Spilling the beans

I am spilling the beans, and I mean that in a literal sense.  

I never thought I would buy beans for a home decor project, but I have managed to surprise myself yet again with my wacky supplies.  Lima beans!  I think I was having a blonde moment, but when I picked these out at the store I was expecting them to be lime green.  Crazy?  I think so. Moving on...

This is what I am using on my newest wreath.  You know, the one I ruined?  I will post pictures of how mine turned out and a link to the tutorial just as soon as I can.  I hope you had a great weekend.

{Brittany}

More stripes, numbers and monograms

With Thanksgiving practically here I am really feeling the crunch to get busy on my Christmas presents.  I have been working on a new set of pillows with button closures.  I decided to do a variation of my other striped pillows and add numbers with some special significance to the mix.  I quite like how this one turned out : )

I have done so many numbered projects, so I thought it was time to work on a set with monograms.  I love this too!  I think it would be so cute to have a set in the master bedroom with the first name monograms of husband and wife...Like a place marker for whose side is whose.  You know, just in case you go bananas and can't remember it one day.

What about you?  Do you have your Christmas gifts bought and your projects started?  It is coming up just around the corner!

{Brittany}

PS I sincerely apologize for those of you who are knowingly or unknowingly getting a peek at your Christmas present.

Industrial stool spruce up

Happy Wednesday to you all!  I finished up a makeover on this great little metal stool today and wanted to share.  This project is a perfect example of seeing potential in simple and ordinary things.

One of my dear friends dropped this rusty stool off on my front porch one day many weeks back.  I was instructed (very sweetly of course) to white wash it and put a number "2" on the seat.  I loved the stool as it was, it has a great industrial feel to it, and I knew it could be an adorable treasure with a little Stuck on GRAY treatment.

Before

After

 

I am so excited about how the 2 turned out.  I have been wanting some large stencils for quite a while, then it donned on me today.  !!!Download a stencil font on the computer!!!  Sure enough, there are about eleventy kajillion to choose from.  I can't wait to use it to make signs. 

I hauled my bucket of dried hydrangeas over to hang above the stool.  Just in case you were wondering, they dried fine upright in the bucket.

Isn't that 2 just the greatest?  I think I will put some of my new typographic beauties on pillows in the near future.  Possibly for myself...there may or may not be a new white couch moving in soon in need of some pillows!!!  Please hold in your excitement!

That's all for now my darlings :)  I have to get back to my newest wreath endeavor.  I am mildly certain that it won't turn out though, more to come on that soon.  Enjoy these next few stormy days...

*{Brittany}*

Vintage inspired Christmas and a diy project

Happy Veteran's Day weekend!

As some of you may know, my birthday was actually on Veteran's Day.  I felt so spoiled all day, from the minute I woke up until the second I laid my head down on my pillow.  I spent the entire day with family, so it was extra special, and I even managed to squeeze in a few minutes to browse the new shabby store here in town.  I left the store empty handed, but I am regretting not buying a sweet little white stool that was only $12.  I know, I know, I should have just bought it.

With November in full swing, I have really been itching to start decorating my house for Christmas.  

 It all started with these adorable pink shiny brite ornaments.  I originally bought them for the tree in my booth, but I just couldn't bare the thought of selling them off one by one.  It just wasn't worth it to me.  So, unbeknownst to my husband, we will be having a very pink Christmas tree this year.  And if my ruffled linen tree skirt doesn't sell, I might be nabbing that as well to go under the tree.

I love the row of ribbon ties!

I have also acquired this darling little set of glittered bottle brush trees which inspired a project!  I will share the tutorial soon, but you can just buy inexpensive green bottle brush trees from the craft store and soak them in bleach water.  Let dry, glitter and voila!  You have yourself some very vintage inspired little trees to decorate around the house with.

Enjoy your week!  I will be back soon with that tree tutorial and a diy wreath you will just love.

Lots of love

{Brittany}

Making one very special Halloween cupcake

Before Halloween is completely forgotten I feel the need to share a few Halloween pics.  And it is me you are dealing with...so you know there is diy/save yourself some cash project involved.

A few months back I got the fall Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail.  Everything in any PB catalog is always gorgeous and amazing and of course i fell in love with a certain cupcake costume. There was only one problem.  It was $65 smackeroos, and made completely out of felt.

Pretty cute right???

I spent $5 on felt when it was on sale at the fabric store (and maybe used half of it) so I consider this a $2.50 costume really.  I just looked at the picture in the catalog and made it up as I went along.  It took me a couple hours and I think turned out pretty well considering 

a) I made it 

b) It only cost a couple of dollars

 Here is the dynamic duo in action.  It was a funky mix-Woody and a cupcake, but around here we like to keep things funky ; )  I am not sure why but my sweet girl kept bending down every time I snapped a picture.  

Thank you for letting me share my Halloween adventures with you.  I hope you are having a great weekend.

{Brittany} 

How I do Christmas

 I have so many fun projects to share but I have  been too busy this week to post!  Finally tonight I am making time to do it.

Tonight was the Christmas Open House at the antique mall as well as most other businesses downtown.  Last night I felt like I was in a winter wonderland with Christmas music cranked up and people everywhere unpacking boxes of snowy and glittery goodness.  I will admit though, until that point I had a very difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit.  For months I have been collecting pictures and ideas for projects and displays for the holidays, but have really been lacking the umph to get things done.  Despite that, I did manage to infuse a bit of Christmas cheer into my space.

 When you are organizing and rearranging do you not always make a huge disaster first?  I had quite the pile of crappe going on (crappe is my more sophisticated way of calling my stuff crap without actually calling it crap) 

I really was nervous once I had everything piled up that there was no way on Earth I was ever going to get it all sorted out in time...then reinforcements in the form of a teeny sweet Pam arrived and made everything better.  She was tree fluffing and sweeping and unpacking and giving me ideas.  It was amazingly generous and for that I thank her : ) 

The heap 'o stuff eventually became something a little more pleasing to look at.

I love the ice skates by the way.  I think it is a super cute way of saying winter is here, without being too Christmasy.  For my purposes, we are ignoring the fact that winter is technically not here quite yet.

And my camouflaged tree.  You can't even tell that there are ornaments on it : /  I have more color to add to it, but I am sad that in this picture it just looks like an empty tree.

That is how I do Christmas.  The End.  Have a great night!

{Brittany}

How the living room "ended up"

 I thought it would be fun to share pictures of how my living room switch ended up.  Well you know me, does any room ever really "end up" any way?  Not really, but here it is anyway.

I strongly dislike the color of my couches.  They are just too yellow for me.  I really go more for cool colors (besides pink), and the yellow just throws me off.  I threw one of my vintage bed spreads on it.  It turns out that it was just the right size and I decided I liked it.  It works out really well too, I can just toss it in the washer and bleach it (because it gets covered in Cheetos and chocolate).  Bleach makes me a happy camper.

 Here is the wall where I moved the TV to.  I am so glad to have it moved over to this side of the room.  It has been over a week and I am finally getting used to it.  I still haven't moved my french chic sign over to the other wall yet.  I am really slacking on finishing this room up!

 Here is the corner where the TV was before.  I moved my little desk over to that spot from the dining room.

Since I took these pictures, we inherited a black 1940's leather chair.  My husband loves it, and it actually doesn't look too horrific so it gets to stay.  I will share pictures of that another day.  Enjoy your weekend!

-Brittany