A Sweet Surprise...

Hello friends - today I'm sharing with you a lil' surprise from one of my dear friends, sweet Ms. Linda!

 See, I've been meaning to make one of the coolest wreaths around these days - a burlap one of course, but time just hasn't been on my side as of late - but now, I won't have to - because I was gifted one this week.  Isn't it cute?  I just LOVE it!  Thank you thank you Linda!  She made it out of two wire frames and looped her burlap ribbon in bunches of three and tied them on - I love the free form of it.

 And I just thought it would look perfect in my kitchen over my mantle.  Now, she also had a beautiful red burlap ribbon on it tied with some dainty flowers - but since I didn't have red in the kitchen (for now anyway) - I removed it and laid in on a table in my den.  So I actually got two gifts in one.

 Some other things on my mantle for now are my three lil' pots of grass (IKEA) along with a white platter from the Goodwill store, a vase from mom and one of my favorite pictures of my son - which I move from room to room all the time.  Plus I have three gray pears - on clearance from Hobby Lobby in a dish - I suppose I have this thing for three's - I'm seeing that pattern often in my home.

 Beneath the mantle is a bench I've had for a while with a pillow from Home Goods and the pitcher is as well.  I can't wait to be able to put fresh flowers in it - but some airy yellow ones will have to do for now.

 I love the chippy paint on the fireplace - it was just like this when I bought it and I love it!

 Right beside the bench is a basket from Peddlers Mall filled with some of the walking sticks Shaun's dad use to make.  He would find the wood from various trees with the grapevine wrapped around it and whittle away until he got it just right.  He made so many - each unique and he gave away countless ones.  It was kind of his thing - if you got one of his walking sticks - you knew he loved ya. 

 This is one he made for my son - he wood burned his name in it for him. We even found one in the shop that he had made for Casen before he passed away that he had not given him yet.  It simply said "Love, Poppa".  We treasure them.

 All lined up in a row.

 This is right to the left of my refrigerator - maybe it is an awkward place for a fireplace mantle but I love it there - for now anyway ;-)

 You can kind of see the relation to the rest of the kitchen here.  A lil' something I learned the hard way when building my first and LAST home - most standard cabinet depths do not accommodate new refrigerators - as you can see.  This is one thing I so wish I would have stuck to my guns on changing - but we were anxious to get in.  You know how that is.  So I encourage any of you who may be in this stage of home building - keep this in mind.  Other wise it will stick out like a sore thumb - like mine!

Oh well, just ramblin' a bit - I still do LOVE my kitchen so I don't mean to complain.

Linda - thank you again for making my day - you made me so happy!

Now everybody - get your burlap out and get craftin'!

Happy day!