gratitude

Holy cow - How is it Thanksgiving next week? 

I love this time of year. As much as I like to scale back, I still like to make our home more festive when necessary. Like for holidays.

I wanted to make a simple Thanksgiving decoration this year. I also wanted to use glitter. So glad they both came together in this fun little project.

I love this website - Jones Design Company - She is so clever and creative. I just love her artwork - So inspiring.

Here is a fun diy for Thanksgiving (or anytime really. - just pick a different word) I found on her website.

I printed the letters out and had to transfer them to card stock. (Not sure why my printer will not print on card stock.) After I cut them out (at a fun ladies get together to work on project stuff) I was ready to get them all sparkly.

Only the best in supplies - a broken Aldi can box. But it totally worked fine. And I'm sure the recycle guys thought it was pretty fancy all glittery.

I sprayed the letters one at a time with awesome spray glue. I really strongly suggest wearing gloves for this. This stuff is sticky. But it's supposed to be, so not complaining. Just saying - wear gloves.

And then the hard part - sprinkle the glitter on the letter. Lay it on thick and then shake it off.

Piece of cake.

Love projects like this that are super easy and super cute.

All of them cut, glued and sparkled. And ready to be strung. 

We have a giant roll of string. A really huge roll. So I use it for everything I can. 

I just taped the string on the back of each letter to make it stay in place. (You can see how difficult this project is.)

To make it fancier, you could use pretty ribbon to glam it up.

It's hard to tell in a photo, but the light makes them sparkle just a little. I like the simpleness of it, with just a little bit of something special.

Yeah, the photo really doesn't do anything for it. Trust me, it's nice.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, spending time with those you love and making great memories.

plates

Hi!

I know it's been a few weeks. 

People ask me what we are working on around the house, and all I can say is "just some little stuff." Nothing spectacular. Nothing Pin-worthy. Just little stuff.

But here is something so fun, you are going to want to try it, too.

You know how sometimes you just look at something and think, "Alright. Today is the day I am getting that done. No more putting it off!" That happened with my plates and bowls recently.

I love my white dishes. I got them for my birthday a million years ago and I still love them (and have most of them). Before we moved to the big house they were always white. That's because we got our first dish washer (automatic that is) with the  big house. The dishes always stayed nice and white and I didn't even know how great that was.

Until we stopped buffing them every day.

Now that they get a bath in sauna, aka the dish washer (and have for the last several years) they tend to look a little haggard. Which is too bad, because you would think spending that much time in a spa, they would look fabulous.

Anyway, the problem is our silverware. 

We use real silver (coated) ware every day. I don't like the idea of saving all the good stuff for special days. I love our silverware. (Remember I showed you how to polish that up super easy?) That is what we use all the time.

And that is what is causing the grief to our plates and bowls:

A stack of white dishes that look like we beat them with chains, without the dings and cracks.

This one is actually one of the better ones.

They get a little bit worse with each scrape of a fork. And the deep cleansing spa treatment does not do a thing for them. 

Time to exfoliate again.

And I found a super easy way to get them looking sparkly:

Baking soda.

Really, I just sprinkled a small pile (really - the stuff is so cheap. Be generous.) Used a wet scrubby sponge (one that does not scratch. Mine are purple ones I find at Target.) Scrubbed around and around front and back (how does the back get so icky?) And rinsed.

Like brand new!

Seriously, another one of those projects that are soooo motivating. The reward is instant - It ended up being fun. 

And I was looking around the house for more white dishes to scrub to whiteness.

What the heck? Why did I wait so long to get on that?

This was such a great "little stuff" project. What little stuffs are on your project list?