Inspiration Friday Party No. 8!

Welcome Friends! So glad you decided to stop by the party and I hope you will consider joining in the fun by linking up some of your great Life and Home Inspirations!

This week, I wanted to do a little something different and high-light some recent contributions to the Inspiration Friday party. These are all from the last couple of parties and 2 of them are gals who are fairly new to the Blogging Community, just like yours truly here!

Heather from the Cozy Cape showed us her darling stairs which are in what she describes as a "narrow space" where you step down into the dining room from the kitchen. She says,

"My Mom actually made an off hand comment that I should paint the stairs. Before you knew it (and before my husband had come home from school), I had already been to the hardware store and back. I slapped on two coats of floor paint and presto change-0, I now have a brighter hallway!"

With the addition of the mailbox numbers it truly fits her

Cozy Cape Cottage sensibility!

She then went on to wow me again with another fabulous DIY project. She fell in love with some chairs from Ballard Designs but wasn't in love with the price...that is the story of my life right there! She ended up finding chairs in a similar style for only $25 each! Then, she gave them a little extra love and transformed them into these beauties...

Don't you just love how warm that color is?

They now grace this beautiful table which was another fabulously frugal find for only $15! All she had to do was give it some fresh paint and some distressing and she now has an absolutely beautiful Dining Set! To read more about these projects and see some of her other cottage-y creations, hop on over to the

Cozy Cape and say hello to Heather!

Now, I gotta be honest here...this next Inspiration Friday participant linked up this photo, which I first saw as I sat down to my computer, late at night, in a dark office, in a very quiet house and I nearly jumped out of my skin!

Can you understand why???
If anyone ever wanted to watch me pass out in fear they could just lock me up in a mannequin warehouse!

It is kind of like how my husband feels about antique dolls (he says the eyes follow him) or how he feels about Clowns!
Needless to say, I was slightly apprehensive when I clicked on the picture, but to my delight, it lead me to Lynn's blog,

Blue Skies, where I found one of the most hilarious stories I have read in a long time! Here is a little snippet to wet your whistle...

"There it was. The wet suit. It looked simple enough. I might struggle a bit, but I had to try this thing on before the swim. I certainly wasn't going to do it for the first time on the sand. Oh..can you even....never mind. I began by putting the plastic shopping bag over my foot and slid my foot into the leg of the wet suit, promptly getting my foot stuck and ripping the bag. Hmmmm. Not quite how the video showed. And the guy sure didn't have a tutorial on how to get a mangled bag out of the leg of the wetsuit, so I was on my own. O.k., I thought. I'll try again. Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

I took my leg out and fished out the plastic bag. Smart girl that I am, I had brought up several plastic bags. Bag on foot. Good. Foot into wetsuit. Good. Pull. Huh. "

You know you want to read the rest of this now, don't you? Head on over to Blue Skies to see how it all ends!

Next, is another feast for the eyes, courtesy of Ashley at

A Forty Year Old Ranch.

This one really caught my attention because she "claims" this is the first time she has decorated a Fireplace Mantel for fall!
Take a look and you be the judge...

Ummm...yeah...pretty sure the first time I decorated our Fireplace Mantel it didn't (and still doesn't!) look like something straight out of a beautiful magazine!!!

Don't you feel like you are looking at photos from the PB Catalog or maybe Ballard Designs?

Can this girl be believed? Well, I say we give her the benefit of the doubt and that you hop over and take a look at more of her lovely creations at

A Forty Year Old Ranch!

I really hope you all know how very Inspiring your posts are to me and that I visit each and every one that is linked up to the Party every week. My mom was saying recently that reading through blogs is like looking at all the best decorating magazines out there all in one place. I couldn't agree more!

So, what have you been up to this week?
I can't wait to see, so link on up my friends!

And, don't forget, to save the date for our

SOUP EXCHANGE on the Oct. 30th

Have a Blessed Autumn weekend from

This Southern Girl at Heart,

Vanessa

Here is how to link up...

1. Add your Permalink to your entry but not your General Blog Address. To get your Permalink, click on the title of the blog post you are wanting to submit and copy and paste the address into the URL box. You will also have to add your address but it will not be visible to anyone else.

2. Do not try and Link up until you have actually published that particular post on your blog.

3. Please link back to the host blog, Southern In My Heart, so that those who visit your blog will be able to find some wonderful Inspiration from everyone else!