New Beginnings & Found My Furniture Style!

I just looked back at some of my older blog posts and though yuck! I hate some of the decor I had last year but oh well, we live and we learn:)  My husband Jerry and I found out the other day that we were approved for a home loan so we are on a mission to purchase our first home!  Yesterday we put an offer in on a wonderful townhouse  (that needs a little tlc) in an area we love and would be great for the kids but there were also 3 other offers so we are leaving it up to the man upstairs.   If we get it wonderful, if not we just keep looking... Over the course of the last few months I have finally come to discover what my decorating style is.  It's amazing what reading other peoples blogs and googling incessantly will help you to accomplish.  I have become attached to reading certain blogs and I look forward to checking them each day to see what these ladies are up to, Suzanne at Sunshine and Wine is beautiful, sincere and has amazing style!  Cassie from Primitive and Proper turns old furniture into beautiful pieces you WANT in your home, Meli from Meli Faif Life always has amazing stories, words of wisdom, photo's, etc. on her blog, blogger Six divided by Two with her wonderful photo's of her custom cakes and her wonderfully funny stories about being a twin, etc.  There are too many to name that I enjoy but those are just a few that I sincerely look forward to.  I used to think I was French Provinicial/Hollywood Regency but come to find out there is an actual term for the style I love so much! it's called Modern Traditional and Modern Eclectic and it's so me!  A lot of traditional mixed with a little bit of modern and you get swoon worthy decor.  I have been collecting photo's of rooms that I love over the past few months and there is definatley a pattern there.  Anyway today I accidentaly found a new site/blog that had some amazing photo's of more Modern Traditional rooms.  Check her out! http://maureenlynne.wordpress.com/.  She has an incredible eye for beautiful photo's of rooms and decor so I just wanted to put it out there.  Here is  a little eye candy for you, some of these are from Maureen's site and some are ones I've collected over the last several months.  As always thanks so much for reading:)

And my favorite of all, probably because I just love a camel back sofa and I love turqoise!

Spring at My House!

I absolutley, positively looove spring!  My son and I both have terrible spring allergies but with a little bit of claritin or alavert I can function ok.  There is something about looking at all of the spring flowers at a littel garden shop or my local Lowes that just makes me feel giddy!  I just love flowers and the smell of the air in Spring.  I've been in the middle of trying to rearrange things in my humble little house and when I do I'll post photo's but for now i'll give you a little sample of what I've beein doing lately. 

My colorful Easter wreath I made from faux chocolate eggs from A.C. Moore and hot pink geraniums, cost me about $20 to make

Better Homes & Gardens for WalMart plates I just purchaed, I love a scalloped edge:) ($3.46 each)

White ceramic Easter Bunny from Pier 1 ($8)

Little faux antique birdcage from Michaels on sale for ($5) along with 2 little ceramic birds that were about $1 each, also at Michaels

Little bunny candy dish from CVS ($4.99)

I have a serious love of magnolia trees and purchase photo's, etc of them whenever I spot them, the white magnolia photo on top is from Michaels, the pink magnolia tree on the bottom from Etsy seller BroadArrows ($20) http://www.etsy.com/shop/Broadarrows, she has some amazing work , check her out.  Frames and mats purchased from Michaels ($9.99 for frames, $4.99 mats)

I am on the lookout for 2 more magnolia photo's to frame on the opposite side of the window so if anyone sees/knows of a place/site please let me know. As always thanks so much for looking and enjoy spring wherever you are!

Yellow Ruffles N Rosette Felt Wreath

Lately I've seen these gorgeous felt valentines wreaths all over blog land and as most of my family and friends know I looove making wreaths but this one just seemed really time consuming and quite honestly I was a little afraid to try this project!  I started working up the nerve to try it after seeing Maryanna's beautiful red heart shaped one over on her blog http://maggiepinkcheeks.blogspot.com/.   I then found the instructions on Domestifluff.com and finally decided to visit the Hancock fabric store near our house.  Well it turns out that they had no red felt left so I guess everyone else is Alexandria VA is making a red felt ruffle rosette wreath!  I made an executive decision right then and there and decided to use yellow felt, it made perfect sense since yellow roses are my favorite color of rose and this way I could leave it up well past Valentines Day:)  It took me two days to complete and about six hours worth of work but if you have an entire day to yourself you could easily crank it out in a day.   The Domestifluff  site says they used 2 1/2 yards of fabric which is what I ended up buying although I only ended up using about a yard and a quarter of it, it just depends on how large your wreath form is and how tight you want your rosettes/ruffles to look.  This is what I used:

1 1/4 yards of yellow felt
1 10 1/2 inch styrofoam wreath form

straight pins (maybe 200?)
scissors
a 3 inch circle template - I used a pillar holder from my dining room table as a template
a pencil to trace your template onto the cloth
ribbon for hanging

Domestifluff has really good directions and since I'm not so good with that sort of thing I'm going to post the link to her tutorial, check it out here - http://www.domestifluff.com/2009/11/how-to-make-a-ruffly-felt-rosette-wreath/

Here is the final wreath in all it's yellow glory! I love it and may make another for my bathroom since I have all this left over yellow felt... 

My Newest Obsession: Woven Dining Chairs

I apologize for not posting for over a month but right before Christmas my father was having major health complications and had to go into the hospital for pneumonia.  He is doing better now that he is over the pneumonia but still in the hospital so the past month has been really hectic with going back and forth to the hospital with a little toddler in tow so it hasn't left much time for blogging!  I hope to do some projects soon and maybe even a couple of tutorials of my own:)  For now I just wanted to share what has been a new decor obsession for me and has me dreaming of decorating our don't have yet but will hopefully in the near future house we've been dreaming about for a while now!  A few months ago was when my obsession with woven dining chairs began, after seeing this in the Pottery Barn catalog

I just love that the chairs look relaxed and formal at the same time!  So began my search for other woven chairs and ideas to creat the same look...

I came upon this photo and became even more inspired

from the blog http://www.paintingtheroseswhite.com/.  I loved her mix of the woven chairs and the white slipcovered chairs!  Love how beachy and airy yet still formal her dining room is.

Below is the Kaya chair from World Market which was given 5 out of 5 stars on the site

Here it is in GiGi's dining room from the World Market site

In World market user Azn's dining space done in bold colors!

And finally in World Market user Mel's dining room for a contemporary look

I am really in love with these chairs and trying to convince my husband that these would be great in our future home but he doesn't love them quite as much as I do...

Here are a couple more

From Pier 1, unfortunately these are not in the store at this time, I'm hoping they will bring them back because I love them and would love to see how they look in person

The Hyacinth Chair From Z Gallerie

And finally from Ikea, the Majby Chair

And seen here in their 2010 catalog

I Dream of Decor: DIY Butterfly Collage Wall Art

I Dream of Decor: DIY Butterfly Collage Wall Art

DIY Butterfly Collage Wall Art

I got the idea of this project from an Australian artist's website by the name of Catherine Swan who does these amazing paper butterfly collages and sells them for hundreds of dollars!

Her work is amazing isn't it?, check her out here http://www.paperbutterfly.com.au/story.html.  So I was thinking hey I have that wonderful Martha Stewart butterfly punch that I've used a bunch of times making cupcake toppers so I thought I'd make it earn it's keep some more and try a smaller version of Ms. Swan's artwork.  I used about 4 different patterns of aqua, cream, brown and green scrapbook cardstock that I bought especially for this project at Michaels and a 11x14 frame and started punching out butterflies for what seemed like days but that's probably because everytime I would start my 1 year old would try to climb into my lap:)  I used a small salad plate to trace the largest circle very lightly in pencil, the 2nd circle I used the wide part of a pillar candle holder and the 3rd circle I used  that same candle holder but used the skinnier bottom part. I then used regular ol Scotch brand glue stick to secure the butterflies to my circles and erased any faint lines that were still visible and here is my final project! 

I'm feeling proud about it even though my husband didn't seem too impressed with it, he thought the colors looked to washed out but I actually wanted it to look sort of like a watercolor. I'm hoping my older sister will like it since it's a belated birthday present for her (she loves all things butterfly:) Thanks so much for looking, I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions!