First Step to Spring Weather Style

Wasn't it groundhog day, the other day? Between both boys having the flu and a heavy workload, I'm seriously lost as to what day it is. Anyhow, found out the ole' hairy thing has determined spring is near.

Stores are filling up with pastels and all shades of green. Flowered leggings and yes, bikini's are all on display. Target and every other store has their winter items on ridic clearance and summer sandals buy one get one half off. How could my thoughts not be on spring?

First step to spring weather dressing - trade the heavy winter scarves for lightweight, floral scarves.

Yes, the braid is back! I'm lovin' it. And, I'm loving this jaded green, tunic-style blouse. But....it had static,  no matter what I sprayed or rubbed on it! What do you ladies do to stop static on "silk" clothing? help!

Back to the scarf....and all the spring time awesomeness....

I first tried this "braided idea" on a scarf that had been so very neglected. The braid worked like a charm on that old scarf and I love the way it changes up the style of these wrinkly, lightweight scarfs.

It's uber easy to do.

Braid it like hair. I put the scarf on, cross and loop then start the braid. See what works best for you!

I paired it in a my mommy way with black skinnies and flats.
Looking back I think camel colored flats would have looked better...at least I got out the house that day.

Just a week ago I wore the same top for a very last minute night out. It was clean and had more color than the white t-shirt I had been rocking.  I wore the same jeans I had worn all day, they most likely smelled like dog or toddler food or trash. But, when you're graciously offered a night out with your hunky man and friends happen to be around the block -doing what friends do...you quickly get out of sight.

So I cuffed the jeans, threw on those Nine West wedges, and random pieces of jewelry. In route, I touched up the powder, layered on mascara and some stilla lip gloss. Voila, she's ready! hand her a drink ;)
two shots from the night...

So tell me, whats the trick for getting rid of static? Are you ready for spring?
........and, will you be trying the braided scarf idea?



and now, a letter to Mr. Flu,
good bye, good ridden flu bug. you sucked big ones. please don't ever come around again. you were mean and ugly and ruined some of our plans. it seems you're still lingering in the form of nasty congestion but at least the worst part of you is gone. we can now resume our normal lives, kleenex in hand.




Linking with Random Wednesdays, WIWW, Style Sessions, Walkabout Wednesday, Work It Wednesday

Christmas Wreathe {Poinsettia} Tutorial

Easy Christmas wreathe of felt and yarn.
And lots of hot glue with the option to sew instead!

This wreathe was fun and easy to make.
Each flower was made in a different way.
The two large flowers were created with hot glue and the smaller was sewn together.
Have fun with this project and see which way is best for you!

It was hard to stop and take pictures while making this Christmas Poinsettia Wreathe, so I collaged together what pictures I managed to take.

Basically, my oldest son and I free-handed the petal shapes.
Our largest petals are ~4 inches long, the medium ~3 inches long, and the small ~2 inches.
I've seen some tutorials that suggest cutting rectangles at these lengths then rounding edges to petal shapes.
We just winged it! These kind of projects are sometimes more fun this way. Other times, not so much.
We lucked out. My son and I finished this in one hour.

Wrap the wreathe once with yarn, tie knot, then secure with dot of glue. Spend 30 minutes wrapping the wreathe with yarn, finish the same way you started, securing knot with glue. This area will be covered with your grouping of poinsettia's.

For the "hot glued" poinsettia's, we pinched/glued each petal at the base, alternating petal sizes and glueing them together. Once the circle of petals was full enough and completed, we then snagged 3 wired berries from the embellishment and forced the wires through the center. This covered all the hot glue, made the poinsettia much more pretty and gave us something to help secure the flower to the wreathe form.

For the small flower sewn together...we layed alternating sized petals in a row, then simply ran one knotted thread through each petal and pulled it tight, securing with a knot! This method was uber easy!

Super easy wreathe to make with the classic colors of Christmas.
Hope you try making this poinsettia wreathe for your home or as a great holiday gift!

We played with the idea of hanging it inside, over our curtains, we tried hanging it outside, since our front porch is covered. But in the end, we choose to be "normal" and just hang it on the front door!

Share with me what Christmas decorations you've made for your home!
Are you ever inspired to create your own design? 
Ever "wing" it and ignore the directions?





I've linked with Tutu's and Teaparties - Pinteresting Party and Serenity Now - Weekend Bloggy Reading
as well as ILYMTC for another round of Hey That's Pintastic!

A Tinkle. A Shower...and a DIY'errrr

This past weekend was filled with family, holiday parades, and one adorable baby shower.
That baby shower gave me, yet another, reason to whip out my beloved, hot glue gun.

Her shower was a time filled laughter, tears, silly games of course and beaucoup gifts!
This momma was feeling the love. Beautiful venue, beautiful friends, beautiful baby bump!

Gift Registries are a God sent.
I purchased items she had selected for all things travel...car rides, shopping trips and restaurants. Once they were packed neatly and wrapped. I moved on to the gift topper.

First tho, did you know Hallmark sells wrapping paper that acts like contact paper?! Hello, easy!
Look for this stuff and snatch it up. I highly recommend it!

Secondly, my girls always give me a "rap" about my gift presentation. I can't resist.
Sometimes it's epic, most times it's not.

If it's a bachlorette party expect your gift wrapped in lace and hazard tape, if it's my Papa's birthday he expects a 3-tier cake of, none other than, Coors Light stacked and wrapped in bows.
For baby showers, expect anything from silver rattles to car seat toys, paci's and rosettes as a gift topper or maybe the gift itself will be wrapped in a fuzzy blanket.

Back to this gift topper, I used felt and burlap. Buttons too.
All of this, became the gift topper instead of the standard bow.
Cutting circles from felt and using dots of glue, I created rosettes and a button, burlap flower.
Each, was then grouped in a pleasing way and hot glued to a large felt square.
(speaking of girl friends...me and that glue gun go back years, maybe even decades)

It's also a wonderful keepsake for the mother.
A piece that can easily be framed in the child's room or set on top a stack of books.
If the gift is for a girl be sure to include a head band or knit hat so mom also has the option to attach the rosettes to hairpieces for later use!

I always try to be creative with gift wrapping. It's another way to continue the gift giving.
Giving is fun, I'm always looking for ways to add just one more gift to the package.

Now for the tinkle.

Whats a "tinkle"? It's a party for the second baby! 

A great way to help mom stack up on necessities like diapers and wipes.

Here's a variation of the typical diaper cake, inspired by Pinterest, sometime last summer.
The only photo I took was via Iphone, sorry for the poor quality.

How cute is that bundle of diapers?!

A knock off of the "storks delivery".

This gift holds two in one.
Find a nice blanket and fold it longways
into thirds then roll up diapers
(I used varying sizes) and stack.
Start at the center and build. As your stack grows bring sides of blanket up to wrap and hold the form of a bundle. Once you finish simply tie off with ribbons and streamers!

Think of other goodies that could go in the bundle ie: burp clothes, bibs, onsies, and other receiving blankets.


Easy DIY. Easy "Tinkle" Gift.




Have you heard of a "Tinkle"?
Keep it in mind, it's a perfect way to celebrate the second baby and help mom stock up on diapers, etc.

And what about those oh,so famous rosettes?
Any tips to making them big and beautiful?

Creating Printables

Considering I'm pretty much restricted to couch or bed this week, 
I figured today was a good day to try my hand at creating printables. 

I'm in love with the free printables that buzz around Pinterest and I've been determined to collect a few and give it a try.

I visited a couple sites that offered 8x10 freebies...downloaded them, then uploaded to PicMonkey....and went for it!

1// summary of me and hubbys years together...pretty bland, but a good start, I'm a 1st timer!

2// why couldn't I come up with 20 ??? I did, but ran out of space! womp,womp!

3// I love this one. It's a framer!  I'll def print this for my sons room.

Too cute, right?!  I figure it's an A for effort!!!
If you'd like these blank printables Design House Digital has a great selection and some are free!

I'm linking up with Serenity Now, I would insist that you join us in this weekend link up but some may find that rude...so I'll suggest that you skip over to Serenity Now, now!

Have any of you been successful at creating printables? Want to share some of the secrets with me?!! 

Pumpkin decorations, carving kit NOT needed!

My solution to pumpkin decorations

without having to use a carving kit.

SHARPIE MARKER & SHARPIE PEN

PUMPKINS

Pumpkin decorations have been flying around Pinterest for weeks and local retail stores have Christmas displays on their main isles....calm down retailers!! Holy Holiday, one at a time, please!

Our front porch...the one with a few half dead mums and a couple of plain pumpkins needed some *life! And my solution was sooooo simple. 




This past weekend we took off to the pumpkin patch to hunt down a select 359 pumpkins to decorate! Ok, it wasn't really 359 pumpkins it was only 15 but  hubby the man who had to carry them all would probably argue it was 359.

Now, really, it's too early to carve these beautiful Orange Balls. 
So we decided to {keep it simple} and get creative with Sharpie Markers and Pens. 
You can easily create art on your pumpkin -freehand or print-out fonts and trace!

If you're wondering "what if it rains" I've got you covered, it's been tested by 2 days of repeated rainfall. Nothing happens. No smearing, no disappearing.

Once you see how easy and fun this project is, you'll keep searching for more possibilities! Like, flower pots....

And in the days closer to Halloween, when all the ghouls and ghosts come out to play, we'll carve our pumpkins and light the porch to keep them away! But for now we'll admire these beauties.

Do your neighbors a favor. Get the kids involved. Decorate one side of your pumpkin and when Halloween nears carve the other side! 

I mean, really, who wants a rotting pumpkin on their front porch?

Like this idea? Be sure to do it and Pin It!

Homemade Peanut Butter, just ONE ingredient

My family uses peanut butter daily. 

We spread it on toast with sliced banana's, dip celery and apples in it,
make PB&J sandwiches
and add it to our smoothies for a protein boost. 

I've bought JIF for years and I've tried the more expensive, organic kind but could never "stir" it enough.

So in an effort to save a dollar and be more healthy - I decided to take a "spin" at making my own.

What you need

1 lb. peanuts

Food processor

5 minutes

divide your pound of peanuts in half. You'll want to blend about 2 cups at a time