Rainy Weekend Turned Bright

 

It’s been raining here in Virginia Beach for what seems like an eternity.  Yet only two weeks ago I was bragging about the beautiful fall skies.  Shame on me for bragging too much about the amazing skies.  Mother Nature has shown me nothing but grey skies for 10 days now.  Vitamin D supplements have been consumed to combat any possibility of moodiness. 

 

Instead of giving in to the grey skies, high winds, damn air, and puddles, I embraced them.  I lit candles, turned on some tunes and went all Betty Homemaker!  It was glorious!  I made tomato soup from scratch…mostly from my garden and it was delicious!!  We are still eating it and my tummy is very happy!  I painted a little rocking chair fire engine red!  It’s a happy little chair, isn’t it?!  Oh and it was a thrifty endeavor!

 

Rocking Chair: $5.99 at Thrift Store

Spray Paint: $3 at Home Depot

Sand Paper: Already had

Damp Rag: Free

Total Cost: $8.99

Since I had this happy little red rocking chair, I only needed a cute little boy who adores climbing to model with it and model he did!!

 

 

 

While he loved climbing on the rocking chair and eating playing with the pumpkins, his mama and I had fun documenting his 8 month pictures.  His mom is so great at taking pictures each and every month of his little life so far!  I can only hope that I am as dedicated with my future kiddos as she is with him. 

Totally Random…having a dirty baby diaper in my trashcan kind of made me happy.  Oh and I was so proud of my little Lira puppy who belly crawled up to baby C man and sniffed him.  She was wonderful with the active baby!  Yay!  I think Lira and I are both ready for some babies in this house! 

 

Aside from these two creative endeavors, I hung out with friends, went on a spur of the momeny date with my hubby, and cuddled a ton with my puppy!  She was in such a cudde bug mood and I ate it up! 

 

SPIL: Simple Pleasures In Life

~Friends that "get" you

~Cute diners with Christmas lights & Flying Pigs

~Homemade Soup in the Fall

~Babies learning to be mobile

 

Much love.

 

Campsite Photography Fun!

First of all, I love having friends that let me practice my photography on their kids!  Thanks Heather!  Second of all, I have tons of fun ideas for photography props, but I haven't had much time to make them and put them to good use.  For our first photography session, we went camping...in their backyard!  Luckily, their backyard is gorgeous and doesn't contain neighbors!  They are the best kind of backyards in my opinion. This is the first of hopefully many fall photography sessions with little C-man.   

Welcome to the campsite!

 I headed to Home Depot yesterday and got some 1x2 wood cut to 6 feet, along with some twine.  Then I headed to the thrift store and got some sheets to use for the tent material.  Total Home Depot bill: $10.07.  Total Thrift Store bill: $2.12. 

What's a campsite without a dog?  This is Zeek.  He's pretty cool.  I dig his eyes.  

One thing to remember when you are working with children...they are human and not always super happy and full of smiles.  Little C-man is teething and he wasn't totally into having his picture taken, so there weren't many smiles despite some wonder singing of Old McDonald and I love You a Bushel and a Peck... It's ok though.  We captured teething C-man and some different facial expressions. 

Oh my heavens, look at those eyes and that face.  He was content, but definitely not his happy self today.  Poor little guy.  He kept smacking his lips and sucking on anything that would sooth his gums.  Here he is mid lip smacking. 

Oh the drool!  That's a dead giveaway that teething is in process!!  I adore this tongue picture!

Little C-man sitting up and sucking his thumb.  Balancing was hard outside because the ground was slanted, but we helped him out with a boppy pillow under the blanket.

Sometimes a little change creates just enough distraction!  The hat did the trick for a few moments!

Being outside really helped C-man!  He is a definitely a little outdoors man and digs the fresh air!  We gave him a little space from the lens and just let him hang out. 

When you subject decides looses his balance and is completely happy on his back, let him be and work with him! 

Candid and lifestyle photography are two of my favorite photography styles.  I really enjoy capturing moments in life that people can look at, feel emotion, and relive the moment or moments like it.  It's not traditional photography, but it speaks to me.  I prefer to observe an interaction and capture it from my angle.

 

I hope you enjoyed little C-man at his crafty campsite photo shoot!  Please leave any and all feedback.  I am continually working on my photography skills.  This is the first of many sessions that I will be holding throughout the fall. 

 

Much love.

Scallions

We use Scallions in eggs, mashed potatoes and randomly for seasoning.  It wasn't until recently while browsing Pinterest that I came across a pin indicating that if you put your scallions in water after using most of the green onion portion, they will sprout!

As you can see, it totally works!  I literally chopped my scallions down to about an inch or two of green, put them in a little jar with water, left them on my windowsill in my kitchen and walla, sprouts started within days!! 

I honestly believe, I will never have to buy scallions again in my life!  I know they are cheap, but hey, every penny counts these days! Plus, they make for a cute little inside decoration!  I love have live plants in my house. 

Anyone know of any other plants I can do this with? 

Much love.

Recent Crafts

Being that I am unemployed at the time being and that the office is organized, kitchen drawers are clean, J-man's room is rearrange, garaged is clean, and the list goes on, I had to get creative.  As much as I love to sit and read, I can't actually sit and read all day long...unless I am sick.

These cute little owls were crafted before Christmas for two of my niece's.  J-man helps sew the nose of the red owl.  We used scrap fabrics and made combinations that we thought looked good together.  It was easy and fun!

We sent the book Good Night Owl along with the stuffed owls.  It's a great book about a father taking his youngest child out into the woods to hear the owls.  I have fond memories of my father reading it to me.  Anyone with kids should look into this book...in my opinion.

Our bed needed a little pizazz, so I covered a pillow I had without sewing!  Its a fabric wrap.  What do you think?

To recreate a pillow cover like above, all you have to do is get a piece of fabric that is 3 times the length and 2 times the height of the pillow.  Place the pillow in the center of the fabric.  Fold the top down and fold the bottom up.  Fold the sides in to make two triangles.  Fold the triangle across the pillow.  Tie the two ends and tuck. 

An earring hanger! 

This is also super easy.  It's an old picture frame with screen stapled to the back of it. I used gold spray paint to soften the screen and paint the frame.  I used wood glue to add decorative stones and made a fabric rose which is also quite simple to make.

This isn't quite a craft, but rather a neat trick I discovered.  I have candle holders that I absolutely adore, but I can never seem to find candles thick enough to fit in them. Well, thanks to a little table salt, problem solved!

Put the thin candle in the wide candle holder. Hold the candle up straight and pour the salt into the holder.  The salt fills in the extra space and holds the candle in place.  An added bonus is that when the candle melts, the wax hits the salt as opposed to getting stuck in the bottom of the holder and makes for super easy and clean removal. 

Much love.

Delightful Digs

Delightful Digs was a delightful find on this wonderful Virginia Beach afternoon. The day started off with a kiss from my sweetie and progressed to fried eggs and the ever needed coffee! Ryan had his GMATs today and I attended my first yoga class! Thighs are burning the most glorious burn!

The afternoon continued with a little craigslist shopping and after a few phone calls of I'll be there in 15 minutes... I have to run out for a few minutes, but grab a drink and I'll be back... led us to this wonderful store, Delightful Digs!

It was fun playing with my camera! I loved the cupcake plate in the background!

And the above was Ryan's favorite wall hanging!

"My most brilliant achievement...was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me." - Winston Churchill

A day in Virginia Beach isn't complete without some F/A-18 action from above!

This one was taken through the sunroof of the truck! Perfect timing!

And I love me some jet streams in the sky!

Oh and for the purpose of this delightful trip...

We are proud owners of a push lawn mower! We got this bad boy for $40 from a true southern boy, you know the kind that gives you a warranty through the first use and wants to know your life story, yeah, that kind! It was entertaining to say the least! I, being the northerner that I am, am actually starting to warm up to slooooowwer speaking people. It's a challenge, but it's happening. Oh and by no means does that insinuate that I am speaking any slower myself...because I'm not and if I start to, someone better slap me!

God, I love a working man! ...and pickup trucks!

Dinner is calling...

Much love.

Online Coupons!

In following with my New Year’s resolution to be thrifty, I have started looking for coupons online. I actually began doing this to be a thrifty DIY bride, but did not have the knowledge that I have now. I was reading an article online about coupons making a rebound and found the following online coupon websites!


The Best Sites for Coupon Lovers
by Seth Fiegerman
Groupon - Members get one deal e-mailed to them every day. These are deals on activities. Half off one day ski-excursions and trips to the spa. Groupon is currently available in 30 cities nationwide. Members are asked to pay up front for the deal, and then can redeem it at any time in the future. There is really only one snag. Each of the deals advertised requires a certain amount of people to sign up for it before it becomes active, otherwise it's cancelled. But the vast majority of deals do go through.

TheKrazyCouponLady - This coupon lady is so crazy, she has to spell it with a K. KrazyCouponLady is the best when it comes to collecting great coupons from all over the web. If you're looking for deals on breakfast foods, medicine and household supplies, this is the place to start.

RetailMeNot - safe haven for shopaholics. The site puts out great coupons for big name retail stores like L.L. Bean, Kohls and Victoria's Secret.

Dealighted - This site is particularly good for tech gadgets.

FreeShipping.org - For one day a year, this site is the king of cyberspace. This site organizes the annual Free Shipping Day event, which featured more than 700 big companies. But don't forget about this site for the rest of the year. FreeShipping lets users create customized lists of which stores provide them with coupons.

CheapStingyBargains - the best place on the web to find computer coupons.

CouponMom -  simple and attractive mission statement: help shoppers cut their grocery bills in half.

RedPlum is also great for saving on groceries. Here you can find coupons on essentials like cereal and flu medicine.

CouponCabin - incredible variety of offers

SmartSource - This site specializes in advertising printable grocery coupons in your local area. If you couldn't find what you were looking for on CouponMom, then be sure to check this site.

Bargainist - great site for finding discounts on stuff to do with your leisure time. The site promotes coupons and deals on hotels, cruises and movies, as well as retail merchandise. Bargainist makes frugal feel stylish.

Coupons.com -  great site for finding deals on household goods and gifts. It also has the best domain name in the business.

Organizing Your Coupons - Before you start bookmarking these sites and printing out a fury of coupons, it's important to stay organized. Tipnut.com has several good suggestions for doing this. Get an accordion folder or binder to put your coupons into and arrange them either expiration dates and products. Before you go shopping, make a list of what you plan to buy and then check off which items on that list you have coupons for.

Let me know what you think!  I started out by searching "coupon codes for X." "X" being the store I was looking to make a purchase from and I found 15% off coupons, free shipping, etc.
 
Good Luck!

My Wedding Creations!

The Flower Girl Basket!  White Satin (scrap from JoAnn, Purple Ribbon that matches the bridesmaids dresses and the bow on the flower girls dress and a silver flower (JoAnn $2) that matches the maids trim.  My 9 year old sister is the flower girl, so it is a larger basket and not too frilly.  She wanted to match the bridesmaids as much as possible!

The Ring Bearer Pillow!  Better known as the Ring Bare Pillow!!  He's a cutie!  Ryan's 7 year old son is the ring bearer and helped me design this!  He gave me permission to put purple on it because his daddy said "Real men can wear pink and purple!"  I have not put the ribbon for the rings yet because I am still debating on how to attach them exactly.

Wedding invitation from Affordable Wedding Invitations!  It was so easy to order exactly what I needed without any extra fluff!

I wish I had more photos to put up, but since I am 3,000 miles from the wedding location, I have order most of the items to my parents house and them flown home to arrange them.  After the wedding I will put pictures of up the centerpieces, cake I designed, favors, programs, etc.!  Oh and photos of my dress, veil, etc. will come later; it's a surprise!!

Also, some really helpful websites were:

http://www.weddingwire.com/

for my wedding website

http://www.theflowerexchange.com/

for bulk white roses, orchids and greens

http://www.quickcandles.com/

for votiv candle holders and candles (extremely affordable!)

http://www.affordableweddinginvitations.com/

(also extremely affordable and came out beautifully!)

Target

for my centerpiece vases

Michaels 40% OFF COUPONS

for wedding accessories/save the dates/etc.