HOME: Colorful Front Door Inspiration

1. Traditional Orange   2. Blue Chevron Detail   3. Modern Yellow   4. Orange with Glass   5. Mid Century Modern Orange Door   6. Hello Door Screen

I've been thinking quite a bit recently about our front door and front entryway area. The picture below is of our entry way which I have given NO love to as of yet besides the new house numbers (a quick little project with some modern numbers that I spray painted gold) and the American Flag. Our front door (pictured below), has some super ornate molding going on, which has been growing on me. I think I could make it stand out even more if I painted it mint or a light peachy color. Luckily for us, our house is gray with navy shutters, so I could really do ANYTHING, the possibilities are endless! I love these doors pictured above, the "hello" on the yellow door's window and the screen door are just too flipping cute too 

Fashion DIY: Leather Studded Wallet

For Mothers Day, I had my first experience in working with leather when I made some little clutches. After working on those, I decided it was time to make myself a wallet. My everyday purse is pretty small, and I haven't been able to find a wallet that A.) fits in it and B.) is actually cute and doesn't cost $200. With those thoughts in mind, I designed this little diddy. I added a little gold pocket on the back of the wallet for my ID, and made it a bit more three dimensional by adding side panels. I showed in a bit more detail how the studs are done. It's so super simple, sort of like little snaps and then you just hammer the heck out of them. I love how this one came out, lots of room for cards (because lets be honest, I really only carry cash if someone is paying me back for something or am going antique shopping) and it's just the right size for my purse and can even fit my phone if it's all I'm carrying. Wallet perfection for very little money!

Wedding Pallet: Autumn Wedding, Rusty Accents

I saw the bouquet in the upper left of this collage I put together, and immediately fell in love with the color pallet. How fresh and amazing with the rust tones mixed with creamy whites, shades of pink and that little hit of bright blue. What a great color pallet to pull throughout the event in different ways. It's a fresh and compelling take on the more traditional autumnal wedding color pallets.

1. bouquet   2. suitcases   3. banquet table   4. leaves   5. seating tags   6. feathery accents

Happy Independence Day! Bake a Mini Apple Pie!

Happy Fourth of July! Nothing says summer to me like apple pie, and as I like everything better in miniature, I decided to make some little apple pies for the occasion! Follow your favorite apple pie recipe, but make (or buy) double the pie crust. I used a cupcake tin, no liners, and pam'ed and flowered each cup. I then used a large circle cookie cutter to cut a bunch of circles for the bottoms and tops of each pie. With mini pies you also have to cut the apples for your filling much smaller than you would for a traditional pie. I cut mine about the size of skittles.  Line the bottom of the cupcake pan with one of the circles, spoon in your filling, and put on the top. Put them in the oven, I cooked mine for around 25 min at 400 degrees. An important tip, make sure to take them out of the pan right when you take them out of the oven or all the apple goo will glue them into the pan and they will NEVER come out in one piece! Enjoy your mini pies and the 4th of July!! I'll be taking Friday off from blogging for the holiday! Enjoy the long weekend!

Youthful & Fun Home Decor

I've expressed before my love for decor with character, items that are playful and different. I've been listening lately to the new Michael Buble album, and there is one song, "Young at Heart" that is just so sweet and really resonates with me. I wanted to devote a post to decorating when you are young at heart. These items all have an air of youth and whimsy. From a sketch like stitched headboard, a swing side table, and a hedgehog q-tip holder, each seems to have it's own voice and personality. Let your decor express how you are young at heart!

1. Stitched Upholstered Headboard: This feels so imperfect and sketch-like.
2. Side Table Swing: I think everyone should have an indoor swing.
3. Hedgehog: I love how it was specifically designed to hold q-tips to complete the design. Genius.
4. Little Door: Yes, I want a little mouse house.
5. Piano Doorbell: I'll only let you in if your song is pretty.
6. Baby Camel: Photographer Sharon Montrose has this whole series of baby animals, adorable.
7. Candy Necklace Light: I have no words for how much I love this.
8. Owl: Johnathan Adler is awesome and JCP is carrying a lovely collection by him.

Bedroom Gallery Wall

Finally! I have hung some art in our guest room! I had a variety of things that I was excited to hang on the wall, but I knew it would be a tricky orientation as some of the pieces were three dimentional. So as I described when I hung the gallery wall in our living room, cutting out pieces of paper in the same size as what you want to hang on the wall is a great way to insure that you are not putting too many holes in your walls! By working with the paper versions, I could move them around and end up with everything right where I wanted. Knowing where the lamp was going to be made me think about where I wanted the art to go. Sometimes people hang art without taking into consideration where their furniture and other accents are going to be. Something that may look unbalanced on the wall can be balanced by other items, like windows, doors, a high backed chair, or in this case, a lamp.  You really do have to take into account everything in the room when you are hanging art.

As for the art, the ice cream cone is by my super talented college room mate, Claire Moore. Then I have a little calligraphy I did on the fly to fill the little wood frame. It's nice to have a basic sized frame that you can switch out the artwork every once in a while, which is what I intend to do with this little frame. The metal C is from Urban Outfitters, and the woven basket from West Elm. The wood type box is a Brimfield find that I painted and talked about in a previous post. Mixing various types of art always makes for a lovely and dynamic wall. I am so very happy with how this came out.

Wedding Thank You Photos

I think every couple should take photos on their wedding day with the specific intent of using them for their thank you cards. By doing this, you ensure every guest has a photo of you from your wedding day, and your thank you cards are ready to go without much thought. We did this for our wedding (ours is the one with the bunting I made and our puggle dressed to the nines), and it was such a relief to  know what we were going to do for our thank you cards when we got back from our honeymoon.

1. Bridal Party Thank You
2. Photo Booth Thank You
3. Bunting Thanks
4. Book Thanks
5. Sign Thanks