Valentine's Sun Room

Oh how I love Valentine's Day.

My mother always made each of the holidays quite special.

Valentine's Day was certainly on the top of the list of days she

worked so hard at making fabulous for us.

As I married and had children, I too made holidays special.

Breakfast was the first thing that was different.

Pink pancakes!  

Mom always did this for us, and so I too cooked pink pancakes

for my children.  It was always a favorite.

We have recently added on a sun room to the back of our house.

It really has become the favorite room.  Even in the winter

you can sit on the couch and look out over the yard, in the warmth

of the house and enjoy the winter, and of course in the

summer, spring, and fall it is quite our favorite room as well.

I decided to decorate the sun room for Valentine's Day this year.

The rest of the house still has winter snowflakes, polar bears 

and white everything, and I wanted to have it stay this way

for the winter.  White on white.

But the sun room can bring me smiles of joy and love.

Valentine's day.

When we added the sun room, we just added right on to the outside of our

house, so in this room, there are windows and the outside of the

main house as 2 of the walls.  The other 2 outside walls are panels

of glass that give the view of the back yard with french doors 

that open up to the back yard.  

We added furniture, some of the furniture is from my garden

like the lounge chairs.  They have red floral pillows (Ralph Lauren)

and black and white pillows, with a grey stripe throw over the top of the 

padding.  Then a pink tablecloth is thrown across the top for the

pink Valentines look.

The table is covered in a red and pink, two separate table cloths, on top of

the other, and then my fun Valentines items on top.

Our walls in this room are very distressed, and for the most part I will leave

them that way, I may fix a few spots.  

I have a darling silver tea set on the table! 

Remember, I love silver!

On the shudder I added a piece of wood Dana found for me in the forest one 

day with a heart in it.  I have saved it for many, many years, and still to this day

love it.  I will probably keep it here all year now.  It has been in the laundry

room, and just now graduated to the sun room.

Sometimes when we buy things we wonder what will we ever do with it.

That is the cute winter lady on the shelf.  She just represents 

Valentine's day for me.  She wears a coat with hat and gloves, which

for me, this is February!  This year most mornings are at 4-6 degrees Fahrenheit

and just 2 days ago 0!

I still to this day don't remember where I got these cherubs,

but I really love them.

I made this cute heart with Robin's Nest products and dew drops.

I just pack it away and bring it out every year.  So Fun!

I made this banner this year for all my grandchildren's pictures.

I'm still missing a few kids, but I love having it up,

they are my valentines.

I also made this Love banner years ago with Robin's Nest

products.  I still love it! 

And used it on the window this year.

One day I will post our couch and what it looked like when we started.

Such a good find, and such a beautiful couch!

The box in front of the table was mine in high school.  It just recently became

mine again after mom and dad passed away.  

I sure fits the decor of this room.  Casual elegance.

Well there you have it! 

The sun room at a glance with Valentines all over.

There is a table set for a quaint brunch on the other side of the room.

I will post that in a few days.

Happy decorating!

Robin

Happy Valentines Day

Just another fun post about our life here,

and how I decorate at every holiday in our home.

 In our kitchen there is a small dresser, credenza where I keep small

doo dads for decorating the kitchen and some dishes.

The top of the dresser is black marble, and it just makes the

dresser.  I always decorate it with something different,

for Valentines I hung a beautifully framed rose that came from

Germany.  My mother gave the print to me years ago.

We framed it and it has been one of my favorites ever,

but since I redecorated in different colors, it has been put away

and I pulled it out for this Valentines display.

The table is always set for the holiday.

This month is pink, red, and white.

I have been on a silver hunt, and here is a new 

old piece that the Love blocks are sitting on.

I have red plates and large pink bowls.

I wanted these bowls from the first day I saw them,

and bought clusters of them years ago

just a few bowls at a time, and now I have a complete set.

This isn't that great of a photo but you can see 

how the table looks with everything set.

Up close and personal.

 I used heart place mats, white chargers, red plates,

pink bowls, and silver goblets for the dessert.

2 goblets in red and pink.

I have had the tablecloth for ever, and I should have ironed it!

It is damask, and damask pink napkins.

It just turned out so very fun!

We had our Valentines dinner early,

Dana went to Colorado Springs for a few weeks.

Well,  

Happy Valentines Day to you!

Robin

Valentines Mantel

Hello this cold January day.

I am finally back in my house!

We have been spending a lot of time with my dad.

He isn't sick, but company makes the nights

easier, and he is much happier when someone is 

around.  We have been doing this since

the beginning of September 2014.

So to come home and stay is divine.

It is hard to say how much you really miss your own

surrounding, home, friends, and comfort zone.

But we are happy to help dad.

I have pulled out my valentines box full of treasures.

I forget sometimes what I have in these boxes

that have been packed away, with the things I want to put out

year after year for the seasons.

My family room is a quite large room, so the furniture is is odd places in
contrast with where the wood stove mantel is.
The couch sits in front of it, just as you come in 

the family room door.
 I wanted to share this view of the room.

Many, many moons ago, I saw a fireplace in a huge home that

I really liked.  It didn't have a wood stove in it, but Dana

is insistent that we have a second means of heat for the house

just in case we do not have power.

So thus I have a wood stove in the house.

I honestly has come in handy many times in our lives.

And for several years we heated the house with the

wood stove to save money.

So with just a picture in hand, Dana built this
fireplace and mantel to house the wood stove and
to make me happy. I love a little bit of
Europe in the look of my home.

This year when I pulled out my treasures I decided to pulled together a fun

Valentines Mantel.  I usually just put the love sign up, and call it good.

For many years we owned a custom framing store, so

I have some pretty cool frame stashed in totes to glean from.

I went through frames and chose these.

As I was going through some of my moms

boxes of family pictures and stuff like that, I found these painted boards

with these people painted on them, and my wedding date and name, 

and one for Rachel and Rebecca (our first babies, twins) and their

birth date on them.  

I had a few of these made for myself in the early years of our marriage

but just only last year gave them to the kids that 

the birth dates belonged to.
I had no idea mom had some made for her too.

Since this wall was about love, I included these family treasures.

We have more kids for sure, but these were fun to include on the mantel.

I even left the wire on the frame!

I also included this cute dressed up gal with her red hat, and wool scarf.

It is cold in Utah in January, she has hearts on her gloves

and a heart at the edge of her coat.  It is just so fitting for where I live,

When I walk out the door in January,
 I too am bundled up just like her.

My love sign is getting a bit battered over the years,
so to cover parts of it up with

frames work out good.  The paper comes from my company

The Robin's Nest, and the dew drops that cover the "O" also come from

The Robin's Nest.

 This year I made the "you" banner.  I have come across a few books that are

very out dated.  The pages come from these books.
(also on the mantle are 2 dictionary

books with red edges, some old books I recently found)

I cut the hears from Robin's Nest glitter red classic swirl, and just

cut the "you" from cream paper. 

I was the perfect addition to the mantel.

The big glitter red hearts come from the dollar store.

I have come to find some really fun things there.

And again here it is!

Valentines on my mantel.

I hope you have a great day,

And I hope that you can find some treasures to have

a fun valentines display at your home.

Ciao,

Robin

Christ in our Christmas Tree

Hello Readers,

I have been wanting to create a Christmas Tree

that centers around the Savior.

For years, I have been wanting to do this,

and alas, 

the old ornaments come out, and I just didn't take the time

to create the names of Christ for my tree.

This year we have been spending lots of time with my dad.

Mom died a year and a half ago, so he is real lonely,

and we just keep him company and 

bring some spark into mom's home.

I love setting the table for the seasons,

and adding a few things to the fireplace.

Dad did't put up a tree last year

and... gave away all the decorations!

I was needing to create decorations.

So I decided to put up a tree for him this year.

We knew we were going to California for a week

right after Thanksgiving, so I have been working on this 

Christ centered tree.

Mom had a beautiful picture of Baby Jesus on her wall, 

 and a wonderful easel to put the picture on in the living room,

so I combined them together to create this look

next to the tree.

I created each name of the Savior by using a few

Robin's Nest Papers and my Cricut.

 

I used silver glitter vellum and gold chipboard

I used my gypsy and created all the names that represent

the Savior.  I did this on our drive to Colorado

a few weeks ago.  New grand baby there that we

went to see and help our kids while Tara was in the

Hospital, and after.

So on the long drive, I created these different names

and had them all ready when we arrived back to Utah so I

could cut them out in black cardstock on the cricut.

I then made each tag differently as the words

were placed together to create my tags.

And each tag is made to fit the name.

I took these pictures with my iphone instead of my camera,

it was already packed, so they aren't a good as i'd like.

With the gypsy you can weld the letters together and create

one long word, or use different fonts together

to create the word you are wanting.

I purchased large gold and red glitter balls 

and gold glitter stars at the dollar store.

Last year after Christmas I happened upon a sale at

Dillards and all the Christmas decorations were on sale

at 75% off, this is where I picked up the

ribbon around the tree.

I haven't as yet added the medallion I made for the blog hop.

But I have chosen black and white, gold and silver for this

tree.  Here is the medallion that I created for the hop.

It will go at the top of the tree when I get back.

At last, here is baby Jesus with all of 

the names that represent him throughout his life.

This is the reason for the season.

The birth of the Savior,

our Redeemer.

Have a wonderful Christmas Season,

Ciao,

Robin

Utah Autumn 2014

Hello, this beautiful autumn morning.

Did I ever tell you that fall is my favorite!

Favorite season.

Sweaters, falling leaves, amber, orange, and red colors abound,

and I soak everything in about fall.

I don't think that I could ever tire of it, but of course

fall doesn't stay forever, winter is right behind it. 

But for a few months, Autumn is the star.

We went for a ride over the Wasatch Mountain range with my

father to enjoy the beautiful season.

Dana stopped along the way so I could take pictures,

and in some places, I just shot from the window 

in the moving car, back seated no less!

Here are the results,

Such a beautiful Utah Autumn day.

Autumn in Utah is the BEST!

I can hardly take it all in without holding my breath.

It is so fun to share with you such beauty!

We served a mission for the LDS Church,

5 years ago we left at the end of December for

Ethiopia for 2 years.  Little did I know that Africa doesn't

have a change of seasons, with beautiful colors.

They have rainy season and summer.

All of this was greatly missed.

I would put autumn photos on my computer screen

so I could have this season close.

And now that we are back in Utah,

I don't miss the season or take it for granted.

I know when the colors are perfect, 

it is time to get in the car and go for that

beautiful autumn drive!

On the drive over the mountain is a wonderful stop

called Cascade Springs.

Which we did stop, and did a short hike on 

the paved path along the way.

Here is the stream and pond on the

paved path.

I just couldn't resist this shot of just a few leaves on the ground

If it was in my house, I would hate it, but out here\

where it belongs, I love it!

Dad and I on the bridge at Cascade Springs.

For some reason this is my single most favorite shot of Dad that day.

He was in such a good mood, talking about the drives

he and mom would have over the mountain in the fall.

I think it was as though she walked with him that day.

Dana and Dad.

The amber colors still just consume me as I write about this 

a few weeks after this drive.

Ahhhh, Autumn

I love you!

Ciao,

Robin