Gray and Green Spring Mantel

 

 

The weather here in the Midwest has been BEAUTIFUL for about two weeks now and I have been enjoying the warmer temps and all the sunshine and couldn't wait to get my Spring mantel underway!

 

The trees have buds and early Spring flowers are starting to pop up so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we are done with the snow.

 

I enjoyed putting away all the winter decor and breaking out greenery and pieces with color.

 

I brightened up my mantel with pops of green, yellow, and gray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have been following along you will probably recognize my new gray lantern that I bought last week at the thrift store.

 

 

 I love it so much and think it looks great on the mantel. It holds a green Ball jar and a bunch of forsythia branches for texture and color.

 

 

I got this wooden letter "S" and tried out a new stain on it. Its the Rustoleum "Sunbleached" gray stain you can read about HERE, and I love how it turned out! It was my first time using that stain and I can't wait to use it again.

 

 

Here is the view from the kitchen looking into the front room.....

 

 

 

 

I added a green throw pillow on my white chair to tie it all together and I love how the gray, green, and yellow work together with the rest of the room.

 

Perfect colors for Spring!

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great week!

 

(I know many of you are celebrating Spring break)

 

 

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

Linking Up To These Great Parties:

 

 

 

March Thrifty Finds-Its Been a While

 

 How was your weekend? Mine was great! We had 70 degree weather and I spent most of my time in the yard doing Spring clean-up. I had a few minutes to spare Friday evening so I ran by my favorite thrift store on the way home from work. I haven't been in a while so thought I would swing by to see if I could find some things to update my décor for Spring, and I am glad I did!


I found several things I wanted but they weren't so "thrifty" but luckily I am a member of this thrift store's frequent shopper club so I get 20% of my purchases, which put all of within my thrift store budget.

For starters, I am super excited to have found these galvanized metal envelopes. They had two so I bought them both and have two different ideas for hot to use them so you will see these babies again some time soon! (hint, hint)

Then as I was digging through the picture frames I found this nice Pottery Barn frame with a double mating. The price was at the top of my range for a single picture frame, but I get 20% off, AND I love the rich dark frame with the mushroom gray mating so I had to have it!

Then, as I was shopping in the kitchen/dishes aisle, I found this wine holder. I have seen these in the retail stores and thought it would be a great way to organize and display my wine bottles.

The wicker/rattan material on this was all in tact and it has rubber protectors on the feet so no scratching my counter tops.

Now, if you don't already know this, I will fill you in on a secret....I am obsessed with lanterns.

 

I love them and have them in almost every room of my house and outside on my patio.

 

There is so much you can do with them, so the next two pieces I found on my shopping trip were destined to be mine!

 

 

 

This little tea light lantern won my heart over and at 99cents I had to have it. 

(pardon the dust...I haven't cleaned it up yet)

 

 

And then there was this lantern.

 

I LOVE IT!!!!

 

 

 

The gray color was perfect for my décor too.

 

I'm trying to decided whether or not I want it outside or inside. Choices, choices.

 

For now I will display her inside until the weather warms up, but she may end up outside on my patio.

 

 

Now, my last two thrifty finds are a little different in the fact that they did not come from a thrift store.

 

You see, I belong to a swap n shop Facebook group and these two things were sold by individuals, kind of like Craigslist but through Facebook.

 

 

 

 

I got the "Keep Calm and Carry On" pillow for a steal at $5 bucks. Its a large pillow and still had the tag from HobLob on it. I simply washed it and gave it a new pillow insert and voila! New pillow for my mudroom bench.

 

And if you haven't noticed......my new animal print boots.

 I LOVE THESE! They are lined with fur and so warm!

 

They were brand new and purchased from an online boutique through the Facebook swap n shop page for $20 bucks.
So they're not really thrift store finds but they ARE "thrifty finds". LOL

 

So there ya have it. It has been a while since I have shopped and I found so many great things this past week so I had to share them with you!

 

So have you joined Facebook swap n shop pages?

 

 

 

Jennifer

 

Linking up to these great parties:






 

 



The Many Looks of "ME"

 

I thought I would do something a little different today and share with you something personal.

Pictures of me and my many different hair dos.

 

For many years my hair and make up never changed. From my senior year in high school (class of 92 rocks!) until my late 20s, I wore the same hair cut and color.

 

My hair is naturally curly and auburn/red so keeping it curly is EASY. Very low maintenance as all I do is scrunch and go.

Easy peasy!

 

In college I tried low budget highlights with a do it yourself box kit my friends or family would help me do. This was the kind of kit where you pull your hair thru the cap.

 

Then as I got older I started having my highlights professionally done using foils.

 

Then as time went on, guess what? I started to see some gray hair. GASP!!!!

 

So then I took it up a notch and started having low lights and highlights then before you know it I turned 40...another GASP! and now I do an all over color with highlights and some low lights.

 

Sigh.......

I know, I know......its a lot of work but I like the way it all looks together so that is what I do.

 

So enough with the boring stories of the aging process and my gray strands....here are some pics of me over the past four or five years and my many different looks.

 

 

Here is one of my favorite looks. Dark auburn hair color and straightened with the chi iron.

 

 

Here I am with it longer, lighter and straightened.

 

This was a year and an half ago when I was engaged and growing it out for my wedding.

 

 

 

....same time but in the bathroom doing a selfie with my tablet. Fancy, I know. LOL

 

 

 

 This pic below was taken last fall. I was coloring my hair with color from a box kit you get at a mass retailer.

 

You can actually get pretty good results with box color IF you can find the right shade for your skin, but it fades so fast.

Hair glossing treatments help preserve your color but the box kits fade fairly quickly regardless.

 

 

 Here I am with a reddish blond color from a box. Its very bright and vibrant at first but always fades after the third week. I tried compensating for it by going brighter, but it was a bit too bright for my liking.

 

 

 

 So on that note, here  I am a few months ago with professional cut but home hair color.

 

My basic cut is long bangs and lots of layers. I also have my stylist texturize it which helps think it out a bit and keep the curls from poofing out like a fro.

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am at the Chiefs game back in 2010. I was wearing my hair shorter and I really like this cut. I didn't have as much gray then so my hair stylist was throwing in some auburn lowlights and soft blond highlights back then.

 

This is my favorite way to wear my hair!

 

 

 

Before getting grays, my red hair was losing its vibrancy year after year so my hair was looking blonder every time I got highlights. There was no contrast so all you could see was blond, and I liked it for a while but then it started to look washed out and dull, which lead me to get low lights and highlights.

 

 

Then I got the cray-cray idea to go brown.

 

BROWN HAIR DOES NOT LOOK GOOD ON ME!

ick!

 

I HATE this picture below and its one of the only ones I have with this hair color.

 

If you are looking for auburn colors, keep in mind there is auburn that is more red than brown, then there is auburn that is more brown than red. 

 

Not all auburns are created equal!!!!!

This hair color was short lived. I think I tried this four or five times and finally gave up. It just doesn't look good on me and my skin tone.

 

I usually always wear my hair with the long layers and wispy curls.

 

I used to stack it in the back which makes it shorter in the back and longer in the front and I really liked it, but because I have naturally curly hair the stacked look grows out too fast and ends up looking like a 1980s bob, so I don't do it anymore.

 

So there ya have it! A little glimpse of me on a personal level and all my different looks.

 If you have red or auburn hair, and/or naturally curly hair I am always up for sharing tips and tricks!

I would also love to hear about your experiences with different colors and cuts. Do you have one look that is your signature go-to look?



Jennifer