Button Up...

... busy, busy and using lots of buttons! 



I love buttons!

 

The Lid is Off...

... of the paint can. What do you do with your old paint can lids???




I give mine a blast of orange spray paint, some polka dots, of course,
 a little spatter painting and...

...the beginnings of a spooky face!

 Stay tuned.... more pumpkin faces and paint can lids are headed your way.

PS. Be sure to go here to enter the GIVEAWAY!!!!!




Linking Up:

50,000 reasons... or read the LARGE print, not the fine print!

I thought I had a few more days to put this post together but it all happened so fast!!

I had decided last week that I would do my first giveaway when I reached 50,000 views. I know some blogs have that in a week, probably a day, but it's a big milestone for me - it means someone besides my mom and my friend DeDe are reading :)

It is mostly thanks to this guy.

So run, run as fast as you can and read about the Gingerbread Man! It's funny actually. He has had a bazillion hits - thank you Pinterest and Be Colorful Blog - a fav, but when my friend commissioned him I struggled a bit with how to make the brown Gingerbread Man cute and colorful. Turns out he's a charmer. There have been a few other high traffic posts:
like the Pumpkin Totem, and Snowman in a Baggie, which is about the simplest thing I ever thought up!
I planned to set up a new mollie's mom Facebook page** and then have a giveaway.
 Well, I struggled with some of the FB set up issues and linking the blog and FB so that delayed the giveaway a bit.
But I finally got it all pulled together and we are over 50,000 views so here are the "deets", as they say:
Just "like" mollie's mom on Facebook and then leave  a message on this post that you "liked" the new FB page ( if you want to have two chances to win then "pin" your favorite project from this blog and tell me that in the message also!)and what you want to win because you can choose:
either a burlap candy corn door hanger
like this

 or a canvas with a favorite verse or quote
like this



You choose and I'll send it your way.
Pretty simple. And I'll choose a winner on....
 a favorite day of mine ... 9/29 ... College Girls birthday!!!

Good Luck!!!

** The Facebook page is set up but I still am having trouble with the FB "Like" button for my sidebar!!! Any tips???  I've had some choice things to say about the FB" help" pages. :(

Linking Up:

So long, Summer....

Labor Day is the official end of Summer.

It is still hot.hot here in the South and we have long been back at school but traditionally we think of Labor Day as The End. I'm not ready. I'm never ready for Summer to end. I will listen to beach music all year long... Sirius is programmed to Margaritaville... I can't give up shorts and flip flops and Summer colors yet... although the white pants are now retired ... I was raised in the South, y'all. I cannot do it. No matter the temp!

There wasn't enough beach time this Summer.

 Let's face it there's never enough beach time for me :)

But my beachy sign has about had it ... ( lesson here - I obviously did not prime. The knots are bleeding through. )

So, it's a little sad to say "so long" to Summer.

But trying to see the bright side... It's time for SEC football!!!! Nothing like Game Day to cheer one up - as I said, I was raised in the South y'all!!

And I'm thinking about painting my tangerine door for Fall. I may go with a warm, dark greige. I'm still playing with my SW paint fan but I know in my heart I cannot put a red bow on that Tangerine door come December 1 :)  So I'm thinking of painting that door. I paint my front door like some women change purses. My husband predicts a time will come when that door won't shut 'cause there will be a bazillion layers of paint on it. We'll see.

Linking Up:

For Cindy!

My friend Cindy, who is awesome and fun, said she didn't have any

 "marcieart" as she calls it - all one word.

She mentioned that the other friend we pal around with had more than one piece of "marcieart", ( there may or may not have been a little pouting involved), so I decided I better get on it. This verse was perfect for her and her workspace at her church. She's a great, great teacher!! So I cranked this out and delivered it yesterday over Starbucks and hours of chatting!!

While running around the house on this gloomy, sunless day ( we are feeling the effects of Hurricane Isaac, weather-wise ) and trying to get a good picture I found out that this looked pretty good on my tangerine door!!

Apparently, I am more "in" to these colors than I realized because it looks good with the colors on my porch cushions - of course, there is every color on this porch.

But I gave it to her anyway!!! So I guess now it's Cindyart !!

This "marcieart" was painted on my favorite Dick Blick canvases ( no kick back from Dick Blick STILL but they are on sale and I'm stocking up so I thought I'd share the link!!!) and the flowers are Mod Podged scrapbook paper. Easy peasy.

Pumpkins and Snowmen and Spiders, Oh My!!!

... or another title might be " What's on the Work Table Right Now!" 

I asked a while back if you were started on Halloween or Christmas Crafts yet??

Well, I had to get started this week because I signed up for the WWIT Craft Show.

It's not really called the WWIT Craft Show. I just call it the  " What Was I Thinking" Craft Show. It has a much nicer name and it is a lovely weekend planned by the ladies at church.

 
I call it that because, well, what was I thinking?? I signed up back in February or March and it seemed so far away :) I saw a little boy in a t-shirt once that said, " It seemed like a good idea at the time"  I think that I need that shirt. 

I haven't done a craft show in probably a decade.
 I am enjoying getting started on all these ornaments and doodling ideas for the rest of my "creations."  But what was I thinking??

 

And if your work table is all tidy and organized ( unlike this one ) when you create please don't share that little tidbit with me!

I'll keep you posted on how it's going... at least I have until October :)

 

 

Linking Up:

I LOVE My Porch!

After a question or two about where College Girl was in this post I decided to share a few pics of my porch. We truly love our porch. We use it year 'round and even here in the South that means we are sometimes wrapped up in a blanket to be out here but we love it that much. It is beachy and comfy and fun!! These are pictures of one side - I'll post the rest another day. We love it morning, noon and night. I start every day out here with coffee and it is our favorite dinner spot as well. The dogs love this porch, too. Our friends love this porch. We entertain here even if we have to crank up propane heaters in the Winter. We have had Christmas Eve and St. Patty's Day parties on this porch!! We had more than 225 people for College Girls HS graduation party. It's a big porch :)

 

 
We have a hanging bed on this side of the porch. It is overflowing with pillows and cushions and is the best napping spot in town. If College Girl is home for more than an hour this is where you will find her and the doggies right beside her :) If she has required reading for class or is reading for fun, this is the spot! My husband built this from pictures I had been saving forever.

 
We have adirondack chairs in every corner of this porch. We built them from kits and painted each one a different color. There are plants and lamps and places to sit and eat.

We love this yard sale find table. Lamp from Wal Mart, candle holders from IKEA, crab from my sister. Nothing is expensive or to be worried about. We have FUN on this porch.

 
We repurposed an old mantel and everything looks better with twinkle lights.
 This porch is amazing at night!

The only improvement would be if it was actually at the beach and we could hear the waves. There is a pond with a mermaid fountain right outside this section of the porch so you can take a nap listening to trickling water. It's good but it's not waves!!

 

We built this hutch from a recycled kitchen cabinet and found lumber to house a TV and DVD player but we took it out a while back because we just relax and read on the swinging bed.
I love this porch because it reminds me of the screened porches of my childhood summers on the beaches around Charleston, SC. My cousin and I slept outside on "sleeping porches" at Bonneau Beach, Georgetown and IOP. Nothing like it!
I read a quote years ago in a decorating magazine that said, "If everyone in America had a screened porch to come home to the whole country would be a better place." I think it's true.

Linking up: