Christmas Throughout The House

To say I love Christmas would be an understatement! My grandfather was a huge Christmas Fan and he obviously passed the Christmas gene onto me! I remember we would get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving when we had real trees and once they invented Mt King artificial trees the tree went up Thanksgiving night!

We would decorate the tree with loads of old fashioned glass ornaments that he and my grandmother had for years, we even had the huge old fashioned light bulbs that I still cant' believe didn't catch the real tree on fire, they got sooooo hot!

Anyway, I digress, in honor of my grandfather's love of Christmas and all that the season stands for (birth of our savior, magic in the air, giving, caring and sharing and so much more)I now decorate everything! My husband is afraid to stand still to long as I may just decorate him! For those of you who don't know him, he is the biggest Grinch ever....he tolerates Christmas at best, and my decorating makes him crazy. He thinks the tree is too bright, but that doesn't stop me, I just add more lights!

So, here it is in all it's glory!


I love Snowmen and have them everywhere! This is a snowman head candle from the store that I can't bring myself to burn but he glows when you do!


More snowmen on a shelf in the family room.

My seasonal wall in the kitchen....this wall changes with the seasons. After Christmas it will sport snowmen until March and then out comes the springtime treasures and so on and so on, season after season!

A shelf in the dinning room with more you guessed it snowmen!



A shelf in my kitchen window with snowmen and my collection of antique graters turned luminary!


Another shelf in my kitchen window. I get to look at all of the beauties when I am doing dishes!

Check it out, I really do have something other than snowmen! My primitive Santa's and one of my kitchen trees decked out in kitchen utensils and tools from sifters and rolling pins to mason jars and whisks!


What would Christmas be without candy! These jars are here year round, but the candy changes as do the punch needle designs on the front, crafted by yours truly.

My entryway, sorry, I forgot to turn the little tree in the corner on!

My family room! Sorry about the image on the TV. My husband was watching something and wasn't happy when I tried to close the doors on the armorie to hide the TV! The crooked tree topper is thanks to WII Fit and the numerous people who have been in my family room on the balance board causing slight movements and jarring of everything not nailed down

One of my newest additions. Isn't this the coolest door you have ever seen. A very kind lady gave it to me! We stained it, my husband built a stand for it and I adorned it for Christmas. It will stay all year, but it's adornments will change.

There's still more, a tree in each room, a hall bath filled with Santa's and a second floor with lots of treasures!

I hope you have enjoyed the tour! Now, it's time to start taking it all down, which makes me oh so sad. I think the house looks so empty and cold when it all gets packed away!

I stumbled upon a blog entitled Not Quite June Cleaver and it just so happens the host of the blog loves aprons! If you know me well, you know that I too love aprons and in my opinion you can never have too many.

From the comments posted it sounds as though she makes some pretty incredible aprons and the giveaway is for one vintage apron and one handmade apron....I would love to have one!

She is having an apron giveaway so go check out her blog, leave a comment and you will be entered into the giveaway.

It doesn't get any easier than that!

Best Kept Secret for Exterior Wood Surfaces

As the warmer temps arrive we find ourselves moving from the warmth of our homes to the outdoor living spaces we have created.

As the temps rise so too does our workload outside. From weeding, to planting to mulching to watering and don't forget about the arduous chore of treating those wood surfaces like decks, fences, swing sets and siding. While I enjoy being outdoors (as long as it isn't hot and humid) I dread some of the chores that go along with moving outdoors and the number one chore I put off is staining our screen porch.

I like many other Americans thought that water sealing was the best thing for my pressured treated wood structure especially if it is Thompson's and those great commercials that show the water beading on the wood and not penetrating the surface of the wood! Well, I recently learned the error of my ways and once again was reminded that not everything I see on a commercial is 100% correct. You can read for yourself more on the water beading myth on http://www.flood.com

As luck would have it I was introduced to a wood care system of products from an Ohio company who has been around since 1841, that company is called Flood.

They offer a full range of wood care products including a Wood Cleaner that will remove dirt and brighten the wood, and surface prep is the most important step of the process as it helps the stain adhere to the wood and you will get maximum penetration and life if you clean first. Please don't use a pressure washer to clean your deck as it actually can drive the dirt and mildew into the pours of the wood and can cut the life of the deck in half. in addition, you will also cause your deck to splinter and then will have to sand it, which removes a layer of the wood. Use a cleaner instead.

In addition to the Wood Cleaner, they make a Wood Stripper, which will take paint, stain, and almost anything else off of wood. So, if you want to change the color of your deck, fence, play set, this is the product to use. It will strip off all of the old and get you back to clean wood that is ready to accept the new color.

If you enjoy the look of natural wood, you should use Flood's CWF line of products. CWF stands for Clear Wood Finish. It has UV protection, since the sun is as damaging as the weather. It also is fortified with Penetrol, which has been used since 1934 and is exclusive to Flood. Penetrol penetrates the core of the wood and essentially protects the wood from the inside out. This product is so thick compared to other stains in the market and nothing penetrates like Flood. It comes in a range of colors including clear/natural, cedar, redwood, honey gold, chestnut and walnut. For those brown lovers out there, walnut is really rich looking.

If your wood surfaces (decks, play sets, fences, outdoor furniture, etc.)are showing a little age or if you want a little more color and only a little wood grain to show, then Flood's TWF(semi transparent wood finish)line of semitransparent colors are for you. The colors run the spectrum from lights to darks and include colors like Dessert Sand, Falling Leaf and Chocolate to name a few. The TWF line has this great additive included in every can called E-B Emulsa Bond, E-B Emulsa Bond™ is an additive found exclusively in Flood brand products. It provides unsurpassed adhesion to wood surfaces where other finishes may fail. No other exterior wood care brand but Flood has this unique technology. The SWF product is guaranteed to last 3 years on the horizon surface of the deck (part you walk on and rails) and 5 years on the vertical surfaces (spindles). The best part is that it only requires one coat.

If your wood surfaces have seen better years or you just want a burst of color try Flood's line of SWF products(Solid Wood Finish). This is a line of Solid Colored Wood Stains that look like paint, but wear much better. Again, they are designed for wood and have all of the protection you could want for your wood, while giving you more durability than paint and are fortified with E-B Emulsa Bond, just like their TWF product is. It comes in a range of colors including Sand Dollar, Winter Sky, Cedar, Espresso and more. In addition you can have a custom color made or you can have a color matched. I just had our house trim color matched and we will be using Flood's Solid Stain on our screen porch, I will post a picture when it's complete. The SWF products are guaranteed for 5 years on vertical surfaces and 15 on horizontal. You can even use this product in place of exterior paint on all of your outdoor trim on your house. While it's thinner than latex paint, it wears better. This product has been rated #1 by consumer reports for the past three years in the 3 year test and beat out Behr!

The best news of all, is that Home Depot carries Flood and the TWF and SWF products are on sale until September 20th and are $4.00 off at register per gallon, which means no rebates to fill out and then wonder if you ever received them. In addition there is a 2.5 gallon can of the CWF UV 5 on sale for $39.97, which is about $15.99 per gallon. This is called a deck in a can as it is enough product to cover the average size deck.

You can check out Flood on their website http://www.flood.com.
Try it you will love it and will look forward to the approach of summer!

Amazing Low Cost Transformation

Finally, I convinced my husband that painting our kitchen island was a great idea! Ok, great might be stretching it a bit!

The reason for the need to convince was two fold, first he thinks it is a disgrace to paint solid oak, which is what our cabinets are made of and second he really wasn't interested in painting. I always told him I would paint it and he wouldn't have to.

As usual, I just kept bringing the subject up and if he doesn't respond to my statement/question/comment then that is my green light to go ahead and do it!

So, I painted and distress it and he made the wood top for it.

Since he is an incredible woodworker, he was able to make a solid wood top for the island to replace the lovely 80's shade of grey lamanite that graced the top of my island. The wood for the top cost around $22.00 and we already had the paint, so the whole project cost less than $25.00!

Here's the lovely 80's version of my kitchen island,

Sorry about the white spots, my camera isn't the greatest.

And here is the amazing transformation costing less than $25.00!


There is an incredible product called Liquid Sandpaper (they may have changed the name to) Liquid Sander/De-Glosser, that you can get at Home Depot and probably Lowe's. It's in the paint section and costs about 4.00 per bottle, I had 8 doors and 4 drawers on my island, as well as the base and I used less than 1/4 of the bottle.

This product allows you to avoid the mess and dreaded job of sanding the piece. You simply wipe it on in a circular motion and let it dry 10 minutes and then paint away! It removes all of the poly that is on the cabinet doors and base.

We always use semi-gloss latex paint on all of his painted wood pieces so when we sand the painted piece to distress it the finish comes out matte. We have never primed any of our wood pieces and have never had a problem with the pieces peeling, chipping or showing wear and he has been building for almost 16 years.

The hardest part of the project is waiting for the coats of paint to dry! Patience is truly needed on any furniture painting project.

I have now convinced him to replace the top of the desk in the kitchen with the same wood top and I will paint those cabinets above the desk and the drawers on the bottom of the desk as well. I'll post that as soon as I complete it.

What do you have around your house that could use a little face lift? A coat of paint and some sanding and distressing will do the trick!

Crafty Friends

I recently signed up for a sewing class and my friend Kathy, who can do just about anything made an adorable cloth bag for me to carry my supplies in. Check it out: www.candlebarncrafts.blogspot.com

It has my initial on it and has a ladybug on my initial and is lined with matching ladybug fabric!

Look how organized her sewing room is and oh how I dream of having a machine like that someday!

Thanks Kathy, I love my bag!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Sorry I have been MIA for several weeks. I have been busy with yard work, preparing for a two day yard sale, redoing my kitchen island(I'll be posting before and after pics once my husband finishes his part of the project) and interviewing for several jobs! I don't know how I had time to have a job before!

Last night, several members of my Longaberger branch (Sallie, Kate, Shonda, Sherry(aka)Shirley and Linda), as well as, several members of another branch (Maria and Karen) and three of our customers (Debbie, Linda and Kirsten) traveled to Louisville for an evening with Longaberger!

The event was held at the Seelbach Hilton Hotel in downtown Louisville and featured great product displays and ideas, several incredible inspirational speakers (like Sallie and Tami Longaberger) and just some good old fashioned fun!

There was even a BEE Boy there giving out door prizes! Both Maria and Debbie won door prizes!

The best part of the evening was getting to see Tami Longaberger and have her sign my Branch Basket!

She is such a sincere and gracious lady! She does an incredible job running Longaberger, an American Company who makes products made in the USA and employs thousands of American craftsmen and women! Thanks Tami for all that you do, becasue Made in America Does Matter!

If you haven't met her, you don't know what you are missing! If you haven't seen Longaberger's products you truly don't know what you are missing! You can check them out at www.longaberger.com/monicawilliams

Sewing 101

My first intro to sewing was in the 7th grade in Home Economics, I am now showing my age, as Home Economics is no longer a part of current educational curriculum, which personally I think is a shame! Girls took Home Ec and Boys took Wood Shop, do you remember those days?

Home Ec sewing projects were basic and simple, the 7th grade project was an adorable gigham hostess style apron, complete with a pocket and then we embroidered a simple X pattern on the pocket....the 8th grade project was a bean bag frog, which was a little more complicated.

Over the years I have dabbled in sewing, mostly straight stitches and lots of appliques. For complicated projects like bedding, window treatments, cushions, slipcovers etc, the Good Lord has blessed me with friends and family( My mother-in-law Pat, Aunt Debbie, Kathy V., Kathy H and Kim B.) that have incredible sewing skills, who I could trade or barter with to make the complicated things for me.

I had some adorable rooster valances that were given to me ,as I always try and reuse things or pass them on to someone who can use them...here is what they look like

To make a long story short, someone spotted them in my craft room folded flat and sitting in a pile of fabric and told me they knew someone who could use them. So I of course agreed if they wanted them they were theirs, I did this before I knew there were three windows and any of the window sizes, big mistake!

After my commitment I learned only one of the three valances that were complete and ready to be added to a board, was the correct size and that the other two would need to be added to, altered etc. The challenge was that the rooster fabric is a discontinued fabric, the good news is that the black check fabric in the valance is still available and I thought no problem we will simply use the rooster panels as the gussets and the check as the large front panels, no problem! And since two windows shared one wall the other window was on a wall by itself, it would be ok if the valances were different as long as they incorporated the same fabrics.

Boy was I wrong, the rooster fabric is like a tapestry fabric and is very stiff and not overly flexible, so there was no way it was going to cooperate and lay flat to allow me to create a gusset, in addition, the gusset in the valance is so small you couldn't even tell it was the same rooster fabric on the completed valance.

What to do, what to do....as I tweaked and tweaked, I came up with two options, of course, I was leaning towards one more heavily, but since they weren't for me, I sought the opinion of my dear husband, who at times has a great eye (it's great when he agrees with me!) he actually picked the one I was leaning towards without swaying him, which was all the reassurance I needed.

So, the sewing began....which shouldn't have been a problem except my basic Singer is 15 years old, I have never had it serviced, oiled, etc and the tension is majorly goofed up and it will no longer wind bobbins, so I get to wind them by hand, talk about a pain!

I would get in a rhythm and the thread would break from the goofed up tension or the bobbin thread would run out. It was a true test of patience.

After about 4 hours of assembling, sewing, riping out seams and resewing, here is what the finished product looked like.

I actually amazed myself....please all you great seamstresses out there don't look closely at my seams, I used clear thread to try and hide as many non straight stitches as possible.

I am taking an intermediate sewing class starting this Thursday to try and improve upon my limited skills and learn some new ones! Can't wait and I need to get my sewing machine to the repair shop!

I'll keep you posted on my future projects.

I would love to hear your comments, don't be afraid to post a comment, it's really easy....let me know if you took Home Economics and what you remember about it, both good and bad!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Sorry I have been remiss in posting...I have been busy! With the warm weather here, I have been in the yard, weeding and planting and spent two helping a lovely 82 year lady named Betty with her numerous but incredible perennial beds.

We weeded, deadheaded and put down some mulch. She is unbelievable, she doesn't look 82 and I can tell you she doesn't work like she is 82, I think she outworked me both days!

I learned a great deal from her on gardening, marriage, life and much more....it was a pleasure spending time with her!

Happy Feet

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge:

As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not purge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.

I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.


I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.


I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.


I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.


I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.


I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $35 or $45 and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

Don't keep this to yourself!

Courtesy of pairofbartletts.blogspot.com and she said not to keep it to yourself, so do your girly duty and pass it on!

Spring Giveaway

The Farm Chicks have a great Spring Giveaway on their blog! It's your choice of 2 fabrics, 1 yard each from Pixie Dust Decor. The blog gives you all of the details to enter the giveaway!

If you haven't met the Farm Chicks they are so creative. They have been fetaured in Country Living Magazine and now have their own cookbook. These are the Farm Chicks!

Go check out their blog http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com

Jars, Jars and More Jars

There's something about jars that I just can't seem to resist. Not sure if it is their shape, original purpose or how I plan to use them, but my collection is ever expanding. From Mason jars, to decorative non-food safe primitive ones, I have more than I care to count.

Some of my jars are purely decorative and the contents change seasonally, while others are purely functional and hold flour, sugar, candy, bread crumbs, etc.

While looking at some of my decorative ones and growing a bit bored with them, I set out to add a little something to them and I ran across this great site http://www.yankeelaneprimitives.blogspot.com/div>

My plain early lighting jars went from this

To this, by simply gluing a label on the front of the jar!

Here are the Keepers of the Light Candle Jars, that I simply cleaned out once my candle was gone and added the label to the front of the jar. I will have some of these for sale at Burlington on Sunday. Stop by and check them out!

Show Time

Spring is here and that means it is show time!

Come see us at the Burlington Antique Show on Sunday, April 19th.

Show hours are 6:00am-3:00pm.

Our booth number is D8.

We will have loads of goodies including screen doors, shutters, wheel barrels and more!

For more info on the show visit http://www.burlingtonantiqueshow.com/

Hope to see you there!

Happy Easter

Before and After

Here's a less than exciting drafting chair, that is perfect for use at the computer, sewing machine, crafting table and so much more.

While the chair is perfectly functional and comfortable, it is rather plain and stark, or at least I think it is.

Solution, find a fabric that you like/love and a dear friend who can sew and you will end up with a drafting chair that looks like this!

Don't you just love it! My dear friend Kathy used her wonderful creative sewing skills and made a slipcover for my chair! She is so talented and always willing to help me create what my mind dreams up! I count her as one of my many blessings!

Now, each time I walk into my craft room I have this lovely chair to look at and Kathy comes quickly to mind!

What do you have around your house that is truly functional but less than exciting that you can perform a before and after on?

Road Trip to the Big Basket

Now that Spring has arrived it's time for some road trips! My first of the year was to my favorite spot, Longaberger! We traveled to Longaberger on our first bus trip of 2009 and got to help Longaberger kickoff their Spring Fling weekend!

We traveled by chartered bus and had a blast with 43 fun loving ladies! The weather was perfect, no rain and in the mid 60's!

We drove past the breath taking 5 story market basket building, which continues to thrill and amaze me no matter how many times I see it!

Our first stop was Longaberger Homestead, an unbelieveable shopping and entertainment destination. Home to the World's Largest Apple Basket!

We shopped the incredible factory store filled with retired baskets and pottery at unbelieveable prices!

Had lunch in the Crawford Barn, yummy lemon almond chicken salad!



And then it was on to the quaint little town of Dresden, home to many independently owned shoppes.



Our last stop of the day is one of my new favorties, The Retired Basket Shoppe, located directly across the street from Longaberger Homestead. Lisa and her Mom, the shop owners are such sweeties, they come out to greet the bus with a Longaberger Basket full of cookies and each person on the bus receives a discount on two items!

Here's a shot of my buddies inside the Retired Basket Shop: Ginger, myself, Sallie and beautiful little Kylie, who is officially hooked on baskets! She has already woven two baskets and this is only her second trip to Longaberger! Sallie has an adorable slate tile in her hand to go on her WI stand that's in her yard to replace her Christmas one she got at the Retired Basket Shoppe when we were there in Decemeber.


If you haven't ever joined us for a trip, you don't know what you are missing! It's such a great Girls Day! Our next trip is Saturday, June 20th, the 2009 American Summer Celebration Tour and I would love for you to join us!

Apron Appeal

I'm not sure who the author is, of the following, however several people (mom, sallie and pat) have sent this to me via email as they know how I love aprons!

They bring back fond memories of my Grandma, who made everything from scratch, as she always wore one when cooking. I can see her now! I don't own any vintage aprons, but own several new ones that I wear all the time. If you come to my house I am usually wearing one, as they save your clothes from stains when cooking.

Photo: BHG

History of the Apron:

Aprons, I don't think kids today know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

Photo: Jessica Steele

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Photo: SCAD

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

Photo: Jessica Steele

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Do you wear aprons? What memories do aprons conjure up for you?

Check out www.tipnut.com for 52 free apron patterns.