Haven From the World

Christmas Card Wrangle

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

What do you all do with all those Christmas cards, after the season? I couldn't bear tossing them, for some reason this year....it all went by too quick. So, I just wanted to show you what I did with them all.....

I had some great red/white twine left over from the gifts, and I used my handy-dandy hole puncher to punch each one.

Did you have a favorite card? This was mine. My littlest bro and his great wife and daughter. They just had their second baby, this month. My other brother (the one who's photography blog I've highlighted here before) took their pics....super adorbs.

Anyway, back to "weaving"....I just kept weaving the twine thru the hole punched in all the left top corner. Also known as upper left corner. Ha!

Tied 'er up, labeled the date, and filed under "Family" in our personal files. Hopefully, I'll remember to do this for years to come.

What is your Christmas card "philosophy"? Read once, toss? Keep for the season and toss? File? Decoupage on a bench? Line kitty litter boxes? What else is there?

Snow Day(s)

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:33:00 +0000

Remember how I said, "I'm back!"....well, then it started snowing on Sunday, and I've pretty much been in here ever since. Two trips to Safeway, and that's it. Seattle has gotten record snowfall this week, and we've been the laughing stock of the country for our lack of "snow prowess", but, oh well.....here's a picture out my front door:

We're having a blast sleeing down our big hills and eating all sorts of junk food....catch ya on the flip side!

xoxo

Master Bath Progress

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Here's our Master Bath, the day we moved in. Good bones, as they say, but not too exciting.

Tons of towel rods...could we have more? Wow! Nice.

Full view.

Then, some progress started happening....Lanie the Painter, not to be confused with Sue the Seamstress, painted for me. This is BM Alexandria Beige...I L.O.V.E. this color. Its darker, but go with me on this...it turns out great. (This is a night pic....) And, can you see the curtains hanging on the towel rods. Classy, right? They were waiting for Big Dog to hang them, so.....

Then, remember my super classy toilet paper roll art project, seen here? Well, here's the project started down on the dining room, table, and...

....finished, here. Love it! Adds that certain, je ne sais quoi.....

Ok, curtains installed.

More "art". I had this white frame (middle) leftover from Peyton's room design, and decided to do basically the same thing I did here. I had this fabric from the Calico Corner demise. Again, 60% off great fabric. I obviously only used about an 18" square here, so I need to figure out what to do with the rest.

I could eat this rug for breakfast, I love it so much. I had to be super patient, as it was on back order forevah. Its from Garnet Hill. Not on sale. Sometimes you just need a rug.

Ok, then last and not least are these cool Crate and Barrel sconces. I am totally in love with them. I put a flameless candle on them, and when I came in the bathroom last night, and all the lights were off, these were emitting such a nice soft glow. Ahhh.......

Here are the sconces up close and personal.

Here's me. Just had to show the sacrifices for design that I'm willing to make. When I need to use my full length mirror, I have to climb into my tub. Yep. No biggy. Really. Can you tell I'm still trying to convince myself? I'll just chalk it up to exercise....you know, leg lifts, over the edge. That's how I roll.

xoxo

Media Room "Construction"

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:55:00 +0000

I find the term "Media Room", somewhat pretentious, but alas, this is where we are. This room in our home is technically a bedroom, but it has glass french doors, which kind of keep it from being a usable guest room or bedroom for one of the kids. And, yes, we could have replaced the doors, but...just didn't want to. So, we converted this, over the Christmas break, into a fun place for us to hang out as a fam.

The walls are a builder-basic "khaki", which was mostly fine, but I wanted to highlight the wall the TV would be on. And, we had a couch, treadmill, and entertainment armoire in here that all got either moved to another room or sold. Ahhh....Craigs List, how I love thee, let me count the ways. We were able to get $100 for the couch, and $900 for the T-mill, so that's $1000 smackers to put towards the new stuff...love that!

As you can see, everything's gone except the ottoman.

Painting in progress. I still had some BM Northampton Putty in the garage, leftover from the laundry room paint job, so I just used that....

Here's the painted/TV wall complete. See this post for the silhouette art how-to.

Sorry for the darkness of this pic....but its a good view of the room as a whole. We decided to go with a sectional, since we've never had one. Its really cozy for our family of five, yet still allows room for doing video games, etc.

As previously mentioned, Calico Corners went out of business in our little town, here, so I stalked them for a few weeks, as they were closing, to pick up some great deals. This bird fabric was one of the fabrics that I got at a steal. It was originally $60/yd, and I was able to get it for 75% off!!! Yes! This pic doesn't do it justice...its super thick and delicious!

This little table, also a steal at 50% off from Cost Plus, during a furniture sale, is meant for laptops, but since we just have the ottoman (no hard surfaces for drinks/food, etc.), we needed somewhere to set our drinks without spilling. This is so nice because the legs fit under the couch to save space.

Behind the couch, we re-hung these subway art signs (see post about these here), and I still love them with all my heart.

What else happened at your house over the break??

Cooking Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

As I've mentioned in past posts, I've been a faithful Relish fan for over 4 years. But. Now. I've been turned into a crazy Pinterest "foodie". I had been continually adding recipe options to my "board" on Pinterest, but wasn't making very much. Until about 3 weeks ago, and then "kablam"! So much great stuff out there. Here are few things that I've actually made and can vouch for.....

I made this on Saturday morning, for brunch after we got home from basketball games. It was a little bit out of control. Bourbon? Heavy Cream? Nap! Yummo!!

This is an Ina Garten recipe, so you know its going to be good. We have this "personal" size smoothie maker, so I just dumped all the ingredients in, WHIRRRRRRR, and done. So easy. Super super yummy!

I like bone-in pork chops better (usually more tender and flavorful), so that's the only tweak I made to this, but this was fantastic. I served it with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans.

This soup couldn't not have been easier. I dumped everything but the tortellini in, let it do its thing, then right before serving (about 15 minutes) I added the pasta. So great. The kids ate it pretty well....

This was so easy. I served it with orzo pasta (baby noodles, as we call it over here), and a salad. I love pretty much anything with chicken thighs, so this was perfect!

Serious. We had this last night. Jon and I were dying. It was.so.good. I said, "This isn't really a January dinner....more like a November dinner", meaning that it is NOT calorie friendly, but....who cares. Oh man, it was good!! Served it with a salad and chips and salsa....which brings me to this....

Chilis "knock off" salsa. Yes, please. We don't have Chili's around here anymore, but we used to always order their chips and salsa. It was so easy, and almost as good as the Pioneer Woman's salsa (but less work). Yummo!

Lastly, I'd seen this on Pinterest, but questioned whether this would actually work....homemade microwave popcorn. It can't be this easy, right? I really like "fresh" (from kernel) popcorn, but don't like any of the messy, time-consuming methods of making it. So, the kids and I tried this method yesterday, for an after-school snack yesterday. It TOTALLY worked!! I used a smaller brown bag, so I only used 1/4c of unpopped kernels, and then, voila! Perfect. We melted a little butter, added some salt, and it was great!

What have you been doing with all your Pinterest pins?? Try some out or comment here, to share your successes! xo

Laundry Room: Wrapped Up

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Here's the final pictures in our laundry room project. Its been done for awhile, but I've been on Christmas break...back to busines. As you might recall, I had Sue the Seamstress create this fabric curtain to mount w/ velcro up under the counter, to hide all my junk!

This super fun wool kilim style area rug came from Garnet Hill, and is a runner size 2x8. I totally love it, and its a fun color pop in this room! I love small rooms. You can afford to do crazier things than you would do in a large, more public room. This is a perfect example of that.

There's my "junk" in the Ikea cabinet, as shown in a previous post. Its great to have all my fabric samples and beach towels (I know, that's a weird combo), put away.

I love this mirror. I got this on super sale, thru Ballard Designs, and it adds a lot of light to this small room. Nevermind that my husband was making fun of me for "decorating" my laundry room...."Lamp?" he says. Oh well. Whatever makes me feel good about going in there to do laundry, right?!

Here it is up close. Its antiqued and beveled. So great!

Lastly, I picked up one of those Ikea hanging racks for "All-things-laundry". Holds sponges, scissors, measuring tape, etc. Keeps everything tidy. I love the new laundry room, and I'm almost excited to do laundry.

Silhouette Art (whole fam)

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Wow! I'm back. This blog fell off the back burner, down behind the stove, and I had to dig it out from amongst the Christmas and New Year's crumbs. Sorry about that....but, now I'm back.

Ok, we did so many great projects over the break. By we, I mean, Jon. I did a few, too, but I was mostly cooking, sitting on the couch, cooking, sitting in my bed, cooking...you get the idea. I love the holiday break with the kids, but since today is the first day of school, I'm ready to get back in the saddle.

One of the projects that I accomplished that turned out way better than I anticipated was this fun silhouette art. We've recently turned one of our upstairs "bedrooms" into a media room (more on that in a later post). We hung the TV, and it just needed a little somem-somem around it on the wall.

Here's how I started:

I really liked these warm brown "wood" frames, from Fred Meyer. They were 20% off, so they were 8x10 frames for only $7 each. Then, I'd bought this super nice Christmas wrapping paper at One Kings Lane, and had a good amount left. I just couldn't let it go to waste. I feel the same way about paper that I do about fabric--love it! This works well with the color scheme in the media room, so I thought it would be a good backdrop for the silhouettes.

The hardest part of this project was to find good silhouette pictures of everyone, already in my stash. I did have to take one of Avery, but I thought that was pretty good for 7 "people"...5 humans, 2 dogs. Since it was just for a silhouette, I printed it off my regular printer. The next step is sizing.

I had to make sure everyone's silhouette were basically the same size. I just cut out the picture I printed out, to check for size. I resized as needed. Then, I used this white silhouette to trace onto black poster board. At first, I thought it would be hard to get an accurate trace (w/ pencil) onto black poster board, but it was totally fine. Cut out the poster board, and voila!

Here they are framed.

They are currently hung on the wall in the media room, and look fantastic. Watch for that post coming soon! See how dark it looks outside? And how messy my kitchen is? And how I'm not making dinner? Does anyone else take on a major project right at dinner time? Why do I do this??? Oh well.

Merry Christmas, my loves

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas, my sweet family, friends, and new-found bloggy friends. I pray you find the meaning of Christmas in Jesus Christ, come to earth, to save us from ourselves.

Have a blessed time during this season of gratitude, gift-giving, and rest.

I'm off to rest and play with the most important people in my life. I pray you find the same.

Merry Christmas!

Couldn't Resist

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:33:00 +0000

This is my little brother's blog, that I've talked about before. I'm in total "Christmas-is-coming-and-I-still-have-lots-of-stuff-to-do" mode. Hence not a lot of posts lately...that may just be the case until after Christmas....heck, New Years.

But, I had to show you some of these pics, and link you to his site. He's done such an amazing job!! Here's his link, and a few pics!

I love this one, because don't we all remember boys leaning up against the lockers, talking to us like this? Swoon!

This is just adorable!

Ok, back to work. Hugs to you all!! Merry (prep for) Christmas!! Ho ho ho!

Sidebar

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:05:00 +0000

Have to tell you about my boy, a sad story, then a funny story.

This is the sweetest boy that's ever existed.

Sad story: His left thumb was smashed in a door by an unnamed 5 year old that lives at this house, last night, while rough-housing.

He's a lefty. Hmmm...after he finished screaming/crying, got over the pain, and was breathing deeply, as directed by me, he had me email his teacher and basketball coach to inform them of his injury, and get him out of all work for today.

Funny story: I used to have a dialysis patient named Olive. Yes, I used to be a dialysis RN. Every time I went to put her needles in for her treatments, she would say, "Sonofa, Sonofa, Sonofa...." never saying "b-i-t-c-h". It would always make me laugh.

Jackson reminded me of Olive last night, as he was crying, carrying on, and generally milking this thumb smashing experience for all it was worth.

I love my boy.

As you were.

Quick and Easy Christmas Centerpiece

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Need something

1. Quick

2. Free

3. Easy

for a party, this Christmas season?

Check out this centerpiece that I made in two seconds. First I found a Christmassy casserole dish to be the container. Then, I pulled out a box of rice-roni, and 2 jello boxes and wrapped them in my fave wrapping paper...taped them together, then wrapped all with a gold bow. I had some leftover ball ornaments. Propped up the boxes on a little tiny bowl, and filled the dish with the balls. Done. Didn't spend a dime...not even on the boxes!

Go forth and DIY for free!!

Mom's PB knock off!!

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

I love "beating the system", "sticking it to the man"....you get the idea. Well, over Thanksgiving break, Mom and I were walking through our local Pottery Barn, and she said, "LOOK AT THAT!"

She loved the texture-y basket layered on the leather ottoman, as did I. They (my parents) actually have a similar leather ottoman, so she got to work on a knock off of this look, as soon as she got back to Alabama! She's a "tad" worried about the grandkids playing with some of this great decor, but since its in a handy dandy basket, she can just lift if off, for a while then put it back. Here's Mom's version:

She was able to find Christmas "bling" that she already owned, and then supplemented with those great PB knock off baskets from the Smith and Hawken section at Target! Yeah!! The PB basket was $119! Eeek! I think she said that the Target versions were on sale for $7 each. Wa-hoo! The rest is live greenery, including poinsettas, cut greens from the yard, etc. I think she also said she went to Hobby Lobby to pick up the apothecary jar!

Yeah Mom!! What are you knocking off this Christmas season? No need to spend a lot...go to local high end stores, then figure out how to knock off their looks for less!

Favorite Things #6: Clover Lane Recipe Book Idea

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

There is a beautiful new blog that I have recently discovered. Clover Lane has posts on every topic for women and mothers that you can imagine. She is a mother to 5 children 17 on down to 4, she cooks real food for her children, and loves them well. These kind of women are my heroes. I long and strive to do my job of mothering with excellence, and its heartwarming when I find another compatriot.

She has done something I think is an amazing feat of strength, but would be such a fun legacy to pass onto daughters and daughters in law. Your very own cookbook. She used a program called Blurb, and it looks absolutely beautiful. She organized her own recipes, filled in some of the "holes" with tried and true recipes, then created this book with pictures and the recipes. What a great gift! Her blog is beautiful, and so is this idea.

Probably too late for this year, but this is definitely something I'd love to accomplish with my mom, a great cook! What a fun project for a teen daughter to create with her mom. The ideas are endless....hmmm..ideas swirling in my head. Thanks, Sarah!

Update on a Post: Homemade Gift Giving and Making

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Ok, so remember the other week when I was saying that I was going to make these as our "homemade" Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors? Ok, well here we go.

I went to my fave packaging site Think Garnish for all the packaging things. I spent $40 on packaging for 12 gifts. These cute little baskets are a perfect size. Our gifts are smaller than the original picture, and I didn't do the syrups, but I think its still a great gift.

I went to Top Foods' bulk candy section. I got peanuts, mini M&Ms, and gummy bears. The cones were in the boxes as usual. I ended up spending about $50 on the food part. So, that's less than $8 per gift. Pretty good, I think!

I loved the red/white tie, so I also got some of that and some oval labels from Garnish. So cute.

Here's the finished product (minus the label...still printing). So fun and unexpected. Something fun to have as a treat over the Christmas break!

Ho Ho Ho!

Toilet Paper Art....Serious

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

If you've been around the blogosphere for any length of time, you've seen some "art" done using toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls. They really are cool, mainly because its so deceiving. So, here's my attempt, incidently for my "toilet room" in the Master Bath. ha!

So, whatcha need to do is get a ton (5-6 toilet paper rolls and 2 paper towel rolls...used in this project) of rolls. Smash them semi-flat. Then, just cut into pieces, like above.

I decided to use some silver metallic paint that I had leftover from my metallic (zinc) letters. Peyton helped me dip just one side. Let dry.

Then, I just hot glued them into various shaped flowers, then just glued all the flowers to each other, with several other pieces as filler.

This is the shape it morphed into. I decided to put it going this direction, over the toilet, just for something "artsy".

Up close. Its just hung on the wall with two nails. One to hang on, then a second, down lower, to stabilize.

As empty paper rolls go, I think its pretty.....this is as DIY as I get.

Favorite Thing #4: Anthropologie Revisted

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Just had to show an idea that I saw at Anthropologie the other day.....

Stop it. So easy.

In case you're having trouble seeing what in the world I'm showing, its a mason jar (cheap) with a little tree/snow scene glued to the lid (easy), next to a salt shaker (readily available) with epsom salts and a little tree inside. Ok, so guess how much the mason jar was on sale for?

$38.

Snap! How much would that cost to make. Uh, like less than $5. And that includes the gas it would take to drive to Michael's or Hob Lob or wherever to buy the little tree and jar. No. I'm going to be whipping up a few of these puppies myself.

Fave DIY of the season!

Hallway Painting Project

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Again with my dad. Yeah, he's great. Here for Thanksgiving, he needed a little project to do, so....since I had wanted to duplicate this, he gave it a whirl:

Here's a before of our upstairs hallway:

These pics are kind of bad because it was Thanksgiving weekend and I just used my phone instead of walking my rear downstairs to grab my good camera. Don't judge. The reason I didn't love this wall is that when I put the uppercase living words up a few months ago, I got them crooked, which in turn made the pictures constantly look like they were crooked. It literally bugged me everytime I walked up the stairs. The pics also weren't too great in their arrangement, so it needed some lovin'.

He just cut a craft paper template, did one side, then flipped it down to do the other side. Sounds pretty easy, but he's pretty good, and I was making cranberry salad, so I can't vouch for the complexity of this part....

Then, there was some debate over whether he and I could free hand paint it, using just the pencil lines, but alas, we decided to go the "safe" route, and tape it. He taped about 90% of it, and painted 100% of it. Again, I think I was warming rolls or something....

Here's the finished product, once we put the pics back up. I really love the effect it has, as you come up the stairs....

Love it. Oh, also its Benj Moore Alexandria Beige, the same color as the living room, which is the color as you come up the stairs, so it kind of ties together nicely.

Thanks a million, Dad!!

The Problem with Me is Me.

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:10:00 +0000

You’ve heard the expression, “Pushing a worm”? That’s how the holidays feel sometimes to me. As the mom, or the executive of this operation, sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that cares if that darn Gingerbread House ever gets decorated and plopped on top of the fridge. Well, a few years ago, I finally wised up, and actually had a con.ver.sa.tion. with the hubs, aka the other executive of this operation. Lo and behold, things started going a lot better. Oh wait. Did I mention that my conversation was through lots of tears, and “you always” and “you nevers” and “why can’t yous”. Shoot. I guess I didn’t mention that. Ok, so then it went better. I was mainly referring to how he always didn’t help me shop for Christmas presents or how he never planned/shopped/made Christmas dinner, or how he can’t pick up wrapping paper off the floor. As I’m sure you can all relate to, this display didn’t go over too well at first. It was bad, then it got worse, then it got good. That was 2007-ish. Then 2008 came by, and we had to have this teeth-gnashing conversation all over again. Can you feel me?

Why, oh why, do we do this to ourselves as moms? No, I’m asking. Why? Why can’t we (preaching to myself) let some things go, lean into the planning, start early, and be grateful? This is my new tradition. I’m doing all the “Mom-Holiday-Work” in November, without complaining, then planning all the fun stuff with the kids in December, after the work has been accomplished. I am not going to complain (another word comes to mind here, other than complain, starts with a B—keepin’ it real) to my husband about all the things he doesn’t do, but instead affirm the things he is doing. Like, providing for our family, and faithfully going to work. He supports me at night in helping with the kids, and even thinks it’s great that I have fun things with friends every once in a while. I truly believe that some of the conflict that we, as moms, have over getting it all done, comes from US. Shall I say that again? Lots of our interpersonal conflict and angst stems from US. Let some things go. Prioritize what definitely has to be done, do those things early, and the rest is fun stuff. The kids will be more relaxed. Daddy will be happier, and mommy will be able to enjoy and remember the traditions that you’ve worked so hard to ~~cram down everyone’s throats~~, er develop lovingly over time.

More Uppercase Lovin' & Thanksgiving Breakin'

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:19:00 +0000

Good Morning! This is just a quick little...*look what I did* moment:

First, I have loved this saying for a while, and have seen it lots of places, done lots of ways...soo I decided to grab one from my trusty friend, Uppercase Living, and toss it up in the mudroom, over my little hooks for backpacks.

Secondly, this is my first "edited" photo via picasa. Interesting....just so-so, for me.

Third, I'm taking a little "grateful" holiday for Thanksgiving, and spending time with family. I'll be back after the holiday with some more ideas and gettin' ready for Christmas!! Have a great holiday with your family, too!

That's all.

xo Haven

My Favorite Things: #3 (Christmas Decor Round-Up-DIY'd)

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:04:00 +0000

These are some of my absolute favorite decor ideas, from around the blogosphere, via Pinterest.

I love the monochromatic effect this has with all white.

This is a beautiful way to have a tablescape, but still see the person opposite you, at the table. Beautiful jewel tones, too.

This is a cute take on the typical greenery swag.

This is a classic. Reminds me of the South.

This is more than I'd usually do, but still beautiful and warm.

These felt/yarn balls are so cute, easy to make, and such a fun wreath to have the kids help with.

Basic. Simple. Easy.

Enjoy gathering things to make your house a home this Christmas season!

My Favorite Things: #2

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +0000

I know, you all probably think I have an unhealthy obsession with Anthropologie. I do. I admit it. Here's another favorite of mine, that I think would make an incredible Christmas gift:

I'm sorry, but these are stunning. I have two, that I'll show you here:

I get comments on them all the time. They are, obviously, completely funtional as vases, but I actually find that I only like greenery in them (simple, too) as the vases are so beautiful on their own. They are less than $30, and so striking.

You'll thank me in January, when you've given this as a gift this season!

Metal (Zinc) Letters DIY

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +0000

So....I have loved these letters for-evah. And, I so I marched myself right down to our little neighborhood (ahem, 30 minutes away) Anthropologie store, in Seattle, to pick myself up 7 of these puppies, for my laundry room. I had this "great" idea to get the letters W.A.S.H. D.R.Y...get it. Wash/Dry? Laundry room? Get it? Yeah. Anyway, when I got there, having not looked at the inter-webs at all, I saw that they were $18 each, and about dropped my grande vanilla latte. Ha!

So, I marched my little ol' self right home, pouted, and then got resourceful. Enter Ben Franklin Craft Store.

These are thick, cardboard, and only $2.99 a piece. Yes, that's more what I had in mind.

I got this metallic silver, which was fine, but as you can see from the next picture, just a little flat still.

Still needing a little som-somin'...

So, I just mixed a tad of black w/ more metallic paint, and used the brushes to make the letters look soldered (learned that word from my engineer hubs!) by giving them "seams" where, if metal, they would've been attached.

As you can see, they look less flat, and more metal-y.

Now to hang. So, these guys are really light, so I just decided to use more Command hooks (seriously, need to get some stock in Command or 3M...no joke). These are flat, and meant to hang posters, but work for this application, as well.

Ok, couple things.

1. I wish I'd gotten and '&', so it said "Wash & Dry", but I can still add that

2. They aren't lined up properly, but I'm too pooped to care.

3. I know you're wondering what that thing is in between my letters, right? Its a fold out ironing board. Funny, huh? It was here when we bought the house, and I've used it a couple of times. I like it...too bad I don't iron more. Oh well!

Go DIY something for 20% of the cost of the original!!

Let the Games Begin....

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:16:00 +0000

....I'm just beginning to Christmas shop, look at ideas for homemade gifts, and accomplish "all-things-Christmas". Don't hate. I'm a planner, and I really love Christmas. I also really want to enjoy the season with my family, so doing all the work in November is how I roll. Just to get the idea train started, I thought I'd throw out a cute idea I'm going to do as a homemade gift:

This is a "Family Ice cream Sundae Kit"...the label will say, "Just add ice cream". How cute is that?

What is happening either in your house or in your brain (that counts, too!) on the whole Christmas prep front?

Are you a early shopper/planner or a procrastinator?

I love hearing how people think about and give gifts. Giving a thoughtful gift is a completely lost art....fill me in on all your great ideas!

Ho, ho, ho!

Memento Wall Wrangling

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

You know how you are given or collect completely random stuff, and its not like "mantel worthy", but you want to keep it, and see it frequently? Well, I have used my laundry room as a place to collect/collage all these random things, and they seem to make a nice wall-scape. Here they all are in my pre-painted laundry room:

{Side note: please ignore all the disgusting laundry all over the floor, counters, and washing machines}

Well, I decided that I wanted to take these things out of their original framing and unify them into white frames. With the new darker walls, I wanted white frames to pop off the walls. I'm still keeping the 'N's, and one other larger art piece in its original state. Here's what I was working with, getting everything converted into white frames:

Brought everything downstairs....

Started pairing up old with new frames

Cursed Ikea for being Swedish, and not using inches like *we* do, and that not all things fit in their frames...darn centimeters. Sidenote: does anyone remember hearing in elementary school that one day the US would adopt the metric system, or was that just my school? Funny.

Decided that I wasn't going to be completely happy with completely white frames/mattes, so I needed to snazz it up a bit....

Taped off a few mattes, and added a little coppery bling

Turned out fine...not astounding, but fine.

Then decided to pilfer my fabric sample bin for some additional matting on some of the frames that didn't quite fit my little object.

Here are the finished products. I've laid them out on the floor, with the intention of using this photo to get them up on the wall. One of my super powers is being able to look at this photo, and get them fairly accurately, up on the wall. Ha! We shall see. I think the unified white frames will be good, but there is still alot going on here, so...here's the finished wall:

Just a few more additions, so stay tuned...

My Favorite Things: #1

noreply@blogger.com (haven) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

This is in homage to Oprah who is no longer with us. Oh no, she's not dead....she just isn't on my TV at 4p anymore.....especially for her Favorite Things year-end Holiday show....So! Here I go, with a series of posts on my fave things.

via Pinterest

Swoon.

So, here's my naked mixer. I still love the red. Big Dog got this for me for Mother's Day about 4 yrs ago, and I'm still using it all the time. However, the above picture is so adorable, and I thought, "Why couldn't you do this with Uppercase?" So....

Ca-uuute! I was trying to find a medallion that mimicked my kitchen curtains:

I think its pretty close. I considered doing two different colors (green and orange), but simplicity won out...

Another...3 total. These were $4 a piece, so a $12 little gift for someone's stocking might be calling your name!

Finished product all blinged out. Ready for some bread making!

Find this linked up here: