Ornament Wreath

We've all seen those beautiful ornament wreaths around the stores, and if you are anything like me, you have fallen in love with them. Last year, I was determined to create my own to spruce up the apartment and save a little money in the process. Here is how I made my adorable ornament wreath...

what you will need:

wire hanger, ribbon, hot glue, ornaments

I purchased my ornaments in sleeves of  seven at the dollar store. You will need approximately 60 large and 30 small ornaments.

Start by shaping your wire hanger into a circle. This is your wreath form. Next, hot glue all the ornament caps down so they don't fall off. This is very important to keep your ornaments from falling off. When you are ready, untwist the ends of the hanger and begin stringing the ornaments, alternating colors and ornament placement as desired. Use the smaller ornaments to fill in the gaps left by the big ornaments. Once all your ornaments are in place, retwist the ends of the hanger and form a hook. Use the ribbon to form a bow and cover up the wire hook.  

I love the way my wreath looked hanging over our mirror in our old apartment. Unfortunately, our wreath hasn't quite found its perfect place in our new home yet, as it doesn't fit between the front door and storm door. 

What do you guys think? Has anyone else ever tried to remake something they have seen at a store? 

I can't wait to show you my next store-remake christmas decorations. I should be finishing them up tomorrow!

Burlap Rosette Hurricane Vases: Tutorial

I currently have 36 homemade hurricane vases boxed up in the basement after using them for our wedding centerpieces (see here), so I decided to find some way to use a few around the house. I had some leftover burlap laying around and have been wanting to use it for a while, so I came up with these Burlap Rosette Hurricane Vases. They were very simple to make and look great in our guest bedroom!

what you will need:

vases, burlap, hot glue gun, scissors.

I started by making the burlap rosettes. I cut strips of burlap 14 inches long and 3 inches wide, but you can vary your size depending on how large you would like them to be. 

The next step is to fold the burlap on one edge in about a half inch and hot glue it closed. This will keep all the fiber intact when you begin the next step.

On the other end of your strip, grab a fiber that is near the middle, and PULL. As you pull, you may need to help the fabric gather on the other end. As you continue gathering the fabric, it will begin to curl like so:

Once you have it gathered to your liking, you will need to glue the two ends together to form a circle. I tried to do mine as tight as possible. Once it is glued, you have your burlap rosette... YAY!

When the rosette was complete, I cut more strips of burlap, this time 4 inches wide. The length you need will depend on the width of your base. Simply wrap the burlap around your vase and glue the ends together, overlapping a little. ta-da!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to use the other 33 hurricane vases? They are too cool to just leave them in boxes. 

Leave me some LOVE!

Master Bedroom Reveal

The master bedroom remained empty for the first month we lived in our house. We moved our furniture into the guest bedroom and lived in there. After the wedding, we finally had time to paint our bedroom, go furniture shopping, and put together our bedroom. I am still trying to figure out what I want to put on the walls, but I am in love with the purple and grey bedroom we picked out and created for ourselves :)

This is what the bedroom looked like before, as shown in our empty Home Tour post.

And here are the AFTER photos:

comforter: bed, bath & beyond; grey pillow: bed, bath & beyond; lamp: hobby lobby; valence: target

candles: meijer; a & m letters: hobby lobby; mirror tray: hobby lobby; frame: kohls; lamp: hobby lobby; canvas: handmade; tutorial here.

Do you see our giant closet in the mirror?

these pictures are from our first year of dating, over five years ago. don't we look young?!

What do you guys think? Do you love the color as much as we I do? What should I do with the walls? They are far too bare for my liking!

Our House!

So it has just recently occurred to me that I never got around to posting pictures of our new home when we moved in! It is a three bedroom ranch with one full and two half baths. The basement is wide open which means endless possibilities for decorating :)

These pictures are before we crammed all of our stuff into the house, but I will update you as we decorate and make each room our own... starting with the master bedroom tomorrow!

This is the living room. As you can see, it is the first room you see when walking in the front door. The large window looks out into our front yard. Can you see that giant maple tree out there? It is by far one of my favorite parts of the yard. It also made raking leaves quite enjoyable this Fall.

The kitchen/dinette is one of my favorite parts of the house. The cabinets look brand new, and are extremely tall. There is also another section of cabinets on the other wall, next to the fridge. I also love the tiled floor and large sliding door looking out into the backyard. Of course I can't wait to get a new stove, as well as paint the walls! 

These next two pictures show our laundry room and powder room just off the kitchen. We are loving the upstairs laundry, but are already planning to make this space a mud room down the road.

This is the Master Bedroom! Holy dark walls right?! Don't worry, we painted this room immediately. Although you can't tell in these pictures, my favorite part of the room is the closet! It's HUGE.

The Guest Bedroom ended up matching our old comforter perfectly, so it will probably be one of the last rooms we work on. It has been great having guests and actually being able to give them their own space instead of a futon.

The den (third bedroom) has become our "catch-all room." It is in need of some MAJOR organizing!! I do love the color though...

The full bathroom is GREAT! It has a large closet between the sink and the toilet which is sooo convenient for storing all of our bathroom stuff. I also love the tile around the sink, but can't wait to replace the ugly mirror and lights!

That concludes our empty home tour! I have some big ideas for the place, including "built-in" basement shelving, a gallery wall, mud room, a closet craft area, fake mantle, and more. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our Master Bedroom Reveal!

The Wedding Day: The Details

I am so incredibly excited to share the details of our wedding with you all! I absolutely loved planning and had such a fabulous time thinking up new DIY projects to incorporate into our special day. I tried to add a personal touch where ever possible, and I am so happy with the way everything turned out. it was a lot of work, but totally worth it in the end.

I will start with our stationary: both our save the dates and invites were designed by Jordanne Marie Photographers. 

Our save the dates were designed to look like a calendar, and we added magnets on the back for fridge hanging. My favorite part was the envelopes. We put a heart on each one using our fingerprints. 

Our invitations included an envelopment with the main invite, rsvp card, and a reception/accommodations/directions card. We added the damask strap ourselves to hold the envelopment closed and add a little something extra.

My dress was made by Allure. I fell in love with the single strap, ruching, and arrangement on my left hip. 

I made this "Bride" hanger for myself, as well as "maid of honor" and "bridesmaid" ones for my girls. 

Something Old: My grandmother's hankie

Something New: My earrings

Something Borrowed: Bracelets from my other grandma.

Something Blue: My garter, and the hankie too I suppose.

I loved my shoes: Jacqueline Ferrar Abigail Peep-Toe Slingbacks in silver. I purchased a set of cheap garters for $3 and added all the flowers to it. The other one just had a simple purple flower.

My flowers consisted of white roses, hydrangea, and gerbera daisies, light lavender stock, white waxflower. I had an "M" charm added to the base of the arrangement as well.

We purchased our rings at Skyline Diamond. My wedding band had to be molded to match and fit against my engagement ring. Adam picked out a Tungsten ring.

The bridesmaids dresses were also by Allure in the grape. They held bouquets of lavender roses, blue hydrangea, purple stock, and waxflower.

The guys wore black tuxes with black pinstripes. Adam wore a white vest and tie to match me, the groomsmen wore purple vests and ties, and the dads and grandpa wore silver vests and ties. 

We made all the programs by hand, consisting of four pages: cover, special thanks, bridal party, and ceremony. I also made the program box with wrapping paper, damask ribbon, and wire for the lettering. 

We exited the church to our guests blowing bubbles. We purchased the plain tubes of bubbles and adding our own personal touch.

I attached ribbon and another "M" charm to our unity candle. I think it looked great with the floral arrangement. 

We also made all of our place cards by hand with scrapbook paper and a paper punch.

We placed our Wedding Vow Canvas and Letter "M" on the entrance table alongside our place cards. We also had a table with wedding pictures of our parents and grandparents. 

We also made the card box ourselves. You may view the tutorial here.

We made/designed our centerpieces ourselves as well. Half were hurricane vases filled with water, rose petals, and a floating candle that my aunt, cousin, and grandma set up for me. The other half were bubble bowls with vines and crystals wrapped around a white candle. We added purple marbles to the bottom to add some color.

We also designed our table numbers to have a picture of each of us corresponding the table number and age.    The larger numbered tables had pictures of us together. 

We had microwave popcorn for a favor at each place setting. We made three different wraps to put around them and alternated the design at each seat. You may view a detailed post here.

Our wedding cake was made by Leesh's Pieces. I loved the damask, but could have done without the feathers. Still loved it though, it was gorgeous and delicious!

We ordered our cake topper on Amazon. It was Wedding Star's "A Romantic Dip" Dancing Couple.

We purchased our champagne flutes, but I made each bridesmaid a purple beaded wine glass as part of their thank you gift. 

We made a gift bag for our out-of-town guests. They received them as they checked into the hotel. The guests seemed to love them.

If you missed my previous wedding posts, you may also view photos from before the ceremony, the ceremony, and the reception.

What were some fun details you added to your wedding day? Did your wedding consist of a lot of DIY projects? Anyone brave enough to make their own invitations? 

I would love to hear your thoughts!