The older I get, the more I crave a little whimsy in my life.  You know I love a pretty house.  But over time, as I’ve really thought about the purpose of our home :: I want to enjoy it, have it reflect our family’s personality and be a place of connection.   I’ve realized there are a few things that make me and others at ease.

Those two things are imperfection and whimsy.

My husband rented a disco ball for a New Year’s Eve thing last month and I saw it in the car and naturally brought it in for a photo shoot, suddenly purchasing a disco ball is at the top  of my list.  Nothing says “Don’t take me too seriously” like having a disco ball in one’s home. I’m on the prowl for one.  Anyone know of a good disco ball store? Disco Balls R Us?

lettered cottage

The second project on my mind right now is painting a cuckoo clock.  I love the mix of traditional meets whimsical.  I don’t have the clock yet but I’ve been researching and I think it would be a fun addition to our home.  I need to stop by Cuckoo Clocks R Us as well.

country living

I’ve found that some cuckoo clocks let you have a choice of if you want to turn the cuckoo off.  I’m guessing that’s probably a good idea.  I don’t to have to get up in the middle of the night with an axe and chop my clock into tiny pieces.

What’s the most whimsical, light-hearted, quirky thing in your home?

Have you ever purposely purchased something because of its quirkyness?

Am I weird?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

A guest post from my friend Hayley from The Tiny Twig

“And YOU get a car. And YOU get a car! And YOU GET A CAR!”. Remember when Oprah gave every single person in her studio audience a car? Who hasn’t wanted to play Oprah for a day?

Well, my friends and I decided to do just that. We were seeking a simpler way to celebrate Christmas and still give gifts, because really who doesn’t love gifts? The reality, though, is…we live in a busy, busy society and we have 16 kids between us. We had to simplify out of necessity.

Instead of doing a White Elephant party (don’t you think inevitably someone’s feelings would get hurt if their present wasn’t coveted? no? just me? oh, ok.), we decided to do a Favorite Things party. We also did spa night (it pays to have friends who massage and do hair!) the same night, but that is neither here nor there.

Our favorite things party was the simplest and most fun kind of Christmas party I’ve ever had or been to. I wanted to share with you some of the things that make it really successful.

First, the basic premise is this. You gather a group of women (we had 6) and you each buy your very favorite thing for each person attending. You can wrap it–or not (I didn’t, less fuss!). We didn’t set a price limit, but I think each of our gifts ended up being between $5 and $10. We bought for 5 other people, so you don’t want to be too lavish…unless, of course, you do. And if so, make sure to send me an invite. ;) I don’t turn down lavish favorite things.

We made sure to narrate our gift as we passed them around the circle. Why was it our favorite thing? Where could you buy it? How did we learn about it?

Here are some tips and extra ideas:

*I would keep the group to either 6 or 12. You can either do a single group of 6 or 2 groups of 6. If you have 12, then have everyone buy for 5 people. When they arrive at the party, have some way to divide into groups of 6 and then proceed as I described above. Some ideas of how to separate; blondes and brunettes (it’d have to be even!), you could draw straws (cut short and long), or you could draw cards (6 black and 6 red in the deck). Be creative! That’s most of the fun!

*We each also brought our favorite snack, either sweet or savory. Make sure there is enough for everyone to try. I brought Fresh Market’s Almond Croissants. Seriously, I could have eaten all 6. Other things we had were chocolate covered strawberries, special cheeses, etc.

*Make sure to have at least 2 hours for your party. Also, this is key, eat while passing out gifts. We ate the amazing food and chatted for so long that we had to rush our gift-giving.

*I think that to be true to the concept, you should pick one single item as your favorite thing rather than compiling a few things that you like. If your favorite thing costs 99 cents–so be it–its your FAVORITE…that has its own currency!

*And, lastly, bring your own tote to bring your gifts home in.

I knew immediately what I was going to bring when we first talked about doing a Favorite Things Party. I have loved Mrs. Meyers Iowa Pine holiday scent for the past 2 years–and it can be really difficult to find. The smell signals Christmas to my brain. Christmas cannot happen without Iowa Pine. So, I immediately ordered enough for the whole group and was giddy to give them out. No one in my group had used Mrs. Meyers at all–so it was really fun to introduce them to the whole brand, too.

Some other things we all got were favorite snuggly socks, favorite tea, favorite lip balm, favorite undies (YES! really! and smart girl bought smalls for everyone with the receipt enclosed), a recipe box filled with favorite family recipes, favorite mugs, and a few other things. It was such a fun night, and we got to learn a lot about each other, too. I was with my best friend and would never have even guessed her favorite thing! The whole night made me giddy for Christmas.

 ***

Thanks Hayley!   Y’all, I love this idea so much that my sister and mom and I are doing a Favorite things Christmas this year. We just picked a total price limit and go from there.  I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite things {my mom and sister may or may not be getting something from this list} this year and hey, would you like to share yours as well?   How ’bout an impromptu linky?  If you have a minute and want to share a quick post about one or three of your favorite things this year, link up.  Let’s keep the price at $30 or under.

Here’s my favorite things::

I just purchased this branch candelabra thing for myself from World Market.  It was a splurge at $30 especially knowing that it only came in black and I was going to bring it home and promptly spray paint it white. But, I’ve been looking for something similar to this so this piece was a perfect find for me and I love the pretend natural beauty.

I love TIGI Rock A Holic Flexible Hold Hairspray.  So far I’m on my first can of it, I ordered it from ebay because I hate to leave my house.  It’s like hairspray but without the stiffness yet it still holds well.  I heard a girl talk about it on one of those youtube how to make the perfect ponytail videos and all I could remember from the video was how much she loved this hairspray.   Now I love it too.

This owl ornament from Target?  Love. And it’s only $4.

She has absolutely no idea I’m doing this but yep, one of my very favorite things this year is from Hayley’s Tiny Shop.  She gave me this necklace at Relevant and I think I wore it 3 out of the 4 days we were there.  I wear it a few times a week. I love the quirkyness, the imperfection of the vintage beads and the fact that it was handmade.  The Tiny Shop has very limited quantities, for all I know she’s about sold out but, I have to mention my love for all things Tiny Shop.  And then, to top it off, Hayley even went and named each necklace a fierce name like “Fortitude” and “Patience”.  I just bought Tenacity for myself.

Yep.  I might have been the last person on the planet to read The Hunger Games, but it’s still worth mentioning.  You can read it in a day.  And then, the best part?  There are two more books in the series!

Raising Hope. My favorite TV show.  I love watching The Middle with our boys but, Raising Hope?  I laugh out loud and roll my eyes with ridiculation during every episode.  This is an after the kids go to bed kind of show.

And finally, my favorite coffee creamer.  I haven’t had it in almost a year.  Our local Super Target stopped carrying it.  I knew one day I could actually use this blog for something : Dear powers that be at Charlotte Area Super Targets, bring back Chocolate Raspberry Coffee Mate.  PLEEEEEEEEEESE?

Soooo, my favorite things list is kind of embarrassing–food, weird TV and hairspray? Where are my priorities?

Ok, your turn, if you have a few minutes in the next week or so, write a quick post and link up YOUR FAVORITE things $30 or less and if you don’t have a blog or don’t want to spend the time, just leave your favorite things in the comment–only one link per comment if you are linking–or else my blog will think your comment is spam::

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Y’all, One Kings Lane is at it again.

This deal is only for people who have yet to sign up with OKL but last year the internet went crazy getting this special offer.  If you sign up as a new member at OKL you will get an automatic $15 credit!  The credit lasts–I dont’ know, 6 months or a year, plenty of time for you to find something great.  About once a month OKL has sales with a bamboo company called Core and they always have neat things for $15 and under~so it’s totally worth signing up.  Or you can just use the credit towards a bigger purchase.

a photo I posted yesterday on instagram–I got this pom pom throw at OKL for $35–it’s the 3rd one I’ve ordered, next time I see them, I’m getting a few more as gifts~a $15 credit makes this throw $20 plush shipping!

And, if YOU refer friends, you will get a $15 dollar credit when they sign up and make a purchase–just like I do.  It’s fun!

If you are impatient, you could go ahead and order a set of 4 of these cute humming bird glasses, right now for FREE–you just pay shipping {while supplies last}.  To find these glasses, once you are a member, scroll down to the bottom of the sales page to where it has the blue and white stripes and says Downstairs–click there for more sales.

Wondering what One King’s Lane is?  I wrote a post all about how I use it right here. I’ve shopped with OKL for over a year and I’ve been really thrilled with their service and items they feature.  I think you would be too.

Let me know in the comments if you have any problems.  It usually only takes a few minutes for your credit to show up at the top right of the screen.

Bored of all this OKL talk and looking for today’s 31 Day post?  Look no further, it’s right here.

Sign up for OKL here.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Since the moment I knew my sister was going to write a book, I knew I was going to throw her a big party. Book pages seemed to be the obvious choice for decor.

I wanted the decorations to be fantastic.  And I remembered what Henri says..

So I purposely limited myself to books and paper.  And anything I could find around the house was fair game to join in the fun with a supporting role.

Here’s the breakdown of the money I spent on decorations–not including fresh flowers

$4 :: roll of craft paper

$6 :: bag of long glue sticks {never buy the short ones, you {I} have to keep loading them too often and it’s annoying, also, don’t buy the blueish sticks–make sure they are VERY clear or else your glue will have a blueish hue.

$3 :: extra books from the thrift store–I liked their cover color and thought I might use those for something, I didn’t

$1.29 :: extra tall hard back book from the thrift store with old fashioned typing–it looked like an old syllabus and I used it for the long pages on the book page wreath

$4 :: straw wreath from Micheal’s craft store

$3 :: hired my boys to harvest branchy, twiggy sticks from the patch of trees down the street

$2.50 :: ordered punched out birds from etsy

 Grand Total:: $23.79

My approach to decorating anything is ALWAYS the same, whether it be my bedroom or a party.

And I know we are discussing 20 ways to decorate with book pages but just to remind ourselves how to get in that creative mood…

1.Look for inspiration. 

My inspiration for Emily’s party was the displays at Anthropologie and any book page ideas I could get my virtual hands on.  So I scoured the internets for both and then I made a party board on pinterest so I could surround myself with good ideas.  I probably started in the summer, but there’s no time limit-you can start a year or a week ahead of time, it’s never too late.

2. Decide to use what you have

I like to assume I’m going to use what I have.  I don’t come up with a concept and then go buy stuff to make it happen.  NO.  NEVER.  DO NOT DO THIS.  EVER. STOP.  First, gather what you have and play with it.  For me, that meant grabbing a stack of old books I knew we’d never use and start messing with them.  I’ll explain more later in this post.  But the reality is, limiting yourself to a few things will actually result in a more creative process–just like Henri says.

3. Keep it crazy simple, Crazy.  And yes, I just called you Crazy.

I like for it to seem like it took hours/days/weeks on something but in reality most things I do are super, duper, lighting fast.  I only do what I get a lot of bang for my time.  Even my dear friend Angela who knows me all too well, proclaimed that I must not sleep.  I go to bed at 9pm and sleep like a baby.   I just know how to make it look like I slave away for things. It’s a fine art, and I admit, it’s something I strive for~having the appearance that I’ve spent hours on something when in actuality it took an iced coffee and two and a half minutes.

So, I knew was I wanted book page decor and that I wanted an Anthropologie-esque feel.  I’ve also noticed that Anthro doesn’t  depend on expensive materials for their display designs.  It’s all simple stuff.  It seems like the key to their displays are two fold: 1. Large quantities of easy to attain something {be it moss or paper plates or coffee filters or yarn or buttons or whatever–in my case, that mystery item would be book pages} and 2.  repetitive patterns of something placed together en masse.  Did I crack the Anthro code?

I had lots of books with lots of pages and I knew it was less about the exact little thing I did with each page on its own, and more about the book pages as a whole and how I placed them together.  So this meant I didn’t focus on what one page was going to look like, I focused more on the shape or feeling of the finished idea.

How does one do this?

I started by just cutting shapes.  I had no idea how I would use them.  But I knew I had to start if I was ever gonna finish.

So I cut leaves.

I had a vintage dictionary and I tore out some pages, stacked them, folded them in half and cut a leaf shape.  I didn’t make a pattern or try to get them identical {remember when we all cut paper hearts in grade school for valentine’s day?  we didn’t use a pattern we all knew how to fold paper in half and cut a heart~that’s how you cut a leaf shape} because I knew it was the overall finished design of the leaves as a whole that set the tone for the idea, not each individual leaf and how perfectly they were cut.  Cut the leaves fast and furious, this isn’t the place you want to invest your time.

I hated that they had a crease but I went ahead and punched a hole in each leaf and strung them about 6 inches apart on a string.  Then I hung that little garland on my stair rail.  I hated it. It was weak.  It was empty. It was hideous.  I wanted to cry and throw a fit spend enormous amounts of money at Anthropologie on drawer pulls and candles and skirts.   But it was a start.  And I had only used about 10 pages~I still had about a thousand to go so I had room to fail.  And hate me, but I don’t have a photo of it.

So I left it there looking ugly for a few days.  And then I made a book page wreath or two.

Hence the first real way to decorate with books::

1. Make a book page wreath or two.

And I paid attention when I made my wreaths. I noticed that book pages look better when they are manipulated–rolled, folded and smashed, they are more interesting when you do something to them and then keep doing it and make a group.  Just like Anthropologie.  Even with this wreath, some of the rolled pages are wonky and imperfect, but as a whole, the wreath looks good and has impact, it’s not about the individual page so that’s not worth spending time on.

So, after a few days of looking at my little empty leaf garland I took it off the stairs and neatly gathered it so I could move it to another room.  And then the magic happened  The tightly gathered leaves looked good together.  And that ladies and gentlemen is how the magic happens.

It begins with being ok with not knowing what exactly you are making yet committing to start anyway.  And then, when you make something and hate it, you don’t cry or throw it away or complain that someone else always has good ideas that work and you don’t.  You wait.  And you look at it.  And you grab the pieces and pay attention.

When I grabbed the ugly garland of leaves tied onto string it ended up looking like a little vine.  So I walked into the breakfast area and hung them on a nail that I always have nailed into the top of my hutch.  Everyone has nails nailed into the tops of their hutches, right? I didn’t take a photo because I thought I was just goofing off.   But as I played with the crazy knotted garland all wonky and hanging from the nail, I thought I might be onto something.

I cut about 40 more leaves and hot glued them to the mess of stringy garland I hung and it started to take shape.  Twenty minutes later I had this.

And this.

You can still see the string and the leaves hanging down are still kind of spaced apart.  And see that bouquetish thing in the corner?

Which takes us to number two on our list, this is gonna take a while, isn’t it?

2. Make a book page garland with or without a bouquet

That took negative 3 minutes to make.  I just cut more leaf shapes out of a thicker book.  Then I rolled some paper and hot glued the mess together keeping in mind that flowers usually have something coming out of the middle and the leaves or petals all around. I used the book folded inside itself to make leaves.  See how the edges of the leaves are the margin of the book?  Not required but it adds an extra dimension.  It’s not supposed to be a literal flower.  But just give the idea of a flower.  I also used my old fabric flower making skills that Tiny Twig taught me.  Not sure she ever did a tutorial but they are all over the internets.  Here’s the basic instructions, you just roll, fold, glue, repeat.  You can see a few rolled roses from book pages tucked in there.

As the garland was growing across the top of the hutch, I knew I needed to stabilize it with something other than that one nail.  So I grabbed some craft paper out of a package I had just opened from the mail.  I wanted to be able to completely remove the garland and put it someplace else so I didn’t want it attached to the hutch permanently.  I could have hot glued everything up there since glue peels off and no one will ever see the top of my hutch anyway–until I show you in photos like this, but, I had enough sense to know I might want to reuse the garland in my office or something.

I noticed how pretty the book pages looked with the craft paper so I twisted it and made a vine out of it.  Then I glued more leaves to it.

Ohh, kind of neat huh?   I loved how the craft paper looked just like branches. But, I felt like they took away from the original garland.  Why waste an entirely new idea where I already had something pretty?  So I took down the craft paper twigs and saved them in my office for a few weeks having no idea what or where or if I would use them.  And you know, until I wrote this post I forgot about all the ways I tried this hutch, it was never a tedious process but pure fun for me.

Once I took off the craft paper vines, the simplicity of the strictly pages garland was able to shine.  See how shiny?  Every few days I’d hot glue a few more leaves onto places where I thought it had gaps.

A little tip when replicating leafy branches/swags/garlands is to make sure all your leaves run or fall in the same direction.  See how they look kind of natural because the end of them all start on the branch?  Just like real leaves.  And it’s much easier to do this when working at the actual place they’ll be hanging.  So don’t sit on the floor and make your swag and then expect it to hang perfectly once you have it in place.  I hot glued each leaf on individually as the entire swag was hanging in its final resting place.  It sounds more time-consuming than it is.  It takes about 2.2 seconds to hot glue a leaf.

And I used a little method to give some of the leaves more dimension.

Here’s a bunch of leaf shapes with stems.  See the ones on the right? I hot glued them right above the stem and stuck them together, then once they dried {2.4 seconds later} I kind of popped them open so they wouldn’t just lay folded.  I didn’t unstick the glue, I just kind of flatted them open so the leaves had a curve to them.

It’s kind of hard to explain but basically what I’m saying is don’t be afraid to mess around with leaf shapes and gluing techniques to get a fun lively shape.  And if you look closely, you can see why I cut some leaves with a stem shape.

Oh and also when I’m decorating, either for a room or a party or whatever, I like to focus on focal points.  Sounds easy enough, right?  But it’s easy to get sidetracked.  If I don’t keep my focus I can squander all my time and resources on little things and have nothing of impact.  Kind of like my addiction to accessories, I’ve been dealing with.  If I invest my time and money on accessories but not the big stuff, it’s kind of a waste.

So, as I thought about what I wanted for party decor I considered statement pieces, signature pieces, and focal points.

I wanted the place where Emily would be signing books to be special so I tried to make it a focal point.  My son found a big twiggy branch and I stuffed it into a potted plant and hot glued book page leaves to the branches where real leaves had once been.

3. Tree with book page leaves

I used the same method for the tree branches next to the front door.  Just cut leaves with a stem and hot glue the stem to the place on the branch where a leaf would naturally grow….I’ll show you a close up after the next picture, this post is starting to get disorganized.

Oh look…

4. Cut out book page letters

And here are a few other things I did that don’t really need explanation, just helped with the overall feel..

5. Cut book pages into a recognizable shape {my sister’s book has a bird on the cover, perfect!}

I ordered 300 book page confetti birds from etsy. They were $2.50  Less money and work than buying my own bird punch.

A dot of hot glue on the bird stuck them mysteriously onto the inside of the lamp and it looked like there was a mini flock of birds flying around in there.

Name tags = target stickers + those birds hot glued

6. Make book page flags

Have some kabob skewers?  Then you can make these charming flags too. They take 1.8 seconds each.  So you can make half a million in about 20 minutes.

Melissa got a photo of some of the food–see how we stuck flags everywhere to add height to the cupcakes?

7. Use the paper shredder to shred book pages

8. Roll them into cones ok so I did that for the wreath too, but here they are made to look like part of a paper plant.

9. Strip a book

These stripped or nekkid books as I like to call them go from ugly, not even worth taking to the thrift store to a stack of pure texture and art.  I used them on the serving table to raise platters, set plants on them, and just scattered them about.  Just rip the covers, spines and backs off, I promise the books won’t scream at you.

10. Flared books

Rip the covers out, break the spine and stretch it out in a circle.  Sounds criminal, doesn’t it?  I think I glued the front and back pages together to hold it open.

Melissa brought a lot of flared books for the pot rack, here’s how she made them and even more bookish items.

So here you can see different bookish methods.  Shredded paper, rolled paper, flared book over there on the left , random flags.

By the way here’s how the table started.  I have 3 runners that I bought over the past few years from the Goodwill.  I use them in the fall and winter. I wanted them layered and random.  And then I grabbed some doilies and stuff.

I think it looks better with stuff falling off the edge of the table.

The table was neutral except for the food.  So I gathered all the glass and white and candles from around the house.

Hate me, but I hate these dishes that have the holes for ribbon.  Like we can’t get any more creative than putting a different color ribbon on our white dish?  Never mind.  So here’s a piece of shredded book woven through the holes.

Apothecary jars stuffed with scraps left over from the cut leaves.

Oh, SCRAPS, that should be number 11.

I saved every scrap and then I was amazed at how artsy the scraps looked stuffed in extra apothecary jars and cloches.

12. Cover a box with pages
Reeve covered a box with random book pages, it’s one of my favorite things.

And I grabbed that box I covered with book pages from weeks ago….

…and I hung it on the wall under another book page wreath and above a big vase full of  rolled book pages.  Nobody even asked it it was just a plain, empty, flat cardboard box.  Which it was.  And is.  And is to come.

13. Book page table-cloth

Reeve and Christiana made the book page table-cloth.  We covered the table with craft paper then they just hot glued lots of different sizes and hues of pages.  They were smart and suggested cutting then end of the craft paper at the end of the table and turning the pages up as opposed to how you see it here in the photo.

Don’t worry about ending them perfectly in a line–it’s better to have all the pages end randomly.  And see how the pages fall all ruffly?  Only glue the tops, not the entire page, that way they lay really pretty kind of like a waterfall.

14. Incorporate book pages into your existing signature pieces.

For me that meant spearing a stack of pages with Marlin’s point and hanging a banner on Elky’s horns.

Oh A book page banner, that’s number 15.

Banners, pennants, flags, buntings, whatever you like to call them, they are easy, fast and festive.

16. Create book page vine growing from a bust. 

Don’t have a bust? Or at least not one you want vines growing out of?  No problem, make it grow out of a planter or urn or anything.

I grabbed that vine that I first had on the hutch but ugh, the leaves weren’t hanging right. I plucked them off and reglued them on once I had all the vines situated.

I had some pre-existing holes in my walls so I just hid a few nails in the vine to hold it up, but you could easily use command hooks.

The vine filled in a really awkward space that I’ve always had trouble filling.  I think I might leave it for a while.  And there on the left on the dresser I have another book page covered box and two yard sale frames holding ripped out book pages.

so 17. Frame book pages

18. Make a book page chandelier

Two pieces of poster board, packaging tape, string, book pages plus hot glue.

Do not try this at home. Or at least if you do, don’t sue me if your house burns down, I’m not a lighting expert but, something feels safer to me about this than the paper lanterns we all buy from Ikea.

19. How about a book page corsage? 

I like him on the door but…

you can clip him on a drape or a lamp shade or a pillow.

These rolled book pages are so interesting.  I can hardly stop looking at them.

Oh.

20. Roll book pages.

I just piled a bunch of the rolled up pages on the dresser in my office.  Thanks to Caroline and Greta for rolling and gluing all of these–this was probably the most time-consuming project.  But I love the artfulness of them, kind of like a sculpture.

I was pleasantly surprised with how versatile the book pages were to work with.  Plus, my friends were so sweet to come help and Melissa, who lived to far away wanted to join in the pagey fun so it was easy to tell her to just look at my pinterest board and make anything she wanted as long as it was book pages.  Here’s her post about what she made.

Now that the party is over, I plan on keeping most of the book page stuff around for a while.  Funny, for years I’ve seen all the pretty book page stuff that bloggers have made and I never considered making anything for my own home.  But, I love how neutral and textural the pages are, they are a blank canvas just waiting for you do to something with them.  I think I’ll end up moving most of the items into my office over the next few weeks but, I can see how the garlands and such would be pretty at Christmas.  And oh, wouldn’t a book page wedding be pretty?

You can see all the photos from the actual party here.  More photos of the food and other such things are here.

Happy book paging!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I had big ambitions of doing a DIY book page amazing tutorial every day this week leading up to my sister’s party. Instead I’ve been too busy getting ready for said party and reading all the reviews for my sister’s book on Amazon.  Hello 5 stars.  Hello top 1000 in books.  Hello they had to order a second printing of the book because they sold out the very day the book released.  My sister will never ever utter a word about any of that–so I’m taking it upon myself to tell everyone I meet.  I feel like I’m the ultimate winner in this whole book publishing shebang.  I didn’t have to write a word of the book but, I’m close enough to my sister that I get to enjoy all the benefits of writing a book plus, I get to actually read and enjoy such a good book.  It’s a win win for me. I highly recommend making your sister write a book so you can enjoy it.

Anyway, I’ve been busy getting ready for the book release party.

Have I ever told you HOW MUCH I LOVE HOSTING THINGS?  I put it in all caps just in case you might have missed it.  I am so so excited about Saturday–we have over 70 people stopping by my nest to hang out and meet Emily, it’s gonna be so fun!   A few of my beautiful friends came over yesterday to help destroy books and make them even more artsy to help glam up the nest and draw the eye {eyes if you have two} away from the grime and wonkiness that my house has to offer.  Why clean when you can create?  Just kidding, my mom is coming tomorrow to clean for me while I move stuff around. work along side me while we both clean the house in an equal balanced fashion with no one person doing more work than the other person.

So, I’m planning on doing some tutes next week–that’s short for tutorial, not the other thing you are thinking.   Hope to see you Saturday!

Caroline, Greta, Christiana, Reeve, Lorna, Natalie, and Kelly~thank you!  Angela, we missed you…feel better now!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I wish I would have thought of this idea myself.  Last month when I wrote about my plastic spoon laurel wreath that some loved, some loved to hate, Centsational Girl encouraged me to have a wreath linky party where people could share wreaths they’ve made.  More specifically, wreaths they’ve made out of interesting things.  I thought it was a fantastic idea and then I promptly forgot about it until this week.  So, since school is back in I figured it was time for an assignment.  A little home work if you will.

There is nothing too daring from which to try to make a wreath…

Paper cups

Clothes Pin Wreath

Agnes, an amazing artist shares how to make this wreath at her blog Knock Knocking

She makes beautiful, enchanting wreaths like this and sells them in her etsy shop.

Last year I hacked a Martha Stewart wreath and made this one for $5. And I also made a coffee filter wreath and a fur wreath if you want to check those out.

And here’s a post from last year featuring over 30 amazing creative creative wreaths.

Lastly if you still need inspiration, check out my pinterest Wreath board with over 70 beautiful wreaths~ half of which are not showing up for some reason, Pinterest, HELP!

September 5th, be there with your insanely beautiful, creative, first time I ever made one, didn’t turn out, inspiring GREAT photos of your wreaths and we’ll all link up!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

¹mar·gin

noun \ˈmär-jən\

a spare amount or measure or degree allowed or given for contingencies or special situations

Remember how I went on and on whining about the fact that I had to get ready to do two 1 hour sessions all by myself at the Becoming Conference? Well, it’s over and I loved it of course and to top it off, I have my life back. Jen and Jenny were the masterminds behind this project. If you were confused, my photo was on the front page of the conference site but only because I happened to go to a meeting at Jen’s house and then proceeded to make it clear that I know I’m not cut out for conference starting, just speaking for two sessions was enough to almost put me over the edge. So, no, I did not plan or put on or be in charge of this conference in any way. And that means I cannot take any credit for the huge, undeniable success that it was.

First of all 600 yes, SIX HUNDRED women attended. And I’m not saying I had low expectations but, this conference was planned in 3 months and it was intended that 250 women would attend. But demanding women won out {don’t we always} and Jen and Jenny worked their fingers to the bone. Plus, I didn’t realize that Jen and Jenny must have been specially made to run conferences. I watched. They worked really well together. Plus, I think they each did like 784 sessions during the weekend.

Angela and I were only able to hear Jen and Jenny speak once. And let me tell you, Angela was scrambling for a scrap piece of paper to make notes on and I came home and the next day bought a Sunday paper and immediately got back to my CVS shopping/couponing that I used to do every week. I got 5 or 6 SIX packs of paper towels, 5 or 6 embarrassingly large things of toilet paper {having a stock pile of both of these items makes my husband inexplicably happy} and two $10 gas cards. Jenny’s blog has all the deals organized and Jen reminded me of how much money I used to save just by paying attention.

Deciding to speak at this conference was agonizing. I pretty much made my husband decide for me. I knew the prep work would eat up my summer and it did. I’m happy to report that it didn’t rob me of enjoyment~I was able to fully experience summer and trips and hanging out with three fun boys and a cute husband but, when I was home, when I had time dedicated to work, instead of putting that into blogging like I normally do, I opted to work on my sessions. We also ate out more, my house is probably the most disorganized and dirty than it has ever been {my vacuum broke a month ago and I’ve yet to buy a new one} and I gained at least 5 pounds this summer.  I don’t know if that last part had to do with the conference but while I’m in the mood to blame, why not?  I could feel the blog quietly suffering but, something had to give and that was either family time or blog writing time or preparing to talk in front of a live audience.  Plus it’s summer, I was planning a blogging break anyway.

I knew these talks I was preparing weren’t a one time deal. Once they were done I had something I could use over and over again~like hopefully at next year’s Becoming Conference.  That had value for me and for others. Remember that series I started back in May or June? The one I never got passed the second article:: 10 Decor Ideas Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You To Know About? Well, I adapted that to a session and now I’m at 16 Decor Ideas and counting. I’m not sure what’s going to become of that session but, it’s more than a series on this blog unless I want you all to grow weary and hate me.

My mind is mush.  I feel uncreative, uninspired and tired.  I crave change.  And it’s coming.  My boys start school next Thursday.  I’ll have hours of uninterrupted, guilt free time, something I’ve had only a few times this summer and when I did have it, I desperately felt I needed to dedicate it to the conference.

I have had my email auto respond summer “I’m on a break email me later” up since June 21st and I’m taking it down September 1st.  I have so many emails that I’ve wanted to respond to and I’m not organized enough to do it.  I’ve forgotten to return texts and phone calls and RSVPs.  I have guest posts waiting to be published, and posts I can’t wait to write.  And I have a contest that I did weeks ago but haven’t announced the winners. This is what speaking engagements do to me.

I’m reminded of the fact that I’m the kind of person who needs great margin.  I probably need more margin than you.  Sometimes I hate that about me and I’m jealous of people who can be all non-marginy. But, I know that margin is where creativity happens for me.  Margin is the planned unplanned space where I have 45 minutes to talk to a neighbor at any given moment.  If I don’t have margin, suddenly, answering emails feels like a chore.  I had a marginless summer and I’m so glad that is changing now without a looming speaking engagement haunting me.  As much as I loved it and as much as I’m glad I did it, nothing compares to protecting that much-needed, priceless margin.

All of these photos were taken by the captivating, darling Ruth from Living Well Spending Less as I was too preoccupied to take any photos.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I still don’t know what I think about this owl.  I know one thing, I like him a zillion times better than I did when I found him.  Brace yourself, it’s creepy…

It killed me to buy this owl.  First of all, it was $10, a huge amount when the very site of something makes you want to drop it on the parking lot of the goodwill in hopes it will crash into a million tiny shards.    Secondly, did I mention it’s ugly and evil and those TALONS and those eyes and that orange and brown and yellow and cream?

Thirdly, he is HUGE.  That’s my hand grabbing for him hoping to get to crash him to the tile floor in a million tiny shards.

BUT.

But, I knew a can of spray paint held great potential.  And there are some pretty owls out there. And ten dollars is a small price to pay to further school oneself in deepening the knowledge of makeover results.  If I never take a little risk and see what happens, I’ll never learn.  I’ll never be able to look at something in the thrift store and say YES, world, I can make that beautiful.  And really, you never know for sure until you do it anyway.

So there he is back there all perched up on my library table ready to use his talons and carry my children away, not to worry, if he tries anything I can smash him.   And don’t tell him but I kind of like his regal, unassuming massive self.  White spray paint is the Botox of the design world.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Wow. Have you seen these?  When I first saw a Juju hat I thought it was some kind of amazing, mystical, heavenly, perfected wreath that I had to make.

This photo is byLouise from Table Tonic, a blog and a shop where you can buy these voluptuous wreath like beauties.  Here’s what the Table Tonic website says about Juju Hats::

Traditionally worn by Village Chiefs in the Cameroon region of central Africa, Juju hats have since gained popularity with interior designers, and are often used as an eye-catching accessory for the home. Beautiful bird feathers are painstakingly hand sewn onto a raffia fiber base/basket that splays out into a huge circle. Feathers are considered rare objects of beauty and a symbol of prosperity and wealth associated with the positive qualities of birds. When not in use, the Juju hat can be neatly folded in on itself for easy storage. A perfect example of fine, unique and skillful weaving from Central West Africa, Juju hats have featured in high-end decor magazines, such as Domino, Elle Decor and Inside Out, to name a few.

Because of the craftsmanship these are expensive.  I’ve seen them for $400-$800.  But just because something is entirely out of my price range doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy looking at it.  Or even think about how I can hack something like it for myself.

I tried to follow the pinterest rabbit trail for this photo and it led to From the Right Bank but I still couldn’t find the actual source, the only downfall of pinterest.  The colors on these feathers are lovely and these hats are the “look at me” of every room.

another pinterest mystery

And they can fit in with just about any style.

Averill from Odi et Amo held a little discussion asking her readers if they were over with the juju hat craze.  Apparently, while I’ve been perfecting my Pioneer Woman version of cinnamon rolls and cleaning toilets, the real designers have been gawking over these for years.  She wondered if they were going to be the next “Keep Calm and Carry On” trend.  Plus, they were seen on HGTV and real designers hate it when something shows up on HGTV because that means normal folk might start using it and the item has then gone “mainstream”, I wonder if that means they are all throwing their Juju hats in the trash?  Maybe I will find one at my local thrift store?  Anyhow, it’s a really great post at a beautiful blog and worth the click.  Plus, Averill took a poll from her readers to see how they felt about the Juju hat craze and she has lots of lovely photos.

table tonic

And because bloggers are amazing…

Rosa at Flutter Flutter created a $10 version that uses yarn and looks really good especially for a tiny fraction of the price of an authentic hat.  You can also purchase one from her etsy shop.

A new to me blogger, Kelly at View Along the Way had a funny take on the Juju.

They also remind me of the feather boa wreaths we all made 5 years ago~only these are more organized.  I wonder if there is a way to use feathers to make your own but not pay $400?  If any one does it, email me ASAP.

So, I’d love to hear your thoughts, like em? Hate em?  Have one?  Want to wear one? Ideas to hack one?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

One of the questions I get asked often is about white. White walls to be exact.  Some of us renters have white walls and unlike me, you don’t want to risk the wrath of the owners and paint your walls a color-good for you!  So how does one pretty up a plain white wall? I’ve started a collection of white walled inspiration photos over at Pinterest.   I like to look at the photos and figure out why I like the white walls and what makes it work.  Large signature pieces are allowed to speak or take center stage within the white walls.  White also helps balance neural, rustic pieces, kind of like wearing a white T-shirt and old jeans~timeless.  Or maybe white is the backdrop for bold pops of color.

Currently, my favorite room in our house is our breakfast area that’s painted Simply White I think it’s a Benjamin Moore color.  This photo is with pretty poor lighting and I had to tone the color down a bit, in real life it’s a pretty white, not a green white but I’m on vacation and too relaxed to look for a better photo.  Anyhow, I’m really enjoying white paint and all that it has to offer.

In other news, if you are looking for a little laugh,  Rashon posted a little hideous, funny accident that I sent him.  I read where he wrote about not being sure he wanted to figure out how to post a linky party so I offered to be of assistance.  With his party.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?