77 years of bad luck

See this picture??

Well that used to be a 10 foot, I repeat 10 foot mirror.

What had happened was (said in the voice of the ladies man).

Casey used to work part time for one of the Hilton property hotels. This said hotel renovated their conference suite and was trying to get rid of this mirror.

*sidenote: remember how we were "renovating our bathroom" that is now the family joke.

See here.

The bathroom was not a pretty blue with not pretty fixtures. It also has heinous aweful black Cabinet paint job..

Well we painted the bathroom grey, and found new fixtures and the plan was to hang a mirror BEHIND the sconces. This said 10 ft. Mirror is free and would work perfectly if cut down...

So we agree to come get the mirror with intentions for the bathroom I am really excited!! We get mirror, use blankets and bungee cords to secure it and head on our way. We use the main road in our town because we only would need to make 3 turns into our driveway.

The speed limit is 40, we r going 25 and there is no wind.

All the sudden, out of nowhere the bungee cord snaps, and a 10 foot mirror gets air and nearly kills the people in the car behind us.

I screamed like we were being held at gunpoint and immediately call the local police department.

The cop I spoke to laughed and said he would send a squad car.

During this 10 minute stint we backed up and wedged our car in front of the ENORMOUS amount of debris.

And I laugh hysterically while my husband directs traffic!!

Sooo funny!!!

Cop arrived and laughed. Ugh don't you love it when your plans "shatter" haha no pun intended!

We left as the hazardous waste unit arrived to clean up the one hundred million pieces of my supposed to be pretty mirror.

Oh well more adventures in DIY.

At least I have a funny story now huh?

So... if a normal mirror breaking is 7 years of bad luck does one that's 10 feet long constitue 77 years bad luck??

I sure hope not.

Spring Fling

Sad to see the Spring Fling come to an end.. but I have alot to share with all of you!

So... I did ALOT over spring break I have been holding out on... 

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even with a broken foot I pressed on so I would have plenty to share with yall. 

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I made a new arrangement for the front door.

and I bought some spring decor for the yard.

{my sister said this "cluster" is too much so I am considering dispersing some of these things around the front of the house.}

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I did things like landscape the front and some of the back yard.

{bleeding heart on the left and begonia on the right}

{boxwood, creeping jenny, and english ivy}

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Then the bulk of the work was done on the screened in porch.

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YES finally after all this time, we are wrapping things up.

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My father -in-law again came to our rescue and helped us put up our ceiling all by himself. 

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He is genius I tell ya!! 

 {originally we wanted beadboard, but while we were at the store my FIL got a vision and I let him use his mad skills/know how and do his thing}

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Must say it looks better than I could have EVER imagined!!!

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Oh, yeah.... i almost forgot....

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He also put up all the screen we needed replaced and got a good bit of the verticle slats up too!!

{still needed to be done is hang rest of slats, paint ceiling, install stairs and french doors... oh and please don't judge my half-painted porch, our spray gun has a mind of its own so the rest of this painting will be done with a brush... yes VERY TIME CONSUMING!!!!}

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Can I have it finished by easter?? I sure hope so..

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Also made some really cute placemats to add to the etsy shop.

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Be back tomorrow with more spring decor...

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and did I mention there are several new earrings for our Spring 11' collection.

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Hop on over to our Facebook page to see.

Monogrammed pillows.Tutorial

I found some inspiration in an unexpected place a couple months back...

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I saw these amazing monogrammed pillow sitting on a gorg couch in Guilana and Bill Rancic's Chicago apartment.

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After researching for pictures for far too long I googled her name + monogram pillow and lo and behold a tweet popped up!! Yes, twitter is now an amazing resource!!

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Come to find out these pillows are Jonathan Adler.

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Here is the link to create your own.

I love these pillows but I have an affinity to have something noone else will have, 

therefore I made my own!!

*here is another woman's interpretation of Giuliana's pillows

{via..google images}

To make your own:

Open Microsoft Word on your computer, 

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and begin looking through the fonts

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I used a similar sans serif font {to the Jonathan Adler pillows}

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{this font is Bakersville and I modified the curl of the "r" to something more squared.}

I mixed it up by using lower case.

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Did a few trial runs printing the one letter in a really large size;

 I believe 300, 400 something of this size.
{maybe even 600 for a lower case letter}

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Cut the letter out and use it as your pattern to cut out your fabric 

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the fabric for my letter is black linen fabric.

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the fabric of the pillow is duck cloth and can be purchased at hancocks, joanns, any place you can find fabric basically.

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Attach the letter with straight pins.

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Set your machine on one of 2 settings.

{this is where you will need to do some playing around with your machine. some machine's have an applique setting, once in this setting you want the stitch length to be really low, say .6 or .8 so the stitches are really tight; and the width to be really high, say 3.5 or 4, or if you do not have an applique setting you can use your machine's freehand buttonhole setting, again just check the length and width.}

**tip; this is my biggest piece of advice, when you go to attempt an applique USE GOOD THREAD. Don't buy this thread at a basic store like hancock's or joann's. Find your city's local sewing machine store or fine fabrics store and purchase high quality embroidery thread. This thread will be 100% cotton, a very heavy weight and will not be as fragile as a poly/cotton blend. This type of thread will run you $5.00ish a spool.

another reminder, if you are using 2 light weight fabrics buy some fabric stabilizer to help add weight to the back of the design.

Once you have determined which setting your machine will replicate the tightest stitches begin stitching away.

**another great tip, if your machine is not a "free motion" machine; meaning if it does not round curves on its own (often found to be a quilting or applique machine) you will need to stitch a little slower and stop quite often to slightly pivot and turn the fabric so you will have nice seamless stitches.

this is the first of my two pillows.

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I am actually glad you can see the minor imperfections and learn from my mistake.

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When working with linen and "appliquéing" linen please know the fabric will begin to unravel 

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You will need some Dritz fray check, use a light amount of this along the edges of the letter BEFORE sewing {make sure to allow time for the solution to dry}

Then sew the letter on.

Tada, I must say I am pretty pleased with the outcome!!

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linking up with..

2010 Highlights

For my sweet family of three 2010 started with alot of uncertainity.

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As my husband graduated and hoped to begin his career as an accountant we knew this year would bring plenty of changes.

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Little did we know we would take the project plunge on our little reno pretty quickly.

Here is the home when we purchased in May 09'

By June 10' we had added shutters, landscaped, and changed to a new front door.

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Inside lots of ideas were spinning and only a few decisions made.

The dining room got some paint and some of the other grandparents furniture.

Baby's room went from nursery to big girl

And the den went from this .....

{sorry this is such an aweful picture, gah i really hated the mismatching plaid in those curtains}

view from the entry area.

View from the dining room

view from baby's room, looking into entry then den.

{i think you get the idea now}

The laundry closet was given a more esthetically pleasing look.

We had a Lilly Pulitzer themed birthday party for baby girl.

And backyard demolition began.

we removed:

*the hottub

*the coy pond

*the side deck

*painted all vertical pieces white

*sodded coy filled area

*began laying out for new landscaping this spring.

for 2011 we have planned on:

*railings around front porch

*completing master bedroom

*remodel of master bath

*facelift in the kitchen

*completing screened in porch

*completing the playroom/guest room

And just for good measure... guess what i started on Christmas day.

Yes that is a piece of paper staking out where another beauty will one day sit... 

Can't wait to show yall where this is!!! 

Layla's Collection inspired this wall.

I am linking up over @ Rhoda's.

Homemade Christmas Decor

Hello lovely readers.

Today I am sharing my homemade tree.

(no the tree is not homemade, just all the decor)

There are several steps to each "ornament" grouping so I may be breaking this up into two posts.

We shall see.

A couple of years ago I found this AHmazing inspiration photo in Southern Living magazine.

To much avail I have been completely unsuccessful in finding the original photo.

I really wish i had it to share with yall.

First thing is first.

I knew I wanted art deco style numbers completely covered in glitter.

Luckily I found a great font and just printed the numbers in size 300 font out of Word.

I wanted to make sure my numbers were nice and sturdy so i glued the print off numbers 

(already on medium weight cardstock) 

To another layer of the cardstock. 

Then I gather my glitter, brush and trusty ole elmer's and got to work.

Apply glue to numbers and brush the glue on for even glitter application.

Apply glitter before glue dries.

Ps. it will dry a little faster due to spreading the glue out with the brush. DUH i know

Basically rinse, lather, repeat until your page is done.

Sidenote: I did this work in an old cookie sheet to contain the glitterness going on. 

Trust me there was LOTS.

After cutting out and drying i used my single hole punch and tied a circle of twine on to hang on the tree.

Okay ornament grouping # 1 donezo...

Enter elegance from pearescence.

I went plundering through my "stash" of things mom was getting rid of in her garage sale and Voila.

PBOutlet sale Beads.

I checked the sizing with my already on hand twine and... SCORE, the twine slipped onto the beads.

Pretty straight forward on this, just either establish a pattern{my pattern was at random}

Rinse,

Lather,

Repeat again...

Tie knots between beads so they don't slip around. 

Because i did not have a super full box i made a tiny strand for the top and a larger/longer strand for the largest portion of the tree. 

{As seen below}

Now... do you notice the little copper dittys scattered about??

Can you guess what they are?

Think gifts....

Well, they are the miniature molds attached to every William Sonoma Wedding Registry Gift.

When we got married i had NO clue what i would do with them.

Mom suggested I save them and do a fun tree with them.

This seemed like the perfect year.

And it is so special to have these little items as reminders of all our wonderful family and friends who so graciously blessed us before we were married!

I LOVE looking at them.

And did you know the PINEAPPLE is the symbol of hospitality??

Well we are in the south and being hospitable is just a way of life around here.

Here is an upclose of one so you can see what they really look like.

For the tree topper I used several items.

Glitter feathers and twigs are from Hobby Lobby last christmas.

And the pouf was super easy. I found some wedding iridescent tissue paper at Hallmark and cut an 8x8 square.

Accordianed the tissue,

Tied a pipe cleaner in the middle,

And gently spread the layers to the front.

Super Easy.

Now what is a homemade tree without chain??

I found a TON of scrap cardstock laying around from various projects so i just cut some in 1/2inch widths and other as wide as 2 inches and attached with the stapler.

Again rinse, lather, repeat here....

Now as you can see things are slowly but surely coming together here.

And best of all....

Its adoreable, FREE decor!!!

I have been debating over gathering some burlap as a tree skirt or actually spending the time and making one.

I saw my sweet friend kellie's wreath in her babies' room and kinda had an idea....

What if i make a poinsetta cluster tree skirt?

Then i found this in Garnet Hill's catalog...

It's felt.

And it costs $198.00

I think i will attempt to make it. 

If i do tackle this would yall like a tutorial on how to complete?

I will be back in another post to finish up the tree and share lots more.

Stay tuned.