Valentine's Day Love

Valentine's Day is coming up an its time to get your love on.  I know it's kind of a Hallmark holiday, but it really is the perfect time for some extra lovin' for that special someone.

Here are a few love themed items I thought were worth sharing...

 

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Full of Thanks

There is lots to be thankful for this holiday season. A healthy family is always tops on my list- but followed closely behind is my husband, family & friends (blog readers is included in the friends part, because you all are my friends!)

I'm headed to my parents house on Friday to celebrate Thanksgiving and I can't WAIT to have a big family dinner with all my favorite foods.  I pass on the turkey, but you better believe I still love all the fixins on the side.

This is my food pyramid for the weekend- pie is on the bottom, obvi, because I will be eating mostly that
 
mmmm, I just got so excited for chestnuts- they might be my favorite before dinner snack!

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with little traffic and lots of family & food,  cheers!

PS- I'm always looking for new side dishes to make with my Mom's turkey- so tell me, what are your favorite?

Love all around

A few of my Valentine's Day favorites for you...

just delish

etsy

Cartier Love Bracelet

Ork Heart Poster

Sarah Yates Photography

Glitter Guide

Yedi Heart Cup

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Gather round

I'm not hosting my own Thanksgiving this year, but I really wish I was!  It would be so nice to be in my own home and have my family come to me.  I am huge into tradition and next year I'm starting my own as a newlywed that's for sure!

Even though I'm not setting my own table, I have gathered my favorites from around the web.  Most are from other bloggers too, I find them as the best source of inspiration.

Bryn Alexandra Interiors- Love the use of burlap and the wood candlesticks

Eddie Ross as seen in Lonny Magazine- Gold, blue and orange. It doesnt get better than those 3 colors together.

Eddie Ross- the pink and red combo is so beautiful here, and the plaid tablecloth just makes the entire table.

Full House- Christina went above and beyond here.  The paper punch table runner is GENIUS!

This simple table from Martha Stewart is perfect. Anyone can do candles and pumpkins- love it!

Matters of Style took some ikat fabric and created this beauty.  I think the gold chargers and the beautiful china pull together this amazing look.

Lauren from Pure Style Home does everythign to perfection and makes it look effortless.  For her centerpiece she just went in her backyard and gathered some ferns, paired with a few pumpkins and she pulled together this stunning table.

Thanksgiving and pink normally arent paired together- but Southern Living did this pink Thanksgiving table and I just love it.  I think I need some pink china for next year.

So many ideas, its going to be hard for me to narrow it down.  But I guess I've got some time to start thinking about it, right?

Giving Thanks

I'm having a really (REALLY) hard time not posting about all things Christmas.  I know it's not even Thanksgiving, but I'm one of those people that wishes Christmas could be celebrated all year long.  Anywho, I will do my best to wait and I'm trying really hard to just keep thinking Thanksgiving over and over.

I'm not hosting my own Thanksgiving this year, but I hope one of these years.  To prepare I have been collecting DIY decor ideas that would be super cute for any Thanksgiving table.

Acorns are free- can't get better than that.  Just collect some acorns outside, drill some holes in them, and then string them on wire to make a super cute napkin ring.  Oh, and I often times find acorns without their tops attached but I grab a bunch of them too.  Just use a hot glue gun to reattach the tops. Done and done.

I'm really into felt lately (more on that later).  It requires no sewing and is available in so many colors.  Just print out some leaf templates from online, you might want to blow them up in size, and cut them out from your felt.  Layer them on your Thanksgiving table for an instant tablecloth.  Bonus, if you double the felt, they work as a trivet as well and will protect your table.

(here are some templates I found)

Love these turkeys, they remind me of those hand turkeys I made in preschool.  This is a cute way to make placecards and you can even get kids involved in this craft.  Nothing says Thanksgiving like a good old fashioned construction paper turkey, right?

Halloween is over but pumpkins are still cool.  Just take some white or orange mini jacks and use your drill with a forstner or spade drill bit (the width of your tealight) to drill down halfway in the pumpkin.  After your hole is drilled just plop the tealight in and you have the perfect Thanksgiving table votive.

Other items that can be incorporated into a Thanksgiving table are: Indian corn, feathers, corn husks, apples, pomegranites, nuts, dried leaves, bittersweet, gourds, cranberries, flowers, cabbage, pinecones and so much more! The possibilities are endless.

What decor are you planning for your own Thanksgiving table this year? Do share.

PS- thank you everyone for all the sweet birthday wishes!  I had an amazing weekend full of surprises and love from friends and family.  I was absent yesterday because, as predicted, I was still paying for my celebrating, oops.



(photos from Martha Stewart, BHG and pinterest of course)



twiney fun

Bakers twine has been around for a long time so obvi this is nothing new- BUT, I am obsessed with all the colors I keep seeing it in these days.  All these crafts and uses around the house has me wanting to pick up a few spools of it...or maybe all of the colors.

 divine twine

 twisted sugar twine

So many colors, so many uses!

 dress up a plain brown paper package...come on sing the song with me.  "Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things."  You're welcome for getting that stuck in your head.

 how cute is this birthday cake bunting?

paper tags get an upgrade with pretty string 

 Oh Martha!

Cupcakes in a jar tied with a spoon to go- hello my new favorite snack!

more tags...

This isn't exactly a summer thing, but how cute is this hot cocoa mix in a jar?

So what other bakers twine ideas am I missing here?  Spill em people, I need a reason to justify my large purchase of bakers twine.

(Photos from: Divine Twine, Twisted Sugar Twine, Pinterest, Instructables, Martha Stewart, Oh Sugar Events, and uplusudesign.bigcartel.com)

a little gold and silver love

Hello all! I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Christmas!!  I can't believe that all my shopping, wrapping and getting ready for the big day has come and gone so quickly- it's kinda sad.

One more holiday left for this year and its New Year's of course! Here are my current favorite ideas for decorating last minute.  Don't forget to make use of those left over Christmas decorations too

Such a cute idea to use that leftover garland- Both the 2011 and the stir sticks were made with it

Decorate a tray full of champagne with left over ornaments- use a single color mixed with gold or silver to create a pretty New Year's look

A lovely spread full of yummy food and lots of bubbly!

Sparklers get a pretty upgrade with some cut out messages- much prettier display then just the plain sparkler boxes

Dress up store bought horns and noise makers with a pretty tray and some left over garland.  Store bought sweets look dressed up in gold or silver cupcake tins too

Basic white dishes with a simple silver New Year's banner make a simple yet beautiful display!

This year the fiance and I are hanging at home with lots of bubbly and Ryan Seacrest of course, but I might just decorate our place with a few of these easy ideas to get in the festive mood!

New Year's

I hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year's...

...now bring on the champagne!!

Blanket of History

Christmas was full of meaningful gifts for everyone in my family this year. Lots of things were made by hand and given with love, including the table I posted yesterday. But, the quilt that I made for my Grandma tops the list too :)

If you've been around for awhile you remember that my Grandpa passed away back in April. After, my Grandma gave me all of his old ties not knowing what to do with them and not wanting to throw them away.

I didn't want to make just any old project with them so I decided to make a quilt for my Grandma. I knew it would be something she would love since they were ties from my Grandpa and also because I made it with love.

All the ties cut into squares, ready for sewing

All the squares sewn into long sections

The finished quilt.

As you can imagine there were lots of tears this Christmas too. My Grandma was completely surprised and loved it beyond words.

It will certainly be an heirloom that is cherished for many, many decades to come.

Generous People

Santa, aka my parents, family and BF were very generous this year!! I could not have asked for a more amazing Christmas if I planned it and bought for myself :)

One of my most favorite and special presents is a new table that my Daddy made for me, yes MADE FOR ME!

It kinda looks like this only a million times better, it's white and has a shelf. Like my drawing?

He is crafty like me...I mean where do you think I get it from? So it is built to perfection, like not one measurement off. Once I get it behind my sofa I will take more pics and share them- but I was too excited to wait to post so this drawing will have to do for the moment.

I also got a new laptop because two special people knew that my old one was no good for blogging- thank you Mom and Dad!! So you can't really see it, but just know that I am posting on it now and it is just perfect, blogging is so much faster now!

I hope Santa was good to everyone out there in blog land!

Merry Christmas!

Signing off for Christmas. I hope you all have an amazing and wonderful Christmas this year!

To keep you entertained here are a few of my favorite Christmas images.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

(Photos from: Martha Stewart, House and Home, and Coastal Living)

Stocking Stuffers

I'm so behind in my blogging...please forgive me.

Jaime over at La Vie J'aime asked me to put together my perfect stocking- only rule was it had to fit in the stocking.

I picked a classic Pottery Barn stocking, love the little bling detail on it. To see what I selected to to go in my stocking go HERE to Jaime's blog to see more :)


Christmas Countdown- 3 days wooohooo!!!