Prepping for Spring with Global Views!

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Global Views is showing off their new spring line and I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite choices they have:

These rocky block vases are my favorite! The help bring the outdoors in and provide a space to add a little greenery inside as well. 

These Free formed Lily plates are stunning!

This Poppy Pod Sculpture is elegant and a great way to add a pop of gold into your decor.

Another vase that's so elegant and chic! These branch bud's would be adorable for individual place settings.

Tie to together with this nickel twig bowl for a great centerpiece.

I love decor that can double as storage! Check out these gorgeous marble petal bowels. You can own any of these beautiful items thanks to global views!

Which one do you like the most?

Refresh for 2015

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If you are looking for a way to refresh for 2015, I have a few products to inspire you! 

Daisy Pillow in Coral

Accent pillows are great for refreshing a space with a little extra color and pattern. They are affordable, low commitment design pieces, but make a great impact on a room's overall style.

Etoile Wall Decor

Wall decor is a great way to fill dull and empty space in your home. Amp up the style factor of a room and bring an otherwise forgettable wall to life with these wonderfully versatile wall stars. Arrange all twelve on one wall, or group them separately throughout the home.

Tribal Lamp

One of the easiest ways to brighten up and refresh a room is to add a little light. This lamp not only adds just the right amount of light, but also lends a good deal of style to any space.

Rose Window Rug in Grey

You can elevate the look of a room without having to change anything in it when you add a beautiful rug. Existing furniture and accessories are given new life when resting on this gorgeous rug. 

Shibori Boxes

If clutter is keeping your space from being as beautiful as it should be, it's time to refresh. Decorative boxes provide a perfectly stylish storage solution. Attractive and functional, these boxes will keep your table tops and landing spaces beautiful and clutter-free.

Aluminum Spry Vases

Another quick and simple way to refresh your home is by adding fresh flowers. Whether you pick them from your own yard or grab a small bouquet at the market, flowers are a fresh and natural way to brighten up a space. Vases and containers that look equally beautiful when filled or empty, like the Spry Vases, are a great addition to any room. 

You can find all of these pieces at a Global Views retailer near you! Which one is your favorite?

The Art of Buying Original Art

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Buying art can be a little more complicated than just falling in love with a piece and hanging it up! You may find that when you bring home that "gotta have it" piece that it doesn't fit in the space you want it in or it isn't great standing on it's own. 

Here are a few hints to help with the buying process:

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If you can, visualize it before you buy it. Go shopping knowing what size wall you are trying to fill so you can get a feel for what size of piece of art you are looking for. Pick out a few colors that you know will work great in the room and if you have a specific color you are looking for bring an item that matches it so you can tie it all together.

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Buy local to support your local artists! Not only does this give the art you bring into your home a story worth telling but you are supporting your neighbors. It will give you another reason to love it!

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Remove the anxiety around pricing and realize that you can find a great, good size piece of art for under $1,000 but even for $100. If you have a budget you need to stick to then keeping within that price is important but finding that perfect piece could be as simple as $50 and be priceless to you.

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Use the tools you have! Now with the power of mobility we can take a picture of our space and bring it with us art shopping or take a picture of that piece and bring the picture home to see it works where you want it (not all places will allow that). There are also places online that will take a photo of you room and place pieces of art in it to see if it's a perfect match.

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There is no better way to make your own than an original piece of art that provides originality and a great story when hosting your friends. If you are looking for ideas of places to shop there's an awesome place called Vango that makes this process so much easier! When in doubt, remember the golden rule: buy what you like. 

Office Space Eye Candy

FREE IMAGES Some office eye candy to get through the day. It's a great idea to make sure you love your work space. It makes being there each day not as daunting! Since I've been so overwhelmed with wedding planning keeping my space organized has been really important to my sanity.

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I need to be better about keeping flowers on my desk because they always make me a bit happier to be there

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Instead of a cork board to serve as a pinboard/inspiration board, clipboards are a great way to organize inspiration by project.  Your space is a little more limited on a clipboard, but it also makes your inspiration portable, and keeps your wall space from looking too cluttered (which always happens with my corkboard)
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via aestheticoutburst


via decorpad

What is a must have in your office to stay on task and productive?

31 Days of Decorating on a Shoestring Budget, Day 5

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Hey there!  Thanks for coming back to see me again.  I'm hoping to make a lot of new friends with this 31 day series and am so happy you're joining me. :)

Day 5: Print your own art

Art is expensive.  I'm not even talking about "real" art that someone actually painted.  I'm talking about mass produced stuff you can find at Pier 1, Hobby Lobby, Target, etc.  If you need something to fill a large space it's especially challenging to do it on a budget.  Many of the large canvases (36" x 36" and up) are priced $179, $199, $299 and even $399.  There are cheaper options at other stores I mentioned but many times the selection is totally ugly lacking.

In the case of my dining room I needed to fill the large space over my buffet with something that wasn't ugly or expensive.  It was before I was a blogger so I thought my only option was to buy something.  I started out with this ok canvas (view here)from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  It was so not me but the colors were right at the time, it was big enough and it was on major clearance so I settled for it rather than having an empty wall.

It was fine really, but I didn't like it at all.  It set the tone for the room, so it made the whole room look bad to me.

It was really starting to bug me so I decided to do something about it.  To get something as big as I needed I was in that $199 and up price range.  Unfortunately, my shoestring budget was in the $30 range.  Wah, wahhh.

Thank goodness for blogs.  In my search for cheap art I came across several blogs that had printed their own botanicals.  (I can't remember which ones or I would site them here!  It was before Pinterest)  The kicker was that the botanicals looked great.  Straight out of a fancy botanical book, not those ugly pencil looking drawings with scientific words all over them.  These were actually pretty!

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Framed Canvas Photo on the Cheap

FREE IMAGES Hello there.  Do you remember about one million years ago when I shared with you here this steal of a picture frame that I got for 95% off??  I was SO excited to get it because I had such big plans for it... but these big plans were expensive... or so I thought.

I've been wanting to have a large canvas printed of our family photo for a long time.  But, it had to be big and big means expensive.  One of my biggest pet peeves is too small pictures on the wall, especially if they are photos.  Picky, Picky, Picky I am...

Even when some of the canvas places around the web were offering 65% off it was still going to be around $100 to get a 16x20 printed and shipped.  Maybe that is a good deal but not good enough for me. ;)

I went to ArtsCow.com and they had a coupon for a 16x20 photo canvas print (unstretched) for 17.99.

Coupon code HERE, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.  And no, Artscow is not paying me for this post, just sharing a good deal because I'm nice like that. wink wink ;) 

$17.99!?  Seriously??!!

Unstretched means the canvas comes unframed and rolled up like a poster.  No problemo...  especially if it saves me big bucks! 

Here's a pic of what unstretched looks like...

I had purchased the digital image from my photographer, Ryan Mousty (ryanmoustyphotography.com), inexpensively so I could blow it up like I wanted.  Ryan's prices are really great and she is very talented and very patient with squirming kids so check her out!

On top of the ridiculously cheap canvas I found a code on-line for free shipping.  WooHoo! 

Arts Cow is the cheapest online photo printing I have found.  The biggest complaint they get is the sometimes longer than average shipping time.  The shipping time is long because they are located in Hong Kong.  That's on the other side of the planet, a very good excuse for slow shipping.  To me, it's worth the wait to save the money.

So after about 2 weeks my lovely and totally cheap picture canvas arrived!

I originally thought I would staple it to the back of my thick wooden frame because that's how you attach it when you stretch canvas around a frame.  Then, I chickened out.  It seemed too easy to get it attached uneven and have the canvas get all rippled and weird looking.

Hmm, what to do...  the old trusty glue gun could not help me with this one. 

Then, in a moment of brilliance I decided to attach it to an already stretched 16x20 canvas because I realized it would fit right into the back of the frame perfectly.  All I would need was some spray adhesive.

I happened to already have a canvas so was able to slap the picture canvas onto the blank stretched canvas and stick it in the frame.  It fit like a glove.  Suh-weeeet!

I was so excited that it fit that I hung it on the wall... I haven't even done the spray adhesive yet.  I am trying to find a very safe one to use on canvas... I don't want the ink to run or to somehow ruin it with the spray adhesive.  Anyone have any experience with spray adhesive on the back of photo printed canvas?


It is now in the entry way of our home. 

So let's see how much I saved...

Original Prices:
16x20 regular canvas + shipping = $100
Picture frame from Hob Lob original price = $225
Total = $325

My prices:
16x20 canvas = $17.99
Picture Frame from Hob Lob 95% off = $13.00
Blank canvas to stretch photo canvas = Free (used an old one)
Total = $30.99

My savings = $294.01 ... approximately 91% off!!!

That's pretty darn good if I do say so myself!!  :) 

I'm so happy with it and even happier that I was able to do it on a shoestring!

Don't forget to link up late Thursday night for Flaunt it Friday!

I'm linking: Fingerprints on the Fridge; The Girl Creative; Spunky Junky; It's so very Cheri