Photo Run Down of Life

Tomorrow I have a final and then I will have TWO whole weeks of vacation. I'm already starting to carefully plan my time. And instead of studying I thought I'd give you a little run down on what Joe and I have been up to the past few months, since I don't keep you updated. That Spring break trip I mentioned forever ago went fabulously. We stayed with my beautiful sister and her beautiful family in PA for a while:After the 12 hour drive from GA to PA, we took a "quick" 6 hr. drive to NJ to stay with my cousin who was sweet enough to let us stay as we toured NYC:
Here's a pic of Joe and I in NYC, after we discovered a great market of emerging fashion designers, and bought our hats as a way to remember our trip . NYC is incredible! We will actually be heading back to NJ/NYC for my cousins wedding, so I'm SO excited to see more and experience it all again. I think if I could I would live in NYC for a period of my life. Speaking of weddings, Ray (my brother) got hitched in June. It was a perfect wedding and it was so much fun! Here's a few favorite shots:
Me with the other Bridesmaids and my new sister, Amanda. She looked SO CLASSIC! Her dress was perfect and she wore this beautiful head piece that her grandmother had worn on her own wedding day. I loved how she also picked two different complementing dresses for us girls. Here's me and the sis:
LOVED my flowers, I have them dried and in a vase in my kitchen now:
And of course the lovely couple. I'm so happy for them! I think Ray really married the perfect girl for him and she comes from such an incredible family and fits our family so well. They had this photo booth area set up with one of Ray's cameras so that all the guests could take pictures with the backdrop . It was fun Our summer has been quite fun. We've been to the zoo, we celebrated Joe's birthday with fondue at Dante's Down the Hatch, spent several weekends at the lake, and dressed like cows for free Chick-fil-A.I mean, what more can you really ask for? Oh I KNOW.... a good number of our weekends have been spent (slave) laboring around the house doing projects. Up next...I'll share some of our home improvements.

I love Pillows!

So, I'm finally doing some obvious catching up on blogging. I have some serious dry spells, and it's really because life is just so darn busy, I'm sure you know all about it. But I finally put that sewing machine (from Christmas) and that fabric (from a month ago) to good use!!! I know, many of you are thinking "It's about time!!" So, I started simple with pillows! Man do I love pillows too, I think that it may be my #1 home decoration item. You wouldn't know it by looking at my house, but it's true. I love pillows and I would buy different bunches of them for every season if I could afford it.
Before..
Not so bad, but the swirly fabric was just so bland, and we really need some color. Now, I was really trying to go for an Anthropologie type fabric (they have GREAT pillows!), but you'll have to let me know what you think. After:

I'm just excited about the added color, that it's something new, and that I was successful with my sewing machine.

Ants!

One of the not so joyous things about having an old home is that it doesn't take much for little crawling critters to find some imperfection to crawl through. Winter was a nice break, and I had almost forgotten about the cockroaches, cricket spider things, spiders, and the most annoying, ANTS! As soon as it started getting warm Joe and I found large ant hills forming all around our yard. It didn't matter how clean I kept our kitchen, they STILL kept coming back. I was so fed up that I finally forced Joe to grab some caulk and seal them off. Maybe a month later they found their way through our door. We set out ant poison but it didn't work! I finally got fed up and I remembered some blog post I stored away with recommendations on getting rid of ants.

Now I wish I could take credit for the the way all of this turned out because I feel so handy and proud, but unfortunately I have to thank Apartment Therapy. I sprinkled some cinnamon along the doorway, as if I were using holy water to keep vampires out of our house, and it's worked WONDERS! I sprinkled it yesterday and I haven't seen an ant anywhere near our doorway since! VICTORY! Apparently the smell is just too potent for them and it causes them to suffocate. It may sound cruel but if you've ever had an ant problem you know it's difficult to conjure any pity for them. So, if you have the same problem as me check out Apartment Therapy's newest blog post on the subject. They aren't really a fan of the cinnamon trick (it DOES make your house smell yummy, but it ALSO get kind of messy!), but they had a few other handy hints.

It's Sewing Time!

Well, I must say my stamp collection has grown tremendously since the last time I posted. I think I am mildly obsessed with it, and I'm constantly looking for sources of inspiration. I have a few I'm particularly proud of and even have an entire alphabet in this font I downloaded off the internet. I'll have to share my favorites some time.
BIG NEWS!!! I FINALLY have fabric to sew with! I have not sewn anything yet because it is time consuming, I don't really know how, I didn't really have any fabrics I liked and I had NO projects to plan for. This past weekend however I was up at my in-law's lake house getting my car fixed, and Joe's mom wanted to take me to this fabric store that she heard about. Little did we know it would be SO STINKING amazing. Apparently this fabric warehouse opens to the public only once a month. We entered this warehouse wide eyed and in awe. We had no idea where to begin or what to do with ourselves. It didn't take long before Joe's Mom had several great project ideas for our house and had mapped out an entire game plan to make it happen. She's an incredibly creative person and she has so much experience with home decor that she was coming up with ideas left and right, meanwhile, I'm the most indecisive person in this world and have NO experience with home decor so I was just paralyzed. She was SO extremely patient with me as I processed it all.

They sell great fabrics at this place for SUPER cheap. I apparently got some well known fabric brand for $4 a yard, when it usually goes for $10-15. Some fabrics are also sold by the pound, which I've never seen, but I liked the price, so who cares! I could have come home with more fabric than I know what to do with.

The fabric on the left is the one I bought and still am not sure what to do with. The fabric in the middle will probably end up in our bedroom to break up the monotony of all the solid colors. The Fabric on the right I'm thinking about reupholster our couch's pillows with because I really don't like the fabric they came in. Anyway, the three fabrics are all very different and they don't necessarily look all that great side by side, but they'll get spread out throughout the house enough so that it doesn't look to bad...or at least I hope...like I said I'm new to this. I would love your input or opinion!

My HUGE bargain was the curtains I bought!! I bought 4 curtains from the Disney Hilton, which I thought was pretty funny, and I CANNOT wait to get them up in our house! Curtains are so darn expensive and that's why I don't have any at our house, but these were a steal! There will be no more sunlight waking Joe and I up on Saturday morning! HOORAY!

Spontaneous Stamping

I mentioned before that the only stamp I had made was for our Christmas card. I was pleased with the outcome, however I honestly did not enjoy the process. I'm realizing now that I didn't enjoy the process because there was so much pressure, considering it was my first stamp, our first Christmas card, people were going to see it, there was a time crunch, and Joe is fanatical about Christmas.

Something I'm learning about myself is that if I don't succeed or enjoy myself wildly the first time I try something, I tend to not want to try it again. Kind of lame, I know. It's been hard to realize this about myself. It's probably why I never really stuck with any sports as a kid.

Anyhow, I was inspired by this crafty lady's stamps to pick up all my tools and give it another shot. This time there was no pressure, and this time I loved it so much more. I truly did enjoy the process and I'm fairly happy with the results.
This was found on her eraser stamp tutorial.

I printed out a picture of her succulent stamps because I thought they were SO cute, I traced it with tracing paper and then rubbed the trace onto my rubber stamp with a ruler so I could carve it.

Here were the results! Mine are a little more sickly and frail looking, while hers are bright and bubbly, but you got to start somewhere. I like to think it's because of the color of the ink, and not so much the quality of the carving.

And finally, I traced seagulls from my "Printing By Hand" book. I had a lot of fun with this. My next goal is to improve the quality of my carving and to come up with some stamp ideas of my own, which will be TOUGH considering I am really bad at drawing.

Senses Overload!!!

I'm sure many of you bloggers can relate to my current state of mind. It all started with my "daily blog run" through some of my favorites. I got a little bored of the usual stuff and started digging deep to see what else the blog world has to offer. Now I feel a complete and utter senses overload! I saw so much I loved that I feel like my head may explode. There are so many creative people out there and it's so neat that I can peek into their lives.

Here's a highlight of some favorites.

It all started at craftzine and from there I just went all over the place. What first caught my eye was this cute little felt project. I'm remembering that project if I ever have a little girl. There are tons of cute projects with felt, but of course the butterflies caught my eye.

I was completely captivated by this website for a little too long. If you are a people watcher, like me, and if you like fashion then I think this will entertain you. I was a little surprised that I enjoyed it so much, but I guess I shouldn't have been, considering I like to watch people (in a non-creepy sort of way) and I like clothes (probably more than I should).

I was also re-inspired by this lady to pick up my stamp making tools. I need to flip through my "Printing By Hand" book that Joe bought for me. I've endeavored to make one stamp for our Christmas cards, and even though it looked elementary I truly did like the outcome. Anyway, this blogger has all kinds of handmade stamps, but what I ended up loving the most was the love birds. She's got some items for sale.So for any of you who are way into birds, you should check out her Etsy.

I was excited to find a step by step tutorial on how to make a tote bag, but I was bummed when I realized that this was WAY beyond my skill level. I should probably learn to sew in a straight line first, and maybe get familiar with all the ins and outs of my machine. Most sewing projects are way over my head, but ONE DAY I will conquer!

Half of the items I saw and loved are lost and gone forever already. I can't remember where I saw them. I saw a lot of inspirational work spaces, that made me wish I had a little space of my own to spread out, make a mess, create, and pin up inspirational pictures so that they aren't always lost and gone forever. I can't ever remember where I saw what (ESPECIALLY when I've seen a lot in a short span of time, hence the senses overload).

Of course you cannot feel completely overloaded until you have found several items you wish you could either buy or make. (If I did it right, you should be able to click on the picture for their Etsy site)













Well now I don't feel quite so overwhelmed. Blogging about it makes me feel a little more calm and collected. Thanks for listening!

What we've been up to...

I realize it has been much to long, but I promise I haven't forgotten my blog! My attention starved blog is always looming in the back of my head as one of the many things I'd really like to do once I find some free time. I also realized that if I blog about daily life, rather than the house and house projects, I'd be much more likely to to have something to say. House projects are few and far between (Maybe not for Joe, but for me). So here's a little catch up.
We had our first Christmas together as a married couple:
I got Joe a riffle, for fun and for home protection. And look what he got me!!



















A brand new hobby! Now all I have to do is learn how to sew. Lucky for me, I have a knowledgeable mother, mother-in-law, and my good friend who knows all sorts of great tricks, and have way more experience. I'm really looking forward to learning and putting my sewing machine to good use. The sewing machine itself is just amazing! Joe found it in great condition on Craig's List for $15 and after a bit of tweaking, it runs perfectly! I love how older generations keep their belongings in such good condition. They don't "upgrade" like people today, but keep their belongings until it is run into the dirt, and are forced to replace it. This machine has the original 1961 manual and all its extra pieces and it is all so well kept. I admire the previous owner and hope to fallow in her footsteps.

After Christmas Joe and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary. We had our own Atlanta weekend retreat. We stayed in The Four Seasons and got a great anniversary deal, since we had our wedding there. This is what welcomed us to our room Friday night:
This is one of MANY reasons I love the 4 Seasons. YUMMY! We spent our weekend eating good food (My favorite was Thai food at Nan), watched some good movies, and visited some great Atlanta tourists sites that we had been wanting to see. We took a tour of the Fox Theater, saw the terracotta soldiers at The High, had a relaxing couples message at Spa Sidell and went swimming several times at the hotel pool. We went all out for the 1st year, I'm sure it'll be different in the future. (At least until we reach one of those more impressive years, like 10)

We finished our holiday season with tickets to Cirque du Soleil. As soon as we saw the tent go up we were trying to figure out a way into it. It was wonderful! It is a rare occasion, I'm sad to say, when I feel the awe and wonderment of a child, and Cirque most certainly does that for me. I think it's a beautiful thing.

Now we are back to the grindstone. Work, school, house cleaning, and other daily tasks. Our holiday season was a GREAT break from life's responsibilities and the daily grind. We were quick, of course, to give ourselves something else to look forward to. So now we have a spring break trip planned to visit my sister in PA and to see my new nephew, who was born over Christmas!!! Then we'll spend a couple days with my cousin and visit NYC!!! It'll be Joe's first time to the Big Apple and I'm so excited to see him experience it all. He LOVES cities and he LOVES sky scrapers, so I just can't imagine a better place for him to visit. Have any good NYC recommendations???

There is more to come soon! Joe and I had a few little projects during my long absence from the blog world. I'm looking forward to showing off our handy work.