Anthro Inspired Letter Ornaments

Every year for the last several years I have been getting each member of my family an initial ornament. 

Last year I "crafted" these:

When I walked into Anthropologie this year.  I fell in love with the book pages ornaments.  But at $8 a pop (times 6) it adds up quickly.  I just knew this was a craft I could tackle.

Please click on this link for a downloadable, printable tutorial:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75686234/Anthro-Inspired-Book-Pages-Ornament-Tutorial

 My final product. 

Just for fun...linking here this week:

  

Halloween Mantle

 I have a 2 story mantle...

It is a bit difficult to decorate because it is a 2 story....

 Cricut cut bats

in 3 different sizes

sewed onto a really long crochet chain stitch...with a sewing machine.

I think they help to give some motion...

 3 D letters with Cereal Boxes

Slightly obsessed.  

But I love my Pinterest inspired witches feet.

I sewed magnets into the tops so when we need or want the fire place we can just take them down.

Favorite Fall Recipe

I love fall

I love the leaves changing

I love the cool night air

I love everything that screams fall

like pumpkin spice lattes

pumpkin scones

pumpkin bread

soup simmering on the stove

rolls baking in the oven

Cozy evenings spent near the fireplace

and Amazing Spiced Chai Concentrate:

I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and I <3 it!  

It is such a good base recipe but completely customizable.

You can use black tea, white tea, herbal tea (honeybush tea is delish in this recipe)

I made a fresh batch this morning 

and we didn't have any oranges in the fridge so I left the zest out.

Still amazing. 

Click Here----> Amazing Spiced Chai Concentrate

Back to School Mantle

I was in the mood for some new colors on my mantle.

Red and Lime green seem the perfect color combo for back to school time.

The kids all commented on how excited they were that I finally painted my D.

Love these vintage apple canisters.

I filled the smaller ones with white flowers and tied a red ribbon.

Refashion: Summer Jean Revamp

My daughter is almost 11.

*Which means she is growing like a weed.*

We decided to re-do her favorite jeans into wearable summer wardrobe.

Favorite Black Jeans:

Cut off and rolled twice for the new capri look

Favorite Embroidered Hearts Jeans (Way too short):

Edges cut into a lovely scallop.

Then I used my machine to stitch hearts around

and a little hand sewing to embellish one of the legs.

Jeans that still fit but have a gaping hole in the knee:

I inserted a piece of fabric that matches her new shirt

(which I sewed using elastic thread around the top)

I also made the cute flower by cutting a pink flower out of the fabric, layering denim underneath, adding a double stack button and an alligator clip on the back so she can clip it where she wants. I made the straps long enough that if she wants me to in the future I can put a button in the back, but she likes the halter top look for now.

A very inexpensive "new" wardrobe for an ever growing girlie.

Dumpster Find

This is my FIRST refinishing furniture project.

And I am SOOO excited for it.

I found it by the dumpster of our apartment complex 6 YEAR ago.

Can you believe that, 6 years AGO!

We have moved it 3 times since then.

I started stripping it a couple of weekend ago,

and

I can't wait to show you the finished project.

It's going to be a beauty!

Grey, Yellow and white

I love gray, yellow and white combined.

I love yellow anyway,

maybe that is why I am so addicted to it right now.

For mother's day we got my mom one of the awesome double wall starbucks tumblers.

But I also snuck away to her sewing machine to make her a mother's day flower.

She can clip it anywhere....(I love the double button)

Then when I got home I realized I was really jealous of her flower

so I made my own.

See similar, but different.

I already had a front door wreath planned.

And I had just enough fabric left over from the flowers to tackle it.

I braided the strips of fabric

and

then wove them in and out of the heart shape wreath I snagged at HL.

Then I made some rolled fabric roses,

tucked a button and a pearl in the big one for bling

I painted my "D" with yellow paint,

then painted just the top with Tim Holz crackle paint in white.

I loved the aged look of the D (even though the picture isn't very clear)

Here she is in her glory. I love the heart shape can be used clear into the spring.

And the white "D" just pops off the gray and yellow color.

Spring Topiary

My parents hosted my cousin's wedding reception at their home.

Her color's were coral and yellow so they(my parents) decided to "do" their backyard in coral and yellow this year. My dad set to work planting coral flowers

and

my mom and I set to work making some porch accessories.

Coral and Yellow Front porch pillow:

Coral and yellow topiary

We found the cutest leopard print ribbon at Down East Home

The tub, we almost had a fist fight over it until my mom reminded me that I had 3 children to take home and there wasn't any room in my car. :-)

Roses made out of lace

Rick rack and daisy "ribbon"

Front porch dolled up and ready for visitors.

Spring Napkin Wreath

Using these tutorials:

Wallflowers by Dana Made It

Under the Table and Dreaming Stephanie

two cute packs of napkins from my T store

wire ties from my bread bags

an oversized embroidery hoop I paid a couple of bucks for at my Thrift store

Strip of White fabric to make the bow

and this is what my march mantel looks like:

Life's Attitude

After creating a canvas print for my mom

(and totally selfishly wanted to keep it for myself)

I knew I needed to create one for my spring mantel look.

As you can see I had a canvas blank and ready for creating.

It speaks:

Our Attitude Towards Life Determines Lifes Attitude Towards Us

Here are some close ups of the progress.

I started with Lime and Teal stripes.

Added some bright red flowers, gesso printing and polka dots.

Finished off with a loverly cracked paint

And pealed off the contact letters.

I

love

love

love

it!

And I love

that it is a constant reminder for my little family

to live our lives positively!

Cottage Rules

To celebrate my mother's birthday this week,

I created this quaint sign for her to hang in her guest cottage.

I wanted to use colors that are fresh and clean

teal and red started the base:

(I started with a 12 x 20 blank canvas)

After my imperfect stripeys were dry I played around

with white gesso, adding stripes and polka dots.

I figured out the words

and cut them out onto contact paper

with various fonts on my cricut.

Making sure that the letters were smoothed down well,

I then painted over the whole board with

elmers white glue...

and then super quick I painted it with an ivory white color.

Then I waited about 10 minutes and peeled off the contact letters.

As the paint/glue dried the magic emerged.

It turned out better than I could have imagined.

Happy Birthday MOM!

Close to my Heart

ruffled patterned paper
ribbon
forever rub ons directly onto the button
and
add a tiny rosette flower onto the other button
gives you this darling card ready for your special someone!

Stamped Recipe Book

My mom was looking to organize all of her favorite recipes into one big book.

So I went to work with Papertrey Ink and K & Company.

(I laminated the cover and section pages for durability, hence the glare)My mom had a 8 1/2 x 11 binder all ready to use, so I started with that size.


Using standard page protectors,
I sewed them in half both length wise
and
width wise
and then carefully used a pair of scissors to make the opening.
This created 4 pockets for her recipes to go into.

Each recipe card was embellished with a
darling accent sticker
or
stamp to match it's section.



I also created a bundle of blank recipe cards cause my folks can cook!
And they love "tinkering" in the kitchen.

Week 3-Project Life

Project Life Week 3:



Wow I can't believe that we are three weeks into documenting 2011 already!
I am loving this process. I am a first time Project Life user. Click here for more info on it!
Becky Higgins Project Life

After 3 weeks in I have learned that I take way to many pictures of the dogs and not enough pictures of the family. (Maybe there is a hidden meaning there, the dogs don't talk back.)
:-)
This week I documented our dinner menu. And I did it after the fact so you can see that I really did make the family eat left overs and Daddy brought home Taco Bell one night because I was under the weather.
(I also included a recipe for one of our meals)

I have been digging into my
massive supply of rub ons,
scrap paper
and
flowers
to Lexify Project Life!
This little project is completely in line with my
"Enjoy" 2011 Resolution