Stacks and Flats... and All the Pretty Things...

Annual Kids Valentine Dinner

2022-02-05T15:55:00.003-08:00

One thing I get asked about a lot when I post photos after the fact on Facebook/Instagram is about our annual Kid's Valentine Dinner that we put on each year. We started this tradition quite by accident back when our oldest kids were around 6 or 7. I found a cute idea on a blog, printed out the printables and put out a simple but cute dinner. It was a HIT.

Every year, our kids ask when we are doing Cupid's Cafe and every year it makes my heart so happy to hear that they still love it. I take that as quite a compliment considering those big kids are now 14 & 15. Our 7 year old has been doing Cupid's Cafe since she was a baby and so it's pretty much all she knows :)

I get asked a lot about how we do it, what we cook, where the printables are, etc, whenever I post photos so I thought I'd compile everything here to have a quick reference for anyone wanting to create their own Valentine tradition.

Hubby & I celebrate our anniversary on the 2nd of February so we typically combine celebrating our anniversary and Valentines together and it's not usually ever close to Valentine's weekend. We save that time for us to spend special time together and make Valentine's weekend about the kiddos.

The evening that we decide to do Cupid's Cafe we ask the kids to vacate the main part of the house so we can set up. They can hang together or just go to their rooms. Our 7 year old loves to use this time to get dressed up in her fanciest outfit. The teenagers fluctuate between putting actual decent clothes on and wearing hole-y hoodies. We are just glad they still like to show up :)

Hubby takes on food prep & I decorate the dining room.

I've collected various items in the 8 years or so that we've been doing this so do not feel like you have to go and spend a bunch of money on cute things. Just dress it up a smidge and they'll feel the extra effort you put into it!

The essentials that you need are:

*The Menus (the most important part to create Cupid's Crazy Cafe) I cannot take credit for this amazing idea. The Dating Divas outdid themselves and have the free printables here.

*An idea of the food you'll serve

*A few decorations if desired

If you are like me, and love to go all out, some fun things I suggest can be:

*Placecards (I printed on cardstock and use the same ones every year)

*Cute plates (Target and TJ Maxx are my go-to)

*Fresh Flowers

*A few Valentine specific decor pieces for the middle of the table

*A tablecloth (I use fabric layered with wrapping paper)

*Paper Straws in fun prints

When everything is set up, we call the kids out and have them sit in their assigned seat. Typically I have their Valentine gift sitting in their chair (we usually buy just a small happy, nothing big).

The point of the dinner is to turn the tables on them and have the adults serve them dinner all by themselves. You'll essentially get to act like you're their waiter/waitress and they think this is just the best ever!

However, there is a twist.

When you print the menus, you'll notice that inside there are random numbers with silly names.

Then empty spaces for them to fill in with those numbers.

Hubby and I create our menu and then have a list in the kitchen with what each number means.

Example of what we do:

#1: Dessert

#2: Pink mashed potatoes

#3: Spoon

#4: Drink

#5: Steak

#6: Napkin

#7 Fork

#8: Side item

The kids fill out their menus with random numbers on the right side. They'll have no idea what each number will get them which is what makes for such a silly meal.

Sometimes they may only get a napkin and their steak but no utensils to eat it with.

Or their mashed potatoes and dessert. And so on.

We usually wait several minutes between each portion of the meal to let the silly sink in.

I also laminated our menus so we could use dry erase markers and use them from year to year!

It's just the most fun tradition and although it takes a little bit of effort to set up, it only has to be as complicated as you want to make it :)

The kids look forward to it every single year and if it keeps them willing to be silly with us, I'm all for keeping the magic alive.

I hope this helps with inspiring a fun tradition for you and your family on Valentines!!

Christmas Home Tour 2021

2021-11-27T08:16:00.001-08:00

I honestly can't believe I'm already talking about Christmas, considering my last post was about Fall decor.

I think that's more a reflection on how poorly I keep up with this account more so than the passing of time. But regardless, fall has absolutely flown by and Christmas is more than underway.

I'm actually feeling the itch to go wrap presents which has to mean it's fully the Christmas season, right?

Let's just be honest, this will more than likely be my last post of the year so I figured we couldn't let it pass without sharing all the fun Christmas decor.

So here's to the beautiful Christmas season and all the fun trimmings that go with it. I'll share my favorite spaces of the house with you & try my best to list sources as I go. I'm feeling extra sentimental about it this year since there's a pretty good chance it may be our last Christmas in this house. As we embark on a crazy adventure to build our dream house, it's looking more and more likely that the possibility of not being here next year may come true.

So even more of a reason to document it fully!

The main focal point of my decor every year is our mantle/fireplace. It tucks into the corner of our living room and sets the tone for the entire house.

I opted for lots and lots of layered neutrals this year with pops of red throughout the rest of the house.

The mantle this year sort of just fell together with a mix of past decor and a few new pieces this year.

The tree is always my Achilles heel when decorating. I get a little better each year but it still doesn't achieve pro status.

I opted to weave two types of ribbon through the tree in golds and rose golds and then the kids helped heap all our family ornaments on it.

Hubby made the wood box that goes around it last year and I just love it so much. Our cats destroy tree skirts so that has never been a great idea in our house :)

I love that the tree drips with family memories all throughout it!

Even as the kiddos get bigger and don't shadow me while decorating as much (Little bit still does but easily gets distracted, this year by books) our pup, Rosey, has dutifully taken up being my shadow and follows me everywhere to check out what I'll put up next.

Plus, she's always willing to pose in my photos which is endearing :)

This year, the centerpiece of the fireplace became a beautiful mirror that I got for my birthday last year. It was perfect for spring decor and it popped in my head for my neutral Christmas set-up too.

I hung a simple wooden snowflake from it to add a little holiday touch to it.

I used several different golden candlesticks to lift my little village houses to varying heights throughout the set-up. They all light up and it's so pretty at night!

I wove lights and simple flocked garland throughout the base of the whole thing for a little texture and glam.

The large flocked trees were a new addition this year, I found them at Kirklands and fell in love. These are actually the medium size and they light up too! I felt like they were the perfect grounding pieces with the large mirror. I added a few other sizes of trees to taper it down as you reach the end of the mantle.

The bell garland is simple but elegant and I love the vintage touch it brings the whole look! It's strung across and attached with command hooks. The greenery garland does a great job of hiding my hooks.

The cute golden tiered trees were another new find this year that looked perfect tucked into the whole set-up! I scattered a few vintage gold bells throughout for a little more touch of vintage glam too.

Our stockings are from last year- I opted for two different types of white stockings for a little texture and interest. They are hung with little white cup hooks that screw directly into the trim around the fireplace.

This is our first year with our new white tiled fireplace and I just love the look of the stockings against the sparkling tile!

Those darling stocking tags are from a favorite small shop, Oak Knoll Creations.

This little set-up is tucked right next to the Christmas tree in the living room. The matching chair gets banished to the garage for the Christmas season while these two get some holiday glam.

I recently painted the hardware gold on my little table and I'm loving it. The touches of gold on the table are the perfect finishing touches and I used my tried & true wood slices and cover-less books to provide some height to the vignette.

That little Christmas pillow on the chair is a placemat pillow I made years ago and it's still going strong. I love the vintage feel it gives off!

Looking at these photos makes me wonder about painting the hardware gold on this piece too! However, I have big plans for it in the new house so I'm holding off on any adjustments here :)

I opted for more neutral colors in the dining room with lots of touches of gold & wood tones with some greenery in the wreaths!

These trees have been gathered for the past few years and look perfectly stunning on their own with a simple wood bead garland and gold ornaments strewn around.

I try to keep the tabletop simple in case we need to move things off for family dinners. So a simple tree surrounded by some DIY gifts I made years ago felt perfect.

I added a few brass candlesticks, gold ornaments and couple little houses I found this year. Aren't those tiny golden trees the cutest??

A few fun Christmas touches reached the kitchen (I'm always terrible at photographing those spaces so I tried to remember this year!)

I added a little grouping in our coffee area & a little right in the middle of the island.

Honestly, layering cookie cutters throughout the ornaments balls is one of my favorite little touches!

One of my favorite things to bring out each Christmas- this hand carved nativity scene we bought while in Silver Dollar City at Christmas time. It's such a special reminder of the season.

Maggie's little toy kitchen got a little Hot Chocolate love for the season too :)

The foyer gets extra love during the holidays since it's the first area you see when walking in.

My Harry Potter magical tree lives here and you can see all the enchanting details about it here.

My faux mantle is on a huge wall and needs large pieces to make it look filled.

I layered a huge white mirror that I had repurposed years ago with another thrifted mirror that I did a treatment on years ago that allowed it to have a vintage, mercury glass look to it. I love that you can peek through that mirror just barely.

More neutral wood tones, brass and golds are layered throughout.

This new countdown was a fun find this year and I love the white & wood tones. It stretches across the mantle beautifully! You move the star to a new house to count down to Christmas.

The little brass reindeer & sleigh are one of my most favorite thrifted finds ever.

And, of course, my magical Hogwarts tree is one of my favorite details. I started this tradition last year and love it just as much this year.

Every year, we bring out our collection of christmas books to read throughout the season. It's like finding brand new books every time!!!

I added a few pops of red on my foyer table because I love it against the faint blue of my table so much. Those trees were the very first trees I DIY-ed almost 10 years ago!

I love that the little wooden reindeer look like they are prancing through a Christmas forest.

Our entertainment center doesn't get much so as to not be too distracting but I love glamming it up just a touch.

The Frame TV got new art for the season which is such a fun element.

I added a cluster of gold trees & candlesticks to either side of the entertainment center and my absolute favorite piece, my huge white reindeer that we lovingly named Prancer a couple years ago. I love that he's keeping watch over the room :)

We didn't go big on our front porch this year and opted for a few simple lit trees, creates and a little bit of red under our cute door mat. It's all Rosey approved :)

I hope you enjoyed my little Christmas tour.

It makes my heart happy to decorate every year and I just love sharing it with all of you.

I'll add a source list below for each area and try the best I can to share where I got certain things!

I wish you an incredibly Merry Christmas season & blessings to all of you!

Thank you for hanging with me & blessing me with your presence.

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Source List:

Fireplace Mantle:

Mirror: Hobby Lobby

Wooden Snowflake: Hobby Lobby

Large flocked trees: Kirklands

Greenery garlands: Hobby Lobby

Golden Candlesticks: At Home

Marble & gold candlesticks: Tuesday Morning

Small golden trees: Target Dollar Spot

Lit Houses: Hobby Lobby

Bell garland: Michaels

Stockings: Hobby Lobby

Stocking Tags: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

North Pole Pillow: Ross

Red Blanket: TJ Maxx

Couch: Hanks Fine Furniture

Tree: Wayfair

White Table Set-up:

Reindeer Head: TJ Maxx

Tree: Gifted

Table: Thrifted & Painted by me

Star Candle: Tuesday Morning

Lamp: Hobby Lobby

Chair: Target

Pillow: Made by me

Dining Room:

White Trees: Tuesday Morning

Wreaths: Hobby Lobby

Mirrors: Hobby Lobby

Wooden Gifts: DIY by me

Houses: Hobby Lobby & Target

Kitchen:
Copper reindeer: TJ Maxx

Wooden Tree: TJ Maxx

Mistletoe Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

Night Before Christmas Sign: Hobby Lobby

White Tree: TJ Maxx

Cookie Cutters: Walmart

Front Porch:

Red Plaid rug: Hobby Lobby

Doormat: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

Hot Chocolate Bar Sign: Hobby Lobby

Jolly Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

Foyer:

Mirrors: Thrifted & DIY'ed by me

Countdown: Kirklands

Wooden Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

Bells: Hobby Lobby

Brass Snowflake: Hobby Lobby

Brass Sleigh: Thrifted

White Poufs: TJ Maxx

Red Trees: DIYed by me

Wooden Trees: Hobby Lobby

Reindeer: Hobby Lobby

Entertainment Center:

TV: Samsung The Frame Tv

Art on TV: Alluring View Shop (Etsy)

Golden Trees: Hobby Lobby

Golden Candle Trees: Target

White Reindeer: Unknown

Candlesticks: Thrifted

Entertainment Center: Thrifted and redone by me

Stars Hollow Inspired Fall Mantle

2021-10-20T15:05:00.004-07:00

So I've shared my Harry Potter entryway, and now it's time to share a peek into the living room and a nod to my other favorite thing in the world, the world of Stars Hollow :)

If you're not a Gilmore Girl fan, you might not see the excitement in this but it's been a huge part of my heart for a long time now.

Hubby and I got the chance to visit Stars Hollow in Burbank, CA right before the pandemic hit and it was the most amazing and magical experience. I resonated so much with Lorelai throughout the entire show and it made up a huge part of my young adult life following their story. So, Stars Hollow will always have my heart.

A sweet friend actually gifted me the amazing Stars Hollow poster print and I created a frame to display it.

It's the fall version of the town and has the perfect golden hues throughout it.

I love that it's 'character' but subtle and unique in displaying a favorite show.

Because it had the beautiful golden hues already in it, it was easy to add in my golds, amber bottles and neutrals like books & wood slices throughout to accent it.

I'm obsessed with all the gold/brass candlesticks I can find so a few of them layered throughout the mantle were the perfect accessories. I added gold tapered candles to them for even more of a fall feel.

I've loved amber bottles for a while now and try to pick them up when I see them for good deals at flea markets and antique stores.

This year, I stuck a few golden hued leaves and picks in them. Make sure to fluff them out.

Books for height and neutral wood beads help keep the poster the star of the show but give pretty texture and layers to the entire set-up. I use these year round throughout my decor and love that I can just switch out a few accessories to make them more seasonal.

If your books aren't quite the right color on the spine and you aren't into ripping the covers off, simply turn them around to display the whites and creams of the pages themselves.

I layered a few neutral colored pumpkins throughout as well for a fun seasonal nod. You can never have too many pumpkins!

Item sources:

Candlesticks: Thrifted

Taper candles: Hobby Lobby

Books: Thrifted/found

Amber bottles: Thrifted

Stars Hollow Poster: Etsy shop Window Shop Gal

Frame: DIY by me

Pumpkin: Hobby Lobby

Wood slices: found

Leaf picks: Hobby Lobby

Hogwarts Inspired Fall Entryway

2021-09-25T08:52:00.003-07:00

There's already so much magic in bringing out the fall decor, why not add a little more to it??

I posted last year about my magical tree I added to our Christmas mix and thought I'd share my new favorite fall tradition I added last year- creating a Hogwarts Inspired Entry way to usher in fall.

When my oldest son asked to redecorate his room about a year and a half ago, it meant putting away all the Harry Potter decor it had in it too. I wasn't ready to pack it up and never see it again so I decided to add it to my annual fall decor set-up. It pretty much took on a life of it's own and took over the entire foyer entryway...and I'm not mad about it at all.

Want to see a little bit of the magic? I'll share a few DIY creations I added to the mix in case you'd like to create your own magic... and by a few, I mean nearly all of it was completely handmade.

Let's take a peek...

I am not a huge fan of overly 'characterized' things which is really easy to fall into when recreating things from books/movies. I didn't want figurines, cartoons, etc in the set-up and instead want it to have a more authentic, real-world feel to it. Which pretty much comes down to creating a lot of things by hand.

The authentic part of creating Hogwarts absolutely comes down to it looking worn out, old, centuries of wear/tear/magic throughout it. Which is basically my love language so we work well together :)

I wanted a classroom/Potions set-up to take up the main area on the foyer table (you can't see it, but there's a tiny key with wings on it in the lock of the drawer- it's been there for a couple years now and is just the cutest little detail).

I filled a handmade wooden box that Hubby made me years ago with all my potion bottles, trinkets, maps, wands, artifacts that felt magical enough and it filled up the table nicely. I used old barn wood pieces that we literally broke the ends off to give it an authentic worn out feel to create a Potions sign. Black paint and hand tracing letters onto the board worked easily enough. Don't forget to distress the heck out of your signs though. Hogwarts is old, remember?

I ended up keeping the poufs under the table that I have there year round and draped a Hogwarts robe over one. A friend made several for us years ago.

Throughout the Potions box, tapered gold candlesticks (a fun find a friend found for me!) are tucked in. Nothing screams magical more than flickering candelight in the evenings.

For potion bottles, I collected various bottles and glass vases from Goodwill or discarded liquor bottles and created Potion bottles with them.

A few I painted with white paint and then distressed and a few I left clear (the ones with fun textures/designs are great for this!) and maybe added a few things to them. For Gilly Water, I hot glued faux moss around the top and stuck in a few faux floral stems that screamed pond/swamp. You can find Potion labels all over the internet- Etsy has tons or Google free printables to get the ones you like. To age them, dye them in tea or crinkle them up before gluing to your bottles. I like to print mine on white or beige cardstock for an older look, more sturdier, look.

I tucked feathers, faux stems, taper candles, old books and handmade wands throughout to fill the box entirely. The more 'cluttered', the better. Imagine that Potions classroom at Hogwarts and how filled with ingredients and dust it was :)

If you have jars and containers from places like Universal Studios, this is a great to add them in without looking hokey. Honeydukes boxes, candy jars, wand boxes, chocolate frogs, etc would all be so cute tucked throughout the display.

For the upper part of my entryway, I decked my faux mantle out with all kinds of signs and various accessories.

This is where you would need the larger items to fill up space but still create an old, spooky castle feel. For my larger pieces, I used a piece that I created from old wood and chicken wire and then layered it was a mirror that I had acid-treated years ago for an aged look. Although not overtly Hogwarts or Harry Potter, they fit the theme well and are perfect layering pieces to bring everything together!

Then I added in my more themed pieces with a DIY framed quote from the books (again, scrap wood and cheap trim pieces are what I keep on hand for everything. You wouldn't believe how much money you can save by creating signs yourself!).

Vintage brass candlesticks are the perfect pieces to start collecting if you are looking for a similar set-up. Check flea markets, Goodwill and other secondhand stores to get your collection going. They are the perfect magical filler and I can't get enough of them!

Another trick for signs is to use old cabinet doors. Find them roadside, at flea markets or Habitat Restores and keep them on hand for a quick, already made blank canvas for signs. I used one for this Gringotts sign and created a stencil with my Silhouette to paint it in gold. Then swiped a bit of gold all around the black edges for a more mystical look.

The Diagon Alley is another new one I added this year. I wanted it to resemble one of those directional street signs you might find on a cobblestone path leading into it. I took the worst part of one of my pieces of wood and literally cracked it in half to create the jagged edges.

A little red paint, gold stenciling and a lot of distressing later, it looks like one you might find on a 1000 year old road, right??

Again, flea market finds are your best bet at getting the authentic feel! Any time I'm out just browsing, I always try to keep an eye out for something that screams 'magical'. All of these items above were bought for less than $5 a piece at various antique stores & flea markets.

Those tiny amber medicine bottles were perfect for a little Liquid Luck. I added a little gold Rub n Buff to the lids and gold vinyl as labels.

The brown pedestal bowl and blue glass orb were perfect to look like things Dumbledore would have tucked on his shelves somewhere. Or maybe in Trelawney's classroom.

I found that gorgeous perfume bottle gilded with gold all over it already and thought it looked very "Love Potion'-eque. Just added a little water with red food coloring for the finishing touch.

A simple terra cot pot is the perfect Mandrake prop with a little white paint, a label and a random root sticking out of it. Definitely needed a little Herbology in the mix :)

Always keeping an eye out for magical items meant that these amber candles from the Target Dollar Spot were the perfect find to create ingredient jars out of. I simple turned them so the candle labels were at the back and added gold vinyl for lettering to them. They even had these cute cork toppers already on them!

This chair was a new addition this year as well. While cleaning out the attic, I found it tucked in the corner from an old DIY I had done. Rather than throw it out (which almost happened!), I decided to embrace the rustic-ness of it and painted it black. The wooden seat was perfect for a little stain and gold lettering.

I feel like touches like these make it have the most authentic feel. Who wouldn't want a chair from the Gryffindor Common Room??

I tucked an old crate with Hogwarts Lettering on it under the chair and filled it with all my DIY papers- Marauder's Map, Privet Drive letter, Hogsmeade permission slip, Gringotts bank slips and DIY textbooks peeking out from behind.

A cauldron from World Market sits next to the chair filled with a broom (Nimbus 2000 to be exact!) and a Gryffindor Scarf spilling out. Again, tucking in bought 'new' items in with the old is the perfect way to keep it from becoming too character-y.

The other side of the foyer still needs a few magic touches but I have to leave a few projects for each year, right? For now, my DIY 'Three Broomsticks' sign hangs from the opposite wall. Promising Butterbeer and magical memories for sure :)

Anyone else creating magical spaces in their homes for the fall season?

I'd love to see any of your projects or rooms inspired by my set-up, it would make my day! Feel free to email or comment below so we can all be inspired. I hope this fun set-up inspires you to usher in some magic of your own!!!

Neutral Summer Mantle Decor

2021-07-09T09:59:00.004-07:00

If you remember my project from a couple posts back, here, you'll know that I recently updated our entire fireplace that is in our main living area.

It's still so fresh and bright looking that I really didn't want to overwhelm it with lots of color or big items. Decorating the mantle is my favorite thing to do each season but, this time, it just felt better to switch out a few things and leave it looking fresh but beautiful.

I ended up using this beautiful weathered wood mirror to center and anchor everything on the mantle. It was the exact perfect height for the space.

We also ended up painting the metal screen in front of the fireplace from bronze to white. After redoing the entire space, the bronze just stuck out like crazy and the white just makes it so much softer with the perfect amount of added texture. I used one can of Rustoleum glossy white for that quick makeover.

Most things were gathered from my 'staging items'. I keep a good collection of neutral items to mix with decor throughout the seasons.

The vintage style corbel was a new find from TJ Maxx a few months ago and the other three items in the vignette (vase, marble candle holder and concrete faux plant) were all Dirt Cheap and Target Dollar Stop finds.

I repurposed an old canvas by painting it white and then using mint blues, gold and whites mixed with joint compound to give it texture. I an NOT an artist so I just played with it until I liked it. And, laughable moment, I ended up using the gold leafing from around the top of a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice to press into the wet paint. It worked perfectly as gold leafing around the edges!!!

The beautiful garland is from ShopCherrySprinkles on Etsy and was the perfect complimenting piece to the entire space.

Years ago, I repurposed old banister pieces from my parents remodel of their house into some beautiful shelf sitter pieces.

They were cut down, painted, glazed and attached to base pieces to create varying heights. They are some of my most favorite pieces to use throughout the house!

I used a couple of them on the end of the mantle, paired with natural wood slices, vintage books and a cute sign from OakKnollCreations (Etsy).

I'm pretty in love with how soft and pretty the whole set-up feels and will just enjoy the simplicity of that until fall comes around!

Anyone else using a little less color this summer?!

Source List:

Corbel: TJ Maxx

White Vase: Dirt Cheap

Marble Candle Base: Dirt Cheap

Canvas: Repurposed and painted by me

Wood Beads: AHFloral

Mirror: Hobby Lobby

Wooden Sign: OakKnollCreations

Hoops, books and wood slice: Thrifted

Banister Decor Pieces: DIY by me

Garland: ShopCherrySprinkles

Fireplace Tile: Arctic Ledgestone (Lowes)

Fireplace Screen: Dirt Cheap and painted by me

Spring Placemat Wreath

2021-03-25T11:06:00.006-07:00

Not sure about you, but this year has been a year filled with BIG projects.

Big projects that we did ourselves (tiling, painting, re-arranging, etc) and big projects that we hired out (BIG painting, redoing the kitchen, installing new carpet) and all my little projects got put up for a bit.

I decided that during our Spring Break, I needed a minute to get back to my 'little' projects. The ones that pretty much this blog started with :)

I honestly didn't have anything in mind- I did know that I had been brainstorming a few things for the front door as I basically hung a white monogram on there as a placeholder after Christmas and had grown bored of it. I wanted a little color but really didn't know what I wanted.

So I browsed Hobby Lobby until inspiration hit.

It started with a tea towel with a cute quote and pretty florals on it. I carried it around for a bit thinking of various ways I could cut it, turn it into a little pennant banner... but it wasn't really filling what I wanted. Then I stumbled upon a couple round placemats. Better.

Then I found the woven placement. Bingo.

It's funny how things can start taking shape out of nowhere. I still carried that little towel around for a bit but it didn't really lead my anywhere and eventually, all the pieces fell into place for what I wanted.

Here's what I walked out of the store with:

I snagged:

*A woven placemat (found in the Spring section)

*Unfinished wood bead circle wreath

*Unfinished wood laser wording

*A set of yarn in various colors

I fell in love with the woven texture against the wooden beads and knew they'd be perfect together. And when I started thinking about adding color, I wandered to the yarn section and found a set of already put together spring-y hues that were perfect.

First things first,

I painted the wooden quote. I used a mix of oranges and pinks to create a pretty coral color and then painted the whole thing in an ombre effect- darker color at the top and then mixed with white as I went towards the bottom. Subtle and springy :)

Attaching the wooden beads to the placement just required a little trimming of the placement. I loved the pattern I bought because it already had a natural line to cut on without sacrificing the integrity of the whole thing. I cut along the woven line until it was the same size as the wooden ring and then just hot glued the ring and wooden quote to the placemat itself.

I used the different colored yarns to make varying sized tassels to hang from the top. I wanted random sizes so it didn't look too cluttered!

I used the extra piece of woven material that I cut off the placement to make the hanging piece. I simply slid it through two points on the wooden ring, hot glued the woven piece together like a little sandwich and then added twine tied around each point for extra texture and security.

The tassels I just tied directly to one of those sides of the hanger.

How pretty is the unfinished wood against the woven texture of the placemat??

For extra color, you could easily (well, it would take some time) paint the wooden beads various colors or spraypaint the whole thing.

You can see the woven hanger I made out of the extra piece that I trimmed off in this last photo. Extra bonus considering I hadn't really thought about how I was going to hang it.

All in all, total cost was around $15.

And it added the perfect punch of Spring that my front porch needed!!

Fireplace Surround Makeover

2021-02-16T11:14:00.002-08:00

Hi friends!

I may be few and far between in posts but today is a good one!

We have been wanting to replace the fireplace surround tile since we moved in to this house nearly 6 years ago. It's been on our to-do list FOREVER.

We do a lot of Diy in the form of painting, trim, decorating and woodwork. But we've never ventured into tiling and it was a little intimidating to us. So we've been putting it off until we worked up the nerve to do it.

With all the walls getting painted gray this past summer, we decided the beige tile just had to go. It didn't look right with our grey couch and grey walls anymore. It was just the push we needed :)

Here's what we were starting with:

See that beige against our new gray tones? Just wasn't working anymore.

I've known for years what I wanted the surround tile to be in- I fell in love with a white stacked stone from a friend's house and had tracked it down to Lowes. I've had my eye on it forever.

We stumbled upon some large floor tiles at Dirt Cheap, of all places. We only needed a few so we bought those months ago and they have been waiting for us to start on the project :)

Demo was both easier and trickier than we expected. I expected the tile and mortar underneath would be way harder to get up. Turns out, it's pretty therapeutic.

We got most of it out easy enough.

However, the surround had some issues from when it was put in and the firebox was not flush at all with the surrounding drywall. This was causing a pretty big gap that the builders had obviously piled mortar on top of to fill it. With the type of large tiles we were installing, we really wanted everything to sit smooth and flush. So the existing drywall pieces had to go. We definitely weren't expecting that part.

Out went the drywall. We brought it all the way down to the studs which was actually pretty cool to see. Hubby picked up some concrete boarding (?) and installed it in place of the drywall in order to make everything smooth and flush together.

With that in place, we were able to start tiling.

Our large tile pieces went on like a puzzle- they are meant to be set flush to each other with very little to no gaps in between. Which was perfect for our first time tiling, no need to deal with lining up grout lines. We learned how to mix mortar and cut with our wet saw for the first time.

After the surround tile got installed, it was a waiting game. We took the opportunity before installing the tile to spray the inside of the firebox with high heat black paint. Just made for a nice finished, brand new, look.

Next came the hearth tiles. These were way more difficult to install because of grout lines, keeping everything level and getting cuts around the existing trim pieces. But we somehow managed to get it semi-perfect.

After more waiting (not my strong suit) we were able to do all the finishing touches. We caulked around gaps and trim, touched up chipped paint and added new transition pieces (ours got destroyed during demo).

Excited is a little of an understatement as to how I feel about this new look!

It honestly has taken me a good bit to get used to how clean and bright it all looks! It totally elevates and changes the look of the entire room.

I'm still learning how to decorate with the new color scheme and will probably change it 343,652, 247 times in the next month or so while I tweak it to what I want.

For the full impact of the changes, check out these before and afters!

What do you think??

Such a huge difference, right?

I can't wait to style it and play with it a bit more but for now, I'm enjoying a fire in it with our sub-zero temps Arkansas decided to throw at us.

A Magical Inspired Christmas Tree

2020-11-24T18:34:00.010-08:00

I'm typically a one-tree type of person. We've always had our one big family tree in the living room covered with handmade and collected ornaments. I add a few things to 'pretty' it up a bit but it's always been the family tree.

This year, I had it in my head to create a stand alone, pretty tree separate from our family one so I could get creative with it! And my mind immediately jumped to Harry Potter & Hogwarts. If you know me in real life at all, you know my love of the magical world of Harry Potter is big. I thought it would be so fun to channel that love into a creative and magical tree.

I've been planning it out in my head all year so it's been so fun collecting the right pieces & seeing it come to life! I'll add details below and won't make you wait. But here is my 2020 Harry Potter inspired magical tree!!

First things first, the tree itself.

I knew from the start that it needed to be flocked. Hogwarts in the snow, yes please.

It took me a minute to decide where to put it. We don't have a huge open floor plan and I didn't want it overtaking the main tree. So the foyer won. In order for it to fit and not take over, it needed to be a skinny little tree. I ended up purchasing the Ashland Slim Flocked Tree (7 ft) from Michaels when it went on sale and it is the PERFECT magical, snowy tree. It fluffs out gorgeously and was the perfect size to fill, but not overwhelm, the space.

Next, I went round & round about what to put around the base.

I realllllyy wanted it to be unique & magical. My first thought was a Hogwarts trunk! It took me a bit to figure out how I wanted it to look. At first, I was thinking it needed to be chunky & square, reaching all the way up the bottom of the tree. Almost like it was growing from it. But then I realized that I wanted to add some of my DIY pieces that I love so much and have it more of a 'spilling out' effect. Kind of like the tree was emerging from the trunk, along with a bunch of other Hogwart-y items you might find in a trunk.

Hubby brought my vision to life by building me a low, rectangular box with a lid. He based the design around an old ammo box I already had and loved. I alllmooosstt painted it burgundy (Gryffindor colors) But decided it worked best with the gorgeous stain on it so the items could stand out a bit more. Plus it doesn't lock me in on a color. We made sure to build it based off the measurement of the tree stand so it would sit in there perfectly.

While trying to figure out the perfect way to enhance the trunk just a little more, I played with the idea of adding lettering or faded wording to it with 'property of Hogwarts', etc on it. While building the box, I rummaged in my stash of old hardware pieces and managed to find an old brass backing plate from a dresser pull and this amazing iron piece that strongly resembled a curvy "H". (For Harry? Hogwarts? Who knows? But it works in every single way).

I painted them both gold, glued them together and then we screwed them onto the trunk after it was built & stained. Couldn't have been more perfect if we tried.

Once we had it placed where I wanted in they foyer, we settled the tree base in and then added the tree. After fluffing it out in all it's glory, I added all the items around the base that I wanted to be 'spilling out' of the trunk.

I included a Hogwarts robe (made & gifted to us years ago), a Gryffindor scarf from Universal Studios, handmade spell books, DIY potion bottles/Floo Powder. There were a few worn tags from HP parties in the past and my crown DIY jewel, a beautifully replicated Marauders Map I made years ago, tea dyed paper and all. I just settled them in and arranged them until they made me happy.

We used an old leather belt of hubby's to create handles on either side of our trunk. After cutting the belt to size, we both stapled them in place and added an oversized brass nailhead detail to give it a little more character.

For the body of the tree, I added all kinds of collected, magical inspired things.

I had to make ornaments with each of the houses. I used silver (slytherin) or gold (the rest of them) for a more timeless look rather than using their brighter colors.

I had oversized gold ornament balls that I had added vinyl to years ago. They made an appearance with various spells or sayings on them.

Hubby surprised me with this gorgeous strand of Snitch lights from Pottery Barn this year. They hung across my HP mantle for fall & they were the perfect thing to drape around the tree too.

While shopping this year, I kept an eye out for anything that caught my eye as 'magical'.

I snagged these beautiful glittery feathers from Hobby Lobby along with a little wooden owl, stag ornament & a couple strands of pinecone/gold garland to add texture and dimension to the tree. I tucked them in throughout.

I found the gorgeous gold 'antler'-eque picks in the floral section at Michaels along with some whispy, feather picks that I cut apart and stuck throughout the tree.

I had a few DIY snitches from styrofoam balls & feathers leftover from my sons party years ago. They looked cute soaring through several branches of the tree.

A smattering of glittery, vintage inspired gold balls, mercury-glass burgundy balls and regular red/gold balls are littered throughout the tree too.

A Hogwarts crest was a must. As well as adding in the DIY wands we made years ago too. I love seeing them stick out through the branches!

And you can't have a magical tree without a magical topper.

My sorting hat was a handmade (can you believe that?!?) gift from a friend and it actually talks. It has a little Build a Bear recording in it that has the Sorting Hat's voice when you push it. It perches perfectly on top of my little tree.

And tucked near the back of the tree, nestled in the snowy branches, is the letter that started it all. It wouldn't be a Harry Potter tree without it, now would it?

I hope you have enjoyed seeing me tree as much as I enjoyed creating it. I am a little in love with it and am soaking up the magic it gives off every evening. Sometimes, in a chaotic world, a little magic can do you some good. I'm thankful, oh so thankful, for the Christmas season and the miracle of my Savior's birth. That is not lost on me this year at all. I wish all the magic & all the miracles on you this Christmas season too. Happy almost December :)

Bohemian Teen Bedroom Makeover

2020-08-11T15:29:00.002-07:00

So last I shared was our back porch makeover and, little did you know. we've done SO many makeovers to various rooms in the house in the past few months.

Both of my teens asked to have a room revamp and with momma needing projects, I gave in.

Emily was the first to request a room makeover during our extended break and I was so sad to transform her room at first because it was the first room we had redone when we moved in. She had outgrown the bright colors and younger decor and wanted something a bit more grown up. She had a hard time putting into words what she wanted so I took her to Hobby Lobby to start pointing out things that she liked. Immediately, she gravitated towards all things boho, earthy and plant-related.

We found a piece of pottery that she LOVED and our entire room design became inspired by it. She chose a periwinkle purple for the feature wall based on the colors from the pottery and we are obsessed! I'm pretty sure it's now my most favorite room in the house. I was so hesitant about redoing a room that we already loved but I'm so glad she talked me into it.

You may remember her coral room from the post a few years about it. You can read about it here.

The piece of pottery that inspired the room is this pretty little guy from Hobby Lobby:

We kept the layout of the room the same as the shape of her room doesn't really allow for anything very different. We did easy updates by painting her existing pieces of furniture since we loved the style, it just needed a color change.

We painted the headboard, bench and the dresser and added different fabric to her vanity bench. Easy, quick updates that made a big difference.

You can see how similar the set-up is in the side by side above. We loved her furniture and just wanted to update the colors basically. We traded the grey rug for black graphic rug for a good punch of grounding color. The black pops of color just tie everything together.

And just so happen to match our sweet new kitten, Lulu. She totally approves of the new look :)

The trim wall is my FAVORITE and made a huge impact. It wasn't hard to do- just took a good chunk of time. Thankful for hubby always being willing to fulfill my crazy visions for the rooms.

I sketched out the design I wanted onto paper and we cut, fit & nailed each piece in. Then painted with the same wall color. It's the perfect punch of texture that I was craving in this space.

We added lots of texture, color & interest in the smaller details of the room. We shopped the house and bought a few new pillows for the bed . We also added a bit of macrame with the gorgeous handmade banner across the headboard. You can't tell, but there are fairy lights woven into the banner too.

We added a mix of faux plants and air plants for her plant obsession. We found those planters at Hobby Lobby on clearance. They were originally stained wood that we painted black to match the room better.

We opted to get rid of her end table and were originally thinking about putting a swing in this corner. Our sweet Cici offered us this gorgeous macrame hanging table and it couldn't have been more perfect. Emily was over the moon about it. It has a pretty cool background story as well as it was picked up in the Philippines when overseas while in the military. I love that it's a special family piece as well as matching the room so perfectly. We hung it with a swag hook from the ceiling.

Her dresser is still in great condition so we opted to just paint all the drawers the same dusty pink as the headboard and change the coral knobs to black. Super easy update that grew it up just a tad.

Emily has developed an obsession with plants so we opted for hanging macrame plant holders to hang some air plants from.

Emily found, painted and created the idea for that little teapot planter all on her own (can you tell I'm proud?!) and we planted a little cactus in it

We kept her vanity the same and just changed the fabric out on the bench. Super easy way to update a look quickly. We chose a blush aztec pattern to coordinate with the headboard. We majorly cleaned/purged the vanity and painted her earring holder black to tie in the bench/rug into this corner of the room.

This corner serves as some organization (the other corner is her art/computer desk) and we just moved a few pieces of art around to fill this area a bit better. Emily MADE that gorgeous yarn art all by herself and we painted the frame periwinkle to pull the color to that side of the room a bit.

One last side by side as I'm still pretty amazed at how much I love the new look.

I'll add details below on paint colors and sources for various things.

I hope you love the new look as much as we do and, as always, ask away if you have any questions!!

Paint Colors:(All by Sherwin Williams)

Grey walls: Greyish
Periwinkle wall: Dried Lavender
Trim/White dresser: Snowbound
Black Bench: Tricorn Black

Sources:

Bed, dresser: Given to us and painted

Bench: Goodwill and painted

Bedding: Target

Pink pillows: Walmart

Black Striped pillow: Vintage Market

Black Zipper pillow: Dirt Cheap (Target)

Aztec Pillow: Target

Rug: Amazon

Vanity: Amazon

Plant hangers: Amazon

Black & gold hanging planters: Hobby Lobby (painted)

Pottery: Hobby Lobby

Macrame Hanging Table: Given by family member

Scrunchie Basket: Hobby Lobby

Black & White Patio Transformation

2020-07-05T20:15:00.003-07:00

I'm so excited to finally get this post up because it's been a long time coming!

We started working on our back patio about two years ago when we decided we needed to make it a place that we actually enjoyed being.

We had several issues going against us and it's taken us some time to come up with solutions for all of them and cultivate our dream space.

The main issues:

1. Our patio area isn't completely covered. Meaning parts of it still gets rain/full sun and the full impact of Arkansas weather. We needed things that could 'weather' all of that pretty well.

2. We have two outdoor dogs that were constantly bringing mud, dirt, hair and all that fun stuff up into that area. It was constantly dirty & dusty and it made my head spin.

3. We live on a sloped lot. BONUS with there being virtually no trees so leaves weren't a huge issue. But water, dust, and any yard debris inevitably ends up on the patio. Cue head spinning again.

So. We had to come up with some creative solutions. The main one being how to create a more closed off space without spending wayyy too much money and still keeping it aesthetically pleasing.

I don't have the best before/after photos because I was a horrible blogger during the process but let's use this one to show the crazy transformation it went through:

I'm sure I purposefully didn't take pictures of the yard side before because it was such a disaster but the top gives you a good idea of what we were working with.

We attempted a table back there for a bit but it just filled up too much of our usable space and wasn't as convenient/comfy as we wanted.

Our first decision was to create a boundary so it could stay clean (er), attempt to keep some of the yard debris/dirt from getting in as much and keep the dogs out when we wanted.

We ended up coming up with a two-fold idea.

We loathed the idea of drilling into the concrete patio slab so we opted for a black iron fence around the perimeter of the patio. We were able to get a gate and fencing pieces that were easily pounded into the ground from Lowes. I LOVE the look of them and that they allowed the dogs (and us) in and out when we wanted. To solve the not drilling into the patio problem, we used Maggie's playhouse to create a 'wall' on the small side that goes further back along the house.

We angled it to create the perfect boundary between the brick wall & the metal fencing. Plus, it allows Maggie to have somewhere to create & play when we are outside.

Maggie's playhouse was a fun find from our local Dirt Cheap that we brought home, assembled and fixed up to make it look like a mini version of our neighborhood bakery! I painted the front door blue, touched up some trim pieces to be white and white-washed the stone to make it a little less orange.

It was a fun & easy little update to the already adorable play house. I'm thinking it needs to stay even when she outgrows it!

This little area right outside the door needed something fun & happy to finish it out!

Those stools are one of my most FAVORITE hauls from one of our local schools selling their classroom items when they closed. They were science lab stools that were yellow/orange in color before I got a hold of them.

I'll need to share the super quick update I did with them soon! So easy and made a HUGE difference.

We created a mini bar type space with two metal corbels & a piece of scrap barn wood. The corbels are screwed directly into the brick for stability and the wood is attached to them. The two white shutters were pieces I've had forever that filled out the space perfectly.

Keeping it functional included making space for hubby's ginormous grill.

I can't complain as it sure keeps us in yummy food!

I created a storage area for his tools, our glassware, bug sprays, etc with a repurposed buffet table. It sits fully tucked under the covered patio area so it doesn't receive any rain or sun which was important since it's not an outdoor piece of furniture. I did seal it just in case and it has feet protectors on in case rain creeps back there somehow. But it's been there for about a year now and has held up great.

It's painted a deep grey and I added two hooks & a bottle opening to the side of it for easy access storage of grill tools.

The "Luke's" sign was an immense project of love & patience. I took an old tabletop we had been given and painted it white. I created a stencil of sorts and handpainted my favorite logo onto the middle of it.

It's also sealed well just in case rain creeps back there but it's been holding up great.

The black bench was a purchase from when we originally had the table back there. It sits neatly up next to the window now and serves us well for extra seating and storage space. It holds all our cushions up off the ground when we want to keep them safe from the rain and wind. It also holds our cute basket of outdoor toys we keep in the backyard.

You can get a much better glimpse of our gate/fencing here. It's been the best thing to keep dirt/grass/leaves off the patio. We still have to sweep occasionally but it's so much better now! We created small flower beds (that still need a LOT of love) outside of them, a small stone path leading to the trampoline and filled the beds with white rock to keep the grass away from the patio.

They weren't in full bloom in this shot but we have a mass of knock-out roses all along the house and they bloom like crazy behind my swing. It's one of my favorite places to be when the roses are in full bloom.

We had a family of cardinals make a nest behind the swing in the bushes this year and it was so fun seeing them come & go.

My swing is my HAPPY place. We bought it before the transformation took shape and it was my favorite place to be even before things got cleaned up. It is one of our most favorite purchases ever. I surrounded it with lanterns and a pretty plant for an even more 'oasis' type feel to it. It's the best place to be, seriously.

The saga of our sectional set will forever be etched into my mind as it was quite the wait to get it here. Hubby purchased it for me for Mother's Day in early May with the Amazon promise that it would be here in a week. Well COVID deterred that plan and we didn't end up receiving it until almost July. It was a huge bummer to wait so long for it and we almost gave up on it a couple times but it was so worth the wait!

It fills out the space perfectly and has created the comfy, inviting vibe we so wanted. Now hubby has a comfy place to sit while he's grilling and I'm reading on my swing. Rosey is a big fan of it too if you can't tell :)

I added outdoor blankets (LIFE HACK TIP: buy soft shower curtains to use as blankets outdoor. They are cute, mildew resistant and easy to clean. Plus they are lightweight, perfect for summer/fall days. I get mine for $4 at our Dirt Cheap)

I can't tell you how thankful we are for this space lately and the ability to 'get away' at home when the world feels so chaotic and crazy. I can envision so many fun nights with friends & family here too.

Plus, let's just picture being curled up on the swing with the lanterns lit, a hot drink in my hand and curled under a blanket with a good book in the fall. Talk about speaking my love language.

I hope you enjoyed my little patio tour. If I'm leaving details off, please comment and ask any questions you want! I'll add a source list to items I used below in case you'd like to know where things are from!

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

Patio Source List:

Play house: Dirt Cheap

Playhouse door mat and flower bucket: Oak Knoll Creations

Kid picnic table: Roadside find (painted)

Shutters: Goodwill (painted)

Stools: School sale (painted)

Pillows on stools: Target Dollar Spot

Sectional: Amazon by Cosiest

Blankets: Shower curtains from Dirt Cheap

Pillow Covers: Amazon

Wine glasses: Dollar Tree

Grey Buffet: Repurposed piece

Hooks/Bottle Opener/ Hobby Lobby

Lukes Diner Sign: DIY project from Tabletop

Grill: Pitboss Grill

Rug: Target

Swing: TJ Maxx

Tall Plant: Sams

Black & White Planter: Hobby Lobby

Lanterns: Dirt Cheap

White Metal Round Table: At Home (Painted)

Faux Canvas & Floral Door Hanging

2020-06-22T17:18:00.002-07:00

If you're anything like me, you tire quickly of having the same things hanging day to day.

I tend to have areas in the house that I don't rearrange very often but our front door is certainly not one of them.

My wreath styles have changed a LOT in the past years and this spring I decided to go with something a bit more non-traditional than a typical round wreath. Although my wreath from last summer was round, I still consider it a bit non-traditional too. You can see my cute snow-cone wreath from last year here.

This year, I went with something a bit more neutral that could withstand spring & summer if I wanted it too. And my choice of flowers tend to nod towards Fall too which was a happy accident.

I actually created the fabric/wood hanging last fall for my fall mantle but decided it was lightweight enough to hang on the door as well!

I added some floral & twig touches to cozy it up a bit too.

I'll give you the quick run-down on how I created it- it's such a versatile piece that could easily hang in the house or out.

Here's what I gathered:

*Thin wood pieces (mine were leftover pieces from a past project, long pieces bought from Lowes)

*Scrap Fabric (thicker is best if hanging on a door with a window)

*Vinyl

*Faux flowers (mine are Sola Wood Flowers leftover from my sister's wedding)

*Hot Glue Gun

For the fabric piece, iron it before cutting and then cut to your desired width/length. I frayed mine a bit on the edges after attaching the wood pieces. Add your desired wording with heat transfer vinyl. This is where it gets fun. Add anything you like- a fun quote, song lyrics, your last name, etc.

The wood pieces were cut about an inch past the fabric on either side. I stained them with a light walnut and then sandwiched the fabric in between two pieces for the bottom and then again at the top. I used a handful of black screws and made sure they went through both the fabric and wood to keep them together. Now you have a beautiful, scroll-like fabric hanging.

I left the hanging with just the fabric & wood for my fall mantle set-up and it was perfectly pretty as it was. You can see it by scrolling through this post here.

To add to the door, I wanted to give it a little more impact and color so I added some wooden flowers we had leftover from my sister's wedding. They were already dyed the orange color so I wove in natural colors with the orange along with some sprigs of twigs & babies breath. If I had been starting from scratch, I may have ended up doing a bit more spring-y of a color than the orange but I liked being able to use what I had :)

A better view of how I attached the wood pieces together. I used scraps leftover from a bigger project but Hobby Lobby also sells bundles of short, rustic pieces that would be perfect and cheap.

To top of the spring look to our porch, I added a lighter colored rug under our doormat, added a mini table with a few bright & cozy spring items and a gorgeous planter from Oak Knoll Creations with some beautiful Hydrangeas that I'm hoping to attempt to keep alive.

A quick item source list from the porch for you:

Grey & white fringe rug: TJ Maxx

Doormat: Hobby Lobby

Pom Blanket: Shower curtain from Dirt Cheap

Hydrangeas: Lowes

White Basket: Ikea

Pillows: JoAnns & cover from Hobby Lobby

Tic Tac Toe wooden pieces: Target Dollar Spot

I'm loving the simplicity of a non-round wreath this year for some reason. And I love that it can easily match decor through fall if I wanted it to. What's hanging on your door this summer? Can you see yourself making a quick wooden scroll hanging??

DIY Ombre Wooden Spring Sign

2020-05-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

Is ombre still even a thing??

It seemed like it was all the rage last year.

I love the subtle light to dark that ombre provides and thought it would be fun to do it with my favorite aqua color.

This super easy sign is the perfect thing if you don't like to commit to one thing (like me) and change your decor up constantly.

This thing is sturdy enough that it can stand on it's own or prop against other items for a layered look.

I created the actually wooden base of the sign a couple years ago and it's floated around to various set-ups and parties.

I originally created it to be left blank and just added a simple nail to the middle to hang wreaths & smaller signs from.

You can see it being used as a 'wreath' holder of sorts in my valentine mantle here.

I decided to risk it a bit and added my letters on this one with a touch of hot glue. But it'll be easy enough to pop them off and sand it down a bit to use as a blank canvas again if I want.

It's easy enough to create. Here's what you need:

*1x4s (cut these to your desired width)

*Trim pieces (or more 1x4x or even 1x2s)

-Nail gun/screws

-Blank letters (mine are here)

-Paint

-Pom garland (mine is here)

-Scrap Burlap

-Vinyl

First, create your base.

I cut my boards to my desired width and used other scrap pieces to screw along the backs to hold them together. I had some scrap thin pieces of trim left from a roadside haul and used those to trim out around my sign using my nail gun and a few screws. Imperfect is ok here :)

I painted my inside boards white & distressed.

For the letters, my sweet 13 year old painted them in an ombre blue finish and I'm obsessed with how they turned out. I used a touch of hot glue to fix them to the sign.

The 'hello' banner was made with scrap burlap cut into triangles and ironed and then glued to twine. I used white vinyl for my wording.

For some added fun, I strung a cute felt ball garland above the banner. I love the texture & interest it gives it!

I wasn't going for a seaside vibe but I'm definitely getting hints of it with this little project. I'm loving having some beach-inspire hues & texture to welcome spring in. I'm actually kinda sad that it'll be coming down soon for summer.

I'll show you the whole spring mantle in just a couple days. I went full force with a gathered/beachy vibe and it's been so calming to have up during these crazy quarantine days.

Have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back with the full set-up soon!!!

Winter to Valentine Mantle Update

2020-02-10T15:48:00.002-08:00

After Christmas ended and decor started filtering back to 'normal', I decided I wanted to keep my mantle still on the cozy/winter side of things.

Since most of the Christmas mantle, (you can see more about it here) was filled with neutrals and then pops of Christmas trees & red, I figured it would be somewhat easy to add a few pieces to transform it from festive to cozy.

And since I'm terrible at blogging lately, I full on forgot to take a photo of the 'winter' version but really only one thing changed.

So let's chat a cozy, wintery, Valentine mantle, shall we?

So for a Valentin-y, cozy feel, the two sides of the mantle were changed.

Down came the reindeer & trees and up went stacks of aged books, brass candlesticks and a few metallic pieces.

I wanted a more gathered & eclectic look.

Secondly, I still love the off center garlands so I decided to keep it for just a bit longer and added the cutest Conversation Heart Garland from Shop Cherry Sprinkles to lighten it up a bit.

Both the white & heart garlands are from here.

The wooden bead garland is from here.

The garlands are held on with simple command hooks.

The gathered items are mostly pieces I've thrifted or created myself. The hour glass is a family piece that hubby had. These were added for the wintry look and to add some Valentine flair, the cute felt hearts were scattered.

This makeshift letter board was also on the Christmas mantle and I love it's versatility.

It was scrounged together by combing an old beat up cabinet piece, white paint, a metal pull backing and random old drawer tracks.

After painting and distressing, I added the metal piece for a bit of interest and then nailed the drawer tracks into the middle. I thought they'd be perfect for holding letters and they totally were! I got a pack of cheap wooden letters from Hobby Lobby to use with it and it worked like a charm.

For my winter set up, it said "Let's get cozy" and then changed to "I Adore You" for this set-up.

The other side has another mix of gathered items. I'm loving the wood tones, neutral colors with the tiny pops of pink.

Felt hearts can be found here.

Wooden Sign is here.

Wood Beads are here.

Super simple but pretty, in my opinion :)

I love that it was easy to transform just a few small things to get different looks from Dec-February.

Hope your Valentine Week is just lovely!

Happy Monday!

DIY Preschool Valentines {You Color My Heart Happy}

2020-02-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

How is it time to already be talking about Valentines?!

I wanted to pop on and share our DIY valentines for this year, preschool version :)

My five year old is all about anything girlie, which means hearts & rainbows are pretty much staples in our house. I'm somewhat obsessed with all the darling felt shapes you see gracing cute garlands and tiered trays lately and happened to know the BEST shop to help my vision come true! Be sure to check her other shapes and garlands out if you're looking for more ideas or decor. Her shop is Shop Cherry Sprinkles.

Here's what you need to create these super easy, super fun valentines. And bonus points that they are totally allergy friendly!

Supplies:

White cardstock (for printing on)

Free Valentine Printable (found below)

Hot Glue Gun

Various Felt Shapes (Snag them here)

Go ahead and download your FREE printables below- I made two versions, one for hearts & one for rainbows. They would be cute with hairclips, crayon shapes & anything else rainbow/heart you can think of too!

Quick tips for printing in case you're a newbie...

1. Click the download link below for the print you'd like to get. Then follow the prompts to download and save to your computer.

2. Print your printable as you would any regular picture. I like to print them on white cardstock or picture paper- they tend to print better and with more vibrant colors this way.

3. Make sure to uncheck the 'size to fit' box so it won't enlarge the photo and cut off portions of it.

That's pretty much all there is to it.

So get at it...just click. print. and make!!

Free "You Color My Heart Happy" Print: Download HERE

Free "You Color My World Happy" Print: Download HERE

After you download and print your valentines, use a paper cutter to cut them down to size.

Use a tinnnyyy dot of hot glue to attach your felt pieces to each card.

And, seriously, it's that easy.

If you want it even easier, go ahead and add your child's name to them before printing.

There you have it!

These are probably the easiest ones I've ever put together!

Be sure to check out other past ideas for cute valentines! I hope your Valentine's week is filled with love & fun!

Happy Valentines!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Check out these other cute DIY Valentine ideas below:

"Have a Ball" Valentines

Jelly Bean Valentines

Bracelet Valentines

Harry Potter Valentines

Pokemon Valentines

Christmas Tour 2019

2019-11-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

I honestly can't even believe it's time to start talking about Christmas decor...

much less already have it up, photographed and ready to share.

I can't believe tomorrow marks the beginning of December.

But I have been soaking up the glorious feeling of having the house decorated and being able to enjoy the lights, the colors and the fun Christmas memories already happening.

We finished shopping this past week and, for once, I don't have a huge 'to do' list in the upcoming weeks leading to Christmas.

And I am so ok with that.

If you are new here, one of my big ventures this past year has been really digging into product photography and I have had the crazy pleasure of meeting and working with so many amazing shop owners. When taking pictures of Christmas this year, I realized how many amazing pieces are from some of these gorgeous shops. I'll share the love below in case you'd like to snag a few pieces yourself as well as finding out some easy DIY options for decor.

Hope you enjoy my Christmas tour this year- it's definitely topping as my favorite yet!

Anytime I decorate, I always start with our mantle. Not sure why, but it's the main area I focus on and change up each year.

This year I really challenged myself to use things we already had rather than make a new huge centerpiece- my party room and attic are getting a smidge full and I wanted to see what I could create with things I've used before.

I cheated a tinnnyyy bit with the white sign in the middle, as in, it WAS something I already had but I redid it to make it something I love.

Mission accomplished.

I'll show the incredibly easy, and random, how-to soon for it.

Let's just say it may involve random drawer tracks...

The wooden 'barn door' is a double sided sign I use all the time. The opposite side has the blue sign I use during the spring and when you flip it, it's this pretty barn door. I love the texture and warmth it brought the whole setup.

You can see it being used on it's opposite side here.

Getting the layered garland look took a bit of tweaking to get it how I pictured in my head but it finally turned out just how I wanted it to!

I went for an asymmetrical look this year on a whim and I'm a bit obsessed.

Here's the details on where to snag these pretty things:

Wood Tree Garland: Dear Baby Kay

Felt Garland: Shop Cherry Sprinkles

Wood Bead Garland: AH Floral

I'm trying to recall the details for the other items you see, I'll do my best to add them below:

Red Trees- an easy DIY made by me several years ago. Tutorial is here and I believe it's now a paid one but it's worth it. I've had them forever.

Wood slices & books are items I Just keep on hand throughout the seasons. Books are random ones I get for cheap and then rip the spines off (sorry, worth it though). They are perfect for stacking and adding texture/height.

White Tree: a battery lit tree from Tuesday Morning. Bought in 2018

Reindeer: Hobby Lobby (new this year)

Felt stockings: Shop Cherry Sprinkles

Real Stockings: Burlap stockings from Hobby Lobby that I embellished with ribbon and embroidered.

Gold Glitter Churches: Hobby Lobby ornaments

Bells & Lettering on sign: Hobby Lobby

Gold Rocking Chair: Thrifted and painted by me

Pillow in chair: Placemat that I turned into a pillow :)

You can see below the shot I took before adding the felt garland but I just felt like it needed a little more color.

The felt garland was the perfect finishing touch!

Our tree this year was a huge deal because prior to this year, we have ALWAYS done a live tree.

We love the experience, the smell and the look... but this year we just wanted to see if we could find an artificial option that we loved.

I'm somewhat allergic to real ones and break out like crazy when decorating it, and we are terrible at watering it so the 1000s of pine needles that litter our floor within a week are not such a joy.

We ended up finding this beauty on Wayfair and are in love.

It was easy to set up, took a bit of time to fluff, but was pre lit and gorgeous.

The lighter color added to the authenticity of it all and it was so much easier to decorate than a real one.

I'm sure we will switch year to year but this has been such a fun option this year for us.

Not pictured is the gorgeous crate Hubby made for wrapping the tree stand.

I"ll share that soon :)

We added a few personalized ornaments from one of our favorite shops, ByCuddles, and I love having pictures of my kids on the tree this year!

I am NOT a pro at decorating trees, they are probably one of my least favorite things to decorate... but, again, our artificial tree made it SO easy.

The gold bead garlands and both types of ribbon were Hobby Lobby purchases last year,

I strung the bead garlands around, tucked in strips of ribbon throughout the tree and then let the kids decorate with our family ornaments.

It's probably my favorite tree to date.

I wrapped packages (literally... Amazon packages) with brown paper and added twine and other fun toppers for product shots this year and they ended up being fun to decorate with too!

My copper cookie cutter was a thrift store find.

And that darling sign is from a gorgeous shop called Oak Knoll Creations.

She makes beautiful personalized items as well, so be sure to check her out for amazing gifts!

Another shot of that beautiful handmade sign.. .and my new obsession of bottle brush trees.
These were all found at the Dollar Tree & Target this year :)

These darling loose felt pieces from Shop Cherry Sprinkles were perfect additions to decor that were easy and fun.

Little Miss added peppermints and snowmen to her pink dress and our oldest chose the snowman garland for her colorful bedroom.

The dining room may be my most favorite room of the house this season.

I'm loving all the light & bright tones, the clean whites and wood touches so much.

Along with my ever present light aquas that I love so much.

The plate wall got a tiny bit of tweaking to tone it down to snowier colors.

I added a couple Christmas plates and a few wood snowflakes I've collected from a craft market we go to every year.

The trees are a random collection from over the years.

The champagne ribbon, burlap and white felt ones are, again, DIY ones I talked about earlier.

The white middle one, as well as the two smaller beaded ones, are from Tuesday Morning.

I can't quite remember where the gold twiggy one is from.

I mixed them in varying heights and threw a few loose gold ornament balls around the base of them.

The white felt garland from Shop Cherry Sprinkles draped perfectly to finish it off.

For the table, I kept to the same theme, a wooden tree wrapped with white twine (not sure where it's from??) and DIY wooden block presents I created last year.

These were SO easy to do.

Let me know if I need to do a quick tutorial on these- they are so fun and pretty to decorate with!

The bead garland is a Hobby Lobby find this year. Again, just draped among the other pieces.

Another one of my focal areas I love to decorate is the front foyer.

We have a second mantle hanging here and my favorite little mint table.

The O Holy Night sign was a DIY from a few years ago. The tutorial can be found here.

The snowflake, Merry and Bright signs and the wrapped presents are all DIY as well.

Hubby made the jumbo snowflake for me on our first Christmas together and it's one of my favorite things ever.

The deer were thrifted finds and, honestly, have seen better days but I LOVE them. So they stay.

The angels were special gifts passed on to me from a dear friend that passed away. They are forever special.

My mint table has a hodge podge of finds on it.

I can't even remember all the places these things were collected from.

I keep a host of candles, candlesticks, books and items in brass/gold/copper to use throughout the year and they came in handy this year.

I swap a couple pillow covers out with red sequin ones to bring in some color and these little linen candy canes make me happy every year!!!

It may not match all my decor but one of my most favorite things is this Harry Potter tree we created last year.

It hid in my son's room last year but this year I wanted it where I could enjoy it. Front and center :)

Whew.

That is the end of my tour and I'm so thankful to have led you through it.

Let me know what you love, tutorials you need and some of your favorite holiday pieces to decorate with!!

DIY Brick & Wood Pumpkin Sign

2019-10-19T10:00:00.001-07:00

I posted last week about our neutral, pumpkin filled Fall mantle we did this year and wanted to follow up on the huge Pumpkin sign I made for it.

It was super simple and packed a big punch.

If you didn't get a chance to see the whole mantle, check out my post here.

When we redid the kids bathroom a few months ago, we ended up with several scrap pieces of the faux brick panels leftover.

You can read about that transformation here.

I knew I didn't want to throw them away- they were big enough to be something awesome and I didn't want them to go to waste!

Mine were already painted from a prior project but they were originally red. If you want the same look, slap a messy coat of white paint over it and slightly sand/distress to let the original color come through.

Since mine was already painted, I measured and cut thin trim pieces to fit around the perimeter.

After cutting, I stained each of them and then used my nail gun to attach to the brick panel.

I knew I wanted raised lettering on there and searched forever to find the right ones.

For the PUMPKINS in the middle I wanted something big & chunky. But of course they were all out of the exact letters I wanted at all the craft stores.

Luckily, Michaels had them on clearance on their website so I was able to order online and just had to wait a few days for them to get in.

The smaller words were a pack of laser cut letters from Michaels that I arranged above and below the chunky PUMPKINS word.

I ended up having to trim a couple of the letters to create another "F" and "R".

They were easily snipped off with emergency shears and I used a sharpie to color the edges to match the laser edge detail.

Once they were arranged, I hot glued all the letters on.

So easy and so beautiful in the end.

We used hangers on either side to hang it above the mantle.

I'm absolutely in love with how it turned out and already have plans for the second scrap brick piece I have.

What do you think?

Are you decorating with lots of pumpkins this year too?

Fall Decor & Mantle

2019-10-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite.

It's my favorite weather, my favorite smells, my favorite scenery outside.

And all of that translates into my favorite decor.

I love pulling out my boxes of pumpkins and sifting through vintage finds that I've tucked away each year that just scream 'fall' to me. I love wheat stalks and my dried okra pieces that my dad gave me. I love pumpkins most of all.

So before fall even hinted within our weather, I decided boxes needed to come out and, a few weeks ago, fall graced our house :)

I always seem to start with decorating the mantle. It's my go-to spot and I guess it's the centerpiece of the house so I always start with it.

This year, I created a large attention-grabber piece with a few pieces of scraps from the garage and some wooden letters from Michaels.

I'll share my pumpkin sign how-to next post and you wont' believe how simple it was!

Since it was the focal piece, I opted for a simple set-up underneath it. I mixed my torn books, various neutral colored candlesticks & a whole mess of cute pumpkins. My wooden bead garland topped it all off for a cute, messy, eclectic kind of look. I laid the entire set up on top of this beautiful wheat inspired stalk from Hobby Lobby. It gives it such a pretty, soft fall look to it all.

All but one of the pumpkins in this set-up were either Target Dollar spot or Dollar Tree finds over the years.

This vintage little yellow scale is one of my all-time favorite pieces to pull out of my fall decor boxes. I love it's bright color and faded, rusty edges.

I added touches of fall all around the house- mostly subbing out spring/summer type pieces for a pumpkin here, candlestick there. I am loving neutral colors with pops of brass & gold lately. I added pumpkins under my cloche on the entertainment center, added a vintage milk jar and a sweet little wooden sign.

This yellow leaf pillow was one of my very first DIY projects years ago. It's a placement from the Dollar Tree I believe and it's stuck around :)

I love the yellow color so much.

The black and white pumpkins were an impulse buy at Target a few weeks ago. Not sure exactly why I had to have them, other than they are buffalo check and I'm obsessed. But then I quickly realized how little black & white I have in my house- haha!

I set Little Miss up with a canvas and some fall colors and asked her to make me a fall painting :)

So now her art is part of my fall set-up too which makes me super happy!

This vintage-styled mantle sits over my mint foyer table and is a statement all in itself.

I love piling all the gorgeous, neutral colored, weather pieces I can find onto it.

They just seem at home here.

The piece in the middle is a random assortment of weather weathered wood with chicken wire stapled to the back. It's my favorite wreath/frame/sign holder ever. Flanked by two huge white shutters I dragged from the attic and slapped white paint on.

Baby shutters, more candlesticks, my Target clearance mirror and... pumpkins... fill in the gaps. My other most favorite antique find is that cute little post office box cover. It's a treat to unwrap each year in fall.

This cute little letter board was a recent Target dollar spot find. I opted to add Scrabble letters rather than the chipboard ones it came with and I'm loving it.

Pumpkins & metallics win again here.

My DIY pumpkin basket (you can read the transformation here) made the perfect table centerpiece. It's filled with faux pumpkins and flanked by dried okra stalks and brass candlesticks. Weather wood planks make a make-shift tray for it all to sit on.

I kept most of the same set-up on the sideboard that was there for spring/summer but, again, pumpkins came to the rescue. I arranged them on top of the candlesticks/platters and traded out a framed print with the birdcage filled with books.

I feel like I went simpler this year than I have in other years... I'm loving the use of vintage pieces tucked in with pumpkins as a pretty tribute to the season I love so much. I focused on the pieces that truly bring my joy and let the pumpkins fill in the gaps :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall season so far. We are anticipating fun holidays coming up and a big wedding in our family soon. So excited to soak in more fall memories as the weeks go by. Love all of you and I'll be back soon with a fun tutorial on that pumpkin sign!!

See you soon :)

DIY Rainbow & Unicorn Felt Ball Backdrop

2019-09-15T10:07:00.001-07:00

Hey friends!

It's been a minute since I shared our last big party adventure -- we've had a crazy couple of weeks dealing with illness, keeping up with work and all the things that go into living life with 3 children.

I wanted to stop in and give the how-to on how I created the backdrop for her rainbow/unicorn party!

You won't believe how simple it was and they were the perfect punch of colorful impact I wanted.

Here's the end result we ended up with:

A quick run down on the entire backdrop before we get into the DIY garlands.

The huge, jumbo rainbow was another DIY that I did based off this tutorial found here.

The only things I changed were not adding the additional balls around the rainbow and obviously changed up the colors :)

It was a labor of love- about 6-7 hours in all of wrapping. But so worth it.

It's now hanging in her room as a statement piece so it gave us a double dose of awesome.

The banner is from the cutest banner shop found here.

The balloon garland was a quick DIY (my first time doing it and lovedddd it).

So now we get to those fun hanging garlands :)

Let's talk supplies:

Supplies are simple!

You need:

*Felt balls in a variety of colors depending on your theme (choose from TONS of options at the lovely Shop Cherry Sprinkles shop here).

*Gold unicorn (or other shape) in thick cardstock.

Mine were created by the amazing Festive Fetti, we decided on double sided gold foil and gold glitter for a fun texture mix-up. Choose from tons of options here.

Don't hesitate to message her for custom ideas too!

*Felt ball needle (also found here)

*Twine to string your garland (I used bakers twine)

Grab a starter kit here for all the pieces you need.

*Hole punch (I used a mini size so the holes would be small)

Gather your supplies and let's start!

First, punch your holes in your cardstock shapes in order to be able to string them on once you start. For the unicorns, I punched two holes- one towards the top, one towards the bottom. This way they would hand looking like the unicorn was rearing up :)

Next, gather your felt balls and sort them out depending on how many garlands you are needing. I wanted 4- two longer, two shorter. So I went ahead and sorted them so I wouldn't fall short with any of the garlands.

Then start threading!!!

Tie a simple knot at the end of your garland first.

Use your needle to poke through the felt balls and start stringing them together. It's simple to do and will go faster than you think!

I strung 5-6 balls on, then strung a unicorn. I chose to flip the unicorns so one would be foil sided, and the next would be glittery, just for a fun texture change through the garland.

And just like that, you have a custom garland for hanging! Mine were meant to hang vertically down my backdrop but you could just as easily make it to string horizontally for a mantle or other area.

This is made from the same felt balls- and unicorns or other shapes could easily be added as well :)

I love how the unicorns look like they are dancing up and down the backdrop!!!

If you haven't delved into the world of felt garlands, shapes and other items, you need to check it out!! I can't believe how many gorgeous things can be made from these guys!

The above necklace, rainbows, clouds & felt balls are all from Shop Cherry Sprinkles but you'll have to take a look for yourself to see all the amazing shapes you can get.

(Dress from Naturally Kamdyn)

The possibilities are endless- so many colors, textures, sizes and shapes to play around with to get your perfect party decor. I'm obsessed with using them for seasonal decor as well. Think hanging from mantles, tiered shelves or draping over photos, doors, shutters, etc.

I'd love to see how you use ball garlands (can you even imagine how fun they would be wrapped around a Christmas tree?!).

I'll be back soon with a quick rundown on how to make easy non-edible favors too so be on the lookout :)

(Unicorn sign from Zavyanne)

Rainbow & Unicorn Birthday Party

2019-09-02T17:52:00.004-07:00

Party time has finally come & gone which means...

I finally get to share all the fun details and projects that went into it!!!

I LOVE decorating and designing parties for my kids... since the older two have nearly outgrown all the fun, creative DIY parties (although my oldest is wanting an 80's party for her 13th so there's still some fun involved!!), I love getting the chance to get creative for parties when I still can!!

Little miss turned 5 last week and while I'm still trying to figure out how that happened already... I wanted to share all the magical rainbow & unicorn goodness.

When you ask Little Miss her favorite color... it's 'rainbow'. When people asked what she wanted for her birthday... she said 'anything girlie'. She's my girly-girl, all things magical & sparkly, rainbow loving girl. Which made it SO fun to decorate this year.

I figured I'd show you the party in all of it's rainbow glory today and then break apart several of the smaller projects to share with you over the next week.

We had some amazing shops send some fun things in & I'll be sharing those shops throughout the pictures and again in the source list at the bottom of this post.

So if you need a direction in your party planning, they are great resources to start with!!

Let's dive in to all the party fun!

The main party table is my favorite to decorate.

This year, we used fabrics I already had for the backdrop & tablecloths.

I tried something new & attempted a balloon garland to drape across the top for 'clouds'.

It was so much easier than I imagined to do and was the perfect finishing touch!

The huge rainbow was a major labor of love- it was created with pool noodles, tons of yarn and lots of time!

It ended up turning out so awesome, it replaced the main thing over her dresser in her room. So it was a two-fold win!

The beautiful '5' banner is from Say It In Burlap and was such a fun piece to add to the centerpiece.

I'll be sharing a tutorial later this week on how to make the beautiful unicorn/felt ball garlands. They were so fun & easy to do- adding a little extra to the backdrop!

My sister made the gorgeous unicorn cake- a mix of pink & white ombre and the cute unicorn topper was an Amazon find. I added paper flowers for a little extra 'girlie'.

One of my favorite pretty details was this unicorn confetti from Festive Fetti. It was such a fun touch that instantly made it feel like 'party mode'!!!

Get your custom mixes in tons of colors and themes!!!

We kept our food list simple & sweet (I mean, what else do you expect at a unicorn party?!)

We had:

-Popcorn drizzled with purple chocolate & lucky charms marshmallows

-Unicorn Fudge (recipe here)

-Bugles (for unicorn horns)

-Sprinkle Bars (Pink wafer cookies dipped in the purple chocolate and then sprinkles)

-Rainbow Marshmallows (Walmart)

My best tips on a cute & budget friendly table is layering fabrics rather than buying expensive tablecloths.

I tend to buy several yards of fabric I love (the ruffle fabric on the backdrop) especially if it's on clearance.

Hobby Lobby will clearance out their seasonal fabric and you can get it at great prices.

I store it in a tub and pull them out for parties all the time.

I love non-patterned color/texture pieces that can be mixed and matched.

The pink sequin cloths on the table are cheap tablecloths from Amazon.

They are sheer but layered over a white tablecloth, they are perfect.

I used a scrap of gold fabric for the runner.

I also invest in neutral colored dishes that I can use over and over.

White is my go-to. I also tend to use a lot of pink/light blue so I have several pieces in those shades.

I added light blue plates to my white cake plates for height & color.

My entry table served as a great favor set-up area.

I clipped our simple favors to my board I made last year and added a quick '5' banner to it.

I'll have a tutorial this week on the easy to do non-edible favors!

The board I use for all kinds of things- pictures, favors, cards, etc for different events. And the clothespins come in handy for all kinds of things too.

(printable from Indigo Ink Boutique)

The gorgeous rainbow garland is from Shop Cherry Sprinkles and add a bit of beauty to EVERYTHING. If you haven't gotten your hands on felt garlands, you are missing out. They are so versatile and make mantles, parties, decor SO. MUCH. FUN.

The other big hit were these personalized tattoos from Itty Bits Designs. The kids LOVED getting to come in the door and get tattoos on. Maggie insisted on wearing hers all week!

Little Miss insisted on making a piece of art and I'm in love with it- it'll be displayed in the house long after we aren't in love with rainbows anymore :)

I made the white corded rainbow as a test run over the summer and loved it so it made an appearance on this table. I think it'll be pretty for spring decor too!

Party games consisted of Pin the Horn on the Unicorn & Unicorn Horn Toss (an Amazon find). I used my Silhouette to help me outline the Pin the Horn unicorn & then watercolored her mane in. I cut gold horns with my Silhouette as well.

Lastly, we had enough rainbow pretties to decorate the mantle up- something I don't always do for parties but it was fun for this time around.

I made the rainbow frames over the summer when I just had the urge to paint & it turned into this :)

I layered two square signs- one is a white wood framed sign I switch wreaths out in- and the other is a painted canvas I did to match the frames.

The beautiful 'Believe in Magic' sign is from Zavyanne.

I used embroidery hoops I had on hand to turn into unicorns by adding scrap white polka dot fabric and ironing on unicorn eyes with vinyl :)

The beautiful headbands I attached with small dabs of hot glue (so they could be removed after) and are from Avas Pretty Things Handmade.

The rainbow felt garland and mini rainbows/clouds were the perfect finishing touches from Shop Cherry Sprinkles.

Little Miss also made a little unicorn to decorate with too- I LOVE that she loves projects & art as much as momma. She was so proud to have her work out at her party. This was just a cheap wooden unicorn from Hobby Lobby that she spent forever painting and adding sequins to.

I got really excited about these Polaroid dupes & already posted a tutorial on how I did them here. They were so fun & I can't wait to use them in other places for decor too.

As a maker, I LOVE seeing all the amazing talents of other people, women, mommas... all the things. You guys are TALENTED.

From party decor, to confetti, to cakes, to clothes... I can't believe the crazy amount of talent out there.

I am so thankful for the wonderful shops that make this party happen & added their beautiful talent in the mix.

A huge THANK YOU because I could not have done it without you.

The smile on her face says it all- it was a huge success & so much fun.

We had the best time planning this together!!!

I know there were a lot of pictures and lots of words up there- thank you for getting this far! For those of you who like a nice and clean list of where to look for things... adding that below :)

Party Source List:

Decor:

Confetti & Gold Unicorns in garlands: Festive Fetti

Felt rainbow garlands, loose rainbows & clouds: Shop Cherry Sprinkles

Burlap Banner: Say It In Burlap

Believe in Magic Sign: Zavyanne

Rainbow Frames: Repurposed & painted by me

Wooden Camera: With Love Halle

Custom Tattoos: Itty Bits Designs

Unicorn Printable: Indigo Ink Boutique

Birthday Outfit:

Bracelets: Brooklyn Rose Beads

Matching Dolly & Me Dresses: Honeygirlhandmade

Matching Dolly & Me Headbands: Vivibelles Bows

Necklace: Gemma and Filo

Earrings: My Kookie Jar

A Quick Pink Dresser Update

2019-08-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick & dirty kinda post.

Just to show you the power of paint and tweaking a couple things on the effect of a room.

We have this gorgeous, super chunky, vintage style dresser in Little Miss' room and when we first did her nursery, we painted it a pretty dark pink color.

Which worked with the colors we had at the time.

Over the past couple years, we've softed a lot of her room and when we went full on big girl room, her new headboard was a very soft baby pink rather than hot pink.

And little miss actually decided she wanted to change her dresser (she's a little bit nutty for pastel colors lately) so we took that on this summer.

Here's the pretty thing before in all of it's hot pink glory.

We also had some printed song lyric/monogram frames above it that we just weren't feeling anymore.

Luckily, a piece of her upcoming party decor fit the bill for that wall perfectly.

Want to see how crazy difference the space feels with just an adjustment in paint color?

You may not get the full effect of it as you when you are standing in the room but it was an immediate game changer.

Made the room feel bigger, less cluttered (especially since we added a twin bed recently) and softened the mood of the room.

The rainbow was a labor of love that I did just recently for her upcoming unicorn/rainbow party.

Stay tuned for how I'm going to use it as the wow effect for the party area :)

But it ended up being the perfect focal piece above the dresser.

We left the dresser where it stood- it would have been a huge headache to move it- and just laid down cardboard underneath to paint on.

I removed hardware, wiped it all down and just layered the paint on the existing coat.

I ended up going with the lighter color I used in my previous pink hutch makeover called Impatiens Pink by Sherwin Williams.

I wanted the lighter, more pastel color for this and it was perfect.

Makes for the perfect pink backdrop for product shots too :)

(flowers from Handcrafted Buffalo)

All in all, it was a simple repaint project but we are loving the calming effect it brought to the room.

Now that you've seen a peek into the room, who wants a full on post on her big girl room we did back in December? I'd love to show you around!!

DIY Faux Polaroid Photos with Instax 'Duds'

2019-07-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ever thought how cool it would be if some of your favorite photos looked a bit more vintage? Or looked like a Polaroid image.

I feel like these have made a come back in a big way lately and who doesn't love the fun look of Instax/polaroid images?

My two daughters are obsessed with their Instax camera and it's so fun seeing what they come up with.

When we first gave it to my 12 year old, we let her explore and experiment with it. Which meant there were a handful of underexposed/black photos that didn't work out as intended.

Luckily for me, she's a bit of a hoarder too and had kept them anyways.

When hubby suggested I use Instax film to hang pictures in the rainbow frames I had made for my upcoming almost 5 year old's party, I thought it was a great idea! I decided to use our 'dud' photos and create the same Instax Polaroid look but with photos taken with my professional camera.

I'll give you the quick rundown in case you have some dud photos :)

Items Needed:

*Photo Paper

*Instax mini 'dud'/scraps/underexposed images

*Photos you are wanting to use

*Spray adhesive

*Scissors/paper trimmer

Step 1:

Print your photo you are wanting to use. I used regular photo paper run through my printer and printed small wallet size photos. Pick ones that have a little bit of room to trim them up a little to fit the polaroid windows.

Step 2:

Trim your printed photos to fit in the black window of your dud Instax photos.

You could achieve a similar look by cutting white cardstock down to size and cutting your photos to fit where the photo area would be. It just won't have that authentic feel to it :)

Step 3:

Use spray adhesive to attach your photos to the photo area on your film. Smooth down.

It's seriously that easy!!!

I had made these fun rainbow painted frames from old cabinet fronts but had no idea what I wanted to put in them.

I love that hubby suggested doing these style of photos!!

I stapled lengths of ribbon to the middle of each door so I could hang the photos down the length of them.

Mini clothespins held them perfectly!
Bonus points that my printer was running out of ink so they printed somewhat grainy- a happy accident to me because they gave a bit more authentic of a look.

I usually decorate up the mantel for parties since it sits right next to where I put the food table.

These pretties will be sitting up there showing pictures of our little cute throughout the past couple years!

I'm in love with how pretty they turned out and how easy it was to turn 'duds' into 'studs'.

Haha.
Don't roll your eyes at me.

So- don't throw out those underexposed instax photos!

Turn your professional photos into polaroids too, it's a win win!

The Plate Wall {Updated}

2019-07-08T11:33:00.001-07:00

This post is so funny to me.

Because little did I know that one of my most popular posts would end up being one of the simplest (I feel like, anyways!)

Back in 2011, I posted some pretty awfully photographed photos of how I did a swirled plate wall in our old house.

It has since been viewed almost 50,000 times and pinned a bajillion amount of times.

So I thought it may be high time for me to give you an update on it since we've moved.

I used the same technique as in the original post here.

And the same hangers.

But the configuration changed a smidge :)

When we moved several years ago, I knew I wanted to keep the plate wall. I love the color, personality and texture they bring to the room. They stayed in our dining area and I thought they'd be pretty displayed over my, now, white buffet piece.

I can give you the transformation information on that piece soon!

I kept the majority of them- but swapped some of the black/white and brown pieces for lighter, whiter pieces with splashes of blue and yellow.

Most of these were just picked up randomly while I was out shopping/thrifting. I love that they are all so different!

And they change easily with the holidays, hanging a couple holiday inspired pieces to swap out some of the brighter spring/summer ones!

I'm learning that my taste really revolves around lots of light/natural pieces mixed with wood tones and splashes of my favorite blue. I love that I can mix my eclectic pieces to make pretty displays. The top of the buffet houses a collection of found, made & bought items that make my heart happy.

We get beautiful light in here so this whole corner stays cheerful :)

I can give the whole dining room tour here soon if you're interested- let me know in the comments below.

You can see my china cabinet transformation here- I painted it before we moved and fell so in love with it, I kept it for the new house :)

I'll be back soon with more pretty things!

A Peek Into my Craft Room

2019-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm basically calling it a 'peek' because it's really not 100% finished. More like 90%.

But I've put it off long enough and decided to just go ahead and share the process with you... and I'll update when I get the last few things I want for it.

Sound ok?

Because this room, out of all the rooms in the house, has gone through the most transformation.

Here's a peek into my little space:

I didn't clean up alll the way for you guys.

Because that's not real life.

It's usually messy, cluttered and full of ongoing projects.

Which is the way I like it.

But I spruced up a bit for you :)

When I say this room has come a long way, I mean it.

When looking at houses, an office/craft room was a MUST.

We were tired of the dining room at the old house being taken up with projects. We needed some space to create and play. It was just a necessity at that point.

It took us forever and a day to find a house that had the bedrooms we needed, was a bit more updated than our old house AND had an office space.

But really... it didn't have an office space.

The 'office' in this house would need to be our fourth bedroom so it took away the option of an office.

However. Our fabulous realtor had the idea of turning the formal dining room into an office space.

Which we probably would never have thought of. We knew we wouldn't really use a formal dining room anyway and the office/craft room was a bit more vital at this point.

One big problem... here's the space we were looking at:

It's hard to tell from the photo, but that huge open space you're looking into was a huge entrance right off the front door foyer area.

So basically, you'd walk in the front door and see this entire space.

Pretty for a dining room.

Not so much for a creative, messy space.

There was another large doorway on the left wall leading towards the kitchen so it was suggested that we possibly close this entire wall to give us more wall space, a more closed-off room and save us from that messier view as soon as you walk in the house.

We decided this was a great option and it ended up being taken care of by the sellers to get the wall put up.

Enter the new wall:

It's a little fancy for a craft room with all the beautiful molding, large entrance and the huge chandelier but it was perfect for us.

With three kids, there was a lot that needed to be done in other parts of the house that took precedence over the craft room so for a while it stayed this dark brown/creamy molding.

In the meantime, we started piecing together different parts of the room.

Initially this was my area for a bit.

The table was a long, sturdy table we had gotten at Ikea a long time ago. It was the perfect length but lacked any storage that I desperately needed.

We snagged two unfinished pre-made cabinets from Lowes, painted them white and just added the Ikea top over them. It was the perfect solution for more storage and raised the height of the table a bit so I could stand for projects if needed.

More storage came with adding a framed pegboard for essential items.

I painted a scrap piece of pegboard white and also painted a thrifted frame.

Hubby attached it to the wall and I painted a few pegboard organizers gold to hang items with.

I keep things like scissors, my glue gun,staple gun, twine, etc here for easy reaching.

The shelf above my table has become a catch-all for all the pretty things I love.

Milk glass, jars, small handmade items. They keep me inspired :)

Projects like these guys gave the room new life with fresh coats of paint.

They were both painted white, given new hardware and officially became major aspects of storage for the room.

I shared this fun project earlier in the year and it's the star of the room.

This thrifted hutch got a pink makeover- you can read more about it here.

Once things in the rest of the house finally settled a bit, we were ready to start looking at painting. Because of the vaulted ceilings and crazy molding, we really wanted to hire out. We had the master bed/bath to get done too so we just threw in the craft room when the crew came out to paint.

It took forever to find the perfect grey but we finally settled on Grayish by Sherwin Williams.

I painted so many samples on the walls and decided it was the perfect cool grey color. The rooms get tons of lights and I wanted light & airy.

The wall was exciting and all but nothing compared to it getting a new coat of paint.

We had the walls and ceiling painted Grayish and then all the trim was painted in Snowbound.

Gah. Look at the DIFFERENCE.

The paint, the white furniture, lighter colors.

It changed everything in the room.

Now... before I share more pictures of the now, let's chat about plans going forward.

*White rug

(there was an unfortunate incident with a previous cat and our last rug)

*Changing the chandelier

(help! It will have to be big but not budget breaking)

*Adding a pouf for the chair/sitting area

(again, cat. Grrr.)

Those are all the short term things.

The flooring drives me nuts but that isn't anywhere in the near future. So the white rug will have to do to help in that area :)

Let's keep going with the afters though....

This is my desk.

I'm not ashamed. Haha.

It's a bit cluttered and crazy but I love it.

Crafting, painting and photography props litter it everywhere and that's the way my heart likes it.

That pegboard is a lifesaver. Less than $15 for that entire project.

I used scrap wood for my arrow above it and for the shelf.

Cheap industrial piping from Lowes hold the shelf up.

The premade cabinets look pretty in white with eclectic hardware. The catalog pulls were meant for another project but were too small so they ended up here.

The pulls are all from Hobby Lobby.

This FABULOUS utility cart was scored at a school sale. I think I got it for $5? It has plugins and a cord in the back so I can plug the cart into the wall and all my machines into the cart itself.

It was originally black but a coat of white spraypaint did wonders.

It houses my Silhouette, my printer, my sewing machine and my permanent/adhesive vinyl is stored in the cube bins.

My heat transfer is stored in a portfolio binder under the cart.

The filing cabinet got it's glorious makeover (can you believe that's the same piece as above?!?) and houses what you think it does- files :)

My kiddos art supplies sit on top for easy reaching.

This piece of Hobby Lobby art was the inspiration for the colors in this room.

Makes my heart happy :)

And just look at that pretty little blue Silhouette.

Hubby surprised me with that upgrade this past Christmas.

Although the name has changed, Tattered and Inked started with me and I still love my T & I letters :)

{Pineapple garland from Handcrafted Buffalo}

To the left of my computer sits a lot of my photography props.

I keep items here that need to be photographed for shops and small items that I pair with others frequently.

We snagged the bar stool at Dirt Cheap for $20 and the pillow was a TJ Maxx find. The blanket is Ikea.

Storage pretty much goes like this:

Flatlay/seasonal props in bottom cabinets

Left side drawers house sewing, cording, beads.

Right side drawers hold vinyl, camera accessories/lenses, stationary, tape and other easy access office supplies.

The pink hutch stores all my small crafting items- paints, buttons, twine, glitter, paper, glues, etc.

The bottom of the hutch contains ribbon, larger blank items and my kids craft supplies so they can craft with me.

The top is hardly ever that clean- haha.

Bins of items like fabric (I'm a hoarder), blank shirts/bags and my embroidery machine live in the garage.

The other half of the room functions more for hubby & the kids.

Hubby has his own computer hobbies and often is at his desk while I'm working in my area. It's also the kid friendly computer for lessons, games & school.

The huge chalkboard is my favorite- another roadside rescue that was painted and hung.

We also have two sweet bunnies that live in the corner of the craft room as of two months ago.

The bookshelf I shared above looks pretty in white and houses a {small} portion of our books. I keep books, puzzles and sensory bins over here for my four year old to play with. She loves being in the same room with Mommy when I work and this allows us to all be together. I keep my rolls of paper for photography stored over here too.

You may remember this duo from the old house.

I couldn't get rid of my comfy chair.

It got a facelift with white & grey and lives by the bookshelf for cuddle sessions.

I couldn't bring myself to paint this little table and it actually ended up fitting right in with my inspiration painting so it's still going strong :)

Whew.

I feel like that's a lot to throw at you.

Let's see a quick side by side to show in a glimpse how far it came.

From dark & dreary to light & airy.

It still has a few finishing touches to go but I'd say it's coming pretty darn far.

What do you think?

Summer Embroidery Hoop Wreath

2019-06-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

I told you I'd be back :)

I thought I'd throw a little color into the mix and share my new summer wreath.

We needed something colorful & happy to match the happiness of summer starting a few weeks ago in our household.

Enter this cutie...

It was so fun to put together and fairly easy!

The longest part was creating those faux snow cones- but Little Miss and I had a blast doing them!

Here's what you need:

*Embroidery hoop- we grabbed a larger one but you can do any size you like!

*Fabric (I chose a light color without a busy pattern)

*Styrofoam balls

*White Paper

*Vinyl in various colors

*Various trims (I used a pom trim and loose poms to create my own garland)

*Paint

*Diamond Dust glitter (I got mine at Michaels)

The first thing I did was to go ahead and hoop my fabric.

I wanted to be able to play with the layout of things as I went along to know how much room I had for wording and such.

Hoop your fabric nice & tight so it stretches across (I didn't even iron my fabric, hooping it tight enough can take all those wrinkles out). Then trim the excess off. I double layered my fabric since it was white and somewhat sheer.

Start laying out your trims and items you want to decorate it with. I strung these cute loose poms onto bakers twine and then also used my pom trim. I just loosely laid these across in order to get an idea of how long I wanted them and how much space they'd take up.

Now onto those cute snowcones.

I knew I wanted them from the start- snow cones are a favorite part of our hot summers!

The cutest tutorial for these guys can be found over at The Crafted Sparrow. She has a great tutorial for creating them into a garland. Check it out for the details :)

This Diamond Dust is just magic and gave the perfect icy effect to them. The modge podge dried more than what's in the above picture but still gave a little illusion of white ice being under the color which I loved!

After making all the garlands, I laid them all out again so I could see how much room was left for the wording.

I created the file and cut out in various colors with my Silhouette. Then played with placement until it was perfect. I wanted it off centered and tucked in the corner a bit so the garlands would have room to shine!

Then the fun part is putting it all together!

Wording got ironed on and I used hot glue to attach the ends of each of the garlands to the back of the hoop.

Extra pom trim served as the perfect hanger.

And just how cute are those mini snow cones??

Little Miss kept saying 'oh this is adorable' as we put it together :)

The bright colors were perfect for welcoming Summer in.

I'm kinda loving how light it is- our last wreath was so heavy it thunked constantly. This one is light & breezy as summer should be :)

I'd love to know your thoughts & if you attempt to make an embroidery hoop wreath this summer!

Belle Inspired Birthday Party {Plus Free Printables}

2019-06-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

I realized as I was going through and updating things that I had never posted Little Miss's 3rd birthday party and it's one of my absolute favorites!!

She was Princess Belle obsessed (and still is, really!) and Mama was more than happy to oblige as Belle is my favorite too!

There were so many fun pieces to this party and lots of easy projects to make it unique, gorgeous and budget-friendly.

There weren't a ton of printable items that I created for this one but the ones I did make will be available at the end of this post!

The table is always the focal point of what I decorate around.

So let's start there...

I found a gorgeous ruffly pink fabric that had metallic flecks throughout it at Hobby Lobby and bought enough yard to cover the table by overlapping them.

I loved it so much that I went back and grabbed it in aqua too.

It's so perfect for a soft, textured touch to the table.

It's hard to tell in the above picture but I also layered a strip of gold rose fabric across the middle of the table too.

I ordered two pink sequin tablecloths off Amazon that I used as the backdrop.

These are perfect for table coverings too and have been used so much since this party!

For the backdrop decor, I used embroidery hoops as the focal points.

Glitter dipped flowers and other faux roses mixed in and the large middle hoop had a large, glittery '3' in the middle of it. Looking back, I wish I had glued it straight in the middle with flowers on either side but it still looked gorgeous this way too!

I hung all three across the backdrop from ribbon.

The cake took center stage of the table. A simple but beautiful rosette cake did the trick (all the roses for Belle, right??) and I added a glittery cake topper and added a few of my favorite pink paper flowers around the base.

I used books throughout the table to lift and elevate dishes and food for a pretty effect.

I used old books, painted them pink and then dipped the spines in glitter.

These are easily some of my favorite pieces from the party!

I created a custom looking Beauty and the Beast book by painting it pink, dusting gold onto it and then adding lettering with gold vinyl. It's all in the details :)

My favorite white teapot made an appearance on the table and I upcycled vintage teacups from Goodwill into being the perfect containers for food.

These were spraypainted pink and then rubbed in gold for a pretty look.

They are perched on top of a tiered candle holder painted gold.

The rose is a wax rose we bought while in Silver Dollar City. It was perfect for being the Enchanted Rose since it stood up straight. We drilled a hole in the bottom of a glass cloche and put the glass back over it.

Isn't it perfect for the Enchanted Rose??

Stacks of books made appearances everywhere. They are a weakness of mine.

Food was light tea type snacks- macaroons, lady fingers, shortbread cookies and small peanut butter & jelly sandwiches into bite sized pieces.

TJ Maxx and Homegoods proved to be the best place to find unique tea style snacks- and in the perfect colors too!

I keep a collection of white dishes on hand as I love to use white on most of my table settings to keep it from competing with other colors.

We had a handful of cupcakes as well- simple pink and vanilla with some cute toppers!

Cupcake toppers are the easiest thing to make & are the perfect personalized touch!

Grab candy sticks from Hobby Lobby (they come in a huge pack!) and simple print off your desired toppers.

Hot glue together and stick them in.

Easy!

Do ya'll remember that tea cart makeover from a few years past?

If not, you can check out that makeover here.

I use it for so many of my parties- it makes the perfect drink cart.

We made pink lemonade and then found the cutest little tea cups to add to our tea plates.

This was easily the most favorite thing at the party.

The kids loved filling up their teacups over and over.

Tea cups were found at Smarty had a Party here.

And the tiny plates were a Target find.

The mantel sits right next to the party table so I added some pieces to go with the theme there too.

I had this yellow frame from a previous project and just added vinyl wording to white posterboard to frame.

Various brass candlesticks and a vintage looking clock were the perfect classy touches to become Lumiere and Cogsworth throughout.

They double as the perfect props for photos too--

I added our large pink mirror and covered a canvas with rose fabric for extra touches too.

My mom collects teapots so several of those made an appearance as well!

The sparkly 'be our guest' banner hung from the fireplace.

We had several games available for the kids including a Balloon Beast Race and, my personal favorite, sensory dough to play in.

We found the perfect sparkly dough recipe (I can't seem to find it anywhere, I'll keep looking!) and made it the perfect Belle yellow. We hid rose beads throughout and had the kids dig them out. That dough lasted forever and was so fun.

I bought tiny containers and put a bit in each with a couple beads and gave them as favors.

So now that you have the rundown on all that-- on to the printables!

There were only a few from this party- very simple invitations, cupcake toppers, the Princess Putty sign and the simple label I printed and glued to the containers for favors.

All of these can be found linked to below:

Simple Princess Invitations

(simple add your own personalized wording and then print!)

Enchanted Rose Search Sign

Cupcake Toppers

Princess Putty Label

I hope you enjoyed this fun party we threw together- it's one of my favorites!!!