I won ...

This fabulous giveaway!

A gorgeous vintage clock, old chippy clock faces (which I've been wanting to collect), this classic movie (guess what I'll be watching this weekend--can you believe I've never seen this before?),

 

and these beautiful glasses! 

I always say I never win anything, but I guess I can't say that anymore.

When I first received the email with the subject "you won," I almost didn't even open it because I thought it might be some sort of a scam or virus, but I'm sure glad I did.

The funny thing is I unwrapped the glasses from the Tiffany box, then rewrapped them and left them on my table. I guess I'm weird that way, my kids kept wanting to open the box.

Thanks to the very sweet Melanie from

Pretties and Posies!

Faux Grain Sack Pillows & Runner

This is what I was up to over the weekend... making this ...

and this.

(see that Tiffany blue box, I won a fabulous giveaway I'll share soon)

I have been debating whether to buy some authentic grain sacks to make some pillows and a table runner. I even had some grain sacks in an online shopping cart, and kept going back to look at them, but just couldn't get myself to click on the "buy" button.

I finally just decided to use what I already have and make my own (and save about $100 as a result!)

No one would even know they're not the real thing, right, well except now you do.

I made 3 pillows and 1 runner for about $10. (I'll show you the 3rd pillow soon!)

(dang wrinkles, I swear I tried)
I used leftover dropcloth material and basically just taped off varying stripes, eyeballing as I went. Then I brushed on some red acrylic paint and pulled the tape off.

I'm loving my new pillows and table runner, they give my home a fun french farmhouse feel.

All you Need is Love ... and a little wood and some paint ...

I made these signs. Of course from the famous Beatles' song.

You could call it valentine decor, but since it's black & white this will stay up year round.

Here was my inspiration piece: I ripped it out of my magazine, but I believe it was Romantic Country Magazine. I have no idea what this says but I just loved it.

I used what I already had, a large board + letter stencils from my scrapbook stash (I think you can buy similar ones at an office supply store), + some cream paint= Free Art (Do you know how much I love that!)

I layed out my stencils to figure out how I wanted my design to be.

Here it is, freshly painted.

Then I sanded with the grain to allow distress lines to pop through the letters.

I also slightly antiqued with a walnut stain, then added a topcoat.

About an hour or so later I had this:

Winter White

I decided to keep my bottle brush trees out after Christmas, because I love them so much, and add some other natural looking elements:
a ball of string from the dollar store,
twigs in an urn,
a stack of books in the form of a loosely shaped tree (I found these books at the library for .10 each and ripped the covers off). If there wasn't a foot of snow right now covering the ground I would go on a little hunt for pinecones--I'll have to remember to do that next fall.
I love the look of the creams and whites on Jaqueline ...
wintry, yet warm.