Pop on over to Lovely Indeed and enjoy a lovely feature on me and you can download a desktop design I created too!

Oh and while you are there cruise around her site for some awesome DIY posts, photography, design and this rad photo backdrop.

Thanks Chelsea!

We are having a yard sale this weekend and in preparation I was rummaging through our garage and found a bag of pillows. Now, I have a thing for decorative pillows but I tend to tire of them and store them away and bring them out a few months later or so, I just do not like looking at the same pillows all the time. To me it is like wearing the same accessories every day. Back to my garage rummaging I found this old Ikat pillow and had this vision of it as a large patch on the back of a denim shirt. I do not use a sewing machine, so I hand sewed on the patch and love the results of my shirt.

If you want to try this with one of your shirts but do not have a fabric option, try visiting a thrift shop or vintage store for interesting garments. You do not need to worry about the garment fitting you, just that it is big enough for your fabric patch.

DIY Personalized Denim shirt

Need:

• Denim shirt or other button up shirt
• large scrap of fabric (big enough for your shirt)
• good scissors
• needle
• thread
• pins or safety pins

How:

Lay out your shirt with collar up (iron if needed) then lay your fabric over your shirt. You can cut to the size you want (drawing on the fabric could help) but do leave extra room of fabric to work with, you can always trim after. Pin down your fabric to your shirt and make sure it is smooth and secure. Begin sewing the fabric on to your shirt. Sew across the bottom, top and sides. After you are done trim away any excess fabric.

*I would recommend hand washing or washing your personalized shirt on delicate.

We are planning a vacation to Puerto Rico. We decided that for our 2nd year anniversary we wanted romance, beaches, old world charm and relaxation.

Since, a young child I always wanted to visit the roots of my family , as well as my future husband’s family. My family roots are a bit too pricey and cold for this trip, maybe next!

Rick’s Grandfather is from Puerto Rico and it fits all the criteria of our desired vacation.

I would love to know if any  readers have been to Puerto Rico. Where did you stay? What did you love to do? Etc..

Thank you in advance!

The stark contrast of the colorful floral and desert cacti against the white sand and rocks was pretty breathtaking, especially with the San Jacinto Mountains as the backdrop. It truly is a living desert full of wonder and releaxation.

Rick and I were scheming to stay, but knew we had work calling our sun-kissed bodies home, we were just a pinch of desert sand close to spending another day poolside and exploring the desert.

However, we are already planning our next trip.

Till next time my desert friend…

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and in honor of my crafty awesome Mom, I created two DIY’s. One DIY is very similar to these jars, a catch-all for things like buttons, thread, and other baubles of things and the wreath was a simple and darling project that I thought would look nice in my Mom’s office/craft room.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms and my Mom!

Felt Wreath

Need:

• Felt squares in various colors
• good scissors
• wood embroidery hoop
• ribbon
• and glue

How:

Begin by cutting the felt into leaf shapes. I do this free hand (while watching a movie). For a small hoop cut three felt square and double the amount for the next size up, etc.

After you have your leaf shapes, warm up your hot glue and begin glueing the felt leafs around the hoop on teach side (two sides, front and back)work your way around your entire hoop. Finish with a ribbon. Be sure to face wreath, its best side forward.

Fabric wrapped lid with critter

Need:

• glass jar with lid
• square of fabric
• spray adhesive
• scissors
• glue
• critter

How:

Take your lid and lay your lid on the fabric and draw a circle leaving about an inch around the lid. Then cut the shape. Spray a generous amount of adhesive to the lid, lay the fabric and soon it will start to stick. Cut off any excess fabric. To attach a critter just use hot glue to attach. Allow everything to dry for at least eight hours.

My garden area is not looking too fruitful this year. I made a conscious decision to let our garden go as we were planning on moving away by summer, but now that we might be sticking around a bit longer I decided to plant a few new herbs and such into large pots. So, I guess now this makes me semi-committed to my garden.

In my craft closet I found a package of leftover oven-bake clay from this project and decided I would use it to cheer up my garden. After spending an hour weeding and planting I felt a bit inspired to do more for my garden and maybe even more little touches like these cute garden stakes.

P.S. The clay stakes make a perfect gift for your gardening loving Mother too, as Mother’s Day is just around the … garden.

DIY Garden Stakes

Need:

• oven bake clay
• baking sheet
• parchment paper
• rolling-pin
• knife (Exacto knife)
• paint/paint brushes
• sandpaper

How:

On a flat surface, roll out clay with rolling-pin, use parchment paper between surface and your clay. I rolled out the clay until it had the thickness of a cookie. Then I used a knife to cut long straight strips and created a point at the bottom of each stake. Then I laid out the clay stakes on a baking sheet line with parchment paper and put them in the oven.  Follow the direction to your oven bake clay. My clay called for 30 minutes in the oven at 275 degrees. Allow them to cool down at least an hour.

Gently sandpaper any rough parts of the clay to create a smooth surface. Use acrylic paint to paint your clay. When the paint is dry you can spray them with a sealer or put them straight into the dirt. Sealing it will help it hold up against weather.

Last weekend, Rick and I went up north to visit my family, celebrate Rick’s birthday and relax. Relaxing at my family home typically involves a project. My Mom, Rick and I went to an estate sale and we scored a lot for 25 dollars, including vintage linens, a small embroidered picture, this great book, and two chairs. We are slowly making updates to our office and we were in dire need of new office chairs. Rick found a mid-century industrial chair for $5, made in Texas and I found a beautiful antique oak chair for $40 that I wheeled and dealed down to $15.

While Rick was out with the guys wine tasting my Mom  and I went to downtown Paso Robles to this great fabric store and found fabric for the two different chairs.

For the oak chair I picked out a folksy – Americana style pattern. I decided to not paint the chair because I loved the grain in the wood and slight imperfections from the craftsmanship. I decided to hand embroidered some of the fabric to add depth and character. I spent most of Saturday night around the fireplace hanging out with my family needplepointing (Rick even took turns and helped). The next day my Dad helped rebuild the original wooden seat insert to make it stronger and Rick, My Mom and I all gathered around tucked and stapled on the new fabric.

The office chair turned out a lot easier than it looked. It just took some time. Honestly, I was just going to take it to my upholstery guy but when I walked out to the garage Rick had already started removing parts. It just took tugging and ripping apart and my great helpers. For the fabric I wanted a quirky design. I fell in love with this collection from Sarah Watson called Indian Summer, something about it called out my name. I used animal faces for the chair back and teepee design for the seat. I am so in love with my new office chair. It’s comfortable and now very personal.

I do need to add trim to the chair back parts. To cover the gap. I think I might go for an off white color or pop like turquoise.

Now, just to find Rick a new office chair, the search continues…

Big Thanks to my parents and Rick.

P.S. I am sorry for the lack of photos (including, the “before” photos), I was a bit too excited and forgot to take photos of the progress.

A few tips from me to you for upholstery:

• Splurge on good quality fabric that will hold up overtime.
• Outdoor fabric may be used inside and is great if you have kids.
• Use existing batting or padding but if the piece has lost structure you can add to the seating by spending under ten dollars, worth it.
• When unscrewing, removing nails and staples be sure to not lose the original hardware, especially from a vintage chair because this could be hard to replace. Keep all your parts gathered in one place such as a Ziploc bag.
• Get a friend to help you pull and tuck the fabric or be the one that staples the fabric back on. This will save you a headache.
• Iron your fabric. Thanks for teaching this to me Mom.
• After stapling on your fabric secure by hammering in staples.

Antique Oak Chair for 15 dollars + 7 dollars in fabric = 22 dollars for a lovely accent piece made with a lot of love.

Mid-Century Industrial chair for 5 dollars + 22 dollars in fabric = 27 dollars for an awesome chair

Till then here is engagement pictures that I worked on with Jennifer at Milk and Honey Farm.