Can't Believe January is Already Finished!

Can you believe it?  We're already done with January and heading into February.  The holiday decorations have been packed up for almost a month and spring seems to be right around the corner.  I can't believe it.  Tonight I'm pulling down my New Year's decorations, but before I do, I thought I'd let you see them.

"Be always at war with your vices,

at peace with your neighbors,

and let each new year find you a better man"

--Benjamin Franklin

 

First, our inspirational quote...this quote replaced "'Twas the night before Christmas..."   (You can still see the North Star left from the Christmas quote.)  Now it is time for me to come up with a quote about love for Valentine's.

Nice photo, right?  (Not!)

These little Ikea tea lights are a perfect place to add seasonal sayings.  Different fonts, different sayings, different looks.




Loved how this project turned out!

Finally, this actually turned out to be my favorite "decoration".  I used 3M stickers to put a poster board with the heading "In 2013, I'd like to..." on the wall, put out a box of sharpies and left my family to do what they chose.  It was so fun to see what each of us wanted to do...

Sewing, computers, savings, rock climbing, and
deadlifts, butterfly pull-ups, reading more...it is a varied list.

Everything from better performance at the gym and saving money...

Horses, gardens, vegetables, savings, a pull-up, a muscle up, single-unders.
Then, there are the specific ones: 6:30 mile, 350 deadlift (yeah, right!), etc.

To improving other skills and gaining new one...I loved "get even more cats"!  It was really great to see what everyone was interested in as the month progressed.  What will be even more interesting?  To see how much we have accomplished by the end of the year!

 

Updated Pillars - A couple coats of spray paints gives cupboard dwellers new life!

Years ago, I liked the sleek look of brushed nickel/silver.   I loved these pillars.  Since then, however, my tastes have changed and these candlesticks have been relegated to the cupboard.  Still, I liked the shape of them and they came to mind when I was looking for a way to update my fall mantle.

I took advantage of the unseasonably nice weather we've been having and headed outside with my candlesticks, a flattened box, my bench cookies, and two cans of spray paint.

The bench cookies let me get the candlesticks up above the cardboard to get a nice coat of paint all the way to the bottom of the candlesticks.

The first coat was black.

Then I sprayed on a light coat of metallic brown.

 Ta Da!  Updated candlesticks that look fabulous with my Fall pillar candles.

Now, I just need to wait until Halloween stuff gets put away and my beautiful candlesticks and be part of my Fall mantle.

WIP Wednesday... (UPDATED)

You didn't think that just because I am sick that I've been sitting around doing nothing, did you? Good! I've been working on a few things and here are two of the things I've been working on.

Here is my version of Tootsie's candle wreath. I was so impressed with her clever idea that I blogged about it here. I'm happy to report it was just as easy as Tootsie promised. As you can see, my potpourri was bigger, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It still needs to dry a little, so the wax paper is a necessity. I think it will be really pretty with a green or white candle. What do you think?


Then, in an effort to use up stuff I have had for a while, I pulled out this pre-printed wreath project for Buttercup. If you look carefully, you can see the date on the fabric says 1991 (!) and I know for a fact I bought it before 1995...you do the math. Anyway, I spent my time cutting out all the leaves, the wreath itself, the ribbon and the berries. Then I pinned all the leaves and the wreath for Buttercup, who'll be sewing this week. I'm embarrassed how long I've had it, but I'm happy Buttercup is going to finish it.


So, there you have it...a few of the things that we've been working on. What about you? What have you been up to these days.

UPDATE:

My sister, the brat, says my picture of the candle wreath isn't very good and doesn't show it as pretty as she's sure it is (nice save there, Kate) , so I thought I'd give you an
other one.

So, what do you think? I still think it is pretty. And the Modge Podge did not do away with the Paperwhite scent. It is all good!