Our 2010 Christmas Fireplace Mantels & Trees

I love the fluffy birdie tails!

Mmmm.....candle light reflection warms my heart.

These are the wreaths we sell on our Christmas Tree stand....

I love how the dining room mantel came together this year...

Daddy and Natalie cuddling by the warm fire...
on our deck furniture :)

Six for $1 Glitter Snowflakes.... Perfect for the big REAL tree in the living room.
I used 24 for the whole tree. They are 6" wide.

Dinner by candle light....

Added some ribbon to the Dining Room Tree

Living Room Fireplace Mantel

Hello family, friends and fellow bloggers! Welcome to my home at Christmas. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak. I was overjoyed at how the dining room mantel turned out this year. I spent a whopping $36.75 for all the items (not including the fresh wreath. That was a gift from my hubby). Lemme break it down some: 3 for $1.00 fluffy birdies, $1.00 tin plates, $4.00 bag of cinnamon pinecones, $.25 clearance for silver balls, $1 red stockings, $1 pine garland. $1 glass candle holders, $2.50 cranberry candles. Yes, I shop for bargains! All of the $1 items were from The Dollar Store and the rest was from Walmart. I'm thrilled how the dining room mantel turned out! Its never looked this pretty in the 15 yrs we've lived here. The focus was always on the living room mantel and I'm happy I could pour some love in that poor neglected stone fireplace. Its my new happy place in our home. I would love to hear some feedback from you. Thanks again for stopping by.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011 to you and your family!!!

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~ 

Decisions, decisions......

Its time for a change in our master bedroom. Time for a BIG change! We've had baby blue walls for a LONG time now. (9 years) I'm so in love now with the color teal/seafoam green. But there are SOOOO many shades of it to chose from. Here are a few paint swatches I've had up for awhile now. This will be one of my between Thanksgiving/Christmas projects. Wish me luck! 

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~

Daisey Bag Craft Idea

While browsing through The Dollar Store, I came across this ever so pretty multi-colored daisey gift bag.  Then I found these tiny little frames. So I purchased the bag and frames for a total of $5.00.

II

First I spray painted the frames white, (I always have white spray paint on hand) let dry and then super glued them together.

I cut out the daisey flowers on each side of the bag so I could layer the 2 flowers on top of eachother. Then super glued the flowers onto each frame. Hung it with a pink ribbon. And there you have it! An adorable FAST and cheap handmade ADORABLE wall hanging!

These now hang in my daughters very pink bathroom.

Love it!

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~

OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Go ahead girls, feel em up! Do it monthly! Its breast cancer awareness month and friends need to encourage friends to "just do it"!!

I love the pink ribbon and what it stands for...
HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, COURAGE & STRENGTH

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~

Fall... not Halloween

OK, I don't do Halloween. I can't,  just can't.  I don't like skulls, coffins, demons or ghosts in my decorating.  But Fall, Yes, I CAN DO FALL!  I love pumpkins, mums, colored leaves, sunflowers and baskets full of apples. :)  I always say my husband Ted should have been a farmer, NOT a jeweler.

Ted and our darling little one

Our beautiful blooms among the mums

Our little pumpkins

My living room mantel
"Happy Harvest"

Fall is a lovely short lived time of the year. It leads us into the most beautiful time of the year, Christmas, the season we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. 

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~

Craft, Create and Conserve.....

Sometimes it hard to express with words who we are.  I love it when I find something that is totally me. 

A reuseable bag from JoAnn fabrics $1.99

I love it. Its so me. 

I purchased it on my 40th birthday last week. It now hangs under my wall lamp right next to my desk so I can see it ALL THE TIME for inspiration. 

Stay Beautiful Within, Erica

"Clean House" Yard Sale

Yes, I'm addicted to the tv show "Clean House" on the Style Network. Its a fun and inspiring show to watch. I'm sure I'll mention this show in my blog a lot! I just wanted to start out my blog with a post of something I got from one of their yard sales and how I made it work in my home.

 I saw this photo in the newspaper promoting the yard sale and noticed the white bunk bed.  I instantly knew I wanted it!

So I drove Kelly and I drove to Chicago for this sale and stood in line for 2 1/2 hours to be the first ones in.  This is what I found:

I bargained for this beauty on TV w/ Mark Brunetz. Paid $100.00.

The whole bunk set had to be unassembled to fit in my mini van so we took some time to take pics with the stars of "Clean House".

Myself and Mark Brunetz

Kelly and Matt Iseman

Once we got home... I painted the nursery then cleaned, scrubbed and had the guys set up the bunk. 

Thank you Ryan & Derek!

Its BEAUTIFIUL! Matthews little toddler bed fits perfectly underneath. 

I added the $12.99 "Kiss Me Goodnight" lettering...

So there is it... My awesome "treasure hunting" find of 2010. I'm humbled that God set up this divine appointment for me to find this. 
~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~

3:45am Battle With A Bug

Ok, so within an hour of starting a new blog I get a cute story thats post worthy.   Ahhh... the late hours us mommas keep and just as I'm heading to bed our little Matthew (3 yrs old) starts yelling in his sleep about leg pain.  Bless his special needs heart.  Hes use to A LOT of pain.  Instead of crying he growls, wierd... I know.  As I'm tending to his growling I asked him about this pain.  He said a bug bit him.  A bug with big eyes and claws! Bless him.  Bad dream mixed with growing pains in his leg... not a good combination.  I trust the ibuprofen I gave him will kick in any minute and we can head to bed (4am).  I'll stop blogging now so I can hold my special little man and rock his jilted spirit back to sleep.

  I love you Matthew, Stay Beautiful Within,  (big fluffy heart) Mommy :)

First Blog Post

Well I finally did it!

Created a blog that doesn't have to do specifically with medicial issues. This is an Erica blog about the whole family, our home, our life, my treasure hunting, our land...etc. I truly havent learned how to post much of anything that looks like a blog that is worthy of the cyber world....yet.  My dream is to have a blog for woman (much like me) who stay up late and love to read online blogs about decorating.  I have some favorite blogs that I love to follow and can't wait to see what projects they have next.... I hope to be that next blog to follow. 

As for now. I'll tinker with blogspot and learn it inside and out.  A year from now (next week) I'll be the BLOG QUEEN with mega cool blogs!

~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~