Photo Session:: Pinto Family

Here's the family session I got to do for our good friends. Not hard to see where little miss Audree gets her good looks huh? Thanks, friends for giving me more practice! :)

Tiny Details

I finished a few tiny projects that I've been meaning to get done for a while. They're nothing huge but I think they add some fishing touches to the spaces.

Turquoise pillows that were originally going to go on the accent chairs in the front room, but they add a nice pop of color to the entry way bench instead:

Peacock artwork for the front room:

I bought some peacock feathers from Joann's a while back, mounted them on white cardstock and put them in extra frames that I spray painted with oil rubbed bronze.

And an accent pillow for the sofa. I used the extra fabric from the curtains I had made for this room:

Now this room is almost complete. I have a couple other projects to get to then it will be completely finished.

Photo Session:: Audree's 1st Birthday

Well I finally took my first baby step into the photography business with this photo shoot for little Miss Audree. Her first birthday is fast approaching and her parents wanted pictures done for the party so it was the perfect opportunity for me to get some practice. She was such an easy model and isn't she just so cute?! I'm excited to do their family session on Sunday!

I still have SO much to learn but I'm excited to finally be putting myself out there. If anyone needs any pictures taken, I'm available for free photo sessions! :)

DIY: Starburst Mirror

Are you just as excited about this reveal as I am?! Now for those of you who just want to see the end result, here's a before and after picture of the wall it's on.

For those who want all the deets, keep reading! 

I started with this tutorial and went shopping for my supplies:

• 8 packages of wood shims
• 2 bottles of wood glue/gorilla glue/liquid nails (whatever you decide)
• stain or spray paint of your choosing
• 14" round mirror
• 1/4" plywood, cut into a circle
• D-hooks or picture hooks

These are the wood shims I bought. They come in a pack of 48 for about $4 per pack. They sell shorter ones if you are making a smaller mirror but I wanted ours to be rather large so I went for the 18" ones.

Following the tutorial, I went ahead and glued the shims in groups of 5 and 7 like so

I used the clamps to make sure they were secure and worked on it here and there, between other projects and baking, giving the glue time to cure. I decided I wanted the mirror to have a dark stain so I used the leftover stain from our banister project and stained one side (the other side will be against the wall)

Obviously I didn't even stain the whole group since I knew the mirror would cover it anyway!

Then I arranged the shims how I wanted them

Flipped them over and glued a piece of plywood to the back. Then B used an entire tube of glue plus some and put a bunch of heavy stuff on there (yes, baseballs are so heavy, right?!) overnight.

The next morning we glued the mirror to the front and let it sit for a few hours (no pics, sorry) Then they attached the hooks to the back and hung it up on the wall.

And here she is again in all her sunburst-y glory!

I love how it turned out! It is pretty big and quite heavy but it's perfect on that wall. I kinda wanna make another smaller version for our bedroom...shhh, don't tell B!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Yes, I'm a day late but believe me, I had NO time yesterday to post anything. Here are a few pictures from the first holiday party we hosted at our place.

 

 

It was great to have all our family together celebrating with us. We had TONS of food, lots of fun, and plenty of laughs. Thank you to everyone who came out and helped make the day complete. We are so thankful for all the blessings in our lives and can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!

Starburst Mirror: Preview

Have you jumped on the starburst mirror bandwagon too?! No? Well check out these beauties:

Aren't they gorgeous?! They served as inspiration for the current project I'm working on. I'll give you a sneak peek:

Oooh, I can't wait until it's finished! I'm really hoping to have it finished tomorrow but we'll see. Stay tuned for the reveal!

Molding Makes It Better

I needed some change around here. I needed something bold, something dramatic.

Uh, no. It needed to be done on the cheap.

I figured paint or molding would be the cheapest way to make some changes so I toyed around with the ideas of repainting a few rooms but that sounded like too much work for one afternoon. Then I thought about doing a stencil on a wall but I couldn't commit to a design. So that left molding...who doesn't love molding?!

I figured the upstairs hallway would be the perfect spot to add these changes since it's so boring! Imagine my surprise when I found out one of my favorite Mandi's in blogland had just done the same project in her house recently (hers is definitely more awesome but whatever). Perfect! I loved the design she used so of course I just copied borrowed it.

A few shots of the boring space in all its glory:

sorry for the shadows from the banister...it's hard to get a shot without them!

We had already done a similar project in the upstairs bathroom so I pretty much had all the supplies. For the bathroom project we used pre-cut pieces of wood since we only needed a handful of boards. This project needed a significantly higher number of boards so buying the pre-cut boards would have cost us a pretty penny. Instead I bought a sheet of plywood (it doesn't need to be sturdy, just pretty) and had planned to bring it home and cut all the pieces myself. Much to my surprise, the very helpful guys at Home Depot offered to cut all the pieces for me!

Seriously?! That's like 20+ cuts! Wait, isn't it like 25 cents per cut?

Nope, we won't charge you.

What?! Free?? Ab-so-lute-ly!

After bringing all my loot supplies home, I got to work priming the boards and wall. From previous experience, let me tell you that priming your boards before putting them up is SO much easier. An extra step, yes, but so much less frustrating in the end...just FYI.

I decided on how I wanted the boards spaced then put them up and painted. It took me more than one afternoon but only because I had to let the primer dry oh and because we have a daughter who is deathly afraid of the compressor, nail gun, and vacuum making it tricky to do such a project without Brian home. Anyway, It was a cheap and easy way to bring some life to our boring hallway and it added some drama along the way.

I love it! Total cost was $11 for the plywood. Now that's my kind of project.

Now I just need to dress it up a bit *sigh* maybe after the holidays!