Sweets for your 4th celebrations

Summer is here! 
Time for all the fun, good food, parties and celebrations.  I just discovered a really fun, informative blog called ChickaBug, not only are there great recipes but there are freebies, party ideas, giveaways and much more! I could spend hours just enjoying the eye candy.

Look at these 4th of July sweets!

My favorite is the beautiful red/white and blue iced cake.

Look at the American flag cake, the bundt cake looks delicious!

Your sweet table will be a huge hit when serving anyone of these sweet beauties!

Add a red tablecloth, flags, red white and blue candles, red white and blue floral centerpiece and wow what a way to celebrate the 4th of July!

Go and visit Chickabug for more great party ideas!

Linking to:

FrenchCountryCottage

Tatertots&Jello

TwiggStudios

madeInAday

Surf's up for Father's Day

Father's day is almost here. This year I wanted to surprise my California born husband with more than a regular plain old father's day cake. So I will surprise him and bake these cute Surfboard cookies.
I ordered a surfboard cookie cutter and stencils.

Surfboard Stencil

Surfboard stencil

How cute are they? I know he will love his Father's day surprise cookies, especially if I can get a reservation to fly to California this year. What do you all think?

Happy Father's day to all Dad's and Grandfathers!

Linking to;

Tatertotsandjello

BedifferentActNormal

RomanticHome

PositivelySplendid

SunnySimpleLife

ByStephanieLynn

MadeInAday

astrollthrulife

Word of the day

Word of the day................

CONSIDERATE!

Word for today be "Considerate" of others!

1 Corinthians 10:24
"Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor."

1 Corinthians 10:23-24
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

If you are living in an apartment be considerate of others around you. Regardless of your age, from teen to adult treat others as you would want them to treat YOU!! Really? You have to jump run and slam things against the walls and floors making unbelievable noise pollution? Than let it all go back on you 100 fold!

Butterfly in flight

Is there anything as delicately beautiful as the butterfly?  I was fascinated by it's beauty as young as 5 years old. However sadly I must say that seeing butterflies is rare lately. Have you noticed that they appear to be disappearing?

Enjoy some photo's of butterflies in flight ......

Butterfly Symbolism.

We are all small and appear to be the same (like the caterpillar), but as we grow older our true beauty shows (like the butterfly). Like a butterfly, we are all different, and beautiful in our own way. In the Christian religion, the metamorphosis a butterfly undergoes is symbolic of the spiritual evolution all Christians go through. Butterflies represent rebirth and a new beginning. For Christians, it is considered a soulful symbol. In ancient mythology, the butterfly stands for wisdom and everlasting knowledge. 

Imagine the whole of your life changing to such an extreme you are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. Mind you, this change takes place in a short span of about a monthtoo (that’s how long the butterfly life cycle is).
Herein lies the deepest symbolic lesson of the butterfly. She asks us to accept the changes in our lives as casually as she does. The butterfly unquestioningly embraces the chances of her environment and her body.

This unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. Here the butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. She understands that our toiling, fretting and anger are useless against the turning tides of nature – she asks us to recognize the same.
A quick-list of Butterfly animal symbolism:

• Resurrection
• Transition
• Celebration
• Lightness
• Time
• Soul
• (Read more Here )

In the western world, the symbol of the butterfly stands for freedom, fun and joyous times. It is also symbolises a state of naturalness and purity.

I won these beautiful hand painted pillows!

I just had to share my good luck! I won these beautiful hand painted pillows.

Check out all the beautiful art work at

LemondaisyDesign

I love all things beachy and fell in love with these adorable pillows and am so thrilled to have won them.   Thanks to Sally Lee By The Sea Blog  and LemonDaisy Designs for offering the opportunity to win this beautiful piece of art!

If you are land locked but love to bring the beach atmosphere into your home you have to check out all the "happy" artwork at LemonDaisy Designs , and visit the Sally Lee By the Sea blog.

They also feature adorable designs for the porch, would make great gifts. The designs feature butterfly's, birds and more.

I love their wall art, I will be getting this Bowl of Lemons  Wall art. How cute is this.

LemonDaisyDesigns

Coastal Lifestyle ...Sally Lee by the Sea  blog  features beach cottage decorating, lifestyle, jewelry and so much more, I enjoy reading the articles and craft ideas like "Simple coastal crafting with rope".

Thanks again you made my day!!

Linking to:

TatertotsandJello

BeDifferentActNormal

CraftEnvy

ChicOnAShoestring

RomanticHome

Chargers and Wall mirrors

Have you shopped for mirrors recently? We have and found them to be quite costly, so is there a better way to get a wall mirror to have to display? I bet the title gave you a clue to the answer.

Kim from the SandandSisal blog shared a clever creative idea turning chargers into mirrors.Thanks for the inspiration Kim.

Chargers turned into wall mirrors.

I went on to Pier One's website to see what chargers they offered that I could use to turn it into a wall mirror and here's what I found I would definitely use.

picture this one as a mirror, stunning.

This one is called mirror charger, silver will reflect the mirror in middle nicely.

beautiful wood charger turned mirror would be awesome

picture this mosaic charger turned mirror...wow!

What about taking this charger, and paste sea shells on it and turn it into

 a beautiful seashell mirror.

(Thanks to Between Naps on the Porch blog for this idea)

A thrifty tip!

Now to decide which one I will buy and change into a mirror.

Thank's Kim for the inspiration and creative use of charger's.

Linking to : 

TheThriftyHome

Uncommon

FrenchCountryCottage

Before and After

I think before and after photo's help when deciding how to place furniture and accessories. My newest purchase is a Sunburst mirror, it is striking has some bling to it and definitely brighten's up a corner area that is usually dark.

Before

This is what the wall above the fireplace looked like before.

After

This is what it looks like with Sunburst mirror added. Also note the chair placement vs the next photo with a different chair arrangement.

After with chair arranged differently.

I can see where the chair placed like this looks better. The chair is covered in french writing fabric.

 I love the Sunburst mirror!

The entire condo we are leasing is painted beige with white trim, I can honestly say that even tho that color combo was always my favorite it is fast becoming beige overload. My sofa is yellow, and a new overstuffed chair I ordered is white, I will be adding toss pillows in a gray/yellow pattern that I will be placing on the chair and sofa to tie it together. My barstools have gray legs and trim.