A big thank you to sweet
Ashlyn at Pinecone Place for this award! I'm supposed to tell you 7 things you (well, some of you:)) don't know about me. Here goes nothin!
1. My house really is as clean as it is in my blog pics. Call me crazy, OCD whatev. It's just how I roll:) I actually enjoy cleaning and organizing :) One of my fav shows? Hoarders.
2. I think sometimes I missed my calling as a trauma nurse, surgeon, paramedic or anything blood and guts related. I watched our vet sew up our dogs leg once when he got hit by a car. Awesome. Strong stomach? Yes. Math skills? Not so much:( Another fav show? Medical Incredible.
3. I love the smell of garlic, onion and bleach on my hands (not at the same time of course). Makes me feel like I have a clean house or cooked something amazing:) More fav shows? Clean House and Barefoot Contessa:)
4. I'm a dreamer. My husband says I live in a dollhouse world. I do:) I dream of restoring every house in my neighborhood:) I can be sitting having a conversation with someone and while my mouth is saying uh huh, uh huh, my mind is checking out their fabulous curtains, or the painting on the wall that would look sooo much better over there.....
5. I can't go to sleep at night until I have showered, shaved my legs and put perfume on. I used to wear Chanel #5 till the hubbs informed me that he thought it smelled like an old lady. Waaa waaaa:( It only took 2 years for him to tell me!! Yeah, he's tolerant like that:) Now I wear whatever body sprays I have, as long as they smell yummy:)
6. Speaking of perfume. I've worn the same one for 20 years. Yep, twenty years. Paloma Picasso. Still love it.
7. I have a love/hate relationship with my empty nest. I miss my babies being at home so much sometimes. But then I look at my significantly smaller laundry pile and grocery list- and do a happy dance:) I'm thinkin maybe I could volunteer to rescue and foster frenchie bulldogs? Course that puts me just a step away from being on another one of my fav shows- Animal Hoarders!!
I'm awarding this to all you bloggers out there. You are all stylish and entertaining, and some of you quite frankly are waay out of my little league:) I'm doing this because fact #8? I'm the worst procrastinator and I stink at chain letters :(
Moving on:)
With the weather feeling so springy this weekend, I decided to get out what little I have in the way of "spring" decorations. I found these adorable bunnies that I've had for years. Seriously, I think since the early 90's! Poor babies were still wearing raffia for heaven sakes! :(
After a few short minutes with my friend Fiskars, they said buh bye to their former selves:)
All this project took was a little boredom, some colorful ribbon scraps, a hot glue gun and a bowl of bejeweled buttons, earrings and what nots that your daughter forgot to take home and doesn't know that you're keeping:)
And voila! How cute are they!!!
Oh, and I used some stickles to sparkle up the eyes, nose and ears :)
And here's the messy shot for miss " get real and go make a mess in there" commenter:)
A had to get a pick of this bee, just enjoyin himself some of my geranium :) 
And for me? Well spring cleaning has hit me in a big way. On top of my already OCD like cleaning that I normally do, I find myself changing things up a bit :) Case in point- my little library at the top of the stairs. 
This poor little room hasn't been touched since my 20 yr. old son so gracefully (not) unloaded my boxes of books onto these shelves on move in day:( 
Can you say BORING?? Ugh! The chandelier? Too white. The doors? No life. About every frame I own on the top shelf? Just dumb. 
This is where my sweet hubby reads every night. I know! He's so abused. That hideous excuse for a throw? A snuggie. Yes, I said snuggie. It's hideousness just seems to add that little "punch of color" doncha think? That sweet chair I got from my friend Kristin at one of her fabulous sales years ago, it's a little shabby chic but with no budget for reupholstering- I just rolled with it:) 
I made my way down to my fav Home Fabrics store and picked up these sweet fabrics for $23. Yeah you read that right. Twenty three dollars!! I found the ribbon at JoAnn and it went perfectly with my antique sconces above the chair:) and oooooh yes, Stitch Witchery!! My new friend until my daughter unearths my sewing machine that is currently in the abyss otherwise known as her kitchen remodel:( 
The chandy. I bought this brass beauty at the Salvation Army "boutique" in Cali and I painted it white when we first moved in and yeah, it'll blind ya. But not for long! I took some minwax stain and did a little dry brushing on it. 
And here's the little library after all my blood sweat and tears! 
A little decluttering and organizing goes a long way:) 
And here's the chandy! (with the crooked shade, just keepin it real around here!) 
Awww and let's have a moment of silence for snuggie. Yeah right!! New throw is sooo much better! Oh, and I found some more (dead people) old pics of the hubby's family and thought they would want to join the others:) 
Absolutely no sew curtains:) I'm sure I'll be doing a post in September titled The Unraveling. All about my curtains after the sweltering AZ summer! But until then? Me loves:) 
Some fab old books that I got at the GW for $1 each. And yes, that's my flute from the 7th grade:) a little further down to the right sits my piccolo:) 
And why yes of course! Little Bully finds himself verry happy here in the morning sun:) 
And did I mention that I did this all on Saturday? And my back still hurts:( So what about you? Any crazy spring cleaning in the works? 
My sign measures at 14.5 x 9.5 because the piece of black foam board I had laying around was 15 x 10 and I wanted a quarter inch border around it. So I took the sign and using double stick tape, I carefully mounted it on the board.
Then I smoothed it out to make sure there were no bubbly areas (oh my, those hands -someone get this girl some hand lotion stat!) and repeated the mounting on both sides of the sign. 
To hang the sign, I used picture hangers and wire. The hangers easily stick right into the foam board. I did use a dot of super glue to make sure they were in tight - if you do that, be VERY careful...I almost had two fingers stuck together.
And here is how the sign looks hanging above the dining room table.
After making the sign, I had the craft bug....so I decided to print 11 x 17 placemats...
And look how cute they look with a place setting! I printed 16 of them for Dorie...just in case she decided to have 15 people over for dinner!
After the placemats, I still wasn't done crafting. I took that Bodoni Ornaments ITC font and, with the same design, I reversed the color to green on white paper and decided to use it as wrapping paper for soaps. I just love pretty soaps. So, I printed 8.5x11 sheets of paper with the design font repeated on the page... 
Then I took a plain bar of Ivory soap (they come in packages of 3 and more - and BTW who knew Ivory smells so good!) laid it down on paper and wrapped it like it was a present...
After I sat back to look at all the pretties, I headed to Safeway to pick up a few items and there I saw this tiny treasure...a green vintage-looking bicycle that had my sister's name written all over it. So, I quickly bought it, took it home, added a plant to it (which I wrapped with a scrap of burlap) and of course, added a tiny version of the birthday sign. It looks so cute in Dorie's house!
And that's it folks! The end of my subsituting today. Happy blogging!