Making Spirits Bright!

I can hardly believe that nearly 10 months have passed without posting a thing! Now that we are not only married, but settled into our new home, I can finally share some of the things have been going on around here. The word of the month this month is TRIANGLE, but I have yet to complete that project. In the meantime, I've been busy sprucing up the house for Christmas with a few DIY projects. The first project was a handmade wreath letter...

I have had this plain - but oh, how I love plan - pine cone wreath, and I wanted to spice things up for our front door with a pop of red. I saw on Pinterest that you could take yarn of any color and glue it around a large letter of your choice. Apparently, it's a quick and easy project. An hour and a half later, this is my little gem. I was really happy with how in turned out, and it looks great from the street... but never would I say it was easy!

With the bright red wreath hanging in our front door, I thought I would bring in some more in our house. We have a gray couch and black chair, so I wanted something bring against the black. While laying in bed the other day, I looked up at a sweater that has traveled with me for quite some time, that I never wear. It's a bit too short on my body - so in that very moment - it was about to see its last days. I researched how to do it, and fortunately I finally got a chance to use my new sewing machine.

First, gather your items (shown below) and allow plenty of time to thread your bobbin and machine. That took a while for me, anyway!

Next, cut the size pillow you would like. My thought was to cut along the armpit, so that the threads in the sweater wouldn't start breaking on the other ends. Flip the sweater inside out and sew first along the side that you made the cut. Flip in right side out as much as you need to to make sure that you are getting the shape you want. Another word of caution, you really need to guide the sweater through the machine. It's so thick that it won't really pull itself through like most materials.

Once you have sewed the both open sides together, be sure to leave about a fist size hole so that you can flip your pillow right side out again and stuff it.

Finally, I wanted to add a cute detail to my pillow, so I used the wrists and next to make little pinwheel flowers for the top corner. Simply roll the fabric, and wrap it tight and sew into a cone like shape. Then trim any excess yarn from the end and stick the needle directly through the middle of the flower and pull through the back of the pillow to make a small indent. Below is a close up of my flowers in a bundle.

 And finally, I finished piece nestled comfortably in our big black chair. I love how it turned out!  This chair has become Sage's favorite spot in the house, so I'm sure she'll enjoy it just as much as we do.

Finally, for a bit more Christmas spirit - I thought I would post a nighttime picture of our beautiful Christmas tree. We are so blessed to be sharing our first Christmas together in our new home. I'm so very merry :)

Chilly January Word :FROST:

My best friend and maid of honor's birthday is in February, so I thought I would make her something special this month. Since she's getting married in July, I was sure to incorporate her new monogram. Sorry, Jen, I'm blowing the birthday surprise - but you can wait with anticipation to get your present in the mail.

Materials: Unique Glass Jar, Frost Spray Paint, Letter Decals, Tape, and a Decorative Ribbon

This project was more difficult than I anticipated. But the workaround was equally as fun! Originally, I wanted to place the letters with tape and spray the frost, but most of the frost ended up uneven around the letters and even ended up under them. Not the sleek effect I was going for.

As a workaround, I ended up hand painting the letters in my original design after taping off the glass again and spraying with frost. I let the glass sit for 25 minutes between sprays, and a few hours to let it set before handling.

And below is the final product! I hope you love it, Jen, my sister and I thought this would be a cute container for bath salts or cotton balls. Happy Birthday!

On the hunt for our new home...

I can hardly believe that we've passed into the new year and are well on our way to finding a new home for us to grow into together. My sister Kari referred us to a wonderful agent, and we headed out to the streets on Saturday afternoon.

Just like our reception venue, we have fallen in love with the first home we saw. After looking at four more after, it confirmed that we want to pursue this home further. I am just as excited as I am nervous - this home we saw could be the home we start our marriage in and have our first child in.

I am trying to stay grounded that we may not get the home or we may find something wrong, but everything feels so great about this. I am praying for direction from God that we know what to do, and that we can keep perspective if something falls through. Keep your fingers crossed that we get through this thrilling process while staying level headed and sure that if this is meant to happen, it will be so.