Monthly Archives: August 2013

08.30.13

Friday Favorites...eight three zero

Posted by Christina // 6 Replies

Hey Friday, Hey Friday, Hey Friday, Hey.

That was totally appropriate because this Friday I am bringing the good stuff.

Just look at this gorgeous collection of photographs from Lola’s Room. I want to do a whole gallery wall filled with her soft and colorful photos. They make me feel young and fresh. Which one is your favorite? I love that by looking at those photos you can tell this girl has an eye for detail. I imagine her stopping right in the middle of a carnival to stop and snap a photo of that old dodge…Or walking through fields of flowers to get some lovely bloom shots. If only all of our lives were that beautiful, right?

Wanna know what else I have been crushing on this week… When I was a kid, I always brought my mom in dandelions from the yard. I was like 5 so even weeds were pretty, and my mom always put them in this cute dainty little vase. They were special flowers. Can you imagine me bringing in a dandelion now? Tim would be busting out the yard killer in point five seconds flat. With all the old and empty nail polish bottles I have lying around, I think making cute little vases like Natalie did could be the best idea ever. Shouldn’t finding the beauty in weeds be some sort of deep metaphor….someone help me out with that. A drink is a treat in itself, but I would be so excited if once I slammed it I had a sweet treat to eat. I am putting this in my “cute details for parties I will never have” file. Then I would shove as many gum balls in my mouth as humanly possible and chew until my jaw aches. My idea of a good time for sure. Can we also talk about how insanely adorable Kelly’s photo styling is? I found these dyed bones on Kaelah’s blog and couldn’t help but love them. Sure it is slightly strange to have little deceased critters in your possession, but when they are that pretty how do you resist. Tim has mentioned wanting an articulated skeleton or something, maybe I can pass one of these off as a birthday gift.

Did you find anything great this week?
Would you ever buy dyed bones?
What’s the best tv show you are watching lately?

08.29.13

Holiday Lamp Challenge...rebounding

Posted by Christina // 10 Replies

Yesterday I told you all about my grand plans for an early Christmas victory.

I also revealed my excitement that Lamps Plus and Hometalk got together, gathered some bloggers and gave them each a fillable lamp to make their own. There is nothing I love more than a crafting challenge, except maybe procrastinating….which explains why last night I spent the whole night try to be creative on the spot thanks to that first fail.

I knew I was heading in the gold direction. There is no better time to mix metallics than during the holidays, so I embraced it a little early. When I found some pretty gold fabric I knew that had to be the shade cover. Unfortunately, since I am not a professional photographer I had a lot of trouble showing you how pretty this fabric really is. I wanted to avoid anything predictable for the base, but guess what I fell in love with….the definition of predictable. Throw a quirky quote in and I am sold. I know it looks a little plain in that picture up there, but that’s because you can’t see all the glamour of that fabric. In person, it’s like Jessica Rabbit walking straight through my living room. You know it’s all about the details anyways. I fell hard for the clear ornaments, and ate my words on not wanting to use them. I just love how they reflect the light and sometimes look like bubbles in the lamp. I think I will keep them forever. The gold glitter adds that extra something, the oomph to my oh la la.

The best part is, I can change out the base any dang time I want. This is my kind of ever-lovin-mind-changing lamp. Maybe one day I will figure out the sand, one day.

Do you think I made a good rebound from yesterday’s fail?
Did you get my “bright” joke?
What would you have filled this lamp with?

08.28.13

Lamp fail...

Posted by Christina // 13 Replies

A little while back I got way too excited to take part in a makeover challenge….especially considering I wasn’t on an episode of Jenny Jones Geek to Chic….I was just taking a very classy lamp from Lamps Plus and giving it some holiday glitz. You know how I love a crafting challenge.

The fine folks at Hometalk (have you been there….if you haven’t what the heck are you waiting for) and the sweethearts at Lamps Plus were kind enough to send us a snazzy fillable lamp to makeover just in time for the holidays. What? Don’t tell me that holiday preparation can’t start in August, Scrooge….I say bah humbug all the way to the ornament aisle with that nonsense. I could start Christmas crafts in March if Tim would let me.

So I began brainstorming. I let my Christmas creativity creep all up in my head. I came up with a brilliant plan, no ornaments, no pinecones, no lights. I wanted to fill my lamp with a glorious Christmas scene for everyone in our home to admire. Our dogs are totally into Christmas scenes.

I would put snow in the bottom and take those old Christmas figurines that old aunt Edna gave me and give them the razzle dazzle. Then I would doodle some pretty gold dots for the daytime effect and when you flip that switch BAM…you have snow falling on our little town. It was going to be the Christmas lamp trifecta, well…doublefecta since it really only had two looks.

Here is a sneak peek of us brainstorming our pretty city pre-gold dots. It sort of looks like a Halloween town so I feel like we were killing two birds ya know. We give love to all holidays, no discrimination. So I scavenged for fake snow. Seriously, did you forget it is August. Finally settled on white sand and got to work laying the fancy down on my little people. Then the unthinkable happened, I tried to put it together. How do I put sand in from the bottom and keep my little people all adorable. Well, I left that part up to Timbo.

See we will just glue the people to the foam see. And then see we will just pour the sand in the top see, and then I will just use these here tongs to perfectly place your little people. Oh wait…how will I do that without the sand coming out the bottom? And this long rod will make it very hard to maneuver in there. Well, actually…this isn’t going to work. Come up with Plan B.

Literally, after spending hours hand-painting figurines and taking photos and searching for fake snow…I was told to, ahem, and I quote, “scratch that”. Squeeze me?

If you need me I will be at home, rocking back and forth while I try to think of some sort of Christmas miracle.

08.27.13

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

Posted by Christina // 6 Replies

I have a little good new, a little bad news, and some down right ugliness.

The good news….we have a new baby shark. Meet little Taquito. He was born last week and is already eating and doing just swimingly.

The bad news….he doesn’t have a big brother. Which leads to the ugly….my ugly cry.

Apparently, while I was in Atlanta for Haven, Fajita had an accident. Tim said he walked downstairs and found him lying on the bottom, with a gash on his head. This makes me so sad, because I know Tim tried everything to bring him back. For goodness sake, that shark has been eating out of his hand for almost a year. I can’t even imagine the sadness he felt and I wish I would have been there for him.

He didn’t want to upset me while I was on vacation, so he kept it all inside. Then he didn’t want to tell me while we were looking at wedding venues because he knew how sad it would make me. So about a week after it all went down, I got the news. Ugly cry ensued. It may seem silly to you, but we hatched him from an egg. Watched him grow, and dreamed of building him a shark paradise. Instead he found a home in our backyard, with the prettiest flowers we have. Which are now growing beautifully.

Rest in peace little Fajita…we miss you bud.

08.26.13

Make Monday Matter...with a note

Posted by Christina // 11 Replies

Say hello to another beautiful Monday, so glad to see your face.

I know I am a wee bit too excited for another work week but I am just trying to get some practice in for my challenge this week. I want to let a few people know how much I appreciate them. You know, I buy all this cute stationary and tons of cute cards like a paper hoarder. Then I just sit and look at them, it is quite possible that sometimes I rub them across my face but I never actually use them. That’s gotta change today.

Feeling appreciated is one of the strongest human desires, but that appreciation is not often found in a text message. Let’s think about how many emails and texts we have sent in the last week. Now when was the last time we sent a real handwritten letter? I’ll hang my head in shame now thanks.

The craziest part is a handwritten letter costs less than a dollar to send, and can be kept forever. I just never take the time to actually write one. Sometimes I long for my younger years when the greatest thing in life was to get a letter from my penpal….not quite sure why I gave that feeling up.

My challenge calls for one part cute card (or printer paper folded hamburger style) and two parts gratitude. I am going to handwrite a few of these notes today to some specials folks, the ones that I don’t tell enough how much they mean to me.

Do you still handwrite letters?
Did you have a penpal growing up?
Where do you buy cute paper products…like I need more.

08.23.13

Wedding Week....something borrowed

Posted by Christina // 7 Replies

Normally when Friday is upon us I am gleeful. Full of glee that’s me. Not this Friday though, because today marks the end of Wedding Week. There may be tears. No tears allowed until after we oogle Bridget’s stunner of a card box. That way after you wipe your drool you can wipe your tears. I don’t know how she does it but that girl has an eye for all things gorgeous! If I tried to make that burlap banner it would be so gawdy even Elton John would turn away in horror. The details are so precious, and so is the story. Make sure you go read all about it over at DIY Playbook and tell them happy weekend too.

Have you been to any weddings lately? The last few I have been to I noticed something strange…no one buys presents anymore. The newlyweds have a beautiful table all set up and there are only three pretty presents. Has everyone moved to cards these days? I am not sure how much I like that.

Are you bummin Wedding Week is over?
Got any fun weekend plans?
Are you a present buyer or a gift card guru?