Frame Frenzy

I've had this one lone piece floating on our wall for a while now. I couldn't decide what to do for surrounding frames since this main piece is frameless. I thought about framing it and buying other frames to match. But I finally let it all go and dug through some storage and just slapped what I owned on the walls. I think it works. I still may eventually paint the frames to all be the same color, but for now I'm happy with more occupied wall space!

Frames were gathered from thrift shops and Ikea.  Frames were filled with photos, thrifted art, a greeting card, and a few DIY'd pieces of 'art'. The flag print was taken out of one of my thrifted dictionaries and I added mini heart stickers to the states Cody & I have visited together. The boxer face was removed from a cover of post-it notes that I've had saved for a while and the ampersand is a stamp. Both were placed onto brown paper bags.  The blanket and the pillow on the last picture were thrifted too!

Breakfast Croisants

I really enjoy spending time in the kitchen, but its no secret that I have no patience for anything tedious or complicated in foodie tasks. Cody & I have gotten into a habit of having something warm & fresh baked for breakfast on the weekends. Usually we resort to cinnamon rolls. But while walking around the grocery store (which is usually where inspiration hits) I snatched up crescent dough to change our routine up. I figured if I am rolling them anyway, why not stuff 'em?

The turkey & swiss didn't seem to have any effect on the baking time & after playing around a bit, one full slice of cheese + 2 slices of sandwich meat seems to be a good bread to stuffing ratio for the so-called 'jumbo' crescent dough.

Clearance Couture: The Emeralds are Coming!

The stars finally aligned for me to update you with an outfit post! With 2013 being the year of Emerald (according to Pantone), I've realized I own quite a bit of the color.  I have also been wanting to try the illusion of layering two similar colored pieces so that they look like one (dress).

(photography by Katy)

The gray sweater is camoflauging a tank tucked into my skirt. And essential for winter warmth of course.The emerald pieces aren't exactly the same color, but with the gray area (hardy-har-har) its not so noticable!

Jewelry, belt & J Crew cashmere sweater: thrifted

Pleated skirt: TJ Maxx

Sleevless blouse: H&M

Flats: Old Navy

My Gray Valentines Day

Not as bad as it sounds! Cody finished painting the bathroom for me!! Awesome gift for anytime of the year.

(Before)

Such an upgrade! It's such a huge difference in there. We have a few more details to add, like a valence on the window, styling the floating shelves, better light/fan and framing out the mirror. But its giving me "Wow!" already!

Valentines Party

We hosted a little get together this past weekend for the upcoming Valentines Day. It was games, food (lots of sweets!), laughs & a campfire.

 

We gave our spouses/other's new tattoos and played couples trivia until we died laughing. I got a new full sleeve, in purple! A really fun night and the best way to spend Valentines, don't be so serious!

Banner of Love

Love is in the air. I love Valentines Day. I love the cheese of it. I love reminding my loved ones that I love them. So I made a banner. A banner of love, and maybe its a stretch but I've been singing an old church song, "His banner over me is love", bonus points if you know the hand motions...

 (sing-a-long here!)

I dug out my thrifted dictionary, stamps & pink scrapbooking paper and went to town with some string and tape. I've also been snatching up decks of cards at thrift shops. They make for cute little touches in scrapbooking & other paper crafts like this banner. The king and queen of hearts willing sacraficed themselves for this project.

And since I'm already neck deep in all this love talk, last night I watched October Baby. Love surpasses all wrong doings, and I totally urge you to watch it for yourself!

DIY Wreath: Wrapped in Love

I made my first pilmgrimmage to Hobby Lobby a couple weekends ago! I definitely got a sense for what the hype is all about. I have been itching for another wreath on the backside of our front door since we took our Christmas decor down, so I thought a Valentine's wreath would be a fun little project. Picked up two foam wreath forms, circle & heart, and finally used some of my fabric stash.

I used straight pins for to secure the fabric and ribbon on both pieces and a glue stick to attach the heart accent. It was much easier to adjust my wraps and smooth out wrinkles on the wreaths with the pins. Plus I can easily change out the fabric later on!

  

I'm not completely sold on the white command hook look so that may get swapped out soon!

My Shop: Official "Before" Tour

I figured it would be a lot easier to understand my shop dream ramblings if you have a general idea of the space. The room I will be using for my shop is sectioned off from the rest of garage and leads to the backyard. It currently has a peaked ceiling which opens to the full garage. Forgot to take a picture of that, but we will be capping that off to avoid floating sawdust on 'my' side anyhow. So here is an official before tour and you can see for yourself the little yellow story I've started in there.

Still A LOT of organizing and purging to do. Can I improve my image by assuring you one of those monster black bags is for an upcoming clothing swap and one of those boxes is headed for donation? Plus we need outlets, better lighting, insulation, sheetrock...you know the luxuries of life. But we'll get there.

And on a whole 'nother topic, this is happening.

Taking the paint plunge in the bathroom. I'm 80% sure I like it. Haha. It's just quite the jump from white walls, so I think once I adjust my eyeballs we'll be all good!