low-key weekend, high-key week

This weekend was pretty low-key, but busy!  We close on our house today (YAY!), so we spent a lot of the weekend packing, organizing, and spending a few last minute memorable moments together in our first home in Oklahoma.  Bittersweet.  Right now, our little condo is a disaster.  Stuff is e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

{I'm a bit embarrassed to even show you these pictures, but I'm packing - so it should look something like this, right?  ;)}

See?  Total chaos.  But it comes with the territory and only last so long.

This weekend had a few highlights.  Travis ran over to Sears and picked up this little Devil Bissell.  It works wonders.  There were a few spots on the carpet that needed cleaning before handing in our keys to the apartment on Friday, and this thing really stepped up to the plate.  The best thing about it?

{source}

 Travis loves to use it!  Ha!  I'm not kidding either.  He was all about going around the apartment looking for stains, even leftover stains from the previous tenants.  Love it.  Guess who will be going around spot cleaning the carpet in the house once we move in (if need be)?  You betchya!

{don't mind the mess of stuff lined up on the bench - it's all items that have been piling up to be donated}

Last night we hopped in the car around 9 pm to do a drive-by.  (And to lull a very fussy Callan to sleep.  At least that was our excuse.)  Yes, we are stalkers.  We've driven by "our house", like, half a dozen times over the past few days.  It is OUR house, after all, right?  And guess what we saw for the first time as we drove by?  A big ol' SOLD on the realty sign out front.  OH YEA.  We practically high-fived each other as we not so discretely U-turned just to see that sweet four letter word one more time.  We even entertained the idea of hopping out of the car to take a picture - but we'll wait for daylight...and for the sellers to not still be inside working on last minute packing.  But we're not excited.  I promise.  ;)

Oh, and how about a humble brag.  (You saw the most recent episode of NCIS LA, didn't you?)  Anyways, last night as I scrolled through my blog reading list, I noticed that I was featured on Blessed Little Nest.  That's right me and my tiny little, 9 followers (now 13!!) blog.  I was stunned and honored...and found myself grinning from ear to ear as I read Heather's kind words about my wonky little felt house project.  Totally made my night and I went to bed feeling pretty darn happy.  :)

Today is going to be quite busy.  We have our final walk-through at the house, and then we'll be heading over to the realtor's office to sign the last of the paperwork.  (Woo!)  Once we get the keys, we have plans to clean the house to our my standards, and hopefully get a few existing red walls primed, as well as move as many boxes from apartment to house in our two cars as we can.  Those are some pretty high expectations with a three and a half month old, so we'll see what actually gets done.

I hope your Monday is as productive as I'm praying ours is!  Off to become a homeowner!  Woooo!!!

bows and flowers

 Who doesn't love bows and flowers?  Especially handmade ones.  The other day I tried my hand at these little beauties.  The bow is made from a magazine page and the bow, from some fabric I had laying around.  Don't mind the purple marker of the flower edges - it has since faded (air/water soluble marker).  They turned out cute, right?  I'm not quite sure what to do with my new bow making ability, but come Christmas time, I'm sure I'll revisit this skill.  As for the flower - I'm so in love.  I've already made a few more and have a project underway.  (You'll probably see it on here sometime next week.)

To make these fun little adornments, I followed this tutorial for the bow, and this one for the flower.  You know you want to go make some of your own.  Like, now.

We'll be spending the majority of our weekend packing.  We close on the house on Monday!  The moving truck is rented for Tuesday - exciting stuff!  Hope your weekend is full of fun (and maybe a few bows and flowers)!

a little bit of ruffle

I've had fabric sitting around for months just waiting for me to get my hands on it to use it for something beautiful.  Pillows.  That was the plan.  Over the weekend, I had a little free time while Callan napped and Travis graciously took on baby doodie duty, so I got to sewing.

I haven't made throw pillows in quite some time, so I referenced this tutorial, and this one, to gain some confidence and general understanding of constructing ruffles and an envelope opening.  I used $4/yard fabric and more of the antique linen fabric (tablecloth) that my grandmother had passed down to me.  (You can see how I used more of this antique linen in this post.)  My grandma never intended for me to use the antique linens as actual table linens, but to reuse them creatively.  I love that I was able to incorporate something of my great grandmother's in a creative way into my home.

Here's what I love about the pillows (aside from the way they look):

1   I was able to incorporate my great grandmother's table linens.

2   The contrast between the dark, masculine leather sofa and the soft, femininity of the pillows

3   My husband is man enough to let me have ruffle pillows in the living room.  

Props, babe.  Props.

I love all three of the pillows that I made over the weekend, but my heart totally skips a beat for those striped ruffle pillows. 

{inspired by charm}

A while ago I stumbled upon Michael's blog, "inspired by charm".  He is an incredibly creative and talented individual, not to mention inspiring.  I just love seeing an update from him in my reading list.  He's been working on collecting fabric from his readers over the past few months to put together his very first quilt.  I know how difficult and expensive it can get trying to gather enough fabric for a quilt, especially if you want every square to be unique.  I think his idea to ask his readers for help was pure genius.  Who doesn't have fabric scraps laying around anyways?  So many people have contributed, including myself, and he's well on his way to having enough squares for what is sure to be an original beauty.  

Check out Michael's latest post where, if you scroll down to the very end, you can see the fabric I sent him!  I'm so happy he likes the "scraps" that I sent his way.  Is it weird to be so excited for someone else's project progress?  Nah...  Seriously, though.  I can't wait to see his quilt finished in all it's glory.

changing the sheets

 Monday is bed linen and towel washing day at our place.  What does sheet washing day look like at your place?  It looks a lot like this at mine...

Callan lies on the bed (don't worry, he's not rolling over just yet...but he's getting close!) and Ellie joins him, with her penguin, while I quickly toss the sheets in the wash.

While the sheets are washing, and the blanket is waiting it's turn, Ellie snuggles up.  Spoiled little mutt.

What's better than sliding into clean sheets after a long day?  Not a whole lot.  Yum!

house in a hoop

Happy long weekend (President's Day), everyone!  Aren't 3-day weekends something wonderful?  We've been enjoying our weekend so far.  It has been full of sewing, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and quality family time.  I love having my hubby home for an extra day.  It makes the following weekend seem not so far off.  I hope you enjoy your Monday!  We plan to spend the day lounging and getting this place organized and ready for packing.

But before you run off, here's a fun project I came across and wanted to share with you.

Quite a while ago I spied this tutorial and thought it was the cutest little project.

 

You should click on over and check out Melissa's etsy shop and blog.  She is one talented lady!  Just look at some of the items in her shop...  Impressive, right?!

I had to make one of the felt houses in a hoop.  I just had to.  ;)  So I downloaded the patterns (and slightly enlarged them), cut my felt, inserted a piece of antique linen (passed down to me from my grandma; the linen was my great grandmother's) into the hoop, laid out my felt shapes, stitched all the pieces to the linen, and then added a little personal touch.  Whew!  Playing with the felt kind of reminded me of old-school Sunday school felt boards.  Remember them?  

{source}

Anyways...

Recall the empty hoop that you saw hanging on the wall in this post; it served as a place holder until I could get around to this project.  I'm happy to say that it's finished.  Another project crossed off the project list.  Yay!

It adds a fun splash of color and reflects the pride that we have in purchasing our first house.  Don't mind my wonky little stitches.  I think they add character.

I modified the original house a bit by nixing the dormer and shortening the roof to better reflect the ranch style house we bought.  I think it turned out cute, though.  Whaddya think?

Have a lovely Monday!

my version

Book page wreaths are like snowflakes.  No two look alike.  All are beautiful.

{top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right}

Of course book page wreaths aren't anything new - they've been floating around blogland for quite some time.  There are many versions.  It was created, and it's been recreated.

I tend to save my Pottery Barn catalogs.  The goods inside are just too pretty to throw out, and recycling doesn't exist in our complex, so I feel bad tossing them in the dumpster.  I had at least a dozen PB catalogs stacked up, and a few months ago I finally figured out what to do with them - and no, I didn't get rid of them - I reused them!   Needless to say, this was a project that had been set aside for some time.  I needed a good couple of hours to start and finish this project, so I was glad when Callan went to bed early the other night and then took a good long nap yesterday morning because I have been able to check my version of a book page wreath off of my project list.  Happy me!

What I love most about the way my wreath turned out is that it reminds me of a dahlia!  Dahlias are simply gorgeous and I love that my wreath reflects their beautiful form.  How lovely would it be to make a wreath out of nothing but shades of pink - from tutu pink to fuchsia!  Hmm... if I could find enough pink paper, I might just have to add that to my list.  That would be such a fun way to welcome Spring!

{white dahlia, pink dahlia}

I don't think I could be any happier with the way this wreath turned out.  I love the texture...and the interest it adds to the room.  Have you made a book page wreath?  Share the link if you have - I'd love to see your version!

Wishing you a fun filled weekend!

birthday headband

 Holy closeup!

 

Anyways, how cute is this headband/ear warmer that my mother-in-law made and sent to me for my birthday?!  I have admired headbands of the like when I saw them here and here, but never thought I could pull it off.  But now that I have one of my own, I'm definitely going to try!

 A huge thank you to my mother-in-law for such a thoughtful gift!

And if you're wondering what the hubby got me for my birthday, he didn't get me anything.  Well, not for my birthday per se.  He bought me (us) a house.  That covers a lot of birthdays; and Christmases.  Along with the house comes paint and molding and flowers and new appliances and...yeah...  The list goes on and on and...  You get the picture.  Thank you, Travis, for being an amazing husband and provider for our family.  Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to get us into a home of our very own, and for the most meaningful "birthday present" I've ever been given.  A gift of security, comfort, and pride.   I can't wait to start this next chapter of our lives together as homeowners! 

yesterday...

...was lovely.  I woke up to a sweet card from my hubby on my nightstand.  

Callan took a wonderful 2+ hour morning nap which gave me the time to shower AND finish a project that I had started the night before (I'll share this project with you tomorrow!)  And Travis left work at 11:30 am, so we got to spend the rest of the day together.  The three of us grabbed lunch at a local sandwich shop before meeting our realtor, at 1 pm, at the house that we are buying (yaay!) to be present for the inspections.  I'm happy to report that all went well and the house buying process is moving along.  It's possible that we will close on the house before the end of the month!  I can't wait to share pictures.  After the inspection, we came home to relax for a bit, then headed out to do some grocery shopping.  We honestly hadn't been serious grocery shopping in like a month.  Crazy.  For dinner, we headed out to try a new Mexican restaurant.  New to us, not new to Enid.  Dinner was pretty tasty, but the best part was being with my boys.  

After dinner we wandered around Lowe's drooling over things like front doors, lighting fixtures, and wood flooring.  We ended the night by snuggling up on the sofa watching "Life As We Know It" and savoring a little Caramel Macciato ice cream.  Yum.  Perfect ending to my first day as a 31 year old. 

this ice cream is serious goodness in a cardboard carton

 Thank you, girls, for the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday - I felt so loved!  :)

it's...

...my birthday!  Off to enjoy my first day as a 31 year old!  (Yikes!)

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{headband swap}

Who doesn't love getting "happy mail"?  It was such a nice surprise to come home from NJ and find a sweet little package waiting for me.  A few weeks ago, I took part in a headband swap hosted by Danielle over at Take Heart.  Danielle is so fun and full of lovely inspiration.  I got paired up with Tamara from Just us {3}.  If you want to read about the headband I sent her, just click here.  Without this swap, I may not have come across Tamara's blog.  I'm so glad we have been "introduced"!

 It was like Christmas.  I tore into my package like a little kid on Christmas morning, taking pictures along the way, of course.  And my findings were truly sweet.

Tamara didn't just send me one handband, but FIVE.  She was so sweet to take different events into consideration.  She even sent one with Valentine's Day in mind. 

This headband swap was so fun and such a good idea!  I'm so happy that I got involved!  And I made a new friend, to boot!  Thanks, Tamara, for the lovely headbands;  I've worn several of them already :)

my happy little valentine

 Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope your day is full of LOVE!