Delightfully Lovely

I miss her.

2012-02-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dear James-

Please come home.

I know you are doing super, awesome, amazing, important things but I'm selfish and want you home. I don't have anyone to watch Super Troopers with and Husby doesn't appreciate Cafe Rio like you and I.

Today I was looking through old pictures of us and found some from your 21st birthday party. We need to have a dress up party again, or a white trash bash, because lets be honest that was pretty much awesome.

I can't wait for you to be back in Utah all the time.

Love you.

Sweet Treats.

2012-02-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I sent off quite a few cupcake trees for a charity event in Florida.

The lovely lady who I sent them to was kind enough to send me some pictures.

On another subject, someone put on her big girl pants and got a job. I am now a contributing member of society and my countdown to house buying has begun. T minus 729 days and counting.

New Designs.

2012-02-10T08:27:00.002-07:00

Here is a glimpse of some new stands that will be popping up in my shop over the next few weeks.

Now to get oldest younger twin brother to write my descriptions.

Date Night.

2012-02-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night Husby and I went to a concert. The first one we have been to (together) in about 2 years.

We felt like the oldest people there. We were surrounded by high-school students and all I could think was that I don't want teenagers. I want future children to stay little forever.

I felt so out of place because we weren't dressed in the apparent theme of the night...which was black. I guess hardcore = black and not red and white polka dots. Husband and I love Christian hardcore music and my most favorite band ever was playing that night. There were 4 other bands playing, none of which we had ever heard of, but apparently quite popular with kids because the show sold out. Yep teenagers are now kids to me.

It was pretty much the perfect concert because we got there right before the Oh, Sleeper went on, left right after and I was in bed at 10...win. Also win for being over 21, so I can watch a concert without being shoved and trampled, plus the bar was upstairs and had the perfect view.

*photos taken with my phone

Pretty Towels.

2012-02-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Flour sack towels are my favorite towel to have around the kitchen. They absorb so much moisture, plus I can tie them around my waist.

I haven't ever been able to find pretty towels that I am willing to pay for so I decided to make my own. This project was super easy and fairly cheap.

Supplies:

plain flour sack towels (Walmart has them for 5/$5)

acrylic paint

sponge

stencil

1. Lay out your towel. I bought a tri-fold and then used thumbtacks to secure the towel so it didn't move around while stenciling.

2. Stencil

3. Let it dry for a few days and then wash. I had to wash mine a couple times with fabric softener because I put quite a bit of paint on.

Yay for pretty new towels! It was so easy and quick that I'm going to make more once I get a chance.

Hello.

2012-02-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

My name is Danielle and I have a problem, I collect outrageous amounts of dishes. Tea cups, plates, platters, tea pots, pitchers, glasses, you name it and I probably have 5....or 16.

Any extra space in my kitchen is occupied by some type of dish, it's getting a little out of control.

I have these dreams of big dinner parties and summer bbq's and therefore I need 16 of everything. 16 salad plates, 16 glasses, 16 bowls, 16 plates and some of these I have a set of 16 for every month.

Are you sensing a theme yet?

16 is the magic number in my brain (I have no idea where this came from) and if I lose one piece I will give the entire set away.

In future house I will have an entire area of the basement dedicated to my dish collection. It's going to be the beautiful.

This is only a small part of my collection. I am currently working on getting it all organized, which means the shuffling of all storage. Yeah it's going to take awhile.

Stepford.

2012-02-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

Is it strange that I kind of want to live in Stepford, minus the whole creepy robot thing. To say that I love that movie would be an understatement, it's my most favorite of all time. The colors, the dresses, the houses, the tea parties, oh and the 4th of July festival. That movie just makes my heart smile and for some reason makes me all kinds of motivated to get my house in order and crafty projects done.

On our long drive home from Washington I told Husby that if I had lots of money I would have my own town, and it would be like Stepford. That's about the time he told me that I couldn't pay him to live there. He doesn't even know what he'd be missing, because it would be amazing!

When I have waaaay to much time on my hands these are the kinds of things I think about.

Project Queen.

2012-01-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

At any given time I have more half-way done projects than I care to admit. One of my 157894 new goals for myself is to finish a project before I start another. Since we came home from my parents I have successfully been able to check off 3 things!!! That deserves 3 !!! because that is a big deal in my world. Over the next couple weeks I will share the tutorials on how I made each super easy and inexpensive project.

Also I'm thinking about cutting my hair off. I've been going back and forth for a while now and can't seem to commit either way.

It's still January.

2012-01-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

So who's still going to talk about New Year's, that's right, this girl.

Husby and I are finally done celebrating all the holidays with both sides of our families. His family is in Utah and mine is in Washington so it can make for a hectic holiday season. We got home from visiting my parents a week ago and I'm having such a hard time getting back into the swing of things. Eight days with absolutely nothing to do really messes with a girl's schedule.

During my eight days of doing nothing plus a couple REALLY long (read 14+ hour) car rides I had some time think. As much as I don't like New's Year's resolutions I can't help but love the feeling of a new year, a new beginning, a new me. I have all these goals for my life before children and if I want them to happen I need to start now. Here are just a few of what seems like 10 pages I have written down:

1. Become more healthy. To become a more healthy person I need to eat better and exercise more. I think this in on a lot of people's list but I really want to be a healthy mom so I need to get this love of potatoes under control.

2. My shop. I am the only thing standing in the way of this dream of mine and I need to figure out how to get motivated.

3. Make our little house a home, and do it before summer rolls around. Husby and I will only be here for two more years but I still want to love where I live and make it mine. I'm a nester, always have been and always will be.

4. Plant a garden and stick with it. I don't know how many times I have started gardens and then became bored with them and let everything die.

5. Finish the 1,358 projects I have started BEFORE I start anymore. This one is for me and Husby. He gets really frustrated because I always have crafts all over the place.

So there are 5 of the countless goals I have set for myself this year. Maybe in the next couple weeks I will write them all down so I can keep track of them. One more thing added to the project list.

The below video is has absolutely nothing to do with this post but every time I watch it I can't help but laugh.

Merry Christmas.

2011-12-25T19:28:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Snow and curtains.

2011-12-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

First a note to Mother Nature.

Mother Nature: It is a week before Christmas and there is still no snow. Hurry it up because my outside decor will look much better covered in a white blanket of cold glittery goodness.

Next subject: curtains.

I really really wanted yellow chevron striped curtains for my living room windows. Well I did until I saw the price tag for the fabric of $9 a yard and I need 20 yards, so that wasn't going to happen. I have since decided to make my own. They won't have chevron stripes because that's too much work, but they will have really wide horizontal stripes. I'm hoping to start working on them today, and once they're done and hopefully a success I will share how I did it. Total this whole project should cost around $30 which makes this girl extra happy.

TV

2011-12-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Cute and Crafty Cupcake Stands

Here is the video from my little TV appearance this morning.

The Daily Dish.

2011-12-12T22:21:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday I will be on a local morning show called the Daily Dish. I am extra excited and nervous all at the same time. From now until the show goes on I will be preparing my cake and cupcake stands. I worked on projects all day long today so that I could take it easy tomorrow and not stress, but knowing myself I will add 15 more projects to my list by 10 am tomorrow.

Alright off to finish the laundry that has now taken me 6 days to finish. Yep just in time to start again.

This was the tree our first Christmas together.

Details.

2011-12-09T19:09:00.001-07:00

Hello lovelies!

My shop is being featured over on Hannah's cute blog today. You can check it out here.

Motivation.

2011-12-08T17:50:00.001-07:00

I'm finally starting to feel normal again, still have a hard time breathing but breathing is overrated right? Yeah, I think so too. Now I just need my motivation back.As I was staring at Christmas tree today (yes it all up and decorated and I will post pictures later) I decided that I want to start a tradition of taking a family picture in front of it every year. Well in order for that to happen I need to paint the wall and finish my curtains so tonight I will begin that process. Painting our little home has turned into a much bigger process than I first thought, which is why it's taken me forever and a day to begin. Here is the plan for tonight:

-Remove and replace old caulking

-fill holes

-clean walls

-start painting the trim

Fingers crossed I get it all done.

The following pictures have absolutely nothing to do with the above.

Last night I was going back looking through all of our pictures and it reminded me how much fun we've had together over the last 4 years. Oh. My. Goodness. I can't believe we been together for 4 years and married for 3. I love Husby so so much, all these pictures bring back the best memories.

New Years 2008

Our 1st wedding anniversary in Seattle

Husby's 25th birthday party

I found this gem on my camera months after it had been taken

This sickness needs to be gone.

2011-12-06T18:23:00.001-07:00

So I may not be as sick as I was yesterday but I still feel like the only sensible thing to do is lay on the couch. My plans, however, were interpreted when 3 of my 4 dogs escaped and the neighbor came knocking on the door to let me know. Imagine me in my bright pink robe my hair all over the place and my most attractive gray sweats (yeah they are Husband favorite) walking down the street trying to yell with my man voice at my dogs to get in the backyard. Thankfully my neighbor helped me gather my animals and I was back inside, on my couch in no time. About 30 min later I heard cracking noises and got up to see what it was, yep my pet dinosaur apparently LOVES walnuts because I found 4 of these lovely little messes around the house. I was just thinking how I wanted to spend my day cleaning. Thanks dog.

Saturday.

2011-12-04T19:14:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I participated in little holiday boutique. It wasn't anything big and exciting but it meant I got to spend 4ish hours hanging out with Misso and that always a good time. Below are pictures from the boutique and the little raccoon at the end, well Miss Misso made that herself out of clay. I love it.

Today my almost gone sinus infection morphed into something more terrible and I don't any plans to move from the couch. Ok, I take that back, I want my Christmas tree and if Husband agrees to go tonight I will move from this couch and make myself somewhat presentable to the world.

Fingers crossed tomorrow I get something more done than watching 14 episodes of Kitchen Nightmares.

Baby Lifestyles Magazine Holiday 2011

2011-12-02T22:41:00.001-07:00

Today has been so so busy.

There is a holiday boutique I'm participating in tomorrow so I've been trying to prepare for that plus get all of my holiday stuff done for my shop. I was hoping to have all that done last week but my supplies came in 3 weeks late!! So now I'm running around like a mad woman trying to get everything done.

One of my stands was in Baby Lifestyles Magazine Holiday issue. You can go check it here and then pop on over to Michelle's blog for all of the party details.

Wreath.

2011-11-30T14:42:00.001-07:00

I began decorating my front porch for Christmas on Thanksgiving night. The next morning I woke up and realized I didn't have a wreath and the failed wreath experiment from last year was in pieces in the basement. I thought about trying to fix it and use it for this yes but then I went and looked at it, and to the trash it went. Feeling defeated about a failed crafty project I called my mother for some wreath advice and that's how my new wreath came about. It took total maybe and hour to make and I think it's super cute and exactly what I was looking for. Below are the instructions on how to make it.

Please ignore the icky white door, instead pretend it's the pretty apple red it will become in spring

1. Find some logs at the width you want, mine were around 4-5" in diameter.

2. Cut them into 1-2" pieces.

3. Once you have them all cut lay them out in a circle about 2" apart. Once those are laid out lay out the second layer out on top of them. I used a scrap piece of wood to use a gauge how big I wanted my wreath to be. Adjust as necessary and make sure you have enough pieces.

4. Once you have the shape you like start gluing. I used hot glue and wood glue, hot glue because I'm impatient and wood glue because I want it to last. When it's dry turn it over and pound two nails into the back. After you pound the nails in take some wire or string and wrap between the two nails.

3. After you are done gluing time to add the pretties. I used real pine branches, fake berries, alder cones and some ribbon I had around the house.

And you're all done! It's so quick and easy the perfect holiday project!

Lately.

2011-11-30T12:36:00.001-07:00

So much is going on right now and needs to be done I don't know where to start.

Right now we are currently living in a little house attached to Husbands parents and it's fantastic. We have been on the fence about whether or not to move out but we have decided to stay until we are ready to buy our own house. This means it's time to start making this little place our own! I don't want to spend too much money because we won't be here for more than a few years but I do want to make it some place that I feel comfortable in. First step: switching out all of the furniture in the house for ours, which has been in storage.

I'm really excited to get everything done and can't wait for this to feel like home. Here are some before pictures of what our place looks like. It's really blah and a 90's flashback but that's all about to change. I plan to show little projects that I'm working on plus before and afters and can't wait to see how it turns out. I know the holidays are the absolute perfect time to start this but I just couldn't wait! Here's hoping I finish before we move out.

Twinkle Lights.

2011-11-17T19:31:00.001-07:00

I LOVE Christmas lights!!

And by love I mean I would keep them up year round if I could, and put them everywhere. everywhere.

Well tonight I might just have put them all over my shop and I can't wait to do the house and yard next!

Besties.

2011-11-16T15:20:00.001-07:00

My bestest friend in the whole world in South Africa right now on the World Race. She left in September and won't be home until August of 2012, and will only be home for a week before she moves across the country to attend Johns Hopkins for her graduate degree.

I am so super proud of her and she amazes me everyday. Even though we are the same age she is someone I will always look up to, I can't imagine where my life would be without her.

We aren't just besties we are sisters.

Love you James, and come home safely.

If you would like to follow her adventure here is the link to her blog http://jamiesmith.theworldrace.org.

Halloween

2011-10-31T16:39:00.004-06:00

Happy Halloween!

From, Ursula, Ariel, Crab and the dog.

Montana.

2011-10-19T13:56:00.000-06:00

Our quick trip to Montana was perfect.

We got to catch up with friends and help with the Smith's big day.

They got married at a ranch in Helena and it was BEAUTIFUL! Here are some pictures we took and I will share more once the photographer's come back.

In other news... I have a new shop!!!!! **squeal**

A big thanks to my Mother and Father in law because they totally surprised me the other night at dinner. I will be moving in this weekend and will share pictures once I've got it all set up. I can't wait, there will be so much more room for activities (Stepbrothers, anyone?).

Front of the party barn

The view from every direction

Signs I made for all of the cupcakes

Cute sign by Jacqui

Carrot Cupcakes on a new cake stand design

Me and Husby

Snowflakes and Sparkles.

2011-10-07T13:53:00.000-06:00

I'm super excited to announce that I am working on a Christmas/Holiday line of cupcake trees, cake plates and maybe some other little lovelies.

Everything will be available to order the day after Thanksgiving and will be ready to ship. So no lead time...YAY!!

Once I start working on everything I will post sneak peeks of what's to come.

Here are some photos of inspiration for everything.

all images via weheartit

*************************************************

A few other things not related to Christmas:

1. I am running around like crazy trying to get ready to leave for Montana tonight.

2. I'm not ready for snow yet, so Mother Nature take note.

3. I may be getting a big kid job. (boo)

4. I just now realized how much I LOVE mermaids. Thank you pinterest for bringing that to my attention.

5. Glitter may or may not be the best. invention. ever.