Mi casa es su casa

Oh wait, I didn’t tell you?! 

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!! 

Our first home as husband and wife… well our first home period. 

But she’s all OURS!!!

Isn’t she a beauty? Boy was this a process, but she’s all worth it! The last time I visited Michael in VA was over July 4th weekend; together, he and I and our realtor Ann looked at around 15 houses… it made for a really long trip. Long story short we put an offer on a home (that I fell in love with) and were quickly outbid.

RULE #1: NEVER fall in love while house hunting. Like it enough to live there for a while, but be prepared to kick that thing to the curb faster than a cheating boyfriend if things turn sour.

 Soon after my heartache was over, I came back to Houston 
and visited realtor.com daily/nightly/hourly
 (hey who’s counting, realtors update that shzt all the time).  
 Our realtor thought I was nuts for not coming along, but I sent Michael on the hunt for our home anyway. He ended up going to around 40 houses. 

Another offer, another overbid. Boy do we look cheap?! But I have to get the best price possible and if they don’t want to accept my offer, FINE, I’ll find another!

Am I nuts for buying a house I’ve never seen in person? Probably.

Am I the only person that has ever done that before? No!

But my husband knows how ‘cray’ I can be and how particular I am about things, so I trust him completely! Luckily as a designer I have vision, and well my husband has a camera. I instructed him to “make me feel like I was there”… 150 pictures later, I felt like I was there.

I was in love!

But I didn’t DARE say it! I told Michael that I liked it enough and we should put an offer in… our realtor, still flabbergasted that I’d agree to put an offer in on yet a third house without seeing it, did as she was told. And, guess what?! We WON! Ha. That’s what it feels like! WINNING!

She is officially ours! We have the keys and the moving truck arrives to my mom’s house (aka. storage unit #2) early December.

We will then make our final trip to Roanoke, Virginia.

I am sad to leave everything I know: my friends, my family, my job, crossfit… 

“It’s times like these we learn to live again” but seriously, I have had two years to get used to the idea of leaving and I can finally say that “I’m moving” and NOT cry. Trust me, it’s a huge accomplishment! The flood gates will open during my going away party, no doubt. 

And even though I curse facebook all the time, I’m super thankful that it’s around so that I can keep up with everyone. I’m super thankful that after 2 years of reading Kristen’s blog, I had enough courage to start my own. 
Read mine, follow me and KEEP UP WITH ME!!! 
Don’t be afraid to call me and chat and check up on me. Because as of now, I HAVE NO JOB! And that TERRIFIES THE SHIT OUT OF ME! I haven’t NOT had a job since I was 16 years old. I don’t sit still very well. So if one of you readers has a random hookup in Roanoke, shoot your girl a message! 

I’ll leave you with a few house pics, let’s call these, “the before photos”…we got some work to do... but i like to think of it as "Blog Material!"

**(excuse my husbands inability to take the date stamp off the photos and 

    Ann's ability to be present in nearly every photo)

The kitchen... aka. first project!

Can someone please tell me what this oak "tower" is in the bathroom? 

Consider it GONE!

Yes, that is 4 different colors of wood in the backyard... project #32 

AHHH more pastels!! NEW paint, ASAP!

Spare bedroom! Who's going to be my first visitor?! 

We have a basement!!

No backyard neighbors... ;)

Now, I know she needs updating... 
but you should see what's going on in my head right now. Actually, you will! 
Inspiration boards up next!

Furball Printables

It's my favorite day of the week thanks to Stephanie & Katie's fab link up!

Saw it. Pinned it. Did it.

I’m kind of a sucker for printables, so when I kept coming across these dog silhouette prints on pinterest I knew I had to recreate one of my one and only furball, Dakota. 

via

via

And to answer your question, NO, it is not a 20"x24" print on my wall!!  
Let's not be that girl! 
I merely made an 8x10 to frame for my gallery wall.

Who am I kidding? Yes! I’ve turned into that lady that loves her dog so much, 
she has to have all things cocker…  

HOWEVER, you will NOT find me sporting the “I love my dog sweatshirt”

 Nor do I have the “my cocker is smarter than your honor student" bumpersticker...

Y’all, I haven’t even put this “guard dog” sign in the front yard… yet!

jk. it won’t happen, promise!

BUT, I do love my little girl, so any artsy way to display my love for her,

WILL HAPPEN!

All you need:

An internet connection

Photo editor website (photoshop/pixlr)

Clipart

Printer

Frame

 ADORABLE DOG for inspiration!

I chose to go with pixlr editor (advanced).
Open a "new image," which I used 1024x768, then open your clip art.
Simply use your magic wand tool to select your clip art & "move" it to your "new image" page, finally use your paint bucket tool to color the designated areas.

Volia! 

For now, she's propped up on the tv stand until my gallery wall gets going...

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! Not! Well at least it’s not your normal Monday, over here anyway. 

Working for the govt has its perks, you receive Floating Holidays!

(aka. work, said holiday, and get an extra day off!) I chose the latter, obvi! 

So my day off was Friday, and what’s a girl to do when the Nutcracker Market comes to town?! Put on your newest riding boots (lots of walking), grab your girls and get to shopping. If you want see grown women dressed to the nines and running around like chickens scouting the nearest bar for their next glass of champagne... Get in line! And yes, there is a LONG line!

If anything will get you into the Christmas spirit, it’s the Nutcracker Market. People are everywhere, buying gifts and things they don’t need, BUT it is magical!

And being the DIYer that I am, I’m taking pics of “all the things I can make myself!” 

Yes, I’m that girl! 

1. Burlap Stockings

2. Painted Letters

3. Sparkly Wreath

           

Yes, I have lived in Texas my entire life, but I've never been interested in Texas/Rustic decor... until I met this guy a few weeks ago... 

Add bling or shimmer to ANYTHING and I WANT IT!! 

Insert this beauty:

 He had a pretty gorgeous price tag too of $2,500.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to football! Who doesn't love a reason to tailgate?! 

Plus, it was homecoming weekend for the UH Cougars! 

We mosied (stumbled) on over to PubFiction to watch the A&M game... i must say, if you're not an A&M fan, just watch a game with these people and they will convert you. It probably didn't hurt that they beat the #1 team or anything... 

Have a great week!! 

Tune in: some pretty exciting news is coming at the end of this week!!

Colorful Streamer Backdrop

I have been looking forward to this day ALL week, not only because today is my Friday (whoop!) 
but because it’s time for another round of…

Saw It. Pinned it. Did it.

Did anyone else say that in the game show host voice or was that just me?!
Let's thank little miss stephanie & katie for hosting this today, shall we?

I LIVE for DIY, LOVE IT!!! So when my cousin Michelle asked me to help her make a streamer backdrop for her wedding, of course I said yes!

Who doesn’t like to play around in brightly colored paper with hot glue?
The church had some.. let's just say "boring" brick walls for photo ops... 
We spiced it up a little!

Insert: 
the pic that won us over! ahhhhhh (angels!)

What you will need:

Glue gun / sticks (we almost forgot those)

Dowel rods

Scissors

Crepe Paper
Gold Fringe

Dowel Rods: We used (3) 3'x1" dowels purchased from Hobby Lobby. 

Crepe Paper FOLDED: THIS IS IMPORTANT! Determine the colors you wish to use, we used 12 packs of FOLDED paper because we wanted it to look very full.
*Do NOT buy the little rolls you see in party city, its not the same.

The Gold Fringe, IMO, is VERY important and adds a different texture to the overall look. Plus it's shiny and we all like shiny things!!  

We started by dividing the crepe paper into (5) ~3 inch sections, 
where we then made ~1/2" cuts on either side (leave a 1" median- didnt know what else to call it) to create the fridge look.

 

When you begin to unroll the crepe paper, it will look like this...

Once we finished cutting all of our paper, the hot gluing began.. 

We left each rod separate, simply to keep this big guy reasonably mobile.  
I started by gluing the gold fringe to the rods in sections, since we obviously didn't buy enough to cover 9' (save that $$$ honey!) 

 **When gluing... place the hot glue directly on the crepe paper, its thick enough not to burn you and allows for better placement..

Next, JUST START GLUING! 
I used one color family at a time to make sure there was adequate spacing...

It was super colorful by the end, which we LOVED!

There was a team of 3 working on this project (4 if you count Dakota “helping from the ottoman”) and it took us about 2 hours.

So, turn on the DVR (in our case, Scandal, love me some Kerri Washington) and get to cuttin’!

 

**For transportation: we laid all 3 rods on a sheet and loosely rolled it... it worked pretty well. Command hooks were used for hanging. 

Oh, you want to see the professional pics? I’m glad you asked…

 
We actually used the backdrop in two locations… the wedding party took individual shots at the church and then we moved the little booger on over to the venue where lots of people took advantage of the fun backdrop! Live in COLOR!!!

1 year "Paper" Anniversary Plaque

There are particular blogs I read daily. Some people read the daily paper with their coffee, I chose to read the ramblings of Stephanie & Katie... they are my bff's and don’t even know it! So when they announced their new LinkUp

“Saw it. Pinned it. Did it.”

I jumped at the opportunity to post my first of many DIY projects.

                    
I racked my brain as to what to do for my new hubby for our 1 year anniversary. We were already spending money on our trip so I didn’t want to spend a ton, plus, I’m a lover of DIY and I will use any excuse to make something myself. I perused pinterest and esty… NOTHING. I was going crazy.  

So for this project I took the paper anniversary quite literally and used……… PAPER! That was a thinker.

For inspiration I took some of these ideas and threw it into one!

For our wedding, Pastor Larry asked Michael & I to come up with words describing one another and he would incorporate them during our ceremony.

                            Let’s just say, we know each other well and

           I don’t think either one of us were surprised by the chosen words.

I hope that this plaque sits in my home forever, whether it be on a bookshelf or hanging on the wall. Hell, maybe my kids will love it and want it one day to remember their Ma & Pa. God I hope they never call us that! Sure most people when looking at it at first glance wont know what the words stand for or even the roman numerals, but I kinda think that’s what makes it special.

So, let’s get to it… how to make a simple diy paper anniversary plaque.

My dad saved a newspaper from the day that Michael and I tied the knot, but you can use any background. I even thought of using a map of the location since our wedding was semi-destination.

What you will need:

1.   8x10 canvas, mine is from Hobby Lobby. I made it small so that it can subtly sit anywhere in my room as decor.

2.   Jar of Mod Podge, also from Hobby Lobby.  (ALWAYS use a 40% coupon!)

3.   Foam brush, found anywhere! I feel that the foam brush allows the mod podge to coat evenly.

4.   Newspaper, map, etc. for the background.

5.   3M CLEAR Full Sheet Labels

     Clear an area where the canvas can sit overnight. I propped the canvas over a paint can, so I could completely wrap the newspaper over the sides of the canvas to the back for complete coverage.

First lightly cover the canvas with a layer of mod podge (it has a glue consistency) so the newspaper has something to adhere to.

     Then I cut various sections out of the newspaper usually around 4”x4”… some were 3”x6”, some were 1”x2”. Just try and keep the print small so that the words you chose for the plaque aren’t competing with a bold newspaper headline. Avoid any print with a picture in the background or overly bold text. 
 

Lay the strips of newspaper in various angles and all different directions so that it looks random.. you really can’t mess this part up. Along the way smooth out any bumps so the newspaper is flat on the canvas.

     When the canvas is completely covered by the newspaper, again give it an all over coat of the mod podge and let it dry over night.

     Finally, you can use any print program that you want, I used power point simply because it is already set to an 8x11 frame and allows me to move the words in different text boxes to the location of my liking. Choose your words, your favorite quote, a picture of the two of you, etc. and arrange to your liking.

Here is where you will use your 3M CLEAR full sheet labels. You will need an inkjet printer. Use these labels as you would a sheet of paper, place it in your printer and print! It may need to dry a few minutes to avoid smudging. Next peel off the backing and align the label with your newspaper covered canvas and STICK! Viola! Trim any edges or fold them over the sides of the canvas, you wont see much of a seam.

Last, take your mod podge once again and give it a good final coat. Don’t worry, it comes out clear! I'm loving how it turned out & the hubby really appreciated how much thought I put into it.

 

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Hopefully this little guy will be sitting on our bookshelves for years to come!
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