Book Baubles

I made these cute little Book Baubles last year for Christmas, but I have left them up year round as nice, INEXPENSIVE, style pieces. 

I wanted to share with you how simple they were to make.

I selected thick paperback books from the thrift store. 

 fold 2 pages at a time.

 2 pages at a time and crease really well. 

Start in the middle of the book. Use 5-ish pages per loop.
You  may have to run a line of hot glue if your loop wont stay tucked. 

$1.50 Pumpkin Centerpieces

I picked these up at the thrift store for $1 each (but you may even be able to snag some for cheaper!) 

Spray a light coat of white primer, then clip off the handle.

 Scored this warm beige paint off the "oops" rack at HD for 50 cents.

 Add two coats of beige paint, and fill with an autumn arrangement. 

 

You can turn it towards the face side, or the back depending on your preference. 

You could use autumn branches, fall flowers, dried flowers, or a small potted plant as well to fill your pumpkins. 

If you want to use these outdoors, you might want to put some rocks or something else heavy inside to keep them from blowing away. 

Fiesta Fiesta!

This weekend I threw a Fiesta Fiesta for my next door neighbor and best friend since 4th grade, Mallory. She threw me a Fiesta Fiesta when I was getting married, which is why I have such a huge collection of FiestaWare.

My mom and I threw the shower at my her house, I cooked Mexican food, and served most of it on FiestaWare. 

 Since we don't drink, we served Mock-a-Ritas, which were a delicious and HUGE hit! (2 parts Limeade [or more for a sweeter taste] + 1 Part Orange Juice + 1 Part Grapefruit Juice + Shaved Ice & a Salty Rim).

Sopapilla Cheesecake was also such a big hit that the plate was half gone before I remembered to take a picture!

Mallory received a wide variety of FiestaWare and other Fabulous gifts. 

I made her these three Papel Picados with Photoshop + Silhouette! 

(Mallory studied abroad in Spain and speaks fluent spanish.) 
Ephesians 5:24-25

²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

 ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Oh, and here is the invitation I designed.  If you would like to download the free printable invitation JPG or PDF. 

We had SO much fun throwing this shower. I think my mom and I may really have a knack for it! I love to cook and entertain, but it is sometimes hard to circle the room, make sure everyone is connecting and having a good time, while keeping the kitchen running. So it was really nice to only have one of those responsibilities!

Happy Easter!

Here is our little family, in our Sunday best for Easter!

And tonight we are hosting WD's family for Easter dinner, so I thought I would share my table and buffet with you!

I hope you had a blessed Sunday!

Packing Up Christmas

I know this is offensively late for many of you all who rip down the holly and pull down the tree before your spirits fall again... BUT I was in a little bit of denial about the end of Christmas, so I have used any and all excuses to keep the decorations up thus far. But as of today, Christmas is all packed up at our house, and sadly will be in the attic before bedtime today. 

When packing up Christmas I can upon a bit of a problem. I used those fantastic huge bulbs on my tree. I was very afraid they would shatter and, in doing so, make a tragic mess for next Christmas.

So I came up with this solution.  

I saved these egg crates to pack fragile ornaments (a suggestion I saw on Pinterest), but this turned out to be a much better use of them.

1 giant egg crate per strand of lights and some packing wrap left over from the move. 

Now stacked in a plastic box they will stay safe for the coming months. 

After all, there is nothing stylish about a bunch of shattered bulbs.

New Years Resolutions

1. Spend less money.
Billy and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University before we for married. Which has kept us out of debt and enabled us to buy a home this year, but I think we can do better. I want to focus on spending less on the things that aren't fun so we can save up for more fun things.

2. Be more organized.
My heart loves organization, but it is something I have primarily done for aesthetic purposes, but now I need it for my sanity. I'm frustrated by my current organization system I have for homemaking matters. So en lieu of hiring an estate manager, I'm going to revamp my files, records, and storage system.

Final Christmas Mantle-scape

After receiving a sleeve of vintage Shiny Brites and a new Fontanini Nativity for Christmas, I really feel like my Christmas Mantle is complete. At least for a few more days until I take down my Christmas decorations. 

Merry Christmas

I got a Cameo Silhouette for Christmas, and I am OBSESSED!

It is a digital cutter primarily used by scrapbookers, but you can use any font on your computer, PDF images, or buy cuts from their store for about $1 each.

I decided to use it to make our Christmas Cards this year.

Merry Christmas!

This is not a paid or sponsored review, just sharing my opinion.

Christmas tree with it's new skirt

Here is my new heirloom tree skirt. 

Oh so much better! Polite trees always wear a skirt.

Heirloom Christmas Tree Skirt

After my post of my Christmas tree without a skirt, my Nana found this one in her cedar chest. My great grandmother, Nannie used french knot embroidery to sew this beautiful Christmas scene in it. It looks so perfect under my tree, and makes me think of her even more at Christmas time. 

Do you have special heirloom pieces you use at Christmas time?

Special Christmas Presents

I thought I would share a great gift idea with you for Christmas. 

Christmas Buffet

Not the all you can eat kind...

One of my favorite parts of my china (Lenox Chirp) are the Christmas salad plates, so I decided to style my buffet around my china. 

The runner is a scarf, and the other pieces are different pieces of milk glass stacked to make serving pieces. 

Stack a plate on a vase, upside down bowl, or a compote for added height. You can make any serving display more stylish with different levels. Your holiday guests will be impressed with your arrangement... and hopefully your cooking as well. 

No more searching for the burned out lamp...

I just spent the weekend with WD's mom, grandmother, aunts, and cousins to make traditional Italian Christmas cookies and while we were there we helped grandmother decorate her tree. 

They know how into vintage things I am, so Grandma pulled out these amazing vintage Christmas lights from the 1950's.

These were the first Christmas lights to ever come out where each bulb burned independently. She told me how her father went downtown and bought them for $25. 

$25 would be an expensive box of Christmas lights now, much less in the 1950's, so you can imagine what a big deal these were. 

Kitschy Christmas

Last year the whole apartment was decorated in kitschy, retro Christmas. This year I used it all in the Kitschen.

There are a lot of special and sentimental items in this room. The aluminum tree was my great grandmother's. I have the color wheel too, but it makes me very nervous- fire hazard.

The blow mold Santa reminds me of my favorite Christmas decorations as a child. My Nana and Papaw had Santa's Sleigh and the reindeer on their roof when I was very small, later on they only made it to the yard, and then when they moved, SOMEONE threw them away! I have spent every Christmas Eve and Night at my Nana and Papaws, so all this memories are very special to me. Many of my other decorations were gifts from loved ones attics.... often with a "seriously, you want this?"

I made my tree skirt last year. WD thinks I made the angel look like me... maybe I did.

Christmas Time Is Here

 I have been up to my eyeballs in Christmas decorating this week. We put up our new tree and have started decorating for Christmas.

I made some earthy/ vintage decorations out of old books from the thrift store. Tutorial coming soon. 

 These are my Shiny Brite ornaments I collect. I decided not to put them on the tree this year because I just love that these are in their original boxes. 

the tape is from the lady at the antique store... seriously lady! Tape on an original box?! UGH!

This will be an evolution, so I will keep you updated as I decorate more and more... 

Happy Thanksgiving

This year was my first year cooking Thanksgiving Lunch. All went wonderfully! This was our little spread of food. 

My Great Grandmother's dressing recipe, WD's mom's green bean and corn casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, deviled egg, smoked Turkey, and cranberry sauce. 

 For dessert we had carrot cake, pecan twirls, and sweet potato pie. 

This is my Aunt Peggy's beautiful home. I just love how she styled our dessert buffet, and the table. 

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as I did mine. 

I FEEL LIKE THE LADY IN THE TARGET COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The holiday spirit makes me very productive! In the last 48 hours I have completed numerous projects that were on my long term to-do list: deadline Christmas. WD and i decided to plus the mantle shelf into a completely different animal... well at lease a different species... sorry for the delay... just watching paint dry around here.

So what have I been up to? Well basically just the jewelry styling of yesterdays post, an organized tool space in the laundry room...  oh and I made some drapes, painted the mantle, and sewed some stockings.
My house looks like a crafting crime scene.

STOCKINGS!

I used this free printable pattern from Amy Butler. 

I am planning on having a Whimsical Winter Wonderland themed Christmas, so I started with the stockings made in raw canvas. Burlap would have been cute too, but I already had this canvas left over from a few other projects. I traced the pattern with a China Marker on the canvas, but chalk or a pencil would have worked too.

FYI: It was originally a giant canvas drop cloth.  I have used it to upholster my ottoman, stretch for paintings, and now fabulous holiday decor.

 The instructions were really simple and easy to follow especially since the stitch is exposed. 

 Then I used some left over fabric from my drapes as the trim. Very Sound of Music of me. They were cute when they were finished, but looked a little impersonal. So a sequined initial it is!

 These letters took a really long time, but I love the way they look. You can't really tell in these pictures, but those are the clear iridescent sequins. Mokie is Very Excited about his stocking as well.

He really has the Christmas Spirit!

The Mantle/ Shelf Preview

WD built me a shelf to fulfill the craving I have for a mantle around my TV. Our carpentry skills were a little rusty, so the shelf seemed like a less daunting task. Here is a sneak peek. 

We will be installing it tomorrow!