I am an assistant editor at Pretty Prudent formally known as Prudent Baby! It’s all super crazy to me because I’ve been a Prudent Baby reader for a very long time. In fact in my very first Wills Casa goal check I professed my love for them. (Hope they don’t go read that now. It might make status calls weird.)

So what do I do exactly? Well I craft with Jacinda on Fridays. Look my hands are famous! (Note to self: Start getting manicures.) You can read all about the cute pillow we made. I was so nervous sewing in front of her for the first time. I wish I would have taken a picture of how awful I sewed the first piece of this. Yes we had to rip the seam and resew.

Sometimes I make graphics for posts. You can read about this design trend here. Plus (see what I did there) I do a ton of internet research type stuff.

I’m a month in, and it’s been a ton of fun. Jaime, Jacinda, and Collen are so much fun. Status calls, group texts, and emails are always hilarious. I literally lol. It’s been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot about the back end of blogging. Also I’ve had to get better at photoshop which I’ve always been just barely functional at. Not that I’m a pro now, but there’s huge improvement. (Thanks Nick for helping me out there.)

So how did I land this gig? Well it all comes full circle friends. I networked with them completely organically because I was a reader. Jacinda followed me on Instagram a long time ago since we both live in Dallas, so we just touched based via social networks every now and then. I asked her to join in on the zombie post fun we had.

About a month later she emailed me about the job. I had seen it post on the site, but I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to put myself out there if she hadn’t emailed. I’m so glad she did.

The hiring process came at a crazy time right in the middle of the move, but here’s how it went down. I had an interview via google hangout. For the next step, I submitted 5 trends I thought would be hot in 2013 and a curated sprinkles post/graphic. Then Jacinda offered me the job over lunch a few days later.

Crazy huh? Anyway that’s how I became a legit blogger.

Thank you to all who entered the Prudent Advice giveaway! And the winner is…

Congratulations Laurie! And a huge thank you for sharing! If you didn’t win, then you need to go out and buy a copy of Prudent Advice and My Prudent Advice Journal. I promise you’ll love it, and it truly does make a wonderful gift for any mom.

*Make sure you enter our GIVEAWAY!

Despite being homeless {or whatever}, we can’t miss out on the pinterest challenge. I mean how else is anything going to get done!

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 My inspiration is this pegboard. I love the cross stitch and the quirk of this sign. (Also isn’t the pink wood table incredible?)

I bought some peg board and bi-folding door knobs from Home Depot. I had Home Depot cut it down to 43 1/2″ x 17″.

We did have to purchase small screws for the knobs since the long screws wouldn’t work on the peg board.

We went to JoAnn’s to pick our color palette. These are the colors we are planning on using in Ramona’s big girl room. The sign will eventually be in her room as a catch all for her purses and etc. since she’s 3 going on 16.

Use a pencil to sketch the outline of HELLO! unto the peg board.

I taped the end of the yarn to make pulling it through the hole easier. I didn’t get an action shot because I would lose all DIY cred if you saw the mess I was crafting in. You can see from the pattern on the back how to pull the yarn.

I used hot glue to hold the yarn at the back. Then I taped it to keep the yarn from unraveling.

I love how it turned out. It was very simple. It took about 2 hours to complete. It would be great in an entry or mud room. Everyone loves a good peg board, and this project makes it prettier and all that much more lovable.

Check out our other pinterest challenges.

Airplane Costume // Ombre Dresser // Vintage Art Modification

Gallery Wall // Master Fireplace Styling // Amelia Earh{ART}

Of course go check out Emily, Katie, Sherry, and Renee’s projects along with all the other lovely link ups!

1. Anthropologie Pescadero Pie Dish. Can’t we all agree in 20 years Anthro dishware will be what vintage pyrex is now? The gorgeous pattern and color options are sure to be a hit with mom. Bonus you get to inherit it one day. Also you get pie!

2. Nate Berkus Dipped Bud Vase. My mom is constantly getting rose buds from her garden for the widowsill. This is the perfect container for that. It’s trendy and so affordable. It makes a great add on gift.

3.  Rifle Paper Co. iPhone Case. I’m a sucker for anything Anna Bond does, so I ordered one of these for myself the day they were released. There are several adorable options for the iPhone 4 or 5.

4. Spiked Tassel Necklace. A long tassel necklace is a great jewelry staple for mom to layer with other necklaces she owns. It’s simple, beautiful, and trendy. Basically everything a mom wants to be.

5. Glass Terrarium with Wood Base. These west elm terrariums are so beautiful. The wood base is such a great way to ground succulents. I’ll take all 3 please. Oh I guess I need some for mom too.

6. My Prudent Advice. This book is perfect for your mom or sister. Any mom with a daughter. It’s a journal that you fill in all the things you want your daughter to know.

7. C Wonder Cosmetic Case. The stripes and the orange call to me. Could I get away with carrying it as a purse is the question? You can add some new makeup or nail polish for mom too.

8. Teakwood Jewelry Box. This small jewelry box is perfect for a dresser or nightstand. It’s reasonably priced enough to throw in the tassel necklace. Mom is guaranteed to love it.

If you are wondering *cough* Nick *cough*, I will take all of these items gift wrapped neatly please. Okay so that’s slightly unrealistic but here’s some good news for you.

You can win Prudent Advice or My Prudent Advice: A fill-in Journal! These are great gifts for new moms to slip into your baby shower gift. Trust me you can’t have enough copies stockpiled to give to any mom in your life.

Prize: One Prudent Advice book of your choice
Giveaway Closes: Friday, May 10th at 11pm CST
Nitty Gritty: One winner will be selected by random.org and announced Saturday, May 11th. Prize will be mailed to the winner.

To enter: Comment and tell us which book you want!

Bonus:

1. Share a piece of prudent advice you would give/have received.
2. Share the giveaway on facebook or retweet on twitter.

Good luck! Make sure to stop by Prudent Baby to see my prudent advice to Ramona.

via Jacinda’s Instagram (@prudentjacinda)

1. Give handmade gifts.

We had 3 birthdays, and no handmade gifts. I’m officially scratching this goal for the rest of the year. I don’t have a space to craft anymore, so it isn’t really a feasible goal. However I did find this awesome Pantone Colors book, so there’s a good kid gift option for y’all.

2. Read.

I didn’t read either of these, but I did download them to my Kindle with great intentions. I’d Know You Anywhere is from an author Cassie recommended. I got 3 pages in and fell asleep. I know it will be good I just have to fight off sleep long enough to read productively.  Not easy for a pregnant women.

The One and Only Ivan was a book Rachel read in March. She had a good review, so I thought I’d add it to the queue (that doesn’t get read anyway).

I will say that the final Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead Ever After comes out May 7th, so there’s definitely no way I make it through May without reading it. I’ve been on a countdown for almost a year back when I figured I would start the series and read all 12 books in a month.

3. Document my life. // 4. Monthly Challenge: Photo

I didn’t write any life posts again, so that’s like 3 months of sucking. I did however post daily activities on instagram for my monthly challenge of photo. Basically IG was like several mini life posts. Barely counts, but I’ll take it.

I have pages of life/regular content ideas. I am going to be better this month about putting deadlines on myself. I know you’re probably thinking (I would be too) she’s a stay at home mom with no job this shouldn’t be hard. Well more on that later this month. Would it rock your face off if I told you I was building a house with my bare hands? Yea that’s not true but just pretend it’s that extreme.

Katja has picked the new word this month…circle. Interpret it however you like. I’m still mulling it over. Hopefully I’ll come up with something awesome. Does running around in circles like a crazy women count? If so, I’m golden this month.

]]> http://www.willscasa.com/2013/05/april-goal-check-2/feed/ 4 http://www.willscasa.com/2013/05/april-goal-check-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=april-goal-check-2 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WillsCasa/~3/-dA3n5YbFMw/ http://www.willscasa.com/2013/05/they-say-its-your-birthday/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 11:00:06 +0000 Amber http://www.willscasa.com/?p=1470 Continue reading →]]>

Happy birthday to everyone’s favorite male blogger Nick! (He has to be your favorite. I mean there aren’t that many males in the home blog world right?)

Nick is honestly my best friend, and I’m completely spoiled by him. It’s kinda ridiculous. I mean he busts his ass to be successful just so I can stay home and be in my pajamas all day. I won’t go into our love story (mainly because our anniversary is coming up and I’ll gush then), but I’m insanely in love with this guy.

Nick turns 28 today. His clients always think he’s mid to late 30s. Ha. He doesn’t look old, but people can’t believe someone so young (youngish?) can have kids and be married for almost 9 years. *Remember people we live in Texas. We do things early here.

Just for fun this is 8 years ago when we celebrated Nick’s 20th birthday. At this point we had been married for almost a year and owned our first home for about 3 months. Told you we do things early here.

So Nick on this wonderful day of your birth, your girls just want to tell you how much we love you. You are an incredible father and husband. We are so grateful for you. We love you more than anything. Happy 28th Birthday sweetie!

1. Supplies

Boxes aren’t cheap, but you can’t move without them. We just asked friends if they had boxes on Facebook. Luckily we scored all the boxes we needed from our friends Jennifer and Meagan. {It helps when you move out around the time your friends unpack.} We saved huge there.

We bought mover’s wrap which is essentially saran wrap for furniture. Get the 10″ or 15″ roll. I don’t know how people move without it. We were able to wrap up all our dressers and tables. We protected our furniture with fabric then wrapped it up with the mover’s wrap. Life changing.

Of course bubble wrap and wrap paper are must haves for your kitchen and styling accessories. I’m not sure why people use newspaper. Wrap paper is cleaner. I used a ton of kraft paper to wrap frames as well since it’s thicker.

2. Cancellation List

The daunting task of canceling all your home services is best tackled with a checklist. I made notes on each service to keep it all straight. If you are transferring services, it can become even more confusing. I noted how I cancelled (phone, email, etc), confirmation number (if applicable), when I cut service off, and other general info I thought I might want to reference later.

Here’s a list of services we cancelled to get you started:

• Forward your mail ($1 charge if done online)
• Electricity
• Gas
• Water
• Internet/Phone (who has a land line these days?)
• Alarm
• Cable/Dish
• Landscaping Service
• Pool Service
• Terminix/Bug Control Service
• Gym Membership (never used for the record)
• Homeowner’s Insurance (Wait until after closing to do this. We even got a refund check since it had been paid through the end of the year.)

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3. Courtesy Letter

I emailed my realtor a letter to pass onto the the buyers. It just gave them contact information and pricing to the services we used on the house i.e. pool and landscaping. General house/neighborhood information like trash day and recycling was also included. Moving is always overwhelming, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to pass along information to help ease the process.

I also included a list of room and their paint color. (Thank goodness I have a blog to keep that stuff categorized for me.) I know people repaint, but it’s information I had and wanted to pass along.

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4. Change your Address

It’s the step after forward your mail. Make sure your accounts all have your updated address. Think about…

• Bank
• Credit Cards
• Student Loans
• Car Loans
• Insurance
• Old accounts like internet, cable, and electricity which can be changed when you cancel service if you know your forwarding address

When mail comes to my new address with a yellow sticker, I check to make sure I update my information with the company. It’s always good to double check since there is so much going on during/after a move it’s easy to miss something.

Hope that information helps you with any impending moves you have. Can’t wait to get back to sharing more of what’s going on around here with y’all!

1. Give handmade gifts.

We had 1 birthday in March, and she got some sweet Melissa & Doug stuff for her kitchen. Not handmade by me but bought with money that was handmade by Nick?? Does that work? I did make her a fabric hair bow because the goal is to add a little handmade even if the entire gift isn’t. I also no-baked up some Easter treats for me the kids in Ramona’s class.

2. Read.

I didn’t. Again. Someone tell me what to read please.

3. Document my life.

I didn’t post on the life side, but we had 2 huge life announcements with the move and the BABY that were posted on the main blog. It was a crossover month I guess. I do need to post an updated picture of how fat I’m getting, but that requires me to fix my hair and makeup. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

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4. Monthly Challenge.

Since I didn’t see a point in creating a display in a home that I was packing up, I curated a vignette inspiration for my future reference. Thank God for Katja. She has kept me from completely failing at these monthly challenges. Make sure to check out her March Display roundup.

April is…

Instagram has made capturing life’s moments just a little easier. I was going to use April to make an effort to take 1 picture a day. Something that I want to remember. Sort of in the spirit of those journals that you write a 1 sentence reflection from the day. I already haven’t taken a picture every day, but sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment. Also sometimes the moment is top secret. Yes we will have more to come on that eventually. It’s really only exciting to me, so don’t get your hopes up! Anyway loves, follow us on instagram @WillsCasa to check out my daily photos since you know I’m not blogging regularly enough to let you know what’s going on in my life!

With all the craziness of packing, I felt like it would be pretty pointless for me to create a display only to dismantle it in a few hours. However I still want to achieve my monthly challenge, so I’ve rounded up a few displays that I was inspired by and am taking notes on for the next casa. Also make sure to check out what Katja has done to display this month!

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First up master stylist Emily Henderson. I love this display in the corner of her office. Next house needs to have a corner full of windows, so we can pull this off. I love the hanging plant (note the trendy faceted planter). The tiny chairs under domes is a great quirk to a corner full of greenery. There’s a lot of small pieces in this vignette, but it’s still so simple and completely beautiful.

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I had to get both angles of this space. The couch has a similar shape to ours, but I love how the textiles almost neutralize the pink. It makes you think yeah I can rock a pink sofa. I’m falling in love with black and white throws, pillows, etc. They are so graphic but without being loud. The mixed patterns and textiles on the couch look so effortless. The grouped succulents look amazing in that hurricane as well.

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I want every piece of furniture in this picture. The rustic wood with the industrial metal then throw in an overall vintage feel…sold. Antlers and gallery walls are nothing new to home decor, but don’t they make them look so original here? Just deliver it all to the new house, craft room/office please.

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Shelf styling that makes me realize I should purge my books and start collecting pretty ones. Of course the layering and arrangement of the books is key, but look at that tiny shoe and air plant. There’s a lot of sculptural elements layered in with those hard back beauties. A picture to remind me that every space could use a little black and white.

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This vignette needs to be achieved in the next house. The only change is it needs to be all coffee related – no tea. Nick and I have been bouncing the idea of creating a more beautiful space for him to nerd out over his coffee. It will happen in the next house (I bet you saw that statement coming). If we could create a small space that feels like this dedicated to coffee, I would be one happy mama. Also when I can drink coffee again, I will be even happier. I spy a sweet little black and white mug.

Some display inspiration before you start your weekend. Anyone determined to go buy black and white now?

My mom made these no bake cookies when I was little, but Prudent Baby easter-fied (yep made up a word) them. Then I figured out a way I could package them and give them out as favors for some kiddos. Everyone wins! Also they are incredibly easy to make. 1 bag of chow mein noodles + 1 bag of butterscotch chips yields about 25 cookies.

There are several recipes for these no bake cookies. If you are giving them to children, then use the Prudent Baby one. There isn’t any peanut butter which is basically a requirement when making treats for little ones now a days.

I have a MO. I put things in a clear treat bag and make Nick create a tag for it *insert holiday/occasion here*. You can download the printable here. Yes cheesy lines aren’t just for Valentine’s anymore people. You’re welcome.

Ramona was most excited about eating the peeps. She literally asked every minute if it was time for her to eat one. She kept calling the sugar on the peep salt. Crazy girl. Note that she’s in a princess dress. That girl also has a MO.