Gigantor Basket

After pining over all the large quilt baskets on pinterest, blogs, etc., Momma and I came across a wonderful basket at TJMaxx in Charlotte over Christmas.  Unfortunately, I had no room to shove one more single thing in our car to go home with us.  So, I reluctantly left it.  Then a few weeks later, when we were spending the day in Wilmington, we walked through that TJMaxx.  And wouldn't ya know, they had my basket there too! I was so happy and snatched it up immediately.  With basket prices being upward of 75.00 for this size, I was really excited at the 50.00 price tag.  It's a soft weave which makes it a little floppy, and I was able to fit 5 blankets in it (one being in the bottom that you can't see, just in case you are counting them, and thinking that I can't count, heehee), including a large quilt.  I finally convinced J to get rid of the fish tank as all of the little fish were dying, and the algae eater was getting too big, and murdering the small fish.  I didn't think they were supposed to be murderous, but ours was.  Psycho.  

It freed up that corner that I had dreamed of having a big basket of blankets in, and so that's exactly where it went.  I rearranged some of the wall decor, and added a bit more over the basket.  It's a much better corner now.  Plus, the surround sound speaker isn't sticking out like a sore thumb quite as badly.

It makes me want to dive in and take a nap.  Ok, so it's not quite that big, but you get the point.

Doesn't that just say it's cozy nap time to you!?  It does me, especially on these chilly winter days.

The Pink Has Taken Over!

I love to decorate for Valentine's Day.  I don't typically decorate with much pink, so when the opportunity arises, I do so!  I love pink, it's in my top favorite colors, but is hard to use in year-round color schemes.  If it were just me in the house, there would be much more pink.  But it would be sad, because I'd trade pink for J's companionship any day:)

I added some color on my bookcase with a few pink blooms, some hearts and free printables found on pinterest and other blogs.  The print in the pink frame can be found here.  The print in the sweet little birdie frame (that I HAD to have from World Market a few weeks ago when J and I spent the day in Wilmington), is here.

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Now before anyone gets too excited and starts thinking how sweet J is to be doing the dishes, he's actually just cleaning his phone case.  But I still can't resist that sweet, goofy face:)

After cleaning out all the glitter and fake pine needles from my centerpiece box that we made last fall, I decided to fill it with all of my white and red candles.  Perched in front is my sweet little love bird salt and pepper shakers from Cracker Barrel.  They're smooching.

I left up one of our Christmas trees by the back door, and added a strand of red, pink, and purple lights from AC Moore, and decorated it with heart ornaments from Hobby Lobby.  I left the twine bow on top and the burlap sack skirt from Christmas, because I just really like them.

I got some bigger red and pink hearts, and some little clay hearts with all sorts of cute love quotes on them.

I filled my favorite vase with pink and white hydrangeas.

On/at my buffet/pencil leg table, I draped a ribbon garland over the window that is wrapped with another strand of the pretty little lights, and added a heart wreath from Target.  I made some topiaries this year with styrofoam balls, a wooden dowel, and a clay pot.  All the flowers came from the Dollar Tree.  Even at 1.00 a piece for the bouquets, this project got expensive.  I love the outcome, but it went more smoothly in my head.  I had to use A LOT of flowers.  I ended up having to go to 3 different locations.  Ridiculous.  The original plan was to do two identical ones, you will see the Plan B version on the mantle.  I just trimmed the flower buds close but still leaving about a 1-2 inch stem, then hot glued them into the styrofoam.  I painted the pot white, and polka-dotted it with pink.  The wood dowel is hammered into a piece of wood and glued in the bottom, then covered with dried spanish moss, the wood dowel goes all the way through the pink one, and topped with the white one.

This is my new, absolute favorite lamp.  It was in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby.  Don't know why, it was in wonderful shape, and it has KEYS on it!  For 27.00 it wasn't even a question.  I had no idea where it was going, but I knew it was going home with me.  There was a group of girls stalking me for it, as it was the last one, and everytime they passed me, they would comment on how they just loved it, and how cute the keys were.  I didn't let it out of my sight.  It ended up being the perfect size for the table.  Another clearance item was the little wooden box.  The top was just a plain piece of padded burlap.  So, of course, it got a stenciled key on it to match my lamp.  They are the perfect pair.  Add a yummy candle, and a grapevine ball, and it finishes this little corner of the table.

In the middle sits a little bird perched on a heart, holding yet another key.  With my coupon, I got this at Hobby Lobby as well for 40% off.  I'm tellin' ya...it was a good trip to Wilmington.  (Same day that I got the bird pic frame.)

I added one of my favorite Willow Tree figurines since it goes nicely with the love theme, a red candle on a white stand (that you can't really see), and framed this cute little printable with a glass heart frame from Walmart for about 4.00.  It's kind of light, but it says "Keep Calm and Love On".  It can be found here.

I added a little stuffed heart to the swag on the entertainment center.  It's looks hand stitched and has lots of cute buttons.  I think the colors worked perfectly with the scrap fabric garland already there.

My mantle!

A little banner I made the other day.  I printed out vintage music sheets found here.  I really LOVE this website, she makes all sorts of free antique printables.  Tons of stuff there that I want to frame!  I cut out a simple square banner shape out of them, and distressed them a little more with my distressed inking stamp pads.  Then, I cut out the letters with my Silhouette Cameo, glued them on and added some primitive shaped hearts in between.  I glued them to some braided twine, and voila!

Plan B topiary.  I combined the leftover buds, and "planted it" in a pink pot.  It's a smaller one, and works well for the mantle.  It's accompanied by a candle in some milk glass and another Willow Tree.

I made this big wooden sign out of a piece of finished plywood.  The design is mine, and if you would like to use it, you are more than welcome to.  I will include a picture of the outline at the bottom.  To get this look, I used all acrylics.  I used different pinks to paint patches first, then covered it all with Antique Parchment by Apple Barrel.  Then I sanded to let the pink come through a bit.  To get the design onto the board, I colored the back with a pencil over the picture/words, and just traced on the front.  It leaves a nice outline for you to paint in on the board.  I painted the picture/words with FolkArt Lipstick Red.  The border is done in Apple Barrel's Honeysuckle Pink and Cameo Pink.  Then it got another good sanding.  To finish, and give it a more aged look, I heavily watered down some brown paint, brushed it on, and wiped it down.  I accompanied the sides with a few more printables.  The one in the red frame is here.  The one in white is here.

Candelabras, milk glass, and flower buds finish up the other side of the mantle.

Another view...

And a bit of pink and red by the front door.  A heart welcome twig swag sign and some pretty daisies in a blue mason jar.

 

And, for anyone interested in the design on my Valentine sign, here you go.  If you use it, please don't sell it or claim it as your own.  Please link back to me if you do use it or post about it.  Thank you! 

 

Note:  My board was 28x24, I uploaded it to blockposters.com to get the size I wanted for my board.  It will print it out in regular size sheets for you, then you just tape together to get your poster.