His & Hers: Baby Showers

Ok so I have baby showers on the brain. My girlfriends and I just through an incredible shower for a dear friend! It was so much fun! Ill be posting pictures on that later this week, but for now here's my monday's his and her post....baby shower edition!



His is a Breakfast at Tiffany inspired outdoor shower...how lovely is that!!?? you can read about it on babylifestyles.com

Hers is a brown and pink as girlie as it gets shower with sweet treats galore!! you can read about it on thecakeblog.com

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Baking for Good

Hosting a super bowl party? or maybe you want to send your sweetie a little something sweet this year for valentines day? Baking for Good can help you in that cause as you help them in theirs. Emily, the entrepeneur behind Baking for Good, lives in NYC and is committed to fundraising for great causes through her business. check it out here. and the blog here. She uses local organic ingredients for delicious and unique flavors like carrot cake cookies!!!...and she comes up with incredible designs to fit any occasion!

15% of your purchase goes toward a cause and you can choose from many incredible organizations! Currently, she is featuring CLASP International, a dallas based organization that sends certified speech/language pathologists to Zambia, Africa to train the natives in procedures and treatments to help their children with cleft palate and other communication disorders. you can read more about that here. It's an unbelievable cause and I am blessed to have the opportunity this year to get involved with CLASP!

I'm truley inspired by Emily and her willingness to share her talents and passion for baking to help others! What {or who} has been the source of your inspiration lately?

 Hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend! Happy Saturday everyone!

Get Crafty with Felt Pouches

You will be proud of me. I know you will...because I've expanded my felt repetiore from ornaments and napkin rings onto much bigger and better things like felt pouches. see...
 

flower pouch



button pouch
I'm not finished with this one...i havent stitched it yet or put the button on.




but this is what it looks like when you unbotton it and lift the flap!
It's like a surprise party!



Glass of merlot!



I've been meaning to add the word 'cheers' on it but i havent yet

more flowers. this one's a little bigger!

with a velcro closure

hoot hoot! this little guy's my fave!



isn't he cute!


That cool embossed felt is from Michaels. they have all sorts of great patterns and colors by the sheet. I like using them for these pouches because they are more sturdy than the regular felt....and they add some texture!

And, In case you were wondering how to make these glorious little pouches, no worries because they are super duper easy! I just cut the felt to size (whatever size you want), folded it in half and used embroidery thread and stitched the sides together by hand. For the larger pouch I used a whole sheet of felt and just folded it in thirds and stitched. no cutting involved! well, except the one shown is has an envelope flap. I had to cut that. but i made another one that is just straight across. see...easy!  I added some self adhesive velcro squares for the closure on some of them. And then just personalize it by adding whatever little design you want.  I guess you could put receipts, chapstick, compact, keys or anything else that'll fit to help keep your purse organized. I really would like to make some and add a zipper...that would be more practical.

I also made a cell phone holder that I use all the time (kinda dorky, yes! but i love it...). I can't seem to find the pictures I took of that right now so Ill have to post them when I find them later....or take more. 

oh! and I found this great black and white houndstooth felt at Hancock Fabric! I cant wait to make some things with this! I was just playing around and made these little bow clips.



I've been thinking of other designs I could put on the pouches and so far my list consists of:
moustache
bird
tea/coffee cup
cupcake

any more suggestions???

Dreaming in Black & White

I'm not much of a black and white person...most things in my life are seen as shades of gray. But I'm loving the black and white stripes lately...I can't tell you where this inspiration has come from, but I can tell you that I received this bag (so darn cute!) as a gift and think this could be the source of my dreaming in black and white...stripes!

speaking of bags, this black and white chevron tote has me drooling...

And these black & white design elements have taken a hold of me and won't let go!



floors



kitchen walls

shower curtain

rug

bedroom walls

entryway walls

love love LOVE the chevron curtains with the stripey walls! {sigh}

ok so not black and white stripes, but close enough!

 What colors have you been dreaming in lately?

A Story of Redemption...about a desk...found on the side of the road

The story you are about to read is literally a dream come true. It's one of adventure, redemption and fate...okay, maybe you're thinking I'm going a little overboard with this...afterall, it's about a desk... but to me it really is just THAT great!

Here it goes...

So I have been wanting to turn our guest bedroom into a space for me to craft and do school work...you know like a guest room/office/craft room. However, since I kind of take charge of decorating the rest of the house (which I try to make sure the hubs has a say in and opinion about most of it, but it doesn't always work out that way), Tom insisted on having one room be his...it was kind of a deal we made that if he has one room that's his, that he has full aesthetic power over, then I can do whatever I want with the rest of the house. So until recently, I had no chance of turning his room into my craft room. But...we made some change-ups to the house recently that we are all happy with! We moved our oversized chair (which was taking up too much room in our small living area) to which was the office (which is a small 1/2 room off of our master bedroom)...got that? We also moved an extra TV we had in there and it is now officially Tom's Man Cave. We moved the desk into the guest bedroom to make my dreams of having my own crafing/study space come true. I could not have been happier! or so I thought....

We decided to go on a scenic walk the other day when it snowed. We walked a couple of blocks and decided to turn around and head home. I insisted we walk back down the next street for new scenery. That's when I saw it...a huge, glorious desk complete with huge shelves and a ton of cubbies for organizing....on the side of the road...like gonna be thrown out! I could not imagine anyone not wanting this amazing peice of furniture! I HAD to have it for my new room and Tom, being the sweet hubby he is, realized how important this was to me and agreed to make it happen. So we walked home quickly and grabbed our small SUV and a couple ropes and bungee cords....and we brought that baby home with us! Not a small task...I mean this thing wasn't gonna fit in the car...it is 6 ft tall and 6 ft wide! We strapped it on top ghetto style and drove 5 mph home.

Isn't she fantastic? I'm planning to paint it...I think like a more pear/yellow green, but I was waaaaay too excited to use it to think about painting it first. Here it is in the room!



It has been so amazing! It holds everything! and keeps me super organized! Can you beleive someone was throwing this thing out?! I've been redecorating and reorganizing the shelves some and need to buy a few baskets and canisters but this is the general idea. I can't wait to repaint these walls a rich brown and the desk a pear green...but that is going to take a lot of work and I'm kind of just enjoying it like this for now. 

What are some of your recent fave finds? Do you have any beautiful design stories of redemption like this one??

His & Hers: Bedside Table

Sorry for the little hiatus there. But no need to worry...I'm back! I have a lot of exciting posts to share and I'll kick it off with Monday's traditional His & Hers....bedside table edition:

His: Tom's table was a gift from my dad. Its a cool 50s style art deco side table with lots and lots of space. It's complete with a baby picture of yours truley, a bowl I made in a ceramics class last year that he empties his pockets into each night...and lots and lots of books...usually double the amount shown in this picture...you can tell who the reader of the family is. But, hey, I'm getting better. I'm halfway through my first of many books of 2011...as this was one of my top ten goals of the year. oh and some headphones and of course a Texas Rangers cup, along with a bunch of other random stuff under the top shelf like letters from azizi, cough drops and Tylenol PM.

Hers: My table was another steal from my neighborhood streets. no really, i found this on the side of the road and with a little spray paint and sand paper, its a perfect bedside table! Of course, I have a baby picture (more like kindergarten picture) of Tom in a wire mesh frame I scored from a thrift store along with Arbonne Pampermint footcream, a bible that Tom gave me when we were dating, my favorite devotional book ever, Jesus Calling, and a vintage piano music box that Tom also gave me when we were dating...probably my favorite gift ever!  that's pretty much it. i try to keep it tidy and clutter free.

I think you can tell alot from someone's bedside table. What's on yours?!

i {heart} snow days



It snowed here yesterday..in North Texas! I love it when it snows especially since it's such a rare occurance for us. It makes me feel like a kid again! There's nothing like the feeling of a snow day...being snowed in and having no choice but to lounge around in plaid flannel pajamas all day...


drinking some of this....

source unknown

next to this....



source unknown

 here....


vis altwar.com


with one of these....


via West Elm

 and cuddling with these, of course....



But if I must go out, I'd kill to wear this coat...

via Express

along with this hat....



source unknown

 and these...



via Timberland.com


and one of these...

photo via oceans of change

oh, and we can't forget these...



via UggAustralia.com



Hope you had a wonderful wintery weekend wherever you were! Happy Monday Everyone!
 

PS. What's your favorite thing about snow days?







Paper Me Pretty!

...with Ferm Living

I told myself I'd get a post out today so here it is! I'm sorry it's so late but this one's worth the wait!

oh wallpaper! I used to think my mom was the only one that still liked the stuff. But I'm absolutely loving today's vintagey modern twist on the old wallpaper! Here's a few jaw dropping and drooling examples from Ferm Living...

ok wipe the drool off your keyboard, because we're not finished yet... they also have an amazing collection for the kiddos!

doesn't it make your heart race? I have to ask myself, is it wrong to want to have a baby right now just for an excuse to cover my walls in these cute little vintage animals above?....ya, probably. Well, I can only dream of decking out the nursury (some day) or an entry way (if i had one) in some fabulous wallpaper like this!

Happy Friday Dear Readers!