinet decorated for the 4th of July and the following Monday will be the July Book Giveaway.

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit today!

Collections

Hi everyone! Hope you all had lovely weekends! I’m worn out from putting up the last few fence posts and panels along the back of our property. I have sympathy for anyone that has to work outside in this heat and humidity! Anyway, I thought I’d share a collection that I know I haven’t shown before since it's fairly new.


My salt and pepper shakers! A small object but when grouped together  I think they make a statement.

By the way, the stand they’re on used to look like this…


Dont’ be afraid to remake things so that they work better in your decor. I spray painted this stand with a semi-gloss and replaced a few of the clear crystals with red.

I think it works better for me this way!

This collection began because I started noticing S&P shakers at the thriftstore that I thought were pretty. Either because of their shape or because of what they were made out of.


It's great that they don't take up much room!


The fun of collecting is hunting and gathering is as much as the displaying don't you think? Sometimes I only find one shaker and sometimes I find a pair - it doesn't matter.


Above them are two of my “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” plates (I have a small collection of those).

On the bottom of this corner table is my collection of silverplated coffee/tea pots.


I guess I have a quite  a few collections (mostly plates though - I'm a dishaholic)!

Obviously these are not “serious” collections that are worth a lot of money. But that doesn’t matter to me. I only collect things which speak to my heart. I would never collect something to use in my home just because it’s the “hot” new collectible this year.

I have to fall in love with something in order to collect it!

Tell me what you collect as I’d love to know and thanks for dropping by today!

Sunday Photo Feature

I have one perennial Hibiscus. It’s been coming back every summer for about 6 years!

The red Hibiscus is supposed to have medicinal properties.

It also is supposed to make a pretty tasty tea, but I’ve never tried doing that with mine.

I just enjoy the huge flowers!

Thanks for stopping by today!


I hope you're having a lovely weekend!

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My Foyer – Tiny But Cute!

Hi everyone! I finished painting my new railing in the foyer and made a few other little changes so I thought I’d give you a tour of what I’ve done so far.

Below is  the old railing. It was wood on top of metal. Yuck -not my style at all!

Here’s my new wood railing.

Now painted black with white spindles. Looooove it sooooo much! I know it’s a little thing but that old railing really has bothered me for 11 years. Sometimes I just stand at the top of the stairs and admire my new railing and my red halltree from Goodwill~smile. They just make me happy!

When I bought the halltree I knew I wanted to display vintage hats from the hooks. I found this old one with flowers recently at Goodwill and just love the summery look it gives this piece!

I added some red flowers to my wicker (is it a picnic basket? – I don’t know what it is  - it looks like a big wicker purse) also from Goodwill.


At the bottom I have my rooster that I just got from Goodwill (the red white and blue one that I painted white).


I found that black with red roses rug at TJ Maxx for $14.99. It’s hard to find the right size rug for this little space. The door can’t open if it’s too wide and a regular runner is too long. The dog needs a rug here (don’t ask...LOL he’s cute and we love him, but he has issues!) plus it makes the space cozy.

Speaking of dogs, above the door is my collection of dog prints. Some are from the thriftstore, one is a paint by number that my daughter did when she was little that I framed, and the two longer ones are vintage prints.

The three small thriftstore mirrors I painted red and my Spode plates – the pattern is Hunting Dogs.

I also finally added some trim to the 1/2 wall that separates the foyer from the living room (another little thing that’s bothered me for years). It looks much more finished now! Like many split-foyer houses, it  had a railing there when we first moved in instead of a solid wall. We put up the half wall but never trimmed it out!


I have a few more things on my immediate wishlist for this little space. We’ve had these two pieces up there basically since we moved in 11 years ago. They were really hard to hang and we just haven’t wanted to tackle taking them down, but we’re looking for something a bit more colorful. So  those will go as soon as we find something we love.

Also, remember the vintage chandelier I found in my neighbors garbage? Well my electrician friend hasn’t been able to to come over to see if he can fix it (3 boys all in softball, soccer etc and now they’re in CA for two weeks)! So I don’t know if I’ll be able to use it in my foyer as I had originally planned. He would do it for basically next to nothing and I don't want to have to pay to rewire and hang it.

I’m thinking I will either paint this one (maybe yellow, or red or maybe a whiter white) and add some toile shades (which I already have).  What do you think? Or else I’ll just find a new one. There are so many places online that have great prices on lighting. I’m just over those glass shades ~smile…these things happen!

On my future wishlist is a new door with some glass to bring more light in and new hardware (rubbed bronze perhaps). I’d love to take out the terracotta tiles and put in stone. But that’s all a long way off unless I’m lucky and happen to find an amazing deal on those items (you never know)!

But in the mean time, I’m well pleased with what I’ve done with my little space!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Thanks so much for spending some time here with me today!


P.S - I have decided to paint the stairs but that will be a fall project (I'm working on the family room this summer - painting the paneling now). I'm thinking a harlequin pattern in black and white on the risers to tie into the b&w checkerboard pattern in the kitchen.

Good Things To Eat

Hi everyone! I thought I’d show a few of the good things to eat that are growing in the garden. The blueberries are starting to turn blue!

It’s really been a mixed growing season so far. Some things are loving the unusually high temperatures that we’re having and some things are not. I’m glad I don’t really have to feed my family from what I grow! I think we’d starve this year!

The eggplants seem to love the heat and are producing well.

It’s roasted eggplant tonight!

The lettuce mix does not like the heat. In an effort to keep it cool and hopefully keep it from bolting, I used this fun paper parasol instead of a more traditional shade cloth.

We’ll see if it works – but at least it looks better than burlap!

The tomatoes apparently aren’t loving the constant heat. So far only the Sweet 100’s and the Romas are turning red (I did have one really big Better Boy but SOMETHING was in my garden the other night and ate half of it and some corn!).

LOTS of basil! How do you preserve basil if you want to make pesto but you’re not ready to make it yet? Usually I dry my excess basil. If I freeze it will it still make good pesto?

Last year I planted a fruit tree that has three different fruits on it. So far the plums are ripe!

I also tried something a bit different with this tree. I planted it in a bed with other non-fruiting shrubs and trees (it’s the one behind the birdbath). All of our other fruit trees are in one area (I was going to make a little orchard) but we’ve been having problems with different diseases spreading from one tree to another.

The pears  and apples aren’t quite ready yet.


Since the Little Meadow is close to the other fruit trees I thought I’d show you a new flower that has been blooming. It’s a tall spiky flower with yellow blossoms at the top. Does anyone know what it’s called?

The Little Meadow is such a joy to us that I’m thinking of expanding it next year. There are the prettiest little yellow birds that seem to like it and fly out every time we walk by and the butterflies seem to love it too! There’s always some new flower growing. Sometimes they’re small, delicate and close to the ground and sometimes they’re tall like this yellow one!

This is just the beginning of good things to eat! There’s still so much more to come from the garden.  Thanks for visiting today!