Waterlogue: I've Jumped the Bandwagon, and a Giveaway

Are you familiar with Waterlogue?  For the un-initiated, it is an iPad/ iPhone app that allows you to transform your photograph images into a "water color."  I first came across these images on Instagram about a month ago.  I'm one of those people that tries to avoid the latest trends because I think "I'm too cool for that!" (HA!); so naturally I avoided the app at all costs.

I lasted almost a month before I saw this app creep its way into the blog universe.  Upon seeing what bloggers were doing with the images (Shine Your Light, here and Imparting Grace, here), my first reaction was to jump as quickly as I could onto the first iDevice I could find and buy myself that app!!

 (My new "water color" image hung above my nightstand)

Pre-School Valentine's

I thought today I would share the Valentine's I made with my son to pass out at his pre-school class.  This idea is not original, I saw it somewhere on the internet!  But, I had fun doing these with my son so thought I'd share the Valentine's, and a few outtakes, here!

My son LOVES posing for pictures and reviewing them, so this one was fun for us.  We had a photo shoot, and I chose the best picture and uploaded it to Costco photos (since I had to shop there the next day anyway).  Costco Photo has lots of border options, and I found this one under their holiday section.  For $2, I ordered 20 4 x 6 photos and for another $1.50 I found the heart pops.

Easy Orchid Centerpiece

If you've been around this blog you might now that I'm a big fan of orchids.  I filled my home with them last winter / spring because of the ease in care (two to three ice cubes once a week) and the longevity of the flowers (mine bloomed all winter/spring).

For some reason, though, it never crossed my mind to group these flowers.  But as I cataloged and reviewed some of my favorite inspiration images for my own home, I kept noticing these plants grouped in one pretty vessel together.  I started to wonder how I could get myself one!

Last week I was shopping our local Mariano's (a Midwest grocer that I LOVE!) and saw that the floral department was selling one for $75.  I didn't care for the bowl (for my house) but casually asked the woman working the department how she put the centerpiece together.  She was really helpful and in case you are wondering, I did buy flowers from her, so I didn't feel that bad!  I decided I could recreate my own centerpiece for a little less money.

Personalized Stockings

Christmas is by far my favorite time of year for many things: time with family and friends, spreading good cheer for all to share.... :) , good food, baking (anyone who knows me knows this is a lie), lots of fires, hot cocoa, which may or may not be spiked with Baileys, and last but not least, holiday decorating!  I've been busy decorating our home for the holidays and will definitely share my decorating here on the blog.  I hope to have a tour ready by Monday to participate in various link ups that are being hosted.  Before that, I wanted to share some projects I've worked on this week.

I purchased new stockings this year (this came after my DIY sweater stocking FAIL that I tried last year and never shared here).  I went with the plain white Pottery Barn Velvet Stockings:

Easy Kitchen Organization Tips

I like pretty pictures of pretty things (which likely explains my pinterest obsession).  This post has neither of those things.  Wah waaaahh....

Anyway, what this post does have is two easy tips I used to make my kitchen - and brain - a little less cluttered:

(My new file system)

Can I ask, are we the only family that has an uncontrollable mail problem?  Each day, we receive thousands (okay, exageration) of pieces of new mail that have a way of taking over our kitchen counter and table top.  I had a file box that I kept in a kitchen cabinet that was a solution at one point.  It had a habit of staying in the cabinet and never coming out. 

Garden Stakes

This year, my husband ripped out a whole section of grass alongside our house so that I could plant an herb and lettuce bed right off our french doors and deck.  Therefore, I planted a larger variety of herbs and lettuce than ever before and wanted to make sure I kept all the different plants straight.

Vertical Wall Garden How-To

Yeah!   It is finally warm outside and this year I am WAY ahead of myself and I'm already finished with our outdoor flower planters and herb garden (well, about 85% finished):

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

I realize I'm ahead of the season, but I can't wait for spring to arrive.  I'm ready for the cold and dreary weather to be over so that I can once again step out onto our deck with a cup of coffee on a sunny morning and be outside with the boys.  I'm also really hoping to build raised vegetable beds this spring and can't wait to get to plant my garden!

Until that first spring morning arrives, I've decided to bring spring inside.  I've add indoor plants and bright accent colors in our house.  Yesterday, I shared my Pink and Green Spring Tablescape (see it here).  Since our peonies are not even near sprouting yet - and even when they are in bloom, they are overrun from ants, how do I get rid of the ants?!?! - I decided to make my own pink "peonies."

Create a Simple Magnetic Chalkboard

I recently put together a magnetic chalkboard for my son to use in his room (full tour here) that was really simple to create:
 

The artistic renderings were done by my husband during play time....not me.  I'm not really that talented.  I purchased each of the necessary materials over time without a real purpose in mind......

Nautical 1st Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated my youngest son's first birthday with our family:

Here is the birthday boy; he's a happy little guy:

To plan the party, I made it easy and chose the theme and colors I used in his nursery:

Arrow Valentine's for my Pre-Schooler

This year I needed to pull together Valentine's for my son to pass out at pre-school.....

....ok, so maybe his class passed out Valentine's last year, too, but I was three days away from delivering our second son, so I may have forgot to send something with him.....

...so this year I'm trying to make up for that, I suppose....

Seven Ideas to Create a Gallery Wall.....

I was recently asked to share a tour of my home at another bloggers site and I said "yes, absolutely"!!! However, besides for the Christmas-y pictures I shared here, I have no other pictures of the main living spaces of our home! 

One thing I needed to add quickly and cheaply to certain rooms - to get ready for sharing my home tour - was wall art.  Tomorrow, I will share a few ideas that I came up with to quickly and cheaply add some life to our walls.  However, today I will focus in on one of those ideas: creating a gallery wall using your own images.

I'm not going to tell you what color and size frames to use or how you should arrange them.  I want to talk about what you will put inside them. 

I love the idea of using your own photos because it is personal and an easy conversation starter. It's also relatively inexpensive when considering the alternative fee of paying for the rights to someone else's image.   I use Costco for printing my photos and an 11" x 14" only costs $3.12.   Furthermore, Hobby Lobby sells a very large selection of frames and mattes and often offers these at 50% off.

You don't have to be a professional to take good pictures.   I am by no means a photographer.   I've never taken a photography class and I have never read the manual of my own camera. I do not own a DSLR camera, either, so I'm working with the basics here.

What I do have access to is Google's free Picasa photo editor. This allows you to easily edit and crop photos to make them more interesting. If I gave you only two tips it would be:

• Turn off your flash! It is unflattering to EVERYTHING. This means you need to have a steady hand and access to good light. So just go outside!
• Frame your shot! Consider the objects in the background / foreground and depending on your subject, get up close, up high, or down low....just make it interesting! You have another shot at making it interesting once you edit your photos, so don't be overly concerned yet.

Here are a few photo grouping ideas I came up with after browsing pictures I've snapped over the past several years:

1.  Bold Colorful Photo Wall.  Do you feel like you want to inject color into an otherwise bland room? Get up close and personal with...a fruit stand...or bouquet of flowers:

Christmas Gifts are wrapped....

...well at least some of them:

I don't enjoy wrapping gifts.  Most years I wrap the gifts the night before or on our way to the Christmas party.  Bows are falling off, two types of paper may or may not be wrapping the gift....ribbons are askew.

I didn't even plan on adding any bows and ribbon to the gifts this year.  I used up ALL of my gift wrap last year and decided in advance this year that I would keep it simple with silver and gold paper. 

Winter Wedding

My husband and I celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary this week.

I love to look back and think about the days leading up to our wedding (and of course our wedding day).  I never considered the possibility of several crazy snow storms the week of and the day of our wedding.  That is, until we had several crazy snow storms the week of and the day of our wedding. 

In the end it worked out well because it made for some fun pictures.  Here is a picture the photog took right when snow started coming down the day of the wedding:

DIY Advent Calendar

December is quickly approaching, and this year, I really wanted to create an advent calendar that I could open with my 3 year old son each day leading up to Christmas:  

Last year we were given a Christmas Story advent calendar and my son looked forward to reading it each day and adding the daily ornament to the Christmas tree.  I became inspired to create my own calendar this year when I saw this image on Pinterest:

DIY Nursery Bedding and Window Panels

UPDATE:  SEE FULL NURSERY TOUR HERE.

Baby Boy #2's nursery was all about keeping to a budget and to do so, I:

(1) Re-purposed and reused items from around my house
(2) DIY'd several projects (including the map nursery wall letters, Restoration Hardware inspired drapes, bedding, and sailboat mobile)
(3) and relied heavily on thrift store finds for finishing touches

For me, the most challenging project, by far, was the bedding:

I started the nursery by searching for inspiration around the web, and finally settled on a yellow and grey color scheme. 

I searched and searched, and kept coming up short for bedding that matched my vision.  Sure, Serena and Lily and other semi-custom sites had some great options.  However, I was not ready to spend $300 plus on a crib bedding set!  It proved more difficult than I had imagined finding mix and match bedding at a reasonable price point. 

Cool Weather Inspired Ideas

The crisp and cool air gets me excited for winter nights in front of the fire, playing board games, and drinking a little vino.  These images give me the urge to hit up my husbands closet, or maybe the local Goodwill, to look for some sweaters to do a little of this:

Nursery Wall Letters

UPDATE: SEE FULL NURSERY TOUR HERE.

I'm adding the finishing touches to Baby Boy #2's nursery:

I knew I wanted to use wall letters in his nursery and found many great ideas:

Goodwill Hunting

I stopped at the local Goodwill yesterday hoping to find a few items for around the house.  While I didn't know specifically what I wanted, I have ongoing home projects that need additional pieces:

• Master Bedroom - I purchased frames/matting for above our bedroom nightstands several months back that need art.  Until now, I threw some old sheet music in the frame, to fill the mat; not a permanent solution.
• Nursery - While the main elements are complete, I keep putting off hanging art and picking up some finishing accessories I have on my mind.  Considering Baby Boy #2 is now almost 8 months, I need to get a move on that.............

I kept this in the back of my mind as I rummaged.

Here is the pile of stuff I came home with:

I honestly have no real need for a silver platter and glass /silver plated bowl.  I just really like silver.  When I see it for a good price, I buy it.  :) 

Nursery Inspiration

UPDATE: SEE FULL NURSERY TOUR HERE.

In February of this year, my husband and I welcomed Baby Boy #2 into our family:

We moved Baby Boy #1 into his new Big Boy Room on Christmas day (inspiration board and pictures will follow); and then it hit me, I had yet to think about the nursery design.  Initially I thought we would simply move the new guy into the old nursery.  But...the nesting instinct was strong in me this time around.  With only a month left to go, I decided I must update the nursery.

I found a lot of great inspiration for the bedroom around the web (see below).  With all of these rooms in mind, I put together this inspiration board:



#1. Rug from Overstock.com
#2. DIY bedding textiles, World Market Pillow, and and IKEA Sundvik crib
#3. West Elm Capiz Chandelier
#4. DIY Nursery Mobile, using paper mache boat pattern found at Ann Wood's blog
#5. Restoration Hardware Canvas Stripe Drape (which I also DIY'ed)
#6. Nursery Art: World Map (PaperSource) and black and white nautical photos.

And here is a sneak peak at the space today: