Keeping Calm & Carrying On

Styling a Shelf

Decorating at home is definitely one of my favorite things to do. Because I have so many different styles that I love I tend to move things around and switch things up often. Plus, over the past few months I've enjoyed printing wedding pictures and scattering them throughout our home.

 

 

I bought this beautiful bookshelf from Pottery Barn a while back and have been holding off on mounting it, because it came with a bunch of heavy duty hardware. The shelf itself is almost 10" deep and weighs more than 15 pounds for sure. Once I got it leveled off I collected pieces for it. Amongst the engagement and wedding day photos is a painting I purchased in Puerto Rico a couple of years ago; A destination Steven and I have both enjoyed and a place where some special friends that mean a lot to us live. It's a wonderful reminder of those times and those friends as well.

A vintage camera, a flower frog and some flowers inside a painted mason jar added a pop of color. The shelf is hung in our front living room, above the sofa. I love the fresh light that comes in from the large windows on the west side of the house. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

So Many Projects

I've been working on so many projects at once lately that it's been quite hard to keep up. I haven't shared too many scrapbooking pages, but trust me I've been whipping them up like crazy! I'm working on two gift albums both that need to be finished come spring time that I can't wait to reveal and show you. But for now they need to stay top secret.

At home we have projects going on too. Steven and I finally tackled our bedroom "Christmas gift" project. We spent the entire weekend painting, fixing & assembling furniture, rearranging and more. It's looking great...I'll be sure to share photos once my pieces are all hung up on the wall...I'm just waiting for one more.And, because I hate blogging without a photo, here's a look at the brand new Bella Blvd collections displayed quite beautifully at the local Grand Re-Opening of The Scrapbook Store & More. Doesn't it look great! All the CHA orders will begin shipping next week. I'm so excited to get it out into the world...another four babies are ready to fly!

Hope you're having a great week.

Single Photo Saturday

Love this cross in the entryway to our home. Wonderful daily reminders. Hope you're having a great weekend, enjoying family & friends and bit of "me-time".

Where I Crop

My scrapbook room definitely needs some color....I've been wanting to paint for months now, but it just keeps falling to the bottom of the priority list. Today I'm giving you a glimpse inside....raw and ugly walls n'all!

This is the wall behind my desk. You can see a bit of my chair there in lower left corner. Naturally, I am using my Bella Blvd products all the time, so I have 2 white wire paper towers that hold Bella Blvd papers and stickers only. Instead of just one paper style per ledge, I sort by collection. Each tray/ledge has a collection including patterned papers and stickers (12x12) from that collection. 

The newest is on the top, and the older ones descend. Usually when a collection is brand new and I'm using it a lot it has 2-3 trays full of product. When my new collections come out I gradually shift things down.  My computer is resting on 4 drawer cubes housing all my solid cardstocks, and patterned papers from some of my other favorite manufacturers. I sort those all my file folders in colors, because that's what works for me. When planning a layout I choose my photos and then select coordinating colors for products.....hence my method of organizing.

On top of the cubes is a fun little way in which I store some of my Designer (washi) Tapes. I bought that spool thingy (I have no idea what it's actually for) from a Flea Market last year. I just love the vertical storage space is offers, and visually it's so easy to see the colors I have at hand.

A year ago or so I taped that large photo of my nieces and nephew on the wall so that I would constantly be reminded that God has a plan and to "Believe in the promise of the Savior." It was shortly after my brother-in-law passed away and so I wanted to give myself a daily reminder of his little kiddos and how much I should always strive to be there for them. Slowly, the one picture turned into several.....and a photo collage was unexpectedly born. I love it. I know it will be hard to remove once I do decide to paint, but in the meantime it has some of my favorite photos and memories from a ll different times....and really is a montage of my life! Everyone that pops in the room always ganders at it and comments on something or another :) It just makes me happy.

On my desktop I have a couple dishes like the dessert one above holding more Designer Tapes and misc. products that I just finished using & that need to be put back into their actual homes (when I find the time :) lol)

This old cast-iron muffin tin holds the same kinds of thing...just smaller loose pieces like buttons, chip pieces, Flags and more. 

On the adjacent wall I have a closet-style unit with doors that hides a whole lot of stuff----- that's for another post another day----but on top I store 12x15" storage boxes holding kits that I've purchased to assemble on a rainy day or pre-made layouts that I need to add photos too. While the storage looks nice, the downside to this is that I don't always remember what I have inside there and often don't check up on it to use the layouts or kits. I need to get better at that :)

So, there it is----a little peek into my colorless scrapbook room. I promise it will livin' up within the year. I can't wait to add color.....I'm thinking pink :) with a black&white chevron rug.....

Do you have any suggestions for wall colors?

Where I Work Out

Now that Winter has rolled out and its fa-reez-ing I stay inside for my workouts. During the marathon training process last year I really grew to love running outside in the fresh air, enjoying the sights and sounds around me. But, let's be real: I am not running outside when it's cold. 

I hope this post doesn't freak you out or make you think I'm a wierdo, but I'm a visual person, in every facet of my life. So, when I need to lose weight or get fit, I constantly surround myself with visual reminders of goals, inspiration, quotes, etc. Here's an example. I have this collage taped to my full length mirror so each day when I get ready I'm constantly reminded of my daily choices.

Inside the fitness room I have started an inspirational photo wall. The gray striped wall background (that Steven and I painted ourselves :) is a great neutral backdrop to add any colors to.

I scored this awesome and very dimensional quote piece at my local World Market!

Some of the pieces I hand painted, rather quickly--like the black and purple quote  (I used those colors to remind me of Justin Beiber---his favorite colors).

Over time I gathered images from the internet and printed collages to fit onto Artistan canvases. I trimmed and decoupaged them onto the canvases and then finished them off with a couple layers of black paint on the edges.

another collage....

Isn't it inspiring to look at fit and sexy people while you're working out---something ot aspire to during my workouts---or reasons why not to give up! It's all the more reason to do 5 more burpies or 2 more push ups!

The baskets on the wall are actually magazine racks. I roll up the towels to fit inside.

and then the basket on the floor hold the "backstock" of towels and disinfectant too!

Working out has become part of my daily life for more than 2 years now. It's amazing how much more energy I have, how it helps me watch what I eat because of how hard it is to work off the calories, and most of all....I love it because it's great "me-time" to relieve stress and think about whatever the heck I want to until I have to return to my daily routine.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of the fitness room. And the best part is, I don't have to go outside in the freezing cold and drive to the gym. I have everything I need right here.

DIY: Altered Kitchen Pin Board

I purchased a burlap push-pin board with a boring white-was wooden frame at my local Marshall's/Homegoods store recently and wanted to jazz it up for the kitchen. I thought it would make a great memo board for Steven & I because we don't have anything like it yet except for all the crazy things stuck to the fridge as reminders. I forget to take a "before" photo, but you get the idea...it was just the white frame with the burlap inset.

Here's the finished product hanging in our kitchen now. I "junked it up" with a bunch of embellishments and incorporated colors used throughout the house in my decorating and painting. First I used the new Pony Dictionary patterned Sienna alphabets (chipboard from Bella Blvd) and spelled "S-M-O-K-O-V-I-C-H" along the top, centered and distressed with some brown chalk ink. Added plenty of hot-glue and wham bam!

I've been holding on to this old lacey table cloth I bought a while back from Goodwill. I loved the netted-texture of it and knew I'd find a use for it at some point. So I cut a few strips of it, along with a couple paper doiles and hot glued them down as my bottom layer. Next, I hit up my scrapbooking stash of Prima and Bella BLvd flowers and buttons. The hot glue gun became my best friend as I layered chipboard, paper and fabric flowers and buttons atop one another in the upper right hand corner of the board.

About three quarters of the way down I wanted to make the board appeared wrapped. So I cut another very long strip of the netted table cloth and tied a bow along the left front-side. Then, because I have a lot of turquoise in the house I added another wrap of Prima's floral ribbon. Then I went to town again, "junking it up" with lots of flowers, and a Jillibean Soup stick pin too :)

One more small cluster near the middle of the board is glued down and not going anywhere ...

The cluster of 3 flowers (Brown ones are Bella Blvd Blooms A Bella with Bella Blvd wooden buttons in the center) and the canvas printed photo of Steven and I (left) are secured to the board. This picture will also be on the board, forever and ever! 

Believe it or not, the most tedious part of this DIY project was creating these button tacks. I picked a bunch of small Bella Blvd buttons from The Button Market and threaded them all with embroidery floss and/or Twine. Then I hot-glued them to the tops of flat white thumb tacks. So cute, right?! Now, even if there is nothing pinned to the board, the button tacks are sweet little embellishments! So, what do you think?! Next time your scouting out pieces for your home, think about how you can change it up, what you can add to it----or even what you can takaway to make it unique and your very own little creation!

New Feature: Around the House

Because one of my passions is decorating, I thought it would be fun to create a new feature around here where I can show you bits and pieces of the home that is soon-to-be ours. Just last week I shared a D.I.Y project, Wall Art, that showed a glimpse of the kitchen-that post could have easily been shared within this feature as well.

So...welcome to "Around the House" where I'll share with you home decor, color ideas, transformations, season decorating and more! This time of year it's always fun to change out the decor inside a home as we transition from Halloween, to Fall/Thanksgiving and then to Christmas. I've been collecting these little pets for quite some time waiting for fall to bring them out to play!

Meet my assortment of Owls. They sit on a ledge just above the kitchen sink and make for a happy little display of fall colors and different textures. The green one is actually a candle holder, although I have yet to light it.

That one on the far left is actually a Halloween owl by Pier 1 Imports; Instead I paired him up with the others in different colors to create a fall family instead of spooky Halloween. Don't they make you happy!? In case you're wondering, the others came from TJ Maxx, Marshalls and a random find at my local Sendiks food store a while back in the gift/season section.

Happy Fall Ya'll!