Patriotic Projects

The best part of signing up for Where Bloggers Create is cleaning up my creative space and finding long forgotten bits and pieces.

I found this wreath - I wrote about making the wreath here - and this little wreath led to a day of "patriotic" projects.

The first order of business was to paint a wooden board.

This Tic Tac Toe board, picked up cheap at Big Lots, worked for a fall vignette, but it has been sitting on a shelf since November.

To make the board fit my color scheme, I simply taped off the colored lines and slapped on a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White.

Even painted white, I wasn't thrilled with the board's colors so all the lines were painted red and now the board actually looks good with the X's and O's that came with it.

I love the little wire wreath and don't know why it was stuffed into a cupboard,

but now with a red, white & blue update, the wreath will be out all summer.

The plan was for the wreath to hang on our red Dutch door,

but the poor little wreath was totally out of proportion with the door - maybe I need to make a large wire wreath.

So, the little wire wreath found its home in the dining room window.

I found the red and blue metal stars on a shelf in my work space so I created a patriotic display in the hallway.

I was excited to find some of Steve's left over canvas when I was looking for ribbon - I thought I was all out of canvas.

At 5:00 yesterday, I set down my book and decided I had time for one more project while Steve cooked dinner - believe me, no one wants me to cook any meals!

While the paint dried, I put the zipper on the backing and by 6:30 an American flag pillow was ready to be mailed off to a blogging friend.

With all my patriotic projects finished, one would think I could take a day off today, but last night I saw this cute little stamped bag at Paper Source.

The anchor stamp came home with me and today's order of business is to stamp napkins to match the fun dishes I just found at Tuesday Morning.

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Lavender Garden Cottage - Cottage Style Party

The Checkered Apple - Patriotic Link Party

Ivy and Elephants - What's It Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

It's Memorial Day in America

Every year on Memorial Day, Steve wakes the family up by playing James McMurtry's song "Memorial Day" on the stereo.

It's Memorial Day in America

Everybody's on the road

Let's remember our fallen heroes

Y'all be sure and drive slow.

Memorial Day is one of my favorite days because it signals the beginning of summer.

 Empty towers have been out for several weeks, but today lifeguards are on duty to watch over the hoards of people escaping the inland heat.

Cyclists, walkers and runners are greeted by flags along the promenade to remind us why this day is special.

Families enjoy time together playing on the beach, building sand castles and splashing in the waves.

Surfers are out in droves searching for the perfect wave at The Point.

Sailors take to the sparkling sea heading to the islands

which are just barely visible from the estuary.

A friend snapped a picture on her iPhone while we were out on our morning walk.

We took a leisurely bike ride along the promenade.

And now we will somewhat follow James McMurtry's advice - we're headed to the beach and we will walk slow.

Happy Memorial Day

How did you spend your day?

Success & Failure

The goal was blue plates.

I failed to meet my goal.

But, I had success in finding things I wasn't looking for!

We use place mats and cloth napkins nightly.

I found place mats at TJ Maxx and napkins at Pier 1.

I have lots of red place mats and yellow napkins so this is a good switch -

yellow place mats and red napkins.

I love the attention to detail on the edge of the napkins and in the quilting on the place mats.

I went to American Home and Garden knowing full well that I wouldn't find blue plates, but I needed my AHG fix.

Kathee, of Chateau et Jardin, wrote a post recently about her expanded booth and I wanted to check it out.

I found this column (just the right height) and have it on my wish list.

I don't think I can wait too long because it is priced to sell and it might be gone when I go back.

I have no idea where I would put it and I will have to paint it, but I have wanted a column for a long time.

And, I saw something else I have been looking for way too long.

This is the first time I have seen a ladder in a shop.

I see them all the time in great houses on blogs and on Pinterest, but I never saw one that I could actually purchase.

It is a little more than I want to spend right now and I am bummed because after moving things around in the house, I actually have a place where a ladder would look great.

I hope it is still there after I finish thinking about it!

I found a cute American Flag to display for Fourth of July.

I couldn't wait for Fourth so I moved a book from the entryway shelf and put up the flag.

Just changing one element in a vignette freshens up things.

I saw this wonderful kite in the AWE catalogue the other day, but I don't really have a place for it and therefore can't justify spending the money.

Well, I found this wooden kite in one of the booths and the price was unbelievably low.

I had to buy it.

I hung it on the fence on the side of the house.

I will look at the kite each morning when I get my clothes from my closet.

I have been looking for an antique clock face to no avail.

Last week I saw a vintage scale on someone's blog and realized that it didn't have to be a clock face - I wanted something round.

I can't believe I found this vintage scale (very reasonably priced) to meet my needs.

I moved a few things around to create a new vignette on my sewing machine table.

I may have failed at my original goal yesterday, but I feel successful in making some fun additions to my decor.

And, with school out in 3 days, I have all summer to find blue plates.

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