A Little Jingle

Happy Monday.  Hope the Weekend was fabulous for all of you.

Just a few things to share with you today.

Disclaimer:!!!!!!!

Ok this is not a post for those of you that do not think ahead of the holidays and only try to do one at a time.  You might want to move on from this post or do you.................

All Right I was minding my own business in the Hobby Lobby just strolling along the aisles enjoying the views.  Then something magical happened.....

These different cute little Christmas crafty items started to jump into my cart!  You know when things are 50% off they tend to leap into your cart before you know what is happening!!!!

Every Year I make my kid's and granddaughter's an Advent Calendar for Christmas.  I gift them these Calendars at Thanksgiving so they can start with them at the beginning of Advent.  I usually like to make them to make it special.

After getting these pieces I was able to come up with a Santa Advent Calendar.   I got out my trusty glue gun and away I went with burnt fingers to make up this advent calendar.

My kids love the scratch off lottery tickets I put on the advent calendars along with a few little gift cards and of course a few pieces of Chocolate.

This works perfectly to clip on the cards and lottery tickets.  I have  not purchased the cards or lottery scratch off yet so you will have to use your imagination to see them clipped onto each day.

The Grand Girls of course do not get a lottery ticket calendar so I found these cute Barbie Advent Calendars for them.  I love that it comes with a full size Barbie doll and each day the girls get a different outfit for the Barbie. 

This is about as crafty as I get but I am happy with the way the Santa Advents are coming out.  I have one done and 2 more to go.

Now on to a peak preview of something in the works at Junk Chic Cottage.

These old drawers will be made and re loved into my new project.

These gorgeous old farm house table legs are going to be part of the new project.

The framing pieces in this old table top is going to be incorporated into the new design too.

So stay tuned and I will show you what all these oak furniture pieces will be turned into.  Hope to have that to show to you soon.

I will end this post with Buddy. 
He got a new ball from the neighbor next door and he is crazy for balls.  He has his squeaky toys that he loves but now he has discovered balls.  We can play throw and fetch for hours!!!! His energy is endless.

Speaking of Buddy we purchased this portable fence from Lowes. 
Our backyard is all fenced in but the new driveway and new garage is open. 

Buddy discovered just recently that there is a whole new world outside his backyard! 

With his sense of exploring we needed to find a way to keep him in the backyard.

So we went to Lowes and found this stake fencing.
It is not permeant so you can remove it if you like.  It has the stakes attached so you can just stick them easily into the ground. 

I think they look attractive enough too. 

They were only around $29 dollars a set and you get two fence pieces in a set. 
This was a good solution to keep Buddy safe in the backyard for not a lot of expense.

Have a great new week.
Hugs,
Kris

New Old Mirror Door

This is the door/mirror piece that Terry made for me.  I loved that we could use a lot of architectural pieces to make up this piece.
I could not quite figure out why I was not real happy with this piece on this wall.

I felt like maybe it was the wallpaper competing with the door/mirror.  So down came the wallpaper and we painted the walls gray matching the rest of the living room.

Then we sanded down the door to expose more of the woods underneath.  That was a problem since the woods underneath were several different colors with it being different woods. I wanted to take all the white off and then stain the door.  Nope was not going to happen with all these colors of different woods.

Then this came in the mail to me.  It was a saying I bought from a person on Etsy about 3 weeks prior.  Hmmmm while I was thinking about where to hang this piece I got an idea!

After it was sanded we added some white wash paint to the sanded areas.  Made the wood bleeding through look more uniform and a little more gray.

You can see the details come out on the door now.

The new saying piece looks good attached to the bottom of the door.

So now the door/mirror has a little more character to it.  Trust me it is not as washed out as these pics show.  It looks pretty on the light gray walls.

I like the chippy woods of the door and also my french window together in the entry.

Still on the hunt for a rug for the living room.  No luck yet.  I am determined to find one before the holidays!

I am on the hunt for something to hang just inside the door on the wall of the entry.  Hope on one of my trips I might find something interesting for this space.

Mr. Buddy has grown a lot since we got him a month ago.  

He is such a love.  The puppy training is going great.  He and Terry go to puppy class on Tuesday evenings.  So far Buddy is the best one in puppy class. 

He still is hesitant to be around big dogs but loves the smaller dogs in his class.

He knows how to sit, stay,  fetch, release, give and leave. He has mastered walking on his leash with his harness.  He is such a smarty pants!!!

  He is doing great with the potty training. 

 He is a big snuggler and loves to play with his toys.  It has been fun to see him growing into such a great little dog.

Glad we took the plunge and got this sweet guy.

Have a great rest of the week.
Enjoy.
Kris

Parties:
Vintage Charm

Fall

Happy Fall Y'all!

I love this southern way of greeting in fall.  I had to say it even though I live in the Midwest.  You southerner's should not have all the fun with this cute saying!!!

Here is a little fall from my front yard.  I was hoping all the pretty greenery that was over flowing the flower boxes would have lasted for fall decor.  The frost came in the other night and they did not survive.

So I just worked with what I had.

Junk Chic Cottage Fall Front Decor.

My sweet fall angel hangs on the front door to greet guests.

The Garden Birdhouse got a little fall decor too.

Filled up the empty flower boxes with some fall things.

Even the sweet cherub birdbath got some fall decor.  I have to use everything faux when it comes to pumpkins or gourds.  Mr. Squirrel has no manners and takes all of that kind of stuff away.  So faux it is for this front yard.

I was going to put away the bike for the season but then decided to leave her out and doll her up with some fall things.

Replaced the summer wreaths off the two front windows to fall wreaths.

We are ready on the porch for the trick or treaters at the end of the month.

Now to tackle the backyard and clear away the last hold outs of summer plants and winterize the deck and get the roses cut back for winter.

Hope you are having a great weekend.
Fall is finally here to stay in Illinois.

The trees are beginning to change.
Terry and I have an escape weekend to Michigan at the end of this month.  I know the trees will be at peak then.   I think that road trip is going to be a pretty one.

I finally figured out my new door mirror and I will have that to show you soon.

Happy Sunday
Happy New Week.
Kris
:)

Doors and Chippy Whites

Hello Everyone.

Happy Weekend.

Lots going on for us this weekend.  It is the start of Fire Prevention Week so Terry is having a big open house at the Fire Department today.  All the citizens that want flu shots will be able to get them for free at the open house.  I love that they offer these up for anyone to come and get them.

They also will have food and games for the kids and tours of the fire house and fire trucks.  My grand girls love to come to this.  So it should be a fun family day for us too.

Meanwhile back at the blog I wanted to show you some pictures of how mixing wood with whites and chippy can make for an interesting change in decor.

Also want to talk about doors and the use of doors in my decor.  

For a lot of you that have followed my blog you know how I love an old door.  The history that is attached to old doors captures me every time!  

I always think about where that door was and how many families went through that door when it was attached to their homes.  Call me crazy but I love old pieces like doors with lots of history.

I love to re love them into my home in some way to give them new purpose.

Ok here we go.  Look at how sweet just adding some white linens and a white pitcher of flowers on this nice old vintage wood chair looks.  I love texture of natural wood with whites.

This bathroom is another example of how adding the wood sink and wood bathroom door gives all the whites in the narrow bathroom a beautiful texture.

Swooning over that brick wall on this porch but she also has mixed the butcher block counters with her whites.  Just looks so amazing.

This is one of my favorites I saw on Pinterest.  These old doors made into a cabinet door for this medicine cabinet.  Swooning on this one.

I love the idea of an old door instead of a shower curtain in the bathroom.

Yep! look at this chippy goodness.  Ahhhh!

Going back in time to our lake Zurich home and the old chippy doors and porch posts Terry made into a wall divider for my office area.

Remember when Terry and I found these old cabinet doors at a flea market and he made them into doors for my china cabinet. 

There is our sweet Libby girl.  She died right before we moved.  Miss her and loved her so much.  We got Cooper shortly after Libby died when we moved into the new home.

I have loved these old doors made into a headboard and have lugged those heavy things from the last two house to the one we are in now.  I loved them that much. 
This was what they looked like in our Lake Zurich home.

This is how they look today in our new cottage home.

This door was a great fine and I loved it for a back drop in our last home behind the buffet.  Just chippy goodness.  That door is now hanging in my daughter's home.  Hmmmm I  wonder if I have a purse big enough to steal... I mean borrow that back!!!!

This door gives so much character to this office area.

Look at the creativity of using old doors to make a closet door.  Oh love this so much.

I was able to use this old door and have it become a slider for my closet.  Gives me so much more room in this tiny master bedroom to not have the door swing open.

Just another good use for an old door.

If I had this great bathroom I would live in there! Seriously!!! Look at the roller feet on the doors.  Love it!

I used an old door and put a mirror in it to use as a back drop to my bathroom sink in the old house.

This was in my old laundry room where I used old wash boards for cabinet doors.

Here is my pretty mirror door that Terry used old salvage pieces to make.  Remember I said I was trying to figure out how to decorate this.  Well I am still at a loss for what to do with it.
The simplicity of the wings is good for now.

With that said,  I still feel when I look at this door it needs something to give it more character in this room. 

I have a plan and I am going to run it by Terry and see if it is possible.  I will be back to show you the idea I have for this door.  Maybe if I give this door more character I can then decorate it easier. 

Not sure if that is why I am frozen on ideas to decorate this sweet door.  Maybe with me changing it up some that will be all it needs in this room.  Stay tuned I hope to work on this soon.

That is once things slow down for us!  Seems like every weekend we have a million things going.

Have a good weekend.
Just wanted to pop into your mail boxes and say Hi.

Hugs,
Kris