Lost and Found...

I can`t believe how long it`s been since I`ve written on this little ol` blog!

I guess I can blame it on all of the writing I have done to finish up my stories for Holiday. I honestly didn't have any more words to share. I am proud of what I have accomplished and have learned so much. Because we are a small team, we have all pitched in to copy edit, proof-read, voice our opinions on backgrounds for the front-of-book stuff, and more. I think I have frozen shoulder after all of that typing but it was for a worthy (and beautiful) cause. I cannot wait until you all see the magazine! And if you haven`t ordered a copy, be sure to head here to reserve yours!

Still, I missed chronicling the goings-on in my life and am itching to get going on some decorating projects of my own. Strangely enough, I am thinking ahead to Christmas and how I want to decorate, gifts I`d like to make, and my annual crafting session with my mum and Sophie (handmade snow globes are on the agenda). You would think I would be sick of even thinking about Christmas, but strangely, the opposite occurred!

Tonight I made beef stew and crusty French bread for dinner, and that - combined with the nip in the air - made me feel like I have my groove back. No more humid heat (I hope), I can look through my cookbooks and experiment with new recipes (my goal is to add three new dishes to our dinner repertoire), and I plan to root through my rubbermaids and bring up some fall decor.  Because even though I have been transported to Christmas land via my work, it is not Christmas. And fall is here and meant to be enjoyed.

We Canadians celebrate our Thanksgiving this Sunday and I feel like I have a lot to be grateful for.

The most important "things" in my life will be sitting around our table, and I am happy to be able to fill their bellies and make them happy. We will head to a nearby ski hill and ride the ski lift, admiring the fall colors. At the top, we will hike back down - an outing that I have been wanting to go on for years. Our Thanksgiving is much simpler and uneventful than those of you who celebrate the American Thanksgiving in November. We eat, we visit, and some of us take a jaunt to a pumpkin field to buy a few for Halloween. There is no Black Friday, no shopping, and no trees set up and decorated as soon as the dishes are cleared.

And for me, stepping away from Christmas and back into fall sounds just about perfect.

Girl, Put Your Sweater On...

Winter woes.
It seems so many people have them...already! This seems counter-productive, as far as I can tell. Because one week into January and we are all ready to throw in the sweater and pine for spring?!

Not me, not yet! While last winter was admittedly altogether too long, I am not into head-butting Mother Nature just yet. We haven't come a long way yet, baby, when it comes to winter, so I advise wrapping a scarf around it and making the best of it.

Just think of the positives: consider all of the wonderful things you can do with a sweater:

1). cut off the arms of one and make knit pillow slips for your sofa pillows.

2). Use said arms and put them to use as cosies for your coffee or hot cocoa mug.

3). Take a child's turtle neck sweater and (again cutting off the arms) stitch one up as a cosy for your hot water bottle:

4). slip your favourite sweaters (of a simlar palette) over the backs of your chairs, knot the arms within each other (all preppy-like) and use as instant slipcovers! I have done this a few times and went to a thrift shop to get similar fisherman knit sweaters, which looked great.

5). Want a tidier look? Try using old sweaters of your choice to recover upholstered chair seats. This one is easy for anyone. Get out that staple gun!

(photo source: Martha Stewart.com)

6). Did you ever stop and think for one second that your produce might be feeling the cold, too?? Check out this great Etsy shop where you can find adorable cosies for your apples. Brilliant!

7). What about using old sweaters to revive outdated light fixtures. Over at Curlby.com, they are showcasing just such brilliance!

8). And if you really love sweaters, check out what I found over at Apartment Therapy.com. Now, this takes more talent than what I possess, but it gives new meaning to loving sweaters, no?

9). And last but not least, just think: what covers up that winter/holiday weight better than a good, bulky sweater? Nothing, I say! Nothing!

(Certainly not a bathing suit!)

Now, can a good sweater enjoy such popularity in the heat of summer?

Winter has a lot of goodness...

Wrap yourself up in it!

Time Passages...

It occurred to me today that I feel like making a few changes around these parts. So, knowing I cannot spend very much (i.e. next to nothing), I think I will try to root out new/less traditional shades for my lamps and even some warm white bedding to make my bedroom seem more wintery - in keeping with the chilly weather - and perhaps sew (go ahead...laugh!) some new pillow covers.

Please don't hold me to that sewing bit...I just smacked some sense into myself!

Also, I would love to have new velvet curtains for the living room window to add warmth to the room and put the boots to summer for good...since there is no hope of warm weather returning it seems! Because my money will tied up with Christmas shopping and basketball trips over the coming months, I think I found a manageable option at our local Wicker Emporium...$14.99/panel. We'll see.

That is why I love November.

It is a month of quiet before the whirlwind of the holidays begins and it's the perfect time to carry out easy home projects. Seasonal decorating at its finest!

What's on your list to tackle before the holidays?

Easterly Winds Blowing Through...

After the stop/start of our spring this year, I have been less than inspired to decorate for spring this year. While the softer colours throughout my home supports the pastels of Easter, I have found myself to be quite resistant to bringing out my decorations when snow still carpets the landscape around me. In fact, it feels a bit silly to think flowers and chicks when nothing is there to support their survival...

Enter my eight year old daughter. She cares not about my seasonal reservations; in fact, she fairly insists on scattering eggs and displaying bunnies throughout the corners of our home. Who am I to argue? So, on Friday I half-heartedly decorated for Easter, and I must admit - a little Easter goes a long way to inspire feelings of spring. Now, let's hope it is enough good karma to keep the persistent snow at bay...!!!

What about you? Do you decorate for Easter??

Show me your urns!!

Outdoor decorating has to be my favourite part of "decking the halls". I love that the outdoors offers up a veritable blank canvas that is less likely to get messed up on a daily basis, and the scheme can be tweaked quite readily each year. Something as simple as distributing your lights differently, taking a more natural approach with elements from nature, picking up a unique wreath from a local department store, and (my favourite approach) switching up what you place in your urns each Christmas, can provide just the originality that you may be seeking for your outdoor holiday setting. One of my favourite approaches to this was in my own snow ball mounds I crafted for my urns last year. A simple grapevine cone, some styrofoam balls dusted with some faux snow, and a hot glue gun was all that it took to create these fun additions.

Dressing up your urns can be as simple as using boughs and winter berries, dogwood branches, or winter kale. Grapevine balls like the one below, entwined in mini white lights have graced my urns more than once.

Evergreen topiaries and grapevine trees left au naturel, or festooned in twinkly lights, are an elegant addition to your outdoor decor.

If you want to add glamour and sparkle, you can also employ the sparkle of a gazing ball or two. Your urns will present with importance if only you let them. Look around at what you have in your decorating arsenal. View your urns as the perfect pedestal to showcase your holiday decorating style and they will serve as the perfect holiday sentries to your outdoor Christmas scene.

******all photos (except top photo): Better Homes and Gardens.com

Leaping into Fall...

photo source: Country Living.

I have done this before on my own porch, using a vintage tartan picnic tin basket. Hmmm...might be time to do it again!!

There is nothing like a little fall weather to get one in the spirit for decorating. But, for some strange reason I have yet to venture down to the basement to poke around in my fall/Halloween decorations. I keep threatening to, but I am feeling a tad uninspired to do so. Part of the problem is that my house (inside) really doesn't lend itself all that well to the warm, rich colours of autumn, and it is too early to decorate for Halloween. Now, I know a lot of you have jumped right into Halloween, but we Canadians are more hesitant to do so, until Thanksgiving is over. We celebrate our Thanksgiving in early October, so we tend to hold off bringing out the orange and black until after the holiday.

photo: Seasons of Cannon Falls: River House

I did venture out to the shops today in search of a new, fall flag. I am extremely picky about flags, as I don't like anything too cutesy, and yet I do like the sight of a flag blowing in the wind. Unfortunately, I found nothing I liked, so again I hit a fall decorating roadblock! Oh well, off to Halifax I go on Friday, so we will see what they have to offer.

outside my home, Fall 2007

I thought had better offer up some fall decorating inspiration to inspire me and those of you who are in the same boat. Hopefully, these images will light a fire under me, and lead me down the stairs to the boxes awaiting me...

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**For those of you who are wondering about the blue pumpkin on the mantel, in my banner photo above, I created it last fall - when faced with the challenge of decorating a beach-inspired palette with shades of orange and yellow. You can read about it here: http://restyledhome.blogspot.com/2007/09/losing-wood-blue-pumpkins-and-scary.html

The ever changing mantel...

Kari and Kijsa are doing a fun post about how to decorate your mantel. They have invited others to show how they adorn theirs, so I thought I'd show a few photos of mine...as it looks throughout the seasons. I love changing my mantel-scape, and it is a great way to give a nod to the changing seasons and shake up the feel of your room...without moving any furniture!!

The first photo shows my mantel at Easter, two ways:

Then comes summer...

Bet you can't guess what comes next? You're right! Fall!! Remember my blue pumpkin (a real one simply spray-painted and glittered...)?

Oh, and now it's Hallowe'en:

And you guessed right! Christmas rounds out the lot!

Decorating for free...!!

I think most of us, who share a love of making a house a home, love a good deal. In fact, the better the bargain, the happier I am. I have always loved achieving a great look for less, and it doesn't come any cheaper than using that which we already have! So, in that mindset, I decided to go poking through boxes in my basement and garage, and sifting though the stacks of linen in my linen closet. I discovered happily that I have a veritable treasure trove, albeit modest, already in my possession...just waiting to be pulled out of storage!

I have shown you my apron collection before, and lamented that I really don't have a proper spot to display them. Although I picked up a great wooden rake that is just calling out for me to hang them there, I don't have a great spot for the rake (which probably means I shouldn't have bought it, but it was such a good deal!!). So, my poor aprons have been languishing in my linen closet, and I longingly take them out and hold them up to admire from time to time...


Well, today I decided I would add some spring colour to my home, as the weather is so nice, and I am putting off raking the rest of my grass. I decided to wrap the aprons around the frame of my dining chairs for a cheap and easy slipcover of sorts! They look so pretty, but do clash a bit with the rest of the room...so I may only leave them there for a while. I will, however, start looking for gauzy white aprons that would look so much more fitting. ***by the way, if anyone knows where I can purchase some, please let me know...keeping in mind, I live in rural Nova Scotia, Canada!***

I also made a checker board and a few tic-tac-toe sets to share. I used a leftover floor tile for the checkerboard, made the grid using permanent marker and a crown stamp, and used some pretty blue rocks and miniature sand dollars I bought last week (in a bag of 100) for $10 as the pieces. I want the games for outside, as my kids love to play while they sit around the outdoor table. The XO'S game is played on another left-over tile, that I cut into four equal boards. The tiles were backed in mesh, so I simply used scissors to do the cutting.

Sometimes you can find things to decorate in the funniest of places. This glass jar of old marbles was hidden behind the cafe curtain in my bathroom. I think I stuck it there a while back, while cleaning, and I just rediscovered it while I was spring cleaning. The marbles became mine when they were left behind in the little old house we renovated a few years back.

Now for some incredible artwork!! This painting was done by my daughter. She painted it last year, and I found it inside the piano bench. When I showed it to her, she exclaimed, "My little robin bird!" Needless to say, I wrote that on the back of the painting and framed it using a cheap, but effective, plastic frame from Walmart. I perched it on the piano, and it makes me smile at the sweetness of it.

The top of this little armoire was very bare after I took away the Easter decorations. The other day, while walking with a friend, I picked these pussy willows and stuck them in a vase. Pussy willows always bring me back to my childhood, when I'd pick them alongside the road and rub the bud between my fingers, pretending it was a lucky rabbit's foot (which I'd never touch anyway!). Again, free and easy ...and readily available in ditches near you!

As promised, here are the tiles I bought from Joy. These frames I already had hanging in my bathroom. While they could be prettier, sticking to my motto, they were free and readily available for immediate use. I simply put a pretty scrapbook paper behind the glass, and mounted the tiles directly to the front of the glass using double-sided tape. That way, I can change the frames when I see some I like, and also remove the tiles when I find my "forever home" and then permanently attach them amongst some pretty tile in my kitchen or bathroom.

Now, aren't you inspired to go "shopping" in your own home??

Comfortably numb...

the mantel...all ready for spring.

our cat Jack...the definition of comfortably numb...and the inspiration for my title

I can't get out of my own way... yet, I also have been tearing around the house trying to get a head start on spring cleaning and trying to finally finish our now almost two-year old home. By finish, I mean paint a few closet doors that got "missed"; fill in some nail holes in the trim and do touch-ups; and paint more trim so that I can finally see the end to the paintbrush, except when it is called on for a "fun" project. Now that my son's birthday is over and done with, I can move on to other projects that need doing...but for some reason I am faced with dread at the thought of tackling them.

The framed pictures were painted/drawn by my two youngest children. The one in front is of a chick...

I got both of these from Winners...

The kids are off on March Break this week and we basically have a whole lot of nothing planned. I plan to work only if absolutely necessary. The Easter decorations are up, I have washed some curtains, cleaned on top of my fridge (why is it sticky up there?), and yet in between chores and meals, I am walking around in a bit of a daze. I want to be ready to burst through the door when spring finally arrives for real. I want to be ready for the opening of the garden centers instead of feeling the draw to be inside cleaning out cupboards and closets...yet I'm not sure I'm ready. Back to back rotten colds have me a bit down and out, yearning to plop onto the sofa and pretend I've nowhere to be, and no items on my to-do list. Comfortably numb...that's what I am, yet life isn't allowing it. Is it strange to almost wish it was still winter...not the weather, but the slower pace??

...my collection of bunnies

Some days, I want to be a child...relaxing on the couch on a rainy day, sniffing the air for the smells of dinner cooking...taking guesses as to what will be served that night. Or perhaps outside trying out my bicycle after the winter's break...seeing if my legs will be always be as wobbly as they feel on that inaugural ride. Then, thoughts of school and homework snap me back to reality and I put on my big girl shoes and am happy to be an adult again. Because that is what I am...a grown-up with a family, a home, a job, and responsibilities...and I give my head a good shake and get on with it. Seasons change...and I'm good with that. Next week, spring can come...

I picked up this beautiful box of soaps in Halifax...along with the great, wooden tray that says, Postage Stamp

I made this shadow box picture using a beautiful Easter greeting card I found last year. I am pretty sure it is a Hallmark card...

Neither the chocolate bunny nor the candies (sooo pretty) are real. If they were, the dish would be empty...