I DIY"ed" ... It's my little slice of Heaven here on Earth

Since moving into our apartment in March, I have been slowly transforming the space into "home." It's the perfect project for me since it never gets old (there is always a new season to decorate for) and I can mold some of my former pre-marriage hobbies into some sort of decorating diva persona. And here is where I insert plugs for my favorite spots of inspiration. If you haven't already heard of them, get over to Young House Love's (YHL) amazing blog. They do the coolest things, not to mention the million and one fantastic ideas they blog about. It's the mecca of aspiring DIYers and my daily cup o' Joe. Lately I've been mixing it up a bit with PB. Peanut butter you ask? No, not for this self proclaimed interior designer. It's Pottery Barn... the other mecca :). I am in love with their stuff, but not even to fork over the $$$ for their price tags. This is where I introduce my new favorite hobby! I think I found one that will stick!!

THRIFTING: refers to the act of shopping at a thrift store, flea market, garage sale, or a shop of a charitable organization, usually with the intent of finding interesting items at a cheap price.

I die, I DIY. Those defining words speak to my very soul! Shopping, Charitable Organization, Finding, Interesting items, and the best for last: Cheap price! My Mennonite heart beats hard for those bargains!

So, in a effort to combine all of those sweet sounding melodies into one amazing musical composition, I'm challenging myself to accomplish these 4 designs below... all before Christmas! The rules are plain.... I have to use my creative, God given gifts, shop at local charities/ thrift stores, and accomplish each by December 22 (gotta make sure they're completed by the time we have Christmas visitors!)

The Challenges:

#1 Create this Pottery Barn centerpiece....


#2 Recover this lamp shade (the lamp is a $5 thrift find!) ... inspired by a YHL project



#3 Update this door with a seasonal wreath...



#4 Make or thrift find Christmas Stockings and come up with a way to hang them


Wish me luck! And I'll keep you posted!

P.E.A.C.E.

FALLing in love...

Hello Fall, it's good to see you again!

I just love, love, LOVE Fall! Well, actually, I love the turn of every season, although somewhere in the heart of winter, when the snow storms hit, I send a few curses to the sky for their creation of slip-n-slide roads and my frost bitten toes! I just hate driving in snow.... but back to Fall, my lovely, lovely Fall :) I have been "itching" to get one of those pretty mums for our porch, and maybe a pumpkin to brighten it up. Speaking of pumpkin, I picked up a can of (what I thought was) pumpkin at the store the other day as inspiration for some autumn treats and aromas to fill our little apartment. On the drive home I was practically salivating thinking about the pumpkin roll that was soon to be mine..... only to my disappointment a can of "pumpkin pie MIX" came out of that grocery bag. LAME! but..... then something magical happened and these were filling my kitchen with such a sweet aroma, and once again, I was happy!

Well hello, Pumpkin Crumble Muffin....

And.... we've officially been "boo'ed." Oh Lansdale, you have so many neighborhood games :) that's all folks! stop by again soon :)

???????

And over a month later... I am still looking for that one brilliant hobby that keeps me entertained and energized for weeks on end.

6 hobbies I thought were "gonna be the one"

- Card making: I bought the supplies, read card making blogs, thought up many ideas for designs, made a total of 9 cards and quit. The pretty paper I bought is still mostly untouched.

- Cooking my way through a cookbook (Julie and Julia style): I have the books, couldn't pick the right one, tried a recipe for a curry that turned out a bit too spicy for my tastes, and quit.

- Scrapbooking: Now here is one that, through the years, has left me the owner of 3 or 4 unfinished scrapbooks. Well, none of them are really started either. Since I had the paper and supplies from the card making binge I decided I was finally going to accomplish putting together an entire, completed book of our honeymoon pictures. 1st step: order pictures from snapfish or shutterfly. hmmm.... I'm still on the 1st step :)

- Photography: a good camera (that I of course absolutely need to start this hobby) is a bit out of my price range. It would cost me a good year's worth of fun money... and do i really want to give up all that fun so that a year from now I can take a few pictures and move on the the next hobby idea?

- Gardening: This one started back in the spring, but as my garden wilts and dies (from a fungus in the soil that is apparently impossible to kill) I have of course given up and moved on.

- Blogging: This one makes me laugh a bit. I started this blog with the intentions of using it as an outpost for my thoughts on being a newlywed. It soon turned into ramblings about hobbies I wanted to pursue as my life before the ring was full of them, and now being a Mrs I seem to have lost them or left them on the way. As you can see... I didn't post for a whole month.

well... I'm off to think up my next idea... maybe something along the lines of cooking/ eating organically? Or maybe I'll actually order those pictures for my scrapbook.

any suggestions?