Blue and White Fall??

Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm looking for inspiration for fall by deviating from the normal yellows, reds and oranges, and leaning more towards, blacks, blues and creams for fall! Seems I'm not the only one!!

Did you know there was such a thing as  blue and gray pumpkins? I had no idea until I started looking around for where to find white pumpkins, and somehow came across lots of them!

Here's some places where I've found some inspiration....

Happy Mundane's Fall Centerpiece from last year

How completely simple and gorgeous!! (except for maybe the weird green one reminds me of a wicked witch with lots of hairy moles- but he totally put it in there to be a little quirky and unexpected!)

The Nester's Fall Mantle

She uses lots of blue tones in decorating like me, although much lighter shades. Love how simple this is and not a bit of bright yellow, orange or red in sight! Also check out that fireplace that she covered in vinyl and drew on bricks with chalk!! She's a renter like me, and she really knows how to make a temporary house a home!

Generally Creative's Pumpkins made from fabric remnants

Ummmm.....completely adorable!! Not a project I'll undertake since I'm not a sewer, but I want some of these! Maybe to cuddle up with on the couch! Love the shades of the same colors, the textures and just the total cuteness of these!

Domestically Speaking's Corn Husk Garland

If I had a place to hang it, I might make this! Corn husks definitely say fall, without having the fall colors I'm avoiding!

Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss White Leaf Wreath

A super easy Dollar Store wreath! Hmmmm.....I might have to add this to my to-do list of projects??

One Nutty Girl's Mantle

Ummm, hello!! Starfish as fall decor? Yes, please!! Fall happens at the beach too, ya know! :)

Between You & Me- Fall Sideboard Decor

Loving the textures here, and the vases of wheat are fantastic!!

I saw some gorgeous deep blue pumpkins at Hobby Lobby the other day. I almost snapped a picture and now I'm mad I didn't!! I can't stop thinking about them, so I think I may have to go get one!!

This picture is from last years, but it's all I could find online thanks to Life with Sprinkles on Top (the place where she found the pic, is a dead link!)

Actually, I think the current one in stores is a deeper, brighter shade.....I'm in love! Why didn't I snag it already?! Oh well, I have to go back anyways, and they are 50% off this week!

Although I'm still in the mood for searching for inspiration, I think it's time to call it quits! Ok.....Baby Girl is yelling at me that it's time to quit!!

Fall Projects in Progress!

I absolutely love the change of seasons! It feels like a chance to start over and start fresh!  I love the smells, sounds, and temperature changes that each season brings as well. (Ok so maybe not the cold of winter! It be easier to handle if we got more snow in TN!)

I also love to decorate for each changing season (except for maybe summer since my house is already pretty beachy looking!).

My favorite part of fall has always been the smells! Apple and pumpkin candles, making apple butter and pumpkin cookies. And of course all the Thanksgiving smells!

The problem I run across is that fall colors.....look HORRIBLE in my house!! I usually designate one little area where I put up the standard fake orange pumpkins, a bowl of pinecones with some fake glittery red, yellow, and orange leaves, a little scarecrow or two.

Among all my blue and black decor......ugggghhhh! It doesn't look great! It didn't really bother me in the past because I felt like it still got me in the spirit of the season! Now that I've been doing some research on fall decor that doesn't have to be in those bright, primary colors that clash with my house, I'm even more excited about decorating!

Here's a few projects I have in mind- some of which I'm already starting on and will share once I do them!!

This wreath from Christina at Centsible Savings (who got her idea from The Little Brown House!) is made out of coffee filters and a wreath from the Dollar Tree, not counthing the ribbon, it costs a whopping $1.79!

I already have the wreath, just need the filters (which I need to add to my Publix list so I'll remember to get them one of the 5 times per week I'm there!!) and the ribbon!

Those Dollar Store Hurricanes I mentioned before have completely taken over in crafty blogland! (I also found this idea through Centsible Savings!)

I currently have the glue drying on my first attempt at one of these! I've had some slightly skinnier vases leftover from my wedding for the past 2 years that I have tried to unload at every yardsale I've had since then, and I've never sold a one!! Now, I'm glad I didn't! I bought some shorter candle sticks for these, and I need to go buy some larger ones two, I'm thinking two short and one large! I plan to fill them with pinecones and mini pumpkins that I'll also makeover by doing the next project.......

Ashley's White Pumpkins
(From Shanty2Chic, two blogging, super crafty sisters that I'm soooo inspired by!)

I've already got all the supplies for these adorable babies (except for the twine, which I'm not sure yet will work on my size pumpkins!), and I have already begun to spray paint them! I also have some tiny baby ones that I'll probably put in the above hurricanes!

Finally,  I've started collecting supplies for these beauties, also made by Ashley from Shanty2chic!

Ashley's Apothecary Jars

Again, I have almost everything but the jute twine, and I'm saving these for last out of all these projects since I think they will take the most time! I'm also not sure yet if I'm painting them black or Heirloom white! And they'll be filled with something less Halloween-ish!

I've got lots of other projects up my sleeves including several for baby girl's room! Although I would've had much more time for projects before she was born, it's probably a good thing I didn't start reading all these blogs for inspiration until AFTER she was born because I don't think a preggo should spray paint as much as I'm about to! :)

Speaking of spray paint, here's a great source of info on how to spray paint by Centsational Girl!

Auto Draft

D-I-Y NFL gear!

In an effort to save $$ but still support the hubby's favorite NFL team, I did a search on eBay for Minnesota Vikings baby gear. There's not a lot to choose from, and it's either tacky or not cheap! There's lots of official gear around the web that's really cute, but who wants to pay $30 and up for an outfit she'll wear once a week for a few weeks, then outgrow!

So, I'd almost given up or decided to just fork over the cash for something cute but expensive, when I was going through her drawers and spotted a couple bright yellow onesies....in two different sizes! Aha!! What if I could make some iron-ons somehow?? I'm sure I could figure out how to D-I-Y making an iron on, but let's check eBay first!!

Two sets of these for $2.60 including shipping??

(Just one is pictured here!)

Yes, please!!

It took only a few minutes to iron on these puppies to her cute little yellow onesie!

You can tell that the seller cut these out of a fabric with these symbols on them (perhaps bed sheets??) and added whatever material it is you use to iron on, but they look great! There is only one little area that is frayed where you can even tell they are material.

And honestly, like I said, she's going to wear these for just a couple weeks!!

I made the first one on a size 0-3 onesie. Little miss is 8 weeks old in a couple days and is JUST growing out of her newborn clothes!

Here she is ready for the game!

In fact her pants here are size newborn!

So hopefully she will have at least a good month and a half in this before I pull out her 3-6 month onesie and add the other set of decals to it! I'm wondering if I should go with white or gray on the next one just for a change? I have the same yellow and a gray in the next size and could easily find a white one!

I want to find her purple pants to go with it, and would love it if she had some more hair to put a bow in to make her look a little more "girlie!" But she's supporting her daddy and supporting the Vikings and that's all that matters for now! :)

Here's the two of them during the game.....notice how she sticks out her tongue to say, "Booooo, Miami!" (ok so the iPhone quality isn't great here- which it usually is! so maybe you can't see her tongue!)

Unfortunately her shirt didn't bring the Vikes any luck today. Maybe next time, Favre! And mommy is looking forward to dropping some more preggo weight so she can fit back into her Vikings gear and all 3 of us can be decked out together!

If you are interested in these iron-ons or those for any other NFL team, Disney, holiday stuff this seller has a lot! It looks like they might all be the same kind of iron-ons- made out of materials. Yep, you could easily do this yourself, I'm guessing, but it was a super time saver for me! It would've cost me more to buy the supplies for it! Visit the eBay seller here!

Decorating itch

I blame it all on Christina at Centsible Savings....

It's her fault that I'm now obsessed with reading DIY decorating blogs and that I have the itch to rearrange, organize, paint, and revamp EVERYTHING in my house!

Ordinarily my blog list is full of money saving blogs, a few friends blogs, a couple wedding vendors I still keep in contact with and one cooking blog. Now, I'm starting a new addiction!

Centsible Savings is a money saving blog, but Christina has a series titled: Decor on a Dime. So it's still a money saving topic, but also one that has nothing to do with groceries and toiletries! And I absolutely love it!! It gets tiring to only read about coupons and sales, so it's a breath of fresh air to read about decorating on the cheap!

I kind of got interested in the series back in March when she linked to another blog on how to redo a crystal lamp.

Kate at Centsational Girl did the above transformation. I just happen to have 3 of these lamps that I bought at a yard sale a long time ago! Two are in use and I really don't like them! It may take me a bit to get comfortable with the thought of re-wiring, but seeing the difference here, I may just have to go for it!

But it wasn't until recently that I actually started reading blogs completely dedicated to decorating, and now I can't stop reading them and can't stop inspecting everything around my house that I want to change!

Here's my favorite things that Christina has done...

Mirror and Candle Centerpiece

Dollar Tree Hurricanes

which I would probably decorate like this....

Decor Chick 

Because I have a newborn, I spend a lot of time just sitting still feeding her, and this has provided me lots of time for reading blogs on my iPhone!! I love that Google Reader makes it easy for me to go through post after post without having to click on page after page! If you read lots of blogs and don't use some type of feed reader- check it out! It makes it soooo easy and updates constantly so that you know which blogs have new posts and you aren't constantly visiting blogs to see if there is anything new!

So far I have read through ALL of Just a Girl's blog (found it through Centsible Savings!)

Her organization skills make me soooooo jealous! Wish I had the patience! I'm trying!!

 Organized Laundry Room

Then while reading Just a Girl, I kept seeing "the Nester" mentioned, so now I am in the process of reading through all of her blog at The Nesting Place! I love, love, love blue furniture (if you've read even a little back through this blog, you'll obviously see it is my favorite color!), and the Nester has several pieces I love!

Blue Armoire

Dresser in Office
(Who knew dressers didn't have to stay in bedrooms?!)

Plus, both mention several other bloggers that I'm dying to read too, so I have lots more reading material to go!! If only I had as much time to actually do projects as I do to read about them!! But I love spending lots of time holding my Baby Girl, so doing projects may have to wait! :) I do have a few up my sleeves that I want to get at ASAP!

First off is a garage sale next week to get the funds to do some redecorating! With having a baby, our budget is so tight there is barely wiggle room for a can of spray paint! Hopefully, we'll sell a lot next week and maybe even find some good stuff out at the garage sales throughout the whole neighborhood!

Off to dream and read some more..........

Shark Attack!

You didn't think I actually meant a real shark right? :)

Oh yes, this baby is definitely one of my favorite things right now!

My first infomercial cave in! (Ok, that's a lie, but I'm not admitting to a couple of things I bought years ago- obviously they were stupid flops if I'm not admitting it!)

Not sure if I would've been willing to fork out the cash for this baby, if I didn't know that it actually worked! The family I used to work for owned one, and I actually had FUN cleaning their expansive amount of hardwood floors- a task I normally would leave for them to do! (Cleaning was part of my job- just nothing specific since with 7 kids the cleaning was never completed!)

I couldn't wait to get my hands on one for my house! I seriously have a thing against paying for the stupid overpriced sticks that you throw some paper towel on and push the dirt around on the floor! I've used several different kinds, and I detest them.  This thing= love!

The only bad thing is that you have to be sure and sweep up your floors well first, or it will just push the loose dirt around. Not a big deal because I keep my floors pretty well swept. I won't admit how long it had been since I actually mopped them before I got this thing! Let's just say there was no 5 second rule on my floors til I got the Shark!

I was thrilled when the hubby and I together decided it was about time we got this thing! I don't even have a huge expanse of floors to mop, but any mopping at all is a total pain to me- unless it's using this baby! And I figure it will be a good investment for whenever we buy a house- which will hopefully have hardwoods! We currently have some crappy linoleum, but at least I can keep it shiny with this thing!

We actually watched 4 or 5 different infomercials with different Shark products trying to decide which one we wanted!

As frugal and cheap as I usually am, I shelled out waaay more for this than I normally would for a simple household item! But I'm big on having my floors and surfaces clean- especially since in a couple of months Baby Girl will be crawling all over everything!

It felt like Christmas morning when I got it! In fact, I dumped it out on the living room floor and took a random horrible picture just to show the hubby it arrived! He didn't even know what he was looking at upon first glance! (I didn't save it on my phone or I'd share!)

Here is where we got it. Hate for you to see the price, but if you are interested, here ya go! The Shark Steam Mop (not the pocket!) is actually much cheaper- but also looks and works cheaper!

All these extras suckered us in! It's cheaper at Walmart or Target, but doesn't come with this stuff!



Look how amaaaaazing they make it sound!! (I know, I'm a sucker!! But at least I'm a sucker for something that WORKS and that I actually NEEDED!)

The portable steamer is great for my kitchen and bathroom countertops. Going to use it to tackle the tubs soon!

I'd really rather have this.......

just because of the cool wands that could get into more crevices, but the shark with the portable steamer was the best option for us!

There are way too many other shark products to even wrap my brain around, but check them out if you want at SharkClean.com! (I really want the vacuum cleaner, which came with a free mop- but not the pocket mop, and it costs more!)

I'll share about my Bissel carpet steam cleaner another day!! And all the disasters it has saved me from! :)

My newest favorite thing!!

It's been over a year since I've posted, and I have been dying to get back to writing and sharing my favorite things! Who knows if anyone does or will still read this, but here goes........

Here is my newest favorite thing, AND part of why I've been completely absent from the blogging world lately!

This little beauty entered our lives in July! I can't describe the amazing feelings that motherhood has brought to my life. Everything seems fresh, new, and hopeful! She is a doll!!!

I am sooooo in love!!!

Along with growing a baby the past year, I've moved TWICE (uuugghh, not our choice!), was sick a lot with baby, and was working on getting ready for her! Its a lot of work!

I've been inspired to do lots lately along with tackling the daunting task of motherhood! So far, so good- we'll see how it goes now that I'm starting to share! I'm on an organizing, cleaning, decorating, crafty kick and have lots of plans up my sleeves. I've also just started a "Biggest Loser" type bet with some members of my family! I've got lots of baby weight plus some to go!!

To end my first post back, I'll share Baby Girl's current favorite thing......

Her WubbaNub monkey-- a small stuffed monkey attached to a soothie pacifier.  Courtesy of Auntie Linda. She LOVES it. Already holds onto it, although it's way too early for her to be able to put it in her mouth herself! Man, I'll be glad when that happens! She can be screaming like crazy, pop it in and she's a happy camper. It falls out, and she screams again! Love it! Love HER!!