My House Guest

Living in North Carolina has its many perks.  We're near the ocean, we're surrounded by beautiful and lush nature, and my husband goes to the school of his dreams.  Living in North Carolina, however, also has its drawbacks.  For one, I'm 26 hours and five states away from my family.  Now with work and grown-up responsibilities I'm not able to get back and visit more than once a year (sometimes longer!).

This week, however, I am living the best of both worlds: my mother is visiting us in North Carolina! I have been anxiously counting down the days and she finally arrived this weekend.  The last time she visited me in my own terrain I was graduating from grad school three years ago.  Boy do I have a jam-packed visit planned for her!

At the top of the list is introducing her to Layla-Butt, our amazing dog.  We also have some day trips to Asheville and Charlotte, sightseeing around the city, shopping, movie-watching, and cooking to look forward to.  Oh, and I'm also dragging her around to help me find the best Goodwills, thrift shops, and consignment stores (so if anyone knows of any in the Winston-Salem/Triad area, let us know!).

Just a heads up that emails may be delayed/lacking and linky parties might be missed this week.  You see, I'm spending much needed time with my Mom.

Jewelry State of Mind

First the dreamy jewelry post on Wednesday, now a jewelry organizing post on Friday...I must have jewels on my mind.

If any of you have shared their jewelry boxes or other means of jewelry organizing in the past couple months, I'm sure you received a comment from me drooling over the beauty of your awesome project and lamenting my unsightly 80's jewelry box.  I actually have two jewelry boxes: the ugly eyesore that was very well suited to hanging necklaces, organizing earrings, and keeping brooches and bracelets and a beautiful smaller jewelry box I received last year that wouldn't fit all my necklaces and such.  Thus why I kept my eyesore of a box.

Well, I finally have had enough.  I was tired of drooling over everyone's beautiful frames-turned-jewelry hangers and decided to do something about my situation.  First, I trekked to my local Goodwill in search of the perfect frame. There was no perfect frame, so I came home dejected until I saw my eyesore again.  Remotivated, I took a walk in the woods (you'll remember what the last walk in the woods brought home, right?) and you guessed it, I found a stick!

Here's what I did with my beautiful stick:

With my necklaces hanging (as well as my favorite bracelets) I was able to put my earrings and brooches in the beautiful mirrored jewelry box and discard the eyesore.

In just a few short days I've already noticed an increase in my jewelry wearing and I've rediscovered old favorites. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

This morning I had planned on taking some fabulous pictures of part two in the styrofoam upcycling series. The weather was not cooperating and at 7am it looked instead like 7pm in terms of lighting.

No pictures today, but I do have a question for you.  I have a very special guest coming to visit on Saturday and will be busy getting ready for her visit in the next couple days. 

What are some things you do to prepare for a house guest?  At the top of my list is filling the kitchen with goodies to eat, cleaning the bathrooms, and ensuring we have extra toilet paper, toothpaste, and shampoo.  Do you buy their favorite magazine, leave chocolates on their pillow, or place flowers around the house? I'd love to hear!

Jewels and Baubles and Gemstones...Oh My

Last night as I lay in bed with the intention of writing today's blog post, I found myself drawn to my new best friend...pinterest.  It's a sickness, really, how much I love pinterest.  So, instead of writing about my love of striped walls, how awesome my diy frames are coming along, or my mother's upcoming visit, I found myself enthralled in the world of pretty and sparkly jewelry.

When I awoke this morning, I realized the seduction that had occurred and I had nothing to show for it.  No pretty jewelry, no awesome blog post, not even a restful eight hours of sleep.  So, for today's blogpost, I decided to share my obsessions with you.

Etsy

I swoon for rough diamonds.

Etsy

I would never get lost with this beauty hanging around my neck.

Georgia Varidakis Jewelry

 These are my dream.

Etsy

 My wedding bouquet was a bunch of hydrangeas...one of my favorite flowers.

Etsy

Perhaps I'd name him Albert.

If only I had a birthday coming up.  Or an anniversary.  Or Christmas.  Perhaps I could make up a holiday as an excuse for John to buy me all of these? Oh, and your welcome for sending these beauties your way.

For the Love of Corks and Memories

The outpouring of comments on my heart made out of corks was amazing - it seems as though all of us has caught the cork love bug.  We all seem to agree that corks in a jar or vase or hurricane is easy and simple, but we dream of other uses for our precious wine corks.

If you look closer at our vase or corks, you'll notice something different...the writing.

A few years ago John and I started writing on our corks.  Whenever we opened up a bottle on an occasion we wanted to remember, we'd write the date and occasion on the cork and them plop it in a special vase.  Over time we've collected quite the variety of corks and memories and it's so much fun to peruse them from time to time and remember special times with family and friends or special days in our life.

Some occasions are typical such as our first wedding anniversary and a birthday dinner (complete with lobster made by John).  Others are times we wanted to look back on and smile like an evening of games with our neighbors, a dinner with our parents, or the night John finally made the big decision of where he wanted to go to graduate school.  Then, there are the times that I love reading about the most - the night I was so grumpy it was funny, the first time we made stir fry without fighting, our first night in our first apartment, a much needed lazy evening after John's first wave of grad school exams.

These are the corks I love the most...the ones that conjure up vivid memories of special times and everyday moments.  As we continue to add a cork here and a cork there to our special vase, I find myself looking forward ten years when we still have something to remind me of that evening John made creme brulee, the night we slept in front of the fire, and the day we decorated our first Christmas tree.



You can see where I regularly link in my linky parties tab, including Today's Creative Blog

Five Minute Art Alert

Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Crafting with Kristen (see episode 1, episode 2).  We've been slowly adding to our gallery wall (an updated reveal is coming soon) and while watching a movie last night I decided to whip up some new five minute art.

Using some scraps of pretty paper, I cut out butterflies and glued them onto a painted cardboard lid.  Voila!

This has been another episode of "Five Minute Crafting with Kristen."

Upcycling Project: Part 1

So, what do you do when an old styrofoam cooler is about to get thrown out? Use as much of it as possible for some crafty projects, duh!

We were cleaning out our closet and ruthlessly throwing things away when we happened upon this styrofoam cooler that was very nifty but rarely used. Hating to throw styrofoam away, I put it aside with the intentions of using as much as possible in some projects. 

For the first of many projects, I decided to make some letters (more accurately, an H and ampersand).  I printed templates out, taped them down and used a knife to carve them out.

I decided to use some beautiful paper scraps I had (which I have plenty of because I have a problem with throwing away scraps of pretty paper) to decoupage the H.

An easy-peasy, cheap, upcycled project! Stay tuned because there's more styrofoam where that came from...way more.  Perhaps there may be some paper mache-ing involved...and a frame or two...who knows.

Sneak Peak: Wedding

With wedding season upon us, my guilty pleasure has been dreaming over wedding inspiration boards.  Seeing the beautiful wedding photos has started me reminiscing about our amazing wedding. Dare I say it was the best wedding ever (not that I'm biased or anything)? I'm going through the billion pictures of that wonderful day and thought I'd share it with you! It was the ultimate DIY project and I'm still proud of what we created with our budget.

So, while I daydream over every picture and remember all the love and support I felt on that day, let me leave you with a little sneak peak of the Garza-Holt wedding.