Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Vintage Bible

During the Christmas holidays I went to an antique store that I always enjoying browsing at. I went to get a mirror out of layaway. On my browsing tour I noticed this Bible. Seeing how aged it looked, I checked for the price. FREE! Grabbing it, I took it to the counter. There's something wonderful about finding an old Bible that someone else loved and read. Personally, I love to read through old Bibles that have scriptures underlined and highlighted. People are different. Some never write or mark in their Bibles. I like to highlight scriptures in mine. If you're like me, you forget where some verses are found. So it makes it easier to find those encouraging verses of scripture if you highlight them. The vintage Bible I found at the antique store now has a new home.
I'm linking to Knick of Time Interiors.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cabin Cottage Christmas

The theme of Christmas this year in my cabin cottage is a simple one. Enjoy the special vintage finds I've recently come across. Bake in the new oven my husband bought me awhile back. Look at the side table with family pictures, Christmas photos of the past, and new family photos with Christmas cards - and hold close the sweet loving memories of fond pastimes. Play games. Do a puzzle. Read a book. Simply relaxing.

Here are a few photos of recent vintage things I've picked up and Christmas decorations of the fireplace.
The snowman and candy - gifts from friends

Fresh pink and red poinsettias-a gift from my hubby. Black candle stand a vintage find from awhile back. The PEACE LOVE JOY terra cotta pot I painted with black chalkboard paint. The needlework handmade by my daughter. All these bring joy to me on Christmas.

My daughter's beautiful needlework from years back. Sweet memories!

An old Bible I found at an antique store. Price: FREE!

A poinsettia plant I got for 25 cents at Home Depot.

The fireplace with more candles and "CHRISTMAS" spelled out. The vintage JOY plaque I picked up awhile back.

Christmas candy.
I'm linking to Pink Saturday, The Thrifty Home

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Back to the Basics Christmas

Popular Christmas greetings this year in Santa Monica, California may be heard as "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas" at least for some people. I like to say both as I love the holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. All three holidays bring back special memories I have of my family.

My special memories of holidays from November, December, and January include family gatherings with tasty prepared recipes, driving around town to look at Christmas lights, drinking hot apple cider, receiving fruit and candy paper gift bags handed out at church, enjoying fireworks with my family and cousins, singing Christmas carols with the church youth group, and just enjoying family.

One thing we didn't have too often in East Texas was snow, but occasionally we did. When we had snow, school was canceled. You got to stay home and build snowmen. Snow is beautiful, and I love it - for no more than a week every year. I'll let my sweet friends who live in the northern states enjoy longer durations of snow. I enjoy looking at their pictures. Speaking of pictures, it did snow not far from my cottage cabin about a week ago. There is a farm we always pass to get to our cottage cabin, and it looked like ones I see on Christmas cards.


These kind of Christmas and other holiday memories are simple ones, don't cost much money, and include Christ. Some may leave Him out, but I love to include Him in my holidays. This year I'm having a back-to-the-basics Christmas. Simple pretties. Baked tasty goodies. Bible reading. Gifts-from-the-heart giving. Loving Christ. Loving others.
Thank you for visiting Southwest Cottage Designs.
Merry Christmas!
I'm linking up to Pink Saturday.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hide-the-Clutter Kitchen Curtains

Need to hide under-the-sink kitchen clutter? Use a valance curtain. Over the Thanksgiving holidays, I purchased two valance curtains for my kitchen. The curtains are red and tan plaid. I love red but have never had, or thought I would ever have, a red kitchen. However, red happens to be accumulating more and more in my little cottage cabin. I'm okay with it. In fact, it's becoming quite fun to plan and decorate. I hung one up on a tension rod under the sink. When my husband and I purchased our cottage cabin fixer upper, it also came with an old store counter that we use as cabinet space. So I hung the other valance curtain on a tension rod to cover the open side of the counter cabinet. I took a seam out of the valance to double the length, and the curtain fit just right.
Kitchen Counter Cabinet Curtain

Hide-the-Clutter Kitchen Curtains
The kitchen needs much work, but that will come later on our cottage cabin to-do list. For instance, the old tile in the kitchen has already been removed. Now we have a cement floor that we plant to paint or stain. Though we have much work ahead of us, it's fun fixing it up ourselves.
I'm linking to:

Friday, November 25, 2011

Holiday Decorating with Black on Black Friday

Looking for ideas to decorate for the holidays? Create a new Black Friday holiday tradition: make your black furniture and accent pieces a part of Christmas decorating. Look at these lovely black holiday decorations:








Source: google.com via Kylee on Pinterest


Source: i.imgur.com via Kate on Pinterest





Beautiful! I love the black wine bottles with the lights and the festive black and white checkered stockings. And those Ho Ho Ho photo frames and pine cones are the cutest things. Of course, I love all of these pretties since I chose to display them for this Black Friday post.
Going Black Friday shopping? Please be safe, and have fun shopping. I think I'll get my black chalkboard paint out and look for black spray paint to try out on holiday decorations. Black and gold. Black and red. Black and white. Ooohh! Lovely. Inspiring.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Beautiful and Low-Cost Christmas Decorating

Looking for low-cost, simple holiday decorations? Thanksgiving traditions often include setting up the Christmas tree and getting out the holiday decorations. This year I'm in the middle of fixing up our fixer upper with my hubby. Boxes filled with our things not currently needed are stashed in one corner of the living room. How in the world am I going to decorate for Christmas? Should I just forget holiday decorating this year? No way. Even if it's a little corner and my fireplace mantel, I can't miss out on the fun.
Last year I had fun making pine cone topiaries, painting terra cotta pots with chalkboard paint, and giving simple pine cones dipped with cinnamon oil. The year before that I dipped pine cones in various colors of hot wax. That was so much fun. It's a simple gift, but my friends that I gave them to have told me they save the pine cones and bring them out for Christmas decorations. Often, it's the little things in life that we do to bring joy to others that are so rewarding.






I'm trying to decide just how I'll decorate for the holidays this time with our renovation project beginning. So I've gone on a photo tour to get ideas. Join me on the tour:
I love this beautiful holiday decor...

A young lady was grabbing different kinds of nuts the other day in the grocery store. She looked at me and
said, "They're not for me. They told me to get these nuts because they're going to put them around candles." I don't know who "they" were, but I thought it was a neat holiday decorating idea. Then I saw this picture...


and more beautiful candles with silver...
Source: bhg.com via Marisa on Pinterest

I love the rustic terra cotta and pine cones...

and getting creative to make your own Christmas tree with things around the house...

more pretty candles with leaves...

and pine cones with glittery stars...


I can't pass anything up with Joy:


More pretty candles...


Simply elegant and low-cost ways to decorate a fireplace...

...more Joy...
Source: bhg.com via Kelly on Pinterest

and more simple elegance...

a natural look with greenery...

and I love this rustic one...

Christmas ornaments and pine cones are some of the simplest items to decorate with for Christmas. One of my favorite Christmas memories was decorating a Christmas tree with freshly popped popcorn that my daughter and I threaded then draped around the tree. We were so low on funds that year that we couldn't afford a Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve night we drove around town and happened to see a Christmas tree lot that had a sign, FREE! That Christmas tree was the largest one I've ever had. We had to cut part of it off just to get it inside the house. We had so much fun, too, decorating it with our simply popcorn.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I'm linking to


Friday, November 18, 2011

DIY Rustic Kitchen Renovation

What is your kitchen style? Cottage, farmhouse, retro, modern, eclectic, rustic? Eclectic describes my current kitchen. When the old tile was ripped up, a concrete floor was revealed. This house is a fixer upper, a cottage cabin type. We are planning to paint the concrete floor. Let's take a tour to observe a few painted concrete kitchen floors:


Source: google.com via Cami on Pinterest




How do you like concrete counters?

Source: myhomeideas.com via J on Pinterest

I just had to add this one with the pennies:
Source: epbot.com via Traci on Pinterest



Which concrete floors and concrete counters did you like out of these?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

November Flowers

What flowers do you grow in your November garden? I love gardening and love autumn, but it seems at my cottage cabin the summer jumped right into winter. Some of the surrounding mountains already have snow. Ah, I know - PANSIES! Aren't they the loveliest little delicate flowers you've ever seen for a winter garden? I started off with planting three pansy groupings the other chilly evening. I'm wondering if there are any other winter flowers I can combine with the pansies. Hmmm...maybe I'll just have a pansy garden this winter. We'll see. In the meantime, check out the pictures on today's November search for November flowers to plant and enjoy.


Source: google.com via Bobbie on Pinterest




10px; color: #76838b;'>Source: google.com via Bobbie on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Bobbie on Pinterest







Now for the pansies...




Source: flickr.com via Mary on Pinterest




Source: flickr.com via Kathy on Pinterest





Yes, I think a pansy winter garden may be the thing to do. What do you think?
Happy Gardening!
Parties I'm linking this post to: