Hill Country Homebody

Birthday Fit for a Fairy

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:18:00 +0000

A special and goofy little girl in our house turned 4 recently! It's hard to believe.....

This sweet little character of ours can be all girl and yet act like a WWF wrestler when it comes to taking down her big brother but when it comes to parties she is as girly as it gets!

When asked what kind of party she wanted to have this year she quickly shouted "Tinker Bell"!

I hate to admit this but character parties bug me(which is funny because for our first childs birthday I did a whole Nemo thing just because I found some Nemo plates on clearance?? funny how much I change in a few years). Anyway, I should just get over it because that is what kids like right? I have tried to avoid going all "charactery" with the last two parties at our casa. Little dude had a super hero party party and we were able to pull it off so I figured I could throw a Pixie/Fairy party with a little Tinker sprinkled in and she would love it!

I had spotted a pretty ruffle cake on pinterest a while back that I thought I would try to make but but it was a big fail! Why? Have you tried to make fondant before? I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant and could just picture these pretty pastel blue ruffles with a surprise of pink strawberry cake on the inside. Thankfully I attempted the fondant early in the week and so I had it all made and sitting there waiting on me but when I plopped it out and tried to roll it out it was like a an old piece of gum, or rubber or just something that wasn't gonna roll out all nice and pretty. It was also way lumpy(are you supposed to sift the powdered sugar or something?) . I don't know but I will have to try again sometime just for fun because it makes such a pretty cake. Thankfully as backup I had some cans of cream cheese icing and was able to throw this baby together literally 45 min. before the little faeries arrived! Oh and that star above tinker is a sparkler! It was fun and stayed lit for the whole birthday song!

I couldn't help myself and had to decorate the mantle to make it a little festive too.

All the bigger butterflies you see in this post were in the spring section that is already up and 30% off at Hobby Lobby!

As usual (for me) there was no rhyme or reason for most of what came together for the party. Even though weeks before I had started looking for ideas for a fairy party and decided on colors and bought a couple of table cloths...I hadn't really sat down and decided where I wanted to put things so the last couple of hours before the party we were running around like crazy;) Hubs was a good sport and put this sweet little streamer tent together for the girls.

The blanket is from little dudes bed and just so happened to match. I think this was one of my favorite little spots.

Can I just stop here and say I have never relied so heavily on streamers to make a party festive but I think I am in love now! Especially for a little girls party outside. The way they float around is so dreamy no matter what your back drop (or dead backyard) looks like!

Here is the cake table inside.

Gotta love tissue paper flowers!

I had plans to make this more full but ended up running out of time so I just tied an extra butterfly and some ribbon to it and was done.

I found the frames in the dollar bin at Michaels and already had the buckets from little dudes super hero party . The wands were made from little dowels, leftover hearts from her Perfectly Pink party last year, and we already had all of the pink ribbon.

You can see here that I got a little lazy with the whole wrapping of the ribbon part:)

We intended to sprinkle a little pixie dust(aka sprinkles) on the cake before we cut into but I totally spaced and forgot. This container was 50% off at hobby lobby( I think I paid a buck for it). Cute huh?

In the back there you see a little "make a crown" sign.....

I put little butterflies with clips(found in the floral section of Hobby Lobby) on the top of the stand and a bunch of ribbon that I curled up prior to the party on the bottom. Next to the stand are gold pipe cleaners that we formed the crowns with.

Let's move outside to the food and fun!

I placed a gold tablecloth over our random 1980's ish bar out back, added some tool and streamers and set up the fairy snacks.

The tool was just attached with safety pins(I'm sure there is a better and more classy way to do this but there was no time;)

We had fairy fruit wands which were stuck into a foam block covered with green spagna moss and I just stuck some butterflies that were already wired right into the foam too.

You get the picture. The moss was hot glued on.

I found these guys in the Hobby Lobby floral section also.

We served twigs and nuts and golden crackers(cheeze itz). The tables were both sprinkled with those shiny little flat marble things that I had from a project from years ago, and sprinkled with pink kisses.

As for activities we had a scavenger hunt:

The mommas got to help search the grounds...

Our little dude was really a good sport during this super girly party. He played along well and didn't complain much;)

They found some magic feathers too. Look at this tude!

We had a nail painting station that I intended to make a sign for that would say "Pixie Hollow Salon" but again didn't get around to it(imagine that) but maybe if you are having a fairy party you will plan ahead better than me;)

After we painted nails and added a little blush the girls went to town riding around the yard and trying to protect their nails at the same time. It was comical!

There was some pinata hitting...

Lots of trampoline jumping....

lots of eating..

many giggles

and girl bonding

and some father son bonding too.

Warning: If you haven't noticed this post is getting heavy on the photos of the special girl!

and her crazy brother...

and her fairy baby sister that looked like she just walked out of the woodlands.

Phew that was fun! I think she liked it and as I look through these pictures again in fact it looks like she loved it!

We love you baby girl!! Hope it was everything you wanted it to be!!

Boys Drool Colors Rule!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:48:00 +0000

If you have been on Pinterest at all...... I mean I don't know a soul that really likes that site or that would waste away precious minutes of life pinning recipes that they might try someday(if they ever routinely cooked) or design ideas for their "someday house". I don't know anyone that does that do you? I didn't think so;)

Anywho, I digress. If you are a Pinterest fan (would love for you to follow my boards here) then you may have spotted a few of the awesome color boards from Design Seeds.

Jessica from Design Seeds has an awesome eye for color and a great concept!

She almost takes all the worry and hassle out of the sometimes difficult task of choosing colors for a space. I love how you essentially pick the main colors that you want to use and then even know which colors to keep in mind for accessories because you know they will jive.

I am so in love with this concept that I have already written a previous post about it.. Geez me! Get a life!

Ok so we love the concept right? But now what do we do with it? When it is actually time to go get the paint do we go research the swatch isle looking for something similar or is there a better way?

As you can imagine Design Seeds has probably been asked this question a time or two and I was curious as well.

Apparently in the world of color there is something called a HEX code. Design seeds has provided that and all you have to do is scroll over the color that your interested in on the right side of the color board and the HEX code will pop up.

Then what?

There is a site called Work with Color that you can visit and enter the HEX code into the "color converter" and it will give you the RGB code which is what the paint store needs to mix your color. Now obviously I haven't attempted this yet but I would probably try one color and see how it goes. After all computer screens vary too so I am really curious how the colors come out. If we ever break ground on the house and I get to get my hands dirty again I will definitely be trying this! Almost for the sole purpose of seeing if it works! Have you ever tried to find your perfect color palate this way? If not what method do you use to get that perfect match at the paint store? Do tell!

Evolution of a Room

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:05:00 +0000

Happy Monday all you wonderfully creative and talented people!

If there is anyone out there that hasn't given up on the bedroom makeover in progress for Lori you will be happy to know I have a little update! Finally!

Here is a little sneak peak of the mirror and headboard I posted on the facebook page yesterday;)

Isn't she pretty?!

When we first started these were the pics that Lori sent of their room. It was a room that they just hadn't gotten around to. Isn't that how it always is? The master bedroom almost always seems to be the last room in the house that gets any attention. Maybe it's because we never get to spend enough time there, or it is tucked away upstairs like Marc and Lori's.

Anywho, here is what you saw when you first walked into the room.

This is what you saw if you stood at the foot of the bed.

These are the nightstands and lamps that Lori acquired from Marc's bachelor days

When Lori and I started chatting about what she wanted for the room there were a couple of things that she mentioned. She was thinking of a grayish blue for the walls and had spotted a comforter at West Elm that was calling her name. As I have probably mentioned a hundred times before I am just a wanna be designer. I usually have no real plan for what we end up doing in our home. I just see something I like (typically at a very reduced price) and get it if I know I can put it to use somewhere.(back in the day when I was trying to decorate our casa anyway) These days I just keep my eyes peeled for good deals for others and you know what? It is just as fun! Anyway there is really no rhyme or reason...It doesn't have to fit some "style". I just "like" it. There is also a bit of a tendency to buy things that are a little different. For instance those two leaves on the wall to the left of the window. They are made of bark and were different and cheap so I had to swipe them up.

Or that huge "ball o' light" I just couldn't pass up at a Four Hands tent sale. (If you have a Four Hands in your area consider yourself lucky. We were lucky enough to buy several pieces of furniture back when they would send out 40 or 50% off vouchers)! Bonus!

I digress...I guess I just feel the need to say...I really don't have a clue what I'm doing. I just happen to know a couple of people that for one reason or another have faith that I can help them make sense of their spaces. So back to what Lori wanted. I put this mood board together with a grayish blue paint and the pin tuck comforter she wanted.

When we met up to do a little shopping together she brought me a paint sample of Sherwin Williams Ink Well.

Truth be told it is a bit more navy than the above picture and really dark. My approach in this has been if Lori is drawn to it lets see how we can use it and I thought it could be a very dramatic change for their room so homework was given and they painted the whole room Inkwell! Daring? Maybe...but the room is huge and it works.

We then went to purchase her duvet cover from West Elm.

Then I was out and about looking for some accessories and came across this pretty lady at hobby lobby for 50% off of course. (pardon the phone pic this is how we shop together...I see something..shoot her a pic, she goes to get it, fun!)

Ok back to that mood board. The original board depicted a neutral headboard to work off of and some pattern mixed in through pillows and that awesomely cute yellow chair from Target.

Actually while pinning some things on her bedroom pinterest board I had come across this super cute fabric aviary headboard from Target before I decided neutral would be easier to work with.

Lori was really drawn to both of the yellow fabrics and she and Marc decided to tackle making a fabric headboard out of a beautiful yellow floral fabric that she found.

Marc has pics of the making of the headboard and the details that I will eventually post about. But as I am sure you know there are a million make your own fabric headboard tutorials out there in blogland right now.

So you wanna see the first picture that I got to see of the room once they got started? Again a phone pic but you get the gist!

That's a bold statement huh? Oh I can't wait to show you what it evolves into!

From there I continued my adventure in accessory finding and found two pics like these at Home Goods that brought in all the colors we had evolved into looking for.

We then took a fun trip to ikea where she bought this gray and gorgeous Edland dresser that I have loved for a long time.(have I mentioned it is fun to live vicariously through other peoples decorating?)

and this white Malm dresser( don't worry we had plans to dress her up)

We found the lamps at Home Goods and the blanket at Ikea also. Then onto what has proven to be the most difficult part of this room for me...the pillows! Pillows are fun right? They are an easy way to add interest but man they are kicking my bootie here. I think something just doesn't connect in my brain

when I try to add more pattern and color on top of the yellow headboard. Right or wrong it bugs me.

So we started simple with some really neutral pillows . This off white or taupey color is also found in the art that we scored at homegoods for half the price of what ZGallerie still has them for..woohoo.

Granted everything is thrown together here and lots of missing bits and pieces but it ain't workin... In order to not get stuck on the pillow issue we move on to the dressers. We went for actual dressers here instead of nightstands because Marc and Lori needed more useful storage space and they got it for sure.

You have probably seen these guys all over the blogosphere right?

They are from a brilliant company called O'verlays and you can use them to dress up just about anything! Especially ikea furniture!

So we did

Then we hung some thrifty Ikea curtains and rods up and attached them with clips instead of using the tabs, hung the art(still need to remove those pesky price stickers) and we started to see a room come together!

Oh but the pillows:( In an effort to bring in more of the navy we found these chevron pillows on clearance at West Elm. Thankfully they were on clearance because I'm not feeling it.

We tried them with the neutral pillows

We took the pillow cases off and tried the white. Oh and see that bedskirt? After much thought on what to do about a bedskirt we have decided to take the headboard fabric and turn it inside out just to change it up a bit and tuck it in to see how it looked and we loved it! Lori is going to tackle finishing off that no sew look soon and we will just be pinning them on because those pesky bedskirts that go all the way under the mattress are annoying anyway right?

Then....

In an effort to try everything we had to make the bed right in my head I asked Lori what she had in her guest bedroom and low and behold..

We threw these babies on the bed and already liked it better

Now I am in the search for a new pillow covers for those pillows in the back but it is finally starting to work I think! Actually as I look back at the pic of the navy chevron pillows in this post they look pretty darn good...There is something about them in person though.

So here we are

From here....

To here...

For Now!

I of course really wanted to have a good old "we finished the whole room check out these before and afters reveal" but I couldn't help it. I am not that patient. It is going to be such a great change for them! A finished room with a little drama and we haven't really even addressed the other side of the room yet. Stay tuned and see if we get it finished in 2012;)

Linking to

www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com

Between Naps on the Porch

www.aturtleslifeforme.com

www.thegirlcreative.com

www.houseofhepworths.com

www.atthepicketfence.com

www.theshabbycreekcottage.com

www.stuff-and-nonsense.net

www.skiptomylou.org

www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com

www.lifemadelovelyblog.com

www.hopestudios.blogspot.com

www.todayscreativeblog.net

www.diyhshp.blogspot.com

www.domestically-speaking.com

www.diybydesign.blogspot.com

www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

www.bluecricketdesign.net

www.savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Uhh...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:13:00 +0000

Hey fellow Homebodies!

You know who you are;) Well let's just say I want to be more of one! Whew can you believe Christmas AND all the New Year celebrations have already come and gone. I have really mixed emotions about it all. It comes and goes so quickly yet it is such a busy time of year that I'm often glad it's over. I think it's the traveling thing that makes it rough right? Or traveling with 3 kids hyped up on sugar and way to many toys maybe that's the kicker. Either way we made lots of memories this year with our immediate little fam, friends and the rest of our family as well! Our little man who's 5 almost broke my heart the other day when he said "You know that song that came on at the end of Polar Express?"(I'm not sure what the song is) "well it made me cry a little bit when I heard it because I'm so sad that the best Christmas ever is over." Ah you remember that wonderful magical feeling as a kid right? I still get a little twinge of it and I am so blessed to get to experience it again through the eyes of our kids. It's awesome!

So in an effort to get back on the blogging bandwagon I am going to share a few pics of the memories we made this year with you and then some of that fun but less important but oh so fun "housey" stuff that we all love will be in the works!

We always start things out with lots of Christmas light lookin!
This wasn't our first adventure this season but I just love this pic of the beautiful lights in Johnson City that we try to take in every year. Can you imagine getting to run around underneath all of those lights as a kid? I hope ours will remember it forever.

We did a little decorating. We kept it super simple and as minimized as possible this year in the rent house. The thought of digging around in our "to capacity" garage didn't sound like fun. Honestly it has been years since I bought any Christmas stuff so I guess for me I did splurge on the stuff to make that simple little garland.

We did some more christmas light looking. In Austin you never know what people are going to light up!

This is a horrible phone pic but that's a little moped or whatever you call them...I lost the word..

Then Bitty Baby turned 2!

She gets to start the gift opening early!

More lights! This is the Johnson city trip with our three little goofballs.

Posers

Our son loves to reenact things. Can you guess the movie?

Super random dress up and dance to Christmas music moments...Little dude has on a girly bib that I put wrong side up to act as his apron for baking cookies.

Getting their bake on..

We did not attempt pretty cookies this year. It was all about just letting them do it all!

We attempted to take pictures for a Christmas card and the process was true to form. E dressed herself and then had no desire to participate and hubs and I tried to grin and bare it in hopes that out of 50 pics we could get a half decent one. Well if you usually get a Christmas card from us you know the results;) We weren't looking for perfect but there weren't even any amusing ones that we wanted to send. So we just excepted the idea that our friends and family knew we wished them a Merry Christmas and went on our merry way.

I love the way little dude is looking up at me in this one. Like he is thinking "good luck mom".

We did even more baking

Oh for the love of sugar...

and more light looking...there is so much to look at and so little time. Bitty Baby ain't so sure about that creepy Santa behind her daddy.

I love this sweet one of the kids admiring the manger scene

It was cold(for us) and the kids were loopy! You see that sign on the lower right? Yes we are in Texas and it does say "Never mind the dog Beware of the owner"

Can you believe there was even more baking? No wonder my pants don't fit. I didn't realize how much we did this!

I never want to forget those sweet little frosting fingers

Little dude's philosophy is E you decorate I'll eat...

hey look here we did do something besides bake and eat cookies...The santa hat was a part of little dudes wardrobe this year.

My mom and all her craftiness sent the kids this felt tree to decorate and redecorate as they pleased.

And then I wore it to our friends tacky Christmas party because well...I'm tacky like that!

We sprinkled reindeer dust on the lawn

Love the delight in little dudes eyes here!

We opened a gift before going to bed to wait for Santa

We did our Christmas morning free for all

Then headed out on a road trip to see some of our family in west Texas

and would you believe we were almost the only part of the country to have a white Christmas! It was beautiful!

We paid visits to the grandparents..

I love bitty baby's determination here

Got tons of Rapunzel and Tinker Bell stuff

and of course some good ol' boy shoot em up stuff

played in the snow a lot more

and of course ate it for good measure

We also went to my aunt and uncles to visit more family...I love this pic of bitty baby for some reason. The tights and boots always win me over.

and then we bid farewell to west Texas and headed back home to put up our new trampoline!

No pics of that yet for some reason...Actually it's because I'm usually jumping too;)

But you wanna know one of the things I have been looking forward to about the holidays or really the "post holiday" season? De cluttering!!! It's that time of year again when you get totally overwhelmed with stuff (especially if you have kids) and if we don't control it....It controls us so it feels so good to all go through our things and decide what to donate. Here is some of the damage that we did. Can you believe all this stuff? What is crazy is we are not huge consumers. Like we don't really buy stuff often. Especially kid stuff. So how on earth does this happen?

Who knows but it does and I am glad to have it gone. Of course now it has been replaced with new stuff from Christmas that we will donate next year.

I hope you and your family had a festive and meaningful Christmas and remembered the reason we celebrate at this time of year. Here is to the goal of simplifying and focusing on the most meaningful things every day!

Cha cha cha changes

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:01:00 +0000

Remember a few posts back when I shared our first color drawings of the beautiful home that Wilson drew up for us? So fun to see what you have been thinking of building come to life on paper with details, color, and shadows right?

Well what is not so fun is the realization that you can't make it a reality because of HOA requirements and oh you know...the budget. Truth be told when we received a preliminary quote for the beauty above we were actually just at our max of what we wanted to spend and that was with a lot of bells and whistles which we knew and assumed we would probably have to nix and DIY a little at time in the future. Sadly this board and batten look is not o.k. in our neighborhood unless your house is 3,000 sq feet or more and ours will not be. Believe it or not for a split and possibly irrational second we thought "hmm you mean if we added a couple hundred sq. feet we could actually save money because we wouldn't have to have so much stone on the exterior". Stone is pricey people! But...we don't want a house that big to clean and heat and cool. Actually I wonder if someday we(we meaning all of us) will not even look at stone as an option anymore due to there being so many more green and less expensive ways to clad a home. One day HOA's in our area may rethink what is acceptable as long as it is not depleting the value of homes in the neighborhoods. People want efficient, green, pretty, and inexpensive ways to build spaces. Us included! So anywho...IF we were to ever leave this house that we haven't even started on...(did I dare say that?) then I think we would have a ton o' fun playing with other materials. But for now this is how we have gone about changing some things up to meet the requirements and changing some details that I mentioned in that previous post about the front porch area.

Ta da! She is pretty too isn't she!! We changed up the roofline a bit to add more interest and in doing so went to 9 foot ceilings everywhere except the kitchen/living area. We also obviously added more of a front porch. We have always loved this look over an entry...

Sources of these 3 pics is unknown(before the days of pinterest:) and I wasn't savvy enough to note where they were from so if you know please advise!

In the drawing you will see many of the columns are stone and due to budget those will be changed to cedar clad posts. The materials have changed to a stone and stucco mix which unfortunately is more

cha ching:(

Here is a drawing of how the back of the house did look

and now (not in color so a bit harder to compare)

Not a huge difference but did replace the board and batten with stucco and will clad the columns in cedar here to to save moola.

Here are the previous side views

and here they are now. You can see we have had to scale her back a bit in the ceiling height and window category. Oh and you know that side of the master bedroom was my favorite right? :( Boo and oh well! I will get over it...Actually done... I'm over it. We don't have the time or the money to care too much at this point. I still have those awesome square windows that I can't do without!

We have to get this baby done soon...our lease is a tickin and little man starts kinder soon! No matter what it will be our home and we will fill it with noise, love, fun and stress and life and I am oh soo grateful for that! Don't get me started I am on a teary eyed hold on to my family and try to enjoy every moment ride right now. As I should be!

So this may be it?! Our future home...We think she is pretty!

But...Happy inside is what makes her pretty!(there I go again;) Seriously if I could type tears and a swelling heart I would. I am all hormonal or convicted or something.

We shall see....at this rate we may just have to sell the lot and grab us some rusty old metal and start that whole "green building" "off the grid" life I dream of;)

I would say come on in

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:17:00 +0000

but.....we don't live here anymore! In an effort to do a little less when it comes to decorating for Christmas this year we have opted not to put this bad boy together again at the rent house. I did love this garland though. I think I loved it a lot more than hubs did because he usually ended up being the one to nail it to the stone and do all the hard work while I was typically doing the tree. He is (not so secretly) happy to keep all these goodies in their storage box. Just this year though dude! I digress..It really welcomed us into our home and it was fun to drive up and see. That sucker was bright!

Ok forgive my bad photography here! We had just received our new camera and didn't have a clue how to take pics in low light. Not that I have it all figured out now either but still...

Can you even tell what is going on here? I didn't think so.

Thankfully for some reason I did get this close up though. I wasn't blogging about things other than family stuff on our family blog last year so before after and during pics are lacking here but you can see that we just used some of that grapevine that you find all rolled up at Michaels or Hobby lobby and attached that to the stone. This stuff is a little hard to work with and get to stay in one place because it is so thick and twisted so hubs nailed it in place.

Then we twisted some garland around it, added a gazillion small and large white lights and stuck with simple red and white ornaments. When decorating outside I personally like the bigger the better philosophy with ornaments so they actually show up from the street.

Funny though...as I look back this garland was so bright you could hardly see the ornaments. Good to know!

So that's it..a strange post about last years door. You use what a got right?

Hope your all having fun getting into the festivities of this fun time of year!

This year I'm trying to focus on sitting on the couch more with the kiddos and hubs and not letting all the excess and bright lights take away from the reason our family celebrates!

Merry Christmas!

Linking to:

Simple is hard to do

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:03:00 +0000

With Christmas fast approaching I typically get antsy about trying to make something, at least one something, whether it is something to make the house a little more festive, cookies with the kids, or a gift for someone. This year is no different except my heart is tugging at me saying "take it easy, your crammed in this rent house with no room to create, enjoy the moment and don't make a mess if you don't have to". But....I just can't help myself! No really...the truth is I have this party..Wink wink Jonna. This fabulous party that another one of my sweet friends hosts every year(yes I have some party throwin friends).

Here is the invite! Such a fun way to get motivated to create!

As the days cool down and the Season draws near,

Let’s have some fun girl-time with friends, food, and good cheer!

Bring a fun homemade gift, wrapped and ready to trade

(or go out and buy one if you just don’t do homemade).

So offer sweet dreams and kiss the family good-night,

Then come out and celebrate - we'll be merry and bright!

Invite your friends and let’s get to know each other better. Be creativewith your gift for exchange your ideas are limitless (up to $15 value, please).

So in an attempt to do something quick and thrifty I now have this..

Ha! I have three different things going on here...none of which are complete. I am a scatterbrained crafter fo sho.

See that plunger looking thing there? Um I nixed that project...It was going to be a tree and then a reindeer and now its a plunger;)

So here is where I ended up and I don't know that it's finished..but I can't find my ribbon stash(it's in the "storage" aka the garage we can't walk into) and I can't decide if I am willing to brave Michaels for one more ornament wood thingy.

I started by buying some of this glittered card stock at Hobby Lobby(for my tree project fail). I can't get enough of this stuff. I was lucky to find it at 1/2 off when I needed it.

I also brought home some Folk Art black metallic paint for the "plunger" project.

Days later...I came across these little wood ornaments at Michaels while I was looking for something else..What that something was I can't remember. Seriously have scatterbrain issues.

This pretty curvy gal was 1.49 and then 1/2 off!

I decided after much goofing around with other possibilities for this that I would keep it simple and make a garland, swag, or bunting...whatever you want to call it. Actually I don't know what bunting means..I need to look that up!

So I asked the hubs to go into the deep dark unknown of the garage and figure out a way to make some holes to hang said garland.

Oh and luckily I had an impulse buy near while in the checkout line and bought this package of 3 Ho's for half of of 1.99(giggle here) and a santa hat that had holes in them so they were absolutlely perfect for the "garland".

I went ahead and painted the back of the three ornaments with the metallic black paint to give it a more finished look without having to go buy more paint. If I had silver or red I would have gone that route but I'm glad I didn't because if I do want to keep this on the mirror the black keeps the back from being too distracting.

I decided to leave the side I was going to decoupage without paint although it wouldn't be a bad idea to paint both sides in case your paper isn't lined up just right.

I traced around the ornaments onto this awesome paper...This is by far my favorite and I wish I would have done the whole thing in this beautiful paper!

Make sure to mark where your drilled holes are too. I used a hole punch to make a clean cut. Then whipped out that mod podge and went to town.

Since I can't find my ribbon stash....I used leftover raffia from my little mummy votive project in October so I could see how it looked all together.

And Viola...Here she is on the mantel.

I think I am going to go look for a better ribbon option if I have time but I think she turned out simple and even a little mod which I love!

You can't really tell in these pics but all three papers are different...I think I will rearrange the order of the ornaments when I rehang them. I am feeling a little off balance with my favorite paper being on the end;) Who knows...I might just totally change this again before the party;)

Update::::::::
I did find time to go get some ribbon and of course moved this little baby again. I think I like it better with the red ribbon..Don't you?

Linking to:
Bower Power
Under the table and dreaming

www.centsationalgirl.com
Under the table and dreaming
www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

www.pollywantacrafter.com

www.thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

www.thegirlcreative.com

www.skiptomylou.org

The Fun Part!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:03:00 +0000

Well I have been missing in action on the blog front! We have been enjoying getting into the holiday spirit around here and I can't believe it is right upon us. There has been a little travel for work for me, and a trip for thanksgiving with a wedding all wrapped into one. It has been busy! But onward we go with house planning right in the mix of it all....

I love this part of the design process! Seeing how it will all look is so fun. Taking a floor plan and actually turning it into a house is the amazing part of architecture to me. We started by sending Wilson(the architect) tons of inspiration photos. Some of which were just in my "inspiration folder" on my computer before the evolution of Pinterest helped me keep them organized.

I wanted to show him tons of pics so he could get an idea about the things we like. Even if there was just a part of a photo that we liked I would send it his way so he go a feel for what we were going for.

Source: Builder Ron Ross

And again...what I call contemporary Texas architecture. Limestone, metal roof, and a little bit of wood mixed in.

Source: Ron Ross

Oh and this little beauty!

So simple and has the mix of materials we love.

Stone, stone, wood, metal, and my new love on the exterior of a home..board and batten!

source: Mangum Modular Homes

I have usually never been drawn to any kind of siding but the board and batten mixed in with these materials is gorg!

So you wanna see one of the first renderings that Wilson prepared for us?

First..I have to share this pic that I made the hubs and Wilson suffer through. Welcome to the home of a blogger.. If you enter your sure to be photographed so smile and enjoy yourself! That's hubs on the left pretending he likes to be plastered on the internet...and then the architect being shy and pretending to work;) Seriously though he is a trooper to spend some time at our casa late at night after between the two families we get our six kids to bed. Because there is no way we could talk about board and batten or sill heights( I don't really know if that is the right word but you get my drift) with kids running around.

Be still my heart! The materials and look were spot on! He even went for it and gave us a glimpse of what it would look like with a little color!

After drooling a bit and studying what we liked and didn't like about it with Wilson we decided we needed "more" for the front door. What more? We weren't exactly sure but the door was lacking a little importance to all of us so we decided to start playing with adding more of an entry way to it. More to come on that....

This is the back.

As far as I'm concerned this is perfect! Actually..I haven't told Wilson this yet but he may know now;) I think we want to give the dining room(the area that juts out right in the middle) more of a "sunroomish" feel so I want to move those taller windows in the living room(to the left) over to the dining and do the shorter ones in the living so we have a little wall space underneath them for um..well..who knows..I just like the thought of not having to put anything right up against a window.

And here is the garage side of course...stating the obvious here.

I love square windows! We wanted to add them where we could..

See those awesome square windows and this gorgeous inspiration pic? Wilson totally picked up on that!

source

oh and then there is THIS side of the house! I love this! Is it weird to love the side of a house? I mean really it won't even be visible to anyone but the neighbor to our right. What a waste of some beautiful architecture;) More squares!

So what do you think? Are you as excited as I am? Of course your not silly but I do hope you enjoy following along this adventure and seeing how we have to give a little or a lot to get this whole house building thing into our budget...It's way too gorgeous for a thrifty couple like us right?

Have you ever built a house?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:26:00 +0000

Did you know it can make you gain weight?

When you spend countless late nights drawing and measuring and trying to visualize spaces you end up(or I do anyway) doing a lot of this

and then in return a lot of this......

Oh yes I did put the coffee pot in the cabinet! It was one of those wow I can't believe I just did that moments...and yes I snapped a quick pic with my phone. How could I not share my absent mindedness with a few friends. Friendship is about being transparent right?

Well here is what has kept us up so much. Last year we started contemplating coming up with our own floor plan because we couldn't find a floor plan that would work on our lot (it slopes down a little so it needs to be long and shallow to trim foundation costs). We found some nice plans but they were all missing at least one thing we were looking for. Whether it be a mud area from the garage, or a large laundry room, or a space where our 10 foot dining table could fit but we don't want a formal dining room. You can imagine there aren't a whole lot of one story plans out there that fit the bill. Oh yea and we want it to be a one story...

That's were we googled and came across this floor planner website call Floorplanner.com. There is a tiny little learning curve but it is pretty easy to get started and it's free unless you need to work on multiple designs(then there is a small fee).

We worked on a couple of different options.

Here is option #1

Oh and I forgot to mention we were also trying to shoot for 2400-2600 sq feet and no larger. Due to the HOA restrictions in our neighborhood we have to build it at a minimum of 2400 sq feet. Once we really started looking at floor plans we realized it would be hard to fit all that we wanted into anything under 2600 but we still wanted to shoot for it.

So anyway..back to it..

Option #1

You see there are tons of details missing here but we just wanted a simple drawing to give our architect so he knew what we were thinking.

The main goal was(and is) to have a "great room" that consists of the kitchen, living and dining all in one space. Our last house had a pretty cramped little main living area so I am determined to be able to have more seating in the new casa. You'll see the dining table rests right between the the kitchen and living. I couldn't decide if I loved that idea or not. Sadly the one thing that turned me off from that design is not wanting to be limited in the type of lighting that I could put over the dining table because then we would have to look through island lighting and table lighting to see what was going on in the living. Silly right? But still something that weirded me out. The one thing I loved was having a window over the kitchen sink! You will see you walk into a mudroomish area from the garage and then right into the playroom or as the hubs likes to put it "family room" because he never wants the kids to think our house revolves around them and their things. I get it I totally do but...anywho..

There are three bedrooms around the "family;) room" and two baths. One of which is a jack and jill bath for our girls to eventually share. We will have one room and bath as a guest area until the kids get older and don't share a room any longer.

Below is our work up of another option.

Ignore the details or lack there of. There is a reason we had to hire an architect! Some things we just couldn't figure out how to do (like lay out our bathroom).

I hade been "pinspired" if you will by this

source

We already had plans for an 8 x 4 island so I obviously was loving the length of that one but I also loved that the island looked into an area of windows surrounding the dining table...

Actually..you know what? The original inspiration came from this HGTV dream home kitchen

HGTV Dream home 2011 Kitchen

You can't tell much from this pic but if you go to the site you get the vision. We have already come to the conclusion that we can't afford to do a fancy smancy ceiling like this but oh isn't it purdy!

So this was what we took to our architect.

And here is the hopefully finalized plan!

There is a good chance we have really gone over our building budget by adding the large porches and probably the playroom..oh I'm sorry.."family room" so we may have to nix the 'family room" all together. If that is the case who knows what that end of the house will look like but for now here she is..

We love it!

Unfortunately it grew to 2800 sq feet though. I think this is all par for the course of designing and building right? Please tell me yes. You gain things, you lose things, you squeeze and stretch things until you finally get to a house you love and hopefully can afford.

I will be sharing some exterior inspirations and elevations next!

If your in the Austin or Central Texas area our Architect is Wilson Robertson and you will be wowed by his work as we go along I'm sure!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall(s)

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Hey homebodies!
Let me just say I love mirrors! When we got our first home and I was attempting to decorate with little to no budget I often found myself bringing home mirrors. The hubs was usually like "another mirror..really. Are we that vain?" Well no as a matter of fact I'm not a fan of seeing myself in the mirror on most days but they are so stinkin easy to use to fill up a wall. Especially if you don't mind seeing the reflection of the rest of the room.

About a month or so ago I ran across this picture on Pinterest.

source

At first I just noticed and liked the symmetry in the picture. I have also been loving the look of having two tall pieces of art on either side of the bed instead of a piece above the headboard.

Then...my "wheels" remembered the mirror we have in the kids room and I thought " I need a good reason to go to IKEA and buy
THIS
Ram Mirror

10 Bucks!

And then...I got all wacky and thought I would decoupage it with some fancy tin foil to give it the silver look without having to paint(which to me means taping and being careful not to get the mirror all funky)

Well..It was still messy and time consuming so instead I went even fancier with

this

Oh yes I'm classy like that.You can do anything with Duck tape right? There isn't a thing I won't try to get a certain look quickly and cheaply;) Did you know there is such a thing as Color Duck tape? There are all kinds of fancy patterned ones too. Who knew?

I know now your thinking why on earth didn't she just paint the mirror silver? I'm thinking that now that it is all said and done myself but I like trying new approaches so I had to finish it and see.

It doesn't look too horrible does it? Really when you think about it it doesn't have to be perfect. These will probably be in a place that no one really gets near if they are on the sides of your headboard anyway.

Next up I needed some circles for the inside of the mirror(s).

After searching for the perfect random material I finally decided that a piece of foam board would do the trick as long as I could cut it without destroying it.

I searched for some circles..The kitchen always comes through for me here.

I then used a utility knife to cut through. This was a little time consuming and they definitely didn't turn out perfect but I was planning on covering them anyway.

I laid them out to make sure the design worked. You'll notice it is a bit different from the picture...Didn't have circles in my kitchen that big;)

Then I added a bit more class to the project and covered them in foil.

I brushed a light coat of copper latex paint over the circles and the mirror to patina it up a bit. On a side note if I were taking the same approach(foil and duct tape and all) I would use a rub n buff to patina it instead. I don't think the latex is going to hold up very well on the shiny duct tape surface.

Then I applied a thin line of hot glue because that is what I had(we shall see how it holds up)

Applied the pattern and viola!

I have seen these mirrors somewhere online for around $450!

Don't get me wrong I am sure your $450 buys you a bit more class but hey I'm willing to be a little bit country if it saves me $435 bones.

That being said...If I wanted to do a little more work it would totally be worth it to cut some thin wood into these shapes and either stain or paint this whole project. Honestly I would recommend it if these will be in an area where people get all up close and personal to them. But...don't you love it when you don't have to break out the power tools?

I'm linking up this project to

Beneath My Heart

Tater Tots and Jello

The pinterest challenge hosted by

Sherry @Young House Love

Katie @Bower Power

Anna @ Anna White

Erin @ House of Earnest

You want me to do what?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Meet Marc and Lori

(and.... the precious and oh so smart Addy)

A few months ago Marc contacted me about wanting to surprise Lori with a bedroom makeover. (Brownie points for Mr. Marc right?)

He had been considering hiring the real deal (a real designer, with real education, and a real hourly wage;)

Mr. Marc decided instead to ask me if I wanted to help because he said "we always like the way you guys decorate" and I said uh...."well I'm honored and blushing and am absolutely uncomfortable with you paying me to help you do something that I will probably stumble through." This is not word for word of course but you get my drift right?

They wanted to "hire" me and I wasn't sure if I could

One: Find the time to help or

Two: Accomplish the goal and have a happy Lori

BUT..

We are going for it! I have absolutely no problem buying things to put in my own home but the pressure to "make a house a home" for someone else is actually what helped me steer away from an interior design degree and instead go with the oh so concrete end results of a degree in Dental Hygiene(yes there is such a thing;)

So do you want to stumble through this with me? I mean how could I say no to some online and in person shopping trips for a friend!

We kinda sorta live in the same town but it is quite a road trip and trying to find a time to meet up when the traffic isn't bad or when I don't have my three chillins isn't easy so we have for the most part done a lot of virtual design.

So first off I had them send me some pics.

This is what you see when you walk into their HUGE bedroom.

There are two large windows on the left with about 6 feet in between them and to the right of the bed there is a wall at an angle and then a fairly large wall that runs parallel with the bed.

Standing near the foot of the bed you see this. There is one of the windows I mentioned. This is a great little nook for a chair or two. That door there leads into their master bath.

Marc also sent me some close ups of the furniture they had so we could decide if we could use it or not.

This is what is on the angled wall near the bed.

So here is where the fun starts for me! After Lori mentioned a paint color that she had been eyeing

Sherwin Williams Inkwell

Dramatic Huh?

and a duvet cover from West Elm she had in mind...

then I attempted to find something similar for a mood board and started pulling some things together that I hoped she might like. We didn't really discuss much in the beginning. I just took her color choice and ran with it to see if I could get an idea about what she liked.

I of course also encouraged her to "pin" away at things she likes so I could get a feel for her style.

Then I "pinned" away myself!

Which by the way if you haven't started your addiction yet then just contact me via my little envelope button with "pin me" in the subject line and I will be your "dealer" and send you an invite;)

Here are some things I started pinning

Isn't Pinterest awesome!(not a question...a fact indeed) It is so great that I can pin something and she can go right to the link and buy it if she likes it. Shopping is becoming way too easy! Anywho...after she o.k.'d the look that I came up with we met up to buy the duvet and check out her sample of the paint color and she went home and went to town......I am so excited and nervous to see how this all turns out. It has been slow going for sure(like I was afraid of) but we will get it done! More coming soon....

Linking to:

Monday Link Parties

www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com

www.diyhshp.blogspot.com

http://www.lifemadelovely-blog.com

www.dittledattle.blogspot.com

Tuesday

www.hopestudios.blogspot.com

www.tipjunkie.com

www.todayscreativeblog.net

www.allthingzrealted.blogspot.com

www.domestically-speaking.com

www.diybydesign.blogspot.com

www.typeadecorating.blogspot.com
www.houseofhepworths.com

www.chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com

www.justagirlblog.com

www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com

www.tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com

www.atthepicketfence.com

www.stuff-and-nonsense.net

www.remodelaholic.com

www.shanty-2-chic.com

www.findingfabulousblog.com

www.shabbynest.blogspot.com

www.whipperberry.com

Saturday

www.bedifferentactnormal.com

www.funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

Are you confused yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:29:00 +0000

If you are one of probably 3 readers of this here blog you may be saying whaaa?

She went from all those staging posts and little tweaks to "we are in a rent house" with absolutely no mention of the house being sold.

Well guess what? I can finally say it (or show it)..
We Sold our House!

I have been more than apprehensive about posting about it. Why?....Oh my is it a long story! It ended up dragging on and on and I could tell you the saga but I don't want to be a negative Nancy nor do I want to re-live it because I was on the verge of a panic attack and we don't wan't to spur that on now do we?

It got to the point where friends would ask if we sold the house and I would just shrug my shoulders and say I don't know because there was so much up in the air from the buyers side of the transaction.

I just knew as soon as I posted that we sold our house it would fall through and bite me. So I couldn't do post about it due to sheer fear of bad luck.

That being said I wanted to mention the "positive side" of the house selling story. We did have to spend some dough and lose some dough to sell it but the getting it out there and getting people interested was smooth as butter!

So here goes...

Once we felt we had de-cluttered as much as possible(this included renting a storage unit...so embarrassed that we have that much stuff) then we got down to business. I hired someone to wash our windows(two story house = not easy task) and clean all the carpet upstairs.

While getting all of that arranged and scheduled I started researching real estate photographers in the area. As I'm sure you know..."pictures are worth a thousand dollars"oh that's not the real saying but you get where I'm going right?

You've seen those horrible pictures of homes on the MLS where all you notice is the overflowing trashcan or the half made bed with dirty clothes under it.

Wanna see a whole slew of funny pics that people put on the MLS?

Go visit Julia @ Hooked on Houses! Crazy stuff I tell ya! Those pics kill me.

Today pictures are the "first impression" when attempting to sale. Most people find their own homes online and then contact their realtor to let them view the ones they are interested in. It is an easier way to eliminate the hassle of driving all over town to be disappointed. So we were A O.K. with spending some dough for some awesome pics and we weren't disappointed!

I would not only look around your area for a good real estate photog but I would make sure they do HDR photos as well. What is HDR photography? I didn't know either but I did know that they looked richer, fancier, had more depth and shadows than a normal picture. HDR is

High Dynamic Range and to me an amateur it is just a better pic. I attempted to learn more about it and try to do it myself but it was beyond my skills, patience and equipment to do so and more than worth it to just hire it out.

Non HDR from a girl that knows little to nothing about photography

HDR image with better angle from a guy that knows a lot;)

Not only did they take the pics but they put them in this slideshow too! From the slideshow we could even make our own fliers.

"Why would you wanna do that yourself" you might ask? Well because we wanted to sell our home ourselves of course! Of course we want to DIY it all and try to save every penny. Or in this case not lose as many by having to paying a listing agent.

So we put it out there. We had the For Sale by Owner sign, the flyers, the add on craigslist and didn't get much traffic. There is something to be said for the MLS of course. It gets it out there but we just had to give the FSBO route a shot.

We set a goal of 2 weeks and if we hadn't had much interest we would list it. That's where good ol' word of mouth comes in. An acquaintance of mine had mentioned selling their home in a for sale by owner manor but being able to get it on the MLS and provide the lockbox, sign and all. That's how we found Marshall @

This was the "smooth as butter" part of our house selling story. I contacted him about what we were looking to do. We paid him a flat fee, I entered some info about our house into the site, downloaded our professional pics and viola by the next day we had a listing on the MLS, a sign in the yard, and a lockbox so buyers realtors would have access.

You can decide what you are willing to pay a buyers agent as you work up your listing. We added a flyer holder to the sign and printed up some flyers on our own. I would highly suggest this! Especially if you have good pics! Choose your pics wisely and make the buyer want to see what else is inside your lovely home!

We had three people look at it within the first 7 days and on day 7 had a contract and another interested party. Some had a buyers realtor and some did not so you never know who will find your house but they definitely put it out there.

And.....(insert several paragraphs of things not working as they should through a real estate transaction) 3 months later we close on the property! Hallelujah!

Did I mention we moved out of the pending property in late august?

The stress of paying rent and a mortgage all while trying to maintain the lawn on the pending house, raise three kiddos, and work was cardiac infarction producing or could have been anyway;)

I kept mentioning to Marshall that the whole process was almost too easy and that I expected some bumps to crop up...Call it woman's intuition;)

So! All that being said..we did it, we sold the house and can move on with building our house! I am sure that too will be a journey. We are prepared and excited to learn a ton and can't wait to see how it all turns out!

A little side note....you do not have to be in central texas to to use Homes by Owner

Just click above to look for someone in your area that will list your home this way.

We were not paid to recommend this site. Just really happy with how professional Marshall was!

It's a Halloween Linky and Blog Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:10:00 +0000

~ 6 Wicked Day's Of Halloween ~

It's officially DAY 6 today and we are celebrating this Halloween crawl day
over at Jenna's Via Two Oh Two Seven with an awesome Halloween feature!

Halloween Luminaries

In case You've missed the last 5day's, here's a little recap of what we shared!!

Marilyn Via The Artsygirl Connection - (Day 1)

My Creepy Critter Potion

This Scummy goodness recipe (YUM) can be found HERE..

Then I put together this

Festive Halloween Centerpiece

Bonnie Via A-Wee-Meenit - (Day 3)

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

A MUST try.. Yummmmy!!

Rachel Via The Crinkled Home - (Day 4)

"MASH"

Creepily Awesome!!!

SOUND & SPOoOOoKY DAY!!!

Laura Via Ms-Smartie-Pants (Day 5)

~"Witchie Hostess Gift" So Unique & fun..

Laura's Witchie Hostess Gift Preview

30th - PROJECT P.I.N.K BLOG DAY

And todayat

31st - Jenna Via Two Oh Two Seven (Day 6)!

Head on over to visit Jenna and link up all of your amazing Halloween projects for 2011

This is a Blog Hop!

Happy Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Happy Saturday Homebodies!

We are still Crawling around through the blogs of 5 other wonderful ladies so join in with us.

Here is the line up!

25th - Marilyn (The ArtsyGirl Connection) - Introduction and craft..

26th - 1st Kick off Here!

27th - Bonnie @ A Wee Meenit

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled Home

29th -Laura @ Ms. Smarty Pants

30th - Break For Project Pink

31st - Jenna @ Two oh Two Seven

and to make it even more fun...

the 31st will feature a linky open to all to link up fun

Halloween

projects to bid the season goodbye! So join in if you can!

Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!

Fall Party Idea that isn't Halloweeny

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:23:00 +0000

Okay ladies..

Who is going to say no to a party invitation like this?

Its October... time to celebrate friends, fall and chocolate!

This is a girly party where we simply eat chocolate desserts

and talk a lot. If you wish, bring a chocolate dessert to share.

If you aren't a baker or have a busy week, just show up!

There's always plenty.

Our contest will include Best Presentation, Best Tasting and

Most Decadent. Hope to see you there!

A friend of mine has hosted her "Choctoberfest" party for several years now and it is always a hit! Well Duh!

Even though we all know we will be ill and you have to actually hurt yourself a little to taste all the chocolate goodness we still come back for more. Chocolate is addicting right? Well mix that with a party and watch the girls arrive with smiles on their faces!

Well hello there! You must have jumped right out of my dreams!

(talking to the table below of course;)

Ahhh aaaaaaaaa!

You know where some of us got our recipes...Pinterest of course. I actually wondered if some of us would show up with the same chocolate goodies since we all like to pin each others yummy recipes that we come across. See those pretty little raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips? So cute, simple and yummy!

These White Chocolate Peppermint Bon Bons are a Sandra Lee recipe and were awesome and so pretty.

You see that the fabulous hostess placed some nuts on the table as well as some chips and salsa in the living room. It's amazing how you can crave a good dose of salt after indulging in soo much chocolate!

O.k. So wanna see what I made? I was nervous about this but just had to try it. I had seen Chocolate Covered Bacon in a local candy store and had been dying to try it ever since. So what did I do? Searched Pinterest of course...

This is such a simple thing to do!

You'll need one package of bacon(not sure how many lbs that is?)

1 12 oz pkg of semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tablespoon Crisco(I know...like it wasn't fattening enough)

and then any toppings aka..spices your heart desires.

Heat your oven to 400

Thread your bacon on wood skewers and cook for 25 to 30 min per my experience.

While your cooking up the bacon heat your chocolate chips in the microwave or if you don't have one like us(we still haven't bought one...carazzy I know!) then heat them over some boiling water and then add in the shortening and mix well.

I don't own a pastry brush so I just spread the chocolate over the bacon with a spoon being sure to get in all the nooks and crannies.

Then I sprinkled some with cracked black pepper, some with cayenne and the rest with ginger! Fun and Yummy!

I placed them in the fridge and then scurried around the house looking for a way to display them.

I grabbed this little wagon which is suppose to be part of our fall decoration but has turned into a fun toy for the kiddos and then I destroyed my Halloween centerpiece because I needed the foam and viola...

I had a chocolate chuck wagon! Ha!

You have to try this! Just for fun..come on!

Want a few more Halloween ideas before the big celebration?
Head on over to visit Rachel @ The Crinkled Home to see what she has up her sleeve!

We are still Crawling around through the blogs of 5 other wonderful ladies so join in with us.

Here is the line up!

25th - Marilyn (The ArtsyGirl Connection) - Introduction and craft..

26th - 1st Kick off Here!

27th - Bonnie @ A Wee Meenit

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled Home

29th -Laura @ Ms. Smarty Pants

30th - Break For Project Pink

31st - Jenna @ Two oh Two Seven

and to make it even more fun...

the 31st will feature a linky open to all to link up fun

Halloween

projects to bid the season goodbye! So join in if you can!

Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!

Ghostly Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:01:00 +0000

Hey there fellow homebodies! Are you up for a few more ideas as we count down to Halloween?

I have mentioned before that I have never really been that "into" Halloween until this year. I don't know if it is all the crazy inspiration on the world wide web or what but I am on Halloween overload now. I mentioned in this last Halloween post that when Marilyn from The Artsy Girl Connection asked me to participate in her Creepy Crawl my mind went in all directions and I couldn't decide which project to post about! I made these little guys first and then did the project below before I ended up deciding on posting about the centerpiece! Well I can't possibly have made something and not show you right?

Meet this eerie little guy!

He was of course right up my alley in the easy and thrifty factor!

Here is what you need:

One simple curvy candle holder

Turn that baby upside down and ignore the dust

Grab a styrofoam ball..I had to buy some because of course my craft stash is buried somewhere in the post move garage.

Now I know you all have a few plastic grocery bags laying around right?

In order to light this ghostly guy up you need some of these handy little battery operated candles.

You definitely know where I'm going with this .....

If you want a short little ghostly dude look around I am sure you will find him..

I didn't end up using the smaller candle holder because I decided to paint it orange for another project that by the way failed so we won't be seeing that little dude again;)

Even though styrofoam doesn't tolerate hot glue well...in this situation I used some to attach it so his head didn't wobble and drift or just flat out fall off on me.

I then tore the grocery bag up in a ghostly kind of way (talk about upcycling) !

I then applied a super tiny squiggle of hot glue around the top edge edge of the candle holder, let it cool just a bit so it wouldn't burn right through the plastic and then pressed the bag around the edges of the holder.

Then of course some googley eyes were applied with a smidgen of hot glue and I couldn't find my sharpie marker so I just used a black pen for the mouth.

So what do you think? He is cute in an eerie kind of way.....

I have got to learn how to photograph things like this in the dark! There is a trick that I don't know yet for sure. I might mention we were really in the dark when I took these. Our power went out for about an hour and totally freaked the kids out! I don't blame them I was a bit scared myself until we found our flashlights and dug and dug for candles. I am a Scentsy consultant so when you have what the hubby called "electric candles" you have to go digging for the real deal in an outage;) It was comical once the kids settled down and we had the candles all aglow. Our little man was actually disappointed and wanted to know "who turned the lights back on"(insert grumpy whiney voice here) once the issue was resolved.

So are you all ready for Halloween yet? Come crawl along with us as 5 fellow bloggers and I share our creepy crawly projects!

Crawl over to Bonnie @ A Wee Meenit to see what goodies she has whipped up.

Here is the line up!

25th - Marilyn (The ArtsyGirl Connection) - Introduction and craft..

26th - 1st Kick off Here!

27th - Bonnie @ A Wee Meenit

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled Home

29th -Laura @ Ms. Smarty Pants

30th - Break For Project Pink

31st - Jenna @ Two oh Two Seven

and to make it even more fun...

the 31st will feature a linky open to all to link up fun

Halloween

projects to bid the season goodbye! So join in if you can!

Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!

Linking to:

At the Picket Fence

Festive Halloween Centerpiece

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:39:00 +0000

It's here! It's here!

If your stopping by from the Creepy Crawl welcome! If you not then be sure to check back and follow along as we peruse the blogs of 6 special gals with special talents for all things creepy.

So glad to have you stop by!

I was beyond honored when Marilyn asked me to be a part of the Creepy Crawl leading up to Halloween and went all kinds of directions with what I wanted to put together.

Actually I put together one little project and couldn't wait to show you so I posted about it early. Check that post out HERE.

Insanity I tell you..

So here she goes. I was staring at this guy one day.....

and decided it's was time to do more than stick our mail in it and for that matter any little random star wars guys head, future project stuff, pennies, ponytail holders you name it!

Did you think I was bluffing? This is the norm right here

It was time to give him an important role on our table so I decided to attempt a Halloween centerpiece. I bought this block of foam for 40% off at Michaels(about 4 bucks)

I started looking for twigs

and viola..

I have a tendency to steal from all around the house even if it makes the thing I am stealing from look sad for a bit. If you already have it use it right?

There was no glue used in this arrangement because I wanted to be able to use it all again for something else of course so I just pushed the twigs in...

Then covered the foam with spagna moss

and stuck the tried and true creepy black bird in for interest.

I searched all over for little bats and spiders but actually had no luck! Can you believe that? I found spider rings and and all kinds of colorful things but I wanted this to be a more grown up or sophisticated centerpiece. I ended up grabbing a package of scrapbooking Halloween stickers out of desperation and look how perfect they were. The 3D effect worked perfectly and the fact that I could just stick them on was just what I needed and I didn't even know it!

I love how it looks like they are crawling up the bowl and it actually freaks me out a little. I mean every once in a while I think we have a bug problem as I get a peek out of the corner of my eye.

I then made a few bats out of this crinkle paper that was of course 50% off.

I just cut around some glittery bats that I made last week by tracing a cookie cutter(they were intended for a project that I didn't get around to but this gave them a second life I suppose;)

I then used a needle and thread to make a loop to hang them

and then.....I went to town with spagna moss, spider webs, sticky spiders and bats.

Wanna see what I ended up with?

a huge, dramatic, spooky, yet somewhat sofisticated Halloween tablescape.

Our casa is lacking in light so I had the hubs involve on this one. Can you see him back there?

What do you think?

I can't wait to see what Bonnie

@ A Wee Meenit has in store for us tomorrow!

Follow along for more fun ideas as we countdown to Halloween!

27th - Bonnie - http://aweemeenit.blogspot.com/

28th - Rachel http://thecrinkledhome.blogspot.com/

29th - Laura - http://ms-smartie-pants.blogspot.com/

30th - Break For Project Pink

31st - Jenna - http://twoohtwoseven.blogspot.com

and if you have a second go visit Marilyn @

The Artsy Girl Connection

and see what she concocted yesterday for day 1 of the

crawl!

Linking to:

At The Picket Fence
House of Hepworths
Blue Cricket Design
The Trendy TreehouseSomeday CraftsDIY by DesignSavvy Southern StyleBetween Naps on the PorchDittle DattleSumos Sweet StuffSkip to My LouThe Girl CreativeTodays Creative BlogHope StudiosType A Decorating

EEEEEEEK

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:47:00 +0000

Hey there fellow Homebodies!

Wanna see something disgustingly good? Are you planning a Halloween party and need that one last gory detail? You have come to the right place!

A few fellow bloggers and I are participating in a Creepy Crawl that Marilyn from The Artsy Girl Connection has put together to countdown to Halloween. Day one is here and Miss Marilyn has outdone herself in the gory goodness factor!

Creepy Critter Potion

It looks out of this world creepy to me but oh so good for the mouth! Go visit The Artsy Girl Connection for the goods on her concoction!

Join in on the fun for the next 6 days as we hop over to visit many more talented ladies and the tricks up their sleeves!

Up next....

Hill Country Homebody

Eeek that's me!

I'm soo nervous!

In case you aren't looking for creepy meet this guy!

Pin It

I think he turned out to be a cute little rustic Halloween greeting at the door.

And oh so easy!

Here's what you do....

First take a short road trip with your crew and go on a hunt..

do whatever little stretching or dancing you need to do to prepare

take a good look at each intricate detail

think about your selection

(what is mom going to try to achieve with these?)

there's a good one

look for a way to get a better view

and bring em home baby!

What a trooper!

Now really..I had no intention to do this little tower o' pumpkins to this extent. I thought I might put a couple on top of each other but this nope. I just couldn't help myself they fit so perfectly together!

So then I thought if I just added a little spagna moss at the bottom it would be more finished.

Then I decided it needed a little more..

I bought a few of these guys which were 1.49 and then 30% off.

then I had to buy some of this lovely chalkboard paint. This is where we are in life right now...I know I already have some in the garage somewhere...but you should see our garage at the moment! No please don't ...don't go in there..you will never come out! So I just bought more! If it saves a little sanity then I am down with buying it because you can never have enough chalkboard paint right?

I put the wood pennant little guys into one of the gazillion Scentsy boxes that I have laying around to avoid overspray and turned them into a cute little chalkboard bunting.

I strung them together with some raffia covered florist wire that I had actually bought for another project.

I didn't get any pics but you know what to do...Write something on the bunting!

Like BOO of course;)

Since the raffia was wired it was super simple to position it around the pumpkins

you can tell here that I just wrapped it around the stem of the top pumpkin to hold it in place

and then just tucked the rest in the back.

oh and you may notice I tucked a little more spagna moss in between some of these beauties!

I am soo happy with how warm and welcoming this turned out! Even if it does say "BOO"!

What do ya think? Have you found a way to display your pumpkin finds? Do you scatter them all around the house or do you come home with a mission to make something! Oh and don't worry we did get a jack o lantern out of them too!

Do tell!

See you tomorrow where my old friend spagna shows up again..

linking to:At the Picket FenceBlue Cricket DesignThe Trendy TreehouseSomeday CraftsDIY by DesignSavvy Southern StyleBetween Naps on the PorchDittle DattleSumos Sweet StuffSkip to My LouThe Girl CreativeTodays Creative BlogHope StudiosType A Decorating

Let the Creepy Crawl Begin!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:41:00 +0000

Tomorrow!

Earlier this month Marilyn @ The Artsy Girl Connection invited me to participate in 6 days of Creep Crawly Halloween ideas, crafts, recipes, whatever my heart led me too essentially! I was flattered she asked and of course I said sign me up!!
I hope starting tomorrow you will follow along and see what kind of fun and spooky concoctions these fine ladies have come up with.

Here is the line up!

25th - Marilyn (The ArtsyGirl connection) - Introduction and craft..

26th - 1st Kick off Here!

27th - Bonnie @ A Wee Meenit

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled Home

29th -Laura @ Ms. Smarty Pants

30th - Break For Project Pink

31st - Jenna @ Two oh Two Seven

and to make it even more fun...

the 31st will feature a linky open to all to link up fun

Halloween

projects to bid the season goodbye! So join in if you can!

Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!

Workin with what ya got Halloween Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:54:00 +0000

So I don't know if I have actually come out and said this yet on the ol' blog but we moved! It is a long drawn out story but we are currently in a rent house and this is her mantel. I could say she really hasn't been taken care of if I wanted to put a positive spin on her...I am going to choose that road;)

So in order to make her more cozy and a bit more like home we have of course put things on the walls and attempted to warm her up a bit. (our initial plan was to not even hang anything because we only signed a 9 month lease) But.....we did and you know what? We are glad we did! We moved from our 2100 sq footer to this purdy 1500 sq footer and honestly it has been kind of nice! We essentially lived in the back living room of our old casa because it was cozy and convenient to the kitchen. When you have three youngsters you need to be close to the kitchen right? Anywho...the kids(and the "grown ups" love not having stairs and "baby girl" is happy to not have to climb over baby gates. She is on to other trouble making these days.

All that being said here is a icky phone picture of how I threw the mantel together when we moved in a couple of months ago in all her summer glory(or not).

This was all stuff we already owned(we didn't have a mantel at the old house) and had been spread out all over the house.

You think I'm kidding about the blurry icky phone pick?

I wasn't.

Here is what the Halloween mantel evolved into. We had this picture in our old formal dining area and to me it had great potential to be eery. I may never look at it the same:(

The eek sign was an after season purchase from a couple of years ago, the ceramic jack o lanterns were an after season purchase from Garden Ridge 7 years ago. I have no clue when I bought the random fallish galands. I don't remember a thing about the fall floral picks either so that means they have been around for a while.

See the "framed" spider web. Uh..not so much. The picture frame was a gift from a friend a few years ago and I just stuck a spiderweb sticker(from a recent project and upcoming post) right on the glass. Viola! Classy!

Aren't the ceramic Jack's cute?! I have always liked those guys.

How about the random placement of the jeweled garland that I tacked up on the edge?

Seriously if you know nothing about me know this. I am not a planner when it comes to decor. I have had several people ask me to help them decorate and I explain that I literally decorate our house by slowly but surely buying things that I find on clearance that I like and then eventually finding a place for them. I am going to attempt to approach decorating our new house differently but it is hard to teach an old maid new tricks right? (that's not how it goes but in true form I always mess those sayings up;)

Got a spare fall pick? Shove it behind a pumpkin...

fire hazard? yes..we don't light these often so we will be o.k.

Got an old but still pretty mosaic vase

that you forgot to take the candle out of years ago when you started putting stuff in a hot storage unit?

stick something in it...nobody knows(well until now) and no one cares.

Even though she was all thrown together.....

(see how I taped my little "eek" to the picture frame (again classy..especially when it falls and scares us to death)

I still think she turned out just fine! I think this mantel is happier now. I am pretty certain her previous visitors never dressed her up so if anything I am happy to make her happy. Nerd Alert! I am in a dorky kind a mood can you tell?

So how do you "work" your mantel. Do you plan it out or throw it on? Do you have a theme, change it every year or do you just wait for the "big one"(Christmas) before you deck her out?

Do tell! Make me feel better about my disorder. Or encourage me to be better. I will take that too.

Linked up to:

Home Stories A 2 Z

Tater Tots and Jello

Christinas Adventures

House of Hepworths

An Arsenal of Color

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:48:00 +0000

As if I don't have enough "making our house a home" addictions....

I came across this little beauty on pinterest!

A whole stinkin site of these color palates! I got so excited I just had to throw a post together right this instant!!!

I am soo impressed! My mind just can't ever pull together this many colors...

But apparently I am one of the few people that didn't already know about Design Seeds as they have over 15,000 fans on facebook.

Have I been living under a rock?

I am in love! I see lots of new inspiration in our very near future! If only we actually had our slab poured:)

On a little side note Dana at Make Them Wonder recently did a post about pulling color from the nature around you that you will enjoy if you like the above little babies!

Boo them!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:46:00 +0000

Want to do something a little different this year? Do you have adorable costumes to show off and just can't wait?

Look at these fun Halloween cards that will be sure to pleasantly surprise those who are lucky enough to receive them! What grandparent doesn't want to get this in the mail?

or this little Punkin

or this creepily cute dude!

Go visit the great girls at Photo Card Cafe and check out all the cute options available to spook your friends and family into the holidays!

Free first class shipping ends on Monday the 17th!

Have you noticed I'm getting "into" the Halloween thing more and more?!

Everything but the laundry room sink

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:43:00 +0000

The laundry room sink.

Source: salisburyartisans.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

I hear a lot about it.

People seem to get excited when they see one.

(Our kiddos get really excited when they get ice cream!)
So does their momma but will a sink do it for me too?

It seems like it makes the laundry room more appealing but why? In planning the house we will eventually get around to building that is one thing we can't decide if we want to spend $$ on. Will we use it? Is it really that hard to just use the kitchen sink? How many times have I needed to soak laundry? Almost never. If it needs soaking it probably doesn't belong in this casa. We do on occasion use the kitchen sink to water a house plant, and on occasion work on a craft that requires us to rinse or wet something but we have absolutely survived without one.
Am I missing something?

Source: providenceltddesign.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Part of me thinks we should just do it and we will probably find reasons to use it and at the same time counter space in the laundry is my biggest house dream at the moment:)!

Source: houzz.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Source: inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Source: None via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

So what do you think? If you had a choice would you have one? Have you had one before and now miss it?

Getting in the Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Who is ready for Halloween? It will be here before we know it and I don't know about you but I've had a hard time getting in the mood so to speak. When it is between 90 and 100 degrees who is ready to think about pumpkins, comfort foods, ghosts and gourds?

Thankfully over the last week we have had some relief here in Texas! Although we don't have the extreme seasonal changes I am slowly but surely getting ready for all the wonderful smells, cozy blankets and all of the fun fall festivities!

So in order to get my creative juices flowing I disappeared to Michaels tonight with no kids to walk and stare and ponder. I was trying to come up with a fun Halloween craft for an upcoming blog hop that I've been invited to. I wanted it to be simple, cheap, and quickly reproducible!

Well....I just can't wait to share this little cutie! Seriously he is so cute that I am willing to totally stress about coming up with another Halloween craft or idea for Marilyn's upcoming Creepy Crawl because I just want you to see this little guy.

Most of you probably have a few of these around the house right?

Well if you add a little of this....

and a couple of these

you get the most adorable little guy I ever did see!

Seriously..I can't get over him. He needs a whole family but I would have to go dig through boxes in the garage to give him some siblings so we shall see if he ends up being a lone mummy or not.

So for now I will just stare and he will stare back!

Linking to:
The Idea Room
The Letter 4
House of Hepworths
DIY by Design
Hope Studios
Type A Decorating
Today's Creative Blog
Crafts Keep Me Sane
Dittle Dattle
Summos Sweet Stuff
The Girl Creative
Polly Want a Crafter
Skip to My Lou
Between Naps on the Porch
Someday Crafts
At the Picket Fence
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Whipperberry
Just a Girl
Chic on A Shoestring
Remodelaholic
Finding Fabulous
Stuff and Nonsense
The Shabby Nest
Tater Tots and Jello
Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different Act Normal
Designer Garden

To play room or not to play room?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:18:00 +0000

Help! To playroom or not to playroom? We are getting down to the nitty gritty with our floorplan and trying to whittle it down a bit. Do you have a playroom and do your kids use it? It feels like it's overkill to have one but will we regret not having that space when the kids are older to use as a game room and spy on them when their friends are over:)?
I love the idea of having room for all of their things but at the same time I like the idea of them not having too many things. Over time I have realized it doesn't matter how much space we have it gets pilled up with stuff anyway. Even when you actively try to avoid it!

contemporary kids design by san francisco architect Cary Bernstein Architect

We are living in a smallerish home right now and have a "place for" their toys in their rooms but they don't want to be in their rooms they want to be with us(I know...enjoy it while we can right?) So the toys are everywhere. Does it get annoying at times when stepping on lego light sabers? Yes..But at the same time I am trying to teach myself to embrace it and love the mess. Oh that is my new motto! "Love the Mess before you Miss the Mess"

And then I think..What if I get all crazy and not like myself someday and decide to homeschool? The play room would be great for desks and projects and keeping organized without having to clear of the dinner table every night for our super healthy warm meal that I cooked all afternoon(again not like me) Forgive me...I rant and rave and am indecisive about most things in life and on a rare occasion homeschooling seems romantic to me but I am not a patient person. Insert laughter from family and friends that know me well here.

eclectic kids design by new york interior designer Esther Sadowsky

Then there is the whole "it would be fun to decorate" portion of my lobe(not sure which one).

eclectic kids design by atlanta interior designer Cristi Holcombe

And how about the fact that we have a small group that involves probably 20 or more kids and they need a place to be when the "grown ups" are congregating and it is 110 degrees outside.
You see what I mean? In one second I can totally justify the extra space and in another it makes stomach turn because it seems like a bit much. I mean really I doubt any of us grew up with a play room right? We all turned out o.k. Maybe a bit confused and indecisive but ok in general;)

So tell me...Do you have one and do you use it? If you don't have one do you wish you did? This chick needs some perspective!