Craft Sunday: Paper Wreath

I made this gorgeous paper wreath last weekend to hang on our plain-looking front door. It was super simple to make and it only cost me $1!! (for the ornaments, I had the other supplies on-hand)

 

So here's a little photo tutorial for you!!

Supplies:

-Cardboard (I used a large cardboard box)

-an old book

-a few cheap ornaments

-a stapler, a box cutter and a hot glue gun

First draw a circle on your cardboard (I used another wreath to trace around). It doesn't need to be perfect because it will be covered. Cut the circle out with your box cutter.

Next take your book and start tearing out pages! I probably used about 60 pages, it just depends on how big you want your wreath. Then just roll them up leaving a little bit of a point on one end and staple the bottoms to hold the roll.

Use your hot glue gun to glue down the rolls of paper onto your base. You'll want them to hang over the edge a little. I glued one down at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock and then filled in the spaces between.

(It doesn't matter if there's a little space between each roll because you'll do another layer on top to cover the spaces)

After you have the first layer down you can start to glue a second layer over that. Glue them in between the rolls in the first layer and place them a little farther in towards the center. You might need to do a third layer like me if your wreath is larger.

Last step is to add your ornaments! I cut the hanging-parts off before I glued them, but you could leave them and it would still be cute. I glued one bigger one in the middle to cover the cardboard and then surrounded it with smaller ones.

And that's it! Just add some ribbon to the back and hang it anywhere!

I love the way it looks against dark wood! It turned out super pretty and cost me next to nothing. I had the cardboard, ribbon, and book on hand as well as the bigger blue ornament and I bought a 12 pack of the smaller plastic ornaments at the dollar store!

 

Also,  before you get thinking I'm super creative....I can't claim this idea as all my own, my inspiration was this wreath I saw at the Festival of Trees last Friday:

I just made it a lot bigger and my own!



Playing Model

Last weekend I got the awesome oppurtunity to be a makeup/jewelry model for my lovely friend Gentri! She is a licensed esthetician and makeup artist and just all around awesome! She just started working at Salon A La Mode and is still adding to her amazing portfolio. Her Mom also owns an etsy shop, Pixie Pie where she sells gorgeous homemade jewelry. All the jewelry pictured is from her shop!

I loved the turquoise pieces! Especially the necklace! It's so beautiful with the bronzed metal. Embarrasing story: I broke it trying to adjust it around my neck. I felt SO bad but Gentri insisted it would be an easy fix. Sorry Gentri's Mom!!!

She was kind enough to take a few outfit photos for me too! Although I was a little awkward posing for someone else and I hadn't done my hair that morning...Haha. Just a warning.

Here's how it looked once my hair was done that afternoon, and a shot of me and my super cute hubby before dinner with the family that night to celebrate my Aunt & Uncle getting sealed in the Temple.

Outfit Details: shirt - downeast, sweater - thrifted, skirt - forever21, tights and shoes - target

Thanks for bearing with me through that long post! If you're crazy enough to want more I'm also guest posting over at this cute girl's blog today!

 

>>And don't forget to follow if you haven't already! I'm still giving $1 to the American Cancer Society for every new follower for the Bloggers Give Back Project!<<



Elliott: 11 months

Elliott:

Have I told you how crazy we are about you? Just when I think I can't love you more, you learn something new that makes me fall even more in love with you. This month you've really started acting like a little boy and less like a baby. Here's what you've been up to:

-You've been sick again this month (surprise, surprise) and haven't gained much weight. You weigh about 19 pounds 10 ounces an measure around 29 inches.

-You passed your chest x-ray and got tubes this month. You did really well during and after surgery and we haven't had any more ear infections this month, yay! However, your cough and chest congestion are still hanging around. It's been over 4 months now! You've had breathing treatments, an inhaler, and multiple rounds of antibiotics, but nothing seems to clear it up. I'm beginning to wonder if you are suffering from some kind of allergies. It seems like all of your sickness started shortly after you began eating solid foods, so we may be visiting an allergist soon. You are on Singulair for allergies and asthma, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. We've also put you back on your Zantac this month. Dr. Davis seemed to think your congestion could be reflux related, but I haven't noticed much improvement since you started the Zantac again either.

-This week you have had some sort of virus. You've been super fussy, clingy, and running fever. I took you to the doctor, but your ears, throat, and chest all looked good. She even did a white blood cell count and that all checked out normal as well. So, we've just been waiting it out. You haven't wanted to eat or drink much. You seemed to be feeling better today, and your fever was gone, but you had diarrhea and you threw up tonight. I feel so helpless. All I want is to get you completely well! Hopefully the allergist will have some answers for us.

-You're napping twice a day (when you are at home) for about 2 hours in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon.  Daycare is a different story though... you don't want to miss anything, so you only nap for about 30 minutes twice a day when you are there.

-You were promoted to the one-year-old class at daycare this month, meaning you get to be back in Ms. Leslie's class. You had her when you first started, and we loved her, but then she got moved to the older kid's class. So, we're excited that you get to be back with her.

-You sleep from about 7:30pm to 7am most nights. You go right down for naps and bedtime without fighting.

-You are wearing  9-12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and a size 2 or 3 in shoes.

-You're still loving solids. We've tried more finger foods this month, but you mostly just want to play with it. You did love mac and cheese and goldfish though. You now eat solids 3 times a day.

- You nurse morning and night and take two 6 oz. bottles of formula during the day.

-You are getting the hang of the sippy cup and you drink 4oz. of juice each day.

-You got 2 new teeth this month. The tooth to your right of the top middle tooth and the tooth to your left of your bottom middle teeth. You now have a total of 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on bottom.

-You have started cruising along furniture to get to things and even switching from one piece of furniture to another if they are in close proximity. I've seen you let go a couple of times, but when you realize you are standing on your own you quickly sit down.

-You have really started talking a lot since you got your tubes. You now say Mama, Dada, Papa (bopa), Lola, uh oh, night night, hello (o-low), and juice (use). You try to mimic anything we say and do, it is so stinkin' cute! You can click your tongue when we do, and make a high pitched eeee eeee eeee sound like a mouse when we do.

-You have gotten better at waving when someone comes or goes this month.

Your personality is so fun. We are loving getting a glimpse of what you're going to be like as a little boy. We think you are super smart and we brag on you to everyone we know. We're looking forward to celebrating your first Christmas with you this month and your first birthday next month.

I love you,
Momma

Mix & Match

 

Happy Hump Day!! Today's outfit photos are old fall-time ones I just rediscovered and realized I hadn't posted! I went a little crazy with this one, polka dots, florals, bright colors and lacy socks... It's always fun to experiment with fashion and go a little wild and I love the look of the structured blazer with the peter pan collar on my blouse.

 

 

Well, 'tis the season!! Have you all got a head start on your Christmas shopping? I've got a couple people knocked off my list but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at all I still need to do! It doesn't help that the Hubby won't give me any ideas. The best I've got is "tires or socks". Lol. Do any of you have the husband or boyfriend who repeatedly says they don't need anything?

I feel like the holidays are sneaking up on us so fast! I'm making it a goal to slow down and do something Christmas-y every day. Tonight we finally decorated our tiny (but REAL) tree! It was so small that it didn't take long at all!

 

 

Outfit Details:

Top - Bags That Fit Boutique

Blazer - Papaya

Skirt - Ross

Belt - Jason Wu for Target

Shoes - Sears

Socks - Forever 21

 

>>P.S. Don't forget to FOLLOW before December 17 to donate $1 to the American Cancer Society! More info HERE.<<

Motley's Tree Farm

I'm behind on blogging. We've been so busy lately, I just haven't been able to keep up.  I did, however, want to share a few pictures from our trip to Motley's Tree Farm a week ago. 

We started going with the Gunnels to get our trees three years ago, and this year we got to bring Elliott. He loved taking it all in from the Baby Bjorn. I'm already looking forward to next year when baby Gunnels will be with us! 

We got the perfect tree which is now happily residing in our living room covered in our favorite ornaments and filling our home with Holiday cheer.

Bloggers Give Back

I'm so excited to introduce this project to you all! This Holiday Season myself and a few other bloggers have teamed up in an effort to truly give and make a difference. All you have to do to make us give is FOLLOW. Each girl has a unique charity and story and I encourage you to check out each one and follow to help out!

For every new follower I personally receive I will be donating $1 to the American Cancer Society. You have now until December 17. So make me go broke!! Haha.

I chose the American Cancer Society because cancer has unfortunately shown it's face in my life and those around me recently. As some of you know, my husband's Grandma passed away earlier this year from a cancerous tumor on her spleen. It came on pretty sudden and it was heart breaking to see her go so fast. 

My own Grandma has also been struggling with uterine cancer for a few years now. She was strong at the start and we had lots of hope. Her first round of chemo went well and there was no sign of the cancer for a while but in recent months it has appeared again and this time she's weaker and more doubtful. I just pray however long she has that she will be surrounded by people she loves and feel joy and peace, not pain.

Please, please, help us all give to these wonderful charities! Here's a list of the other bloggers involved in this amazing cause:

(Thanks to Shannon for organizing this!!)

Little Miss Fearless // Beauty and Truth // Style With Shannon // Moilogy // Jen Clyde Stylist // Modern Modest Beauty 

// Gentri Lee

Breakfast at Tiffany's

 Last Thursday I had the AMAZING opportunity to have breakfast at Tiffany's. Literally. I am one LUCKY girl!

My blogging buddy Gentri invited me to go with her. The event started at 9am, an hour before the mall opened. The photo below was taken on Gentri's phone while we were laughing about being 15 minutes early and having to wait for them to open the doors.

Once they opened the doors and a few more bloggers arrived we were invited to a breakfast of orange juice, sparkling cider and fresh-baked pastries! 

We savored our pastries and sipped our cider while the gracious hostesses explained more about the legend that is Tiffany's and all the history behind that famous little blue box. It was fun learning where it all started and some of the amazing projects they've been involved in along the way.

Then we were encouraged to browse the beautiful display cases and try on anything we would like! I tried on this beautiful blue beaded necklace and Gentri tried on a few engagement rings. As you can see, that top one was one of the most expensive they have to offer!!!

I didn't notice until someone pointed it out, but I wore Tiffany blue ribbons on my shoes that day! Too perfect.

When we left we all received a little blue bag with a little blue box inside! Nothing could be more exciting. This was my first little blue box! And these gorgeous Tiffany blue earrings were inside!

(blue box photos stolen from Nikki)

(Lauren, Gentri, Madison, Me, Nikki, Jenny)