When An Act of Kindness Is Repaid ( & More Holiday Decor)

I did a pet portrait of Cooper for Kris from Junk Chic Cottage (last year?). Saturday I got a surprise as a thank you from her. When I opened the box, I found these:

There was a sweet note and candy canes too!

Oh my goodness! Cuteness to the nth degree! She got a striped candy cane family to go with my candy cane theme at the city house 

Stripes and a hoodie! Too cute!

and a woodland family to go to the farm. 

I love their caps!

They are from Target and there are 12 different ones. Kris has the white ones (which are beyond cute the way she styled them. You can find them in this post). They have little metal tags with the year on one side and their name on the other. How cute is that?

They are searching for the perfect perch where they can spread happiness. They make me smile! I wasn't looking for something in return for Cooper's portrait, but my heart is full. Thank you, Kris!

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 Last week, I shared my cozy farmhouse tour. Today, I'd like to show you how I decorated the tree in the living room plus other bits and pieces around the house. Then I want to share a bit of the city house too.

The living room at the farm is small but cozy. We furnished it with 2nd hand furniture since it is not our full-time home yet. I do try to make it inviting although since the fireplace sits at an angle on the wall it makes arranging this room difficult. This is the best layout so far. Some day, I want bookshelves on the tv wall.

I found this cute pillow when I went to visit Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction. I instantly knew my cute elf would love sitting on it, claiming responsibility for all the Christmas decor I put out. 

My treasured Santa Mouse book from childhood sits on the side table along with the sweet mice I also found on that trip. I dressed them in Santa hats and scarves.

On the kitchen chalkboard wall, I hung my bottle brush wreath and wrote "Merry Christmas" around it. My coffee station sits below it. You can see how I made my cart in this post.

The dining room window got dressed in a new curtain. I was tired of the black and white curtain I made back when we first bought the farm. Red checked fabric is cheery and says farmhouse to me.

I added the cute ruffle to the bottom of it. I love that it matches the lamp shade on the coffee cart.

Lastly, for the tree in the living room, I made some oversized gingerbread ornaments from old fence pickets. They look so cute on the tree!

There's a church, signs, houses and a barn. They were easy and fun to make - just fence pickets and white paint with a ribbon strung through a hole.

Then moving onto the city house, I pulled out my large Subway art chalkboard I made. It sits above the mantel.

Treasured books from childhood along with a couple of Santas sit on top of the old radio. I painted the Toy Maker Santa many years ago. I have another one with more details I'm trying to finish. It is of Santa and his sleigh with Rudolph and elves. It's slow going but I hope to finish him before Christmas. Then I will add him too.

In the kitchen, I set out my gingerbread men collection. This one sits on the corner shelf above the sink. He has his gingerbread cookie cutter along with a chalkboard sign to remind you to enjoy this season with some yummy treats.

 Lastly, in the breakfast nook, I dressed up my large chalkboard with a garland from Bullseye's Playground and my canning jar lid tree, adding chalk details.

I hope you enjoyed this last bit of Christmas decorating.  I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Wonderful Holiday Season from all of us at The B Farm!

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Small toolbox into coffee station

Remember the cute little toolbox I found at GW?

I decided to use it to put my coffee, sugar packets, etc. in. Of course, it needed a paint job so I painted it with a base coat of white then pulled out one of my nifty little cans of sample paint ( yay, I'm getting to use them up!), made up a batch of homemade chalk paint, and painted all over.

Next, I found a coffee label online and transferred it onto the side and using a sharpie, went over and outlined the design. Of course, I had to sand it to give it a distressed look. Here's how it turned out:

I think it's cute how the steam swirls make a heart!

I then placed it on the counter with a red tray in front:

Played around with the arrangement of items and came up with this:

 Yes, we have 2 coffee makers - a regular drip maker and a Keurig...I like coffee, in case you couldn't tell. :) The plate hides all the cords.

I found these cute, galvanized miniature buckets at Wal-Mart so I bought 2 for the sugar and sweetener packets. One happens to be down in the toolbox so there's only one on the tray.

Cute, huh? A little shiny though...not sure if I like it or not.

miniature galvanized bucket

I really like having all the coffee stuff corralled and I think it's a good use for my cute little toolbox!
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On a different note, I finally took pictures of the coffee cup lamp in the dining/breakfast room.( Ok, so we only have one dining area, so technically it's just the dining room!) Since it's right next to the kitchen and now coffee counter, I think it ties in nicely.

I really need to do something with that cord! ( Funny how pictures show things you don't notice otherwise!) This still makes me smile. Just perfect for this corner.

So if you're ever nearby, stop in and I'll brew up some fresh coffee. We'll sit and visit over a cup or two.
Smiles,
Cecilia

Linking with these great parties!
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coffee cup lamp

I have seen some great teacup lamps on  Pinterest and various blogs. One of my favorites is from Lisa at Recaptured Charm. Go check out her blog; she has amazing projects! She inspired me to make a cup lamp for the B Farm's kitchen!
Since my theme seems to be chickens and coffee, I searched thrift stores for the perfect coffee cups with, of course, a coffee theme or chicken theme. I found 4 cups I liked - 3 with a coffee design and a soup mug with chickens on it. All were $1.99 or less.

My choices for the lamp

I decided to drill holes in my cups since my husband was willing to help me. For a tutorial on how to make one without drilling, you can go here: Country Living teapot-lamp-project.

I played with different arrangements of my cups and decided to eliminate one to keep it the size I wanted and only use the soup mug and 2 coffee cups - one in a similar color to the mug and the other in a contrasting color. Then we assembled all our tools:

drill, masonry bits, glass bits, sharpie to mark where to drill, tape, water, and of course, the cups and saucers.

Mr. B used a small bit to start the hole. (He drilled slowly until the hole was started.) I held the mug( not sure this was smart but oh well!) and squirted water on the piece as needed. Fortunately, most would hold a small pool of water on the bottom. (*Just a note of warning: this is definitely a two-person job unless you have a way to clamp the piece down securely. Also the drill gets hot and heats the water, so be careful! Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes.) Once the hole was started ( put tape over spot to allow drill to grab), he switched to a larger bit to make the hole the right size for my rod.

Mr. B's holding it here, then he had me hold it so he could keep the drill steady

It was slow work. Mr. B finally switched to the glass bit as it was sharper than the masonry bit. He didn't put a lot of pressure on it - didn't want to break the cup. I also had him drill holes in the two saucers. (These were inserted between the cups for stability.) Lastly, he drilled a smaller hole on the side of the bottom cup for the cord to go through. This was the trickiest part - I propped it with a board under the handle to help stabilize it.

Lastly, I took all inside and washed the grit and grime off. Then using a lamp kit I'd bought plus extra lock nuts, I threaded the cord through the side hole of the bottom mug and then up the rod. Then I assembled all the pieces, holding them together with lock nuts. Lastly, I glued the bottom mug and saucer together so they couldn't come apart...the rod doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the mug as the cord has to have room to exit out the side. In reality, that mug didn't need a hole in the bottom - just the side. Oh well, live and learn!

The shade is one I found at Target - covered in burlap, of course! I added the trim to spice it up a bit. Cute, don't you think?

Of course, all this was done here at my city home so when I got to the farm and placed it on the counter, it was too high! Ack! Mr. B suggested I get the wooden crates out of the shop and make a table to set it on, so I did. ( He really does have good ideas! ) I placed it in the corner of the dining room (it needed something anyway as it was feeling way too empty!) and ta da!  Perfection!! Still part of the kitchen decor and found the perfect use for my crates. ( happy dance)

here it is lit up

good use of the crates!

Colors go with my mugs!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the whole dining room. Take my word for it, it looks great in that corner!
What do you think?

Glad you stopped by for a visit. Tomorrow I'll show how Fall has come to the B Farm!
Cecilia

Linking with these parties:
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