Life After I "Dew"

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...all over Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, social media is full of people decorating trees, putting up lights, and even baking Christmas goodies.  Out with the turkey and in with the jolly, fat, guy in a red suit!  Actually I'm fairly certain some people hadn't even given thanks before they were playing Christmas songs on their car radios.

Last year I had pinned this tutorial with every intention of making an ornament wreath for our front door. Well last year came and went and the wreath I had for years did the trick and therefore it never got made.  Plus I never got off my booty to take advantage of the after Christmas ornament sales and Lord knows I'm not paying full price to make a wreath.

Flash forward, my grandma cleaned out all of her holiday decorations a couple of months ago leaving me the sole owner of 13 Rubbermaid tubs FULL of snowmen, garland, ornaments, plates, platters, candles, you name it.  I told Jimmy a week ago that I wanted to make this wreath but completely wasn't looking forward to going out in the madness that is holiday shopping and then DUH I remembered all those boxes and was determined to work with what I had.

Well grandma did not disappoint.  I almost had plenty of ornaments to make my vision come to life. Here's the deal, Jimmy is very traditional when it comes to Christmas decorations.  He likes red, green, silver and gold and that's about it. So I have to keep that in mind whenever I'm feeling festive.  While I was able to keep this wreath mostly husband approved, I did have to mix in a few blue bulbs to make it work.

I need to get some ribbon to cover the hook of the coat hanger but overall I'm impressed with the way it turned out.  Thankfully you can't see the "hook" from the road so, let's be honest, I will most likely never get around to covering it up.  I had to get creative when it came to making it full enough because I was getting close to running out of ornaments.  I ended up going back through it and putting some "odd" shaped and non-solid colored bulbs in and topping it off with a pretty decorative one with some spiral "tendrils" for added fun.  When I was finished  you couldn't even tell that I had to improvise.

As soon as I was finished I sent a picture of it to Jimmy and...HUSBAND APPROVED!  He loved it!  He may have even suggested I sell them...I may have asked him to go take his temperature {and not orally} to make sure he wasn't coming down with something.


This thing was no joke to make.  I may or may not have contemplating a glass of wine {at 10 am} while making it.  Bending the hanger into a circle was enough to make me give up before even getting started.  Oh and when the tutorial suggest hot gluing the little ornament cap onto the ornament, DO IT.  Don't think, "eh, but I don't have a hot glue gun, it'll be fine".  Get off your butt and head to the local Dollar General and buy a cheap hot glue gun.  You will save yourself LOTS of frustration and day time drinking.  And don't under estimate on the number of ornaments you'll need.  The more the merrier and you can always use any extra {I doubt you'll have extra} on your tree or in a pretty vase for a centerpiece.

Today is all about Pinterest.  I think one of my biggest boards is my 'My Style' board.  It has come in really handy when I have somewhere to go and I want to look cute but I'm dying in the creativity department and I'm too cheap to go buy something new.  I simply flip through some of my favorite looks and decide what I can recreate with my own pieces from my own closet.  Sometimes it's a big fat fail and other times its a total home-run.  The fun thing about it is you don't have to have the EXACT items to make it work.  Sometimes the fun of it is putting your own spin on something that's inspired you.  Today I'd like to share some of my home-runs {at least in my book} in recreating Pinterest outfits.

Outfit #1

Chambray top- H&M
White shorts- Old Navy
Necklace- Shabby Apple
Bag- Aldo
Sunglasses- Juicy Couture

I shared this outfit earlier in the summer but it was one of my favorite recreations. There's just something about a chambray top against crisp white that I just love.  Add in some gold accessories and you had me at hello.  This outfit is the epitome of summer and I love everything about it.  I wore this on a girls night out {to see Magic Mike} and I felt stylish but I was still comfortable.  I felt hot but I still felt like I could wear this to the park with Kendall too.  Definite win in my book!  Side note: I miss my tan!

Outfit #2

Top- Target
Belt- JCrew
Shorts- Old Navy
Sandals- Target
Bag- Aldo

I had this outfit pinned for quite some time but a collared shirt isn't really my thing {minus the chambray top, of course} so I had trouble recreating it.  But then I went through an old box of clothes and found this black top and figured what the heck!  I wore this to the Memorial Golf Tournament in the spring and minus it being COLD and rainy I felt like it fit the occasion pretty well.  Jimmy may have told me that I looked like a golfer's wife {minus the stash of mini rum bottles that were hiding in my bag}.  I do think this would have been cuter with a different length short though, or maybe it's just because I'm short, because I don't dig the Bermuda length.

Outfit #3

Sweater- NY&Co
Tee- Old Navy
Scarf- Grace Adele
Jeans- Old Navy
Flats- Old Navy

I wore this outfit to get my hair done this week.  I just recently pinned this outfit and I couldn't wait to recreate it because I knew I had all of the pieces.  I had the nude flats but for some reason I just couldn't get on board with them, the black seemed to make much more sense.  I loved this look even if I don't love myself in the color mustard so much.  I don't usually roll my jeans at the cuff but since the picture showed it I thought I'd give it a chance and I really liked the way it looked!  YAY for trying new things!  By the way, LOVE that scarf!  Seriously so versatile and adds such a fun element to any outfit.

Outfit #4

Sweater- Old Navy
Scarf- H&M
Jeans- Old Navy
Flats- Target

Boy this one is from the archives!  I recreated this outfit last winter but I still love it enough to share {and wear} again.  This outfit was/is so comfy.  I love nothing more than a sweater jacket in the cold months, don't you?  I would pair this with boots for when it's colder or raining/snowing {ew snow} outside.  Actually I kind of want to go put this on NOW.  Thank God for Statigram for keeping all my old Instagram pics for me because I would have forgotten all about this look otherwise.

So, what do you think?  Have you successfully recreated any Pinterest looks?  I'd love to hear from you, do you have any looks that you'd like to see me recreate?  Leave a comment with the link and I'll do my best in coming weeks!

Melted crayon art is probably one of the first projects I saw on Pinterest that I knew I could make.  I mean it doesn't require a lot of "tools" and it's pretty much fool proof.  I've seen enough people do it successfully so I was fully confident that even I could tackle this craft.  Plus KP's bathroom has needed something on the wall since, well, since we moved in.

I debated on which one I wanted to make, using all the colors, some of the colors, make a shape, etc.  Ultimately I knew which one I'd end up making based solely on the decor already in her bathroom.  It's sort of a bug/flower/garden theme and when I saw this crayon art I knew it would be perfect.

Thankfully I was digging through some old boxes in our garage and found two brand new 48 count boxes of crayons AND  brand new 24 pack.  Jimmy had an extra canvas laying around, from his painting days and I set out to make some bathroom crayon art.

Now I think you are supposed to own a hot glue gun and hot glue the crayons to your canvas but I just used regular ole super glue and it did the trick.  I should preface this by saying I had tried another Pinterest DIY earlier the same day and it was a HUGE fail {more on that later} so I was a little nervous when I was super-gluing these down as they weren't sticking right away.  But I let it set long enough {about 20 minutes} and they were good as super stuck.

Then the only thing you need is a hair dryer.  I used mine on high heat, low air.  Basically you just flip this bad boy upside down and put the dryer as close to the crayons and just blast it with the heat.  It takes a good few minutes before they start to melt and drip but once it does start to it goes pretty fast.  I'd say it was about 15 minutes from the time I started until I had my meltings just how I wanted them.


I thought that Kendall would think that this was totally cool and fun and want to be part of every second but in reality she couldn't have cared less.  She was all...lalalala..."I brush teef!"...lalalala...."ooohhh pretty"....lalalala..."mommy what doing?"....lalalala..."I see daddy".  So yeah, if you think that this is a toddler friendly activity you'll probably be sadly mistaken like I was.  I had lots of fun doing it though and I couldn't wait to get it finished and hung on the wall.  Only thing was I didn't have any fake flowers so it had to wait.  And if you know me I don't like waiting.  When I start a project I like to finish it THAT day.

I mentioned last week that my grandma gave me tubs and tubs and tubs full of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween decor and in one of those tubs were some fake outdoor flowers and I couldn't wait to rip them apart {sorry Grams} and glue them on my art!  I had to take them apart and glue them back together to make them work just right for this project but I think it was totally worth it. I love it!  It's such a fun addition to Kendall's already fun bathroom.
The flowers may be a little big but whatever, I like it.  Jimmy does too which is awesome considering he was so kind to let me use his canvas for this project.  I was kind of kicking myself for using the brown crayons but now I think it's OK because the hardware is kind of a browny/bronze so it ties together, I think.  Kendall even helped me pick the perfect spot to hang it.

I must say this was so much fun to make that I want to make another, sadly I am running out of wall space in this house to hang something else like this.  I don't even have any tips or "I would do this differently" comments because this project just went that smoothly. Definitely give it a go if it's something you've been debating. It'd also be perfect for a playroom or nursery.  Two thumbs up in my book!

Now head on over to my girl AP's neck of the woods, here, and share some of your latest and greatest Pinspired projects!  I'll be back next week with my epic Pinterest fail.  Something you'll want to stay tuned for, for sure.

How many things do you have pinned to your Pinterest account?  If you're anything like me you have 2,104 pins scattered over 28 boards.  It's like a more organized, electronic version of hoarding if you think about it.  Yes, it is, you know it is.  Think about it.

That's where Project Pinterest comes in.  The goal is to actually do something with all of these pins so you don't end up on the next episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive.  Leave it to Miss AP to get us off of our pinning butts and create the things we spend hours upon hours lusting over.  Be it food, home decor, the latest fall fashions, the point is to take one idea each week and bring it to life.  Your life.

Last week I told Jimmy I was craving something with pumpkin, other than Dogfish Head Punkin Ale {which is thee best fall beer, ever}.  To Pinterest I go.  I found the perfect thing, pumpkin muffins.  {Right after I had Kendall my best friend made us pumpkin muffins and I hadn't had them since.}The best thing about these pumpkin muffins?  They require two ingredients, TWO!  Needless to say this is easier than baking in your Easy Bake Oven.  I was sold.  Obviously.

What you need:

• Box of cake mix 
• 15 oz. can of pumpkin
That's it, people!  Now I will add that I cheated.  I read the reviews and comments beforehand and saw where someone had suggested using the spice cake versus the originally pictured yellow cake and then someone else said that adding mini chocolate chips was the way to go.  They also suggest a dusting of powered sugar on top.  Done. Done.  And done.

• It's starting to get cold here and while I'm not a fan of the cooler temps or the impending snow, I was excited to break out my beloved Theory Juliet sweater yesterday.  It's so warm and cozy, how could you not love it?

• I started Christmas shopping, officially.  I can't help it, I know I should respect the turkey but I need to get a head start so I'm not scrambling at the last minute.  Plus I'm buying the majority online so I have to do it early to give it time to get here, right?
• Speaking of Christmas, I cannot wait to start decorating!  I am still on the fence about the Christmas tree this year.  Kendall as at a "fun" age and visions of ornaments flying through the air are doing through my head.
• We participated in a children's book exchange this year Kendall got her first book yesterday!  I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar and can't believe we didn't have it till now.  Thank you anonymous book giver.  {if you haven't participated and would like to please leave me a comment}.

• And while we're talking about blog comments, please make sure you are not a "no-reply" comment leaver.  I can't tell you how many times I have gone to respond to a question and/or sweet comment only to find I've spent 5 minutes typing to a no-reply email address.  Not cool bloggers.  It's an easy fix, here's what you do:1. Go to your dashboard, 2. Click "edit profile" 3. Check the box that says "show my email address" 4. Save your profile.  Easy peasy.
• I made the most delicious Pinterest recipe last night, thanks to Lindsay.  Baked spaghetti is the new go-to baked dish. And?  It's got french fried onions on top!  What's not to love?

My friend and Thirty-One consultant, Kodi, hosts a fun link up which challenges you to TRY the things you pin on Pinterest.  So far my recipe board has been the most used of all my boards.  I have blogged about the recipes I've tried before and all of them have been SUPER yummy so far...that is, until I made the buffalo chicken casserole.I wanted to love this.  I thought it would be similar to the buffalo chicken dip that Jimmy and I LOVE but it was far from it.  It looked a little like mold thanks to the blue cheese and the texture of it was a little slimy.  It made me vommy if I'm being honest.  Jimmy thought it was "ok" but the fact that there was 3/4 of a pan left and he never took any leftovers tells me he wasn't a fan either.  
My second most used board is the "My Style" board.  Let's face it, mama is cheap.  Mama has no money to spend on a brand new wardrobe.  So browsing the style boards to try and find new outfits out of old pieces is like the greatest challenge.I think one of my first pins was from Kendi Everyday.  She has an effortless chic style and I'd love to shop her closet or hire her as my personal stylist.  Girl is gorgeous.  OK enough with my girl crush.  She posed in this adorable outfit and I think it is one of the most repined looks on Pinterest. I had a similar dress and belt and plenty of cardigans so I thought I could do this look.  The only thing is that I'm a shorty so wearing flat boots with a maxi dress isn't an option for me so I opted for sky high wedges and a mustard cardi.I admit, Kendi looks WAY cuter but I thought I did alright recreating.My next look came from this outfit.I loved the effortlessness of this look.  She looks pulled together but like she's not trying to hard.  I couldn't tell if she had leggings or jeans on but I can't bring myself to wear leggings as pants so I went with skinny jeans instead.Pretty close right?  And a cute baby in the corner always helps.My final looks was {p}inspired by the one and only Kristen Cavalari.Again, I think this has been repined 5001 times too and I think it's because it's so easy and so achievable.  Everyone has a pair of jeans, a white tee and a scarf, right?   Nothing really fancy about this outfit.  Pretty simple.  But that toddler rolling on the floor?  She's pretty damn cute, right!?
So those are some of my recent Pinterest finds.  I have a lot of craft things I want to try with Kendall so maybe next week!What's got you {P}inspired?