Jewelry Display

I have amassed collected a good amount of costume jewelry which doesn't fit into my jewelry box and tends to apparently have fights with my other more delicate necklaces. The other problem I was facing was having to go on a treasure hunt for the matching earrings. What is a crafty girl that has just moved to do? Well I unearthed the two message boards that were taken down prior to putting our house on the market. I recovered these and now have my very own botique jewelry display. I am going to hang both of these in my closet. I wish that this would allow me to always be accessorized but this is pushing it these days.

This was a a relatively simple project. Message boards can be found all over, I have seen them at many a goodwill / garage sale. I actually purchased two at a garage sale ($5 for both). I love the natural look of the linen and stamped a dragonfly on each. Besides the red truck (which I do have a stamp of) dragonflies are my signature. We decorated my daughters room in dragonflies and my first mother's day gift was a dragonfly pendant. All I needed was the two message boards, about a 1 1/2 yards of Linen and one package of quilt batting. You will also need scissors, staple gun, and T-pins. 1) Place the message board on top of the batting and cut out the shape leaving about a 3" boarder around it. Leave the board ontop of the batting.

2) Stretch the batting over the edge and place a staple in the center of each side pull nice and tight, then move on to the corners. To make the corners smooth cut at an angle from the corner of the batting to the corner of the board, then cut again from the side edge to the corner of the board, removing a triangular section.

3)Once done fold, the side over and staple, fold the top corner at an angle and staple leaving you with a smooth edge.

4)Staple the remaining edges. Repeat with your choice of fabric.

This could be done on a piece of MDF, or even cardboard. I wanted the extra plush of the batting to sink the T pin into in. The T pins can be purchased at most craft stores and even at office supply stores. Happy Crafting everyone!

Paint Colors

What always seems like so exciting and enjoyable can quickly become overwhelming. Paint colors can totally become an obsessions. . . .I think I walked around with about 30 paint chips in my purse for the last 2 weeks! So here are some of the finalists.

Windy Blue Sherwin Williams SW6240

Macadamia Sherwin Williams SW6142

Of course my daughter really wanted to pick her own colors. It still totally confuses her little 8 year old head as to why her mother didn't paint her bedroom pink before she was born. She doesn't understand that in the womb she was just as stubborn as she is now and wouldn't cooperate and let us see she was a girl. So we did eventually did find out she was a girl but of course after I had picked out blue, green and dragonflies and lady bugs for a theme! :-)

Here is her choice:

Panache Pink by Sherwin Williams SW6848 I got some inspiration by the model home here in our neighbor hood but my daughter pinked the pink all by herself. We comprised a bit and I am painting one wall this color and the other walls a very diluted custom shade.

Here is a picture of her previous room.

Great way to create a keepsake.

A friend of mine asked me to make a garter for her wedding out of the lace from her Mom's wedding veil. I wished I had taken a picture of the veil, it was cathedral length and had 3" lace bordering the entire veil. It was very pretty. After making the garter we had a lot of lace leftover. The bride wasn't sure what to do with the remainder of the lace. I asked if I could do something for her. I made 5 pillow cases and a couple small pillows out of the lace from the veil, wonderfully soft broadcloth and vintage buttons.

The bride was able to keep a few pillows for herself and give some to her sister and Mom. It ended up being a great way to keep something so special in the family. Hope it inspires some of you to do the same.

During this process of making the pillowcases, my Mom taught me a great easy way to make the pillows. I am hoping to share the instructions in a post soon!

What the wind brought to Nashville.

We arrived in Nashville among the floods and tornado warnings. Yes you read that right. On Monday Feb. 28th we were among the crazy drivers heading west into the tornadoes and torrential rains. It took us over 8 hours to drive from Knoxville TN to Nashville.

We closed on the house on March 1st despite some last minute closing hiccups.

Let me forewarn those of you entering into the real estate market soon . . .it is crazy stressful. All the years of being extremely lenient has now made all parties involved overly cautious. Even one blemish on your credit and it is a show stopper. So all those financial guys saying to pay attention to your credit score and what is on it are so correct! Also realize you must have all papers ready . . .and I mean ALL. If you have pages 1 - 8 and 4 of them are blank they still need all 8!

I promise to post some pictures soon. As you can imagine moving 600+ miles away with two small kids is overwhelming stressful. I am so happy to report that both my kids are doing great and we have some sweet friends who have made the transition very sweet!

We have met two of our neighbors and hopeful once all the rain lets up we will meet more. I do absolutely love my house which is slowly feeling like home. The first two nights here I kept thinking someone was going to kick me out in the morning and tell me to go home. I still feel like a visitor most of the time but now that I am able to start unpacking my craft room it is starting to feel a little more real.

Here are a few pictures of just some of the many things I love about this house. I promise to start posting more pictures soon as we have made some color decisions! The first was easy . .my 8 year old daughter wants a pink room! :-)
We had a very modest master bedroom in Richmond but now we have a very large one with a sitting room no less! I have no idea what I am going to do with the space.

Love the LIGHT!!! I snapped this photo of the hallway. I love the light and the arch above. I am standing in the family room area looking out to the front door.

The VIEW. I still can't believe the view we have from both the front and back of the house. The above photo doesn't do it justice so I promise to post more.

Saying Goodbye and moving on!

This past week as we prepare to make our move to Nashville TN I have been on a rollar coaster of emotions. If you could hug a house I would. I realized this week how much I put into my house both literally and figuratively! :-) Yes I look forward to starting over in a new home and the home we have the fortune and opportunity to purchase is wonderful. But this is the home where I brought my babies home to. This is the home I have laughed, cried, mourned, held celebrations, dinners made so many memories in. It is near impossible to picture another family here doing the same thing.
I also want to warn those entering the real estate market to be careful. We had to major hiccups that I truly thought were going to make every hair on my head turn gray! Two areas to watch out for; Appraisers and Banks. We had the unfortunate luck of getting a highly incompetent appraiser. You might think well no big deal you request a different one. Yeah one would think in a fair and just world this would be true but no it isn't. Secondly banks can do almost anything they want to like pulling a loan out from under you at the last minute! :-)
I plan on keeping everyone up to date on our progress but it might take a little while. Hope every one is eagerly awaiting spring as much as I am.

New Home!!!

Well our 4 + month wait to sell our home finally paid off. We are under contract and boy does it feel good (most of the time). I don't remember another time in my life when my emotions were on a roller coaster, not even during my two pregnancies!

If all goes well we close on our existing house at the end of February and make our way to Brentwood TN closing on our new home on March 1st. Yes I said new home! We are very blessed to have everything fall into place so wonderfully. God is so in the details as I am very fully aware that this was not done of my own will.

Here are some pictures of our new home. I am so excited to share these and hope that this year i will be able to share with all of you my decorating journey!

Soon it will be what color, fabric should I use! I can't wait for that. Right now though I am overwhelmed with all the things that I will need to accomplish before the 25th. But if you have any color recommendations please post them. I have tried a variety of greens by digitally covering the areas on my computer but can't seem to come up with a color that really speaks to me for the kitchen/great room!

I do have a few crafts/DIY items to post before boxing up this house so stay tuned!

Can you guess what this is made from?

I have had numerous comments on the way I display my holiday cards. I LOVE mail. I mean I even can detect the sound of the mail truck before it reaches my neighborhood. So needless to say I really enjoy getting all the holiday cards in the mail. It seems such a shame to me to put them in a basket, or a pile somewhere. I am not sure exactly where I got this idea but here is a picture of how I display my cards.

If you guessed a tomato cage you were right. I spray painted the cage white and turned it upside down. I put felt pads used for furniture and other objects on the bottom to not scratch my hardwood floor. I twisted the top portion together and secure with some floral wire. I glued some ribbons using a hot glue gun into the larger wooden bowl found at the craft store (which I had painted and glittered) and then glued the small bowl on top (actually the bottom of the bowl). This went on top of the "tree". Then using a variety of ribbons, I lost count at how many rolls, I tied all the ribbons around the rings of the "tree". This way I could have the tree out without it looking plain. I use small wooden clothes pins to attach the cards as I receive them to the ribbons and the tree itself.

Having two children born both in February I usually keep it out to display their birthday cards too.

By the way it is really hard to find tomato cages in the dead of winter. I did manage to find them at a local Southern States store. So if you get the urge to create this you might wait until the spring!