CSI Mod Podge Challenge

One of my favorite projects of past was the Ballard inspired French document.  The CSI Project  is having a Mod Podge challenge and I have added this project to the competition.   Amy from  Mod Podge Rocks  is the guest judge this week and you have to check out all the great projects she does with Mod Podge.

This was my inspiration for the project.

My project cost $422.75 less than the original!   You can see how I made this along with a cost breakdown here.

I love how it turned out!

Thanks to The CSI Project for hosting this competition. Please drop by to see all the creative projects using

Mod Podge.

Hugs, Sherry

I'll be joining the parties at:

The CSI Project

Southern Hospitality 

Be Colorful 

Todays Creative Blog 

Life As Lori 

Romantic Home

Finding Fabulous

Common Ground

more lovely photos from the internet......

here are some other wonderful photos from different blogs, sites, etc. please email me or leave a comment on my blog if you'd like to know where i found these.

hope you are having a really nice day!! Summer is still here, so that's a good thing!
Have fun!
Debbie

My One Very Important Word Sign...

Simply said...

I made this little sign out of a piece of scrap wood from the back yard.  So easy.

Linking up over at Keeping It Simple and The DIY Showoff

Thrifty Tabletop Breakdown!

I want to thank you for all the sweet comments on my Restoration Hardware look-a-like table.  You guys are the absolute best!  I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your friendship and support.

If you have read my blog for any time at all you know I prefer to decorate on a budget and thrive on finding that fantastic bargain.  I like having nice things in our home but I have found so much of the expensive decor can be duplicated or purchased for a lot less money.  That being said I want to show you what I spent to put  together the look in my previous post.  Here's the breakdown.

The table is a copy of a $1295 Restoration Hardware one. As I mentioned in my previous post I found the identical table at Roomstore for $379.

The mirror I found at Anthropologie at 70% off.  I have seen this same mirror priced at $300 other places.  I paid $62.00.

Wisteria had some gorgeous prints in a mirrored frame for $150 each.  I loved them but I knew I could find something I liked as well for a lot less.  Last year I found similar prints in mirrored frames on clearance at Target. I paid $9.00 each for my version of Wisteria's art.

The little black sconce was purchased at a consignment shop for $5.00 and the Quimper style plate at a garage sale for $1.00. 

During my search for the table I stopped at Bassett Furniture and purchased the green glass lamp for $10.00

from the clearance room. This lamp had an original price tag of $140. 

The metal urn was painted bright gold when I found it in a junk shop for $6.00. A little paint and glaze solved that problem. The urn was filled with seashells purchased  at a garage sale for $2.00. There must have been 200 shells or more in the bag. The coral, star fish and pink shell I have owned for years.

I Love this plaster architectural piece and it was $8.00 from the same junk store that had the urn.  I also got the large basket there for $5.00 and the metal gym basket for $10. The two wine bottles and large apothecary bottle I have had for years. I am sure I paid less than $10 each for them.  The best buy of all were the two antique clay pots purchased locally at an on-line auction.  My cost for both pots was $3.00!!

Total cost for all accessories, including wall and tabletop = $150!  See why I love hunting for bargains?

*Thanks for the advise on painting the vent. I had wanted it painted but hubby was afraid the paint would chip off the metal.  With so many of you backing me up he caved in!  

Thanks for stopping by.

xo,xo, Sherry

I am  linking up my thrifty table top to the following parties:

Southern Hospitality 

Coastal Charm 

Bargain Hunting And Chatting With Laurie 

Colorado Lady 

Tales From Bloggeritaville 

Dipity Road 

Debbiedoos

Finding Fabulous

Steel windows and doors

 

More and more architects are integrating steel windows and doors in their designs. The advantage of using steel windows and doors is, that it ables designers to create slim profiles and frames to achieve the right proportions.

Steel windows allow a room to be filled with the maximum amount of light and is creating a closer connection with the exterior or the garden.

The combination of steel windows and wooden doors, or vice versa, is wonderful.

The images here will illusrate this.

 

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A brick floor in combination with the steel windows and door.

 

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The lines of the window are more or less repeated in the steel frame of the coffee table.

 

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A close connection with the landscape outside.

 

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Again a combination of steel and brick.

 

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Love this door!

 

 

Steel windows are very comfortable to use in an orangery or in a conservatory. They allow the maximum amount of light to come in and create an indoor/outdoor feeling.

 

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Notice the slim frame of this window/door.

 

 

 

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If you don’t dare to bring in a big steel window, try a small one as this! Charming isn’t it?

 

 

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A steel door/window construction between this kitchen and the room next to it.

 

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Awesome

 

Source : picture taken by me.

Perfect proportion !

 

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I love the shadows of the window lines on the floor.

 

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I am convinced of the beauty of these steel windows and doors! Are you?

 

Note :I would love to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my previous post about the teenager photoshoot of my nephew Simon!!! He was so pleased to read your thoughts!!!

xx

Steel windows and doors

  More and more architects are integrating steel windows and doors in their designs. The advantage of using steel windows and doors is, that it ables designers to create slim profiles and frames to achieve the right proportions. Steel windows allow a room to be filled with the maximum amount of light and is creating a closer connection with the exterior or the garden. The combination of steel

Loving Old Stuff Today...

What's so cool about blogging is that I have found soooo many people who love old stuff.  We see the beauty of what it was and what it still can be.

Let me confess though...I didn't always love old.  My mother tried for years to get me to appreciate the beauty and value of age and patina and of the memory that something holds.

Now that I am "older", I have truly learned to appreciate exactly what she was always trying to teach me.

Better late than never, I now would rather have antiques, fancy junque, not so fancy junk, refurbished, aged, even broken pieces in my house than things that are from a department store.  Really, I would.

So, today when I saw that Donna at Funky Junk Interiors was hosting and "Old" party, I knew I was in.  Even if I didn't have anything to post, I would still be looking at  what everyone else is showing. 

This is our party, friends, to look at beautiful, wonderful, unique "OLD STUFF".  I can't wait!  Make sure you go check it out also.

Let me share with you just a few of  my favorites.

This will be complete randomness in what I picked.

The old shoes belonged to my husband.  There were actually two sets of these since my husband is a twin.  I love the little scuff marks on them.  Sweeeet!!!

The pocket watch belonged to my husband's grandfather who worked on the railroad.  Because my husband was the first born of the twin boys, he got the watch. 

The little lock and key was my grandfather's.  It has a YF on it which was for Yearwood Farms.  He worked for Yearwood Farms for years.

This beauiful chair was my grandmother's and was given to me when she passed away.  I remember sitting in it growing up and thinking it was like a queen's chair.  I always thought it was so fancy.

These three random pieces were bought because I love the patina on them.  And look at all those great swirls.  I love swirls.  Have I told you that?  The copper wire I found in a box for like .50.  I love everything about it.

So, there you go.  These are just a few of my favorites.  I have like 9,999 more that I could show you. 

Have a great weekend and be sure to head over to Donna's.

Creative Apartment and Home Interior Design Minimalist

This is a creative apartment. This apartment interior designed by Dutch architect, It features two floors and four people living there. Thank you for using lasers to cut the original panel in the kitchen and other parts of the apartment, the interior looks quite creative and unusual. In addition to laser-cut panels are also other things that make it unique, including a built-in storage solutions

~Pretty Preppy Lilly~

Ok Seriously, When am I going to have the money to start-up my own Party Planning Business?

Each day I see more and more lovely party photos and it just makes me want to do this even more!

~Have a great weekend Everyone~

Couture Parties

prayer

for a long time i've wondered what i could do with my blog. you hear about so many people having wildly successful blogs, some even go on to be made into movies.....like "julie & julia", which i absolutely loved! i think it would be wonderful to be that successful and i know i would love that, because i get very lonely on my own so much, wishing i had more contact with people (i'm looking for a job right now). hearing from people on my blog is always so exciting......someone out there is actually interested in me and listening to me! but mostly, i think it would mean more to me to touch people's hearts......to actually help someone feel better in their day, in their life. if i could do something that would really benefit someone else, that would be good, to me. i'd feel like i was doing something truely meaningful and real. so i thought i would start sharing some thoughts with you, whoever you are out there who reads my blog, occasionally, every day, whatever. (thank you to each one of you!) i want to share some prayers......thoughts and wishes from my heart that i send out to the world, hoping they might help someone, because i know when someone cares about me, i can keep going. let me know what you think. if people actually benefit by my prayers enough, perhaps i will start a new blog......just for prayers.

thanks.....



i know the world is complicated, and it is filled with so many people and animals and endless questions and confusions and shouts of joy, but God, i know it is alright, too. i am grateful that every day i can wake up, look out the window and realize i am alive, i'm actually alive and i have another day to see what i can do. thank you for that. thank you for each person who walks on this earth, who struggles, who smiles, who cries and who wonders. especially thank you God for those who wonder about you. those who wait to hear you gentle voice and feel the comforting reassurance that they are not alone. they sometimes tell themselves that if they were the only person left on this huge earth, you would still be there with them. i know that's true. i've always felt you near me, God. i am not afraid of you, but feel comforted and healed by your gentle, kind presence. i know that you are aware of each one of us. i don't know how you do that, but it doesn't matter. i know you know us all.

i want to pray for the children of the world. i especially worry about them. how fragile they are and how terribly vulnerable they are. please protect them, God. please watch over them and keep those who would harm them away. please teach those whose minds are lost and confused that they must not hurt the children but they must walk away to a place where they can be healed and mended, like a broken doll needs loving care. please let us cherish the voices of the children, their laughter and their warnings of the future......it is in their eyes, unspoken words but loudly proclaiming our destiny, the work we must do to take care of each other. help us God to learn from children......how to be kind again, how to be sweet and forgiving and funny and understanding. children are like you God. they are innocent and wonderful and wise. help us to listen to the children and follow them......and follow you.

please God, heal our hearts. take away the contention, the fear, the worry, the sadness, the hatred especially. how is it that we hate each other......what begins this terrible illness of malice and distrust. please take it away and make is disappear forever. how wonderful this world would be if we could just be kind again and care about each other. please help us to stop just walking by the pain and the loneliness around us and turn to those who are reaching out.....and help them. we would be so much the better for it. the ground we walk on would sing and the air we breathe would sing, songs of happiness. how the world would change if we could stop long enough to care for each other.

thank you God, especially......i know we do not thank you enough for so many things. for everything. you give us everything; help us to remember that. thank you for our smiles, our energy, our ability to work, to laugh, to see, to feel. thank you for the beautiful earth you created for us......the most amazing creation, ever evolving, ever beautiful and wondrous. thank you God for our families, for our mothers and fathers, for our children, for our cats and dogs and birds. the list would be never, neverending......if we were to stop to thank you. thank you for forgiveness, for friendship, for the healing power of love. please help us to truely love one another, to have in our hearts the feeling of childlike caring. thank you for those who teach us......those who suffer make us remember that life is not easy, life is extremely difficult for some. please lift those people up out of their struggles and help them to succeed, to reach their dreams. thank you for the people in this world who are really doing something to help others. please bless their efforts and their hearts. thank you for honesty in people and trust and the faith of those people in this world who never give up.

please, most of all, God, help us to love one another. help us to stop fighting......can that ever happen, ever? i believe it can, i keep believing that someday people will finally stop fighting, stop hurting each other and just give that up. that they will grow so weary of war and oppressing others and trying to gain everything, that they will cry like a child and say "i am tired. no more. i am going to stop this life of pain". please tell us in our hearts with your most gentle voice, God, that we are good, that beneath all the noise, the hurrying, the closed ears and eyes.....we do know what is good. please help us with this, God. you created the most incredible earth for us and filled it with amazing, beautiful animals and people. please help us to cherish that, to treasure that more than anything else. help us to remember you God. to talk to you again and to listen to you. you are not angry. you are just waiting, like any father would, for us to come back to you, wherever we are, to talk to you and to tell you what we are feeling. i hope and pray that we will do that. i know you miss us God. we miss you, too. we miss heaven and the quiet beauty and love that is there, but we are here now and we can make this world like a heaven, too. beautiful, kind, happy and filled with love. please continue to help us God. i know you will. you are our father in heaven. thank you for being there. i know you are there. thank you.

First steps on the catwalk for nephew Simon!

Nephew Simon, the oldest son of my sister Inge, made his first steps on the catwalk!! A few weeks ago he was asked to take part of the autumn/winter teenager 2010 fashion shoot for the new magazine of the Belgian fashion store, DELEYE.

The new Magazine was edited just yesterday, so I wanted to surprise Simon with this post!!!

Cover of the new magazine, with at the bottom…

the reference to the TEEN-FASHION shoot.

This is our 13 years old model Simon.

And this is the teenager photo shoot.

Doesn’t he look cute with this cap?

And what a beautiful girl at his side!

If you want to discover the TEEN–FASHION SHOOT, CLICK HERE and go over to page 48 .

CONGRATULATIONS SIMON! YOU ARE A GORGEOUS MODEL!

Click on Logo to discover DELEYE FASHION STORE.

Click on the Magazine cover to browse through the DELEYE FASHION MAGAZINE.

Simon and his proud mum !

What do you think of our model Simon? I am sure he would love to hear it from you!!!

xx