Saturday Morning Love

Happy Saturday!

A little photo love. Tomas and I spent the evening at the beach a few nights ago. We stopped at a little shrimping dock on the way to take some pictures. There's something about this rusty boat that leaves me swooning.



A little inspiration. I've had my eye out for curtains lately. I'm totally lovin' West Elm's selection-

I'm thinking of painting some white curtains I already have with a grey pattern for our master bedroom.

What do you think?


Linking up to Yellow Songbird's Snapshot Saturday.

The Big Red Pants

I don't sew.

I tried once. And no matter how proud of those pillow I am (very proud), I still make sure that the zippered side of the pillows are facing the side of the room you don't see when you first walk in.

But then John & Sherry posted about their curtains that involved no sewing, and I almost peed my pants. After getting past the shock, I went to the fabric store and picked up a roll of Super Weight Stitch Witchery. This stuff is magical. Maybe I'm the only one who hadn't heard of the magical "fusible bonding web"? I think so. Either way, I've been scheming over my next thing to sew without sewing since then.

Just recently, I started seeing these pillows all over the place, and just had to have one in our bedroom.

Via YHL

Via Cluck Cluck Sew

However, it was this DIY Pillow from Bromeliad Living that won me over. Isn't it gorgeous?

She made that with a thrifted skirt.

So off to the thrift store I went, to find the perfect red skirt. I couldn't find a skirt, so instead I brought home a dress and a pair of pants. Sexy pants. Very. Sexy. Pants.

Don't lie. You know you want the pants.

So I got busy trying to follow her instructions with the pants. And realized she said you needed a skirt for a reason. Because a short dress and pair of pants (no matter how big the bum is) isn't big enough. So I had to improvise. I played around with the fabric for a while and eventually pulled out some other fabric I had, until I came up with this flower-ish thing on some blue fabric.

What do you think? I'm in love. And there was only a very small amount of sewing required. (Probably not as much as is needed..)

I ended up cutting out a few squares. There was probably 7-10 squares about 3-4inches each. They weren't all even. That's not how I roll.

I bunched them all together in 2 different sets (at the time held together with pins) until I liked how they looked. And here came the sewing. Much to my dismay, the bunch was too thick for my $10 Walmart hand sewing-thinger, so I had to do it by hand. To do that I needed a needle.

Think I was exaggerating when I said I don't sew? Think again. I didn't have one sewing needle in our casa. I only had the needles that came with my hand sewing thinga-ma-bobber and they had a head (is that what it's called?). I looked high and low and couldn't find a single one. Until I remembered the sewing kit I took from a hotel that one time. I took it, amused that the hotel had a "mending kit", not because I actually thought I would use it.

Then I sewed the fabric together on the bunched ends. I can't really explain how I did it, because I just kind did until I could hold it without it falling apart.

Then I sewed it to the pillow fabric. Just a few stitches every 3 or 4 bunches and then a few stitches in the center. And somehow.. magically.. it stayed on!

I cut out the fabric for the pillow. Two pieces for the sides, then I cut one of the pieces in 2 for the opening on the back (no zippers!). Then threw a damp rag on top and ironed away.

Project Numero Uno checked off my Bedroom list! :)

Cheers!



Linking to these parties:

Time to Shine @ A Diamond in the Stuff
Anything Related @ All Things Related
Table Top Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
Make it yours @ My Backyard Eden
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm
Tutorial Tuesday @ Hope Studios
Twice Owned @ House of Grace
Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings
Tuesday Tell All @ My Craftie Life
Show me what you got @ Not Just a Housewife
Tutorials & Tips @ The Stories of A to Z
Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie
Anything Goes @ Type A Decorating
Tuesdays Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Tuesday Talent @ Vintage Wannabee
Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
Wow us @ Savvy Southern Style
National Take a Risk Day @ The Nesting Place
Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming 
Weekend Wrapup @ Tatertots & Jello
Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Featured on Tracy's Trinkets & Trendy Treehouse

By golly, Tracy from Tracy's Trinkets and Tara from The Trendy Treehouse have both featured my photo of the Mr.!



Check out my new bling on my featured page :)

Thanks Tracy & Tara!!

Natural Wood Love

via

Via

Via

Via

a splash of green

Via Here


Via Here

Via Here

Happy Saint Patty's Day!



PS - Spend today with a smile.

Featured on House of Grace!

Oh snap. Creating a House of Grace has featured my Jewelry Pinboard! And I've been crowned a Twice Owned Queen!




Thanks for hosting such a great party Bonnie!

A photo break

Because along this path of decor and design, I've developed a love for photography. Here's a shot I took of the Mr. Isn't he handsome?

Oh, and another.

Linking up over to the portrait party over at Tracy's Trinkets and Making the World Cuter's Monday Party, along with Shutter Love over at The Trendy Treehouse.

Master Bedroom Inspiration Board

When I first started this blog, my goal was to decorate the house. Since gettin' hitched, we had been saving money.. so were trying not to spend money on "unimportant" things like decorating the house. Until I got utterly sick of living in an undecorated house and joined blog world.. with the mission to decorate on the cheap.

My first goal was to pretty on up the master bedroom. And I started doing that.. back in October. I made monograms.. and pillows.. and... err, that's as far as I got. Because then I got sidetracked with other neato projects like sisal rope baskets, desk redos and sunburst mirrors.

But lately I've been gettin' that itch again... that {{run on sentence alert}} [I need to do something to this room right now or I will never get any sleep due to the nonstop influx of ideas flowing through my head on how to decorate it as I am trying to fall asleep]. So one early morning last week, fresh up from the mind marathon of the evening idea influx the night before, I put together an inspiration board for our room. And me oh my, I am so excited to get started on the room again!

1. My Whole Heart Antique Sign by Sugarboo Designs. This sign has my whole heart, sorry hubs. In fact, Sugarboo Designs has a whole bunch of signs at Modern Chic Home. And I love them all. Like this one, and this one, and this one. However, they're also a pretty penny. So this will be another DIY project for me, although I think I'd make my words red.

2.Anthropologie's Moving Light Sconce. I'm going for a little reading nook, and I think this would be a perfect touch.


3. Stack of books, from a West Elm flier, first posted here. I absolutely love books. I've wanted to use a stack of 'em as a table ever since I saw this pic, but don't think I could live with such a small table top space bedside table. But, for a reading nook.. it would be perfect!



4. West Elm's Tulip Upholstered Chair. Love the grey. Love even more that Ikea has one just like it, for a fraction of the price. Check it Mr. Tullsta Chair.


5. The bed was in a flier I got from West Elm. This was actually my original inspiration for the entire room. I absolutely love it. It reminds me so much of Celadon, a local store we have here. However, after many hours searching, I can't for the life of me find the pic online or determine which bed it was. So I'll have to leave you with this.. my original post with the pic.


6. Oh yep, that would be my very own sunburst mirror. I've already got plans for my next mantle set up and so I plan on moving this baby into our room.

7. Ikea's Hemnes 6-drawer chest. I actually have this dresser in black. Bought it a few years back and it's still looks new.. props to IKEA. However, the big black dresser happens to be an eyesore.. because it's big... and black... but I could never justify painting it because it looks new still! But, fear not, I will work up the courage and this baby is going to be painted gray.

8. That's the color of our floor. I just added it on here to see what everything would look like with it.


9. Anthropologie's Cooled Globed Lamp. Grey, Red and Turqoise and the colors for the apartment. So I think this would add a great touch.

10. A rug. We need one.. for cheap. I'm still trying to come up with ideas on how to accomplish this.

11. I absolutely love West Elm's rose pillow cover. If only it were red. But haven't you seen all those great DIY versions around town? Like this one up there.. if only I could figure out where I saved that picture from!

12. How neat is PB's Potters Wheel Table? I'm lovin' it!


What do you think? Does it flow?


Cheers!



Linking up to the Newbie Party over at Debbie Doos!

Saturday Morning Love!

Happy Saturday! I'm joining in on the Saturday Snapshop party over at Yellow Songbird today.


This is the Mr. and I in an Art Museum in Atlanta last spring. I dragged him to the museum specifically for that DaVinci display.

Today we're off to a few St. Patty's celebrations. What are you up to today?

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Featured on Better After!

Guess what, ya'll? (Yes, I did just pull a Ya'll.) I've been featured for my Wooden Tray over at Better After!

Thank you so much Lindsey!! If you haven't heard of Better After you must go check her out. She's one of my absolute favorite blogs in the whole world. So seriously. Right now. Stop reading this and go!

DIY Jewelry Pinboard

My sister-in-law's birthday was earlier this week. We always have a hard time picking out gifts for the hubster's family because they all happen to live in Europe. Which means we need to pick something that 1. we won't get too upset if they don't actually make it there (like that time he mailed his favorite watch so his dad could take it to his favorite watch-fixer-man.. we sent it, and his dad never recieved the package.. the watch gone forever). 2. Something that is not large or heavy, unless we want to pay an ungodly amount for shipping. 3. Something we know they will like or use, because returning it isn't so much an option.

PB Jewelry Display Frames

Every girl loves some jewelry, (as long as every girl = me.. or my sister-in-law..) but we had given her jewelry in the past. So this time I thought a jewelry holder of some sort would be perfect. At first I was thinking of something like these PB Jewelry Display Frames. I love these. But I wasn't sure if she'd "get" it.. I had the image of her opening her package and seeing three empty white frames.. and being totally disappointed.

I was also loving this Modern Chic Burlap Post Board. I just love the vintage letter print on there. Isn't it gorgeous?

Modern Chic Burlap Post Board

And then I saw this PB Striped Pinboard. And my heart melted a little. And I just knew that these were my 3 inspiration pieces. I was ready to make a wired-jewelry-holding-burlap-pin-board with some sort of vintage print.

PB Striped Pinboard

First was finding a frame. No worries, I have a wall full. So I pulled down the green one, once framing the K. I originally picked this frame up at a thrift store a few months back.

I had some burlap, white burlap and muslin already. After much debate, I decided to go with the muslin fabric. I had exactly two cork board tiles left over from our Burlap Monograms. I did have to run to target to pick up some wire and hooks for the jewelry holder part. Besides that, I had everything else at home.



First part was cutting and gluing the cork board to be the size of the frame. Then with some spray adhesive I sprayed on the muslin. I also used the spray adhesive to glue scrapbook paper to the other side so the back of the frame would be pretty-ish.

Originally, I was just going to have the wire go straight across the board. But in target, I saw a French Twill Memo board with the crossed ribbon and decided to go this route.

Target French Twill Memo Board

I sprayed the wire with Krylon Metallic ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint. But after laying them out on the board, I still wasn't crazy about it. Something was missing. At the time I had a piece of sandpaper next to the frame (pic above), the sandpiper was a deep purple and I realized how well that color complimented the green frame. And I just happened to have some deep maroon ribbon left over from our wedding. So I wrapped the ribbon around the wire and loved it! I wrapped the wire around hooks on the back of the frame, as well as using decorative nails (also left over from the Burlap Monogram) to keep them all in place.

I was still debating on whether or not to add some sort of vintage stamp print on the fabric, but decided against it. Then I hung her on the wall to take some pictures. And had to talk myself out of keeping her for myself. Because I love how she turned out! I just hope my dear sister-in-law feels the same way!

Linking to these parties -
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm
Tutorial Tuesdays @ Hope Studios
Twice Owned Tuesdays @ House of Grace
Show Me What Ya Got @ Happy Housewife
Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie
Under 100$ Linky Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence
Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
Show off your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans
Restore it Wednesday @ Restore Interiors
Just White & Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Get Your Craft on @ Today's Creative Blog
Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chic
Made by You @ Skip to My Lou
Anything goes @ Type A
Tag Back Tuesdays @ Mommying On the Fly, Life with Twins & Multiples, Boobies, Babies & a Blog
Upcycled Awesome @ The T-shirt Diaries
Weekend Bloggy Reading @ Serenity Now

Final Touches for the Desk, and your help!

After seeing it on my to-do list for months, I've finally picked up a piece of glass to cover my desk. Every time I would write at the desk, I felt like I was making grooves into the wood. Hence the need for the glass.

Along with that I lined the drawers. After some fabric and modge podge and here she is as of now:

I'm still waiting for that lightbulb moment on how to organize all my to-do lists with the other half of the wood I used for my Via Carducci sign, so we can stop looking like this:

The last big thing for my woman cave (for now) is my thrifted chair.

I can't decide on what to do with it. I've thought about leaving it mostly as is and painting something on the seat.. maybe a vintage, french stamp emblem, with a story like Donna did.

Then I also like these simple, classic black chairs. But I'm thinking a darker shade of gray to go with the white desk.

I'm also loving this Anthropologie Garvey Chair.  I can see Beige / White Fabric? Paint the chair grey? Red inspirational words? Or maybe Turquoise words?

"Dream. Achieve. Live. Believe. Reach. Push. Change" or "Be the change you want to see" repeating itself? Or maybe we can stick with Nike, and have a repeating "Just Do it". Can you picture it?

And the of course I could also reupholster it.. of course... gray fabric! At first I wasn't even considering this. Because, well I've never reupholstered anything. But also because I love me some natural wood. But the more time passes, the more it's growing on me. How gorgeous is this chair? 

So many options, so many decisions to make. What do you think? Are there any other options I'm missing? What would you do?!? Help!

Cheers!