This made me smile....

You know how sometimes you just see a fabulous creation and it makes you SMILE? THIS is one of those creations..
Beautiful!! You must go see how Kristy made this piece. Shes SO talented!!
And LOOK at that HUGE sign....
You must see all the smiles on the Portfolio Page of Gorgeous Shiny Things!
AND this fabulous tea sandwich tray from Copy Cat Chics Babyshower

Whats making you smile today??
Big Hugs From Texas, Tara

"Formal" Crafting Home Office Family Play Room

Ahhhhhhh, its every new homeowners dream. A beautiful formal dining room, picture perfect room. Just waiting for a formal dinner party, candlelit with guests eating off of fine china. (insert record scratch here......)

THIS is our beautiful "FORMAL" dining room.....
I LOVE it. Its the only room in our house that is always spotless. BUT! We have lived in our home for 6 years and have only eaten at that table about 9 times.
We entertain A TON but our dinner parties happen in our family room with everyone gathered around our kitchen island.

Back to our "dining room." I shopped and shopped for THE perfect dining room set, back in the day. THANKFULLY, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. We purchased this very traditional set from a friend and used our money to buy our family room couches, that we use everyday.

Since we don't live in a museum, I decided it was time to utilize this room for family activities and we have. Stay tuned and I will show you how we have turned our formal dining room into a home office and family gathering spot. I am thrilled to say it is still the most beautiful and spotless room in our house.....you never know when former President George Bush and Laura Bush, might drop in for a visit. ;)
Hugs,
Tara

"Its Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas"

My friend Emily is the QUEEN of decorating. I tell her all the time that she needs to start a blog so we can borrow her ideas. I guess getting paid to decorate other peoples homes keeps her super busy. Thankfully she shared some pics of her beautiful Christmas decor. Enjoy!!!






I LOVE that her tree has lots to say.....






SWOON!!! This entryway says come on in and NEVER leave!!






Every inch of her kitchen is decorated with just THE perfect amount of Christmas love!




LOVE the lighted packages and look in the background...




NOEL!!!




We will start our decorating tomorrow. Cannot wait to see how all my bloggie friends will be decorating!
Hugs,
Tara

"Falling for Fall!"

OK, can you see me right now? I feel like the chick on those old "OPEN OPEN OPEN!" Mervyn's Commercials...I am SOOOOOOO ready for hot chocolate and pumpkins and soup and knee high boots and....

House of Hepworth's Dryer Duct Pumpkin...


Brown Paper Packages SUPER CUTE Candy Pumpkin Bracelets...


Lyndsey's Craft Spot's Halloween Subway Sign...


and I am TOTALLY SWOONING FOR Sweet Something Designs' Mantle...

I love anything the girls can help me make, like these TP Pumpkins...

A Pumpkin and a Princesses' Halloween Candy Jar

Timbeeeerrrrrr Pumpkins!

.....if only is wasn't 95 degrees outside. I think Ill turn down the ac, brew up some hot tea and get decorating! How are you kicking off fall at your house?

By the way, "Bug" is looking for a "french fry bean Halloween cookie recipe" If you have one handy, please send it to me. ;) Her first soccer game (after the one and only "meltdown practice") is tomorrow morning. Wish me luck, PLEASE!
Hugs
Tara

"I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn!"

Sorry for the lack of posts, lately. I have been doing TONS of spring cleaning and that's just too exciting to share with my blog friends. -wink-

"We" have been doing lots of work in our yard. Translation, I wanted a bunch of bushes removed from our crazy landscape and hottie hubby, did the leg work. The great news about that is that means he's been running around without his shirt one. Woo Hoo!!! That's always a good thing!

Here are daddy's lil garden helpers. (I love that "Bug" had to put on her "garden boots" to work in the yard. Taylor Swift would be so proud of her dress and cowboy boot look!)


I think "Baby K" nibbled on every garden tool!


Ok, before and after time. It's so funny how you will live with something for years and then have one of those moments when you realize. That would look so much better gone. Case in point, these 2 HUGE purple bushes that have been "hiding" our front door. (I forgot to take a 2 bush "before" but you get the picture, right?)


WOW, what a difference! Now you can see my front door that REALLY needs to be painted. The nice family that we bought our house from had a professional landscaper plant the entire front yard BUT the wife didn't like it. So her hubby pulled it all out and started over. (Can you imagine having a hubby THAT patient?) Anyway, there are three layers of all sorts of plants and bushes in front of our house. WAY too busy for us, so we plan to pull it all back to about a layer and 1/2.

I have been finding LOTS of inspiring garden ideas, that I hope to add to our landscape...

Like Bobbypins boardwalk's, monogrammed milk can. TOO CUTE!!

And Generally Creative's Chalk Pots.

How about EVERY little detail that Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures added to her patio!


I'll post more before and afters, as we make things happen. I do look forward to showing you the "after" for my Craigslist chairs. That are going to look so wonderful in our new, LESS BUSY , front yard.

Hugs,
Tara

"Mirror, mirror on the wall who's entryway are you making look tall."

I just saw All Thing's Thrifty's post called White White Love for Kallie. She went on a home tour and posted this (and tons of other fabulous) photo's....I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HOW THE MIRRORS LOOK IN THIS ENTRYWAY!!!

I have a beautiful HUGE buffet in my entryway (it really is my favorite piece of furniture in the house) that is standing below 12 feet of BLANK wall. Look how those mirrors reflect the light from the window!!! Look how they make her entryway look HUGE!!!! I must find a way to create this same look without spending what I assume was LOTS of money on those beautiful mirrors.

I LOVE A CHALLENGE!!!
Hugs
Tara

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls”

Back in January, I came across Starter Home To Dream Home's beautiful family room and fell in LOVE with her shelves...

I thought they would look FANTASTIC above our kitchen table.
Mikael was even kind enough to send me an e-mail with her shelf details...
"I always heard that you need to have all the pictures in the room hung at the same level so it creates a nice line that the eye can follow. I hung my shelves and pictures along my other wall all on the same height as my mantel. That way, the eye can easily follow everything around the room, it really does work! We do have 9' ceilings so I did hang them a bit higher. The lowest shelf is 57" from the ground and the second shelf is 20" above the first one. I think it worked out just right." - Mikael

How exciting...my ceilings are 9 feet too!!! Her measurements worked perfectly for us!! I bought theses picture ledges at Ikea literally 6 months ago. FINALLY, our fabulous "Uncle Eddie" came over today and hung them for me. I AM GIDDY!!! I LOVE the way it looks. I think it makes the wall look longer, don't you? I'll be filling them with photos and decor tomorrow! Perhaps Ill even take a photo of the SNOW that is falling, right now. Its the first day of spring and snowing in Texas.

THANK YOU so much Mikael for the inspiration!
Hugs
Tara

"Here's Your Sign"

If you have been looking for a fabulous "vintage sign" tutorial, you will LOVE Lemon Tree Creations' $1 Welcome Sign The possibilities are endless and I have an idea for 3I want to hang in my kitchen!!!

Hugs,
Tara

"Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the (cupboard) door is just one more good idea."

I have LOTS and LOTS of blank wall space in my house. (stemming from my fear of not knowing what to hang where...)
Anyway, I ADORE! LOVE!!! and totally DIG these FABULOUS Cupboard Door Picture Holder's from The Creative Crate!
They are so cute my fear of hanging stuff on the walls, may be a thing of the past.
What do you have hanging on your walls?????
Hugs
Tara

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.

I jump started my spring cleaning and am continuing my (never ending) journey to get ORGANIZED!!!

I'm not the only one that recycles gift bags, right? I've been cramming them into a box, under a guest bed, for awhile and decided I wanted a better place to store them. I headed to Home Depot and found a "Giant Storage Hanger" in the "garage organization" section for $2.98. Bought some of E-Z Anchor screws....and baam!! Now all those gift bags are hanging in my guest bedroom closet, where I can see what I have AND I have extra storage space under my guest bed.

Ok, I know. Its not very exciting. What is exciting is that we have had SUNSHINE and warm weather this week. I went strolling in one of my favorite downtown shopping area's and took some decoration, inspiration photos....

This hand painted photo says, He gives us wings so we can fly!" Isn't it precious?



The same store had lots of these chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. She spray painted old light fixtures and hung BIG Christmas balls and beads on them CUTE!



I love this idea for a nursery. They hung a lamp shade from one of those hanging light kits and then put a vintage looking dress on top. So cute.


They used a basic hook to hang it from the wall. How cute would this be with one of those decorative shelf brackets they sell at Hobby Lobby?


Ok, back to organizing. I've been busy this week getting our outgrown baby clothing and toys ready for DIVINE CONSIGN!!! Its a fabulous event that 2 great ladies host twice a year, here in Plano, Texas. I hope you have one of these events where you live. Its a fun way to make some money and help other mom's. This sale has gotten so big, they actually have to limit the amount of items that is consigned each season...to 70,0000. Tomorrow, I'll be waiting in line with my 2 favorite DC friends, so we can shop, shop shop!! Fun!

Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Tara

So Many Projects.... So Little Time!

I've been meaning to share my friend Heather's super cute calendar and child's art display ideas. Heather works crazy hours as a restaurant manager. To make sure her hubby and precious little boys always know what's going on, she made this adorable chalk board calendar with a board and some chalkboard paint.I think the tall board looks so cute and no one at her house will ever miss an appointment. ;)
On the other side of her cabinet, she cut another board the same length and covered in in cork board. Doesn't all of B Man and Baby H's artwork look so cute!

Meanwhile, I made my first ever purchases on Craigslist. Aren't these chairs going to look SO cute in my front yard? I got them for $20 and cannot wait to paint them RED! I bought this headboard for $20 and cannot wait to shabby it up for our guest bedroom.
I'm not crazy about the shell. If anyone has a suggestion for covering it up, I'm all ears.

I bought this ADORABLE Princess Carriage at Home Goods and cannot wait to turn it into lamp for "Bugs" upcoming purple bedroom!

I am so ready for spring and the warmer weather so I can get out in the garage and get to work. What are you working on?
Hugs,
Tara

Baby K's Winter One-derland Birthday Party!

The birthday girl is dressed and ready to party!!This is the sign that greeted all of our guestsWe have 12 foot ceilings so I decided to hang the snowflakes from the light fixtures, using fishing line and a hole punch.

A couple of $1.00 rolls of wrapping paper, served as fabulous table runners! I used these sparkly snowflakes from Hobby Lobby as "scatters" on the tables! I love sparkle! The snow girl candles greeted guests as they arrived! A few sweet thank you's for the present table. I Love Popcorn Papa, they have popcorn in tons of colors and flavors! (yes, the lollipops are standing up in Playdoh..works perfectly!) The Hot Chocolate Station was very popular! (I got the mugs at Ikea for 59 cents each. Those cute dishes holding the toppings and the drink pot are actually little plant pots from Ikea, too.) Big Sister LOVED the hot chocolate Don't you just want to hug this precious cake? Stacey over at Icing On The Cake (I call her THE goddess of cakes) shares how she created this sassy lil snowgirl and her adorable cake pop friends. "Bug" loved the Tic Tac noses.The craft table was a HUGE hit. The kids made candy snowflake necklaces, painted wooden snow girls, made marshmallow snow girls and decorated foam snow girls. They LOVED it!! So creative! If you are looking for a great indoor party activity for little ones, My Toon TV is fabulous. It takes a child's photo and animates them on the tv AND it shows them dancing on the tv screen. I got it on sale for 20 bucks at Target and they LOVED it! For party favors, I had a local bakery make these HUGE snowflake cookies! I put them in some pink polka dot bags and tied on these cute little mittens! I had so much fun planning and preparing for Baby K's birthday party!!

Happy Birthday to my precious little snow angel!
Hugs, Tara