Gallery Wall

I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling pretty glum about the state of my living room recently. Well more like I think it's glum. It's boring. It's decorated in a broad color spectrum of beige, brown, white and more beige. *yawn*. 

Here's a picture of my living room about a month after we moved in. 

Not much has changed since this picture was taken. The couch has been pushed back and now my husband's desk is in the back corner. And we have a new tv? Other than that, samesville. 

I decided quickly that I don't necessarily want to repaint....the beige walls aren't my biggest irritation with the room. A beige wall isn't the enemy. It's the insane lack of color. Brown blinds, white trim, brown table, brown couch, brown clock... I could go on. 

What I decided to do was inject color slowly. I bought bright blue and green pillows on clearance at target, to go with the existing burnt orange pillows I've had since we got married. That wasn't enough though. I began looking around my house for things I could swap out and place in my living room. I remembered that my sister in law had bought me durable paper coasters in Katie Daisy prints. I saw a project on Pinterest that involved an old picture frame, string, mini clothespins and Instagram prints. I immediately decided that this was the perfect idea for the coasters, since I knew right off the bat that I wasn't going to put drinks on them. 

I just love how it turned out. Everyone told me how cute and creative it was when I shared it on Facebook and I was so happy that it brought in pops of color to my beige walls. 

I had a big empty space on the other side of the window that was still calling my name. It was so empty and boring. 

 

I would eventually like to get a taller bookshelf to house all of our books, but in the meantime we have condensed it to just as many books that fit in the 3 shelves. 

My friend Carrie and I had started talking about gallery walls, and I knew I wanted to do one eventually. I just wasn't sold on how much I would probably end up spending on frames and Etsy prints. 

One night, I just caved. I have a large box of random picture frames that I've collected over the years and never used. I started picking out frames that looked good together and matching them with prints I made myself and scrapbook papers that I love.

 

I think it turned out awesome.

I took some close up pictures of the pieces I love the most:

Let your coasters do all the talking! (warning: curse words)

Don't you just get SO CHEESED OFF when you're hosting a slammin' party and then BAM! you find yourself in a tough situation where you didn't want to come across as rude, but damn it if you haven't told your soon-to-be-ex-friend A MILLION TIMES not to put her drink on your coffee table?!?! I mean, come on!

She isn't the one that is going to have to get those pesky rings from hell off (though I'm sure there's some crafty solution on Pinterest) or be told by her husband that me and my friends are the reason we can't have nice things. No way. That's all me.

Well, I've come up with a solution. A super awesome and passive aggressive solution. 

Let your coasters do all the talking!!

Actually, I can't take all the credit for these. My friend Cayse has coasters with these sayings that she originally bought from Urban Outfitters about a million years ago. The only link I could find is this one. They are paper doily coasters and to make them more durable, she reinforced them onto pieces of cork and sprayed them with sealer.

I thought they were perfect, and my husband thought they were funny, albeit tacky. Even better.

I vowed that night (as she handed me "no one likes a hot mess" and I pondered the significance) that these would soon grace my coffee table.

Fast-forward like 3 months, because that's just how I do things. Ridiculously slow.

I opened up Publisher, found some fonts I love and got to work. I left out "be considerate, bitches" only because I only had 4 tiles to work with. I'll probably add that one eventually. (read: most likely in 3 more months)

I then decided they needed some pretty scrapbook paper, because what made the original coasters so amazing was that they were doilies. Like, how more prim and proper can you get than doilies?? So I chose this bright floral paper that just screamed girly. I attached some washi tape to two of the coasters, but didn't like how it looked with the other two, so I nixed it. That's the best part of these, they are rough. The ink on one smeared when I put on the first coat of mod podge. I didn't want them to be perfect. I'm literally calling you an asshole and a douchebag and implying you have worse manners than a skank. LITERALLY.

So yeah, then I just mod podged the hell out of them. I think I used 3 coats, but they definitely should be sealed as well. Maybe when I make the other coaster. In like, 3 months. ;)

 

In keeping with my inappropriate, child-unfriendly craft day, I also made this canvas that has found a home in my craft room. It's just wrapping paper hot glued to canvas with black glitter stickers. I was going to paint the whole canvas and take the stickers off, but decided I loved it too much to mess it up. 

And it's a great message. Don't be mediocre. 

DO EPIC SHIT!

Halloween & Ghost Cookies

I hope everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween! Joey and I went to see my Grandpa in his nursing home with all my little cousins all dressed up in their costumes. It was delightfully adorable to see them all pretending to be dead prom queens, witches and ninjas. My oldest (little) cousin was Bob Marley, and man, was he too cool for school. Brady, my nephew, was Spiderman and so were my twin cousins that are also the same age.... so the three of them thought that was pretty neat!

After visiting my Grandpa, we went and bought some bags of candy (nothing like the last minute) and handed it all out to trick or treaters in the neighborhood. There were TONS of little baby Cardinals players, so that was cute. We didn't get many teenagers, but we also ran out of candy at like 8pm. Ha!!

We spent the Sunday evening prior to Halloween with my brother and his family doing a fun spooky appetizer themed dinner! My sister-in-law LOVES Halloween and really went all out with the food and decorations. We had mummy hot dogs, pumpkin dip, cheese ball mice... just to name a few. Her bean dip even had a face! My sister made witches fingers out of pretzel rods and green candy melts, but I didn't get a picture of those.

I contributed these adorable cookies to the dinner, and also to work on Halloween day itself. They were super easy to make and everyone was really excited about them. I got so many compliments at work!

 
TO MAKE: All you need are 3 ingredients that can be found at probably any store. I got them at Walmart! Just grab a package of Keebler Elf fudge cookies (I've seen Nutter Butters used too), white melting chocolate and mini chocolate chips.

Melt the chocolate as directed on the package and dip the cookies in halfway, shaking off the excess. Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Before the chocolate cools, place 2 mini chocolate chips at the top for the eyes.

I put the cookie sheet in the fridge overnight and put them on a festive little pumpkin plate and the chocolate stayed hard the entire night!

Like I said, any oval-ish cookie can be used... I just love the elf cookies because it looks like they are wearing a ghost costume! *Note the poor elf in the middle of the picture on the left who put his sheet on upside down. Whoops!



You also can't go wrong with temporary tattoos! I was the office Tattoo Artist on Wednesday.... love!

Now bring on Thanksgiving!

We are wedding-ed out!

October has been a very hectic month so far. I know that it's been forever since I posted, so I apologize for my temporary leave of absence.

Joey and I had 2 weddings right off the bat this month, one of which we were actually involved in. For pretty much the entire end of September and beginning of October, my entire free time was devoted to helping my lovely cousin Lisa get the finishing touches done for her wedding.

I designed, printed and assembled her program, timeline and reception place cards.... with her and Kirstie's help of course!! I could not have have gotten them all finished in time without these amazing ladies.

It was so much fun browsing Pinterest and taking ideas from here and there, along with visions I already had in my head and turning them into finished products! The program took the longest to make. The hardest parts were definitely getting everything aligned, picking the right shade of lavender and getting everyone's names spelled correctly! I think they turned out pretty awesome though.

I also found a wedding timeline on Pinterest and decided to make my own version. It's pretty similar to the one I found, I have to admit, but it still gave me the satisfaction of doing it myself. It was a big hit with everyone and it really seemed to limit the annoying questions of "Where do we go next?" and "How long of a wait til the reception?", which some people really think are appropriate questions to bother the Bride and Groom with. I am a firm believer that every wedding should implement these cards.

The reception place cards were due to the fact that the reception was a sit-down dinner and not a buffet. The colored backing helped the staff identify who ordered salmon (lavender) and who ordered chicken (black). It really helped and was a clever idea since it wasn't overly obvious!

The following pictures are a couple snapshots from the night before the wedding and during. I didn't get many pictures because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day. Seriously......... I didn't sit down once all day, except for the actual wedding itself and dinner. But I loved every second of it!

 

Kirstie wearing all of our wedding rings... luckily she is a great friend and didn't run off with thousands of dollars on her hand.

Brandon playing the crap out of that cello.

My wedding day GPOY when I had a second to myself in the hotel bathroom. Sigh.

My lovely husband and I at the reception. We were both sweaty and tired by this point.

The next weekend was Casey and Amanda's wedding! We spent the entire day in downtown St. Louis with our friends Dustin and Brandon. It was such an awesome day.... I just totally forgot to take pictures. Ummmm, whoops!

We spent the time between the wedding and the reception at this pretty sweet bar/restaurant/hipster hangout called Plush. We ate weird food, I had a cider beer, and about 3 coffees. Guys, the napkins were tye-dye and cloth. TOTAL HIPSTER HANGOUT.

The upstairs of Plush was a huge open loft area with ping pong tables, a pool table and tons of mismatched seating areas and a bean bag pit. It had huge open windows and exposed brick walls.

I just love this guy.

The centerpieces! I love me a good mason jar craft. These battery operated lights were an awesome touch, as there was only dim lighting at the reception. Made a very romantic atmosphere!

Us and the groom. YAY WEDDINGS!!!

So yes, it's safe to say that Joey and I are officially wedding-ed out for 2012. We are going to rest and prepare for the Wedding season 2013... we're looking at you Roadie/Carrie and Brian/Kirstie!!!! We can't wait...... but are SUPER relieved you aren't getting married this year. ;)

Playing Catch

It has been so hot here lately. I was beginning to think I would never see below the 80 degree mark on the temperature gauge in my car. I've seen some of my friends on Facebook talking about the fall-ish weather where they live, and some of my favorite blogs are already posting about their new favorite Fall clothes.

Today, though.... today it was 64 degrees at 8 am. That is so huge for me! I think it's been colder than that in the morning in recent days, but I don't step outside until 8 am or later on any given day, so 64 degrees was awesome.

This afternoon I went outside with some coworkers and just reveled in the beautiful weather. I lost ALL motivation to work for the rest of the day, naturally, but it was just such a nice break in the day to be able to go outside without sweating to death. I made my coworker come with me so that she would make sure that I came back inside. There was a joke about a retractable leash made. Probably a good idea, though a little weird. ;)

Tonight Joey and I played catch outside for about 30 minutes. We started getting attacked by mosquitoes and it got dark fast, so next time we will plan better and start playing earlier in the night. And wear bug spray. It was fun though... I've always had a special place in my heart for playing catch. I played softball from age 5 to age 11 and ended my 'career' as a catcher. I may not be good at softball, or even just playing catch, and I am definitely terrified of the ball coming straight for my face... but I was never the athlete so I don't feel too bad about it!

I have a lot of fond memories playing catch with my dad when I was very young, going to practice every week, playing huge games of wiffle ball with the neighbor kids and playing t-ball with my younger sister. Softball definitely means a lot to me.

I mean, honestly. I was adorable!

Lately...

6 am last Friday. Way too early, but the sky was super pretty. I love wispy clouds!

My super friend Mary bought me a coffee on said Friday. Did I mention she was a super friend?

Coconut Milk mint chocolate chip ice cream. Sounds crazy, tastes delicious. I was lactose intolerant for 8 years.... thinking about going back.

Shower invites I made for my cousin's Bridal Shower.

Keep on the lookout for a DIY soon! ;)

Comfy awesome slippers, even in the heat of August.

I made a new wreath and I'm in love! Check out the DIY here if you want to make your own.

I have a couple more DIY's up my sleeve, including the doily wedding dress above. Keep an eye out! :)

Wedding Season 2012 - Angie & Nick

Last Saturday was my lovely cousin Angie's wedding, to a wonderful guy. Her and Nick will be happy forever and the wedding was absolute proof of that.

Joey was super honored to be an usher, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly all day long.

It was indeed a long day, but one filled with family, love and lots and lots of dancing!

 

 

2 weddings down..... 3 more to go!

Wedding Season 2012 is in full blast. :)

Festive for the Fourth!

In preparation for the Fourth of July, I grabbed my inner child and some nail polishes and got to work.

This seriously took me longer than it should have, but I am pleased with just how....defective..... it looks. Ha!

Fourth of July, here I am! I am ready for your plentiful BBQ, your booze and your yummy desserts.

And uh, celebrating my independence, of course. Duh.

I am debating on a couple recipes to try... I have a food day at work, a BBQ next weekend and probably something on the actual 4th itself with the in-laws.

Pinterest once again proved its worthiness when I stumbled across this brownie fruit pizza.

It's not totally 4th of July in its creation, but completely inspired. I think I will keep the banana on, just because I love banana, but it would totally work with just the combination of berries. I also was thinking of adding some kiwi, but maybe that's for another time.

I also will toot my own horn here, but last year I made these Red, White and Blue strawberries for my big family BBQ. They were a huge hit with every age group and took about 5 minutes to make.

 

 Please ignore this awful picture. Please. 

I also have been eyeballin' these pretties.

I would obviously need to buy a popsicle mold in order to emmulate the whimsy of these Firecracker Ice Pops, but I think it would be a great investment because my Pinterest food board is brimming with different homemade popsicles, and some even include booze. Heeeellllo, summer! 

But all this recipe entails is sugar, strawberries, blue berries and plain yogurt. Easy enough!

I'll letcha know what I come up with. ;) I love summer!