Black and Gold Explosion

The other day at Hobby Lobby I went a little CrAzY with the black and gold craft type products.  OOOOoops... I saw this first picture frame and considered buying it but then I thought... I can make that for less money and more pretty.  For $15 I bought the following frame, four spools of ribbon, fabric applique and heart pendant.  The best part about Hobby Lobby is that everything in there is 50% off.  So yes, that's relatively a lot of money to spend on one photo frame, but you know I didn't just make one.

I rummaged through our closet and found a boring old white frame that I covered in some scraps of fabric I had laying around, hot glue gun in hand... Voila!  I now have two super fun new black and gold frames to spruce up my office with.  Now I just need to a) stop making frames (ok, I have plans for just ONE more) and b) find the perfect photos for these babies.

The best part of all of this frame business is that I have a ton of ribbon and fabric left over to make my next project... A UCF Football Wreath.  Just you wait, I might have gone a little craft crazy but I have a lot of cuteness to show for it.  :)

This business was $18 on its own

Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow

Brighton Collectibles, Eat Your Heart Out

No one's going to see the back, right???

I love them

Hop Hop Hooray for Easter

Good Morning Bunnies. Did you know that I LOOOOOOOOOOVE Easter? Well, now you do.

I don't think it was a coincidence the sweets and I were married one little week before Easter two years ago, and as we have celebrated our anniversary over the past two years (you know, because we've been married for two sold years, NBD) I have been excited both years to keep the party rolling into Easter celebrations. Last year we went to the House of Blues Gospel Brunch and then took a boat tour around Disney. It was dreamy.

Well, this year I tried to pre-empt the holiday with a little homemade decorating magic. I janked this Pinterest DIY burlap wreath tutorial and put my own little Spring twist on things. The best part about my burlap Easter wreath is that it is holiday interchangeable! I already have a black and gold football wreath in the works... what? Is it too early for football?


The tutorial suggesting hot gluing velcro to all of the rosettes so that you can change them out for pink and red valentine's flowers, etc. but my smartypants husband suggested pins and I think this works even better (plus it was way easier).

I had definitely planned to include different styles of "rosettes," more white flowers, and even some embellishments like buttons on the flowers but I a) got lazy b) just wanted to see this thing done and c) was running out of time to display this baby pre-Easter. I think it turned out great though and it was super simple to make. Can you see the pins? Smarty pants husband!


As Easter is right around the corner I thought I'd share a little inspiration/motivation with you to get your morning going: "Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" - Galatians 6:9.

Ooops, how'd this get in here??


Have a great day!

DIYish Valentine's Project

Looking for a last minute DIY "I love you" for your valentine on this upcoming sweeties day? Well don't say I never did anything for you...

Feeling the Etsy Love

My Esty store has been seeing a lot of action lately with orders for paper and ribbon banners AND polaroid style seating cards for several upcoming weddings. It's beyond exciting!!!

I feel so blessed that something I love doing also brings joy to others. It feels amazing to know I will be a very small part of these gal's big days.


If you haven't checked out my Etsy shop lately please take a little look-see.

DIY Details: Wedding Weekend Welcome Kits

Sometimes I just really need to tote my own amazingness. Why? A) Because I am amazing and B) Because if I don't, then who will?

What makes me so amazing you say? My general ass-kicking abilities at giving people I love gifts (for starters).

For our wedding, our bridal party either stayed at my grandmother's house with me, or at a hotel with Jonathon. They are our absolute best friends in the world so we wanted to show our gratitude for having them in our lives and in our wedding by giving them a little somethin' somethin' in addition to their actual bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts (pashminas and wallets, respectively).

Thus, the birth of our wedding weekend welcome kits!


Don't you just hate staying away from home and not having water in your hotel room (i mean, besides the $6, 8oz bottle in the mini-fridge)? As a member of a bridal party, you are obligated to attend a veritable cornucopia of dinners, drinks, rehearsals, what have yous... So the one thing generally missing from your schedule is time to stop for a snack. And how can anyone live without champagne in a can or ho-hos, or party poppers? Yea, not our friends either.

Step 1... Gather the essentials. Essentials being booze, water, chocolate, something salty, and something fun (in that order, obvs).


Step 2... Shove essentials in a cute bag.


Step 3... Leave welcome kits in hotel rooms of bffs and wait for the hugs to come to you.

Yes, I also made one for us lovebirds for our honeymoon hotel stay. Full disclosure: it was a tad nicer than these ones. What? I deserve it. I told you, I am awesome.

DIY Detail: Wedding Cake and Favor Tables

During our wedding planning, we made every attempt to craft the details of our special day ourselves. As fate would have it, I fancy myself a crafty person so sewing tablecloths for our cake table and favor table was a fun little project for me. I also love the splash of coral that these tablecloths brought to our photos.



While doing too many DIY projects can easily overwhelm any bride, sewing these was pretty basic and didn't take much effort. That said, the benefit of knowing I made these myself and getting to use them again after the wedding was a HUGE benefit in relation to the minimal effort.


We had a bit of a leaning-tower-of-cake issue (and that was really only the beginning of our cake issues, but let's not get me started), but we thoroughly enjoyed the whole cutting and shoving cake in each other's mouths bit of the recetion. To. The. Max.

And that pound cake with strawberries and cream was GOOOOD too. :)

DIY Patriotic Tricornered Hats

Thanks to DailyCandy, you can have your very own tricornered hat this Independence Day with little more than a printer, some scissors and tape. Now that's something to celebrate. Har de har har!






Happy 4th of July!!! Hope it sparkles ;)

Ummm... Cupcakes.

Thanks to Lenore at Write.Lather.Repeat for sharing this delicious new blog Ming Makes Cupcakes, now I can't stop drooling and I have a feeling you won't be able to either...

Do you love to bake but are lacking in the inspiration department? Well my darlings, look no further because this blog posts a delectable new recipe for such things as Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting on the daily, and you know what? You are darn worth it.

DIY Floral Gift Tags from EatDrinkChic

Summer summer summertime! Check out EatDrinkChic for a fun and easy DIY tutorial on summery floral gift tags.

These would be so sweet for party favors or just to leave your sweetie a surpise love note. Awwww... You know you're going to.

Beautiful Adobe Illustrator Wedding Programs

The programs for our wedding are one of the DIY projects I am most proud of and most cherish as a keepsake. I put a lot of heart and care into them. I was so completely beyond happy with the results that I am now selling these wedding program templates on my Etsy site!


When searching for unique ideas I stumbled upon these amazing programs I saw on Green Wedding Shoes and was completely inspired.

How different and still personal are these? Those were the two words I was hoping to embody and I think this bride hit a total home run with her own wedding programs.

It was fun for me to put my love of my family and friends, photography, graphic design and paper products to use on something so personal.

Was there a DIY project that brought together all of the loves in your life?

DIY Detail: Etsy Ring Bowl by Paloma's Nest

One of the most personalized elements of our wedding that we did not make ourselves was our Paloma's Nest ring bowl. You may have seen these in Martha Stewart Weddings, or on any number of wedding blogs, and we totally heart them.

If you personalize one of these, they aren't exactly cheap. We debated whether it was worth the dollar bills for something that would be used and barely seen for all of 30 seconds. But you see, the hubs and I are major Christmas freaks, and this here ring bowl officially turns into an Xmas tree ornament as soon as the wedding is over.

We. Were. Sold.

You can personalize the bowls with as much or as little word magic as your heart desires. Jonathon and I did not use the ever-present 1 Corinthians 13 "love quote" during our wedding ceremony but we still wanted to incorporate those perfect sentiments of what love truly is into our wedding in a more subtle way. Thus, our patience, kindness, faith, hope, love ring bowl. I know its hard to see in the pic, but there is also a little stamp of a house and then the word home at the bottom.

I'm about to get all corny on you so if you're squeamish look away... but all of those words in one way or another mean to us, trust. To me, that is the most essential part of my friendship, love and marriage with my hubs and I am so glad to have the keepsake to remind me what's truly important in this crazy life.

Did I mention it is gold-plated? Christmas status!

While you're perusing Etsy after reading this (come on, I know you) feel free to check out my shop and tell me what you think!