Adding The Personal Touch

I've had some down time lately and with that I've been able to go through old boxes, sell off unused furniture, and make plans for happy changes to the way this place looks. Thanks to some of the wonderful blogs that I stalk, I have some new inspirations!

Jen at Made By Girl posted about an incredible site called Deco My Place, a site full of random peoples' home pictures. It's great because you can search based on room, style and a bunch of other things.

I love the layered look in this little nook.

I'm a sucker for an 'R'! Plus I just saw those tall white cups over at Ikea a few days ago, and I'm loving how they're used here.

This kitchen over at The Yvestown Blog has me wishing we were out of apartment living. I'm all about the butcher block counters and the huge farmhouse style sink!

I was a bit late to catch onto the Young House Love craze, but after a few articles in some of my favorite magazines, I'm a big fan of the incredible work Sherry and John have put into their first home. They recently celebrated a wedding anniversary and did a post about different kinds of momentos/reminders of their love that they have throughout their home. I've been wanting to personalize our place with things other than just pictures, so this post was perfect. I especially love the initials they have above their bed, with I Love You in sign language in the middle. Cute, thoughtful, and super easy to make! You'll have to check out their site and see their amazing home. It's gone through a great makeover.

I'm always on the lookout for fun treat ideas, and after seeing this one yesterday, I knew I had to share it. I love me some S'mores, even the homemade ones with the help of a microwave :o) I'm a firm believer that some things just taste better on a stick, and these babies back that up. These S'mores Pops were featured over at Gimme Some Oven! and are too easy to pass up. Gigantic marshmallows, melted chocolate, crunched graham crackers and a stick! Now go make some and tell me how fantastic they taste!

With a mellow weekend coming up, I'll be grabbing my Mom for some help. I've got a couple of painting projects lined up for this weekend, along with some fun rearranging. Here's hoping I'll have the fantastic results up soon. Have a sweet week!

I Love My Husband's Job

Actually, I just love the perks. Remember when I posted about my 'R' collection? Well this is how it looked in the middle of last year.

Since then, Mr. Scrap Yard Man that I'm married to has been dutifully on the hunt for more R's, along with many friends and family members. Needless to say, my collection has grown quite a bit and includes many one of a kind objects. After an hour of rearranging, a lost battle with a hammer, and plenty of times saying 'Give it back to me dude', I'm happy to say the R's are up!

Can you guess where the main piece came from? I love my husband. He found that sucker at work and absolutely made my day. I plan to paint it white sometime soon, just to help quiet it down a bit. I've been dying to get it up along with the many other additions and am now thrilled with it. Let me know if you find any fun and creative R's! I'm always on the lookout for more!

The Truth Behind Closet Doors

You know what makes me happy? Before & After pictures.

What makes me really happy? When they're improvements in my own home.

Scary Before:

The Not-So-Scary After:

Yea!

Chain Reaction

Craigslist--->Chartreuse & Co.--->Donna with Livingston Decor--->Flea Market Style Magazine--->Linda Crispell

It's incredible to think of just this one example of how my regular Craigslist visits helped me find a new love. Linda Crispell is that new love! I found a feature in the Flea Market Style Magazine about her, and the picture shown was similar to this one...

The vintage gumball machines are what hooked me. Hours later after going through her entire blog twice, I've got inspiration coming out of my ears! She has so many collections that you're sure to find at least one that makes you rush out to the nearest Flea Market. I'm especially loving her kitchen collections.

{Vintage Lifesaver Candy Display turned Cupcake Decoration Display}

{Jars filled with Pez dispensers, Ribbon Candy, Jawbreakers and More!}

I'm constantly playing around with all of my candy decorating supplies, so seeing this just gets the ideas flowing. I've finally hunkered down and snagged myself a wonderful cabinet this past weekend at Chartreuse & Co. One of my favorite vendors put this beauty on sale back in December I think, and I've been thinking about it since. It was a pretty stinkin' good deal, $198 down to $98, and I couldn't resist. This is what I've been using.....

This little cabinet has been wonderful, but I've been wanting something a bit bigger to hold my baking pans too. Our little kitchen is crowded enough, so the more I can move out, the better. Crazy to think that at one point I only had this little kitchen cabinet for all my chocolates/sprinkles/etc. So anyway, here's the wonderful new cabinet...

I know what you're thinking. 'An old wardrobe? There's not enough storage!' Well, at the moment there isn't. I'll be adding shelves to the right side, along with repainting the whole thing. I'm thinking a white coat on the outside and then a fun spring green on the inside. Hmmm, maybe green and white stripes inside. Who knows. I'd love some kind of 'Wow' affect. It's definitely going to take a few weeks to make this happen, so for now I'm kind of using both cabinets. I'm loving the new find though! It makes me happy every time I walk to the kitchen!

Have a wonderful week!

*Cupcake Saturday*

I'm finally posting about something I did! I put these little Kits together for girls in my Primary class after having to cancel a Valentine's party{so sorry again about that!}. I love how they turned out!

{Cupcakes~Chocolate & Cream Cheese Frosting~4 Kinds of Sprinkles}

{Chocolate Crunchies~White Non-Pareils~Pink Hearts~Red Sanding Sugar}

I think they turned out pretty well considering it was a first attempt! Hopefully the girls like it too! After doing these I picked up some supplies that way next time I make some of these up they'll be even tighter looking. So many fun options in the future for these Cupcake Kits! Have a fun weekend!

Share The Love!

After gathering all kinds of cute gift ideas all through the year, I've got a bunch that would make for wonderful neighbor/friend surprises. They're all relatively simple and can be modified based on your creative juice level. Maybe you'll get some good ideas!

{S’mores Kits}

I just had to throw this one in first. I love it! I'm havin' a hard time finding boxes though. Once I do, I'm giving these babies out just for fun!

{Snowy Balloon Ornaments}
I think these would be cute for a knock and run situation, just hanging on a neighbor's doorknob with a fun note.

{Pop Top Cans}
These are all about your personal creativity. Make 'em shine with whatever fun little ribbons/bows/whatever you've got.

{A Slice On The Go}
This is meant more as a nice way to send guests home from a party with leftover desserts, but I think it's perfect as a Neighbor Gift. Come on, who doesn't love pie?

{Last Minute Hot Chocolate}
My idea of Hot Chocolate thrown together at the last minute is no where as thoughtful as this. Hearts cut out of the marshmallows, doilies and baker's twine? Gorgeous!

{Glitter Ornaments}
Another one of those projects that would be so fun with a handmade card. I'm all for making the full line of these for my tree!

{Rustic Cookie Bags-4 Ways!}
I just love anything in a brown bag or box. Something about it just gives off a warm fuzzy feeling. Lolly came up with 4 great ways to show off those tasty cookie recipes that I know you all have. She even made up these little tags that you can print up and use. Perfect for people like me!

Hopefully you've found something you like. To my friends and family, don't be surprised if you find one of these on your doorstep soon. Keep having a fantastic week!

I'm In Love, Love, Love with Chartreuse!

Ok, not the color, but Chatreuse & Co. They are my new happy thought. Here's why. So I'm crusin' through craigslist trying to find something interesting and there's nothing to be found. Out of boredom I click on a post that says "Vintage Tag Sale". Now, the ad wasn't exactly spectacular, but luckily they had a Shutterfly account with additional pictures. The part that sealed the deal with that the pictures had prices. Ever see amazing things online but once you get to the store they end up wanting $675 for a tiny side table? Yeah, I hate that. So to sum up a bit, I talked my sister and Mom into going and after a 25 minute rainy drive, we find the place. We all walked in the front door and our jaws dropped. This place is incredible. The "Oh my goodness, I love this!" comments started right away and continued for an hour and we walked through the huge 2 level barn type setup. Along with furniture(which is amazing) the place in covered in every kind of home accessory you could want. Vibrant colors, rustic wood finds, shabby chic style, shiny glamorous, and of course Halloween. My face hurts from all the smiling. Here are some of the things I loved. I couldn't take a ton of pictures because I didn't remember until the last 10 minutes that I had my camera. Even still, here's a nice large chunk of pictures.

{Glass Cupcake Holders-If I'd known the cupcake candle was a part of the price I'd have snatched one up}

{The lamp is cute, but I really love the chair}

{The owner Virginia giving a class on decorating a table in a bunch of different ways. My Mom grabbed three of the candle stick holders she used as soon as the class was over. Awesome}

{I can definitely see myself having Sweet Dreams in this setup}

{"Fright Night" was in a section mostly dedicated to the more classic Halloween decor. Yea glitter!}

{The day I make my own pastries is the day I get this for my place. I love signage}

{Even more glitter associated with Halloween. Loved these little skull @ $3 each}

{Yes, I would love to have this too-You starting to see how fun this place is yet?}

{All kinds of mirrors-The place was full of them}

Now, for the loot that I got. I actually bought the least out of the three of us. Weird.

So, another 'R' to go in my collection, a green shelf thing($18) that originally was going to hold my ceramic cupcakes, but that has been replaces by the lighter green shelf thing on the left(an early b-day gift from my momma). I think I'm gonna paint both a bright white. Hmmm, choices. I also got two vintage plates($6 each) which I think will be perfect for displaying cupcakes and such. I love the muted colors. Any this beautiful thing isn't officially mine yet, but it will be in a few days. THANKS NAWNIE!This little phrase is the reason I started my cupcake collection, and I'm so thrilled to have it. I especially love the color!

So, that's what I did over the weekend. Fun huh? They're opening back up on the weekend of Nov. 6th. Anyone want to come? I'll be going back for sure. I can't wait to see all the new things they'll have!

{You can find more info about Chartreuse & Co. on their website}

Fairy Lights

When Andrew and I lived in our little bottom level apartment 2 years ago we desperately needed extra lighting to give the extra oomph to the place. Thank goodness for the tons and tons of Christmas/fairy lights I lined the inside rooms with, the ones that ended up staying for a good 5 or more months. I know what you're thinking, it sounds very 'college dorm room'-ish, but we loved it. I've been debating throwing them back up in this apartment, and seeing these pictures just pushed me over to the 'Yes' side.

Now I'm planning on going a bit more extreme with what I do, but the beauty of it is that if I don't like the outcome, I can just take them down. Knowing me, I'll have to have it perfect and straight and finished looking. I love the simple little touches of lights around the chalkboard and mirror. It's perfect. I think my main push to do this again is that I can remember nights where we only had the fairy lights on, and it gave off this amazingly comfy and inviting feeling. *big sigh* Just in case you like the look too, but not on a huge level, there is a tutorial on how to make the Glittering Lightscape in the last picture for your own home! For the instructions, click here. I actually might try it out. That could be really fun in the little man's bedroom. Hmmm, too many ideas. Have an amazing day!

{1-2-3-4-5-6}

Cute Little Cherries

I saw this purse on the Martha Stewart website and have wanted to try making it. Thanks Katie for having a birthday!

Now to be honest, I hired my Dad to do the official sewing, but I picked out the fabric, made huge copies of the template(very hard with a little dude running around Kinko's), cut out the shapes and pinned them together :o) I need to take an official lesson from my Dad on working the infamous sewing machine, but right now I'm still too chicken. Hilarious huh? I think it turned out super cute.

They called it a subway bag, because you loop one arm through the other like so.....

....and now no one can reach into your bag and steal your lip gloss! There's also a little pocket area inside of it because I know how frantic I can get when my phone is ringing and I have to go finger fishing to find it. I'm hoping it gets a ton of use. Happy Birthday Lady!

{you can find the instructions on how to make this bag here, or just steal Katie's}