Lady Di's Home

Halloween and Fall Decor

2010-10-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of my Halloween and Fall decorations. Some I am happy with, others need some work for next year.

Some were thrown together just because I had stuff left to use and some were "carefully" thrown together.

The stuff on the china cabinet is of the first sort. Better luck next year.

I love the little jack-o-lantern that is sitting on the dresser. See the dust? Obviously I've been decorating and NOT cleaning!

This centerpiece was put together with stuff I already had on hand to imitate a picture I saw in Better Homes and Gardens....I won't show you that picture because it only vaguely resembles my creation. I do like the concept, though so I will keep working on it until I get it right.

The witch is a marionette hanging on the guest room door. She cackles and screeches when you touch her. Normally she is turned off because she can be rather annoying but I turned her on when I heard Jessica and Kim were coming. She scared the heck out of Jessica last week when she spent the night. I'm mean aren't I?

Fall plates and my warty gourd. (Oh yea, and the telephone cord, sheesh!) And some of the 143 pounds of apples we picked. No kidding, you do the math $93 @ 65 cents a pound. My husband is a picking maniac. Ask me about the elderberries he picked this summer...enough to make 50 pints of elderberry jelly. Toast, anyone?

The front door table.

These pillar candle holders are new this year, I glued them together from some vases and candle sticks I found at the thrift store, total cost for all three was under $6. But they need something more dramatic to fill them with. Right now they are filled with paper pictures. Classy, right? These have potential that is untapped by me, this year anyway. Another work in progress.

This is the book case in the living room. I have to say, I am beginning to hate this bookcase and am seriously thinking it needs to go. But I have no idea right now what I will do with that space once it's gone. Also it does provide a place to put some decorations.

I did a total no-no, though when I decorated this book shelf, and didn't put away the regular decorations when I threw the Halloween decor in there. That is bad, bad, bad. Makes the shelves look cluttered and the Halloween decor gets kinda lost. I was lazy, though.

Taken individually, the shelves don't look too bad, but the overall effect is not that good. Shame on me. The only good thing is that these Halloween decorations will be gone in a couple of weeks.

The "Keep Calm and Scary On" picture is new this year. It's a Halloween take off on the "Keep Calm and Carry On" saying that is all over the Internet lately. So you'll see that I am very much affected by what is popular at the moment and also have "Eat, Drink and Be Scary" in a frame in the kitchen.

The corner cabinet in the kitchen is my favorite. This came together nicely, especially once I realized that I could leave my canisters and salt & pepper shakers on the shelves (since they are filled with items I use frequently) and just turn them around to the plain white side. Brilliant!

Oh, well, enough about me and my scary (in more ways than one) decorating. How is your fall and Halloween decorating going?

Ghost chairs - not just for Halloween

2010-09-27T20:13:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of "ghost chairs"? No, it's not some Halloween goodie, they are reinvented classic Louis XV armchairs designed by Philippe Starck and they're extremely popular right now. They call them Ghost Louis chairs because the varied lines and formal geometry of the original Louis XV chairs have been transformed into a single form of translucent or opaque black or white injection-molded polycarbonate. Here's a photo of a Ghost Louis Chair.

And here's a picture of the original Louis XV chairs that I believe the ghost chairs were modeled after.

I was thinking that this type of chair (the ghost chair, not the original) would be good in the spare bedroom since the room is so small. This chair can be put somewhere and be almost invisible to the eye. I found one at stackchairsdepot.com and it is perfect. Look at my Crystall Chair here. I just love it! Here are a couple of pictures of it in the room.

Isn't it cool? And think of the options for Halloween decorating. Just kidding! I'm still trying to decide what to do with the desk. I want to paint it or something but I'm not sure what just yet, so it'll stay as it is for now.

I've been dragging out the fall decorations now that the weather has turned a little crisp. I'll post some pictures later this week. Happy Fall!!!

Jamie Cooks It Up!

2010-09-02T16:26:00.000-04:00

Dear hubby is back at school this week so I've had some free time on my hands. Thus the 2 posts this week. Anywho...I was looking at this wonderful blog Jamie Cooks It Up! and I thought that I would share it with you. Go to Jamie Cooks It Up! by clicking HERE and you will see all kinds of wonderful recipes. Jamie is very funny and walks you through the prep on all of her recipes. And does she ever have some wonderful recipes. YES!! Here are some samples:

Sugar cookie bars (easier than cut out cookies and just as pretty)

Healthy corn muffins

Chocolate candy bar cake

York Peppermint Patty Brownies

Macaroni Grill Bread

Oreo Bon Bons

And if you think her desserts look good, my gosh, her dinner recipes are just as wonderful. We tried one of her side dish recipes, Baked Zucchini with Mozzarella. Yum!!!

She has a ton of recipes on her blog. Unique recipes. Recipes that look fabulous and that make you say "I want to make that". All nicely organized. Go check her out. As I was looking through her recipes, I was saying Oh, Karen would like this, Kim would like this one, Wendy would like this or I know Joni would like this one. Let me know what you think of her recipes.

Bye for now.

beautiful women and girls

2010-08-31T20:45:00.000-04:00

I finished some scrapbook pages that I started at the Mega Meet with Karen in May.... Yes, it took me that long... The photos don't do them justice, but I wanted to share them all with you. If you click on the picture, it will open up in a larger window so you can see it better. I hope you enjoy looking at all of these beautiful women and girls.

Jessica's prom. Jessica was 18, Emily was 3.

Kim and Manny's Wedding, June 6, 1999. Wendy was pregnant with Erik and Karen was pregnant with Anthony. Is there anything more beautiful than a Bride or an Expectant Mother?

This was taken at my house sometime after 1988. Not sure the exact date.

My God Daughter's wedding.

My Mom, sometime in the mid-40's I'm guessing since I was born in '47.

2010-06-11T11:17:00.000-04:00

I've been getting some things on my list done so it's time to share. I took a photo-editing online course from JessicaSprague.com and I've been working on restoring some old photos. Here is a before and after:

What do you think? Cute kids! Wendy, Kim and Shel. Here's another of me.

What do you think? Was the class worth it? Each photo took me a couple of hours to fix, but I'm just learning. I'll get faster as I do more. If anyone has a photo they would like me to work on, I would be glad to do it. Just let me know.

I also finished the bags I was working on. One for shopping and 2 for recyclables.

This bag is made out of a large birdseed bag. It took me a couple of minutes to whip it up. It's quite large and holds a lot of groceries. I found the instructions here.

We've been using plastic shopping bags to hold our recyclables in the house until they get carried out to the garage. Since we are using our own bags for shopping, we don't have as many plastic bags anymore, so I needed something to hold the recyclables. I actually needed two since sometimes one bag gets a little wet or dirty, so I need a spare for when one is in the wash. I had these cute "vintage" pillow cases that I just couldn't part with, so I whipped them up into some bags. Aren't they super? And they work great. If anyone has a pillow case they would like made into a bag, just let me know. They are a piece of cake to make and I'd love to do it for you.

After I finished the bags, I had to make a slight detour to make this cute little chalkboard to label my STUFF. Could this be why I have trouble finishing projects.....I get side-tracked so easily. The chalkboard is decorated with rolled paper flowers. Instructions for this little gem came from Here.

Okay, lastly, I finished the door stop for home. A little hedgehog. Isn't she adorable?

And her baby, too? I got the hedgehog instructions here.

One final thing. I never wanted this blog to be all about ME. I'm hoping that something you find here will inspire you to try something new or perhaps you'll see something that you would like me to make for you. I'll do it gladly for you my family and friends. Luv ya!

Hi...I'm still here

2010-06-03T11:58:00.000-04:00

I've been feelin' bad because I haven't updated you all on what I've been up to in a while. Trouble is, I've been up to a lot of things, but nothing (and I mean NOTHING) I've been working on is done yet. I don't know why I start so many projects and then get stalled on them. I'll get them done. I have to because they are sitting all over the house in various stages of unfinishedness. I think I just invented a new word, here. Until they are done enough to show you, I will just tell you that I have been:

Taking an online class on "Restoring Old Photos". I've just begun scanning old photos and working on restoring them.
Making some new t-shirts. Four to be exact. One is done, three are in process.
Making tote bags for groceries and recyclables. One is done two are still on my sewing table.
Stamping cards from the card sets I bought at the Mega Meet. About 1/2 way through that project.
Trying to finish the scrapbook pages that we started at the Mega Meet. Laid all the stuff out on the table (with the cards) and haven't done much.
Fixing/repairing jewelry. Got Lisa's jewelry fixed and back to her. Still need to fix Wendy's necklace.
Trying to make 2 doorstops. One for the condo and one for home. Started a crocheted one...didn't like it...scrapped it. Started another one. This one is done with a counted cross stitch sailboat and sunset on it...we'll see how that goes.
Coasters. This is a new project. Dick asked me to make a set of tumbled stone coasters for a fellow teacher that is retiring. We also need another set of coasters at the condo, so I thought I'd make a set for there as well. These are both still in the planning stages.
Working on some wall art for the condo....not making much progress.

Here is my daily dilema -

Are you still awake? Boring stuff....nothing to show for much of this. I promise pictures next post.

Lisa's 13th Birthday Party

2010-05-09T19:49:00.006-04:00

Lisa celebrated her 13th birthday with a Glittery Spa Party. I put together a scrapbook page (actually a double page) to help her remember the day. Lisa is the lovely young lady with the red and white glasses. She's also the one using cucumbers to remove those pesky "slumber-party" bags under her eyes. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Spring Break in Arizona

2010-04-17T15:20:00.001-04:00

Here the highlights of our trip to Arizona. I won't bore you with all of the pictures that we took (148 of them). All of the cactus were in bloom so it was a picture takers (Me!) field day. The main reason we went to Arizona at Spring Break was so that we could take some hikes when it wasn't too hot. Last summer when we were there it was close to 100 degrees every day in Sedona and 110+ when we were in Scottsdale. Much too hot to hike after 10 am. This time the weather was perfect. In the 60's and low 70's most of the time. The first hike we took was the pathway near Bell Rock. Here is a picture of Bell Rock.

Some people were going up the rock, but we stayed on flat ground. Here is a picture of part of the Sedona landscape including Bell Rock.

This is what Sedona looks like in almost any direction, just the rocks change. Most of the rocks have names like Bell Rock, Snoopy Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Rock, Coffeepot Rock, etc. Lots of rocks in Sedona. We flatland Midwesterners sometimes get caught calling them "mountains".

Our next hike was at Red Rocks State Park. Unfortunately, Arizona has been hard hit with the recession (much like Michigan in that regard) and is closing 20 of its 29 State Parks this year. This is one of our favorite parks and it's scheduled to close in June. We took a Ranger guided hike here and saw some cactus blooming on the side of the rocks.

Our final hike in Sedona was to Crescent Moon Ranch Park. Here we were on the lookout for the "most photographed site in Sedona". This is it.

Here's a closeup of the beautiful red rocks. All of the rocks in Sedona are this beautiful color and with 300+ sunny days the sky is almost always this color. Love it!!!

When we left Sedona, we spent almost 2 full days in Scottsdale and we spent both of them at the Desert Botanical Gardens. The first day we also did "Jazz in the Gardens", a lovely evening under the desert sky listening to Jazz, sipping wine and nibbling on a wonderful cheese platter. Wow, what a great night that was.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed straight back to the gardens. This is a picture of the glass structures at the entrance to the gardens. They were done by the world famous glass sculptur, Dale Chihuly. The garden is trying to raise the funds to keep the structures there permanently.

Again, almost all of the cactus were in bloom at the Botanical Garden. Here is a picture of the opening gardens. The Desert Botanical Garden is a fabulous place and very large. We never get tired of going there.

OK, I can't resist.... Here's a saguaro cactus shaped collage of ALL of the 100 photos we took at the botanical garden. If you want to see it larger, just click on the picture.

2010-04-13T11:05:00.000-04:00

We're back from Spring break in Arizona and I'm catching up on my blog reading. Here are some super cute things I've seen while reading.

Mix mingle glow made this uber cute centerpiece with PEEPS. Isn't it sweet? Have to file that away in my memory bank for next year.

And this idea from Midwest Living magazine. Now I'm on the lookout for an old umbrella. Has to have that wonderful curved wooden handle.

Here's a printable menu planner that I really like. I've seen these many times before, but this one fits my style of planning perfectly. Here is where you can get your own copy if you like it, too.

Here is a great idea! I'm thinking this may be an idea for a corner of the small bedroom at the condo. It's made out of a bi-fold door and some moulding. If you would like the instructions, you can find them Here. It actually looks very easy to do. I think I could even do it by myself ;-)

And this just blows me away! I saw this and wanted to get dressed (I was still in my PJ's) and rush down to the Ann Arbor Reuse Center. They ALWAYS have these old light fixtures there. Then I though....where would I put it? I don't have a large hallway like they do. How about over the table at the condo? Need a new light there, but NO, the drum shade would take up a lot of space in that small area. Oh, well, I'll keep thinking.... Look at the before and after of these chandeliers. Wow!!!

From this.....

To this....

Do you believe that? If you want to see the complete how to do it....go Here

That's it for today, I've caught up on everything that was happening in my little corner of blogland. Later this week I'll share some details of Spring Break. See you soon.

2010-03-17T18:23:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't blogged for a while. I've had a bad cold. The worst I've had in ages, maybe forever. This week is the first time I've been out of the house by myself since March 1st. Whew....got to get back on the

vitamin regimen!

Anyway, went shopping today and I am soooo excited. I know...I get excited about shopping real easily. Anyway, I found out that Home Depot is carrying a new line of paint. Martha Stewart Living interior and exterior colors. I LOVE Martha Stewart's colors! I read once that she puts a little bit of blue in ALL of her colors, that is what makes them so mellow, subtle, dreamy, rich....what is the word I am looking for here? Well, I hustled myself right down to HD and got me a color chart and a few samples of some of the blues.

I may be using one of the blues in one of the bathrooms at the condo. Dunno yet. Depends on how far the beige paint I already purchased goes. If I need to buy more paint, it'll be one of the Martha Stewart blues. Did I say I love her paint colors? The lady is smart. Look at the back of the paint sample. Everything you need to a) give to your painter and b)plan colors for woodwork and ceilings or other coordinating areas. Right on the same paint sample.

I apologize right now for the lousy photos. It is hard to take pictures and get the light right. Speaking of light, did you ever try to take a picture of a mirror? Well, it is darn hard. Below is a picture of a mirror I picked up at Big Lots today for $15!!! It's 20 inches by 30 inches and I hope it will fit in the new guest bathroom at the condo, over the vanity. I don't know if you can see real well, but the entire mirror is bordered with rectangles of bezelled mirrors.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We're having corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread for dinner. My apologies to the vegetarians in the family. My apologies also to you working girls who only dream of having corned beef and cabbage actually ON St. Paddy's day. I know, when I was working it was always too big of a chore to cook that much during the week and by the time the weekend rolled along, it didn't happen either because that meant first going to the store to pick up the stuff and then coming home and cooking it all. Not happening. Anyway, now that I am a lady of leisure (where, when?) I can cook all that stuff.

I'm also fooling around with easier ways of uploading pictures, so pardon the strange formatting today. Hopefully I will figure out what is happening and where spellcheck went. One step forward, two steps back. But putting the pictures in between the words was easier!

Old photo collage

2010-03-01T11:13:00.005-05:00

I recently scanned a bunch of old photos of Kim, Wendy, Karen, my Mom and Grandma among others into the computer and yesterday I heard about a free software tool that takes your pictures and makes a collage out of them. Isn't this sweet? I can't believe how cute this is and it only took about 10 seconds to do since I had all of the photos in one folder.

Click on the collage/heart to open it up to a bigger size so you can see the photos better.

If you want to try this yourself:

You upload your photos to Shape Collage and choose your shape. Voila! That easy.

Thanks to http://bedifferentactnormal.blogspot.com/ who found this fun photo collage at WIP.

See you soon. Hope you enjoy these photos.

Mid-winter Break

2010-02-28T20:56:00.009-05:00

Wow! What a great mid-winter break we had. A few days in South Haven and a few days with Kim, Wendy and the grandkids and we are all relaxed and satisfied.

In South Haven we chilled out, ate out (we ate 3 times at Clementines) and saw a movie (Wolfman).

In Illinois, we ate (GOOD FOOD!), played with Emily and Erik and shopped. On our way to Wendy's we stopped at Stein Mart and Kirklands in Orland Park. Lots of goodies there, but I guess we weren't ready to buy anything. That Orland Park is a treasure trove of shopping, though. I don't think there is any store missing from that area. Wow! You could shop for days and days and then some.

On Thursday we went to Family Fun Night at Emily's school. There we ate lots of popcorn, played bingo and visited with some of the moms and dads. Wendy and Brad both won raffle prizes!!!! Woo Hoo!

On Friday, we all (the Josephson's, Bedolla's, and Jess) went out to eat at Louie's. Yum is all I can say about that!

Saturday was devoted to basketball, shopping and more good food. Now you know why we are so relaxed and satisfied. Wendy cooked an excellent meal. Kim made a wonderful quiche and banana/blueberry pancakes for us for our breakfasts and made umpteen pots of coffee. Thanks Kim and Manny, Wendy and Brad for your wonderful hospitality.

Here are some pictures of Erik (#21) playing basketball, the snowman that Grandpa, Emily and Erik made and Erik having some fun with a pair of "rainbow-vision" glasses Grandpa brought to play with.

One very sad note to add - On Saturday, Kim and Manny lost two of their beloved pets. Gunner, their dog and Chula the cat. Such a sad, sad day for Kim and Manny, way too much sadness for one day. Gunner had to be put to sleep after being sick for almost a year and Chula died of old age. We will all miss Gunner and Chula. They were both part of our family.

Not just for Christmas

2010-02-19T13:50:00.002-05:00

I am sooooooo excited!!!!! I just found out that a Christmas Tree Shops store has opened in Taylor, Michigan. What, you say???? She's lost it now. But wait...let me tell you about the Christmas Tree Shops. We went to our first one in Massachusetts last year on our way back from Maine. It was right across the street from our motel. When we asked at the front desk about shopping in the area (love to shop on vacation!) the girl behind the desk said "you'll want to have a trailer for all the stuff you find at the Christmas Tree Shops". Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get over there. All kinds of stuff you "need" at the Christmas Tree Shops and the prices are amazing. If I can talk Dick into it, we are going tonight! There are two in Michigan, one in Utica and one in Taylor. There is also one in Mishawaka, IN. That's the closest one to Chicago. Their website is http://www.christmastreeshops.com/.

Master Bedroom makeover

2010-02-15T08:53:00.003-05:00

The master bedroom is finished. Last week I hung the curtains. I followed The Nester's advice for a "no-sew window mis-treatment". http://www.thenester.com/2008/01/window-mistreatment-101-red-checks-style.html. Those shears used to be a long scarf draped over curtain tie-backs. I simply cut the scarves in half and hung the halves up with the rings.

The new color of the room is a light camel color. Not sure it comes across real well in the photo.

You can see the way the room used to look by going to the virtual tour that we had when the house was for sale. There's a huge difference!

http://rtvpix.com/rst/RE-2974-6UJQSC-01

I'm not planning on doing too much more to this room. I'm leaving the accessories and wall art minimal so there's not too much clutter for when we decide to put the house up for sale again. I want to redo the bedding, but haven't picked anything out yet.

Today is "President's Day Madness" at Michael's so I'm off to there to see what I can find and then to Hillers for something for dinner. So the menu today is a surprise!

Sorry about the first post with nothing but a title. I fat fingered something....

Valentines Wreaths

2010-02-12T08:57:00.006-05:00

Here are pictures of a couple of Valentines wreaths I made and hung on my front and side door. I think they are cute. They were pretty easy, although I tried a few variations before I got just the one I wanted. The first one came from http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2009/02/little-valentine-project.html

The second one came from http://infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-make-beaded-wreath.html

I get so much inspiration from these blogs. I read them every day. You can see the list of the blogs I read along the right side. You'll see the name of the blog, when it was last updated, and the title of the update. Click on the title and you'll go directly to the blog.

One of the main reasons why I created my own blog was so that I could have the blogs I read organized this way. I've tried feed readers and favorites in Internet Explorer, but neither gave me the convenience of this method. Now I can quickly scan my blogs for just the updated items that might interest me. Try it, maybe you'll find something you like too!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Day 1 of my blog. My intention at this point is to only broadcast this blog to my family. I'll share what's going on in my life for whatever it is worth.

What's on the menu for today:
Apple Walnut Bundt cake - loved it the first time I made it. Since I still have apples in the fridge (in green bags - love them!) that we picked in the fall, I'll make this again.

Easy 7 Grain Bread - in the bread machine. Off the box of Arrowhead Mills cereal.

Salmon Cassarole - like tuna cassarole, but with Salmon.

The weather outside:
Snowing...hard at present.

On my todo list:
Cook
Finish putting up the master bedroom curtains.
Work on Wendy's b'day present. Can't say what it is because she may read this;-)

Watching:
Season One of The 4400. It's pretty good right now, let's see if it can stay good. I've got season two reserved at the Library.

Reading:
Trying to read "The Childrens Book" by A. S. Byatt. It's supposed to be "compulsively readable" and "spellbinding" but I haven't gotten to that point yet.

Best go now or nothing will get done today.