shadowboxes

i love shadowboxes! 

my old baby blanket was laying around at my parents house 

and i was finally able to make it into a keepsake. 

ruffle Christmas tree skirt

dramatic mint cape with 3 rows of ruffles

chic eh?

a few more rows

ta-da!!!

its my Christmas tree skirt

i know i know

you were excited that it was a cape for Halloween but no

its Christmas in June! 

couldn't wait till July

i have seen some projects that use glue but I wanted the skirt to be stronger so i sewed the individual ruffles and sewed them to a base instead

it definitely took awhile

(glad the grandparents were in town to watch colette so i could sew like a crazy woman)

hopefully the skirt will last for many Christmases to come

for now it drapes my armoire in my bedroom

shabby chic pretty

colette loves staring at it when we walk by

to keep it from looking to "precious" i decided to avoid finishing the hems of each layer leaving it to fray a bit. it adds a vintag-y quality and makes it not too sweet looking

the best part is the fabric was $2 a yard and i used about 5.25 yards

$10.50ish total

not bad for a custom tree skirt!

ive got a good idea...

ill build some shelves while im 40 weeks pregnant!

it was pretty funny to see the expressions of some of the people at 

Home Depot as I was cutting the planks and molding

don't be too impressed 

ill let you know if they fall apart anytime soon

i am no carpenter

in the process

all done!

thank you to ry for putting them up tonight

i spray painted them in heirloom white

a nice place for my small teacup collection

also built a smaller one for baby girl's room 

things im looking forward to

via etsy

mark your calendars for January 23

it's the year of the dragon! 

little miss is going to be a dragon baby (just like mommy)

 i wonder what the Chinese zodiac has to say about 2 dragons living in one household...hmmm

via pinterest

valentines day

pink and red everywhere!

need to get working on some cards...

via

the arrival of little miss!

still so much to do after the holidays and being sick with a cold 

her nursery is still a mess and the crib is only partially put up

if there is anything i've learned its that you can only do so much when your body says:

"seriously im tired. please stop!"

waiting for the nesting stage to start happening, but im pretty sure its not happening anytime soon with this cold/cough/crazy thing going on. 

hope you have a happy tuesday!

girly ornament wreath

a fun idea first spotted on better homes and gardens website as seen here on an older post

so glad i was able to make and finish it without getting sleepy or gagging

okay- i did have to take a few breaks to drink water and breathe but the point is- it got finished!

fun girly colors

i am not doing a "themed" Christmas this year so my decor is more mismatched right now

this year is an experimental year- trying to figure out what decor i love best and what works for the house

and im enjoying every fragile piece of decor i have- before kiddos :)

( a quick thank you and shout out to my friend S who gave me a wire hanger!)

please excuse my imperfect wreath bow

who knew velveteen ribbon was so hard to work with!?

wire ribbon is your friend

just so pretty

 pictures of the living room and tree to come!

here is a tutorial by domestic fashionista on how to make these wreaths

simple, affordable and chic

supplies needed:

- pliers

- a wire hanger

- lots of ornaments (im guessing around 50)

- bow (optional)

- hot glue gun (if you want to secure the top of the ornament to the ornament- i broke an ornament because it popped off accidentally when i tried rearranging it) 

random tips:

- once the wreath is arranged, quit playing with it! (less prone to breaking)

- make your bow before stringing your ornaments

- use inexpensive ornaments (dollar store anyone?)

- have a plan before making the wreath of where you plan on hanging it; set it up before making

- be careful! 

candle issues solved

ever have this problem?

where your candle "tunnels" and doesn't burn evenly?

it bugs me like crazy

via

if burned properly a candle should look like the above photo

evenly burned all the way down

no tunneling= no wasted wax

the candle right before i threw it away

it could not be lit anymore

the label says it gives about 40-65 hours

and im pretty sure i got about 60ish hours out of this candle

(awesome!)

recently 

i opened up a new candle and started the "initial burn"

the initial burn means that you need to burn the candle 1 hour for every inch of diameter the candle is

example: if your candle measures 5 inches (across the top) then the initial burn should be 5 hours

after that initial burn you can burn the candle for smaller amounts of time and it should burn evenly from there

so back to my story,

i opened up acorn and fig  and started to burn it in the living room (away from drafts and flammable stuff)

unfortunately with my morning sickness i had to retreat for a nap upstairs

ry (not knowing about this initial burn) blew out the candle and made it "uneven" since it didn't burn all the way to the edge!

i was upset haha (blame the pregnancy hormones)

but luckily we found a solution to get the candle back on track

we had to waste a little wax upfront but its still a lot less wax than if i kept burning it and let the tunnel keep growing

do you see the uneven edging? the beginning of the tunnel?

1. get out a small knife. (i used a lemon zester) carve away the higher edges

2. continue to carve away until it is all even

3. ta-da! when this is done, burn the candle again as if this was the initial burn all over again

4. you might see some edges that do not melt and are higher 

5. when the candle is done with the time of the initial burn let it cool

6. carve the higher areas away with knife or zester

7. burn again and it should be even!

hope this helps!

charming house: painting fireplace tile

goodbye 80's pink-purple tile

who chose this tile?

ugly!

used some frog-tape to outline it

first coat: glidden gripper grey

last coat of martha stewart cement grey in level 2 high gloss

did two coats of the cement grey

will i paint tile again?

probably not!

i felt that this was like a last ditch effort 

to lose the 80's tile

without putting in the work of re-tiling it all

maybe in a few years i will get to ripping it out

but for now i am happy

living room reveal pics to come

Christmas in july

so i start preparing for Christmas the day after Christmas

throughout the year i have been collecting vintage glass ornaments

whenever i can find them

yesterday i decided to organize them into some dividers

much better than cramming them into a regular box

copper, gold, silver

add some red

then bring on the jewel tones

normally jewel tones are not in my home decor palette

but its Christmas

why not?

how lovely would it be 

to have a pink, green, pearl, and gold ornamented tree?

currently, i do not have a specific color palette for the tree
i think this year i would prefer to just pile on everything
and enjoy all the colors together

but if i do change my mind i will make this

isnt it gorgeous?

ornament wreaths are lovely

that would look beautiful on my mantle

here is the how-to

ooh ooh one more!

so pretty!

the colors are fabulous

via

hope you have a happy and warm weekend

ry will be testing out his skills on the grill

wish us luck!

serene living room: lamps and extras

in the process of decorating the living room 

i decided to unify the lamps and extras that are currently very mismatched

we have one tall lamp (wedding gift)

a small finial ($3)

a vintage table lamp ($4)

used some foil and frog tape to protect the areas i did not want sprayed

ta-da!

silver united

i did two shades of silver

a brushed nickel and a very shiny silver

funny thing about spray paint is that once you spray paint one thing

you end up spray painting other things too

see the family sign?

that used to be white which before that was black

yea for spray paint

i whipped out a lot of my mismatched frames and decided to spray them as well

pics of the finished living room to come

exciting, no?

garden progress

here is a little glimpse of what we have been up to in the garden

tomato plants getting watered

pepper and onion plants

a fun diy project from martha

you take some branches and cut them to whatever size you would like

peel off a section of bark

let them dry out in the sun

voila!

 eco-friendly plant tags or plant markers

whatever you call em

i adore them!

here are the walla-walla onions

radish and green onion rows

beets and turnip

the three plots

my little rosemary

i hope by the time winter rolls around i will be able 

to bring him inside and make the kitchen smell nice and festive for the holiday season

and hopefully i will be able to shape him into a mini Christmas tree

pretty purple pansies growing at the base of one of the patio pillars

so pretty

and so random

a vine is growing next to them

i have no idea what to put on the pillar to help it climb

a pansy saying "peek-a-boo"

more photos and updates to come 

yard work is tiring

but so rewarding!

our love accordion

last year for valentines day i made a love accordion to organize and file our relationship mementos 

my journal was getting a bit too full

i bought the accordion at the thrift store- it used to be a recipe holder

then made a trip to the craft store to buy the paper

a little mod podge magic 

and voila!

the categories are: lists, photos, love letter, quotes, etc. 

the first valentine he gave me

the fish had chocolate lips

our first ski trip together

a hilarious adventure

since i can't ski 

love quotes i love

our first beautiful Christmas card photo

taken by m of lemonpeel studios

its a super easy craft to make and is a great way to keep those sweet mementos organized!