Wednesday, November 30, 2011


Ahhh sweet knitting! It's one of the greatest cold weather activities and I got to pick it back up again today. After dropping Lucy off at grandma's house this morning {thanks Sandy!} I headed off to meet up with all the ladies I missed so much because I hadn't been since just before Lucy broke her leg 6 weeks ago. I needed to get back though because I wanted to get started on a hat for Nick.

Our first little round of snow last night was followed by beautiful sunny skies today and I was able to photograph a lot of our Christmas decor. I still need to shoot Lucy's room and our entry and after that I can't wait to share. I've sort of paired things down this year and I'm going for a more natural look. 




I hope you all have a beautiful evening!

Sarah

Monday, November 28, 2011

Shop is reopen!


Just a quick note to let you all know the shop is open again just in time for the holidays! I will be adding new things weekly so check back often!











Happy Monday!
Sarah

Sunday, November 27, 2011

burlap "bubble" wreath tutorial


After we took "fall" down this past weekend we needed a wreath to hang in our entry so I found a picture on pinterest that I loved but adapted it a little bit and this is what I came up with today.




Since we are watching every dollar this holiday season I wanted to use materials that I already had. The only thing I bought was a bag of spanish moss. I actually picked up the straw wreath at Goodwill for .99 cents last summer. They are messy but for this project it really fit my needs since it blends nicely with the burlap.You'll also need to straight pins and hot glue. 



Cut your burlap into approximately 4x4 squares. I'm an "eyeballer" and mine were not perfect but it didn't seem to matter.



Next fold a square into a triangle



Then fold the other two corners towards the center of your triangle. You should wind up with a little "bubble"



Take a straight pin and push it through to bottom tip and make sure it goes through all four corners or it will unfold. 



Then simply pin it into your wreath. Don't worry about pins showing they'll mostly all get covered by other burlap bubbles and the ones that don't we'll take care of later. 



There's no need to worry about placement either just keep going randomly, you can always go back and fill in any bare spot.



You'll be surprised at how fast this actually goes. 



All done! Now comes the moss. 



Next I used the glue gun to add moss. The moss can also fill any little gaps or cover any pins that might be showing. 



It will look something like this when you're finished.



Add a ribbon and it's ready to hang.



I also pinned on this little white fabric bird I made to give it a holiday touch. 



I wanted to make something that could be used in virtually any season by simply changing out an embellishment. I hope this gives you a little inspiration to start your week. It was a fun little project to work on. 

Sarah
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

dining room family tree


I hope everyone is having a beautiful and productive day getting ready for tomorrow! I decided to check in really quick with a couple of snapshots of our dining room Christmas tree. I went very simple this year just using ornaments and feathers we already had. I also added a few ripped muslin bows and printed out my favorite family photos from the year onto card stock to really personalize it. I can't wait to go and pick out our giant tree for downstairs tonight! 















Happy cooking/baking/family time! 

**Inspiration for the tree found at Dear Lillie! 

Sarah

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

little victories


Nick: Hey Sarah?
Me: Don't talk to me right now, I'm about to attempt "the ruffle" 
{Nick walks away}

25 minutes later

Me: Nick!
Nick: Yeah?
{Nick enters}
Me: I did it! I did it! Yeaha! Woot!
Nick: Looks nice!
{me pulling out my ipod earbuds}
Me: Do you think I'm the only one that sews to Jay Z?
Nick: Probably



Pay no attention to the table that's not set and bad lighting. It's not about that ya'll. I've been trying to find the right settings on my sewing machine for TWO years to make a ruffle. It's not fancy by any stretch but it sure was a shot of confidence in my arm tonight. 

Tomorrow the pie baking commences. This time of the year is tops! 

Sarah

Monday, November 21, 2011

book


I bought this Little Miss Austen board book for Lucy last week on Amazon and it came today. I was so excited to look through it and it's every bit adorable as you might imagine. Don't let the "temporarily out of stock" part fool you. It said that last week too but to my delight it actually came a day before all of my other items that were readily available. Lucy is big into books these days and it will be fun to read her this one!

Sarah

Saturday, November 19, 2011





Last night we watched Sense & Sensibility and had a roaring fire. It was nice, and we needed the down time. Even though we'd seen it before Nick commented that no matter if it's the first time you're seeing that particular Jane Austen movie it feels like something you've already watched. He's right but that's what I like about them. You can always count on them to be warm and witty and comfortingly familiar. 

He just got back with our winters firewood so now we're all stocked up. Later we'll get the Christmas totes down from the attic and dive into those. Last year we picked up our tree the night before Thanksgiving and that was fun, I think we'll make an evening out of it again this year. What are you up to this weekend?



Sarah
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

mod podge tissue transfer to canvas


I read about this really neat way you can run tissue paper through your printer and then mod podge it onto canvas (I used canvas board for this project) and you get the same pretty effect as a printed wrap canvas. You can view the full tutorial here. After my transfer was dry I decided to add some velvet and burlap trim. I also attached a loop of twine to the back so it could be hung. 



I'm very happy with the way it turned out especially for a project that cost me nothing since I just used what I had on hand. These would make great holiday gifts for grandparents. They could also be made smaller and could be used as ornaments!




Happy Wednesday!

Sarah

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

grey skies with a bright spot or two


I know I promised a tutorial project yesterday and it's all done I've had trouble photographing it. It's been gloomy here since Sunday. If things don't improve by tomorrow I'll do what I can to take a pretty finished picture.

On the bright side Lucy got her cast off today! Four rough weeks behind us and we're so grateful things are healing nicely. Thank you to everyone that left sweet comments or messaged me about her. She is doing really great. We just put her down for the night and I'm watching her on the monitor- she's currently attempting to read her books in the pitch dark- it's these funny little quirky moments that make me so grateful to be a momma.

Have you started planning your Thanksgiving menu? We're having my mom and dad over this year, usually we go to their house but this time they decided it might be more fun if Lucy had her toys and her bed so she could stick to her normal routine. Gotta love kids they're like little anchors to your cozy house.

I found this recipe last night for sausage cornbread dressing and added it to my menu. I hope it tastes half as good as it looks!



Sarah

Sunday, November 13, 2011

sunday adventures


For some reason the day light savings time switchover is still affecting our little family. We were on our way to lunch today and suddenly it got very quiet in the back.  


BTW if you've never tried eating at Firehouse Subs I highly recommend it! It's super tasty with prices that are comparable to Subway or Quizno's. They also have this really awesome computerized drink machine that dispenses over 100 varieties of beverages. My fave is the diet vanilla Bargs root beer. The decor is cute and the kids meal is served up in a little fireman's hat. 


Tonight I baked chocolate chip pumpkin bread from Jen's blog. It was really, {really} good! You can find the recipe HERE. 







Tomorrow I wanted to share a really great tutorial I found via Pinterest over the weekend. See you soon!


Sarah

Saturday, November 12, 2011


Nick is working out of town today so it's a girls day for Lucy and I. Last night after dinner we took her to Target to do a little shopping and on the way out we grabbed some "Christmas' in a cup." While we were waiting on our creations Lucy and I went through the Christmas  toy coupon flyer. She took it very seriously pointing out and naming each thing she recognized and it was so cute. This year will be fun because we'll be able to really see her excitement Christmas morning. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend! 



Sarah

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It's spitting glorious snow here for the first time this season. I'm sooo not being sarcastic. Let it snow baby says this Scandinavian girl. We had grand plans to go to Target tonight but quickly ditched them in favor of sweet hibernation. I worked on these burp cloths for the baby boy.



{really great tutorial can be found here}



while Nick and Lucy had a picnic in bed...


with snow white



and questionable ride on a pair of ponies





Do you know what tomorrow is? On top of it being FRIDAY it's Veteran's Day. Hug and thank one for their selfless sacrifice!!!



Sarah