Ella in Style

Let's talk about how fun it is to shop for little girls! When we found out we were having a girl that first thing I did was go out and buy something adorable frilly and cute, but let's face it if she ends up being a full on daddy's girl she will definitely have a little tom boy in her. With 12 weeks to go till her due date I'm organizing and reorganizing the nursery trying to figure out the best and most efficient way to store all her adorable outfits. She probably has more clothes than her mother, but her fashion sense will be top notch. Here is a taste of the wardrobe I'm trying to build for her.

2014: A year of DIY

In the past year my hobbies have grown out of control to say the least. Being a new homeowner and planning a wedding only made it worse. Here are some of my favorite projects from the past year.

Burlap Spring Wreath
A trip to Micheal's Craft store to buy: Foam wreath, Burlap ribbon, lace ribbon, gingham ribbon, and faux flowers. The "Spring" sign is a simple banner put together using MS word, or just browsing Pinterest for free banner printables. Hot glue it all together with a twine string in the back for hanging and it's ready for the front door.

Primitive throw pillows
Using this tutorial - Easy DIY sewing Pillow case and a trip to JoAnn's fabric to pick up: Homespun fabric and 2 pillow forms.

Primitive kitchen canisters
Our kitchen isn't that big and I don't want to clutter up the counter space we have with big, bulky baking canisters so with some left over mason jars from our wedding along with left over fabric from my pillows I put together these simple primitive canisters. Signs were made using kraft paper found in the scrapbooking aisle and MS Word.

Repurposed Pallet wood sign
When we first moved into our home the previous home owners left behind some things that ended up being very useful to us, such as pallets in the basement. My husband cut up some pieces for me, screwed them together and here we have a rustic frame. I printed out some photos, made a chalkboard sign and it became the perfect Mother's day gift.

Liquor bottle tiki torches
My dad loves his Captain Morgan (and so does my husband) so when the bottles were empty and cleaned out this became my ideal Father's day gift. All you need is torch fluid, tiki torch wicks (all found at Lowes or Home Depot) and washers.

Office chair makeover
My husbands office chair that's probably on it's last leg has become the chair for my craft room, but it needed a girlish touch. Again, a trip to JoAnn's fabric for the fabric you see above. We disassembled the chair (you can find so many tutorials on this on pinterest) and using my new favorite tool the staple gun I got to work recovering this hideous office chair. 

DIY coat racks
When we first moved in our "Coat Closet" which is the walk way the leads to our basement had this plastic yellow coat racks that looked like they belonged in a daycare. The boards we used are OAK, but you can go with whatever works for you, different wood gives off a different look when stained and I wanted something rustic. Once the stain was dry we screwed on some bronze hooks (from Home Depot) and attached to the wall.

DIY sonogram ornament
This is probably my favorite DIY project yet. With the arrival of our sweet baby girl coming in April I wanted to start off her ornament collection a little early. Using old dollar store clear ornaments I added in epsom salt (or you could use the fake snow stuff, but this is all I had at the time) then on MS Word I resized my sonogram pictures to about 1 inch, printed them out and used packing tape as laminate.

A special surprise

Now that the wedding is over and out of the way we are starting a new journey in our lives.

Check out our special surprise over at my new blog:

Sweet baby Grove

My many wedding projects

With 1 month till the wedding... FINALLY! 2 1/2 years in the making we're finally getting down into the double digits....single digits! Awhile back we decided to plan a full on DIY wedding so I've been busting my butt the last couple months to get everything accomplished that I can. I wanted to share what has finally been checked off our list, and you just may get some inspiration for your own wedding.

Our Wedding: We will be celebrating our marriage on Saturday August 9th 2014 at 4:00 in the afternoon under our ceremony tree surrounded by family and very close friends. The ceremony is taking place in the backyard of Justin's grandparents property. I'm looking forward to seeing everything come together the weekend of our big day.

Everything from the ceremony music to the programs have been made by us! Pinterest has been a huge help through this process even though my husband sometimes gets tired of me being on it.
When we first started out on this wedding planning journey we had a guest list of 100+ for our outdoor ceremony and reception. As time went on and we got into planning the dollar signs started stacking up. We got an estimate for our caterer (at that time) who was practically our wedding planner for food, a large white tent, tables, chairs, linens, dessert, beverages for almost $5k... the stress quickly started getting to us. We couldn't justify spending almost $10k to plan a wedding that would last only a few hours so after many discussions Justin and I had decided to simplify things.

We said goodbye to our caterer and everything we had originally planned and started from scratching with a year out from the wedding. We now have a guest list of 40 which consist of family and very close friends. Everyone has been nothing but generous and supportive with our wedding. Our reception location has changed to a historic building turned restaurant downtown in our hometown. Working close with the owner the past couple months I'm realizing we made the right choice, and I know our bank accounts will continue to thank us years down the road ;) 

I'm pretty stingy when it comes to my money. I know every bride wants a big lavish wedding, but that just wasn't in the cards for us. Between being engaged and buying our first home our priorities quickly changed and trying to justify spending almost $10K on a wedding when we could put that money towards a nice honeymoon and fixing up and making our house a home it just made sense.

Pallet Table Projects

Who decides they want to build a pallet entryway/console table at 9PM? This gal!
Our upstairs hallway is pretty plain and boring, we've had a tall wood shelf sitting in the little nook since we moved in over a year ago and I guess yesterday I decided it was an eye sore. So off to pinterest I went, looking for ideas on how to make and design a small and skinny table to fit along the wall.

Here is our before cabinet which is now sitting in our office waiting to find a new home.

Justin my husband got the Best Husband award last night for helping make this rustic beauty, we finally finished it up around 11 PM. He's a keeper right? ;) The previous owners of our home had left behind 3 pallets in the basement which I've slowly been getting used up with projects around the house. Here is the sign I made for my mom for mothers day this year.

Now, back to that pallet table. Here it is all decorated with some primitive touches.
The table runner I made from scrap fabric I had left over from some throw pillows. Fabric was purchases at JoAnn's Fabric store.