a place and a purpose

my thrifty treasures have found their homes.

thanks to that sweet boy of mine, the pitcher is holding flowers

the cd rack became our bill/important note holder

{hmmm...need to find a better name for that!}

{{i'll probably spray paint it later}}

glass bowl took on the responsibility of housing the q`tips in the guest bath

the other wire organizer in our fully organized linen closet

{originally the organizer was white, then i spray painted it yellow, but then i bought the turquoise and lime green baskets from the dollar tree....so my wire organizer may go back to being white, don't worry i'll keep you updated on this major decision}

and the woven basket now hosts our extra tp. 

i love that my finds have found a home c:

left to place and give a purpose are:

the books, terra cotta pots, picture frame and that dresser

...ohh, i am so excited about that dresser...

thrift store score

a dear beautiful friend introduced me to my new favorite thrift store

for seventeen dollars i got...

dresser needing a little tlc

wooden picture frame

book for husband's bday

two wire organizers

woven basket

yellow pitcher

glass bowl

three old books

three terra cotta pots

awww, i'm so happy and can't wait for the projects to begin.

a birthday

a birthday for the boy

there were balloons

yummy beer with the fam

two, yes two desserts

and of course there were presents...a very big one.

happy birthday love!

for the birdies

lately i've been all about the birds. we have big, beautiful windows in our kitchen that look onto a tree that's often the resting point for birdies. when i was younger, my parents always had bird feeders of all kinds around our property. now that i'm not apartment living, i can finally invite the birds over! but once i started looking to buy bird feeders, they seemed pretty expensive for how simple they were. i began searching the lovely site of pinterest, even giving the birds their own board , yes they're a tad spoiled c: my first bird project was for our hummingbirds. 

i LOVE browsing through pinterest to find inspiration and ideas for projects. however, most of the tutorials i find use materials that would require a little shopping, aka money spending. soooo, for this project i managed to switch up a few things with items i already had around the house. the only thing i had to buy was a feeder tube, this i did not have just hanging around the house c; i got my feeder tube from a local gardening and bird store sold to me for four dollars by a sweet lady who was a living dictionary for birds. 

{here's what i came up with}

you will need:

red plastic spoons

candle and lighter

bottle {plastic or glass}

twine, rope or a chain

feeder tube

glue gun

scissors

sorry i didn't capture every step with a picture...lucky the beautiful tutorial i based my project on took detailed pictures, find it here.

step 1. light that candle and enjoy the yumminess c: then get to work by gripping the spoon by the handle and holding the 'spoon part' about two inches over the flame. slowly rotate the spoon. it will begin to melt and warp. pull it away, wait a few seconds and CAREFULLY morph the spoon with your fingers. please be careful, it's pretty hot {go figure...it was just inches away from a flame}.

 this is what they look like after wards. each spoon will turn out a little different and random...just like flower petals.

step 2: use your scissors to snip off the handles of the spoons.

step 3: carefully hold the the tip of the spoon so that the edge you just cut is over the candle flame. this allows the rough edges to melt a little and be softened. immediately after i pulled the spoon from the flame i pushed it against the bottle {see below} so it gained a round shape and would be easier to glue on later. do this for all your spoons.

step 4: grab your hot glue gun and attach your petals one`by`one, by placing a dab of glue and pressing the end of your petal to the bottle for a couple seconds so it can secure the hold. i ended up having two layers on mine. 

step 5: hot glue twine to your bottle, or attach a chain. whichever you choose, make sure it can hang at a slant. 

step 6: save a little more money and make your own hummingbird food. easy and simple sugar water, 1 part sugar to 4 parts warm water. found this recipe here. once it cools a little, pour the sugar mix into the bottle.

step 7: plug in the feeder tube to close off the top and hang your hummingbird feeder. 

i'm so happy with how it turned out, especially with my only expense being the tube feeder. the feeder has only been up for a day or so, and i've been waiting patiently for my hummingbirds to come. which means making extra trips to the kitchen just to check in on them. 

the boy is home

my boy is home...mustache and all. yup, apparently his whole unit decided to bring on the manly`ness during their few weeks of training. awww, but it's nice to have him home even if the mustache came with the package c; 

this weekend we have been giddy homeowners, the epitome of first time buyers. frequent trips to home depot, starting {key word} like eighteen projects only to move onto number nineteen and even mowing our poor DEAD lawn in 100 plus degree weather {he was pretty stoked about his new lawn mower}. my boy left just days after we officially moved into our home, so i've been doing all the unpacking by my lonesome. having him home just makes it feel so real...i love it. 

to do this week:

paint our mantle c: c:

unpack that last box i've been ignoring

organize the linen closet

make a bird feeder

finish the spare bedroom 

{in`laws are coming to town}

...and that's all i'm committing to for now.

happy sunday my friends!

sparkling wine glasses

last weekend's bachelorette party was spent in napa {aawwhh. yes, it was beautiful}. the bridal party all chipped in, rented a house, then spent the weekend soaking up sunshine and wine tasting. unfortunately i had to leave a day early in order to make the wedding of my dear school friend. so it was only proper for me to excuse my short stay by crafting some fun, girly and very appropriate wine glasses. upon much research, here was my favorite tutorial i based this project on...{credit}

what i used:

~martha stewart multi`surface craft paint $2.99 {use michael's coupons}

~wine glasses {i bought a variety of sizes from the dollar tree}

~brush to apply the glitter paint

~scissors 

~tape 

~tooth picks 

step 1: wash all of your glasses and have them completely dry before you begin.

step 2: squeeze some glitter paint into a small container.

step 3: use tape to create a line circling the top your glass.

step 4: paint several layers, 3-10 layers depending on how concentrated you want the glitter to be. each layer should be light, so you don't have the clumpy look. each of our glasses were a little different, some more concentrated where the tape was then faded out towards the bottom...others we heavily painted the base and gave the faded look going up. 

for the bride to be, i wanted her's to stand out. first i used tape to outline a box, then i placed a sticker in the middle of my box to personalize it. i slowly added light layers {maybe 10} over the sticker and within my box. once the paint dried i used my tooth pick to carefully take off my sticker and touch up the 'N'.

step 5: time to cure. putting glass in a oven made me a little nervous, so i did A LOT of research to guarantee my wine glasses wouldn't shatter. here's what you do: place all your wine glasses on a baking rack, put the wine glasses in your oven, turn it on for 350 degrees and set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes. it's important that your baking sheet is cool and your glasses are in the oven WHILE it is preheating because it allows everything to heat up together. when your timer is rings, turn your oven off and leave the glasses inside to cool down {again we are avoiding dramatic temperature change}. once everything is nice and cool, feel free to take your glasses out. let them set for three days before you use or wash. after the third day you are ready to use, enjoy and throw it in the dishwasher {bonus!}.

craft and enjoy c:

what a weekend

this weekend... i began with some crafting

then celebrated at a bachelorette party

i did a little wine tasting

attended a wedding

big PLUS, i got to see my mustach`ed husband

{no picture available}

ha!

we then bought a couch

and concluding the weekend was a heart`to`heart with my dear friend. 

today {monday} my first day back to work and i'm beyond beat, but i absolutely can't wait to go more in depth with each amazing and truly blessed aspect of my weekend. but as of now, i'm calling it a night and catching up on some much needed sleep c;

how i met my neighbor

it was about midnight and i was getting ready for bed when i realized i hadn't seen our cat lynnee. i went to the back yard and whisper called her name {hoping to not wake the neighbors}. after a few seconds i heard her jingling bell coming in my direction. i repeated her name and she meowed back, sounding like she was in the neighbor's yard. i grabbed step stool and peered over the shared fence. sure enough, lynnee was on the other side trying to find her way back home. 

at this point i'm slightly hanging over the fence, given lynnee encouraging words and hoping she would just jump back over. then i heard this deep voice, 'who are you?'

not going to lie, i was startled...so i froze and didn't make a peep. 

five long seconds passed and i saw a head poke up in the neighbor's window, yell at me and then instantly duck back down. 

at that point i introduced myself as her new neighbor and apologized for my cat being stuck in her yard.

neighbor sue was relieved i wasn't a robber and we ended up having a decent conversation given that it was past midnight. she gave me the skinny on the neighborhood skunk, everyone's dogs and cats and the next door neighbor who likes to drum. she even turned on a light so lynnee could see and offered to help me get her back over the fence. sweet neighbor sue ended the conversation saying that lynnee was welcome in her yard anytime c:

thank you lynnee for choosing a nice neighbor's yard to get stuck in. 

the stool used for operation retrieve lynnee. 

God is bigger than our house

we have been house shopping since the beginning of the year, somehow cramming in at least one meeting a week with our realtor driving around the areas we wish we could afford and those we couldn't drive out of fast enough. there would be houses with great features but just a couple things that make us say bleh. then other possible homes we would walk into and see the potential. before each house hunting date, the boy and i prayed. we prayed HE would decide where we lived, where our future children would play, where our marriage would continue to grow, the house that would be used for His glory and blessing others. then it happened, about forty houses into our search we stepped into a house that caused our hearts to say yes, this is it.

it was God's house from the beginning, here's how the day went {eighty~eight days ago}. it was a saturday and i had just gotten off work. we decided that after looking at houses that day we would take a break because the boy was leaving on sunday for a few weeks of coastie training and i didn't want to go house hunting without him for the obvious reasons. as we were walking out of the door i got an update on my phone of a house that literally just went on the market. i glanced over the pictures and got excited...as i usually do about everything. we were able to fit it in as the last and final house we looked at. this house was in the perfect area, a place we were pretty iffy on if we could afford. it was cute, small and everything we wanted. and now the boy was the one getting a little excited about what we came across. i remember just looking at him, both of us sporting ridiculously large grins and knowing this was our home. so we did it, we wrote up our best offer we could give...going a little over asking price and volunteering to pay for items that are usually the seller's responsibility. i even typed up a little paragraph about who we were and how in love we were with the place, to add a little fluff c: we wanted this house, but most importantly we felt God tug on our hearts. 

fast forward about two and a half months now, purchasing this house has been like riding a never`ever`ever ending roller coaster that had up's and down's every single day. ends up the seller is a scam artist and her real estate agent was her sidekick. in the beginning it was a traditional seller with a wonderful family ....um no. that's the act they were playing, really she flips houses for a living. which is all fine and dandy, minus the fact she lied through her teeth every occasion she got and attempted to weasel us out of every penny left in our newly~wed savings. but we felt lead to this house, so we pushed forward, never gave up hope and held on tight for the ride. we prayed about every decision we made. some of her demands, we felt at peace about paying...but others we said no and miraculously she agreed to our biggest requests. God's hand was in the entire process and like always, he followed through on his promise.

alright now that i made you read first...here are some pictures.

 the night we got our keys.

opening the door for the first time and our first cooked frozen pizza meal c:

the boy was a little over taking pictures at that point...can you tell?

i cannot even tally the number of times things went drastically wrong when we were in escrow
but God is SO GOOD. 
He was bigger than every problem we encounter and stayed true.
this truly is His house and we are incredibly blessed to be apart of His plan.