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A picture frame earring holder! I had an old gold picture frame I picked up from a thrift shop that I knew would be perfect for this project. I spray painted it Heirloom White.

For this project I gathered my hot glue gun, glue sticks, burlap, scissors, a utility knife, some twine and a piece of white foam board. All these items I had in my stash but they can be purchased at your local craft store.

I placed the foam board inside the picture frame and cut along the edges using my utility knife. This frame had no glass piece for it and the glass is not needed for this project.

After I cut the foam board to fit inside the picture frame, I cut the burlap allowing the burlap to overlap the foam board. I used my hot glue gun to wrap the burlap around the frame.

I then used the twine to make rows across the burlap leaving enough room between the lines for my dangling earrings. (I placed one of my earrings between the lines so I knew how much space to leave between each row.) The twine was hot glued to the back of the foam board.

This is what the back will look like when you finish your twine rows and you have place the foam board back into the frame.

To finish the back, I used the back piece of a brown grocery bag. It’s my favorite go to with framing projects. I used the grocery bag trick for my Ceiling Medallion Mirror.

I love it! I have been using it for a few months now and it works for me. I can easily see my dangling earrings and they are easy to pick up and place back at the end of the day. I also find myself changing up my daily earring selection since I can see them all now.

I have also pulled a few brooches out of my drawers as they add a nice sparkle and they are too pretty to keep hidden away!

Do you have a mad dangling earring collection? Do you have an easy solution for storage and display? I hope this inspires you to pull out all your pretties!

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Trees

I think that I shall never see,

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

~ Joyce Kilmer

Photo above taken by my brother-in-law Adam who hugged that tree for this awesome shot.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

A quick group photo before we hit the trail.

Gathering together to start our hike. We count out so we know how many Dames are in the group so we can keep track and make sure no one is left behind on our way out.

We begin our hike on the Historic path which will  pass along the New Manchester Manufacturing Company.

This mill was built in 1849 on Sweetwater Creek. The mill produced yarn to form cotton and in 1861, the company had a contract with the Confederate Government to produce the materials for Confederate uniforms. In 1864 with so many men fighting in the Confederate Army, most of the employees of the mill were woman and their children. Sadly those women and children were arrested in July of 1864 when the Union Calvary captured the mill and village all around it. If they agreed to sign an “Oath of Allegiance” to the US Government they were released north of the Ohio River and Indiana. Those that did not sign the oath remained in prison until after the war ended. That my friends is a bit of Georgia history!

Sweetwater Creek

There are so many beautiful boulders all throughout!

One of the terrific things about the Trail Dames is that we have so many knowledgeable women who share the history of the area. Here we are taking a break and soaking up Georgia history.

Hello lovely! I had great love for this one and I gave it a big hug! Hug a tree, it’s good for your soul. Really now! There is even a lesson on how to hug a tree. Check it here!

Moving right along the trail you will find it can you give a bit of a workout as you will find the trail rocky as pictured above.

Here are the Dames, getting their heart rates up! There are several areas where climbing up and up is involved.

We take a few short breaks along the way and when we do, there is beauty all around. I love the color and textures we see all around us.

Trail Dames with Cheryl our guide right up front! Ladies, it was so nice meeting a lot of you for the first time. I so enjoyed our day and look forward to doing it all again soon!

For those interested in the Trail Dames, click here to check us out and click here to see another post from a past adventure I had with them.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

I came across a wooden “Thank You” sign on the Weddingbee site. I saved it in my Pinterest Wedding Board and headed to JoAnn’s to pick up the simple supplies needed for the project. Take a few minutes to follow along as I show you the easy steps to make a wooden Thank you sign.

I bought two wooden plaques in different shapes and primed them. You can find these at your local craft store.

I then spray painted them with Heirloom White. It’s one of my favorites!

I used my Cricut Calligraphy Collection cartridge and cut out the words. I think these letters were 2 or 3 inches. I played around a bit to get the right fit. Terrible photo I know but you get the idea!

I used Scotch Tacky Glue to glue on the words. I like this glue the best as it has a thin applicator tip and makes a perfect thin line.

I used my trusty friend Mod Podge and applied a layer across the entire front side, back, and sides of the wood to seal the letters and add a layer of protection. So are you ready to see the final project?

Here they are! Photo credits to Tillman Branch Photography.

This is photo we used for the post wedding Thank You postcards we created using Vista Print! I am so happy with the results. They were very easy to put together and very inexpensive. Total cost for me? $8.00 as I had the spray paint and Mod Podge on hand. The small wedding details are my favorite. I hope this inspires you as you plan your events!

I will be linking up to some great parties this week. There is so much inspiration!

Made by you Mondays, Today’s Creative Blog, WhipperBerry, Serenity Now

It’s all good! ~ Donna

Manual focus 1.4, flash not used. I don’t normally shoot on manual focus, mostly because my eyesight is not that great, but here I simply turned the focus ring until the lights were blurry and snapped this shot.

50mm, 1.4

I used auto focus on this shot, focusing on Justin’s hand. The tree was a few feet behind him. Focusing on the subject with the light source a few feet behind the subject will give you this effect.  50 mm, 1.4, no flash

50mm, 1.4, manual focus ~ Simple white lights.

50mm 1.4 – auto focusing on the snowflake

Holiday Cheer Beer!

Ginobili was sitting on a table by the window. The Christmas lights were reflected in the window pane. She is such a pretty girl! I tell her that all the time. Yes, I talk to my cats and tell them how lovely they are. Crazy cat lady? Maybe. Anyhoo, I love learning new techniques and with all the sparkly Holiday lights, this is the perfect time to keep working on that bokeh!

It’s all good ~ Donna

Thank you Martha Stewart for this lovely, sparkly, glitter craft yarn. It’s called glitter eyelash. Super Cute!

I picked up these tree shapes at the Dollar Tree and the glitter ribbon at JoAnn’s. I had planned on using the ribbon on the trees but did not use it. I do love that sparkle!

This project is super easy! Wrap the glitter yarn around the tree…

Use a fabric or craft glue to attach the yarn.

I only applied the glue at the top starting point and at the bottom where I cut the yarn.

Tada! I had some candle sticks in my stash and I placed the trees on top. I used some double stick tape across the top of the candle stick for support and they won’t tip over so easy.

On the left of this photo you can see where I stacked two candlesticks together. I used double stick tape on them since I did not want them to permanently be glued together.

Here is the color scheme I am working with. I love that little bird! This serving piece was a wedding anniversary gift from my Mother-in-Law.

I took a quick snapshot so you can see those little sweet trees on the buffet. I still have more decorating to do but it’s a good start! Do you have a Christmas color scheme? I have red and gold in my living room. What are you planning for Holiday Decor? I’d love to hear your plans!

I’ll be linking up to some great parties this week! Hop on over and get those creative juices flowing!

Today’s Creative Blog, Tip Junkie

It’s all good. ~ Donna

On a trip to JoAnn’s to pick up some crafting supplies, I came across this lovely, sparkling, buy me now yarn. Buy it I did! I’ll share what I made with it soon!

The glue gun came out and burlap and twine was transformed into something I really needed. Tune in to see what it is!

Super strong magnets are just what I needed for my Holzer Homemade Christmas presents this year!

My family live in Texas and I do miss them much over the Holidays. My Mom always made the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and so I made it just like Mom. Thanks Libby’s! I love your pie recipe !

Lot’s of dirty dishes in the sink last week. I do like hand washing dishes though. The warm suds are soothing. Crazy huh? I hate mopping and there are suds involved there too!

This guy, my handsome husband, ran the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving morning! I am so proud of him and his great accomplishment! I do wonder though if he was running from all the CRAZY that was happening in my home that morning. The smoke alarms were ringing, I was covered in flour, and my Mom calls to see if I watching the Macy’s parade. I love you Mom but I had no time for parade watching that morning!

He was a super help with the Green Bean casserole recipe we tried this year. Portabella mushrooms made this recipe a keeper! See how strong he looks here? 2 minutes later he was on the coach. Something about running a half marathon that morning and his legs were a wee bit wobbly!

This guy, my super Father-in-Law grinning it up while cutting up the Turkey! We hosted Thanksgiving in our home this year and it was so wonderful. We usually have Thanksgiving at my husband’s grandfather’s house but since they were  out of town, the Atlanta family came to our home. Super! I got to use all my wedding china and Justin’s grandmother’s silver.

I found these cute printables from Sissyprint. If you are looking for cute free printables, hop on over there! See what printables she has available for Christmas.

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and full of all things good. Thank you friends for stopping by My Sweet Things. You are truly appreciated! Cheers for today and stop by again soon. I’ll be sharing those projects later this week!

It’s all good. ~ Donna

I have come across a lot of delightful artwork using paint chips. I quick search on Pinterest and I was inspired. So clever and no cost! Perfect.

I picked up the photo frame and paint chips months ago. My upstairs hallway has been making a transition and this piece is just the pop of color I wanted for a small space between my son’s bedroom door and the hallway door frame. I used a 2inch circle cutter and a craft glue stick.

I love all the shades of purple and with the circle cutter I was able to whip these out in minutes.

I cut a piece of card stock to  5×7 which is the print size of the frame.

I glued the circles on the card stock in an overlapping pattern and placed it in the frame. So easy and colorful!

The Paint Chip Artwork works well with the color scheme as purple is the “pop” color I am using for the hallway which I painted months ago using Behr Ultra in Silver Sateen.  This is the ceiling medallion mirror I put together which is also in the hallway. In looking at these photos I noticed the same paint color in different lighting! I do love the purple and gray! Paint Chip Artwork? Do it! Need inspiration? Go to Pinterest!

I will be linking up to some great parties this week. There is so much inspiration!

Skip to My Lou Made by You Monday, Homemaker on a Dime Creative Bloggers Party,

It’s all good. ~ Donna

During one of my wedding inspiration searches, I came across a sweet blog named It’s the Little Things. Karla created a terrific wedding direction sign. I also found a wedding site called Aisle with Style who also shared a post on wedding direction signs. These two sites inspired me to create one! My son’s wedding took place at Hampton Park Gazebo and I thought a direction sign would come in handy to lead family and friends from the parking lot to the Gazebo.

I bought six, 10 inch pre-cut wood pieces and white craft paint from Jo-Ann’s Craft Store. You can see some of the pieces I purchased above. (The long stick with the pointy end was not used in this project.) The wood pieces cost less than two dollars a piece as I shopped during one of Jo-Ann’s half off sales.

A quick painting tip! Place your brushes in a plastic bag when working with painting projects that will have a delay paint time between them. I started painted one evening and finished the next day. The brush was still soft, moist and good to go!

I also picked up two, 3 foot long sticks of wood from Jo-Ann’s. The bottoms were flat and I needed to have them pointed at the end to drive into the ground.

A chisel, hammer, and a cute husband to the rescue!

All done!

I painted two coats of the white craft paint on the long sticks.

I used my Circut Expression Machine with the Calligraphy Collection Cartridge to cut out the letters.  I glued them with Scotch Quick Drying Tacky Glue. The precision tip on the applicator is helpful when gluing the smaller printed pieces. I used Mod Podge as a clear coat, and I applied it over the entire surface of the boards to seal them.

I used Liquid Nails to adhere the boards to the long stick. They held up really well but during the car transit, one of the boards was jostled in the back of the car and it popped off. Luckily I had packed the liquid nails with me to fix it.

Tada! Here it is! I made two signs since the walk from the parking was not a straight shot to the Gazebo. One sign was place by the parking lot, and the other was placed at the left turn taken leading to the wedding ceremony.

I am super happy with the results! Thanks again to Karla from It’s the Little Things and Aisle with Style for the inspiration and I hope my sweet sign inspires you too!

I will be linking to some great parties this week. Stop by, join the party, and be inspired!

Serenity Now, WhipperBerry

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Gazebo photo taken during the summer when my husband and I went down for a visit.

The Gazebo is really quite large. Here is a snapshot taken during the rehearsal.

The path from the parking area to the Gazebo is gorgeous! You can see the row of lights centered in the path that leads you to the pond.

Rehearsal is done and here are our family and friends all ready to head out  for the rehearsal dinner.

Wedding day with the Bridesmaids. We rented white chairs for the event and fit 35 of them with plenty of space for more. I would guess you could fit 50-60 chairs easily.

You can see the roses were in bloom all around the Gazebo. We did very little for decoration as the park was in full bloom and so spectacular on its own.

The Bride and Groom. So sweet. Thanks to my Sister-in-law Mary for taking over my camera and snapping these photos. I was in the front row with a tissue in my hand, wiping away those tears of happiness.

There is a large area around the Gazebo for gathering. Ladies, when choosing shoes, I would recommend a low heel or wedge type shoe. I of course did not take my own advice and wore high heels. The walkway is soft, sand like, with some small gravel. I did plenty of tip toe walking around here so I would not sink in.

There is a water fountain right outside the Gazebo and we provided some refreshments. The bathrooms are a short walking distance and they were very clean and well maintained.

This is the tree lined walkway leading to the large pond and the parking area.

This is the large pond that is at the end of the long tree lined walkway.  There is Justin making new friends!

There are many beautiful locations for photo opportunities.

My husband and I. Proud Parents! For anyone looking to book a small family event in Charleston, I highly recommend Hampton Park Gazebo. The location is beautiful and 10 minutes from downtown Charleston. We held both the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception in the downtown area. I will be posting more on those venues soon. We are anxiously awaiting the wedding photos from the photographer and I will be posting some of those as soon as I get them. I hope for now you get a good idea of the location and for any brides out there looking to book a small outdoor wedding, Hampton Park just might be the right place for you!

It’s all good. ~ Donna