i like big lamps & i cannot lie.

oh poor, sad craft blog. i'm sorry to say you've once again been sacrificed at the feet of raising these three precious wild littles of mine. & we found out a few months ago that one more is coming! suddenly, a year has come & gone & so much crafting has been left undocumented.

so here i am, sitting during the 30 minute window i have left of naps, blogging on my smart phone. #thisismotherhood

blogging on smart phones, of course, means terrible cellphone pics of quickly-attempted photo staging... what a crime in the pinterest age! gotta work on that.

i'm just going to just pretend i haven't been off the blog grid for nearly a year & pick right back up with this incredible lamp i found today. thrifting/reselling/yardsale-ing is big here in this still-new town of ours & stuff goes cheap. sometimes an impulse buy is a good thing when it's a huge, gorgeous, creamy white ceramic lamp. on half off day at a local church's tag sale. for ten bucks.

like this one.

combine it with my huge $3 goodwill lampshade that i re-covered in green damask forever ago, & i think we have a winner for that little spot that used to have a floor lamp until we re-arranged (again). i never imagined there could be a table lamp big enough to make that lampshade look almost too small!

look how much cozy it adds to that corner. love it.

i'm grateful for a husband who doesn't give me (too much) grief about another lamp in the house. when we got married, i think we had one pitifully sad little cheap dorm room walmart-style floor lamp by the couch & one little table lamp in one of the bedrooms that my mom bought one time she stayed with us (because she knew).

 we've recently dismantled the guest room upstairs & the 2 lamps now sitting on the floor that were formerly on bedside tables admittedly make the room feel a bit like a lamp graveyard.

but i'm happy with my new ceramic lovely. if i hadn't snapped her up when i did, i'd have been regretting it all day!

upcycled napkin rings!

it's rare that i ever find an 'upcycled' project made from toilet paper rolls that i actually want to make... there just seems something weird about using toilet paper rolls to make something you'd keep & use in your house.  but when i saw these 2 ideas on pinterest, they were the first i think i've ever seen that i'd consider really making!

toilet paper rolls embellished with raffia & shells/seeds/paper leaves/etc to make napkin holder rings!

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i guess i could use paper towel rolls if that made me feel better about it. but how cute would these be for a thanksgiving table? & the best part is they're recycled, nearly free, & you don't have to worry about them lasting forever. [if you do want them to last longer, i'm sure a cute wood or plastic set would work. i just recently saw cute brassy ones at the thrift store too!] but i like the look of the cardboard paper showing through.

what do you think...would you decorate your fall table with toilet paper rolls? hah!

a story of three little faces...

i've had a bit of unintentional silence for awhile here on the blog & also survived a lesson learned in staying updated on recording my projects here & backing up my photos...

the first reason for getting backed up was this little face, baby gunnar, who joined our wild crew on march 12th. 

he's now 4 months old & i'm just starting to truly feel like i'm coming up for air!

this little face was thrilled to welcome him in her handmade-by-mama stenciled shirt:

& this little face, my wild monkey who is just entering some terrible twos, decided to dunk mommy's cellphone in a glass of water like a cookie & all of the project photos on it are gone.

trickster that he is.

so instead of detailed tutorials & surprising before & afters, i have just a few scrapped together updates with the handful of photos i had saved in other places of all the crafty escapades i've been up to for the past several months. 

live & learn i guess. back up those photos & never underestimate the destructive power of an inquisitive toddler! being a family of 5 is happy chaos for sure!

anthro-inspired necklaces!

these days i find myself in need of some jewelry to spruce up/outfit-ify the post-baby-whatever-fits look i have going- with some bead excess to burn & some anthropologie to inspire, i went for it!

since i started out my business-y crafting a few years ago with handmade jewelry i have a hard time giving myself 'permission' to buy new jewelry when i could hypothetically make it myself. normally i try not to directly copy another person's designs, but i figured using my own beads i had on hand would personalize these necklaces a bit & i've just had to face it that i'll never be buying originals from a store that charges a couple of hundred bucks per necklace. sorry, anthro. so here's what i came up with!

the inspiration:
[anthro's pernilla]
my version:

here are two others i really liked - i have some similar beads that i think i could make something cute with!

coral just always says spring to me. i don't think you can beat jeans, a plain white tee & a pop of coral somewhere!
happy spring!

new town, new thrift!

i mentioned that we moved to a completely new town back in october... one of the great things about small town living is checking out the new small business thrift places in the area! it's also been my fun escape from the stress of so much new [& anytime i get a little mommy-break in the afternoon] to wander & check out the local cool junk. i'm sure they thought i was casing the joint, walking around taking pictures with my cellphone, but i was armed & ready with the explanation that i''m a local blogger, new to town, & eager to share all their beauties with my readership! hopefully they can't argue with that. [truly, i think no one noticed/cared.

here are some of the fun stuff i've come across & had a hard time not bringing home with me:

this little chair is just the perfect shade of mustard. i keep going back to visit it... it's $70 which is not too terrible considering the perfect condition of the upholstery, but i can't quite pull the trigger. i do love it though, & it would be perfect for my little living room desk.

 i loved these hook racks, but for the price i think i'll have to diy- it looks like they are old cabinet doors painted pretty colors with big beautiful coat hooks. i actually already have something similar started for our little hallway that i'm trying to make into a mudroom of sorts. but i loved the colors of these & the 3rd one has burlap added! pretty.

one of my favorite parts about a place with multiple booths is seeing how many different styles of display there are- & i especially like seeing creatively upcycled ideas! this booth had an old rake handle hung upside down holding wine glass stems. so pretty! i think if i did something similar i'd use it for big chunky necklaces instead, but with the glasses it would be a cool touch to a farmhouse/industrial kitchen wall.

 here's one that did come home with me! i'd written about how much i loved that scrolly ikea mirror that everybody's doing such cool things with, so when i found this awesome similar one for only $18 bucks, it had to come home with me. i'm already in the process of spray painting it my favorite green & i think i might hang it in the dining room- we may possibly re-do K's room in a paris theme when she gets a little bigger, in which case we'll move it over to hers.

 if i was going to do a whole mirror wall like this awesome one, i'd have picked up this beauty too! i actually did text the photo to a friend to see if her little girl's room needed it.

i also did buy this little set of 4 vintage clothespins for $1. i saw an adorable nativity ornament on pinterest that i'd like to make with them... & the price was right!

i very closely considered buying this little guy for toilet paper/extras storage in our little master bathroom corner, but hesitated because i didn't love love it & then it was gone. 

 thankfully, the one i did really love was this chippy off white iron one... i stalked it for a few weeks, & when i thought it was gone, i was sad. then i looked up & realized they had just moved it to a hanging spot from the ceiling! it even had gone on sale for just $15 & i snapped it up! i didn't get a photo of it in the store, but here it is hard at work storing our bathroom toiletries:

there was one booth in particular that had more obviously handmade stuff. i ended up accidentally running into the owner one day & got to meet her! i especially loved her burlap webbing & glitter chipboard letter banners [this one was back at  thanksgiving] & lots of her stuff since then has been really cool. she's one of the first booths i go look at whenever i visit. always inspiring!

goodwill is farther away [& there's only one in town instead of the 2 we used to have nearby] so i haven't found as many scores there recently, but i do check as often as i'm able. i was laughing last night at how all of my lamps have been from goodwill, & i don't think I've ever paid more than $10 bucks!

what's your favorite recent thrifty score/discovery?

we've got a pinterest kind of love.

my husband laughs a little bit at how much i've... ahem... utilized the very special entity that is pinterest. while i do think it can be a bit of a trap you get stuck in, pinning idea after idea, beautiful visual inspiration ad nauseum, it can also be a great jumping off point for your own ideas. [or a great resource for something you really are at a loss at, like me & cooking!]

well. truthfully, i constantly think of him with many of the ideas i see, & when i found myself pinning about 4  or 5 little ideas for his valentine, i decided this was the year for small & homemade instead of trying to decide what was the best & most affordable gift from his amazon wish list. i think once packaged all together, they turned out sweet, thoughtful, & a little cheesy, just like a valentine should be!

first things first, i saw this card. it can be tough to find a manly valentine card & i really loved it because of the vellum envelope & simplicity. i tweaked it a little by using a kraft notecard i already had and ended up writing the little phrase since i couldn't find my tiny letter stamps at the last minute. also, we just moved so i thought it had a sweet extra meaning- we've had some really cool travels together & i would follow this man to the ends of the earth & he knows it.

original idea seen via swoon

i know the 'i dig you' shovel with candy is a little kiddo-ish, but it immediately made me think of him because it was one of the first things he said to me right before we started dating that indicated he was interested in being more than just friends. the shovel came with a little bucket from the dollar tree [yellow is his favorite color] & i made a simple little shipping tag for it.

the idea is apparently originally from tori spelling's craft blog... who knew, right?

next were some fun little valentine mad libs, idea via a blog appropriately enough called dinner & a love story. we had done some in the car recently & these ones were more like a middle-of-your-busy-life love note- pretty appropriate for us right now. i printed out 2 copies & had one ready that i had filled out & one for him to fill out about me. i packaged them in little glassine envelopes with little kraft labels to indicate who's who & we traded and read them during dinner.

there were a couple of other little things i wanted to add, like cheerwine in a glass bottle, but in the end i added some of his favorite candy & was happy with how it turned out.

 ironically enough, pinterest also played a role in the epic gift he got for me! first off- i'm a strictly target/payless/old navy kind of gal when it comes to shoes. i don't spend much, so i rarely get good quality. i'd been complaining about how i'm wearing out all of my favorite shoes & how few of them fit right now while i'm pregnant, so my sweet husband went straight to my pretty to wear board & saw these awesome yellow nine west stunners:

he even did a little sleuthing to make sure what size i'm currently wearing & look what was waiting for me right after breakfast:

real shoes. foot perfection in butter soft real leather, mustard yellow.

i do so love this guy. happy valentine's day!

heart decorations!

i wrote about all the beautiful valentine images that are inspiring me right now, so here are the ways i incorporated some of them into our decor & celebration this year!

i lost our great big mantle when we moved, so this little crown molding shelf in our dining room is where i do our seasonal decorating. i actually love how clean & simple it turned out for a little valentine love!

 i kept it simple [& cheap!] by using mason jars, paper doilies & some red baker's twine. the foam glitter heart was from hobby lobby with a 40% coupon & the felt hearts were actually christmas decor that i bought super cheap after christmas from target one year!

the dining room window got a little love too with a felt & burlap heart garland that was $2.50 at target this year. i love it!

 it's the kind of thing i definitely could have made, but for $2.50 it was much wiser for me to just buy it & not add another unfinished project to the stack- i'm trying to be better about that. the felt is a little stiff so it keeps  its shape & the 'burlap' is actually unbleached cotton that has a bit of a see through look when hung on the window:

our kitchen chalkboard also got a new verse & i tried out the chalk pen i got for christmas. it will take some practice i'm sure, but we love having scripture right there where we see it all day, every day.

 

what is your favorite thing about love/heart decorations? did you do something unusual this year? i think next year i might try a different color scheme, like this green/orange/teal mantle along with the traditional red & pink:

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