I'm Back!

Whew... I have been gone awhile! Here's a few things we have been doing these past few months.

1. We found out we are expecting #3 in June!

2. Celebrated both of my girl's birthdays... Maddy turned 4 & Presley 2.

3. Spent the holidays surrounded by our family.

4. My husband got a new job; he'll start in March.

5. Spending a lot of time inside...it's way too cold!!!!!

Okay, now that we got all of that out of the way, let's get to some fun crafts. My girls are really bored this week due to the fact that we have been snowed in. The Blizzard of 2011 hit Chicago and we currently have about 22 inches of snow. So, I decided a much needed craft night was in store for my girls tonight. I found this cute idea somewhere on the Internet (I can't find the exact site now), but it's very easy and fun for small kids.

All you need is the cardboard roll from the toilet paper, construction paper, glue, pipe cleaners, and glitter to decorate. See how much fun the girls had?

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Very excited to be back to the "blog" world and looking forward to reconnecting with everyone!

Halloween Craft

They have these adorable pumpkins at the Dollar Tree. I scooped up 3 of them to make a cute Halloween topiary.

First I chopped off the stem on 2 of the pumpkins to make it easier to stack.

Then I busted out the Heirloom White spray paint and gave all 3 a good coating.

My wonderful husband screwed nails into the pumpkins to stack them.

I used my cricut to cut out the vinyl letters and Halloween Decor.

And the final project...

Isn't it adorable? I think I will put it in the entryway, but still not sure of the final spot. Will post a picture of it later with the rest of my Halloween Decor.

Now run off to Dollar Tree and buy these cuties up!!

FALL-MANIA

Have I ever told you how much I love fall decorations?? Well I do...like really!

Today I started with a few bins of my fall decor for inside the house. It prompted me to do an entire deep clean of the house too, which made my husband very happy.

I love the harvest decor for several reasons, the first because the entire house starts to smell like cinnamon. The second because I don't have many holiday decorations for the summer, so this transforms the house from a boring, every-day house into a festive Fall house!

Lastly, I love decorating for Fall because from now until February, my house is filled with coordinating holiday decor (Halloween is my absolute favorite). Doesn't it put you in a good mood to see all the decorations?

Here is what my mantle looks like everyday (booooring....)

And here's after I attacked it with fall stuff:






And now the glass table in the foyer..





I took the cloche from here (that I made from a GW cheese dome and candlestick) to display my ceramic pumpkin. Isn't it cute?

Snap Shot Saturday

I have got to get better at keeping up with this blog!! Do you ever feel like the day just passes so quickly and nothing was crossed off your to-do list?? I am feeling like that a lot lately since I have started my photography business. Any free time I did have, is now dedicated to editing client pictures. I love love love it, but it is still a learning process. Hopefully the more I practice, the less time it will take to edit.
So on to a favorite photo from the week. Here is the original straight from my Nikon D60:

First I edited the eyes to make them "pop" more and then I made the mosquito bites disappear (if only I could do that in real life). Then I cropped the picture to get this...

Brightening the eyes is just a little technique that really adds a nice touch to the picture!

Entertainment Facelift

As the end of the summer quickly approaches, I figured I would feature one of my husband's projects. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law recently purchased a new television. They already had a very nice entertainment system, but with a bigger tv it just wouldn't work. So, they purchased a tv cabinet in the discounted section at a furniture store to match the existing towers- regular $400 marked down to $50. Then they enlisted my husband to build a new "bridge" between the towers.

This is the before. The cabinet the tv is sitting on was $50.

This is the after. Isn't is perfect? My sister wanted something where she could still decorate above!

It only took my husband and brother-in-law a few hours to build and it gave the whole entertainment system a new look!

Snap Shot Saturday

Today is SnapShot Saturday and I'd like to share with you one of my favorite pictures ever.

I love this picture for many reasons, but mainly because when you see it you immediately know that soft, kissable, chubby feeling of a 3 month old!! It makes my heart melt every time I look at this picture.

Here is the original raw picture from my camera.

And again.. the after!

What do you think??

Grab my button and share some photos!!

Hobby Lobby Love

So a few weeks ago, in between Vacation Bible School, making shirts for the charity walk, and starting up my photography business, I managed a little bargain shopping at Hobby Lobby.

Boy, do I love their bargains!! I found quite a few things, but here's my favorite.

This adorable tin sign was down 80% to $3.76.

I decided the perfect spot to put it was under my cabinet in the kitchen.

What do you think?

What have treasures have you came across lately??