Hi All,

Today I am joining in on Its So Very Cheri’s Weekly Linky Follower Blog Party Hop.

If you are a fellow blogger you may have heard the Google Friend Connect will be disabled to all non-Blogger blogs and it is rumored that it will be phased out completely to every one soon. So what are all of us WordPress bloggers with a following on GFC to do? Well, there is a new great tool for bloggers to use. It’s called  Linky Followers and it is free to use! Please FOLLOW me on  Linky Followers (Located on the right side bar of my blog!) If you follow me on Linky Followers please leave me a comment and I will follow you back!

and feel free to hop on over to

It’s So Very Cheri and join in on the party!

Have A Great Day!

~Lisa

Lisa's Creative Designs A Linky Followers Blog Hop Party

Hi All,

Today I want to share a fun project I did with my daughter over the weekend. My husband came home the night before Christmas Eve with a Make Your Own Gingerbread House Kit a friend from work gave him. She thought the kids may like building it.

Well, I was so frazzled with the MANY things I had going on that I placed it on top of the fridge and forgot about it. I just did not have the time to deal with another project. That’s where it sat for the past month and a half. I contemplated just letting the kids tear it open and just eat the pieces. I hated to throw it away. One day my daughter suggested making a VALENTINE’S DAY Gingerbread house. HHHHM. Not a bad idea. The cookie pieces were sealed very well and the expiration date on the box was August of 2012. OK!

I went out and bought some of those ever so popular Candy Conversation hearts and some RED HOTS to add some more RED to the candy supply.

First Step…. Start by adding a bead of Royal Icing (It came in the kit) to the edges of the front.

Fit each piece together to construct the house…

Add the roof with some more Royal Icing. After this step I let the little house sit overnight so the icing would harden.

Now for the really fun part. Grab your little helper and start decorating the house with all those sweet candies. Secure the candy with more Royal Icing and TRY not to eat more than you put on!

And that’s it!  This project was very easy and fun to do. By using a store bought kit, in less than an hour you can construct and decorate an adorable (and Heavenly Smelling) Gingerbread House, perfect for the Holidays, or in our case, Valentine’s Day!

I think it came out pretty cute!

 It’s funny though…everytime I walk by it the candy seems to be disappearing!

 Thanks so much for visiting today.

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
New To My Blog? Like What You See? I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers or Subscribe Via Email and Never Miss a Post!

Lisa's Creative Designs A Valentine Gingerbread House

Hi All,

You may remember from last week’s Recycled Door Pantry Post I mentioned that I now had some extra room in my existing kitchen cabinetry.  I have some great dishes that I have been DYING to display when I am not using them and this gave me the perfect opportunity. I decided to give this section of cabinetry a face lift and use it as a display piece.

First thing I did was to remove both doors and empty out the cupboard. This cabinet used to store all of my baking goods, including a collection of food coloring and pastes that ruined the bottom of the cabinet.

I solved that problem by attaching some cute aqua and red cherry oilcloth I bought a few months ago at Fabric.com. I cut it to fit and attached it by spraying the back with spray adhesive.

The next step was to turn my attention to the doors I removed.

I wanted to remove the middle section.  I began by drilling a hole in each corner of the recessed area so I could insert a jigsaw bit.

Nest Step….CAREFULLY cut out the middle by running a  jigsaw around the perimeter of the recessed part of the door panel. Do NOT drink 8 cups of coffee before doing this! You want a very steady hand.

What you are left with is two doors with the centers removed.

Now, I thought about adding glass to the doors. I mean it would keep the dust out right? I decided I wanted something less formal, something that would add character to the room. Hmmmm. I do love chickens, have al0t of them in my cozy little kitchen…….

I hopped in my car and drove right over to Lowe’s Home Improvement and grabbed an $8 roll of one inch CHICKEN WIRE!

 I measured the opening of each door and added an inch to each side and began cutting the chicken wire to fit.

Oh and this was the fun part. I whipped out my electric staple gun and stapled the wire to the inside of the cabinet doors, pulling it taught as I went. I LOVE my staple gun. Having an electric one is much easier to work with than a manual one.

Tah Dah! Here is my cabinet all finished and dressed.

Now I can see my favorite dishes every time I walk into the kitchen. I trimmed the shelves with some leftover red and white polka dotted ribbon which compliments another display shelf I have in the breakfast area.

Yes we do actually use these dishes.  These mugs are just adorable and they are awesome filled with coffee in the morning or hot cocoa on a cold winter evening. They are HUGE.

So…. What do you think?  I’d love to hear

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
New To My Blog? Like What You See? I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers or Subscribe Via Email and Never Miss a Post!

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Lisa's Creative Designs A Kitchen Display Cabinet …This One Is For The Birds!

Hi All,

So, another busy week has gone by. I am happy top say that with a few unexpected time off from work I was able to finish a project that was started months ago. Whoowee!

So…. what happens when you don’t have enough cabinet space or a proper pantry in your little kitchen???  You compromise by painting  a beat up metal cabinet that you have to kick the door to shut it!

What do you do when you are sick of looking at it, kicking it AND have a bunch of old doors, scrap wood and porch finnials taking up space in your garage????

You start brain storming, come up with a plan, draw a rough sketch and drag out the hammer and circular saw and start building!

Here’s a glance of my new Pantry mid-project, put together and primed. (Please excuse the mess in the garage!) The sides are made up of a set of two panelled closet bi-fold doors, the shelves are the scrap wood and the front will be the thrift store vintage panelled door I have hung on to just waiting for the perfect project.

Once assembled and primed, I painted it and gave it the same color wash treatment I did on the rest of my kitchen cabinets a few months ago. (You can read my Cabinet Update Post Here )

 To add some character to the piece I trimmed the top with some decorative moulding.

To compensate for the baseboard moulding on the wall I decided to ommit the back feet so it would lay flush against the wall. I screwed it right into the wall studs to secure it.  Here it is all done…….

A view from the side….

As you can see the new “pantry” is much taller and I have alot of room for food storage. I COULD have spent the time to “stage” the shelves for a much better photo but I thought I’d keep it real!

What do you think???

By no means is it perfect. I am NOT a professional carpenter, but I love how it turned out. I have now freed up some space in my existing cabinets which sparked a new quick makeover project. More on THAT later!

Thanks so much for visiting today!

~Lisa

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Today’s Creative Blog Party

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Transformation Thursday

Furniture Feature Friday

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Lisa's Creative Designs Creating A “New” Pantry From Recycled Doors

Hi All,

After a VERY busy week I am happy to say my Christmas decorations are finally neatly packed in their boxes and are in their home in the garage. Whew! What an undertaking! For the past week my house looked like a tornado ripped through my entire first floor with boxes and things lying all over the place! As much as I love the Holidays I am happy to have a sense of normalcy and a regular routine back in my life. I am a creature of habit and when my daily routine gets awry I feel like a fish out of water!

This past week I finally got the chance to dive into my bucket list of projects for 2012. I was able to find some time to straighten up my garage abit which allowed me to work on a “Pantry” for the kitchen. I started it months ago but it has been sitting on the back burner since October. It felt SO GOOD to turn on the music and pick up a paintbrush. More on my “Upcycled Pantry” in a near future post.

Today I want to share with you my Winter Inspired Mantel. You may remember my adorable Bethany Lowe Snowmen I purchased from Marshall’s?

Well I was really reluctant to pack these cuties up yet. I began thinking….”Who says Snowmen only have to be displayed at Christmas????” I mean, Snowmen are made all winter long aren’t they? Well, as long as there is SNOW on the ground they are! Even though we have not seen one snowflake this year yet in Eastern NC, that’s beside the point.

I decided to keep my snowmen and my winter cottages out for just a wee bit longer…..

The small glittered Bethany house was a Marshall’s “After Christmas” clearance purchase. I got this baby for a mere $4! I had my eye on it before the Holidays but decided to splurge on a few other things instead. I was tickled when I found it on the clearance table! My cute little Snow bird tealight holders are perched in my living room year round. They were a drab brown Dollar Tree find that I painted white and sprinkled with glitter. (an idea I “Borrowed” from another blogger)

A few new mercury glass purchases were added. I found this gorgeous aqua blue piece at Home Goods. (Gosh I love that store!!!) The small embelished candle holder was another Marshall’s find…..

Along with this silver beauty! I’ve noticed mercury glass popping up all over the place and I’m lovin’ it.

A few white snowflakes and snow covered pine cones complete the look. Here’s a crafter’s tip for you. To create “Snow” covered pinecones, just dip a found pinecone in some spackle and let dry. It’s so easy!

On the mirror I hung one of my newest book page wreath creations. I love my Christmas ones so much I wanted to create one that could stay out all year ’round.

And this is my Winter Inspired Mantel for 2012. What do you think???????

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
New To My Blog? Like What You See? I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers or Subscribe Via Email and Never Miss a Post!

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Lisa's Creative Designs My Winter Inspired Mantel / Mantle

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and New Year! To be honest I am happy Christmas is over. I grew weary of rushing around like a chicken without a head and feeling STRESSED. New Year’s Eve was nice and quiet. I made a Lasagna for dinner (my daughter’s favorite) and we spent the evening relaxing on the couch watching SYFY’s Twilight Zone marathon. I look forward to that every year. My Mom stopped by for an hour or so and at 10 pm my brother, his wife and my nephew come over to play poker (atleast TRY to, I had no idea how to play) and to ring in the new year. No wild parties and no lampshades were used as hats that night. That’s the way I like it. A cozy night at home.

Now that 2012 is here and things are starting to return to normal I am chomping at the bit to emerse myself in the long list of projects I plan to do. On that list you will find things like Building a pantry in the kitchen, redecorating my master bathroom, master bedroom, my son’s room and my daughter’s room. I am also hoping to turning this MESS of a garage…

(YIKES) into a clean, organized and functional design studio. Believe it or not it was organized enough for me to work in a few weeks ago but then the Christmas rush happened! You know, gift wrapping, shipping Christmas orders…etc. I really need to get in there to sort and purge before I can even start to do anything else. This will probably be my biggest project of the year, and of course it will all be done on a budget. Any advice or thoughts are much appreciated!

I am also making some changes to my business. This month will be my last month over at Swansboro Antiques and Uniques. I will be taking time off to focus more on selling online, blogging and moving forward with the Design and Home Staging aspect of my LITTLE company. I will be putting a few items inside The Funky Chicken, (Don’t you just love that name?) an adorable little gift shop that is due to open in the Emerald Plantation shopping center in Emerald Isle February 1st. I am super excited about this new adventure.

As far as New Year’s Resolutions???? Hmmm…I would like to find some balance between work and home, to slow down a bit so I am not feeling pulled in different directions all the time.  I know it sounds cliche but I have to lose a few pounds. All of the cookies, cakes, pies and carbohydrate overload I have been eating the past few months have found their way to my rear end. I was going through my dresser last week and some of my pants are not fitting any more. MOOO! Its always fun gaining but not so much trying to get rid of it! Good Bye Bagels, Good Bye dinner rolls, potatoes, cakes and cookies!

This week I am ripping down all of my Christmas decor and getting the house back to normal. I will be back to blogging and sharing my latest projects very soon, including a peek at my Winter Mantel and an adorable beach inspired town house I just completed for a client.

Stay tuned! I am excited to see what 2012 has in store for me! I hope you will find this year to be a great one

TTFN,

~Lisa

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Lisa's Creative Designs A New Year…New Beginnings and Looking Forward

Happy Friday Everyone,
Well, we are down to the wire. Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Have you finished your To-Do list yet? I would love to say I have but I still have oodles to do. Today my day will be filled with last minute shopping, wrapping, baking with my daughter, taking the new pup to the vet, cooking and getting the house ready to host Christmas Eve dinner.

I have finally finished decorating and wanted to stop by and give you a tour. Last week I gave you a glance of this year’s mantel…..

I originally just wanted to go all white, aqua blue and silver but added a few vintage red ornaments to tie it in with the tree. Every year I fuss over my tree and am never quite satisfied with it. This year I LOVE my tree. We bought a very full tree this year and I was afraid it was going to be too large for the space but it looks great. Our tree is adorned with vintage ornaments, handmade bows and lots of sentimental ornaments….many of which my children and I have created over the years.

I have a thing for vintage animated Christmas figures, particularly Telco’s Motionettes. I think I am drawn to them so because they remind me of old store windows at Christmas Time. Every year my collection grows. This beautiful snowbaby is my latest find. I found her at a thrift store for a mere $5.This little side table vignette sits beside the couch. I bought this gorgeous mercury glass candle holder at Michael’s and love how it looks filled with silk flowers.

I found this bell jar on one of my scavenger hunts and loved the shape. I love how it looks filled with fake snow and vintage glass ornaments.

One of my favorite items this year is this red and white themed Christmas Tree I placed on my vintage Hoosier table in my kitchen. It is decorated with red and white polka dotted ornaments and bows, vintage ornaments and gingerbread inspired ornaments. I skirted it with left over polka dotted fabric I had in the closet.Faux Gifts surround the tree and are nestled in a large red and white polka dotted mixing bowl I bought from Through The Country Door. The table is also adorned with a Christmas cook book and baking elements.

My kitchen cupboard has been dressed up with snow covered pinecones, berries, aqua snowflakes and my collection of vintage Winking Santa Mugs.

I love these guys!

My Kitschy Christmas Kitchen Table…..

I LOVE these large polka dotted mugs I bought f rom Through The Country Door. How awesome they would be filled with Hot Cocoa!

The Breakfast room window gets trimmed with vintage Christmas cards I scored on Ebay.

My cottage blue Dining room gets dressed with  a shimmering silver and blue for an elegant affair.

I dressed the table with mercury glass candle holders, trees and ornaments. I found these trees at Bed Bath and Beyond and fell in love with them. At $19.99 for the trio I snatched them up, knowing exactly where they would go.

I found these beautiful mercury glass place card holders on clearance at Michael’s last year at a great price. This year I set one at each place setting holding a Christmas inspired saying. I think next year I may place some vintage photographs of our Christmas’ past in them!

I found these beautiful blue and white transferware plates at a thrift shop a couple of months ago and just adore them. A silver napkin is wrapped around vintage silver utensils secured with a small ornament tied with small silver tinsel ribbon.

Remember the large mercury glass ornaments I went crazy for at Marshall’s and Home Goods last month??? A few of them are on the mantel and the rest of them were hung on my chandelier. Love it!

A miniature village sits atop my china hutch along with my collection of vintage Johnson Bros Friendly Village transferware dishes.

On the dresser turned buffet, I placed silver glittered branches in a mercury glass container. I decorated them with vintage ornaments and vintage inspired Victorian postcard ornaments.

And last but not least here is a shot of my front porch, ready and waiting for my Holiday guests to arrive.

So, that’s it folks! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my little cookie cutter cottage dressed for the Holidays!

Well, I am off to finish wrapping, baking and all the last minute things I need to take care of. I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season with a safe, healthy and prosperous new year!

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
New To My Blog? Like What You See? I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers or Subscribe Via Email and Never Miss a Post!

Lisa's Creative Designs Decorating For Christmas….A Holiday Home Tour

Hi All,
So. Have you ever felt like you were juggling so much that you half expected the people with the “Funny White Coats” would be stopping by any minute to take you on a little trip to the funny farm????
Well, I have been feeling quite overwhelmed these days. Between filling Christmas orders, decorating for the holidays, design work, errands, Christmas shopping, wrapping, not to mention ALL of the household “Must Do’s” around the house and trying to find the time to do some blogging here and there, I swear those nice men will be knocking on my door any minute!

I did manage to snap a few pictures of my Holiday Decorating accomplishments recently and thought I’d share this year’s Christmas mantel today.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may remember how my mantel looked last year…..

Last year (and the year before) I went with a vintage Christmas Kitsch theme for my mantel, decorating it with items that reminded me of yesteryear. This year I went down a little different road with it.  Glitter and Elegance in Silvers, Whites and Aqua Blue came to mind.  Lets take a look at what I came up with, shall we????

First off, I have a new mirror above my mantel. I replaced the navy blue mirrored window with this pretty aqua blue one. I picked this baby up at a thrift shop a while back  and paid maybe $15-$20 for it. It told me it wanted to be a soft aqua blue (of course!) I thought my Book Page Christmas Wreath would look perfectly centered on the mirror for the holidays.

I went a little nuts at Marshall’s this year. I LOVE their selection of holiday decor and they have great prices too!

These two Bethany Lowe Snowmen are my Christmas gift to me from Marshall’s. I just fell in love with them and at $17.99 for the big guy and $9.99 for the little guy I couldn’t say no. I absolutely adore Bethany Lowe’s vintage style.

The pretty aqua glittered house was around $12.99 and I went a bit crazy scarfing up a bunch of these pretty mercury glass Christmas ornaments at $3.99 each. I bought a few more of these guys at Home Goods and have them displayed in my Dining Room. (more on that in a future post). The glittery aqua tree was a $2.99 find at The Christmas Tree store I visited while in NY.

The Mercury glass Christmas tree was affordable at $12.99 and I love the rhinestone accents. I’ve seen these popping up in magazines and all over blogland. I squealed with delight when I found them. The pretty little aqua snowflakes were from Walmart. I got a whole box of them for around three dollars.

The pretty white glittered reindeer I have on each end of the mantel were a thrift store find. I think I paid around $2.00 for the pair. They started out a gawdy gold but look great all white and glittery. I thought I snapped a “before” shot of these guys but I can’t locate it at the moment.

The Bethany Lowe WISH banner was also a Marshall’s find from their clearance aisle.  I  picked this up months ago and had it stashed away in the garage. Although it wasn’t intended to be a Christmas decoration I think it fits perfectly. 

A few vintage ornaments and some white glittered garland completes the look. So… what do you think?

As far as the early Christmas Gift goes…….

My daughter has begged for a particular Christmas present for MONTHS. When she wrote her Christmas wish list this year it was at the top of the list followed by 3 small items. I was VERY adamant that NO! She would not be getting one this Christmas because it is just too much work. Well, this weekend my husband and I were getting ready to go out and do some Christmas shopping and the topic came up. The result????

Meet Jingles. She is a 10 week old Jack Russell Terrier / Beagle mix. I gave in. True to my words she had every soul in the house up all night as she wailed, howled and whined while we were trying to sleep that first night home. I was outside every two hours that night shivering in the cold begging her to “Go pee pee”. Being a puppy she has peed and pooped on the floor a couple of times, but her sleeping is starting to improve. Things will get better. Besides….. how could you stay mad at that face????

Hope you are all having a wonderful time preparing for the Holidays.

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
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Home Sweet Home

Lisa's Creative Designs My Christmas Mantel and An Early Gift

Hi Everyone,

I have been taking a little break from blogging because I have been running like a mad woman working, visiting family for Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas. Today I thought I would make a quick stop in and revisit a fun craft project I created last year for Christmas. 

I have seen beautiful paper wreaths popping up all over blogland and I have been wanting to try one so I thought I would take this opportunity and run with it.
I stopped at my local Dollar Tree store, found a decent size book and began throwing anything into the cart I thought I might embelish with.

This is what I came home with… two wreath forms, satin ribbon, large hardback book, jingle bells, pinecones and some other goodies.

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
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Good Life Wednesday

Lisa's Creative Designs Crafting A Christmas Wreath From Old Book Pages

Hi All,

With Thanksgiving upon us I wanted to stop in today and  express my thoughts on the subject of Giving Thanks. I am a firm believer that we should stop and take a few moments each day and count our blessings, especially on days when the skies overhead seem grey.

My life is far from perfect but I have alot to be thankful for and I am thankful for that in itself. I am so thankful for my family, immediate and extended.

In a time where marriage seems to be strained all around us, I am thankful to be married to a man who has loved me for the past 17+ years. He takes me with the good and the bad, supports my dreams and is my biggest fan. He does so much for me and I am so thankful for him and his love.

I have two beautiful children who can drive me crazy but also amaze me. My son, “a rotten teenager” as I jokingly call him has a brilliant mind and has the potential for greatness. My 10 year old daughter is very creative and has a wonderful energy about her. She always makes us laugh and can light up a room.

We have a cute little house to live in, we have food on the table and we are all together.
I am now working as an interior decorator, a long time dream come true.

I am truly blessed.

We are traveling to visit family in NY this Thanksgiving so I have not done much decorating this year. I did spruce up my mantle for the Holiday and would like to share it with you today.

I dressed the mantle in some of my everyday decor items and kicked it up a notch.

I added a few white turkeys, a white ceramic pilgrim lady and tucked in some colorful fall leaves, berries and pine cones.

I filled a cottage white pitcher with some dried wheat grass to add some height and added interest.

Thanks so much for visiting today. I hope each and everyone of you have a blessed, safe Thanksgiving filled with good food and time with family.

Thanks so much for visiting today!
~Lisa
New To My Blog? Like What You See? I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers or Subscribe Via Email and Never Miss a Post!

Lisa's Creative Designs Decorating A Thanksgiving Mantle and Giving Thanks