Let's Make Some Winter Jar Candles!

Hi! Hope you're having a nice weekend! I know that we are all just waiting for spring and warmer weather to come. As far as I'm concerned, as soon as Christmas is over, spring should arrive, complete with flowers, chirping birds and warmer temperatures. I just can't seem to convince Mother Nature of that and, as weird as she's been behaving this winter, I think I'll steer clear of her mood swings.

So, what do you do when you want tulips and daffodils and the world gives you snow? You make winter jar candles! Embrace your inner winter curmudgeon and play!

I made a few of these for my Christmas centerpiece and loved how they turned out! They're so easy and inexpensive too! Here's what you'll need:

Two jars (or however many you want to make- lids optional)

Artificial snowflakes

LED tea lights or votive candles

Cranberry (or color of your choice) wooden beads

Anything else you want to decorate your jar with, inside or out! It's your project - let your creativity run wild!

To assemble, I placed the cranberry beads in the bottom of each jar, about an inch deep. I had some old wooden bead garland that I cut apart. You can find lose beads or garland online any time of year, or fill with real berries, nuts, mini pine cones - again, whatever you wish!

Top the beads with about 2 inches of snow flakes. Nestle a candle into each jar. Add greens, small ornaments, figurines as you choose. I wanted to keep mine simple and basic, so I didn't add any embellishments. Actually now that I think about it, you could even decorate the lids with paint or fabric. It all depends upon how you want your creation to look!

I love how the lights sparkles on the glass and glistens underneath the snow!

I've really developed a thing for jars and glass containers lately. I think it's because they enable me to decorate quickly, easily and inexpensively AND my little trouble-maker dog, Punkin, can't get to the objects when she's looking for an alternative snack! On second thought she did steal a snowman from a larger jar candle, but she didn't eat him! That dog is a nut!

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this little craft project! Stayed tuned for some Valentine's Day fun! 
Hugs, Leena

Lunch Break Re-do

I guess by now we've all come to the realization that Mother Nature has been throwing a bit of a hissy fit this winter, slamming even the warmest environs into freezing wastelands of snow, ice and shoes other than flip flops! This in turn, has lead to major cases of cabin fever. Admittedly, we have been quite spoiled since moving to South Carolina, where the average temperature in December and January is 59 degrees, but that's one of the reasons we came here! More than once, I have been witnessed yelling, "Who moved the South?" Eighteen degrees is far from the expected 59!

With the cold came a dusting of snow and ice and an extra week of Christmas vacation from school! My daughter and I had planned an outing, which had to be postponed until this last Thursday, when we escaped! Yes, we escaped, went AWOL, flew the coop! Our big adventure? Lunch at the Mellow Mushroom! We're such wild ones! LOL!

Moooooooo! Even the menu is fun!

Had we planned earlier, we would have done more, but it was after 12 noon when she mentioned going and the kids get home around 3. It didn't matter. We'd never been there before and it was so good to get out into the sunshine for a little while, even though it was still chilly.

Mellow Mushroom Man

This restaurant is so cute with a lot of colorful decorations, including this round table that encircles an awesome salt water fish tank! There were quite a variety of fish in there, including this cool leopard spotted eel!

BIG Eel in fish tank table

Fish tank table

Mellow Mushroom Dude

Pizza-eating Shark!

The menu was pretty extensive, however, we resisted the pizza, hoagies and calzones for salads. Boring? Oh, far from it! They came in these big read bowls and were made of the freshest veggies! I had a chef salad while Shannon selected the Greek salad with chicken. Oh my gosh! So, so good! I actually like a good salad and I always feel better when I eat fresh foods. We were in yum yum Heaven!

I should have taken a picture before I ate half of it!

We arrived home in time for the kids to get off the bus and made plans for a Friday excursion of larger proportions!

Thanks for dropping by! Y'all have a wonderful weekend! Hugs!

(This was not a paid endorsement - just sharing life)

Is It A Seat or Something To Eat?

See this chair? 

Before we moved down here in Dec 2015, I got it in my head that a coastal room needed a green and cream awning stripe chair. Awnings are always so cute and remind me of the little beach houses painted in cheery colors, their awnings happily flapping in the breeze. 

I searched the internet until I came upon the perfect chair! Love the stripes! Love the nail- head trim and loved the fact that it was on sale! I was so thrilled when it arrived! I bought it from Wayfair.

Fast forward to a few months ago. Shannon, my daughter, told me that Punkin ate my chair! Well, just the seat cushion. We all know she eats things, everything from towels to socks to baby doll toes to cardboard. If she can get it, she will eat it. Not just chew it up, EAT IT! Take off a sock, set it down and while taking off the second one, the first one disappears! She's like a stealth ninja-you never even see her! She ate holes into the back pillows of the love seat and a hole into one cushion of my turquoise sofa! That one almost caused the demise of Miss Punkin! I don't know what to do with her and her eating habits! I don't think she's a peek-a-poo, I think she's a goat-a-poo! She's already had surgery to remove four masses of junk she ate that were lodged in her digestive tract and she was only 6 months old at the time! We don't buy dog toys any more because she has destroyed them all! Stuffed ones get destuffed, rubber and plastic ones become doggie snacks. I just hope that she didn't eat the foam rubber from the cushion!

 I bought special, practically indestructible chew bones recently. Her's is like a Fidget Spinner(TM) so she has three ends to "chews" from. We've started giving her private chewing time, so the other dogs won't steal her bone, but she doesn't understand being in a room with one of us and not the other pups. We'll have to continue to work on that. I may have to send her to doggie boot camp; two weeks away from home where she'll learn all the correct canine manners, but I hate to do that and she'll be a wreck without her sister, Bella. I've had dogs that chewed before. Fenway and Chloe tore apart an entire sofa cushion when they were about her age, but they were never this bad. I think she gets bored and may also get nervous when we go out. She and Bella will stay in their crate while we're gone, but we were home when she ate the chair. It was late at night and Shannon was in the other room, watching TV. Perhaps she was over -tired and took it out on the chair. She gets whiney when she wants to go to bed. She sleeps in Shannon's room. You should hear the dramatic, pathetic sighs when she thinks it's bedtime! Little Diva! I guess I'll have to figure out something. I can't afford to buy new furniture all the time and I can't furnish our home with boxes! She'd just eat them out from under us anyway. Argh! This falls under the "it's a good thing she's cute!" category!

Yeah, it sure is a good thing you're cute!

She cuddles up in my daughter's arms like she's a baby!

Note: I wrote this a few months ago and forgot all about it! We have seen a slight decrease in Punkin's eating habits and are hoping that since she is now a 15 months old, she's losing interest in destroying things! Keeping fingers crossed! She does still steal things however!

Thanks for dropping by! Have a fantastic day! Hugs! Leena