day 2 of fall inspired crafts: halloween wreath

A few years ago I saw this post on Eddie Ross's blog and loved the look of his wreath. I mean come on anything this guy does is incredible! I thought this would be a fun project to do one rainy day so printed out the post {pinterest was only a dream at the time :)} and filed it along with my other craft project ideas. Then when hurricane Irene came along I pulled out this goodie and got crafting. For this project I used the following:

foam wreath form

2 black boas

1 feather black boa

sewing pins

2 large buttons

orange fabric for the flowers

scissors

Halloween inspired ribbon

I first wrapped my wreath in the two plain black boas and then went over the gaps with my feather boa. After the wreath was wrapped per Eddie's directions I made my flowers out of the orange fabric. I just cut out different size petals and then gathered them together to form a flower but instead of gluing all the petals together I placed my button in the middle of the flower and stuck it to my wreath with the sewing pins through the holes in the middle of the button. Does that make sense? Basically, I wanted to be able to move the flowers around the wreath until I found the placement I wanted. I then took a piece of ribbon folded it over and pinned one end of it to the wreath. Here she is {yes my wreath is girl} in all her beauty!

Before hanging the window and wreath above the fireplace I put Will in front of it for a photo shoot. Apparently, he thinks the wreath is awesome because almost all of the pictures came out like this!

I eventually got a blurry one...

day 1 of fall inspired crafts: stamped onesies

I love making stamped onesies for friends when they have babies. It is one of the easiest gifts and you can personalize them using the baby's name or do something fun like using a stamp that has to do with what season it is. I made Will a bunch of these before he was born and he wore them all the time under clothes in the winter. I suggest buying short sleeve onesies in bulk. You can put one on your kid as is and they look adorable or layer on top of a long sleeve shirt in the winter for warmth and they look just as cute. Can you tell I am a fan of white onesies. I will say though that I am not a fan of Gerber onesies because they are way to small and thin. I have found that target's Precious Firsts works best for Will as they are pretty true to whatever size he is wearing in clothes.

I made these the other day with my "fall" stamps for Will to wear these next few months. I have been using these directions from one of my favorite blogs and my only added suggestion is to make sure you clean each stamp really well after you use them or else next time you go to stamp any residual paint will transfer to your new design. I know that sounds obvious but I learned the hard way :) I also took Darby's advice and instead of ironing freezer paper to the inside I just stick a piece of scrap paper right under my design to prevent any paint from bleeding through and remove when the paint has dried.

I think these would be a cute gift to give a new mom. You could just attach a little note saying "enjoy your first fall with your new little one!"

and wouldn't the below onesie be cute to give a baby who has an older brother or sister going to school. For some reason apples make me think of September which makes me think of going back to school. Maybe just make sure to iron it before you give them as a gift :)

I know this might seem like a craft that only moms would like but I made these long before I had Will and would give them as gifts to friends who had babies or to my niece and nephew when they were born and my sister in law loved them {so much so that she asked me to teach her and now she gives them as gifts - now to me that is a sign of a good gift!}. So next time you are in the craft store browse the dollar bins and pick yourself out some stamps and get busy crafting. Believe me it is addicting and your friends with kids or even your own baby will love you for it :)

a holiday break

So I know I promised craft week but I am going to take today off and start tomorrow since it is a holiday after all :) Will and I will be back tomorrow!

a weekend of crafts and Nana's

This past week seems like it has been a whirlwind around here. My mom lives in Norfolk, Virginia and was under a mandatory evacuation last week before Hurricane Irene so she came up to us early Friday morning. In order to prepare for the weekend {we were supposed to get some of that weather up here in Northern Virginia} I did what any normal person would do and went out and stocked up on goodies from both Joanne and Michaels :) We spent the weekend crafting and eating just in case the power went out {it didn't and I am now 50 lbs heavier :) }. After the hurricane had passed and we got word that my parent's house was okay and did not flood {we are so thankful} my mom, Will and I made a quick trip down to Charlotte, NC to visit my Nana. She had not gotten to meet Will yet and I was excited for the two of them to meet. Nana's birthday was also on Tuesday {she turned 91!} so we wanted to be able to celebrate her special day with her. She is so special to me and I am so proud of how well she is doing. She is an amazing seamstress and cook and while the cooking skipped my generation I like to think that I inherited some of her sewing skills. The only thing missing from our trip was my pop-pop but he went to be with Jesus last summer so I will just have to look forward to the day when we can all be together again. I miss him so much. I have more pictures to share from my trip but I am still unpacking and cleaning from the crazy week so this going to be a shorter post.

I will leave you with a few sneak peaks at all of the crafts I accomplished last weekend. I am hoping to do detailed posts each day next week explaining each one of the pictures below plus more so make sure to stop back in!

 Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend!

a simple change

So a few weeks ago I blogged about the prints in my kitchen that I had made a few months before. Well, little did you know but that same day I changed them :)

A few years ago I discovered Farrow and Ball wallpaper and I have never been the same since. I mean they are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! Unfortunately, they are way to expensive for our cheap small design budget but I did end up ordering a few samples for a client. I thought they would arrive as little swatches like fabric but to my surprise the samples came in large sheets. For years I have been staring at these beauties. After looking at the flower prints for a year I decided I needed a change and remembered my collection of wallpaper samples. I ended up swapping out the flowers for the beautiful wallpaper and ordering a few more samples of my favorite patterns in different color ways to mix in. Farrow and Ball if you are reading this I promise to one day use your paper in my home that is right after I win the lottery or if you want to give me some for free. I am not to proud to beg :) Since the kitchen is getting a redo the frames had to move so here is their new home.

stairway before....

 and after

 

 My two favorite wallpaper patterns

 Rosslyn

 Lotus

Someone please order one of the above papers and send me pics. Wait maybe don't do that because I might cry in envy :)

As you can see from the above pics we still have to stain the stairs, paint the banister and get a new light but I am a little to tired to start another project so in the meantime I am hoping these new beauties distract guests from the mess. Since I already had the frames {read about them here} and the wallpaper samples were free this project cost me $0.00 :) Gotta love that!

disclaimer - I was not paid to say any of the above from Farrow and Ball I just love their papers and wanted to share this fun free project.

hurry up and get here colder weather

because this just came in the mail for my baby to wear.

and this is what Will thought of the vest.... {this is where it gets a little weird and I pretend Will can talk so you might just want to stop reading here and just look at the pics}

check out my new vest ladies. 

 I think I look pretty good but the real question is does it taste as good as I look in it...

 Guess I will just have to try and taste it myself....this corner should do

 here we go.. I wonder why my mom isn't stopping me

 yummmmm

 yep, tastes good to me!

I think this is where he is thinking mom stop taking all these pictures of me in this vest. Only Grammy, Nona and you really care :) oh yeah and maybe Auntie Jackie since she got this cool vest for me.

My tough little man. Thank you Auntie Jackie for the adorable clothes! I might own 5 or 6 vests myself and now my baby can match me. Oh happy day :)

by the way... I had been getting some emails that people were having trouble leaving a comment so I think I have fixed it :) 

a fresh coat of paint... again

This is the third time in a year that I have painted this kitchen. Yes, I have a problem. I had to swear to my husband that I would not paint this room again but truth be told I had my fingers crossed just in case :)

I decided to stick with the grey I already had around my cabinets {revere pewter} because I really do love it and we had some paint left over from when I painted the office this exact color as well. Yes, I am a cheap skate and yes I use the same colors throughout my house. When I find something I love I tend to repeat it over and over but I do thinks this helps with the flow in your home so I guess it is a win win for me. I do really miss the dark grey/brown and hope that one day it will make a reappearance in another home but for now I am going with light and airy and thinking resale for down the road. Also, I think this helps to unify this long multifunctional room and just in case you wanted to hear another reason as to why I painted it... last week when I was touring a model home {not for me, for a friend} I noticed that they had used this exact color throughout and it looked beautiful. {I am making a mental note that in my next home this would make for a beautiful stairwell, hallway, entry wall color as well.} If you don't mind please lie and tell me it looks better because I am missing the old color just a little...

Before 

 After

I know I need to add some color but I am taking a little road trip with my mom and Will this week and am hoping to stop at one of my favorite fabric stores and find some new colorful fabrics to make curtains and pillows for the room. I will keep you posted!

You can read more about this room transformations here and here.