Met Monday/Thrifty Treasures~Mini Guest Room Makeover

"Thrifty Guest Room Makeover"

Thanks for stopping by to join me for Metamorphosis Monday

hosted by
Susan @ Between Naps On The Porch.

Also, Today's Thrifty Treasures
hosted by

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

I decided that I was in the mood for a bit of a change in my guest room.
I previously had it decorated in an Americana style.

I didn't have much money to spend so I had to do a lot of shopping in my storage room.
I also wanted to use this beautiful french country looking quilt that
my Mama made for me for me several years ago!

Mom added this really sweet label on the corner of the quilt using her very fancy Husqvarna sewing machine that does embroidery!

Isn't that just the sweetest?!!

I've also been thinking about painting the guest room.

I like the colors on the the palette above... maybe you can help me decide!

Tell me what you think!

Do you have a color choice you think would look nice?

Or should I leave it as is?

You know it was so much easier

when it was "in" to have all your walls white!

I needed some new window treatments.
Normally I would make my own,

but I came across a steal of a deal on these at K-mart.

Each treatment was all one piece and even had fringe for ONLY 14.99!

The color was right and I couldn't have made them this inexpensively!
So... I bought em.

They came with their own fabric tiebacks...

....but I remembered that I had saved two sets of these plastic hold backs that were originally in the room when we bought our home over 25 years ago.

I had taken them down, and stashed them in my storage room.

My blog friend Kammy had done some projects using this oiled bronze spray paint and I loved them, so I thought hey I'll give some a try on these!


Voila....


What a difference!!


I also needed a bedside table, and found this one that also holds magazines too, at G/W for $4.00
and I knew some of same spray paint would do wonders on it as well!



I added this $6.00 lamp, also from G/W,
and this wonderfully scented candle from Ross.

Here's how the room looked again,
before....


and after...

I stored away all my stuffed bears accept this cute one in the yellow dress and put her in this cute rocking chair.

I also spray painted this tall metal vase that I had, and added a bouquet of sunflowers that I also got from G/W for 99 cents.

The pictures in the corner I made by re-using frames that I already had then added fabric background, and blue borders to the rose calender prints I had to tie them to the blue in the quilt.


A little more trusty spray paint spruced up this plate rack, also a thrift store treasure.

Then instead of using plates, I used these framed prints that I put together.

Another look at the room.

Before...

And after...
Oh, these cute little fleur de lis wall sconces I also got at a thrift store for 50 cents a piece! The pitcher and bowl I made in ceramics shop.

It's always fun to change your decor and it doesn't have to take much money. Just a little imagination and a can or two of spray paint!!

Have a wonderful week!

Dreaming of Cool Weather and Rain!!

...UNSEASONABLY HOT WEATHER IS FORECAST FOR NEXT WEEK AS STRONG HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

MANY HIGH TEMPERATURES COULD RANGE FROM THE UPPER 90S TO AROUND 105 IN THE VALLEY...WITH 90S IN THE FOOTHILLS AND LOWER MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS FROM MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

SOME LOCATIONS MAY EXPERIENCE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES. OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES COULD ALSO BE UNUSUALLY WARM NEXT WEEK...AND RELATIVELY SLOW TO COOL OFF DURING THE EVENING.

EVEN THOUGH AUTUMN OFFICIALLY BEGINS TUESDAY THE 22ND AT 2:19 PM IT WILL FEEL MORE LIKE SUMMER THAN FALL ...

*****

Were just a few days away from Fall,

and it seems there's no end to Summer in sight around here,

and I don't think I can take much more of it...

I know, I know, alot of you are living where you're getting lots of rain right now and are most likely wishing it would end! I'm really sorry for those you...

No! I'm envious!!

We had a little rain "teaser" last week... after what seems to be endless, endless months of HOT dry weather..

It was one wonderful night of rain..sweet rain...

I fell asleep to the pitter patter of raindrops falling from the sky,

just like a lullaby from heaven...

I slept like a baby, when I woke up the next morning,

the air smelled so fresh and clean,

I took in a big deep cleansing breath and exhaled ...

It felt like I was releasing all those nasty allergens

that have been making me miserable for so long now...

I felt exhilarated...Could one night of rain really do that?

I think so!

I thought okay, Summer is finally over

YAY!!!

...But then in a blink of an eye, Summer came right back

whether I liked it or not! Boo Hoo!

So

PLEASE!

Mother Nature bring us MORE RAIN here!!

...not a flood or anything! Jut a few good soakings...

Until then

I'll be looking at these dreamy images of rain

and some listening to some rainy music to go with them...

and hoping that rain will be coming soon...

These graphics are soo cool!!

I feel better already!

Fall Photo Fun!

I promised in my last post that I was going to share some neat special effects that I discovered on my photo program-

Microsoft Digital Image-Standard 2006. My program came with my Dell computer package.

But...
Here is a link for a free trial download if anyone is interested.

It's really a very easy program to use!

http://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Digital-Image-Starter-Edition-2006/3000-12511_4-10508408.html?tag=mncol#userreview

I got so excited when I discovered this, I practically went through every photo in my files trying these effects out on them, ha ha....

It takes very little to entertain me!!

Okay, remember this cute white cutout ceramic pumpkin I got at Marshalls!

Here it is on a black chair that I redid...

Now here it is above with a "watercolor" effect.
You'll really get the full effect when you click the photos to enlarge.


This one above has a "film grain" effect.


Regular photo.....


"Glowing edges" photo with color enhancing.



Regular photo....



"Watercolor" effect!
Watercolor is my favorite, it make me feel like a real artiste!

This effect is called "colored pencil". Cool!

Regular...

.... and this one is effect is called "Chrome".

I also color enhanced it in orange for Fall, but you could use any other color also!

I think it would look cool in a black frame in a

contemporary setting.

Watercolor again! Dont forget to enlarge...

These oranges in a yelloware bowl was an idea

I borrowed from a post that my sweet friend Barb did over a Bella Vista!

Isn't it purdy with this colorful wreath that I got on a T/S shopping trip a while back.
This chair was another one of my neighbors throw aways!

I painted it black.

I think it turned out to be a great spot to put fall displays!

What do you think?!

Watercolor

Colored pencil

and this effect is called "Chalk".
*****

I hope everyone is having a nice week so far!

So glad you could stop by!!

Sherri:)

It's a Cloche Party! ~ Featuring Fall Decor!

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to participate in this edition of It's a Cloche Party!

This event is hosted by our very sweet and gracious friend

Marty

at

A Stroll Thru Life.

Be sure to drop by her blog and check out her beautiful cloche's as well as the other party goer's.

Now the only thing I have close to a cloche is my cake stand so I decided it would have to do because I didn't want to miss out on the fun like I did when Marty had her last party!

Fall is just around the corner, and it seems that everyone around blogland has been showing off their beautiful Fall decorations, and even though it hasn't felt much like Fall around these parts, I have to admit it's got me anxious to join in the fun as well!

So I got out and did a little shopping and here's what I found..

I picked up some faux gourds, Fall picks, and some pretty Fall ribbon at Joann's Fabrics, and used them to create this arrangement.

The little carved orange pumpkin that says "A Season of Thanks" on the left was a thrift store treasure.


This white ceramic pumpkin on the right I bought at Marshalls.
I just loved the neat cut-out work on it!

I'll be showing it off a little more in a later post along with some cool special effects that I discovered on my photo editing program.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!
Please come again soon!!

Sherri:)

Outdoor Wednesday / Almond Harvest~

Yay! Harvest is over for another year, and I thought

I would show you some of the photos that I've taken over the years of the scenery around our almond orchard.

I also thought, I would tell you and show you a little bit about the harvesting process too!

For those of you who could care less about almond harvesting, well...

I hope you'll at least enjoy my photos!

(you can click to enlarge all photos)

The photo above and below I took of our neighbors really large pond, with their barn and the Sutter Buttes in the background.

For those of you who have never heard of the Sutter Buttes, they are the worlds smallest mountain range.

Just a little bit of trivia for ya right there!

This photo above I took from inside our orchard with our neighbors goat pen in the background.

This photo above is the view across the street.


These photos were taken in the springtime when everything is green and beautiful!

I guess this isn't really a seasonally correct time to show these but oh well... maybe my next post will be about Autumn!!


This photo above is of the view from the back of the orchard, beautiful and unspoiled.
Unfortunately someone bought the property since this photo and turned this gorgeous view into their equipment yard. Can you believe it!

Well at least now they are planting an olive grove there that hopefully when it's mature will camouflage all their machinery!

Here's hubby!


This photo was taken at sunset... my favorite time of day. So many beautiful shadows accenting the landscape.


Hubby here again, with bee hives in the background at spring bloom.
If you want an almond crop you have to bring in bees for pollination.

Unfortunately, In resent years prices for bees have quadrupled,
due to bee colony collapse disorder.

Another photo of the bloom.

Pedals are falling, it kinda looks like pink snow!
The almond trees usually bloom in February,

then by August the nuts are mature and it's time for harvest.

Ha ha! How many times have you read the words

"nuts" and "mature" in the same sentence!

Oh my goodness, I just crack myself up!!

Speaking of cracking... when the hulls of the nut crack open,

you're about 3 weeks or so from starting harvest.

We grow 4 different varieties of almonds. Approximately 2/3 of our orchard are Non-pariels, they are they earliest variety to be harvested.

The others are ready about two weeks later.

Non-pariels they are also a premium nut that sell for a higher price than other varieties.

The first stage of harvest is to shake the almonds off the tree with a tree shaker.

Watch here in this You Tube video I found.

After the nuts have dried on the ground for a few days, the next step is to sweep the nuts into a pile down the center of each row, as shown in the next video.

Then the nuts are ready to be picked up with the harvester, or what we call the "pick up machine".

Here's a link below to another video that I couldn't embed here.

I really liked it because it has some cool music and it also shows the harvester picking up the almonds from the center rows.

You Tube-Almond Harvest

*****
So, there you have it in a nutshell!!

hehehe!

Omgosh, there I go crackin myself up again!

Okay everyone, class is over now and you may be excused!!

Only there is a short little assignment...

Just write a brief comment and hit the publish button

and you're guaranteed a "A"!!! :)

Then head over to Susan's at

A Southern Daydreamer

and visit her and the other Outdoor Wednesday participants!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek!

Your Friendly (nutty?) California Almond Grower!

Sherri:)