A New Year, A New Start

Hello to you!
I am missing you so!

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying this time.

I have been busy with the kids and just trying to catch up on some things around the house, no major changes though. :)

I can't believe that this year is almost over, it seems to have come and gone in a blink of an eye and I feel like I have missed so much.

As if lately I have been in a huge funk, not sure why because I have so many wonderful things going on but there is just this constant tug at my heart that is yearning for something.  I don't feel creative, I don't feel motivated, it is like I am just getting through each day the best I can.

Now, it could be this time of year, it could be the fact that I am not working right now and feel a bit lost, or the fact that the kids are older and involved in way more things, which is awesome but it is almost like I want to slap myself in the face and wake-up from this feeling and get my butt going, be happy, have fun, enjoy life.

Source: tiredofbull.tumblr.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I am the type of person who's mind never shuts off, as I am sure that some of you have as well, and I get all these ideas in my head and I want to do everything NOW!  Not tomorrow, not in a month or a year but NOW!  This has been a constant struggle since my heart surgery.  I am also somewhat OCD and a perfectionist.  By that I am mean I see things, think I can do it without practicing, it doesn't turn out, I throw my little tantrum and pity party and then dwell on it.
NOT GOOD, let me tell you!

Source: babaloud.com via Michelle on Pinterest

There are some projects around the house that I would like to do this winter and I also picked up my paint brushes again and would love to learn how to paint again.  I loved art growing up but since children I put the brushes down and over time, some things have seeped out of this brain.  Remember what I said earlier about perfectionist and not getting it right the first time?  Yeah, I am so on that path already with this BUT I really want to do this so I keep at it day by day when I have time.   

Source: imgfave.com via Michelle on Pinterest

So why am I rambling on and on?
Well this year for my New Years resolution I want to be able to win the battles that I struggle with internally, within myself.  I guess better myself and my attitude one step at a time.  I know that is kind of a general resolution and maybe not so much a resolution but a need for myself and others around me, sometimes I can make life a tad unpleasant when I get in my "moods"  :)

Source: oraclefox.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

So, I am determined to see things how they are, see the things that I CAN do, believe in me and trust in myself and God that there is a plan/purpose/moment for me.
I am truly blessed with the things that I have, people that I love and love me and abilities that I have so please don't think that I am whining or complaining, this is more of a stop-and-take-a-look-at-myself-and-who-I-want-to-be kind of thing.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years and I want to thank you for all your support and friendship over the last year, I am so glad to be a part of this community. :)

Things may start out slow for me in blogland, hubby was scheduled for his back/neck surgery next week so I have much to do before and after.

Hugs to you all!!!!

May your Christmas night be 

Silent

Holy

Calm

and 

Bright.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

I just wanted to stop in and tell you all to have 

The Merriest Christmas

and 

the Happiest New Year!!

Source: pinterest.com via E on Pinterest

I hope you are surrounded by those that you love and love you

Source: vitaverandan-anna.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

and that all of your Christmas wishes come true no matter how big or small.

Source: prettystuff.tumblr.com via Seaside on Pinterest

I am signing off until the new year to spend time with family and friends.

I want to thank you for a wonderful year of inspiration, support and friendship and I wish you all the very best in the coming year!!

May peace, love and blessings follow you all your days.

HUGS!!!

Christmas Kitchen

Good evening or morning or afternoon depending on when you are reading this!

I have been very busy getting ready for Christmas around here and I made it my mission last week to get all of my Christmas shopping done.   

I am almost done with the exception of a few gifts that I am making.

YEAH!!!

It has been very cold here but we only had a little bit of snow which has already melted.  

I am hoping for a white Christmas this year.

I know you are all very busy as well so I will make this a short one.  

I am loving your holiday home tours, everyone has such beautiful decor and it is so fun going from house to house. :)

My kitchen turned out to be my favorite this year so I will quickly show you. :)

Pardon the little mess on the island there. :)

I used simple whites and green with some sparkles this year along with natural elements.

Simple. White. Cozy.

I hung some lights in the window behind the sheers, I love them at night and they actually twinkle.

My bin of Christmas wood with greens and lighted branches scattered through.

And my simple mantel decorated with rope Christmas trees, greens, driftwood, starfish, a lantern and my cute little owl that I picked up at Meijer's.  

I love him! :)

This week I hope to finish up my gifts and then enjoy the rest of the holidays with family and friends.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!

Bonus Room Slip Cover

Hi everyone!  

I am so sorry for my absence, time seems to go so fast.

Things have been good and I have been spending time with the family and trying to get my butt and heart back into some kind of shape.  

I am busy getting ready for Christmas but wanted to say thank you for all your support and friendship. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ours went well and I managed to get everyone in the house and in the same room to eat together.  Woo Hoo!!!

I haven't been doing much of home projects other than Christmas decorating.  My bonus room is pretty much done although I haven't taken photos of the whole room yet but I did get some shots of the slip cover that I made for the couch thingy so I thought I would show you. :)

Here is what it looked like this summer...

and now.

I have to admit that the ruffles took me the longest on this thing and they are far from perfect but that's ok.

I again used sheets from Walmart in the charcoal gray.

The pillows above are furry and soft and cozy!

I picked up a body pillow cover and made the two pillows above.

I have more treasures in the room right now, some beautiful pillows from a special friend and some Christmas things that I will share later

You can see a little bit of what I have going on so far.  It is a great room to just relax in.  I put up lights behind the sheers but still have to learn how to photograph those. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I hope to get around to say hi to you sometime soon.

I miss you all!!

Hugs!!!

Winner and a Bit of a Break

I want to thank everyone who entered the Shabby Apple Giveaway!

The winner of the Da Vinci dress is

Shelley of Calypso in the Country!!!

I will email you today and let you know what you have to do!

Thank you again!!

And remember you can still use the code EMERALDCOVE10OFF at checkout and save 10% until Dec 14.

I am also going to be signing off for a while, not sure how long, for sure through Thanksgiving.

We have run into a small crisis this week, which we are hopefully almost over, and that has set me back a bit.

I have 17 people coming over for Thanksgiving so I will be getting ready for that and it is my birthday on Wednesday and I will be preparing for that!  hahah!!

I have also run out of steam on projects and such and right now my heart just isn't into it. 

I need to focus my attention, at least for a bit, on me and my family and getting to things that I haven't in a while that I need.  I know we all go through this and I will be back but just need to recharge and regroup for a bit.

I will always have my email open so if you need anything or just want to talk please email me. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you.  

Have a safe and wonderful holiday and thank you again for everything you do and are!!

Hugs!!!

Shabby Apple Giveaway!!!

Well it's Monday and what better way to start off a Monday than with a giveaway!!

The wonderful people at Shabby Apple have offered you a chance to win one of their beautiful dresses!

Shabby Apple has beautiful woman's dresses as well as little girl's dresses for all occasions!

Prints

Dusty Rose

Adorable girls 

So what will you win exactly?

 We have chosen the Da Vinci dress:

One part sweatshirt, one part puff-sleeved perfection, this easy-wearing number has a flare for the informal with its drop waist, A-line skirt and kangaroo pockets. Pack it for your next weekend getaway or make it a part of your everyday routine. 

(please click the link to see more of the Da Vinci dress)
I thought it looked comfy and casual and perfect for everyday.

To enter to win the Da Vinci dress all you need to do is "Like" Shabby Apple on Facebook and come back and leave me a comment letting me know that you have.

Unfortunately you have to have a US mailing address to win and there will be no exchanges for the dress.

BUT

Shabby Apple is also giving my readers a 10% discount, international included, on their orders.

When you check out just enter  the coupon code 

EMERALDCOVE10OFF

this code is only good for 30 days from today and could be great to use for a gift for Christmas! :)

The giveaway will end Friday November 18 at Midnight Eastern Time.

Please don't forget to give me an email address so I can contact you.

Good Luck and have fun shopping!!

Warm

Hi again!

I am sitting here in the dark writing this, with the only light being that from my dying fire and my dying computer.  

You see the gales of November are upon us here in Michigan and that means that not only is it approaching the winter season but it also means that it is power-outage season in my neck of the world.

We live in the woods and well, you know.

So I have been trying to keep warm by finding lovelies on Pinterest. :)

Source: finetingogsjokolade.blogspot.com via Rossie on Pinterest

Source: toast.co.uk via Tamsin on Pinterest

Source: schoengeistig.tumblr.com via Linda on Pinterest

Source: myparadissi.com via Marsha on Pinterest

Source: 36ohk6dgmcd1n.yom.mail.yahoo.net via Natalie on Pinterest

and just for fun.....

Source: Uploaded by user via Michelle on Pinterest

How YOU doin'?


So I hope you have a wonderful weekend and stay warm, maybe one or all of these will help.
 I know some of the areas of the US are getting hit pretty hard with some nasty weather and hopefully you are not sitting in the dark as well.
Hopefully the power is back on by the time this posts.
Although it is kind of peaceful for now. :)

Hugs!!!

Ruffles!!!!

Hello to you!

I hope you are all doing well.

I just wanted to stop in and show you the ruffled curtain that I made out of Walmart sheets.

I used this tutorial from A boy, a girl and a pug.  

Although because I was lazy and the room was starting to become very blue from my frustrations I decided to not add the last two rows.

Shabby right!!??

As you can see from the photo below I need to go back and sew a portion of one of the ruffles back on.

Not sure how I totally missed that, well I am sure how but, you know. :)

I needed to put a curtain here to hide this!!

AAHHHHHH!!!!!

The old dirty carpet, which I did really love, and the fun sun yellow that the room used to be.  

The stairway will have to wait until later.

Also the bonus room gets really cold in the winter and the cold air blows down into the house so it makes the kitchen area cold so the curtain blocks the air and it just looks pretty. :)

I also finished the cedar chest.

This is a very special piece to me, it was my Grammy and Papa's and is one of the few things that I have left from their home.

My hubby stripped it and stained it 15 years ago and it was in our bedroom for a long time.

I gave it another chapter in it's life and love it all painted and shabbied up. 

So that is where I am. 

 It is rainy this week so I am up there working on the slip cover for the couch thingy and I even got all my mess cleaned up.

Ok, I put the mess in the basement but I did manage to donate and trash some things. :)

 I organized the cedar chest and it holds quite a bit of stuff.

Have a wonderful week!!

Floors and a Mess

So last weekend I finished the bonus room floor.  I really like it for being plywood but it was a lot of work that I hope to not have to do in a long long time.  :)

If you don't recall what I did I first painted the sub flooring a light gray, Smooth Stone from Gliddon.

I then used a wood graining tool, white paint and a glaze to make grains into the paint.

I then went over all of that with a stain called Sun Bleached.

WHEW!

It is hard to see but hopefully you can kind of get the idea.

I would show you the whole floor but you will see why I didn't at the end of this post.  :)

Of course certain someone's have to be in the picture.

With the floors done I started on the furniture that I planned to use.

I had a kitchen island from Crate and Barrell that I purchased a long time ago that was too big for our kitchen.  I used it in my previous craft room but decided that I would try to make it a bit prettier.

I picked up Annie Sloan Coco and painted it.

It is a really pretty brownish-gray

(again, hard to see with my amazing photography skills)

It wasn't bad but it wasn't fitting into my vision so I picked up some dark stain and stained the top.

Well needless to say that sucked!

I mean it is really pretty and I like how it turned out, but it was even farther from my vision so I resorted to my  backup plan.

I stole the desk from my daughters room.

All she uses it for is to gather junk that she says she needs.

I will try to find a new desk for her with drawers to hide everything. :) 

SO

here is where I am.....

I feel like I am no further from the last time I posted about this room but I am plugging away.

My goal is to get it finished before Thanksgiving.

Crossing my fingers and toes on that one!

I also want to thank you for all your wonderful comments, emails and friendship.  

I am sorry if I don't get back to everyone on each post, time seems to go so quickly these days.

Please know that I read and LOVE all your comments.

Hugs!!!