All Hallows Eve

After I dropped my 4 yr old off at pre-school today (tear) I took my 3 yr old to HomeGoods. I was looking for nothing in particular, but found EVERYTHING! They were setting the shelves with beautiful purple, green, silver, black and orange glittery everything for Halloween! If you know anything about my mother, then you know she kinda loves Halloween. shhh. Maybe even more than Christmas. GASP! I KNOW! But Halloween was totally fun at our house. Spider webs and witches everywhere. (Decorations. NOT my mother, 2 sisters and my pleasant self. Just to clarify. ;)  Not that I don’t LOVE a jolly fat man in a red suit with a fantastic beard that brings presents, but it’s really the Halloween decorations that get me really excited! So in honor of my totally awesome mom witch, hehe love you mom, here are some ultra fabulous Halloween mantels I searched crazily for stumbled upon. Enjoy!

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.

Am I the only one ready to bust out the Halloween décor even though it’s only August!?!

Call of the Wild

Anyone that knows my husband AT ALL, knows that he has a obsession passion for hunting. (Yes we eat what he kills and I’m a friggin good venison cook) Because of said obsession passion, I’ve started looking for ways to incorporate deer into our home design tastefully. I feel like I’ve been fighting this call of the wild since we bought our house just over a year ago thinking, “Now that we have our home and he has a man cave, the animals don’t have to be in here. right?” Wrong. It’s a part of our family. Our first born child is named Hunter for Pete’s sake. The mounts we have even have names and have traveled in the front seat of my car buckled in during our 7 moves across country. The obvious choice would be to just stick his mounted deer/elk on the wall above the TV. Besides, then he would have empty spaces on the walls in his man cave. Until after hunting season this year. So here’s what I’ve found scouring through blogland and I’ve got to say, I was pleasantly surprised and am enthusiastic about incorporating some deer into our present décor.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

What do you think? Will you answer the call?

Horsin Around

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.

HELP!

So I need some help. I've finally received permission to paint the cabinets in my kitchen. Yes permission. This is a huge improvement from when we moved in. "Your painting the wood in this house over my dead body." Remember this post? So. HUGE milestone for The Hubs. Anywho. WHAT COLOR!?! My initial reaction is the obvious choice. White. My major hesitation? My pink counters. Have a look.

(don't judge. this is before we moved in. hadn't painted or replaced flooring yet.)

 See my problem? Right now they aren't THAT noticeable. If I paint the cabinets, however, they'll stand out like a nun in a bar. Because the kitchen is the LAST thing on our Honey-Do list, replacing them isn't an option yet. We'll do that when we can renovate the whole kitchen. So. Do I embrace them and go with white? Leave them cause it's better that they don't stand out? Do something like grey or a color? I need help.

An Addition

All my life I've been a jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl. In high school, I lived on the wild side and wore polos, blazers and khakis. In an effort to revamp my wardrobe and discover "my style", I've been following some great fashion blogs to get ideas. During my search a long long time ago, I found myself drooling on my computer desk over this. . .

Completely drool worthy right? A lovely striped number paired with nude pumps and pastel pink. Sigh. Cori at laviepetite has impeccable taste in clothing. I figured her style was a good place to start when it came to my style revamp. 

Well me and all my stubbornness, I decided I was going to set out and make my own drool worthy navy blue and white striped awning skirt. (holy run on sentence) My sewing skills are not yet that of miss Cori, but you've gotta start somewhere right? So I found a pattern and purchased the material. (Insert 10 months of procrastination) On a trip to Idaho/Montana to visit family for 2 weeks, I didn't bring a skirt. (knowing full well we'd be going to church at least once) I did, however, bring my material, pattern, scissors, pins, zipper and buttons. About 2:30 a.m. Saturday night I finished my skirt. Talk about waiting til the last minute. Here's what I came up with.

taken with my phone camera and made larger for the blog

Because I'm starting to experiment more with color and patterns in my clothing, I decided to just copy her complete look until I'm more comfortable. As luck would have it, I forgot my white cardi so I wore my green one instead and absolutely love the change!

I'm grateful you cannot see up close, because the construction is less than perfection. For my first piece of handmade clothing, I think it turned out lovely. The best part? It has POCKETS! I friggin love the pockets!

Along the way I learned a few things.

1. When making a piece of clothing, don't just take the patterns word for it. You have to take your measurements into consideration. (My skirt ended up being too big because I didn't custom make it to my body.)

2. If you have a question about the instructions. . . ASK! Someone. Anyone that might be able to help. There was a section of the instructions that was incomplete. They forgot to include how to attach the waistband to the bottom of the skirt. Seems like a no brainer. It wasn't! I was so glad my mom was there to help me improvise. 

3. Your first piece of handmade clothing will NOT be constructed perfectly, so try again. Like sewing other things (blankets, curtains, etc.) you get better and better with each item. You learn tricks and tips along the way. Things you wish you had known before you started, but that can only be learned through experience.

4. Finish it! You can never hone your skills if you don't ever complete your projects. 

Good luck ladies. 

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