Motivational whispers

Sometimes I find inspiration in small findings....this is one of my recent finds while out shopping!

Not a perfect picture, but the words struck a chord.

Always Smiling...

Sarah :)

A touch of class...

So...lights finally are up!

My Honey and the kids put up lights while I was at work ...yes again...remember tis the season!

The lights look so classy!

I think this year I will add some greenery to the windows out front!  

Here is some of my inspiration!

Love the classy white!

Again...simple and classy...feels very country..love it!

And add rich red berries and I am in Christmas wonderland....

Always Smiling 
Sarah:)

Time Away....

Sorry for the time away!

My full-time career is very demanding this time of year....

Usually as a tradition we as a family put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving.  The last couple of years I have been living at my second home the biggest shopping day of the year.

So I think it is time for a new tradition....maybe you all can help!

What are some of your traditions?

Ohhhhhh.....Christmas is here and no matter how much I live at work...I love Christmas!

Tis the season....

Always Smiling,

 Sarah :)

Scentsy Gifts

So...my gifts made it!  I love the scents...Autumn Sunset, Pumpkin Marshmallow and Love Story!

How exciting to come home and have this big box of gifts!  

If you have never given Scentsy a try...go ahead!  You will not be disappointed!

 Many thanks to Steffanie!

Always Smiling, 

Sarah :)

Scentsy Gifts

I wanted to share some exciting news...

I won a giveaway hosted by My Sweet Savannah.  

The woman behind the gifts..Steffanie at  

http://steffaniemalbrough.scentsy.us/

Here are a couple samples of what she has...it makes me that much more ready for fall and Christmas!  I am so excited as I have never used Scentsy!  If the smells are half as good as the names then I am so in! 

 They are so adorable!  I am already thinking Christmas presents!

  Check out this  warmer for school teachers...

Go visit Steffanie and tell her Sunny Sarah sent you! 

http://steffaniemalbrough.scentsy.us/

Happy Tuesday!

Always Smiling, 

Sarah :)  

Gratitude

Yesterday the family and I spent a few hours out at the air show! Just a few pics to share.  I guess I always get so emotional when I am around anything military related!  I feel an overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude!  I sometimes can not comprehend the unselfish sacrifices made to protect you and I and ours!  I know what it is like to welcome those loved ones home from an unsafe active duty trip!  I also now the overwhelming sense of relief when they are home safe!  So here are just a couple pics...so many people they are not all quality shots...hope you enjoy anyway!

the date is a day behind I just noticed on the pics...it was 9/11/11

ok...now the date is right..that is what I get for having a digital...I am planning on saving for a nicer camera

Like I said ..hard to get good shots with the crowds...I think this is the Black Hawk

I thought this was insane!  The man sitting at the booth looked at me funny as I snapped this...oh what we do with $...I guess if you have a dream!

This was probably my favorite stop!  I know it is simple...however it has kept my loved ones safe on the road.  There were pictures of a vehicle like this that had been hit by and IED ...it was eerie...however the entire team walked away.  Thankfully!  

And the main event was the presence of the Blue Angels!  Unfortunately we did not stay to see them.  They were later in the afternoon...and this pasty girl was already burnt!  

All afternoon the sounds of jets could be heard over our house.  

Thanks for stopping in!

Always Smiling, 

Sarah :)

Heros of September 11th

I know that we often take our freedoms for granted.  I wanted to take a moment to say that I will never forget how our country came together and will never forget the lives lost!  Thank you to all of those who have lost their lives protecting our freedom.  To those whom have lost since 9/11....

Thank you and God Bless!  

I am truly a 

My Passion for Red

RED...they say it is a color expressing passion ...or romance.  I agree with both in a living room it can be cozy and inviting...in a bedroom it can bring flares of romance with the decor on the softer side or spice with contemporary lines!

Recently have become obsessed (yes that is a favorite word) with the color red!  It will be a while until I give in to the temptations of this color..... as I seek out inspiration wanted to share a few pics with you....

Love the softness of this room...

 

Oh I sooo would love to find a piece like this to refinish.  I am drawn to the vintage or farm decor!  This would be perfect in a child's room.

Here I love the punch of red...with Americana flare.

The room is so cozy and inviting..

I am drawn to simplicity...and traditional pieces.

So what color inspires you?  Any remodel or decorating projects... 

Leave me a comment!  

I would love to have links to your inspiration....

 Always Smiling....

Sarah :)

 

Yummy Recipes

Just wanted to share a recipe that I found and thought would be so fun to try!  

Visit Eat Cake for Dinner to find more delicious recipes!

She has some super yummy ideas!

Click Here for Neapolitan Cake Recipe

Here are a couple more that I will be trying...

Banana Streusel  Bundt Cake

Zucchini Cookies

Super Easy Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

Homemade Snicker Bars

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Be sure to stop by Eat Cake For Dinner!

Thanks Jen for the great recipes!

Fall Projects

I recently found some great projects to go along with my favorite time of year...

Fall!

Lowe's Creative ideas is an excellent resource for any time of the year projects.

House Ghost

Create lighted ghouls from common household items in less than an hour

Step 1: For each ghost, wrap a wire tomato cage with a string of clear rope lights (#146228).

Step 2: Cut a 6‐ x 9‐foot drop cloth (#126317) to approximately 41/2 x 7 feet to cover the tomato cage. Use a black permanent marker to draw eyes and a mouth.

Step 3: Plug the lights into a secure grounded outlet

Candy Corn Planters

Paint a terra‐cotta container in a familiar pattern that complements fall blooms.

Step 1: Use painter’s tape to cover sections of a 12‐inch terra‐cotta planter. Paint the rim white (Valspar Ultra Premium, Bistro White 7006‐4, satin), the middle section orange (Valspar Ultra Premium, Fresh Persimmons 2009‐1, satin), and the bottom portion yellow (Valspar Ultra Premium, Gold Abundance 3003‐1A, satin). Be sure to allow each section to dry before removing and reapplying the painter’s tape
to cover other sections.

Step 2: Spray the painted planter with a coat of exterior polyurethane (#282329).

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Assemble the round lantern lights according to the manufacturer’s instructions and set them aside.

Step 2: From the sheet of vinyl letters, cut simple leaf shapes with a pair of scissors. (Or draw leaf patterns onto the stickers first, if you prefer.) The large lanterns take 25–35 leaves each, and the small ones take about 20–30 leaves each.

Step 3: Peel the backing off one leaf sticker at a time, and randomly stick them onto the outside surfaces of the lanterns. Press each leaf into place by placing one hand inside lantern and one hand on top of the leaf. Apply leaf stickers until you achieve the look you want.

Step 4: Hang lanterns outdoors for painting (low branches of a tree work well). Prepare all three cans of spray paint by removing lids and shaking each for one minute.

Step 5: To spray-paint in a gradated pattern of yellow to orange to red, begin at the top by spraying yellow spray paint while spinning the lantern. Next, spray the orange through the middle area, then the red on the bottom third. Allow the colors to bleed one into the next. Spray each color until the desired opacity is achieved. Or apply spray paint in another pattern of your choice. Allow the paint to dry before you remove the stickers.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mount the post cap

Remove the dowel screw from the post cap with pliers or cut it off with a hacksaw. Mark four equally spaced hole centers around the perimeter of the bottom of the post cap, 3/8" in from the edge. Drill 5/8"-deep holes to accept the tomato cage legs, angling them to match the taper of the tomato cage. (We used a 3/16" drill bit.)

TIP: All four holes must be the same depth for the post cap to sit level. To ensure uniformity, attach a masking tape “flag” to the drill bit to indicate the 5/8" drilling depth.

Mark two equally spaced eye-screw pilot-hole centers between each pair of leg holes, 3/8" in from the edge of the post cap and drill the eight holes. (We used a 3/32" drill bit.) Drive in the screw eyes with pliers, aligning the eyes perpendicular to the edge of the post cap (like the minute dashes on a clock face). With the tomato cage upside down, insert the cage legs into the angled holes in the post cap

Weave in vertical wires

Measure the distance from the bottom cage ring to a screw eye. Double this measurement, add 6”, and cut eight pieces of 20-gauge, four-strand wire to this length. (We cut our wire 112" long.) Thread one piece of wire through a screw eye to the midpoint. Bend the wire at the midpoint and use pliers to tightly pinch it onto the screw eye.

Starting at the top cage ring, wrap one leg of the 20-gauge wire once around the ring, pulling the wire snug. Proceed to the remaining rings, wrapping the wire once around the second and third rings and several times around the fourth (bottom) ring, pulling the wire snug at each ring. Run the wire straight from top to bottom. Cut the excess wire at the bottom ring. Repeat with the second leg of the 20-gauge wire. In turn, insert the remaining seven wires into the screw eyes, wrap them around the rings, and trim the excess wire.

Add another ring

Mark the tomato-cage legs halfway between the post cap and the top ring with a permanent felt-tip marker. Make an additional ring by wrapping a piece of 20-gauge wire around the legs at the marks, cutting it so the ends overlap by 2". Cut four 11"-long ties from 22-gauge single-strand wire. Center the 20-gauge ring overlap on one cage leg at the mark and use one tie to bind the 20-gauge ring to the leg and wrap the overlapping ends together. Bind the 20-gauge ring to the other three legs at the marks with the remaining ties. When binding the ring to the cage legs, wrap the tie wire diagonally across the joint, alternating the direction one way and then the other to make wire bundles resembling little baskets.

Cut eight more 11"-long, 22-gauge wire ties. Gather together each pair of vertical 20-gauge wires where they cross the just-completed 20-gauge wire ring and bind them to each other and the 20-gauge ring with the ties. Use the same alternating diagonal wrap as before.

Finishing up

For a decorative effect, cut 22 additional ties and bind the vertical 20-gauge wires to the tomato cage rings in a random pattern, using the alternating diagonal tie wrap.

Then, spread newspaper, cardboard, or a drop cloth outdoors on the ground or driveway and spray paint the entire piece. (We used oil-rubbed bronze color paint.) With the paint dry, move the cage to the desired location, wrap with two strings of decorative lights, and plug them in.

I think this next project looks so cute!  And the extra that you could add is endless...they could even go inside...with a touch of glam!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Inflate balloons to desired size (ours are 9 inches in diameter).

Step 2: Cut twine to length. We used 200 feet per ball.

GOOD TO KNOW: Don’t unwrap the roll of twine to measure length. Instead, pull from the inside of the roll to keep it from rolling away and tangling.

Step 3: Dip the tip of the twine in polyurethane (A) and stick the tip to the balloon. Wrap twine around balloon to cover it completely.

Step 4: Once the twine is wrapped around the balloon, paint it with polyurethane and let dry overnight on waxed paper. Tip: Rotate twine ball to ensure it dries evenly (without any flat edges).

Step 5: When the ball is dry, carefully cut a small hole in the tip of the balloon to let the air out. Use the eraser end of a pencil to pry the deflated balloon from the twine ball (B). Discard balloon. Tip: Keep a firm grip on the balloon stem while deflating to avoid losing the balloon inside the ball.

Step 6: Use a 6" piece of twine to tie each ball to a piece of rope (C). Hang with a swag.

Happy Project Hunting!

Thanks to Lowe's Creative ideas  

Always Smiling...

Sarah :)

 

My Honey Do....

Just wanted to point out the highlight of my day...although my day started at 5:50am(ok so I pushed snooze until 6:15...I need my beauty rest), the highlight of my day came at nine o'clock at night.  THere is this house I am obsessed with that came up for sale.  So I came home and took a round about way just to make sure that my house had not been sold...but who do I see who so politely pulled over and let me pass in the narrow street...you guessed it my honey do!  My loving hubby that called five seconds later and said he drives by it on his nightly beef jerky run just to make sure it is still there for me...how romantic are we after 10 years of marriage.  You see I don't need diamonds or my nails done to feel special...that did it.  Oh and the fact that after he left the grocery store and I called to say I was out of coffee he went back! xxoo  Love...it must be...how else would he deal with my forgetfulness!  

 But wait...not done...

Caprice wanted to me to play connect four with her....oh yeah...two games and my streak continues!  

 Life is truly good!

P.s. This is such a good cheesy picture....:)

Love  My Life...

Sarah

Fall...oh my favorite time of year!!!

So I have been thinking lately.......of fall and all it's warm tones!  It is absolutely my favorite season to decorate for!  I recently found some inspirational pics....will have to share!

Food is always a way to my heart...did somebody say cake?  However the cake is not my main love in the pic...i love the cake stand!  So sassy...

Ok....and I love the cake!  Find the how to here!

I even love the smells that come out as the season changes...including banana breads...

maple..combined with cupcakes..ohh heaven..have not tried but plan to make them for the family.. ...which by the way this delicious recipe can be found here.

And as I sit and blog I drink coffee (ok, ok...it started as coffee I am in love with this vanilla caramel creamer...Walmart brand...and gluten free...which reminds me why do I torture myself with these foods that I can't even eat!...lol).  I know you do to...this would be a great time to test these out!  You know you have to make sure they taste good enough for the rest of the fam...:)

Not only do I love the foods...and the smells...but like I mentioned the colors of nature (and the smells)...the weather...check it out and just imagine the walks...

I can hardly wait!...oh and one last good thing about fall in Nebraska..

How bout them Huskers....

Gettin ready to throw some bones....

GO BIG RED!!!

What reminds you of fall?  I would love to hear of traditions that you and your family have!  

Sincerely...

Sunny Sarah