Sunday, December 21, 2014

Got Me to Think'n

Remember the old Decorating shows on HGTV? You know the ones that got us all fired up! Taking our old things, rethinking their purpose and REPAINTING THEM!! Wow what a concept!! Adding a Fringe!! or (wait for the Heavens to Part) ADDING GLITTER!! Bringing the Outside In! Actually validating the love we always secretly had for old weathered window frames, rusty garden shovels, and actually using TWIGS!! yipes! and Painted no less. Oh yeah, Decorating Cents, Christopher Lowell, Carol Duval, and Design on a Dime, Winners All!! That is how I discovered my love for Mosaics, Painting and loving Trash to Treasure! Oh we were right on the fringe of this new movement, not quite hoarding, but now there was no excuses for not shopping the roadside trash piles! "Honey pull over"!!
Well while watching Christopher Lowell, he had a guest on that was showing Faux Painting, she had wadded up Saran Wrap into a loose ball, dipped into paint then blotted on a paper towel before she started pouncing it all over an old Grandmothers dresser, I was totally Hip-mo-tized! I think I actually held my breath as she pounced away, creating this NEW VISION!! First the Sanctity of desecrating anything of antiquity, and Secondly...pouncing!!! Oh this was so exciting! I jumped up and started looking around the house, what could I desecrate...then I spotted my Dad old Dresser that I had already sawed the legs off of. I was using it in my entryway as a foyer table. Well I knew I wanted to make it look just like her's (the pouncer),, kind of an antique gold look, discovered I had no Saran Wrap, but I did have a stash of plastic gloves (thank you Clairol) snicker...they would have to do. Then I only had spray paint, nothing in a can that I could dip into...hmm..then I thought, well I'll  just put the glove on and spray the paint on my hand and pounce away!!
So that is just what I did...and I instantly LOVED IT!! pat pat pat pat, Done!
Now the cute part of this story is that once I stepped away from the dresser, I discovered that my finger prints were all over the dresser, no I mean my whole finger prints!! Well it was too late, I already Loved it, and what a fitting Tribute to Dad, to actually have my touch all over it. So that was at least 20 years ago, and I still use that wonderful Chest of Drawers in my Entryway, Touched only by Love, pat pat pat pat

Do you see my Fingers!!! LOL

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Well Everythings Almost Over But the Shout'n! Christmas 2014!

You know December kinda came in like a Lamb, but it is going out like a Lion! Trying to fit so much into the last half of the month, Visiting friends on St Simon Island Georgia, Decorating the home for Christmas and then Hosting a Christmas Party Too! But after a few days of running around like a Chicken with its head cut off, TaDa! Done Done and Done!! But here it is the Saturday before Christmas and I haven't shopped the stores, got a few things on line, but I need to venture outside! I'm one of the few people that just loves all the hustle and bustle of the last few days left before the "Big Rip Tear"!!
I just love all my Decorations that I've accumulated over the years, but even though they still look brand new, I've  been doing the same thing every year, just tweaking it a slight bit, but for the life of me I just can't see my way to changing it. Everyone just raves on it, but outside of a windfall, I just couldn't imagine what it would cost to redo it all! So if the pictures look familiar, don't say I didn't warn ya!
Changed the Mantel somewhat from last year, added back in the Gold Deers, Green and Red Mesh, Large Red and Gold Ornaments, Red Berries, Red, Green and Gold Beaded Garlands , Red Mercury Glass Candle holders with Red and Green Twist Candles, and of course my Moms Christmas Moss Angel, she never leaves my Mantel. I get all my "Free" Greenery at Home Depot and Lowe's (Christmas Tree Cuttings right out of the Trash Bin)!




Decorating a Mantel is one of my Favorite Things! You can visit my "Mantel Fetish" Board on Pinterest, I'm on there under the name Rena Designs. Nutt'n but Fun!


Years ago I made this Christmas Pillow, it was a preprinted  design that I added gold and burgundy roping along with red sequins to and finished with a matching fringe trim. It sits on the floor next to my little Bombay Chest with this huge key in the bottom drawer, Oh and don't cha just love the Antique Gold Santa Ornament!
 For years I always put up the "Big Tree" in the Living Room, totally Loaded down with every Ornament that I have collected since the age of 22! Don't know why this picture looks so pink, the little pillow on the bench is one I made out of Christmas Red Silk (not pink) and the big ornaments are Red too! Hmmm

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BUT now I just put up a smaller one in the Family Room, Although I did look in the Bins that hold all my Treasures from the past, so beautiful. Now the smaller tree will have to do, just couldn't see doing all that work just two weeks  before Christmas! The tree has matching Red and Gold mesh , and ornaments from within the last 3 years, given by friends.




I just love the reflection of the Mantel in the Mirror, another Christmas pillow I embellished.~

The Entryway view , and the Decor on the entryway Chest of Drawers (that was my Dad's that I hand painted)

 My Living Room and Dining Room have white furniture, Gold and Sage accents.


Dining Room Window all done in Sage, Gold and White. Della Robbia Pillows are on the floor.
Large Gold Mirror in Living Room decorated with Ornaments, Glitter peacock, Brocade Ribbons, and a mask we got in Venice, you can see my white couch in the reflection.


Even our Master Bedroom is in White and Sage, so calming. Added a little Christmas to the Mirror and Dresser.

We hosted a Christmas party and I thought I would share a picture of Me and My Daughter Tiffany.


Well nothing left to do but SHOP!!  I'm Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas, and I hope it is shared with Family and Friends 2015 Is On Its Way!

Monday, December 8, 2014

The Holidays Have Arrived...well not quite!

Hi all, The days are going by so fast, and the only thing I've managed to do here at the house, is a deep cleaning, something I like to do every year before I put up all the Christmas Decor. So far all I have up is the Poinsettia Garlands in the Main Bath, pitiful..But we are having the carpets in the whole house cleaned, so it will be the middle of the month before I get started, really cutting it close.



In the mean time this is the second year I have helped with the Nutcracker Tea, this is a charitable event that is associated with the Make a Wish Foundation. This event is hosted every year by Claire Duffy, and has grown in size and has become more lavish. I help put together the centerpieces for about 40 tables.






My first attempt at decorating Gingerbread Houses too! Such a fun event!
The Tea has about 400 guest and they not only have a fun lunch, but they are given an abbreviated performance of the Ballet "The Nutcracker", Clair's Mom, Felicia is the Grand Dame of the whole event and it is her dancers that perform.

Last week I decorated Dr. Duffy's Office for Christmas. I do this about every three months, the change of every season, It's always fun coming up with different designs every year!




I always love the topper to the main display cabinet in the lobby, this year it is in Red, White, Silver and Green, painted twigs from my garden white and added them to finish it off. I also rearrange the shelving in the cabinets and add Christmas touches throughout the offices.
Now all that is left is for me to do is to get my home decorated, and get some outside lights put up before we are labeled the neighborhood Grinches!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Catching You Up With My Life!

I can't believe it has been five months since I have posted! Talk about life getting in the way, I really do try and post at least once a month, sometimes more, but I will try and catch you up on all my unexciting life..waaa!
Have had so many changes, most non visible but felt all the same, still adjusting to Wayne having to close his company and totally re-inventing his life in his mid sixties, this has not been easy on either of us. But I will say he has managed and does love his new work, so that is all anyone can ask for. Again coping. Also we are down to one car!! I had to let my Beach Hearse go out to pasture (transmission fail), so that keeps me from shopping!! Now I am relegated to just on weekends, which totally sucks. Again coping. Have had to lose contact with so many people that meant so much to me, but again coping. I have fought through a deep depression, finally seeing the light, again coping. But through family and a few friends I have managed to get things back on track, and I thank them so much for all their love. Ain't family great!

Well lets start with July, Had a really hot summer, worked in the garden and had a few trips to the Beach


We love to go early in the morning and have coffee and read the paper, with the occasional doughnut! Just so relaxing, walk the beach and look for sharks teeth and special shells, just reflect..
We got a parakeet, my Daughter was at a cookout with her friends, when all of a sudden a parakeet flew down and landed on my Son in Law! They ended up bring the bird home, after checking with all the surrounding neighbors, but guess who ended up with the bird..oh yeah dear Mom.

Introducing the Bird to Dixie Boy, then moved birdie to a much larger cage, where she chirps all the time.

In late August I was in the garden chopping some vines, when I guess I knocked one of my hanging birdhouses, that was the home to Alien Wasps!! I felt a sting on my neck, that knocked my head back, I went running out to the middle of the yard, but soon realized I was being attacked by something I really couldn't see, Bam I was stung on the shoulder, TWICE ! I must have looked like a Whirling Dervish trying to fight them off, Bam twice on the forearm! I started running down the walkway, through the gate, to the garage. In the garage I could see what was STILL ATTACKING ME!! They were HUGE BLACK WASP! I managed to kill one with a whack of my open hand, and then I knocked one onto the pavement.


This Alien being is about 1 inch long, and the stings are brutal, it took three days for the pain to finally go away. When the Lawn Guy came I told him about the nest and he said he would try and get them, I said you don't understand these guys are relentless. So as he was mowing near the their tree, Bam one stung him on his leg! It kept chasing him down till he finally made it into our screened room! I said "See I told You"! He said "I'll be back tomorrow with wasp spray". Well he returned the next day, armed with wasp spray and a tennis racket, they were finally exterminated. It took me another month to even go out in the back yard again. Traumatized !!
Had some fun cookouts with the Kids at the home they moved into, only maybe two miles down the road, and had lunch with my Daughter and Granddaughter Kingsley, I always love seeing them, my heart swells.



 September is always a full and fun Month, My Birthday, Wayne's Birthday, the onset of Fall, just that feeling in the air that comes with the changing of the seasons. Did some fun things like shopping Goodwill and finding two great pictures of Nice France, they will be perfect in my Shabby Chic guest room!  Have you been to Nice France? If you ever get the chance take it! Nice is so beautiful that pictures just can't capture what your eye sees...I could live there.

These canvas pictures were distributed by the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean Train Line, the PLM..They advertised all the stops along the trains route!Awesome huh!

I had fun doing my nails, I just love nail art and cool colors! Oh! and Bling!!




I also did some fall decorating for Dr. Duffy's office, I always look forward to Claire Duffy's call "Time to change the Seasons"!


This is the top of their large display case that I designed for Fall, I used some of the bark off my Crepe Myrtle tree that I saved and flattened, till it dried and it kind of looked like pieces of driftwood.

October has been busy too, Lunch with Birthday Girl Pam and Friend Esther, great to toast another year!


Did some chair coverings for a friend (Claire), and started getting the House decorated for Fall and put up a little Halloween,

 Did my Fall Mantel, Using more bark from my Crepe Myrtle tree.

 My Scarecrow that I've had for 14 years, I can't believe that he is still hanging in there!

My arrangement at my front entryway, sunflowers, pearly berries and fall ribbon, transforms my existing arrangement into Fall.
Just a few Halloween fun pieces , my old Hag Mask with the feather Witches hat I added, my black scaredy cat and little black haunted house on the dining room table with fall berries added to that arrangement,
Well we are all caught up with my Life!, but now it is November and Wayne and I have had our 32nd Wedding Anniversary! He's a mighty lucky Man!
I am doing some tablescape pieces for The Nutcracker Tea later this month. Thanksgiving is almost here! We will be joining family at my Daughters Home for a Fun Day! Give Thanks for all Your Blessings, You never know when they can all be taken away..

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Missing the Fruit of My Youth!



One of my Facebook Friends posted a picture of some mighty fine looking Peaches today. Everyone was commenting on them, saying "I love Peach Pie" or "I'm gunna make a Peach Cobbler", every one's mouth was watering just thinking of those Peaches! It made me think of my trip to the Winn Dixie yesterday,
I passed the Peaches in the produce department and you couldn't even smell them, they were so pretty all stacked up into a big Pyramid and they felt like rocks!!! Not the same juicy peaches that we had when I was growing up. You would take a bite and have to bend forward so the juice wouldn't  drip on you, you'd hold out your elbow cuz the juice had ran down your arm and was dripping from them. Mom always made us eat Peaches out in the yard, she'd almost have to hose us down afterwards. Smiling just thinking of it..Peaches in a bowl on the kitchen counter would always make the whole room smell so good! But something has happened, I don't know what it is, but it is sad. It is something I fear our Grand Children will never get to experience, and it is the TRUE TASTE OF FRUIT!!  Are you with Me on this?? The taste and  the juice, are just not there, now how can you cut into a Peach and not have one drop of juice come from it , or the aroma alone just makes you wanna  stuff a big ol bite in your mouth. I miss it. Now if you go to a farm and buy homegrown you will get that tasty fruit. But why can't we get that at the store? There is a whole generation of Kids that have never seen a farm, much less be able to drive to one!



And that is the same with Watermelon, we would cut one open and the whole kitchen would fill with the clean crisp aroma of mouthwatering Watermelon, now you can cut one open and nothing...I mean you might as well spray it with Glade to get a smell. and the taste...where in the hell did it go??? Is it a new variation, one that is totally tasteless? Daddy would bring home the largest Watermelons ever, I remember him taking his pocket knife and cutting along the top, grabbing each side and pulling , causing a loud CRACK! as it split in half! Then a huge explosion of Watermelon smell filling the kitchen..don't you have memories like that? Dad always like to shake salt on his  bite, but that sweet taste mm mm mm just can't beat it. Now when I get a Watermelon I actually put salt on it, just to get FLAVOR! wha?? Dad said "Salt on Watermelon and Pepper on Cantaloupe"! word.



Sad to say the same can be said for all the fruits,  they look the same, but the aroma and their wonderful juices just aren't there. Big ol juicy Strawberries, now some are hollow and dry, and you have to put your nose in the box just to smell them, Apples would give off an aroma like no other, their different taste, sweet or sour, Bananas! I sliced one on cereal the other morning and I could feel it in my mouth, but that strong Banana flavor wasn't there, even though the color was yellow, the taste was green! And being a Floridian don't get me started on Oranges! Mom and Dad would stop at Stuckey's and buy a big red mesh bag full of Navel Oranges, they would be half the size of a bowling ball! Mom would peel them and then pull apart, giving Me and my Brother each a half, send us out to the yard, pulling those big plugs apart, juice squirting out in the sun, the smell making your mouth water with anticipation, so much so you would get a little lock jaw! Such a sweet flavor as you bit into that plug, the juice was coming out the corners of our mouths dripping right down our tummies...uhoh here comes the hose!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Summer's a Come'n!

My Granddaughter Kingsley just told me the last day of  her Junior year is June 6th! Now I know I seem to always start of with the mention of how I feel time is flying by, but come on..June already! You have got to  be agreeing with me! I already see Christmas on Pinterest! But June does bring on the Summer, and really isn't that what we all live for, I know I do. Finally all my plants have recovered from the Winter Freezes, their leaves are full and buds are on everything, all the "Brown" is gone!


 Just look at my Kings Crown Shrimp Plant! I always look forward to these Pink Pompoms, and it blooms all summer!

My Staghorn Fern is about 15 years old, you can't tell by this picture, but it is over 5 feet across, and Kudos to my Wayne for lugging this giant thing into the garage at the mere hint of a freeze!

The African Iris have been blooming like mad this year, the most blooms ever! Maybe they like the freeze, hmm. You know some plants have to go through the cold to bloom in the spring.

We recently took a day trip to Big Talbot Island State Park, right on the ocean, only about a half hour away. This is the most extraordinary place, the ocean has washed away so much of the Island that the erosion has caused these cliffs at the edge. This has caused the Oaks to fall onto the beach, where over time they have almost turned white and are now huge forms of driftwood. When we first started coming to the Island you could access the beach by wooden steps, but now, due to many storms washing all away, the stairs are gone and they have made a trail through the woods that goes about a half mile to a place that is easier to climb down , still a bit scary to try and make your way down to the beach, but sooo worth it.  Just walking among all the huge driftwood trees, it's just wonderful. And since this place is kinda off the beaten path, there isn't very many people there. You are not allowed to take any of the wood off the Island...drats!

 Now is this fantastic or what! In person so much of the wood is totally bleached by the sun, you definitely need your Sunglasses!
Can you see the white line on the horizon? Well that is a sandbar, I bet I stared at that thing for the longest time, if I could walk on water I would have loved to have gone over there!

You can see the edge of the Island Cliffs here on Big Talbot Island.

I still do my Decorating for Dr. Duffy's office,  his Wife Claire is so good to Me and I enjoy every moment coming up with ideas to use in My designs.

 This is one of the toppers to their large display cabinet in their waiting room, I designed this for Spring. Huge flowers in shades of peach and cream, of course I love using the Mesh ribbon for drama, and adding that cute watering can I found at Goodwill!
This is the latest design, I wanted it to look like a cool Summer, with shades of blue, burlap like the sand, and I made a wreath out of the vines I collected from My yard, adding Sea Grape leaves, Shells, Lichen and Mesh ribbon. Put some Twigs up there from my yard too.