Daisy's Favorite Things

Christmas Card Time!

2011-11-22T20:34:00.001-06:00

I'm ALL about free stuff. I'm big into couponing....even tried to write a blog about that, but I just wasn't passionate about it!

I try every year to get our Christmas cards made for free. So far, I've been pretty successful! Those things can be expensive!!

I ordered some a few weeks ago from an offer that's no longer available, but wanted to share about this one. Nope, I'm not gonna get anything from it if you order anything (although I do get $10 off my next order for blogging about it, just wanna keep it real here! So you can even ignore this if you want!).

You can sign up here through House Party to send your friends 10 free cards- just send the offer to 5 different friends, and you'll get a free shipping code. I received an email for the 10 free cards, and shared it to get 10 free cards PLUS free shipping codes!

Then I easily uploaded my pics from Bledsoe Photography (yes, I have an awesome photog who gives us the right to print her pics however we like!), and got to work making our card!

I have to say.....this was THE easiest photo making process I've experienced so far. Lots of other sites have been slower or more difficult to load and move pics around. This was a BREEZE!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Pretty sure I'll be using my $10 credit to order more of these....as long as it comes soon enough! :)

Coffee please!!

2011-11-09T14:53:00.004-06:00

I have a serious addiction!

Ok yes, I have an addiction to making signs.....but I also have an addiction to coffee!! Why not combine those addictions! :)

This one I designed for a customer, who liked my french signs, but wanted it to be about coffee. I made her an opposite colored one, and used the negative of the stencil to make this one.

Another with similar wording, but a mug this time, if you aren't into the vintage graphic....

And a nod to my favorite drink of the season........

Love these ladies for hosting these great parties!!

Business updates- Facebook, Craft fair, and Etsy!

2011-11-02T20:12:00.002-05:00

FACEBOOK NEWS!!!

I have pics of all my signs currently available for sale posted on my Facebook business page!

Check it out, like the page, and contact me if you are interested in anything! We can set up a Paypal payment, so your purchase is secure! You can always contact me at daisysfavoritethings at yahoo dot com if you want to place an order!

Also I'm planning on some giveaways soon, from my own stuff, and from a few other businesses! Yay!! So be sure to like my page to learn about the giveaways quickly!

CRAFT FAIR NEWS!!!

I'll be selling signs this Saturday (Nov 5th) at Mount Juliet Christian Academy in Mt. Juliet, TN! I'm super excited about this huge event. This will be my second craft fair, and I'm glad one this huge isn't my first!! You can find out more about this event if you are local by visiting their facebook page.

MJCA Shopping Extravaganza

ETSY NEWS!!
Yep, totally been slacking here! I haven't known what to post for sale and what to keep out for the craft fair I did last month and one this weekend, so there is nothing in it still!!

Honest, next week (or asap after this weekend!), it'll be loaded up!! I have lots of new ideas for stuff that I want to make that I feel has a little bit more of an "etsy" feel vs the craft fair feel! :)

Go ahead and check out my shop to favorite it, so you'll know when stuff is added!

And because I hate to leave a post without a pic......here's a sneak peek at the professional pics we had done this week (because I needed another crazy activity to add to my schedule!!). Picture by Shanell Bledsoe, my fave photog!!

My little girl LOVES being outside!!

Christmas Subway Art

2011-11-01T16:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I posted some fall subway art, and I figure since it's November 1st, it's ok to start with Christmas, right?? I mean we'll still be displaying our fall stuff *wink.* But dreaming of Christmas started about two months ago for me!!

While I only made one design for fall, I made several for Christmas!

Nativity Subway art

Christmas Carols Subway art

Fantasy Christmas

Hop on the Subway!

2011-10-31T23:04:00.001-05:00

I made a ton of Subway art recently, and I'm having a hard time letting it go!

I *may* have had it hanging around my house in between craft fairs! :)

Here's some fall subway art I've been working on in several colors! A few of them are already gone, some will hopefuly be gone after this weekend!

Is there anything better about fall than a Pumpkin Spice latte?? Or milkshake?? :) Until recently it was still definitely warm enough for milkshakes still! Speaking of Pumpkin Spice.....I've got some coffee signs coming soon, but next up is Christmas Subway Art!

Fall Rosette Wreath

2011-10-11T01:13:00.004-05:00

So after weeks of making signs for the craft fair, I was ready to do some fall decorating and some crafting other than signs! (No worries, I'm still making signs and working on custom orders!)

As soon as I saw this wreath, I knew I had to make something similar!

I love, love, love the Shanty 2 Chic sisters! They inspire me constantly!

I used their rolled rosette tutorial to make the burlap flowers.

I'd already been rolling flowers for other projects (some for signs, some for recent gifts!) and doing lots of other stuff with hot glue lately, so I went simple and only filled up about a 3rd of the wreath.

I also tried some mini pumpkins on it, but I wasn't thrilled with them. Thought they looked kind of goofy!

Everything I already had on hand, so just now it was a free wreath, but I'd say in reality, it cost me under $3 in reality since the H was $1 at Hobby Lobby, the wreath was from the Dollar Tree, and the burlap was from a scrap I got at a yard sale!

Love these ladies for posting these great parties!!

My first craft fair!

2011-10-06T10:14:00.003-05:00

So my first craft fair wasn't a huge $$ success, but it WAS a success in that I met a lot of great people, got the word out about my signs, and made a little $$ to boot! There wasn't as much traffic as I'd expected, but it was such a great thing that I actually got started in this new venture in my life!

I prepared over 100 signs for the fair, so I have loooots of inventory to sell now!

I had a great booth neighbor, who I plan on doing some swapping, promoting each others stuff!

I traded for a few things with other vendors, so I walked away with some great stuff!!

And now I know how to set up and run a booth, so I'm very happy with how things went!

Now, I'm ready to find the bottom of all the piles that accumulated in my house while I was knee deep in sign projects!!

So far, everything is clean except my room (always the last to be cleaned!) and the garage which was project central and is now littered with signs that need a place to be stored (but hopefully not for long!)

Here's a few more peeks at my booth!

Beachy display

Chalkboard Sign for the booth

Subway Art on my dad's ooooold ladder! Looooved this display and love my dad for putting it together and letting me put nails in his ladder! I love this ladder and have already laid my claim on it for when he's done!

Main table with Christmas signs and other random signs. The room divider behind was also my dad's idea, and it was perfect for hanging up my bunting and a few signs! I never even thought of putting anything up like that, and I'd love to get old shutters for next time!

A closer look at all the random signs, and blessings blocks.

A closer look at the Christmas signs!

Fall table. Loved this display! With my pumpkins I made last year and a rag bunting I threw together recently when I was tired of making so many signs in a row!

This Frenchy display was possibly my favorite! I found this vintage blue suitcase at a huge church yardsale the week before. The blue perfectly matched the ribbons in the 8x10 signs, and I used my Paris clothespins from Shabby Creek Designs (Gina is my etsy superstar, aqua-loving, Shabby-beachy-chic hero!!)

I'm adding a facebook page soon, and will announce it here. If you'd like to purchase any of my signs they are going there first at discounted prices through October, then will hit the etsy store (plus more!). I realize that unless you know me, you'll probably want to buy through etsy, so I'll set up a special listing at the current prices if you'd really like something!

Selling signs today!

2011-10-01T09:10:00.001-05:00

I'm selling my signs today in Lebanon, TN at The Journey Church

Visit the Facebook Page for more info!

If you are here because of the Shopping Extravaganza (or because I finally "outed" my blog on Facebook!), Welcome! Look around for awhile!

I promise to be a better blogger now that people are (hopefully!) reading!

Soon my Etsy shop will be officially open and ready to go!

I am also offering discounted prices on any custom orders throughout the month of October if you contact me personally through here, my email (daisysfavoritethings at yahoo dot com - just type that up like a normal email address! writing it out to avoid the web crawlers spam!), or if you know me through another way!

Just about any sign you see here on my blog, shop, or if you've seen them in person can be recreated!

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Ready for fall!

2011-09-23T08:07:00.000-05:00

Fall is on it's way in, although it sure doesn't feel like it around here yet!

Here's a few fall inspired pieces!

I'm not the biggest fan of Haloween, but I did conceed to making a few of these Boo signs!

I'm also not the biggest fan of the whole fall color scheme, orange, yellow, and red. Not bad colors but they'd look AWFUL with the blue wall that covers my dining room and living room! I stick to browns, tans, whites, and even blues for my own fall decor!

But I made a few yellow and orange signs!

More Beach Signs

2011-09-08T23:28:00.004-05:00

**Warning**
This may be the title a lot in the future! While I loooove making all kinds of signs, the beach ones are the ones that make my heart pitter patter!! :)

I'm still working on things for the etsy shop, but I'm also working for a craft fair in October so I'll probably postpone the etsy shop opening until then! I'll put what doesn't sell, and add more!

I see lots of these blocks in my future......

And lots of Beach House signs of course!

(Hey look! There's my hair shadow! Ooops!)

Except for the last two, which I painted back over because too much seeped under the stencils, I did all these with my regular method- spray paint the letter color, lay the stencils I cut with my Silhouette, spray the background color, remove stencil, sand, and seal!

French Signs

2011-08-20T22:50:00.005-05:00

Frenchy grey and white series of signs....working on them for the etsy shop!

Inspired by graphics from The Graphics Fairy, the text and scrolly thing here are both from there. I edited and streched the scrolly thing a little bit to make it fit here, there was another intricate design originally around the text graphic, but it was too complicated for me to trace in my Silhouette Studio program!

I used my usual method here, paint the font color, apply stencils I've cut from my Silhouette and apply the background color on top, remove the stencil, and sand to distress.

Text here inspired by the previous sign.....

Which in turn inspired these Paris signs......

And this splintery piece of wood was crying out to be a beach sign, while I was still in a greyish mood!

And I couldn't help setting up a little vignette in the dining room to see if the Paris stuff would actually work in my house! I love this little area, but it is BAD for picture taking....no natural light and the blue wall doesn't help that out!

Still it was cute, used some white, vintagey and frenchy things I could find around the house. Candles came from The Shabby Creek Cottage!

I usually party at these places.........

Beach Signs to sell!

2011-08-14T20:44:00.005-05:00

Getting started on things for the etsy shop opening soon!

Here's the latest!

I made these with scraps of wood, and my usual method. Spray paint, lay the stencils I've cut from my Silhouette machine, spray paint with the top color, remove the stencils, then distress!

I'm loving the beach sign, love the simplicity of it and the distressing on it.

I drew the "houses" myself in the Silhouette Studio program. I'm working on finding/drawing graphics I can use on things I sell, and I'm not sure if I love it, but hey, I made an attempt! I'm thinking of distressing the beach house more.

Gotta get together a few more before opening the shop, but hoping to soon!

I usually party at these places.........

Chalkboard projects

2011-08-06T08:06:00.003-05:00

**Working hard on getting stuff ready for my etsy shop opening soon!
Add http://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbydaisy to your favorites,
so you'll know when it's up!**

These were all done awhile ago, but I've never posted about them! I wanted to join in on Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special Chalk Board edition, so here ya go!

(Sorry the camera is on the fritz, so iphone pics is all I've got!

By the door to the guest room.....

I used this old frame, that was already beautiful as is, and sprayed the cardboard backing with chalkboard spray paint!! I had no idea if this would actually work on the cardboard, but it did!!! Awesome!! I usually customize it when we have guests spend the night!

Just one note- I use regular chalk with this one, and not the chalk pen!

You can read about that Beach Cottage sign here!

On the fridge......

...a menu board I made from a plain ole, cheap whiteboard. It had writing on it that wouldn't erase off, so I covered it up with chalkboard spray paint, and my favorite aqua spray paint! I'd also been wanting a menu board so the hubby would quit asking what was for dinner repeatedly!

Sometimes, I use it as his honey-do list too! I've got another of the same that I've got to finish to be his official to-do list!

Beside the fridge is the drink station......

I simply cut out black vinyl and used a chalk pen to label the glass canisters. It really does wipe off to be re-labeled if needed!

I usually party at these places.........

Shower Gift Signs

2011-08-05T20:51:00.004-05:00

**Working hard on getting stuff ready for my etsy shop opening soon!
Add http://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbydaisy to your favorites,

so you'll know when it's up!**

I made these as a gift for a friend getting married this weekend.

Inspired by the birds and teal colors on her wedding china..........

And inspired by her love for bikes and her favorite color purple.......

And can't forget to mention that I straight up copied this design from the Silhouette Blog!

Too bad you can't sell anything with the Silhouette images on them, otherwise I'd be cranking out lots of that one with the birds on it. Gotta look into some uncopywrighted images so I can do something like that! Since I copied the Silhouette idea, I'll stick to it being a gift! :) I did pick a different bike just because I thought the purple made it girlie enough already!

I usually party at these places.........

Shelf Re-do

2011-07-11T19:05:00.003-05:00

Please forgive me for posting some iPhone pics! My camera is broken! Accck!

I found this shelf at Goodwill and looked past it's old "country kitchen" appearance to see it for what it could become!

I sprayed it with Heirloom White, then mixed a few differnt blues, watered them down and brushed them on with my Purdy brush!

I left the top part under the shelf blank while I painted the rest and thought of what I should paint there. I thought a word would add a little more interest!

Decided on OCEAN, cut it with my Silhouette, and painted over the letters with the blue after placing them on. Then I peeled off the letters and smeared a slight bit of blue back on top of the letters!

I sanded the whole thing to bring out some of the cream beneath. It was soooo easy to sand since I'd watered down the paint!

I'm loving how it turned out and pretty sure this will go in the guest room. Got company coming in a week and hoping to have it a little more fixed up by then!

Linking up...

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After

Beach and Lake Signs

2011-07-10T20:17:00.002-05:00

I found these rough fence posts at Home Depot, that I thought would make great signs!

I had them cut each into three pieces and the top boards had a point. I sanded down one board to make both sides pointy but it was too much work to do it again! (Yeah, I need to get a saw!)

I made the Lake Michigan one for my sis-in-law's bday. She grew up on Lake Michigan, but now lives close to me in Nashville with my bro and their fam!

The Beach Cottage one was for me..........

I immediately hung it in the guest room!

It was the perfect completion to the doorway, along with my hanging starfish and jute, DIYed chalkboard and a clearanced rack that was missing a hook, which I simply replaced with a starfish! It's right by the laundry, so I hang up our swimsuits to dry there!

I love the rough splintery-ness of the wood!

Quick rundown of how I made them (I love learning new methods of painting signs so leave me any links in comments if you've made any different ways!)

Sprayed each board with the color I wanted the letters to be

Cut out the letters on contact paper with my Silhouette

Pressed the letters FIRMLY onto the boards. (a little hard to do since they are so rough, I used one of those Pampered Chef Scrapers!

Sprayed again over letters with the color I wanted the letters to seal it a bit.

Sprayed over the letters again with the main color of the board (Heirloom White for both!)

Peeled letters off!

No sanding needed here to make it look rough!

I'm usually hanging out at these parties........

Beachy Greys and Blues

2011-06-03T20:59:00.005-05:00

I've been seeing lots of grey and blue projects floating around blogland and was inspired to paint this yard sale find box, then a sign afterwards with the leftover paint I'd mixed.

The box had cute features, but looked like a project gone bad. Looked like someone hand made it with wires and boards, although the bottom part looked like it was meant to be a box. The wires holding the slats of the box together where letting the slats slide everywhere, and the paint job was B-A-D! Looked like someone had maybe started to whitewash it and gave up, or just did that bad of a job!

What?? Not so bad you say? Look closer......

I glued some of the wires to the boards to make it steadier, and then gave it a paint job of mixed grey, white, and blue paints. Really no method to how I did it, just kept painting and dabbing at the different colors, watering them down, mixing them etc.

I think it looked much better that I painted over the wires, but it was hard to make it look nice! It definitely still looks a little sloppy but that sort of adds to its charm now!

I threw out the old jute that tied it up, and braided some lighter string (sisal? from the Dollar Tree, can't remember the name of it though!).

It's not perfect, but for $.50 at a yard sale and some super cheap oops paint, I love it!

I'm thinking of stenciling something on it? What do you think? Think a pencil transfer would work? Or mabye if I let it "cure" for a bit a Silhouette made stencil would work!

I took the leftover paint and threw it on some leftover MDF board so it wouldn't go to waste!

I had no idea what I was going to paint on it, but pulled out the stencils I also got at a yard sale and went to work!

I would've used my Silhouette instead, but I'm out of vinyl that I'd actually keep on a sign, and couldn't make a stencil out of it since it's latex paint and I've learned the hard way that it peels off! Ha!

I probably used too much paint because I don't love how the letters turned out when you look up close. I also painted the starfish too close to the top of the board- just freehanded that and the sand dollar so they are kind of random!

See kinda goofy!

This will probably be going on a up high built in shelf in the living room, It goes really well with the wall color!

(This my dining room shelf I just threw it here to see how it looked!)

Definitely not perfect projects, but I'm liking them! They are helping me work on my painting "skills" too!

Furniture Re-dos in progress

2011-05-20T20:23:00.003-05:00

Way too many furniture projects going on right now! I tend to get either bored, or preoccupied with life too easily to finish them up! However, I'm itching to get at it and get some stuff DONE!!

Here's what's going on now:

Two of these end tables (also used as coffee tables in our weird, but oh so comfy C shaped couch!) are going from this:

To this:

Don't let the bad pic fool you! It's not even close to finished! Still have a few places to sand down, then put on the 3rd coat (uuuuck!), and seal this one. And the other one only has one black coat and needs lots of work.

This shelf is getting stripped and painted cream (even the legs!) and probably some nautical stripes for the guest bedroom. So far I've only painted the top and part of the legs (just to see if that "metal" could be painted!)

This table and chairs are getting painted white. At least the chairs and the legs of the table. I'm thinking of just stripping down the top to match the wood on the china cabinet and the buffet. I posted here about how I'm re-covering the chairs, and so far I've only sanded down the two chairs that aren't in use.

I really want to paint our bedroom furniture (dresser, nightstand, and headboard) that are this weird pressed wood, but I'm not sure what to do with them yet! Maybe white? I'm trying out a white runner to see what I think! No progress made here yet except ideas running through my head!

This is the best pic I have of it right now, but you can see an idea of the stuff above it that will stay so I need a dresser to match!!

This little end table I picked up at a yard sale a few weeks ago for 5 bucks! The concept of decoupaged maps on top is a good one, it was just executed poorly with not so pretty maps!

Fortunately, they are ripping off pretty easily to reveal this pretty wood below! Not sure yet if I'm going to strip and restain, or paint it a color. Maybe the same blue I paint the stripes on the shelf above since it's also for the guest room!

Then there is the chest that I've had since I was a little girl that I'm redoing for Baby Girl's room. I still have to make a new lid for it (the current one is way too heavy and I'm scared she'll bash her head in it someday!), cover the lid to make it a cushioned seat, and repaint it white. It's currently a cream color, and I want it to match her white crib!

So, there you have it! At lesat one piece needs to be done for ever room in the house! And that's not even counting other things I'm considering painting! These are just all in my ASAP list, the rest will have to wait! Unfortunately, only paint is in the budget for updating the decor in my home! No budget for new furniture that's ready to go in my style!

Now, if I can just get the stinker to take naps longer than 30 min, maybe we can make some progress!

Chair Recover

2011-05-17T23:36:00.003-05:00

I've been dyyyyyying to attack my parent's old dining room set they gave me a few months ago!

Planning to paint it (white I think!), but I couldn't look at the nasty '70ish material covering the seats one second longer!

I only got one chair semi-finished tonight so I'll still have to look at them awhile longer, but I am soooooo in love with this new redo!

Hopefully, you can tell the new one is the one on the left! If you're diggin the one on the right- wish you could see it in person- IIIICK!!!

NEW

Drop cloth cover, painted on nautical stripes using painter's tape and some navy paint I've had forever and use lots in my bedroom.

I'm thinking of painting some numbers over on the other side and putting the stripes in different areas on the other 5 chairs. Yep, I've got 5 more to go!

OLD

It's this nasty, icky, rough, weaved fabric that is probably older than me! Not fun to remove, took a lot of pulling with a flat head screw driver and pliers to get the rusty old nails out!

Linking up here:

Baby Girl Lamp Update

2011-04-13T00:10:00.002-05:00

I found these adorable little butterflies at Dollar Tree and thought they'd be perfect on Baby Girl's lamp! It's been needing something!

The butterflies had little wires to wrap around, ummm I'm not sure what! It had to come off to get them to stick to the lamp, but I couldn't cut it too shore because the wire was also part of the actual butterfly!

I added some two sided sticky foam to the back and simply stuck them on!

I added the rest to little buckets also purchased at the Dollar Tree.

Simple update, easy to change! Which I'm sure I will because in a couple years she'll be able to yank those suckers right of!! Liking it for now!

Thrifting Trips

2011-04-12T23:47:00.003-05:00

I stopped by Goodwill today and an antique store this weekend. Pretty sure nothing that I picked up was an actual antique, but I'm happy about my scores all the same!

GOODWILL

A cheese dome and marble platter, cake dome, jar with cork, and two fourth of July-ish buckets that match the 4th of July decor I already have!

The cheese dome and buckets were half off and the cheese dome was the most expensive thing at $3.50! I'm probably not going to use the marble platter under the cheese dome as it was kinda ugly and VERY heavy, but I've been looking and looking for one I was willing to shell out the $$ for! I think I can find a round wood block to put under it and stack on a candle stick to make a cloche! I know, I'm soooo late to the cloche party it will be out of style by the time I get it made, but I don't care!

There was no platter for the cake dome, but pretty sure I can make any big plate work. I think I may actually use it to display a cake/cupcake or some other goodies. It made me want to bake as soon as I got home! The tall corked jar will surely get some shells, rocks or sand stacked in it!

Total spent= about $8

Antique store

A large planter, two lighthouse lamps + shades (one was already displayed on the night stand so couldn't make it to the picture party!), a Reader's Digest book, and a chippy/beachy picture frame.

Total= around $30

I've recently started collecting the Reader's Digest collections that match my decor, and the lamps were the hubby's pick! We weren't even gonna ask about them since they weren't marked, but they hubby really liked them. $7.50 each! He was sold on that, but I was worried about finding shades I liked. Turns out the shades were right behind the lamps and came with them, we just didn't see them!

I tried to get a good pic of the crackley finish on the planter, but didn't really succeed! It will perfectly match my front door decor, and I'm hoping I can revive my gerber daisies to replant in it. I just noticed this evening they were severely droop! Ooooops! We've had lots of rain lately and I thought it was getting to them!

*Hopefully* I'll be sharing what I did with some of these finds soon!

Flip Flop Beachy Sign

2011-03-30T20:32:00.005-05:00

I found this sign recently at TJ Maxx.

I was in love with it, and brought it home for just $6! Not too bad!!

Except I knew my BFF would be in love with it too, and if she lived any closer- she'd probably steal it!

So, having come off of the success of my last sign, I snapped a pic of this one, returned it, and got cracking on TWO of my own! (One for me, one for the BFF!)

I used the same methods as my last sign, using my Silhouette for the letters, but freehanded the flipflops. I probably could've downloaded a flip flop, but I'm trying my hand at some freehanding (haha) so that I can eventually make signs to sell. All that legal mumbo jumbo on the Silhouette site says you can't use their downloads to sell but only to make things for personal use (or to give away!) See, some of us do read that stuff!!

I'd already primed the board and drilled holes to hang when I made the last sign, so I got started painting it with a great teal color (very similar to the original!). I've been having fantastic luck at buying these $.50 little things of oops paint at Home Depot!

Used the Silhouette to make the words, in vinyl so I can peel off later.....

Lightly covered with two coats of a creamy color paint (using what I've got- it's some leftover standard wall paint!). I wanted there to be some brush strokes and for the original color to show through some.

I used the pencil transfer method to get the flip flop outline on the sign- instead of risking messing it up while freehanding on the board. I drew the flip flops, heavily traced it on the other side, and then put the heavily traced side down, and scribbled over the other side, which transfers the heavy line to the board! I even used the same paper again by just tracing a little bit more and scribbling again on the other board!

It leaves a perfect outline that you can paint over!

Filled in with the same teal and cream colors

Used a pencil eraser to make polkadots- didn't worry if I left a few blogs cause I was gonna sand it!

Peeled off the vinyl letters to reveal the teal below, and sanded away!

I thought it needed outlining and tried it out with a sharpie....which looks good far away, but bad up close. I bought a paint pen that I'll be reoutlining with (I only did the sharpie on the one, since it was my "test" one I'm keeping for myself!). Except, I can't find that paint pen anywhere, so I'm going ahead with pics like this!! I also strung some jute through the holes to hang it up! Beautiful spring day (that dissappeared behind a few weeks of cold rain now!), hang it up in gorgeous blooming tree (despite the sneezing that you know will ensue!) and snap lots of pics!

Here's hoping that sun that we got a preview of for a few days will return so I can get more sign making done!!

Linking up at some of these parties!

Check out a brand new party here at Cherry Street Cottage!

Baby Girl Pillows

2011-03-16T22:46:00.004-05:00

I'm still trying to tackle the list of things to do for Baby Girl's room. Yep, my almost 8 month old Baby Girl's room!! It's a process for me, ok?

I just recently whipped up a bunch of pillows from scraps I had from other stuff for her room.

The 2 Michael Miller prints are her main ones, used in her bedding, changing table pad, curtains, diaper bag, and rocking chair. (None made by me!!)

The other two, she has blankets made out of- the animal print blanket made by me!

Sewing pillows, blankets, and burp cloths is all I've mastered so far! Oh and her changing table cover, which I hope to feature soon!

I've got plans to paint, replace the lid and cover the lid of this hope chest here, that matches the furniture I had as a kid. I got rid of the rest of the set before I knew I was pregnant! Had I been reading blogs at the time, I may have kept it. However it had over 20 years worth of layers of glossy paint, so I'm not sure I could've handled the experience!

This bench will get a coat of white, and possibly black painted scrolls.

I'm hoping this will be a lovely little spot for her to curl up and read some books as she grows older!

Just needs a few more bigger pillows that I may have to actually buy fabric for instead of resorting to scraps that only yeild small pillows! :)

Linking up to............

NC Beaches Subway Art

2011-03-14T20:25:00.008-05:00

I just got back from a trip to Wilmington with my family and my BFF (I wrote about my thrifting/shopping there here!)

Before I went, I made this sign for my BFF!

We usually hit up the NC coast, beaches and cities a bit inland around 2-3 times a year. She's much closer since she lives in Charlotte, but I still try to make it as much as I can even from far away Nashville!

I had a vision of this sign before I made it, and it surpassed my expectations!

Here it is:

And here's how I did it!

- 11x14 wood board from Home Depot
I got a huge board from Home Depot cut down into 6 11x14 pieces, plus a few small leftover pieced I kept for other projects! I can't remember what this board was called, but it was right by the MDF boards.

- Drilled small holes in the top to string jute (didn't take pics of this!)

- Sanded around holes to make them smooth

- Painted board White

Why are my fingers covered in paint? Oh I left out a step!

- Clean up the mess that happens when you shake a bucket of paint that has the LID ON LOOSE!!!

Have to say, I'm kinda glad that it was a cold day, and I painted inside! At least everything I spilled on was already white or almost white! It actually was trim paint that I used so I put it to use by touching up some spots in the house. Don't think the dishwasher needed that new coat though! Ha!

- Used Silhouette machine to print out beaches/cities onto vinyl, used "weld" tool to make each word one piece- makes it easier to transfer in my opinion! You could use stencils or lots of other things too!

- Applied vinyl letters to board.

I *could* have done this reverse, painted the board black and applied the white vinyl on top, but I wanted a more finished look.

- Spray painted flat black over the top, didn't want a glossy look for this project. Home Depot carries a basic flat or glossy black for $.99!

Yeah, that *blinding*white may be some leftover paint!

- Peeled off letters with tweezers.

I thought it would benefit me to work quickly before the paint dried, but turned out that the letters at the end were actually easier to get off because I didn't smear any paint. (easily wiped up where I did smear though!)

Oh yeah, these are my Revlon tweezers that I cannot live without for my eyebrow plucking!! I should get some ones I can get paint all over! I did give them a good scrubbing....when I went to pluck my eyebrows the next time!

Let's add some black paint on the hands to those leftover white flecks!

- String jute through holes, tie knots and hang!

I originally purchased sawtooth hangers to put on the back, but changed my mind. So glad I did because I love the look of the jute, and it was much easier! I was just gonna wing it and hope the sawtooth hangers would work on the thin piece of wood!

- Debate over actually delivering this to BFF cause I am in loooooove with it, but give in when I realize I can do it all over again!

- Take lots and lots of pics of it, outside and in!

It's safe to say I WILL be doing this again!

I have plans for a bigger black and white one using vacation spots for me and the hubby (it'll go on the wall next to those black and jute apothecary jars you see above!!), and another one with these same beaches for me, but blues, tans, and shabbied up which will match our guest room! At least thats the plans I have for now!

I'll be linking up here!

Wilmington Thrifting/Antiquing Trip

2011-03-12T09:59:00.009-06:00

We just got back this week from vacation in Wilmington,NC, visiting with my BFF, her sister and their little girls! It was a blast!

I'm soooooo blessed to have a hubby who puts up with my love for shopping! But perhaps its because instead of visiting all the expensive botiques, I'd rather go to the little antique shops (and mostly just browse!) and hit up all the thrift stores!!

We made out pretty well!! The hubby even picked out some stuff!!

We hit up several adorable antique stores, BUT we went to the thrift stores first!! That made the prices of some of the adorable antique stores seem outrageous!

Here's some of my cute antiquing finds, that I loved but didn't purchase!
(click on the names of the stores for more info on them!)

Shop of Seagate

This was my favorite store. On the small side, but gorgeous stuff, some expensive, some super affordable! I wanted to buy almost EVERYTHING there!!

Adore everything in this window display!

Gorgeous, chunky, shabby blue frame! (Hubby thought it was a mirror at first glance!) I could totally see this surrounding some starfish, sand dollars, or something else beachy/nautical! I might even have to make something like this for myself! And there's a peek at a cute bench to the right of it!

They also have a separate room of just furniture that was fantastic! I loved this cute little writing desk!

Thrill of the Hunt

Wish I'd snapped more pics, but I was sooo busy looking! They had amazing displays plus areas you really had to dig through to see all the great stuff! They had tons of brightly colored furniture with starfish on the knobs! So much gorgeous and funky stuff!!

The Ivy Cottage

This place has THREE buildings plus a warehouse, jam packed with gorgeous vintage and antique stuff!! Sorta pricey but some stuff was definitely affordable! There's soooo much to look at! Lots of china, glass, furniture. Beautiful stuff!!

I adored the chippiness of this multi-colored cabinet, and saw several pieces like it!

And here's what I did purchase!

Shop of Segate

I loooooved this little bouy bird house!! The hubby was actually the one who pointed it out! It was way up high on a shelf! The shopkeeper actually said she had just noticed it and marveled herself at the $9 price tag! It's worn, chipping, rusty, and just wonderful!! That cute rusty plaque on the back says "BARNSTORM."

Goodwill and Salvation Army finds

I noticed Goodwill prices in Wilmington to be SOOOOOO much cheaper! While they seemed to have less homegoods stuff to go through, and it wasn't that organized- it was MUCH better selection that my stores at home- or else no one in Wilmington has my taste like it seems people in Nashville do!

Here's the breakdown:

Salvation Army

$3 -Elephant picture frame (great chunky frame that I'll prob whitewash)
$1.99- Teapot (can anyone tell me what this is? my mom has bowls like this which is why I loved it but I don't know what it is!)
$.49 ea Milk glass vases (eeewww dirty, but cleaned up perfectly! I saw the same ones at my Good will for $1 more!)
$.29 Widemouth Ball jar (hello cheapo!)

Goodwill

$1.99- Cream and sugar pots- that perfectly match the teapot! What luck!
$1.59- Wine bucket
$.59- Halloween candy bucket- perfect for Baby Girl this fall!
$.69- Snowman bucket
Lighthouse welcome sign (a little rusty painted part but cleaned up great!)- $2

Vintage Values Finds

This store was GREAT!! It's Goodwill-ish looking and prices on vintage stuff!! Some stuff is a little more expensive because they KNOW it's vintage, but it was still a much better deal than true vintage/antique shops! These stores in Wilmington benefit domestic violence shelters, so that makes it even better!

While I liked all of the stuff from Goodwill and Salvation Army that we bought, I LOVED all of these things!

I'm not sure what the cute little boats are made of, aluminum? They are really cute though! They say Nina and Pinta, but there was no Santa Maria or I would've bought it too!! I just saw bigger boats like it at my Goodwill for quadruple the price! The books are old and amazing- good tiltes even! The little coke canister is from 1992- so practically vintage and it was a steal! The hubby picked out the beer stein- much better than the $40-$65 ones we saw at antique stores! And I think I will shabby up the wooden shell candle holder!

Price breakdown:

$2 each- Vintage books from 1945-1952 (there will be no tearing up of these! They are still readable classics!)
$1.99 each- Nina and Pinta boats
$4.99- Beer stein (steal!!)
$1.99- almost vintage Coca-cola tin
$1.99- wooden shell candle stick

I'm sooooo happy with all of our purchases! I really feel like I got more bang for my buck too with finding things in thrift stores vs buying from antique stores! (They just may have had to wipe up more of my drool over all the antique stuff!!)

Most of these things were unusual purchase for me, but they were all things that I loved! I picked up so many more things that I liked, but if I didn't know what I would do with it or if it didn't go with stuff I already had, I put it back! I think I made out pretty well, what do you think?!

I'll soon show how I'm using some of these things!

Linking up!!

Apothecary Beach Display

2011-02-22T14:24:00.004-06:00

I'm getting pretty tired of decorating in my dining room- switching it out for every season. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I just need a change of pace/room!

Inspired by Emerald Cove's post on her apothecary jars in her bedroom.....

I thought I'd see what I could do with mine on my bedroom dresser! I posted about my recent Goodwill apothecary finds here, and decided to use them with beachy finds like Michelle did!

By the way, GOOOOOO see what she did with her bedroom and the AMAZING faux fireplace!! I want to steal every idea in there!!

My bedroom has been needing a change, but I've been working on so much else that I've put it off! This was a quick and easy change though!

Here's the before of the decor on top!

It's been like this since Christmas when I removed a shelf unit to make room for Baby Girl who stayed in our room since company stayed in hers. Some of the stuff from the shelf ended up here! I've got plans to redo the dresser that I slapped paint on awhile back without prepping it correctly! This was never how I intended for it to look!

And the after!

I glued the small apothecary jar up onto a Dollar Tree candle stick which I like much better! Added my driftwood sign I made (which I'm super glad I finally found a good home for!), lots of shells and sand- some bought some gathered from beaches myself, and a picture of Baby Girl's first view of the ocean last month at Tybee Island, GA (I'll be replacing this with a real pic! It's a computer printout for a quick fix!). I got the frame at Dollar Tree years ago! Love it and wish I'd gotten more at the time!

I also moved the crab sign down about 6 inches and am liking it alot better!

I also found some old, falling apart books and tied them with ribbon and twine. I'm already not super loving the way I tied them, so I'm looking into fixing that!

Here's some more close ups of details...

I still think it needs something else around it, but this wall is limited because our huge TV shelves are to the left of it! I also need to do something about the clock I removed! It's so super ugly, but functional! I need to see the time in the middle of the night to know if Baby Girl is waking up because she's hungry or just needs to be soothed back to sleep!

So far, I'm super happy about this display! I love finding inspiration around bloggy land!

For more inspiration, check out these lovely ladies and their fantasitc parties I'm linking this to!

Goodwill Glass Treasures

2011-02-22T13:22:00.006-06:00

I've been meaning to post about my Goodwill finds, some of which I've already been displaying!

I found these lovely aqua glass sweeties a few weeks ago and used them in my Valentine's decor and now in my spring decor........

The bottle was only $1.99 and the little candle holder was $.99. It acutally has a sticker from World Market on the bottom!

I also found this adorable tiny apothecary jar at the beginning of the year that I plopped on a Goodwill candle holder for my winter decor, and then put it here for my spring decor.....

Then yesterday, my heart literally pitter-pattered when I came across this beaaauuuuty!

(I got too excited styling it and forgot the before, before picture! This is not how it ended up, you'll see that soon!)

I've been dyiiiing for an apothecary jar! A real one! But didn't want to fork over the dough! I praaaayed it was going to be something I could afford! Now, I'm not really sure what the going rate on a good "deal" for one of these is, but I was thrilled with the $3.99 price tag!

I snatched it up, wrapped my arms around it and carried it through the rest of the store while still searching! It ended up being the only thing I walked out with yesterday, and I was happy as could be!

It is actually much larger and sturdier than it appears here. It seems like a quality piece!

Next up, how I am using this beautiful apothecary jar, and how I'm transforming the small one to match!

I've got a few more Goodwill treasures that I still have to makeover before I show them off!

Linking to Centsible Saving's Thrifty Thursday (after all it's HER fault I got into this thrifting, home decor world!)

Baby Girl's Bow Holder

2011-02-19T21:17:00.001-06:00

I've been meaning to make Baby Girl a bow holder for quite awhile now, but wasn't sure what I was going to do!

I've got so many projects to do on her room still (and she's almost 7 months old already!!), so I needed something super easy!

My mom bought me this hanging organizer/dry erase board awhile back from Ross' for $1.99.

(Imagine it without the blue ribbon here I forgot that first pic!)

You can't really tell from the picture but it was really cheaply made and wasn't going to work to really write on as a dry erase board. Plus, what does a baby need with one of those! But at under $2, I knew I'd come up with something!

The fabric is cute, but the board is just cardboard around the edges under the fabric and a thin floppy piece of shiny....I don't know what! Super thin papery whiteboard? It's no wonder it ended up on clearance! However the fabric matches her room really well.

I ran across this ladybud/flower cutout ribbon from the $1 bins at Michaels the other day. I bought it before Baby Girl was ever born and knew I'd have a use for it someday!

I literally just cut, and stapled it to the cardboard- which you could reach up under the fabric to get to.

Then I hung up all her bows and clips on the ribbon! Love the way it looks!

(I don't know why the pic makes it look like that 3rd one is crooked!)

Then, the bottom pocket was a little floppy and hung way down, while the top ones are separated. So I pinned it with a leftover rosette from Baby Girl's wreath.

I stuck one on the pockets above, just to match a little even though it didn't need it!

Yep, that headband on the right looks just like the fabric on the organizer!

The top pockets hold her headbands and the bottom has hats! (So teeny you can't really see them!)

I may make some more to put across the top of it just to fancy it up a bit, but this is on the back of her door so no one will really see it unless they go in her room and shut the door!

Slooooowly working through my list of Baby Girl Projects! Yep, I should have more done since she's almost 7 months, but understand I didn't start reading decor/crafting blogs until after she was born! Aaaand I took so long deciding on her theme, I didn't even start her room until a month and a half before she came!

Touches of Spring!

2011-02-17T22:18:00.000-06:00

I know it is technically still winter, but I'm craaaaaving some warmth and some springtime pleasures!! It's actually been warmer- even hit 70 one day, a week after a major snowstorm even- but there is no telling if it will be freezing again next week! That's how Tennessee weather is!

It's also why I always leave out a few pieces from all seasons when I switch out my winter/summer clothes!

So, in order to feel a little more springy around here, I made a few changes and removed my Valentine decor and winter decor, but used some of what was still around to create a semi-spring display! This post may have you thinking you've seen it before, but you haven't!

I took away all the fluffy snow, snowflakes, and hearts, and started wishing for warmer weather, throwing in even more rose petals and flowers than I had before!

Check out my former decor in the dining room here to see the transformations:

Christmas Decor

Winter Decor

Valentine Decor

I'm actually liking keeping the touches of light pink in my Dollar Tree Roses, and as you can tell, starfish have seem to make their way into everything lately! Loving them!

All of my candles are from my wedding, and the flower petals are all either from my 3 little flower girl buckets or wedding decor.

In saying that, have to share a picture of the 3 cutest flower girls ever! You know, so you can see the flowers really were part of my wedding! :)

This is the hubby's niece, a little girl I've babysat her whole life (still do!), and my niece! You can see more of my wedding stuff around here, as this blog started off following lots of my DIY wedding stuff!

Here's my new not-quite-spring-but-wishing-for-it displays.

My buffet:

I think this bucket with the overspilling petals may be my favorite part of all.

My hutch:

I thought my teapots seemed really springy! I'm also on the hunt for some new teapots, maybe vintage? Maybe all white? I also love to collect espresso cups. I always used them as my "teacups" as a little girl! I still have two sets that I used to use!

I've got to find something better to put in that second seashell bowl other than candy! Should I make more wishing stones?

I looove my little apothecary jar!!

My table:

Took away the flannel runner and all the "snowy" stuff! I'm liking how simple this looks! I should also mention that I changed out table cloths only because I'm starting to feed Baby Girl real food, and even though she's in her high chair, I was constantly getting stuff on the nice table cloth! This one is vinyl and can be wiped down!

Ahhh, simple is much better!

Hopefully this will ward off any more snow around here and bring out some flower buds!

Anyone else starting to decorate for spring yet??

Linking up:

Valentine Tablescape

2011-02-14T21:38:00.000-06:00

Nothing too fancy this year! It's our first Valentine's Day with a baby, and things have been crazy in the fam lately (my brother and his fam moving here and company in town), so we planned to stay home to celebrate. Plus, Daddy is usually too worn out in the week from work to do much at night!

I cooked Alfredo Pasta, one of the hubbies favorites and added a side of his favorite bread and peas (since Baby Girl can eat those-blended-now!). Nothing fancy at all because I knew I would be interrupted all day long with the baby, cleaning house, and errands! It didn't all get done! Piles of laundry still await me and just may wait until tomorrow!

I wanted to fancy it up just a *little* and at least make the table look festive! The dining room has already been looking a little Valentiney for the past couple weeks!

See how I decorated it in my last post here.

These photos are from my iPhone. Honestly, they look lots better than the ones from my camera since this is a hard spot to photo and the flash on the camera looks so harsh!

Just a few pieces of wedding china, some pasta bowls from Target's dollar spot from back when EVERYTHING was always $1!

And some champagne with a cherry dropped in and a little of the grenadine added to make it festive looking!

The hearts in the bowls are from Target's current $ spot, and they kind of looked like marshmallows once I put them in there! I tried to convince the hubby that's what they were and pretended to take a bite to fake him out so he would try- yeah, it didn't work! He just looked at me like a weirdo! :)

We were interrupted at least 10 times by Baby Girl! She just wasn't happy anywhere we put her- swing, jumper, highchair, floor- nothing worked! She may have a little cold, and isn't herself poor thing! She napped while I was cooking, and an hour after dinner she was out for good! Guess we should've planned a later dinner!

Off to have myself another glass of the yummy champagne and then go to bed! The laundry can wait until tomorrow! :)

Valentine Decor

2011-02-14T21:03:00.000-06:00

Here is all of my Valentine decor put together!

You can see how I made certain elements here:

Shabby Heart Wreath
Dollar Tree Rose Make-over
Valentine Framed Art

My dining room gets the least light in the house, so it's really hard to photgraph well! There are no nearby windows to let light in!

Along with the three projects I made above, I also incorporated aqua glass items from Goodwill, milk glass vases I've had for a long time, flowers from the flower girl buckets at my wedding, starfish tied with pale pink ribbon to champagne glasses, and one of my favorite espresso cups (expect to see more of those soon in my "spring" decor!).

As you can tell, I also kept around some of my winter decor! It is still winter after all! In fact just a couple days ago, Nashville had it's worst snow of all winter, and we've had more than our share already! People were stuck in snow/ice traffic jams for up to 5 hours just to make 30 minute or less commutes!

And this little monkey was bouncing and watching me while I was taking pictures, so I just had to share a snapshot of her! My bedroom door is right in the dining room, so she hangs out there jumping a lot since I can see her from the kitchen, dining room, and my bedroom right there! LOVE HER!! :)

Next is my Valentine dinner tablescape and Valentine's is OVER!

Linking up here:

Tiny Beach Driftwood Sign!

2011-02-09T12:59:00.000-06:00

I've been dyyyying to try my hand at sign making lately! I really want to find some good driftwood or some old battered barnwood!

Well, I don't live in the beach or in the country, so it may be awhile before I get a collection!

However, I did manage to scrounge up one liiiiitle piece of driftwood when we went to Tybee Island Beach over New Year's Eve!

I also snagged some great old pieces of palm tree that kind of looked like wood! You can see what I did with one of them here.

I simply dipped a small paint brush back and forth between white paint and water to get a runny, not so painted on/ weathered look on my teeny driftwood!

Loving it!

For now, it's on a shelf in my living room. I've got several black shelves above the TV filled with wedding and honeymoon memorabillia that all matches my decor (hehe). Not sure if this is where it will stay- it's already moved around to a different one than pictured!

My first driftwood sign! Yay!

Linking up....

Valentine Framed Art

2011-02-08T21:43:00.000-06:00

One last Valentine project to share, then I'll reveal it all put together!

Although I didn't think I was going to do any Valentine decorating, I'm really glad I did, and love how it all came together!

I wanted to make some cute love sayings to frame, and knew what I wanted to say, but wasn't sure how I was going to do it! I also have no idea what to actually call this project- so I'm calling it my "Framed Art!"

I started off by using my Silhouette to cut out "Love is deeper than the ocean" and "Love is wider than the sea" using vinyl. Had to make them a beachy theme to get them to fit in my decor!

I thought about just putting it on black cardstock, putting it in a frame and calling it a day but got more creative!

I had two pretty silver frames that were wedding gifts I've never used! I took the insert and ripped pieces of coordinating scrapbook paper too cover it!

I glued on the paper with a glue stick, then trimmed the edges

I almost left it at that, but decided to dirty it up a bit by rubbing some watered down black paint. Black stain would be a lot better- but I used what I had! I do have brown stain but didn't want that look for this project!

I made a mess, as you can tell! I used a wet paper towel and just went nuts dipping back and forth between the paint and a cup of water wiping off a lot of excess. My fingers were a disaster!

Then I modge-podged the whole thing.

I took my vinyl letters from the Silhouette and started to pull off the excess- noticed it made a better stencil and the letters left behind were slipping all over (although I adore the Silhouette, I think the cricut vinyl actually works better, and you can buy it in craft stores! Sorry, Silhouette! I still want you over the cricut itself anyday!)

So I used the vinyl as a stencil instead, and stuck it on the modge-podged paper to paint! I really think this helped create more of the look I was going for- messy, instead of clean and crisp! And I still have the letters (although several are askew!) in case I want to use them for another project!

I simply used white wall paint since it's what I had on hand to stencil on the letters, and I removed the stencils almost immediately!

Because I had modge-podged FIRST, the vinyl peeled right off! I think it would have stuck if I hadn't created that slick barrier first! I wiped up any mistakes quickly- with my fingernail, but you'd probably be smarter to use a q-tip or small brush! And I corrected a few parts I'd messed up- like you can see on the top one I messed up the L- that was actually before I decided to use it as a stencil so I wasn't careful!

I modge-podged again to seal the paint.

Put it in the frames- minus the glass to keep it from being shiny, and there you go! FREE Valentine art! The letters were the hardest part, and it wasn't that hard! Got it all done during Baby Girl's nap!

Here's where they found their home on my hutch (ignore the leftover Christmas candy which will be replaced by Valentine candy or maybe some more wishing rocks!)

Soon you'll see how they fit in the rest of my Valentine decor!

Burp Cloths

2011-02-07T20:16:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to try my hand at these for awhile. They seemed like a pretty easy project since I am not great at sewing!

They weren't hard at all- just took some time since I kept breaking my thread over the bulky part of the cloths!

I used this tutorial here at Sew She Sews. It was suuuper easy to follow! It was basically like sewing a pillow, and I can totally do that!!

I did not sew around the edges (except to close up the hole!), mostly because I was running out of time to give these to a very good friend for her baby shower!

I also did not use flannel. I used mostly Amy Butler, Midwest Modern material since I knew my friend liked it! Flannel is a GREAT idea, but I traded babysitting for this material! I also got the cloth diapers at Target (buy the 12 pack if you plan on making lots- works out much cheaper!)

Sorry for the bad pics, I only had time to snap with my cell phone! I'll hopefully take better pics of the next set that I'm making for another friend- this one a boy!!

There are lots of tutorials for this type of this, but you should really check this one out! After seeing this one I KNEW I could do it!

Go see Sew She Sews!

Linking up here!

Shabby Heart Wreath

2011-02-03T09:03:00.000-06:00

**If you read this earlier, I updated a little bit adding some pink ribbon and cutting off one of the ends of the blue- just wasn't workin for me, but now it is!**

I wasn't planning to make a Valentine Wreath. I did sorta look around for a cheap heart wreath frame when I've been shopping lately, but never came across anyting I wanted to spend my $$ on!

Then while I was working on my Dollar Tree Rose Makeover last night, I was thinking about a wreath and thought- "What if I could make one with a wire hanger, and just cover it with material or something?"

I'm all about using what I have on hand lately! We're working on paying off a mountain of debt, so gotta save those pennies!!

So, I grabbed a wire hanger and a torn up old white sheet that I've already used other parts of for lots of other projects and went to work.

This is what I came up with!

It's on my dining room wall, which you've seen before! I just removed the pic in the middle! Not showing yet what is on the shelf and buffet underneath- still workin on it, but it will include my Dollar Tree Rose Makeover!

(This was before I added the pink
and realized how annoying that long blue ribbon on the right is!)

I made a rosette with some jute twine and hot glue, added some ribbons leftover from wedding projects (yeah, I use a lot of stuff from my wedding to decorate still!), and put a white pearl pin through it to secure it to the fabric.

Ummm, ignore that lil hole that the picture frame I removed usually covers and just look at my pretty twine rosette! You can also see I didn't bother to unwrinkle where the ribbon was once tied around something- I rather like wrinkles!

I'm glad I added in the pink! I made it to be pretty rough and random- there was no pattern to how I wrapped the fabric around it except for making sure some of the raw edges and unravelling strings would show! I like the look it gives, plus it matches my table runner!

Linked up at:

Pink & Polkadot

Tatertots & Jello

Dollar Tree Roses

2011-02-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

I'm working on an aqua, light pink and white Valentine's vignette. I don't normally decorate for Valentine's Day, and I wasn't planning to this year. But reading blogs....I got the bug!

Here's what I'm currently working on (and have the hot glue bits stuck to my fingernails to prove it!)

I'm making over these blah Dollar Tree Roses. Here's the white ones I've yet to re-do.

The flower itself is really pretty, but the leaves are just iiiiickkkk! Trust me, they look worse in person than in this photo. Plus they are tissue papery, and they were so awful, I almost walked right by them. Then, I tugged at one and realized it could come off and one pink and one white bouquet hopped into my cart!

The petals are kind of foamy and lightweight and have shiny glitter on them- not realistic, but pretty!

Here's the pink bouquet made over:

I used my Silhouette to make the leaves (with a leaf shape included already!) out of cardstock, small ones for around the rose and bigger ones for the leaves on the stems. The leaves I took off did leave some nasty bright green spots around the roses I had to cover up, plus the flowers now looked nekkid!

Then I wrapped some jute twine around the stems to add some texture!

I simply used hot glue to keep it all in place! They're a bit messy, but only I can tell!

Again, not realistic looking, but that's not what I was going for! Plus I can use these for years to come!

Cost- $2! I had all the supplies on hand except the actual roses! Glad I got the pink ones when I did, because I couldn't find any pink the next time I went!

Off to go rip the nasty leaves and re-do the white ones!

Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have my Valentine's vignette fixed up so you can see how I use these pretty babies!

Snowflakes and Starfish

2011-02-01T14:15:00.000-06:00

Although I'm currently updating my dining room for V-day, I wanted to share this sign I made to go with my theme of snowflakes and starfish!

I happily left out some of my Christmas decor that was more "wintery" to create a winter tablescape and a few vingettes.

We visited Tybee Island in GA over New Year's and I snagged some pieces of palm trees laying on the ground that looked sort of like driftwood. (I did snag one tiny piece of driftwood that I have plans for!)

I broke in my brand new Silhouette from SANTA for this project! Easy Peasy!

I wanted to figure out how to stencil it on with paint so I could distress it a little, but I haven't gotten that far in figuring out how to use my Silhouette! Anyone know the best way to make a stencil with it?

I displayed it on the top of my hutch:

And here's how it matches the rest of my dining room decor!

Used the same centerpieces as my Christmas tablescape- just took out the ornaments and added the piece of fleece on top of the runner to make it a little "cozier!"

The dishes are my wedding china, along with new snowflake bowls from Target Christmas clearance ($4 for all 4, I think?), and the mugs are Walmart clearance- $2.25 for 12!!! I needed a big set of matching mugs over Christmas- found these just a little too late!

Used several of the same things I used for Christmas on my sideboard too. The "snow" is also an after Christmas clearance find, and I made the rosettes out of fleece to "warm" up the candles too.

I absolutely looooove the look of the snowflakes and starfish together!!

Linking up to:

Raspberry Cordial Gifts

2011-01-05T13:27:00.000-06:00

I found this idea for making Raspberry Cordial awhile back at My Shabby Chateau. Think I came across it through a linky party, and pretty sure I clicked over because of the blue canning jar I'm coveting!

My Shabby Chateau

I love raspberries and Anne of Green Gables. Remember when she gets Diane drunk on what she thinks is Raspberry Cordial? (So, I'm not really sure what kind of raspberry cordial that was supposed to be, cause a bunch of this will get you drunk too!)

I had some vodka laying around that I figured needed using up!!

I don't have any pretty jars (hoping to soon remedy that!), so I used the vodka bottle and an empty Patron bottle to make this. I ended up having to throw it all in the blender in order to get it in the bottles, so my way isn't as easy or as pretty as Donna's! Do it her way, not mine!

In the process of making it....

It takes 2 weeks to make (gotta let the raspberries soak in all the yummy vodka!), so this is NOT a last minute gift!

I have the world's tiniest strainer, so it took awhile for me to strain all the seeds out at the end of 2 weeks! *Note to self* buy a new strainer before you attempt this again!!

Since I was giving these as gifts to my friends at our Girls' Christmas Night, I wanted to package them up nice!

I went to my fave antique store- The Rooster in Nolensville, TN and found these pretty bottles. (The shop owner wasn't sure if they were vintage or reproductions. At $5 a piece, I didn't really care!)

I found the silvery picks at Three French Hens (another fave) next door to The Rooster and wrapped them around the bottle necks. They looked vintagey, didn't ask if they were or not!

I wrote their initials with a silver paint pen, and it can easily be wiped off.

Corks came with the bottles, but the shop owner had to break one to pry it out in making sure that it could come out, and I wanted them to look a little "prettier." I used some wine corks I had saved from bottles of wine- which I probably had drank with these friends!

I also made a tag for each one- I used a cream color scrapbook paper with greenish roses, and printed the following on it:

Raspberry Cordial

In Anne of Green Gables, Anne accidentally gets her friend Diana drunk by giving her what she thinks is Raspberry Cordial. We’re also the kind of friends who get each other drunk, just not by accident!

Diana drank three tumblers full and ran home to lose her lunch in the bushes! I suggest a much smaller amount, perhaps even over ice and Sprite or Ginger Ale.

Anne and Diana have lots of memories of their crazy escapades, as do we! Thank goodness we’ve learned to behave more responsibly! Enjoy!

The two friends I gave this two are the friends I have had my wildest escapades with over the past 21 years (since jr. high!) But those wild escapades were in our younger days, ok??! Haha! In fact, this gift inspired us to reminisce about some of those escapades, but not because of it's "influence!" We only had a little taste- cause we're much more "grown up" now!

(PS. I don't mind if you copy this tag idea- but it'd be nice if you'd blog about it and link up to me AND give credit to My Shabby Chateau for the recipe idea!)

I hastily snapped the pics with my cell phone, so that's why you can't read it! Also because I made it super small so that the tag wouldn't end up huge!

I ripped the scrapbook paper to give the tags worn edges, and then went over both sides lightly with some Ralph Lauren glaze. You could easily tea/coffee stain these too. I also bent and crumpled it some to give it an old look to go along with the rest of the "old" stuff!

Set them up on the counter along with some glasses for tasting. We used the syrup from the original bottle to taste, and I sent them home with the others. The snowman tumblers were a gift from a student (who made them!!) several years ago.

We tried it straight up- good but too strong to drink much! We looooved it with Sprite over ice! I only filled their bottles half way because a little goes a long way! Didn't want it to go to waste- and also I wanted to keep some!

Since I'm writing about this after Christmas (call me a slacker, please!), you could package them up all Valentiney with red and pink and pass them out to friends, single or otherwise! (See, I'm ahead of the game for Valentine's Day since these need to be made 2 weeks in advance!) It does turn out a pretty red color- just looks darker since my bottles are green!

I will definitely make this again! Hmmmm, maybe for Valentine's Day?!

Check out all these fantastic linky parties from the following fantastic ladies!

Tatertots & Jello

Christmas Tablescape

2011-01-05T12:57:00.000-06:00

I had two of my closest friends since jr. high/highschool over for our yearly Girls' Christmas Night two weeks before Christmas.

While it was mostly about the "aunties" oooohing and ahhhhing over Baby Girl, I did find the time to get the table looking pretty- even if Baby Girl did spend most of dinner sleeping in my arms!

I used an old white sheet that I actually swiped from one of said friend's yard sales as a table runner. Just snipped the ends, then ripped it to create that rough edge. I left it all wrinkly on purpose for 2 reasons- I liked the look, and I HATE to iron. I pull my ironing board out maybe once a year- and even then it's usually to do a project like ironing on a decal to a shirt or something! (The dryer is my wrinkly clothes bff!)

Candles- from my wedding
Snowflake plates on runner- Target clearance a few years ago
Ornaments- also Target clearance
Shells- beaches over the years!
Bowl- wedding gift (not something I registered for- love when ppl know me so well!)
China- wedding china (read more here!)
Napkins- Peir 1 clearance from my mom
Napkin rings- beads I cut down and tied on from Target clearance garland I used to use on my tree
Snowflake goblets- $1 at Kroger (they had these again this year, but I had enough!)
Tablecloth- hand-me-down from mom

With candles lit

Candles lit, lights dimmed!

Everything in the center stayed on after the dinner throughout Christmas. I'm also using most of this in my winter tablescape I'll show you later! (minus ornaments, of course!!)

Catching up on Christmas!

2011-01-05T12:54:00.000-06:00

I'm so behind on Christmas blogging since I had 20+ people in my house over the holidays, then went out of town over New Years!! I've still got some things I want to post- mostly for my own record! I've got some of my own things I want to write about and some projects I want to post about so I know where to find them to do for next year!!

So please excuse the "outdated" posts for a bit! :)

Merry Christmas! (haha!)

Baby Girl's Rossette Wreath

2010-12-14T20:53:00.000-06:00

I made this rossette wreath for my kitchen last week, and since I had a few leftover rosettes, I decided to make one for my Baby Girl's bedroom door.

I used a small wicker type wreath from the Dollar Tree and spray painted it black! It's not perfect, but that's ok since you can't see much of it! It was really too cold to be spray painting, and I kept running into the open garage to squirt it a few times and run back in side repeatedly!!

I used the same white and aqua fabric as the last wreath, and some hot pink felt from the Remnant piles at JoAnn's (my new favorite obsession- searching through remnants!).

The snowflakes are also from JoAnn's and cost a $1 for a bag of them, plus smaller ones. The butterflies are $1 ornaments from Walmart! And the Dream ornament was a gift from a friend a few years back so I'm not sure where that came from! I thought it would look cute here!

The snowflakes are felt "stickers" that I'll remove after winter, and I may just leave this up all year round!

Just wish I had some cuter hangers than the Command ones!

You can see my posts about her room here, here, and here to see the progress I'm making and how this matches her room!

To see how I made the rosettes and where I got this idea, see the link in my earlier post about my other wreath!

Linking up to these linky parties (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE browing through linkies for great ideas! That's how I found this one!)

Fleece Rose Wreath

2010-12-10T20:20:00.000-06:00

(Words will be few in this post as one hand is holding a drooling baby!!)

Saw this wreath in a linky party back in October and HAD to make it!!

Creative Passage

Ellen makes lots of great wool/felted projects and more! Check her out!

I pretty much followed her great tutorial, free handing the rosettes after I got the hang of it! I used fleece instead bc it was on sale at Hobbly Lobby and was in the colors I wanted! I also squished as many as I could onto the wreath!

Glad I found the Dollar Tree snowflakes at the start of Nov bc they are gone now!

Here's mine:

It's not perfect-my first rosette project, but I looooove it! I looped navy ribbon through the top several times to hang it (those roses are navy also- if they look black to you!!)

It's hanging on my skinny pantry door in the kitchen. Matches my decor so well!

Linking this post to.........

DIY Apothecary Jars

2010-11-17T11:25:00.000-06:00

I didn't realize how popular apothecary jars were until I started reading creative/DIY blogs! And I knew I had to get some! However, I wasn't sure I wanted to pay the price I was seeing for them!

Then I came across this project that I mentioned here in an earlier post about my planned projects!

Ashley's Apothecary Jars

I pretty much used all the same supplies from Hobby Lobby that Ashley used here......... (and it just so happened ALL were on sale when I got them- use coupons from the paper or online if they aren't on sale for you!)

(Ashley's pic not mine!)

I didn't take pics of my pieces before but I used all the same supplies except for glass candle sticks from the Dollar Tree instead. I just spray painted them Heirloom White, then black so that a "wood" like color appeared through when I distressed them later!

Check out her tutorial for details on how to DIY this yourself! Like I said all I did different was use the glass candle sticks since they were cheaper (the small ones were 2/$1!), and I spray painted everything instead of using regular paint.

I loooooove this project!!!

I actually finished them quite awhile ago, but Hobby Lobby was out of the finials for awhile, and I only had one!! Now it is finally done!

Only one is filled with "fallish" stuff, so I'll probably replace the pine cones with little Christmas ornaments instead of acorns soon. The other two are filled with wine corks (Yes, USED wine corks, although you can buy just wine corks at craft stores- don't worry that is YEARS worth of wine! Glad I hung onto them!), and beach stones that I've mostly collected at NC beaches on trips there with my BFF.

I have these sitting on the edge of my kitchen counter, that hangs over into the living room, so they almost seem like more of my living room decor than kitchen! (although you can see the knife block back there!)

For now, I have it with a beach sign I got for $5 at Home Goods- on clearance because the clock is broken. I think I may replace it with a picture or something else because the clock is paper and kinda cheap looking if you look close! I liked how the gray of the sign goes with the stones, and it is slightly distressed. I may distress it more, if possible or maybe rub on some blackish stain.

And I found this little set of African spice pots in my storage that I got years ago in West Africa and thought it would look cute here! They sort of have the same rough, distressed look of the jars.

Now, that I'm taking a look at pics of mine and Ashley's together.....I think I used smaller jars! Her finials don't seem to overwhelm the jars as much as mine do! Oh well! I still like it!

And let's be real for a sec.....this is what it looked like before I moved all the crap to take pics! :)

I'd just had company for dinner and used my china at my fall table scape seen here, so there's some dirty china waiting to be washed, an oddly placed telephone (still trying to figure out where to put that! I may just put it away unless needed for power outages, since we have handsets in the bedrooms!), a bucket filled with Baby Girl's bottle parts, on top of a recently purchased cake stand that I still don't know what to do with, and our randomly placed glass fruit bowl that I don't know where to put right now either!

But let's imagine this is all that is there, and it looks gorgeous!

Ahhhhhhhh!

Linking up this project at these lovely linky parties! Visit them for more great inspiration!

Baby Girl's Flowers

2010-11-16T17:32:00.000-06:00

Every day, I rock Baby Girl to sleep and see this across from me.......

And I love the shelves I re-did, and love the flower pot, flowers and butterflies from Hobby Lobby (whose colors never show right in pictures, I promise they match well with her bedding!).

But the flowers and butterflies have been bugging me lately! It just needed something to tie it all in! So, as I sat in the rocking chair every day for the past month or so, I thought up this......

At first, I thought about doing green stems and leaves for the flowers, but there is zero green in her room, so I thought up this black vinyl project!

I used black Cricuit vinyl from JoAnn's- at 2 sheets for $9.99 it isn't cheap, but they always put out 40% or 50% coupons in Sunday's paper, to help make it cheaper! I can handle about $6 for this project, which took up less than 1 sheet and some other projects I have in the works!

I don't have a Cricuit cutting machine though (I really want a Sillouhette one!), so I freehanded all of this!

I drew the stems and leaves on the back of the vinyl, cut them out, and placed them over and over and over until I got them right! :) Thank goodness you can do that with vinyl!

I used a chalk marker to write "Watch Me Grow." It can wipe off with a damp cloth, so I can change the words whenever I want!

Oh, and I must confess......I did this....while she was sleeping, over top of her! Yes, I climbed on a step stool and leaned over the crib while she slept through the whole thing! And took pictures while she was sleeping!

See......

Never moved a muscle! She is her father's daughter and can sleep through anything! Normally I wouldn't do a project over top of her, lol, but I knew I'd be interrupted if I did it during the day! So late at night it was!

Now, I can rock in peace with out the wall yelling at me to fix it, and this is my view instead!

One more number to mark off the list of Baby Girl projects! Projects #1, 5, and 11 (this one!) are complete! Eight more to go! Half of the materials for other projects have been gathered, I just have to order some more fabric! Hope these can get done along with all my other projects, PLUS Christmas is about to hit!!

Sharing this project at these linky parties! Visit them for more great ideas and inspiration!

Today's Creative Blog

Tuesday's Treasures
at
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

A Month of Thanksgiving!

2010-11-05T11:22:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late in writing about this since we are 5 days into November....but what else is new!

Lots of people around the blogosphere, and some of my friends on facebook have been doing posts on what they are thankful for, or doing something each day to give to others.

Last year the hubby and I took up this 30 day giving challenge from Kingdom First Mom!

While we enjoyed it, it was a stressful month for us for lots of other reasons! We were in the middle of moving (which both distracted us, AND helped since I was gathering stuff to give away while packing!), and I was unknowingly pregnant and starting to feel some symptoms.

I thought a lot about it and decided that this year it might be too much with a new baby, but I wanted to do something!

So I came up with this idea-

I'm leaving "Thankful" notes in the hubby's lunch cooler, everyday up til Thanksgiving, then planning to give them all back to him in a scrapbook for his birthday (a week after Thanksgiving!), along with pictures! I'm stealing the old ones back when I put the new ones in!

I've been writing them on plain old computer paper, but cutting them out with fancy scissors and writing nicely, so I can later mount them on scrapbook paper!

It's taking me just a few seconds everyday to write something I am thankful about him, and he has been LOVING it!

(I just now had to shoooo him from the room because he doesn't know about the scrapbook idea, nor does he know I'm planning to put in notes for a few more weeks! Can't have hi, see me writing!!)

They've been little notes that say things like how thankful I am he helps around the house, that he gave me a beautiful daughter, and that he loves me just the way I am! I haven't thought out all of the things I'm going to write yet, but he's such a great hubby I'm sure I won't run out of ideas!

What are your ideas for giving thanks this month?

Even in the midst of chaos, there is always *something* to be thankful for!!

Updated dining room table decor!

2010-10-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

*Disclaimer*- I am not a great picture taker, and even though I tried to tweak them, I don't think the pictures do justice to my decor here, but you get the idea! I promise the blue colors really do match better than they show up!

I've been tweaking my fall decor a bit!

I already knew I wasn't perfectly happy with this........

I really only incorprated the red candles because they are my favorite fall scent- apple cinnamon! But they aren't that pretty, nor do they really "match." I threw in the fall goblets that have a bit of the same deep red, to make me feel like it was working......It wasn't!

I was thrilled with my buffet, but not the table or the china hutch!

So I was browsing around on some linky party posts and found this.....

Simcoe Street

Painted white pumpkins with blue candles?? Looooooove! Why didn't I think of using the box of leftover candles from my wedding before now??

I thought I would go find some more pumpkins to paint white.....but I already did that!

Then as I was reading through Jenny's Simcoe Street blog, I found this post where she set her dining room table for a dinner party with her pretty white china and glassware!

*LOVE*

So again I thought, "I have pretty white china! With blue edging!" I'd never considered using it for fall! (Again, I'm sooooo loving this *new to me* concept that fall doesn't have to be about traditional fall colors!!)

So I dusted off some of my hardly used wedding china, added some often used (hehe!) wine glasses (although not as pretty as Jenny's- I wish I'd registered for pretty goblets for my wedding!!), and moved over the pumpkins from the TV stand. (See how I made them here!)

On my TV stand in the living room, they were cute but kinda blah.

But here on the table, they are Taaahh-daaaaaahhh.........
(sorry for the lame rhyming!)

I love my china! I do use it some, but not as much as I should! (Doesn't everyone say that?) I know lots of people don't even register for china anymore, but I knew I wanted some. And I knew exactly what I wanted!

Wedgewood by Vera Wang

I fell in love with this Wedgewood by Vera Wang in Dutchesse Blue immediately! It also matches these adorable Waterford Ballet plates! I'd be displaying those, but I only have 3 :( Can't really blame people for wanting to buy me a whole set of the Blue Dutchesse for $65 versus $35 for one Ballet plate! I must get at least one more!

Waterford Ballet on top of Wedgewood by Vera Wang

View of the entire dining room (click on any pic for a closer view!)..........

Rearranged the buffet just a teeny bit.......

Moved the candle lamp and leaf plate I painted to the hutch, and added some more candles surrounded by Spanish moss.........

Still not sure I'm loving the hutch, but fall might be over before I'm happy with it! :o)

I also have plans to makeover some of the dining room furniture! The buffet (really an island) was purchased for our last home that had cherry cabinets, and it matched perfectly! Now, it doesn't really match and doesn't fit in our current kitchen! I think I'd like to paint it white, but that would be quite an undertaking!

I am also planning to do something to the dining room table! It is my parent's old set that I grew up eating on! It's still pretty good and solid, but I don't love the shade of the wood. I'd love to sand it down and stain it a lighter color to match the china hutch and buffet. I also plan to recover the seats as the cushions are uuuucckkk!

I think this is it for my fall decorating! I may do one more post summarizing it all! Then I have to WAIT until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas!! Accckkk!! I think I may at least have the hubby pull down the boxes soon from the attic so I can at least start on some Christmas projects! We have LOTS of family coming into town this year, and it's Baby Girl's first Christmas, so I want it to be beeeeaaauuuutiiiful!

I am linking up at the following link parties! Check them out for more great inspiration!

Shanty Pumpkins!

2010-10-29T22:22:00.000-05:00

This was one of the first projects I found in blog-land that I decided to re-create!

Ashley of Shanty2Chic made these adorable pumpkins!

As soon as I saw these, I knew that I was in trouble- the crafty bug had bitten me!

I immediately started searching for other ways to decorate with non-traditional fall colors and came up with some of the other decor you have already seen!

For this project, I already had smaller pumpkins and gourds on hand that I had used before, but never really liked.

Here's a before picture of the little ones- I forgot to take a pic of the big one that I got from the Dollar Tree. It wasn't nearly as ugly, but I'm not an orange fan!

Ewwwwy!
So. Ugly.

I pretty much exactly followed Ashley's Tutorial, so check out her post if you want to know how to do these!

I used exactly what she suggests- Rustoleum's Heirloom White Spray Paint and Ralph Lauren Faux Technique Glaze (that I got tinted in "smoke") from Home Depot, and jute twine from Hobby Lobby.

This project would have been pretty cheap, except that the Ralph cost me at least $15! But I used such a teeeeny amount, that it will be good for many, many, many projects to come! The jute twine was $2.99, then I used a 40% off coupon. I've already used it on another project and have tons left. The spray paint was just under $4, and I already used it up plus more on the many other things I've painted Heirloom White. And the pumpkins cost $1 since I already had the small ones!

Here's how they turned out!

I totally forgot to bookmark the blog where I saw someone else wrap the jute around the middle of the pear-ish shaped gourds! I'd intended to just wrap the stem of those until I saw someone else wrap the centers like I did above. If I come across the blog again, I'll link it up- or if it was you- let me know!!

I thought the big one looked cute with the little "tail," kind of like some of the vine was still attached, so I just left it there!

At first I had them on my TV stand in the living room but then I got inspiration from another blog I've just started reading. The above pictures I just took in a random spot near my computer so that I don't give my next post away yet!

More to come on where they ended up!

Moving!

2010-10-18T15:24:00.000-05:00

I'm switching the blog from Wordpress to Blogger, so that I can link up my two blogs better, make a better template, and so that I can do things like advertise my upcoming etsy shop, etc.

Looks like the move will be smooth, but I'll be switching this around as I play with layouts etc!

Old blog addy: http://daisysfavoritethings.wordpress.com

New blog addy: http://daisysfavoritethings.blogspot.com

As a result, you'll see the same posts for now on BOTH blogs until I get things running smoothly! Then you'll only see a moved link on the old one and new stuff on the new blog!

Decorating for Fall with Heirloom White!

2010-10-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

After seeing all the lovely projects the girls at Shanty2Chic have done using Rustoleum's Heirloom White Spray Paint. I just had to check it out for myself! I'm more of a bright white gal, but I thought that the softer Heirloom White would be a great touch to add to my fall decor!

I also purchased some Ralph Lauren Glaze (tinted in Smoke) from Home Depot, as the Shanty girl's suggest! (I also found that the Rustoleum spray paint is cheaper there than at Hobby Lobby- unless you have a coupon!- and Walmart)I had lots of fall decor that was ugly orange, yellow, brown and green. Well, ugly to me since I'm not a fan of traditional fall colors! They can be great in other people's houses- just not mine!

Here's some before pics of the stuff I painted with Heirloom White!

Cheapo looking plastic bowls

Silver candle sticks (don't worry- not real silver!)
Cute but not my style Autumn and Harvest signs

Candle lamp my mom gave me a few years ago

I also painted a ceramic plate that was really ugly orange and green, some beaded candle garland and some mini pumpkins that I did not take before pics of!

Here are the after pics!

Much less cheapo looking "candy" bowls filled with candy
that doesn't tempt us, but does tempt guests!
Autumn sign has some of the letters highlighted with Ralph Lauren Glaze.
(I'm still working on tweaking this space, not loving it yet.
I did have tea pots and teacups displayed here.)

Candle sticks and garland painted Heirloom White and brushed with glaze

Plate and candle lamp painted heirloom white, lamp brushed with glaze on the pop outs and trim.

Harvest sign painted Heirloom White and various letters and accents glazed,
mini orange pumpkins painted Heirloom White.

And here's a look at how it all came together in decorating our dining room area for fall!

Before:

After:

Funny that the tablecloth looks aqua! It's really about the same color as the walls!

One thing I love about the details here, is a lot of them have meaning-things that were already there or that are newly placed!

The framed pictures are all pictures I took in NC- mostly Wilmington/Wrightsville beach area. One of my favorite places in the world!

The shelf was made by my grandfather who passed away many years ago.

The Joy sign was made by my sis-in-law and was our Christmas present last year from her and my bro.

The pillar candles and starfish are from our wedding.

The trifle bowl (with pinecones and real white pumpkin), china, and almost everything in the china hutch are wedding presents.

The candle on the hutch behind the candy bowls is an antique find that is a replica of a candle holder at the restaurant from our hotel on our honeymoon in Costa Rica.

The high chair shows off that we have a new addition in the family! Hehe!

The acorns are memories from Baby Girl's first hike last week.

The pumpkins are from Baby Girl's first trip to the pumpkin farm!

Here's some closer pics to show you those details! You can also click on any of the pics above for a better view!

The other touches I added were the jute around the blue pillar candles, the scrapbook paper and/or ribbon around the candles, the vase of wheat, and wheat stalk stuck in the napkin rings. Basically the only things that I bought were the pumpkins and gourds (the gourds I got free at the grocery store since I had coupons that "made" me money!), the spray paint, and the glaze, but those were really bought for another project I'll show soon! My mom bought me the wheat at Publix, and it was only $2.99. I "shopped" my house for the ribbon, candles, scrapbook paper, and all the stuff I spray painted I've had for awhile.

This is definitely the happiest I've ever been with my fall decor! I am so happy that I discovered it is actually OK to not decorate in traditional fall colors! :)

I'm sharing my post at these parties! Visit the links below for more great fall decor ideas!

Wreath Project!

2010-10-09T07:18:00.000-05:00

So, I don't know if my take on this is really considered a fall wreath or not, but I'm loving it anyway! I mentioned before that I wanted to make a wreath like this....

I took Christina's idea for using hot glue instead of floral pins to stick the coffee filters to the wreath, and I also used a different kind of wreath. My Dollar store was out of foam wreaths, so I used one like this...

As you can see, mine is turning out a little differently! I think because my wreath was skinner? I'm not sure! I didn't go look at Christina's before I started, and just decided to wing it! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I think I would've been happy too if I had done it more like hers, which is much, much fluffier!

Here is how it turned out! I actually like it better than I thought I would during the process! And looking at how I *should* have done it, I may have liked it better the other way!

But I still like it lots as is! I tied the fabric through one of the loops of the wreath on top, and push-pinned it into the top of the door! Then I hot glued the bow on the bottom! It is hung up on my pantry door, and I love how it fills up big empty space I had no idea what to do with!! The walls on either side of the door are too narrow for much decoration, so it gives that space a little something!

I love how well it matches my kitchen and dining room! I'll post pictures of those soon so you can see, as I do the rest of my fall projects!

Transforming mommy's shelves!

2010-10-06T06:47:00.000-05:00

Baby Girl's room Project #1- Paint and add flowers to mommy's old shelves!

Before:

After:

My grandfather loved to make things out of wood. Shelves, animal cutouts, all kinds of things! My mom and I have held onto several of his things, and I have used them throughout my house over the years. I always had some of his shelves in my room growning up as well.

The heart shelves were my favorites!

I knew I somehow wanted to use them in Baby Girl's room, but I didn't get the inspiration on what to do with them until recently!

Here's the shelves in my room when I was in highschool! Please don't judge my poor sense of decoration. I was all about things that meant something, little souveniers from areas of my life, even if they didn't go together! And trust me, my room had NO sense of a cohesive theme!

Uhhh, yeah.....my style has changed a lot! Wait...I take it back....I finally got some style! I didn't have it before! However, I was totally happy in my ignorance of style back then! I loved my room!

For Baby Girl's room, I decided to go with painting them black, and using flowers from leftover material from her curtains and bed set to decorate them. Just like I decorated them long ago with sunflowers cut out from the paper that covered my bulletin boards. Lets just say this new idea looks a lot better than the old!

Here's how they started out when I began to transform them! One of them was now lacking the flowers and both were lacking the "bling" from stick-on earrings! (What was I thinking??!!)

Ummm, they aren't even the same color! Please tell me they were when I used them! But I'm guessing they probably weren't!

Then I removed the "contact paper" flower!

Sanded them a little, and wiped them down

Then sprayed painted them black!

This took some time because the Krylon paint I got kept dripping and I had to wipe it off asap! So did the Krylon primer I had for another project. I think I'm taking them back to Walmart and buying some Rustoleum instead because it's worked perfectly for other projects! I ended up finding an old $.96 can of black spray paint I'd gotten a long time ago and used it instead of the Krylon! Weird how the cheapo one worked better than the one I paid almost $3 for!

Then I let them dry overnight, although they seemed pretty dry only a few minutes later!

Then I took some leftover material (see her room pics here to see the full effect of the material!, and cut out flowers to apply to the shelves! (So maybe I did have a good idea all those years ago, just not executed as well!)

I applied the material with 3M multipurpose adhesive I already had. (No idea why I had it or from where!)

I sprayed the adhesive on the backs of the flowers, then positioned them on the shelves and smoothed them onto them.

And here they are hung up in her room!

Hard to see the "shelf" part now that they are black! I still have no idea what is going to go on them, but I kinda like them just how they are! They match so well with the flower pot chalkboard from Hobby Lobby! I still need to get a chalkboard marker so I can write on that! Maybe her name or something!

Project #1 for Baby Girl's room- COMPLETE!!

Linking up with Just a Girl's Show and Share day! and Shanty2Chic's I made it without my hubby! Check out lots of amazing projects happening in blog-land!

Baby Girl Projects!

2010-10-05T06:56:00.002-05:00

Along with all my fall projects (which are coming along nicely- I'll post about those soon!), I have several projects that I want to do to Baby Girl's room that had to wait until AFTER she was here! (Ha, she must've known I was writing about her, and she wants to know what I'm saying because she was happily playing in the other room on her floor mat, and just started to yell! She's hangin out in my lap now so she knows what's goin on!) I have several things that I want to re-do or touch up in her room and since most involves painting, I decided to wait! Plus I just didn't have the energy! It took me forever as it was just to decide on a theme for her room! I knew that I wanted Hot Pink, Black, and White - with touches of Aqua Blue. It was next to impossible to find anything I liked in stores or online, so I put my head together with my wonderful friend Chaundra and came up with her decor! Here's a few pics of her room! (click on them to see them better!)

(See that balloon way in the left corner? Yeah, it's a day younger than her! It has been alive for almost 11 weeks!! Talk about some super helium!)

Most of her decor is from Hobby Lobby or Target. The bedding, curtains, and glider cushions were all made by Chaundra and the material is Michael Miller Fuchia Plain Jane (small for the curtains and bedding, large for the glider). Fell in love with it instantly!! It was brand new so we had to special order it! The reverse side of her bumper is also a Michael Miller polka dot, and I think the aqua blue blanket hanging over the crib may be Michael Miller as well! (I'll have to ask Chaundra!) I already had a list of stuff to do before she came, but AFTER I started getting hooked on decor/crafting blogs so my list has gotten even longer! Here's my project list for this room!

~~Paint and add flowers to little heart shelves~~

Paint the chest in front of her window and make a cushion top for it

Make pillows for the chest (to make it like a window seat)STARTED!

Paint the glider white

~~Get the changing pad for the changing table (it's a towel on top of a scale right now because it has been out of stock!)MAKE CHANGING PAD INSTEAD! DONE!~~

~~Paint the shelf bar the monogrammed burp clothes are on~~

Rearrange the shelves

Put pictures in the frames!

Possibly line curtains (they keep the room pretty dark, but I'd like it to be darker!)

Make aqua blue tie backs for curtains

Make magnet board

~~Make vinyl stems for flowers on wall behind crib~~

~~Make Bow holder~~

I'm coming back here and adding/marking off/changing things as we go!

Lots of work to do, Baby Girl!!

I gave in......

2010-10-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

(Image from Coffeeconfusion.com)

I haven't had coffee since December of '09! *gasp!*

Yes, I gave up one of my very favorite things, but not of my own choice!

I was about a month pregnant, and just starting to get morning sickness. I was drinking a cup of coffee every single morning, usually flavored with pumpkin spice creamer! I was also thoroughly enjoying a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, when my wallet could afford it! Yuuuummmm!!

I don't know exactly how it happened, I just knew I could no longer drink it. It just didn't taste good anymore!

Although I had already switched to decaf, for the sake of my little baby girl, it was probably a good thing I gave it up!!

Just this past week, fall has really started to creep in around here! It has been pretty cold in the mornings, and I couldn't take it any longer!

(Picture from no17cherrytreelane)

I knew Pumpkin Spice was back at Starbucks, and on Saturday when I was up at 5am to drive to a friend's house to have a yard sale with her, I gave in.

I've been wanting coffee again for awhile, but knew that I'd be "addicted" again if I gave in even once. So, instead I've enjoyed the occasional coke or sweet tea, but still mostly avoiding caffeine drinks. Really, I probably should just stick with tea or coffee since those do have some nutritional value. Pretty sure there's no reason to drink coke, except for the fact that it tastes goooooooood!

So, on a chilly 43 degree morning this past weekend, I caved. I sat in Starbucks drive through for at least 15 minutes, with only about 4 cars in front of me! I have no idea why it took so long, but that's how bad I wanted it!

It was worth....every...sip!! I am weak!!

Fortunately, I think I can handle not splurging on Starbucks version too much! I plan to search out the coffee-mate creamer instead (hoping it is back in stores already!), and also to make lots of visits to see the kids I used to nanny for as their momma bought some of the Starbucks syrup online last year and will make me FREE lattes. Decaf, please! At least for now!!

Ahhhh, one of my favorite tastes of fall! I think I decided to rejoin the coffee club, just in time!!

Blue and White Fall??

2010-09-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-09-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-29T16:52:00.000-05:00

D-I-Y NFL gear!

2010-09-19T13:27:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-09-10T17:15:00.000-05:00

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!!

2010-09-09T12:07:00.000-05:00

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!!

Still here!

2009-06-17T04:18:00.000-05:00

I haven't been around this blog much lately, with so much other stuff going on, I've even neglected my more current blog (daisysdeals.blogspot.com) the past week or so!

I do see that I'm still getting several hits per day, so hopefully some of my past entries are still relevant! I think I'm needing to rethink the concept of this blog so that it can continue! :o)

Happy Birthday and New Blog Intro!

2009-02-20T05:10:00.000-06:00

One year ago today, I started this blog to chronicle my marriage preparations for my wedding last summer! It was SUCH a great opportunity to share with friends and family, make a record that will last for a lifetime of my wedding experience, AND a great chance to network and connect with other brides and vendors!

One of my favorite things was being a Bride Blogger for Ashley's Bride Guide! It was a great experience that helped me meet a lot of my favorite vendors! And Ashley herself is amazing AND can throw a great party!! :)

The BEST of the BEST you can find here:

Cakes by Shara   -    blog
Bledsoe Photo    -   blog
Designs in Paper-    blog

All of these people went above and beyond and made me feel more like a friend than a customer! They were all AMAZING!!

This isn't the end of this blog, but it probably will be a little less frequent (not that it wasn't sporadic to begin with!). I still have lots of ideas on sharing about my newlywed life, and it's possible that I will be helping to plan a wedding this summer, so that will give me lots of great wedding stuff to continue blogging about!

Today, on the anniversary of this blog, I am unveiling a BRAND NEW BLOG!!!!

You all know I was a "Bride on a Budget," and now I am a "Wife on a Budget!" Saving money is in my genes! My grandmother and mom have always been great deal seekers, and it's pretty much come naturally to me!

Around the time I started planning my wedding and got introduced to the world of blogging, I started discovering not only wedding blogs, but money saving blogs! I discovered SOOO many ways to save money using coupons and other great deals you can find online.

I've had so many people ask me about how I do it, that I decided to create my own blog to help! :) This blog will be updated OFTEN, hopefully daily! Visit my welcome page for an intro and visit the rest of the blog for great ideas on saving money!

One of my weekly topics is "Wedding Wednesday," where I'll share great ideas for saving money while planning a wedding, or for attending (gift, travel ideas, etc!) I'm excited to be able to tie this blog to my new one in this way!

So, check out the vendors (even if just for ideas if you are far away!) AND be sure to check out and bookmark my new blog!

Full Wedding Recap!

2009-02-11T01:14:00.000-06:00

Finally, the recaps are complete! Here's a more convenient way to read through all my recaps if you are just now catching up! Click on the links below each representative picture to get the full scoop on our wedding!

Dance Fever- Dinner Reception Part 2

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you all for being a part of it, whether in presence or in thoughts and prayers! It truly was an amazing day!

Happy Feet!

2009-02-04T00:50:00.000-06:00

My photog has loved taking pictures of our feet since the very beginning...and while some people have crazy phobias of feet...I think they're pretty cute! (usually!) Here is a collection of cute feet and shoe pictures Shanell took, from our engagement on through the wedding!

Engaged Feet

Not quite ready for feet!

Two Shoe Bride

Nervous Bride Feet

Bridesmaid Gear

"Is it time yet?" feet.

Little girlies feet patiently watching the ceremony

Maids in a row

First Dance Feet

Tappin Toes

Where are the feet that belong in all these?

Funny that I never even noticed how many people were shoeless towards the end! But I have been to many a wedding where I've shed my own shoes! That's why *this* bride wore flip flops!! My feet were actually still HAPPY at the end of the night! My maid's shoes were pretty comfy themselves, but they weren't flip-flops, so some of them eventually came off!

Dance Fever!

2009-02-02T03:35:00.000-06:00

Although my new hubby is NOT a fan of dancing and 3 dances was all I got out of him, it was more than I'd thought I'd get! Everyone else however, danced like crazy! The kids were hilarious! During every official dance and otherwise, kids were galloping and waltzing all over the dance floor! It was a blast!! I got in as much dancing as I could when I wasn't otherwise distracted with pictures, talking with guests, trying to take it all in, etc! It was during the dancing that my the hubby disappeared quite a bit to avoid having to get out there!

Apparently there was even a lot of dancing going on before Ray and I even made it to the reception...I LOVE these pictures of my little girlies swirling around! My photographer had a great time with them! (and don't their dresses look cute! Made by the two little twirlers wonderful mom!)

And now the wild boys! (video of the boys is much funnier than these pictures! Ray's groomsman's son, my cousin's and nephews were dancing kings- and they knew it!)

Did you see the beads around the boys necks?? I had tons of stuff laid out on the kid's tables, spilling out of sand buckets...games, jewelry, toys, lots of stuff to keep them entertained. Most of the beads, ended up on the BOYS - Mardi-gras style! I'm just hoping they didn't steal them from the girls Mardi-gras style!! Ha!

My bro Craig and my good friend Josh were my DJ's. Josh has known my family for years, so they did a great job picking out tunes! His wife was also my lovely coordinator! So of course, they picked out a very fitting song.

Their most obvious choice was "Stacey's Mom." Oh yes....it was a requirement and yes, my mom does have it goin' on! The groomsmen dragged her out on the floor and they along with myself and my bridesmaids loudly serenaded her through the whole song! Now, my mom-- is NOT a music listener! I don't know that she'd ever even heard of the song before- except for the time I played it for her on my phone to show her it was her ring tone! They tried to get Ray to help serenade her out on the dance floor, but it didn't happen!

It seemed like every time I tried to dance with my maids, I got pulled away, but we still had a blast!!

Betcha can't guess what song we were dancin to here! I thoroughly protested against group dances, but for some reason they're always requested at weddings! So, I just went with it! As long as the YMCA wasn't on the playlist!

But....ummm....what exactly is going on here? Can't say I remember this moment, but it kinda looks like the YMCA?? Or was it "Shout" and everyone is "throwing hands up?" Oh no!

However, I am ok with the dance line! It's always funny!

My grams requested a special song for us to dance to...although I pretty much hate the song, I'll do just about anything for her! After all she's 85 and can still get down, so let her have her fun! She requested "Achy Breaky Heart." Yes, you read that right. Supposedly in honor of a certain student I used to teach (since Grams is a little too old to actually know any of her songs, but knows her dad's! Ugh!)

She grabbed me and a couple of my youth girls and created her own "line dance."

And these pictures pretty much express how crazy things were all night!

Did you notice who was missing from all of these pictures?? He didn't get back in the action until our last dance! Since he'd told me he wasn't dancing after our first and the one with his mom, I didn't pick out a last dance song. No worries, plenty of people to pick that out for me....let's just say a little Marvin Gaye was going on....and I'm glad that I was married because it would've been embarrassing dancing to THAT in front of my guests! Hehe!

Then it was time to take off for our bed and breakfast in our balloon filled car! The guys had to beg my dad for the keys to the rental so that they could do something! I know I'm particular, but I did NOT want to drive off in a car with dirty things written all over it, so that's why we got a rental! That, and driving away in a Mustang convertible on your wedding night is just pretty darn amazing! Besides, I've already ridden with Ray in a car with filthy stuff and condoms hanging everywhere. Last year when my BFF got married they decorated BOTH their cars not knowing which they'd use and we had to drive her husband's truck!

THE END!

(or at least, the end of what you get to know about!!)

Dinner Reception

2009-01-28T10:37:00.000-06:00

As previously mentioned, we held a cake reception and a dinner reception after our wedding! We wanted to be able to have the traditional dinner/dancing reception, but didn't want to have to limit the guest list due to the higher cost of serving guests dinner! So we decided to do both! Everyone was invited to the cake reception, and family, wedding party, and anyone who helped with the wedding were all invited to the dinner. It was hard to decide who to invite to what, so that was what we came up with!

Our dinner reception was held at Old Natchez Country Club in Franklin, TN. Our coordinator, Debbie was fabulous! She made sure that every detail was put in place and carried through, from setting up our table designs, working with the chef on the perfect menu, shooing the kids away from places they shouldn't be, to making sure that Ray and I actually ate something!

(I love that you can see my chocolate fountain in this pic!)

We had a buffet dinner, which I never saw, since our plates were brought to us, and which I heard was wonderful but didn't really even taste it until we ate our goodie bag they sent with us later that night! The best stuff was the Coconut Chicken, with a mango sauce, and Marinated Flank Steak. Oh, that and the cupcakes and the chocolate fountain!

Of course, here is where the cupcakes I have so long raved about (here, here, here, and here!) made their debut! People are STILL talking about these babies!

Here's my favorite pictures of our decor. I worked my butt off planning all of this, since I'd kept the church decor simple and left the cake reception up to my mom and Sherri! While I didn't actually put any of this out, I worked hard on buying, ordering, and designing it all! The lovely escort cards (which I was THRILLED with!) were done by my friend Susanna, with sand dollars I bought at one of my favorite beach shops in NC. (So yes, some things really were from the beach!)

During our official dances, we invited other couples, fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons to come join us about halfway through the respective songs. It's kinda awkward to just sit and stair at one pair of dancers.

Our first dance was to "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers. My all time favorite song!

Our Father Daughter Dance was "Cinderella" by Stephen Curtis Chapman. It had just come out when I got engaged, and my dad had to listen to it for months in order to make it through the actual dance! He cried when we "practiced" a couple months before!

I loved seeing the other fathers dance with their daughters! Here's my brother, Rob, dancing with his girls, my brother-in-law Hector and Kaylee, and then my Jr. Bridesmaids dancin with their daddy.

His Mother son dance was to Christina Aguilera's "Por Siempre Tu" (Her Spanish version of "I Turn to You."). He was super cute dancing with his mom, as was my brother Craig with our mom, and my sis-in-laws- Carla dancing with Nicholas and Lindsey dancing with Baby Grey!

After a few dances, it was dinner time!

Then a few impromptu speeches!

After all that, and an outdoor picture session (which I'll feature pictures from later!), it was time for some serious dancing! It was so crazy and fun, it merits its own post! Stay tuned!

(I'm currently playing with layouts, as I didn't love the sidebar placement on the last and trying to get my pics to show up normal! Sorry if you see a few changes!)