Creative Juices Decor

There is something so beautiful about a tree bark that is white, orange and peeling!   Enter, the BIRCH TREE. If you remember, last year I had a landscape friend that collected birch wood for me while he was cleaning up a site.  I ended up stacking it by my fireplace and by the front door.  What an easy way to add a rustic, warm and woodsy feel to a home. Here it is just stacked by my front door.  EASY! I also have stacked it in a basket......it's a fun different look. When I ran across this birch bed, I knew I'd have to do another birch post!  I love the natural monochromatic feel of this bedroom.  (and then a pretty little dash of pink in the flowers!) I have also thought, painting birch trees as an accent would be a very nice addition to any home.  Here are a few examples: www.younghouselove.com I know this is more a cherry tree than a birch, but I still loved it :-) House...

Using letters in decor has always been a great way to add a custom touch to your home. Isn't this Christmas mantel sweet using the decoupaged "O Come" letters!  Of course, you guys know I love the old door used on top of the mantel too! (Anything old = full of character to me!) the house of belonging Making your own letter decor is EASY! All you need to do is buy some plain letters at your home craft store, draw an outline of them on top of ANY fun scrapbook paper and then use mod podge (a glue/water type mixture) to decoupage (attach) them onto the letters - SIMPLE! OR try using FABRIC (and ribbon) to decoupage letters too!  You can see this full fabric letter decoupage tutorial on another post of mine. If you are very ambitious, make your OWN letters out of wood or metal!  I like how BOLD this lettering is.....it sure makes a statement in that home! (along with the acrylic moon seat LOL) JULEP Blog (photo by Seth Smoot) What ...

If you are like me, I'm ALWAYS looking for easy appetizer ideas for when friends or family come over to visit.   I had the pleasure of John WM Macy Cheesestick company sending me a bunch of samples to try.  I really liked the fact that they were baked (not fried) and didn't contain any artificial ingredients or preservatives. They were really good! (especially the sweet sticks, you could just set out a bowl of them next to the coffee pot!)  I liked that they were a PERFECT combination to classy up any type of dip. My favorite EASY dip to bring to a holiday gathering is a block (or ball) of cream cheese with a red pepper jelly poured over the top.  It looks pretty and tastes amazing.  Pair it with the bread cheesesticks and you got yourself the nicest looking (easy) holiday appetizer! Cream cheese, red pepper jelly and CheeseSticks (very similar to fancy breadsticks) Doesn't that just say HOLIDAY! Or how a...

I am delighted to introduce to you my newest sponsor, Tina St. John Jewelry . Original handcrafted jewelry made from fine silver, sterling silver, gold-filled metals, copper and bronze. She is giving away one of her $68.00 Odyssey Bracelets with Within bead!!  Everything she makes is one of a kind and tells a story. above is the Odyssey bracelet   with the Within bead It's the JOURNEY along the way, that makes up your LIFE.... The fun part about the bracelet is you can keep adding beads to it. Here are what each separate bead represent : LOVE ...love  SWORD OF TRUTH.....courage  WITHIN ...the journey begins within.  THRIVE...growing and expanding.  FLOW OF LIFE....harmony  VICTORY...triumphantly overcoming obstacle s   She has specially made it so that Creative Juices Decor readers can get FREE SHIPPING   (US only) from now till end of December on any item purchased! - That's very cool as Christmas is rig...

Hello lovely readers!  I just got back from a vacation with my hubby.  He has been working so hard all summer long (like almost EVERY weekend!) so we decided to do a little getaway to Mexico! It was AMAZING!  Just what the dr. ordered :-) So, sorry there was a little gap in my regular postings.....but I had promised earlier that when fall hit, I would take a picture of the beginning of our new landscape.  I'm SO happy we got a FEW trees planted this year.  We are going to just take it ONE step at a time.  (Can you believe it's already been almost 2 years since this house was built!)  Landscaping your yard is EXPENSIVE!  Shoot!  We have a lot of deer in our yard too so keeping them off the newly planted stuff is always fun - ha! I did buy two cute little blueberry bushes for $2.99 at the grocery store the other day.  Landscaping a yard works just like an investment - the sooner you get them in the ground the bett...

So is it just my Mother in Law, or do other grandparents suffer from the "Must put up 1000 pictures of my grandchildren" syndrome??  ;-) I have a feeling, it's a world wide obsession :-)  I don't even have a lot of my kids' pictures up in my OWN house! All to say, my MIL loves her pictures but the trick is making all those pictures look good and that's where I'm here to help :-)  All you have to do is follow these 3 simple "rules". Rule #1. Buy frames that all have the same finish.  If you already have each picture in a million different types of frames, SPRAY PAINT them so they all match.  This may sound intimidating but I promise, it's not. Just take the pictures and glass out, lay them on a newspaper and spray away.  DONE! Having your frames relatively match (say like all a darker wood tone), it will take away some of the cluttered feeling from the collage. We don't want clutter - we want to display the 1000 p...

As all of you know, I am a HUGE fan of the thrift store.  I can not tell you how many hidden treasures I have found there.  Diamonds in the rough my friends :-) My latest was this amazing copper pot.  I just think it fits my house well and has so much character. Look at the TARNISHING!  Real copper.....turning turquoise - love it! It was a whopping 10 bucks (actually, even though I kid about the price, usually I don't spend more than 3 dollars on a home decor item!) On the cheaper side, this little pitcher, I couldn't pass up was only $2.00 :-) All to say, one thing that is very fun to do when you start thrift store shopping is look for a collection.  Maybe it's globes, unique pottery plates or old vintage mirrors .  It's just so exciting when you find a item that can be added to your collection. (My collection would be anything that looks OLD and WEATHERED that looks like you might find in a home in Italy) ...