Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

As I mentioned earlier, I spent last weekend in Oregon to see a friend who was getting married. While I was there, I made the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages for the wedding. Unfortunately, my camera battery charger didn’t make it on the trip with me, but I was able to borrow a photo from the reception photographer to share here.

The wedding colors were red, black, and white, and the bride chose red roses and red and deep purple (the closest she could find to black) miniature calla lilies for her bouquet. So I arranged them, cut them to her desired length, and wrapped up the stems with ribbon.

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I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!

I got back to Virginia late Sunday night, after spending several days in Oregon for a friends’ wedding. It was nice getting to spend an entire day with her, after not having seen her for two and a half years! I also got to visit with more friends, meet some new ones, and visit the Oregon Coast. Oh, and I spent a good chunk of time making bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. Sadly though, I left my camera battery charger in the car, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures. Hopefully someone else got some they’re willing to share!

Needless to say, I didn’t have much time for blogging while I was gone. But I’m home again and ready to get back into the swing of things. To get things rolling again, here are a few tidbits I’ve found around the internet recently:

• Delightful Distractions is a sweet blog full of pretty printables, inspiration and crafting ideas, and Jesus-lessons
• Jellybean Junkyard created this “Give Thanks” board, and she shares how to make your own.
• Aren’t these diy coffee filter pomanders lovely?
• I love the Cinnamon Honey Butter from Texas Roadhouse, so I’m looking forward to trying this copycat recipe.

One of my most popular posts is this one, where I linked to several different chalkboard walls posted around the web. Since that seems to be something a lot of y’all are interested in, I thought I’d expand on the idea of chalkboards and highlight more uses of chalkboard paint.

Oh, and if you’re like me and can’t stand the feel of the chalk or the way it sounds when you write with it, you may be interested in chalk pens.

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• Label your herbs.
• Number tables at a wedding.
• Paint a dresser.
• Or a headboard.
• Create a fun table.
• Paint a globe and let your kids sketch in the countries.
• Make reusable gift tags.
• Identify drinks with chalkboard labels.
• Paint the inside of a lunchbox for an easy way to leave lunchbox notes.
• Make chalkboard placemats.
• Or chargers.
• Paint your refrigerator!

Yesterday I moved the bowl of fruit from my dining room table to the kitchen counter and brought in a tiny bouquet of daisies. Set into a small creamer  and placed atop a couple of vintage readers, they make a lovely, simple centerpiece for our table (and a cheap one, too!).

Daisies are such happy, friendly flowers. Even these miniature ones are bright and cheerful.

Sometimes I just can’t decide whether I prefer b&w or vivid color.

 

“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.” {Nadine Stair}

 

{I’m playing with some new watermark ideas and toying with the idea of getting back into photography.}

I’m bringing back The Sunday List. This weekly post is a collection of projects, recipes, products, and other sites around the web that have caught my attention during the week. I finish it off with a photo I took in those seven days, or one of my older photos that I recently edited.

• These DIY Moroccan lanterns featured on Design*Sponge look amazing, but are oh-so-easy to make.
• I just discovered Impel Clothing this week. Beautiful and modest!
• Seeing the Everyday is a print magazine I stumbled upon this week. It’s full of real-life prose from real people, gorgeous photos, and is a lovely reminder to enjoy the everyday moments of life.
• One of my favorite blogs, Ruffles and Stuff, is now on Facebook.
• Even though I’ve lived in the South almost my entire life, I’ve never had the experience of eating grits. However, I think I’m going to have to try this recipe for gouda grits.

This is one of the tulips from the bouquet my mom gave me back in May. I took this photo about a month ago but just got around to editing it this week.

I should really be a novelist, not a blogger. About four paragraphs into this, I realized it was really getting ridiculously long. But I kept going.

If you want the quick summary, skip down to the end. If you enjoy reading lengthy details about someone else’s life, start here . . .

This past Saturday was my birthday, and Michael had our day sketched out several weeks ago. We had planned to go yard sale-ing in the morning, but we both slept in after staying up late the night before playing “musical cabinets.” (More about that in a later post.)

When we finally got up, we drove down the road and had breakfast brunch at the diner. Biscuits and gravy . . . our favorite. Then we made the trip into town, where we caught a couple yard sales before they closed down, but didn’t find much worthwhile, except the delicious freshly-squeezed organic lemonade we bought from a young entrepreneur.

Finally we hit the thrift stores, consignment shops, and antiques mall. There was one particular consignment shop that I’ve recently heard lots about and I really wanted to stop there, so Michael drove to that part of town and we spotted it . . . and the completely full parking lot. We drove down the road a bit and then turned around and checked again. Still full.

Since there was another shop across the street, Michael suggested we check that one out first and then come back. So we browsed around for about half an hour and then looked across the road at Consignment Connection’s parking lot. Three available spaces! But before we could cross the street, all three spots were snatched up!

I was disappointed, but we still had time to come back later. We went further down the road and stopped in at another thrift store, where I could have spent three days just browsing their book section. Then it was time for a quick stop at Wendy’s for a Frosty before making one last pass by Consignment Connection. I scanned the parking lot and saw one space . . . and watched as someone pulled in right before us.

We gave up on Consignment Connection and drove back towards his mom’s house, stopping at an antiques mall and several thrift stores on the way. We didn’t buy anything till the last shop, where I purchased three pairs of children’s tap shoes, a board game, a belt, and this:

The cashier asked me if I had a hideous light up right now that I was going to be replacing with this. When I told her that I was going to be painting it, she seemed a bit relieved, as well as intrigued (she asked me to bring in a picture when it’s finished). Now I just have to decide whether I want to hang it in the kitchen, the living room, or my craft nook.

This thrift store was our last stop, but the day wasn’t over yet. We stopped by my mother-in-law’s house and convinced both her and my brother-in-law to join us for a round of putt-putt. I lost, as usual (I’m horrible at it, but it’s still fun), but made up for it when I putted my ball into the return and hit the “free game” slot. Now Michael and I can go back another time and just pay for one admission.

After mini-golf my mother-in-law took us out to eat, then Michael and I headed home, with one last stop to make. This time it was to the grocery store, so he could get me a birthday cake (and I could close my eyes and pretend not to see when he bought trick candles ). There’s one particular brand of frozen pizza that I really like and love to have as a snack so, since we were planning to watch a movie when we got home, we went ahead and grabbed one of those as well.

Back home at last, we heated up the pizza and munched on it while watching Brian Regan. When the show was over, I was so tired and so full that we skipped the cake all together and just went to bed. It was a wonderful, happy birthday, even though my birthday cake is still sitting on the kitchen table, untouched.

Saturday was over but Sunday, and more birthday cake, were still to come.

The Summary

Saturday was my birthday. Michael took me out to brunch. Went to yard sales. Didn’t buy anything. Went to thrift stores, antiques mall, and consignment shop. Bought a chandelier to re-do. Played mini-golf with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Won a free game. Stopped at the store for a birthday cake. Not hungry for cake once we got home and ate. Had a wonderful day.

One of my favoritest bloggers {Emily of Jones Design Company} is going to be celebrating the arrival of May with a special Flower Week. Each day, from May 2 through May 6, she’ll be posting new flower projects and tutorials on her blog. She makes some of the most lovely things and I’m excited about following along!