Valentine Mantel ~ 2013

  I've always loved to decorate my home for the different seasons but in the past few years it gets a little less and less. One place that I pay special attention is my mantel around this time of year.  This is the spot in our home that I do love to spruce up and add seasonal decor.  I shared my Winter Mantel here and last year shared my  Valentine Mantel here -- this year I'm sharing some of the same with added decor items.  yay! 

Here is links to the tutorials of these projects you'll spot in my Valentine Mantel decor:

- Heart Canvas Shadow Box Decor

- Conversation Heart Trees

- Valentine Burlap Heart Wreath

I'll share more about the "Be Mine Burlap Banner" and "Painted Wood Decor" soon!

You may also like to see more mantel ideas:
- Valentine Mantel 2012 - Winter Mantel 2013


Sharing with some of these linking parties this week! The Gunny Sack ~ Strut Your Stuff ~ Craft-O-Maniac ~  ~ That's What Che Said ~ Keeping It Simple ~ Young & Crafty ~  ~ Somewhat Simple ~ Tater Tots & Jello ~ Home Stories AtoZ ~  ~ A Diamond in the Stuff ~ Lil' Luna ~ Create & Inspire ~ Purple Pumpkin Blog ~ Create.Craft.Love Pin It

{Winter Mantel} for January 2013

I don't usually take down my Christmas decorations until after New Years but this year we decided to give my son a little party to celebrate his 16th birthday.  I really needed the room where the tree was so down came the Christmas decor.  This left my mantel pretty bare.   I went searching online for Winter Decor and came across lots of different ideas.  Most of the colors were white, silver, greenery with blue or black tied in….so I thought about all of the things I had that I could put a winter mantel together without purchasing any extra items.  To my delight every single decor item in this arrangement is something I already had except the new year's printable….it's amazing what we can find when we shop in our own stash. lol!   My mantel decor consists of lots of white, silver and black colors.  I love how I was able to tie in of the colors together.  I pulled together candlesticks, white twigs, pine greenery, mason jars, printable from here, white tinsel, white berries and flowers, styrofoam balls, white candles and epson salt.  I also have a silver strand of garland draped on the mantel that you'll see in the picture below.  

I really wanted to use my candlesticks in this arrangement for the dimension and to soften the dark color I wrapped white tinsel around the posts.  The white twigs in the back I purchased at Wal-Mart several years ago.  I filled a dollar store vase with white rocks and stuck in 4 bunches of these white glitter twigs.  The apothecary jar is filled with white styrofoam balls (aka snow balls).  

I found the New Year's print over at Lil' Luna and printed it out from here I just put it in a black frame.  The white twigs and berries are inserted into a flower vase filled with white and glass beads wrapped with white tinsel as well.   

This wooden box is really old -- passed down from husband's grandparents as well as the old white window frame.  I love the rustic look and feel of it and always find new ways to use the box in my decor.  Inside the box I have 2 large mason jars with the wire around the top.  I filled the jars with white tinsel so they wouldn't be empty and inserted a small votive with white candle to settle in at the top of the jar.  I filled the box with faux greenery, pine, white flowers, berries and twigs.  The curly white twigs I picked up at Hobby Lobby in the dried floral section.  A fuzzy snowman ornament is nestled in the center of my box.   

The candle jars I found at the Dollar Tree.  I added some epson salt (saw this tip on pinterest) to the bottom of each jar and inserted a votive glass candle cup along with a white candle nestled down inside.  I added a few twigs of white berries to add more dimension.  The epson salt really adds a "snowy" look to the jars.  

  I'm so in love with this mantel decor -- it looks amazing and I'm going to enjoy it until its time to decorate for Valentine's Day!   


Sharing with some of these linking parties this week! Craft-o-Maniac The Gunny Sack A Diamond in the Stuff Crafty Texas Girls 36th Avenue Somewhat Simple Create.Craft.Love   Pin It

Our Thanksgiving Table 2012

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.   Our family sure did.  We had lots of good food, football and family time.  For the last several years….I have been cooking on Thanksgiving for my family (hubby and my boys) and invite my in-laws over to join us .  My parents usually travel to Louisiana for some casino time -- so I am content with not having a big family get-together.  We love watching football on Thanksgiving Day and our team the Houston Texans did not disappoint us.  Yay!  I wanted to share a few pictures of my Thanksgiving table.  It's nothing fancy but it is definitely "me"…..I very seldom have everything matching and love a hodge podge full of different decor.  

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Bulletin Board Pocket Organization

Hi everyone!  

Sorry I've been MIA from posting as much but life is very busy in the Wellmann household.  
I want you to know all is well with us and thank you for visiting and sticking with me.  :)

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Spice Cabinet Reorganization with Recycled Cricut cartridge boxes

Over the years I've collected many bottles of spices, food preparation assistants and other odds and ends that cluttered my spice cabinet.  One of my favorite ideas I see on pinterest is the home organization pictures, tutorials and ideas that so many creative people share.  When I decided it was time (way past time in fact) to de-clutter and go through my spice cabinet I wanted a process that was a little less complicated and would suit my need to have everything at my fingertips when preparing a meal.  

Let us begin….

I pulled everything out of the cabinet before I thought to do a before and after photo for you…..BUT I'm sure you can imagine all of this "stuff".   

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Spring Wagon Porch Decor

Hi everyone -- Happy Spring!! I {love} Spring -- everything is blooming and looks so pretty.    I shared my Summer, Fall and Christmas decor with you last year so I wanted to share my Spring Wagon with you this season.   I don't have a big porch to decorate but I do appreciate the space I do have and try to decorate it for each season. I purchased the wagon at Hobby Lobby.  I absolutely love it because it has different levels and heights to decorate and put my watering can, flowers, birdhouses, and other greenery that I want to stick in there.  I am a "builder" decorator (if that makes sense).  I usually start with one thing and then build from there sticking, raising and covering as I go until I get the look I want.   As you will notice in the picture I decorate with silks.....I'm ashamed to admit that I have a BROWN thumb -- and sadly I kill all of my live plants so.... silk is the perfect color decor for me. I love shopping Hobby Lobby's 50 % off sale and also hit the Dollar Stores as I can find some neat bright little bushes as well as odd and end greenery  :)   

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Beautiful Rain!

  I couldn't think of a more fitting blog post than to share these awesome pictures with you of my front year this morning….


   Some of you may remember my request to Pray for Texas last Summer when our state was plagued by drought, 100+ degree temperatures for days ….if not months in a row - it was miserable and totally heartbreaking to hear and see all of the wildfires that took thousands of homes, scorched property and ruined our beautiful state, dying trees and farmland.  The Texas Drought of 2011 is one for the record books…..our children and grandchildren will be learning about this in their 7th grade Texas History class in years to come, my husband and I will be talking about this when we are in our 70's -- to our grandkids as a reminder of Mother Nature's brutalness and how we should take nothing for granted.


Bring us forward to today….my area of Texas has had more rain in the January, February and March 2012 than we had in the entire year of 2011.  Ponds and lakes are filling up {if not full to the brim}, the grass is green, livestock are more healthy and our entire land is recovering.  Praise God for his blessings!


These are pictures of my front yard this morning….

Rain puddles means that our ground has soaked up previous days/week's rain and it then sits on top until it can soak more in the ground -- Hallelujah!  

RAIN PUDDLES -- {{{love}}}

Last summer this grass was "dead" looking - brown and ugly --
it is now green and pretty ready for spring!  

Thank you for letting me share this with you -- I believe all things are possible through Jesus!  Thank you for the prayers.  






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Valentine {Love} Mantle Decor

I've been trying to get my pictures posted to share my Valentine {Love} Mantle Decor to show you how I incorporated some of the projects I created and shared over the past few weeks. I'm not sure if I am completely finished with my mantle as I may still add a few odds and ends -- I thought I may create a burlap banner -- like this one I saw on Pinterest but just haven't had the time.  If I get around to it I'll share it with you too.

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You may remember this {Heart} Canvas Shadow Box decor project I showed you a while back.  I also included a video showing you how to make those super fun "crepe paper rosettes" right there on that beautiful heart!   I knew I had the perfect place for it once I finished it.  

It's sitting in front of this old window frame that is very special to me -- it's one of my favorite home decorating pieces I have.   

This {Family Love} Subway art I shared with you last week and I need to explain my choice of how I have it displayed.  It's printed on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of cardstock BUT the frame I bought for it is exactly 8 1/2" x 11" and would not accommodate the borderless printed project -- DUH!!! SO I decided I'm not buying another frame for it so looked around for things I already had that may work.  My office clipboard to the rescue!  I still may add some tulle or ribbon to the clip to dress that up too.

I found these "I ♥ U" votive candle holders at King Dollar and thought they would suit my decor perfectly.  My garland is red & black boa that I purchased from Hobby Lobby last year.  I also included some

I'm excited to share my candles and candle holders with you.  First the candles are battery operated LED candles.  Yep, that's right -- flameless and completely safe!  They even flicker like real candles.  I got them on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I just added the designer paper and red tulle around the center for added touches.


My candle holders are very old and worn wooden spools.  I am a primitive country girl at heart and my home is decorated with lots of old wooden stuff like this.  I actually found them on ebay about 5-6 years ago -- they came from an old mill that was shut down and the guy was selling stuff from it.  SCORE!!! It was like a dream come true to find these big bulky old wooden spools and I use them in my decorating frequently.

These roses have been part of my valentine's decor for many years.  I found them while grocery shopping yeeeears ago and love the bulkiness of them.  I just stuck them in a rusty pail and added a few other smaller hearts for dimension.

This last picture is very romantic -- don't you think?  I cut off all of the lights and snapped this picture to show you how sweet everything glows at night…..{{{love}}}!



Linking up to these fun parties this week…..
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CJToo's Fall Porch 2011

Spencer and I had a great time decorating for our porch for Fall and I thought I'd share some pictures with you.  Fall is my favorite season of the year -- I just love the pumpkins, scarecrows and scent of mulled cider melting in my candle melter.  Count me in for a good old fashion hay ride anytime! Too bad we don't get many trick-or-treaters out where we live -- but we love looking at all of the decorations anyway!  :)

If you saw My Summertime Sunflower Porch -- you know I love to change out the seasons with different decorations.  Fall is my favorite and I can go a LITTLE overboard -- (snickers)…..well, maybe a LOT!  


Thanks for stopping by and what is your favorite season?


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DIY Project ~ Closet Re-do

For several years I knew I wanted to redo Spencer's closet but really didn't know what or how I wanted it.   My oldest has one of those wire closet organizers but his closet is a little different from Spencer's and it works really nice in there.  Spencer had the one closet rod across the top for hanging clothing and we had a chest of drawers inside his bedroom for other stuff.  The chest is big and bulky and Spencer is always pulling this and that out.  I knew one day I'd figure out what I wanted to do. I Heart Organizing to the rescue!

Several days ago I saw this post by Jen at iheartorganizing showing us her boys bedroom closet redo.  I was instantly inspired.  This closet is very similar to Spencer's and I really liked the upper and lower rods she created.  I also liked how I could put all of Spencer's clothes inside his closet and not have a mixture of toys, clothes and everything else.  So - my creative juices went to flowing.  I enlisted hubby's help.  He's my woodworker, measuring guru and all around handy man.  I ♥ my handy hubby!

This is what we started with…..

I wanted something for the middle of his closet to put the bins in for jammies, socks, undies and everyday wear.  So hubby came up with this…..

…after 2 coats of paint we were ready to put it inside his closet….

…now it's time to measure and put in the 2nd set of rods….

There is still a few things I need to do like label the bins so he will know what's in each one.  I also want to get a few different hangers for his shorts.  After an entire day of working on this -- I'm a happy camper.  Thanks to my wonderful hubby!!!  We did it!!

The best part is Spencer LOVES it.  Mission accomplished.  

I used my favorite digital software My Memories Suite to create all of these pages.  I am super excited to have this entire project captured in digital format and I can enjoy it for years to come.  

It is so super simple to use and I can design and create amazing projects.  

If you think it's something you'd like to try -- here is a $10.00 off coupon for you!! 

 Visit the My Memories Suite site -- use this promo code at check out for your savings.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube to see how easy it is to use.  :)  I'd love to hear your feedback.  

PROMO CODE:

  ♥ STMMMS53054 ♥

The software will only be $29.95.  

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