Adorable Vintage Baby Shower

Hi everyone! I feel like I've been away from here for awhile..actually, scratch that, I KNOW I have been away from here for a while. Life just gets so busy, with so many things to do and it's like sometimes I don't know when to do what or how long to take doing it. And especially with this blogging thing, I tend to get lost in what I'm doing - really with any computer-related task I seem to get lost in the work (i.e. graphic design projects). Anyone else feel the same? Anyway, I was checking my twitter when I followed a link to this blog called Jen Loves Kev and I fell in love a little bit (understatement!). She's youthful, vibrant and fun-loving - oh and she's got a baby on the way. Which warms my heart because as you all know I have a little one :) Anyway, I know for sure it will be a site I will be frequenting. Well, as I was perusing her posts (and tearing up at the letters she and her husband write to their unborn baby girl) I came across a post about the baby shower they threw. And it looked FABULOUS! Check it out! (original post here)

(the expectant mommy & daddy)

How great is that party?? Right?? I love the old-fashioned vintage charm - and the outfits were pretty cute too (i.e denim, suspenders, hats). And the invitations were great! The type of thing I aspire to design to. You can tell someone put a lot of time and effort into this. It really is the small details that make get-together's memorable. Don't you just love those pickle jar labels? Oh and the mustaches!!! Ugh, what a great celebration. I wish the best for this young couple and their new little bundle :)

Image Source: Jen Loves Kev on Flickr

Ten Things I Learned this Month (July)

Okay okay....mostly this month. But some of these are just things that I had to share. Come on, would you really want me keeping valuable information from you? I think not :)

1. Storing your batteries in a fridge or freezer can extend life, depending on battery type.
• Alkaline batteries can lose up to 25% of their power a year if stored in a hot garage or attic.
• Rechargeable batteries lose 1-2% of their charge every day at room temperature. Storing them in the freezer preserves about 90% of a charge in a month. (Better Homes and Gardens Publication: Storage, Summer 2010)
2. Making your own laundry detergent can be done in less than an hour and can cost you just a penny per load! Learn more here. (I myself have been doing this for a year or so now and it is so easy to make and very customizable since you choose what bar of soap to use)
3. Save money by buying gift cards for up to 30% off their face value at sites such as plasticjungle.com, giftcardrescue.com, and giftcardsagain.com (via AARP)
4. Are you a fan of pastels? The next time you're doing a small painting project, instead of buying a whole can of a particular color, buy a sample a few shades darker than the shade you want and mix it with that spare white paint you have at home. It should save you about $10 and you'll use up that paint that's lying around. (Personal tip)
5. Here's a two-fer-one on painter's tape:
• After you've installed your molding, put the tape just a hair above where you're going to caulk to give you a straight line and no mess on the walls. (originally found here)
• When you're trying to get a crisp line with painter's tape, first use very minimal paint on the brush (dry-brush) and go over the border of the tape. Then, on the second coat, you can apply more paint. The first coat creates a seal so the second coat doesn't seep through. (seen on HGTV)
6. If you've got kids, then you've probably had a virtual smackdown in the dining room over the subject of vegetables. In lieu of that, why don't you use a little smoke and mirrors and hide their veggies (in their food of course). Try this recipe which cleverly disguises cauliflower in mashed potates. For more 007 recipes, try Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious.
7. Ok ladies, I know we all have atleast one pair of "sacred" shoes. To preserve their "holiness" spray them with acrylic matte sealer, which can be purchased for as little as $4 and change. This way, when they get dirty, all you have to do is wipe clean! And no one will ever know :)
8. When cooking a casserole, use ceramic or glass baking dishes; these materials outperform metal and will allow you to lower the oven temperature by 25 degrees, saving both energy and money (via Danny  Seo's Do Just One Thing Calendar)
9. Use a vintage apron as an organizer. Put mail, sunglasses, pens - whatever! - in the pockets and hang it across a door. Just tie the apron strings around the door and secure with double-sided tape. (Country Home February 2008)
10. Adding color to your room can sometimes be intimidating. Unless you are completely confident in you skills and taste, it's best to spend "big" money on pieces that are neutral, and instead bring in color with low-cost items. (Unknown)

Do you have any useful tips? Let me know and maybe I'll include it in my next tips post :) By the way, I realize I'm 3 days late but hey what can I say..better late than never right? haha

Image Sources:

Family (unknown), Paint (Twig Hutchinson), Clothesline (bal93 {new Icon})

Fresh like a lemon

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the absence these past few days - I'm always apologizing I know, but until I go back to school and work, and the rest of my life is on a nice decent schedule, this blogging thing is going to be pretty haywire too. And if you follow me on Twitter, you know that I've been having some medical issues recently (don't worry I'm ok now, thanks to free antibiotics from Publix). Anyway, here is a small does of refreshing inspiration for your day. While yellow isn't my absolute favorite color, lately I've been drawn to it, especially when paired with grays, black, and white. It's just so sophisticated that way, don't you think?

via Style at Home

via House and Home

via roomforcourt

via Hus & Hem

via h4ndz

via Apartment Therapy

Office Space - Inspiration & Organization Tips

I've been thinking that my craft area needs a little healthy redo. It's pretty disorganized and just a jumbly-bumbly mess. So if any of you are thinking of re-organizing, re-doing, or anything of the sort, maybe these photos will help you. I've really learned to not just "oooooh" and "ahhhh" over photos, but to really study them. Look at how they use like boxes of the same color, or pegboard to organize frequently used items and keep them close at hand. See how they use both new and old cannisters, cans, baskets, and bins to corral items. Take a good look at these photos and see what you see.

via Chez Larsson

 via Country Living

via Country Living

via Ideal Home Magazine

via Country Home

via A Field Journal

via Apartment Therapy

via House to Home 

via Amor Designs

Feeling inspired? You may not be able to do it all today, but if you do have the day, try these quick tips to "prettify" your craft space!

1. Label EVERYTHING. Labeling is the easiest way to organize. No more guessing and you know exactly where it goes. Honestly, it seems like a no-brainer, but I just recently started to realize (duh!) the power of a label. Find some gorgeous (and free!) printable ones here, here, or here.
2. Have a bunch of mis-matched shoe boxes? Try spray painting them all the same color. They may be different shapes/sizes, but a uniform color will help unite them. Or if you feel up to it, wrap them in a pretty wrapping paper or contact paper. When you're done, tag on a label or some metal label holders, which you can typically find in the scrapbooking section at your local craft store (as seen here)
3. Get in the habit of corralling items in containers. I have found (yes, yet another duh moment) that it makes life so much simpler when everything is contained within a little box. And a plus-side to this: it instantly makes items mobile. 
4. Go shopping in your china cabinet. Apothecary jars, mason jars, tall/wide cylindrical vases, bowls, saucers - even gravy boats! - can make great containers for buttons, paintbrushes, colored pencils, etc. 
5. Recycle! Use old soup cans, coffee cans, pasta sauce jars, jam jars - whatever you have - to hold things. Just give them a fresh coat of paint and maybe wrap some pretty scrapbook paper around it.
6. If you're a magazine hoard lover like me, you probably need a place (make that a big place!) to store them. You can either:
• Flip through your precious mags and tear out your favorite pages. Store them in a binder inside clear protective sheets. I usually sit down with some post-its and write down what I like about each particular page. Another good practice would be to keep a piece of paper with any websites/stores you would like to look up later or just have on file. Then, comes the hardest part which I still haven't done yet: throw away the rest :( or...
• Leave the aforementioned project for another day and make some DIY magazine files. Check out these holders which use cardboard boxes wrapped in paper from Apartment Therapy. Or what about these genius cereal box version?

The basic idea is to see what you have in a different light. Maybe you have an old dish drainer you're not using just stored away. Pull it out and spray paint it a nice happy color and use it to hold your mail an put pens in the silverware holder. "Use what you have" as my momma always tells me :) And if you think you need some new stuff, go garage saling! You can find so many neat dishes and caddies and it'll cost you next to nothing. Anyway, I hope some of those ideas got your creative juices flowing for some quick organization - in your creative space and the rest of your home. 

Do you have any organization tips? Would you like to share your creative space with me? I'd love to hear from you :) Leave me a comment below :) and HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Clever DIY

I typically try to publish all original/originally curated material on here and not to simply repost, buuuuut....I found a really awesome tutorial that I wanted to share with you guys. I just thought it was so ingenious. It's great for those of you who have a tight budget but would like to update those old linoleum/vinyl floors from the 70's. Caution though, it is for extreme DIY-ers. Learn more here.

via Apartment Therapy

Bzzzzy like a bee!

Hello everyone! Just popping in real quick to say hi and let you know that I'm here, but I'm busy busy busy. The lovely Miss Danni of Oh, Hello Friend is accepting buttons for her official blogroll (here) so I've been agonizing over THE perfect button. I should've just had one in the bag, ready for this moment whenever it came. But alas, I am one of those girls who isn't always prepared (but not to worry, that's on my revamp list for 2010! if not 2011 0_0). I've also gotta finish up that moodboard (in which I've hit a rut). Anywho, as you can tell, I've got lots of things to do, so I must be going now! Hope you're having a good day! And do something good for yourself today wouldja? Even if it's technically "bad" for you ;) Such as eating one of these...mmmmmmm

via The Cherry Blossom Girl

Bathrooms Bathed in Beauty

I love bathrooms. You can really have a lot of fun designing a bathroom if you open yourself up to the possibilities. There are so many options to choose from between flooring, wall coverings, fixtures, lighting, and furniture. I enjoy a good challenge and bathrooms are pretty good places to be faced with that. You have to be sure to fit as much storage as you can within what's usually a small space, be sure you use easy to clean surfaces and textures, provide adequate lighting for various tasks, and infuse your own sense of personal style all at the same time. 

via Country Living

(love the utility-esque light above the sink!)

via Vintage Simple

(delicious texture throughout - love the floor tile! You should see the rest of this lady's house too. I got a lot of inpsiration from her for decorating my house:])

via Better Homes and Gardens

via Country Living

via KitchenBathIdeas

via House and Home

via House and Home

(I love how the bottom two-thirds of the room is white with splashes of teal on the bathtub and sink and how the teal is echoed up at the top. I think if the walls were done half-white, half-teal then it wouldn't have been as successful - the tub and sink wouldn't pop as much and they would be in competition with the color on the wall.) 

via House and Home

As I looked through these pictures, I realized that there are seven things I am absolutely in love with in a bathroom:

1. Subway tile
2. Hexagon tile
3. Beadboard
4. Fresh colors
5. Unexpected furniture pieces
6. Unique storage (vintage caddies, baskets, etc.)
7. Unusual tubs or sinks (such as the colored ones pictured)

What are your must-have's in a bathroom? Any dream ideas you have for a bathroom? I've always thought it would be nice to have a nice big spa tub in the middle of the room with french doors in front of it opening up onto a balcony. That way, I can soak and enjoy the beautiful countryside and hear the birds chirping all at the same time. Then afterwards, in my bathrobe, I can go out onto the balcony and eat a lovely little breakfast - a homemade belgian waffle accompanied by some fresh fruit. Sounds like bliss doesn't it? One day...one day :)