How to change your decor for each season

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, on a personal note our family was blessed with some family healing this Easter !  What an amazing thing!!!

Now that spring is here in most of the country, (I live in Colorado, we had a blizzard last week and are expecting more snow this week - though as I write this it is 68 degrees!), we can now concentrate on spring/summer decorating!  But exactly how do you go about decorating for a non holiday time?  Sort of like after Christmas the house looks so bare.  I'm going to tell you how I change décor from season to season, this is not the only way to do it.  This method works for me. 

One of the things that I do is that I keep certain décor items out all year 'round.  Be it pinecones (one of my go-to décor items), chunks of wood (useful as risers for items), anything dragonflies (just love them and I've got them all over the place), flowers (faux and or real) or rocks and seashells; items I have on display all year long and I just put seasonal items around them. 

Here is a fall example:

I have several of these little dragonfly plates.  My daughter got them for me one Christmas and I use them all year round. 

Here are two dragonfly plates that I am currently using.

For me, keeping some of the décor consistent makes it less harsh when you change things up for a season. 

Even when I decorate my mantle - which I have a bit of trouble doing sometimes because it is dark and it has this very dark railroad tie mantle shelf I try to keep some of the things the same. 

Then I add a bit of the unusual, a window pane.

I made the boxwood wreath last year. 

I also always use flowers be them faux or real throughout the year.  I do change the flowers up for each season but I always have flowers.

Here are the flowers I have out right now.

Here is an example from last summer.  Even on my porch I use flowers. 

These are fresh flowers from my garden.  I made the vase out of a pickle jar, spray painted it gold then turned it upside down and dripped blue paint over it.

Here is my mantle from this past Easter; notice the wood and glass hurricane candles.

Here is the mantle for St. Patrick's Day:

I kept the section of wood in the same place.  Consistency.

That is my big tip - keep a few things consistent in your décor.  You can move them around your living room, family room or wherever you are decorating but keeping a few key items always on display will help you transition from one season to another. 

I simply add seasonal items in around these items and those seasonal items always include flowers, seashells, rocks, pictures, pinecones, orbs and pieces of wood. 

I hope these tips and examples helped you.  I'd love to hear how you change up your seasonal décor. 

Until next week.... stay safe!

Victoria

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It is Easter

Happy Easter week! 

Easter is a time for reflection, remembrance and a time to bring in the new.  However you celebrate I wish you peace and joy. 

This past week I was pretty busy.  I work full-time outside of the home, sometimes up to 70 hours a week and come home and be Mom, Wife, Decorator, Cook, Housekeeper etc.  There are times when I just can't do everything and I need to let myself be okay with that.  Yeah..not so much but I'm working on it. 

With that said I took down my St. Patrick's Day things on Friday and my hubby helped me get down some of our Easter things.  On top of that I somehow talked my hubby into doing a small refurbish of our master bathroom.  I know... what was I thinking!  Small refurbish = silly woman!!!

I am really lucky; I just mention something and possibly an activity that will require a new tool and my husband is all in!  Putting holes in walls, ripping up carpet, plumbing or even a bathroom he's all in. 

Our master bathroom is and has been a disaster.  We had this old ugly faux 1970's pink and beige sheets that were to look like tile in our master shower.  Really ugly even for the 70's.  We had nails popping through and we just knew there wasn't any drywall behind them and we must have water damage.  With fear and dread my husband ripped apart the shower/tub enclosure mumbling to himself that he just doesn't know how I talk him into these things.  It wasn't until I heard a scream that I came running.  He was practically dancing in the tub - NO MOLD, NO DRY ROT, NO WATER DAMAGE!  How did we dodge that bullet???  IDK but I'll take it! 

BUT...come on there is ALWAYS a but!

You guessed it my bathroom isn't back together yet.  It will get there eventually -  I do live with the man who must research and look at consumer reports and reviews on 50 different web sites before he will buy anything.  So I have to give him the time to research a new shower enclosure.  Unfortunately I'm not that patient.  I always tell him by the time he researches and reads and makes his lists and then decides I've done it 10 times.  Now he will chime in with 10 times wrong but.... LOL!

He is very, VERY handy and did the plumbing himself - no leaks after only 3 tries and he fixed several things that the 1970's builder didn't do properly like our railing that goes around the open entrance to the basement is just nailed into the drywall - no stud.  That was fixed and he brought the plumbing up to current code. 

BEFORE: 

 Ugly 1970's faux tile... (see I told you - U G L Y)

It is a large sheet and no, nothing was behind it just studs.

Wall with the nails in the drywall for the railing; also notice the hole.. someone at some point put a hole in the wall but didn't patch it correctly and when the faux tile was ripped out the hole was torn open again so that will have to be fixed. 

I'll be posting on the progress but this is how it still looks today. 

Enough about the bathroom!  I wanted to share a PINTREST SUCCESS! 

I saw several versions of this on Pintrest and thought I'd give it a try...

So how did I do this? 

You will need:
3 wreathes in descending sizes - I used wood as it is easier to make the ears out of the wood/twig wreathes
3 stems of some sort of pastel fuzzy sticks - I used green, yellow and blue
1 garland, Easter themed.  You could use bunnies or carrots - I chose eggs
Hot glue gun
Wire - 3 pieces, 1 for each ear to secure them to the head and 1 to join the head and body
Ribbon to hang it with
Optional - zip tie - I used the zip tie to join the head and body together instead of wire

First up - I worked on the body first and hot glued the egg garland to the wreath.  If you have too much garland you can overlap like I did or cut it and make a knot in the string to keep any eggs you don't glue down from falling off.

Next - Work on the head.  I was making my fuzzy sticks look like a bowtie or whiskers.  I just stuck them in the wreath form at the bottom then turned the wreath over and hot glued everything into place.  Watch you fingers cause yes, I burned myself several times between the fuzzy sticks and the eggs. 

Now - either wire or zip tie your head and body together

Finally - wire your ears on... now how did I make those ears? 

I took the smallest wreath and took it apart making 2 then tied each one back to itself individually.  Then I wired the ears onto the head.
Finally I cut a small length of ribbon and looped it through the head, made a knot and hung the bunny up! 
Pretty cute!

Now if you can bear with me I'd like to give you a quick tour of my house decorated for Easter... I know I've done a lot haven't I! 

Worlds cutest bunny!  I got him from Pier One.

He is sitting on my mantle.

 Close up of the Target dollar spot LED bunny lights... so cute!

Next is the dinning table...

I think it is simple yet very pretty and the kiddo's love the tablecloth with its bunnies doing all sorts of activities. 
Close up of a .50 terra cotta pot with an egg nesting in some faux greenery.

Next is my coffee table.

That is the plain candleholder from Kirkland's that I cut faux flowers to fit in around the bottom.  I like the plain one personally since I can customize it for every holiday very easily.  AND...psst it was much cheaper than the holiday inspired ones that they sell... Like 1/2 the price or more! 

And the buffet.

Just a bit of Easter around to make thing festive for the kiddo's. 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I appreciate the read.  If you would please leave a comment let me know your thoughts... do you decorate for Easter?  Spring?  If so how?  Do you have a theme? Do you make a wreath for Easter?  Spring?  I made my husbands Grandmother a cross for her door.    I'd love to see pictures!!!

Have a safe and blessed Easter. 
Victoria

Whoo hoo!  I'm on INSTAGRAM!!!!  Yes, yes. YES!  Please follow me.  I'm slightly addicted so you'll see previews to blog posts and my decorating mistakes and successes!  You'll also get tips on things I find in stores - like have you been to Target lately?  They have the most amazing and cute pillows for summer!  This is the one I came home with but I'll be posting more on INSTAGRAM!    The pillows start at $9.99, yep 10 bucks! 

Also Target has some really cute galvanized items, candles, pots, trays and even serving pieces for summer!  You must check it out! Can you tell I'm excited!  I'm SO excited!!! 
So follow me on INSTAGRAM to see more!  Search for me as Vicdenni on INSTAGRAM.

I also hope you follow me on PINTREST -
https://www.pinterest.com/vicdenniso/

I am on Facebook but... due to the nature of FB you either need to interact with my page weekly or request to see me in your newsfeed... but I'm there.
https://www.facebook.com/Dragonflies-and-Thistles-491393717621010/?ref=hl

Spring wreath

Can I tell you how hooked I am on Instagram?  Really hooked.  I hope you follow me.. you'll see sneak peaks of upcoming blog posts, glimpses of my trials with my 1970's house, decorating dilemmas and lots of pictures of Colorado.  I am Vicdenni on Instagram. 

Status of my foot... better and better every day! 

This week I made a spring wreath. 

Simple but really pretty and it will make a big statement on your front door. 

Okay.. first things first.  Always, always, ALWAYS buy faux flowers on sale.  Gosh these things are getting expensive. 

In the store I first pick out my wreath, do I want straw, wood or metal?  Do I want a special shape?  Sometime I pick up 2 or 3 and put them in my cart while I decide.  Then I walk up and down the flower isles and pick up things that I find pretty or interesting.  Finally I just start 'dry fitting' right in the store.  This is where I make decisions and basically decide what I'm going to do. 

I chose these purple flowers as I hadn't seen them before and they just spoke to me. 

I got 2 bunches as when I was playing with them in the store I decided to have them go in opposite directions. 

I also got these white flowers for the middle.  I just thought they went well. 

TIP - When picking flowers choose what you like but keep in mind the color wheel.  Opposites on the wheel attract each other.  So I could have chosen yellow flowers instead of white to really pop.  Unfortunately I really liked the type of flower the white ones are but they didn't have them in yellow only white, pink and red.... so I got the white. 

I really do 'dry fit' them right in the store meaning I lay the flowers on the wreathes in my cart or even on the store floor then step back and see how I like it.  This is the final decision time for me to determine what I'm going to create and buy.

This is what I bought.

1 wood wreath

1 bunch of white flowers

2 bunches of green leaves

2 bunches of purple flowers

Then once at home I dry fit at again.  Sometimes I make changes like I ended up doing with this wreath. 

You'll notice in the finished wreath I left out the extra green leaves that I had placed under the white flowers.  I bought these but I didn't end up using them but this is why you dry fit first!

With the just green leaves it felt just too much for me so I will return these $11.99 stems!!!! YIKES. See buy when they are on sale... I got them $5.99 each. 

My next step is then cutting the stems to length.  I cut long because you can always make them shorter!  Then I place them, dry (no glue) into the wreath.

Personally I place all the flowers before I hot glue but you can start to hot glue at this point. 

Next I placed the white flowers in the middle, glued everything down and that is it!  Oh and I only burned my fingers twice with the hot glue gun!!!!!

I just thought the extra green leaves hid the cool purple flowers so I didn't end up using them. 

The final touch was to cut a length of ribbon, knot it and hang the wreath.

The cost was $30.00 before I return the 2 bunches of faux green leaves... so it will end up at $20.00 total. 

So what do you think?  Do you have a wreath on your door for the spring?  Do you make your own wreathes?  I'd love to hear from you! 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my little blog.  Next week I am going to try this bunny wreath I saw on Pintrest.... we'll see how it goes! 

You can follow me on Pintrest -

https://www.pinterest.com/vicdenniso/

I am on Facebook but due to the nature of FB if you don't interact with my page a lot you won't see it so I only post once a week....

https://www.facebook.com/Dragonflies-and-Thistles-491393717621010/?ref=hl

And again INSTAGRAM!  I am Vicdenni

Thanks so much see you next week!

Victoria

Status update

Just thought I'd let you know my status....


You may or may not know that last summer I fractured several bones in my foot on a hike in the mountains.  I was in the lovely boot for 8 weeks total and now I've got other foot issues.  Why is it that when your feet hurt you just feel bad all over? 
What has happened is that I've put pressures on my right foot (not broken) due to the boot on the left and now I've got planter fasciitis in that right foot. In other words, I've pulled the muscle in the foot where the Achilles ends in the heel.  The planter fascia supports your arch.  It doesn't hurt until I start walking then my heel starts to throb.  Not too much can be done other than wear orthotics in my shoes (I love, LOVE, LOVE shoes and this just won't fly... OH and NO HEELS!).  So a cortisone shot in the heel of that foot was well lets just say not pleasant. 


NOW, On the left foot that had the fractures, I've now got a Morten's Neuroma AND I've got it in a place where it isn't supposed to be...lucky me. 


Normally the neuroma is between the 3rd and 4th toes but not mine.... I've got mine between the 2nd and 3rd toes.  Think of a neuroma as a damaged nerve that is now swollen and really pushing the bones of the toes away from one another.  The Dr. told me that this is unheard of between the 2dn and 3rd toes...luck me I am an anomaly.  So much so that he asked if the entire practice of 12 Doctors and all the PA's and other nurses and assistants could come in.  The  entire practice crammed into this little exam room to review the X-Rays, Ultra Sound and MRI results.  Just like a picnic!  The best part was ANOTHER cortisone shot in the ball of that foot and then if that wasn't enough a steroid shot in the top of the foot where the neuroma is to try to shrink it.  Let's just say it hurt even with the cold spray to numb my foot.  I didn't know how I was going to put on shoes and walk out of the office with all these shots in my feet but I did. 


So what does all of this mean?  I am off my feet a lot and no heels; did I tell you that I like cute shoes and live in heels? 


So I haven't gotten out to buy things to make a wreath for my front door for Easter yet.  Sorry..... I hope to be able to get out this weekend and actually walk, I go back to the Dr. on Thursday, fingers crossed! 


In the meantime I have joined INSTAGRAM!  whoop woot! 
You can follow me I'm Vicdenni on Instagram.  You'll see pictures of sunrises and sunsets and other views from lovely Colorado as well as cute finds at stores.  I'll be sharing some craft projects, my home and you'll get a sneak peak at the upcoming weeks blog post. I hope you start following me! 


Hopefully this weekend I'll get to the store and make this bunny wreath....
Victoria


You can also follow me on pintrest -
https://www.pinterest.com/vicdenniso/


Facebook - though I am not as active here...
https://www.facebook.com/Dragonflies-and-Thistles-491393717621010/?ref=hl


And now INSTAGRAM!
You can search and find me under - Vicdenni