Big News & My Comeback and Tablescape, too!

This old girl, JP, is making a comeback!!! 

I'll be sharing my home decor and inspirational accents, again and starting a brand new venture in creating and sharing more beautiful tablescape designs.

 

I, finally, have a reason to blog again...aside from the love of sharing my inspirations, I will be earning an income by sharing occasional posts promoting a major retail company.

No doubt, the sharing decor ideas will keep on rolling with peeks at more room and vignette photos.

Just a little bit about why I've been away from blogging for so long. My hubby and I decided that we were ready to move south to warmer waters and did so 7 1/2 years ago. With that came my love of the ocean, an addiction to hunting for shells and feeling the heat of the sun on my body. The time spent blogging with no financial reward was too much work for me. I did it all, and if you blog you know what that means! I never did get outside help to promote myself and be able to work less, hence my walking away from this creative outlet.

Some pics of a recent tablescape for fall and my honey's birthday earlier this month.

The fall jug, with a little tweaking, as it sits on our table, now.

I'll be trying to get back into the swing of things, even just getting re-aquainted with my blog and the layout and everything that goes with it is a bit of a challenge. If you are a blogger and have any tips to pass along to me regarding not having to "do it all," please, send me a tip.

Until next week, I'll be fumbling along and having fun going through my pile of inspirations for my next fall tablescape to share with you!

This is how I get started to roll...a bunch of stuff and ya never know!

Real life inspirational chaos!

Maybe's?

Til Next Time...

Love, Hugs & Kisses,

JP

and Gucci, too!

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Spring is Sprouting in Our Window

Spring fever really hit me hard last week and everything winter and Valentine's day related got put away.

The first to get a re-do was our bay window in the kitchen.  We've been in our house for almost three years and I think that it's seen over a dozen seasonal and holiday looks. 
What a fun spot it is to decorate.

So, here it is this year with an assortment of seedlings, spring cuttings and a few house plants...it's the sunniest part of our house.

And at times the hardest to photograph!

An old toolbox tote is now a perfect container for my zinnia seedlings. I perched it on top of a little stool to add some height and raise it above the other two wooden boxes that are on each side.

Moon flowers were planted first and are already showing some bright green leaves.

Bird votives perch in a few choice places where we can light turn them on and enjoy them in the evening.

No-o-o my zinnia's are not already blooming.....I tried my hand at painting a few like ones that have been shared on Pinterest.

 I left my pine cones whole since I found it really, really hard to cut them.

Zinnia's make such nice long lasting cut flowers. I'm excited to see how many I'll get this summer to fill bottles and jars all around the house.

I added color coded coffee stirrers, to each pot, to easily identify the colors of the plants.

My African violets are back where they are happiest...

with a few basil plants started in between.

Faux spring branches and vinca cuttings, from the yard, fill a jar and give some height on the left. Our neighborhood has some beautiful pear trees that I wanted to cut a few branches from and watch them bloom indoors. I didn't dare risk getting caught!

Soon our yard, in back and out front, will be blooming with amazing azaleas.
It's such a gorgeous sight for a few weeks in April although I see some pink buds already popping way ahead of schedule!

 A hanging vignette holding a few things of spring.

This sentimental plaque has seen many seasons on the outside....this year I brought it in.

I made a centerpiece, in farmhouse style, for our kitchen table.

A pot with basil plantings sits waiting on a stool for some daily sun.

 The chandy got a spring touch to it, too.

 I've got lots more seeds to get started....cosmos, cleome and some lettuce, too!

Here's a little glimpse of what's on our mantel making it look like spring. It's a cute little swag of ribbons, fabric and string!

Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

  

 


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Centerpiece Change in the Kitchen and my Pig Takes Center Stage

It was time for a new look for our centerpiece in the kitchen, time for new trim and time to my let my country pig take center stage!

She was a "piggy pink" when my honey bought her for me almost twenty years ago. I painted her to make her fit in with our decor....I don't do pink!

The centerpiece started out like this. Then I made the little changes and swapped the rattan place mat for the pair of green ones to add more green to the vignette

Here I added some fresh cut basil, from our window, to fill the vase some more.

Same exact photo? NOT!

A little secret of mine, that I use a lot is the cloning tool in Pic Monkey. It's the photo editing program that I use for every single pic that I share. 

I hate imperfections and blemishes and since I had no more perfect flowers or basil on hand I just cloned them.

I use it to hide wires and dust and cracks....anything that I didn't notice when taking my shots!

 You can see that I added a checkerboard trim to the lazy susan, to change it up again, and match the stool that I painstakingly painted. I shared it's "how to" in this post.

I shared how I, recently, re-painted it white and added Italian and English words all the way around. It was very apropo for our Italian themed dinner party that we had a few weeks back.

Then came the 4th of July. An American flag band disguised the words and made the perfect patriotic accent.

It's so easy to add any trim...I just stick it on with some "poster putty" which makes it really easy to remove.

"Emma" almost always wears her pearls!

A chicken wire wrapped jar holds some fresh cut summer flowers.....note: petals not cloned...oops!

I think she's happy being center stage, so I'll keep her happy for a while!

And now I'm itching to re-do the bay window, again, with a summer theme. I'm just holding off because I'm still in love with the herb garden look. Nothing beats the handiness of having herbs right at hand in the kitchen!

 Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

Can you see him? He's playing "peek-a-boo!"

 
 
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