Vintage Valentie's Day

Terry got me this Sweet Vintage Valentine Heart Box that was once filled with Brach's chocolates.  He used it as a gift box that he filled with a sweet poem he wrote for me for Valentines Day.

When you move the box the hologram eyes open and shut.

Now a days it seems that flowers and gifts are over shadowing the gift giving ritual of the pretty box of Chocolates.

A long time ago it use to be fashionable and sweet to bring home one of those big heart shaped boxes of Chocolates to the one you loved on Valentine's Day!

Some of these beautiful heart shaped boxes of chocolates were beautiful.  So much detail to each and every box.

Not just red but purples, pinks, greens, blues etc. were used on chocolate heart boxes.

You have to still love the traditional velvet and satin red heart boxes and flowers.

No better way to say I love you on Valentines Day. 

 What girl would not have loved to get these pretty heart boxes filled with sweet yummy chocolates.

In today's world you can still find chocolates in fabric hearts such as this one from Godiva. 
The embroidering on this box is so pretty.  There are still some modern day chocolatiers that still do beautiful and traditional heart boxed chocolates.

If on a budget you can still find these boxed heart chocolates on the shelves at Target and Walmart.

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a heart shaped Spiderman box of Chocolates lol!

Look at these yummy cake and cookie inspired chocolates.  Mmmmmm!

I saw this on Pinterest and think I am going to do a little take on this for my 2 daughters and son in law for Valentines Day.  

They would love the cash instead of candy and of course the lottery tickets.
Just would be a fun little switch to traditional candy.

I am thinking of getting this guy to give to my youngest single daughter.  He is sweet, decadent and rich!!! Perfect Man!!!

For my granddaughters I am making up cute little gum ball machines from the Dollar Tree and will fill them with red, white and pink M&M's. 

 I saw this idea on Kathleen's blog Our Hopeful Home.  So cute.

I miss that the traditional beautifully handcrafted heart chocolate boxes are not given much any more for Valentines Day.  

They unfortunately have been replaced with pretty flowers, commercial chocolate gifts and a good bottle of wine.  
It is all good.  
Times change and so do traditions.  

What kind of gifting do you do for Valentines Day?

Are you the traditional chocolate giver or the more modern roses, wine and gifts.

Have a great Week.

xoxo

Kris

Winter Flu Give Away

Hi Everyone.

You probably thought when you saw the headline that I was giving away the flu lol!  Nope just a cute little flu prevention gift.

I am leaving the 50's and turning the big 60 in April.  Geez when did this happen?!! 

My daughters are giving me a nice birthday luncheon to celebrate and we have been working on a cute little favor for each of the guests.  It is this purse favor. 

 Is this not the sweetest little favor box.  It is a replica of a Dior purse.  Loved these when my daughter showed them to me.

We have been working on getting cute things to put in the purse favors.  We wanted to find things that the guests would find useful to put in their own purses.  

More about these favors later on when we get them complete.

 I had a few extra of the items we are putting in the favor boxes.  These are perfect for a little give away for all of you sweet friends out there and it will help with cold and flu prevention.

First let me show you how I got my craft on with one of the items going into the favor purses!!!

I found these great flat credit card size hand sanitizers on Amazon.  I love these because they are nice and flat.   They not only fit nicely in your purse you can also slide them down in a jean or pant pocket.  They are not bulky like a normal hand sanitizer.

I took off the ugly label.  It removed easily.

Then I took the label and stuck it on a piece of heavy paper and made my template.

 I went to the dollar store and got this great contact paper to make new covers.

It has lots of pattern choices.

I chose the smaller floral pattern to cover these.

I cut out smaller pieces of the pattern and put my template over the pattern and cut around the pattern.

 I peeled back the cut out contact paper and attached it to the hand sanitizers.  Let me tell you this was so easy.  Even a non crafty person like myself can make these!

I think they came out pretty cute.  A lot prettier than the generic covers that come on them.

Another cute item we are putting in the favor boxes are these cute purse size tissues.  Sniff's makes some cute designs.

These are two of the cute items that will go into the purse favors for my bff's to take home from the party later in April.

Stay tuned to see some of the other cute items my two daughters and I are making for these purse favors.

If you would like to win one of these little sets of the Sniff's and Hand Sanitizer to put in your own purse just leave me a comment below.  If you are a no reply blogger please leave me an email so if you win one of these I have a way to contact you.

Happy Friday.
Have a great Weekend.
Hugs,
Kris

Perk Project and Kindness

I am excited to join in and share with Jemma from At Home With Jemma and Stacey from Poofing the Pillows blog on their Perk Project.

They invited me to share my thoughts on kindness and how it effects my life.

Let me start by sharing this quote from the Dalai Lama.

Compassionate kindness is the most precious thing there is.  It is something that only we human beings can develop.  And if we have a good heart, a warm heart, warm feelings, we will be happy and satisfied ourselves, and others will experience a friendly and peaceful atmosphere.

This is a beautiful quote. 
  I feel too that kindness is one of the most precious gifts we can share with one another.  It costs nothing and is readily available at anytime for us to share.

I try each day to share a little kindness in some way.  Whether is is as simple as letting the person behind you in the grocery store line go before you because they only have one or two items and you have half a cart full.

Here is an example of a bigger act of kindness.

My husband and I shared kindness recently by adopting another rescue dog after the loss of our previous rescue dog to cancer.  

Adopting another pet is a huge responsibility and time consuming addition to life.  

I was not sure I wanted to take this on at this point in our lives.  

I am glad we did take the plunge again to adopt another sweet basset hound.  

We found that rescuing this sweet pet and giving her a better life gives our life meaning no matter what our age.

  Showing kindness to a sweet animal that has never experienced kindness or care makes your heart fill with joy.   

You are gifted their reaction to the true kindness shown.  It changes your life as well as theirs.

Peggy our new rescue.

I also like to do random acts of kindness throughout the year.  

Most of the time they cost nothing and come from my heart.

Sending a card to someone that will least expect it. Wishing them a good day and telling them you were thinking about them is a small gesture for me but a big uplifting kindness to them .

Random Acts of Kindness give so much to someone else but it also comes back to give you so much more.

The other day I was in line at Starbucks to get a warm Chai Tea.  When I placed my order I asked the person taking my order to please tell the man in the work truck in front of me that I was treating him to his beverage.  

It became contagious when I saw him hold up his cup to say thank you.   I could see the smile on his face from his side view mirror, it made me smile.   

At that moment as he drove away I felt good about myself, the day and even the future.

We all give of ourselves everyday in many ways. 

We naturally share comfort and care when things arise in our lives,  but sharing kindness daily is good for the soul.

Kindness shared is the best gift you can give to others and yourself.

I hope after reading this you will find a spot in your day to share a smile, give a hug or say some nice words to someone.  You will see the smile, the hug or the thank you given back will change their day and yours.

Thank you Jemma and Stacey for letting me share in the perk project.

I hope all of you are shown kindness today and then will share kindness with someone else.
Hugs,

Kris

                                     

Living Room Switch-a-roo!

Happy Friday Everyone.

Hope your week has been going great.  Yeah for Friday's and weekend's.

After taking down my Christmas decor the house looked pretty sad.  No more pretty lights twinkling on the tree.

For a long time having the couch under one of my windows in the living room always bugged me.  I do not like when furniture covers up windows that let in lots of light.

I mentioned in my sneak peek post that this couch was too big for this tiny living room.  So I gifted the couch to my youngest daughter that just bought her first home.  It opened up the window very nicely.

I added the new Bombay chest I scored and painted white under the window and then flanked each side of the window with my two Ikea slipcovered chairs. 
I had been waiting on the new rug to come in from Overstock.com and two new white ottoman slipcovers.  They both came in a few days ago.  I love the pattern to the rug.  It is white, light silver, gray with a floral pattern.  I think it goes well with my wallpaper in this room.

Speaking of wallpaper.  I had two double rolls left over from the one wall we did in the living room.   Terry hung the left over wallpaper on the entry way wall and the wall opposite the other papered wall in my living room.  I think it gives some dimension and interest to this side of the room.

These are my love birds that Terry gave me for our 15th anniversary years ago.  We have been married 38 years so that is how long I have had these.  I love them and love that he gifted me with this lovely sentimental gift.  They have a new home on top of the TV Armoire.

My entry way as you come into the living room has my grandmothers old cedar chest under the old chippy french window.

I took my birdhouse and placed it on this old candle stick.  Can you believe that was a candle stick?  Biggest one I have ever seen!  Makes for a cute post for the birdhouse.

Moving out the sofa and putting the chest here and the chairs on either side of the window really opened up this space.  I am the only one along with Peggy that sit up here in these chairs.  So it feels right in this room now.

This lay out of the room makes the room feel bigger.  The natural light flows in nicely and the  light does not get blocked by furniture. 

Even on this cold gray winter day you can see how bright the room still is.  When the sun streams in it is heavenly.

I re hung my arched vintage window over on this wall.

Over where the arch window use to be I hung my chippy picket fence.

The old picket fence ties in with my wallpaper for a nice garden vignette.

Loving my re loved old mantel clock too.

I still have my old farmhouse chippy window and shutters on one wall in this room.  Love the history of this piece.

With just moving a couch out and buying a new rug and pulling my other white chair out of storage I have a nice "she cave" area in my living room.

I enjoy sitting in this room especially on a sun filled day to read or watch a little TV.

Before I say Good Bye.  

I wanted to share with you a wonderful sweet gift I got from Rita at Panoply blog.  I saw it on her blog post here and asked her how much this sweet piece was selling for and if she would ship it to me.  Rita being the sweet heart she is gifted it to me.  It was originally brass and you know me and white.  So this cherub bowl got a little white paint makeover.

It is sitting right now on my kitchen counter and is holding my Cutie tangerines.  Thank you sweet Rita I love this sweet cherub bowl.  I am sure he will be traveling though out the house and my decor from time to time but for now he is the guardian of the Cuties!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs,
Kris

Parties:
Vintage Charm Party 115
Share your Style Party
Best of the weekend
Neutral Winter Party
Create Bake and Gather and Grow Party
Showcase your Style 14

Sneak Peek

Happy Friday Everyone.

I have been working on changing up my living room.  I have been challenge to make these tiny cottage rooms work in our new home.  

 I thought I would show you a little sneak peek and hopefully after the weekend I will have the room finished.  Fingers crossed.  I am still waiting on the slipcovers I am having made for the two Ikea ottomans.  Hopefully those will be on my doorstep soon.

Here we go for the little peek.......

Let me say I am so grateful 2017 is over and we are on to a new 2018.  2017 was a hard year for us.  Lots of good blessings but lots of stress with moving, renovating etc.  My word for 2018 is grateful.  I am grateful we are settled and grateful to find a new normal in our lives.

This is the reclining couch.  I have removed it from the room to open up the window and space.  I am gifting this couch to my youngest daughter that is in the process of buying her first home.  She is very excited so no worries this pretty couch will have a wonderful new home.

The other day I was poking around on Offer Up a resale site.  I found this old vintage Bombay chest on there for a steal.  I did not get a before picture to show you.  Trust me it needed some love and white paint.   I finished this beautiful piece this week.
I am always having to shoot into the back light that streams in this room.  You will just have to take my word for it this piece with the light coming in the room looks fabulous.

The chest staying here under the window and my two slipcovered white chairs will be anchoring on each side of this piece in the room.  The room really opened up by taking out the couch and now just having the two chairs and the chest in between.

Another super cute find this week was this old mantel clock missing the clock parts.  No issues it just needed some white paint too.  Love its sweet legs.  It is adorning the top of the new chest.

I am having fun playing with my decor pieces as I change up this room.

The best part of this room change up is I only had to buy a new rug and get two little slipcovers sewn for the two Ikea ottomans.   I will have a whole new look to this room to show you soon.

Patience is not my thing lol!  So waiting on the rug and the slipcovers to come has been hard.  Hopefully soon I will have them at my front door and I can finish up this room to show.

It amazes me how just moving out a piece of furniture and moving around some of the other furniture makes a big difference in the way the room now looks.

Have a great Weekend.
xoxo
Kris