{SAVE THE DATE} 
Post brought to you by Pink Door Design

Let the wedding countdown begin for Lindsay & Jarrod! These two love birds will be married in just one month (well...technically yesterday if we are doing a true countdown).

I have known these two since they were in elementary school and couldn't be happier for them! What a sweet story they have to share. Their first kiss was in the 2nd grade and years later they fell in love and now they're tying the knot this October!

When the bride-to-be asked me to design their Save the Dates, I was super excited to get started. Their wedding colors are eggplant purple & apple green so we made sure to incorporate these colors in their announcement.

Lindsay + Jarrod's Save the Date - check it out!

{the front}

{the back}

I really feel Save the Dates are such a special part of the wedding planning process. It's the first official announcement your family & friends receive in the mail for your wedding!

I am delighted they allowed me to design their Save the Dates. Thanks Lindsay, Jarrod & Debbie (mother-of-the-bride)!!

I'M SEEING STRIPES.

Hiiii there! I'm back with my Labor Day weekend project! Talk about labor. This project took forever.and.ever.and.ever.

I've been thinking about our hallway for awhile now. It needed some excitement. As soon as Clay said he was playing golf on Saturday, I knew this would be the perfect time to improve our dull hallway!

Lately, I have been in L.O.V.E. with stripes. Really anything with stripes - pillows, comforters, walls, etc... Back in good ole' February I painted some stripes in our kitchen. I was very pleased with how they turned out, however the stripes in our kitchen are on the subtler side of things.

For our hallway, I wanted to paint the stripes a bit bolder with a more modern feel. I figured gray would be the perfect color...plus I had gray paint left over from another room which made things easy.

Measuring. Taping. Painting. {repeat}

My sweet Bayley followed me down the hallway as I slowly made progress.

without further adieu

the BEFORE & AFTER!

 

Look how much Bayley loves laying 

in our hallway now. I knew the stripes 

would make the hallway more fun!

 

Have a happy stripe-filled weekend. I know we will! :0) 

GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME. A BEHEADED BEFORE & AFTER.

Hand me downs. Gotta love 'em. I feel very thankful that we have inherited furniture from our families!

This great piece was handed down to me by my Aunt Denise & Paula. So I would like to give them a thank you shout-out for generously giving us this frame for our house! My initial thought when I saw the artwork was...oriental is not my style. However, after thinking about the frame a bit more, I made up my mind that I could make it my own!

{Before. The Oriental Frame.}

On the drive home from their house, I brainstormed the best way to remove the Chinese heads. I decided a screwdriver would do the j-o-b! To my pleasant surprise the heads popped off with ease!

Once the Chinese heads were removed, I headed (pun intended) to Hobby Lobby in search of pretty scrapbook paper. I hit every traffic light on the way there and took this as a sign that I should get out of my car and do a Chinese fire drill in remembrance of the Chinese heads I had just removed. Which is exactly what I did. Ha, ha. Just kidding. I'm messing with you guys.

Joking aside, I am glad scrapbook paper is inexpensive because I have difficulty resisting all of the beautiful colors and patterns Hobby Lobby has to offer! I chose paper to complement the color scheme in our front living/dining room. I then cut the scrapbook paper to fit the squares (that once housed the oriental heads) and taped the scrapbook paper in place!

 

{Let's face it. Removed heads = a fabulous face lift. The new frame!} 

I love projects, but I especially L.O.V.E. projects that can be accomplished in a day's time! Do you have any artwork that is not exactly your style anymore? Take a step back and ask yourself...can I add scrapbook paper to it? can I paint it? can I remove anything? can I glue anything to it? More than likely, the answer is yes...so get started brainstorming and let your head get carried away! 

THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

Picture this. How neat would it be to look back on every year you were married and see how much you and your hubby (or wife) have changed? Really neat, if you ask me! Well, hip hip hooray - with this project, you can do just that. 

 

{Our Anniversary Album}

 

The fantastic thing about an anniversary album is you have the ability to make it your very own....as elaborate as you like or you can keep it simple. I have always been a scrapbook lover (and still am) so I started this book as a simple way to remember each year of our marriage.

 

Two things to keep in mind:

1. If you have been married for a few years it is not too late! You can catch up in no time...only a picture a year!

2. If you have not tied the knot, you should tuck this idea away and be sure to use it when you have your first anniversary!

 

 

{first anniversary}

{second anniversary}

 

{third anniversary}

 As I uploaded the pictures for my blog post, I just realized that our third anniversary has the wrong date!

Ha, ha. Please paste carefully my friends. :0)

 

 The album is from Hobby Lobby and the silver engraved piece is from Things Remembered. At Things Remembered, you can choose from different shapes and they will engrave whatever wording you want. Our says "Our Anniversaries" and it simply adheres to the surface of the album. The corner stickers are pretty niftty and are from hobby lobby as well. 

 

 

If you have little ones, this would also be a terrific idea for their birthdays. A single picture on each page showing how they have grown over the years. Another item I would be sure to include in this album is their birthday invitation on the opposite page. Oh yes, I can see it now. Fun. Fun. Fun. I am going to tuck this idea away until we have baby Pickerings.

Even if you are not a "picture taker," you can do this project. Remember only ONE picture a year! Hope this idea inspires you to come up with your own way to scrapbook your anniversaries and/or kiddos birthdays. Happy scrapping!

NO PANE. NO GAIN.

No pane. No gain. It’s true. However in this case, I am referring to a glass pane! If you can’t see the inside of your cabinets then you are missing out on a potential area to accessorize. No worries, it’s an easy fix: just add glass and you can gain a new space to display decorative items!

We have a built-in cabinet in our dining room. These cabinets had solid doors, but as you can see in the picture below the top cabinets now have glass panes! Hooray! Unfortunately, my excitement took over and I forgot to take a BEFORE picture before the new glass was put in…

{before}

 

{after}

If you take a look at the bottom doors in this picture you can

visualize what the tops doors looked like before they had glass.

 

Once the glass was in place I wasn’t sure what to tackle next.

I contemplated painting the back portion of the cabinets, but then

I was inspired by this little birdie.

Want to accessorize with this paper mache bird?

Good news, it's still available at West Elm.

This bird (made of book pages) gave me a bright idea for the background of our built-in cabinets! I hit up the clearance section of Half-Price Books and purchased two books. I bought a book with white pages and a book with off-white pages in order to create contrast between the torn pages. Here is a close-up of the new book page background!

Instead of gluing the pages directly to the wood cabinets I adhered the pages to cardboard. All you need to do is cut a cardboard box to fit the background space, glue the pages to the cardboard and use a couple of fabric tacks to stick the cardboards pieces onto the back of the cabinets! Easy breezy.

I bought this old sewing machine (below) at an antique store in Midland, Texas.

I love vintage pieces and I thought this sewing machine was so neat because it still has

a piece of string and fabric in the machine...as if someone just got up and walked away.

Keep in mind, if book pages aren't your thing - buy fabric, wallpaper or scrapbook paper and adhere it to the carboard!

This is a great project if you are renting a place and are not allowed to paint, but want a way to spice up your cabinets. Not to mention it's an extremely inexpensive project! The total cost for the new cabinet background was less than $5! I used a free cardboard box, 2 books ($1 each) and some fabric tacks. Loving the new look of our built-in cabinet! Again I say...no pane. no gain.

EASILY ACCESSIBLE = EASILY ACCESSORIZED

Happy Friday all! I'll preface this blog entry by saying, if you like jewelry and enjoy accessorizing then this post is right up your alley!

Are your earrings in need of a home? Well, here is a great (& simple) DIY project that everyone can create. All you need is old shutters and some mesh and you are well on your way!

I used to search for earrings in my bathroom drawer and was never able to find a matching pair. Now I shutter at the thought of searching! Which is why I highly recommend this project. Once your earrings are visible and organized, you will find yourself wearing them more often. An easy project that makes accessorizing easier! Yes, please!

But, you may be asking yourself....where can I find old shutters? I would recommend searching at salvage yards and antique stores, but my number one recommendation is First Monday in Canton, TX. If you have the chance to drive there, you will find tons of shutter options....and tons of other neat things (I am sure of it)!

{my earring holder}

To continue with the jewelry theme, here is another great way to organize your necklaces. However, this handy dandy holder was hand crafted by my talented dad + my mom's sewing expertise.

If only I had a before picture to show you!! It started out as an old and ugly medicine cabinet we found at a salvage yard and as you can see was transformed into something lovely.  

{outside of my necklace holder}

All of the old door knobs and decor attached to the front were found at the same salvage yard.

 {the inside}

These purposeful pockets were sewn by my mom. She used a shower curtain we found at Big Lots. The sheer fabric was perfect because it allows you to see what each pocket holds. I hope to have my mom's sewing skills when I grow up.

I love my jewelry holders and use them on a daily basis! I encourage you to find a creative way to display your jewelry.

I know you will thoroughly enjoy having your accessories organized.

And last but certainly not least! A birthday shout out to my wonderful dad on his birthday!

I LOVE YOU!

A PRECIOUS PRINCESS PARTY.

{post brought to you by Pink Door Design}

Turning Two. What a precious moment...and a precious moment deserves a precious party! Which is exactly what this mommy did!

Andrea asked me to design a princess birthday invitation for her little princess, Piper. I couldn't wait to share this Pink Door Design with everyone because the decorations for this birthday party are too cute!

{the invitation for Piper's 2nd Birthday} 

{Precious Princess Piper Pants, herself...with a precious outfit to match!}

{Artwork- complements of Andrea. She paints these adorable custom signs!

It matches beautifully with the invite and the party decor.}

{All the precious princess party details.}

Check out the clever saying on the party favors:

Her highness thanks you for your "presents"!

  

It just doesn't get much cuter than this. Have a princess that needs a birthday party invite? Shoot me an email and we can come up with something precious and personalized just for you!!