Christmas has always been a magical time for me, and today I’m so happy to share Christmas decorating ideas that put the sparkle and magic into your home. I’m joining 15 other bloggers to bring you a Christmas Extravaganza that runs December 9th-12th. You can see the full schedule at the bottom of this post…
Can you believe there are just two-and-a-half weeks until Christmas? Yikes! I haven’t even started my shopping yet because I’ve been busy decking the halls! This week I’m excited to be joining 24 other bloggers for “Creating a Handmade Christmas” which started a couple days ago. You can see the full schedule at the end…
Are you enjoying All Hallow’s Eve? I don’t really do a lot of decorating for Halloween, but this year I lucked out with the best Halloween decoration ever! No, it wasn’t a flea market or Ebay find. It was something I found outside. Something that gives you warm fuzzies! Something that doesn’t spook you but…
A slight chill in the air and the turning of leaves into riotous colors means it’s time to take the family out for some apple picking in Illinois! Several farms in the area are dotted with red and golden apples weighing heavily on trees lined in neat little orchard rows. One such orchard is just…
When I was a teenager I thought someday I’d move away and live in a more exciting place than the Chicago suburbs. High school and college graduations came and went and I found myself putting down roots back in my hometown. Eventually I moved a further tad west toward the country and have learned to…
This is just a quick post to say I’m honored to be featured over at Kris’ blog, Junk Chic Cottage. Actually, I was featured on Saturday but I was at the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend (I’ll be sharing photos and more on that later this week) and couldn’t share this…
Would you like to learn how to make these simple DIY tissue paper flowers? Today I’m sharing a very easy tutorial over at Live Creatively Inspired. I had seen some fancier flowers made from script tissue paper in a local boutique but didn’t want to spend $6 apiece for them. So I looked online at a…
This week you can enter to win a $275 gift card to your choice of Home Goods, Target, or World Market! A group of fellow bloggers and I got together to offer a lucky winner the giveaway to win this amazing gift card to one of these 3 stores. If you win, you pick the…
One of my favorite ways to unwind and get away from it all is to escape to the country. Lucky for me, we live on the fringe of the Chicago suburbs so it doesn’t take long for my little red Yaris to reach the rolling farm fields. But what I love most is walking or running…
If you’re like me, you love to decorate your home but you’re constrained by a budget. For 10 years I was a single mom but I figured out how to buy my own home and decorate it without spending a lot of money. After re-marrying, I had more money to spend but found I wasn’t…
It’s no secret I have a major crush on historic homes and walking the streets of old neighborhoods is one of my favorite past times. Recently my hubby and I traveled to nearby Naperville, Illinois and strolled the historic district. Following are some of my favorite homes in the area. This red beauty wears two-toned…
Today I have 3 important things to share with you! And the one you’ll probably enjoy the most is at the very end so read all the way through! First: Today I’m sharing a post on how to create curb appeal over at Live Creatively Inspired. So head on over there if you want to…
You may think it’s weird but one of the things I love most about my home is my farmhouse kitchen windows. They’re extremely difficult to photograph because it seems like light is always pouring through them. So today when I woke up early, I thought I might be able to snap a few pics and…
Our local Kane County Flea Market is held the first weekend of every month March through December and I rarely miss it. This month was no exception and I found a few treasures. I’m always on the hunt for white ironstone and vintage mirrors and usually come home with something. So what did I find…
French Lavender is one of my favorite scents and I’ve been wanting to make lavender sachets for the longest time. I finally found a source for inexpensive lavender buds and placed an order immediately. It’s so easy to make these fragrant little sachets! Simply follow these 5 easy steps and you’ll have pretty little sachets…
A recent trip to Leroy Oakes Forest Preserve gave me plenty of eye candy to photograph and today’s post highlights the shabby white Pioneer Sholes School found on the property. A one-room school that was moved to its current location several years ago, the architecture is simple and lovely and the grounds are idyllic. This…
