Cheap Therapy

I mentioned in one of my previous posts, that I have a time of "grieving" when Christmas is over. All the parties are done, my kids go back to school, family has gone home, decorations are back in the boxes, and I am left feeling a little empty. I decided that this year, when all the Christmas decor is down I would do "winter decorating". Considering this is the longest season of the year, so it seems in Northwest Iowa, it really deserves decorations all of its own. So, that is what I did. I tried to make it fresh, understated, but wintry. If you know me well, you know that I am very frugal, so you know it didn't hardly cost a dime. Most of it I had and I just repurposed it. It felt so good when I was done. It was new and fresh and not what I look at the rest of the year. Talk about cheap therapy!It probably doesn't look like much to you, but it is new to me and therefore it makes me happy. It's amazing how excited I can get about a little bit of winter greenery and some pretty brown and gold ornaments.

I took out the green ornaments and red berries, added some really cute ice skates. Just like that...winter!
This is probably one of my favorite winter additions. My new burlap table runner. I saw a similar table runner on a blog that I like to follow. I decided to create my own version of it. $7.00 for 3 yards of burlap at Wal-Mart, not too bad. Isn't she cute? Rustic, but feminine.
Even my counter top got a little winter transformation. I had to showcase my new Serrento serving platter that I got for 1/2 price at Casey's Bakery. They are selling out of all their Serrento dishes and serving pieces, and so were clearancing what they had left in the store. I happened to be there when the lady was putting them all out and so I snagged a pasta bowl and this serving platter that matched my dishes. Sometimes it pays to take 5 kids to the bakery in the middle of a snow storm.
Don't be too impressed with the fresh baked cookies. They were straight out of my freezer from the GEMS!