My 2nd Annual Ornament Exchange

Well ladies...it's that time of the year again! Time for my second annual Christmas Ornament Exchange! 

 Can you believe it? Christmas is less than eight weeks away! 

I can hardly believe this year has flown by so quickly. 

Just like last year, I decided to host this early, so you can get your ornaments well before Christmas. I don't know about you, but I decorate early....usually during the week I am off for Thanksgiving. I decorate so much and like to have a few weeks to enjoy gazing at it all. I'm especially excited to decorate this year since the hubby and I renovated our living and dining rooms. 

So, for any newbies.....

No big rules....just don't spend over $15. Your ornament can be purchased or handmade by you. It's up to you...:) You can send additional items if you wish, just remember it is not required so don't feel pressured to send extra items or disappointed if you only receive an ornament. I think an ornament and a nice hand-written note is sufficient, but I know some of us just love shopping for or crafting items for others, so you may choose to include an additional item or two. It is entirely up to you...:) Also, you will make two new friends since you will send to one person and receive your package from an entirely different person! Also, please let me know in your comment if you would be willing to send to someone out of the country. I have a few blog friends from other countries whom I want to be able to participate if they wish. I personally don't mind shipping to another country!

You can spread the word by copying the picture below and pasting it into a post with the link to this post. You do NOT have to do this to sign up though! Only if you want to...:)

Here are the details:

1. Sign-up will run today through Saturday, November 8th. 

To sign up you just need to leave me a comment! I will contact you after I get your comment and you can then send me your name and address. Please make sure you are not a no-reply blogger. I won't be able to e-mail you if that is the case.

2. I will announce your partners by Sunday, November 9th.

3. Purchase (new or vintage) or make an ornament (spending limit is $15).

4. Ship your ornament by November 20th.

5. I will have a link-up on my blog on or by December 13th so you can show off your new ornament from your new friend!

I was so blessed by last year's exchange and am excited to host again this year. I do hope you'll participate again and pass the word along to any other bloggers whom you feel would enjoy participating.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Fall is Finally In the Air

Hello! I'm Vicky....do you remember me? LOL! I've been so busy recently and can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. I miss blogging and hope to carve out time to post more soon. Until then, I'll share a few things from the past couple weeks. I finally decorated for fall this past week and am enjoying the warm colors. Check out my cute new squirrel plates I found at Wal Mart to add to my tablescaping stash. Aren't they adorable?

Let me share some of my decor. Here's the tag & twig banner I made last year. I still love it! 

In the living room, I placed a few decorations here and there.

Since time has been limited lately, I just printed this banner and made it two-sided  so I could enjoy it from the living and dining room. I added a fall leaf garland to the shelf above. Simple, but pretty!

The bookshelves have a few pumpkins and fall leaves scattered about.

The buffet also got a few fall decorations.....

as did the shelf.

I made a fall snack mix to give out to some of my teacher friends at school...:)

It was so tasty....rice Chex cereal, butter snap waffle pretzels, candy corn, candy corn M&M's and white chocolate.

Yum!

I did just a tiny bit of thrifting yesterday. I had a Dr appointment and ran to the Goodwill after to look for something for an upcoming project. Anywho, I stumbled upon this beautiful solid wood coffee table for $29.99. It is super sturdy and I love the drawer. 

I opened the drawer in the store and saw this inside and knew it cost far more than $29.99 new. I found one just like it online for $158! I would say I got a great deal! It is like new...just a couple tiny scuff marks. And, I love the black, so no paint job needed!

I also found this wall planter. I love these plastic resin pieces. This one will get a paint job and will be used on my new porch. Speaking of that new porch I've been dreaming of for years, we are planning to start building it in December. I am so excited! I have big plans for it and already have lots of decorative items I've been collecting for a few years. 

After my Dr appointment yesterday, the hubby and I went to Home Depot and bought a new heater. We do not have central heat/air and since we remodeled, we did not want to put a gas heater back in the house, so we decided to try one of these for now. I love it! I really love the fact that I can turn the "fire and flames" on without the heater part. It's very cozy...:)

I enjoyed looking at it last night while enjoying this.....brown sugar, pecan pound cake. Homemade by my Aunt Loretta....toasted with a little butter on top and a cup of hot chocolate. We've finally been having some cooler temperatures and I take advantage when we do. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed the last two weekends. Both full of family, fun, and laughs. I am blessed. 

Hope life is treating you well. Have a wonderful week.

Oh...be sure to check in this week if you are interested in participating in my Christmas Ornament Exchange this year. I will be posting information this week.

Until next time.....

A Whimsical Week

"S" is for Saturday! Hope you're having a happy one...:) 

I thought I would share a cute little art project my kinders made yesterday. Our letter of the week was "S", so we made silly, spotted snakes! Aren't they cute? I ordered some glittery bingo daubers from Amazon and they used them to spot their snakes after they cut them out. They added some brightly colored googly eyes to finish them off. They did a great job and had such fun making them.

I love the way they look hanging in our window...:)

We also make crayon box hand prints....so fun! We read a book titled The Handiest Things In the World and made this to go along with it. Cute or what? Their parents will love them.

OK...enough kindergarten stuff, let me share what I did today. I, along with Mama, my sister, and niece went to a neighboring town for a festival called Pioneer Day. It was a nice day out. I didn't take many photos, but I will share the ones I did. First up is my delicious funnel cake. I love these delectable fried concoctions! The saying on the cup says it all...:) It was so good.....but I was nice and shared with mama. 

The festival used to have more old fashioned activities going on. They were grinding sugar cane today to make int cane syrup. Most of you have probable never tasted it...I personally don't like it. I used to love cane grinding every fall though when I was young. My grandpa and granny used to do it every year. Sweet memories! I haven't been to this festival in years and it has changed a bit, but it was still really nice. This old house is on the property. I love the breezeway that runs down the middle of the house. There were lots of Christmas quilts hanging on the porch and railings...so pretty! 

This adorable calf caught my attention....isn't it precious. Such a unique and pretty color. He was so sleepy, but he did wake up when someone was petting him so I was able to snap a quick photo. There were many goats & bunnies waiting to be petted too as well as ponies waiting to be ridden.

I love to walk around and look at all the handmade items. Seems like there are more and more booths that have what I call junk these days though. This one was by far my favorite and the only one I purchased anything in. If you can't tell, they are wind chimes made of glass. 

When I walked inside, the owner shook the frame, causing all the chimes to start moving and making their beautiful sound. It was absolutely enchanting. I could have stood in there all day looking at and listening to all the beautiful, whimsical chimes. 

Since the park is very shaded, it was hard to get good photos of just how beautiful they were with the sun shining through. The cobalt blue glass reflected so pretty on the ground. There was a variety of items the glass was attached to....birdcages, conch shells, driftwood, miniature bicycles, candle holders, mirrors, and so on. Each one unique and beautiful. I bought three strands to make my own using something I already own. 

We are finally going to be able to start building our dream porch around Christmas and my wind chime will be so pretty hanging on it. I'll be sure to share when I get it made. This one below was made with all clear and frosted glass and chandelier crystals. It was gorgeous! I love the name of their craft.....Chaos Glass. I asked them if I could take photos and share on my blog and they said sure! I was going to share their information, but the web address she gave me wouldn't work. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed looking at them!

I didn't take any photos at the other booth, but they had the most uniquely adorable quilts I have ever seen. I got this one from their Facebook page. I think the bears were my favorite, but they were all so cute.

You can check them out on their Facebook page here. 

Source

I hope you had a wonderful week...I sure did! The hubby and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary on Wednesday the 8th. I am so blessed to have such a loving husband....he makes me whole. Anywho, we went out for a nice dinner....I had fried shrimp! Then Thursday my sister and I went to visit our friend Heather after work. Most of you probably remember me sharing Heather's battle with cancer. She is doing very well right now. She recently had another PET scan and the cancer is still inactive. Such awesome news! So, a beautiful week and another one in store, because life is beautiful every day. You just have to look a little harder for it some days. I am thankful for each and every day....and I am thankful for each and every one of you! I'll be sharing information about the ornament exchange soon! So...stay tuned!

 Have a wonderful weekend and week to come!

A Few Thrifty Finds

Hello friends and happy Saturday! I don't know about you, but I do treasure my weekends. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and my sweet little kinders, but I love the downtime the weekend provides. Mine started last night with watching my nephew play football and then sleeping in a little this morning....something I rarely do. My allergies have been giving me a fit off and on and this morning they were terrible. After I finally got up though, I decided to do just a little thrifting. I have been so much better recently....I try not to go too often and am much more selective in what I allow myself to bring home.  With that, I will share the things I have bought in the past month. Not much at all, but some great stuff!

First up is this silver-plated tray. I bought this at the Goodwill about a month ago. It was $2.99.

I love the detailed sides. I still need to give it a good cleaning!

Here it is with the set of glassware I bought last Monday when I went to the Hospice Attic. I had my frequent shopper card filled, so I got $10 in free merchandise. These glasses were $0.99  each, but free for me! 

I love the amber colored stems. They will be perfect in a fall tablescape.

I found two pillowcases recently...they were about a quarter each I think. They will join the many others I have sitting in my craft room to make a quilt with someday.

Next up are my finds from today.

I love this adorable bunny pitcher. I know it's fall, but I couldn't resist this piece for spring decorating.

Here's the back. It's a nice size too...around 10" tall. It will be so pretty with a spring bouquet in it!

I looked it up online and the cheapest one I found was $38. I saw one listed for over $60. I paid just $4 for mine and it is in mint condition! I would love to have some plates to match, but at $30 each, I'll have to hope I luck up on some at a yard sale or thrift store someday!

These sugar/olive tongs were just $0.50 and will come in handy for parties.

I also found a couple pieces of like new clothing. This Liz Claiborne top which I love!

And this pair of pants. I love the pretty pockets and the stitching on the sides. It's only at the top, not all the way down the leg. The two pieces were $7...not bad for an outfit!

And, that's it. Well, I did buy a book and a shelf for my classroom, but I haven't unloaded it from Lucy yet. That was a great find because I was needing something like it at school and I got a great deal on this one! I will probably paint it before I take it to school and I will show it to you soon if I do. 

I was so excited to find out I won a giveaway and can't wait to be able to share it! I also wanted to mention that I will definitely be hosting an ornament exchange again this year and will be posting information soon, so stay tuned! It was such fun last year and I can't wait to do it again. So, with that said, I am off to my craft room to clean. It's also my home office and it's a mess. I can't stand it anymore. Maybe I will get creative while I'm in there...we'll see! I am hoping to drag my fall decor out of the shed tomorrow and decorate my house. I'll share when I'm done. Hope you have a blessed and beautiful weekend.

Until next time.....