Workin' With What Ya Got- Decking The Halls For Spring, Target Clearance Worth Makin' The Trek For and A Farewell

I was gonna wait until March 1st to pull out my spring decor. Well, what little I have of it.... I was gonna wait but I hate winter. I really do and I wanted to look at something other than mud or snow or limp flowers from Valentines day, so I pulled out my spring schtuff this weekend and here is something I came up with.
 No money spent, just using what I had laying around.


 I had this burlap laying around from my Christmas table scape:

I love burlap and it is all the rage right now.

But I would love it even if it weren't all the rage right now.

So I cut it into a long strip.

No even cuts, I wanted it to look uneven and rustic.

You know, like burlap.

So I didn't take the pictures in sequence showing all my steps because I have only been a blogger for 1.5 years. Tsk tsk...just so ya know, it isn't human nature to take pics as you work on projects and the big bloggers who do that have assistants who take pictures for them. :)

The below picture shows me plopping a faux spring plant I got at Target three years ago into my free galvanized bucket (thanks to my neighbor this summer).

The bucket/plant is sitting on a bed of  "grass". It is fake grass that I got at Goodwill last summer for 50 cents! The eggs I have had for years, not even sure where I got them.

The tray I have had for over a year.

I got that at Goodwill too, for I wanna say 3 dollars.

I first introduced you to this tray in the post here.

I have used this baby continually over the past 12 months.

It is the one decorative item that I have not banished to the craft cemetery in the basement.

There is the burlap on my bucket!

I just tied it around the bucket and trimmed off any long edges.

I love how this looks kind of farmhouse chic/ rustic/ shabby chic/ trashy chic.....sorry. got a little carried away...

I then wanted to create something with the tray that held my mercury glass candle holders after the holidays:

OK so this tray is from Southern Living at Home.

                                            I hosted a party back in 2005 and got this for free.

It used to be a rusted orange-y colored number.

Then last summer I spray painted it a teal-ish turquoise-y color.

Yes, my English teachers would be so proud.....

Then painted it white for the holidays.

I didn't want the spring colored flowers I was going to be putting on here to be washed out by the white tray.

I also didn't want to go the vibrant color route again with this puppy.

So I painted it black.

Then I added these:

....more free galvanized buckets( !!! ), and some fake flowers again...the ones in the middle I got for Anna's 7th birthday party table (five sniff sniff years ago..), the ones on the sides I got for my sister in law's baby shower three years ago. The cute little tin buckets that the smaller flowers are in? Target dollar section last summer that I used for the 4th of July here!

Just dropped the plants in, place them on the tray and voila..........

Hello spring!

I love these colors alongside the metal buckets and the black tray.....

So I mentioned in the title that Target has some stellar clearance goin' on.

See these burlap shades???

Yep.

That's the right price, alright.

I know, I double checked too.

And the shades on our master bedroom lamps were lookin' mighty sad too..

above is the before.....

And after!

I love them so much.

It does make the room a little darker but it is so much more pretty.

Wait, pretty isn't an adjective for the master bedroom

So much more romantic....yeah. romantic.

But aren't they so pretty?!!?!?!?!?!?!

I also bought these body pillow covers on clearance for 5 bucks each.

But these won't be used for sleeping.

No sirreee, I have plans for these bad boys.

I will fill you in on that later.....

So I mentioned a farewell in the title.

Yes, its very sad indeed.

Google Friend Connect goes away on Thursday.

Sniff sniff....

I don't know much about it but basically if you follow me on Friend Connect and are not a blogger or are not on Blogger as a blogger, as of Thursday you will have no way of reading my blog in easy fashion as you do now or knowing when my blog posts a new one each time going forward.

So here are a few ways to follow A Grace Full Life after March 1st:

If you go to my Facebook page here and like my page, I link up my posts to my wall every time I add a new one.

If you go to my Pinterest page here, I also link up my projects here as well as find some really cool new blogs and ideas to share.

If you want to follow me on Twitter here, every time I post a new status update on Facebook, it automatically runs on Twitter as do links to this blog.

And you can now follow me through  Linky followers. Go to the right side of this page under the Google Friend Connect where it says A New Way To Follow and connect there. You will have to create an account if you don't already have one but it is painless, I promise!

Thank you for all of your interest, time and support. I love getting feedback from all of you, I love hearing you cheer me on from afar and anear (my blog, my words) , I love getting to know all of you, I love that I have friends I have never even met and most of all, I love blogging. I do. Thank you for making this such a fun and special endeavor for me. I hope to keep inspiring you and creating new projects for you and I look forward to having you inspire me as well. :)