Change Can Be Good

Welcome to Met Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. To see more wonderful changes visit Susan by clicking here. Today my metamorphosis is a simple one. Often times when we buy art we purchase it already done. Matted, framed and all. How often have you loved a painting or piece of art but walked away from it because the frame or matting wasn't right. That could have been the story with these cute doggy prints. I spotted them in HomeGoods a couple years back. Someone had discarded them in the linen section. I was immediately drawn to them because the frames are gorgeous. I also loved the doggy's and the black dogs with the black frames really made a nice statement. When I turned them over and saw the clearance price of $16 each I was sold! There was however one problem....... The matting. Well not really matting it was actually a part of the printed surface. I love plaid and this was a cute sage plaid but it really had no pop IMO. It fell flat. Plus I knew that this sage green plaid was not the right color for my home.
Oh but I really loved the frames and the dogs. I left the store that day with three prints in hand not really knowing what I had in mind for them. They sat for months on my molding in my formal dining room. Sometimes I let things sit like that for long whiles. Life gets busy and projects fall on the back burner. I know y'all can relate to this little habit!

Then one weekend I got a fire under me and decided to paint my entrance. Those doggy prints were staring me in the face! So once I was done painting my entrance I drove to Michael's thinking I would paint the printed area with the plaid. Or maybe buy some RED plaid ribbon or fabric to place on it. In the end I settled on a much easier solution. Mat them in red. This was wonderful for two reasons. First it was easier than my previous ideas. Second it added some dimension to the prints. I chose a nice deep red mat. They cost me around $3 a mat. I popped out the wood back on the prints and glued the mat directly to the prints then popped the print and matting in and the wood back back on and glued it all together. I was pleased with the results and so was my entrance stairwell wall! I love the pop and contrast the red and black creates against the Georgian Green walls. Don't you?

Thanks for joining me for another fun Met Monday. Remember if you love something you will find a way to use it even if that means changing it up a bit. Don't be afraid to make something good, GREAT!

Look at My Cute New Header!!

A big thank you to my dear friend Barb over at Grits & Glamour. Look at this wonderful, fabulous new header Barb made me for my blog!!! She is so creative she combined two of my favorite things, bunnies and harlequin. I am so lucky to have Barb as a friend and I can't thank her enough for using her creative computer skills to brighten my space.

Apple Pie French Toast

Welcome to Foodie Friday hosted by our dear Gollum over at Designs by Gollum. Visit her site to feast your eyes on more wonderful temptations by clicking here . Today is really a continuation of my Tablescape Thursday post. I couldn't give out all my secrets at once so I saved what I was serving for today. Apple Pie French Toast or Blueberry Pie French Toast or Strawberry Pie French Toast or Peach Cobbler French Toast or Boysenberry Pie French Toast......you have the idea. Any fruit will do. I chose apple because I planned on serving it to my kids that night for a "Brupper" as we call it in our home breakfast+supper= Brupper; and apple is their fruit of choice.

This is an easy recipe but it is mouth watering. The best kind! You will need the following:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of (blueberry or strawberry or apple etc.) pie filling

12 slices of Texas toast or a thick sliced bread

8 eggs

1 cup of milk

*Combine cream cheese and fruit pie filling. Hint ; I add a bit of sugar to mine. The recipe doesn't call for it but I think it tastes better. For the apple I also add cinnamon. About 1 tablespoon of sugar and one of cinnamon.

*Spread one side of each slice of bread with mixture.

*Place sides of bread together, You will now have 6 "sandwiches ". Place these side by side in a baking dish.

* in a bowl beat 8 eggs and 1 cup of milk. Poor this mixture over the sandwiches and place them in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill. Turn them over 1 time. Use a spatula or they will fall apart.

*Heat oven to 400 degrees

* grease a baking dish

* Place sandwiches in the greased baking dish and discard any extra egg mixture you might have left. I usually have none left.

* bake in oven 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.

You can serve with powdered sugar and whip cream or your choice of syrup.

I add sugar and cinnamon to the apple mix.

Doesn't look too appetizing does it? Just wait until you taste it!

The perfect dish for a brunch out on the porch.

This recipe serves 6. It is very filling.

Hope you enjoyed our Apple Pie French Toast out on the porch today. Come back in June and join me as I host Summer Salad Saturdays. Every Saturday in June beginning June 6Th. Have a wonderful weekend!

Hey Y'all Lets Flaunt Some Red!

Hello friends and welcome to my first flaunting of the red! This fun event is temporarily being hosted by our friend Stacey over at PoofingthePillows while Nancy is beaching it! Link on back over to Stacey for more fun red flaunts.


Let me just start by saying I am no stranger to red. I have had red in every home I have owned and more often than not a lot of it. My current home is no exception. Let's take a little tour of some of the red I have down stairs! Red Iron Trivets (thank you very much Target)



Every kitchen needs a red Cafe sign (thank you HomeGoods)

My reading chair in a lovely red on red diamond patterned check. Comfy and cozy. Thank you very much Ethan Allen!

Red pillows

With red window panels to match. I loved this fabric the first time I saw it, but I didn't like the price. The sleuth that I am was not willing to give up on it and after a 3 month search found it at an affordable price. I still love it 3 years later so it was worth the extra effort!

Red matted doggy prints.

Yes even my new laptop from Mr. Whimsy is red. He knows me too well.

Red porch floors. How's that for some POP!

Red tulip oil painting. Color saturation at it's best!

Even my study has red....red painted ceilings that is!

These are just a few of my red touches. I will be sure to join in next time for more fun red inspiration! Thanks to Stacey for hosting this fun event.

Some Handy Dandy Lighting Finds

While browsing my Ballard Design catalog yesterday I came across three products being sold in there that I thought were brilliant. All three are lighting innovations made to transform lights you already have in your home into something totally different.

The above picture shows my first discovery. This kit will convert any can light in your home into a pendant style light. Pretty cool! I am going to hunt this kit down and see if they make outdoor versions too. The second is this cork lighting kit. You can pop this into jars or even vases (if the opening size is the same) and convert your jars, jugs, vases and.................the list goes on; into a cool lamp!

Last what an easy peasy way to transform your chandelier into a crystal laden sparkler! These magnetic crystals can attach to anything that is magnetically worthy. Fun! What a quick change you could make with these. Click Ballard Designs to find more information on these fun finds!

Never Forget What Memorial Day Really Means

At what cost does your freedom come?
It is so easy to forget that freedom isn't free.


Freedom is a burden we should all shoulder if not on the battle front where our brave men and woman fight for us then in in our hearts everyday and in our prayers every night.

Some of us will live our entire lives understanding the cost of freedom. Remember to pause and think and say thank you.

"Lucy....You Got Some Splainin To Do"

Hello all. I am hoping for some great help and instruction. All of you wonderful bloggers out there have a much better handle on this computer game. I keep telling myself I am going to take a class and well, you know how it goes...... Soon I will be hosting my Summer Salad event and I would reaaaallllllyyyyy love to have Mr. Linky up and running for it! Now the past couple days blog land has seemed to be very ill. This has been the first time since Wednesday I have been able to get into my blog. Awhile back I took some advice and tried to load Mr. Linky on up in my blog. When the real cursing and shouting started Mr. Whimsy, who is quite computer savvy stepped up to the plate to help. He loaded it on BUT then we did not know if it worked or not and or how to use it in a post. Well today I got and email from Mr. Linky saying he was the reason for the blog land blues over the past 2 days and could I please go into my HTML and delete a line. I was thinking we had not loaded it correctly originally since I still have not figured out how to use the blasted thing in a post. But what do you know I followed Mr. Linkys email directions to the letter and sure enough when I went into my HTML template there was the line he wanted me to delete (so it was there and loaded all along).

Okay I will FINALLY get to the point. If Mr. Linky is loaded in my template HTML.......HOW do I get it to appear in a post??? Purdy please can anyone, someone guide this desperately dense computer raging person along? Thanks friends! Is anyone laughing or crying right along with me in total confusion?

Tennis Anyone?

I do believe this is my first ever Tablescape Thursday! This ever inspiring event is hosted by our friend Susan over at BetweenNapsonthePorch . Although this won't be my last one I am sure, they are not a weekly event for me. I only do up my tables when I am hosting something! Friday of last week I had the honor of hosting my tennis teams end of year luncheon. The week wore on in a frenzy of hectic chaos, which sadly seems to be the way things are landing here in the Whimsy household lately. Three kids in that tween to teen stage leaves little time for relaxing. We exist in what I like to call organized chaos most of the time. So by Thursday morning with no plans made for my luncheon I began to panic. Calm yourself , KD calm yourself! "Lets make this simple and lets make a plan", said I! "Think tennis, think tennis" Off to Michael's I went with a budget of $50 or less for decor hoping it would be for less. I headed straight for the sticker aisle. Hmmmm okay they had tennis ball stickers but nothing else. Around the corner to the scrap booking aisle and I hit pay dirt! I picked up 3 packs at $3.99 each of some raised cardboard tennis scap booking thingys!

From there I found my color scheme. Oh good, green and yellow. I had some green but NO yellow unless you could count some of the walls in my house. Over to the ribbon aisle I went and found some cute green and white checked spools of ribbon for $3.99 (I am sensing a pricing theme here) I picked up two spools. I knew I had some green vases. What else? Okay some floral inspiration is needed. Ahh haaa yellow and white daisies! Priced between 99 cents and $1.99 a bunch. Yellow, I really needed yellow. Off to HomeGoods to see if they had any yellow salad plates for a reasonable price. They didn't BUT they had a 12 pack of bright yellow dinner napkins for $12.99 BINGO!

I decided to use my green woven place mats on top of a white table cloth serving as chargers to bring my green in. The white plates are my everyday dishes which I found at Pottery Barn outlet for an incredible price. Funny thing about them is some of them have Pottery Barn Outlet stamped on the bottom and some have William Sonoma stamped on the bottom but all are identical. Next I folded up my yellow napkins so that a lot of yellow would show! Wrapped them in the green and white checked ribbon then used the scrap booking sticker, card board cut out thingys on top of the ribbon.

I used a variety of different ones.

What a cheery tennis themed table I had when I was all done. I loved the daisies, they were the perfect choice to brighten up the space.

The green glasses I had picked up at Kohls during Christmas time. I recently spotted the same ones at Pier 1.

I decided to serve the food on my buffet. I had a green scarf wrap. I decided to pull it out and drape my buffet top with it to continue the color scheme. In the end I stayed under my decor budget of $50. But barely I came in at around $44. Money well spent since I know I can use it all again.

My menu was easy and relaxed. Pin wheel sandwiches, Chinese chicken salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and dinner rolls. We had brownies and carrot cake for dessert.....yummy! I will feature some of these salad recipes in my month of June event SUMMER SALAD SATURDAYS. There you have it my tennis luncheon tablescape. Fun simple and definitely cheery! Make sure to visit Susan over at BetweenNapsonthePorch for more wonderfully inspiring tables.

80 Posts & 100 Followers

I'd say it's time for a celebration! I received a very nice surprise today which prompted me to post the announcement that I now have 10o followers. Please know that I read each and every one of your replies and comments to me and that I greatly appreciate your wonderful feedback. I don't always have the time to reply to everyone but I am always warmed by your words. To each of you, I say thank you. I am inspired by you all and have enjoyed my new blogging adventure.

Announcing Summer Salad Saturdays

The heat is on. At least here in the south it is. We have had some very warm days here already and it will only be getting hotter! Now is the time of year when we lend ourselves to grilling out doors , sweet fruits, lemonade and SALADS. What is better than a nice salad on a summer day? With that in mind I have decided to host a little event of my own over here at Southern Whimsy. SUMMER SALAD SATURDAYS will take place every Saturday in June. What is it, you ask? Each Saturday I will post a recipe for a salad. I am determined to learn Mr Linky in the next couple of weeks. Y'all will be able to post your link on my site and share your favorite salad recipes as well. These can be new recipes to you or something tried and true that you make every time the weather turns warm. This event will start on Saturday June 6Th and continue throughout the month of June. So grab the salad Saturday logo above (graciously made for me my my friend Barb over at Grits and Glamour), hunt down those yummy salad recipes and get ready for some Summer salad sharing over here at Southern Whimsy. I hope y'all will join us!

An Anniversary, A Cheerleader and EOG;s

It has been a busy week here in the Whimsy household. On Saturday we started out with competitive cheer tryouts for Little Miss Whimsy. We decided to switch cheer gyms this year. Although she knows many people at her "new" gym nerves were high. This only escalated once
we arrived and it was announced that no parents were allowed inside during the tryouts. I was waiting for tears but that look of determination came across her face and in she marched. We found out Monday, much to our surprise that not only did she pull that tryout off she was placed on two high level teams. We are very proud of her! Sunday brought Mothers Day. Mr. Whimsy and the kiddos made me a very big breakfast. we lazed around ALL DAY which was wonderful! We watched movies and caught up on all of our Tivoed episodes of Gray's Anatomy, Amazing Race, Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice. We were able to catch up on about half of our Lost episodes. Then upon my request we went out to dinner for my favorite, Mexican food! Yummy! Chimichanga here I come! Finally yesterday was our 19th wedding anniversary! WOW! Mr. Whimsy surprised me with a cherry red metallic.................laptop computer. You thought I was going to say convertible didn't you? I am thrilled. Since my current laptop caught that nasty virus in December it has just never been the same. I can't wait to get my new laptop up and running and loaded with everything I need.......like all my decor pictures! The rest of my week will be just as busy between running my kids to all their practices, a car pool luncheon and then me hosting a tennis luncheon (maybe I will actually be able to do a table scape but I am not holding my breath!) and the kids EOG's (end of grade tests) I doubt I will be able to dedicate as much time to my blog as I would like. BUT I am excited to say that Barb from Grits & Glamour will be stopping by on Friday after my tennis luncheon. She is going to help me with my walls (shhhhhh I have a whole list of things) and art work so I will be sure to take a lot of pictures to share! Have a wonderful week!

A Little Paint & A Little Sanding.....

Welcome to another Met Monday hosted by Susan at BetweenNapsonthePorch. This week I decided to show you a small project I worked on in conjunction with my secretary project. After all the black paint was already opened and that was half the labor! A while back a friend had given me two vintage fruit prints. I loved them and I loved the frame they were in but they were missing something. Matting was the key I felt. Off I ran to Michael's to get some matting. I originally thought I would mat them in red and possibly even use some fabric to mat them with. I have been working on my dining room for quite awhile and thought the red/fabric matting would go well with what I have been working on in there. When I got to Michael's and we took the back off of the frames to measure them for matting, imagine my surprise that matting already existed behind the pictures. It had been stored behind the prints and not used. SCORE! There was even lovely wood mullions! Here are the prints as given to me.

At the same time I started thinking about the mirror in my dining room. My table set and side board were the same wood. If there is one thing I can say about myself is that "matchy matchy" is not my style. I like contrast and interest and everything the same finish doesn't give one that. So I made a quick decision to paint the mirror as well. Here is a shot of the mirror before.

Here are the prints with the matting that was store behind them. I was still not loving them. What to do? What to do?

I decided to experiment with some fabric and french gimp. I liked it but was in fear of them looking a little too casual and country for a formal dining room.

In the end I decided just to paint the mullion black. I painted them black and then distressed them with some sand paper since the frame had a distressed finish to it.

Now we were getting somewhere! I did the same to the mirror painting it black and then sanding down some areas to distress it. You can see where the sanding took it back down to the wood in some areas in this shot.

Here all three of them are finished. As you can see I have not yet gotten them up on the wall. The mirror is extremely heavy and I need some muscle for that!

Hopefully I can get the walls in my dining room done by Wednesday for Barbs "Whats on your wall Wednesday" over at Grits and Glamour. In the mean time be sure to visit Susan for more wonderful Met Monday transformations.