happy Easter

wishing a happy Easter and a blessed Resurrection Day to all of you, my friends... 

and if you don't mind, i'm going to 'wax poetic' for a moment 

to share something important with you...

i've realized that one of the reasons i am so drawn to using 

old, scarred, damaged, discarded elements 

to create beautiful decor for my homes and to share with you here on the blog 

is that i myself have felt much the same at times... old, scarred, damaged, discarded. 

i long to not let the experiences and misfortunes that have made me feel 'less than' 

stop me from seeing beauty in life... and beauty and usefulness in the detritus.

when i salvage a bit of wood or an old rusted dented piece of metal, 

or pick up an errant bit of fabric or paper, and turn them into lovely home decor, 

i am finding a way to redeem those forgotten and discarded items. 

it soothes my soul to not let them stay there on the ground in a broken, dirty state, 

but to lift them up and clean them off 

and give them the chance to reveal the beauty that remains - deep within. 

it's not perfection, but it is beauty nonetheless.

do you see where i'm going with this, my friends?

this is what i know that God has done with me, and with many others i know: 

He has not left us to rot away in our broken, damaged state. 

He has not discarded us, but has lifted us up, 

given us the opportunity to be cleaned up and made useful and shiny once again. 

to reveal the beauty that He created within us to be seen once more. 

i have certainly seen that principle at work in my own life... 

that beauty can come from ashes, growth from destruction, and life from death. 

most especially, i see the way that my faith has given me a new start many times over, 

and a glorious hope for the future.

because of that faith in Him and hope for my eternal future, 

this day means a great deal to me. 

and i hope to live every day with the promise of Easter, of resurrection, 

in my heart and on my mind, guiding me through life.

i hope that you, too, will find your hope in Him. 

by the way, there's a really great story behind this wood cross planter that i made into wall art... 

check it out here

Be a Good Egg!

so many fabulous egg-related decor ideas are floating around the internets right now:

literally hundreds of ideas for coloring Easter eggs and making patterned Easter eggs 

and ideas for making wreaths and topiaries from plastic Easter eggs. 

LOVE the creativity i see out there!

but.... what if you don't celebrate Easter? 

or what if you just want a more subdued palette?

you're in luck! 

(and good company, to be honest... pastel eggs are NOT my thing. 

the closest i got to them was when i brought home 

two dozen brightly-colored 'Cascarones' from a visit to Texas one spring.)

so today, i offer up some inspiration 

for creating spring decor with un-decorated eggs!

some are real, and some aren't.... use papier mache', clay, wood, or ceramic eggs.

first up, an ostrich egg (HUGE) embellished with a strip of vintage sheet music.

[the title 'Song of the Bird' was a perfect fit!]

i nestled the finished egg into a handmade birdsnest, 

then sat the nest on a 'pedestal' of an upside-down milk glass lamp shade (with the narrow end up).

here's a photo of the same egg standing UP in the nest, without the glass base:

another idea is to create a small vignette inside a glass jar...

and this works perfectly when you are using real (blown) eggs, because they are protected.

[note: do not - under any circumstances - 

forget to blow the eggs, and then seal them in a jar. 

BAAAAAAAD side effects :( ]

a little nest of grass is placed in the jar and an egg nestled into it.

a scrap of vintage sheet music or a poem with a Spring theme might be inserted as a 'backdrop',

and a strip with an appropriately 'Spring-y' title is glued onto the jar as a label.

i also covered the jar tops with a scrap of burlap, tied with twine.

[i use pickle or olive jars from thrift stores. 

they come in medium and large sizes, are wider than mason jars, and have no embossing on the sides to blur the contents]

this LARGE handmade nest sits atop an aged garden urn.

[i used ivy and hops vines from the yard to make it]

moss from a corner of the yard fills the center of the nest,  providing a soft resting place for a few eggs.

a glass garden cloche finishes off the look perfectly.

[you could also tuck in some gardener's gloves, hand tools, and some bulbs 

for a perfect Spring gift!]

then again, you don't really have to have a nest...

a simple egg presentation:
a glass salt cellar or napkin ring can hold an egg,

and a clear stemless wineglass as a 'dome' will finish it off with style.

if you write each guests' name on the egg, these are perfect place cards!
_________________________________

those last two shots are a bit of a sneak-peek - 

they are part of a garden-theme project and photoshoot last winter in Seattle

that i'll be sharing here on the HOMEWARDfound blog later this week.

i am delighted that photos from that shoot are featured

in the Spring issue of Creating Vintage Charm magazine!

Switch It Up!

 one year, on the day before Easter, i awoke with a wild idea.

[which, truly, isn't that unusual]

the family was coming the next day for Easter dinner, and i wanted to do something different.

and no, i'm not talking about making a new dish for the meal.

i'm talking about the place where we'd HAVE the meal. i was ready for a big change!

 this photo shows my lovely seven-foot-long pine dining table in the dining room. 

which is fine, but the sunlight never really reached this part of the house.

 and i wanted a sunny Easter gathering
[since the weather in Seattle was cooperating that year!]

so... i pulled the dining room table out into the living room,

and moved the round farm table from the living room to the dining room...

sadly, while i don't have a photo to show the whole dining table in its new location,

i do have this one with GLORIOUS sunshine pouring in the windows onto the pine. 

it literally glowed with warmth, which was exactly what i wanted!

with two windows facing the front yard (south) and a glass door from the porch (west),

the table was a bright and happy place for our holiday meal.

 the round farm table made a charming addition to the dining room space.

 i pulled a park bench and two garden chairs from the front porch, 

which completed the seating area.

the room offered a more sunny and open look - much like a 'breakfast room',

which is exactly how it was used for months afterward!

[and when the kids showed up on Easter, 

everyone gathered here for pre-dinner drinks and conversation!]

here's a floorplan sketch to show you how it played out:

i left the tables this way all through spring and summer that year, 

and loved the way that we used the space differently.

i used the large dining table as a desk on many days,

since i was able to look out onto the sunny yard and porch awhile working.

remember: it didn't cost me a thing - just some muscle and a little time - 

but the Cottage was renewed and refreshed!

what about YOUR rooms?

is there a switch you can make that will revitalize your space

 and give your rooms a new look and functionality for the season?

give it a try!

[i know, it may be hard to convince your hubby that this is worth doing...

just remind him that it's a free way to redecorate!]

repurposed bottle brush carrots

i was out running errands this morning when inspiration hit me...
an item at the store i was in reminded me of something i had used before,

still had in my stash, and could use again to replicate the thing i saw - but in MY style.
(which is what my approach to decorating is all about!)

when i arrived home, i dug out the components in excitement, 
ready to 'hop to it' (see what i did there?!) and get this project done.
it took me all of ten minutes to make these cute lil' veggies!

continue reading to see what inspired me - and what i used to create my own version!

Last Minute Spring Tablescape

have you ever thought you really had a handle on things, 
were totally prepared and ready for something...

and then all of a sudden you realize there is something very VERY wrong?

 i once FORGOT all about the table decor for a family Easter dinner.

Easter Sunday arrived and the food was in full-swing prep mode. all was well in the kitchen.

and then, i walked into the dining room - and stopped dead in my tracks. 

THE TABLE WAS EMPTY!
i had no decor. no nuthin'. and the family was coming in an hour!

i have no defense. i was just busy, and forgot all about it.

 so after i started breathing again.....

i kicked into 'search and recover' mode.

whatever decor i was going to use had to be toddler-grandson proof. 

he was 16 months old and in that stage of climbing, 
pulling on tablecloths, and grabbing at everything. 

[it's ok, i didn't mind that he did - 

it's kind of a boy's job to investigate everything at that age!]

i just wanted to eliminate the chance of damage to him - or anything else.

 in the days leading up to that, i had been cleaning out my office

and came across a page that i had saved from a Martha Stewart Living Magazine  
ages before. like.... YEARS before.

i still don't know why it was sitting on the top of a wire filing basket that week, but it was.

and on Easter Sunday, an hour before guests arrived, Deb had a flash of inspiration:

 photograph from Martha Stewart Living Magazine 200?

that photo ^ from Martha's mag saved my hide.

this 'last minute idea' meant that i grabbed some packing tape and scissors, and 

i wrapped the tabletop with white wrapping paper!

 [nothing was hanging over the edges for lil' man to pull on]

if you  want to do this but don't have white wrapping paper,

TURN YOUR WRAPPING PAPER OVER!

almost all of them are white on the back side. 
[no one will know that rudolph or birthday balloons 
are on the side of the paper that faces the table]

i used green felt pens to draw charger and flatware outlines at each place setting, 

along with a drawn-on placecard.

[this is not detailed fine art here, like Martha's -

it's a fast solution half an hour before everyone arrived!]

i popped 3 dozen yellow daffodils (from my birthday the week before)

into 3 cylinder vases wrapped with antique velvet ribbon

and ran them down the center of the table, along with some tea lights in clear glass cups.
[WELL out of a little somebody's reach!]
 

 the china has a light sage green border that matched the linen napkins

and it was a perfect way to add color to the crisp white table setting. 

 the whole look is very simple, contemporary, and un-fussy

and i did it all in thirty minutes!

and incidentally, the photo of that 'last minute' table that you see at the top of this post
is one of my all-time favorite shots of my spring decor!
sometimes the easiest solutions really do make the most impact

for me the important part wasn't the decor, though...
the BEST part was this lil' guy peeking through the daffies at me:

shared online:

Saturday Night Special #178 | Funky Junk Interiors

how i see Easter... an essay

for the past eight years or so, i've been sharing an essay on my facebook profile on Good Friday, Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

three years ago, i published it in its entirety on my blog - because it is a message that is so important that i want it to remain after i am gone, i want it to last and make a difference.

this year, instead of publishing my essay in parts, i'm going to share the link to where it lives on my blog. it's been hidden away on a page, with a link in the sidebar, but now i'm being brave and publishing a link to it in a post on this Good Friday because i don't want you to miss it. i do this in hope that my friends and family and blog readers and social connections will take a moment to click the link and to read the words that i know are the best i have ever written, the most important thing i will ever have to say, and to consider just why it is that i put this out there on a public platform, opening myself up to the inevitable reaction that will come.

it's because i care about what really matters in the lives of the people i care about from an eternal perspective... because we're spiritual beings having a human experience right now, but when our human bodies die, our souls live on. our souls all have eternal life. death is not the end of life, only the end of the body. the question is, where will that eternity be spent? with God, or separated from Him? i know i'll be with Him, and with many many loved ones who have accepted His truth.

...and i want you to be there, too i hope you hear my heart in this. i hope you hear the truth. i hope you accept it.

click this link to read my essay:

https://www.homewardfounddecor.com/p/how-i-see-easter.html

with love,
deb

easter eggs on parade

it's April first - and rather than share a joke or a prank, 
i hope you'll enjoy this slideshow of Easter egg decorating ideas

pulled from my past homewardFOUND blog posts!

for more inspiration, 

see all past Easter egg posts here

Neutral Easter Eggs on Parade

Perhaps the brightly-colored Easter eggs in my last post aren't really your style...

Here are versions of my photos and ideas in a more elegant neutral palette!

This just goes to show how everyday items can be used as details in your decor,
no matter WHAT your style is!

I also gathered up some of my props and created this soft, neutral display

as a centerpiece for a Spring tablescape:

This centerpiece started with a thrifted ceramic pedestal bowl, 

which I covered with a ceramic platter, then accented with a white lace doily.

A nest made from dried daffodil foliage has been lined with shredded vintage sheet music,

and my wooden eggs nestle in along with a spray of vintage white faux narcissus.

My wire birdcagelet covers it all, 

and a 'Spring' scrapbook charm adds a final detail.

If you can't locate wood eggs at your craft supply store,

the neutral style shown here can easily be replicated

by using natural brown eggs, which have been blown out and rinsed!

More ideas in my next post? EGGzactly! 

Happy Easter

i am so thankful for the meaning of this holiday!

whether you celebrate in church or in a field of grass,

with lilies and crosses or bunnies and eggs,

may this Easter bring peace to your soul and light to your heart...

Even MORE Easter Eggs on Parade!

OK, this really is the last of it!
I just keep finding more and more great ideas to share with you...

 Surround a pillar candle in a glass vase or trifle dish with plastic eggs.

 Gather up your real or plastic eggs and display them by COLOR!

Use all one color containers - white or clear glass, for example - 

or use containers in colors that coordinate with the eggs, as shown above.

*** One of the BEST Easter Egg Hunt ideas I have seen recently is along these lines:

Assign each child one color - They can only collect eggs of that color.
This enables you to hide eggs by age/ accessibility, 

and make sure even the youngest children find eggs!
I think it's BRILLIANT! ***

 Coordinate your eggs with a vignette of special items...
this simple display focuses on warm colors that coordinate with a vintage container.

My Mom found this little manzanita branch mounted in a box at the craft store,

and she decorates it for every season using purchased mini-ornaments...

You can hang regular-size eggs from a branch gathered from your yard or roadside,

using thread or ribbon:

image from thedomesticcurator.com

One Last Idea for you:
When my daughters were young, they would clip plastic eggs into their long hair!
(no image, sorry - the girls would kill me!)

shared online:

Cupcakes & Crinoline | Project Inspire{d}

Common Ground | Be Inspired

The Grass Is Greener When It's Not Plastic!

I have a deep-seated dislike of plastic Easter grass.
With four children, the mess was just more than I could handle!

(and I can't even begin to tell you how many vacuum cleaners that stuff destroyed!!)

So years ago, I started finding alternatives....

the easiest one is just cutting up paper into small strips and crumbling it a bit.
Vintage sheet music, construction paper, wrapping paper - anything works better than plastic!

Another is shown above: fuzzy green 'eyelash' yarn, piled luxuriously in a basket or bowl.

My favorite solution for an abundant bed of 'grass' for a large Easter basket?

It's a BLANKET!
Made from soft, fuzzy green yarn, it's always reminded me of grass...

 I used it to cover a footstool in my home one Spring years ago:

A fuzzy green (or pink, or yellow!) SWEATER would work as a basket liner, too!

One final option is HAY. Yes, REAL hay!  

OK, maybe I mean STRAW.
Grab a mini-bale at the craft store, break the strings that hold it together, 

and fluff it up by shaking it around in a paper grocery bag.

Then fill baskets, galvanized pails, etc. with it to nest your eggs in!

Gorgeous image from Aunt Ruthie's Sugar Pie Farmhouse