Treasures & Trinkets Thursday Time!!! Yippee~ YOU'RE INVITED FOR TEA!

1. Link up something you love (and own)
2. Link it back to my post
3. grab my button

That's it....too easy! I'm trying a new Linky tool this week, tell me what ya think! :)


COME TO MY HOUSE FOR TEA... :-)

I wanted to share my silver tea service with you and tell you the history of some of my items.

My mom gave me the actual tea set and tray....isn't it lovely?
See the sugar bowl full of dried roses?? Those are the roses my hubby bought me for our 25th wedding anniversary....so special! (and YES, I am a lucky girl!)




See this tea cup? My hubby bought this for me from here.......




......The Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC....we took our last vacation there. I took this picture as we were driving away at the end of a very lovely day. If you've never been there, you should go, it's amazing! I'll have to do a blog about our trip there sometime, I got some great garden shots! This place was built for two people....a baby came along later, but seriously....two people!




This little sugar scuttle, that's holding candy, came from a place right here in my town.



This is it....it's called Ward Hall. It's open to the public on occasion (for a fee, of course) and we went at Christmas time. They have things you can purchase and silent auctions...very fun. This is an amazing Antebellum home built in 1856, and the detail in architecture is amazing!! I bought the little server when we visited there. It's really nice to go during the Christmas season, they serve hot cider and finger foods as you tour the grand old home.




I borrowed this pic from the Ward Hall website. I couldn't find the photographers name, but wanted to give them credit for the pic. :)

Hope you enjoyed going down memory lane with me as we took a tour of my tea set treasures!

Have a blessed day!


MELISSA

From Laminate to Lovely..........and YOU can do it too!

I want to show you a project I did a while back. It turned out so nice and I enjoyed it so much, I thought you might like to do it as well. :)

I had an old laminate armoire from, I believe it was Walmart, yep...the one that looks like fake wood. I started to get rid of it on several occasions because I disliked it so much. but one day I decided I would try to do something with it before I tossed it out for good..........I'm so glad I did!

I don't have a before picture of the whole thing, but this is one I cropped out of another picture..it's the inside of one of the upper doors.

I found this picture on ebay..it looked a LOT like this..

only not even that nice.

:)

Now this is the inside of the door now.....

HUGE difference wouldn't you say?! :)

 

I went to Lowes and asked a paint associate what kind of primer to use and he gave me one that is meant for very slick surfaces....even glass. I don't remember the name of it because it was a while back and I used every last drop, but it was at Lowes and they can help you with that if you just ask. :)

I painted the whole cabinet with that primer and then gave it two coats of an eggshell finish, white latex paint. I had this pretty pink striped wallpaper left over from another project and used it to go on the front panels and the inside and shelves.

Here's a pic of the paper in place. The roses on the paper are just cut out of some wrapping paper I found.... I just used modge podge

 to put it in place. :)

On the inside of each of the upper doors I took some foam core and cut it to the same size as the inset on the door. I padded it with some quilt batting and then put some beautiful fabric over it and added crossed ribbons for a memory board effect. I held them into place with some t-pins pushed into the foam core on the sides. Then I just used some velcro and held the whole thing into place. You could also use contruction adhesive, like liquid nails if you'd like, I just had the velcro on hand.

Here's a close-up of the padded insert. Oh yeah, I added the buttons in the center of the crossed ribbons and also put on new crystal knobs. I think those knobs add a lot, don't you? (The mask was a birthday gift from my hubby when he went on a business trip to New Orleans...it's hand made.) :)

Here's the finished product! It took a while to paint it all out, but I think you'll agree it was well worth the time and effort and much better than throwing it out! :)

Hope this gives you some inspiration to re-make something in your house that you don't like and turn it into one of your favorite pieces. :)

I'm linking up to:

Make it for Monday @ Cottage Instincts

Met Mondays @ BNOTP

Show off your Cottage @ The house in the roses

DIY Project Parade @ DIY Show off

DIY Day @ A soft place to land

It's So Very Renovated @ It's so very Cheri

Trash to Treasure @ Reinvented

MELISSA

I'm participating in

Guess Where My Guys Got to Go? My hubby won something GOOD!!! :)

Do these faces look happy?? They have good reason to have those smiles! My hubby entered a NATION WIDE contest and guess what he won??




He won these babies right here!!!



Two tickets to the championship NCAA game and two passes to meet the players, coaches etc before the game. He also won a one nights stay at an Indianapolis hotel. How exciting is that!!! :-) They were two happy guys! He was actually just trying to win a UK hat! lol!! We live in KY, so our team was already out, but wow what a season they had....they're already winners in our book!


Their seats were in section 329....right on the half court line! :)


I don't think I've ever seen my guys more excited than they were when they found out my hubby won! They were rooting for Butler, but as we all know that didn't happen. They did have a great time though and got to spend some quality father/son time together. That's what really counts anyway. :)
Hope you have a blessed day
Melissa

Treasures and Trinkets Thursday......My Bed Tray!!

Welcome to our weekly Treasures and Trinkets Thursday!
You know the drill....
1. Link up something you love
2. Put a link on your post back to mine
3. Grab my button.

Now lets go!

This is the bed tray I put on my bed every morning after making it up. Some people say I'm crazy for going to all the trouble of putting a little more than a 1/2 dozen pillows and this bed tray on our bed everyday, but I say if it makes me happy....why not?! :)
Anyway, here it is.....I wanted to share it with my buddies.....that would be you guys! LOL

I bought the tray at a yard sale AGES ago and painted it white....it now has some definite age to it...and I like that.




I have it full of things that make me smile. See the fan, a friend gave that to me for my birthday many years ago. The feather pen in the green ink well is the pen my husband and I used for our guests to sign in at our wedding.





My mom gave me one of these paper weights and the one with the photo, was a friend of our families who has since passed away.




These glasses belonged to an uncle from my mom's side of the family......poor guy must have been blind cause these puppies are THICK! :)





I love old books, these are few that I just tied up with a ribbon and topped off with a little cherub from long ago.




I hope you enjoyed the tour of my bedtray! :)
Have a blessed day & link up!
Blessings
MELISSA

Sorry guys...

Sorry I haven't done a posting in a couple of days, I hurt my back working in the yard and haven't been feeling so great. We are having a fence installed and I, being the overachiever that I am, decided to take on too much outside lifting rock, buildings raised flower beds etc etc etc...now I'm paying for it. :) I will get back into the groove of things in the next day or so...please bear with me. I love you guys and can't wait to show you my fence and all the befores and afters of my patio....once there is an after. :-D My hubby stayed home from work today to give me a hand around here. :)
Blessings and I'll be back soon. (knowing me probably later tonight or tomorrow!!) LOL
Melissa

Spring Cleaning

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been spring cleaning this week and I'm whipped! I didn't know so much gunk could gather under a washer and dryer in such a short period of time! I hadn't had breakfast yet when I started cleaning the utility room and discovered a new diet....you totally lose your appetite after cleaning goo from under appliances.....yes, I did skip breakfast! BLAH!! LOL

I thought I would share some of the pics I took while cleaning my room and making my bed. My bed is high off the ground and fat & fluffy when I make it up..I thought you might like to see how it gets so full and fluffed up. :) Since I had been cleaning like a mad woman and everything was nice and sparkling, I thought this would be a good time to break out my new sheets! There is just nothing else in the whole world like sliding down beneath a new set of sheets and snuggling into all those blankies.... Ahhhhh..........makes me want to go to bed, but I'll finish this post first! :)



Okay, here is my naked mattress awaiting it's great make-over! :)

Here are my new, wonderful, pink, high thread count sheets!! They're calling my name!

I start by putting on the fitted sheet, like everyone else does! :-) Then I put on the flat sheet, but when you put on that one, make sure you leave enough at the top to fold down over all your other blankets etc when you get them on.

This is a wonderful woven, thermal blanket that I've had forever, but it's still in great shape and very soft and warm........so it goes next!

After the thermal, I have a big, thick, soft, incredibly fluffy, down filled comforter. I use this all year long. (I do take off the thermal blanket during the summer months, but this I use all the time)

Here is where I fold down the flat sheet to make a nice envelope effect at the top of the bed. Just makes it look nice and neat and also keeps everything in place. My mom used to use very large safety pins and pin all this together....it made it SO much easier to make up in the mornings....it was all pinned together, nice & neat. I tuck everything under the mattress at this point on three sides.

Here is my super lovely chenille bedspread. I have used this thing forever and it stays beautiful, even after repeated washings. :)

Next are my many, many pillows! I use two large white matlesse' pillow shams in the back (kinda hard to see in this pic), then I put on my two shams from TJ Maxx, called Ribbon Posey. Then I layer on my accent pillows.

I love the little ties on the blue gingham one. See the pretty little pink, neckroll pillow? My mom took my little guy home with her one day and they came back with this pillow that she had helped him make for me. That makes this one special pillow! :)

Last but not least is my bed tray.....every bed needs one of those..........don't you think? :) I'm gonna do a post on just the bed tray later. :) It has some really cute things on it!

I'm glad you were with me while I was doing some spring cleaning..........see I think of you guys all the time...even when I'm cleaning house! :)

I'm linking to:

Make it for Monday @ Cottage Instincts

Met Monday @ BNOTP

Show off your cottage Monday @ The House in the Roses

Thrifty Decor Chic

Hope you enjoyed helping me make my bed.. Have a blessed day!
MELISSA

Home-made Laundry Detergent... cheap, cheap, cheap!

I was so tired of spending at least $10.00 every time I had to buy detergent, then a friend gave me this recipe for detergent you make at home, and now it's cheap, cheap, cheap! Here are the ingredients:



1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap ( all these ingredients can be found in your laundry detergent aisle. I found mine at Kroger)

1 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda (see pic above...NOT baking soda!)

1/2 cup of Borax powder



Directions: Grate the bar of soap onto a paper plate while you have 5 cups of water on the stove heating just to boiling.

I use this kind of grater to make it easier to grate (this was my moms)



Pour the grated soap into the hot water and stir as the soap melts.



This is what it looks like as it's melting down....sunshine in a pan! :)


Pour 4 gallons of hot water into a 5 gallon bucket. When the soap is completely melted, pour it into the 5 gallon bucket and stir well. Add the washing soda and stir, then add Borax powder and continue to stir until dissolved You can add a few drops of essential oils at this point if you like, but I omit this step because the soap smells SO good. Cover the bucket (I use plastic wrap) and let the mixture cool overnight. It will become very gelatinous!



(don't ya just love my pink bucket! lol)



Stir the detergent (it will look like egg drop soup) before using a funnel and pouring into whatever containers you have. I use old detergent bottles and gallon jugs.



Altogether the ingredients cost about $6.00, it factors out to be a few cents a load! (and you still have washing soda and borax to use again!)



Here's how much I get out of each recipe! You only use 1/2 cup per load unless you have heavily soiled items or towels, then I will use about a cup.



Don't you just love saving money so you can use it for something better............like a trip to TJ Maxx!!!! :-)

Blessings
MELISSA