Burlap Curtains, a necklace and more Valentine's Decor!

I just stuffed my tummy full of Chicken Spaghetti.  And it was yummmmooo.  I will have to share the recipe sometime soon.  I got it from Cookinglight.com so that means it's good for me, right?!

So, after I made these Burlap pillows --->

 I had some leftover and wanted to tie in my curtains with the pillows in our bedroom.  I thought about doing stripes of burlap near the bottom and then decided I wanted it a little more "girly" (Sorry honey!) so I made some ruffles!  The pictures make the ruffles look kind of funky because I took the pictures at nighttime and had to use the flash. If at all possible, I try not to use the flash because the "artificial light" makes things look goofy.  But I couldn't wait to show them, so I'm posting them anyway. :)

You like?  I do!

I think they tie in beautifully with my new pillows..


Ahhh..i love ruffles.  You better believe when we have a little girl (a long time from now, mom!), her booty will be ruffly all the time. 


Like this:

 {Pictures taken from here.}

I want to make a burlap ruffle pillow soon...just gotta make another trip to Hobby Lobby for the burlap..


So, now it's time to take a gander at my Valentine's Vignette! I don't know why I'm calling it a vignette because really I'm not sure what that means, but I've been seeing it called that so I guess I should call it that too.

 Here is the before picture of my buffet/hutch before I decorated it...pretty boring...

 Here is my Valentine's decor!  Now let's take an up-close look at some of the goodies.

 I made this frame out of book pages and just mod podged it onto the frame. Easy peasy, and it looks cah-ute!

 I got this birdy from the Dollar Tree for (you guess it!) $1.00 and spray painted it this lovely melon color.

 I just cut out these hearts from scrapbook paper and taped it to the white plates.

 I added the purple boa that I had left over from my Valentine's Wreath project and the mercury votive holders that are sitting in front of the boa are from Target. The other mercury glass "trinket" is from Pottery Barn (and was on sale for $2.99!! SCORE!)

 Don't mind the price stickers on the bottom of those apothecary jars..I bought them at HomeGoods and couldn't wait to fill them.  Don't worry, I'll take them off sometime.  ;)  Aren't those marshmallow hearts too cute?  Oh and those M&M's in the smaller one?  They are almost gone already!! I should have known that they wouldn't have stayed long.

 I made the tissue rosette ball from this awesome tutorial here. It took me forever and I wanted to make more than one, but didn't have the patience! I love the way it turned out though.

 And lastly, I used an old typewriter that I got from Craigslist (I got it for my work) to write the words and framed it in a frame from TJ Maxx.

So there you have it! My Valentine's Decor...

And finally one more craft I did over the weekend was an adorable rosette necklace.  

I went a little overboard with the pearls but oh well! Can't take them off now!  Next time, i'll remember not to go pearl crazy.  I still like it though. 

As you can see I was quite productive over the weekend and maybe I should send the hubby off more often! hehe, just kidding.  I missed him while he was gone <3

Well, I gotta go get some work done! 

{and maybe make another rosette necklace!}

-Kait

P.S. If you want to see the Burlap pillows (I have a mini-tutorial!) click here!

I'm linking up here:

Ballard Designs Knock Off!

Well y'all.

I spent the better part of my day crafting my heart out.  It didn't start out so well as I had a grand idea to paint a doormat for my front door.  I went to IKEA (loveee that place),got a $5 plain doormat and got home with big plans to write something really cute on it...

Nope. That didn't happen.  It turned out HORRIBLE. I'm embarrassed to even post it, so guess what? I'm not gonna!

{Cause this is my blog, and I can do what I want!} Hehe

Let's just say that the paint didn't go in the right places and I ended up throwing it in the closet to tackle later...maybe..or maybe not. It may sit there until we move. We will see.


ANYWAY, but what I did accomplish were some C-U-T-E pillows.

I got the idea from looking at the Ballard Designs catalog.  When I saw them, I knew I had to have them...except not for $59 a piece. NO WAY JOSE.

I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby (well actually, my trips there are never quick because I go down EVERY aisle) and bought some burlap.  It was only $3.99/yard! I got 1.5 yards but that's because I have another Burlap project in the works...for the pillows it didn't even take a yard.

The project was very easy, just a little time consuming..but I had all the time in the world (hubby is out of town for the weekend) so it didn't bother me!

Here is Ballard Designs version of the pillows that I made:

You can find them here.

Aren't those just delicious? I LOVE burlap..and I love pillows.  So that made me one happy girl.  My husband is always like "Why do we have so many pillows everywhere?"  I just compare the pillows to tennis racquets and say "the more the better"...he understands then.

Now, without further ado...

here is my version:

 OMG-i'm in love.

I chose to do a more "whimsical" font than what Ballard Designs had and I used black paint instead of brown.

What do you think??  Do you like em?

Here's a short tutorial of how I painted the letters on..and if you're like me and don't sew well at all, you can use Liquid Stitch to make the pillows. That stuff is awesome.

So, i cut out a stencil from a regular piece of paper and used a paint pen (pictured above left) to trace the letters.  Then I filled in the rest with paint.  I wanted to make sure my lines were really straight so that's why I used a paint pen first. It worked really well on the Burlap.

After I did that, I just glued the sides together and stuffed my pillow in..and VOILA!

WONDERFUL Personalized "Ballard Designs Knock Off" pillows.

I also have a couple more projects to share that I'm finishing up, so y'all check back soon!!

*UPDATE: I've been getting several questions from y'all about the pillows, so I've decided to post the answers on here!

1. What font did you use? I opened up Microsoft Word on my computer and used the "word art" feature that can be found under the "Insert" tab (I have Microsoft Word 2007). After I opened the "word art" tab, I just typed "Mr." and made it big enough to fill up a whole page on landscape.  

*Just a note: You can make your font as big or small as you want depending on your pillow size.

Then I went back and typed "Mrs." and printed that out on a separate page. 

2. Where did you get the fabric? I got the burlap at Hobby Lobby, but I know that most Hancock's Fabric stores carry it.  I'm not sure about Joann's Fabric but to save you a trip, just call their store beforehand and ask! :)

3. What kind of paint did you use? I just used a regular acrylic paint. I know they make fabric paints for this purpose too but acrylic was all I had on hand, and it worked great!

4. Can this be done with another type of fabric? I'm no fabric expert, but I'm sure it can! Just make sure you test out a little piece first before painting so you'll know for sure.  But I would think that it would be fine to use other fabrics for this project. 

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask! :)


I'm off- gotta get crafting!

-Kait

Linked this up to:

Girls night!

Today is Friday.

It's about 8:30pm and what am I doing?

Laying on top of a mattress in the living room that I pulled off of the guest bed, surrounded by candles, eating some M&M's and drinking wine out of a solo cup.  Classy, right?  Sometimes it makes you feel much better with a few candles lit...can I get an amen?

It was a long day today.  I nannied four kiddos for the afternoon and I am pooped! We had a blast playing with playdoh and coloring though- but lemee tell ya, this gal is WORN OUT!

{that's the reason for the wine and the mattress on the floor..oh yes, and the chocolate}

Take a peek from my day:

Aren't they precious?  But man, they take it outa me! 

So, tonight I am home alone with the girls (Our pup, Penny, and sweet kitty cat, Claire....well, and Huey (our other cat) is here but he is outnumbered so I'm still calling it a girls night!

Mr. Husband went to Boone with our friend Allen and they are watching the final of the Australian Open..in case you didnt know this..my husband is OBSESSED with tennis.  Now, it's not just like "oh i like to play tennis"  or "yeah, i watch tennis on television"...my husband knows EVERYTHING about ANY professional, raquet, tennis gear, and tennis match on the face of the planet. 

No joke.

it's pretty rediculous. but, in a good way.  I love that he loves tennis so much and I fully support his "habit" or "infatuation" or whatever you wanna call it.  It's his second love.  Besides moi, of course.  :)

That explains why I'm by myself...and I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, going to Hobby Lobby to get some crafts, and crafting all day long! Hopefully by Sunday I'll have some GREAT things to share!! I have a few ideas up my sleeve.

So on Wednesday night, we went on a double date with our good friends, Allen and Alli to Capitol Grille in Uptown Charlotte. This restaurant is VERY nice and usually would cost at least $75 a person, but since it's Restaurant Week here, we got our meal for $30 a person.  Now that's still over the price we'd usually spend on a date, but Restaurant Week only occurs two times a year and so we decided to splurge.  It was the first time we have dressed up in a while.  And I will take ANY chance I get to wear heels.  :)

I am currently working on my Valentine's vignette and can't wait to share it!!  I bought some oh-so-cute apothecary jars from HomeGoods tonight that I've been dying to get. I have looked on ebay to see if I could get a deal, but since I would have to pay shipping, I decided to just go get them at HomeGoods. They were fairly inexpensive and I am so excited to use them in my lovey dovey Valentine's vignette!!!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you: I went to Goodwill this morning and look at what I found!

 Four red chargers. I debated on whether or not I really needed them but after looking at the back and seeing they were from POTTERY BARN, I decided they needed me.  tee hee.

 It looks orange in this pic because I had the flash on..oopsies.  But you get the point..they are shiny and red and perfect for Valentine's day AND Christmas!

Those suckers are $8-9 a piece and I found them for $.99 a piece! SCORE!  I saved at least $36 dollars if I would've gone to Pottery Barn and purchased them.  I love me a good deal!


I've also decided there are no good TV shows on Friday nights! What's the deal?! Don't they know that somewhere in the world there is gonna be a girl and her pup who wants to see a good show?  Sheesh!

Alright, time to go cuddle with Penny and make a list of goodies I  need from Hobby Lobby!

Xoxo

-Kaitlin

What I'm loving Wednesday

Yay! It's Wednesday- that means the weekend is almost here!  Mr. husband and our friend Allen are making their way up the mountain on Friday to watch the final of the Australian Open with all their college buddies, so I'm gonna be stuck at home by myself all weekend! I plan on crafting until I can't keep my eyes open! I am super excited.

If you haven't played along with Jamie at This Kind Of Love, then you need to! It's so much fun to see what everyone else is loving and you make a couple new friends along the way!

Here's what I'm loving:
1. I'm loving my left handed scissors that my husband got me for Christmas. Although they take a little getting used to because all my life I've had to use right handed scissors, I like that I can cut with my LEFT hand! ;)  Do you like my "ATTN" note?

2. I'm loving the new stores I've been finding around town! I went to a furniture consignment store today and got such a cute tiered plate stand. I'm gonna have to take a picture of it.  It holds all my fruit so delightfully (is that even a word?) I also found a consignment clothing store that carries Joe's Jeans, Citizens, Sevens, Kate Spade and Tory Burch stuff!!!  YES!  I didn't have that much time to browse today, but you better believe I'm going back ASAP to get me some goodies. I did get a big brown belt from there for $5.41!


3. I'm loving that tonight we are going on a double date to Capitol Grille in Uptown Charlotte! It usually costs around $75 per PERSON but "Charlotte Restaurant Week"" is this week! This is when tons of upscale places only charge $30 a head for a three course meal.  For the quality of food, this is a great deal.  If you live in the Charlotte area, check it out!

4. I'm loving my job. Being an event planner is so much fun and I'm getting really excited about the awesome things we have coming up in the future! Besides around 15 weddings in the next few months, we are opening an Etsy store and a vintage rental shop soon. I'm gonna keep you posted, don't worry!

5. I'm loving my flannel sheets.  Seriously, I NEVER get cold.  It's such a great feeling to crawl into bed and not shiver from the cold sheets.  I got mine from Target and they are AWESOME! They have snowmen on them. Cute, right?

What are you lovin'?? Do share!

-Kait

P.S. Penny is getting a MUCH NEEDED haircut tomorrow! I'm going to post a before and after pic because I'm sure I won't recognize her when I pick her up from the groomer.  (It's been like 4 months since we've had her groomed!)

Valentine's

Lately, I've been mildy obsessed with Valentine's Decor.  Partially because I am in charge of making a Valentine's vignette for work (Gotta love being an event planner because you get to do fun stuff like that!) so I've been researching ideas of what to do.

Here's what I've been thinking:


1. Sweet and Lovely Valentine's Vignette
This will have baby's breath in milk glasses,

pink seersucker and pink/blue floral fabric for the table,

baby pink M&M's in apothecary jars

carnations

 pink lemonade in a glass beverage dispenser

cute little cupcakes and cakes on pink cakestands

 

and fluffy tissue paper pom poms

Doesn't that look and sound so romantic?  I am excited to get it all together!!

So, the second idea I had is a "black valentine" vignette.  A little more "dark" but still lovely!

Here's a few ideas:

2. "Bold and Bright Valentine's Vignette"

 

red velvet cupcakes

 

black candlesticks

black iron tree with crystals hanging down as the centerpiece

 red punch

red roses

red fabric for the table

and of course some cute cupcake toppers and an "i love you" banner!

whatcha think?

If you have anymore ideas to add, please let me know! I'd love to hear them.

It's been pretty busy over here in our neck of the woods! I worked over 40+ hours last week and now have a few big projects on my plate.  One of them being this (althought it's not that big), another one is getting ideas for an Etsy shop we are opening soon! (Get really excitied, it's going to be all things wedding, party, and entertaining related!)  and lastly, we are also opening a Vintage Prop Shop for the Charlotte area which is a rental shop where you can rent things for weddings, photo shoots, and parties.  We have lots of great things..stay tuned and I'll give you a sneak peak!

Actually, all of those items listed above are either in our prop shop or I am planning on making! 

Tomorrow night we are going to dinner with our friends, Alli and Allen, to uptown Charlotte. Every year, Charlotte has "restaurant week" where all the REALLY nice places drop their prices to $30 a person instead of around $60 or $70 a person! It's a great deal for some great food and we are considering this part of our Valentine's gift to each other. :)

I also have some MORE exciting news! We are planning on going to France in March to visit my brother! Seth hasn't ever been and so I am REAL excited to take him there to see it. It's so neat because we both have french blood, so France is a special place to us. My grandmother sailed from France to America during WWII to marry her husband (my grandfather) and Seth's has some french in him too. (I'm not sure where in the family tree it is, but it's still neat!)

Seth officially applied to all 3 law schools as of earlier this week.  So now all we can do is pray and wait.  I hate the waiting game.  :(  I pray he gets in all three so he can pick where he wants to do! 

I WAS watching The Biggest Loser, but the State of the Union address came on. POO!!! I guess he's an important man... ;)

Tomorrow is Wendesday! Halfway to the weekend!

Have a wonderful night!!

-Kait

{all photos found through google images or they were my own}