Finally! A headboard!

At long last I have come across the perfect headboard for my bed! It is everything I wanted: upholstered, off-white, and most importantly, cheap!

If you have looked at the prices of most upholstered headboards you have seen how ridiculously expensive they are. Most start at several hundred dollars and can stretch into the thousands. I paid less than $140 for mine! And, it's king size to boot! I got it at Walmart (online) of all places! They actually have a lot of really nice looking things online!

When we got married almost eight years ago, and were trying to make our house our own, we went looking at all the usual suspects - department store furniture. I didn't like any of it. It was too cookie cutter and traditional for my tastes. Add to that, my husband wanted a wooden sleigh bed and I wanted a wrought iron bed. There was no compromising. The years passed, headboardless.

Enter Pinterest!

I saw all the pins about making your own upholstered headboard for cheap, and I thought, "I can do that!" I had also been in love with this really glam Hayworth mirrored furniture at Pier One that would go perfectly with an upholstered headboard. (Not that I could afford it, but I was trying to visualize my dream bedroom!)  
 
At this point my husband broke down and told me just to do whatever I wanted. Upholstered headboard it was!

Never one to jump into anything quickly without considering all possible options, I started researching upholstered headboards online and came across the one I have now! It was too good a deal to pass up. I was a little nervous about making my own anyways.

It may have taken seven plus years for it to come to fruition, but the right piece finally found us!

 (And my husband loves it!)

Before. This picture embarrasses me to no end.

This looks so much better! I finally feel like I have an adult room. And it goes perfectly with the Solitary State grey walls. You can really tell the difference between this pic and the one above! It looks so much brighter now!

Up close. It has a linen-esque quality to it that I was unsure of at first, but I actually really like the texture now. I had originally wanted more of a velvety one, but sometimes you get what you need instead of what you want and it works out perfectly!

I love it so much! It adds quite a bit of glam and elegance to my bedroom and really helps bring the room together. (Obviously, I'm not one to iron my sheets but maybe I should be looking at this pic! Yikes! Oh well, this is real life!)

My puppy approves! (She likes to pose for pictures!)

Meanwhile, back inside...

Spring is in full bloom inside my house!

These are my Valentine's flowers that my husband got for me this year. They were completely closed on the fourteenth and here it is less than a week later and they have definitely opened! He said, "It's the gift that keeps on giving," and indeed it is!

I have the best husband! He knew I couldn't wait for my spring flowers so he got me these gorgeous red (my fave) tulips! Also, I told him not to spend $50 on roses when he could get them for $10 any other day of the year. So he did good! I love them!

Here are my tulips on Valentine's Day.

And here they are today! Gorgeous!!! They just make me so happy!

Having a bit of greenery and a pop of color in the house truly brightens my day!

And here's my amaryllis that I've got blooming in the middle of February. I got it on sale around Christmas and never got around to planting it until maybe a month ago. I was wondering if it was actually going to bloom and lo and behold one day I saw a snippet of green popping out. It's been growing like crazy ever since!

 

Here was my amaryllis a couple weeks ago. I love how you can see the different layers of the leaves! It's so cool! This is my first amaryllis, can you tell? I hope that bit of mold in the dirt doesn't bother anything.

It's really grown a lot in the past few weeks! It gets a little bit taller every day! I can't wait for it to bloom!

 

Spring in my step!

I've definitely got a little spring in my step today!

As I sit here writing this, I've got my patio door open, a warm breeze is blowing, and the sun is almost streaming in! You can't ask for a better day in Northeastern Indiana in the middle of February. This year (and pretty much last year too) has been exceptionally mild, especially after having the worst winters I can remember the prior few years. It's a welcome change! Normally, we are bracing for a state of emergency type snow storm the week of Valentine's - not this! This whole next week is supposed to be in the sixties!

I went to Meijers and Menards today and saw another welcome sight! Seeds and spring-planting bulbs are out in full force! Could this day get any better?

Seeing all the flowers and veggies has got my mind churning with ideas for my gardens this year! I had to get out and do a walk through of my yard to see what was already sprouting and where I can fit in more plants!

Of course, that led to me working in the yard most of the day - which I love to do! It was one of those great days that come along every so often where you even hate to go inside at the end of the day.  

And it's February! 

So many different varieties! I want them all!

These all look super cute. I've never seen them before. I'll have to do some research!

Phlox! I didn't know they came like this. I planted mine from seed and they've done really well over the years. Although I wanted to branch out and get some other colors (mine are mostly purple already) I might have to try these.

Meanwhile, in the garden...

Some hyacinths that I moved this fall. I'm glad to see they made it. I have only a few hyacinths and I'm not sure what color these are. I think either pink or white, they were given to me as Easter gifts. I'm going to make it a point to get some more.

A bunch of daffodils popping up! I think these are the first ones I planted in my creekside garden before there even really was a creekside garden!

Here come the tulips! These are dark purple, white, and pink (although they looked awfully reddish last year) that are planted at the end of my front porch.

Even my bright orange lillies are pushing through. I don't remember these popping out this early before, but I guess they're usually covered in snow at this time of the year!

Hard to see, but my Jane magnolia is getting buds on it.

These are some of the Irises I planted last fall. Not sure if this is normal or not, I've never had Irises before. They're burnt at the top though. Hopefully, they come through and bloom this year!

 

My daffodils out front look really far along! Like they could almost bloom soon! It's this crazy Indiana weather messing them up! I hope they do okay because I'm sure it's going to get cold again.

Even the lilacs are budding!

The sun setting on a perfect day!

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies

These cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day! They are almond flavored sugar cookies ~ just a little twist on a typical sugar cookie that I came up with.

The almond flavor is very light, but it definitely adds another level of flavor to an already awesome cookie!

Of course, I love anything heart-shaped or Valentine's Day themed. I got this heart-shaped cookie cutter at Country Kitchen on clearance for only forty cents! I also got the cute red, pink, and white tiny sugar hearts decorating some of the cookies there as well.

I have been making cookies nonstop since Christmas. I just can't help it! They are easy to make, easy to eat, and not too bad for the diet. As long as you don't eat too many! I have limited myself to one a day. It's mostly worked! These cookies are exceptionally hard to stop at just one though!

 Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp imitation almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Cream the butter
Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined
Add the egg and almond extract and mix until combined

Stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt) in a small bowl

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until fully incorporated

Refrigerate the dough at least two hours, overnight is fine too

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin (about 1/4 inch) and cut out the cookies!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 9-11 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges

Cool on pan for about two minutes and then transfer to cooling rack

Frost when completely cool!

And here's the frosting recipe:

6 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp imitation almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy
Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth
Stir in almond and vanilla extract   
 
  Enjoy!!!