Color Your Room With Brass

 Don't you just love brass? It just fits anywhere, no matter how dressed up or dressed down, brass will always look at home.

I always see a ton of brass in home decor photos, of course, when I go searching for them, they have gone into hiding. I am still not feeling well enough to be at the computer for any length of time, so I did not look very long. 

Enjoy the eye candy!

And thanks so much for looking.

Source:Fabulous Mom Life

I am pretty sure that one can never have too many brass trays. There are a couple beautiful brass trays for sale in my Etsy shop. See below.

Source: Spbm

Vintage Lacquered Brass Serving / Display / Decorative Tray

Source: SPBM

Vintage 11 Inch Rustic, Boho, Old World Charm Round Brass Tray with Handles

Source:James & Mark's Haute Flea Market Style / Apartment Therapy

Wow! Who wouldn't love this piece of art!?!?

You can find the brass letter stencils in my shop. Click on the link below.

Source: SPBM

Vintage Brass Stencil Letters, that will work for so many art projects.

Reese's Interlocking/Adjustable Stencils/Numbers with Original Box

Source:Green Wedding Shoes

Source:Ruffled Blog

A vintage collection of brass candleholders will work for any occasion or decor. 

I have several nice brass sets in my shop.

Source: SPMB

Beautiful Vintage Tall Brass Candlesticks / Holders

Source: SPBM

Pair of Andrea By Sadek Brass Candlesticks / Candleholders

Source: SPBM

Tall Brass Candlestick Holders With Tassels

Source:An Indian Summer

A beautiful room with a super cool brass bowl in the center of the coffee table.I have a couple of bowls in my shop that would be perfect for this look.

Source: SPBM

Vintage Brass Bowl with Decorative Edge

Source: SPBM

Beautiful Brass Swirl Design Fruit Bowl on Pedestal

And then...there are brass flower containers and other nick nacks. I just love the collection below. And of course, I have some of those things in my shop. 

Source:An Indian Summer

Source: SPBM

Vintage Large Brass Planter with Cutout Heart Design

Source: SPBM

Beautiful Vintage Round Tin Container

And here is something a little different, brass napkin holders.

Source: SPBM

Vintage Set of Twelve Brass Mid Century Napkin Rings In Original Box

So, go take a look at all the wonderful brass items I have listed. I am sure you can find something you love and need.:)

And I can't say goodnight without some inspiration.

Source: SPBM

Decorating With Macrame

This will be a short post tonight. I have not felt well today, actually for a couple of weeks now. I'm struggling to do this much.

I made a lot of macrame when I was in my 20's and have enjoyed it coming back. Here are a few pics I found on Pinterest that are really cool. You can scroll on down to find what I have available in my shop. 

Source:Instagram

Source:The Selby

Source:readygypsetgo

Below are the three pieces I have listed for sale. The light is really awesome. I am showing a picture of the one I made for my daughter, exactly like the one I have in my shop.
Enjoy!

Source:SPBM
You can buy the hanging light here: Etsy

Source:SPBM
This is the light hanging on my daughter's screened-in porch. It looks amazing!

Source:SPBM

Buy this macrame plant hanger here: Handmade Rusty Brown Macrame Plant Hanger

Source:SPBM

Buy this lovely macrame plant hanger here:Vintage Macrame Plant Hanger / Acrylic Macrame Yarn and Wood Beads

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There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

Eckhart Tolle Quote

photo spbm

I'm reading a lot of Eckhart Tolle these days. He is wonderful!

August Dislikes and Current Loves

A week and half ago I was out by the pond and reached down to pull a weed and saw something move... yes it was a snake. I have an unusual fear of snakes. Like the kind of fear that I turn into a crazy person at just the thought of a snake - I'll throw a magazine away if it has a picture of a snake. I'll stop watching a show or movie it has a snake in it - I cam inside and got David. He went out to check it out. When he found it, it had one of my beloved Koi in its mouth. David caught the damn thing and took it a ways from the house and turned him loose. I was furious. I wanted the thing dead. As far as I am concerned there are no "good" snakes. So after that little exhausting experience I went about trying to work on the yard but finally gave it up, I was too freaked out about a snake being in the yard.

The best picture I could get, but that's ok, don't need a good one.

So, that night I am sitting at the computer and David is watching TV and he says, "get me a plastic bag". I'm like, why? He said don't move fast, just get me a bag. There was a freakin' bat in the living room. He had no trouble catching it, but, all I could vision was him getting bitten, or, the puppies going nuts and getting bitten. I was a mess the rest of the night. I was looking all over the house. I got my sage stick out and did some house smudging. Slept with the lights on the rest of the week. All we can figure out is that it came down the flue??? So. we've worked on redoing the pond. I went and bought a couple new Koi to replace the ones that were gone. Saturday morning I went out to feed the fish, threw in a hand full of food and the snake comes up. Yes, he had found his way back. David tried to catch him, no luck. Every time we came in the house for more than five minutes, he would appear. So, I sat outside for three nights watching and making sure he didn't come during the night. He did manage do get in and get a few fish without us seeing him. Don't know how the heck he did it. We took turns sitting watch. Yesterday, I had come inside and after a couple minutes, I looked out the kitchen window and there he was, slithering across the rocks on his way to a snack. I yelled at David, and he brought the shovel and finally, finally got him. I would not let him catch him this time. I was so done with being a nice person. He has moved on, permanently. 

I'm still checking my little fish every few minutes. Having to redo the pond again because we took up all the rocks around the pond trying to find that crazy snake. Ready to get it put back together, and once I know they're safe I'll get a couple more Koi to replace the others. I don't know how many he got, but there are several missing. Makes my heart hurt thinking about them swimming for their lives and getting caught. 

On to a more pleasant thought, I gave up eating and buying my meds this month to get a washer. I was not able to get what I wanted, but got a washer. Going to the laundry mat is quite expensive. Didn't know when I would ever have the money, so figured I would just do without meds for a couple months. I don't want to but I couldn't come up with any other solution. It will be delivered next Monday. So skipping the laundry mat this week. It's driving me nuts, I can't stand dirty clothes hanging out in the laundry room.. 

Here's some pretty things that I am in love with today>>>>>>>

Totally loving this color and the dresser. Makes me want to go buy a bucket of paint and paint something.

photo: The Jungalow

And there's this dress I want.

photo: OASAP

And how pretty are these canisters!?

Photo: Amazon

There's this fabulous book that will change your life... I listened to it last week, have listened to it every night since. I have ordered the book. It's fantastic. 

photo: Amazon

And of course, no day is complete without a great quote.

Deepak Chopra Quote and Taco Casserole

 I made a taco casserole this week. It turned out really good. Just did my own thing, no recipe. I cooked hamburger, added taco seasoning to it. Stirred in some onion, green peppers and re-fried beans. Added it on top of some tortilla chips, topped it with cheese, backed it until hot and bubbly. After taking it out of the over, I topped it with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives and more cheese. For topping we added sour cream, salsa and chopped avocado.

I wanted to make guacamole but the avocado was not ripe enough. 

Turned out delicious, and was so easy.

 photos by spbm

First Clematis Bloom This Year

photo by spbm

“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, 
Tears from the depths of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, 
In looking on the happy autumn-fields, 
And thinking of the days that are no more.” 
― Alfred Tennyson

Wednesday

Finished a tote bag today. Made a delicious salad for dinner. And looking forward to some great things happening tomorrow. 

Lots of good stuff - romaine lettuce, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, avocado, nuts and seeds, red beets, and a little tuna salad. 

 Made with leftover upholstery scraps. Loving it. Trying to decide if I want to list it for sale. :) Probably will. 

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We lose ourselves in the things we love,

we find ourselves there, too.

Spring Has Sprung

 Photos by spbm

“Instructions for living a life. 

Pay attention. 

Be astonished. 

Tell about it.” 

~Mary Oliver

 Spring has sprung.

 Vegetable Tart made with fresh veggies - I think I could eat this every day.

I could not believe how good the corn on the cob was. Seems really early in the season

to be so sweet and delicious.

This tart is made with puff pastry, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese, topped with yellow and zucchini squash, fresh corn off the cob, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and black olives, with a little olive oil drizzled over the top, and then topped with fresh basil after it comes out of the oven. 

So many things you can put on this tart. 

Tuna Salad

I've been fighting fatigue and a week of not feeling awesome. I hoping the flare-up is on the way out. Need to do some energy moving in the house, trying to think of ways to rearrange the living room. I live in a townhouse and there are just not many options to moving furniture around. But I feel I need to do some moving things around. Everything is energy, just want to redirect it.

We had a few days of absolutely wonderful, beautiful weather. I really thought winter was history, doesn't seem so. It is 30 degrees this afternoon. I walked to the store and was wishing I had pulled out the scarf and gloves. 

I do feel spring will arrive to stay for a while very soon. 

On one of the warm days, I made some tuna salad for sandwiches. I love my tuna salad and have had people who do not like tuna salad tell me that mine is the only tuna salad they will eat. As always, I tend to use whatever I have in the pantry or fridge. No recipe needed for tuna salad. I always add mayo, a dash of yellow mustard, a couple dashes of lemon pepper, sweet pickle relish, chopped onion (I prefer red onion, but any will do when you do not have red,) pepper, (no salt for us, I have to watch sodium for David's heart issues,) finely chopped celery, chopped pepper, any color. Sometimes I will add sun dried tomatoes and/or chopped eggs and black olives. My chives are thriving right now and I chopped and added chives in this batch, delicious. We really like our sandwich topped with very thinly sliced red onions, peppers, black and green olives, and swiss cheese, and drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar. 

photos by spbm

My motto:

image via Pinterest