dresser//before & after

we have had a chest of drawers in our room now for 5+ years that just wasn't cutting it.  don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but when we refinished it we removed the hardware and never found any that met the dimensions.  so we have been fooling with the drawers without hardware for far too long.  it was time for a change.  my husband had the brilliant idea to snag a dresser from his childhood bedroom at his parents house.  honestly I had never paid any attention to it and I was not sure what we would be getting.  I was pleasantly surprised...no I was ecstatic.  it was gorgeous and we could instantly see the "after" in our heads.  so wait no more, here it is and we LOVE it!

 

 before

 

1st step lots of sanding

2nd spray paint gray primer

3rd glossy white spray paint on the hardware

 

then my husband had the brilliant idea of lining the drawers and I happened to have a roll of some gorg black and white damask flocked wallpaper laying around!

 

then for the last step came a coat of paint for the dresser

we went with krylon blue ocean breeze spray paint

 

after    

 

 

 

so what do you think?

don't you love it?  my hubs did an amazing job!!!

 

and here I am with our girls! (saying that will never get old)

 

to have and to hold.

wedding season is right around the corner so i have added a couple of invitation designs to my shop, more to come!  for some inspiration and viewing pleasure i have set up some wedding story boards to go along with my new invitation designs.  happy wedding planning:)

Image 1.  Image 2.  Image 3.  Image 4.  Image 5.

Image 1.  Image 2.  Image 3.  Image 4.  Image 5.  

 

life and love.

it is funny how i constantly find myself struggling for things to blog about but as soon as i begin reading other blogs i am immediately out of my rut.  i think that it inspires me to blog about life.  life as it is, not how i want it or wish it just my everyday life. 

i can't seem to wrap my finger around why i do not blog as often as i want when i know there is plenty to discuss.  i guess i just forget that everyone has similar struggles and leaps and bounds they must go through.  why go through it alone?

i am currently in a really positive place in life.  with my marriage, (happy anniversary to me by the way) with my daughter, with our home, with my work, with my family, etc. 

i have struggled with moving back home due to leaving the vast majority of my friends in the city.  i cannot even begin to explain how much i miss them.  it is funny how life changes.  in my 20's it was nothing for me to meet and make new friends/friendly acquaintances, but my how time changes.  we took w to the park last week and we met a lovely little lady of 2.  she is a photographer, told us her name and to look her up on facebook.  it was funny how giddy my husband and i were.  to finally meet someone new that is artsy like us.  she mentioned getting the kids together for play dates.  just the opportunity of w playing with a child just down the road that was her age was music to my ears.  when we go to the city, all of our friends have kiddos her age and it is so fun!!! 

it is funny how we do not make friends like we used to.  as i have gotten older i have definitely gotten wiser and i know that the friends i have left that i would consider my BFF's would do anything for me and i am very blessed to have them in my life....including my husband.

a HUGE thank you to our amazing friends, and a HUGE kiss for my fabulous husband on our anniversary.  i love you more everyday babe. xoxoxo

 

 

post 7 of 30: custom

just to be clear, some of you may not know, that i do custom work as well!  i love it when a bride approaches me with all of the details of the most amazing day of their life.  i love it when a mother has worked so hard to perfect her little ones birthday but cant find an invitation that is the exact match.  these are my favorite projects.  sure i have created several paper goods for sale on my store, but my favorite projects are those that are created personally for you.  i was recently approached by mel and lance to do their paper goods.  i have been dabbling here and there with graphics but i am super pumped to dive in to this project.  here's what mel is working with...

....and here's what i am working with, of course only a snippet, i can't give the details away!

the mason jar things seems to be big, i am also using mason's for wren's first birthday....anyone else theming with mason's?

first for everything

With the Holiday's behind us (thank goodness), it is time to plan a party!!!  Woohoo, Wren's 1st Birthday is gong to be here before we know it.  The hubby narrowed down my pinterest color palette's, we have decided on a theme, my cousin has gathered the mason jars and I have gathered inspiration.

1st Birthday-Vintage Owl

I am SO excited, because this is on the way (of course I will be painting)

and these owl crayons.

What did you do for your little ones 1st?



The Land of Fancy Soaps and Towels You Aren’t Allowed to Use

Ahhhhhh...The bathroom, or "wash room" as my college professor would hammer into our heads.  The one room in my house that we have not touched.  It is currently the color of a #2, how fitting, and lacks storage space horribly!!!  Therefore it is very cluttered.  I have no room to do anything, this morning as I was curling my hair (which is a task in itself because the outlet is on the opposite side of the room as the vanity) I dropped my curling iron onto the ground and peices went flying.  A little surgery and it was good as new, but GEEZ I do not know how much longer I can deal with this!  So this moring, exploring bathrooms is what I have been doing:)

I have always been a fan of a white bathroom and this one is fabulous!

I LOVE this vanity, and my hubby could totally make it!  The yellow mirror on the dark walls is FAB as well!

This is my favorite modern bathroom by far!  All of the modern fixtures with the eclectic touch totally ROCKS my SOCKS!

I love all of the white with the wood tones and that floor, OH that floor!!

This rug is to die for!!  Must begin hunting for that!

 

Sarah and Eric's Big Day

It is not every day that you are asked to do invitations for one of your best friends wedding, and it is not every day that one of your best friends get married!  Especially two people that are this perfect for eachother!

I love you guys and I can not wait to be part of your big day!

xoxoxoxo

Alternative Christmas Trees

Well as the holidays are rapidly approaching, it is time to prepare yourself and your home for the festivities.  Every year, my husband and I head to our friends tree farm and pick out our beautiful tree for the year.  He cuts it down, we load it up in the back of the truck and drive it home, and I am up into the wee hours of the night decorating.  We usually do this on Black Friday because everyone else is out shopping, so the tree farm is usually not that busy.  I then spend the rest of the weekend hanging wreaths and decorating tables while my husband puts out the christmas lights.  That is all accompanied with wine and christmas carols:)  Well this year, things will be a little different as my husband and I just recently moved back to where we grew up.  The town is ironically named Santa Claus:)  We are living in my Mom's basement, not the ideal situtation, but it will do for now until our house sells.  So being that we are in the basement I do not feel that our traditional Christmas Tree is really necessary, however I LOVE CHRISTMAS and want to have some type of tree and decorations.  So I am on the hunt for an alternative tree.  Here are some ideas.......

Happy Holidays!

My Wedding Photos by Photographer KT Moon, Fidamo USA

Here are some photos of my wedding that took place last fall, October 3, 2009.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful friend who is an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING photographer, Miss KT Moon of Fidamo.  Mike and I definitely had what you would refer to as a "budget wedding" and a DIY wedding.  Hopefully photos of our day will show you that you can DIY too and maybe you will be a little inspired!

Our vintage peacock theme wedding.

Flowers by Valeri Nicole

DIY Reserved Seat Signs

DIY decorative cones with bird seed

DIY Wedding Arch

Thanks to my handy Dad, he cut down a tree in his woods about a week before the wedding and crafted this beautiful arch.  We dug holes into the ground and in she went.  The morning of the wedding, my friends and I weaved flowers and ivy all over it and then draped it with fabric, all together we made this arch for under $200 and it was breathtaking!

Me and my Dad:)

Ohhh THE DRESS.  I bought my dress at Demetrios but I did not want to have the same dress as somoeone else and could not afford a custom dress, so thanks to Penny (the mother of my bridesmaid Lindsey) it became one of a kind!  I found a fabric that matched the dress and Penny made several roses of different sizes by hand.  Lindsey, Penny and I had a sewing party and on the dress they went!  It could not have turned out any better!  Thanks Penny.

I found my beautiful cake topper on Etsy, oh I love that site.  Thank you Krishna for creating exactly what I wanted.

The cake was made by my Aunt, Red Velvet (mike's Favorite) with fondant icing(my favorite).  She saved us some major money on this one and created the perfect cake and it was delicious too!

DIY Wedding Favors.  I ordered the boxes from Paper-Source, BEWARE, you will become addicted to this site.  2 of my bridesmaids and I assembled the boxes and wrapped them with ribbon.  I printed the labels at home, filled the boxes with a sweet treat and WAH-LA a beautiful guest favor!

DIY Food Trays.  I bought foam core at Hobby Lobby cut it to size, wrapped it with leftover wallpaper samples and it was stunning.

DIY Wedding Invitations.  I created completely custom Wedding Invitations and my husband and I went to work; printing, cutting, rounding edges and tying ribbons:)

We were so blessed with an AMAZING sunset at our wedding, it could not have been more perfect.

DIY Wedding Programs.  I created custom programs for our wedding, the envelopes were again from Paper-Source and we embossed a gold label with our last initial and sealed it with a peacock feather.  Repeating our Peacock wedding theme.

All of the girls wore head peices with peacocks in them, some of us made them ourselves, while others bought them.  Sarah handcrafted this one herself!

My hair, courtesy of Tiffany at A-do.  I DARE you to find a bobby pin in this work of art.

DIY Escort Cards and Peacock Guest Book Pen.  Both FOR SALE at my etsy store!

We did not do the traditional, see eachother for the first time at the ceremony thing, so this was our way and it turned out perfect.  Thank you KT, another wonderful idea from our photographer!