guest bedroom reveal

To all you sweet friends and family that keep up with this blog so you can see what our Charleston abode looks like [and not visit instead...cough] : I'm afraid I've let you down. So far you've seen only the living room. LAME. I'll get there, I promise. In the meantime, allow me to show you the guest bedroom. Hopefully this will entice you to treat our place as your home away from home when you want to take a little Southern vacay :)

My mom is coming today [yay!] to stay through the weekend and I can't even stand it. I'm so excited. She is the woman that walks into the most cluttered of boutiques and picks up this teeny little cutie thing, tucked behind some random piece of something. And it usually costs $0.75. She loves the details, so I had to pull out all the stops...

Welcome. We'll call it the Hydrangea St. Bed and Breakfast.

The headboard is one we made for our newlywed apartment, recovered a few years later to go with this room. And you can't totally see it in this picture, but the nightstand is an old student desk [$5 at Goodwill] painted green [Guacamole, to be exact].

I found this easel at the Habitat Restore. A little chalkboard paint and it's a sign to greet the guests!

A Goodwill find, spraypainted white. The Perfect place for towels and extra blankets.

An inherited rocking chair. And I loved this pillow so much when I saw it at Target. It's so happy!

I found these decorative leaves in a little boutique back home and had them stashed away for a while. I glued them to some fabric and voila! Love :)

Please, for the love of all things sunny, can we stop with the gloomy weather?

This wall was huge and blank. An old window [also from Habitat] holds some pictures I've taken since living down here.

All ready for one of my favorite guests.
I can't wait for her to see it!

summer-to-fall sweaters

While we were out this weekend, I accidentally wandered into the Gap to see what their sales were like. That's when The Boy said: "Now that you've gotten into sprucing up old things to make them usable again, you should do that with clothes, too." [Read: Can we please leave this store?] But hey, maybe he's on to something...

Here are some old Target sweaters that have lost a bit of their form. A few days ago, I saw this clever lady revamp one of her sweaters and I decided to give it a go. It's still too hot for sweaters, but I can at least have a fall-inspired wardrobe, right?

First, I measured how much I wanted to cut off based on how short my sleeves were on the shirt I have on:

[PS: that dog follows me EVERYWHERE]

Technical, I know. I added three inches and cut it right off, saving the scraps for the cuff and a future project.

I rolled the sleeves up and stitched them in place. Then I sewed on the strip to hold the cuff, along with the adorable button.

Later, I realized that I should have put the button in the middle of the sleeve, not the front but meh...what can you do? Better luck next time :)

As for the other sweater, I just cut the sleeves right off so I can rock a sweater vest.

It'll be cuter when there's a shirt underneath, so just go with it :)

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

raggedy pumpkin

Happy Monday, folks! Hope you all had a good weekend. I traded in my sewing machine and glue gun for a fabulous weekend with my sweet husband who has been MIA all week. Nothing better than a date that starts on Friday evening and ends on Sunday :)

But with Sunday comes football. Lucky for me, there's a TV in my craft room and ABC Family plays the best movies EVER on Sundays. Anyone else catch Princess Diaries??

Anywhoooo, I've had this Dollar Tree pumpkin in my closet for a while, but I wasn't feeling the orangeness of it. I'm more of a maroon and rust kind of girl - can I get an amen?

Inspired by my raggedy wreath, I just plugged in my glue gun, ripped up some fabric and started wrapping.

And tying the loose ends together.

[Can you spot a curious puppy in the background??]

When I was done, I used some raffia to tie wrap the stem and tie a bow.

Adorable, eh?

There's no light because the flood is upon us. Anyone else living in gloomy land today??


And did you notice the flowers I bought myself?

Grocery shopping is way better when you put these in your cart first :)

Happy Monday, my dears.

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

sew many projects [a camera strap and an iphone case]

How cliche/overdone is that pun? You love it, don't lie :)

Remember how I told you that I made up with my sewing machine and now I can't stop sewing? Well, I meant it. And I sometimes find myself twiddling my thumbs, wondering what project I can come up with, just so I can spend a little QT with my sewing machine. The fact that The Boy has had some late nights this week has actually been quite lovely. I can indulge my habit and he doesn't feel bad for leaving me. Win-Win.

Last night, I whipped these up in less than an hour. That does my little impatient heart a lot of good. See that fabric up there? Toile. Love. How about a cutie little camera strap? Easy peasy.

1. Cut a strip to your desired length and twice the width of your camera strap (+ about half an inch all around for seams)

2. Hem the short ends.

3. Fold it in half, hotdog style and sew along the longest edge, leaving the ends open.

4. Turn it inside out, using your turn-inside-out device.

5. Iron it. Good, good.


6. Now slip your camera strap through it and you're done, sir, done!

So stylish :)

Now on to the second project, which deserves the following preface: I joined the Y, in hopes that paying $$$ to be in shape will make me feel guilty enough to do it. I'll let you know how it goes. And when I started thinking about my workout playlist [suggestions?] I started thinking about how I needed something to protect my iPhone from the sweat. Cue the cutie little iPhone cover...

1. Cut a piece of felt and a piece of fabric that is the width of your phone + an inch. My length was about 12 inches. Make sure the fabric is extra cute.

2. Sew the pieces together, with the wrong side of the fabric facing up. Turn it inside out and then sew it all up.

3. Fold it in half, hamburger style [Laura, do kids still fold their paper that way?]

4. Sew along the three sides, leaving the top open.

5. I added a button and sewed on an elastic loop so my phone won't fly out in the middle of some crazy workout move. Hey, it could happen.

Confession: I did NOT sew on that button...I Gorilla glued it :) And so far, it's doing just fine.

xoxo

Seriously, this took me less than an hour and I used fabric scraps from other projects. That's a happy feeling.

What have you been sewing lately? Give me some inspiration, ladies :)

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

another sassy apron

Can you tell I'm on an apron kick?

Let me tell you about my sewing machine. We've been on the outs for a while. I never could figure out how to keep it from being my worst nightmare, so I stopped using it. Then I got a determination streak and decided it would.not.win. Turns out I wasn't setting it up correctly :)

Now that I realize that I'm not a complete failure, I'm getting more and more comfortable with it and all I want to do is sew. Much to my husband's dismay.

Sorry, love.

The last time, I used a pattern and decided that patterns are for the birds. Could those tissue-thin things BE any more annoying? [Chandler fans, anyone?] This time, I did it myself. Thankyouverymuch. My pattern? An apron I already had!

Lay it on your fabric of choice and cut around it. Do the same thing again on another piece of fabric for the back. You can't tell here, but the back is yellow. Sew the two pieces together, turn it inside out, add some ribbon for the ties and you are done, sir, done!

I even added a cutie little rosette, because that's how I roll.

Do you love it??

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

some more fall touches

I just keep going and going and going with the fall decor, but it's still 90-stinking-degrees outside. What gives? Charleston, if you won't give me fall outside, I'm going to bring it inside. Thankyouverymuch.

Just a few little tweaks and touches to the mantel...

Some wispy little feather thingies [$0.50 at Hobby Lobby] and a Goodwill vase.

Did you see how cute this little guy is? I don't think you enjoyed him enough the last time :) And don't you love this straw broom? Dollar Tree is where it's at, my friends.

I had this ribbon draped across the mantel before, but I didn't like it. Dollar Tree ribbon, take 2!

A mini grapevine wreath, wrapped in Dollar Tree ribbon with some Hobby Lobby wreath picks [piks? picks?]. Love.

Are you happy when you look at this? I sure am.

Now I just need the temp to drop about 30 degrees, so I can put my scarecrow and pumpkins on the front porch. I personally believe that you cannot appreciate a scarecrow when you're sweaty. Just sayin'.

weekend recap: family parties and treasures

I know what you're thinking. That's one good-looking family :)

I married into one of the most awesome families. They're sweet, intelligent and just downright fascinating. And I'm not saying that because my mother-in-law reads this blog ;) It's completely true! When I see them, I feel more enlightened than before our visit. That's what happens when your in-laws are a bunch of smarty pants.

This time around, we were celebrating the grandmother's 80th birthday. She's the adorable one in the pink dress. It was full of great stories, great food and M&Ms with her face on them. Fabulous, per usual.

It's not at all uncommon to leave these visits with more than you had before. Both in knowledge and family heirlooms/loot. They spread out the goods and The Boy and I take turns with my sister-in-law, choosing our favorites to bring home. Love it.

Here's what we racked up with this weekend...

A silver Revere bowl [PS: have you ever tried to take a picture of a silver bowl? Yikes.]

Two pieces from a family bed - we got the top of the posts and my SIL got the focal point of the headboard, which she'll use as wall art. Gorgeous. I'm thinking we'll turn these into bookends?

This adorable, adorable apron with the cutest little ric-rac lined pockets. I can't stand it, it's too cute.

A wee little medicine bottle, which I think would make a precious bud vase.

And a mini-flask. Neither of us are flask-packin' kind of people, but if you could see how teeny this thing is, you'd want to keep it too. Adorable.

Old finds are way better when they're of sentimental value, no?

make ahead breakfast burrito

I stole this recipe from VitaMama but I'm allowed because she's family :)

Breakfast is my least favorite meal of the day. It's the one you need the most but often the one you have the least amount of time to prepare. And I typically don't have a giant appetite in the morning, so that leaves me with a piece of toast or cereal. BORRRING.

This discovery is my new fave. Make it on Monday morning (or Sunday night) and have it all week. The Boy and I can share a batch for at least three or four days.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion (diced)
• 1 green bell pepper (diced)
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 5 eggs, scrambled
• Cumin, cilantro
• Cheddar Cheese

Sautee the onion and pepper until tender. Add black beans. Add eggs and stir until cooked. Add cumin, cilantro to taste and top with cheddar cheese. I like to add a splash of hot sauce, because I'm fiesty like that. Serve over a tortilla.

Salivating? YUM.

Are you a toast-on-the-go kind of girl? Smoothie?

Cookies? [Don't lie, we've all been there]

What do you eat for breakfast?