Who wood have guessed it?

My mom has some incredible wood pieces that were hand carved by her father. The first that come to mind are her jewelry box and beautiful wooden bowls, but I'm sure there are a lot of other pieces I am forgetting. Anyways, lately it seems like a lot of cool wood items have been popping up on some of my favorite blogs.

Like these hand-carved spoons seen here...

And this retro bowl seen here...

And even these finds from Eddie's Etsy shop seen here...

This last one is no longer available in Eddie's Etsy Shop, but it's the real kicker. Seriously, these "1970s teak salad bowls" look exactly like the ones my mom has from her father...And if I'm remembering correctly, he made them for my parents' wedding in the 1970s. :)

Oh, the possibilities...

While getting a suitcase from our storage room for my current work trip, I realized that our storage room is in major need of some organization. So, of course, a project came to mind. Nope, not to clean out the storage room - to decorate vases. Logical, huh?

But really, it makes a little bit of sense. Right inside the storage room, we have boxes and more boxes full of vases and votive candle holders from our wedding. So the plan is to do something cool (or a lot of something cools) with the vases instead of them just taking up space in the storage room. I will just call it the first step in cleaning out the storage room. :)

Here are some of the possibilities...

Paper-wrapped vases

Wrapping paper vases

Fabric-wrapped vases

Frosted glass (Sooo many fun ideas here.)

Twine-covered vase

Spiderwebs from Martha found here

To carve or not to carve?

I'm having a dilemma trying to decide whether we should carve pumpkins this year. Here's our pumpkin carving experience from last year:

My parent's came to visit and we all enjoyed a wonderful day at the Louisburg Cider Mill - drinking cider, eating cider donuts and, of course, buying pumpkins...

Once we got the pumpkins home, they sat in a corner of our living room for almost three weeks until one day at, oh, about 10:47 p.m. when I decided we should carve them. Right then. So, this time the picture isn't dark from my horrible photography skills, but instead because I sure did make my husband carve the pumpkins in the dark...
Then, even though the kit said it was "easy," it still took hours of this...

But we did end up with a great looking pumpkin! And yes, for all of you observant readers, we did start with pumpkins and end with just one. We never quite got around to finishing the other one...

Moral of the story - I'm just not sure if we're cut out for pumpkin carving. But I'm not the Grinch of fall or Halloween, so we will have really cool pumpkins one way or another. Here's some options:

Maybe, we'd be better at drilling polka dot pumpkins...

Or we could paint and do shallow carving for these witch legs...

Or we could glitter our pumpkins. And by we, I mean me. Pretty sure if I make my husband glitter pumpkins, I will be banned from pumpkin decorating forever...

But spray paint is a little more manly, right?

And we do have a house now, so we could always paint our house numbers...

A bad habit...

I am developing a very bad habit of referring to projects I’m doing in posts and then forgetting to come back and actually post about them. [I’m also getting into a bad habit of starting projects and forgetting to actually finish them for a long time…but that’s a whole other story.] Anyways, remember about seven years ago when I posted these plates I made for my friend’s Girls’ Night Party?



I mentioned in the post that I had plans for reusing the plates since I didn’t use the right paint and it was peeling off. Don’t worry though - I only served cupcakes [in wrappers] on the plates, so there was no peeling paint poisoning at the party! I may not be Martha, but I’m not a total dummy either.

Okay, back to the point. I did reuse them – I picked off the old paint, spray painted them black, added wood decals and added accent paint to match the furniture in our living room. You can't really see the details in this photo, but like I've mentioned I'm the world's worst photographer, so it will have to do...


Not bad for reused dollar store plates. :)

Marshmallow-y goodness...

In case you haven't noticed, I have a thing for sweets...and marshmallows. So, naturally marshmallow pops are right up my alley.

Sweet ones...

Or spooky ones...

And while we're talking about marshmallows, be sure to check out A Cup of Jo's great post on marshmallow willpower. The video is adorable and the article is very interesting!

Sweet fall treats...

I apologize in advance to anyone reading this that is trying to diet...but I seriously cannot resist sharing all these yummy treats...Chocolate dipped peanut butter pretzels...and check out the blueberry breakfast cake, spider web cookies and other spider treats.

Eye ball cupcakes...and about eight bazillion other awesome Halloween treats

Reese's® Puffs® Sticky Balls

Football cupcakes

Spiced pear cake...Centsational Girl just keeps on amazing me.

Spicy fall cupcakes - and check out the whole Cupcake Bonanza in the sidebar menu!

Peanut butter gooey butter cake

Oreo truffles found here with fun Halloween ideas

And don't forget the other treats I posted here.

October goals...

Starting now, each month I am going to set goals for myself and then at the end of the month I'll report back on how I did. Some goals will be important things and others just for fun. And, yes, I know it's not October yet, but I thought since it's the first month for this I'd give myself a little extra time. :)

So, here are my October goals:

• Have the guest bedroom and bathroom decorated (at least mostly) by the time my cousins come visit in early October
• Enjoy relaxing evenings with my husband by the firepit
• Decorate pumpkins...or decorate with pumpkins
• Actually start studying for the CIA exam
• Finish some of my half-finished projects
• Mail birthday presents to my sister and brother-in-law early enough that they actually get them by their birthdays
• Schedule a trip to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Dallas :)
• Drink apple cider
• Make a fun Halloween decoration for our door
• Bake a yummy Halloween treat
• Convince my husband to dress up on Halloween
• Not let myself be stressed about work, but instead remember why I love my job and how thankful I am to have it
• Work out at least once a week
• Take more pictures

How inappropriate would it have been…

to take a picture of the bathroom in the office building I was working at today?
My better judgment told me that maybe I shouldn’t...it's my luck that right as I snapped the picture some important executive would walk in. I don't think that would have gone over very well.

But anyways, it was a beautiful bathroom - from the textured wallpaper with the subtle stripes, to the tiled stall walls, all the way to the stainless steel light switch covers.

Maybe I just spend too much time in office buildings…but I get really excited when they are decorated nicely. And I’m obviously not alone – check out The Office Stylist and her store for lots of ways to make your office a little prettier. This USB flash drive is one of my personal faves...

I've got a crush...

On my husband.

He's in Montreal right now for work/school, so I am stuck home alone carrying my phone around like it is glued to my hand waiting for him to call. I honestly feel like a middle school girl with a ginormous crush.

[Except that when I was actually in middle school I got crazy embarrassed when boys called me...especially if they left a message on the answering machine! I would seriously rush home from school to erase them and if I didn't get a message erased, sometimes I would pretend like I had no idea who the boy was or why he was calling. Yep, I got that crazy embarrassed!]

Anyways, since my cute husband isn't here to hang out with it, I am doing lots of random blog posting...like this picture from our trip to San Diego a few years ago. Fish tacos = yum!

On a lighter note...

Now that you're back from helping baby Winston, it is time for a much lighter Design Star post. Check out this hilarious post about the Design Star finale! She always cracks me up...but this is my favorite yet. :)

24 for Winston...

So, I'm pretty sure only about two people read my blog. But I still had to share this story...

Remember when I got sooo excited because last year's Design Star winner Jennifer Bertrand is from my town? Well, I also just found out that her little baby boy was born with lymphatic and venous malformations requiring around-the-clock medical attention. Click here for more information.

The information that Jen shares is truly touching. And so is the run that their friend is planning for this Friday. Check out 24 for Winston to learn all about the run and what you can do to help this inspiring family.

On a related note...I loved the episodes of Jen's HGTV show Paint-Over! last week. And while you're on the show's site, be sure to check out the video about painting tile. I've been wondering about doing that for a while now.

Garage sale chandelier...

I really need to start going to more garage sales. Just look how gorgeous my friend was able to make her garage sale chandelier...

I was already crazy about the idea of getting a chandelier and now I want one even more!

Beautiful wedding weekend...

Wow.

That pretty much sums up our friends' amazing wedding this past weekend. Seriously, every last detail was incredible. It was honestly the kind of wedding that Martha would be very proud of.

I'm still waiting on other people who actually remember to take pictures to post them. The wedding was at the Little House on the Prairie, so until I get some real pictures, this one will have to do. It's called "Lone House on a Prairie" - pretty close, huh? :)

There is one absolutely lovely photo up on her photographer's blog. Again, wow.

Can I can pickles?

Lately, the husband and I have been thinking that canning pickles would be fun. This post from Little Birdie Secrets may have just inspired me to get going with it...

For more homemade pickle how-tos, check here, here and here. If When we finally get around to making our own pickles, I will be sure to let you know how it goes. :)

OTC organizing ideas...

More from the Oriental Trading catalog...this time focusing on organizing my growing collection of random ribbon. I like both of these ribbon organizers - either to make my own version or just buy one like a normal person. One way or the other, I'd like something similar in our office...even though my husband frequently reminds me that it is an office and not a craft room. Oh well, my cool organizer can always go in the closet.

Two-dowel wall unit

Lazy Susan organizer

OTC [Christmas] ideas...

Yep - I really am posting about Christmas decorations already...

And yep - I really am coming up with ways to make knock-offs of items from Oriental Trading...

But I promise I'm not just being ridiculously cheap - it's just more fun to make things yourself. :)

Clothespin card chain - I love, love, love displaying cards we get and this is a perfect way. And, I'll use this idea for decorating the clothespins [found here].

Christmas wreath - Everybody needs at least one wreath at Christmas time, right?

Joy to the World garland - The website doesn't have a cute picture of the finished product like the print catalog, but you still get the idea. And I love making banners like the ones here and here.

Check back in a few months [you know, when it's actually a normal time to talk about Christmas] to see how my OTC knock-offs turn out. :)

Bubble art...

Since our tiling project has been delayed for the time being, I have lots more time to look for bathroom inspiration. Of course, I get a little side-tracked and find cool ideas that have nothing to do with tile...
I love these mirror bubbles - inexpensive, simple, fun & stylish!