diy birthday banner

I made this a while ago but kept forgetting to post it... august 19th we had our first gathering slash birthday celebration at the house. we had a birthday celebration for my cousin, abuelita and my boyrfriend's mom. i was a little nervous hosting it because we weren't done with the house. but i felt like if we waited until then, we would never have people over. it feels like there is always something that needs to be done with the house. 

everyone came! i felt like it was christmas. at one point there were more than 35 people in our second level. which lead me to thinking we have to get the basement together to make more room. one of the things i was looking forward to when getting a house was having gatherings. i love when all the family is together. and every time i always think, i'm so lucky and grateful. everyone brought delicious food and we had four desserts! see i told you i'm lucky :)

i wanted the birthday people to be recognized so i made a banner with photos. the banner i made from scrap paper i had from a previous project. michael's sells these wonderful design paper packs that have a variations of designs on them. because i had so much paper left i made each square double sided that way i could mix up the design for future uses as well. i wanted removable letters so i can change the message each time i use it. i cut circles out of bristol board and glued printed letters on them. the circles were attached to the squares with removable qlue dots from michael's. punched holes at the top of the square and threaded ribbon through for hanging. i also added left over ribbon i had on each side to add more color. lastly i printed photos of the birthday people in a circle shape, thought it tied in well with the circle letters. we have a huge wall that divides the dinning room and kitchen that eventually will be knocked down to open the second level even more. but for now it was perfect to be able to hang the entire banner in one row. i think i'll make it my theme wall when we have gatherings until we knock it down.

 

final piece to mantel decor

a couple of weeks ago i went to lucketts, if you haven't been and live in va you should go. warning: you will want to live there or buy everything! i love looking at their displays because it gives me ideas. i came across this display and liked the weathered look of the stone candlestick. this was my splurge, $20 each. i bought 2 of them. i didn't think it was too bad for how heavy they are. it's the real deal, if anything i can use it as a weapon. kill two birds with one stone haha. ok that was cheesy but i had to. this is the mantel at lucketts in the design house:

the mantel at lucketts also inspired me to have something bird-like on the mantel. the ones at lucketts were cast iron and nice but for some reason i didn't get them that day and it's a hike to get out to lucketts so i was regretting it. i searched on-line, not impressed. then one day i walked into michael's. i say this like it's random but i go to michael's at least once a week. i stopped by the home decor section and i saw teal ceramic birds for $2.99 plus 40% off. this could not have been more perfect. fantastic price and just the right color for the color scheme of the living room. voila! the mantel :)

diy faux mercury glass votives

for the first time we have a fire place which means we have a mantel. i'm so excited to decorate it. i want to keep it the same for the most part but when halloween and christmas come around i definitely want to switch it up. i always like using what we already having and sprucing it up. i started out with small candle votives i have had for years. i believe i got them at target, they were really cheap. as i was searching the internet for inspiration of course i stopped by miss musterseed's website and found this tutorial on making faux mercury votives. i like the look of this and decided to go with it. i bought gold and silver leaf which wasn't cheap but i had a coupon so that helped plus i have so much left over to turn more things silver :) so the mantel started with the votives.

diy terrarium

i had been wanting to make a terrarium for a long time and was waiting for the right time and place to put it. i thought, why not have it be the center piece of the fire mantel. we have windows all over the house the living and dinning room get a lot of natural light. i followed martha stewart's succulents terrarium. i figured succulents are a bit more hearty and might stand a chance at my not so green thumb. i had about half the stuff already to make the terrarium. i bought a long square vase from home goods for $9.99. in our backyard we have a pebble pathway that was perfect for the bottom layer. i have tons of sparkly jewelry bits so i took a couple of those and added it to the mix. i used soil from our backyard plants. i bought sand from target in their decor section for $4.99. I didn't even use a quarter of it but already have in mind what i can do with it for another project. i found out michael's also has sand for cheaper and more options for terrarium decor. i used left over light green flat river rocks i bought a long time ago. I used one of the river rocks as the base for the miniature figurines of taz and abby. which lead me to actually adding taz and abby to the terrarium :) they sit there along with the small succulent i got at home depot. I tried to put two but there was only room for one. and just because, i grabbed a twig from a tree branch and added that in the background. i think taz and abby will be happy in their terrarium.

 

rito loco truck wrap, it's real!!

this is so exciting in so many ways! this is the first time something was created to this scale. it's so crazy to create something on the computer or on print but to see it live especially at such a large scale is amazing. even better, the client loves it! also designed, menus and hole punch business cards. following these guys on their journey has been fun and there is still more ahead. stay tuned for updates on their website and other marketing materials. keep a look out for them in the dc and northern va area and get your rito's!!

pillow makeover

decorating the new house is the fun part! i had a vision of what colors to use in the living room. so i was looking for very specific items. one of the first things was new pillows for the couch. the ones we had were old and i really didn't care for the pattern at all. i'm not a big fan of reds. i like neutral colors. the couch we have is already a light beige so it was only a matter of building from there. i'm loving light teals and tans together. inspiration swatches:

should be easy to find right? hmm not really. since i was looking for pillows in specific colors i didn't find much. there was always something off like maybe there were only 2 pillows available or the right colors but i didn't like the pattern. or i liked the pattern but not the right colors which almost made me rethink my color scheme. the money part is what really threw me off. at the very least the pillows were $30 each. the cheapest i found was 2 pillows for $25 but not the right pattern. i could not bring myself to pay even $50 for four pillows that i didn't even like that much. then i thought to myself, i can make my own pillows! "i can make that," this thought comes to me often. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. i think this comes from my dad. if he thinks he can make it he does and he does it well.

ok back to pillows. so i went to joann fabrics and bought a pretty light teal and tan fabric in the upholstery section (sale 2 yards for $18) and 4 stuffed pillows (sale 2 for $8). i used the backing from the old pillows for two reasons; 1. because they matched the new fabric perfectly. 2. the micro suede material, we actually use are pillows so we want comfortable pillows. they are not just to sit and look pretty. but why not have the best of both worlds? plus this saved me even more money! it worked out so great. and the bf likes them which makes it even a bigger plus.

using vintage buttons for jewelry storage board

of course moving into a new home makes me want to organize things better. for years i have been trying to find a way to hang up my necklaces. usually they are in a box and for me, out of sight is out of mind. i was thinking of using a cork board and pins but i wanted something a little more exciting so i kept putting it off.

two weeks ago I went to an estate sale. this is one of many estate sales i have been to. my dad turned me on to them. when i went to my first one i felt a bit sad. this person had ‘made’ their home and collected all of these things they loved and for whatever reason it was all being sold. but i guess it’s better to sell it to people who will carry it on and maybe they will love it too rather than being thrown away.

anyhow i started collecting old cameras. curious to see if any of them work but regardless i like the way they look. on one of my trips i bought a bag full of buttons for $5. i know to some this is odd but they were unique looking buttons. i also make belly dance costumes so i thought at some point i will put them to use. i do this with a lot of things like fabric, trinkets and such. two weeks ago at an estate sale i found a pinning board made of fabric for $9. i knew right away what i wanted to do with it. i purchased wooded pushpins from the container store $2.99. at first i was just going to use the pins because the board alone is pretty enough but then i thought of those buttons and the glue gun. my mom introduced me to the glue gun and i haven't put it down since. it saves so much time and there are so many things you can do with it. i glued the buttons to the push pins and this made my new necklace holder. all for $17 and i still have a lot of buttons left over for many other projects. i also love that the entire thing minus the pushpins is made from items that another person cherished.