Thursday, August 30, 2012

BOO GIVEAWAY
 Is anyone else excited for Fall and Halloween?  Besides Summer, it's my favorite time of year.  Beautiful weather, colors, smells, anything Pumpkin, football....ahhhh, I love it! 
Guess what?!  One lucky follower will be the recipient of this BOO bunting. 
First, let me give you the tutorial and then I'll tell you how you can win.
 For the fabric, I simply used some drop cloth material we had on hand.  It's pretty cheap and you get a ton of it.  Plus, it looks like linen. 
I have a template that I cut out of a cereal box that I use over and over.  Trace the template onto the fabric and cut it out.
 Next up, I used a plain ol' stencil.  Oh, how I would love to have Cricut so I could pick out my own font! 
 I don't like how parts of the letters are separated, so I just painted them in by hand.  Super easy.
 I wanted the fabric to have a little more of an aged look, so I dipped them in day old coffee and let them dry overnight.  Gives them just a bit more character.
After they were completely dry, I hot glued some twine to the back and...
voila! 
A fun bunting to put up almost anywhere in your home to celebrate All Hallows Eve. 
So, if you want to win one here are the rules:
1. You must be a follower of my blog and/or like my Blog Facebook Page and leave a comment that you are. That will equal one entry.  You can find my FB Page {HERE}
2. Share the giveaway on your blog and/or FB page and leave a comment that you did. This will be entry number 2.
3. Please leave a comment on what your favorite thing about Fall is.  This will be the third and final entry. 
You have up to 3 entries!
I will do a random pick two weeks from today...September 12. 
Good luck!
UPDATE:
If you're not a blog follower/reader, leave a comment on my Facebook Page {HERE}
One comment on my FB page will equal one entry!
*You much "like" my FB page to comment.
Good luck! 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Kindergarten
 I can't believe the day is already here!  My little buddy that's been hanging out at home with me since October, 2006 is finally starting school. 
*Thank you Pinterest for the chalkboard inspiration
 I think little brother ready to go!  Two more years, and both will be off to school.
I'm so proud of our Jaxon!  He's becoming such and amazing young man. Here's to a great year in Kindergarten!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Happy 4TH Birthday Easton
Today is our son, Easton's 4TH Birthday.  The past four years have gone so fast and each and every second with Easton has been entertaining!  He's both loveable and difficult at the same time...the child that gives you a run for your money.  He's an amazing little boy that we love so much. 
Here's to many, many more entertaining years with our little Easy Boy!  We love you.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Brooke & Gavin
The Bride & Groom
 So, after almost two months of keeping you waiting I finally have a blog post about the beautiful wedding we attended in June.  We celebrated the marriage of my Brother-In-Law Gavin to our new Sister-In-Law, Brooke.
I took this photo of them on the day of their rehearsal.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  Leave it to Seattle weather though to start raining through the rest of our visit.  Yep, even on the wedding day itself.  However, it turned out to be a beautiful day for the Bride and Groom regardless of the rain.
 The day before the wedding, my Sister Erin and I met with the soon-to-be Bride at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.  There, we got to take in all the beauty that the Market has to offer.  I just LOVE this place.  It's one of the things I miss a ton about living in Western Washington. 
 I had to snap of picture of this display at one of the entrances.  Beautiful, beautiful Sweet Peas.  Oh my goodness, did they smell amazing.  I just wanted to take them all home. 
 Brooke so badly wanted Peonies, and luckily they were still in season.  Isn't she just lovely with all of her flowers?!  She picked out the bright pink ones for the bridesmaids and light, blush pink for her bouquet.  Absolutely gorgeous!
By the way, she had ten...yes, that's right...TEN bridesmaids and groomsmen.  Wow, this was a ton of flowers, bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages to make.  I LOVED every minute of it.
 Here is what my sister and I hauled back to start playing around with.  Don't you wish you could have these to dress up your home everyday.  I do!
 We were so busy with the process of making them, I forgot to take any pictures.  It took about six hours total to complete every single arrangement.  Thank you to my Sister Darcy for letting us use her home to prep everything!  She had a full house of flowers and kids that day.  This is the only picture I took at the very end when they were all bundled together on the counter. 
 Here is a shot of one of the bridesmaids bouquets.  The table setting was missing a few decorations still, but I had to hurry and snap some pictures because of the rain and having to move all the chairs inside. 
 Here is a picture of Brooke's bouquet.  I absolutely love how it turned out.  It looks like a bouquet of cotton candy.  So fluffy, pink and pretty.
I'm not sure if you can see behind the bouquet, but they used some old wine bottles, brushed them with chalkboard paint and wrote reserved on them for the bridal party tables.  How creative and cute is that!
 There were ten tables that were decorated with the bridesmaids bouquets as the centerpieces, but all the other tables were set up with these adorable tea tins filled with the other market flowers we had pick out.  Very rustic and cute.  Along with the tea tins, Brooke had found tons and tons of old baby food jars and used these as candle holders.  Just adorable.  Who says you have to break the bank to have a super cute wedding.
 Here are the beautiful Bride and Groom!  Gavin and Brooke...You both looked amazing! 
*I should note that five of the professional photos were done by Zoe Rain photography.  She is in the Seattle area and you can find her on Facebook {HERE}
 Umbrellas totally fit a Seattle wedding!  How adorable is this picture?!
 Even though it was raining, Zoe did a beautiful job of capturing these sweet photos.
I just love the bright pop of pink in the bridesmaids bouquets.  So lovely.
 Right as the ceremony was starting and every guest was packed inside, the sun popped out.  I should also mention the wedding took place at Craven Farms in Snohomish, WA.  It was gorgeous as you can tell by the photo above. 
Notice the monogram as well?  I'll give you a tutorial later of what I used.  Super simple and frugal for anyone looking for photo props. 
 More and more people are opting not to do cake now days.  Brooke and some of her friends made all these cute dessert stands out of thrift store plates and candle holders.  Aren't they cute!  Great way to save money...asking friends and family to help you out by making a certain kind of dessert to contribute.  There was so much variety and everything was delicious.  Wish I could have had one of each.
Also, the "SWEETS" sign was one of my contributions.  I'll share a tutorial for this as well. 
 This was something I thought was so creative.  Instead of everyone getting an individual program, there was a large chalkboard(made on a piece of plywood) at the entrance of the ceremony with all the info you'd find on a program.  Great way to save a ton on paper and printing.
 Lemonade and Tea were set out for guests to help themselves before the ceremony. 
I have a before picture of the Lemonade sign. I'll be sharing it with you soon! 
 Here is my son, Jaxon.  He was one of the ring bearers.  Just melt my heart!  Him and my husband were both in the wedding. 
 This is our niece, Lucy!  She was one of the flower girls.  I don't know if it gets much more cute than this. 
 Here is another one of our nieces, Lucy's little sister Nina.  I caught this picture of her peeking out the door. So, so cute!
To Finish off, I wanted to share a picture of the boys I love the most.  My husband, the best man, our little dude, Easton and our oldest, Jaxon.  We sent the Bride and Groom off with a line of sparklers.  The day turned out perfect, the beautiful couple was married, and we welcomed a new member to the family. 
Congratulations Brooke and Gavin.  I love you both.  Thank you for letting us be a part of one of the most important days of your life.
All our love

Monday, July 23, 2012

Outdoor Decor
 Thanks to the Habitat For Humanity store, we yet again have a very inexpensive project!  While browsing around, we found this chair that was $5 and half off.  As you can tell, it's missing some slats on the back and has some paint spots. 
 Right next to it, were a few chipped Terra Cotta pots!  ONE WHOLE DOLLAR.  Quite the deal when you don't mind it looking used!
The chair plus the pot = the perfect planter!
 Our pie plate happened to be the perfect size to trace for cutting a hole in the chair!  You know some of those moments when you're not sure what to use for a project and you grab a random item and it's just perfect.  Well, the pie place was that random item that just worked!
 While my husband cut the hole in the chair, I went and picked out some pretty flowers.  Impatiens work perfect for this spot.  They get a few hours of morning sun, and the rest of the day are perfectly shaded!  Four dollars for all of them.
 Isn't she pretty, and so perfectly weathered looking!
I don't mind the little blob of paint on the top....gives it character.
 It sits right by our back door waiting to welcome any visitors.
I just love the interest it adds to the front of our home!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Ten Minute Makeover
 A few weeks back, we stopped in at Habitat For Humanity and found this rough looking stool-type thing.  Right away, my husband and I had the same idea for it...a plant stand for outside!  I think it cost us three whole dollars! 
I tipped it upside down and sprayed the legs with some white spray paint.  It literally took all of ten minutes.  After it dried, I found the perfect spot for it on our front patio.  I added our Petunias that are growing like crazy to the top of it....
And here it is all done!
 I love finding random stuff like this to add to our yard.  Better yet, it was so inexpensive. 
 It brightens up the front of our home so nicely.  It will also be useful for fall when I can stack some pumpkins and gourds on it!
Speaking of pumpkins, ours are growing like weeds right now along with other veggies and flowers we planted in the Spring. 
I snapped some shots this morning of what we have growing.





Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer Vignette
 This is a true, Make The Best Of What's Around blog post! 
Finally I'm back with something to share with you.  Forgive me for my absence, but we've just been really busy. 
I say this is a true, Make The Best Of What's Around post because everything I used for this Summer-y Vignette I had on hand!  I will link everything back to it's original post for you so you can see where each individual item came from. 
 I love how this vignette looks.  It's very bright, yet very mellow in honor of the beach.  I don't know what says Summer more than the beach?!
We'll start with the Seahorse.  He was a thrift store find from last year.  It's one of my absolute favorite thrift store finds ever.  You can see the original post {HERE}
 It doesn't get any easier than decorating with sand and shells.  Even if you don't have access to a beach where you live, you can find them at any craft store.  Check out the original post {HERE} and find out where I purchased them.  I live in land-locked Idaho, and even I can pull off coastal decor!
 These I shared with you not too long ago!  Bright, hand made lobster buoys.  We were able to make a few more this last weekend.  Again, they were free because we had all the wood and paint on hand.  {HERE} is the original post on how to create East Coast inspired buoys.
 This was another one of my favorite projects, and one of my most viewed blog projects.  Salt Dough Starfish.  They are super easy, frugal and fun to make.  You can view the original post {HERE}
Last but, not least...DIY Blue Jars.  Most everyone probably knows how to make these.  If not you can read the tutorial {HERE}. 
Knowing that I didn't have to spend any money to decorate my home for the Summer is a great feeling.  I did however, spend a few dollars on some outdoor projects that I'll hopefully be finishing up this weekend and sharing with you next week.  They are both very frugal, fun and I can't wait to share them with you. 
Tomorrow I will share with you a fun box full of beach inspired decor.  It's very similar and goes well with this vignette.  Stay tuned!