For the love of Chevron

Chevron skirt

I don't fall for pattern's often but for some reason I have been really liking the chevron pattern. (who hasn't lately?) It is a little Charlie Brown just without the black and yellow! Everything from rugs, phone cases to clothes...chevron is everywhere. 

Pottery Barn Kids

The rug above is the inspiration for my next project. I've seen several DIY tutorials on painting your own design onto solid rugs like this IKEA rug...

IKEA

With some painters tape, paint and a foam brush the possibilities are endless. This rug is on my list to get next time I visit IKEA. 

As you may have noticed I have been a bit MIA this past year. Not for lack of discovering new and creative things to do but enjoying these new discoveries and not feeling the need to record them all.

I currently see myself like the floats above and will post something here and there when the mood hits.

Enjoy the discoveries!

Wall Change

My Anna LOVES Africa. By that I mean she loves the animals, the landscape and the fact that you have to take a plane or boat to get there from our home. Her imagination has created beautiful stories of us going to Africa someday. When we built our home almost 2 years ago I created a wall on one side of Anna's bedroom that looked like this:

 

When I asked Anna what she would change about her room she pointed to this wall. 

I began researching ideas and there are A LOT of wonderful ones. 

Pottery Barn Kids

London big girl room

These walls were my main inspiration for what turned into this:

I am still amazed at how thriftily this project was done. The photography is all from Costco. I know!

For $1.49 you can purchase an 8 x 10 photograph. I then found unfinished 8 x 10 picture frames at the Dollar Tree and painted them white. So for $2.49 I have a framed photograph. I found a paint by numbers at Walmart that Anna painted for her wall. Total cost $1.97. The more ornate frames came from TJMaxx for $7.99 each. (my "splurge") The letters were unfinished and came from Michaels for $1.39 each. I reused some from the "Little Birdie" that graced the wall previously. 

I recreated the giraffe art from a print I saw on Etsy and the elephant art was made from a Martha Stewart elephant punch and scrapbooking paper. 

I am thrilled with how this all turned out and Anna keeps telling me how she loves her animals!

Side effect: Too easy = must repeat

Container's of Color

Southern Living

I love container gardening. Little oasis's of color that I can move and arrange to my hearts delight. The February and March issues of Southern living have been full of wonderful ideas for this spring season. I've torn out most of the pages out of both issues and taken them with me to Lowes this week to start planning. 

There are many advantages to living in a town where four colleges also call their home but one of the disadvantages is when your choosing planting colors to not look like your screaming your allegiance to one of them. If I plant all purple and yellow flowers I am a JMU alumni. (which I am but that's beside the point) Planting red and gold flowers and I am a Bridgewater College alumni. (which I also am) While I am proud of both colleges I would prefer my yard to to not reflect them.

With that being said I have decided on orange and purple combinations. The snapdragon arrangement above is a burst of color I am in love with.

Tulips

I also like the tulip and english daisy container garden in the February 2012 issue (that I cannot find a picture of...so sorry!) 

When I begin potting I usually set aside three large pots to plant palm trees in and place one on the front porch, back deck and under the deck. They exude a tropical feeling when the summer breeze blows thru them. The downside to this is that they do not like cold weather and the one time I brought them inside for the winter I neglected them and they did not survive. This year I am going to change it up and plant ornamental grasses.

Real Simple

I will still get the tropical feeling that can survive the colder temperatures.

Lowes

This is the picture that gave me the idea for potting ornamental grasses. I picked up the outdoor living catalog from our local Lowes.

Spring is coming...I can't wait!

Springtime is a time to Organize

Clutterbug.me

March 1st is the beginning of my "warm time". My spring has officially begun. Any snow storm that has it's eye on Harrisonburg, Va better look elsewhere! 

As much as I love warmer temperatures I also LOVE organization. One of the best gifts I got this year was a gift card to Lowes where I bought kitchen organizers for my cabinets. Heaven! 

With my youngest recently turning 7 months old (cannot be true!) I still have not found my groove where my house is clean by the end of the week, laundry is done and folded and I still have a weekend to enjoy with my family. I needed a plan. I found the weekly cleaning schedule above and modified it to fit my needs. I printed a blank schedule and slipped it into a page protector. I then filled in my daily goals with a dry erase marker and put it on the fridge. This has cut down my feeling overwhelmed and that I need to get the ENTIRE house cleaned in one day. By breaking the cleaning among 5 days I get more done and still have a weekend. I would highly recommend organizing your cleaning schedule in this way.

Prints and Patterns - Love or Hate

Home Depot

I recently saw a Home Depot commercial with this DIY project. It took my breath away. Now this told me two things. One: my style is evolving (as everyone's should) and Two: where can I start experimenting.

If you were to look in my closet you would see a lot of color...solid color. I have very little in the way of printed things. Solid colors are safe, classic and you can mismatch to your hearts desire. 

With my recent birthday one week behind me and feeling a little "old" I began "playing" with my wardrobe and looking for ways to bring some fun in. I found this inspiring blog: http://www.aintnomomjeans.com/ and would highly recommend it. So this week I have been thinking outside the box and have been mixing long sleeve stripes with short sleeve solids, textures with cardigans, etc.

jcrew

These pants are too far from the box for me but....

jcrew

THIS I can try. I love the contrast of colors. It's very fun and both pieces can be used to make other outfits.

Decorative Home Interior

I am not saying go to THIS extent of experimentation with patterns but throw a patterned pillow here and there and see how it grows on you....or not! 

Greece

Every winter I get in my "Greece mood". Which means I watch all of my movies that take place in Greece (ie Mamma Mia, The Moon Spinner, My Big Fat Greek Wedding...) and dream of going there. I think the main draw for me is the crisp white and blue buildings and the sunshine and the windmills and the water and the sunshine. (did I mention sunshine?) 

I could go on and on about my love of Greece but for now I'll leave you with some pictures to spark your interest.

Dinosaurs to Horses

My daughters have both loved dinosaurs and dragons for the past couple of years. If you have daughters who loved dinosaurs and dragons then you know how hard it is to find girl themed decor for bedrooms and parties. I made dinosaur art for both of my girls bedrooms.

BEFORE

Currently my oldest daughter's love of dinosaurs and dragons has changed to ballet and horses.

So for Christmas she got a horse themed quilt from Santa. (Santa shops at Target)

The dinosaur pictures came down and I made horse canvases to go in their place.

AFTER

I bought a value pack of canvases at Michaels and painted each with the color I wanted. I then went online and found silhouettes of horses and enlarged them, printed them, and cut them out. I used scrapbooking scraps that I had left over from other projects and some new sheets I saw at Michaels and traced the silhouette onto the paper and cut them out then glued them to the canvas.

 

Now every morning while I help my daughter make her bed she informs me that she LOVES her new horses.

So worth it!